The Daily Zeitgeist - Hootie and The Woke Popes 4/23: Pope Francis, Trump, RFK Jr., 'HIM', 'Mountainhead'

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

In this edition of Hootie and the Woke Popes, Jack and Miles discuss the final hours of Pope Francis, a few of the bad things the White House is doing lately, RFK Jr.'s statements about autism, a quick look at some upcoming films and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peace to the planet. I go by the name of Charlamagne the God and guess what? I can't wait to see y'all at the third annual black effect podcast festival. That's right We're coming back to Atlanta, Georgia Saturday April 26th at Pullman yards and is hosted by none other than decisions decisions Mandy B and Weezy Okay, we got the R&B money podcast with tank and Jay Valentine We got the woman of all podcasts with Sarah Jake Roberts the the Funky Friday podcast with Cam Newton, the Neck and Sporch podcast with Carrie Champion, Good Moms Bad Choices podcast, the Trap Nerds podcast, and many more will be on that stage live.

And of course, it's bigger than podcasts. We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace with Black-owned businesses, plus the food truck court to keep you fed while you visit us, all right? Listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at blackeffect.com slash podcast festival. Proudly sponsored by Nissan. I did not drink water growing up. Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting.

And of course. I don't think so, honey. Horror movies. Okay. Okay? Amy Poehler is on Las Culture. The latest episode drops Wednesday. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app

or wherever you listen to podcasts. If money is a taboo topic and nobody wants to talk about it, how can we be educated on something we're unwilling to talk about? April is Financial Literacy Month and Black Tech Green Money is where culture meets capital. Each week I sit down with black entrepreneurs and leaders to share their blueprint

for building generational wealth through tech, innovation and ownership. Once we know more, we can have more. One thing is when we tell our clients is, the more that you learn, the more that you earn, but you have to be willing to learn. To hear this and more game-changing insight, listen to Black Tech Green Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 70% of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. Not Black people, not Brown people, everybody. And whether you're white, black, red, brown, or yellow, you want to see some more green.

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This is what they never taught you in school. You're not dumb and you're not stupid. Is what you don't know that you don't know is killing you, but you think you know. To hear this and more practical wisdom, open your free iHeartRadio app, search Money and Wealth with John O'Brien and start listening today.

Hello the internet and welcome to this episode of Hootie and the woke popes. That's courtesy of Lockeroni in reference to the hoodies. Ask the hoodies, ask the hoodies if he's doing a good job. And also the woke popes. Shout out to the woke pope. Yeah. Are I woke pope? Mm hmm. My name is Jack O'Brien. That over there is Mr. woke pope. Yeah. R.I. woke pope. Mm hmm. My name is Jack O'Brien that over there is Mr. Miles Gray.

Yes. I meant Mr. Miles Gray. Oh, no, no. Yeah. You don't need to read up that. No, please. Just it's just me. Miles.

Hmm. Is it's still wild to me. The media spectacle of every pope death. Like it is the big deal, man Yeah, yeah, yeah, they are there is breathless round-the-clock coverage. What happened when? Ratzen burger or whatever the last fucker did we care when he when he resigned? Oh, he resigned He's he is he alive. He's still alive. Oh shit. I think I'm fuckers still alive man Pope Benedict Yeah, yeah, no, that's not.

He died in 2022. But I don't know if that means he died. Like, did he resign? Well, no, he he resigned and then died. OK, resign and die. Yeah. Yeah. He did. He did a classic resign and die, which is very uncommon. And oh, that was 2013.

Yeah, yeah, that was a long time ago. I mean this pope, so woke pope was around for, I mean he did it, he did his bid on standing on his head, 12 years on his head. Damn, okay my boy. But I remember Pope JP II, John Paul II died when I was working at ABC News and man it was like I don't know like a that was my pope That was the Pope. That's my pope. That was the pope. I grew up with for sure That's the pope I saw being parodied in every film right because he was like move. He would just like move a little finger Just like he was the most normal-looking white guy

So it's so easy to find a look alike to be the pope and like a comedy movie. I don't know. Very elderly. No, older. Get me someone even older. Yeah.

But yeah, so we we do have more news on his final hours or at least the official narrative of his final hours that didn't involve him making the jack off hand gesture at JD Vance so hard that his arm ripped off and he died from injuries. Yeah.

Bleeding associated with doing the jack off hand motion at JD Vance. This is the official account. You know, the Pope appeared exhausted during Easter celebrations on Sunday, but nevertheless greeted the crowd and drove around St. Peter's Square. Just like the image that he's driving around. He's like doing wheelies. Just one hand on the whip. Just bending corners. Yeah, bending corners. In St. Peter's Square, cheered by thousands of rapt worshipers.

Driving like Marshawn Lynch when he would take the injury cart when he played a cow. That is exactly what I was picturing. Do you think I can manage it? He had asked Drivin' like Marshawn Lynch when he would take the injury cart when you played a cow. That is exactly what I was picturing. Do you think I can manage it? He had asked Strapetti before taking the plunge. Wait, what plunge? The medic in whom he had complete confidence reassured him. Whoops! Wait, what do you mean take what plunge? What is he talking about, taking the plunge? He did a cold plunge right before doing the appearance. Oh, just his final Easter appearance was unexpected.

People hadn't seen him in person since he fell ill earlier in the year. And it was unexpected for a reason. It was a bad idea. Apparently he asked Strapetti and Strapetti was like, dude, you got this, buddy. You got this. Whoops. OK. So the pope spent the afternoon of Easter Sunday resting in his Vatican residence, Casa St. Marta, and had a peaceful dinner. On Monday at around 530 a.m., the first signs of illness appeared.

Do you mean him just being there? What do you mean the first signs of illness? This motherfucker been ill. I know. More than an hour later, he waved to Stropetti from his bed in what the media site described as a gesture of farewell. Two fingers pointed to the sky,

accompanied by the phrase deuces, is what we have to assume. He did the thing where he kissed his hands and then made that the kiss and went. Deuces baby Also remarked on how he was about to make those conclave motherfuckers a bunch of money Tell them to thank my ass before falling into a coma. He was declared dead 7 35 a.m. So it was quick apparently peaceful did not suffer. It all happened quickly. Good.

Except for Stropetti who's like, damn. There's like, bro, he waved to you like, should I feel bad? Nah, nah, dude, he wasn't trying to make you feel guilty, dude. I think he just was saying bye to you, dude. Yeah, yeah. Dude, he was trying to haunt you, bro. So I guess I'm leaving then?

Thanks, man. Hey, good call on this not being too much for me, Stropetti. Rest well for the rest of your life. Yes is That you're probably feeling fine about all this Anyways, shout out to the woke pope woke. Yeah for a pope Let's see any and MTG hated him. So kid no finer testament to one's character. Hell yeah, man.

MTG being like, yes, God killed him. Jesus Christ. All right, let's talk about a couple of things that were missed in the past few days of just the general zone flooding of bullshit. So one thing is that the White House has changed the official White House web page for COVID information to a, it looks like a New York Times, like long read article.

Like they got interactive one that has like graphics and stuff. Yeah. They liked it. It's just, just it's Donald Trump a photograph of Donald Trump Backed by the words lab leak and the letters are like as tall as he is That's the the implications of that visual aren't great, right? It's like did you come out of a lab Donald? Yeah exactly What are we saying here? But again his ego like just knows no bounds So it's like yes put me there next to lab leak. It looks like it would be a New York Times article that is blowing the case

wide open about like Covid actually being a lab leak that Donald Trump did himself. Like he's he's in between the words lab leak. But anyways, for people not overly familiar, there are two competing theories about where COVID-19 came from and no smoking gun has proven one or the other correct. That's where they, they love that bit of uncertainty because that's where the shit grows. I mean, God, the internet, the internet sure does. So there was a lab study in coronaviruses in Wuhan at the time of the virus outbreak. Like that in and of itself,

it's just like the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong. So that led a lot of people to be like, come on, what are we talking about? There's just a lot of non-circumstantial, like actual evidence, evidence pointing in the other direction that it actually happened at the local wet market, the official version of events. Like a bunch of the early cases were people who worked at the wet market. There are a number of like genetic markers that suggest that it came over from an animal and not the lab. So like evidence, evidence suggests this was actually just a weird coincidence that it happened to have happen close to the lab. But you know, I mean, there are questions

and like the CIA under Trump has like gone from lean, you know, wet market to lean lab leak. But that's not the implication from the White House website is like, no, this is this is the official stance now. You know, we're going to use our making up the truth superpower to pretend that this is an open and shut case. Yeah. Well, I mean, it makes sense because Trump, he's so worried about his image and COVID, you know, that happened under his watch and the response was fucked. So I think having

this like, you know, this new sort of historical account that has now been, you know, etched in stone on the White House website, and making it look like some kind of malicious act from an outside actor, then the then the lab leak theory absolves him of any perceived failures in that instance. Like, look what they did. I mean, they were fucking us. And that's the story rather than like this thing happened and you completely are fucking stupid and you fucked it all up.

Yeah. I mean, he wants to... This is also probably part of his trade war with China. Oh yeah. Now that he's trying to ramp up tensions with China as much as possible, he's going to be doing shit like this using the real, one real lever at his fingertips, which is- Changing his website. Making up the truth and having a bunch of people believe him. But so another detail that people have pointed out is like,

China has not been altogether forthcoming, cooperative with the investigations into the lab. I will just say like, were this the United States and like China was trying to conduct an investigation into something fucked up that happened in the United States, I feel like the US would not be like, yeah, come on in. Just lock up on your way out. You know?

Yeah, yeah, whatever files you want, just take that hard drive, man. Yeah, yeah. No, yeah, that's all. It's got everything. It's got Trump's ego, sinophobia, trade war, everything, everything. That's right.

Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April 26th at Pullman Yards, and it's hosted by none other than Decisions Decisions, Mandy B. and Weezy, okay? We got the R&B Money podcast with Tank and Jay Valentine. We got the Woman of All podcast with Sarah J. Roberts, the Funky Friday podcast with Cam Newton, the Neck and Sporch podcast with Carrie Champion, Good Moms Bad Choices podcast, the Trap Nerds podcast, and many more will be on that stage live.

And of course, it's bigger than podcast. We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace with Black owned businesses, plus the full truck court to keep you fed while you visit us. All right, listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at blackeffect.com slash podcast. There's a lot in life that feels like it should be guaranteed that just isn't. Fortunately, AT&T guarantees connectivity you can depend on. Or they'll make it right.

AT&T. Connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com slash guarantee to learn more. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas. This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler. Don't overthink it. They talk water.

We did not drink water growing up. Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting. And of course. I don't think so, honey. Horror movies.

Okay. Okay? Amy Poehler is on Las Culture. The latest episode drops Wednesday. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Courtside with Laura Corenti, the podcast that's changing the game and breaking down the business of women's sports like never before. I'm Laura, the founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment, your inside source on the biggest deals, power moves, and game changers writing the playbook on all things

women's sports. From the heavy hitters in the front office to the powerhouse women on the pitch, we're talking to commissioners, team owners, influential athletes, and the investors betting big on women's sports. We'll break down the numbers, get under the hood, and go deep on what's next. Women's sports are the moment. So if you're not paying attention, you're already behind. Join me, Courtside, for a front row seat into the making of the business of women's sports. Courtside with Laura Carrenty is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Courtside with Laura Carrenty starting April 3rd on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports Network.

Hello, hello, Malcolm Gladwell here. On this season of Revisionist History, we're going where no podcast has ever gone before. In combination with my three-year-old, we defend the show that everyone else hates. I'm talking, of course, about Paw Patrol. There's some things that really piss me off when it comes to Paw Patrol.

It's pretty simple. It sucks. My son watches Paw Patrol. I hate it. Everyone hates it, except for me. Plus, we investigate everything from why American sirens are so unbearably loud to the impact of face blindness on social connection to the secret behind Thomas's on social connection, to the secret behind Thomas' English muffins, perfect nooks and crannies, and also, we go after Joe Rogan.

Are you ready, Joe? I'm coming for you. You won't want to miss it. Listen to Revisionist History on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back. And it's been a while since we checked in with RFK Jr.

And he, last week, he made some pretty shocking statements about autism, like even shocking for RFK Jr. Yeah, it's a bad- It's called Whalehead Jr. Yes. So first of all, he made some disparaging comments about the autistic community, including false claims that autistic people don't pay taxes, can't work, don't date, and also can't play baseball for some reason. Wait, what? I know people that do these things.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But okay, they're taken from them to play baseball, do TikTok dances. He also said that autism was preventable and that he would come up with the real cause of autism in just five months as part of a research project involving hundreds of scientists from around the world, which experts have called misguided and unrealistic. Yeah. So where is he getting?

How is he doing this? Well, he's amassing private medical records from federal and commercial databases and handing them over to various outside groups working on this complete bullshit project. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Yeah, this is- So they're just gonna put people with autism in a database and track them. Yes. Wow, wow, wow, wow. I love, yes, this always leads to good things when you put people in a database and track them. Wow, wow, wow, wow. I love, yes, this always leads to good things when you put people in a database who are

different or perceived in like, and this is an out group that we are now defining with a list. Is it to give people benefits? No, no, no, no, no. To study them and try to cure them, try to change them. So it's to track them and change them, which usually goes well. It's, yeah.

I mean, this family doesn't have the best track record when it comes to people with special needs, I'll just say. And he seems to be the worst. He seems to have all the worst parts of the family. But the autism vaccine link was obviously popularized by a study published that was completely like the person who published it was forbidden from practicing medicine. The article was retracted. It's like one mistake that all of these people have jumped on to. Yeah. And like also, I think that guy also was developing his own version of an

MMR vaccine. And part of this was to poo poo the existing one so then he could be like, but mine doesn't. And yeah, now here we are. I'm sure many of us know people who now believe this to be the gospel truth and are now just like, no, dude, it's just fucking vaccines. And I don't care if the study that all of this whole fucking conspiracy theory is based off of is a fraudulent paper. I still think it's real.

But he's already floated other discredited cause of autism in addition to vaccines like ultrasounds during pregnancy so this this isn't stopping as long as this guy's in power and The scary thing in addition to all of this is like that he's going to try to come up with some cure which he He's already tapped anti-vaxxer David Geier to work on looking at the connection between vaccines and autism and seems like he might be trying to cure autism, which that's another really dangerous. Yeah. That's another huge grift for people who don't who are, you know, aren't able to accept whatever the state of their child's health is or whatever.

It's so fucking just so diabolical to keep going down this path and like weaponize like people's concern for their kids in this fucked up way to now be like, did science doesn't even exist? Take these unproven medicines like that's because he's backed weird fucking cures before. And it's, you know, just, ugh. Well, worst of luck. Rather than accepting your child as they are and, you know, working with them.

And, yeah. Right. Like, surely it can't be that. Maybe you can take this chemotherapy drug? Yeah, that's the guy who he's working with on this cure has sold a miracle drug in the past that is in fact a prostate cancer drug that was sometimes used in chemical castration and could cause serious side effects. And he charged families $5,000 to $6,000 a month in 2009 for the treatments. That person lost his medical license in nine states. And the other person involved in the treatment didn't

because he had no medical degree and was fine for practicing medicine without a license. That's the one who RFK is working with because he, that David Guyer was working with his dad who was a doctor and his dad got his shit taken away. He's like, and you. Dude, trust me, my dad's a doctor. I, like that. Well, actually, you don't,

you have no official medical. Oh, so you actually don't even have any licenses we can take away. Yeah, but I actually inherited it from my dad. Oh my. So you know people think, you know, people think like that. The way that RFK inherited his leadership qualities. I actually got it from my uncle Ted.

That's right. Yeah, I got my natural way with women from my uncle Ted. That's right. Yep. I got my natural way with women from my uncle Ted. Yeah, and like weird driving stories about like what I throw in my car and stuff and drive around. Anyways, don't look up chapaclitic. All right. A couple trailers that just dropped that caught our eye. One is called Him.

The trailer opens like a Gatorade commercial. They absolutely nail the tone of those super dark Gatorade commercials. Yeah, where it's like, is it in you? Yeah, is it in you? It's like black and white and showing the person struggling and trudging through the spiritual darkness of athletic achievement and the misery that these top performing athletes put themselves through to get to the heights of greatness.

And then at a certain point, it just like changes. We see a concussion happen, like with full like X-ray. It looked like in the new Mortal Kombat game some of the fatalities they'll do x-ray so you could actually see like the bone like rib cages breaking and organs being pierced like yeah that that shot freaked me out that happened like and and then it immediately says like from producer Jordan Peele and you're like like, oh fuck. Oh shit. You're like, we're fucked, we're fucked.

And then it just goes very dark from there. Yeah, with Marlon Wayans. Yeah, Marlon Wayans is like. Gets to flex his serious acting skills again because I think he's very underrated as a serious actor. So this is gonna be fucking wild. I hope it's as good as the trailer looks. I'd imagine Jordan Peele seems to have his shit

together enough that he's. Yeah, he's produced, not writer director on this one, but I am curious to see what his next directorial effort is. Have you seen Sinners yet? No, I'm gonna see that this weekend. Me too. I can't wait for that. All right, and then Mountainhead is the other trailer

that just dropped that is from Jesse Armstrong, the writer and producer, showrunner of Succession. And man, I would never have guessed that this was, oh wait, I'm sorry, it looks like. Even without the HBO logos and anything, you would watch this and be like, is it, this is, wait, what scene of succession is this? This is succession, right?

This is, right? It's almost like, you know, some filmmakers are like, all right, this is my chance. I've got everybody's attention. How am I going to like show them a new side that I have this like other variety of pitches and he was instead like, let me show you how good I can do this one thing that you already know I can do really well. And I don't know if like the DP screwed him from being like, okay, so this is

going to be shot the exact same way as succession. And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. Or maybe the DP was like, what if we did something a little bit different than what we did on succession? He's like, no, I like yeah, yeah, that's good. Or maybe the DP was like, what if we did something a little bit different than what we did on Succession? He's like, no, I like what you did on Succession. I want this, this is about four tech oligarchs getting together in a mountain ski trip and the world is falling apart around them

and like, what are we gonna do about it? It looks frightening because it's so close to reality. But interesting to see what the commentary is about this and if there is a message other than like dude aren't these guys fucking sad So weird yeah, but yeah, I mean I loved his work on succession this seems Like if you asked me to come up with a project for him to work on this is probably what I'd be like Yeah, but do do that one Jesse. I'm sorry. We don't believe in your range fam Did this really well and it's so good that maybe just stick to that. It's okay You don't have to put out a Chris Gaines album. Just be Garth Brooks. That's right. That's right

All right. Those are some of the things that are trending on this Tuesday, April 22nd. We are back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get your vaccines while you still can. Get your flu shots. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Peace to the planet. I go by the name of Charlamagne the God and guess what? I can't wait to see y'all at the third annual black effect podcast festival. That's right.

We're coming back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April 26 at Pullman yards and it's hosted by none other than decisions decisions, Mandy B and Weezy. Okay, we got the R&B Money podcast with Tank and Jay Valentine. We got the Woman of All podcast with Sarah Jake Roberts, the Funky Friday podcast with Cam Newton, the Naked Sports podcast with Carrie Champion, Good Moms Bad Choices podcast, the Trap Nerd podcast and many more will be on that stage live. And of course, it's bigger than podcasts. We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace

with Black-owned businesses, plus the food truck court to keep you fed while you visit us, all right? Listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at blackeffect.com slash podcast festival. Proudly sponsored by Nissan. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas.

This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler. Don't overthink it. They talk water. No. Okay. Amy Poehler is on Las Culture. The latest episode drops Wednesday. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. If money is a taboo topic and nobody wants to talk about it, how can we be educated on something we're unwilling to talk about? April is financial literacy month and Black Tech Green Money is where culture meets capital. Each week I sit down with Black entrepreneurs and leaders to share their blueprint for building generational wealth through tech, innovation and ownership. Once we know more, we can have more. One thing is when we tell our clients is the more that you learn, the more that you earn, but you

have to be willing to learn. To hear this and more game changing insight, listen to Black Tech Green Money on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 70% of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. Not black people, not brown people, everybody. And whether you're white, black, red, brown, or yellow, you wanna see some more green. Can I get an amen? Hey, this is Financial Literacy Awareness Month.

Tune in to Money and Wealth with John O'Brien, a podcast that breaks down financial freedom in a way that's real, relatable, and rooted in empowerment. From rebuilding your credit to starting your wealth journey, I give you all the tools to rise. I'm gonna break down how the modern economy works. This is what they never taught you in school. You're not dumb and you're not stupid.

It's what you don't know that you don't know is killing you, but you think you know. To hear this and more practical wisdom open your free iHeart radio app search money and wealth with John O'Brien and start listening today.