The Daily Zeitgeist - Trending Nightgeist 6/18: RIP Taco Bell, Jamie Foxx. Beethoven, Raven Symone

Episode Date: June 18, 2020

On this edition of the Trending Nightgeist Miles and Laci discuss Taco Bell firing an employee for wearing Black Lives Matter clothing, Jamie Foxx is going to play Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic, early descriptions of Beethoven suggest he was Black, and Raven Symone is getting married! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1982, Atari players had one game on their minds, Sword Quest, because the company had promised $150,000 in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared, leading to one of the biggest controversies in 80s pop culture. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, fam. I'm Simone Boyce. I'm Danielle Robay. And we're the hosts of The Bright Side, the podcast from Hello Sunshine that's guaranteed to light up your day.

Check out our recent episode with Grammy award-winning rapper Eve on motherhood and the music industry. No, it's a great, amazing, beautiful thing. There's moms in all industries, very high stress industries that have kids all across this world. Why can't it be music as well? Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.

Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez

and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals.

You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. It's nighttime. It's the right time to check those trends with me, Miles Gray.

And who is that over there? Who is that in the shadows? What's that? What's that blast of light I see? It's a scam. Oh. Me. The human form of a scam.

Lacey Mosley. Serial entrepreneur herself. Lacey Mos scam. Oh. Me. The human form of a scam. Lacey Mosley. Serial entrepreneur herself, Lacey Mosley. Welcome, welcome. Yes. Let's talk what's trending on Twitter, Google, whatever. Let's just see what everybody is talking about right now because, boy, they're talking. Up top, hashtag RIP Taco Bell. Now, if people know, if they listen to this show i fucking love taco bell

but you know what oh my goodness a maxi melt oh my goodness but you know what i love more black people so yeah it's time to put taco bell on in the fucking trash can uh not to mention look i think before the looking at some of the money that has been going out to various companies, how they spend their money, I think a lot of people have been trying to clean up, A, what you consume, right? So, no, maybe my dollar isn't going to a place that it doesn't need to go. The owners of Taco Bell, the parent company, they ride with Trump. That's a problem. And I probably should have let them go sooner. But now, you know, like they're really, a lot of companies are doing the most to actually silence black people and allies, you know,

whether it's Starbucks, like going back and forth on whether or not they'll allow employees to wear BLM pins or things that signify their support of the movement or solidarity with it. Or we're seeing things like this moment where there's like basically what it's a video of an employee of Taco Bell basically being fired because he wore a Black Lives Matter face mask as he was working. Which is absolutely ridiculous. You know, Taco Bell's big slogan is live mas,

which means live more. And all this time, they weren't including black people in that. Oh, they were live menos. Live menos for the blacks. Oh, yeah. So it's really disappointing to see, you know, businesses that you really love and enjoy do things like this, especially because they have such a black consumer fan base.

As they do, you know, a lot of people love Taco Bell. And to go out of your way to be racist is just it's one unnecessary and two just so completely deplorable considering the times especially yeah there's some the person like in the video now i don't know it hasn't been vetted so i'm i'll say this i'm done i was done with taco bell like when i had to have a serious reckoning with a lot of the shit that's been going i think a lot of people have had to have reckonings with themselves of shit i was letting go i've been like well i'll eat there like you know the lemonade a chick we're like okay nah i gotta put that big a chicken i know but you know what i'm you know what but it got to a point where i had to really decide like where

if if i use all the money i make as a human being and where that goes and what it's supporting or not supporting i had you know we have to be very conscious of that especially now uh but looking at this according to the video like you can hear a manager off camera saying you can't bring politics into the building insisting that like people had to wear regular face masks that this was political and the employee his name is denzel skinner he said i'm not bringing politics and this is what i'm standing for that's just you know they gotta figure something out black lives matter isn't a political movement. Is it entrenched in policy that is hurting black lives and systemic racism? Absolutely. But the fact that we're asking people not to kill us or demanding it, rather, that's not political.

That's just us wanting to be alive. You can't vote for black lives. And I think that a lot of racist people think that that is something that they get a say in. Like, oh, no, we vote. We vote for all lives. No, there's no voting. There's no voting. This is a statement.

But again, we're not... So much educating has to constantly be happening for people who just want to, you know, would rather just ignore the state of things than to, you know, just perpetuate bullshit like this. It sucks to see shit like this. This is such a big moment and to not even be able to extend that understanding to it if you're not black you know the least you

can do is say i don't know what it's like and i'm not about to try and tell somebody what to do it'd be one thing if you came in here with some like you, really like offensive face mask, but to even, to even tell a black person that them having something that says black lives matter is political or somehow controversial, you are already demeaning. This is the secondary, like these are the kinds of struggles black people go through, right? The first one is when colonizers or slavers take away your physical body, your space, your agency, and all those things. And that's like the first trauma. And then the second thing you have to go through as a person of color is to then try and reclaim that dignity and reclaim your humanity and reclaim some sense of equality.

And watching this shit play out over and these cycles continue, man. This is a firm statement that Taco Bell wants to support and make its racist buyers comfortable because the only people that Black Lives Matter makes uncomfortable are people who don't believe to support and make its racist buyers comfortable. Because the only people that Black Lives Matter makes uncomfortable are people who don't believe that Black Lives Matter. So basically Taco Bell is saying, we need to protect the feelings of our white supremacist supporters and customers over the lives of our black employees. They said, so the funny thing is when this story comes out,

who's the first outlet that Taco Bell gave a statement to? News outlet? Who do you think? You already know. You already know. I'm going to go with BET. Oh, my God. I'm going to go with Rio.

Yeah, no. They called up Bishop T.D. Jakes, and they got him on the phone. Wait! No. Louis Farrakhan. Fox Business. So Fox Business, they go call on Fox Business, and they said they have since apologized to the employee for the incident and voiced the company's solidarity with the Black Lives movement. They say, quote, we believe Black Lives Matter.

We were disappointed to learn about the incident that took place in Youngstown, Ohio. We take this very seriously. We have been working very closely with our franchisee that operates this location to address the issue. Our chief people officer and Yum's chief diversity and inclusion officer, those sound like great titles, spoke with Denzel last week to apologize and discuss the situation. Our goal is to ensure our policies are inclusive and keep our team. You know, that's a lot of lip service because here's what I'm saying. We saw right after the first week after George Floyd was murdered, that following week, a lot of companies came out with their sort of like boilerplate milquetoast statements

of being like, you know, we are really, we're seriously committed to making sure we address racial injustice. And I feel like so many of them signed off with more to come. We're listening. Or some version of this of sort of like, we don't know quite yet what we're going to do, but we want to leave the door open. It's probably going to be nothing. We're hoping you forget.

Yeah. Just so you know, we're waiting. We're waiting for that more to nothing. We're hoping you forget. Yeah, just so you know, we're waiting. We're waiting for that Mordekum. Okay. We are waiting with open ears to hear what that Mordekum is. I'm like that New York, I love New York meme of Tiffany Pollard sitting on the bed and all my clothes with my sunglasses on just waiting for the Mordekum. Yeah, exactly.

Or that one meme of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction when he walks in the house and he's confused looking around because nobody's there. That's like everybody like, oh, y'all said Mordekum. yeah exactly or that one meme of uh john travolta and pulp fiction when he walks in the house and he's confused looking around because nobody's there that's like everybody like oh y'all said more to come and here's me like where's the where's the more when is it coming uh jamie foxx is also trending because i guess he's gonna play mike tyson in a movie okay he does a great mike tyson impression jamie foxx has a... He does! He has a fantastic ear. He did it recently during the Instagram

live days of quarantine and it's so good. And also, Jamie Foxx has been in the streets really speaking up about Black Lives and donating his time

and his money to the causes. Also, shout out to Terrell Texas. We were born, both of us, in Terrell Texas. Oh, wow. Yes, my mom went

to high school with him and he's a king i love him so much eric bishop is he eric it is wait who's that is that his real name eric bishop is jamie foxx's real name he changed his name uh stage name to jamie foxx because women tend to get up on stand-up lineups faster so he changed his name to be jamie foxx so it was more like yeah to be yeah yeah oh interesting i stand jamie, interesting. I stan Jamie. I truly do. I like, I just, what'd you say? Is it real?

Eric what? Eric Bishop. All right, Eric Bishop. Go on. Go on, Eric Bishop. Go forth. Were they in the same class in high school, your mom and Jamie Foxx? I'm not sure about that, but I know that at one point they attended the same high school.

Is he the, who, what other, aside from you and Jamie Foxxx who else is out of taro texas that we need to know about no nobody else okay so just a town of black excellence i like that yeah um moving on what else is trending beethoven um because everybody this is a tweet going around saying beethoven was black it's a debate now beethoven black i don't know what that me i don't i have no idea i didn't even know that was a thing um i i always heard the thing like babe ruth was dominican but i didn't know if uh beethoven was black um so sure i think it's more just in the spirit of of fun but i have no idea like i think a lot of people have rightly so said rather than debating about that why don't you there are actual like black composers uh that were from the 19th century

like george bridgetower uh who was like a polish i think he was born in poland but was black uh and also a composer but hey let's claim we'll claim beethoven i don't give a fuck right why not that's mine too yeah great um and finally, Raven is trending. Raven Simone. And again, she's celebrating, right? Right. This is her celebrating her relationship. She's married, the woman of her dreams, who she says truly understands her.

A few people on Twitter are interested in her spouse because it is a white woman who they say looks like Mariah Carey. Kind of does definitely have Mariah Carey vibes in that profile. Are we both looking at the same photo where it's her with their side-by-side holding each other, smiling and laughing? There's two I have. And we get a profile of Raven? Oh, okay.

One is her in the car with the girl, and she has her hand kind of placed in between her legs, and she's giving her a kiss on the cheek. And then the other one is where she's wearing a veil, and it looks like Raven is in some sort of suit. Oh, okay. Where they've just gotten married. I mean, what do we know about her? You know? I don't know anything about this woman, and I've never seen her before. You know, I don't know anything about this woman and I've never seen her before. And I love when there is a situation like this where someone has a spouse and you've never heard anything about them.

Yeah, because it's so that's why I like I really I like celebrities who are just like, you're not going to know a fucking thing about me. I mean, granted, Raven Samoa has a very public life, too. But like when people are actually really good at having those boundaries to the point where like the press is never like when are they gonna open up about this or i don't know what the narrative is around her but you know i always like seeing people who are able to like maintain some semblance of you know a life privacy people are so obsessed and i think that's important when you open yourself up then you've opened the door so now it's like if anyone has any commentary on your business after that they fully have the right to that's why i felt bad for angelina jolie because all her relationships were so public and she was wearing you know billy bob's blood on her neck and stuff

so you know once you wear somebody on your neck exactly we got questions right and you have ammo to say shit to them like well you had his blood on your neck and it's like damn that's right y'all knew about that because everything was out in public and i even told you the meanings of all my tattoos so now i have that blood in your pocket And I even told you the meanings of all my tattoos. So now I have nothing. Keep that blood in your pocket. Don't put that blood on your neck. All right. Well, hey, that's a great advice for this Thursday.

Keep that blood in your pocket, not on your neck. And you can quote that. Lacey, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of The Trends. Of course. And then, you know, I think maybe I'll catch you tomorrow. Catch you later on the regular show okay cool all right everybody take care of yourselves take care of each other do good do good in the world like I do something good for real like objectively try it okay we love y'all

be good bye in 1982 Atari players had one game on their minds, Sword Quest, because the company had promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared, leading to one of the biggest controversies in 80s pop culture. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for the Legend of Sword Quest. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, fam. I'm Simone Boyce.

I'm Danielle Robay. And we're the hosts of The Bright Side, the podcast from Hello Sunshine that's guaranteed to light up your day. Check out our recent episode with Grammy Award-winning rapper Eve on motherhood and the music industry. Nah, it's a great, amazing, beautiful thing. There's moms in all industries, very high stress industries that have kids all across this world. Why can't it be music as well?

Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse

Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds

and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday.