The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Jemele Hill Part 1

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

Travel back to September 2020 for a QLS Classic time capsule: Ladies and gentlemen this long awaited episation (you'll get it after listening to the first 5 minutes) dives into the world of our favorite sports journalist and good troublemaker, Jemele Hill. In the true tradition of Questlove Supreme we not only take you through her life journey, we also fall into some pretty cool rabbit holes (The Bad Boys trilogy and Below Deck !?!?!?).   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I bowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I got you, everyone, I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio.

Yo, what's up? This is Fon Ticolo from Team Supreme. We are celebrating Black History Month in QLS and releasing new weekly interviews with some incredible guests from film and music. music. In the meantime, we've selected some special classic episodes as well, which we run on Mondays. This classic two-part of QLS is from September

2020, and it is with The Incredible My Homey, my friend, Jamel Hill. Jamel is not only someone I call a friend. She's one of the most important voices in sports where she always weaves in art, politics, and social issues, and we love her for it. In part one, Jamel joined

Amir, Laia Steve and I to talk TV, movies, and life. Sometimes these are the best discussions on QLS. when we just talking our shit. It's also a little time capsule back three and a half years ago. Enjoy it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to what I think is guaranteed to be a highly interesting episode of Questlove Supreme. You might as well consider this eavesdropping in on a conversation already in progress.

Just to give you guys a preface, we practically started this episode about five to six hours ago on the QLS chat. When Laia has discovered the Fonte Salmon Salmon, salmon and smoothies episode. Yes. Of our same guest of our podcast. Of which what ensued is at least on my end, an all-day research excursion on the Bad Boy trilogy. And I'm talking about the movie, not the label, which then let me do a Tyler Perry Rabbit, Bull, which is old and another episode. Anyway, just giving you guys a heads up.

We might not even get to a real, like, Jamil Hill question to, like, 46 minutes. 46 minutes into the episode. Anyway, if you're still listening by this point, you know me, you know, Laia Fantigolo, Sugar Steve. Shout out to only Bill who's not here right now. He's also known. He's only Bill. He might as well be Only Bill. Our guest has been a big deal for over a decade.

if you haven't caught up right now in the overpopulated toxic male atmosphere world of ESPN. She came to our attention. Nathan, as a member of the beloved sports talk show, his and her, on ESPN2 with Michael Smith. What up, Mike? Soon following, being a staple on Sports Center, as anchor, and even as a non-sports guy,

hear me right now, Steve, am I doing okay? Even as a non-sports guy, I can attest that her, Mike had a rather run DMC chemistry and their on-screen banter. And then 2016 came and need I say more. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to QLS from the Atlantic and my current favorite podcast, Jamil Hill, is unbothered. Also, my other other other favorite, join, which is way down the hole, which is a wire recap show with Van Lathen, which is probably the only place where you.

you hear black people speak on the wire. I've only, no, I'm saying, anytime I hear about the wire being broken down, it's always by white people. So much to say, ladies and gentlemen, I can't wait for this epistation. Episation. Yeah, I'll say, he just made a new word.

He's made a new word. Yes, this epistation. Please welcome, Jamil Hill. You know. Thank you. Hello, old friend. Hey, what up, old friend. this is a great moment for me to be on with two musical legends.

And I'm glad you provided me this space because me and Ticolo can keep arguing about it. Dude, we got to get. We keep arguing it. I watched after that initial chat, I sat in my office all day watching, I recap bad boys too, still don't like it. What?

I'm shocked. It was not good. I'm shocked. That's the shot. I'm shocked. That's your favorite. I don't get it. I don't get it.

And here's the thing. This is what has me sort of not ruffled, but I see Laia's point. Laias, are you still standing on that hill that Bad Boys 1 was classic? I'm standing on the hill that nobody, we should let people know that Fonte had never seen part one and part two until as he's about to watch three. And I do not think that you should compare something that happened. 15, 20 years ago to a current installation. That's what we agree on. And yes, because of the time, yes, I agree with that. But

I can say that you were genuinely perplexed that Fonte and I didn't see Bad Boys 1 as classic. Well, let me be clear. I think Bad Boys 1 is classic. But as I was in the group chat, I think classic, right, exactly. Classic has more to do with time, place, era. Like, there's a lot of things that

make something a classic. I didn't think it was a good movie, but it was a classic for what it stood for. That was like Will and Martin coming together. Like it was what it stood for and what it represented made it a classic moment. I will not say it was a good movie.

You didn't watch it in its classic era. Nigger, I was there. I didn't have to see the shit. What you're talking about? I saw the movie. I lived there. I saw what it was. I saw it's these two niggas on film. I know what it was. I was in the era. I was outside. I just

What I'm saying is, is that Laia, are you saying that had Fonte been of age in 1994 and seen it on its first run that he would have thought Bad Boys One was a classical film? Yes. It's like a millennial watching Do the Right Thing on HBO. No, that's not true because I saw my son. I showed my sons do the right thing like a couple of summers ago and they love that shit. Hell yeah.

But you know what? It is certain movies that don't necessarily. necessarily age well, even though that they're classics, right? I mean, I saw a bad boy when, you know, right in that time and space. And so I totally understand why it's a classic movie. But there's other shit that we have. It just don't age well. And, like, I think this about Scarface.

I think Scarface is one of the most overrated movies I've ever seen. Like, that movie does not hold up. It's cheesy. It's corny. I'm shocked that you have all these brilliant actors. It's definitely racist, right? So I'm shocked that you have. 200 times, didn't you?

Yeah, right? I'll watch it. Yeah, I'll watch it whatever it's on. I mean, I'm not going to turn from it. But you have Al Pacino, you have F. Murray, Abraham, you have all these wonderful actors in this movie that just doesn't hold up. It just looks,

I mean, I've never been on that bandwagon that this movie was one of the greatest ever. Like, I think to even put it in the same sentence as like a godfather Godfather, too, is just like disgustingly bad. Like, that's just... That shit ain't even in the same category as Goodfellas to me. or casino.

Oh, hell no. It can't fuck with none of that. Casino, fellas, none of that. You do understand why that film has sentimental meaning, though, right? How often do we get to see someone stick it to the man? Right. It's a rags to Richard story about somebody.

It's the Cuban Superfly. Yes, basically. Like that, and that's another movie. That doesn't age that well. I have not seen Superfly yet. Is it worth? Oh, I'm glad you. Wait, the new one is worth checking out.

If nothing. No, I haven't seen the original Superfly. The new one, I'm telling you, you're going to want to choke somebody out on the new one. Like, the new one, you're going to be like, they really see that one. The new one, man, they got, what's his name? Damn, I can't remember Trevor Jackson. Oh, that's the name. Oh, boy from the, uh.

Yeah, yeah. From the Hazen movie, from the Hayes movie. Right. They got Trevor Jackson with a dope-ass Hawaiian silky, and it's just like, Superfly has advanced. No, it's crazy. Because Superfly has advanced from, you know how he used to get his money. this dude now is in Bitcoin. We like, look,

Harry and Tubman didn't point to the North Star for this motherfucker to be into Bitcoin. Like, that's the new wave. I'm like, what are we doing? He got a whole Bitcoin electronic operation. I was like, I'll be damned. Like, I just, I can't.

They had to bring it to the new era. Like, the new era is, you know. Superfly and cryptocurrency don't go together. I'm sorry. I agree. But, I mean, I salute him for trying to bring it to 2020. You know a movie I watched that night, I was talking on a group chat that did not age well for me at all. Like Beverly Hills cop, that shit is fucking copaganda, dude.

Like I'm looking at this shit. And it's, you know what I mean? It's Eddie Murphy. And I mean, we love Eddie always. I mean, but I'm just like, yo, this thing is just a scammer that just goes around lying to people. Like, every movie, like, that's all it is. Like, he's lying to get into this building and he'd line. And I'm like, yo, this is, nah, this was not right.

I am bound by that Detroit. And it's not to talk shit about that movie, even though. I understand what you're saying because if you in the movie he wore a t-shirt from Mumford High School which is my high school where I went to with the school at. Oh wow. Yeah. Because Jerry Brackenheimer actually he went to my high school as well. He's from Detroit, which is how the lion's jacket wound up on Axel Foley and the

Mumford High School t-shirt. A little trivia that you can literally do nothing with. So just take it on. No, we live for useless information on this show. We live for that. Yeah. I was going to say that already today, I've had enough research with that.

I'm almost borderline afraid to ask Fonte his opinion. I want to wait until she at least come on the show. Okay. No, no, no, no, I already know you're on Lovecraft Country. Oh, okay. I haven't watched it yet. All right. Yo, I really liked it.

And I'm not, I loved it. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what it was. I was just like, all right. Let me just see what it is. Yo, I fuck with Lovecraft. I see where it go, you know what I mean? But they got me on the first episode.

And those are the hardest ones. The pilots is like the hardest episode. Yeah. I'm fucking with it. I watched it in real time and it is weird because we were like texting each other as it was happening. And she was being like really quiet about it. And I'm talking about Journey, Journey, Schroenie Smollett. And yeah, like I, without spoiler alerting, it's, it's, it's, it's,

I feel I trust that this will be excellent. I mean, the pilot is awesome. Yeah, I'll say I like it so much. This will probably be the first time that I'm going to follow a television series in real time since the wire. Yeah, I'm a guy that will let the entire thing go on so I can just have all the episodes at my disposal. That's where I'm doing with, I may destroy you. That's what I'm doing. Yeah, that's what I'm, that's the next thing I need to get on because I just,

just hear too many great things about it. Yeah, everybody's saying it's great. It's worth getting into or none of us has seen it yet. No, no, all the feedback I heard from it from like my movies and TV homies that really, you know, they like, nah, they say it's really good. Can I just tell y'all, I mean, and I want to say to Jamel, too, like Sundays, no offense, but black women are killing it. Like, Lena Wave, Misha Green, Katoi from Pea Valley.

Yes, are y'all on Pea Valley? I still got a, I ain't watched that yet. Hit me to that. Hit me to that. Hit me to that. Hit me to that. That's the strip club joint. Yeah, yeah. It's about a Mississippi strip club. And it's called P Valley, which you know what the P stands for. Yes, Pussy Valley. That's the name. Right. So, you know, shot out. It's whack season. All right. It is web season. That's right.

Women against patriarchy. That's right. That's what I told my grandma stood for. But it's something that you don't see often. It's like the way that it's shot. Great strong characters. I mean, again, you know, somebody tells you it's a drama about a Mississippi strip club. You're like, shit, I'm in. Like, why would I not be in on that, right?

Right, right, right. Written by a wonderful writer that I've gotten a chance to know, Patrick Ian Polk. And also, as you mentioned, Cotori Hall, like, it's like that. Like, me and a hubby, we three episodes in. I think it's been about six episodes, but we really enjoy it. Uncle Clifford is my dog. That's all I'm saying. I fuck to Uncle Clifford.

It's interesting. I want to prepare people who haven't seen Pete Valley. Okay, this is a highly inclusive show where you'll see all kinds of sex. And I love, and Jamel, it's funny because they'll show Uncle Clifford, who is a, that's not put a label on it. No, I know. I'm trying to think of what would be the best way. Like, he's clearly gay. He's gay?

He's fluid or he's. No, he's not fluid. I think he's gay. He's very gay. Yeah. She also wears beautiful wig. Sometimes he may be dressed up from like Frida Callow. And he runs the club.

She's gender fluid. Thank you, babe. He is gender fluid. Right? Yeah. Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it. He's definitely gay, but he's gender fluid. Yeah, for sure.

They play with you a little bit because you'll see Uncle Clifford get his thing in, but you'll also, they'll cut to like the stripper doing her thing too. They're trying to satisfy everybody. Yes. It's something about happy taste. Time out. Isaiah Washington's in this? Yeah.

So that's the part. Wait. Wow. I know. I know. That's the part that kind of, you're like, hold up,

because I didn't know he was in this series until we got to the episode where he popped up because he's the mayor of this little, little bitty town or whatever. And I was like, oh shit,

is that? I mean, I hear your reaction, Quest, because I thought the same thing. No, I'm amazed that he got another shot. Like, I know. I'm like,

word. They let him back. Word up. Yeah. And then the fact that they let him back on what is clearly a black show is ironic in itself considering everything out his mouth

is so fucking anti-black. That is unbelievable. Anti-black! Okay, so I haven't followed, I don't, I haven't followed, Isaiah. What's his deal? Yeah. What happened? Yo, man, he might as well join Ye. Yeah. Yeah. He probably worse than Yeh, though, because like, no, what are you saying? Well, no, I mean, he's definitely, um, one, I mean, he's a, he's a, he's a Trump dude. And it's just like, man, I don't know what happened to you.

My heart is broke. Yeah. So he is, I mean, he ain't got, he, okay, on, on the, on the, on the levels of what is it? Want to Terry Cruz? He's not like crying at Terry Cruz yet. But, yeah, they would definitely welcome at the Republican National Convention. We'll say that. I'm more disappointed in him.

I would think he'd be more self-educated than Terry. Yeah, you would think. But surprisingly, he isn't, or not so surprisingly, he isn't. So anyway, if you get over that part of it, it's still a wonderfully done series. Worth your time, absolutely. As you know, that's the thing about this pandemic is like, you just realize, and not that I didn't know this before, but just how much content is out there.

I mean, it is almost impossible to keep up. Like, I still haven't seen little fires everywhere. Like, I'm still trying to. It's really good. Everybody says, my wife watched that. I ain't watched it, though. Yeah. Yeah, she's doing Washington and, um, uh, I started the pilot, but I'm going to finish that.

Yeah. I started the pilot. So I find myself, uh, feeling, you know, feeling like constantly behind. And yet, you know, they're still. favorites that I'm not going to come up off the old favorites to to make room for the new stuff. So I just kind of have to, I have to budget my TV time better is what I'm saying. You know, because like Monday night is below deck Mediterranean. Tuesday is million dollars listening.

Can we talk about your episode now? Can we talk about it now? Oh, yeah. A million dollar listed. Listen, me and the boyfriend over here, we're rather addicted. It can be a new episode coming on or an old episode. Amir, I don't know. And Steve, I don't know if y'all are up on the below deck.

Yeah. Steve, do you from watch TV? I haven't seen any of the bad boys. Oh, you wave. But yeah, right now, I don't watch like what's current. I'm watching Quantico right now. You ever see Quantico? Oh, yeah, I remember it, but I never watched it.

Quantico, what's his name's wife? Yeah. Jonas' brother, what's her name? I don't know. I don't know that their names, but it puts me to sleep real quick, man. That's all. There it is. That's why you need to get what below deck.

because below deck is awesome and amazing. It follows different crews depending on what part of the world they're in. And it's like a reality show based on the crew and their guests that come on for a chartered, chartered boat rides. And needless to say one day, no, you got to say it's a charter yacht. Yacht. Yates. You can't underboss. Jamel's on there.

You're right. It's yacht. And one Saturday afternoon to the delight of me and my sweet team, we were like, yo, black people. Yo, that's Jamel. Yo, look at Jamel. She's getting it in. I got it in. So I guess they give you the bones of what happened is, as she said,

Below Deck is a reality show. You know, they follow, they put you in a location. It was Thailand. So this was a pre-bachelorette party event. So me, five of them, my home girls went. So it's six of us, six black women on a yacht in Thailand. And, you know, people like, you know, you're in that environment where you're getting everything is catered to you,

the grape food, all the liquor you could possibly want and so you're on this yacht for three days and they film you. And really the show is mostly about the crew that services the yacht. But of course, you know, guests like myself, we get in on the entertainment. So bottom line is I was drunk as fuck for like literally three straight days. That's pretty much what happened. In fact, so drunk that at one point we were having dinner one night

and I just had to tap out. And I just like, I tried to whisper to my girl that I was tapping out. But of course, you know, I got a mic on me. And they show, the camera's just showing me. It had just focused on me. And I am literally at this dinner table about to pass out in my food. At theitis, okay. Yeah, no, it wasn't the it.

It was the drunk. It was the drunkitis. No, you know, she was drunk as fuck. I was drunk as fuck because we have been drinking since the moment we got up. And, you know, because we all vacation. So we were like getting it in. But as far as much as they showed, I got. to be honest, I'm thankful for all the shit.

They didn't show. I was like, oh, that's it? I was like, oh, okay. Like, they did show when my girl fell off to jet ski, when I floated out to see and they had to come get me. Like, they didn't show none of that. I was like, thank God. Oh, my goodness.

Oh, wow. So wait, two below deck questions, though. Like, how many people are actually on that ship? Because they only highlight maybe like six of the cute crew members. Right. And then I also wanted to ask you about that tip at the end because that's, I was like, oh, we was praying this all black women, please. Well, now you, okay, so I end it's a lot of money.

Yeah, it is a lot of money. I mean, the crew, there's a lot bigger crew than what you see on the show. They, of course, focus on the deck hands. They also focus on the captain and the interior crew. But there's like a whole, there's like a bunch of engineers. Like, you know, this is a, this is a mega yacht. So they have to have like a really full staff. And so you definitely see them.

But all the drama that's going on with the crew, like I watched, having watched the whole season, now I understand some little things that I felt, but you don't necessarily see. Right, because you thought, oh, girl is being rude to you, but you didn't know that she's just the bitch. Well, I knew she was just a bitch because I had watched the previous seasons of Below Deck. So I knew how she got down,

but I understand the attitude I got when we got there. It wasn't a figment in my imagination because they had just had a big blow-up in the last charter and, like, things were going left on that. But of course, you know, they blew that up and they made that kind of an anchor of what the episode was about, but it really wasn't that bad.

It's like we set that to her and, you know, she had her commentary, which I didn't know until I saw the episode that she called me all them names because I'm like, believe me, when I tell you, had I known that, we might have had a different conversation then. So, but her and I were cool. I mean, the day that my episode aired on Bravo, her and I were texting that day. Like, we're still cool. Like, it's no beef whatsoever.

I think it was just like a misunderstanding that, of course, not surprisingly, that reality TV blew up. The other part about the tip. So one of the big moments in the show is there's a tip reveal at the end. And this is when you figure out like, all right, who really got some money up here? You got to understand. It's like what? It's like seven people that got to be tipped out, right?

Like seven to eight people. Yeah. So you mean tip like leaving money. Yes, like a tip. So this yacht, you're getting the yacht. The way it works is you're getting the yacht at a very discounted rate, okay? Not like what it normally would cost to be on a super yacht or mega yacht. So you're getting the yacht at a discounted rate and you know that.

They fly you out there. They put you up in a hotel the night before. In our case, we wanted to spend some time in Thailand. So me and my girls have been out there for a good four or five days before we even got to the charter. So we have been kicking in Thailand for a little bit. So anyway, you know watching the show what's considered a good tip and what's considered just an okay tip and what's considered a great tip. Anything below 20 grand is a shitty tip. Anything below 20, like if you're like, like when you're you're, like when you're you're,

should see their faces when they get like 15 or 16 or whatever they just like what that's it because they're going by what is the cost of what it what it what is the normal cost what it is for the shot that you're getting discounted already so my goal was like we're going 20 and up you know and then even the night before the show what happens is that there's a there's a there's a 15,000 dollar tip built in girl you're going to tell us truth I love it oh wow it's 50 000 built in so you know if somebody just gives 15 or they give 17 they really hate it service or they're cheap as fuck. It's like one of the two.

Right. Because like if they give you, if the starting point is 15 and the producers hit you the night before that you're leaving the charter and they say, would you like to leave an additional tip? Because they, you know, they bring the cash for you. So it's not like people don't just magically have like 20 grand in cash. Like they, you know, you've worked out that arrangement beforehand. So I knew minimum we were going to leave 20 grand.

So that's what we left. Like we left 20 because we did really like the service. service and we thought we had a great time. And so as you see from the episode, they were very happy about our tip because they know what the base point is. And then for us to kick in another five grand, there it is. Wait, can I ask, so you're saying that the whole premise of the show is how, not hospitable, but how your tipping action is, that's the whole goal of the show.

No, the whole premise of the show is to get you and your friends, your homies, whatever, on this yacht. all the alcohol that you want, all the food that you want, because it's a chef that, because before you even step foot on the yacht, you are given what they call preference sheets. So you fill out the person who's the primary charter guests, the person who gets to determine everything that is done there, in this case it was me, it's like, okay, so let's say I hate ribs or I want, I only want Chilean sea bass for dinner. Like you put that on this sheet. So they have all your preferences, what kind of snacks you want, what kind of liquor you want. like everything laid out.

The point is to combine people who they think will be a little extra with a crew just trying to work hard to get their tip and then alcohol and see what happens. I would have loved to bend a fly in the room when this pitch was being made. But it's brilliant, though. I mean, the show is like super successful. You know what? Wait, Steve, are you getting any flashbacks about this story she's telling?

me and Steve are world famous, like all throughout maybe 2005 to 2009, the dynamics between Steve and I, if you don't know, Jamil, Steve has been my recording engineer for the longest, for like the DeAngelo stuff, the common stuff, the root stuff, like, oh, he's been my engineer. So we would go to restaurants and usually, you know, I would pay the bill. And I have a theory, like, I'm one of those over-convincent. Newvo-Reach people that has to like overdo the tipping. Same. Because I have this thing in my head about, well, first of all, like, they have expectations like, oh, they're not going to tip. Whatever. I've heard that before. But more than that, I just, if I like a restaurant, I don't want them tainting with my foods. I make sure I leave a good tip.

So one time, Steve insisted on leaving a good tip or paying the bill and leaving a tip. and I let him do it. And then somewhere in the car, I said, wait a minute, I left my cell phone and snuck back in the restaurant just to see what he left. And I didn't like it. So I, like, put more on top of it. And, bam, Steve was right behind me. I knew you didn't trust what I left.

That's why I came back in here. Like, literally, that's been our whole dynamic. Steve doesn't trust my not trusting him tipping. like that is our whole dynamic. That sounds like a loving friendship. It does. And you use your stripper club standard for tipping, okay? What's the strip club standard?

But at this point, I mean, in college it was 20, so it got to be like 25 to 30% at this point, right? So if you tip in 25% to 30% at the strip club, you got to do that. There's different rules for cats like me. You got to. Oh, yeah, you got to leave a lot here. Yes.

I leave more than what the bill is worth. with. Yeah, I mean, but some of it too, though, is just that we know, especially, like, this is, this is black trauma. This is what I call black trauma. That's what I was, yes, yeah. This is black trauma because not only are you famous, but like, even if you weren't famous, it's like, I think a lot of us feel like we got to compensate for the stereotype

that we don't tip. And so I got a tip well, I got a tip well so that the black people to come after me get treated well. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing. Which, Laia, yeah. Like one time we took James Poyser for his like 30th birthday to a hip club and they did not come to our table at all.

You went to Delisle. Stop going to them white shrimp. What else is left? What am I going to go to Susquehanna? This is why you need to watch P Valley. Are you kidding me? What else is left besides the white? There was no.

But what city were you in? Philadelphia. There was no. No, Philadelphia. There was no vanity. vanity, whatever that name that spot is. Vanity Grand or on executive. There was no Vanity Grand of Philly.

And when I asked a girl that worked there, I found out that Alan Iverson basically ruined tipping in Philadelphia for like the entire city. Like anywhere that he frequents, he doesn't pay the bill, doesn't pay his tab,

all that stuff. So they just assume that everyone is nonprofessional. Oh yeah. Back in the day in Philadelphia. Put an A out of paper something, you had to go to Fridays. Yeah, I was like, I heard Fridays it was a spot. Yeah. So wait, so I'm curious, I'm curious of the panel here.

What's the most money y'all ever tricked off in the strip club? In the strip club? Money, I'm a girl. Me? Mine's probably, what you say, Steve? What's Steve you say? Whatever, me, it gives me to spend, I spend. And by the way, I overtipped when the situation.

he's talking about. I over-tip because I knew his mentality and I tip more than I ever tip percentage-wise on any bill. Right. But then I had to over-over-tip. Damn, they came down. Come up that night. Oh, yeah, yeah. People see me coming and they know is up.

Answer the question. All right, wait, for what you were saying? Not like yet, Fonte. What were you saying? Oh, we were talking about most of them spent. I think for me the thing about it, like, I always treat the strip clubs like a casino. So I just go in with a that amount and when that amount is gone, I'm gone.

So nickel slots. Yeah, for me, yeah. For me, it's probably like, I think the most, like when I was with the homies that we'd be on tour and like, I think probably like $200. Just. Oh, my. What? Yeah, like, I'm not a strip cause, too.

I'm not, yeah, I'm just. What's the club? That ain't even making it missed. You like that you. That ain't even magic city numbers. Man, I didn't get them bitches. No promises. Sure.

Yeah. I came into enjoy myself. I'm just killing time before I had to go to a show. We used to go in Detroit, my back. You order some wings in the water? Like, what? No, in Detroit.

In Detroit, downtown, because we would play at St. Andes. And we would play at, we would go to, it was a spot used to be down. I don't even know if it's still there. I haven't been. Bazookies. Yes. Yep. I bet. We go to bazookies.

Yep. And bazookis, it was literally just a spot. Zookies. Like, we'd go sound check. We go sound check. It's in Greek town. Yeah. We go sound check.

And then we like, all, we got, you know, two hours, two and a half hours. want to go back to the hotel and just if I go to a hotel, I'm going to lay down and go to sleep and this is going to be all bad. So fuck it, let's just go to bazookies. So me and the boys just go to bazookies and, you know, we don't have our fun. That's the name of the club.

That's the name of the club. And $200 later, Tickalo was headed to the show. All right, big daddy. What you got in a love? Who me? A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me.

Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers, Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Farrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest.

The director of the NFL's East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in someone's, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for.

Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police.

As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. So if I go to a mainstream join, and mainstream join is like a gentleman's club. I mean, you know, like if we're in Vegas or something and it's like, yeah, I know what you mean. You're going to Spearmintrino like that kind of place.

Yeah. Yo, wait, I tell you about Spearmint Rhino. Don't. Their crab fries are the best thing on earth. Oh, the crab fries? I know it's the wrong thing to say about strip club. No, the food be good. The bad on club.

But one night after a show, we made a stop. The Spearmint Rino. They was, you know, like, and whatever, the Players Club where it was like, oh, the tour bus is pulling up, the green light comes on, it's money time. We said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We just want to order about 20 crab fries.

And they looked at us like, huh? Yes, I only went there for the crab fries. If it's a mainstream, John, probably. I'll stop it five, five Gs. He said I'll stop it five. However, okay. What up? Back in 2004, you better remember.

I went to, because the thing is, is that you haven't lived until you experienced a prime Atlanta strip club. I agree. Now, right now, the bang for my buck is a spot called Follies. Oh, yeah. Everybody said they have the best wings in Atlanta. Yeah, it's Follies is off the chain. there was a spot that I went to with Chris Robinson in like 2004. This is the first time I'm being introduced to the concept of make it rain.

And table number one is well-known, well-loved basketball player. Table number two is upstart Atlanta rapper that's kind of a household name now. And then table number three was some other sports figure that I think he's a box or whatever. And to watch them and to watch Chris give commentary on the art of making it rain. Like I didn't realize that the whole point of going to a strip club in Atlanta is to, and this is a spot that had a bank inside of the club. I didn't know there you can have a bank inside of a club. So to watch these people wheel out money barrels, like money, uh, whatever, like they order college, but can afford it tonight. Yes.

Yeah. And I realize that the whole purpose of going to strip club isn't even to get a lap dance or any of those things. Like the women were non-factor. It's about how long can you take this lot of cash and make it stay in the air. And there's a counting clock. There's, there's a clock to the last dollar drops. And there's like, people are trying to break the record. I think Big boy has the record. I think he made like one particular bill stay in the air for 17 seconds. So people are trying to break that record. I would watch this event in the Olympics. I just want to just talk. Yeah, we get, I think we can replace curling with this right here. Dude, I can get the fuck.

What was even crazier was that $60 fell in the crest of my Afro, my Afro pick. In the crest. Wow. Well, you know, I kept my Afro pick in the back of my head. So the dollars rolled down and just like in a nook and cranny, like sat inside there. I swear to you, I was about to remove it so I could put it on the floor. I wasn't going to steal it. Yo, they was on me like, no!

And they'll say, we'll take that. And they just took the money out of my afro. The strippers did. The strippers did. No, the security. You're not allowed to touch none of that money. Like, you know how slippery, you know how slippery a cheesecake factory floor is?

I can't deal with you right now. Because you know what I'm telling the truth? You ever been to the cheesecake factory? And slips? Yes, I have. I don't know. Yes. We had carpet at the gold club.

a, go, I'm sorry. No, I'm saying that that's how slippery the floor was because there was nothing but money on the floor. Oh. I didn't get it. So the next time I went, I was like, well, I better represent. So the most I ever tricked was I was feeling myself that night. I brought 10 there.

But I was also with like, I was with 15 people. Oh. Okay. You got to bounce his out. Yeah. No, I mean, it's like, for me, me and my home girls, we look at the strip club as liberation. So when we go, you know, because one, the strip club has become a really good place for women to go because we know there are other obviously very naked women in there.

We're unlikely to be bothered. We can hear good music and we can get good food. So it checks the bingo cards if you really want just a night out with your girls are just unadulterated, pure, ignorant-ass fun. And we wind up almost always befriending all the strippers. You have the hottest boots. Like if you go there with a woman, trust me, or women, trust me. Oh, wingmen like that. Wingmen, yes.

That's the greatest wingmen ever. Like, we will have the hottest booth. So I've had some times in the strip club. But what ruined me is one of the first times I really went to the strip club. I went with a professional athlete and some of his friends. And they, one of them handed me a stack of 10 Gs to make it rain. And they showed me how to make it rain. And I was like, why did y'all ever teach me how to do this?

It's so fun. So liberating. It's so liberating. I was like, I can just put this doll in the crack of the ass. Awesome. She'll let you put in more places than he'll show like him do it. Like I have to be like, hey, oh, hey, not for nothing. Right there.

Yes, no, they will get aggressive with other women. So I, um, I want to say I probably, um, I probably have done maybe about three, I think, you know. And yeah, maybe a respectable three, but, um, one of, one of my girls as a bachelor rep, uh, party. actually, no, as a birthday present, it was before I was even a gay. She got me a stripper gun, which, oh, my God. Will you take a stripper gun into the strip club? Oh, yes. How much money does that fit?

I think this would fit, like, 300 bucks, and, like, you just keep loading the gun. That's what I need. Yes. I load it by $300, and when the bullets is out. You want to load it up multiple time. Just real quick, the best, the best strip club I've probably ever been to as a spot in Vegas. It's called, it was then called the Poundernerner. Palomino.

We used to call it just a Mino that one of my girls took me to who lived in Vegas. But this was a place where men dance for women. And what I had this is, I was just about to ask you that. What is the draw of the male strip club

for women? Yeah, well, I mean, but this one was off the hood. So don't, I wouldn't even twist my face up. Okay. All right. Okay. This one was off.

Long socks on the dangling. Long socks? No. No, it wasn't socks. I mean, well, yeah. Yeah. But I have never seen. this ever in life at the strip club.

This dude put his man part in a hot dog bun and crumple some chips over it. And it was both the blackest thing I'd ever seen and also the craziest thing I'd ever seen in a strip club. So yeah, you put it in there. And I also realized

that that's one of those moments when I realized I was a little bit famous because they shouted my name out. The DJ did. And this was back when I was at ESPN and I was like, and next, like, all the dudes, I got, I had to turn away lap dances. I was like, okay, so new rule, like, they can't really know I'm here because this will be, this will be a whole thing. And you know, with women, when we get a lap dance,

what they do, like, they're obviously gerating in front of you, but they also have little tricks of like where they're trying to, if you're wearing a belt or something, they're trying to unbeckle the belt with their teeth or they pull down your zipper, your zipper with your teeth. Like, it's just the whole. Well, they're trying to flip you up and flip you around. So that's another thing that I saw. I saw this dude, he sat this girl on his face and then he flipped her around and never lost her position and on the face. And I was just like, I've just literally, I'm closing my eyes so I can imagine.

Hold on, she was on his face. And then he flipped her like he somersaulted her. And they popped right back up in the same position. I was like, I don't know how he did that without breaking her neck. But somehow, somehow it happened. I don't know. I got lost for a second.

But it's all about the fantasy. And certainly I've had, you know, onyx in Atlanta, Magic City. You also, you know, to Quest's point, about like when you're at a strip club and other famous people are there, you cannot get caught up trying to throw money with them. Oh, don't do that. Don't even do it.

Don't be me. It's a competition, right? Well, it's just that you just are trying to sort of like, yeah, I can be fun at the strip club because the last time I went to Magic City, Tia was there. And Tiana. Oh, you named names.

He was one of the rappers. Okay. Oh, no. I mean, like, T. I mean, if you know, I don't care about his shout out to the strip club, he don't like, he's all right. So he and I on the stage at Magic City and he throwing money and I'm like my stack running low

and his just seems to keep growing larger and I was like I tell you it was not going to happen this whole 401k ain't going to wind up on this damn floor. Wait a minute. It just hit me. I'm old enough to remember a time when women really weren't allowed in the strip club

unless they were with a guy. Right. Because of and it's weird now because That's the 90s. That wasn't that long ago. I mean, well, the early two-auts. No, I'm sorry, the early odds, like 2000s. Right.

But now it's like the only people I know that still frequent strip clubs are women. More, you know, I mean, the last five times I went, it was with more women than there were dudes. Because they realize that this is, I mean, to be honest, at least from what I've seen, when it's been a situation, when there's, you know, men and women sort of equal. in a strip club, the women spend a lot more money. Like the women, like the guys, or I say this, the women spend more money and you have to do less. Because, you know, a guy spent $10 and he just, like,

he wants her to put her leg behind her ear. Like, he want to do all kind of stuff for like $10. Whereas women go there sometimes to just celebrate and appreciate other women. And so you don't even have to do all that. And you can wind up, you know, making, making a men. I don't necessarily need, I've gotten lap dances from, women like I got one at onyx one time I was like oh I'm about to fall in love with a librarian

this is unbelievable Philly Ony Onyx? No no Atlanta Onyx Atlanta Atlanta oh Atlanta Atlanta yeah so but no I mean what happened was that they saw an expanding clientele base as I said the

strip club is like the safest place for a woman because you a lot of the drama that you deal with in the club you really don't have to worry about and take a place like in Miami what's the big street? Oh, King of Diamonds, right?

King of Diamonds is a warehouse. Like, that place is huge. It's basically a club, you know, and there are often more women in there than men, but we in there, and we spend their money. Is it worth going there? I've been discouraged. I've asked a few Miami friends like,

yo, let's go to King. And they're like, nah, you wouldn't like it. It's not the spot like it used to be anymore. I think 11 is where a lot of people go. I think that's the 24-hour street. Club. I believe it's 11. Everybody want to come out on a strip club in a daytime. Oh, my God.

Or do you? Well, not a six in the morning. That's the worst feeling. Like, when I left the Vegas one, it was like seven in the morning. Yeah, that was the worst walking shame ever, man. No club. No club. Yeah, because that's when you're feeling like,

what decisions have I made to lead me to this point right now where I'm coming out to strip club at 7 a.m.? You know, it's just hitting me that, yes, we're 45 minutes into this point. I haven't asked you one question yet. I could have a host podcast dedicated to strip clubs rather because you want to get all up in this Mr. Mel Hill. That's right.

Okay. All right. Well, you're not free to ask me a question. I know. It's just sometimes we just have an episode where we just go rogue and just ask questions. Anyway, what was your, what was your early childhood like in Detroit? You were born in Detroit, I assume. Correct.

I was born in Detroit. As I like to say, I'm from the real. hood, not the rap hood. So you're from the east side or? I'm a west sider. I'm a little bit more refined than the east side. Thank you. Yeah, I was going to say any, any Detroit that's ever been on the show, I was told to

take him the task because I heard that the east side of Detroit is the real hood side of Detroit and the west side is bourgeois. To be honest, both sides, we both can win the contest. I mean, to be honest, because it's many parts of it. on the west side that look as bad if not worse. But it's just a runny joke in the city because east side is like they just think they're so hard. Like all of them think they DMX from belly.

And it's like, come on now, relax. Like let's, you know, let's be real. But no, I mean, I grew up, you know, Detroit is another chocolate city. So, you know, grew up in, you know, a black neighborhood raised by a single mother, single mother who also to some degree was co-parenting with my grandmother. So those were two really big influences, you know, on my life. And, you know, we're talking about, you know, I was born in 75. So coming of age, at least from a music standpoint, you know, being right there at the cusp of when hip hop got going.

And also, you know, coming to age, I think, as a music fan in the mid-80s to late 80s. And in high school, you know, I was thinking about this because my husband, was actually five years younger than me. And so we were just talking about music, what was hot during our respective high school times. And, you know, like my senior year, like the chronic dropped. And then my freshman year of college, it was doggy style. So it's like, yeah, and also my senior year, it was like,

the chronic dropped, Chades Love Deluxe dropped. Joseph's DiVier Mad Band dropped. It was like, you know, a really, really good time in music. Like those early 90s and hell, the first Ruth's album, I was actually working at it. as a music reviewer. I was interned and I was reviewing music. The very first CD that landed on my desk was

Do You Want More? Wow. Yeah, that was the very first one that landed there. So that's when I started rocking with y'all. Because Quest knows this. Like, if I just had a little bit more money, if I just hit that power ball, I swear to God I would tour with the roots. I would just be like.

You don't want that life. You told me. You know what? I told you this a thousand times I would do this. And he thinks I'll play it. I'm like, you don't understand. I'm just waiting to get that last number on that power. ball quest.

So, all right. So slight confession, I first had my first real conversation with Jamil at the NBA All-Star game. Which one was it? What year was that? New Orleans? Yes, the one that we played. You surprised us.

Yeah. Right. And the thing was, I mean, again, full being totally transparent here, I'm not a sports guy. I'm the ESPN's on the gym, get all my information on Sports Center the first go round, and then hang in the circle at work like, yeah, that was a great pitch. But then someone like Steve will call me out like, no, me, this is football we're talking about. Anyway, so my point was that my manager, my bandmates, when you and Mike walked in in the room when we were rehearsing,

they was going apeshit, like, yo, I'm. Oh my God. They're here. We got to talk to them. We got to talk to him. And I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, yo, man, it's going to be such a good look. We got to do it. And the one, I will, I will go on any platform and any medium and talk my ass off for nine hours except for any, the amount of nose that I've given local Philadelphia affiliates or talk sports. You know, can we get quest level on it in it? Like one time, the Eagles wanted me to like sit in the booth. Like, and do a game with them. The longest game ever, even though you're on the... Yeah, I was like, nah, no, I'm not being the laughing stock of nobody in the roots and embarrass them. So I was trying to duck and dodge y'all the whole time because nothing is more kryptonite than me than having to weigh in on any opinion of sports when I'm not emotionally invested. Look at Steve laughing right now. Funny part is, I'm guessing that Mike and Jamel, I even want to talk to you about.

We didn't. We like, I don't care. Like, we, you know, the thing is, though, but we run into what Quest said very often when we did ESPN is that there were people that we just like fuck with because we respected their talents. We have been rocking with them a long time. The roots were number one. And so because of that, we often would get turned down by people like, yeah, but I don't

really know about sports. Like, trust me, we don't want to hear your sports opinions at all. Work. We want to hear you talking about. We listen to that shit all day. Yeah, we do. Like, we want to talk about what you're. an expert in and why people love you. And on top of that, you know, no disrespect to, you know,

entertainers and other celebrities, most of their sports opinions is trash anyway. Like, we can tell y'all, we can't tell y'all casual fans. Like, we know. Like, we can't tell. You know, that's because you can't say that about, you can't vice versa that because music is something that, you know, you grow up on, you, you study on your own. So it's just interesting. Yeah, but it's, it's subjective, though. Like, I mean, I yield to the trainees, because this is what y'all been doing y'all whole lives and you regardless of whatever is my musical know-how i can never know as much as you all ever so you have to come into it with that that automatic respect but like we anytime we ever asked for y'all like we never wanted to talk about

sports if anything we'd have been annoying and been like so in 1998 at that concept what did you do like it's no but that's the thing like y'all made me feel so comfortable like i was so panic-stricken that oh my god they're going to ask me about the sixers and that And I'll be like, uh, yeah, like Maurice cheeks. No, we don't care about what you think about the Sixers. And, you know, I didn't want to be that guy. So no, no, it was, it was all good. But it was the same with, um, it was the same with Tigolo.

It's like, I told him that when we first met. I was like, I could give a shit less a bunch of sports opinions. Like, I'm here because I have none. Right. I have, I don't watch none. I have no, I don't care at all. Well, wait. Well, wait.

Well, this. leads me back to my next question because I feel like now, despite the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs of your lane, it sort of forced you in a position where you have transcended sports, whereas I would have strictly thought of you as, oh, ESPN anchor, you know, to Mel Hill. Now, I mean, you're just, I mean, you're damn near a, late-night TV host. You are a talk about everything. A pop culture critic. You're a war leader as far as I'm concerned, and that's like one of the many feathers in your cap.

But like people now look to you for some sort of some intelligent civil discourse about just what's going on in the world. Which actually, I'll say that probably the question I've been asking the most of guests on the show in the last year is how exhausting is it now that? that, you know, like, do you want it to be a place where whatever your version of shut up and dribble is? Like, if you just want to talk about this college team and this particular, you know, player and that sort of thing, whereas now you have to represent everything, you have to be everything. Where we are right now, particularly with sports, where you have athletes who are, who are growing into their own sense of power and voice, which is where they always, should have been, but at various decades and periods,

they're discouraged from doing this. And it got to a point, and I think Colin Kaepernick was really the one who kind of opened this door for this generation, if you will. A combination of him speaking out and, of course, LeBron James, anytime you have somebody

of LeBron's stature who is arguably the best athlete in the world speaking out about racial and social injustice, it gives everyone else all the other black athletes permission to do the same, that they see like, okay, if this guy has, you know, all these financial deals,

if he's this beloved and he's still speaking out, then what excuse do I have? So between him and Colin as being the leaders of this generation of athletes and now with the moment that we're in in this country, that this idea hits the show title for the show we, me and Kerry Champion have coming out on Vice on August 19th, this whole idea stick to sports is dead. it should have never been a conversation to begin with because, you know, you look back on history

and sports has often been ahead of society and a lot of issues. I mean, Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947. I mean, the Civil Rights Act passed in the mid-60s that desegregated America. So you are looking at a lot of moments like that in sports where because sports is one of the few things that we still do together, I mean, we don't worship together, we eat with the same people. You know, America is still very much a segregated society except when it comes to sports, which is why they have this unique pathway and opportunity to get people to listen to broader issues. So, no, I am glad that these conversations are taking place because,

frankly, what's harder is when I was on Sports Center and the country was continuing to fall apart, and especially post-2016, you know how hard it was some days to be anchoring Sports Center and the world is on fire, like on a day like what, happened with Philando Castile to anchors you know I mean we were on his and hers there to do the show that day so we just incorporated it in the show you know it's it's hard to pretend that you give a fuck about whether or not the Patriots

when the AFCEs when you have black bodies industry right so it's really the opposite where I'm glad that in sports I can be this full black person and talk about you know the games and stuff that I love in in cohesion that's something that you just said be this full black person. I just need everybody to take a moment because usually we are not allowed

to be a full black person out loud. Correct. I'm just saying. Yeah. No, I mean, it's hard. Like, I mean, really, it's so few of us that get in any situation where we can be our full black selves at work.

Can I ask the first time that you were, whatever, the proverbial being called in the principal's office? How dark is that moment where you're, you know, obviously trying to climb up a ladder of a career. And, you know, there's that moment where you might stop the bag or, you know, you could get black ball. Like in the beginning, I think now you're pretty much Teflin. Ha ha. Yeah, but I'm still black dog.

Exactly. No, no, no. No, I think, I think. It's a whole black woman. I think you will be clapped at at least three times. a year. However, I also think that you're in the Teflon zone now. Okay, I can weather it. At the beginning, like when was the first time that you rock that boat and what was the feeling of, like, did your mom call you like, girl, what did you do that for? Or whatever. Well, I mean,

the first time I got into trouble and it was trouble that was totally self-inflicted. It was some dumb shit that I did was, uh, this was in 2008. And I was, and I was, at ESPN. You know, I came to ESPN not as on-air talent. I came there as a writer. So I was writing for ESPN.com covering sports. And I was covering the Lakers Celtics NBA finals. And I was just writing a column, an off-day column because the game was like the next day. So this is something that just was being posted in between. And when I grew up, you know, in Detroit, we're talking about the height of the bad boys. Oh, God. When I was coming at age as a sports fan, right. So I I hated the Boston Celtics.

Hate it. I'm from Philly. Yeah. We hate them too. You hate them, right? Because they stood in our way. You know, when birds sold a ball, I think that was in the 88 conference finals, man. I thought my life was destroyed.

And the pistons wound up losing that series. I couldn't stand the motherfuck because I hated the Celtics. So once Rondo and KG and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were doing their thing as they were in 2008, when I wrote this column, you saw a. difference in how the Celtics were perceived because they was a black ass team, right? And so black people were rocking with the Celtics, which was abhorrent for me to see in many respects because of the way I grew up, right? You know, and you understand if you're a black Boston, of course, but like outside of Boston,

people with black people really fucking with this team, especially black people in Detroit, which I was like, okay, I taste some vomiting in my mouth, like, what are we doing? So I wrote this column about like how, even though these. these guys are good guys and the great basketball players. Like, it was just a funny column about how we, all the reasons we can never be Celtics fans. One of the things I said in the column was that if rooting for Celtics is like saying Hitler is a victim.

Oh, yeah, there it is. So, yeah, that didn't go over too well. It was just so dumb. What was that ass whooping like? What, like, what's the intricacies of that ass whooping? So, I mean, look, it was. Before it cancel culture, though. That doesn't matter.

She's, there's always cancel culture when it comes to that community. Man, listen. It was fire and brimstone. The column was only up for a couple hours. And when I tell you, to this day, a lot of Boston people and fans do not fuck with me because of this in 08. And so they took the line out of the column, but it had already been up for an hour, a few hours. It went viral back as much as you could go viral then. Everybody's reporting on this.

And even at the Celtics games, people were, because it was a Celtics home game like that next night. They were holding up picket signs, basically saying I wasn't shit. A Boston radio station got a hold of my home number. And live, when I tell you that the calling was non-stop? I mean, I had been cussed out. I didn't, I didn't answer the, I stopped. You picked up the phone? I stopped after, like, the first two calls.

And luckily, it was my business line. So it's like in my house, I had my own office. I had a business line in there. And that was the one they kept calling. And so they called me everything but a child of God. And then some and at work, I thought I was. was going to get fired over that. You know, I got suspended for a week with pay.

And when you get sent to the penalty box, you know that that's something on your record. So if anything happens next, then you might be shown. They're going to go back to that. Correct. They're going to go back to that incident and say, oh, but you got a track record. Here's what it is.

And so I was thankful that that happened in 2008 versus, say, 2017, which brings me to my more recent suspension was over the Donald Trump controversy. And, you know, that one, it was a lot different, mostly because I felt like I was on the right side of history. You are. Obviously, all he does is prove me right ever since, and I appreciate y'all saying that. And that was one of those times, and I feel like we get this opportunity maybe a couple times in our career or just in our lives, period, where had I lost my job, I'd have been okay. And I don't mean, like, I don't mean to belittle or diminish all the things and the sweat equity I had put into being at. ESPN. I've been there at that point, 12 years. It's just that some things you have to be able

to live with yourself. And I wasn't going to apologize to the president, which they knew off-rip. The only thing I felt sort of bad for it, because Mike and I are trying to anchor sports center at that time is that even though he supported me a thousand percent, you know, I put him in a very bad position just from the standpoint of I get suspended. He's got a manned the ship while I'm gone. And, you know, he doesn't want to be there and certainly look like he doesn't support me. It doesn't put you. Right.

Which he did wholeheartedly. I mean, because, you know, for a few days after into my suspension, he didn't anchor the show because he just refused. And if it would have been up to him, he would have just been completely off the whole time that I was suspended. So it was just all these things that were happening and, you know, being called out by the White House and all that. And I could give less than a fuck about the Trump supporters.

But they allow vocal ignorant ass group, a lot of them. And so then it's a level of worrying about. my personal safety, which I never had really had to worry about before. But after that incident, you know, it really put a whole ass grenade in my life. I mean, it did. But that's not to say that the shrapnel was all bad. But it is to say that it did blow it up for the moment. So when you said that about the spaces that I'm known in now, that incident, good or bad, is what allowed me to transcend or at least to be considered in some other circles. Because suddenly, you know, they put me in a political bucket.

And you were highly supported. I was watching the support during that time and the community had Joe back. Yeah, I mean, they did. Like, black people, a big reason why I wasn't fired at that point. I think I know it was because the high level of support that I had in the community and not just from people at the grassroots level. But, you know, Colin Kaepernick was, I think, the first person who tweeted the first celebrity or that ilk who tweeted his support of me

and then you had De Wade and Gary. The world was watching. Yeah, everybody was watching. And so they really wrapped their arms around me and ESPN seeing that, LeBron James as well, seeing that they said, okay, you know, they didn't suspend me immediately after the Trump comments because of that

because they knew they were going to have a bigger problem on their hand because y'all was riding for me. So, yeah, I mean, I say all that to say is that when you go through those moments, And I tell younger people this too, especially as they're starting their career, regardless if you at ESPN or if you had a station in a small town, regardless of the career even as well, you got to know who you are before you go in the door.

And if you don't know who you are before you go in there, that will get you into more trouble than anything else. If you know who you are, you know what you won't accept and you know what your boundary is. There's a lot of thousand things. A lot of us will let slide as we try to make our way in whatever profession that we're in. they're going to come two or three moments where you're going to have to be, you're just going to have to be like, I ain't the one.

I was going to ask you about that. I was like, because you make it sound real easy, but we know that's like a maturation process. Oh, totally. It's not like, and sometimes it's trial and error. Sometimes you look at ways

where you didn't speak up and you have to live with that. And, but it teaches you the next time that pops up, like, you know what? I didn't before, but see now, now y'all got the wrong one.

And so, society didn't flip me. I used to talk real loud a lot and that I just got to quiet it down because too many people told me to shut the fuck up. You too black. You too this and that. So now it's like, is it, is it okay now?

Oh, always too much for somebody. That's the thing is that that's the constant black existence is that we could do nothing and be too much for people. Our existence is too much for people. Yeah, just existing. Just existing. Yeah. So that's why we can, the only people or the only thing that we can do is really be ourselves.

But you're right. It takes years and it takes growth. and leverage. The other thing, too, that certainly, I mean, let's just be real. It's like at that point in my career at ESPN, I had been able to make some bags, you know, and I knew that if we had to come to a decision where I wasn't going to be there anymore, that that wasn't going to come without a check. So it's like, you know, and I felt like I was going to be insulated financially regardless.

And even if I wasn't, as far as ESPN, even if I didn't walk away with a check, that it was, you know, there would be interest in me to where I can make more money. So it wasn't a situation where I thought that there was going to be, I mean, I'm sure there was going to be some networks that wouldn't have messed with me, don't get me wrong,

but I would have been able to make a living. Right. And ABJ was still like she did shit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was still all right. And all I, but what it did teach me, though,

is something that we learn, you know, at various points, or sometimes it takes us a long time to learn, is that any relationship you have with an employer is conditional. It's a completely conditional relationship. And you need to treat it as such. And HR is not your fucking friend. No.

Not your friend ever. At all. Ever. Ever. It's a conditional relationship, which is we should give you and empower you more to be true to yourself. And, you know,

despite all the relationships I built at ESPN, despite all the time I've been there, and felt like, you know, I did my job quite capably, if not better than that. The truth is that when the president came after me, they didn't say shit. And that was a very important lesson for me to learn about, you know, they didn't protect you. They didn't. I mean, it's one thing. I mean, and it's a cold thing, too, because in journalism, you know, I mean, you go

protect the black woman. What a concept. Yeah, I know. I mean, in journalism especially, you know, I worked for newspapers before I got to ESPN. And there was always just an understood code. Like, when you go after City Hall or City Hall comes after you, you got to stand with your people. Because part of what makes democracy work is a free press. You have to have a free functioning press.

People that are in the president's position have to know you cannot attack citizens. And you cannot attack members of the press because that's not how our democracy works. You know, the whole thing about, you know, being a journalist is that you're supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And so that's why there has to be an understood code in media that when the city hall comes after you, you protect your people. Now, however ESPN wants to deal with me internally is another matter. But when the president decided to put my name in his mouth or in his tweet is when I expected ESPN to say something and say, all right, hold up. Now, if she's going to be a problem, she are a problem. She ain't your fucking problem.

She ain't your problem. Yeah. Right. And that didn't happen. And honestly, that's the most disappointed I've ever been in working. there because that's not the way that goes. I've been in situations and newspapers and seeing how people have stood

by their people, that's how it's supposed to be. And even the NFL, as raggedy as they are, the moment he called them sons of bitches, what happened? They all tightened up. That's true. That's what you're supposed to do. I was talking to my man the other day, and based on watching what the MLB,

the NFL and the NBA are doing, does it seem like good karma that everything is working out right for the NBA? But the NFL and the MLB when it comes to this fucking COVID, when it comes to, like, they are like, is it just me? I mean, meanwhile, the NBA got Black Lives Matter all on the thing. They safe in their bubble. It's like, meanwhile, but what is it? It does teach you something about the value of leadership.

And the thing is, you have Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, but you also have the de facto commissioner in LeBron James. It's Brian James. Right. He's a de facto commissioner. Yes. So you have this and you also have a black woman who's the head of the players union, Michelle Roberts. And the three of them collectively have exhibited such amazing leadership, particularly during COVID. I mean, not only are they in the bubble and no NBA players have tested positive since they've been in the bubble.

They also are testing out saliva tests for COVID because they have funded these tests and they're going to use the players as Guinea. pigs because these are saliva tests that you would get in minutes, the results in minutes. Because that's part of the issue with the testing now is like people are having to wait 17, 14 days just to get a result. You get exposed again by that time. Yeah, exactly. Right. Or yeah, or you think about the number of people you may expose because you don't know if

you got it, right? So they are at the forefront. I mean, who would have thought in 2020? I mean, it's been a strange year because we got Taylor Swift way more woke than Kanye. Wow. Wow. Don't do that perspective. Wow.

But it's true, though. It's true, though. Like, Taylor Swift out here leading black people to freedom, not kind of. No, don't wait. Wait, huh? A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my bra. brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a train. dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Ago Wadam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings.

I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat just hanging. in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar.

This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd

found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected.

They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg, a lesbian, and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No, when I saw Kim Kardashian talking about free and C murder I was just like, yo, what the fuck is going on? What happened? On the big old car.

That was not on my car. Wait, say what? And if she able to get him free, look, I'm just saying, he's just trying to stay in because her husband's fucking up. But whatever, go ahead. Black people don't fall for it. Even if she gets C murder, don't fall for black people. Like, don't let this be like, I'm a dope for Donald Trump.

Like, no, no. Until she gives us our asses back and our hair and everything else you can. But it's not so much about her. is that one thing that we need to understand like those acts individual acts are great giving back to the community great charity does not fix structural racism doesn't fix it

right because you get see murder out but what about and I don't know if y'all watched the no limit chronicles come on now come on every night like watching that yes on BT yeah watching that and seeing I mean I knew that Louisiana had a racist criminal justice system

much like most states in this country. They on another level. They're the gold standard. It's a whole number. They're the gold standard of racism and seeing C. Murder's case, but also the other dude from know. Mac, what happened to him? You're like, how

is this possible in America? So Kim Kardashian-freeing C-Murder isn't going to address that, is what I'm saying. And so that's not to belittle what it would mean for C-Murder to be out of jail, but like, yeah, like you said, I would have never in a million years, but like so Kim Kardashian is going to lead

murder the freedom. I'm like, wait, wait, wait. I'm surprised she knows me. He might as well hit him of Mia for all of that. What's up with Mia? He's still in there, ain't he? Yeah. Yeah, he's still in. It's been a really crazy year. But at any rate, I guess to get back to your original question is that who would have thought that, and again, it's what I was saying about sports sometimes leading away and leading in ways society can't, that the most competent, cohesive response to COVID-19 has been

the NBA. Has been the NBA. By far. All right. So now I feel all off key going back to another sports question in your childhood. What made you, did you initially, when did you develop this passion for sports? Because I'm curious at anyone who really commits to something that they themselves aren't involved in.

You know, like it's possible to be a family. music and participate in it, but for a lot of people, their knowledge of sports just as spectators is amazing to me. First of all, are you an all-around sports person or like, do you have the same passion for golf and bowling that you do? Well, I do love to bowl. I am a hell of a bowler. Okay. Y'all want some. Y'all can come get them straight up. Oh, wow. Okay. Got my whole ball shoes. Yes, that's right. I'm handing out asswippers on the lane. So just let me know. You're talking line for a person that has a hometown with only one movie theater in it, but that's okay. But you know what?

We got a lot of bowling alleys because we're, because a winner. Like you need to have an activity. Yeah, you need to have an activity. So people, a lot of people from Detroit, Michigan period, can bowl. Like that was our thing. But to answer your question is, you know, I would ask you the same about music. I'm sure there's a time where you don't even remember not loving music, right? And so.

Right. I don't, there was a time I don't remember not loving sports. It wasn't, I don't recall being introduced to sports. I just recall from the beginning, I love sports. I love playing sports. Instead you grew up with your mom and your grandmom, right? So, yeah, I mean, my mother, she was, I mean, she's, she's been married before. She just didn't marry my biological father.

And so, but, as I like to mess with her, but it's true, though, it's all facts. My first stepfather. You all got one. It's all right. Yeah, my first stepfather was somebody who was also in the sports. And, you know, I was the neighborhood tomboy, right? So I was out there playing, you know, a football and, you know, playing basketball and freeze tag and, you know, everything. Two, what was, not, we didn't call it two-step.

What was it? I'll think of what we used to call it, but I was. Mother, not Mother Mayor. No, not Mother May I. how I'm going to pick it up. Kickball, dude. Yeah, oh yeah, kickball, all of that. So I was always out, like, kind of roughhousing with the boys.

I mean, it was sort of frustrate my mother. Not that she wanted me necessarily to be a girly girl. She'd just be like, why you always playing with the boys? It's so rough. And so that was always me. What did your folks do? So my mother, a bit of a jack of all trades. I mean, she's, like, worked at the post office.

She had her own cleaning service. By trade, though, she was a medical lab. laboratory technician. And both my parents are recovering drug addicts. So my dad, he is, well, he retired as, I should say, a clinical drug therapist. So he does, like, counseling and that kind of thing. Is this your stepdad? That's your biological dad.

My biological father, my stepfather, the first one was like a, some kind of computer engineer. And my current stepfather. Your mama don't fight you. Look, I'm just telling the fact. It is what it is. I'm making no judgment. I'm making no judgment on this one.

This is public record, people. I can look this up if I wanted to. Thank you. You can look this up and you would know she just on number two. I mean, hell, my grandma got three of them. So, I mean, but my second stepfather, he retired from the auto industry. Because, you know, Detroit is an auto factory town. So he worked at the plant for many years.

But, no, I mean, it's like sports always came natural in terms of both playing and watching it. And, you know, it was odd because I, I knew, I'm very fortunate is that I knew I wanted to be a sports journalist when I was around 9th or 10th grade. And I was one of those people who never really deviated from that. You know, usually you switch careers four or five times. And it's not like I knew any sports journalist per se, but the thing is, because of where technology was during that time, in order for you to keep up with their sports teams,

you had to read the newspaper. So I had to read the sports sections to keep up, you know, with the tigers and the Pistons and everybody else. And that is what introduced me to newspaper. So when I got the high school, I worked for my high school newspaper. I got an apprenticeship at the local paper. Then, and also in high school, I started answering phones in the sports department of this same newspaper.

And the rest, I went on from there. I majored in journalism. I've only done this. Like, I'm not even equipped to do shit else. Like, the only other job that I had, it's true. I'm like, I'm not equipped to do shit else. The only other jobs that I've had outside of journalism. was I delivered phone books during

I know that's how I'm 7,000 years old I was like I delivered phone books to earn some extra money for spring break And they still make phone books Dog Like this is like the this is the late 90s Like they would still make a phone books And trust me

This shit was so heavy I'm about to say your own game must be crazy Oh my God I got paid like 70 cent per phone book delivered Like it was fuck up Way more than it. Yeah, that shit was labor. And that's what I knew. I was like, physical laborer and me will never get along.

Like, it's just not happening. That ain't it. That ain't it. So, yeah, I had internships in college. I even interned at the Philadelphia Enquirer. I interned there. So you did the time in Philly? I did.

I've lived in Philly. Yep. No wonder you heard of the roots. I refused to believe it. I looked at it. I was like, no. But one of my internships, questions, like, no bullshit. It was 1994, I think.

I was an intern at the Free Press with Detroit Free Press, which is the local paper in Detroit. And they assigned me to the features desk. And the music critic at the time did not fuck with R&B and hip hop at all. So he said you can have all the R&B and hip hop. I'm going to stick to this Bruce Springsteen over here. And it was all good because, you know, Aaliyah's album dropped that year.

It was the roots. It was like so many different. artists that dropped that year. And my CD collection was banging after that summer. Yeah, because you get all the promo joints. Yes. I was like,

it was. I usually get promos when I worked in the, for our college newspaper. So, I mean, this is the campus Echo at Central and I would get promos. Did you ever get on hard times and sell them?

That's what I used to do. I'd sell them. Sometimes you could sell them. I just sell the ones I don't want. Oh, I used to say this was 1995, my bag. But like, so that summer that I was interned at the free press,

the report, is when I'll strike. And the free press is also was at the time owned by the same people who owned the Philadelphia Enquirer, which is how I got to Philly because they sent me to Philly. One of my girls was already working at the Philadelphia Inquirer. So I didn't even live in Philly proper. I lived in McDade. McDade Boulevard.

Damn. Yeah, I lived in McDade. I had to catch a bus and a train to get to the Philadelphia Acquirer downtown. Wow. Hold up. We need more time. with Jamel Hill, and therefore you'll get it. So this was part one.

Stay tuned for part two of our interview with Jamel Hill on Quest Love Supreme next Wednesday. You don't want to miss it. It just gets better. It's so good. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from IHart Radio, visit the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast. Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell.

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.