The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Sunny Hostin

Episode Date: August 19, 2020

This week's episode puts Questlove and Team Supreme in the hot seat as they tackle some hot topics with an expert, The View's Sunny Hostin. A couple of weeks ago (pre Kamala Harris VP selection) we sat down with Sunny as she prepares to release her memoir in September, I Am These Truths. Listen as the team dives into the life of this South Bronx Afro-Latina who lived a life of balancing multiple worlds filled with chaos, while molding and disciplining herself to become the former assistant US Attorney, federal prosecutor, TV legal analyst and multiple Emmy winner we see today. Trust that you have no idea! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Questlove Supreme. I'm Questlove. What is up, Kroop? I see, we have, um, hey, Bill. How are you?

Everything's good. Everything's good. Life on the street remains on the street. Everything's good. Can't complain. Yeah, I was about to say, I commend you. I haven't told you yet, but you guys handled that Elmo discovers racism bit. Yes. Autumn's been working real hard on that.

That town hall was dope. We did some COVID town halls. We did race town halls, and it's been going pretty well. This partnership with CNN. Yeah, it's cool. All right. All right. So we also got a fine, take a little in the house. What up? What's going on? You got any new smoke coming out? Anything, anything coming up?

I mean, I've been working on a lot of stuff that's about to come out. Mainly, I just been bumping the Cardi and Meg joint. That's been my... That's my... That's your mouth. For sending out and every text. Thanks, fine. I got to admit, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Steve, you doing all right? Me too, Steve?

I thought we were friends now so I can dress you by your Christian name. Okay. You and I are back at work now. How is it feel? We get tested every day, so we're safe. Y'all got the rabbit test. Y'all Trump?

Oh, my God. How y'all get the rapid test? I got tested. We get tested every day, yo. And you get your results in how short a time? In 15 minutes. Wow. I just want to go see my parents.

Is it a nasal joint? Is it a nasal? They tickle your brain. No, one, I got to admit, I got to admit, okay, so there's like four different nurses that do it. The idea of the sexy nurse who are called the S&M nurse because she wears these like really weird stiletto heels. Like everyone, everyone fights to be in her room. She's also the person and like, ah, damn, she damn nearly cleans your brain out. Like, I, I, she, her bedside manner is too rough.

So I like the, the other gentle nasal tester. But yeah, we get a test every day, like it to answer your question. So annoying. Wow. Well. Hurry as so I can ask our guests if she gets tested. Anyway, anyway. It's always, listen, it's always, it's always, it's always customary that we say hello to each other first so that people know that, you know, we don't bicker.

How are you, Laya? Oh, my God. I'm good. Everybody should know that I am sweating because I am very excited about our guests and that's why I'm sweating. That's good. Well, yes, let's get to our guests. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome our guest today. She is a four-time Daytime Emmy Award winner.

That's right. Yes. She's a lawyer, a journalist, of course. She is host of her own true crime series and call Investigation Discovery, Future bestselling author. This fall she has a book called I Am These Truths, a memoir of identity, justice, and living between two worlds that Yia is extreme. We're all excited, but Yia's mega-sounding excited about this. Now to be outdone, your first, I'll say fiction or your first novel will also be out in 2021 entitled Summer on the Bluffs, which has nothing to do with Curtis Snow. Snow on the bluff.

When I saw that, I was like, wait a minute. That has nothing to do with Curtis Snow, Snow on the bluff. She is also, I like to think of myself as a chicken farmer as well because of where I'm quarantining. She's a fellow chicken farmer from the Boogie Down Bronx. But she's basically, you know, well-known and loved as a member, one-fifth of the fiery, passionate, informed, and impenuated ladies, known as the crew from the view.

Let my fellow QL at LASters also know that the five of us have it very good for we generally agree on most things around here. Can you guys imagine if, like, me, Steve and Lair were kind of like Megan, Abby, we'll be into it. Anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Thank you all that, Sunny Hosten.

Please, thank you. Thank you. Puerto Rico. Oh. Okay. I have one question for you. I want to get the first question now before I get it closed right now. No, not at all.

Does it get exhausting? If I'm being honest, you know, it gets exhausting for a lot of reasons, but I think it's very difficult to, maintain your composure when you're talking about things that people generally feel uncomfortable talking about, and you know you're talking about them in front of three million people, and you know you have to come back and talk about them again. So you can't burn bridges, but sometimes you want to. You kind of want to not only burn them, you want to blow them up. And it's also hard as a woman and a woman of color

when I know that there are all these tropes out there all the time, angry black woman, too emotional, irrational. And I know, because I hear from our viewers, that they feel that I represent them. And so I do not want to be a poor representation of the people. So I have to think about all that when I'm there. A lot. Yeah, I feel like for a lot of viewers of the show, especially pre-COVID, I will say that there's a majority of the people that I know, especially like where Steve and I work, Steve and I work at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Mm-hmm. So I think oftentimes people think like, oh, well, I'm cool. The roots in a mirror. So I'm not racist or I'm not, you know, or. Those things where it's like, well, you're friends with your co-worker. So thus, you're on the right side of history. I often feel as though, I feel like you and Whoopi might be the only point of view of a person of color or a woman that most of Middle America or, and I don't want to just say like, oh, only housewives watch the view.

Like anyone who's home during those morning, the afternoon hours watches it. But we all home, man. Yeah. Yeah. That's why our ratings are so high. Yeah, I was going to say that I often feel as though people channel into YouTube for opinions that they might otherwise not know about because they don't have friends that they're close to. So I feel like there's added pressure on you. But when the cameras are off and the show is done, how awkward is that walk back to the dressing room for the five of you, especially if it's unsettled?

Yeah. It depends on the day. day, you know, in all honesty. Like last week? Because we know we have to, yeah. I mean, we know we're going to work together the next day. And we may have had a really uncomfortable conversation. And what a lot of people don't know is, you know, we're totally unscripted.

We don't know what anyone is going to say. We know the topics. We don't even know the questions that are coming at us. So after it blows up and we're giving our honest, feedback, especially during these times, like COVID and the pandemic and this presidency and, you know, this administration. And I think what's become a racial reckoning, tempers are flaring. And sometimes it's hard to, you know, look at your colleague and not be emotional and upset and wondering where did that come from? Most times, though, I'll be honest, we reach back out to each other. It may take a day. It may take a day. It may take two days, but

sometimes it's immediate. We will text each other, we will call each other and say, what was that? We have that relationship with each other now. We've done that guys. Yeah. Yeah, not what you, we've done. We've done that.

Yeah, it happens. You have to, because at the end of the day, it's kind of like another family too. So you know that while you won't always like each other, you do love each other and you, you know, want to make sure that you know that, right? Yeah, and we're dysfunctional like every other family, you know? Facts.

Yeah. That is what it is. And imagine a family that you didn't choose and a family that is, we're all very different, different ages, different backgrounds. We are as different as you can be all thrown together. I watch you maneuver with the age thing, and I see you, I'm just going to see you in Whoopee because that's the interest in scenario, because y'all have very different backgrounds,

very different views at times. A lot of times you get this the same, but sometimes your experiences and her experience is coming to, and I watch you be, you know, gracefully go, in your mind, to me, I go, you go, that's my elder, let me listen to her. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

You know, I think, at least that's how I was raised. You know, you're speaking to someone of a different generation. You do that with respect. Even if you disagree, you disagree respectfully. Not everyone was raised that way, but that's how I was raised. Oh, I read it. That's how I comport myself. How hard is it, especially when you have to give so many teachable moments in sound bites within these like eight to nine minute increments and the five of you have the platform?

Like I'll say right now, the five of us have a rhythm or an energy that we didn't have maybe the first 20 episodes. where we were talking on top of each other that sort of thing. Yeah, I don't say shit anymore. It's my rhythm. Silence. No, but oftentimes, well, you've been there for two years now, correct?

Four. Oh, four, okay. Yeah, four. Believe it or not. Right. 2020 has been two years long. Yeah, I know. So even in being.

We've been there for four years and new blood comes in. And, you know, and oftentimes, you know, I think that often when producers or executive producers are looking for someone to fit in, they're thinking about ratings. They're thinking about who's controversial, who's Rebel Rousers. So you kind of kind of have to wonder, like, who's there just to be the soundbite of the moment on social media or who's there to really make a teachable moment to teach America. and teach each other about how you feel as a human. Like, how hard is it to talk in sound bites that are succinct and to the point and also trying to make a teachable moment? Like, do you ever feel as though, you know,

I mean, obviously, I'm trying not to make this about Megan, but I'm just saying, like, do you ever think that there will be a teachable moment for her There have been some. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, there have been some, but I almost feel like sometimes it's nine steps forward and then 80s backwards. As far, like, how concerned are you about making a teachable moment in which the person

really understands? And not in that way where it's just like, oh, you're an exception to the rule. You're the good one. Yeah. Or is it your brand and not getting canceled. Yeah. When I am thinking in the moment. I'm a quick think pretty quickly on my feet.

I think it's my training as a lawyer. But I know what my job is. And I know my job is to teach. When you have that kind of platform, you have to teach. And I'm not only trying to teach or inform my colleagues. I'm trying to inform someone in, you know, someplace in the country that hasn't heard that kind of point of view. Like you mentioned earlier, that I'm sometimes the. only person of color that they've seen, that they can engage with. And people do engage on

social media, that's absolutely sure. And so I try to do that. I will tell you that it's pretty difficult, especially when it's a topic that I know is of great import, right? And I know what I say is going to be all over the media. I know people are going to interpret it and misinterpret it. I think it's pretty difficult. Our show does a really good job at a break saying, Sonny, did you say what you needed to say? Megan, did you say what you need to say? What did you say what you need to say?

And if you're watching, oftentimes, Whoopi will continue the conversation. And that's because during the break, we've said, we didn't get that out. We didn't get that straight. I need to correct myself. But it's waiting. Why is she always last?

I'm like, Megan, if you don't get in there in the second or third. I think she feels most comfortable waiting to to hear what everyone is saying because she really is a, you know, she's the youngest on our, on our show. And I really believe, Quest to your initial question, that she is a work in progress.

Like she is really thinking things through. She's going through a lot of changes. We're talking about, you know, the death of her father, her hero, being pregnant for the first time, married, newly married. Having you in her life?

Having you. like me is you know those who are a lot of changes with a lot of in front of the public at that age in your early 30s and and she's really she's learning a lot of a lot of things I think she's questioning a lot of a lot of things while she's formed some opinions they change my change sometimes I hear things and I think okay you know I may never agree with that but I can understand where you're coming from and that's what our show is about I think it's changed all of us. Joy will tell you that all the time.

She's been on the show from the very beginning, except for the couple of years she got fired. She's a changed person because of it. She's a changed person. And each host does change you in ways that is very surprising. It's, you know, I understand more about conservative women than I ever have or even care to, really. Right, right. What is it that you think you understand?

now what is the show helped you understand that you didn't before you know one of the things that I grew up in the South Bronx right so and I I grew up with a certain group of people I didn't grow up in the middle of the country although I did go to law school in the middle of the country so my experience is more varied than most people but my close friends tend to mirror my opinions we we agree with each other most of the time now all of a sudden I'm learning, okay, well, if you have never, let's say, experienced the kind of poverty I experienced, you take for granted a lot of things. And it takes someone to say, you know what, not everybody has health care. So you feel sick. You immediately get to go to the doctor. I've had the occasion in my family, someone's sick. We don't have health insurance. We don't have the ability to go to the doctor. So we're sick and we go to work.

and we get other people sick. So we're not being reckless, so to speak, because we want to be. We need to feed our families. And those are the kinds of exchanges that we've had backstage, you know, where people are like, that's reckless, that's reckless. I'm like, no, that's poverty. And I can understand why she may feel that way.

Someone, one of the hosts, may feel that way, because it's just not in her experience. She doesn't have the bandwidth. She's learning how great America isn't. She's learning it. Yeah. You know? It's interesting watching Megan learn how great America isn't, like through you guys.

She's really, she's learning things and we're learning from her as well. So it's good to have someone who just has a different opinion. It's funny to say that because I think in my second year, 30 Rock, like, I think like maybe one death and one major sickness, I had to, like, sit out for, like, more than a day. And the first time I was, like, really, really sick, like, with the flu, they were kind of like, you know, why the hell are you in? Like, you could have got a sub to sit in for you. And, you know, I came from an upbringing where, like, I mean, your limbs could be hanging off. Yep.

You still, like, you still. go to work. Nothing has the way it worked. And they couldn't understand that mentality. You know? And meanwhile, like, you know, one of them will have the sniffles and then, like, run immediately to the ninth floor to, like, the nurse's office. I'm like, just get a Kleenex.

Like, I'm learning the cultural difference or whatnot. Well, you mentioned the South Bronx. That's, I know that's where you were born. Could you give us a brief synopsis of what, like, your formative child. childhood was like, like the type of household you grew up in? You know, I think my childhood was a lot like so many of us. My parents were teenagers. My mom was 17 when she got pregnant.

My dad was 18. They got married. But she had to get her GED. You know, she had all these dreams of going to long school, actually. My father wanted to go to medical school. It didn't happen for them. He had to find a job. They got married.

She stayed at home with me. And, you know, there were plenty of days with no, my father actually is here visiting me from North Carolina because my son just graduated high school. He said, he said, who. What part of North Carolina? What? Greenboro. What? Greensboro's my hometown.

Greensboro's my hometown. That's why I was raised. That's where my family's spent. Really? He's right here. He drove 10 hours because he can't get on a plane. He's in his 70s. Right.

He wasn't going to miss his grandson's graduation. Even though it was virtual, we couldn't go with what we watched. New York, huh? Yep, yep. And he said to me yesterday, he said, we were worried about the power going out. And I said, that's okay. I'll just put some hot water on the stove, you know, if it gets cold. And I'll heat up the room.

And he was like, you remember that? I said, yeah, I remember that. Because there were a lot of days when we didn't have heat. We didn't have water. We didn't have food. Having to open up the oven for heat. Did y'all do that? I did that.

You know, that my childhood was like that. There's a lot of days. But we always had love. That was the interesting thing. Like we always had love. My parents worked. It was hard for them to get a job. And I will say for us, education was really important.

For them, it was the game changer. They felt that that was a game changer. So we didn't watch a lot of TV in our house, but there were a lot of books. and it was sort of, you know, my mom's from Puerto Rico. So I think a part of it was, and so Spanish is my first language, but it was Spanish and English, same household books and work hard. Even though we don't have a lot, you know, she would make my clothes, that kind of thing. But we had love and we worked hard and things would get better.

That was sort of the vibe growing up. And I didn't even realize we were that poor. Are they still married? They're still alive. They're not married, but they date, which is really awkward. Say word. Wait a minute, Sonny. I didn't get to that part in the book.

I'm just at the part where they divorced and that was shocking. Wait. Yeah. It's so awkward. He's at a house now. She lives here. So how long have they been seeing each other? A king.

It's been he? Yes. I would not like that in my parents. I wouldn't like it. I love it. I love it. Wait. How the, what?

What? I have so many questions. How do you do that? It's so ridiculous. How do you really feel, Sunny? How do you really feel? Hey, man, he won't that old thing back. Hey. Can I just tell you, though, it's funny in reading your story, Sonny. Shaking her head.

So many parallels in that way. My parents are the same way. They don't go together, but they're best friends, even though they've been divorced for 30 years. It's just funny in reading your story because you're an only child, too, so it just affects you really differently. It affects you differently. I was devastated when they got divorced. I was upset. I felt like my whole world blew up. You know, they blew up my world,

and now they have the nerve to be at my house, smooching in the kitchen. It pisses me off. I'll be honest with you. It was me. It was a break. That's all to flourish. It was a break.

So during the time period that you grew up in the South Bronx, what were your teen years into? Of course, I mean, our podcast is music heavy. So I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about, I mean, you grew up in the birthplace for where hip hop was actually born. Yeah. In 1973. You described the broken glass in your memoir.

Like she described like a verse. Like, did a pop party jams into those things? I really did. I really did. I mean, break dancing was kind of big back then. as well. Crazy legs was out there. I remember going to the tunnel

and seeing Slick Rick, perform with Dougie Fresh. I was, I just, I loved music. I loved, loved music. So you were allowed to go out? Because I was wondering, because you had the shirt back there. I wasn't necessarily allowed to go out,

but I went out. I went out. I snuck out sometimes, you know, as a little bit of a. rule breaker. I wasn't really allowed to go out. Because also, you know, I was, I was, I was 12 in high school and 16 in college. Me too, sonny. Me too. That's why I was reading your book. I was like, yo, we are like parallel lives. Yeah. That's the issue. And so, but your parents are more like, you know, my mom was kind of like strict. But at the same time, she's like, but dang, your friends are

going out. So maybe you could spend the night out. And that's when you spend the night at the house, but then you go to the club. Right. No, my, my parents, um, my parents, um, No, they were like, you're too young. And I looked young, too. I looked bad young. So it was kind of, you know, a sneaking out type of thing, trying to make myself look older, bouncers in the like, you know, they used to have bounces back the day, picking people to get in.

They knew what I looked like. You didn't have steroids in your milk. He's breast been here since 12. Oh. Let me in a club. But it was, it was. you know, I loved music. I loved hanging out with my friends, breaking night, you know, that kind of, that kind of thing.

But I will tell you when my parents, after my uncle, my uncle got stabbed during an altercation. And I saw it. I was with him when it happened. And my mother said, stabbed and killed or just like stabbed? He was almost killed. He later died. You saved? I did. Yeah. And it was horrible. My family decided, you know, we can't live with this kind of violence around us all the time. So they kept on trying to get an apartment in Manhattan. But because they're an interracial couple, they couldn't get an apartment. Wow. They would go together. And you think about it. I mean, you know, Red Line is such a problem and racial bias and housing is such a problem. But this is the 70s. And they could not get a place to.

to live together. But interracial marriages had just been sanctioned by the Supreme Court in 67. They got married in 68. So, you know, 70s, there weren't that many people that were married

from different races then. So my mother went on her own and filled out an application in Manhattan. And she changed her name from Rosa to Rose. And she changed, she used to go by her maiden name,

which is Beza. Her father's a Spanish Jew. And she changed, she changed it to come she used my father's last name coming so she became rose cummings and if you look at her she doesn't look of color and um she got an apartment in manhattan and we moved out of the bronx and when my dad and i showed up you could imagine the surprise and shock so i got the opportunity when i was um going to high school i i lived in manhattan in a better neighborhood and was able to hang out at the clubs in Manhattan too. So that was the upshot. But I split my time because most of my family

was still in the Bronx. I mentioned after in the book in the memoir, when you tell that story about your uncle, because sorry, it was so good. I made a couple notes. And you said that you said that it marked the beginning of having to straddle multiple worlds, which to me started to make sense as a viewer of the view and the way you handle things. And you just talked about how it will become natural and necessary to juggle motherhood, career, loving, and new and old friends and how when you moved to Manhattan, your old friends in the Bronx was like, oh, you knew, right? They still trip on me.

It's so funny. They're like, oh, you fancy now. Still, to this day, because I have the same friends. I have the same friends. And even getting jumped on the subway. I was like, Sonny. I got, that is just good. I did.

I got jumped on the subway. Can you imagine? Tell the guys this story, please. Because I had the same experience. I did. You did? It's horrible. That silence that you experienced.

Yes, go ahead. It's horrible. I used to have to take the subway, two subways, two trains from where I lived to this private school. My father insisted on sending me to on Park Avenue. And it's like I had never experienced anything like that. You know, it was certainly not my world. But he wanted a better life for me. So they enrolled me in this private school with these fancy uniforms, but everybody else getting dropped off, you know, being driven there.

And I'm taking the subway. And I got the outfit on. And you become a target immediately. You're just a target. So, like, I know streetways, but they knew that I was somehow different. And this group of girls would always get on a six train. Always got on a sixth train. And it was about six of them.

And they would just taunt me. Oh, you this, you that. Look at you get those shoes. Look at that uniform. Where you go to school? It was just constant, constant, constant. Oh, but that was constant. And I had very long hair.

My hair was like waist length. And they would say, you know, look at that hair. That's why you think you're cute. And it was constant. It was for about three or four months. And I realized we must have all gone to school in the same area because we were on the same train at the same time trying to get to school. And I would try different cars.

And they would just find me. They find me. And I think it was just like their morning fun, quite frankly. And then one day they were quiet. And I was like, oh, maybe it's over. I literally, we get off at the stop. This is 68th Street, Manhattan. And they jumped me.

They take one of my, I had like my braid and just cut it off, just one. Wow. So I got one long grade and just nothing. I mean, and I was so. traumatized and and I had never really looked them in the face because that's New York real. You don't look at the people in the face because now you're challenging someone. So I would hear them and say, but I would just just cursory glance. So you know, I ran to the school, the school called the police and they kept on saying do

you want to identify them? I was like one, I don't really, I didn't look them in the face and two, can you imagine if I identified them? No, no, yeah. You know, then I got to get on the train again. Yeah, that's not a good ride. It's just not a good ride. So I spent the next, you know, I would say six months avoiding taking the train,

walking to school, you know, walking miles to school, taking the bus, pretending to be ill. You know, my cousins were like, you know, trying to take me to school. It was, it was an interesting, you know, you're straddling two worlds, right? I mean, that's, that's, I think so many of us, we call it code switching now, but I think many of us are, are sort of used to doing that. And I'm used to doing that on the view, too. I mean, there are times I got to tell you, I feel like my head's going to explode. And I, I feel like falling at the TV and you calm.

Yeah. I feel like falling back into a certain code. But I just know that it's not, it won't serve anybody well to do that. But the theme is, is that you constantly. do this. And even when you were describing the intricacies of being from a Puerto Rican side of the family and a family who is from the South and the difference between being the Leiskin cousin and the Negrita, like the way you broke down and understood early your position and even though it upset you, but you were like, I get it. Yeah, I get it. It's interesting when you, I think,

when you live between worlds like that, you know, like my father's family, he was the first one that didn't marry a black woman. And in my mother's family, she was the first one that didn't marry somebody that was either Latino or white, quite frankly. So they were, you know, so I was a unicorn. And on my father's side,

they never accepted my mother. They didn't really like it. And because he was like, you know, cream of the crop and why he had to marry her. And I think that happens with some southern families. And it's understandable giving our history. And on my mother's side of the family, they accepted him, but it was more like, for me, I was always

Negita, Negita, even in Puerto Rico, Negita. And Spanish people will tell you that that's a term of endearment, but I don't think it is. It don't sound like that to us. That sounds like nigger. That sounds like Negita, it's just nigger with sazon on it. That's what it sounds like with a little bit of al-a-a-a-law on it. That's what it sounds like.

to me. And it always felt like that. And they were like, it's a term of endearment. I'm like, but it's race base. It's color base. I don't like it. And I would say all the time, don't call me that, you know, but they, um, but they would. Did they ever stop when you said like, I just, um, no, not when I was a kid. They don't dare now. Um, but, you know, no, when I was a kid, no, it's like, that's a term of endearment. Just take it. Just take it. And then you still hear it in the Latino community, you know, negriita, negriita, negita. And then on my father's side, It was always like, you know, they hated my mom or didn't like my mom. Hate is strong work.

But it was like, you know, Mo's little girl, the pretty little girl, pretty light skin girl, the girl with the good hair. And it's like, so you don't like the marriage, but you are exalting the product of the marriage. The product of it, right. That doesn't make any sense. So it was, it was sort of, I was, I grappled with that my whole life. I didn't, I didn't quite understand it. And even today, I write a. the book about I was with Anna Navarro, Don Lemon.

I love the story. Yes, that's story. I was with Anna Navarro. I was with Don Lemon, Candy Carter. And I think, yeah, we were eating lunch together. Candy used to be, she's now the executive producer at Tamron Show, but she was my executive producer at the View. And Candy's African American, y'all know Anna Navarro and you all know Don. Of course, Don. No, he's been treated lately. He's been, he didn't turn into Don Lemon Pepper as of late. I mean, it's real black now. I'm always goofing on him.

I think he had a transformation in Ferguson when we were there, and he got teared down. We were both there. But he, you know, we were talking, and Anna was like, my real name is Assumcion. And Anna was kind of like, you know, I never thought you with Spanish. I was like, really?

And she only seemed to figure it out when J-Lo's mom and I were talking, speaking in Spanish. P.S. Anna should know that your viewers, we observe that as well. I'm glad she changed in her. I was like, wait, how would you not know that? You were with me at CNN. I mean, I've done hits for CNN Españo.

I don't understand that. And I think for her, it was more like because I was always so vocal about the black community and Trayvon and she kind of thought, well, she's just black. Like she couldn't be anything else. And then so we kind of got over that And she said, but I apologize to you Because I don't know, I just I didn't see you as a multi-dimensional person

And then Candy said the same thing Candy was like, well I owe you an apology too Because she told me one day I kept on wondering why when we were booking shows Like MLK shows And you know Other other shows They never asked me for my connects

I was like, why don't the book has come to me? I mean, I know a lot of black people. I was like, y'all can't find anybody. Why don't you come to me? Let me open up my roller decks. And she kind of mentioned to me one day, she was like, well, you're not really black. I'm like, so whoopie's the only black person on the set?

It was just very surprising to me. And her opinion was she saw me as more Latina. And so you have these two women, one's black, one's Latina. I'm both. and they are sort of erasing me from both communities. From both sides, yeah. From both sides. And then Don Lemon, Don and I've been friends a really long time, probably maybe 20 years or so.

And he was like, welcome to Sunny's world. Because, I mean, that's, you know, he's dealt with his own issues, I think, being a black man from the South and a gay man. So he's traversing various worlds. And his fiancee is white. So he certainly has to deal with a lot of different, different issues. Well, once again, how exhausting is it? Very, very exhausting. So what are family gatherings like now for you?

Because my dad, make it out in the kitchen. We already told that. Exactly. That's mooching in the kitchen. Well, no, no, no. I just mean that, you know, there's a point where if a light shines with you or if there's a success in your life, then you'll see a lot of people's tunes

start to change. Yeah. And I guess maybe I've just started to come to grips with how to even deal with that. I mean, no, I was always like a family black sheep. And then I don't like it. Once you make it, then it's like, Hey, Cousin Amira, Jay-Z's come to do-da-da-da-da-da-da-k you guys take.

You do get those calls. Yeah, I was going to say, like, with those, do you attend, you know, family reunions and those things? Yeah, I didn't for a while. I didn't for a while. And then my father's mother passed. And I saw everyone for the first time at her funeral in a long time. and I missed them very, very, very much. When my mother's mother passed, you know, unfortunately, we get together what weddings and

funerals, a lot of families. And when my mother's mother passed, I realized how far apart I had sort of become from, you know, both sides of my family, just in terms of trying to work hard. And like you said, kind of being the black sheet, you know, the other. I think it's brought us closer now. I think their passing has brought us closer because now more than ever, I think we need our families. I think we need our support systems. And when you are the one that makes it, I feel a certain sense of responsibility to help the others in my family that just haven't been able to do as well.

You know, I've got cousins in prison. I've got, you know, other cousins that just can't afford. for to put their kids through school. And so I've stepped in the gap in those places. Because I just, I think when one of us makes it, we can really make a change for our families. So I have done that. I've taken it upon myself to make sure that that I do that.

So how exhausting is that? Because as a black person, that's another side of it to be the one who made it. Who's supporting everybody. now. Yeah. I am. For real.

I support a lot of people. What is your relationship with the word no? And I'm not asking as the host of this podcast. I need life lessons on this one. Your family listen to me. Be careful. You know, I am not great at it. I've become better at no.

I'm certainly good at no when I think that it isn't good for the person asking. You know, I'm not going to help you if it's going to help you destroy yourself. You need money for your next fix. You're not going to get it for me. But I do have trouble saying no. When I know I really shouldn't pile one more thing on my plate,

I try to make the time. And self-care, I think, is really important. And I don't realize that I don't spend enough time doing that because, you know, if mommy unravels or wifey unravels, everything unravels. Yeah, and the whole house fall down. Everything falls apart. What is your self-care thing, Sonny?

What is your self-care thing, Sonny? Because you do, you're fighting fights all day. You're a whole wife and a whole mom, and then you got a whole lawyer, and then you fight and put my chickens. What is it? I got 15. And no, I, I, I stay at a place that once had. said seven.

Yeah. And then raccoons, I didn't know how, like, vile foxes and raccoons are. Like, they've dug. They go, they come right underneath. They even have things called chicken moles that just, they just like to eat chicken and, like, you know, attack chickens. Well, we have, we lost a few at first. And then my husband, he's really handy and can fix anything. He put, like, the steel gauge mesh underneath the coop.

underneath the chicken run. And so we were good for a while. And then we decided to, they should free range. Because we live, we live outside the city. We were letting them free range. And then we had a hawk attack. We had a fork incident. And these four chickens.

Chickens were flying everywhere. I couldn't believe it. I was screaming. A hawk incident. There's feathers everywhere. It's now like ridiculousness. Yeah. Oh, man.

Chickens got, chickens got them coming from above from underneath the side. They were everywhere. They say hawks were supposed to be hunt. They supposedly hunts, I mean, that's solitary hunters. But there was more than one hawk. My vet said it's possible that there was like a mother hawk teaching a baby hawk. But anyway. You're not out of teaching Ridge.

Are you in Pound Ridge? No, I mean, but I'm in Westchester County. That's by you, right, Amir? Is that close? That's you too, Bill? I'm in Pound Ridge. So, yeah, I'm out here. They've been doing that to me too.

Yeah. Can I just say, speaking of Hawks, Sonny, I wanted you to share with the guys, your initial list for a mate. Oh, yes. In the book, I know that, because Sonny walked down.

She hawked down on her husband, Mani. I did. And I know that Bill and Fonte will find his fascinating. I did. I did. I found him in church. I say we met in church. Oh, you did.

What does he say? What does he say? He didn't meet him. You didn't meet him. You didn't meet in church? No, you, no, you saw him in church. He met there. Okay.

What are you saying? Our souls met there. You see what I'm saying? God is your body. Because, well, what had happened? What happened was that my mother said that my problem was that I didn't go to church enough. That's why I couldn't meet any good men because I was a serial date. I was dating a lot of athletes and, and, you know,

musicians and stuff like that. I won't tell you which musicians. I won't tell you which ones, but here goes my husband, poking in his head. Didn't we meet in church? He did meet in church. He just said, that's right, sweetheart. Marriage, sweet man.

Okay, okay, okay. So I decided I was training for a marathon and I was in my sweats, like, you know, training outfit. And I ran into a church just to kind of just Jones and my mother just to, you know, Gouf on her and call her back and say, yeah, I met the priest in the church. And I sat in the back and these two fine men walk in. And I was like, oh, nice looking men in the church. Now, my husband goes to church every Sunday.

But he goes to church in a suit. And so he had a suit on. And it turns out that the church was across the street from Johns Hopkins University where he was in medical school. I didn't know that. You know, because I was kind of new in town in Baltimore. And I did stay at the church and I went, you know, listened to everything. And then I follow him outside of the church.

Of course, she made him. Wait, did she meet him? Yeah. Did she meet him? I did meet him. She's still in the stalking process. She's going to meet him. No, I met him in the church.

So then I, after we met in the church, then I followed him to the bagel shop. and I approached him. And I said, hi, I'm new in town. And I said, wasn't this, the sermon, the homily so beautiful in the church? And he was like, you were in the church? I said, I was. But he just kept on looking at me because I had a ridiculous outfit on. I mean, I had, you know, I was sweaty.

I mean, I looked crazy. But I was in the church. And he was a little bit dismissive, but he had everything I wanted because I always wanted a man of faith. I found out at the bagel shop that he, He was in medical school, so he had something he wanted to do. You know, he was on a track of having a career. I wanted someone that spoke more than one language.

That was important to me. Found out that he was born in Spain. His mother's from Spain. His father's from Haiti. So he spoke Spanish. Spanish was his first language. Check. Then, check.

Then, so I got three checks now. Then I said, well, where are you from? Because I was like, you know, maybe he's from a corny place and maybe he won't have like a He was like, I'm, you know, I was born in Spain, but then we moved to New York. So I was like, check, check, check. He got that. And he liked bagels. You know?

Church and bagels in the same day. I mean, it's so good. Then he said, we started talking about where he was, you know, went to school, where then not he pledged. He was like, yeah, I'm a member of Camp Alpha Society fraternity. I was like, oh, my God. I was like, oh, my God. I was like, it's just so good.

And I did, we'll say, I always said that my husband had to be over six feet tall. Because I'm not short. He did not meet that one qualification, but I didn't really notice it then. Because all I saw was shininess, because he's very good looking in the face, and he walks real tall and he's real muscular. So I really didn't notice the height until later. So I had to give that up. Are you tall? Basically.

We're all the same height laying down. That's right. I'm taller than him if I have heels on. Yes, I am. For real. You got one of those, Sonny. It's all right. I never noticed.

I never noticed. I never noticed. But I called my friend and I was like, I met my husband. He don't know it yet. And she was like, oh, so he must do this. He speaks Spanish. He's from New York.

He's this. And he's, what is he? Six, four? I was like, You're like, he's good in the face. I was like, he's real good in the face. The grill is working. I was like, everything is good.

But I don't think he's over six feet. But we did meet in church. This sounds like one of those Rudy Bud. This is one of those Rudy Bud moments. Yes. Yes. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skis. hits, 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 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. Everyone, I'm Ego Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers 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 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 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.

Of course, I guess your entry to where you are now starts with law school. Will you, can you say that, is it that you're the manifestation of your parents' dream to become that professional? Like, are you the result of that? How did you even get, how did you have interest in justice and the law? It was my mother. I actually wanted to be a broadcast journalist, and my mother freaked out. She was like, what is that? What is so?

And I was like, you know, you report the news on TV, but you got to think in the 80s, there weren't, you know, this wasn't like Oprah. You know, Oprah wasn't who she became. And I think in New York, there was like Carol Jenkins, but there just wasn't a lot of representation. I mean, there still isn't. But there just wasn't a lot of representation in media. And she thought that the best way to financial security, especially for a woman, law medicine, law medicine. She became a teacher and she was like, you need to become a lawyer. She's like, you like to talk a lot, you like to argue a lot, you got all A's, that's what you got to do.

And so I took the LSATs. What was fascinating was I loved law school, but I would not have thought of it, if not for my mother. because I did argue all the time, and I felt terrible. Like when I saw the inequity, it bothered me, it bothered me. But I wanted to tell those stories as opposed to fighting for it in the courtroom. And I think it was certainly my mother because she lived a dream deferred because that's what she wanted to do. Right. Is that just a myth our parents sold us?

Because now there are, I have to say that, outside of the entertainment profession, a lot of my friends are those medical students and those law students either. I played a spring fling 20 years ago, like the roots did something, and then I got to know them professionally, whatever. And none of them seemed to be living.

Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Is that a lie that America's taught us? Because what's weird is when I last went to Cuba. Hosbies. I'm sorry, the huxibles. I'm sorry, the huxibles.

Right. Yeah, yeah. When I last went to Cuba, my connect there told me that parents groomed their kids to be in the hospitality. When you're a driver, when you're a taxi driver, especially the way that the economy is there. You can, you can, you're rich. Like a guy like me comes to Cuba and rents a driver for a week

and that's damn near like a year's worth of pay for them. Whereas doctors, none of the doctors. Right, because they get paid the same thing as a trash man. Socialized medicine, right? Yeah. Yeah, like, is, do lawyers kick him the dough as we've been told and fed this way? you can make a significant amount of money as a lawyer.

I know when I first got a law school, I went to a law firm, and I mean, I was making a ton of money. I hated working there. I didn't like it. What kind of law are you doing now? I was practicing litigation, medical malpractice, insurance defense. And so it wasn't necessarily boring, but you're basically sold to the highest bidder, right? So you've got these corporations that can pay you to defend their mal deeds, their misdeeds. And I just felt like I didn't go to law school and do as well as I did to defend this. I just, I didn't feel good.

It didn't feel right. But you can't, you can't do quite well. And I think we, we have been, you know, medical doctors, they don't do as well as they used to do because of insurance. companies, but it's, it was, it's sort of a solid living, right? It's like a safe. It's a real job. It's a safe job. It's a safe job. And I mean, my husband's a surgeon, he loves it, but both of his parents are doctors as well. Sister's a doctor. You know, it's sort of the family business in a sense, but his parents are immigrants. And that was the dream, you know, you become a doctor. You're going to, and go to America.

you're going to do really well. And they did. But I think, I don't think that as people of color, we had the, my parents at least felt as people of color, we didn't have the ability to dream like that. Like, you're going to try to do what after we've struggled and skimped and, you know, saved to put you through school. That's what you're going to do. You want to be on TV.

It just, it made no sense to them. That's like a recipe. be for failure. You could fail doing that. But if you go to law school and do well, you can get a job. It's like punching a ticket. It's seen, that's the safe way to do it.

Sounds like somebody I'd know. But in a remix, though, now, Sonny, it's funny. I was talking to a girlfriend whose son is in college and she was having a conversation with him about how we were, traditionally, we are told to go to college. And now these kids these days are

like, no, wait a minute, I don't necessarily have to go to college because I can, I learned how to code to do this, I can do this. So do you feel like at the same time? Yeah, we're all being, it's like now it's another era of reprogramming, right? It definitely is another error. I mean, you know, I'm raising these generation Z kids. Right. And how old are your kids, Sonny? 17 and 14.

Oh, okay. It's about same age as mine. Mine of 19 and 14. Right. They're kind, you know, they are different because they have so much. much information at their fingertips. They're not looking through encyclopedias. And I feel it's double-edged sword because my son, who's very bright, will, like, say

something. And I'm like, where did you get that? And he thinks, like, he thinks he can, he knows more about, you know, an orthopedic injury than his father because he Googles something. You know what I mean? Like, he knows a little better than I do because he Googled something. So they have, they have this cavalier attitude, I think, sometimes towards information. But I do think that they realize that the world is pretty broad and, you know, that they can, there are a lot of opportunities for them.

He even mentioned at one point, you know, not everybody needs to go to college. Right. But I will tell you, my reaction was, you need to go to college because I still think that if you can, and not everyone can because it's too, it's overpriced and it's not accessible to everyone. And I don't think everyone was meant to go to school, you know, to go to college. You don't necessarily need it. But I think if you can, it's education can still be an equalizer. I do believe that it can still be an equalizer. At least it was for me.

And it can provide tremendous opportunity. And a lot of it is socialization for people that you meet there. That's the big part. Yeah, it really is. A network. But now even that's being redefined it now that everyone is doing, we're all doing it from home now. So, yes. What is college in 2020,

2020, 2021? You know what I mean? It's a different thing. It's a different thing. Well, I'll tell you, my son decided to take a gap year instead of starting college because he was like, my husband was dancing up and jumping up and down because he didn't want to pay the money anyway. But he was like for virtual. And for us, you know, I thought, well, why should he go to a college and sit in a dorm room and,

you know, not and be alone? in the dorm room and then all the classes were going to be virtual. And he was going to eat in his dorm room. There was really not the real college experience. So he decided to take a gap year because of the pandemic. I think 2020 is everybody's gap year. This is all about it.

Did you see that episode of Blackish? That's like a whole thing for Black people now. I don't even know we're doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the gap year thing. Yeah. It's the gap year. Yeah, when he first mentioned it to us, we were like, you're anomaly Obama. Okay.

I'm not the first lady. And that's what you're not going to do. do. Yeah, I was a little, I was a little uncomfortable with it, but it made sense after a while. It's like high school extended. You know what else? I think that I think Gen Z is also the first generation that, you know, my parents were definitely the product of, you know, safety and security and getting a good job and da-da-da-da-da. Yeah. To have something to fall back on, that sort of thing.

Exactly. I think that Gen Z on will go with their first. instincts, their first passions. And yes. Roll with it. Because yeah, you and I basically like the same thing. Like my dad had plans for me to do something way different and you know, I had to hide for a long time that I was in a rap group and all this other stuff. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. You know, Genesee, they bowed it. They've been, Genesey, they've been watching police snuff video since they was 12. So, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's true. So they, you know what I mean,

these youngers, they bowed it. Yeah, they bowed. So wait, so let me ask you all the question on the sense of that because since they are reprogramming, reprogramming the whole way we're supposed to think now, even on the subject of like race and sex, I was going to ask Sunny how you feel about that? Because it's interesting, I was just, I was watching,

I don't know if y'all watched this show, I may destroy you or whatever. It's a show on HBO. I'm waiting for the finish. I was going to just take them all in. Okay, well, there's just an episode. It's just interesting in the way that they're redefining sex, sexual assault, things,

of these nature. And they were talking and it was an episode where the girl was having sex with someone unwillingly and he took the condom off, right? And so she was like, you assaulted me. Right. Now, rewind 10, 15 years ago, we would just be like, that motherfucker's an asshole. Fuck you, right? But now these kids are like, no, that's assault. And it's just everything is different, like this language from sex, race, everything is just, do you find yourself, since you're on TV every day playing this catch-up game of trying to figure out. Absolutely. I don't know how to think no more.

How do you think? You know, I try to remain enlightened. You know, I'm trying to plug in all the time and get the information and make sure that I'm growing along with every movement. I will say, you know, I think it's really difficult to parent during these times because, you know, it's your worst. nightmare. That a boy and a girl.

So yeah. You know, someone, you know, your, your child's accused of assault or your child is assaulted or not understanding, you know, the new societal norms. I spend a lot of time talking about consent, talking about what assault is, talking about respect, talking about, you know, they go to a very progressive school, though. So the school covers a lot of those issues, which is good. But I spent a lot of time trying to be informed and making sure that they are informed. Because I think people are very awake to their rights, which is a good thing.

And to be ever-changing, you know, we got into an argument like this on the show, but like, what is PC? I'm like, you know, in my view, you know, people used to be able to say whatever they wanted to other people. And now people are like, no, don't say that to me. And I think respect is at the core of so many things. And I've been making sure that my kids really fundamentally understand other people's rights and respect that. Because that's where I think we're just missing. We're losing a lot. in terms of our respect for each other.

And we know it comes from the top. We know what we're seeing lately, but that's a fundamental problem. If I heard correctly, you said that your kids are 17 and 14? Yeah, yeah. It might be the norm right now, but if you can go back to like 2016, November of 2016,

how did you explain to them suddenly what was happening? Like, I can't even imagine viewing the world, especially coming from where they came, where they were a formative age coming up in the Obama years. Yeah. And in no way am I ever saying that that was a rosy time either. But it seemed like a more manageable time, and it seemed like we were headed in the right direction. Yeah, and I mean, it's what was wonderful, wasn't it? that I felt it was wonderful that my children had for their first, for their cognitive years,

they sold black president. Right. I thought it was wonderful. You know, how do you explain life to them now that the rug has seemingly been pulled from underneath them? Or even, not even 2016, like the idea of the riots. And how do you explain that to them? Well, my children, probably because of their mommy, are very, our social activists and their advocates. You know, my son was involved in a sit-in at his school a couple years ago.

They're very well read. In fact, it got so much press that it had to become part of his college essay. And when he was interviewed, almost every college interview brought it up and brought up this question. You know, like what made you want to become an activist? And his answer really was that he felt that there was a backlash to the fact that there was a black president. And my kids were very, very noticeably shaken by what they perceived as a backlash. And my daughter, who's she's only 14,

but she said she feels that this sort of, you know, there's like a pen. pendulum that swings and that there were people in our country that felt that Obama being president for eight years took the pendulum too far too far to the left and they wanted to bring it all the way back. And that was a really interesting perspective that I hadn't even thought of that way, that that's why we're seeing these extremes because they thought that that was that extreme. So I will say, I don't even know that I had to reconcile it for them. I think because they have so much information and they're so interested in the information, at least my children, they formulated their own opinions early, very early. I remember in November 2016, I was bereft. I was very upset.

And, you know, they were like, how could this happen? He's such a joke. He said horrible things who would vote for him. There were things like that, you know. They were like, but he didn't, he didn't, he didn't really. really win. They were trying to really make sense of the process, even then, even in 2016. Well, it should be noted that you at least had your parents' cake and you ate it too by stepping into the television journalism world, starting with court TV and I, you Riley factor. I know. Yeah, like, okay, so what

deciding factor that you should take this to a higher level and kind of get to your dreams? Like, what was that moment where you were where obviously you were like, you know, well, I am going to pursue journalism and and sort of dabble and all. It was, and I write in the book

that I always know when I'm in the right place when it feels like home, or it feels right, when I'm comfortable, it feels good. The law firms didn't feel good. The Justice Department felt good. It felt like I was doing the good work, making good trouble. But then after I had my first child, I was really blowing in the wind.

And I went back and went to another law firm, making a lot of money, which was stupid, to go back to a place I knew I wouldn't feel like home. And I was searching. But in the back of my mind, I have to tell you, I knew that I needed to follow my passion. And I went to a meeting of lawyers and had the good fortune of meeting a television producer there

from Court TV who said, you've got to, you know, you should be on television. And I took that opportunity and I seized it. And I really never let it go. I just never let it go and I just kept on doing it. And I kind of got discovered that way, which is unusual, right? You know, you meet a television producer and you're on TV the next week and then it never goes away. And I feel like that's because it was my true calling and it was something that I was supposed to do.

But I also had the benefit of being married to an orthopedic surgeon who could pay the bills and who could hold it down for me and who was willing to do that. Because he based, we had a talk and I was like, I think I'm leaving this law firm and this has been a dream of mine and I want to do it. And he basically said, all right, let's talk tonight. Got home, pulled up budgets and pulled up savings accounts. And he was like, okay. And he had just started his own practice. And he was like, well, you know, and we had just bought a house. And we just had a baby, two babies at that point.

And he said, I could hold it down for about three years. You think you could make it in three years. You could make what you're making now three years. And I say, yeah, I think I can. He said, then do it. All right. That's significant, right? That's significant.

I don't know that a lot of people would, you know. So he may have been short, but he wasn't short on cash. No, he doesn't. And the moral to this story. Yeah. And to the baby journalists out there too, Sonny, not to say that you were also like still doing the work. Like you were going to NABJ. You was doing some of the stuff that just say all these other baby journalists are doing too.

Yes. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. continue to do it. I continue to go to N.A.B. Yes. I go to NAH. NHJ. I do. I continue to go to local meetings. I go. You got you have to do it. You have to do the work. You know, I, I, I, I text people. What do you think about this? What do you think about that? You know, I mean, now I have it just a wonderful circle of, you know, other sister girl journalists who, you know, we're actually on this text chain

and we go back and put political journalists as well. We go back and forth. You know, can you review this for me? What do you think about this position? What do you think about that? And it's, you know, Joy Reed has been a wonderful. I was just about to ask you, how was that Zoom party?

I was about to say, how was that Zoom party first week when she broke their records? I just in my mind. Oh, my God. And then Sunny too, in my mind, the first show that she did with all the black mares, I was like, oh, they're couldn't wait to do her episode.

They was like, girl, what you need us for? We were all watching together. It was so amazing. You know, we popped champagne with joy after. Yes. You know, and she's been great. She's not only a friend, but an inspiration, you know. She's doing such amazing things, amazing work.

But I have that circle that I can still depend on and count on. And I say young journalists, you've got to keep that network tight and help each other. it's important. Since you're probably the only person that I know that I'm in conversation with that is any proximity towards the Fox building.

I have to ask. All right, in general, is there general modus operandi that they believe what they're saying or they know better but will still say toxic talking points for the sake of their bottom line, which is, and specifically, you know, I know that you were a pundit. I don't even want to paint that you were, oftentimes you were debating against what, you know, first of all, how do they find, do they find legitimate people that have, like, how do they, how do they, how,

Realistic backgrounds. Yeah. Yeah. They found me on court TV. They saw me on court TV. Yes, there are some legitimate people. I mean, Chris Wallace is there. I actually think he's one of the finest journalists out there today.

I thought Shep Smith was great as well, and I worked with him. I thought he was excellent. I think it's a mixed bag over there. I think there are some people who are saying these irresponsible things that aren't as talented as they should be, and they're doing it for ratings and for their bottom line. I also think there are some that really believe that, that are indoctrinated and truly, truly believe it. My experience there was that you'd walk in the building, and there was a collective,

there were collective points that they wanted to make that day. Collective points, like on whiteboards. these are the three points and themes that everyone is going to cover in their shows in various ways. Pundits are going to talk to it, guests are going to speak to it, the anchors are going to pontificate about it. And they were marching orders. That's when Ayles was there. It may be different now, but those were the marching orders. And everybody marched to those orders.

It was like sort of a monolithic view. And that was Roger Ailes' view. And then they would have a couple people like me, maybe Juan Williams, to kind of mix it up a little bit. So in that scene one side of it, okay. Yeah. But by and large, I think it's a mixed bag and that some people just do it for ratings. But they all, and if you're doing it, in my opinion, for just ratings, you've sold your soul. you know you're just you're just inauthentic you're even worse than the people that really believe it right

and and then there are people that i believe really believe it i do so knowing the fight and the struggle that we have uh in the next four months and what's working against the fight and whatnot um you know, how do you see where journalism, be it news sources, be it the blogosphere, be it a podcast, be it talk shows, discussion shows, which there are plenty of now on television. How do you feel as though how effective that they will be? Oh, well, very effective. We know that. We know Fox has been extraordinarily effective.

And we know there are other programs that are extraordinary effective. I will say this. I think that there's a difference between journalism and punditry, right? Journalism and commentators, journalists and commentators. And the line is so blurry for people, intentionally so, that the media and network news and cable news, we all have to be very careful. I think and letting people know that this is a piece of commentary. This is an opinion piece. This is an op-ed as opposed to these are the facts.

Yes, these are the facts. No networks do that, though. No network. Yeah, I'm finding, you know, by and large, and I was talking to a couple of my journalists friends, T.J. Holmes. I don't know if you know him, Robin Roberts. Of course.

And Pierre Thomas, you know, these are journalists. And they're really concerned about that, too. Lindsay Davis, who moderated one of the debates. I think she was really our best moderator that we've seen in the debates. She had that fly white suit. But, you know, journalists need to continue doing that job, just the facts, ma'am. And I also think there is an important space for shows like my show. I mean, when I'm not reporting on something, I am giving my opinion.

The view is an opinion show. And we make it clear that these are our opinions. These are our views. There's a really important place for that to have that lively discussion so that you can hear those views, but then make your mind up yourself. I try to be very fact-based in my arguments on the view, not emotion, right? Because facts trump emotion, no pun intended, every single time. Every single time. You come at me with your emotional argument.

I'm going to tell you, but these are the facts. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Can I tell you the best example, I'm sorry. I was just going to tell you the best example of that was that conversation between, I want to say Tiffany Cross and Whoopi Goldberg about why we need. And I know you've been very vocal on their needs to be black female VP. And the way she's not woman of color black. Yeah. Yes, because, of course, Ms. Duckwater will make a great secretary of defense, and she would.

Excellent. And she would. But we need a black agenda. We need a reconciliation for the black community. You know, one thing that's really fascinating to me about this discussion of black BP, and I had been very vocal. I was, we were the first group to write an op-ed in the Washington Post about the need for, we started that conversation. It was, I wrote it with Tiffany. I wrote it with Angela Rye, Amanda Seals,

Brittany Packett Cunningham, who's brilliant. Latasha Brown, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter. And we got together. We're on a thread. Talking, bad. We got to make this happen. And we all agreed. And I reached out to, you know, Donna Brazil,

Minut Moore, all these people. And we, you know, we have a, we have a black women think tank. We really do. And it was, we need, he's promised this black Supreme Court justice. That's great. But you're not getting the black Supreme Court justice unless you have the Senate. Okay. So, so that's, that's an illusory promise.

What we need is representation at the table, at the table in the White House. And because black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, brought Joe Biden to the barbecue, resurrected his campaign in South Carolina. Hey, Simone. Save that name. What's that, Simone? Oh, I've spoken to her as well. We deserve that seat at the table.

And for people to say somehow that it's not about race and it's about the most qualified, we've been hearing that argument all the time. And the other thing is every single voting block with power has a lobby and makes demands before they will provide their vote. Right. So you've got the gun lobby. You've got the evangelicals. All those groups will say, we will support you. Maybe not the gun lobby now.

But we will support you if you give me this. Why is it when black women say, we will. support you. We will organize. We will bring our husbands and our children and our sisters and our parents to vote during a global pandemic, risking our lives, but you must give us this representative in the White House. We are somehow asking for too much. We're not doing anything else that any other voting block with power does. So I just, I don't understand why there's been such pushback with that demand because it's not a request. They're not used to us asking for stuff or demanding.

It's not a request. It's a demand that any other strong voting block makes. And now is the time because once he's in the White House, I mean, the black agenda, what is really the black agenda? And if you've read Joe Biden's agenda, it's okay. It's a little squishy. It's not as specific as it should. be. And, you know, he has, he's an imperfect candidate and he has a lot to atone for when it comes to the treatment of Anita Hill and it comes to the crime bill and it comes to mass incarceration.

Yes. It has a lot to atone for. And I think because, you know, no other candidate in the past 50 years, Democratic candidate has won without the black vote. He needs to win overwhelmingly because if not the current occupant in the White House is going to have to be, you know, it's not going to want to it out, black people have got to risk their lives to vote now. Got to stand in lines because of COVID because of all the attack on

on mail and voting. And I don't think people are going to be as energized with Tammy Duckworth with, you know. Don't we need to keep Kamala in the Senate, though? I'm concerned. I think she should. What do you think about vice presidents? And yeah, either in the Senate or as

Attorney General or, you know. You know, I think that Kamala, we've seen. her. She is certainly the prosecutor in chief. I know her. I think, you know, California is a lock for a Democratic senator. I'm not concerned about Kamala

being in the Senate. I think she can be much more effective as vice president. And I'd like to see her debate, Vice President Pence. I think she's a really strong candidate in terms of being ready to occupy the Oval.

Because not everyone, you know, is Joe Biden is not immortal and I'm not an agist, but he is going to be 78. And what he needs to think about is not the next four years. He needs to think about the next eight and the next 12 because in three and a half years, the Trump administration has undone eight years of what the Obama administration did or was allowed to do it. So, you know, you need someone that's able to kind of step in.

And I just don't know that, you know, and step in and run because she has run the AG. office. You know, she, she has the experience to run out of all the candidates that I've seen. I think she has, she has the experience to run a country. That's just my take. What do you thoughts on Val Demings? I thought she was, you know, with her from Florida. You know what I mean?

I was like, that's- I've interviewed Val. I think she's great. I think if you look at Val's loan enforcement record, it's a little problematic. It's a little problem. It can be problematic. More than who's? More than Kamala.

Yes. Yes. Yes. You got some research to do. I mean, if you look at Kamala's, I've read Kamala's book. And the thing is, you know, you get the black prosecutors get a certain rap. Talk about it, honey. Yeah.

Black prosecutors get a certain rap, right? Because unfortunately, there is the problem of mass incarceration. We know that black men are twice as likely as white men to get arrested. We know about broken window policing. And so that's a systemic problem. And when you're a prosecutor, you have to enforce the law. Laws are changed through legislation. Prosecutors don't get to change the law.

What you do get to do is you get to make, you have prosecutorial discussion. So, you know, when I was a prosecutor, there were, if I saw someone, a cop comes, to mean he's got a confession, but the mugshot shows that the guy has two black eyes, I'm not taking that case to trial. Even if I think, huh, you know, he probably did it. If I only have that confession and he's been beaten up to get it, I have the discretion to say, this is not how you get to police. If you look at what Kamala did, she really was instrumental in changing the way things were done

in California. to her credit working within that system. Because sometimes you can't just blow up systems. You have to work within it. So I often say, you know, the black prosecutor is the person with the most power in the room. People think it's the judge. They ain't the judge. People think, oh, I got to get a good defense attorney.

You need a prosecutor on that side of the table in that courtroom to make the right charging decisions, to make the right, you know, sentencing recommendation. That's who you need. I will tell you that in my time as a prosecutor, I didn't charge people who, you know, I put people in drug diversion programs. I looked at the whole person because I'm from those neighborhoods. I know the decisions that people make are not just because they're inherently bad. I know, you know, some of them are born in poverty.

I know what goes into all of this. So I think that, however, when you look at, of Val Deming's record, there were a lot of problems in her police department, but she had the ability to change that, and a lot of those changes didn't necessarily happen. So I think she's a great candidate, but she's going to come up, if he chooses her, it's going to be a little problematic when it comes to her history with law enforcement, considering the reckoning that's going on now in our country. For that, Sonny.

You did the same thing for me with Amy Klobuchar. You just like, I'm like, oh, no. Clovis, not. Clobo cop don't because this is right. But that's interesting. Do you know that before I

interviewed her, people say it was cross-examination, I single-handedly undid her campaign and her campaign was very upset after her appearance on our show. I mean, she was never questioned about her prosecutorial background in the way that Kamala was.

She was never questioned about it until she came on the show. And do you know how I found out about it? They buried. Her team had buried that case. Myon-Barrell's case. Black activists DM'd me, DM me on social media and said, we hear that Amy's going on the show. Can I send you some documents about a case? I said, sure. And sometimes I don't even look at Twitter. I don't even look at everything, You know, I just happened to be looking at it. And I read, my husband will tell you, I mean, I was up all night. I couldn't believe it.

I was like, oh, my God. And, you know, I think her campaign felt that I ambushed them. And I heard there's a CNN document or HBO Max documentary now. And CNN told some of their reporters that they can't believe they got scooped by a talk show host, which was kind of infuriating because I am a legal journalist. former federal prosecutors. I was like, what are they talking about? There's respect on Monday.

Yeah, come on now. And you worked on CNN, so I'm going to need them that I can recognize it. And I worked there, and, you know, it is the number one talk show in the country. That part. Flex. Yeah, that part.

But I was surprised that I was the first journalist to bring it up. Thank you. But everybody was bringing up Kamala's record. So black women do get examined in a way that's very different than white women, especially during this time of vetting. And I think Valerie Jarrett just came out with an initiative for the media called something like, we have her back.

And they're saying, if he picks a woman, especially a woman of color media, you are to profile and record accordingly. Not like you did to Michelle Obama. Yeah, you are to do your jobs professionally and ethically. And I think it was really important for her to say that because I do not think that Kamala, I don't think that Representative Bass, I don't think that Stacey Abrams, got Val Demings, got appropriate treatment in the media. I really don't believe they did. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 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 a 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 proliferation. 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. What's up, everyone?

I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Stepbrother There's Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. 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. 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. Yeah. Listen to thanks dad on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Can I ask, oftentimes when I do watch news programs,

sometimes I just wish that, and I know that we're supposed to, you know, when they go low, we go high, end quote. Still doing that? Fuck all that. I'm just saying that, you know, can't we

and we as in whoever we is in 2020 like why aren't we playing as dirty or as devious and I don't mean as effective even

yeah as effective as effective as it's almost like we already know that we already know what's in line to ensure another four years in November and it's kind of like watching those old, you know,

Dolly Do Right, Sneffley Whitelagh situation where, you know, our future is on this conveyor belt headed towards a millsaw thing. And, you know, it's, it's, why can't we play as dirty? Why can't we, you know, that's too loaded of a... No, it's not. For me, you know, Joy Behar and I talk about this all the time. She's like, when they go low, we need to go lower. She's pugilistic, right?

I tend to disagree. I just think it's, I do. I think that with facts on your side, with the law on your side, you don't have to play dirty. But it's like truth. If that was a case of B&H. And he'd be impeached, Sonny, he would be impeached. Come on, man. Yeah, like truth now, like truth now is everyone, you know, the dangerous thing, like, everyone picks their own facts now. Like, it's not even, you know,

the loudest person in the room is the winner. Yeah. And even kind of to your point earlier, Sunny, about, you know, you were talking about, you know, the difference between journalism and entertainment. I think that's kind of a big, you know, kind of problem because, you know, I mean, I was a journalism major, like in college and, you know, one of the things I see now And a lot of other, like, writers have talked about it of just kind of you have the conflation of journalism versus entertainment where one is often masquerading as the other. You know what I mean? Like, we don't have a 24-hour news cycle because of journalism.

That shit is entertainment. You know what I mean? It's not. It is. You know what I think that is where the kind of going lower thing comes in because it's like you kind of have to use. We're not playing. The same rules don't apply anymore, like, as they, as they used to. based everything.

The game has changed. That is true. But I just don't, I think that if everyone is cheating, then you truly have the devolution of society. Like, there has to be these standards. And that's the problem.

You know, I don't think we can, I certainly think we can combat. Like, if you're going to go low, I can be pugilistic. can hit you back. I don't know that I need to go lower. You know, I just, I, I, I believe that.

First time I'm hearing you say that, Sonny. Yeah, I can hit back. Um, but I agree, I, I don't agree that you need to, um, resort to trickery. I don't think you need to bend the rules. Um, I, I, I, I don't like that. I just, um, so Kanye is not scaring you right now. Poor Connie. Fuck.

I mean, from, oh, my God. No, no. I think he's suffering. He has a, we can't do that with somebody with mental illness. Like, that's, okay. He's suffering. No. He's suffering.

Come on, black people. Don't know that. He's suffering. Come on. Maybe he is. Two things can be true. Two things can be true. He gets my life suffering.

Fuck that. Yeah, fuck all that. I think he's really, really. He's suffering. He's really suffering. And I think what's really unfortunate is that, you know, he's not getting the help he needs. Right. And he can't, he's not getting it. I mean. And it's hard to help a grown person with a lot of money and power too. Like that's the whole thing. Like what you're going to do? Institutionalize somebody. He has to hurt somebody. Like, Sonny, you can, you can clear this up. But he literally has to physically hurt himself or somebody for him to be forcibly hospitalized, correct? Yes, he has to be a danger to himself or others in California. I don't know. Rob, I don't know. He's suffering.

He is, he is just, I mean, it is. And think about his old music, right? I mean, oh, I mean, I, you know, I could listen to it. I thought it was like masterful. Some of it was masterful. And now you look at him and you're like, he is really suffering. My son was upstairs. He was working out and he was listening to, I can't remember the song.

It was like, um, y'all such men. They're building tunnels up under us. I just know that niggas. It ain't, no, men, I know this nigger. Get the fuck out of here with that shit. Like, no. You don't think he's sick? You don't think he's sick?

He's sick. I think he is who exactly who he has always been. But I think so. He's still sick and manic bipolar. Like that that's, yeah. I'm not saying that I'm not negating any of that. I'm not, I'm not negating any of that. that I'm just saying just in my

very limited view of him, as I've always said this, even before he started all this stupid Trump shit, you know, when people would always ask me, because, you know, we worked with each other very early, you know, on in his career before, you know, he was Kanye, Kanye. And the thing that I've been always telling people for years, you know, when people

talk about the old Kanye versus the new Kanye, the thing I would always say is like, listen man, Kanye is the same dude he has always been. It's just now he has much more power, influence, and a bigger platform. form to be who he is. He's just become more of who he already

was. So by my estimation, there is no old Kanye, new Kanye. It's the same dude just with much more resources, you know, at his disposal. That is the same nigga. Is it well Kanye sick Kanye though, Fontaine? I don't know well

that nigga been the same nigga. A new world Kanye then. Yeah. Yeah. Facts. He's got to be sick. He's got to be sick. I mean, if you saw that, that, I don't know what campaign speech or whatever was, I mean, Harry Tudman speech. Yeah, he was in such pain.

I was like, oh, my gosh. It's interesting the way it's resulting in this racial thing because even in that speech, the way he was treating that black girl versus that way. It was, I just cannot believe that he's well. Let's not. I don't, yeah, I believe he's very sick. I don't think, just don't believe. I don't get into it.

Is it well sick? You don't have to believe that he's well. Just believe. that he's Kanye. I believe that. I believe that. What you're seeing is just, yeah,

that's what the fuck it is. And like, we ain't got time for this silly shit now, bro. Like, come on, man. No, we are less than 100 days from the election.

And, and we, I think as a community desperately need Joe Biden, even though he may be an imperfect candidate, we need him to win. And someone,

even, you know, working against that, even sick is problematic. But look at the way we came together on that. That was beautiful. Yeah, we're not against. Yeah, I ain't about to get here and argue with my people.

No, that's, yeah, we. That's how funny to be on the view. I ain't going to argue with what be on TV. No, we do it. I know, I know. We take it to the group chat. Yeah. I will say that it's, it's before we let you go,

it's really endearing to watch you guys via your social media platforms during game night. I'm very envious of these monopoly games. Like, for real, like, it's my dream. I live with a bunch of people who believe in going to bed at, like, 9 p.m. Oh. They go to bed early. They wake up at 5 in the morning and meditate and all that stuff.

And, you know, like, I just want one good game night where I can flip over the monopoly table if I'm losing. Is that with the family? Is that with the family? Or is that with? Yeah, yeah. The family or whatever. I mean, we try at game nights, but, you know, everyone's... I was talking to Sunny.

Del no more tame. At your house. No, we get a little crazy. We're competitive by nature. We're competitive. Everybody. My father, I posted yesterday, we had a game night with my father. He started trash talking about 10 minutes of the game.

I was like, you haven't played clue in a minute. minute. And you trash talking? He's like, yeah, yeah, keep on playing. Keep on playing. It's just kind of a family dynamic that we have. Play clue? Oh, my God. Oh, we play clue. No, they do. I mean, just just ignorant. But it's been such a wonderful thing for us because, you know, Nanny usually leaves very early in the morning to see patience.

I usually leave early. The kids are, you know, they're athletes. So they're constantly running. This has been the first time in years. The one silver lining for us is that, um, We are home together and we've been home together for months. And, um, daddy, fine. I'm sorry. Thank you. He's cute, isn't he?

Yeah. He's, he's, he's cute. Yeah, your mama, I get it. I'm sorry, go ahead. I know. It's so ridiculous those two. But, um, I, I love that we, you know, we've all been able to spend that time together. And like, like, the kids are serious about family game night.

They're like, um, Thursday night is family game. Like, they decide. when we're going to play, and they decide what we're going to play. Wish up for the top three games, because we're needing some new suggestions for this quarantine. Monopoly, blue, and I would say probably it's a toss-up between Pictionary and Uno. I'm about to say, Uno, that's, come on, that's black. They're like, Uno. Doubles and triples.

Doubles and triples. I'm in a housework that don't believe in Staxies. No, doubles and triples. Nah, we stack it. We stack it. The only thing is you got to stack, the only thing is you stack with the same suite. So if it's a draw two,

I can stack a draw two. But you can't put a draw four on top of a draw two. Like we only... Yeah. I go get it with it. All draws are this... All draws are the same amares. No.

Nah. Nah. We don't do that. Nah. Nope. Nope. Them rules is... Them rules is for niggas that used to read with their finger

under the word. I didn't want you on an Austin family game night. There would be a fight up in this house. Oh, that's good. That was a good one. That was a good one. That's good for the coffee table book, Fonte. What is the one thing that you've adjusted to since March or during the quarantine that you haven't before, that you're, that's now part of.

of your regular repertoire? I've started, I've always cooked, but I cook a lot more and I will say I started walking and running again. Remember I said I was training for a marathon when I met my husband in church.

It's been a long time since I have done it consistently. And I find that, you know, the one thing that kind of does, give me a little self-care is to try to exercise a little bit a little. I don't like to sweat that much, honestly, but running

or walking a couple of miles a day, it's, it feels, that feels good and it's something that I just almost didn't make the time for before. Didn't just, I don't know, I didn't, I stopped doing that. So I would say that that's different for me.

A little bit of, self-care. What's your preneal game talking about? You must got some. I mean, it's fantastic. It's probably award winning if I answered it into something. Oh, well, let's talk about it. Yes. What is that again?

When can we get? It's pork. Yeah, roast the pork shoulder. All right, y'all. Yeah, you can sit that one out lying. We'll do that. And I don't eat me, but I certainly can make that. Everybody, that's my, usually Thanksgiving and Christmas, I throw that, you know, into the mix.

But I will make it especially. for you. Okay, we'll be over. Thank you. Thank you. Let's get you. Hey, Sonny, got to ask you a quick technical question. The way y'all are taping the view. So are you still at home? They just gave y'all one background. I know.

They hooked it up, didn't they? Because it wasn't always like that. Like, y'all were in your houses. It's good. Y'all sitting on the couch. Yeah, we're still at home. What they did was when they realized that we would be doing this all season and probably likely into next season as well, they brought equipment into our homes.

I mean, people had hazmat suits on. It was really impressive. And ABC basically set trucks with equipment and people in hazmat suits to everyone's homes. So every morning at 5 o'clock, you get these trucks in your driveway? No, they put them in. Like, they built these kind of mini studios in each host

home. And so we have a big screen behind us. It's not a green screen. It's actually a huge monitor that we have a picture of where we generally, the background of where we generally sit on the show. Wow.

It's so dope, y'all. Can we get that at fear? That's what I was trying to figure. I was like, how would we do that? Yeah. And then we have our lighting. And, I mean, they basically made sure that we could continue doing the show remotely. And, you know, there have been a couple little glitches because it's hard because you don't want to speak over each other.

And so it's a little bit difficult. But we not have monitors. We have prompter now. We have feedback where we can see each other. So the first month, we didn't have that. And then it just, they came in, fixed it. And, you know, we, interestingly enough, we used to be, you know, sort of like number one, but they would break out syndicated and non-sindicated.

And now we're number one across the board in all of daytime TV. And I'm mad y'all on vacation this week. I know everyone's like, I can't have a minute you on vacation. But I think it's because we're, we are at our best when we are just. just talking about the issues, even the uncomfortable ones. Yes. That's where we're at our best. That's what people are at their best.

They are. When they talk. Sonny, I have to thank you because, and I'm a thank you from all the people that I know that watch every day from my dad to my best friend, Khadija. Because although I know it's a heavyweight, you carry it so classy and so beautifully. And I just really, you just really, I really appreciate you. I told you this at Amir, a me and DJ the Oscar party once. I wanted to say something to you and I walked up to you.

And I was like, I want you to know I want you to know. And I appreciate you because we do. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. I, one quick thing I will tell you is that I was diagnosed with diverticulitis, stress-induced diverticulitis, which is like an inflammation of the intestines and stuff. And, yeah, I was, I got really sick last, last season.

And last season was a tumultuous season for us. I lost like 20 pounds. I couldn't eat, everything I ate, bothered my stomach. So I went to the GI doctor. And he said he usually sees that in what I have in 70 plus-year-old women and men, 70-plus. And he said, but it's stress-induced. Are you under an extraordinary amount of stress? And I was like, no, I'm not, I'm fine.

I'm only on the number one talk show. No stress. I argue all day. No stress, yeah. Right. And I realized that it is a heavy one. because I attribute that to the fact that there are things sometimes that I would like to say, and I'm sure all of you understand this,

there are things that I would sometimes like to say that will result in my losing that platform. And I think it's too important of a platform to lose for our community. And so I do not say those things. But when you internalize and internalize, you could end up with stress, induced diverticulitis. So I say that as an example because I really think it's important. If you're not on television, talking to 3 million people, you really have to talk it out, right? You've got to get all of that stuff out.

And I think now it's more important than ever to do that. Not censoring, I'm not censoring myself, but I'm trying to keep it classy all times. Well, Sunny, I would cordially invite you to the Questlove Supreme Group chat, where you can say all the problematic shit you want to say. All the shit you can't say in for these white people. It's like therapy. It's like therapy. It's like therapy for black people, white people.

Hey, group chat is the new social media. So if you ever just want to do a trade, though. I'm going to need to get into that good, light, skin, and loud group chat she in with all, uh, her folks. That's a good one. That's a good. Light skin and loud. Did you hear all the women she named?

I was like, yep. Not a fucking, though. I forgot to say Jamel. Jamel Hills on there. She likes getting allowed. She don't have to. He's not light skin. Y'all about the same.

You got the paper bag. Yeah, we got. We got Jamel. Who else we got? Joy, Jamel, Latasha. Alicia, Alicia Garza. My girl from CBS that sits in for a girl sometimes at, oh, what's her name?

She is so sharp with the short haircut. Oh, my God. Yeah. We do. We do, we keep. And what's great is sometimes when they see me on the show and they see that I'm really, you know, drinking my tea because I'm like, if I get into this, I'm going to lose my job. Last week, he was like this. Yeah, because I'm going to lose my job.

I'm going to lose my job. I can't. You're about to lose your job. I'm right there. I'm right there. Wait, can I ask? Is it possible? Is there a line to be crossed on the view?

Rosie O'Donnell? Man, yeah. Said directly on the show, not like things discovered. I believe there are lines. It's always a line for black people. Well, mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. Mm. Mm. It is. Always. But there's a line for everybody. I have a question. That is.

Yes. Since we're talking about this in, in this time that we're in right now where seemingly everybody has an. opinion, we're all encouraged to speak up and speak out at this point, certainly. And, but on the other side of the coin, if you say the smallest thing wrong, your job is at risk, your life is at risk, everything. So how do you navigate that, especially since it's your job to speak your mind in front of so many people every day?

Yeah. Well, I try to navigate it very carefully while being authentic. But see, I don't really believe in what people are calling cancel culture. I don't really believe that it's that is that. I think it's accountability culture. You don't get canceled just for giving your opinion. You don't get canceled for, you know, having an opinion that's different. You get held accountable, though, for saying things that are racist,

for saying things that are misogynistic. You could get, and doubling down on. them and not apologizing, you can get held accountable for those things. So I kind of disagree with this. There's, oh, there's a cancel culture for giving your opinion. No, I think people are for the first time and a long time being held accountable for their actions. But I, because of my platform, I am very careful about what I say, making sure that it's fact-based and how I say it. Because I also think there's something to be said about dealing with your colleagues

gracefully and respectfully so that you can go to battle with those same people the next day without hurt feelings and things like that and without people feeling personally attacked, feeling like they've been disrespected just because of their view, right? So I think it's more that. It's that people are now finally being held accountable for saying the quiet part out loud. And other people saying, I don't like that. You know, that's racist or that's sexist or that's this. And if the person rather than say, you know what, teach me, what do you mean by that?

Why do you take it that way? The person's like, no, it's not. And yeah, blah, blah, blah, that's different. I think that's I think that's someone that can't learn. That's just my take. I don't know. Okay. You don't know what?

You disagree? It's fine if you disagree. No, no, no, no, I don't think I don't think I don't think I don't think I'm not necessarily disagree with you. I just think it's,

you know, when we talk about like, you know, what cancel culture is. Because, I mean, because right, I mean,

essentially what you're saying is like, well, yeah, I mean, no one gets canceled. They just, you know, you might lose some money and you go away for a little while. And then you just come back and rebrand, right?

But you're being held accountable on that particular thing that you did, that you said. You're being held accountable, but I guess the part for me is that, you know, a big part for me is like there's never like, like now in the era that we're in where we're talking about just rebuilding everything. Like we're talking about, you know, defunding the police and abolishing prison, like all these. Reprogramming, reprogramming, right? So there's always, I'm like, I'm with it. Like, we can, let's, the body police, that nigga, let's get it on. But there's always, there's never a discussion about what redemption looks like. And so my thing is that, you know what I mean?

Like, so at what point, you know, my problem with, you know, what people call this cancel culture, if you cancel someone, they no longer have an incentive to change. If you, if cancel culture or if holding someone accountable means we like, we were just joking about you losing your job. If you've lost your job, then at that point, And it's like, well, fuck it. Like, you know, I don't already lost my job, lost my name, my Google, you Google search me and everybody talks, this is what defines me now.

So hell, you know what I mean? Yeah. So I think that's the part that I think gets missed, you know what I mean? And particularly now, you know, I think a big problem that a point that I think is missed is that the audience today versus someone, you know, 20 years ago, whatever, we have the hive mind of social media at our discussion. disposal to help us break down very, very complex concepts. So, you know, if you were, you know, 20 years ago, right, if you were a person that was

assaulted or you, you know, had questions about your sexuality or like how we were talking earlier about consent or whatever, I mean, who could you really talk to? I mean, you could maybe talk to your parents. You could maybe talk to, you know, a friend, maybe, you know what I'm saying? Now you could just put it out there and everybody can chime in. Right. Now, like now, if you have questions, whatever, you have world class counselors, psychologists, teachers, you know, at your disposal who have, you know, who create and release content on their platforms daily to help you parse all of this information. So I think it's unfair to, like, judge people now. I think it's unfair to litigate the present or litigate the past. through the current understanding of the present. You know what I mean?

And so when I see a lot of these things that happen when people just, you know, when people just be saying some old dumb shit and they whatever, you know, to your point about educating, I don't ever see like education. It's always the first thing I see is always, yeah, it's like, get this, no, they got to go,

they cancel, they done, they this, they that. And there's never any room for education. Well, and that's why I referred to, to those that double down. Because I've seen situations where someone's held accountable and say, uh-uh, that was wrong. And then you have someone that says, you know what? I've met with this person and that person.

And I was wrong. I get it now. And I get it now. See, I believe in redemption. So I don't think that person loses their job. I don't agree with that. But the person that doubles down and is like, Right.

I mean, what do you do with that? You make a president. That's a person that's not going to, well. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You do. You do. You do.

All the Grisela ad lives. Yeah. I mean. You're from downtown. Yeah. I like, oh, shit. I love that. I love it.

I was thinking about all the times he's doubled down. And I was just like, wow. Triple down, nigger, come on. Like that, come on. We thank you for doing the show. Thank you. We're big fans. And thank you for fighting a good fight.

And, you know, we feel your stress every episode. Thank you very. Thank you for, thank you for feeling it with me and having me. Y'all are great. This was wonderful. And everybody go out and get what, I am these truths. That is a memoir. And it is a huge.

When the world open back up, I'm coming for a nice slice of that pet nil. Oh, absolutely. I need some moho. I need that. What's the, chibis? I need that. Come on. Yeah, it's all that.

Black beans, yellow rice? Hell yeah. I hate to mention this in a slide, but can you also find out why black women get fibroids? I'm sorry, it's in the book. Everybody read the book. She had them. But I'm just saying, yes. There are studies being done, but we're going to talk about that.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm with you in the struggle. Well, on behalf of Laia, Sugar Steve, I'm Pape Bill and Fonteigolo, this is Questlove. This is Questlove Supreme, and we will see you on the next go-round. Thank you very much.

Much Love Supreme is a production of I-Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I-Hart Radio, visit the I-Hart 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 I'm 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, unfilled 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 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 Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week, I got you. 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,

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