January 24, 2025 • 30 mins
News anchors Morgyn Wood and Bri Wood join Podcast Hosts Ramses J and Q Ward on today's podcast to discuss this week's major stories .
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Morgan Wood and Brewood to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
I'm your host ramses Jah and I'm your host q Ward.
All right, Morgan and bre welcome back to the show.
(00:22):
Happy New Year to the both of you. Tell me
something good. Morgan you first, Oh man.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's good to be back. We made it to this year.
You know, it's starting off a little ghetto, but we're here.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Bre you talk to me.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hello, Hello, Happy new Year. Yeah, I agree with Morgan.
But and the fact that it's freezing, like abnormally cold.
Yeah you guys, Yeah, it's cold everywhere, but super cold.
Yeah right now where I am. But happy to be here,
Thank you. Happy New Year to you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well we're in Arizona, so you know, it's it's cold,
but you know, YEA don't know codes.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Arizona code is different. But it did get into the
thirties last night. Yeah, so that's that's for here.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah. So in any event, there's bigger stories out there
than the weather, of course, So let's not keep the
people waiting. First up, and so it begins. The week
kicked off the official launch of this second Donald Trump presidency,
and as expected, it was full of politically motivated moves
against immigrants, federal workers, di I policies, and other actions
(01:28):
he promised to deliver on the campaign trail. Brie, let's
get things started with you give us one or two
highlights from Trump's first days in office, and then Morgan
will have you share a few highlights as well.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, so it's been very, very busy Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
He signed a series of executive orders and memoranda and proclamations,
all things aimed at reversing many of the policies from
the previous administration and fulfilling his own campaign promises. Some
of the key actions that he took out that I'll
highlight here immigration and border security. So he did declare
a national emergence on the southern border, and he designated
(02:02):
criminal cartels as terrorist organizations. He also signed an executive
order to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents.
Now this one has already been challenged, so a Seattle, Washington,
US District judge temporarily blocked this order, and it aims
to limit the birthright citizenship, meaning that even if you
(02:23):
have a parent that was born here, you could still
be deported. So the judge heard arguments on Thursday in
a lawsuit that was filed by four states, Arizona Yours
being one of them, Illinois, Oregon, Oregon, and Washington. So
they're citing that that violates the fourteenth Amendment, which does
grant citizenship to all people born or naturalized.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
In the US.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So we don't know whether or not that's going to
go through, but it is being reviewed right now. So
for healthcare, he did roll back several Biden era health
care policies that include the efforts to expand the Affordable
Care Act. He also withdrew from withdrew the US from
the past Paris Climate Agreement and declared a national Energy emergency.
(03:05):
And he's also temporarily halted offshore wind leasing on the
Outer Continental Shelf. And federal workforce and diversity has been
another big one. He ended DEI hiring practices, that's diversity,
equity and inclusion in the federal government. So that has
definitely caused some discussion amongst people online and some backlash
(03:27):
for people who are still working in DEI jobs across
the country. They're scared now for their job stability and
pardons and communications. He's pardoned over fifteen hundred individuals as
we know, charged with storming the US capital on January sixth,
twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So and that's just a few.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
He also did call for the declassification of government documents
pertaining to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy,
and of course Reverend doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Bernice
King did a statement his daughter, doctor Bernice King and
basically said, and I won't read it all, but I
will say that on behalf of the family, she said
(04:08):
that they hope if those documents already classified, that they
have a chance to review them before they become public,
because that would answer a lot of questions that I'm
sure his family still has as well as the public.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Morgan, Wow, I mean, what more can I say? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The list does go on, But I will say that
one thing that is actually impacting a lot of people
here in the DMV is the those rollbacks of the DEI,
the ones that are impacting federal workers. There is a
federal hiring freeze that he also issued as well, and
that is for all federal employees outside of law enforcement
(04:48):
and things of that nature. Were pretty much laid it
out on the line. I mean, we're only four days in,
so I'm not really sure what to make of all
of this, but he certainly.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Reversed a lot of what has already been done.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
What I've witnessed is that he doesn't seem to be
executive ordering anything that's helping anyone.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's like a lot of bully tactics.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
I want to flex my muscles on all the people
whoever challenged me, all the people I don't like, all
the people who I want to feel displaced and uncomfortable.
Let me sign a bunch of mean, bully tactic executive
orders and any promises that he made on the campaign
trail to help anyone, those things seem to not be
a priority. So it's been an interesting thing to watch
(05:31):
happen that all of his top priorities were all mean spirited, bully,
racist policies that he wanted to make sure that everyone
that opposed him felt very uncomfortable as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, white men is up right now, So we're.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
Still waiting on grocery trumpet.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Correct up next, a white pastor came under attack this
week after she accused she was accused of plagiarizing sermons
from a popular black minister, Morgan. This time will start
with you tell us more about this story, and Brian Ramits,
I'd love to hear from you guys as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Okay, So anyone who is everyone in the Black Christian
collective should know who Bishop td Jakes is, at least
by name. So he's been doing the woman Thow Aren't
Loose events for over twenty years, catering to spiritual healing
and black women, and you know black women go on
black women.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So it all started when Christina Java, who is white,
delivered a sermon with stark similarities to that of td Jake's.
Sees the moment sermon and a video surfaced comparing the two.
So Java basically it was word for word, bar for
bar to quote soldier boy there. But Java has since
(06:48):
responded to the allegations in a post on Instagram, saying
defamation laws protect people's reputations, but they also protect freedom
of expression. Truth is a defense to defamation, and of
course this is at a very I would just say
inopportune time for the Jakes and the Jake's family after
he is reportedly recovering from health scare, and he's also
(07:11):
being mentioned in all of the Sean Diddy Comb's allegations
and drama in regards to that. But I will just
say that, let me just explain how this situation kind
of made me feel. So when I first saw it,
you know, I went through kind of a range of
emotions because here I am seeing this white woman deliver
a sermon and people are riled up, and it's she's
delivering it with such emotion and such conviction, and I
(07:32):
was feeling it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
But then the moment that I swiped left and saw
TD Jake's version and it was the exact same, I
immediately became enraged, and I'm like, Okay, I felt bamboozled,
and I'm you know, I understand that sometimes sometimes it's
the message and not the messenger. You know, sometimes it's
the message and not the messenger. But then in this case,
(07:55):
you know, this is also like very the very meaning
of whitewashing. You know, I'm saying it was plagiarism, and
she could have very well said at some point throughout
her sermon that she was inspired by TDJS, but nope,
she moved forward as if it was her own work.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
And I think that's where the problem lies.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
You know, a lot of the comments online from the church,
particularly the Black Church.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Once stood out to me.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
A woman said, you know, you can plagiarize the sermon,
but you you can't plagiarize the annointing. I watched her,
and I never once took it seriously. Oh, you got
to hold on to God. She didn't even sound like
she was in the spirit.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
To me, I thought, I thought, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So I grew up in church.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Okay, so I'm not a preachers kid or anything like that,
but I do feel that I have an ear to
hear when somebody is really you know, in the bag
and the anointing and they going And that's how you know,
Bishop Jakes he was coming off the top of the
head with it because it was in him. She sounded
like she was reading a script. And it's like, if
you don't remember verbatim that women now are at loose.
(09:06):
Sermon that she plagiarized was from the year two thousand,
so everybody's not going to remember that off the top
of their head. But people who are followers of Bishop T. D.
Jakes or who attend those women, thou are at loose
conferences which are attended by excuse me, thousands of women.
And it's like somebody was gonna know that, hey, this
is not this doesn't sound right, and she didn't sound
(09:27):
right at all trying to deliver that message. It was
not her cadence, it was not her anointing. And I
could tell that I do agree with his daughter, Cora
t Tdjke's daughter Cora, which Morgan touched on, and you know,
she said that she was disappointed and noted that her
father works hard to put together his sermons and that
(09:50):
you know, she just called her out basically for not
giving him credit immediately and still not giving him credit
and keeping the video up on her page, which at
last check it still was, and you know, people were saying,
you know, I guess you just want attention.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
It's like we're turning it into a negative because you see,
you've gotten caught, but now you're still trying to defend
it instead of taking the video down. A lot of
people want her to take the video down, and I
don't believe she has yet so it just sparked a
broader discussion online about plagiarism and different people who have also,
you know, used the work of other people and integrity,
(10:27):
I guess within the church, and how she's you know,
just perpetrating it's disrespectful. So I don't really know what
else to say about it. She's well within her rights
to keep it up. It's her page, but you know,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's not right.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, you know, there's when when I was first reading
this story, I wanted to make sure that if I
had a chance to respond to it, that I said
that I've known white preachers that come from a Pentecostal
background who deliver sermons. You know, I am a preacher's kid,
(11:08):
so it's kid, so you know, we we're the type
that grew up in the church. I grew up literally
in the church building with like living orders there, so
I was in church. I didn't leave the church, you know.
So you know, every kind of preacher there is, you
know that came through where I lived. And you know,
(11:28):
of course I would go on with my dad or
with whoever into other churches and so forth, and so
this is very much a part of my origin.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Story.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
But you know, I've seen white preachers who again come
from Pentecostal background that you know, have the spirit that
you know they they they have that connection with God
and you know, they have their moment and the sermon
flows through them. So I don't I didn't want this
to turn into a black or white thing. But in
this moment, I thought of doctor Claudie Gay from Harvard,
(12:02):
and I remember that she came under attack because people
had discovered that she had quote unquote plagiarized parts of
her maybe it was her dissertation or whatever, and they
used that as grounds to get her fired from Harvard.
And this was during like the protests where people were
(12:24):
protesting Israel's response to Palestine, and all the protests were
on the campus and that was the thing that was
used against her. And you know, it's different when you're
citing works you know, from you know, other sources to
put together effectively a book, you know what I mean.
(12:46):
And you know, there's a fine line between you know,
citing sources and plagiarizing. If you take too much then
that can be considered plagiarizing, right, And there's no hard
fast rule to it. It's really just somebody frying foul
loud enough. And I'm not sure if that's true and
that that's what happened in doctor Gay's case, but it
just it just stood out to me. Well at the time,
(13:09):
I was thinking of Iggy Azalea, and I don't know
if you guys remember this, but she got exposed. There
was a video of her quote unquote freestyling and people
discovered that, like, yo, she's freestyling Kendrick Lamar's lyrics, like
(13:30):
Barfard Barr, the whole thing, and she's on stage like
giving it all the like inflection that Kendrick does, you
know what I mean, and she's she's not him, so
all of the passion and all that stuff is just
kind of hollowed. She's just making noises and she seems
like a feral animal or something.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
And that's what I'm That's what it looked like to
me immediately. That's I just picked up on that exactly
free exactly. But for the people that are like.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Why is she feel so emboldened, it's like, oh, she's
Kendrick broke that. That's why she feels like this is hot, right,
But you know, Kendrick has a delivery read it it
is imbued with passion like Tupac. Right. And then you know,
I thought of, do you remember when Milania Trump Michelle
(14:12):
Obama's speech, Yeah, we forget ye, right, and then and
then today's story and I'm like, wait a minute, there's
these white women and I got three examples to your one,
you know, if you're talking about doctor Claudine Gay, and
I really feel like in this moment, her heart has
to be extra broken because it's like, yo, man, you
(14:37):
know you have to cite sources in order to do
research to to you know, finish your dissertation, right, and.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
You were determined to make an example of her. I'll
just say that, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And it just and and that's and I think that
it goes back to you know that you have to
be twice as good to be uh, you know, good
enough for whatever the exact variations of the saying, but yeah,
you know what I'm saying. And so when I read
this story in my heart went out to doctor Clauding
and Gay, formerly of Harvard University. So yeah, that's that.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I hope she's doing well.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Black Information Network News anchors Morgan Wood and Bree Wood
are here with us discussing this week's major stories. All right,
next up, Reverend Al Sharpton made news on Mlkday this
week with his announcement in response to the ongoing attacks
against DEI policies. Brie, let's go back to you to
start this discussion. Tell us more about Reverend Sharpton's plan
(15:38):
to support DEI, and then Morgan, we'll get your thoughts
after that.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, So, Reverend Sharpton announced to boycott against companies that
are eliminating their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He made
that on January twentieth during a ceremony of the Metropolitan
Ame Church in DC, which of course coincided with Martin
Luther King Junior Day and the inauguration of President Trump
and sharp just excuse me. Reverend Sharpton noted that DEI
(16:04):
programs were established to address historical and institutionalized racial discrimination
in academia and corporations, and that's not over. So he
criticized companies for abandoning these initiatives and the one especially
the ones who did so easily, and vowed to support
those that are continuing to uphold the DEI principles, such
(16:26):
as Costco. I don't know, if you guys read about
the stand that Costco is taking within their own company,
their board of directors vowed to h or excuse me,
they voted to not pay attention to a conservative activist
group that was trying to get them to end the
practices there at Costco for DEI in the workplace, and
they basically said, no, we're going to keep our policies
(16:48):
in place and we're going to defend and respect inclusion.
So Costco said they are making no plans to eliminate
the DEI in their workplace. So the National Action Network,
which is Al Sharpton's organization, they plan to conduct a
ninety day study to identify companies that have discontinued their
programs for DEI and basically just assess their profit margins.
(17:13):
And following that study, he says that two companies will
be specifically targeted for the boycott. So they are really
got to narrow it down to, you know, who is
doing the most harm basically, and you know, Donald Trump's
executive order two n DEI programs and the federal government
will have implications if that does go through in federal
(17:37):
hiring promotions, performance reviews, you know, and it's just kind
of highlighting merit based criteria instead. But how can you
trust that when you don't know who's you know, in
charge of what they it was.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
It was implemented because you.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Can't trust people to do the right things most of
the time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
It's easy to.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Say, oh, well he's the most qualified, but how do
you know that when you haven't given equal opportunity or
equal time to each candidate. So that's where it just
gets kind of distorted for me, because there's a reason
these rules were put in place because people as a
whole were not being fair. So you take that away,
(18:18):
people can say anything and they hire who they want, yeah,
whether you're qualified or not. So yeah, but Reverend Sharpton
plans to take some serious action.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Morgan, Yeah, so yeah, Sharpton needs to take some serious actions.
So actually, I was at a National Urban League event
earlier this week. They held a demand diversity roundtable here
in Washington, DC at the National Press Club.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
And I spoke with a few people.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Reverend Al Sharpton was actually supposed to be in attendance
of that event, and he was a no show. I'm
not sure if it was travel or weather related, but
something to that effect. But with Jannay Nelson, who is
of the Legal Defense Fund. We also spoke with Mark Murraal,
who was the CEO and president of the National Urban League,
and some others who are on the panel of that
(19:12):
roundtable discussion basically talking about what to do next, like
what are the next steps now that these orders have
come And to breeze point, this all really started literally
day one of Trump's presidency when he issued the executive
orders reversing DEI and DEE and I in a.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Lot of policies.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Now. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt now she called
the move a win for Americans, saying that DEI programs
are a scourge on society. But back to the Urban
League Demand Diversity roundtable. Basically, those who were in attendance
were talking about how to use legal action and voting
(19:53):
and things of that nature, how to mobilize locally in
your communities to make sure that those people who you
really want in office are actual in office passing those
bills that you need to pass. So it's really back
to grassroots work when it comes to making sure that diversity, equity,
inclusion are going to be a thing of the future
as of right now, Low's, Meta, Walmart, McDonald's. Those are
(20:15):
some of the many companies that have announced that they're
ending their DEE and I initiatives or programs. However, shout
out to Goldman Sachs like you mentioned before, Bree, Costco, JP,
Morgan Chase, Microsoft, and others who are committed to supporting
their DEE and I.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
There's an interesting thing that happens with black commerce and
the idea of boycotting in today's America. When all of
us were younger, there were so many more options of everything.
Now a handful of people own everything, and black people
(20:56):
are faced with making a decision between what's most affordable
and convenient and who's doing harm to us. So places
like McDonald's where you can feed your family for nineteen dollars,
four or five people can eat for nineteen dollars, it's
hard to tell that mom who's struggling to get by,
don't go buy food there because they're not being kind
to us. The same with places like Amazon and you
(21:19):
know that make life more convenient. So if you don't
have a car and you have Wi Fi, you can
get things delivered to your home the next day. So
it's a I wish we had more choices because people
are like taking advantage of the fact that they know
we almost have to come to them to do business.
But like both of the wonderful experts that we have
(21:40):
on said, there are some companies that have stood out
because they are standing strong on their diversity and programming,
and you guys brought up some and even Apple, surprisingly
because I saw their CEO sitting with the newly elected
president in DC. But they have as a company held
on to their DEI initiatives, which is something to be
(22:00):
applauded because I'm sure there's a lot of pressure coming
from their colleagues to not do that. So I I
think that boycotting is an effective strategy. It's just a
hard one to implement when people have to decide whether
or not they're gonna, you know, get what they can afford,
like places like Walmart, where so many people go to
get groceries and goods and clothes because of the affordability,
(22:22):
when they know that company has flat out said we
don't care about you. Even though right after they got
rid of their DEI program, they started to roll out
advertising with lorenz tatan Nia long like Hey black people,
we're still down kind of thing, which I know when
they recorded those spots, they had no idea what was coming,
you know from that company.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Policing Lorenz and Lung had no idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I don't think they will dined up absolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
And I'm sure Black History Months for a lot of
these corporations are about to be very interesting. For this week's
final story, singer Chris Brown is back in the news
after his legal team announced a major lawsuit in support
of his brand Morgan You and Breed both handle entertainment
news for the Black Information Network. So let's start with you,
give us some details on this story, and we will
(23:11):
come back to you to close us out.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
All right, So, Chris Brown is doing Warner Brothers over
a docuseries that aired last year in October. The new
lawsuit states investigation Discoveries show titled Chris Brown A History
of Violence is full of lies in infammatory statements about
the rapper. Now, Brown claims the producers of the show
and the alleged victims who participated in the filming of
(23:35):
that show ignore the facts in order to defame him
and ruin his reputation. So he is seeking five hundred
million dollars in damages for infliction of emotional distress and
defamation and libel. So in the docuseries, a woman identified
as a Jane Doe claims that Chris raped her in
twenty twenty. Now Brown's lawyers say this is not true,
(23:57):
and that's at least why the lawsuit was filed.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Now, the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Says, states this case is about media putting their own
profits over truth and knowing that it was full of
lies and deception and violating journalistic principles when it's in
regards to the airing of the actual docuseries. So Chris
Brown's team says, the docuseries paints him out to be
(24:23):
all of these bad things, like a serial rapist and
a serial abuser.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
However he has not been.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
He's you know, he stands that he has not been
convicted of any sex crimes. So much of this I
think stems from two thousand and nine. Let's just be
plain and clear about it, and this is my opinion,
when he played guilty of felony assault and criminal threats
against his then girlfriend at the time, Rihanna. But it's like,
no matter what Chris Brown does, he can't escape that.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
And it seems like there's no room for not reform.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
What's the word I'm looking for, like vin vcation for him.
So he just made history, sold out, you know, the
fourth largest stadium in the world, not for one but
two nights during his South African leg of his tour.
But again, for whatever reason, there's like no, Oh, redemption
is the word I was looking There's no redemption for him.
And it's really sad that you know that it's come
(25:17):
to this because both parties have truly moved on in
regards to that situation.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
So I think we should too.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
But I really believe that that's why we continue to
come back to this space with Chris Brown. It's because
of two thousand and nine. But yeah, as far as
the lawsuit is concerned, his team, his legal team is
essentially saying that it paints him out to be somebody
that he's not.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well to piggyback off what Morgan said about his South
African concerts, which was amazing and record breaking for him.
You know, there was a women's organization over there, a
group that was boycotting and trying to get his concerts
canceled from Jump and they sold out so quickly, like
it was never a chance that it was going to
get canceled. But even over there, he is still being
(26:08):
looked at as, you know, a figure that is kind
of polarizing, and I don't know, again, that just makes
sense that they just continue to paint him with this
single brush, regardless of all of his other accompsols events
or how he's moved on or how he's apologized.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And it's interesting that Rihanna has never.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
In my opinion, been held to the same standard in
the public, and that is because of the photos that
we saw, you know, whoever leaked the LAPD We saw
what her face looked like that night, do you know
what I mean? But the report was they were both
fighting in that vehicle, So it doesn't matter whether you're
a man or a woman. But they say, you know,
you're not supposed to put your hand on women, Well,
(26:50):
women aren't supposed to put their hands on men all
the time.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
We weren't in the car.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
We don't know what happened, but it seems like Chris
Brown is the one who received the brunt basically all
of the backlash for that, and he took a hit.
His career took a hit, and I'm not saying he
is innocent of anything at all. All I'm saying is
the blame was not shared. It was most definitely piled on,
but people like to forget that part anyway. I think
(27:15):
he does have good grounds for a defamation lawsuit, especially
since he says that the documentary which Morgan pointed out,
contains false and misleading narratives about him as far as
the sexual assaults and evidence tampering, and he says they
have all been discredited or dismissed in court. And the
(27:36):
emotional distress of it all when you are constantly being
told that you are bad or you're being called an
abuser every day, yet there's no evidence of it, and
people are constantly trying to stop your bag, you know.
He says his reputation and mental health have taken a
hit as well, and so even though he's still wildly
(27:58):
successful touring, like, he's pretty much been blackballed in Hollywood
as far as performing and award shows and things like that.
And most recently, there was supposed to be a performance
as a tribute to Michael Jackson, and he had this
whole thing set up. They canceled it right before and
basically eliminated him from the show and didn't give a
(28:21):
real reason for why. So when he put that out there,
he was like, well, all that work down the drain,
all these dancers that were you know, prepped and trained
and were counting on that exposure.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So it was gone.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
But you know, he's still doing well for himself despite
these allegations and the response from Warner Brothers in Discovery,
their spokesperson says they will continue to stand behind their
production and they're going to defend against that lawsuit, so
they are not looking to settle or pay him anywhere
near five hundred million dollars. But you know that just
(28:52):
people could say what they want to say about you.
It's all about the way that you choose to live
your life publicly. And he's still working and he's still
out here trying to prove himself, I guess. But Chris
has said on several occasions on his own social media
that he's done, you know, tab dancing for the media
and trying to make himself look a certain way for people.
(29:12):
Because if you hate him, you hate him. If you
love them, thank you for the support.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Sensation know.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Sold out, every show still sold out.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, I uh, I think we're just going to have
to wait and see. This, of course, is a story
that I'm sure that both of you will follow very closely,
and next time we can talk about it, let's make
sure that we do. But in the meantime, I'd like
to thank you both very much for your time and
your insight. As always, once again, Today's Guts are Black
Information Network news anchors Morgan Would and Bree Would. This
(29:48):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host
Rams's Jah on all social media.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher this
weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and
podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us Monday
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily podcast
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Morgan Wood and Brewood to discuss this
week's major stories. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
I'm your host ramses Jah and I'm your host q Ward.
All right, Morgan and bre welcome back to the show.
(00:22):
Happy New Year to the both of you. Tell me
something good. Morgan you first, Oh man.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's good to be back. We made it to this year.
You know, it's starting off a little ghetto, but we're here.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Bre you talk to me.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hello, Hello, Happy new Year. Yeah, I agree with Morgan.
But and the fact that it's freezing, like abnormally cold.
Yeah you guys, Yeah, it's cold everywhere, but super cold.
Yeah right now where I am. But happy to be here,
Thank you. Happy New Year to you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well we're in Arizona, so you know, it's it's cold,
but you know, YEA don't know codes.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Arizona code is different. But it did get into the
thirties last night. Yeah, so that's that's for here.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah. So in any event, there's bigger stories out there
than the weather, of course, So let's not keep the
people waiting. First up, and so it begins. The week
kicked off the official launch of this second Donald Trump presidency,
and as expected, it was full of politically motivated moves
against immigrants, federal workers, di I policies, and other actions
(01:28):
he promised to deliver on the campaign trail. Brie, let's
get things started with you give us one or two
highlights from Trump's first days in office, and then Morgan
will have you share a few highlights as well.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, so it's been very, very busy Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
He signed a series of executive orders and memoranda and proclamations,
all things aimed at reversing many of the policies from
the previous administration and fulfilling his own campaign promises. Some
of the key actions that he took out that I'll
highlight here immigration and border security. So he did declare
a national emergence on the southern border, and he designated
(02:02):
criminal cartels as terrorist organizations. He also signed an executive
order to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents.
Now this one has already been challenged, so a Seattle, Washington,
US District judge temporarily blocked this order, and it aims
to limit the birthright citizenship, meaning that even if you
(02:23):
have a parent that was born here, you could still
be deported. So the judge heard arguments on Thursday in
a lawsuit that was filed by four states, Arizona Yours
being one of them, Illinois, Oregon, Oregon, and Washington. So
they're citing that that violates the fourteenth Amendment, which does
grant citizenship to all people born or naturalized.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
In the US.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So we don't know whether or not that's going to
go through, but it is being reviewed right now. So
for healthcare, he did roll back several Biden era health
care policies that include the efforts to expand the Affordable
Care Act. He also withdrew from withdrew the US from
the past Paris Climate Agreement and declared a national Energy emergency.
(03:05):
And he's also temporarily halted offshore wind leasing on the
Outer Continental Shelf. And federal workforce and diversity has been
another big one. He ended DEI hiring practices, that's diversity,
equity and inclusion in the federal government. So that has
definitely caused some discussion amongst people online and some backlash
(03:27):
for people who are still working in DEI jobs across
the country. They're scared now for their job stability and
pardons and communications. He's pardoned over fifteen hundred individuals as
we know, charged with storming the US capital on January sixth,
twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So and that's just a few.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
He also did call for the declassification of government documents
pertaining to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy,
and of course Reverend doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Bernice
King did a statement his daughter, doctor Bernice King and
basically said, and I won't read it all, but I
will say that on behalf of the family, she said
(04:08):
that they hope if those documents already classified, that they
have a chance to review them before they become public,
because that would answer a lot of questions that I'm
sure his family still has as well as the public.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Morgan, Wow, I mean, what more can I say? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The list does go on, But I will say that
one thing that is actually impacting a lot of people
here in the DMV is the those rollbacks of the DEI,
the ones that are impacting federal workers. There is a
federal hiring freeze that he also issued as well, and
that is for all federal employees outside of law enforcement
(04:48):
and things of that nature. Were pretty much laid it
out on the line. I mean, we're only four days in,
so I'm not really sure what to make of all
of this, but he certainly.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Reversed a lot of what has already been done.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
What I've witnessed is that he doesn't seem to be
executive ordering anything that's helping anyone.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's like a lot of bully tactics.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
I want to flex my muscles on all the people
whoever challenged me, all the people I don't like, all
the people who I want to feel displaced and uncomfortable.
Let me sign a bunch of mean, bully tactic executive
orders and any promises that he made on the campaign
trail to help anyone, those things seem to not be
a priority. So it's been an interesting thing to watch
(05:31):
happen that all of his top priorities were all mean spirited, bully,
racist policies that he wanted to make sure that everyone
that opposed him felt very uncomfortable as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, white men is up right now, So we're.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
Still waiting on grocery trumpet.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Correct up next, a white pastor came under attack this
week after she accused she was accused of plagiarizing sermons
from a popular black minister, Morgan. This time will start
with you tell us more about this story, and Brian Ramits,
I'd love to hear from you guys as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Okay, So anyone who is everyone in the Black Christian
collective should know who Bishop td Jakes is, at least
by name. So he's been doing the woman Thow Aren't
Loose events for over twenty years, catering to spiritual healing
and black women, and you know black women go on
black women.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So it all started when Christina Java, who is white,
delivered a sermon with stark similarities to that of td Jake's.
Sees the moment sermon and a video surfaced comparing the two.
So Java basically it was word for word, bar for
bar to quote soldier boy there. But Java has since
(06:48):
responded to the allegations in a post on Instagram, saying
defamation laws protect people's reputations, but they also protect freedom
of expression. Truth is a defense to defamation, and of
course this is at a very I would just say
inopportune time for the Jakes and the Jake's family after
he is reportedly recovering from health scare, and he's also
(07:11):
being mentioned in all of the Sean Diddy Comb's allegations
and drama in regards to that. But I will just
say that, let me just explain how this situation kind
of made me feel. So when I first saw it,
you know, I went through kind of a range of
emotions because here I am seeing this white woman deliver
a sermon and people are riled up, and it's she's
delivering it with such emotion and such conviction, and I
(07:32):
was feeling it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
But then the moment that I swiped left and saw
TD Jake's version and it was the exact same, I
immediately became enraged, and I'm like, Okay, I felt bamboozled,
and I'm you know, I understand that sometimes sometimes it's
the message and not the messenger. You know, sometimes it's
the message and not the messenger. But then in this case,
(07:55):
you know, this is also like very the very meaning
of whitewashing. You know, I'm saying it was plagiarism, and
she could have very well said at some point throughout
her sermon that she was inspired by TDJS, but nope,
she moved forward as if it was her own work.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
And I think that's where the problem lies.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
You know, a lot of the comments online from the church,
particularly the Black Church.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Once stood out to me.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
A woman said, you know, you can plagiarize the sermon,
but you you can't plagiarize the annointing. I watched her,
and I never once took it seriously. Oh, you got
to hold on to God. She didn't even sound like
she was in the spirit.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
To me, I thought, I thought, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So I grew up in church.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Okay, so I'm not a preachers kid or anything like that,
but I do feel that I have an ear to
hear when somebody is really you know, in the bag
and the anointing and they going And that's how you know,
Bishop Jakes he was coming off the top of the
head with it because it was in him. She sounded
like she was reading a script. And it's like, if
you don't remember verbatim that women now are at loose.
(09:06):
Sermon that she plagiarized was from the year two thousand,
so everybody's not going to remember that off the top
of their head. But people who are followers of Bishop T. D.
Jakes or who attend those women, thou are at loose
conferences which are attended by excuse me, thousands of women.
And it's like somebody was gonna know that, hey, this
is not this doesn't sound right, and she didn't sound
(09:27):
right at all trying to deliver that message. It was
not her cadence, it was not her anointing. And I
could tell that I do agree with his daughter, Cora
t Tdjke's daughter Cora, which Morgan touched on, and you know,
she said that she was disappointed and noted that her
father works hard to put together his sermons and that
(09:50):
you know, she just called her out basically for not
giving him credit immediately and still not giving him credit
and keeping the video up on her page, which at
last check it still was, and you know, people were saying,
you know, I guess you just want attention.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
It's like we're turning it into a negative because you see,
you've gotten caught, but now you're still trying to defend
it instead of taking the video down. A lot of
people want her to take the video down, and I
don't believe she has yet so it just sparked a
broader discussion online about plagiarism and different people who have also,
you know, used the work of other people and integrity,
(10:27):
I guess within the church, and how she's you know,
just perpetrating it's disrespectful. So I don't really know what
else to say about it. She's well within her rights
to keep it up. It's her page, but you know,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's not right.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, you know, there's when when I was first reading
this story, I wanted to make sure that if I
had a chance to respond to it, that I said
that I've known white preachers that come from a Pentecostal
background who deliver sermons. You know, I am a preacher's kid,
(11:08):
so it's kid, so you know, we we're the type
that grew up in the church. I grew up literally
in the church building with like living orders there, so
I was in church. I didn't leave the church, you know.
So you know, every kind of preacher there is, you
know that came through where I lived. And you know,
(11:28):
of course I would go on with my dad or
with whoever into other churches and so forth, and so
this is very much a part of my origin.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Story.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
But you know, I've seen white preachers who again come
from Pentecostal background that you know, have the spirit that
you know they they they have that connection with God
and you know, they have their moment and the sermon
flows through them. So I don't I didn't want this
to turn into a black or white thing. But in
this moment, I thought of doctor Claudie Gay from Harvard,
(12:02):
and I remember that she came under attack because people
had discovered that she had quote unquote plagiarized parts of
her maybe it was her dissertation or whatever, and they
used that as grounds to get her fired from Harvard.
And this was during like the protests where people were
(12:24):
protesting Israel's response to Palestine, and all the protests were
on the campus and that was the thing that was
used against her. And you know, it's different when you're
citing works you know, from you know, other sources to
put together effectively a book, you know what I mean.
(12:46):
And you know, there's a fine line between you know,
citing sources and plagiarizing. If you take too much then
that can be considered plagiarizing, right, And there's no hard
fast rule to it. It's really just somebody frying foul
loud enough. And I'm not sure if that's true and
that that's what happened in doctor Gay's case, but it
just it just stood out to me. Well at the time,
(13:09):
I was thinking of Iggy Azalea, and I don't know
if you guys remember this, but she got exposed. There
was a video of her quote unquote freestyling and people
discovered that, like, yo, she's freestyling Kendrick Lamar's lyrics, like
(13:30):
Barfard Barr, the whole thing, and she's on stage like
giving it all the like inflection that Kendrick does, you
know what I mean, and she's she's not him, so
all of the passion and all that stuff is just
kind of hollowed. She's just making noises and she seems
like a feral animal or something.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
And that's what I'm That's what it looked like to
me immediately. That's I just picked up on that exactly
free exactly. But for the people that are like.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Why is she feel so emboldened, it's like, oh, she's
Kendrick broke that. That's why she feels like this is hot, right,
But you know, Kendrick has a delivery read it it
is imbued with passion like Tupac. Right. And then you know,
I thought of, do you remember when Milania Trump Michelle
(14:12):
Obama's speech, Yeah, we forget ye, right, and then and
then today's story and I'm like, wait a minute, there's
these white women and I got three examples to your one,
you know, if you're talking about doctor Claudine Gay, and
I really feel like in this moment, her heart has
to be extra broken because it's like, yo, man, you
(14:37):
know you have to cite sources in order to do
research to to you know, finish your dissertation, right, and.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
You were determined to make an example of her. I'll
just say that, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And it just and and that's and I think that
it goes back to you know that you have to
be twice as good to be uh, you know, good
enough for whatever the exact variations of the saying, but yeah,
you know what I'm saying. And so when I read
this story in my heart went out to doctor Clauding
and Gay, formerly of Harvard University. So yeah, that's that.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I hope she's doing well.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Black Information Network News anchors Morgan Wood and Bree Wood
are here with us discussing this week's major stories. All right,
next up, Reverend Al Sharpton made news on Mlkday this
week with his announcement in response to the ongoing attacks
against DEI policies. Brie, let's go back to you to
start this discussion. Tell us more about Reverend Sharpton's plan
(15:38):
to support DEI, and then Morgan, we'll get your thoughts
after that.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, So, Reverend Sharpton announced to boycott against companies that
are eliminating their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He made
that on January twentieth during a ceremony of the Metropolitan
Ame Church in DC, which of course coincided with Martin
Luther King Junior Day and the inauguration of President Trump
and sharp just excuse me. Reverend Sharpton noted that DEI
(16:04):
programs were established to address historical and institutionalized racial discrimination
in academia and corporations, and that's not over. So he
criticized companies for abandoning these initiatives and the one especially
the ones who did so easily, and vowed to support
those that are continuing to uphold the DEI principles, such
(16:26):
as Costco. I don't know, if you guys read about
the stand that Costco is taking within their own company,
their board of directors vowed to h or excuse me,
they voted to not pay attention to a conservative activist
group that was trying to get them to end the
practices there at Costco for DEI in the workplace, and
they basically said, no, we're going to keep our policies
(16:48):
in place and we're going to defend and respect inclusion.
So Costco said they are making no plans to eliminate
the DEI in their workplace. So the National Action Network,
which is Al Sharpton's organization, they plan to conduct a
ninety day study to identify companies that have discontinued their
programs for DEI and basically just assess their profit margins.
(17:13):
And following that study, he says that two companies will
be specifically targeted for the boycott. So they are really
got to narrow it down to, you know, who is
doing the most harm basically, and you know, Donald Trump's
executive order two n DEI programs and the federal government
will have implications if that does go through in federal
(17:37):
hiring promotions, performance reviews, you know, and it's just kind
of highlighting merit based criteria instead. But how can you
trust that when you don't know who's you know, in
charge of what they it was.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
It was implemented because you.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Can't trust people to do the right things most of
the time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
It's easy to.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Say, oh, well he's the most qualified, but how do
you know that when you haven't given equal opportunity or
equal time to each candidate. So that's where it just
gets kind of distorted for me, because there's a reason
these rules were put in place because people as a
whole were not being fair. So you take that away,
(18:18):
people can say anything and they hire who they want, yeah,
whether you're qualified or not. So yeah, but Reverend Sharpton
plans to take some serious action.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Morgan, Yeah, so yeah, Sharpton needs to take some serious actions.
So actually, I was at a National Urban League event
earlier this week. They held a demand diversity roundtable here
in Washington, DC at the National Press Club.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
And I spoke with a few people.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Reverend Al Sharpton was actually supposed to be in attendance
of that event, and he was a no show. I'm
not sure if it was travel or weather related, but
something to that effect. But with Jannay Nelson, who is
of the Legal Defense Fund. We also spoke with Mark Murraal,
who was the CEO and president of the National Urban League,
and some others who are on the panel of that
(19:12):
roundtable discussion basically talking about what to do next, like
what are the next steps now that these orders have
come And to breeze point, this all really started literally
day one of Trump's presidency when he issued the executive
orders reversing DEI and DEE and I in a.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Lot of policies.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Now. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt now she called
the move a win for Americans, saying that DEI programs
are a scourge on society. But back to the Urban
League Demand Diversity roundtable. Basically, those who were in attendance
were talking about how to use legal action and voting
(19:53):
and things of that nature, how to mobilize locally in
your communities to make sure that those people who you
really want in office are actual in office passing those
bills that you need to pass. So it's really back
to grassroots work when it comes to making sure that diversity, equity,
inclusion are going to be a thing of the future
as of right now, Low's, Meta, Walmart, McDonald's. Those are
(20:15):
some of the many companies that have announced that they're
ending their DEE and I initiatives or programs. However, shout
out to Goldman Sachs like you mentioned before, Bree, Costco, JP,
Morgan Chase, Microsoft, and others who are committed to supporting
their DEE and I.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
There's an interesting thing that happens with black commerce and
the idea of boycotting in today's America. When all of
us were younger, there were so many more options of everything.
Now a handful of people own everything, and black people
(20:56):
are faced with making a decision between what's most affordable
and convenient and who's doing harm to us. So places
like McDonald's where you can feed your family for nineteen dollars,
four or five people can eat for nineteen dollars, it's
hard to tell that mom who's struggling to get by,
don't go buy food there because they're not being kind
to us. The same with places like Amazon and you
(21:19):
know that make life more convenient. So if you don't
have a car and you have Wi Fi, you can
get things delivered to your home the next day. So
it's a I wish we had more choices because people
are like taking advantage of the fact that they know
we almost have to come to them to do business.
But like both of the wonderful experts that we have
(21:40):
on said, there are some companies that have stood out
because they are standing strong on their diversity and programming,
and you guys brought up some and even Apple, surprisingly
because I saw their CEO sitting with the newly elected
president in DC. But they have as a company held
on to their DEI initiatives, which is something to be
(22:00):
applauded because I'm sure there's a lot of pressure coming
from their colleagues to not do that. So I I
think that boycotting is an effective strategy. It's just a
hard one to implement when people have to decide whether
or not they're gonna, you know, get what they can afford,
like places like Walmart, where so many people go to
get groceries and goods and clothes because of the affordability,
(22:22):
when they know that company has flat out said we
don't care about you. Even though right after they got
rid of their DEI program, they started to roll out
advertising with lorenz tatan Nia long like Hey black people,
we're still down kind of thing, which I know when
they recorded those spots, they had no idea what was coming,
you know from that company.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Policing Lorenz and Lung had no idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
I don't think they will dined up absolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
And I'm sure Black History Months for a lot of
these corporations are about to be very interesting. For this week's
final story, singer Chris Brown is back in the news
after his legal team announced a major lawsuit in support
of his brand Morgan You and Breed both handle entertainment
news for the Black Information Network. So let's start with you,
give us some details on this story, and we will
(23:11):
come back to you to close us out.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
All right, So, Chris Brown is doing Warner Brothers over
a docuseries that aired last year in October. The new
lawsuit states investigation Discoveries show titled Chris Brown A History
of Violence is full of lies in infammatory statements about
the rapper. Now, Brown claims the producers of the show
and the alleged victims who participated in the filming of
(23:35):
that show ignore the facts in order to defame him
and ruin his reputation. So he is seeking five hundred
million dollars in damages for infliction of emotional distress and
defamation and libel. So in the docuseries, a woman identified
as a Jane Doe claims that Chris raped her in
twenty twenty. Now Brown's lawyers say this is not true,
(23:57):
and that's at least why the lawsuit was filed.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Now, the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Says, states this case is about media putting their own
profits over truth and knowing that it was full of
lies and deception and violating journalistic principles when it's in
regards to the airing of the actual docuseries. So Chris
Brown's team says, the docuseries paints him out to be
(24:23):
all of these bad things, like a serial rapist and
a serial abuser.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
However he has not been.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
He's you know, he stands that he has not been
convicted of any sex crimes. So much of this I
think stems from two thousand and nine. Let's just be
plain and clear about it, and this is my opinion,
when he played guilty of felony assault and criminal threats
against his then girlfriend at the time, Rihanna. But it's like,
no matter what Chris Brown does, he can't escape that.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
And it seems like there's no room for not reform.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
What's the word I'm looking for, like vin vcation for him.
So he just made history, sold out, you know, the
fourth largest stadium in the world, not for one but
two nights during his South African leg of his tour.
But again, for whatever reason, there's like no, Oh, redemption
is the word I was looking There's no redemption for him.
And it's really sad that you know that it's come
(25:17):
to this because both parties have truly moved on in
regards to that situation.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
So I think we should too.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
But I really believe that that's why we continue to
come back to this space with Chris Brown. It's because
of two thousand and nine. But yeah, as far as
the lawsuit is concerned, his team, his legal team is
essentially saying that it paints him out to be somebody
that he's not.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well to piggyback off what Morgan said about his South
African concerts, which was amazing and record breaking for him.
You know, there was a women's organization over there, a
group that was boycotting and trying to get his concerts
canceled from Jump and they sold out so quickly, like
it was never a chance that it was going to
get canceled. But even over there, he is still being
(26:08):
looked at as, you know, a figure that is kind
of polarizing, and I don't know, again, that just makes
sense that they just continue to paint him with this
single brush, regardless of all of his other accompsols events
or how he's moved on or how he's apologized.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And it's interesting that Rihanna has never.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
In my opinion, been held to the same standard in
the public, and that is because of the photos that
we saw, you know, whoever leaked the LAPD We saw
what her face looked like that night, do you know
what I mean? But the report was they were both
fighting in that vehicle, So it doesn't matter whether you're
a man or a woman. But they say, you know,
you're not supposed to put your hand on women, Well,
(26:50):
women aren't supposed to put their hands on men all
the time.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
We weren't in the car.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
We don't know what happened, but it seems like Chris
Brown is the one who received the brunt basically all
of the backlash for that, and he took a hit.
His career took a hit, and I'm not saying he
is innocent of anything at all. All I'm saying is
the blame was not shared. It was most definitely piled on,
but people like to forget that part anyway. I think
(27:15):
he does have good grounds for a defamation lawsuit, especially
since he says that the documentary which Morgan pointed out,
contains false and misleading narratives about him as far as
the sexual assaults and evidence tampering, and he says they
have all been discredited or dismissed in court. And the
(27:36):
emotional distress of it all when you are constantly being
told that you are bad or you're being called an
abuser every day, yet there's no evidence of it, and
people are constantly trying to stop your bag, you know.
He says his reputation and mental health have taken a
hit as well, and so even though he's still wildly
(27:58):
successful touring, like, he's pretty much been blackballed in Hollywood
as far as performing and award shows and things like that.
And most recently, there was supposed to be a performance
as a tribute to Michael Jackson, and he had this
whole thing set up. They canceled it right before and
basically eliminated him from the show and didn't give a
(28:21):
real reason for why. So when he put that out there,
he was like, well, all that work down the drain,
all these dancers that were you know, prepped and trained
and were counting on that exposure.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So it was gone.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
But you know, he's still doing well for himself despite
these allegations and the response from Warner Brothers in Discovery,
their spokesperson says they will continue to stand behind their
production and they're going to defend against that lawsuit, so
they are not looking to settle or pay him anywhere
near five hundred million dollars. But you know that just
(28:52):
people could say what they want to say about you.
It's all about the way that you choose to live
your life publicly. And he's still working and he's still
out here trying to prove himself, I guess. But Chris
has said on several occasions on his own social media
that he's done, you know, tab dancing for the media
and trying to make himself look a certain way for people.
(29:12):
Because if you hate him, you hate him. If you
love them, thank you for the support.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Sensation know.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Sold out, every show still sold out.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Well, I uh, I think we're just going to have
to wait and see. This, of course, is a story
that I'm sure that both of you will follow very closely,
and next time we can talk about it, let's make
sure that we do. But in the meantime, I'd like
to thank you both very much for your time and
your insight. As always, once again, Today's Guts are Black
Information Network news anchors Morgan Would and Bree Would. This
(29:48):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host
Rams's Jah on all social media.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
I am Qward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civic Cipher this
weekend on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and
podcast info, check Civiccipher dot com and join us Monday
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily podcast
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