March 22, 2021 • 42 mins
In a world where being vulnerable is often considered weak, it would be refreshing to hear an authentic and honest story from some of our heroes. This week, Stephen Jackson tells Cari Champion his whole story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Every champion and carry champions to be a champion of
Champion and carry Champion and carry Champion, the Champion and
carry Champion and carry Champion. Rateris Raiders and sports and
then the Tainmking Naked weirder in the world. Were vulnerable considered,
we come and remove the vail from entertainment elite. It's
a difference between with it's real and with the public season.
So here's your favorite celebrities behind the scenes. It's refreshing up.
(00:33):
Then the whole story specific life ought to rend events
to shake the person that you Henry Yatta Champion and
carry Champion, the girl you did it. It's the greatest
in sports and entertainment Connaked with every Champion and carry
champions to be a champion, the Champion, they carry Champion,
they girl tity chain the Champion, they carry Champion and
carry Champion, Raders, Raiders and sports and entertainmaking naked women.
(00:55):
The people I felt like gave me the most game,
the most wisdom that taught me the most. Who I
feel like I owed something? Tube wasn't there? Hey, everyone,
welcome to Naked with Carrie Champion. My next guest is
a perfect example of what it means to be naked
to tell the truth when you really don't feel like
telling the truth, because it exposes who you really are.
(01:16):
And if you want to sit here and join me
on this podcast in your underwear or without clothes on
at all and your birthday suit, do that too. I
don't think I can do that because if I'm being honest,
which is what I'm going to try to do and vulnerable,
I don't want you to see the dimples in my booty.
I don't want you to see what I am filtering out,
you know, on the Graham. But I am willing to
reveal my soul, my spirit, my heart, and to me,
(01:41):
that's far more valuable than the physical. And that's what
my next guest is going to do. He is going
to tell us who he is from top to bottom.
And I'm sure, in fact, I promise you it's a
lesson in that Sit back, relax, get naked if you like,
but pay attention to our next guest as he joins
(02:04):
us on the Naked Podcast. My name is Stephen Jesse Jackson.
My grandfather's name is Jesse Jackson, so I'm similar just
like him. I think I inherited a lot of his traits. Uh,
he was the bread. He was the bread one our
(02:25):
family in the backbone. He provided for everybody. And what's
funny was the year he passed was my first year
in the NBA. So I feel like I inherited that
role to protecting and and and provide for the family.
I was born and put out to Texas. Well. Actually
I was born in Houston, Texas, our away from Port Art,
the Texas and uh, I was raised there and I
(02:45):
was about four or five years old in third Ward, Texas.
You all know Stephen Jackson as an NBA champion. You
know him as a podcaster and analyst, uh and arguably
a face of a civil rights movement that changed our However,
Stephen Jackson at his core was a basketball player. He
(03:05):
had a natural talent at a very young age, of
talent that I'm sure he would say he took for granted.
And if it wasn't for folks who noticed that talent
in the neighborhood and demanded that he used his talent,
he wouldn't be where he is today. Take a listen
to Stephen Jackson talking about his childhood. Well, I started
(03:27):
playing basketball when I was four. Um, I remember having
a friend named Charlie, and he was the kid in
the neighborhood that had all the games. You know, he
had everything, so all the kids like me and didn't
have that used to go to this house at the
school and hanging him and try to play his games
and stuff. And his dad. He played basketball. They had
a y m C. A team at the time, and
(03:49):
I was good on the west side, but my mom
did have money. Nobody had money for me to join
the league. So his parents brought me on the team
and allowed me to play with them and Parry, the
guy named Perry golber Um. I think my first game
carry Uh. We went to Baumin and player team and
that scored the final score. The game was forty two
to forty four. I had forty two points and my
(04:10):
other team they had too. Uh. At that age, people
saw something in me, and I'm five years old, so
I really don't know what. I'm just playing basketball, having
fun As time passed, millions of times where almost ruined
my life, millions of times where I wanted to be at,
the millions of times where I almost got arrested, millions
of times where I almost got shot. My city protected
(04:31):
me and I think as I was growing up and
playing basketball. I got to home my senior in high school. UM,
we had just won the championship in ninety five and
I was supposed to go to oak Kill Academy my
senior year. My uh, this is one of the biggest
high high school basketball programs in the country. I didn't
want to go. I wanted to stand in the the hood
and play basketball and winnings another state championship with my people.
(04:53):
I had no idea thinking about the NBN that my
coach and my mom pulled me to the side and
basically worse to me to go to Okahill Academy. I'm
not even thinking, you know where the school could take
him at the time. I just wanted to stay with
my friends, play basketball and be a normal kid, just
not knowing the sending me to Okhill was the best
thing for me. I was able to make the mcdown's
(05:14):
game and all types of stuff. I was saying that
to say they saw something in me as a teenager
that I didn't see. I didn't see the NBA. I
didn't even see college. I was saying, survival, Carrey. I
was trying to survive to see the next day I
was trying to I was trying to hangle my friends,
but not get shot like my friends. You know. It
was it was, it was all those type of things
that I was dealing with, not even thinking about basketball.
But I was blessed to have those people in my
(05:35):
life to see for the than I could see. Nothing
has ever come easy for Stephen Jackson. And he'll tell
you that himself. However, uh leaving Arizona not by choice,
but because he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do.
He didn't graduate and enter the draft in a traditional
way like the other standouts who had the same exact
resume he did. For instance, Kobe Bryant was in his
(05:57):
quote unquote draft class, but Stephen Jackson and had to
take an unlikely route to the NBA. And it was
all because he still was fighting with the streets. He
couldn't let them go. My best friend named John John's
arrest in peace. I used to I used to drive
back and forth from US to Houston with him a
lot of time to do some things for him. So
he's getting his house rated by the Drug Task Force.
(06:20):
A lot of the people that worked at the Drug
Task Force was at our high school game. So they
know me and they know my family from the city.
His house is getting raided. He's across the street at
the neighbor's house and he calls me. It was like, bro,
I need you anything. You're the reason why I got
on Jordan's right now, like anything. He's like, they tear
my house up there in my room, but what they're
(06:42):
looking for is not in my room. It's in the
front room. I need you to go get it. I'm like, man, please,
I ain't no way. This is what I'm thinking in
my mind. But then again I'm thinking this is this
is who feed me right now? You know, I want
my brother to look nice if I have the draft party,
I want to look nice. You know, all these things
wrong from through my mind. So I go, I get
(07:06):
this girl to bring me. I go over there. I
knock on the door. Um, his aunt answers the door
and her son is down on the side of it.
Just so happened, Uh isn't his cousin played basketball as well?
So when I got in the door and the police
ran to the front door, what are you doing here?
We know you know what John is tell us my
(07:27):
I thought, quick, I'm here to check on his little cousin.
He played basketball with me. I saw the police. I'm
just trying to figure out what's going on. We know
you line, where's John Johnson? Bad? They went back to
the room. As soon as I walk in, I look
at this. Up there is eye. She looked at me.
We both know what I'm there for. Grabbed it, put
it in my drawers, run out the door. As I'm
(07:47):
walking out the door, carry I'm grabbing the car door.
All I hear is Jackson. Immediately my body going the
full sway, soaking with I'm so nervous. What I have
on me carry could have put me in jail for
thirty years. He tapped me on my shoulders, like Jackson,
(08:07):
we know you know what John Johnson. As I turned around,
I'm sweating. He just hands me his card. I take
the card, hopping the car, go get John and go
to Houston. He gives me ten thou knowledge for that
now carry I It was the dumbest thing that I
could have ever done in my life, getting ready to
go to the NBA. But I wasn't in that mind, Brame,
(08:31):
you know I was thinking about that moment. I wasn't,
you know, I didn't know if I was gonna make
it to the draft, you know, and uh, but that
was that was probably the craziest thing and the dumbest
thing I did at that moment, and the reason why
Stephen Jackson says that was the dumbest thing he could
have ever done, especially in that moment. He's on his
way to the league, his life is getting ready to change.
(08:51):
Your friend asked for a favor, and that favor leads
him to a very compromising position. If the cops decided
to search him in that moment, what do you think
would have happened? And if he would have searched me,
would have been over with. You have never heard about
Stephen Jackson, and he's right, we would have never heard
about Steven Jackson. But we have and he's here today,
(09:12):
and as he's made his way in the league and
become a success, he also talks about those who didn't
make it with him. A lot of who he is,
a lot of his naked characteristics have to do with death.
He talks about losing his older brother and how that
eventually shaped him until the person he is today. My
older brother was killed over a girl that he was dating.
(09:34):
Three guys jumped in bust his head with pipes where
he had eighteen staples in his head. He was, he
was the best fan. He wouldn't have lived anyway, you know, um,
I think a dad a dad too. After it happened,
he died, you know, I got a chance to say
something to him, and he shed a tear, and he
died couple hours after a big reason for me making
it was because of him. A lot of us, a
(09:54):
lot of the good and bad stuff I learned from
the older brother, talking to girls, smoking weed, sneaking alcohol
in the movies, to see menister society and juice. I
was with him. I learned everything from him. And I
knew the life he was living was because he wanted
to see a better life, you know. And and I
knew a lot of things my brother was doing in
(10:15):
the streets. A lot of people respecting me because of
the stuff he was doing, you know what I mean,
whether it was good or bad. They left me alone
because of him. And so I knew. I knew his
heart carry I knew its hard, whether it was you know,
he did some things that he shouldn't have done. I
knew his hard and I felt like if I had
a chance to make a wife. He's alive. I kind
(10:37):
of I could have changed some things around. It hurt.
My grandfather wasn't there. That hurt the people I felt
like gave me the most game, the most wisdom, that
taught me the most. Who I felt like I owed
something too, wasn't there. It hurt, But at the same time,
I was happy because you know, it's still my mom,
my brother, my stisters, still people. You know, I had
(10:58):
two kids at the time when I first got in
be so I still have responsibilities. I still have people
cared about. But I knew having HM, having my brother
with me, it would just have been different. I would
have been I would have been protected. I wouldn't have
to be to protect all the time, you know what
I mean. And that's just the security he gave me.
(11:20):
So after a few years of being cut and trying
out for different teams in the league and also playing overseas,
Stephen Jackson finds himself and the starting lineup in two
thousand for the New Jersey Nets. It's a bitter sweet
situation to care because I get there. I'm starting the
whole first half of the season. I'm leading all rookies
and scoring, make the Rookie All Star Game, come back
(11:43):
after the rookie I don't play at all. I don't start,
I don't play. I'm like, what did I do? Like?
What did I do? You know what I'm saying. And
I don't know if they wanted to play their veterans
At that time. Byron scott wife was was really like
(12:05):
a second mother to me because I was there. I
was eighteen, eighteen nights at the time, nights at a time,
and she knew I was young. I was living by myself,
so and they and Byron Hunt and Byron Scott had
a son at that time that me and he were
kind of close. We were the same age, and she
really catered to me like she really care. She took
care of me like she treated me like her own son.
I don't think Byron Scott liked that. I I don't
(12:26):
think he agreed with that, and they're divorced now, but
I don't think he agreed with that at the time.
And I think that's why he stopped playing me, because
it wasn't nobody better than me at the time. I
was young, I was doing my job, I was playing well,
but for me to come back fresh from Rookie All
Star and not play at all. I knew it was
something personal, to the point where I stopped playing and
(12:46):
we're playing in San Antonio Spurs a halftime, I'm just
standing over there in my suit and I was in
my uniform and uh, Mike, Mike Brown came up, was like,
why you're not playing? Like, man, your guests is better
than mine. Man, I just don't want to say the
wrong with that until your coach, bro, you know I will.
He was like, yeah, I know, but keep your head.
We come and get you in so many words. And
(13:10):
so after that season, I end up playing Summer League
with San Antonio. Uh end up becoming second and scoring
behind Dirt the Whiskey in the Utah Summer League to
the point where I bawled out so much right after
the game. Pop pulled me to the side. Stephen Jackson,
you can be on this team, you can play, you
belong in this league. You can't smoke weed. You can't
(13:30):
smoke weed on my team. Jack I'm ting my Pop
was clears day with it before you even offered me
a contract or anything. I'm looking at you. I know,
he smoked. I hear you smoke. You don't hide it.
As soon as I left Pop, I would smoke before
and after I signed the contract. I smoke care but
I had to say what I had to say to
get the cheddar. You know what I'm saying. He and Uh,
But I think Pop, because getting to San Antonio carry,
(13:53):
I think that's when I became a professional. That's when
I learned this game is more than just playing the game.
Learned how to prepare. I learned how to be a man.
I learned how to be a professional. I learned how
to be a teammate. I learned I learned how to
be a better brother to my teammates in San Antonio.
Pap was like a father figure at some point, because
you know, all the things that I was doing, I
(14:14):
had friends stand with me. You know what I'm saying.
The girl I was with at the time wasn't the
best for me. And to be honest with you, Pop
seeing that as soon as I met it, he told
me she wasn't a want for me. Yes, Pop told me,
and Uh. Tim took me in like a big brother,
him and him and Steve Steve Smith. They took me
in like a big brother. On the flip side, David Robinson,
(14:35):
his wife. I was going to spend holidays with them,
going to church with them. So I had a balance
of everything in San Antonio, you know, I had had
a balance to everything. And I think being there be
able to play with two Hall of famers and David
Robinson and Tim Duncan, winning the championship with David Robinson
his last year is on his retirement year, I think
that all made me. That was my UH moment where
(14:58):
I felt like I belonged here. When once I won
the championship and Tim knocker Get called me the ultimate
teammate and David gave me credit of all the big shots,
I felt like, that's when I find little Rod And
that's when I belonged in the NBA, that moment, winning
that championship. Every champion and carry champion is to be
a champion, a champion and carry champion and carry chapion.
A champion and carry chapion and carry chappions and sports
(15:21):
and entertainment connect work every champion and carry champions. To
be a champion, a champion, they carry champion, the champion,
they carry champion and carry champion and sports and the the
taming cannake warm so here's the irony. Stephen Jackson wins
(15:42):
a chip with the Spurs and he becomes, as he
just said, a professional, right, he is now a professional,
and I agree with him in so many ways because
it really does change your mindset. But after he leaves
the Spurs, he goes and he plays with the Pacers,
and this is arguable what he's known for famously or infamously,
(16:03):
which is the malice and the palace. I asked even
to tell us what happened, and only a way in
which he can do. The brawl situation was crazy in Detroit.
We were planning in Detroit at the time. The previous
year I wasn't on the Pacers. They played in Detroit
in the Eastern Conference finals. It was a big robbery
that was almost fighting, went the blows and he trotted
(16:24):
to win. The next year, we were the favorite because
this is my first time on his team, and added
me to this team made the roster so much better.
That we had that one of the top teams and
they would say we're going within a championship where that
game was a big game and it was a statement
game and it was on TV. Come to the fourth quarter,
we're blowing them out. We're up by fifteen twenty. We
all had good games. We're talking ship carry. It's gonna
(16:48):
be along. Yep, y'all, Yeah, y'all, y'all run last year
a little bit back, you know, we're talking cash crap,
Ron and being going at it, you know, because they
had words or whatever. So it got to point where
I'm at the free throw line fifteen fifteen, probably forty
five seconds left, something like that carried. I shoot a
free throw, first three free through, I'll make it. I
(17:09):
stepped back to give Ron and Jamal Tensiley five. As
I do that, I hear Jamal say you can get
your file back wrong. Remember I didn't play with him
in the finals the previous year, so I really didn't
know what that meant. But any time I've been on
that team long enough, any time you give Ron, I'll
(17:30):
put a battery in this bag. I'll give any type
of confidence to do something dumb. He gonna do it.
Here's our tast explaining why he has be forbid Wallace,
Me and Ben Wallace beef as basketball. He's getting defensive
player in the years and I want that that simple right, Yeah, Yeah,
(17:50):
I was gonna get it. I let the lead in
tex flavoring. This media is not voting from you know
how that going, and you you out to know what
was for you, buddy. So it was. And then I
came back and got it the next show. I was
gonna get it again. He got it when I got
spend it. He wouldn't get that right. He's a great
That was an opportunity right there. So I think that's
(18:12):
where you know. We're on the court, Me and bend
and guard each other and were busting their ass. But
sometimes me and Ben will get into the mix. So
as I running down court, I'm like, it gotta be
being who are thinking about filing? I can see him
talk tracks. Nobody else doing the game care, so I
run a guard bar just so he came file him.
They throw the ball to bed. The clocks wrannna not
(18:34):
carry you from to go home with a win. And
then at the end of the games you don't want
to find nobody that sent him to the free throw line.
So I'm guarding band, just a little token defense, and
I let him score. But as he's going up and score,
rong come from out of nowhere. Now now immediately when
the file happened, you have to be there to see this.
(18:56):
Being got maybe two hundred pounds heavier at that moment.
He just blew up right and I'm seeing this, and
he comes towards Ron and put his whole honds in
both his eyes and push his head so hard carry
I'm looking to see if it came off. I'm kind
(19:17):
of looking the stands to see if his head came off.
He pushed Ron so where Ron had to gather him stuff.
You know, Ron is a big old boy too, so
at the Ron gather himself, they about the lost up.
We end up breaking it up kind of you. Geby
(19:38):
gets to a pushing match and just so happened. I
was I was already cool with Rep. Hamilton and I
was cool with she. I was like my brother, so
we wasn't really trying to fight each other. But then
had got to the point where as I'm trying to
break it up, I see my close friend Rip Hamilton's
still talking ship. So I you turned out the huddle
and square up put my church. I'm square with him
(20:00):
and Lindsey Hunter because I'm I didn't went to that mode. Now,
Okay they talked, Okay, I'm in fighting mode now. Coaches
grabbed me me break it up. I calmed down. Ron
is laying on the scores table. So what people don't
know is Ron was seeing a counselor or some type
of lady he was talking to. I don't know what
they call it. But they had me, Oh, trust me carry,
(20:22):
They had me do a couple of sessions with the two.
They thought I was crazy too, but she was a sweetheart.
She was a sweetheart. She knew he wasn't crazy. She
was just getting that check and doing her job. I
felt on that. And uh so they told Ron, when
you get to the point where you can't control yourself,
go lay down, find a pieceful place this they told him,
(20:45):
finds a happy place, right, So he did. He did
when they was destructed to do they know the stories
have and he took the analysis headphones and put him
on his head so he can block everything out. Okay,
good job. Run to the point where resiments Procyller was
proud of it, Resci whenever they put his hand on
his chest, like that's what I'm talking about, Ron, I'm
(21:06):
proud of you what I just wanted to be doing.
While he trying to calm down, whoever this guy is,
he has to be a novice and cup throw. He
threw the cup Carrie where it stayed upright all the
way to it got the roar, and yet run upright,
didn't flip through on him. They had a bet that
(21:29):
the beer colambed are okay in any state. You throw
water anything in somebody face outside, it's a salt. Today
it's a salt. Ron looked at the stands and saw
two guys flapping and like, yeah, we made in Atlantic.
I wanted the bet, not knowing as he'd be lined
up there. He grabbed the wrong guy, so he's don't
(21:51):
keep come beating up this dude, and the guy who
actually threw the beer grabbed him from behind. So by
that time I'm making up the steps a row above
row and as I land, I put my hands on rung.
Another guy throws another beer and run face you fair game, Hi,
come herep lay him down. As I knocked him down,
(22:14):
I'm on my way to I'm on my way to
go Sammy Davidson and go stump him out. I got
pulled back. I end up landing on the dude who
actually threw the billing run so I'm tagging him in
the head bath. Fat back. I get pulled off by
David Harrison six ten two nine and he has me
(22:35):
in the choke hole, not knowing he's choking me. Carry
So I'm looking at Rashi tell her Rashi trying to
tell him, I'm he's choking me. I'm passing out because
during the whole time you're drealling the pump, you would
have don'ta breathe like he's posts. I'm not a boxing
so I don't want it. So my dreading was pumping,
so I really wasn't breathing. So I'm understands looking at
(22:56):
sheet and I'm blacking out. Carre, I'm about to pass
out side he some kind of way. I grabbed his own.
He let me go and out stand up and as
I stand up and you look at it, Hid grabbed me.
We all start walking back down to the court. As
I'm walking to the court, I see chuck persons and
grabbing Ron and I'm following Ron to the back to
(23:18):
the locker room. Carried every refreshment that that they sold
at that arena. I had a taste of it on
my uniform. Popcorn, mis hot dogs, pickles. I just had
advertising everything on my jersey walking to bottle there and
as I got in the locker room two. This is
this is where the story gets crazy. After I get
(23:41):
in the locker room, I sit down, Jamal Tens is
just over the lack, like he thinks this was just
the funniest thing yever. He like he but but I
gotta give him the benefit of that. He laughed at everything.
No good a bat he laughed everything. I sit down
and I put my hands on my legs kind of like,
and I pull up. My hands are full of blood
my hand from me jumping over the bleaches and all.
(24:05):
I didn't pay no attention to none of that care.
I was in the mode. All my legs are scratched up,
and I'm looking at my legs and like, man, as
I'm trying to figure myself together. Ron tappan Sta, you
think we're gonna get in trouble? Yeah, let me think
about that, Ron Travel, Well, are you lucky we have
(24:26):
a job tomorrow? Ron Ord tests saying do you think
we're in trouble? Well, that was only a small part
of what would happen. Stephen Jackson was suspended for thirty
games and lost close to two million dollars in salary.
Because of the malice and the palace. Not to mention,
the then commissioner, David Stern started in forcing all type
of rules to make sure nothing like that would ever
(24:49):
happen again. There was a dress code. Players could only
behave or act a certain way because they wanted to
ensure the fans that they were quote unquote safe. I
have my own opinions on that, but we'll leave that there.
The point of the matter is is that the quality
of being loyal. It's something that Stephen Jackson holds near
and dear, and he says it's often the reason why
(25:11):
people just don't understand who he is. I've been so
misunderstood for running in the stands with Ron and for
helping Jamal Tensei shoot my gun try to help him
at at the strip club, and people don't know. I
was probably five minutes from my brother was getting beat
to death. I was five minutes away from not knowing
it what's going on. So not being not being able
(25:32):
to be there for my brother, I think that haunted
me a lot, where I'll make it a point to
beat up for the guys I called my brother today.
You know, that's why they think twice to go on
the stands for Ron. That's why they think twice to
help Jamal Tensei, That's why they think twice to go
to Minnesota stand up with George Floyd. Because I've always
been my brother's keeper and and and being so close
to my brother and not being that that always haunted me.
(25:52):
So I've always took pride. And if I feel like
you're my brother, if I'm with you, if I tell
you I love you and I know it's reciprocated, I've
through a wall for you. And that's just that's just
how I bassed this. Then from day one, Stephen Jackson
(26:16):
has been unapologetic about being loyal, and it was that
same loyalty that led him to become one of the
faces of a national civil rights movement. One of his
dear friends was murdered by police officers. We know him
as George Floyd, but Stephen Jackson called him Georgie. Georgie
(26:36):
me and George was always in the streets care. We
never did anything care but hang out, get bent and
go to club. That's all we did. So we had
a mutual friend named Telly Joyce rest in Peace Teller,
so he knew me as a yachster playing basketball, and uh,
I used to always playing on the courts while the
drugs were sold. He come, He came to me, like, Bro,
I got a homeboy that looked just like you. Y'all
(26:57):
might had the same daddy here a little old to you.
But I'm telling you, y'all, I look alike Bro. I'm like, man, please, man,
I'm a team. At the times, I don't think they're
making fun of me. He brings Florida back the next week.
As soon as I see Floyd, we see each other,
I'm like, yo, Dad, Yo, dad, that's how much we
look alike. And uh, we just became cool. Un respect
(27:20):
what what we called each other. Twin. This is a
coordinated activity happening across this nation, and so we are
in a state of emergency. Black people are dying in
a state of emergency that we cannot look at this
as an isolated incident. The reason why buildings are burning
(27:43):
are not just for our brother. George. Floyd got killed
for doing for what I'm doing here. Mike Macael Mex
got killed for doing what I'm doing. So I get
a week ten of fifteen death threats. But people just
don't want equality They don't hate me, they just don't
(28:03):
want us to be an equal. And it's been tough
because a lot of times I didn't know what I
was doing. Carried my first four weeks and been in Minnesota,
I didn't I'll guarantee you I probably slept ten hours
in four weeks because I was I wanted to continue
to make my people proud. Um I want. I wanted
(28:24):
to do right for Georgie, you know, and people and
a lot of people don't know when when when Georgie
got killed, I was still in pain from Kobe. I
was I like, when that happened, I left my neighborhood,
just walked like I was still hurting from Kobe. And
that was a close brother of mine. So when that happened,
like everything just came out at one time. It's just
(28:48):
like I've been holding it in. Okay, now enough is enough.
I can't take the more. I've never felt so helpless
in my life. What can I do to help my
brother and carry I have to say this, I had
no idea what I was going down there, and do
I knew nine out of ten times when this happens
(29:08):
to a black male. First thing they tried to do
is assist, assassinate their character, bring up old stuff, and
none of them ever had an NBA player. Were one
of the hottest podcasts in the world to speak on
their behalf. I had to be that. I had to
be his voice. And everything I said at the press conference,
(29:28):
I think, uh, here, having to make them matter we
speak before me, that all helped me. You know. I mean,
I love us so much. Oh my god, I'll shout
out to me him and I love us so much.
And I think hearing her speak before me it helped
me relax because I didn't you know, everything I said
came up the top of my head and from my heart,
and uh it helped me relax and make me get
(29:49):
ahold of what I the message that I wanted to
come across, because before I spoke carry, a lot of
people was thinking I was coming with fuck white people,
I hate all y'all our motherfucker. That's what they were expecting,
you know what I'm saying, That's what they was expecting.
But as you know, Carrie, I hit him with that
articulate ship and at the same time getting my point across,
(30:10):
and it made it real simple. I love everybody, but
the time of playing both sides. It's over either you
with us or you against us. And I'm glad that
I was able to speak in the intelligent manner, uh
a heartfelt manner and carry. I had no idea I'll
be the face of the biggest civil rights movement ever,
(30:34):
eighteen countries, fifty states. I can never thought this would
be who I am. I've always been the guy and
go out throw stuff at me. I embrace it, but
it's good or bad because I know either as a
test or it's a blessing. So I'm gonna I embrace
it all the time. And I embraced I had. I
had embraced this tooth carry with going down there, but
I didn't know all this was gonna come from you.
(30:55):
I'm glad I did go down there because not only
did I do something, I did something for the world.
But my life has changed, Carre. My life has changed
from this for the better because it's forced me to
not be a hypocrite. I can't say that my brother's
(31:16):
keeping and I'm promoting music with somebody killing somebody. Are
they talking about shooting each other up? I take pride
in taking these steps and not being a hypocrite. And
I love the person I am now, and and and
I hate I had to lose my brother for all
these things that happened in my life. But I know
he's smiling down knowing that his death is not going
(31:36):
in avant. And he changed the world. A lot of
things are changing from from his incident, and I'm just
thankful that I had a part in this. Past summer
was one that we will never forget. It changed everyone,
including Stephen Jackson. The division, the healing, the hurt, the
pain oftentimes documented in so many different ways. And now
(32:00):
the trial of the officer who is accused of murdering
George Floyd is underway. If you look back on everything
that's happened, the question is simply to Stephen Jackson, would
you have done anything differently? I think I would have
went harder. You know, I was out there protests and
I was doing this and doing that. But I think
(32:22):
during the time when it first happened, I think we
could have we could have did more as far as
far as getting them to understand exactly why we all
get to stuff up, because because even if you look
at it after that Rashard Brooks A mard Auberry, they
still didn't get it, so obviously we didn't do enough
(32:44):
because it's still happening. So in my mind, I could
have done more. I don't know what it is because
I didn't know what I was doing when I went
down there. But if I could have done something different,
carry I would have done more. Stephen Jackson the basketball player,
Stephen Jackson, the the podcaster, slash analysts, Stephen Jackson, the businessman,
(33:04):
Stephen Jackson the activists. There um so many people see
you in a lot of different ways. Stephen Jackson a
family man. You always talk about your babies. Um. Stephen
Jackson the ladies man. You gotta you know, no one
really knows your personal life. You got I don't tell.
I don't tell nobody my businesses. I know people businesses.
(33:35):
But is there a part of you that feels like
I know for me there is. But is there a
part of you that feels like you're not being honest
with everyone about who you are and you wish you
could remove that mask. I think with me, Garry, I
want my emotions on us leave and I think I
(33:56):
give my honest self to the world more than the
normal guy. You know. I think as far as how
I live, who who I am as a person, what
I have, what I but, but what I've obtained, who
I love and who I hate. That's clear at day.
I don't have skeletons in my closet. You can't assassinate
(34:18):
my character in no type of way. But I think
I do have things in my past that people would judge.
You know, people judge people for selling drugs. People judge
people for carrying guns. People people judge people for certain stuff.
I could care less, but people still tend to judge
people like that. I have kids who I care what
(34:39):
they think. I care what they here, and I think,
for the most part, what I'm doing today means more
than me than anything I did in basketball. I honestly
feel like I wasn't appreciating in basketball three or four years.
I should have made the All Star Game, and I
simply didn't make it because I had my teammates back
in the Broa, not because of the way I played
(35:01):
the game. Because I speak my mind when the coach
is wrong on the teammate, I'll make a rap song
when the Clippers have a racist owner. Those are the
reasons why I don't give my accoladesal plan in the NBA.
So I never really was was felt like I was
respected and gave a fat chance in NBA carry I
honestly don't I think. I think I was judged and
(35:24):
and and scrutinized. Um even with the broad care we
if the brawl happened today, we wouldn't get suspended. With
everything that's going on today, we wouldn't have got suspended.
We're at work. A guy throws a beer on the court,
how are we supposed to respond? At that time, they
was trying to save the game and stop the game
for being so hood and so black. So they was
looking for a reason to change the dress code. They
(35:45):
was looking for somebody to blame to have a faith
for Okay, this is why we're changing all the rules
because these guys and they were looking for it at
the time. And I fit. I fit the bill. Fine,
I'm cool with it. What I'm doing now means more
than me. I want to be known for being the
ace of eighteen countries and the and the fifty States,
the biggest civil rights movement. I want to be known
as the face could change. What I'm doing now, going
(36:07):
from the city of the city trying to make it
to all fifty states, giving back to people who I
know need people in these areas that the whole world
know that if we come together, we can kind of
end all this poverty. We know all this stuff, but
we're not doing the fact that I'm able to give
a help in hand care. This means more to me
than any basketball, any ring I could wear. This means
(36:28):
more because I'm actually changing lives and I'm doing something
that's bigger than me. I'm not playing the game. I'm
actually giving my time, my finances, my my my my health, everything.
I'm putting everything on the line for better men, for
other people, and uh, no better feeling. I've never had
no better feeling. To be honest, I feel like Stephen
Jackson has shared all he is needed to share on
(36:49):
this platform, but I have to ask him in this moment,
when was the last time, or if ever, you found
yourself completely vulnerable? When are you naked? My oldest daughter,
no more than anybody, anybody on this earth. My daughter
knows more. She She's never judged me. She's never judged me.
(37:13):
She's my best friend. Um. I think she's kind of
like my shrink because I know she's not gonna judge me.
You know I can't. My Tamiya Jackson and Scottie Jackson,
I can't do no wrong in their eyes, and I
want to keep you that way. I'm really grateful that
Stephen Jackson came on the podcast today. I appreciate his honesty, UM,
(37:37):
and I appreciate him saying he is at his most
vulnerable naked when he is with his daughters. And for
many men, it's their daughters who can do that, who
can bring that out of them. So there's that honesty
that only your children can elictit. I do believe though,
his best naked emotion is his loyalty, UM. And the
(37:58):
reason why I say it's a naked emotion is because
he does it so selflessly. I don't know if you
were able to understand the dynamics of him losing his
brother and not being there to help him, and why
as a result of that, he feels it necessary to
protect those that are in his life that he cares about,
(38:19):
that he considers family, that he considers close friends. That
was the thing throughout this entire podcast, when he talked
about every single important moment in his life, it was
the loyalty that kept him there, that kept him coming back.
That allowed him to define who he was, to make
him feel better about who he is as a human.
For instance, the malice in the Palace. Not everybody's running
(38:41):
into the stand to protect ron artests or even help
him correct. In fact, everyone wasn't. It was Stephen Jackson,
and there was a reason for that. And he did
it without even caring what others would say. I mean,
the repercussions being fined, what the league is going to
say about you, what's your basketball legacy would ultimately look
(39:02):
like because you were a part of something that was
considered a black eye for the NBA. He didn't care
about any of those things. To me, that's a beautiful quality.
And I often think to myself, am I that kind
of friend? I mean, I'm listening to him tell this
story over and over again. Am I that kind of friend?
Can I do that? And I don't know. I had
to be honest with y'all, I think I am. I'm
(39:23):
sure my friends would tell you that I am. But
I can't tell you that I'm running into the stands
with the malice in the Palace. I can tell you
what I what I could do. That same loyalty was
on display when he went to Minneapolis to make sure
people knew who George Floyd was. That was his friend,
and what happened to his friend was not right, it
(39:46):
was not fair. And you heard him say over and
over again, he had no idea what he was doing
when he went to Minnesota, but he did it anyway
because he's a loyal friend and he wanted to make
sure that someone spoke for George Floyd because he didn't
have a voice. And now that is a beautiful thing.
But again it's that same beautiful, naked emotion of being loyal,
(40:08):
and I salute Stephen Jackson for that. The officer accused
of murdering George Floyd. His trial is actually underway as
we do this podcast. Simultaneously, we also found out that
the Floyd family received a twenty seven million dollar civil
suit settlement. Now that's interesting because all the while what
happened is summer where we saw a racial renaissance of righteousness,
(40:32):
something that we hadn't seen within the last sixty years.
Really described the emotions of a frustrated people, a frustrated culture.
But at the end of the day, there was healing,
healing for Stephen Jackson specifically, he is a loyal person
and often described as a troublemaker in the league. Misunderstood
(40:52):
in the league, it was his loyalty. He wanted to
be his brother's keeper. Now, while being his brother's keeper,
he found himself in compromising situations. But now he is
arguably the face of one of the largest civil rights
movements we've seen within the last sixty years. I'm also
glad to hear him share his story because it puts
(41:14):
in perspective what we all should be trying to do,
and that is really evaluate who we are from top
to bottom when we're at our most vulnerable. I appreciate you'
all listening. Tune in next week. I may wear my underwear,
I may not. That's none of your business. Though I
might have dimples in my booty. I may not. None
(41:35):
of your business though. Uh joined us for another edition
of the Naked Podcast with Yours Truly, Carrie Champion and
(42:10):
play Lin
Every champion and carry champions to be a champion of
Champion and carry Champion and carry Champion, the Champion and
carry Champion and carry Champion. Rateris Raiders and sports and
then the Tainmking Naked weirder in the world. Were vulnerable considered,
we come and remove the vail from entertainment elite. It's
a difference between with it's real and with the public season.
So here's your favorite celebrities behind the scenes. It's refreshing up.
(00:33):
Then the whole story specific life ought to rend events
to shake the person that you Henry Yatta Champion and
carry Champion, the girl you did it. It's the greatest
in sports and entertainment Connaked with every Champion and carry
champions to be a champion, the Champion, they carry Champion,
they girl tity chain the Champion, they carry Champion and
carry Champion, Raders, Raiders and sports and entertainmaking naked women.
(00:55):
The people I felt like gave me the most game,
the most wisdom that taught me the most. Who I
feel like I owed something? Tube wasn't there? Hey, everyone,
welcome to Naked with Carrie Champion. My next guest is
a perfect example of what it means to be naked
to tell the truth when you really don't feel like
telling the truth, because it exposes who you really are.
(01:16):
And if you want to sit here and join me
on this podcast in your underwear or without clothes on
at all and your birthday suit, do that too. I
don't think I can do that because if I'm being honest,
which is what I'm going to try to do and vulnerable,
I don't want you to see the dimples in my booty.
I don't want you to see what I am filtering out,
you know, on the Graham. But I am willing to
reveal my soul, my spirit, my heart, and to me,
(01:41):
that's far more valuable than the physical. And that's what
my next guest is going to do. He is going
to tell us who he is from top to bottom.
And I'm sure, in fact, I promise you it's a
lesson in that Sit back, relax, get naked if you like,
but pay attention to our next guest as he joins
(02:04):
us on the Naked Podcast. My name is Stephen Jesse Jackson.
My grandfather's name is Jesse Jackson, so I'm similar just
like him. I think I inherited a lot of his traits. Uh,
he was the bread. He was the bread one our
(02:25):
family in the backbone. He provided for everybody. And what's
funny was the year he passed was my first year
in the NBA. So I feel like I inherited that
role to protecting and and and provide for the family.
I was born and put out to Texas. Well. Actually
I was born in Houston, Texas, our away from Port Art,
the Texas and uh, I was raised there and I
(02:45):
was about four or five years old in third Ward, Texas.
You all know Stephen Jackson as an NBA champion. You
know him as a podcaster and analyst, uh and arguably
a face of a civil rights movement that changed our However,
Stephen Jackson at his core was a basketball player. He
(03:05):
had a natural talent at a very young age, of
talent that I'm sure he would say he took for granted.
And if it wasn't for folks who noticed that talent
in the neighborhood and demanded that he used his talent,
he wouldn't be where he is today. Take a listen
to Stephen Jackson talking about his childhood. Well, I started
(03:27):
playing basketball when I was four. Um, I remember having
a friend named Charlie, and he was the kid in
the neighborhood that had all the games. You know, he
had everything, so all the kids like me and didn't
have that used to go to this house at the
school and hanging him and try to play his games
and stuff. And his dad. He played basketball. They had
a y m C. A team at the time, and
(03:49):
I was good on the west side, but my mom
did have money. Nobody had money for me to join
the league. So his parents brought me on the team
and allowed me to play with them and Parry, the
guy named Perry golber Um. I think my first game
carry Uh. We went to Baumin and player team and
that scored the final score. The game was forty two
to forty four. I had forty two points and my
(04:10):
other team they had too. Uh. At that age, people
saw something in me, and I'm five years old, so
I really don't know what. I'm just playing basketball, having
fun As time passed, millions of times where almost ruined
my life, millions of times where I wanted to be at,
the millions of times where I almost got arrested, millions
of times where I almost got shot. My city protected
(04:31):
me and I think as I was growing up and
playing basketball. I got to home my senior in high school. UM,
we had just won the championship in ninety five and
I was supposed to go to oak Kill Academy my
senior year. My uh, this is one of the biggest
high high school basketball programs in the country. I didn't
want to go. I wanted to stand in the the hood
and play basketball and winnings another state championship with my people.
(04:53):
I had no idea thinking about the NBN that my
coach and my mom pulled me to the side and
basically worse to me to go to Okahill Academy. I'm
not even thinking, you know where the school could take
him at the time. I just wanted to stay with
my friends, play basketball and be a normal kid, just
not knowing the sending me to Okhill was the best
thing for me. I was able to make the mcdown's
(05:14):
game and all types of stuff. I was saying that
to say they saw something in me as a teenager
that I didn't see. I didn't see the NBA. I
didn't even see college. I was saying, survival, Carrey. I
was trying to survive to see the next day I
was trying to I was trying to hangle my friends,
but not get shot like my friends. You know. It
was it was, it was all those type of things
that I was dealing with, not even thinking about basketball.
But I was blessed to have those people in my
(05:35):
life to see for the than I could see. Nothing
has ever come easy for Stephen Jackson. And he'll tell
you that himself. However, uh leaving Arizona not by choice,
but because he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do.
He didn't graduate and enter the draft in a traditional
way like the other standouts who had the same exact
resume he did. For instance, Kobe Bryant was in his
(05:57):
quote unquote draft class, but Stephen Jackson and had to
take an unlikely route to the NBA. And it was
all because he still was fighting with the streets. He
couldn't let them go. My best friend named John John's
arrest in peace. I used to I used to drive
back and forth from US to Houston with him a
lot of time to do some things for him. So
he's getting his house rated by the Drug Task Force.
(06:20):
A lot of the people that worked at the Drug
Task Force was at our high school game. So they
know me and they know my family from the city.
His house is getting raided. He's across the street at
the neighbor's house and he calls me. It was like, bro,
I need you anything. You're the reason why I got
on Jordan's right now, like anything. He's like, they tear
my house up there in my room, but what they're
(06:42):
looking for is not in my room. It's in the
front room. I need you to go get it. I'm like, man, please,
I ain't no way. This is what I'm thinking in
my mind. But then again I'm thinking this is this
is who feed me right now? You know, I want
my brother to look nice if I have the draft party,
I want to look nice. You know, all these things
wrong from through my mind. So I go, I get
(07:06):
this girl to bring me. I go over there. I
knock on the door. Um, his aunt answers the door
and her son is down on the side of it.
Just so happened, Uh isn't his cousin played basketball as well?
So when I got in the door and the police
ran to the front door, what are you doing here?
We know you know what John is tell us my
(07:27):
I thought, quick, I'm here to check on his little cousin.
He played basketball with me. I saw the police. I'm
just trying to figure out what's going on. We know
you line, where's John Johnson? Bad? They went back to
the room. As soon as I walk in, I look
at this. Up there is eye. She looked at me.
We both know what I'm there for. Grabbed it, put
it in my drawers, run out the door. As I'm
(07:47):
walking out the door, carry I'm grabbing the car door.
All I hear is Jackson. Immediately my body going the
full sway, soaking with I'm so nervous. What I have
on me carry could have put me in jail for
thirty years. He tapped me on my shoulders, like Jackson,
(08:07):
we know you know what John Johnson. As I turned around,
I'm sweating. He just hands me his card. I take
the card, hopping the car, go get John and go
to Houston. He gives me ten thou knowledge for that
now carry I It was the dumbest thing that I
could have ever done in my life, getting ready to
go to the NBA. But I wasn't in that mind, Brame,
(08:31):
you know I was thinking about that moment. I wasn't,
you know, I didn't know if I was gonna make
it to the draft, you know, and uh, but that
was that was probably the craziest thing and the dumbest
thing I did at that moment, and the reason why
Stephen Jackson says that was the dumbest thing he could
have ever done, especially in that moment. He's on his
way to the league, his life is getting ready to change.
(08:51):
Your friend asked for a favor, and that favor leads
him to a very compromising position. If the cops decided
to search him in that moment, what do you think
would have happened? And if he would have searched me,
would have been over with. You have never heard about
Stephen Jackson, and he's right, we would have never heard
about Steven Jackson. But we have and he's here today,
(09:12):
and as he's made his way in the league and
become a success, he also talks about those who didn't
make it with him. A lot of who he is,
a lot of his naked characteristics have to do with death.
He talks about losing his older brother and how that
eventually shaped him until the person he is today. My
older brother was killed over a girl that he was dating.
(09:34):
Three guys jumped in bust his head with pipes where
he had eighteen staples in his head. He was, he
was the best fan. He wouldn't have lived anyway, you know, um,
I think a dad a dad too. After it happened,
he died, you know, I got a chance to say
something to him, and he shed a tear, and he
died couple hours after a big reason for me making
it was because of him. A lot of us, a
(09:54):
lot of the good and bad stuff I learned from
the older brother, talking to girls, smoking weed, sneaking alcohol
in the movies, to see menister society and juice. I
was with him. I learned everything from him. And I
knew the life he was living was because he wanted
to see a better life, you know. And and I
knew a lot of things my brother was doing in
(10:15):
the streets. A lot of people respecting me because of
the stuff he was doing, you know what I mean,
whether it was good or bad. They left me alone
because of him. And so I knew. I knew his
heart carry I knew its hard, whether it was you know,
he did some things that he shouldn't have done. I
knew his hard and I felt like if I had
a chance to make a wife. He's alive. I kind
(10:37):
of I could have changed some things around. It hurt.
My grandfather wasn't there. That hurt the people I felt
like gave me the most game, the most wisdom, that
taught me the most. Who I felt like I owed
something too, wasn't there. It hurt, But at the same time,
I was happy because you know, it's still my mom,
my brother, my stisters, still people. You know, I had
(10:58):
two kids at the time when I first got in
be so I still have responsibilities. I still have people
cared about. But I knew having HM, having my brother
with me, it would just have been different. I would
have been I would have been protected. I wouldn't have
to be to protect all the time, you know what
I mean. And that's just the security he gave me.
(11:20):
So after a few years of being cut and trying
out for different teams in the league and also playing overseas,
Stephen Jackson finds himself and the starting lineup in two
thousand for the New Jersey Nets. It's a bitter sweet
situation to care because I get there. I'm starting the
whole first half of the season. I'm leading all rookies
and scoring, make the Rookie All Star Game, come back
(11:43):
after the rookie I don't play at all. I don't start,
I don't play. I'm like, what did I do? Like?
What did I do? You know what I'm saying. And
I don't know if they wanted to play their veterans
At that time. Byron scott wife was was really like
(12:05):
a second mother to me because I was there. I
was eighteen, eighteen nights at the time, nights at a time,
and she knew I was young. I was living by myself,
so and they and Byron Hunt and Byron Scott had
a son at that time that me and he were
kind of close. We were the same age, and she
really catered to me like she really care. She took
care of me like she treated me like her own son.
I don't think Byron Scott liked that. I I don't
(12:26):
think he agreed with that, and they're divorced now, but
I don't think he agreed with that at the time.
And I think that's why he stopped playing me, because
it wasn't nobody better than me at the time. I
was young, I was doing my job, I was playing well,
but for me to come back fresh from Rookie All
Star and not play at all. I knew it was
something personal, to the point where I stopped playing and
(12:46):
we're playing in San Antonio Spurs a halftime, I'm just
standing over there in my suit and I was in
my uniform and uh, Mike, Mike Brown came up, was like,
why you're not playing? Like, man, your guests is better
than mine. Man, I just don't want to say the
wrong with that until your coach, bro, you know I will.
He was like, yeah, I know, but keep your head.
We come and get you in so many words. And
(13:10):
so after that season, I end up playing Summer League
with San Antonio. Uh end up becoming second and scoring
behind Dirt the Whiskey in the Utah Summer League to
the point where I bawled out so much right after
the game. Pop pulled me to the side. Stephen Jackson,
you can be on this team, you can play, you
belong in this league. You can't smoke weed. You can't
(13:30):
smoke weed on my team. Jack I'm ting my Pop
was clears day with it before you even offered me
a contract or anything. I'm looking at you. I know,
he smoked. I hear you smoke. You don't hide it.
As soon as I left Pop, I would smoke before
and after I signed the contract. I smoke care but
I had to say what I had to say to
get the cheddar. You know what I'm saying. He and Uh,
But I think Pop, because getting to San Antonio carry,
(13:53):
I think that's when I became a professional. That's when
I learned this game is more than just playing the game.
Learned how to prepare. I learned how to be a man.
I learned how to be a professional. I learned how
to be a teammate. I learned I learned how to
be a better brother to my teammates in San Antonio.
Pap was like a father figure at some point, because
you know, all the things that I was doing, I
(14:14):
had friends stand with me. You know what I'm saying.
The girl I was with at the time wasn't the
best for me. And to be honest with you, Pop
seeing that as soon as I met it, he told
me she wasn't a want for me. Yes, Pop told me,
and Uh. Tim took me in like a big brother,
him and him and Steve Steve Smith. They took me
in like a big brother. On the flip side, David Robinson,
(14:35):
his wife. I was going to spend holidays with them,
going to church with them. So I had a balance
of everything in San Antonio, you know, I had had
a balance to everything. And I think being there be
able to play with two Hall of famers and David
Robinson and Tim Duncan, winning the championship with David Robinson
his last year is on his retirement year, I think
that all made me. That was my UH moment where
(14:58):
I felt like I belonged here. When once I won
the championship and Tim knocker Get called me the ultimate
teammate and David gave me credit of all the big shots,
I felt like, that's when I find little Rod And
that's when I belonged in the NBA, that moment, winning
that championship. Every champion and carry champion is to be
a champion, a champion and carry champion and carry chapion.
A champion and carry chapion and carry chappions and sports
(15:21):
and entertainment connect work every champion and carry champions. To
be a champion, a champion, they carry champion, the champion,
they carry champion and carry champion and sports and the the
taming cannake warm so here's the irony. Stephen Jackson wins
(15:42):
a chip with the Spurs and he becomes, as he
just said, a professional, right, he is now a professional,
and I agree with him in so many ways because
it really does change your mindset. But after he leaves
the Spurs, he goes and he plays with the Pacers,
and this is arguable what he's known for famously or infamously,
(16:03):
which is the malice and the palace. I asked even
to tell us what happened, and only a way in
which he can do. The brawl situation was crazy in Detroit.
We were planning in Detroit at the time. The previous
year I wasn't on the Pacers. They played in Detroit
in the Eastern Conference finals. It was a big robbery
that was almost fighting, went the blows and he trotted
(16:24):
to win. The next year, we were the favorite because
this is my first time on his team, and added
me to this team made the roster so much better.
That we had that one of the top teams and
they would say we're going within a championship where that
game was a big game and it was a statement
game and it was on TV. Come to the fourth quarter,
we're blowing them out. We're up by fifteen twenty. We
all had good games. We're talking ship carry. It's gonna
(16:48):
be along. Yep, y'all, Yeah, y'all, y'all run last year
a little bit back, you know, we're talking cash crap,
Ron and being going at it, you know, because they
had words or whatever. So it got to point where
I'm at the free throw line fifteen fifteen, probably forty
five seconds left, something like that carried. I shoot a
free throw, first three free through, I'll make it. I
(17:09):
stepped back to give Ron and Jamal Tensiley five. As
I do that, I hear Jamal say you can get
your file back wrong. Remember I didn't play with him
in the finals the previous year, so I really didn't
know what that meant. But any time I've been on
that team long enough, any time you give Ron, I'll
(17:30):
put a battery in this bag. I'll give any type
of confidence to do something dumb. He gonna do it.
Here's our tast explaining why he has be forbid Wallace,
Me and Ben Wallace beef as basketball. He's getting defensive
player in the years and I want that that simple right, Yeah, Yeah,
(17:50):
I was gonna get it. I let the lead in
tex flavoring. This media is not voting from you know
how that going, and you you out to know what
was for you, buddy. So it was. And then I
came back and got it the next show. I was
gonna get it again. He got it when I got
spend it. He wouldn't get that right. He's a great
That was an opportunity right there. So I think that's
(18:12):
where you know. We're on the court, Me and bend
and guard each other and were busting their ass. But
sometimes me and Ben will get into the mix. So
as I running down court, I'm like, it gotta be
being who are thinking about filing? I can see him
talk tracks. Nobody else doing the game care, so I
run a guard bar just so he came file him.
They throw the ball to bed. The clocks wrannna not
(18:34):
carry you from to go home with a win. And
then at the end of the games you don't want
to find nobody that sent him to the free throw line.
So I'm guarding band, just a little token defense, and
I let him score. But as he's going up and score,
rong come from out of nowhere. Now now immediately when
the file happened, you have to be there to see this.
(18:56):
Being got maybe two hundred pounds heavier at that moment.
He just blew up right and I'm seeing this, and
he comes towards Ron and put his whole honds in
both his eyes and push his head so hard carry
I'm looking to see if it came off. I'm kind
(19:17):
of looking the stands to see if his head came off.
He pushed Ron so where Ron had to gather him stuff.
You know, Ron is a big old boy too, so
at the Ron gather himself, they about the lost up.
We end up breaking it up kind of you. Geby
(19:38):
gets to a pushing match and just so happened. I
was I was already cool with Rep. Hamilton and I
was cool with she. I was like my brother, so
we wasn't really trying to fight each other. But then
had got to the point where as I'm trying to
break it up, I see my close friend Rip Hamilton's
still talking ship. So I you turned out the huddle
and square up put my church. I'm square with him
(20:00):
and Lindsey Hunter because I'm I didn't went to that mode. Now,
Okay they talked, Okay, I'm in fighting mode now. Coaches
grabbed me me break it up. I calmed down. Ron
is laying on the scores table. So what people don't
know is Ron was seeing a counselor or some type
of lady he was talking to. I don't know what
they call it. But they had me, Oh, trust me carry,
(20:22):
They had me do a couple of sessions with the two.
They thought I was crazy too, but she was a sweetheart.
She was a sweetheart. She knew he wasn't crazy. She
was just getting that check and doing her job. I
felt on that. And uh so they told Ron, when
you get to the point where you can't control yourself,
go lay down, find a pieceful place this they told him,
(20:45):
finds a happy place, right, So he did. He did
when they was destructed to do they know the stories
have and he took the analysis headphones and put him
on his head so he can block everything out. Okay,
good job. Run to the point where resiments Procyller was
proud of it, Resci whenever they put his hand on
his chest, like that's what I'm talking about, Ron, I'm
(21:06):
proud of you what I just wanted to be doing.
While he trying to calm down, whoever this guy is,
he has to be a novice and cup throw. He
threw the cup Carrie where it stayed upright all the
way to it got the roar, and yet run upright,
didn't flip through on him. They had a bet that
(21:29):
the beer colambed are okay in any state. You throw
water anything in somebody face outside, it's a salt. Today
it's a salt. Ron looked at the stands and saw
two guys flapping and like, yeah, we made in Atlantic.
I wanted the bet, not knowing as he'd be lined
up there. He grabbed the wrong guy, so he's don't
(21:51):
keep come beating up this dude, and the guy who
actually threw the beer grabbed him from behind. So by
that time I'm making up the steps a row above
row and as I land, I put my hands on rung.
Another guy throws another beer and run face you fair game, Hi,
come herep lay him down. As I knocked him down,
(22:14):
I'm on my way to I'm on my way to
go Sammy Davidson and go stump him out. I got
pulled back. I end up landing on the dude who
actually threw the billing run so I'm tagging him in
the head bath. Fat back. I get pulled off by
David Harrison six ten two nine and he has me
(22:35):
in the choke hole, not knowing he's choking me. Carry
So I'm looking at Rashi tell her Rashi trying to
tell him, I'm he's choking me. I'm passing out because
during the whole time you're drealling the pump, you would
have don'ta breathe like he's posts. I'm not a boxing
so I don't want it. So my dreading was pumping,
so I really wasn't breathing. So I'm understands looking at
(22:56):
sheet and I'm blacking out. Carre, I'm about to pass
out side he some kind of way. I grabbed his own.
He let me go and out stand up and as
I stand up and you look at it, Hid grabbed me.
We all start walking back down to the court. As
I'm walking to the court, I see chuck persons and
grabbing Ron and I'm following Ron to the back to
(23:18):
the locker room. Carried every refreshment that that they sold
at that arena. I had a taste of it on
my uniform. Popcorn, mis hot dogs, pickles. I just had
advertising everything on my jersey walking to bottle there and
as I got in the locker room two. This is
this is where the story gets crazy. After I get
(23:41):
in the locker room, I sit down, Jamal Tens is
just over the lack, like he thinks this was just
the funniest thing yever. He like he but but I
gotta give him the benefit of that. He laughed at everything.
No good a bat he laughed everything. I sit down
and I put my hands on my legs kind of like,
and I pull up. My hands are full of blood
my hand from me jumping over the bleaches and all.
(24:05):
I didn't pay no attention to none of that care.
I was in the mode. All my legs are scratched up,
and I'm looking at my legs and like, man, as
I'm trying to figure myself together. Ron tappan Sta, you
think we're gonna get in trouble? Yeah, let me think
about that, Ron Travel, Well, are you lucky we have
(24:26):
a job tomorrow? Ron Ord tests saying do you think
we're in trouble? Well, that was only a small part
of what would happen. Stephen Jackson was suspended for thirty
games and lost close to two million dollars in salary.
Because of the malice and the palace. Not to mention,
the then commissioner, David Stern started in forcing all type
of rules to make sure nothing like that would ever
(24:49):
happen again. There was a dress code. Players could only
behave or act a certain way because they wanted to
ensure the fans that they were quote unquote safe. I
have my own opinions on that, but we'll leave that there.
The point of the matter is is that the quality
of being loyal. It's something that Stephen Jackson holds near
and dear, and he says it's often the reason why
(25:11):
people just don't understand who he is. I've been so
misunderstood for running in the stands with Ron and for
helping Jamal Tensei shoot my gun try to help him
at at the strip club, and people don't know. I
was probably five minutes from my brother was getting beat
to death. I was five minutes away from not knowing
it what's going on. So not being not being able
(25:32):
to be there for my brother, I think that haunted
me a lot, where I'll make it a point to
beat up for the guys I called my brother today.
You know, that's why they think twice to go on
the stands for Ron. That's why they think twice to
help Jamal Tensei, That's why they think twice to go
to Minnesota stand up with George Floyd. Because I've always
been my brother's keeper and and and being so close
to my brother and not being that that always haunted me.
(25:52):
So I've always took pride. And if I feel like
you're my brother, if I'm with you, if I tell
you I love you and I know it's reciprocated, I've
through a wall for you. And that's just that's just
how I bassed this. Then from day one, Stephen Jackson
(26:16):
has been unapologetic about being loyal, and it was that
same loyalty that led him to become one of the
faces of a national civil rights movement. One of his
dear friends was murdered by police officers. We know him
as George Floyd, but Stephen Jackson called him Georgie. Georgie
(26:36):
me and George was always in the streets care. We
never did anything care but hang out, get bent and
go to club. That's all we did. So we had
a mutual friend named Telly Joyce rest in Peace Teller,
so he knew me as a yachster playing basketball, and uh,
I used to always playing on the courts while the
drugs were sold. He come, He came to me, like, Bro,
I got a homeboy that looked just like you. Y'all
(26:57):
might had the same daddy here a little old to you.
But I'm telling you, y'all, I look alike Bro. I'm like, man, please, man,
I'm a team. At the times, I don't think they're
making fun of me. He brings Florida back the next week.
As soon as I see Floyd, we see each other,
I'm like, yo, Dad, Yo, dad, that's how much we
look alike. And uh, we just became cool. Un respect
(27:20):
what what we called each other. Twin. This is a
coordinated activity happening across this nation, and so we are
in a state of emergency. Black people are dying in
a state of emergency that we cannot look at this
as an isolated incident. The reason why buildings are burning
(27:43):
are not just for our brother. George. Floyd got killed
for doing for what I'm doing here. Mike Macael Mex
got killed for doing what I'm doing. So I get
a week ten of fifteen death threats. But people just
don't want equality They don't hate me, they just don't
(28:03):
want us to be an equal. And it's been tough
because a lot of times I didn't know what I
was doing. Carried my first four weeks and been in Minnesota,
I didn't I'll guarantee you I probably slept ten hours
in four weeks because I was I wanted to continue
to make my people proud. Um I want. I wanted
(28:24):
to do right for Georgie, you know, and people and
a lot of people don't know when when when Georgie
got killed, I was still in pain from Kobe. I
was I like, when that happened, I left my neighborhood,
just walked like I was still hurting from Kobe. And
that was a close brother of mine. So when that happened,
like everything just came out at one time. It's just
(28:48):
like I've been holding it in. Okay, now enough is enough.
I can't take the more. I've never felt so helpless
in my life. What can I do to help my
brother and carry I have to say this, I had
no idea what I was going down there, and do
I knew nine out of ten times when this happens
(29:08):
to a black male. First thing they tried to do
is assist, assassinate their character, bring up old stuff, and
none of them ever had an NBA player. Were one
of the hottest podcasts in the world to speak on
their behalf. I had to be that. I had to
be his voice. And everything I said at the press conference,
(29:28):
I think, uh, here, having to make them matter we
speak before me, that all helped me. You know. I mean,
I love us so much. Oh my god, I'll shout
out to me him and I love us so much.
And I think hearing her speak before me it helped
me relax because I didn't you know, everything I said
came up the top of my head and from my heart,
and uh it helped me relax and make me get
(29:49):
ahold of what I the message that I wanted to
come across, because before I spoke carry, a lot of
people was thinking I was coming with fuck white people,
I hate all y'all our motherfucker. That's what they were expecting,
you know what I'm saying, That's what they was expecting.
But as you know, Carrie, I hit him with that
articulate ship and at the same time getting my point across,
(30:10):
and it made it real simple. I love everybody, but
the time of playing both sides. It's over either you
with us or you against us. And I'm glad that
I was able to speak in the intelligent manner, uh
a heartfelt manner and carry. I had no idea I'll
be the face of the biggest civil rights movement ever,
(30:34):
eighteen countries, fifty states. I can never thought this would
be who I am. I've always been the guy and
go out throw stuff at me. I embrace it, but
it's good or bad because I know either as a
test or it's a blessing. So I'm gonna I embrace
it all the time. And I embraced I had. I
had embraced this tooth carry with going down there, but
I didn't know all this was gonna come from you.
(30:55):
I'm glad I did go down there because not only
did I do something, I did something for the world.
But my life has changed, Carre. My life has changed
from this for the better because it's forced me to
not be a hypocrite. I can't say that my brother's
(31:16):
keeping and I'm promoting music with somebody killing somebody. Are
they talking about shooting each other up? I take pride
in taking these steps and not being a hypocrite. And
I love the person I am now, and and and
I hate I had to lose my brother for all
these things that happened in my life. But I know
he's smiling down knowing that his death is not going
(31:36):
in avant. And he changed the world. A lot of
things are changing from from his incident, and I'm just
thankful that I had a part in this. Past summer
was one that we will never forget. It changed everyone,
including Stephen Jackson. The division, the healing, the hurt, the
pain oftentimes documented in so many different ways. And now
(32:00):
the trial of the officer who is accused of murdering
George Floyd is underway. If you look back on everything
that's happened, the question is simply to Stephen Jackson, would
you have done anything differently? I think I would have
went harder. You know, I was out there protests and
I was doing this and doing that. But I think
(32:22):
during the time when it first happened, I think we
could have we could have did more as far as
far as getting them to understand exactly why we all
get to stuff up, because because even if you look
at it after that Rashard Brooks A mard Auberry, they
still didn't get it, so obviously we didn't do enough
(32:44):
because it's still happening. So in my mind, I could
have done more. I don't know what it is because
I didn't know what I was doing when I went
down there. But if I could have done something different,
carry I would have done more. Stephen Jackson the basketball player,
Stephen Jackson, the the podcaster, slash analysts, Stephen Jackson, the businessman,
(33:04):
Stephen Jackson the activists. There um so many people see
you in a lot of different ways. Stephen Jackson a
family man. You always talk about your babies. Um. Stephen
Jackson the ladies man. You gotta you know, no one
really knows your personal life. You got I don't tell.
I don't tell nobody my businesses. I know people businesses.
(33:35):
But is there a part of you that feels like
I know for me there is. But is there a
part of you that feels like you're not being honest
with everyone about who you are and you wish you
could remove that mask. I think with me, Garry, I
want my emotions on us leave and I think I
(33:56):
give my honest self to the world more than the
normal guy. You know. I think as far as how
I live, who who I am as a person, what
I have, what I but, but what I've obtained, who
I love and who I hate. That's clear at day.
I don't have skeletons in my closet. You can't assassinate
(34:18):
my character in no type of way. But I think
I do have things in my past that people would judge.
You know, people judge people for selling drugs. People judge
people for carrying guns. People people judge people for certain stuff.
I could care less, but people still tend to judge
people like that. I have kids who I care what
(34:39):
they think. I care what they here, and I think,
for the most part, what I'm doing today means more
than me than anything I did in basketball. I honestly
feel like I wasn't appreciating in basketball three or four years.
I should have made the All Star Game, and I
simply didn't make it because I had my teammates back
in the Broa, not because of the way I played
(35:01):
the game. Because I speak my mind when the coach
is wrong on the teammate, I'll make a rap song
when the Clippers have a racist owner. Those are the
reasons why I don't give my accoladesal plan in the NBA.
So I never really was was felt like I was
respected and gave a fat chance in NBA carry I
honestly don't I think. I think I was judged and
(35:24):
and and scrutinized. Um even with the broad care we
if the brawl happened today, we wouldn't get suspended. With
everything that's going on today, we wouldn't have got suspended.
We're at work. A guy throws a beer on the court,
how are we supposed to respond? At that time, they
was trying to save the game and stop the game
for being so hood and so black. So they was
looking for a reason to change the dress code. They
(35:45):
was looking for somebody to blame to have a faith
for Okay, this is why we're changing all the rules
because these guys and they were looking for it at
the time. And I fit. I fit the bill. Fine,
I'm cool with it. What I'm doing now means more
than me. I want to be known for being the
ace of eighteen countries and the and the fifty States,
the biggest civil rights movement. I want to be known
as the face could change. What I'm doing now, going
(36:07):
from the city of the city trying to make it
to all fifty states, giving back to people who I
know need people in these areas that the whole world
know that if we come together, we can kind of
end all this poverty. We know all this stuff, but
we're not doing the fact that I'm able to give
a help in hand care. This means more to me
than any basketball, any ring I could wear. This means
(36:28):
more because I'm actually changing lives and I'm doing something
that's bigger than me. I'm not playing the game. I'm
actually giving my time, my finances, my my my my health, everything.
I'm putting everything on the line for better men, for
other people, and uh, no better feeling. I've never had
no better feeling. To be honest, I feel like Stephen
Jackson has shared all he is needed to share on
(36:49):
this platform, but I have to ask him in this moment,
when was the last time, or if ever, you found
yourself completely vulnerable? When are you naked? My oldest daughter,
no more than anybody, anybody on this earth. My daughter
knows more. She She's never judged me. She's never judged me.
(37:13):
She's my best friend. Um. I think she's kind of
like my shrink because I know she's not gonna judge me.
You know I can't. My Tamiya Jackson and Scottie Jackson,
I can't do no wrong in their eyes, and I
want to keep you that way. I'm really grateful that
Stephen Jackson came on the podcast today. I appreciate his honesty, UM,
(37:37):
and I appreciate him saying he is at his most
vulnerable naked when he is with his daughters. And for
many men, it's their daughters who can do that, who
can bring that out of them. So there's that honesty
that only your children can elictit. I do believe though,
his best naked emotion is his loyalty, UM. And the
(37:58):
reason why I say it's a naked emotion is because
he does it so selflessly. I don't know if you
were able to understand the dynamics of him losing his
brother and not being there to help him, and why
as a result of that, he feels it necessary to
protect those that are in his life that he cares about,
(38:19):
that he considers family, that he considers close friends. That
was the thing throughout this entire podcast, when he talked
about every single important moment in his life, it was
the loyalty that kept him there, that kept him coming back.
That allowed him to define who he was, to make
him feel better about who he is as a human.
For instance, the malice in the Palace. Not everybody's running
(38:41):
into the stand to protect ron artests or even help
him correct. In fact, everyone wasn't. It was Stephen Jackson,
and there was a reason for that. And he did
it without even caring what others would say. I mean,
the repercussions being fined, what the league is going to
say about you, what's your basketball legacy would ultimately look
(39:02):
like because you were a part of something that was
considered a black eye for the NBA. He didn't care
about any of those things. To me, that's a beautiful quality.
And I often think to myself, am I that kind
of friend? I mean, I'm listening to him tell this
story over and over again. Am I that kind of friend?
Can I do that? And I don't know. I had
to be honest with y'all, I think I am. I'm
(39:23):
sure my friends would tell you that I am. But
I can't tell you that I'm running into the stands
with the malice in the Palace. I can tell you
what I what I could do. That same loyalty was
on display when he went to Minneapolis to make sure
people knew who George Floyd was. That was his friend,
and what happened to his friend was not right, it
(39:46):
was not fair. And you heard him say over and
over again, he had no idea what he was doing
when he went to Minnesota, but he did it anyway
because he's a loyal friend and he wanted to make
sure that someone spoke for George Floyd because he didn't
have a voice. And now that is a beautiful thing.
But again it's that same beautiful, naked emotion of being loyal,
(40:08):
and I salute Stephen Jackson for that. The officer accused
of murdering George Floyd. His trial is actually underway as
we do this podcast. Simultaneously, we also found out that
the Floyd family received a twenty seven million dollar civil
suit settlement. Now that's interesting because all the while what
happened is summer where we saw a racial renaissance of righteousness,
(40:32):
something that we hadn't seen within the last sixty years.
Really described the emotions of a frustrated people, a frustrated culture.
But at the end of the day, there was healing,
healing for Stephen Jackson specifically, he is a loyal person
and often described as a troublemaker in the league. Misunderstood
(40:52):
in the league, it was his loyalty. He wanted to
be his brother's keeper. Now, while being his brother's keeper,
he found himself in compromising situations. But now he is
arguably the face of one of the largest civil rights
movements we've seen within the last sixty years. I'm also
glad to hear him share his story because it puts
(41:14):
in perspective what we all should be trying to do,
and that is really evaluate who we are from top
to bottom when we're at our most vulnerable. I appreciate you'
all listening. Tune in next week. I may wear my underwear,
I may not. That's none of your business. Though I
might have dimples in my booty. I may not. None
(41:35):
of your business though. Uh joined us for another edition
of the Naked Podcast with Yours Truly, Carrie Champion and
(42:10):
play Lin
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