Ep 22: The Politics of Loneliness - Featuring Roy Wood Jr.

On this week’s filibuster, Jemele breaks down what’s wrong with Fox Sports’ list of greatest women’s college basketball players ever and shares her own list. She is then joined by comedian Roy Wood Jr., who shares his passion for baseball, thoughts on why the sport needs a major African-American star, and his observations about the state of political media. Roy also discusses why he chose to focus his latest stand-up comedy special, Lonely Flowers, on the epidemic of loneliness in America. Finally, Jemele pays tribute to boxing great George Foreman.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to politics and I heard
podcast and unbothered production.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Time to get spolitical.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
With the NCAA Women's tournament in full swing, Fox Sports
decided to do a ranking of the top ten greatest
women's college basketball players in history. And before I get
into who made the top ten list, let me preemptibly say,
well played, Fox, Well fucking played. Because the nature of
most of these lists is to drive engagement.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, I'm engaged. Engagement here. Now here's their list.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Number ten, Lynette Woodard, number nine, Asia Wilson, number eight,
Kennis Parker number seven, Brittany Griner number six, Maya Moore
number five, Shamika hold Squad number four, Cheryl Miller number three,
Diana Tarassi, number two, Caitlin Clark, and number one Brianna Stewart.
They also included these honorable mentions Kelsey Plus, Sabrina Ionescu,
Alenda del Don, Cheryl Swoops, and Rebecca Lobo.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Now, every woman listed is a great.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
But this list is wrong. Now I get the case
for a Brianna Stewart at number one. She won a
national title every single year she was at Yukon, which
is an absurd accomplishment. She also won Player of the
Year three straight years, which is also completely absurd.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
But is she the best to ever do it?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
For one accomplished and great two different things. Stewiet is
by far the most accomplished player. And yes she is great,
She's just not that est part. Now, how can Stewey
be the goat of women's college basketball, which she's not
even the greatest player in Yukon's history.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Doris Burg, tell them who that is her?

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Connecticut's best players are concerned, I would still have Diana
Tarazzi in that conversation right there with her. And here's
live in two thousand and three and two thousand and
four when they were winning their second and third of
one of their three peats, Diana Tarazzi and Gina wri
it was their brilliance and their abilities and their I

(02:05):
don't know how to say it, but they are people
who can make those around them exceed. There what you
think is their ceiling as a player, regardless of sport.
And Diana did not have the luxury of the next
two best players in the country beside her, and you
look at how she won those tournaments. Guys, it was
truly a thing to watch. That goes back to his

(02:25):
common I have Diana and you don't, And it was
shill Apropos.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Diana Lreena Tarassi of the House of Huskies, first of
her name, winner of three national titles, ruler of stores Connecticut,
mother of competitive Mayhem aka she got that dog in her,
the White Mamba of ball.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
When Tarasi got to Yukon, they were at the beginning
of establishing their superpowers. Her first title came her sophomore
year on that historic thirty nine and Oh team with
superb Swing, cash Asia Jones and Tamika Williams. But when
that crew graduated a lot of people were predicting that
the Huskies would fall off, including Yukon's own assistant coach
Chris Day.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
That former Husty Ashley Battle explained.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
Going into my red shirt sophomore year, we didn't have
a senior or we had lost super bird swin Cash,
Asa Jones, Tamika Williams. So they left and CD, knowing
what we had coming back, is like, oh lord, We're
going to the NIT next year, and we was like dang.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Like for real, now, wait a minute. The NT after
going thirty nine and zero the disrespect. But Daily wasn't alone.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
The media thought the same thing we were. I think
like preseason number six, which was like the lowest Yukon
has been in years. But the media was just pretty
much saying, oh, well they have Diana, but who else.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Being ranked six in the preseason? I mean, that's hardly
the nit but you get the point only there was
no slide for Yukon. Diana Tarassi lived up to every
expectation and more. The Huskies won another two national titles,
with Tarassi winning National Other Player her final two seasons.
See when did he and greatest Player? It's about a
combination of things. Stat stature, ability, context of the moment,

(04:05):
and accomplishments.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
All of that matters.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
So when Fox listed Caitlyn Clark as the second greatest
women's player ever behind Stewart, I thought, no, it's Kitlyn
Clark among the top ten greatest women's college players ever.
Does Pete head seth send detailed attack plans over signal? Hell, yeah,
She's just not number two.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Now.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Statistically, Caitlyn Clark almost has no peer. Offensively, nobody has
scored more points than her in their college basketball career.
Nobody has made more three pointers than her, Nobody has
more national scoring titles.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Her impact is that of a true pioneer.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
She broke attendance records everywhere she went, and last year,
with her appearing in the national title game for the
first time in history, the women's championship game had more
viewers than the men's. Now, you look at the inflection
points in the history of women's college basketball, and she's
an obvious one.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
But here's the problem. All the other greats on this
list have rings. Now, rings aren't a defining characteristic.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's just pretty hard to justify being that high on
the list when you're missing the one component everyone else
has on the same said list. Now, let's say you
want to make the case that Caitlin Clark is in
a unique situation because she didn't have as much firepower
and as many five star recruits that she played alongside
as some of the others on the list.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, neither of this.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Cheryl Swoops, who is not in the top ten but
she should be. Cheryl Swoops started her career at University
of Texas, but she left the school before she could
even figure out where her dorm was located. Back then,
the transfer portal wasn't portaling the way that it is now,
so Swoops took a detour to community college for two years.
She then transferred to Texas Tech, which was nowhere on

(05:48):
anybody's women's college basketball map. Her first season at Texas Tech,
she averaged twenty one a game and took the Red Raiders,
who had never made it past the second round of
the NCAA Tournament. She took them to the Elite eight,
where they lost to the top seed in Stanford. That
next year, Cheryl Swoops wasn't playing no games. She averaged
twenty eight a game and scored more points than anyone

(06:10):
in women's college basketball that season.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Now Texas Tech.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Earned the number two seed, and behind Cheryl Swoops' dominance,
they beat number one seed Ohio State to win the
national championship. In that game, Cheryl Swoops dropped forty seven,
which is still the most points anybody has scored in
a women's NCAA Tournament national title game. Now, Swoops was
on some Dandy Manning type shit. She didn't play with

(06:35):
any other first team All Americans. Texas Tech's second leading
scorer averaged thirteen points a game. Ohio State, her opponent
in the title game had four players who averaged double figures,
and the buck Geys were led by future Hall of
Famer Katie Smith, just saying culturally, she also was a
big damn deal and doing things on the court that
women simply weren't known for doing. She was packing out arenas.

(06:57):
Her air swoops were the first Sneakers name after a woman.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
People were regularly.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Referring to her as the female Michael Jordan. Even Michael
Jordan was like, yeah, that tracks.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
She really unstopped me.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
From my standpoint. She had the skills that really seemed
to be better than anybody else she was playing against,
and rarely do you see women who can do that.
I think she really opened eyes about women's basketball. She's
a credit to women's fast.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
So by now I know what you're thinking.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Who are my top ten greatest women's college basketball players
of all time? And even if you weren't thinking that,
I'm going to tell you anyway. But before I reveal that,
let me explain my criteria informing my list. It's team impact, ability, hardware, context, competition,
and eyeball tests. See every player on my list, I've

(07:50):
actually seen them play. So here's my list coming in
at ten Tamika Catchings, a name that isn't brought up
nearly as much as it should be on these Greatest
Evers list. She won every significant Player of the Year
award in two thousand and won a national title in
ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Just a complete score.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Number nine Shamika Hoes call, like the previously mentioned Meek
great from her freshman year, two time player of the Year.
There was nothing she couldn't do offensively, three straight national titles,
all time leading scorer for Tennessee men or women. At eight,
Brittany Grider, dominant, big, ferocious defender, won a national title,
multiple Player of the Year awards. She came out of

(08:28):
high school with an incredible amount of hype because of
her size and dominance, and she absolutely delivered. Number seven
here's where I have Kaitlyn Clark. She has truly moved
the game into a new era. Number six swoops. Texas
Tech has its only national title in women's basketball because
of her.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Number five Candice Parker.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Not only does she have first team All American baby hairs,
she won back to back national titles, Dynamic at both
ends of the floor, and she was major, I mean
major in terms of star power.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
She just did things and games where you say, now,
what in the Sam hill was that case in point?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
In two thousand and six, she became the first woman
to ever do this in an NCAA tournament game.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Turnover to Spencer, you're thinking about it, duct there is
We said it at the start. She wants to shut out.
I think she feels but she's the best player in America.
Best freshman in America is Canais Parker. She is siptially
and the Trump Dollar Transition. Yes, ma'am received Cander's. Parker

(09:35):
her first dunk in college. She won the McDonald's High
School All American Dunk Contest against the Boys and Doors.

Speaker 6 (09:41):
To the best of our knowledge, that's the first dunk
ever in an NCAA tournament game.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Number four Paige and Stewie.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
No other player has her championship resume at number three.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Maya Moore.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
I still don't think people appreciate how gifted Maya Moore
was four time American, two time National Player of the Year,
back to back national titles. I swear if she hadn't
decided to retire from the NBA while she was still
in her prime, she would have finished as the greatest
player ever to play in the w She's your favorites
fave because she is KATELYNK. Clark's favorite player. Number two

(10:18):
White Mama, y'all know what it is, and she plays mean.
I love that for her. Now, before I give you
my number one, let me provide some honorable mentions as well.
They are Sabrina iin Escu, who is in that class
of best players to never win a national championship. Kelsey Plumb,
who at the NCAA all time scoring record for women
before Katelyn Clark broke that record. Simone Augustus led LSU

(10:42):
to three straight final fours. And Sue Bert just the
consummate winner and maybe the best floor general and leader
of all time. But number one for me on this list,
and I know I'm gonna have to let her go
at some point, because lists, when it comes to sports,
are meant to be changed. It's Cheryl Miller, because of
course it is. She's the standard standard. She did it

(11:05):
all offensively. On top of averaging fifteen boards a game
or junior season, she gave usc their basketball identity. Her
first national championship game drew nearly twelve million viewers. She
created so much of the culture of women's basketball.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Bona fide baller.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
I will forever stand and until further notice, any list
of greatest women's college basketball players that doesn't include Cheryl Miller.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Thou demands that not be the case.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
And if there is a day where Cheryl Miller is
in danger of not being number one, a series of
hearings will be held and a special commission will be
convened before any official decision or any official changes are rendered.
Argue with your auntie with the raggedy mumu and sliding wig.
I'm Jamel Hill and I approve this message. Prepare to

(11:56):
get your laugh on in this episode because one of
my favorite people is coming through. He's one of the
funniest comedians in the business and definitely one of the
smartest ones too, something he.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Doesn't get enough credit for.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
He currently has a stand up comedy special on Hulu
called Lonely Flowers, which is brilliant. He's also host of
the CNN show Have I Got News for You? It
is informative and extremely funny. Of course, coming up next
on Spolitics b ham as in Birmingham's own roy Wood Junior.

(12:32):
Roy thank you so much for taking the time to
join me. Going to start the podcast by asking a
question I ask every guest that appears on Spolitics, and
that is name an athlete or a moment.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
In sports that made you love sports.

Speaker 6 (12:49):
Braves ninety two NLCS Braise Pirates sid brings sliding in,
allowing the Braves to come back to back pennant champion
tans Down one of the most exciting baseball games I've
ever witness in the sport. I rewatch it once a
year for inspiration. That whole game seven is still on

(13:09):
YouTube in its entirety, every pitch and I watched that thing.
I watch it and then I go back and watch
somebody on YouTube. God bless him took the Atlanta Braves
radio call and put it over the actual Fox Sports
because it's skip carry and all of them on the radio.
No knock on the national coverage. But man, when when

(13:31):
the hometown announcers are calling a walk off, that's just beautiful.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
It's beautiful, I guess because you you know, you grew
up in both what Memphis and Birmingham.

Speaker 6 (13:43):
Yeah yeah, I mean Memphis till third grade, So whatever
you count that as being because you know you meet
people from Mivan. I don't be trying, but it's just
like the reporters be like, yes, so Memphis, and I'm like,
wait a minute. I went to Catfish Cabin two times

(14:04):
and then we was in Birmingham. We was gone, Okay,
it was still Memphis State when I was there.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
But nevertheless, I mean because growing up in the South
and for a lot of people from that part of
the country, a lot of people were Braves fans.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
So the Braves your team.

Speaker 6 (14:22):
Well, the Cubs is what I loved, but I thought
you were a Cubs fans. But just that game, that
game was I just wrote in the playoffs, I just
root for good baseball the Braves. I hope this makes
the most. I hope this makes sense what I'm about
to say. I liked the Cubs, but the Braves had
the type of black players that I liked watching play,

(14:46):
if that makes sense. Like Ron Gant was a beast,
Dion had all of his flare. Dion was my favorite
athlete growing up. I had his baseball cleats. They ain't
helped me run faster, but I had this. And then
they had Otis Nixon, who was a legit psychopath. That
there's a They're like a great player, but also like

(15:10):
just like on some on some vernon Maxwell, I don't
want to dream on them because he wasn't antagonistic, but like,
once you set him off, we're gonna Stephen Jackson. He
was probably more of a Stephen Jackson. I don't bother anybody,
but if you bother me, I will end this situation.

(15:31):
There is a Phillies Braves fight that I also watch
on YouTube once a year for inspiration, and somebody hit
Otis Nixon and that boy ran at the mound and
halfway to the mound, foot in the air, flying karate kick,
Like anytime you just see somebody do like a legit
fight maneuver in a baseball fighter said that's not even allowed,

(15:53):
and it's like, and this is Otis Nixon. He from
that era where they smoke Newports in the dugout and
all that shit. How do you even have the aerobic stamina.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
To karate?

Speaker 6 (16:05):
Somebody different?

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Different?

Speaker 6 (16:08):
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean Braves had I mean that
was a different era for black men in baseball period.
But the Braves had low Kia black ass team, and
then you had Terry Pimbleton, who was like the more
astute I'm gonna show you all how to do the
game the right way, but also don't hit Terry Pimbleton
or do anything crazy because you're gonna have to deal
with Oldes Nickson around game.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
So where would you say you stand as a baseball
fan now, because as many people have noted, throughout the years,
baseball has had a tough time of maintaining a black
fan base.

Speaker 6 (16:41):
I'm still a fan of the sport. I'm going to
Tokyo to watch Cubs Dodgers. That's gonna be a good time.
I'm gonna take the boy with me and we're gonna,
you know, have some father son kickback time. I I
am still a fan. I believe baseball more so has

(17:02):
a youth problem than well, there's a black problem statistically,
but in terms of the bigger issue, is it blacks
in the sports or is it black people watching the sport?
You've taken the flair and the swag out of the sport.
There's a reliever. I can try and find his name
real quick if you want to get into the nerd
and ex off it all. But there's a reliever. There's

(17:24):
a black reliever. I don't know if it's Caribbean whatever.
He's in the diaspora. There's a brother that play for
the Rockies right now here, a relief pitcher. Anytime he
strike your ass out, he jumped and then do like
an electric slide. The only thing I can compare it
to is Martin Lawrence and Blue Street when he the
pizza man and he come out the police station and
he got the police badge and he did slide and

(17:44):
walk like And he do this in the middle of
the game in spring training. He gonna get all his
teammates killed. But if you allow something like that to
stay in the game, that's a good thing. Like to me,
the issue with black folks in baseball, and if you
really want to go there, we can have this conversation
a whole hour. So I was down in Birmingham. You know,

(18:05):
they did a Negro League tribute game at Rickwood Field
in Birmingham, the oldest ballpark in the country is what
Willie Mays took his first professional at bats. And I
played my high school games there. So I went around
with MLB and NPR and we interviewed tons of people.
We interviewed old Negro leaguers, we interviewed current people. I
went by my old high school and talked to the coaches.

(18:26):
There a lot of the issues with the lack of
black people in baseball isn't entirely Major League Baseball's fault.
They could kick in a little more money, but there's
still parts of it that still come down to black
kids wanting to play the sport. So you know, it's

(18:50):
already priced out where you got to play travel ball
year round, Like the idea of just playing baseball for
three months of your high school or for three months
in Little League and then going on by your business
the rest of the school years. The middle school is dead,
so you got to have parents with a disposable income
to drive your ass all over the East Coast, crossing
two three time zones every weekend during the school year, hotels,

(19:12):
food equipment, all the registration fees for all of these leagues.
That's how you stay good year round to even be
remotely competitive. Andrew mccutchon wrote an article in The Players
Tribute about ten years ago basically saying the only reason
he went pros because he had a white teammate whose
daddy saw his ability and bankrolled McCutcheon traveling with them.
Because mccutchen's family didn't have the bread nor of the time.

(19:36):
If you want to get into you know, single parent
households in the black community and all of that stuff.
Then the bigger issue is that if you are good
at baseball, you're probably good at another sport that's probably
going to give you a scholarship. Sooner ain't going to
give you money faster. Baseball is guaranteed contracts, but you've
got to toil in the minor leagues three four, five years,

(19:57):
making statistically less than minimum way for the amount of
time you put in for what the team pays you.
It's less than minimum wave. Most minor leaguers have a
day job. So if you're a black kid and you're
a fast shortstopper, you're a fast center fielder. You're probably
a dB or wide out too. And the football program

(20:17):
make more money at the D one level. The football
program now got more money because of the nil ain't
ain't the nil fawset ain't flowing for baseball and softball
not at the same level that it is for football.
So why would I even go to college? Should play baseball,
big dog, most black baseball, most Black college. But this

(20:39):
is one of the first stories I pitched at the
Daily show, and we ended up not being able to
do it because Trump happened. Most black college baseball teams
are predominantly white or Hispanic, it.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Is correct, as well as the golf teams as well
as the tennis teams.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Like so this idea that which is what I always.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Find it funny that I think there is a significant
percentage of white people who legitimately think that white people
do not go to HBCUs And.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
I'm like, mm hmm. They are there and they're on scholarship.

Speaker 6 (21:11):
Every black person that went to any SHOULDBCU can name
the white people by name, we know them. Mine was
River in Ocean and they ran cross country. Fact check
that in the comments not River and Ocean. Literally those
are their names, two white Like that is the most
Trader joehol food ass name.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
And they were cool.

Speaker 6 (21:31):
They played spades and shit in the lobby. They come
through Gibbs Hall and we showed them love because they
never tried to be They didn't try to wigger it.
Fucking my name is River. Good to meet you, right,
and we kicked it. So so like the idea that
what Major League Baseball need to do more? Okay, they
got the RBI program to get the black kids excited

(21:52):
about it, but the RBI really only carry you to
about third grade, fourth grade, and even still RBI is
only two three months out of the year. So you
look at like if you look at Birmingham right like,
if you look at the city of Birmingham, my high
school was one of the ones that was halfway decent
at baseball because we would schedule games out in the county.

(22:14):
We didn't have there was let's just talk right now.
Right now, the city of Birmingham, there's eight high schools,
there's only three serviceable baseball fields. They don't drain well,
they do not have the capacity to carry a bunch
of games at a regular base. If it rained on Monday,
you might not play a game again till Thursday, even
if the sky is clear Tuesday Wednesday, because you know

(22:37):
that in the hood, you get them them deep ass puddles,
and so you don't get to play as frequently as
you want to, or you're playing double triple headers now
you out till ten o'clock at night on a school night.
So just and that's partly because so many cities have
cut park services, and we can get into the crime

(22:59):
prevention of giving cared something to do, versus taking the
park money and hiring more cops to arrest the kids
for not having anything to do. There's a lot of
that that's happening in a lot of cities in this country.
So the level of accessibility of baseball as a sport.
If you're black, it's hard enough even when you're trying
to play it. And then your mama can't drive you nowhere.

(23:19):
And then you got a coach from the football team
coming in and saying, we can get you thirty thousand
and two white girls right now if you sign this
commitment letter, Baseball don't give you know what, Baseball don't
give them. You don't even get a white girl. You
gotta get the Triple A before you get your first
white girl.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, it is a shame though, because, as somebody
like you like, baseball was my first love as well
growing up in Detroit. Big Tiger fan, Big Tiger fan
even now, so happy we had the season that we
just had and looking forward to They're coming out here
to La so I'm gonna go see them play the
Dodgers at the end of March.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
But you know, it's all the things that you said.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's lack of access, lack of resources, and it is
just a coolness factor that football and basketball have that
baseball doesn't necessarily have, and so kids are much more
attracted to that than they are to playing baseball. But
I will say too, I think another problem that they're
experiencing is you know, and I think this goes for

(24:21):
all sports, Like sports are becoming more expensive, regardless if
it's basketball. Like the amount of games that high school
and youth basketball players are playing is alarming.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
You know what happened? It is absurd. I mean, they're
playing like seventy.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Five to one hundred games a year, and then we're
shocked when they're in their early twenties they get to
the NBA and they got to do low management. It's
like the professionalization of youth sports across the board is
really it is really something that is disheartening because as
those of us who grew up having rec centers, being
able to play in the neighborhood is like that shit

(24:57):
don't exist no more.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Like it's going away very very rapidively. Is like it's
basically gone.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
And you also have parents that are living vicariously through
these kids. These parents got hoop dreams of their own
as well. There's a little bit of that, and they're
pushing the kids too hard, you know. I saw somewhere
someone said that you should be cross training your children
and they should be playing other sports in the off
season because all sports help you with other sports. So

(25:26):
the idea of only playing baseball and then you're just
mentally and emotionally drained. And I also feel like to
a degree, that leads to a lot of that post
retirement depression shit that these athletes be dealing with, because
who are you? All you've done is hold this ball
since she was ten, and now you're thirty four, and
you got to figure out what your likes are because

(25:49):
you ain't even been to a summer camp, big nog.
You ain't. You ain't done nothing. And so I think
that having parents that understand the kids to need a
variety of activities, I think is an important part of it.
But I think by and large, when I think about
why I was attracted to baseball, I liked baseball because

(26:10):
it was the ultimate social but isolating sport like I
didn't like football, like okay, like to the Memphis to
Birmingham thing. So when we moved to Birmingham. I was
third grade and I tried to play seventy five pound
football and it's too late. Like once you're trying to

(26:31):
play football third fourth grade, the aggression is there within
the kids. And I never would like I had played. Mean,
we were in Memphis. I played church baseball at Mississippi
Boulevard Baptist. I played a little bit of soccer, kind
polite sports. Yeah, the football. These motter fuckers, gangster disciples

(26:54):
in the fourth grade, like we was in the hood.
We're in West End and I'm like, I'm not going
to tackle no gangs of this. And then I got
to run home the next five days. So give me baseball.
And baseball was fun. There was flamboyance to it. I
remember Dave Stewart. Dave Stewart used to have the death stare.
Would he'd have the glove up overs and the bib

(27:14):
down here, the glove up here. It was like a
he literally looked like a ninja like that shit was
cool to me. I don't think you have you know
a lot of that. I mean, you know, God bless
Mookie Betts because I really feel like he's putting the
culture of baseball on his back. For black Americans too,
which I think is also a very important part of

(27:35):
the equation, is that because of the international influence and
the influx of international players into the sport, now, if
you're a team, I don't necessarily have to get a
local if you will in terms of an American. So
I think that allowing the international players in to have
their own flamboyance, to have their own flair to the

(27:56):
game would help bring some brothers back to the damn sport.
But I just don't think that. I think baseball is
run by traditionalists, conservative, very conservative, not politically behaviorally conservative,
probably conservative like that too. But you know what I'm saying,

(28:16):
a little yeah, it's the idea of pull your pants
up you're wearing Like I saw there was a post
about jazz Chisholm. I don't know. It's just some spring training,
just jazz being happy, just someth motherfucker happy and taking
ground as at second base, and somebody in the comments

(28:37):
talking about the jewelry and why you gotta hold that
step fun. It's very pull up your pants type of verbiage.
I mean, something as stupid as the Yankees letting people
have a bed. God bless you I know.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
The fact that they're just now deciding to lift the
facial hair requirement is very on brand for baseball. It's
like baseball is still one of those warts that you know,
it feels like segregation, but it's not just yeahs, Jim Crow,
but it's like, despite our presence, you're like, what is this?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Why do I feel like I'm not drinking at the
proper water? Found Sometimes when I.

Speaker 6 (29:15):
Watch it, it's not like baseball didn't have a relationship
with black people, but it's just to get black people
to come and watch the game. To get black people
to really care about it enough to play it, there
has to be a player that looks like here that
you can identify with or that you can relate to.
And I think the lack of flair and the lack

(29:36):
of swag, Like you don't even see baseball players walking
in the tunnel to the to the game. Just let
me see your outfit. What's your wore to the stadium
in the day? Dog? Can we just see that? Like
they won't even give you that. So and most baseball
players are just very much blue collar mentality. So I
don't know what you would get out of them anyway.

(29:58):
But you know, like, remember, I ain't saying we need
racists back in baseball, but remember how good you felt
when a black person hit a home run off John
Rocker from the Braves.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
It was a moment always.

Speaker 6 (30:12):
It's just it was just it was like a black
person dunking on a Boston Celtic in the eighties. It
just felt right. It just you need storylines. You need
people that are like, like as interesting and as appealing
as show hal Tani is, Show Hay is. Really he's

(30:35):
kind of a low key person. You know, if we're
just talking about some face of the league type of shit,
he should show up and do his job. You're going
to need something else, you know, other than that, even
something as simple. So like for the last two years
with MLB Network, right, I've hosted the All MLB Awards
show where they have something as simple as twenty thirty

(30:59):
athlete in the building and you know what, we're gonna
give y'all some trophies. The season just ended, Come onto
the room, get the trophy. And they're building it eventually
to be their version of the NFL Honors. Right. First
year was fine, it was cool. Second year, way more
players showed up. We got Sholta to sing Sheolta Imanaga

(31:21):
from the Cubs. We got him to sing those Cubs Go,
which doesn't seem like a big deal. But this is
a reserve Japanese dude. It's just over a low key
to throw fastballs. He's performing. He's coming out of his shell.
So if he'll come out of his shell, then maybe
the rest of y'all won't be so tight, and then
y'all will come out and kick it. Because baseball players

(31:42):
a low key. They the funniest, oh four.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
They have a lot of personality.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
It's just I do think that they're often discouraged from
that and they could be a little guarded, and I
get it. Depending on the media market too, is that
where they may not feel quite as free to you know,
because it's then he would become under scrutiny and all
this kind of stuff, and a lot of players just
don't want the hassle of you know, people scrutinizing what

(32:08):
they wear and what they say, and like, they may
not want the hassle, but I, like yourself, I have
been around baseball players in those off air like everybody's
not around moments, and those cats they also have incredible
stories because people have to realize baseball players when they're
on the road, you know, like they're in cities three

(32:28):
four days.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Like they can have whole families about ten cities. Be
there men.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Okay, yeah, so it's a little bit different experience and
the stories they tell.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I promise you it's like some of the best shit
you've ever heard.

Speaker 6 (32:43):
Here's what I'm trying to say, Baseball needs an Anthony
Edwards m and I don't know who that could be.
Mookie bet to Steph Curry. He's exceptional and likable, million
dollar a smile. That's important. But you also need chaos, Negro.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
You need is a chaos agent.

Speaker 6 (33:11):
He told he talked to you saw the clip of
him talking to Obama. He was talking to Obama like
that was his little brother. Oh yeah, you what you did?
You kill Ben Laden? That's what's up. You can't dunk though.
That ain't literally what he said, but but it's fun.
You don't know what's gonna come out of his mouth.
He's not a feeling. I'm just saying he is himself
authentically at all times, and he's allowed to be that

(33:34):
without penalty.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Right. That's why three dollars worth of fines already because.

Speaker 6 (33:41):
All the time, God forbid, you take too long jogging
around the bases in a home run strut and somebody
get mad at you. Josh Chisholm at home or he
do a euro step. And this is when he was
with the Marlins. They was eighty games out of first place,
and he was still he can't carry it along, like
somebody got to help them. And I just I just

(34:04):
really feel like the sport benefit like when you talk
about like somebody like even say Ronald Lacuna, who you know,
we're talking like Latin players. Now, let them have their flair,
let them be who they are, let them style around
the basis, and that will eventually bring in the next
generation of people. And there's so many there's just so

(34:27):
many people also the baseball writers too, you know, who
had just held bent on the game being played a
certain way. And I just think that you have to
be very careful with tradition because sometimes tradition is just
dead people's baggage and it's not going to benefit you.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I'm glad you said that because that actually brings about
another interesting conversation that's.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Been had in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
And I'm not sure if you saw it, but we're
just how my Anthony Edwards who said that he really
didn't want to be the face of the league, all right,
although that's a process where you're more chosen as.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Opposed to you choosing to do it.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
So like if people decide he's a face, he's a face,
and there's really nothing he can do about it. Lebron,
on the other hand, responded by saying he doesn't blame
Anthony Edwards a feeling that way because he said, like
who would want to be the face? And it brought
up this really interesting conversation because a lot of people
think that part of what's holding the NBA back and
why you know, when you watch NFL coverage, for example,

(35:23):
like those NFL guys like they ride for the NFL,
Like for the most part, they will definitely be critical,
but they ride for it. When you look at NBA
coverage by large, people are brutally honest, like and really
a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
I think a lot of this.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Is centered around how the inside the NBA guys, you know,
how they commentate to talk about the game, which people
love the fact that they're authentic, that they tell the truth,
that they don't sugarcoat that they ain't bullshiting. But some
people have wondered if the NBA conversation is often too
negative and too toxic, and in part some of people

(35:57):
blame history that because of there is is a reluctance
to let certain things go, certain people go, like Michael Jordan,
because of course his name, you know, surfers through all
of it.

Speaker 6 (36:07):
He is the measuring he's the bar by which but
is he so.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Much the bar roer that naturally it leads to us
tearing down greatness of everybody we don't feel like meets
that bar and whatever way we measure it like, is
the reverence and the fixation with Michael Jordan sort of
bad for the NBA as we try to move to
a place where the players of today are actually celebrated

(36:33):
for their own greatness.

Speaker 6 (36:35):
Yeah, I think it's bad. I think that we don't
appreciate what's happening now based on the rules and the
dynamics of now versus that era. And then you got
people that's older than you and me that will just
scream Bill Russell until the day they die, because Bill
Russell also fought racism on the way to the stadium

(36:55):
every day and that's a different type of stress. So
you know, we could argue different generations, but I think
the across generation arguments are not fair to the current
day players. I do think the dynamic of the criticism, though,
I think that that's interesting. I think you have to
take that with a grain of salt if you're a
current player, because also there's not nearly as many frank

(37:18):
and verbally blatant players as there are now covering the
game as there was in the eighties and nineties. You
give what I'm saying, like most basketball pre game shows
and postgame shows, and it's not The NBA is an
anomaly because they found very opinionated players who had the

(37:39):
respect of the sport, who would like Charles Barkley is
the only like, that's one of the few people that
could come in and say those things and make those
accusations and make those assessments because it comes from a
technical it comes from a technical place. I'm trying to
think like they're like doctor j never gotten the move
to critique Jordan. If I'm trying to compare like overlapping

(38:01):
type errors, you get what I'm saying. So I just
don't think I don't think that it's realistic to expect
people to be as kind as they were when hate
is what sales and these are media companies and they
are looking for engagement. This is debate culture. They will
pull a question out, they ask on a slow day,
Ain't nothing more fun than watching sports debate shows in

(38:21):
June when it's only baseball? Oh, their motherfuckers be scraping
the bottom of the barrel. They refuse to talk about
mid season baseball because it ain't.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
That's what bear you be like, Damn yes, yes, and.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
They will have two breaks about Lebron versus Bear. I
think that being the face of the league is always
going to come with some degree of criticism and staying
culture is also part of the problem too. Let's not forget.
I don't think it's all on the broadcasters. I think

(39:00):
the broadcasters feel the fire a bit, but it's also fans.
Some of y'all are weird. Some of y'all are weird,
only riding for one person for the rest of your life,
like this is a gang. None of these players know you,
none of them truly care. Just appreciate the sport and
the fact that you got Lebron putting up x y
Z NUM. I think Lebron round the corner from fifty

(39:21):
k points. By the time this podcast air, he'll have
it and it's gonna be people going, well, he needed
more games than Jordan to do it. Jordan did. Imagine
if Jordan came out of high school, Jordan wasted full
years at playing for Dean Smith. So if that makes
you feel good to argue and belittle it and what

(39:41):
about it, I just think that you're denying yourself an opportunity,
you know, to enjoy this. But you have to have
some degree of honesty, you know, if they're going to
ride on him, be about about taking too many games off.
That's a fair assessment. If you feel like y'all shouldn't

(40:03):
be taken like if a player goes, y'all shouldn't be
taking this many games off because the fans paid blah
blah blah blah blah. Well, that's a different mindset from
the nineties NBA that we came upon. Also, the contracts
are much more lush, so you might have people that
are a little bit more lazy and a little less

(40:26):
incentivized to lose way to do a push up. Maybe
that's what happened with Luca. So if that's the case,
as an analyst, I think it's your job to call
stuff as you see it, and I just think the
dynamics of the support have changed. But at the end
of the day, I think that it's on the fans
to appreciate what's happening because the talent and the people

(40:46):
in these media companies and the producers, they're not going
to just glorify everybody because that's not ratings and that's
not profit. And we paid a gajillion billion dollars for
the rights to show this NBA game, and I'm going
to create whatever story in narrative I need to create
so that your ass tune in, because that's all I
care about. Most companies don't care about goodness or or

(41:10):
doing the right thing. I think that's one of the things.
I think that's one of the places where we fail.
Media as a whole is expecting media to be wholesome
and have morals. It is not. And that and that's
not just sports media. We're talking media, We're talking news
as a whole.

Speaker 5 (41:31):
You know, like the.

Speaker 6 (41:32):
Idea of doing what you believe is the most profitable thing,
even if it's not the right thing that's always been
them of media.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
That is a.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
I got a lot to say about that, but I'm
gonna wait. We're gonna take a quick break, Roy, and
we're going to come back, and we're going to get
into that, especially in light of some of the changes
that we're seeing at other networks. And I definitely want
to get into how I got news for you as well.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Very much enjoying this season, So we're get into all
of that. But break, I know she said it off.
I wanted to ask.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
You about that episode too, But yes, we'll take a
quick break and we'll be back with more from Roywood Junior. Okay, Ry,
before we took a break, you said that like media
is about profit, and you're right. The problem is and

(42:29):
where the lines get and maybe where I'm a little
bit more emotional about it or I'm less of that
mindset is because you're completely right. The problem is when
I decided to become a reporter in college, journalism very much.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Was considered to be a public good.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
You know, it wasn't really supposed to be this huge
four profit industry that it became. You know, I compared
to maybe the NC double A right, the NC DOUBLEA
started off quote unquote amateur to some degree, never with
the imagination that one day this would be billions of
dollars in this sport, which as more money came in
is sort of changed.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
What was the goal and what was the mission?

Speaker 6 (43:12):
Correct?

Speaker 2 (43:12):
And I just don't know if journalism and media and
those are two separate things.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
If you're talking about media, yes, media is p profit.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
I just don't know if journalism can be that not
if it's in the way that it's supposed to.

Speaker 6 (43:26):
Well, it's supposed to function like that, but then media
we also have to separate the difference between journalism and editorial, punditry,
things like that, and I think that those things emerge
together as well. And I think that's part of the issue,
is that the average person watching a news channel can't
tell the difference between opinion and fact, and I think

(43:47):
that's part of where well, if they if the people
don't care, well, then let's just give them whatever the
hell they're willing to consume, and then let's collect the
dollars on the backside with the ads. I really do
not like the fact that most media companies are not
tied to just telling the truth just for the sake

(44:07):
of telling the truth. If you look at before we
even get the MSNBC, let's let's let's let's get in
on Jeff Bezos with everything. With the Washington Post, you
have the opinions page. The opinions page is supposed to
be the one little corner of the paper where anybody
can say whatever the fuck they feel for as long
as they meet the word count. You got correct punctuation,
you should be able to say exactly what it is
you feel. And you got Bezos going, nah, if you

(44:30):
on some different shit, we ain't putting that in the paper.
That's not journalism anymore. It's not it's not. And so
you look at you look at a lot of these
media companies and I feel like they are definitely succumbing
to the pressure of whatever appeace is shareholders or whatever

(44:52):
gets ratings. And when you look at when you look
at certain networks and you look at certain people on
those networks, the network can go, Okay, you're a good journalist,
and good journalism should ruffle a few feathers. But if
you don't want a feather ruffle in there because you
think they're ultimately they're well, you don't you call people

(45:13):
out and we don't. We don't want that. You gotta go.
Don't tell me. Joy Reid's firing was about ratings. Don't
tell me that, Like, that's not I choose not to
believe it. And this is coming from Comedy Central, where

(45:34):
I've seen I've been on ratings calls and in ratings meetings,
and I've gotten the emails good good news gained, We're
up fourteen percent and seventy one to seventy three year old.
You can spin ratings into whatever kind of victory or
loss you want it to be. It's like ratings is

(45:55):
like somebody's outfit. You can just say it looked nice,
so you can say it look bad and that's the truth.
So it's surely more involved in that. And so when
you start looking at the idea of what quote good
journalism is, like we joked last night, we we joked
the other day on CNN. We were talking about Gail
King going to space, right, and you know, Gail King

(46:18):
for to go to space in one of the Bezos rockets,
and I jokingly but kind of serious mentioned Joy Reid.
And basically basically what I said on my show is
that you know, if you're a black woman and you're
good at journalism. They trying to trying to get rid
of it. Don't don't go to space Gail, because they
got joy and now they're trying to get to like

(46:39):
one by one. And so I think that good journalism
to a degree and asking the right questions to a degree.
I think a lot of companies are starting to find
that to be baff of business. And I think that
business is appeasing the government and staying out of their
crosshairs because they believe that the government will ultimately put
them in a fucking figure full leg lot. That creates

(47:01):
a space where they feel like they can no longer
make money. And then you spend in you spending googabs
of of money in court. You know. But it's it's
media is in a weird position because of what the
White House is doing. Like I saw on Twitter one day,
I don't even know it's the Associated Press back in
the White House briefing room. Yet are they still still.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Out like they were not in the the Zelensky Trump JD.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
Vans Okay, so then you have people in there, of course.
So I saw somebody on Twitter that was saying that
the press should stand with the Associated Press and no
longer cover the White House. And to me, that's a

(47:49):
tough that's a tough one, you know. And I think
that there in lies the issue, Like if you look
at me, where I am a part of the media,
I'm on Seeing in which a lot of people don't like.
I see the comments sometimes when I post clips from

(48:10):
the show like we love you Roy, but I ain't
watching that network. I watch it on YouTube, seeing in
still getting the money from YouTube? Thank you?

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Right?

Speaker 6 (48:22):
How do you fight while still trying to honor your
own mission? How do you fight for your colleagues while
still trying to honor the mission of serving the people
or enriching the people, or doing whatever it is you
believe it's the right thing to do to make the
world a better place. And I think that's the issue

(48:45):
that a lot of journalists are going to be up
against in their newsrooms. I really think that for what
happened to joy Read, I really think that there is
a greater dialogue to be had at the state and
local levels about all of the shit starters with a

(49:06):
pad and a pen who trying to find the truth.
Are you answering to an editor that answers to a
conglomerate that owns the paper that don't want that type
of stuff in there. Assuming that you're at a paper
that still has a local reporter, correct, because most of
those are gone.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Most of those are gone.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
And I am firmly starting off as someone who started
off in newspapers, local newspapers. If you look at the
number of jobs that are lost in different industries, journalism
is among the highest, and a lot of it is
because of what has happened at the local level, and
not just with newspapers, but with also with TV. And
as I've said to people many times, especially those who

(49:45):
who kind of they hate the idea paying for a
subscription because everybody was.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
Like, well, we used to get this for free, now
you gotta pay.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Well, that's because good journalism is actually expensive, very expensive.
It's why a lot of companies are getting out of
it because of what it costs. If they can get
the same amount of money by just having somebody on
their spouting and opinion, being it informed or not informed.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
They're gonna do that because that costs money.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Like I think people would be stunned at how much
a show like sixty minutes costs it costs a ton
of money to do that show, and it's the same
at the local level.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Investigative journalism is hard. It requires a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
And when you don't support those those kinds of media outlets,
what happens is you don't know what's happening in your community.
You don't know who's mind in the store. And trust
me when I tell you, politicians, CEOs, all the people
in power love the idea of destroying journalism because there's.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
So much you wouldn't know.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
You know, even now with all that's happening with Doge,
the number of people I read in the comments who
are like, where are the journalists and why are they reporting?

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Oh, I can tell you why they're not.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
It's because, you say, people who now all of a
sudden want the journalists to come in with the kpone
are the same ones also calling us the enemy the state,
who are also saying that we don't deserve to have
our jobs.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Like no, no, no, no, no, no no, that's not the
way that this works. So you're right.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Is a very hard time in this business for journalists, period,
very hard time for black journalists, super hard time for
black journalists who have called out Trump before or who have.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Gotten in his crosshairs or that of this administration.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Period, because these companies have shown they're not gonna ride
with you. They're not They're gonna sacrifice you and put
you on the spital like anybody else.

Speaker 6 (51:30):
I said at the Correspondence dinner two years ago that
the problem with the truth reaching people is that the
truth is behind a paywall, but opinions are free. Put
the opinions behind the paywall, and the first people to
suffer when these situations happen are reporters that cover black

(51:50):
and brown communities. We had a story we were trying
to do right before I left Daily Show where they
were doing ice raiates early. This is Biden ice ray,
this is just regular deportation stuff. Latinos, there were Latinos
in Atlanta had formed strategies against ice raids on how

(52:12):
to lay low. They had their own car pools. They
weren't going to the bus stop. They have their own
ecosystem on how to move in plane sight but in hiding.
So that's my guy to help me figure out how
to tell the story. At the state level, he got
laid off and so you know, they're not going to
talk to me because I'm from the Big Bad pairamount

(52:35):
and it's daily show, so it's weird. You don't know
if I'm making fun of you. So I needed that
reporter as the middle man vouch to even be able
to amplify the story. It's same thing with the Chicago
South Side stuff that we was doing. We was walking
the south Side talking with people who intervened on game
beats for volunteer, So it was a local reporter from

(52:56):
the Tribune that plug like, you're not getting that type
of access at the national level without a local vouch.
And so those people are important, but those are the
people covering those stories and telling those stories about us.
They're the first ones to get let go. And I
don't think that that's going to change. The thing that's frustrating, though,
is that for the one side we can go, a

(53:18):
conglomerate is not going to promote truth and journalism across
the board because they go, oh, well, that's not profitable,
or we're going to anger some people, either our shareholders
or some shareholder who doesn't agree with the story, investors,
or we're going to anger the White House. So we're
not going to cover that story. But then you have

(53:38):
media at the local level who have to have a
paywall to survive. But even with the paywall, it gives
you even fewer subscribers, which restrict your ability to do
your mission, which is to inform the people, and eventually
you die off anyway, or you have to keep cutting
costs to the point where you're just running wire stories.
So it's like on both ends of the sword. Money.

(54:02):
I believe it's part of the issue, but I just
I don't know if we'll ever be especially under Trump,
if we're ever gonna you're not gonna get subsidized no
journalism anymore.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
No, It's it's that that is a did conversation for them.

Speaker 6 (54:17):
Kids ain't getting lunch at school, They about to not
get lunch free, lunch about to be gone, so they
definitely not paying to have Like God bless PBS. I
know they.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
I don't think the majority of their funding comes from
the government. They do have a chunk and you see
already they talking about defund PBS.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
I'm like, guys, Sesame Street.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Can't live, Like what do we do make like it
can't live? I mean it was already I think it
was already on its last legs. As it was, but
I want to get to some political stuff real quick.
And for those who don't know, Roy's got a great show.
Who knew that politics could be fun and not so traumatizing?
Thanks to I have, I got news.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Appreciate De Roy.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
You're one of the few political programs I could actually
watch what I wanted to, you know, kind of slam
my face into.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
A brick wall. But you know what I would love.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
I saw the episode after this, but just for this
forum here, as you're watching this Donald Trump, you know,
President Zelinsky from Ukraine and JD Van's meeting.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
As you're watching this, what is going through your mind?

Speaker 2 (55:27):
I need to know, Like I wish I could get
the wood mental play by play that was happening as
you are watching this shit show go down, uh in
front of the American people.

Speaker 6 (55:38):
So for reference, Trump Zelensky went at it about noon,
one o'clockish on Friday. We tape at six pm on Fridays.
We were in the middle of rehearsal, and then after
a rehearsal, they go Trump's a girl, trumpets Elynsky got
into it and they was cussing each other out. We
got to rewrite the whole top of the show. So

(55:59):
you know, I duck off with the writers and just
watching clips, just watching clips and were just reading body language.
But you got it. Remember, like the giff and curse
of what we do as CNN on Saturday nights is
that my job is to just tell you what happened.
For the people who haven't watched the show, it's a
fake ass game show that quiz you on the news.

(56:21):
That's it this week, this happened, Who said it, who
did it, Who's respond that's it. It's just it's a
speed read of the week that was the downside is
that we really can't get into the weeds the way
John Oliver did or the way Bill Maher did you
know SNL had Elon jokes flying through. Elon wasn't even

(56:42):
at the meat. So they can go to crazy town
and be funny, but we just have to inform you.
So it's just looking at what happened and then picking
out the moments. Lensky made the eyebrow when Trump said
he's respected. Jd Vance keep coming in like the little
homie trying to get respect, acting like you know. Jd
Vance was like talking to Zelenski like he was the

(57:03):
one that's got the gun. You know, I mean, you
know how you see like like two dudes yelling the
dude and this one dude, yeah, and I'm clean. We
know you don't have a gun. Stop it, stop it,
you know like that that was fun to watch, But
then in the back of your head you still like,

(57:26):
damn this my star World War three dollars.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
This shit is I said by it's like America.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
This season of America would be great if I didn't
actually live here. Like if I didn't actually live here,
it would be great.

Speaker 6 (57:40):
I think part of the issue with war though, and
I don't and I don't know quite how to fix this,
but from a journalistic standpoint, I don't feel like we
truly show people what war it looks like, Like like

(58:02):
so I go down weird Reddit rabbit holes. All right,
I've seen and I've always been weird like that, Like
I just I can't explain it. But like when you
see like can't sold your cell phone footage from Guantanamo
or al Qaeda beheading or or like carnage and I

(58:24):
rat and isis like videos like once you get into
the house you bombed that they only show you on
the wide shot in the country music video, and then
you see footage from a soldier's go pro and you
see what board does, and you see what bombs do.
When you see what these weapons actually do to the
human body, it's hard to be on board with anything

(58:45):
that could lead to more of that. And you know,
there's a reason why even with the footage in Gaza
and Israel, they do it on a wide shot, they're
painted real fast, just say, oh, yeah, it was a
bun you just like, for the most part, we associate
rubble with war. That's all they show you is just rubble.

(59:05):
Pick a country and they just show you rubble, and
that somehow makes it more politically digestible. But I think
if regular everyday Americans saw what could potentially happen on it,
Like if you ain't queasy at heart, motherfucker, go google

(59:26):
drone bomb footage. Pick a country that like, and it's
you know, it's really dark, though some of that shit
still be funny. There was a video I know comedians
are darker. There was a video of a Ukrainian drone

(59:48):
above a Russian soldier and the drone itself is the bomb.
Like you just fly down to Den't the right and
the bomb is above him, and the Russian soldier looks
up at the drone and he knows a rap, He
know it's a rap. I fucker hold his hand up
to the drone. My fucker pull out a new port

(01:00:08):
that took a drag and then nodded at the drone
and that was that. Like, it's so odd to see
shit like that up close. The media, in the news
media would be doing people, I think, a valuable service.
It's terrible, it's horrible. Bit if you show the carnage

(01:00:30):
of war just a little bit more, I don't know
how gung ho we be. And don't forget, in war,
our troops die too. And so there is an element
of this, the visual sanitization of human conflict that that
has happened that I think has made us all far

(01:00:52):
more content with war because it's all electronic and it's
drones and it's in for reds. And then they show you,
you know, here's a WAT shot of the bomb, and like, no,
go take that camera on up in there, show it
to people for real, because only time you get the
real shit. Now it's a documentary. And then it wins

(01:01:15):
an Oscar, it wins an Oscar because it's powerful, because
you cannot ignore it. There was a there was one
a few years ago called the White Helmets. That's a
dope one that everybody should see. The White Helmets are
this group of people who want to building this bomb.

(01:01:36):
We are the ones who are first responding to pull
people out of the rubble. And there's and there's munitions
that still have not gone off that sometimes still go
off or they come back and bomb a place after
the fact. So you know, I think that how war
is covered could help to contribute to ending some wars.

(01:02:01):
But that's also that's a tough thing to push on
somebody who's just watching the news. And then Family Feud
is coming on right after. That's why they put them
game shows on. I used to joke about that on stage.
They put game shows on right after the evening news
so you feel better. And then it goes right into
sitcoms like the idea that you can know everything that's

(01:02:26):
fucked up in the world and now we'll a fortune.
I'm sorry, what right, didn't we just bombed up? Yes
we did, and now the whole new episode or the
family Feud, Hey, y'all, you boss Steve Harvey hope you
enjoyed that war coverage. It's tired to play the feud,
you know, don't I don't know, but you know, again

(01:02:46):
showing war with that level of truth. I don't know
if that's good for business.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Now we're in this in this political environment that can
be you know, as we just talked about a little
bit tenuous. You're in a different space for it because
you are a comedian, but you're a comedian that also
tells the truth and is also very politically aware.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
What do you think was the key for you kind
of finding where you fit in this moment?

Speaker 6 (01:03:16):
Mm hmm. I've just tried to be who I am.
You know, there's a there's an Alabama, Alabama's first black millionaire,
A G. Gaston. He huge philanthropists, was a supporter of

(01:03:40):
the civil rights movement. He had he had a hotel
in Birmingham, the Gaston Hotel, where most civil rights leaders
stayed when they came to time because it was a
safe like on some green book type ship like that
was a safe place, and you know, and soldiers would
line up black panthers or whatever to protect the spot
and all of that. But he's always poured his money

(01:04:01):
into the community and used his money to back people
that were fighting. You know, he had a series of
boys clubs and he had a quote. His quote was
finding need and fill it. And that's just what I've
lived by. Like they used to preach that to us
when we was little kids at the boy at the
ags and boys club and that's just stuck with me.

(01:04:22):
And so for me, I've always just tried to use
humor as a vehicle to to me, the perfect joke
or the perfect message informs white people or non black people,
informs white people to something they didn't know, and then
it gets black people to go. That's what I've been

(01:04:44):
trying to tell you. So my first three stand up
specials were just race and politics and the country and
all of that stuff. The one I just did for
Hulu that was more about us on a human level.
You know. I called it Lonely Flowers. That's what we are.
We're all beautiful, we don't talk to each other, well,
we don't come together no more. And so this idea

(01:05:07):
of trying to use what we're going through as a
people as a vehicle for humor. It's hard, but I
enjoy it because there's also not a lot of people
doing it like this. You know, when I first got
to Daily Show and I got to like really give
Trevor Noah a shout out for this, because you know,

(01:05:27):
when I got to Daily Show, you know, I think
the biggest difference between me and Trevor as black men
is that I'm very angry as a person. I don't
show it a lot like people don't like you know me,
you ain't never seen me in a bad mood and
nothing like that, but very angry about what's happening in

(01:05:48):
this country and what's going on in this country. But
I'm not a yeller. I'm not a fighter. That's not
my strategy for me. It's humor. And if I can
use humor, if I can make it funny, if I
can make the point and make it funny, I feel
like I'm as effective as anyone that chooses to be
a sledgehampan. So my approach to any issue is first

(01:06:08):
to figure out a way to find some sort of
entry point that tricks you into paying attention to the
actual punch that's coming behind it. So, you know, when
I started a Daily Show, first piece we did was
me and Jordan Clapper doing a ride along with the
Madison Police Department. They just shot an unarmed black man
four months prior. Let's see if there's some humor there.

(01:06:32):
Y'all taking biased training. No, I want to take the trainer.
Bring the cameras, Oh, twentieth anniversary million mare march. I
want to go, Hey, traffic, can I go cools, take
the cameras, see what's going on, and so to be
able to try and find humor in these very you know,

(01:06:52):
unfunny situations, especially unfunny situations for black people, like we
was man, we was down in the far As a
cop city in Atlanta. These folks out the dying and
shootouts with the police, trying to keep them from building
a police training facility that's ultimately going to flood black
neighborhoods downstream state. The cameras and to me, I don't know,

(01:07:20):
I take I take. I take pride in that because
there's not a lot of people doing that this way
in comedy or in journalism. I kind of sit on,
you know, a weird a weird line. But I think
I have a unique ability to reach and connect with

(01:07:41):
people who wouldn't have necessarily seen the point I was
trying to make coming and to me, that's an important
part of whatever the hell it is we're supposed to
be fighting for. I think one problem is that, you know,
I think with the race talking Black Americans specifically, we're

(01:08:04):
often quick to critique how other people choose to approach
this fight, as if they're not in the fight. That
shit I don't like, but it's nothing I can do
about it either. It's like it's like when so I

(01:08:25):
did a ride along with Compton Fire during the LA wildfires,
Compton the LA County Fire Department, Engine sixteen, and Compton,
they're having to cover twice as much space. They have
to cover twice as much area because all of the
other firefighters is up the hill fighting the big shit, right,

(01:08:46):
and so there's still regular emergencies happening. Still car crashes, still,
regular house fires, Still car you know, still my fucking
drove into the river. Gotta go get them. At no
point do the people up the hill. Do the firefighters
come up the hill, come down the hill, and that's

(01:09:08):
the other firefighters, what have they been doing? And say
that they're not doing enough? And I think that sometimes
when you look at it's easy to look at black

(01:09:28):
people who aren't necessarily in the same part of the
battlefield as you and assume that they aren't fighting. And
I think that's that's a big it's a big misunderstanding
to me. With an I race, it doesn't stop me
from my approach. My approach is my approach, Like that's

(01:09:49):
what I do. I think that's what makes us special.
I think it's it's no different than bees. You watch
the honey, you go get the pollen. You niggas fight
the hornets if they come over here, trip and do
your job, and so like, that's to me, what's beautiful
about us is that at the end of the day,
it's still all about just better in our race and

(01:10:12):
better in the country as a whole. If black folk's good,
America good. I wish more people understand that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
What made you Because Lonely Flowers is funny, but it's
also very thoughtful. I mean a lot of your comedy is,
but this especially because I think you know, when we
look back on even if we were able to look
back on it now within not being that long ago,
but when we look back on behaviorally, how much COVID
changed us and how it made us even more isolated,

(01:10:39):
made us more even more tribal maybe to some degree.
It is really something that I think, you know, psychologically,
we will understand a major mood shift in this country.
What made you decide even though you did tell a
story that kind of felt like it was what ignited this,
But you know, nevertheless, given the type of comomity, do

(01:11:00):
this to me was still a bit of a departure.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
What made you decide that you were going to focus.

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
Something that was funny but around the themes of us
being more isolated, us being more lonely, us creating more
space from one another.

Speaker 6 (01:11:15):
Yeah, we're disconnected, and we're happy to be disconnected. Like
would rather not Like I joked about it in a
special like you don't want nobody calling you about the
blue You used to look forward. You used to look
forward to unknown numbers. Who could it be? I built

(01:11:35):
my whole prank call career.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
Oh can you imagine you to start that now? Ry
like somebody ever pick up the phone?

Speaker 6 (01:11:43):
Impossible, There's no way you could do prank calls now.
Nobody cared to answer the phone. So I had at
a partner from college, and we if you would have
asked me in college, I would have figured to be
his best man at his wedding and he got engaged

(01:12:07):
and I didn't even get an invite, and so I'm
mad enough to say that hurt so so I called
him up and we talk about it for a minute,
and basically what it boiled down to was You're never around.
You never have time anytime. Even when you come down
this way for a show, you don't even have time

(01:12:28):
for a drink after the show. You don't have like
basically going There have been so many times where I've
tried to connect with you that you rebuffed or just whatever,
whatever the situation was. The answer ended up being no,
that I just don't figure you to even want to
be a part of anything. And it was such a
fair assessment of where I was, and you know, the

(01:12:51):
way I've been carrying myself that I don't know. I
had to do a little bit more self inventory about
being intentional because I did, like, no, I can care
about you like this is like you want people supposed
to be carrying a casket when I die. I got
you down. I put you on the casket carried list,
and like, I need to work on this relationship. So

(01:13:12):
you look at I looked at that, and it just
forced me to take a long look at myself, and
then it's just like, oh wow, we're all disconnected. Don't
nobody want to talk to nobody? Like we're just literally
looking for comfort, like even like even when you think
about like dating, right, and the idea that like you

(01:13:33):
correct me if I'm wrong, I don't remember seeing this
many single women with dogs and cats, like in my twenties,
the forty year olds, I know, they didn't have the dogs.
They didn't have no like the idea of pouring love
into something like that's it gives you a sense of worth,

(01:13:54):
It gives you a sense of purpose. This weird shit
about being Polly or like Neo's four girlfriends, all right,
is it weird? Or just did all five of them
just go Hey, this feels good, so fuck it, let's
do it. That wasn't the norm a generation to go

(01:14:16):
two generations ago. So I'm less inclined to knock people
that behave like that, because at least they're trying to
find some form of connection and polyamory. Like the idea
that you're supposed to get everything emotionally and physically from

(01:14:37):
one person. Maybe that's not completely true. And your grandparents
get the best they could, because that was the options
back then. Your granddaddy didn't have black people meet to
go sneak off and find Yeah, I mean just case

(01:14:58):
in point, like your granddaddy had a family around the corner.
Nowadays that family is in another country. That's what technology
has done. Like, I just think that it became easy
to have food delivered to your house. And the fact
that even something as simple as like that's why I

(01:15:19):
like nobody, Like I don't think most men will admit it,
but like you ever see like these videos for like
man camps and come to be your man? Oh, there's
like I forget what it's called, but it's like a
bunch of men in the forties and fifties doing UFC
shit in the forest and punching and hugging and forcing

(01:15:41):
themselves through task and then they hug and cry it
out afterwards. It's because you lonely, but you never had
a hug, You never had a real connection, and as
a man, nobody probably ever checked on you. Because you're
the man. You got to provide and finally you in
a space where a bunch of people understood you. As
weird as it is, I get because it's just people
seeking community. Now, some of the people that run them

(01:16:04):
camps little January sixth vibbish. But I understand why men
would even pay two hundred dollars to cry in the
forest with a bunch of dudes and flip dump truck
tires up and down a hill because you need connection.

(01:16:27):
And I don't know, I just felt like, oh, this
might be funny because when you look at the retail
experience and that was forced social interaction, you know, like
I don't even think it made it into the special
but like jokingly, the only two places where it feels
okay to talk to a stranger is a sporting event
and a protest, and that's because you there rooting for

(01:16:49):
a team.

Speaker 2 (01:16:51):
I mean, I could not disagree or I could not
agree with you more, especially when you talked about these
self checkout.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
I hate self checkout on the level that is this.
It's it's probably frightening because.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
I'm like, I work here, Like if I what is
the point of be coming to the grocery store if
I got a bag my own ship, It's just like,
why did I do this?

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
I'm like, I came so someone else could back and
check me out.

Speaker 6 (01:17:16):
And you do it wrong. That's why I'm glad they're
stealing steal all that ship so they can bring back cashiers.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
Good said, And I like you. I did.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
The grocery store I go to most frequently. I have
my three favorite cashiers. I always go.

Speaker 6 (01:17:33):
That's old schoolers. Hell, nobody has that anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
Oh, yes, I have three, Like I love each of them.
Like we chit chat about sports by whatever. Like you know,
it's just like a quick, little little interaction. You get
to hear a different voice than your own, or in
my case, the different voice than me and my husband's own,
Like you know, just it's just like a little.

Speaker 1 (01:17:53):
A little interaction.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
And I enjoyed that sort of cheers kind of feel
where everybody knows your name type of thing. So so
I hear you about that.

Speaker 6 (01:18:02):
I'm at the age now, Jamail. I don't even get
mad if somebody next to me talk to me on the.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
Plane, what okay, see now you're going too far? Maybe
you need a dog.

Speaker 6 (01:18:15):
That's where your I don't. I don't mind it. I
don't If they don't recognize me, I don't tell them
I do entertainment. I tell him I do. I install
home security systems because there's no follow up questions.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
But no more follow up questions because they're not like,
oh hey, what do you think about?

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
You know, how should I do my home?

Speaker 6 (01:18:35):
If I want to prevent like really it's crazy out
there man, you know. But what you gotta get. You
can't just get the motion detection camera. She got to
hide one and get like I will just go on
and on, like I'll just pull dialogue. Oh I don't
want to. I tell you, I'm go down these reddit
rabbit holes. When you get to the hotel rooms, turn
the clocks to the walls. You gotta double check the phones.
There's a little stud finder thing and you can check

(01:18:57):
for signals and the walls and that. Like in one
you start talking like that, people leave you alone.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
Interesting.

Speaker 6 (01:19:03):
You gotta like be really crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:19:05):
Before I get you out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
Since you're the you are the king of being able
to answer sort of random questions.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
This is a question I've been dying to ask you.

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
Okay, if we had like a UFC type fight between
an employee from Spirit Airlines and an employee from waffle House,
who will ins.

Speaker 6 (01:19:23):
And why waffle House off reps alone? Spirit waffle House?

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
They get they get some.

Speaker 6 (01:19:34):
Yeah, but I think the thing we have to remember
is that most of the time with the Spirit videos,
it's the passengers fighting, whereas you don't really see the
flight attendants from Spirit jump in all the time. Where's
a waffle house that cook is gonna be right there
in the middle of it. You saw that girl catch
that chair, Like damn avenger through that chair that she

(01:19:57):
caught it? Like, what you're gonna do with that? Besides me, mad,
I think if we go in customer for customer, though,
I think a more fair matchup is Spirit customer versus
waffle house customers.

Speaker 1 (01:20:09):
Oh who you got a.

Speaker 6 (01:20:12):
I think the Spirit person wins only because when you're traveling,
you're already angry, so that's like steroids like when you angry,
like when you're dealing with the anger of travel and
then somebody piss you off. Because you also got to
remember like waffle house fights. If you have a bid
at a waffe house, when I fight start, they start

(01:20:32):
real fast, like the customers already come in irate, and
then it just jump off Spirit. You've been fucked with.
In the parking lot, they charge you for luggage. Then
you go through TSA and taking your shoes off, you
can pull it to the side secondary search. Then you
get to the gate and then you find out you
got to pay an extra thirty dollars for this carry
on bag and you didn't know that. Then you find

(01:20:53):
out the bag don't fit. Now you got to pay
another thirty dollars to check the bag under the plane.
Then they telling you you don't have it a sign,
and then somebody come up to you talking crazy. You're
already charged up, like it's like this is a terrible
analogy because it wasn't the best villain, but it's Jamie

(01:21:14):
Fox and that spider Man electro where you're just getting
charged up, and then the more you hold the electricity,
the stronger you get. That's a spirit Airlines customer. By
the time you find a spirited Airlines customer who's ready
to fight, they have gone through so many gauntlets of
bullshit to get to that point. They have super strength

(01:21:35):
that I believe would supersede whatever alcohol is in the
bloodstream of a waffle house employee or a waffle house customer.

Speaker 1 (01:21:45):
That is very that's very a student analysis. I think
you're right.

Speaker 6 (01:21:49):
Anger beats Tennessee every time travel anger.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
You need to put that on a T shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:21:55):
Travel Anger beats Tennessee everything you need to put that
on a T shirt.

Speaker 1 (01:21:59):
That's all you, all right? And finally, boy, last question.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Every guest that appears on politics, I asked you what
I call a messy question, the question designed to get
you in trouble to say some shit that will hopefully
be a headline. So here is my Bessie question for you.
All Right, you stayed in Memphis until you were in
third grade. I know you've been in Memphis many times.
You've been around the country many times. You grew up
in the Ham aka Birmingham. Ye on your reputation, on

(01:22:27):
your relatives alive and dead. Who has the better barbecue
is in Memphis or Alabama?

Speaker 6 (01:22:36):
Why are you going to do? This?

Speaker 2 (01:22:38):
Is designed for this, Go ahead and say it with
your chest.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
I'm sorry what you say. Hey, you wished that a
little bit louder, because I think the people is Memphis.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
Memphis is with you said, huh okaymph.

Speaker 1 (01:23:03):
Memphis City. What in the name of mephis is happening
right now?

Speaker 6 (01:23:10):
Memphis got legacy of Birmingham. Birmingham coming up. Birmingham is
like I'm trying to think Birmingham is like the Buffalo Bills,
like we're finally good again and we competitive, but we
got a good team, but we ain't legacy like Memphis, Memphis.

Speaker 1 (01:23:24):
Memphis been y'all, Patrick Mahomes your whole your whole life.

Speaker 6 (01:23:29):
You know, like this will be an article in the
Birmingham News in like two weeks. And then when I
go to fundraise and raise money for the local Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:40):
They're not gonna they taking all the pictures of you
and your high school now right now, just because you
you have to answer it that way.

Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
Well, Roy, I woant to thank you so much for
joining me.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
You are again a bright light and exceptionally dark time,
your comedy, your humor, your observations. For those who haven't
seen it, please watch Lonely Flowers.

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
It's great. It's and also if.

Speaker 2 (01:24:02):
You want a very serious, informed take on the news,
but also you will get some laughs, make sure you
watch a Roy show. Have I got news for you
on seeing it with Amber the Great Amber Ruffins, Jasmine
Crocket on there recently hilarious.

Speaker 6 (01:24:20):
Yeah, she went in on Elon and we stream on
Max too, so y'all can play catch up over on Max.

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
Yes, absolutely, it's a. It's a great show. So yes,
y'all make sure that y'all check that out. And Roy,
you take care. Are you on the road anytime soon?

Speaker 6 (01:24:33):
No, not really. I had a couple of dates, but
I don't I ain't even put them on the website yet.
I'm in Honolulu in June at the Blue Note, So
go there and figure that out. Whatever the website say,
that's what the ship is.

Speaker 1 (01:24:49):
That's what it is, that's what it would be. All right, Roy,
take care. Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:24:52):
I'm a marketing genius.

Speaker 3 (01:24:54):
Look at you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:55):
That's on some website subcity somewhere. I'm good.

Speaker 6 (01:25:00):
Appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
I appreciate you so much. And next time I'm in
New York, I will make sure that I hit you
up to see what you please do please, And at
the very least, I'd love to come by and watch
your taping because it's very funny.

Speaker 6 (01:25:11):
And come by. You need to be on. I'll talk
to that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:15):
I'll let you know that because I would love to
be because you know, I got jokes. People don't know
that you.

Speaker 6 (01:25:20):
Do else I can be very funny.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
All right, take care.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
One more segment to go, and you guys know what
that means I got questions to answer up next your
viewer slash listener questions, and I have plenty of answers
coming up next on the final segment of Spolatives. Now,

(01:25:48):
I don't intend to turn this final segment into an
obituary page, but unfortunately, this is another week where another
significant sports.

Speaker 1 (01:25:54):
Figure has passed on.

Speaker 2 (01:25:56):
Last week it was former NBA player Junior and Bridgeman.
This week it was George Foreman, who died at seventy
six years old. Now, I'd say a pretty high percentage
of people only know George Foreman for his grills, which,
by the way, became a massive cultural success.

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
That i'd say gave Foreman one of.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
The most successful postscripts to an athletic career in history.
But before his name became synonymous with one of the
best kitchen appliances ever.

Speaker 1 (01:26:23):
I'd say it's top five and not five.

Speaker 2 (01:26:26):
George Foreman was known as one of the hardest hitting
boxers of all time, but it was Foreman's loss to
Muhammad Ali in the historic nineteen seventy four Rumble in
the Jungle that really changed the course of Foreman's life.
The fight took place in what is now known as
the Republic of Congo, marking the first time a heavyweight
fight was ever held on African soil. It was where
Ali regained his heavyweight title after he was stripped of

(01:26:49):
the honor for his refusal to be drafted into the
US Armed Forces.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
Now, at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
Of Rumble in the Jungle, Foreman was undefeated and he
was known as a major meaty, a real badass. But
that loss to Ali was sort of life changing for
Forman because it made him reinvent himself and at the
startling age of forty five, in nineteen ninety four, Foreman
became the oldest fighter to ever win the heavyweight title.

(01:27:16):
Foreman fought his last fight in nineteen ninety seven, finishing
his career with a seventy six and five record. But
three years before Foreman called it quits in the ring,
he did something that also changed his life as much
as boxing did, if not more. It was in nineteen
ninety four that he launched the George Foreman Grill. He
went into a partnership with the grills creator, and Foreman

(01:27:38):
reportedly made and estimated half a billion dollars from those grills.
At one point he was making five million a month
and I won't front. I still use mine to this
day anyway. George Foreman will be remembered as one of
the great ones. And I don't mean just in boxing.

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
If you have a question for me, you can hit
me up on social media or on email. I'm at
Jamail Hill across all social media platforms, Twitter, Instagram, Fan based,
Blue Sky, and threads.

Speaker 1 (01:28:09):
Please use the hashtags politics.

Speaker 2 (01:28:12):
You also have the option of emailing me as Politics
twenty twenty four at gmail dot com. You can also
send me a video of your question, but please make
sure it's thirty seconds or less. Don't forget to subscribe
and follow Politics on iHeart and follow us Politics Pod
on Instagram and TikTok. Politics is spelled s po l

(01:28:33):
I Tics. A new episode is Politics drops every Thursday
on iHeart Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This
is politics where sports and politics don't just mix, they matter.
Politics is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.

(01:28:53):
I'm your host Jamail Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Shakog.
Lucas Heimen is head of audio and executive producer. Original
music first Politics provided by Kyle VISs from wiz FX,