December 13, 2023 • 27 mins
Actor Mykelti Williamson, celebrated for his role as “Bubba” in the Academy Awarding-winning film Forrest Gump first began acting professionally at the age of 18. After graduating high school, Williamson ventured into professional acting, appearing on television series Starsky and Hutch (1975), Hill Street Blues (1981) and China Beach (1988), among others. Beyond his acting career, Williamson is passionate about restoring classic cars, including his prized 1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup truck. His other favorite hobby is playing blues harmonica.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, I'm Sayu de Garrett and uppity knitter and host
of The Uppity Knitter podcast Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show
about your favorite celebrities and their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
My guest today is a remarkable actor, writer and director
who comes to us with an impressive list of successful film,
TV and live on stage credits, including Ali con Air
and the Oscar nominated film Fences, just to name a few.
But he's probably most remembered as the affable and truly
lovable character Bubba in Forrest Gump. Ladies and gentlemen, please
(00:37):
welcome mister Michael T.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Williamson Shy. Hello everybody, thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
For being here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Before we get started, many of you have asked why
this podcast is called the Uppity Knitter. Well, although I'm
well known as a singer songwriter, my favorite hobbies are
knitting and crocheting, which some fans are very surprised to
learn about me. The name came from a personal experience
that I had one day in LA's webs I sat
in a knitting circle with a bunch of white ladies
(01:03):
and I looked over to my right at what this
woman was knitting, and I said, my that's really pretty.
What are you knitting with? She says, Oh, this is
just cotton. And then she looks over at my lap
and she says, what are you knitting with? I said,
I'm knitting with Kashmir. She said, oh, aren't you an
uppity knitter?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I said, what did you call me?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
She said, I said nitter? I said nitter. That woman
got so red. And to this day, that story cracks
me up so much. It makes me smile every time
I say the word uppity knitter. So that's why I
chose to name my podcast that I've embraced that Moniker.
It makes me. It just cracks me up. And I'm
(01:47):
inviting some of your favorite celebrities to chat with me
about some of their unusual hobbies. So, Michael T. Man,
let me just say, I'm so proud of your success,
almost like I had everything to.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Do with it. I feel like that about you.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Full disclosure. Michael T and I go way back.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yes to the eighties, to the eighties, when we were
up and coming artists, man with day jobs grinding. I
sold sandwiches and the upper the knitter had a job
upstairs in Century City, in a nice building, and I
was hustling sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was a clerical telling yes, yes, clerical tep and
you were the good sandwich guy.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, but listen, because I put love on it. I
arranged everything. I poke flowers in my basket when I
was selling stuff. People are nice flowers. I mean I
tried to do everything I could to like elevate that
so I can get my cheese.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And you were so cool because there were days I
wouldn't sell hardly anything. And when I got to where
you were, which was like halfway through my route, yes,
you saw it was almost full, and you looked at
me and you said, and I knew you were not hungry,
and you bought something from me. And you elbowed some
of the mother black women and made them buy some
stuff and it changed. It made my day. Wow. Never
(03:03):
forgot it. Yeah, but that's who you are from way
back to me for real. So the people listen. Sidy
Garrett is bump. She called me one time and how
many times? How long did it take me to say yes?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
About thirty seconds?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I don't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I love it. You turned me in that job that
you had, You turned me onto the dark brown sweetness
of squab bread. I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I remember telling you that I was a singer, and
you told me as confidently as you knew it was happening.
You were very confident about letting me know that you
had the desire to be an actor, and I didn't
know you were a child actor at that time. I
had no idea. I mean, I learned that in my research.
But when I told you I was a singer and
(03:52):
you told me you were an accurate I was like, yeah, okay, great,
I think I'll have the tuna with the squaw bread.
You know, it was just like next but we struck
up a casual office friendship and that has stood the
test of time exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So, mister Williamson, talk to me, sister, tell us what
hobbies you have that fans of yours, of your acting
don't know that you're into.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, I would say the first thing that I'm into
is like raising my raising the bar for myself and
everybody around me spiritually to kick the day off. Okay,
That's just how I roll. Sometimes people fight me on it,
but they gonna get it anyway. That's how I put
love on it, right. So that's one of the things
I do. I try to put love everywhere I go.
Sometimes you know, you got to be strong to do it,
(04:38):
but I try to do that. That's one of the
things I do all the time and try to live
every single day that people should be aware of. That's
why you see it reflected in my work. There are
things that I barred lines I won't cross because I
don't think it's necessary, not in storyteller, right. So that's
one thing. Then I like classic cars. What I appreciate
(04:59):
classic cars, and I own a classic truck that I
brought today, which is which is a nineteen fifty three
Chevrolet thirty one hundred pickup truck. It's a farm truck.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You have a thirty one hundred.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, it's a farm truck, but it's pretty fly little
farm I love that. Back to the white walls. I've
had it for probably over twenty years. Did you restore
it from scratch? It was a farm, literal farm truck.
I bought off a farm in northern California. Just racing
around in sports car. We were racing the Ferrari guys
up there. So our team versus De Porchia and Ferrari,
(05:33):
We're like, whoo, they're going way too fast. When I
was younger and Laguna's saka the whole thing because I
like to drive fast. Then I like the cruise. Now
I if I go too fast, you can't see my truck.
I see you see this truck.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
What got you into classic car restoration in the first place.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I just think classic things, American things, American people are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You are a classic American.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I just think we're beautiful. Those of us who really
want to be American and really don't want to tear
the place up. We want to fix it. We're beautiful.
I loved I just want to fix the thing. I
don't want to tear it up. I just want to
fix it. Let's fix it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard it before your acting career took off that
you had a business of remodeling kitchens and battle rooms.
How did your experience and that translate into remodeling classic cars.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, I started the car thing years ago. My mom
bought me a magazine called handy Man Magazine. Okay, because yeah,
because I was being raised single mom. My dad, who
was a cool cat. He and my mom fell out.
They went separate ways, and he bounced, So I kind
of a long distance relationship with my stepdad, who was
my dad. Okay, but my mom kept the rest, kept
(06:49):
us and even kept some other people's kids. Oh so
she needed somebody to fix stuff. That was her game.
I see. She said, ooh, look at this, Isn't that pretty?
Do you think you could do that? Because I was
always building stuff. I was building all kinds of stuff outside,
building go carts, building building, and my god card was
(07:10):
always the Flyers, of course, because I waited till I
got the right screwise. I didn't use nails and the
wheel come off like I was not that little black kid.
I love it. Well, yeah, but so my mom got
me into the magazine Handyman, and then I started going
to Radio Shack, hanging out when Radio Shack was around
and learning stuff, and I learned we had shop classes
back then, if you remember, kids don't get shop classes now,
(07:32):
we had any wood shop. I know. I'm so sorry
the music. Someone has privatized all the shop classes, which
to me is criminal because that made America better because
people who are not really college bound would go off
and do a carpentry business, so we have a real trade,
and they would be crafts persons right now. They guy
(07:54):
had come up with some more money after high school
because somebody wants you to sell it to you. That
was yours anyway, with your up tax dollars. It's crazy
they done took that from you. Man. I want to
fix stuff like that, that's all. Yeah, So that's my background.
I try to fix stuff, even movies. I go on,
I see somebody that's not that strong, I'll move around
and kind of turn them away from the camera a
little bit for a certain line, and then walk back
(08:15):
and bring them back to keep the movie strong and
to keep them in a job, because if they're real
bad on camera, they're not gonna work anymore. They ain't
gonna last.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's really kind of you. Most artists, actors especially, are
not that generous with their time and energy for other actors.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well, I want to be in good movies.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I heard that, and you have been.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I don't miss Jack Rabbit messing the movie up it.
I'm in it. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, what when you restore your cars? Have you found that?
Do you restore them just for you or do you
restore cars and have turned them into a business to
do that for others?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It's just for me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, this truck that's outside right now is not even finished.
And why you bring an unfinished piece of you haven't
seen listen? And I was telling the cat who had
a beautiful Malibu. I said, man, brother, I love your car.
Some cats from Riverside Car Show and I was like wow,
And I knew all this stuff about his car. What
kind of car was sixty seven Malibu? Right? Yes? So
(09:17):
I was telling him everything about his six It was
six y four boo, that's what it was, sixty four boo.
And I was like, dude, and he was like, you
know a lot about cars. Said yeah, I got a
little truck at the house. Man, I'm not finished with it.
He said, what kind of trucks? I says, the fifty
three Chevy. But I'm not done with it yet. You know.
It's this is that put this arm headed here. He's like, well,
what you're talking about it for? If it ain't ready?
I said, oh, okay, you so what what is that y'all?
(09:39):
You want me to bring it? I said? He said, yeah,
bring it to the show or stopped talking about it,
and all his home buzzers looking. I went to the
show and won the car show won Best Pickup Truck
and Best of the Show. Wow truck ain't finished that
dude was so mad he started up his malleable and
got out of there. Like that's what you get.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When you when you start on a closet car. Have
you gotten to a point in a car where you said,
I can't I give up. I can't work with this car,
I can't do anymore. Have you ever given up on
a car that you started restoring?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Not because I wanted to, Okay, Either someone wanted it
far more than I did for their collection, ah. Or
I had a car one time, sixty one in Power.
I was restoring it and a guy would go buy
the shop every day try to buy my car. And
one day they cut a hole in the fence and
put a big trash can against it so they could
(10:35):
come get my car in. The owner of the shop
called me and said, hey, man, you need to come
get your car out of here because this gang they're trying,
this gang trying to get your car. Wow. So I said, well,
how much is he talking about paying? And he told me.
I said, well tell him I'm going to move it.
It's gone, but I'll sell it to him. And I
marked it up fifty percent and what I had to do?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Do you check out classic cars in every town or
a country that you visit.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
One of the things I like to do is photograph
old cars in fields and old barns. I love the
photograph old barns. I have so many photographs of old
barns I've shot.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Are you going to do a book?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Is that a book?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
I'd like to at some point? It sounds like a book,
So yeah, I like I like cool vintage looking stuff
like you look so fly man. Can I say that?
You can say? No, that is so bombed. That is
so fire.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
This is something that I knitted myself. I know, thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Wow, that thing is cool.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Tell me the make and model of the very first
car that you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Restored, nineteen fifty eight Volkswagen Beetle.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
What that was my first cars? It wasn't fifty eight,
It was sixty sixty eight.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, okay, that was the best car I've ever owned.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That's good. That's an American made Volkswagen.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Really.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, sixty was the last year of the German maid.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Ah, I didn't know that that hard, did me?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Well, that's good. Yes, that's cool. Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Do you have classic car restoration heroes or others that
you follow? Is there a car restoration community like there
is for knitters and crochet?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
There is, but I don't really follow anybody. I see
things that I think are interesting and then I you know,
I just enjoy other people's the result of other people's creativity,
I can respect it, but it's not my own. The
way I fixed cars up, people just go, wow, how
much did you spend? That's all you spent. I'm like, yeah, wow, yeah,
he ain't got to be no food to have a
(12:40):
nice looking car.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do you photograph the cars before and after or just
oh nice?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I photographed cars at the houses or locations where I
first find them, right in the front yard, right there
with the sign in the window. That's like my truck.
I got the whole book on that truck.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Do you ever have certificate it's of authenticity made up
for the vehicles that you restored.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, I'm having this particular vehicle appraised this week, so yeah,
I can keep the value high with a certified appraisal. Yes, yes,
but that's what's going on now, that's the next step
with this truck.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
What's the most you've been offered for any car or
truck you've restored. You can tell me.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I won't tell the irs. The most Well, I'll just
say there's a car I sold not long ago and
they go for two seventy five? Right now? What? Five thousand? What?
I got a drum machine that costs twenty five grand? Now,
if you can get your hands.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
On one, is it a Linn?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
No? What is it? It's the SP twelve hundred. The
thing is twenty grand? Huh yep? What? Wow? Am I right?
Craig Ta.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Have you ever been asked to donate one of your
restored cars for charity?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
No, you wouldn't know.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Okay, I just give you some money. I'm taking my
toys away.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Who's the most interesting person that you've met restoring vehicles?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Wow, that's a really good question.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Okay, you have a really good answer.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
The most interesting. I don't know if anyone's most interesting.
I don't know. Let me think about that.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Okay, tell me this. What is the one car that
you've restored that you never thought you'd get your hands on.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
That I've restored? Yes, nineteen eighty nine Portia's Speedster.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh, you never thought you'd get your hands on one
of those.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
No. Wow, No, I thought I'd have to keep bailing
family and folks out of their little stuff, and I
wouldn't really get to have what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I don't even pull it off.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Do you when you restore cars, do you restore them
to their original color or do you create new color
ways for the vehicles that you've restored.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Well, I've done both. There's something called a resto mod.
It's like a restored restored car, but it's a modified
car mixed. Okay, And so this this truck I'm driving
now is kind of a resto mod. I mean, it's
like it's a it's a resto classic, is what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Did you change the color of it when you?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh? Yeah? Is it like?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Is it a cool?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Like? All right?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I will, I will.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
We're here with mister Michael T. Williamson, and we'll be
right back after this short break and welcome back to
the Uppity Knitter. We're here with mister Michael T. Williamson.
I have heard you talk about things in your life
that you consider to be therapeutic. Do you consider car
(15:46):
restoration therapeutic? Is it soothing or or is it exciting
and thrilling to you.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
It's both, but it's it's more calming.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
For me, ah like knitting is for me.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, it's calming. And it's my own creativity whatever I'm
feeling creative about, Like your designs you want now, I'll
think I'll do a little bit of this color. Now
that that's how cars are.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Are you friends with people at like Manny Moo and
Jack what's the name of that?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
The pet boys? Yeah? No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
How do you get your your parts? And you have
to you have to buy old parts for the old cars, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Which you buy new parts or you get the old
parts rebuilt. Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So when you can't find what it is you're looking
for for this nineteen fifty eight whatever, you just have
one maide. Yeah, nice, I didn't even know that that
was a thing.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
It is.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I love that. I love that. Do you think car
restoration fills a certain void in your life?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I think it's not really a void. It's it just
feels another one of my You know, you got these
little valleys where you love is little. It's not as
fulfilled in this little area as you would like it
to be. And you come back up and everything else
is cool.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, that's life, pea pigs and valleys.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So that's what I dig about the restoring cars because
it's just we go off on a mission to find
this part at this farm in Nebraska, and you heard
the guys got two or three of them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So you just get you a ticket, buy it in advance,
and then you can save money and you go get
the part, and then you develop relationships with these people
and that's how you put your car together. I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So they know when they come across the park that
they think you might need do they contact you and
tell you, I got this Jimmy Rigg cook for the
nineteen forty two for whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, there are people that all of us call when
we're looking for something. So we give them a name
and number and what it is, and they put it
in their database. And then you'll call us and say, hey,
you still have those starters for it blah blah blah blah.
And you go, yeah, I got two of them and
say okay, well I need one blah blah blah blah.
And that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah. But you build a community by you know, people
trying to find cars.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Do you look to your hobby of restoring cars to
be challenging or do you feel like it's an escape
from your daily routine.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It's both. It's challenging because you won't always find what
you want. It's it's challenging because you don't always have
the time. But you need to spend the time with
your car or your truck, or your airplane or whatever
that thing is you're knitting or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Your three kids.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, no, that's priority.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh okay, got it.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
That's always been pro That's why my truck sat for
over twenty years because my kids were first. This truck
sat for over twenty years. I just got it running recently.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Are your kids?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah? And this paint job is when you see it.
This paint job is about twenty seven years old. And
people go, where'd you get a painted I said, man,
twenty seven years ago, that dude moved to Saint Louis. Wow. Yeah,
but it looks cool. I'm telling you, man, this is
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Have you referenced or featured any of your restored cars
in any of the films or television shows that you know?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Only in a couple of magazine articles. I've shown my
my truck. The other cars, I kind of kept out
of sight because this guy, you know, put my license
plate number and liked, what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
What are you doing out?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Oh, I'll take those out? And he didn't. And it
was in magazine. Sorry, knuckle ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
My dadd would call it genie as you know what
I mean, gene.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yes, Oh, Michael t hilarious.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
In closing, please tell our audience what it is that
you're doing and what's going on in your life right now?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Do I have thirty to sixty seconds? You got as
much time? I'm gonna eat all of that, eat that
whole sandwich. I love you, you know I do. I
love you. I know you love me right, and I
appreciate it so so so listen. There was one third
thing that I like to do, and that is I
play harmonica.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yes, stand up, the hobby of yours.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And then my brother from another mother, Craig T. Cooper,
who's your brother as well. He's here in the studio
and he's gonna come up and we're gonna do a
little something with you.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Hey, Craig, come on over here. That what's what you got?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I like the way you work. You got to bag
it up so impromptu. What we're gonna do all Little
Blues Michael T. Williamson and mister Craig T Cooper little
(20:40):
uppit in Little Blues right here. Yeah, I decided to
be a podcaster. I heart gave me my own show. Yeah.
(21:05):
I decided to be a pied podcast and I heartly
gave me my own show. I partnered up with Seneca
women and they taught me everything I know.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Fuckael te what you got baby up and in Lita Blues. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Well I needed a guest from my new podcast a show,
and I reached out to one of my celebrity friends. Well,
I needed a guest for my new podcast show, so
I reached out to one.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Of my favorite celebrity friends.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Got a call back from Michael T, who said, just
tell me where and when? Yeah, see what you got
baby Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Whoa woo woo woo war.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Ya Nah.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Nice, thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
It's just a little something, a little messing around, so listen.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Finally, we want to end the show with a little
segment I call neda what And this is where I
ask you, my guest, to share a little something about
something that happened to you that came as a shock
or surprise or made you say, oh no, they didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's like neda, what listen, I'll tell you right now, Okay,
I just I just guessed. I did an eight episode
guest star arc on a series, and halfway through the
woman who I went over to do the deal with
was replaced. Ooh. So I was like, all right, lord,
you got this. So they started the new writer started
(23:45):
writing things that I considered extremely racist, okay, and I
was like, that's not what I signed up for. And
the lady that got replaced, she knew, but she was gone.
Maybe that's where she lived. And so I was fixing
stuff every day, and then they had they wanted me
to snatch a little white girl. I said, no, My
character is supposed to be like a high profile drug lord,
(24:08):
gangster guy who's smart enough to get rid of the
Italian mob and the Albanian mob. Okay, so why is
he doing all this like low level, choke you out
kind of Why is this cognition suddenly so low? What's
going on? He's mean, he's horrible. So I said, I'm
not snatching a little white girl, y'all. To forget that.
(24:29):
I'm like, look as hard as I've been working to
be Michael T. Williamson. Now I'm supposed to sell it.
Everything I'm about. I told y'all what I would and
would not do for I got here. I said, no
victimizing women, children, elderly people. I'm not disparaging groups, and
I'm not doing your politics or your religion. So I
told him I wouldn't choke this woman because they came
up with a scene for me to grab her by
her throat and choke her and slamm her against the
(24:50):
wall so she could say, I would be afraid if
you actually had the balls to do anything. So now
it's about the black brother's balls. It's about all this stuff.
And this is a This is a mixed race person
who presents as a white person, and that's fine. Ain't
nothing wrong with that, And there's something wrong with you.
(25:11):
That's we are who we are. This person filed a
false HR claim against me because she got so mad
because I wouldn't choke her. They said, well, she said,
there's no drama in the scene. I said, well, what
you're gonna do, tee? I said, well, listen, you can
choke your damnself. You got two hands, throw yourself around
the room, gyre, it'll be you always accused me of
(25:34):
taking the drama out of the scene. That'll have so
much drama in it that the audience will not be
able to walk away. Everybody will be talking about it.
But I ended up checking her, so she, so Hr
ended up investigating me. I said, what, I'm a guest star.
I said, all right, it's cool. Whatever. So I called
all my prayer partners all across the country. I said,
look at this. They were like, Nida, what Nia?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
What?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Fast forward? I'm investigated. So then the HR. I talked
to Hr. They interview me, and I'm transparent. I tell
the truth about everything, man, because I ain't scared of nobody.
So Hr asked me two questions. Did I say I
was I represented straight black man? I said, yeah, of course.
But whatever you represent supposed to do it at the
highest level. That's right, whatever that is. And then they
(26:18):
asked me if I said she presented this white I
was like yeah, and I explained. I was like, but
it was listen. If I were an apology or something
that I would jump all over that. Even if I don't. Whatever, Yeah,
I'm gonna get you some I'm gonna gve you some
love and y'all can listen in and tell me if
it qualified. But they finally investigated and they said it
was unsubstantiate that her quirt was. But Claire, well, all right,
(26:42):
because listen, I ain't mad at her. Okay, I let
it go. But the story I have to share so
that people who may be going through something similar can
be encouraged to keep going because people are not my
source anyway. Know yours people are vessels and when they
hooked me up, they get so blessed.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I feel blessed today.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Thank you so much have you joining with me. Thank
you by everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Thank you so much for joining us on The Uppity
Knitter Podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show where your favorite
celebrities talk about their unusual hobbies. Join us next time,
see you then.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
The Uppity Knitter Podcast is brought to you by Black
Chick Productions. Our show is hosted by Saya Garrett, our
producer is Eric Neurie, and.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
We're recorded and edited by Felicia Morris at Morris Media
Studios in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Special thanks go out to our friends at iHeartMedia and
Seneca Women
Hello, I'm Sayu de Garrett and uppity knitter and host
of The Uppity Knitter podcast Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show
about your favorite celebrities and their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
My guest today is a remarkable actor, writer and director
who comes to us with an impressive list of successful film,
TV and live on stage credits, including Ali con Air
and the Oscar nominated film Fences, just to name a few.
But he's probably most remembered as the affable and truly
lovable character Bubba in Forrest Gump. Ladies and gentlemen, please
(00:37):
welcome mister Michael T.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Williamson Shy. Hello everybody, thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
For being here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Before we get started, many of you have asked why
this podcast is called the Uppity Knitter. Well, although I'm
well known as a singer songwriter, my favorite hobbies are
knitting and crocheting, which some fans are very surprised to
learn about me. The name came from a personal experience
that I had one day in LA's webs I sat
in a knitting circle with a bunch of white ladies
(01:03):
and I looked over to my right at what this
woman was knitting, and I said, my that's really pretty.
What are you knitting with? She says, Oh, this is
just cotton. And then she looks over at my lap
and she says, what are you knitting with? I said,
I'm knitting with Kashmir. She said, oh, aren't you an
uppity knitter?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I said, what did you call me?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
She said, I said nitter? I said nitter. That woman
got so red. And to this day, that story cracks
me up so much. It makes me smile every time
I say the word uppity knitter. So that's why I
chose to name my podcast that I've embraced that Moniker.
It makes me. It just cracks me up. And I'm
(01:47):
inviting some of your favorite celebrities to chat with me
about some of their unusual hobbies. So, Michael T. Man,
let me just say, I'm so proud of your success,
almost like I had everything to.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Do with it. I feel like that about you.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Full disclosure. Michael T and I go way back.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yes to the eighties, to the eighties, when we were
up and coming artists, man with day jobs grinding. I
sold sandwiches and the upper the knitter had a job
upstairs in Century City, in a nice building, and I
was hustling sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was a clerical telling yes, yes, clerical tep and
you were the good sandwich guy.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, but listen, because I put love on it. I
arranged everything. I poke flowers in my basket when I
was selling stuff. People are nice flowers. I mean I
tried to do everything I could to like elevate that
so I can get my cheese.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And you were so cool because there were days I
wouldn't sell hardly anything. And when I got to where
you were, which was like halfway through my route, yes,
you saw it was almost full, and you looked at
me and you said, and I knew you were not hungry,
and you bought something from me. And you elbowed some
of the mother black women and made them buy some
stuff and it changed. It made my day. Wow. Never
(03:03):
forgot it. Yeah, but that's who you are from way
back to me for real. So the people listen. Sidy
Garrett is bump. She called me one time and how
many times? How long did it take me to say yes?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
About thirty seconds?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I don't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I love it. You turned me in that job that
you had, You turned me onto the dark brown sweetness
of squab bread. I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I remember telling you that I was a singer, and
you told me as confidently as you knew it was happening.
You were very confident about letting me know that you
had the desire to be an actor, and I didn't
know you were a child actor at that time. I
had no idea. I mean, I learned that in my research.
But when I told you I was a singer and
(03:52):
you told me you were an accurate I was like, yeah, okay, great,
I think I'll have the tuna with the squaw bread.
You know, it was just like next but we struck
up a casual office friendship and that has stood the
test of time exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So, mister Williamson, talk to me, sister, tell us what
hobbies you have that fans of yours, of your acting
don't know that you're into.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, I would say the first thing that I'm into
is like raising my raising the bar for myself and
everybody around me spiritually to kick the day off. Okay,
That's just how I roll. Sometimes people fight me on it,
but they gonna get it anyway. That's how I put
love on it, right. So that's one of the things
I do. I try to put love everywhere I go.
Sometimes you know, you got to be strong to do it,
(04:38):
but I try to do that. That's one of the
things I do all the time and try to live
every single day that people should be aware of. That's
why you see it reflected in my work. There are
things that I barred lines I won't cross because I
don't think it's necessary, not in storyteller, right. So that's
one thing. Then I like classic cars. What I appreciate
(04:59):
classic cars, and I own a classic truck that I
brought today, which is which is a nineteen fifty three
Chevrolet thirty one hundred pickup truck. It's a farm truck.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You have a thirty one hundred.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, it's a farm truck, but it's pretty fly little
farm I love that. Back to the white walls. I've
had it for probably over twenty years. Did you restore
it from scratch? It was a farm, literal farm truck.
I bought off a farm in northern California. Just racing
around in sports car. We were racing the Ferrari guys
up there. So our team versus De Porchia and Ferrari,
(05:33):
We're like, whoo, they're going way too fast. When I
was younger and Laguna's saka the whole thing because I
like to drive fast. Then I like the cruise. Now
I if I go too fast, you can't see my truck.
I see you see this truck.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
What got you into classic car restoration in the first place.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I just think classic things, American things, American people are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You are a classic American.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I just think we're beautiful. Those of us who really
want to be American and really don't want to tear
the place up. We want to fix it. We're beautiful.
I loved I just want to fix the thing. I
don't want to tear it up. I just want to
fix it. Let's fix it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard it before your acting career took off that
you had a business of remodeling kitchens and battle rooms.
How did your experience and that translate into remodeling classic cars.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, I started the car thing years ago. My mom
bought me a magazine called handy Man Magazine. Okay, because yeah,
because I was being raised single mom. My dad, who
was a cool cat. He and my mom fell out.
They went separate ways, and he bounced, So I kind
of a long distance relationship with my stepdad, who was
my dad. Okay, but my mom kept the rest, kept
(06:49):
us and even kept some other people's kids. Oh so
she needed somebody to fix stuff. That was her game.
I see. She said, ooh, look at this, Isn't that pretty?
Do you think you could do that? Because I was
always building stuff. I was building all kinds of stuff outside,
building go carts, building building, and my god card was
(07:10):
always the Flyers, of course, because I waited till I
got the right screwise. I didn't use nails and the
wheel come off like I was not that little black kid.
I love it. Well, yeah, but so my mom got
me into the magazine Handyman, and then I started going
to Radio Shack, hanging out when Radio Shack was around
and learning stuff, and I learned we had shop classes
back then, if you remember, kids don't get shop classes now,
(07:32):
we had any wood shop. I know. I'm so sorry
the music. Someone has privatized all the shop classes, which
to me is criminal because that made America better because
people who are not really college bound would go off
and do a carpentry business, so we have a real trade,
and they would be crafts persons right now. They guy
(07:54):
had come up with some more money after high school
because somebody wants you to sell it to you. That
was yours anyway, with your up tax dollars. It's crazy
they done took that from you. Man. I want to
fix stuff like that, that's all. Yeah, So that's my background.
I try to fix stuff, even movies. I go on,
I see somebody that's not that strong, I'll move around
and kind of turn them away from the camera a
little bit for a certain line, and then walk back
(08:15):
and bring them back to keep the movie strong and
to keep them in a job, because if they're real
bad on camera, they're not gonna work anymore. They ain't
gonna last.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's really kind of you. Most artists, actors especially, are
not that generous with their time and energy for other actors.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well, I want to be in good movies.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I heard that, and you have been.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I don't miss Jack Rabbit messing the movie up it.
I'm in it. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, what when you restore your cars? Have you found that?
Do you restore them just for you or do you
restore cars and have turned them into a business to
do that for others?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It's just for me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, this truck that's outside right now is not even finished.
And why you bring an unfinished piece of you haven't
seen listen? And I was telling the cat who had
a beautiful Malibu. I said, man, brother, I love your car.
Some cats from Riverside Car Show and I was like wow,
And I knew all this stuff about his car. What
kind of car was sixty seven Malibu? Right? Yes? So
(09:17):
I was telling him everything about his six It was
six y four boo, that's what it was, sixty four boo.
And I was like, dude, and he was like, you
know a lot about cars. Said yeah, I got a
little truck at the house. Man, I'm not finished with it.
He said, what kind of trucks? I says, the fifty
three Chevy. But I'm not done with it yet. You know.
It's this is that put this arm headed here. He's like, well,
what you're talking about it for? If it ain't ready?
I said, oh, okay, you so what what is that y'all?
(09:39):
You want me to bring it? I said? He said, yeah,
bring it to the show or stopped talking about it,
and all his home buzzers looking. I went to the
show and won the car show won Best Pickup Truck
and Best of the Show. Wow truck ain't finished that
dude was so mad he started up his malleable and
got out of there. Like that's what you get.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When you when you start on a closet car. Have
you gotten to a point in a car where you said,
I can't I give up. I can't work with this car,
I can't do anymore. Have you ever given up on
a car that you started restoring?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Not because I wanted to, Okay, Either someone wanted it
far more than I did for their collection, ah. Or
I had a car one time, sixty one in Power.
I was restoring it and a guy would go buy
the shop every day try to buy my car. And
one day they cut a hole in the fence and
put a big trash can against it so they could
(10:35):
come get my car in. The owner of the shop
called me and said, hey, man, you need to come
get your car out of here because this gang they're trying,
this gang trying to get your car. Wow. So I said, well,
how much is he talking about paying? And he told me.
I said, well tell him I'm going to move it.
It's gone, but I'll sell it to him. And I
marked it up fifty percent and what I had to do?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Do you check out classic cars in every town or
a country that you visit.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
One of the things I like to do is photograph
old cars in fields and old barns. I love the
photograph old barns. I have so many photographs of old
barns I've shot.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Are you going to do a book?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Is that a book?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
I'd like to at some point? It sounds like a book,
So yeah, I like I like cool vintage looking stuff
like you look so fly man. Can I say that?
You can say? No, that is so bombed. That is
so fire.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
This is something that I knitted myself. I know, thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Wow, that thing is cool.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Tell me the make and model of the very first
car that you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Restored, nineteen fifty eight Volkswagen Beetle.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
What that was my first cars? It wasn't fifty eight,
It was sixty sixty eight.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, okay, that was the best car I've ever owned.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That's good. That's an American made Volkswagen.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Really.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, sixty was the last year of the German maid.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Ah, I didn't know that that hard, did me?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Well, that's good. Yes, that's cool. Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Do you have classic car restoration heroes or others that
you follow? Is there a car restoration community like there
is for knitters and crochet?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
There is, but I don't really follow anybody. I see
things that I think are interesting and then I you know,
I just enjoy other people's the result of other people's creativity,
I can respect it, but it's not my own. The
way I fixed cars up, people just go, wow, how
much did you spend? That's all you spent. I'm like, yeah, wow, yeah,
he ain't got to be no food to have a
(12:40):
nice looking car.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do you photograph the cars before and after or just
oh nice?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I photographed cars at the houses or locations where I
first find them, right in the front yard, right there
with the sign in the window. That's like my truck.
I got the whole book on that truck.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Do you ever have certificate it's of authenticity made up
for the vehicles that you restored.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, I'm having this particular vehicle appraised this week, so yeah,
I can keep the value high with a certified appraisal. Yes, yes,
but that's what's going on now, that's the next step
with this truck.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
What's the most you've been offered for any car or
truck you've restored. You can tell me.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I won't tell the irs. The most Well, I'll just
say there's a car I sold not long ago and
they go for two seventy five? Right now? What? Five thousand? What?
I got a drum machine that costs twenty five grand? Now,
if you can get your hands.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
On one, is it a Linn?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
No? What is it? It's the SP twelve hundred. The
thing is twenty grand? Huh yep? What? Wow? Am I right?
Craig Ta.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Have you ever been asked to donate one of your
restored cars for charity?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
No, you wouldn't know.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Okay, I just give you some money. I'm taking my
toys away.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Who's the most interesting person that you've met restoring vehicles?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Wow, that's a really good question.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Okay, you have a really good answer.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
The most interesting. I don't know if anyone's most interesting.
I don't know. Let me think about that.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Okay, tell me this. What is the one car that
you've restored that you never thought you'd get your hands on.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
That I've restored? Yes, nineteen eighty nine Portia's Speedster.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh, you never thought you'd get your hands on one
of those.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
No. Wow, No, I thought I'd have to keep bailing
family and folks out of their little stuff, and I
wouldn't really get to have what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I don't even pull it off.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Do you when you restore cars, do you restore them
to their original color or do you create new color
ways for the vehicles that you've restored.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Well, I've done both. There's something called a resto mod.
It's like a restored restored car, but it's a modified
car mixed. Okay, And so this this truck I'm driving
now is kind of a resto mod. I mean, it's
like it's a it's a resto classic, is what it is.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Did you change the color of it when you?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh? Yeah? Is it like?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Is it a cool?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Like? All right?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I will, I will.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
We're here with mister Michael T. Williamson, and we'll be
right back after this short break and welcome back to
the Uppity Knitter. We're here with mister Michael T. Williamson.
I have heard you talk about things in your life
that you consider to be therapeutic. Do you consider car
(15:46):
restoration therapeutic? Is it soothing or or is it exciting
and thrilling to you.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
It's both, but it's it's more calming.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
For me, ah like knitting is for me.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, it's calming. And it's my own creativity whatever I'm
feeling creative about, Like your designs you want now, I'll
think I'll do a little bit of this color. Now
that that's how cars are.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Are you friends with people at like Manny Moo and
Jack what's the name of that?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
The pet boys? Yeah? No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
How do you get your your parts? And you have
to you have to buy old parts for the old cars, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Which you buy new parts or you get the old
parts rebuilt. Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So when you can't find what it is you're looking
for for this nineteen fifty eight whatever, you just have
one maide. Yeah, nice, I didn't even know that that
was a thing.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
It is.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I love that. I love that. Do you think car
restoration fills a certain void in your life?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I think it's not really a void. It's it just
feels another one of my You know, you got these
little valleys where you love is little. It's not as
fulfilled in this little area as you would like it
to be. And you come back up and everything else
is cool.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, that's life, pea pigs and valleys.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So that's what I dig about the restoring cars because
it's just we go off on a mission to find
this part at this farm in Nebraska, and you heard
the guys got two or three of them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So you just get you a ticket, buy it in advance,
and then you can save money and you go get
the part, and then you develop relationships with these people
and that's how you put your car together. I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So they know when they come across the park that
they think you might need do they contact you and
tell you, I got this Jimmy Rigg cook for the
nineteen forty two for whatever.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, there are people that all of us call when
we're looking for something. So we give them a name
and number and what it is, and they put it
in their database. And then you'll call us and say, hey,
you still have those starters for it blah blah blah blah.
And you go, yeah, I got two of them and
say okay, well I need one blah blah blah blah.
And that's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah. But you build a community by you know, people
trying to find cars.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Do you look to your hobby of restoring cars to
be challenging or do you feel like it's an escape
from your daily routine.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It's both. It's challenging because you won't always find what
you want. It's it's challenging because you don't always have
the time. But you need to spend the time with
your car or your truck, or your airplane or whatever
that thing is you're knitting or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Your three kids.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, no, that's priority.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh okay, got it.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
That's always been pro That's why my truck sat for
over twenty years because my kids were first. This truck
sat for over twenty years. I just got it running recently.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Are your kids?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah? And this paint job is when you see it.
This paint job is about twenty seven years old. And
people go, where'd you get a painted I said, man,
twenty seven years ago, that dude moved to Saint Louis. Wow. Yeah,
but it looks cool. I'm telling you, man, this is
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Have you referenced or featured any of your restored cars
in any of the films or television shows that you know?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Only in a couple of magazine articles. I've shown my
my truck. The other cars, I kind of kept out
of sight because this guy, you know, put my license
plate number and liked, what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (19:16):
What are you doing out?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Oh, I'll take those out? And he didn't. And it
was in magazine. Sorry, knuckle ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
My dadd would call it genie as you know what
I mean, gene.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yes, Oh, Michael t hilarious.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
In closing, please tell our audience what it is that
you're doing and what's going on in your life right now?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Do I have thirty to sixty seconds? You got as
much time? I'm gonna eat all of that, eat that
whole sandwich. I love you, you know I do. I
love you. I know you love me right, and I
appreciate it so so so listen. There was one third
thing that I like to do, and that is I
play harmonica.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yes, stand up, the hobby of yours.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And then my brother from another mother, Craig T. Cooper,
who's your brother as well. He's here in the studio
and he's gonna come up and we're gonna do a
little something with you.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Hey, Craig, come on over here. That what's what you got?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I like the way you work. You got to bag
it up so impromptu. What we're gonna do all Little
Blues Michael T. Williamson and mister Craig T Cooper little
(20:40):
uppit in Little Blues right here. Yeah, I decided to
be a podcaster. I heart gave me my own show. Yeah.
(21:05):
I decided to be a pied podcast and I heartly
gave me my own show. I partnered up with Seneca
women and they taught me everything I know.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Fuckael te what you got baby up and in Lita Blues. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Well I needed a guest from my new podcast a show,
and I reached out to one of my celebrity friends. Well,
I needed a guest for my new podcast show, so
I reached out to one.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Of my favorite celebrity friends.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Got a call back from Michael T, who said, just
tell me where and when? Yeah, see what you got
baby Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Whoa woo woo woo war.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Ya Nah.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Nice, thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
It's just a little something, a little messing around, so listen.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Finally, we want to end the show with a little
segment I call neda what And this is where I
ask you, my guest, to share a little something about
something that happened to you that came as a shock
or surprise or made you say, oh no, they didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's like neda, what listen, I'll tell you right now, Okay,
I just I just guessed. I did an eight episode
guest star arc on a series, and halfway through the
woman who I went over to do the deal with
was replaced. Ooh. So I was like, all right, lord,
you got this. So they started the new writer started
(23:45):
writing things that I considered extremely racist, okay, and I
was like, that's not what I signed up for. And
the lady that got replaced, she knew, but she was gone.
Maybe that's where she lived. And so I was fixing
stuff every day, and then they had they wanted me
to snatch a little white girl. I said, no, My
character is supposed to be like a high profile drug lord,
(24:08):
gangster guy who's smart enough to get rid of the
Italian mob and the Albanian mob. Okay, so why is
he doing all this like low level, choke you out
kind of Why is this cognition suddenly so low? What's
going on? He's mean, he's horrible. So I said, I'm
not snatching a little white girl, y'all. To forget that.
(24:29):
I'm like, look as hard as I've been working to
be Michael T. Williamson. Now I'm supposed to sell it.
Everything I'm about. I told y'all what I would and
would not do for I got here. I said, no
victimizing women, children, elderly people. I'm not disparaging groups, and
I'm not doing your politics or your religion. So I
told him I wouldn't choke this woman because they came
up with a scene for me to grab her by
her throat and choke her and slamm her against the
(24:50):
wall so she could say, I would be afraid if
you actually had the balls to do anything. So now
it's about the black brother's balls. It's about all this stuff.
And this is a This is a mixed race person
who presents as a white person, and that's fine. Ain't
nothing wrong with that, And there's something wrong with you.
(25:11):
That's we are who we are. This person filed a
false HR claim against me because she got so mad
because I wouldn't choke her. They said, well, she said,
there's no drama in the scene. I said, well, what
you're gonna do, tee? I said, well, listen, you can
choke your damnself. You got two hands, throw yourself around
the room, gyre, it'll be you always accused me of
(25:34):
taking the drama out of the scene. That'll have so
much drama in it that the audience will not be
able to walk away. Everybody will be talking about it.
But I ended up checking her, so she, so Hr
ended up investigating me. I said, what, I'm a guest star.
I said, all right, it's cool. Whatever. So I called
all my prayer partners all across the country. I said,
look at this. They were like, Nida, what Nia?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
What?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Fast forward? I'm investigated. So then the HR. I talked
to Hr. They interview me, and I'm transparent. I tell
the truth about everything, man, because I ain't scared of nobody.
So Hr asked me two questions. Did I say I
was I represented straight black man? I said, yeah, of course.
But whatever you represent supposed to do it at the
highest level. That's right, whatever that is. And then they
(26:18):
asked me if I said she presented this white I
was like yeah, and I explained. I was like, but
it was listen. If I were an apology or something
that I would jump all over that. Even if I don't. Whatever, Yeah,
I'm gonna get you some I'm gonna gve you some
love and y'all can listen in and tell me if
it qualified. But they finally investigated and they said it
was unsubstantiate that her quirt was. But Claire, well, all right,
(26:42):
because listen, I ain't mad at her. Okay, I let
it go. But the story I have to share so
that people who may be going through something similar can
be encouraged to keep going because people are not my
source anyway. Know yours people are vessels and when they
hooked me up, they get so blessed.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I feel blessed today.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Thank you so much have you joining with me. Thank
you by everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Thank you so much for joining us on The Uppity
Knitter Podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show where your favorite
celebrities talk about their unusual hobbies. Join us next time,
see you then.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
The Uppity Knitter Podcast is brought to you by Black
Chick Productions. Our show is hosted by Saya Garrett, our
producer is Eric Neurie, and.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
We're recorded and edited by Felicia Morris at Morris Media
Studios in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Special thanks go out to our friends at iHeartMedia and
Seneca Women
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