05-20-24 Interview - Christian Toto on Stefan Tubbs new documentary

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
What I mean now is a veryfamiliar voice to my radio audience as he
manages to appear on as many talkshows as he can, and I admire
him for that. His name isChristian Toto, and he has not only
a fantastic website called Hollywood in Totothat has movie reviews and entertainment news and
great columns on entertainment, film andall that stuff from a right leaning perspective,

(00:24):
as well as an also outstanding podcaston the iHeartMedia platform. You,
of course, can hear it liveon the free iHeartRadio app, just as
you can hear this interview after theshow today with Christian Toto on the Free
iHeartRadio app as well. Christian,welcome back, my friend. Thank you
for having me back. I appreciateit. So I saw Stephan Tubb's new

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documentary Devastated about the Fentanel crisis inColorado this past weekend, and I know
Stephan is my friend, right,so you know what, it's your friend.
You want to think it's going tobe awesome, and he's done some
root fantastic documentaries, but this isby far his best, I think,
and I'd love your critics viewpoint ofthis documentary. Yeah, it's very good.

(01:11):
Listen. The subject matter couldn't bemore explosive, couldn't be more important,
So that's in his favor. ButI think what he does to the
best of his ability is you know, he is an openly right of center
of soul, but he's really tryingto keep politics out of the frame and
he mostly succeeds. But you know, when it does slip in, it
deserves to be included as well.I mean, the first person testimonies are

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heartbreaking. The stats speak for themselves. It's a beautifully produced film. You
know, you can do so muchnow as a filmmaker without breaking the bang.
So I see a lot of documentariesmade outside the Hollywood system they just
look good, and this film looksgood. It's a warning cry. And
I've been talking to my kids,gosh, three or four times in the
last two weeks about the subject.It just scares me. My kids are

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teenagers. They are the prime targetfor. Oh, here's an aspirint from
a buddy. Here's a tablet thatcould be like a you know, for
your health. You just never knowwhat you could to take into your body,
and one little thing will kill you. And it's it's could be more
frightening. Did you watch the moviewith your kids? I did not.

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God love my boys, they don'twatch any movies with their dad. I
have to beg, borrow and completefor them to just sit down with me.
So I've been talking to them aboutit with them at length so and
I will continue to do so.But I wish they would watch it.
I mentioned this before the At thebeginning of the show, I saw it
with my daughter and her fifteen yearold friend, and when we left,
her fifteen year old friend said,thank you so much for bringing this bringing

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this to me because I had hearda fentanel, but now I'm armed with
information, and I thought, oh, that is what this movie needs to
do. And to your point,Christian is like I think, thinking that,
you know, my kids would neverdo anything like this, My kids
would never do something so stupid.My kids would or take illegal drugs.
But the reality is is that asyour children start to move away from you

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and they are in situations where someonesays, you know what, just take
half this pill. It's no bigdeal. It's like, you know,
it'll just mellow you out. It'sjust those situations, kids make bad choices.
It's part of being a kid,right, But my bad choices and
your bad choices, Christian didn't potentiallykill us. And that's the difference.

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Yeah, Listen, the smartest,the smartest teenager can have a dumb moment.
I mean, the smartest adult cando the same, but for all
the reasons you just mentioned. It'speer pressure. It's just this one time,
but the consequences are just so profound, and that's what the film really
hammers home. I mean, justyou know, Stephan uses a lot of
home video footage and you could sayit's manipulative. No, that's exactly what

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you need to tell the story.And of course this is a Colorado based
story, but it's all across thecountry. I mean, the Colorado focus
is important, but I think anyperson from any state could listen to this,
watch this and be horrified by it. And Christian, you know more
about distribution and methods than I do, but it is highly unusual for the
maker of a documentary to turn aroundand put it on the internet for free

(04:15):
instantly after its premiere. That's veryunusual. You know, it is unusual,
but I feel like it's happened atime or two in recent months.
There's a spectacular documentary called A Fallof Minneapolis which I could not recommend any
hire about George Floyd in the Aftermath, and I believe that one may be
available for free as well. AlsoScreams before Silence about October seventh, the

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first person accounts of the Survivors,that is available for free as well.
So I think some filmmakers understand thatthe work they're doing is so important and
so profound, and that sounds egotistical, but it's not. It needs to
be out there. Any barrier toseeing these projects needs to be erased.
And the one thing I really wantto talk to Stefan about it. I
don't know yet is this getting media? I mean, I know you were

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talking about it, but like inDenver Post, Denver Gazette, other news
outlets, are they covering this story, this film, because I've seen a
lot of these documentaries get completely ignoredby the press, and it's it's outrageous.
That's a really good question and onethat I can ask Stephan. The
good news is is that as ofright now, it's been on YouTube for

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four days, it has one hundredand three thousand views in four days.
That's pretty dang good. So ifthey're not covering it, then they're missing
an opportunity. And I certainly hopethat that. You know, our newspapers
are television stations, whatever their politicalleanings are, this doesn't this crosses political

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lines. This is not This isnot a one party issue. This is
an issue that is going to haveto be addressed by everyone. And the
one thing I would say about thepolitics in this film Stefan and he and
I have talked about this off theso I'm not spilling any secrets. He
tried so hard to get participation andbuy in from everyone. He asked every

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influential leader and mover and shaker.He asked everyone to be in this film.
And when you see it, youimmediately noticed that everybody is pretty much
from one party, and it's notthe Democratic Party. Yeah, you know,
listen, it's not a political film. But in a way it is
a political issue because we do havean open border and we do have one

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party rule essentially in Colorado. Sothere's that. I want to mention this
movie just one more time because Ithink it's important. The movie Screams Before
Silence is available for free online andas of two weeks ago, there were
only three reviews of it that Icould find through a vigorous search. I
was one of them. This isa story that has significant impact across the

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culture, across the country, acrossthe world. It's available for free,
and the former CEO I believe ofFacebook, Cheryl Sandberg, is the driving
force where the review. Oh,yes, you know, I'm a film
critic. I'm busy. But ifthere's a review, there's a movie out
there that's so important that I canscreen any time of the day, doesn't
interrupt my schedule. You think you'dreview it. But you know, when

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these things don't get covered, Athere's a reason for it, and B
there's a story behind it, andthat's what I try to cover with my
side as well. Well. Youknow what, though, let's be real,
I mean, and we could bringJerry Seinfeld into this conversation because he's
gotten a ton of press over thelast couple of weeks, because a handful
of students walked out of a commencementaddress at Duke University because Jerry Seinfeld has

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committed the worst crime ever, whichis a being Jewish and be supporting Israel
and being vocal about it. Sobut it's been you were talking, we
were talking off the air question aboutsome of the pundit class that is talking
about Jerry Seinfeld and what a problemhe's become. In my mind, the
lack of reviews for the Sheryl Sandbergmovie you're talking about the way that Seinfeld

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is now being covered as problematic isin my mind, it just feels anti
semitic. It feels like the undercurrentsof anti semitic is breaking the waves every
once in a while, just enoughto say, yeah, that Seinfeld guy,
he's a bit of a problem.Well, I think I think that
could be part of it, forsure. But part of the problem for

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Seinfeld quote unquote is that he cameout a week or two ago and said
that the extreme left that's his words, not mine, has been a hurting
comedy in general, and that openedthe floodgates where all of a sudden you
had CNN saying they're uncomfortable with JerrySeinfeld. I think it was Slater Salon.
It might have been Slate saying what'sthe deal with Jerry Seinfeld, kind

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of riffing on his usual shtick,and all of a sudden, you know,
the golden boy, the guy whogets all the great and glowing coverage
that's going to wrap up soon.And that was even before he said anything
about Israel. So yeah, that'swhere we are in the culture. And
you know, a Robert de Nirocan be as outrageous and silly and crazy

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and anti Trump as possible, Butyou don't see anythink pieces from big media
outlets saying, what's the deal withRobert de Niro? Why wouldn't he shut
up? He doesn't seem really wellinformed, does he. You don't get
that. So it's so fascinating tosee how the mainstream media hicks their favorites
and attacks people if they say thewrong things. Of course I'm using that
and scare quotes as possible. Butyou know what, though, here's the

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thing from my perspective, Christian,I'm so grateful that Jerry Seinfeld has few
money and he can come out andsay this stuff because he doesn't need their
money, right, he doesn't needit. Jerry Seinfeld is loaded for life,
like he never has to work again, and he's a gazillionaire. So
the fact that people like Jerry Seinfeld, JK Rowling, who also has few

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money, Elon Musk, who hasa whole pile of fu money, Like
I want these people to come outand rub the fur the wrong way on
what's you know, the normal thinghere? So I was I've always been
a Seinfeld fan. One of myfavorite memories was seeing Seinfeld in Vegas on
New Year's Eve one year when Iwas a flight attendant. It was just
an absolute blast. But but thishas cemented my love for him in a

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way that it was not cemented before, because he's coming out and kind of
kicking in the door and saying what'swrong. And if anybody should be able
to say what's wrong, it shouldbe a comedian, right. I mean
they're there, They're they're the king, the court jester that is supposed to
speak truth to power. I wantto pounce end or c's on your fu

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money because you're right technically, butthere are other people with that same kind
of money. And they bowed,they bend the knee. Yeah like that.
I'll mention two people. Scarlett Johansson. She briefly agreed to play a
trans character and then there was anthere was an outrage social media wave and
she completely turned the roll down.The movie was never made, and she

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did the hostage apology tour, butalso to me much sadder as Stephen King,
who I think I think he's doingokay financially. I think he sold
a couple of books that were horroradjacent, and he came out one day
and said, you know, whenit comes to movies and judging them,
you should go based on the talent, not the diversity. And he was
spanked by the far left, andhe immediately backpeddled, and then he actually

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put out an op ed in theWashington Post apologizing essentially, so not everyone
with that brand of money does theright thing, and I'm glad that some
do. Though specifically it was ScarlettJohansson. I'm just going to guess here,
because she's married to Colonyost Right,we know what he does on Saturday
Night Live. I'm gonna guess she'sa true believer for the cause. So
it's, you know, like JK. Rowling and Jerry Seinfeld, they are

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I think they are. I'm gonnaput him in the Bill Maher category of
liberal right. Bill Maher has beenblowing the doors off on his show,
his show. I've always dabbled inBill Maher's shows because there's always great clips
and sound bites I am now watchingfull episodes of Bill Maher's show, not
because I agree with everything that hesays, but because he's knocking over sacred

(12:16):
col's left and right from his teamright. I mean, that's really the
best you can hope for. Andwith Stephen King, he's always been a
left wing wacko, like, alwaysbeen a left wing wack of course,
he apologized for saying the true thingthat everybody knows. But you know,
I'm a I am heartened that younow have the billionaire class that is now

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starting to stand up and say thisis not okay. You know, this
is not okay. So we'll see, you know that, Jerry Seinfeld,
We'll see if it puts a dentin his in his bottom line. I'm
guessing it. I'm guessing it won't. I think he'll be fine. But
isn't a shame that we're talking aboutmillionaires, if not billionaires, having the
courage to say basic things that aretrue. Isn't that sad? Because you

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know the rest of us we getcanceled, We have to worry about paying
the rent or the mortgage. Youknow, it's a real thing. It's
a real thing that's going on inthe culture right now, and shame on
those who are not, who havethe fortitude and the financial resources who don't
speak out, Shame on them.Let me ask you about Kevin Spacey on
that note, because now there isa big push in Hollywood to uncancel Kevin

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Spacey. Okay, because based onwhat he did. Have you seen Kevin
Spacey unmasked? Have you seen thatyet? No? I haven't. I'm
sure it's unflattering. Well it's not. Actually, apparently it's changed a lot
of people's minds because when they layout the nature of the accusations, they're
ikey, but not like not likeHarvey Weinstein kind of ikey, you know

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what I mean. But I'm thinkingto myself, now there's this big push
from Hollywood to uncancel Kevin Spacey,who I have loved his work for a
long time. But the first thingI thought of was the people you just
mentioned, the person who puts adumb joke on Twitter and ends up being,
you know, getting their fifteen secondsof infamy that they never wanted,
who then lost their job and theycan't get another one because now they're on

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the Internet. We've got to dosomething about cancel culture overall. So if
Hollywood wants to stop that, I'mhere for it. Yeah, I agree.
You know, Roseanne Barr sent outone ugly racially charged tweet and her
career was literally wiped out, Hershow was wiped out, her character was
killed off. You know what,you know what she did when she worked
on Roseanne, She actually actively recruitedminority writers on the show, which is

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more important one really awful tweet ora superstar who recruits people to make the
show more diverse. But you know, she lost that argument, and now
she's had basically had a resurrector careeron the outskirts, working with the Daily
Wire. Good for them, goodfor her. But it's just it's insane.
And then some actors do terrible things. You know, Alec Baldwin could

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walk in front of a camera tomorrowand get a gig, and what he
did on the set, you know, I know there's lots of you know,
he do it on purpose. Whatwas the deal? Was he responsible?
But he killed a person and evenbefore that, he was saying homophobic
slurs, he was saying gay slurs. He was doing all these different things
that were really tangibly terrible, andhe's never suffered any consequence for it.
It's all nonsense. It's all alie. It's all about power. And

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you know, you can tell astory about a hit man with a heart
of gold, but guy, golly, if you do something that's a little
bit comedically inappropriate, you're out.Yeah, And that's how crazy this is
out forever. I speaking of people, you know, losing their jobs.
I find this whole thing around theKansas City Kickers speech. And I don't
know if you watched all of HarrisonButker's speech. I watched the whole speech.

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Christian. I agree with him.I mean, I'm a working mom
with a stay at home husband,right Okay, so I am. I
am the feminist ideal right now.And I watched that. I'm like,
I agree with this guy. Butthat's not enough for you know, the
angry mob in America. They haveto make sure he never kicks again or
any of that stuff. Where didwe go from rooting for a comeback to

(16:03):
rooting for someone's absolute destruction? Likewhen did that happen? I think rooting
for someone's destruction just feels good.I think there's a dopamine rush attached to
it. You feel noble, likeif it feels like you've actually done something
profound. You've done nothing profound,You've done something cruel and evil. But
there's something about that sensation that ispowerful. Listen, it's magnified by the

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media. Certain voices are cheered,certain voices are jeered. It's just the
way it works. And often thepeople who are wanting to cancel him or
attack him, it's a very verysmall group of people, or it's people
who haven't really heard what he said. I've just heard maybe a manipulation of
what he said. And by theway, the last time I checked,
that NFL is choc a block withpeople who have done some pretty nasty things

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and who get away with a lot. You know, again, is it
a speech or is it actions?What are we going to judge? How
are we going to cancel people?And not only that, I would think
based on the income levels and thingsof that nature, unless you're a brand
new player trying to make the team, they're probably more than a fair share

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of stay at home moms in theNFL. I mean, I think that
category might be overrepresented. But ifyou watch the whole speech, and I
did, it's an outstanding speech.For the upside of this is you've got
a change dot org petition trying toget him fired, and currently his jersey
is one of the top selling jerseysin the NFL as of today, so
you know, you vote with yourdollars there, and Harrison Butker has made

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a lot of new fans there.Christian Toto would love for you to be
a fan of his fantastic podcast,which you can find on the iHeartMedia platform
and other platforms as well that wedon't talk about. And he's also got
a great website if you're ever lookingfor a movie review that you can trust.
This is where I go to getmy movie reviews before I go to
a movie, So you go toHollywood and Toto. Both of these things

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are linked on the blog today.It is good to see you, Christian
and hopefully we will see you againsoon. Grace. All right, that's
Christian Toto and uh