Ricky Jones talks Kenny Payne, anti-DEI doings in Frankfort, and Kyle Rittenhouse

Dr. Ricky Jones discussed his comments on X about the treatment of Kenny Payne, why we haven't heard from him since being let go from the university, the Nolan Smith incident, the passing of "sweeping anti-diversity legislation" in Frankfort, and Kyle Rittenhouse speaking at the Western Kentucky...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I know that music. That mustmean Ricky Jones can't be far away here
a little bit early, baby,but I'm here. It's drift time with
the Jones. That's right, it'sdrivetime. But we have basketball and four
thirty. That's why you're here early. It's good to see again, doctor
Jones. Good to see YouTube,bro, It's always good. I know
you were away and I'm glad you'reback. Yeah, man, I was
in LA. I don't know ifI'm glad I'm back. Did you like

(00:22):
it that much? I don't likeLos Angeles. I like it more than
I like Louisville. It's all relative, man, I guess. So that's
just everything. So you know,people say I'll see you in an hour
and fifteen minutes, like you're onlyfive miles from me. I'm from Atlanta,
man. So the traffic you justget used to that. You learn
to deal with it all right here. Well, you've been away, but

(00:43):
we haven't heard from Kenny Payne yet, and you've famously tweeted maybe Kenny Payne
will tell you all the truth abouthow crappy UFL handled him during his tenure.
After it's all over, you said, it's his story to tell and
a lot of people said, well, he made twelve million dollars, he
only had twelve victories. He washere two years. Pretty good return on
investment for him. So what moredo you know or what can you say

(01:04):
about that? And why do youthink Kenny hasn't said anything? You're asking
me a lot of questions, Terryas I you know, just give back
to the city welcome. It was. Look, as I said, I
know some stuff that two things canbe true at the same time. Yeah,
all right, So I'm not hereto defend twelve wins in two years.

(01:29):
You know. Now, Kenny didsay and this is a matter of
debate when he came in. Look, this is a serious rebuild project that's
gonna take a longer time than peoplemight like. You know, I remember
him saying that some people don't andso he was looking for for support and
patience. It didn't happen in twoyears. So I'm not gonna sit here

(01:53):
and defend you know, twelve winsin two years. But two things can
be true at the same time.He could have underperformed and deserved because of
that record to be dismissed, andat the same time, there could have
been some structural things that are happeningat the University of Louisville that would make

(02:15):
it difficult for any coach to succeed. That's one and two some things,
particularly that happened to Kenny Payne.When you talk about resources and support within
the university that were problematically absent,and you can talk about the reasons behind

(02:37):
all of that, but I willnot get into details about the things that
I know. Again, that's that'sKenny's story to tell. And there was
one sports guy got pissed off withme on the Twitter or the ex or
whatever they call. It's fine,I mean, I'm thick skinned, but

(02:58):
he was implying that I was lyingabout in my twenty eight years here.
Okay, I might have said alot of things that pissed people off,
but I ain never lied. Theycan never say that I've lied. But
again, that's Kenny started to tell. And Kenny might not want to tell
her for whatever reason. I'm amazedthough. They issued a statement just said
I loved my players and the timeand I'm sorry this hasn't worked out for

(03:19):
us, But best of luck toeverybody, because other coaches I've seen that
have lost their jobs in the lastfew weeks, seem to post something just
to let people in a community knowI'm okay and I loved my time with
my team. Maybe he didn't lovehis time here. I don't know.
I mean the interactions that I havehad with him, I did not leave

(03:40):
those interactions feeling like the man waswilling to lie about things. And if
he did not enjoy his time atthe University of Louisville and he felt like
he was mistreated, he does notseem to me to be the type of
man who come out and give youthat pat answer. It was a great

(04:02):
time, it was my alma mater, I'm sorry it didn't work out whatever,
whatever. In fact, he saidafter the last game, he's like,
I ain't taking the blame for allof this. Oh yeah, you
know, he was pretty clear withoutbeing clear about some of the details.
Maybe he'll write a book about itat some point, I guess. But
do you say that he wasn't gettingthe resources that prior coaches were getting.

(04:25):
Oh, he definitely wasn't. Really, he absolutely was, because they don't
generate the same money they used to, because they got fourteen people at a
game. Look, man, I'lltell you this, even before it went
to fourteen people at a game.If you sit down in a meeting with
somebody and they disrespect you, youfeel so disrespected that you get up and

(04:50):
walk out of that meeting. Whatdo you think is going on in that?
I mean, I won't give anyany details on that. This is
the Nolan Smith throwing him in thissaying about about Nolan Smith, even though
the stuff with Nolan Smith is isterrible, Okay, it's terrible, and

(05:13):
in defense of Kenny Payne, allright, And people don't know this,
there were people who were advising Kennyto fire Nolan. I don't know if
you know that. Yeah, AndI've heard these backstory things about how the
university told Kenny to go deal withthe Nolan situation. Listen. He Kenny
was close to Nolan's father, Derek, and Kenny's response was basically like,

(05:41):
no matter what he has done,I'm not firing my friend's son. That
tells you the type of man we'retalking about. He was like, I'm
not firing my friend's son. Andso I think I think Kenny felt like,
look, some of the stuff thatthis business, you know, can
do to people's heads. That's that'sprobably happened to Nolan, but he had

(06:04):
too much love for his father toto to fire him, and man,
Dad, that speaks highly of KennyPaynon, not just as a coach,
but as a man. And soa lot of people bought everything. That's
a capitalist society. They bought everythingdown to money. They bought everything down
to wins and losses. And it'squick, right, It's quick. It's

(06:25):
like having a girlfriend and like,hey, we've been together for three months.
What you're gonna do. I'm tryingto get to the altar now,
So what are you gonna Everything can'tbe kind of that, you know,
a d D you know, immediategratification type of thing. So you know,
look, man, good luck tothe University of Louisville. Good luck
to them finding another coach. Goodluck to that coach fixing everything. Good

(06:47):
Luck to the fans of Louisville.Good luck to the city. Good luck
to the state of Kentucky. Makeit all work out. Spoken like a
cat fan. I'm a Cats fan. I don't make a secret of that.
You know, I love cal Idon't make a secret of that.
And some people ain't never gonna behappy. You got some people on a
fire cal which, look, Idon't understand that, but it is what

(07:12):
it is, right. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that happens
in the state that I don't understand. I don't understand how somebody was still
enslaved in this state in the nineteenforties and fifties. Was that The parent
of the legislature, Jennifer Decker,understands it. So you know what's happening
in Frankfurt. They've only got afew days left to go on legislation,
and he's gonna veto what he does, and then they're gonna come back and

(07:34):
overrun. They have all but passed. Kentucky's about to become the tenth state
in the country. Alabama did ityesterday, passed sweeping anti diversity legislation in
the Alabama law. Literally, ifa kid reports a teacher and says the
teacher said something about divisive concepts thatmade them feel uncomfortable, that teacher can

(07:59):
be fired. Right, Kentucky isabout to become the tenth state to pass
legislation like that. Isn't there alot of vagary in that? Though?
As somebody interprets a phrase and saysI felt uncomfortable there's a lot of vagary
in it. The anti DEI movement. I've said it again and again and
again, Terry, the anti DEImovement is not about DEEI. These are

(08:22):
racist bills, they are racist laws. The governor has already said that he
will veto something that comes out ofthe Kentucky legislature like that. But the
people who support it are in suchan overwhelming majority that they can override his
veto. And if folk think thatthis is something that is just going to

(08:43):
affect black folk, they are wrong. It is going to set this state
back decades. They're going to bepeople who will leave here, not just
me. I know y'all want megone. I mean, I understand that
I can't wait to help people.I know a lot of people want me
going. I know, right,take your wife with me. But there

(09:05):
I got some white friends man whosaid, look, we're out. We
don't want to raise our kids ina place with that type of idiotic I
see that, I see those peoplecommenting on your Twitter feed. But we're
gonna run out of timp. SoI want to get to know. Unless
you're gonna hang around for a fewmore minutes. Oh, we got to
talk about Kyle Rittenhouse because you tweeted. You tweeted the word murder a little
while ago, said a murderer isgonna speak at Western Kentucky. How you

(09:26):
feel about that, Sun? Yeah, And a lot of people, of
course, are saying, wait aminute. He's already been in court and
was exonerated. He was not convictedof murder, So why are you using
that word because he's a murderer.Hold that thought. We're gonna get back
to that a little bit later onthe show, Doctor Ricky Jones, is

(09:46):
you ain't taking anybody out there?He went across state life, he killed
people. He's a murderer. That'swhat he is. Cover right back on
news Radio eight forty wha s.Yeah, we're just rolling into the last
half hour here because UK basketball doesbegin in four thirty. So Jones,
thanks for hanging around, by theway. I love hanging with you,
man. I love this music too. R L R L. Burn Side.

(10:07):
It was an old man. Hemay have been. No, he's
Mississippi guy. I was thinking hewas a Georgia guy. But he's Mississippi
guy. Anyway. You and Iwere just discussing the women's basketball too.
You gotta keep your eye on JeffWalls and his Louisville team through this tournament
too. They got work to do. But if they win tomorrow, they
would play LSU on Sunday, andthere and there it ends, there it

(10:33):
ends. But you know, there'sthat little venomous part of it with Haley
van Lyth, who was here.We treated her like a queen. She
goes down to l s U.She mocks Louisville when they showed the announcement
of the brackets the other night.Oh she did. Yeah, I didn't
know that. She said Middle Tennesseegonna whip that a You know, he's
talking about Louisvie's opponent tomorrow. Solet's just see. You don't know what.

(10:54):
You don't know what they did toHaley behind the scenes. Let's go
back. I can where we were. Kyle Rittenhouse is headed to Western Kentucky
University speaking at various universities, andI know that you sent me a piece
today about Western Kentucky University students arepreparing protests, what about free speech on

(11:16):
campuses? Though, you got tounderstand something I am not. I'm a
garvyit in this sense, I believe, I very strongly believe in free speech.
A lot of the stuff that you'rehearing from the right that universities are
places that are indoctrinating people in theirsuppressing speech from conservatives and from right,
that's a lie that's simply not true. I mean, I work at a

(11:37):
university where the Ku Kux Klan wasallowed to come to the University of Louisville
some years ago, and I thoughtto allow them to come, right because
what Garvey would do back in theday when he was trying to get black
people to leave American and go backto Africa. He invited the clan in
and he was like, look,tell them what you feel about them,
you know, just tell the truth. That's my thing with the racists in
the state and other places. Theyhave a right to their racism. I

(12:01):
just don't like them lying about itright. Just own it. Don't talk
about old Deis Marxism. It's notyou don't even know what Marxism is.
You're a racist. Just own that. Tell people exactly what you are.
So I got no problem with KyleRittenhouse speaking anywhere. It is his right.
But here's the question that I have. Why are people inviting Kyle Rittenhouse

(12:24):
in to speak. Kyle Rittenhouse hasn'tinvented anything of any consequence. Kyle Rittenhouse
hasn't written a book. Kyle Rittenhousehasn't made some groundbreaking discovery. Kyle Rittenhouse
is not a child genius. Infact, Kyle Rittenhouse was a terrible student
in high school who ended up droppingout of high school. All right,

(12:48):
Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing, He producednothing. Then he wanted to be a
vigilante because he was against protests thatwere about black equality. He traveled across
state lines with the weapon and hekills people. Okay, people say that
was in defense, and so heis a, if you will, a

(13:09):
spokesperson for Second Amendment advocates. Again, why was he there with a rifle?
Okay? What motivated Kyle Rittenhouse.But beyond that, I say he's
a murderer, all right, Otherpeople say he is not. Just like
I say, people who lynched folksafter slavery were murderers, and this country

(13:33):
would not prosecute them, would noteven pass an anti lynching law. But
all of this talk about black peoplegetting all of these undeserved benefits and opportunities,
I've given you Kyle Rittenhouse's record.Kyle Rittenhouse has done nothing of consequence.
High school dropout, he travels toWisconsin and he kills people. Right

(13:58):
after that, he is offered internshipsby multiple Republican lawmakers, Matt Getz,
Paul Gosar, Madison Cawthorne. LaurenBobert said of Cauthorn that she would challenge
Cawthorn to a sprint to get KyleRittenhouse on as an intern even though Cawthorn

(14:24):
is in a wheelchair. This nicepoint, but this is true, right,
So what in God's name has KyleRittenhouse done other than kill people to
merit folks all over this country invitinghim to be a speaker on university campuses.
Now, so do I defend hisright to speak? Most definitely,

(14:48):
unequivocally I defend it. But whyis he there? He also has a
right to carry a weapon. Healso had a right to defend himself.
We've all seen the video, andI know a lot of people start talking
about the criminal records of the peoplethat were killed, But that's neither here
nor there. It's not like hesaid, and had an interview with him
before he shot him. Hey man, you call it what you want.
I can find a whole lot ofgangsters from Compton to Southwest Atlanta to south

(15:13):
South Chicago who've killed people in selfdefense and ain't nobody offering him speaking engagements
at universities. Still, that couldstill happen to other Yeah, yeah,
you tell me when that happened.Let's go back to the legislators in Frankfurt.
Are you saying anybody who votes yayon any of the anti DEI legislation
is a racist? Yeah, Isaid, each person. So when we

(15:37):
see the vote totals, that's whatyou're calling each of those phone you dog
one. Right. It's just likewhen I was when my daughter was young
and we were driving from Kentucky toAtlanta, and she was about five or
six years old, and I sawa Confederate flag on a pole up waving
and I told my child, thebaby, look at that flag, and

(16:00):
you remember it. And if yousee anybody wearing a hat, a shirt,
or anything else with that flag,you stay away from them. You
are in danger around those people.They hate people who look like you,
your mother and your father. Youpushing this anti DEI stuff. In my

(16:22):
book, you're a dog one racistperiod period. Because the arguments that these
people are making are lies. Nowlet me say this. I do understand.
I am a reasonable man. Iunderstand. We've lost in Kentucky.
We've lost. We've lost in Kentucky, we've lost in Florida, we've lost

(16:45):
in Wisconsin, We've lost in placeslike this. I am again encouraging people
make plans to get up out ofhere. Make plans to get up out
of here. If you have sensibilitiesthat are cosmopolton, that are modern and
about a diverse, modern world,you got to make plans to get up

(17:06):
out of here. You know,period, you made none of the fact.
The National NAACP President Derek Johnson isencouraging athletes to stay out of universities
other than HBCUs Black colleges and universitiesto stop playing sports for universities in states
where they've passed this legislation. Doyou feel like that there's any traction coming

(17:27):
with that, because I haven't seendetailed. Look, man, it's early,
Okay, it's early right now.So Derek Johnson, yes, President
of National NAACP. You saw thisalso come from Randall Woodson down in who's
the mayor of Birmingham. I'm hearingit from a lot of other places as
well. And white people always say, well, I haven't heard this.
You don't talk to black people,you don't know any black people. That's

(17:49):
why you ain't hearing this. Andall of these folk in Frankfurt and these
other places, or the are toomany black students, which is a lot.
I ain't heard nada one of themsay they're too many black basketball players
at u of L. They're disproportionatelyrepresented at UK. We need to get
rid of all of these negroes onthese football teams. This is a problem.

(18:10):
There are too many white basketball playersthat aren't getting an opportunity. I
don't hear any of that. Theyare fine with black people as long as
they serve, entertain and make themmoney. But when they feel like something
is happening that is going to putthem in some decision making position, or
when those black children are going tobe treated on equal footing with others,

(18:30):
which they historically have not been,then it's a problem. So yes,
let me say it slowly. Ifyou one of these anti DEI people,
you are a racist, and Ijust tell you, just tell the truth.
But you got a right to beracist. You got a right to
be racist. Some people call youa racist all the time they call you
a race baiter and a racist becauseyou want to limit opportunities for certain segments

(18:55):
of society. I'm never called aracist except by people who are RACI that's
their that's their go to. Andthen they call me other names too.
Man, y'all gotta stop calling methe N word. Two man, No,
not. You just showed me theygot to get more creative than that
inn word, porch monkey, y'allgotta come up with something more creative.

(19:15):
You've show me some of the Yougotta get more creative. They're racist.
Yeah, I said it, andand like my grandmama said, we out
of time. Before I take itback, I add more to it.
That's real talk. Ain't nobody elsegonna tell them. Everybody, I'm working
behind the scenes. I talk tothese I talk to these damn politicians and

(19:36):
university press. We're working behind thescenes where you're losing. I don't believe
you working behind the scenes. Youain't doing nothing. And if you are
working behind the scenes, then you'rea bad damn worker. Got his pay,
that is, doctor Ricky Jones.I wish you would get some more
confidence. You're just you're so subtlein your messaging hey man, there's enough

(19:57):
people out here walking around looking downat the cracks on the sidewalk. My
head is hell high. I standbefore you, bold and unafraid. Love
you brother, See soon, allright, baby. Ricky Jones back in
a few on news radio eight fortywhs