July 20, 2025 • 34 mins
Guest: Zan Dubin, Co-founder of National Drive Electric Month – Turtle Races at Brennan’s in Marina del Rey. Discussion on NESCO World Heritage sites. Coldplay's Kiss Cam drama and Stephen Colbert’s Late Show cancellation. Alex Villanueva Will Run in the 2026 race. Trump asks the team to change their name and cross with Chris Merrill.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand Gorgeous Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In southern California.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
You know, there's a bar that's been around forever in
Marina del Race called Brennan's. I think I've been there
since I've been to most of the bars in southern
California may have been there multiple times. Unaware that they
do this turtle racing regularly, and they've been doing it
(00:27):
for a while, and it seems like it'll be something
that would be fun, except for the fact that it does
involve a turtle, which is a living thing, and you know,
a sentient creature that is freaked out by noise and
music and people screaming, which is exactly the environment of
turtle races. So, as you might imagine, there are people
(00:50):
in the community who go, hey, Brennans, can we figure
out a different way to do this, maybe without an
actual living creature, without trying to exploit a living creature.
Maybe you could, you know, do wind up toy races,
or I mean, there are any number of alternatives. But
the people at Brannan's, I guess they you know, they're
(01:10):
getting this pushback from the community asking them to end
turtle racing, even though they've been doing it a long time,
and they're pushing back against the pushback, and so it's
turned into something of a back and forth and joining
us now Xan Duban, who is working I guess to
(01:35):
marshal enough awareness on the part of the public to
try to encourage Brennan's Bar and Marina del Ray to
kind of wrap this up and maybe explore alternatives to
turtle racing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Hisan time, Mark, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, so what's the state of the state on this?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
So you described it perfectly. We first contacted Brennan's. I
couldn't believe myself, probably driven past there, you know, a
million times over the decades, and there are these neon
turtles dancing across the front of their bar, and I
thought to myself, well, I can't really be live animal races,
but it is. And you know, you described it really well.
(02:16):
Probably two hundred people screaming at the top of the
lung top of their lungs, an MC on a mic
who's screaming even louder. And so what we did, the
first thing we did was contact a veteran turtle biologist
who you know, because we didn't want to just be
you know, airy fairy, bleeding heart saying hey, we don't
like this. But this veteran turtle biologist told us that
(02:40):
he termed this racing inhumane, and the turtles would interpret
being surrounded by these screaming likely and they created humans.
We're not teetotalers, they're happy to have folks drinking, but
the turtles would interpret this screaming as a lethal threat,
which evokes a flood stress hormone, same as anyone you
(03:02):
know would react. And this sort of thing produces a
physiological response that has well documented dileterious effects on turtles
immune systems, growth, and reproduction. So with that information, we
contacted Brennan's and they basically blew us off. You know,
they gave us a non answer that you know, they
(03:23):
loved the turtles, they put them in a good habitat,
but they didn't even address our request to stop the
racing or even to meet. We just wanted to meet and,
as you said, come up with some alternative entertainment. We protested.
We sent them twelve thousand emails that we collected of
people feeling the way that we did, and not that
(03:45):
long after all of our efforts, and we had lots
of good media coverage as well. They increased the racing
from twice monthly to weekly and that's where it stands.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
It's so interesting to me oftentimes how sometimes a protest
gets a pushback like, oh, okay, you don't like it, now,
we're going to do it twice a week instead of
once a week, And that's kind of where they ended up.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's exactly. Yeah, it's striking they do.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You have the you got the here's a little bit
of what it sounds like in grounds?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, it's super loud. Yeah, there is the Oh was that?
Oh that was the Coldplay concert? Are they doing turtle
racing at the Coldplay concert?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Now?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Go ahead, No, that's it. Oh no, that's not the trill,
that's not Coldplay.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, okay, I mean the look mark.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You can hear it down the block because they do
it kind of in an outdoor area. You can hear
it two blocks away practically.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
The point is that these creatures are real creatures, and
they're panicked, and you suggested you're sort of from a biologist,
and who really knows these creatures. Well, the physiological effects,
but the reality is it's cruel. We know it's cruel.
I mean, you know, Ingo Mark, really you're gonna it's turtles.
Why why should turtles not get the same respect that
(05:14):
you would give a dog or a cat. You wouldn't
put them in an environment like that. So it's really
I also feel like there's so many alternatives. As I said,
you could do wind up toys, you could do any
number of things, and you could probably build the same
amount of anticipation. It feels like a throwback to like
the seventies or something.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know, it's so.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Last century, as our friend Alexander Paul says, and I
will say that. And in addition to the immediate harm
they're doing to the turtles is that they're teaching people
that it is okay to exploit animals for human entertainment
and profit. Because there's a couple hundred people there spending
money on drinks. You know, this is why they are
(05:54):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, I am really disheartened to know that they wouldn't
even meet with you, or you know, wouldn't I always
feel like if people would just sit down face to face,
they might find some sort of mutual agreement and you know,
a way to phase it out.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean here at Colling, I mean interrupt.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm just reading reading the history, which I you know,
as I said, has been going on for a long
long time. It has been going on since the seventies.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
That's the chuestion, exactly fifty years. Yeah, fifty years and
this is twenty twenty five. But this is why we're
acting people well, honestly, don't go to that bar. Pick
another one that Mark has been to, some cool bar,
and tell your friends not to go, and you know,
call Brinnan's and say quit this animal cruelty.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, but you know, I really feel for so many
businesses around LA. I try to support them, the bars
and places where people socialize and you know, where the
community can kind of express itself in fun ways of
blows offs. Team.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I'm so about that. But the idea that you do these.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Turtle races, it just seems and I was reading on
their website. You know they say that they get the
turtles out of their out of their shelters for a
let me see if I can find every third is
the turtles come out of their turtle sanctuary and start
limbering up. I mean, the idea that you use the
(07:26):
word sanctuary and then you put these creatures through this
kind of madness.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's just it's really wrong, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And they have other kinds of cool entertainment there, you know,
they have karaoke. I mean, maybe we should be telling
people just don't go on the.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Turtle night, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I mean, I don't have anything against Brennan's. I have
been there multiple times and and and so it's just
a shame that they've kind of gotten on this adversarial
footing and they feel the need to push back. I
do feel like, hey, guys, that was a long time ago.
Now we know about really the damage that can be done,
and it's just not a cool way.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
To treat these living creatures.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So uh well, exactly, I'm saddened to know that you
really haven't made any progress on this, and you've kind
of done everything you can. I mean, you've called them,
you set up an email campaign, you set up a petition.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
What are residents?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, now we have now we have Mark Thompson on
the case, so watch out.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, I do I do want to give it a
little visibility. Uh again, nothing against Brennan's because, as I say,
I've been there a few times they're in the marina.
But I wish they would let go of the turtle races.
I really do. And as I say, we can come
up with other ways to entertain and there are other
races to be had. You can do all kinds of
(08:53):
other races without living creatures. So I would hope, I
would hoped that they would explore that because I'm sure
there are good people behind that bar. It's a successful
place of business and we need more successful places of
business in La So guys at Brennan's Bar, please think
about it. Let go of this turtle racing thing. Man,
(09:15):
it's it's a throwback to a time that has passed.
Thanks for joining us and bring it to our attention.
Zan Duban, appreciate you so much and our best to you.
Alexandra Paul who turned me on to you as a
good spokesperson for doing something good.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
So thank you all you.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, stay in touch, let us hell how it goes.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
They just announced new UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Everybody knows
that these UNESCO World Heritage Sites are I mean, you know,
these are like places that are of outstanding natural beauty
or a man made.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Achievement, I think is the way it works. If it's like.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
An onument to the power of human intellect or something
along those lines, it could be also falling into UNESCO
World Heritage Protection. So the World Heritage Sites oftentimes can
be in places.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Of great natural beauty, you know, and that is the case.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
They just increased the numbers, you know, they're always adding
to this list. It now has twelve hundred and forty
eight locations.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh here.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
It is cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value
is what they call it. And they've been adding almost
every year since nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Apparently.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Representatives of twenty one countries on the World Heritage Committee
meeting this month in Paris to finalize which locations to
add to the list, and countries with World Heritage Sites
have to commit to preserve you know, So the designated
sites not only will get preservation money from the country
(11:07):
in which they're located, but they'll get funding possibly to
help with that conservation from all the different countries that
are part of this process. So when you look at
places that we know, like for example, Yosemite is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, Yosemite National Park, the Redwood National
(11:27):
and State Parks are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Mesiveriti National Park,
the Hawaii Volcanoes Independence Hall, so you get the idea
Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the taj Mahal, Easter Island. You know
that's the with the monuments there on Easter Island. So
(11:51):
again those are all existing. They just came out with
the new list. And the new list is fascinating just
to see, you know, all these places that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Will have made the list.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Now, the first is the new Zwassenstein Castle, which is
a Bavarian palace and it's really part of a four
palace complex that is in Bavaria's is that's Germany.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Isn't it?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It's now Germany. It was Bavaria. King Ludwig the second
of Bavaria had these grand palaces built in the eighteen hundreds,
eighteen sixty four and eighteen eighty six in Bavaria again
now called Germany. He ascended to the throne as king,
King Ludwig, who created these palaces. How old was he
(12:49):
when he ascended to the richie? I ask you you
want to take a shot?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Sure, all right? He became king.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
He designed these grand palaces, or at least asked for
them to be built. And he has been called Richie before.
You guess, he's been called the mad King. And the
reason he was called the mad king is because he
had long rants and hallucinations and paranoia.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
He was mad. Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So with that background, tell me how old he was
when he ascended to the throne as the king of Bavaria. H.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm going to say probably thirty five. No, I think
that's a good guess.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Thirty five, thirty I think even twenty five he was eighteen?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Wow, what doing big things and time to become a
king boss.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Four palace complexes listed as the four Palace Complexes.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm going to spare you the German.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
They are now a tourist attraction and they are now
part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So there is that.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Also a there is a tomb in a Chinese city
and they look at this period of the Shisha dynasty
where there are nine imperial mausoleums, all these subordinate tombs
and architectural complex that's another UNESCO Heritage site. The remains
(14:29):
of a seventeenth century structure in Port Royal, Jamaica. It
was a major english Port. In the seventeenth century, Transatlantic
trade was big there enslaved Africans, hub for pirates. In
sixteen ninety two, an earthquake pushed much of the town underwater.
(14:52):
What's left of the town is now a UNESCO Heritage Site.
So you begin to see how this world of UNESCO
World Heritage Sites sort of takes on significance about natural stuff,
and it's man made stuff that's also survived a lot
of these natural forces. Is it the Bihagos Islands known
(15:18):
for biodiversity, endangered green and leatherback turtles, manatees, dolphins, eight
hundred and seventy thousand migratory show birds. So this is
just a place again, This is just an island, and
that ecosystem is now part of the protected world of
UNESCO Heritage Sites. I know what you're saying. You're saying, Mark,
(15:40):
where can I see the full list? This isn't enough
for me. You've whet my appetite. Tell me where can
I see the full list the almost thirteen hundred World
UNESCO Heritage Sites. Well, you can google them. I'm sure
(16:01):
they update the list every year. Again, more recently they've
added stuff to the list. But if you add the
twenty six sites to UNESCO's World Heritage List that they've
just added, you end up again with about twelve hundred
and forty eight locations cultural natural Properties. Outstanding Universal Value
(16:21):
Sites have been added almost every year since nineteen seventy eight.
Maybe you could be part of this UNESCO United Nations Agency.
What a great way to get a trip to Paris
just for the meeting. Anyway, check it out Google it
UNESCO World Heritage Sites and you can. You'll probably notice
(16:44):
that you've been to at least a handful of them.
So the Coldplay kiss cam is the gift that keeps
on given. We'll get to that next.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Mark Thompson on This Sunday, and the cold Play controversy
continues to evolve. I don't know if you've been on
social media at all, and I mean if you have,
you don't need to even look for coldplay. You don't
need to look for reaction. Every baseball game, every event
has now the equivalent of the kiss cam that's panning
(17:26):
the crowd, and every time they stop on any couple,
they do the impression in effect of what happened with
that couple at the actual Coldplay concert. Now, what's happened
with that couple is nothing good. It's broken up their relationship,
of course, in terms of the marriages on both sides.
Remember they were both married with kids. It's also destroyed
(17:48):
their careers with that company. I mean, it's only done
one thing for cold Play. Can anyone guess what that
might be? What has happened to Coldplay as a result
of the incident, or you'd certainly say it's the result
of the incident because it happened right after the incident.
(18:10):
I was reading that they estimate a hundred million dollars
increase in what they're expecting the tour to bring in.
The tour got supercharged by this Coldplay fan footage, so
(18:31):
it's become a cultural phenomenon. The real world impacts of
this is I was saying. And the band at the
center of it Colplay. They didn't design this moment to
produce this effect, but they are going to make some
serious bank as a result of this entire controversy, again
(18:51):
having been created in that moment. What about the lady
who shot the video she spoke to was it inside edition?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
She had.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
Shot a woman who shot that now infamous cool Play
kiscam that caught two executives apparently cheating. Is speaking out
to Inside Edition. Twenty eight year old Gray Springer was
at the concert at the Gillette Stadium in Boston and
captured the moment that has now been viewed fifty three
million times.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
I could have never guessed that it would be such
high profile individuals in the video. I do feel sorry
for their partners and spouses that they had to find
out this way.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Do you think if they had not tried to hide,
Coldplay would have moved on.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
One hundred percent. I think if they acted natural, no
one would have thought twice what a cute couple. I mean,
I'm sure people are in their inner circle might have
caught something, but I definitely wouldn't have posted that video.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I mean, it's pretty hard to you know, they react away,
they react, you know, but I'm sure that if they
thought in the read each chest of it, should we
get somehow on camera in some way stay cool? Maybe,
I don't know, seems like a high risk endeavor.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
If the reaction wasn't the way that it was.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
We're going to continue to expand globally.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We're going to get so she says that she wouldn't
have posted if had it not been for that reaction,
So that's that is something the thing, but.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
I definitely wouldn't have posted that video if the reaction
wasn't the way that it was.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
We're going to continue to expand globally.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
We're going to Andy Byron, CEO of a billion dollar
AI company.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, that's him speaking. I mean he this is a
unicorn as they call it. I mean, this is really
an exploding company. And this guy was CEO.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Kristin Cabot, his head of human resources, were seen shrinking
in panic at the concert. He is married with teenage children.
Speaker 7 (20:49):
Kristin Cabot has been divorced for three years.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
She was higher just eight months ago.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Oh I thought she was still married. So that's new information.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
And now that's fifteen seconds the video is having devastating
impact on both of their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I mean, it's an awful personal thing that they are
involved in. But professional standpoint, I mean, as an HR person,
it's like every violation there is, isn't it in that moment.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Months ago and now that's fifteen seconds of video is
having devastating impact on both of their lives.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
The New York Post front page headline dumbotron. I spoke
with workplace expert Stephen Viscuzzie.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
This requires to me not one, but two resignations.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Fortune Magazine is predicting severe consequences for the company's culture, reputation,
and financial stability. Parodies and memes are flooding social media.
All right, zero king byron thing she scrubbed her social media.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I think cheating is an abomination. Okay, and I this
man has a wife, has children.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
These kids are gonna have to walk and see this.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
They don't look.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I would be devastated if I was his wife. You
do have to think about the children and the spouses.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We're all laughing about it, but they're all families and stuff.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
No play stupid games when stupid prizes. All right, Look,
I would say this is not a popular position. This
is why I'm not This is why I'm not super
popular because I say things so once in a while
or not popular. But I would I would say this
if the company. Here's what I don't understand about this
(22:32):
in all seriousness, just on the company stuff. I mean,
I'm ready to sign on to everything. It's humiliating, it's wrong,
it's all the stuff. I'm ready to sign on to
all that. Here's the part that I'm not ready to
sign on to, or at least I have a question
about why, if the company was so successful before, is
they're this reaction like, oh, this is going to cost
(22:54):
the company. The company is going to be this will
this will the company, This is going to begin the
free fall of the company. Why what does this have
to do with the company. The company isn't it's not
some Christian dating site. It's an AI platform. It was
a technical innovation. I mean, this company is still wildly successful.
(23:18):
Great CEO resigns, human resource person resigns, they can go
have their affair in Jamaica somewhere with the buyout, and
there might be a huge divorce settlement, et cetera. And
there might even be lawsuits on behalf of the company
for the damage is done reputationally to the company. All right,
I get that's all going to happen, But the company itself,
I don't see why it would be negatively affected from
(23:43):
an investor standpoint. But maybe the answer is what I
was just saying, Well, it's negatively affected because of the
reputation of the company now being damaged as a result
of the CEO acting in a way that hurts the
profile of the company. I guess I could see that.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the
(24:03):
fundamentals under the hood of the company are good, then
why would the misdeeds of the CEO on a personal
level affect the company so dramatically.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I don't know. That's just the other side of it. Again.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
This is a multi layered thing, and most of it
is just, oh my god, incredibly humiliating, embarrassing, and there's
a huge price to be paid because you know, this
guy's got kids, and it's sad. You know, he's got
a wife, and this is an awful thing and awful
way to discover it. But man, America is getting some
(24:37):
mileage out of this. It is all over every single
sporting event. I mean literally each sporting event. Now it's
almost boilerplate. They've got to now do the kiss cam
and every time somebody has seen the kiss him, they
all recoil like they're embarrassed. It's sort of the move
now and it's funny. So there's the real world consequence
(25:03):
and there's sort of the cultural consequence.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know, it's pretty wild, pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Mark Thompson here on KFI AM six forty, taking time
out of my wildly popular YouTube show.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Former sheriff Alex Vanueva is registering for the twenty twenty
six Sheriff's race. It is the well, he's the biggest
name to declare in the race so far. He lost
to Robert Luna in twenty twenty two, and Luna is
going to seek reelection. So this really, you know, brings
(25:41):
those two back together in this in this coming race. Anyway,
that's the latest news on that just happened. Donald Trump
is calling for the Washington Commanders, the football team in Washington,
to quote immediately change their name back to the Washington Redskins,
(26:02):
now the Washington Redskins. I grew up in Washington. They
were my team, and they were criticized for years. By
the way, when I was a kid, I never heard
any of the criticism. This is never something brought up
until more recently. But it has been quite some time.
(26:23):
I mean now it's been quite some time that the
Redskins criticisms associated with.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
That name and it being a racial slur.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
That has been around long enough that I kind of
lost track even the of the time that I grew
up with them, and it really wasn't controversial at all times,
change or whatever. Anyway, point is, they got rid of
the name in twenty twenty and they went to the
Washington Commanders and in a true social post just this morning,
(27:04):
Donald Trump claiming that there was a big clamoring for
the Commanders to return to their original name. This is
a quote the where is the actual quote? Richie? I
thought I had it, but oh I don't know. Well,
(27:24):
oh I see, and he went after he's going now
after the Cleveland Guardians also, who also changed their name
and mascot from the Cleveland Indians.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So you know, that's a cultural appropriation thing.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And Donald Trump was first talking about the Redskins and
again they are the Washington Commanders now and he's saying
there's a big clamoring for the Commanders to return to
their original name and the team owners should quote get
it done in capital letters. He also mentions the Cleveland
(27:58):
Guardians change their name and mascot from the Indians. I
was just saying, and he insists without further elaborating, quote
that our great Indian people, in massive numbers want this
to happen. And again, you know, as the society and
culture and perspectives evolve, you end up saying, well, you
(28:18):
want to call them, you know, indigenous people, native people.
You don't want to say Indian anymore. And so the Indians,
not only is cultural appropriations not really again a welcome term,
et cetera. This is all this stuff. But you know,
Trump is about shaking up the snow globe and this
is his thing. But here's how the shoe pinches for
(28:41):
the ownership and those in Washington. Trump followed up with
a separate post just this afternoon saying, quote, if they
don't change the name back to the original Washington Redskins
and get rid of this ridiculous moniker Washington commander, I
won't make a deal for them to build a stadium
(29:04):
in Washington. So apparently this is something that he may
be willing to ride out.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
They had a really awful stadium. I can tell you
how awful it was because, as I say, I grew
up there and I didn't grow up in a This
is this is not like, Don't get me wrong, I mean,
we could afford shoos and stuff, but we didn't go
to things like football games and like that. We just
we were a pretty middle class crowd. And so I
remember going to RFK and when I was there, I
(29:40):
was excited to go. But it's not a pretty stadium.
This RFK stadium site in Washington, D C. Is where
they used to play. Now they've moved that team and
they play outside the city. So they want a new
stadium in Washington, d C. And it's under consideration by
the DC Council. And the idea would be that Washington
(30:01):
would get a bunch of money and the federal government
in part would be funding that, so it would pave
the way for them to have that stadium. So again,
they need this deal green lit by Washington by the Feds,
and Donald Trump would be part of green lighting that.
So it may or may not happen, depending on how
(30:26):
firm a grip he wants to keep on all of this,
but it is pretty wild. When asked about the commander's
name change multiple times this year, he says he would
not have changed the name of the first place. I
wouldn't have changed that name, Trump said while speaking to
reporters earlier this month. It just doesn't have the same
ring to me, he says. It's a great population, and
(30:48):
they like when they're called by various names. Now Washington,
the Redskins, that's possibly a little different, a little bit different.
But I can tell you I spoke to people of Indianheritas,
and they love that name and they love that team.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Trump said.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
The President also he praise on the Kansas City Chiefs
and their quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who's been criticized for the
Native American imagery there. They're not changing their name. A
great team, great people. I like that team. They're called
the Chiefs, and frankly, I've seen nothing wrong with them.
How much do you think the Washington Commanders are worth?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
These teams, NFL teams, It's scary, isn't it. I'll tell
you the answer, but in your mind how how much?
The answer is six point three billion dollars. They're the
tenth most valuable team in the NFL. So that is
to be continued. Chris Merrill is standing by. I know
(31:49):
he's standing by. I don't need you to tell me
I was wrapping up. Didn't it seem like I was
wrapping up Chris to you.
Speaker 8 (31:56):
Yeah, it's toughly a good help around here, It really is.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
If I adore my Chris merrill I would never forget that.
I love the I love the controvery.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
We have to create a controversy so that Fox has
something to talk about this week.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
So other than Epstein, of course.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
What if we were to rename them like the Washington
Epstein Files.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
There you go, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 8 (32:22):
All right, Well you know what, President Track, we are
considering a name change. We're looking about calling it the
Epstein Files. Nothing more feared than when the Epstein Files
come for your team.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, that's very funny. Gosh, I love that. It's almost
a shame you have to do a show that was
so perfect.
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Do you think they you think that the administration and
for that matter, any politician, do you think that they
have like a whole list that the is just ready
to go in case something starts to hit the fan
and they need a distraction.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh that's a great yeah. Well yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Well the thing, the big one, the wag the dog
moment is always you know, military action, right, a military.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
Well, it's funny. This week I was talking with a
with a colleague of Mount, and he said, you know what,
what's going to happen here?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
What?
Speaker 8 (33:05):
Because nobody seems to get distracted. I go, it wouldn't
be surprised if all of a sudden some American bombs
third landing in Moscow. Oh oh yeah, well yeah, well
we give them to Ukraine, and Ukraine used them, and
now all of a sudden we're dragged in.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I mean, what were we going to do? Right?
Speaker 3 (33:20):
That so brutal. This is really how stuff happens, and
it's it's scary. Yeah, but I saw Canadian Bacon. You
know that Sandy's last film.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
Yeah, Alan Olda was in that They attack Canada because
of Ellan Olda's uh sagging polling numbers and come back
to that periodically.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I think you know that movie wasn't.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
As as farcical sometimes is maybe we thought it was
when it came out.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Bright They pitched Canada because it was deliberately so funny
to suggest that they would have attacked Canada, and all
of a sudden, it doesn't seem funny anymore.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
No, no, god, I know so many times I think
that life is imitating art.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Now you know it's any times?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, Well, I as I say, I think you'll have
trouble out doing the last couple of minutes on your show.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
But I got nothing to listen. That's it.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Honestly, dead air is going to be better than any
content from here on.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Huh, Chris, we adore you.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I'll be listening all right from here, Chris Merrill next,
Thanks everybody, Thanks to all of the Kofi kids, and
look forward to seeing you Tuesday afternoon, with Conway Thompson
here saying so long.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
KFI AM six on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand Gorgeous Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In southern California.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
You know, there's a bar that's been around forever in
Marina del Race called Brennan's. I think I've been there
since I've been to most of the bars in southern
California may have been there multiple times. Unaware that they
do this turtle racing regularly, and they've been doing it
(00:27):
for a while, and it seems like it'll be something
that would be fun, except for the fact that it does
involve a turtle, which is a living thing, and you know,
a sentient creature that is freaked out by noise and
music and people screaming, which is exactly the environment of
turtle races. So, as you might imagine, there are people
(00:50):
in the community who go, hey, Brennans, can we figure
out a different way to do this, maybe without an
actual living creature, without trying to exploit a living creature.
Maybe you could, you know, do wind up toy races,
or I mean, there are any number of alternatives. But
the people at Brannan's, I guess they you know, they're
(01:10):
getting this pushback from the community asking them to end
turtle racing, even though they've been doing it a long time,
and they're pushing back against the pushback, and so it's
turned into something of a back and forth and joining
us now Xan Duban, who is working I guess to
(01:35):
marshal enough awareness on the part of the public to
try to encourage Brennan's Bar and Marina del Ray to
kind of wrap this up and maybe explore alternatives to
turtle racing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Hisan time, Mark, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, so what's the state of the state on this?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
So you described it perfectly. We first contacted Brennan's. I
couldn't believe myself, probably driven past there, you know, a
million times over the decades, and there are these neon
turtles dancing across the front of their bar, and I
thought to myself, well, I can't really be live animal races,
but it is. And you know, you described it really well.
(02:16):
Probably two hundred people screaming at the top of the
lung top of their lungs, an MC on a mic
who's screaming even louder. And so what we did, the
first thing we did was contact a veteran turtle biologist
who you know, because we didn't want to just be
you know, airy fairy, bleeding heart saying hey, we don't
like this. But this veteran turtle biologist told us that
(02:40):
he termed this racing inhumane, and the turtles would interpret
being surrounded by these screaming likely and they created humans.
We're not teetotalers, they're happy to have folks drinking, but
the turtles would interpret this screaming as a lethal threat,
which evokes a flood stress hormone, same as anyone you
(03:02):
know would react. And this sort of thing produces a
physiological response that has well documented dileterious effects on turtles
immune systems, growth, and reproduction. So with that information, we
contacted Brennan's and they basically blew us off. You know,
they gave us a non answer that you know, they
(03:23):
loved the turtles, they put them in a good habitat,
but they didn't even address our request to stop the
racing or even to meet. We just wanted to meet and,
as you said, come up with some alternative entertainment. We protested.
We sent them twelve thousand emails that we collected of
people feeling the way that we did, and not that
(03:45):
long after all of our efforts, and we had lots
of good media coverage as well. They increased the racing
from twice monthly to weekly and that's where it stands.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
It's so interesting to me oftentimes how sometimes a protest
gets a pushback like, oh, okay, you don't like it, now,
we're going to do it twice a week instead of
once a week, And that's kind of where they ended up.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's exactly. Yeah, it's striking they do.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You have the you got the here's a little bit
of what it sounds like in grounds?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, it's super loud. Yeah, there is the Oh was that?
Oh that was the Coldplay concert? Are they doing turtle
racing at the Coldplay concert?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Now?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Go ahead, No, that's it. Oh no, that's not the trill,
that's not Coldplay.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, okay, I mean the look mark.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You can hear it down the block because they do
it kind of in an outdoor area. You can hear
it two blocks away practically.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
The point is that these creatures are real creatures, and
they're panicked, and you suggested you're sort of from a biologist,
and who really knows these creatures. Well, the physiological effects,
but the reality is it's cruel. We know it's cruel.
I mean, you know, Ingo Mark, really you're gonna it's turtles.
Why why should turtles not get the same respect that
(05:14):
you would give a dog or a cat. You wouldn't
put them in an environment like that. So it's really
I also feel like there's so many alternatives. As I said,
you could do wind up toys, you could do any
number of things, and you could probably build the same
amount of anticipation. It feels like a throwback to like
the seventies or something.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know, it's so.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Last century, as our friend Alexander Paul says, and I
will say that. And in addition to the immediate harm
they're doing to the turtles is that they're teaching people
that it is okay to exploit animals for human entertainment
and profit. Because there's a couple hundred people there spending
money on drinks. You know, this is why they are
(05:54):
doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, I am really disheartened to know that they wouldn't
even meet with you, or you know, wouldn't I always
feel like if people would just sit down face to face,
they might find some sort of mutual agreement and you know,
a way to phase it out.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean here at Colling, I mean interrupt.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm just reading reading the history, which I you know,
as I said, has been going on for a long
long time. It has been going on since the seventies.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
That's the chuestion, exactly fifty years. Yeah, fifty years and
this is twenty twenty five. But this is why we're
acting people well, honestly, don't go to that bar. Pick
another one that Mark has been to, some cool bar,
and tell your friends not to go, and you know,
call Brinnan's and say quit this animal cruelty.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, but you know, I really feel for so many
businesses around LA. I try to support them, the bars
and places where people socialize and you know, where the
community can kind of express itself in fun ways of
blows offs. Team.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I'm so about that. But the idea that you do these.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Turtle races, it just seems and I was reading on
their website. You know they say that they get the
turtles out of their out of their shelters for a
let me see if I can find every third is
the turtles come out of their turtle sanctuary and start
limbering up. I mean, the idea that you use the
(07:26):
word sanctuary and then you put these creatures through this
kind of madness.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's just it's really wrong, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And they have other kinds of cool entertainment there, you know,
they have karaoke. I mean, maybe we should be telling
people just don't go on the.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Turtle night, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I mean, I don't have anything against Brennan's. I have
been there multiple times and and and so it's just
a shame that they've kind of gotten on this adversarial
footing and they feel the need to push back. I
do feel like, hey, guys, that was a long time ago.
Now we know about really the damage that can be done,
and it's just not a cool way.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
To treat these living creatures.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So uh well, exactly, I'm saddened to know that you
really haven't made any progress on this, and you've kind
of done everything you can. I mean, you've called them,
you set up an email campaign, you set up a petition.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
What are residents?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Yeah, now we have now we have Mark Thompson on
the case, so watch out.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, I do I do want to give it a
little visibility. Uh again, nothing against Brennan's because, as I say,
I've been there a few times they're in the marina.
But I wish they would let go of the turtle races.
I really do. And as I say, we can come
up with other ways to entertain and there are other
races to be had. You can do all kinds of
(08:53):
other races without living creatures. So I would hope, I
would hoped that they would explore that because I'm sure
there are good people behind that bar. It's a successful
place of business and we need more successful places of
business in La So guys at Brennan's Bar, please think
about it. Let go of this turtle racing thing. Man,
(09:15):
it's it's a throwback to a time that has passed.
Thanks for joining us and bring it to our attention.
Zan Duban, appreciate you so much and our best to you.
Alexandra Paul who turned me on to you as a
good spokesperson for doing something good.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
So thank you all you.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, stay in touch, let us hell how it goes.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
They just announced new UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Everybody knows
that these UNESCO World Heritage Sites are I mean, you know,
these are like places that are of outstanding natural beauty
or a man made.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Achievement, I think is the way it works. If it's like.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
An onument to the power of human intellect or something
along those lines, it could be also falling into UNESCO
World Heritage Protection. So the World Heritage Sites oftentimes can
be in places.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Of great natural beauty, you know, and that is the case.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
They just increased the numbers, you know, they're always adding
to this list. It now has twelve hundred and forty
eight locations.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh here.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
It is cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value
is what they call it. And they've been adding almost
every year since nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Apparently.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Representatives of twenty one countries on the World Heritage Committee
meeting this month in Paris to finalize which locations to
add to the list, and countries with World Heritage Sites
have to commit to preserve you know, So the designated
sites not only will get preservation money from the country
(11:07):
in which they're located, but they'll get funding possibly to
help with that conservation from all the different countries that
are part of this process. So when you look at
places that we know, like for example, Yosemite is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, Yosemite National Park, the Redwood National
(11:27):
and State Parks are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Mesiveriti National Park,
the Hawaii Volcanoes Independence Hall, so you get the idea
Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the taj Mahal, Easter Island. You know
that's the with the monuments there on Easter Island. So
(11:51):
again those are all existing. They just came out with
the new list. And the new list is fascinating just
to see, you know, all these places that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Will have made the list.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Now, the first is the new Zwassenstein Castle, which is
a Bavarian palace and it's really part of a four
palace complex that is in Bavaria's is that's Germany.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Isn't it?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It's now Germany. It was Bavaria. King Ludwig the second
of Bavaria had these grand palaces built in the eighteen hundreds,
eighteen sixty four and eighteen eighty six in Bavaria again
now called Germany. He ascended to the throne as king,
King Ludwig, who created these palaces. How old was he
(12:49):
when he ascended to the richie? I ask you you
want to take a shot?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Sure, all right? He became king.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
He designed these grand palaces, or at least asked for
them to be built. And he has been called Richie before.
You guess, he's been called the mad King. And the
reason he was called the mad king is because he
had long rants and hallucinations and paranoia.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
He was mad. Okay.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So with that background, tell me how old he was
when he ascended to the throne as the king of Bavaria. H.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm going to say probably thirty five. No, I think
that's a good guess.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Thirty five, thirty I think even twenty five he was eighteen?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Wow, what doing big things and time to become a
king boss.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Four palace complexes listed as the four Palace Complexes.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I'm going to spare you the German.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
They are now a tourist attraction and they are now
part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So there is that.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Also a there is a tomb in a Chinese city
and they look at this period of the Shisha dynasty
where there are nine imperial mausoleums, all these subordinate tombs
and architectural complex that's another UNESCO Heritage site. The remains
(14:29):
of a seventeenth century structure in Port Royal, Jamaica. It
was a major english Port. In the seventeenth century, Transatlantic
trade was big there enslaved Africans, hub for pirates. In
sixteen ninety two, an earthquake pushed much of the town underwater.
(14:52):
What's left of the town is now a UNESCO Heritage Site.
So you begin to see how this world of UNESCO
World Heritage Sites sort of takes on significance about natural stuff,
and it's man made stuff that's also survived a lot
of these natural forces. Is it the Bihagos Islands known
(15:18):
for biodiversity, endangered green and leatherback turtles, manatees, dolphins, eight
hundred and seventy thousand migratory show birds. So this is
just a place again, This is just an island, and
that ecosystem is now part of the protected world of
UNESCO Heritage Sites. I know what you're saying. You're saying, Mark,
(15:40):
where can I see the full list? This isn't enough
for me. You've whet my appetite. Tell me where can
I see the full list the almost thirteen hundred World
UNESCO Heritage Sites. Well, you can google them. I'm sure
(16:01):
they update the list every year. Again, more recently they've
added stuff to the list. But if you add the
twenty six sites to UNESCO's World Heritage List that they've
just added, you end up again with about twelve hundred
and forty eight locations cultural natural Properties. Outstanding Universal Value
(16:21):
Sites have been added almost every year since nineteen seventy eight.
Maybe you could be part of this UNESCO United Nations Agency.
What a great way to get a trip to Paris
just for the meeting. Anyway, check it out Google it
UNESCO World Heritage Sites and you can. You'll probably notice
(16:44):
that you've been to at least a handful of them.
So the Coldplay kiss cam is the gift that keeps
on given. We'll get to that next.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Mark Thompson on This Sunday, and the cold Play controversy
continues to evolve. I don't know if you've been on
social media at all, and I mean if you have,
you don't need to even look for coldplay. You don't
need to look for reaction. Every baseball game, every event
has now the equivalent of the kiss cam that's panning
(17:26):
the crowd, and every time they stop on any couple,
they do the impression in effect of what happened with
that couple at the actual Coldplay concert. Now, what's happened
with that couple is nothing good. It's broken up their relationship,
of course, in terms of the marriages on both sides.
Remember they were both married with kids. It's also destroyed
(17:48):
their careers with that company. I mean, it's only done
one thing for cold Play. Can anyone guess what that
might be? What has happened to Coldplay as a result
of the incident, or you'd certainly say it's the result
of the incident because it happened right after the incident.
(18:10):
I was reading that they estimate a hundred million dollars
increase in what they're expecting the tour to bring in.
The tour got supercharged by this Coldplay fan footage, so
(18:31):
it's become a cultural phenomenon. The real world impacts of
this is I was saying. And the band at the
center of it Colplay. They didn't design this moment to
produce this effect, but they are going to make some
serious bank as a result of this entire controversy, again
(18:51):
having been created in that moment. What about the lady
who shot the video she spoke to was it inside edition?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
She had.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
Shot a woman who shot that now infamous cool Play
kiscam that caught two executives apparently cheating. Is speaking out
to Inside Edition. Twenty eight year old Gray Springer was
at the concert at the Gillette Stadium in Boston and
captured the moment that has now been viewed fifty three
million times.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
I could have never guessed that it would be such
high profile individuals in the video. I do feel sorry
for their partners and spouses that they had to find
out this way.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Do you think if they had not tried to hide,
Coldplay would have moved on.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
One hundred percent. I think if they acted natural, no
one would have thought twice what a cute couple. I mean,
I'm sure people are in their inner circle might have
caught something, but I definitely wouldn't have posted that video.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I mean, it's pretty hard to you know, they react away,
they react, you know, but I'm sure that if they
thought in the read each chest of it, should we
get somehow on camera in some way stay cool? Maybe,
I don't know, seems like a high risk endeavor.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
If the reaction wasn't the way that it was.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
We're going to continue to expand globally.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We're going to get so she says that she wouldn't
have posted if had it not been for that reaction,
So that's that is something the thing, but.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
I definitely wouldn't have posted that video if the reaction
wasn't the way that it was.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
We're going to continue to expand globally.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
We're going to Andy Byron, CEO of a billion dollar
AI company.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, that's him speaking. I mean he this is a
unicorn as they call it. I mean, this is really
an exploding company. And this guy was CEO.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Kristin Cabot, his head of human resources, were seen shrinking
in panic at the concert. He is married with teenage children.
Speaker 7 (20:49):
Kristin Cabot has been divorced for three years.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
She was higher just eight months ago.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Oh I thought she was still married. So that's new information.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
And now that's fifteen seconds the video is having devastating
impact on both of their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I mean, it's an awful personal thing that they are
involved in. But professional standpoint, I mean, as an HR person,
it's like every violation there is, isn't it in that moment.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Months ago and now that's fifteen seconds of video is
having devastating impact on both of their lives.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
The New York Post front page headline dumbotron. I spoke
with workplace expert Stephen Viscuzzie.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
This requires to me not one, but two resignations.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Fortune Magazine is predicting severe consequences for the company's culture, reputation,
and financial stability. Parodies and memes are flooding social media.
All right, zero king byron thing she scrubbed her social media.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I think cheating is an abomination. Okay, and I this
man has a wife, has children.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
These kids are gonna have to walk and see this.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
They don't look.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I would be devastated if I was his wife. You
do have to think about the children and the spouses.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
We're all laughing about it, but they're all families and stuff.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
No play stupid games when stupid prizes. All right, Look,
I would say this is not a popular position. This
is why I'm not This is why I'm not super
popular because I say things so once in a while
or not popular. But I would I would say this
if the company. Here's what I don't understand about this
(22:32):
in all seriousness, just on the company stuff. I mean,
I'm ready to sign on to everything. It's humiliating, it's wrong,
it's all the stuff. I'm ready to sign on to
all that. Here's the part that I'm not ready to
sign on to, or at least I have a question
about why, if the company was so successful before, is
they're this reaction like, oh, this is going to cost
(22:54):
the company. The company is going to be this will
this will the company, This is going to begin the
free fall of the company. Why what does this have
to do with the company. The company isn't it's not
some Christian dating site. It's an AI platform. It was
a technical innovation. I mean, this company is still wildly successful.
(23:18):
Great CEO resigns, human resource person resigns, they can go
have their affair in Jamaica somewhere with the buyout, and
there might be a huge divorce settlement, et cetera. And
there might even be lawsuits on behalf of the company
for the damage is done reputationally to the company. All right,
I get that's all going to happen, But the company itself,
I don't see why it would be negatively affected from
(23:43):
an investor standpoint. But maybe the answer is what I
was just saying, Well, it's negatively affected because of the
reputation of the company now being damaged as a result
of the CEO acting in a way that hurts the
profile of the company. I guess I could see that.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the
(24:03):
fundamentals under the hood of the company are good, then
why would the misdeeds of the CEO on a personal
level affect the company so dramatically.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I don't know. That's just the other side of it. Again.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
This is a multi layered thing, and most of it
is just, oh my god, incredibly humiliating, embarrassing, and there's
a huge price to be paid because you know, this
guy's got kids, and it's sad. You know, he's got
a wife, and this is an awful thing and awful
way to discover it. But man, America is getting some
(24:37):
mileage out of this. It is all over every single
sporting event. I mean literally each sporting event. Now it's
almost boilerplate. They've got to now do the kiss cam
and every time somebody has seen the kiss him, they
all recoil like they're embarrassed. It's sort of the move
now and it's funny. So there's the real world consequence
(25:03):
and there's sort of the cultural consequence.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know, it's pretty wild, pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Mark Thompson here on KFI AM six forty, taking time
out of my wildly popular YouTube show.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Former sheriff Alex Vanueva is registering for the twenty twenty
six Sheriff's race. It is the well, he's the biggest
name to declare in the race so far. He lost
to Robert Luna in twenty twenty two, and Luna is
going to seek reelection. So this really, you know, brings
(25:41):
those two back together in this in this coming race. Anyway,
that's the latest news on that just happened. Donald Trump
is calling for the Washington Commanders, the football team in Washington,
to quote immediately change their name back to the Washington Redskins,
(26:02):
now the Washington Redskins. I grew up in Washington. They
were my team, and they were criticized for years. By
the way, when I was a kid, I never heard
any of the criticism. This is never something brought up
until more recently. But it has been quite some time.
(26:23):
I mean now it's been quite some time that the
Redskins criticisms associated with.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
That name and it being a racial slur.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
That has been around long enough that I kind of
lost track even the of the time that I grew
up with them, and it really wasn't controversial at all times,
change or whatever. Anyway, point is, they got rid of
the name in twenty twenty and they went to the
Washington Commanders and in a true social post just this morning,
(27:04):
Donald Trump claiming that there was a big clamoring for
the Commanders to return to their original name. This is
a quote the where is the actual quote? Richie? I
thought I had it, but oh I don't know. Well,
(27:24):
oh I see, and he went after he's going now
after the Cleveland Guardians also, who also changed their name
and mascot from the Cleveland Indians.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So you know, that's a cultural appropriation thing.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And Donald Trump was first talking about the Redskins and
again they are the Washington Commanders now and he's saying
there's a big clamoring for the Commanders to return to
their original name and the team owners should quote get
it done in capital letters. He also mentions the Cleveland
(27:58):
Guardians change their name and mascot from the Indians. I
was just saying, and he insists without further elaborating, quote
that our great Indian people, in massive numbers want this
to happen. And again, you know, as the society and
culture and perspectives evolve, you end up saying, well, you
(28:18):
want to call them, you know, indigenous people, native people.
You don't want to say Indian anymore. And so the Indians,
not only is cultural appropriations not really again a welcome term,
et cetera. This is all this stuff. But you know,
Trump is about shaking up the snow globe and this
is his thing. But here's how the shoe pinches for
(28:41):
the ownership and those in Washington. Trump followed up with
a separate post just this afternoon saying, quote, if they
don't change the name back to the original Washington Redskins
and get rid of this ridiculous moniker Washington commander, I
won't make a deal for them to build a stadium
(29:04):
in Washington. So apparently this is something that he may
be willing to ride out.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
They had a really awful stadium. I can tell you
how awful it was because, as I say, I grew
up there and I didn't grow up in a This
is this is not like, Don't get me wrong, I mean,
we could afford shoos and stuff, but we didn't go
to things like football games and like that. We just
we were a pretty middle class crowd. And so I
remember going to RFK and when I was there, I
(29:40):
was excited to go. But it's not a pretty stadium.
This RFK stadium site in Washington, D C. Is where
they used to play. Now they've moved that team and
they play outside the city. So they want a new
stadium in Washington, d C. And it's under consideration by
the DC Council. And the idea would be that Washington
(30:01):
would get a bunch of money and the federal government
in part would be funding that, so it would pave
the way for them to have that stadium. So again,
they need this deal green lit by Washington by the Feds,
and Donald Trump would be part of green lighting that.
So it may or may not happen, depending on how
(30:26):
firm a grip he wants to keep on all of this,
but it is pretty wild. When asked about the commander's
name change multiple times this year, he says he would
not have changed the name of the first place. I
wouldn't have changed that name, Trump said while speaking to
reporters earlier this month. It just doesn't have the same
ring to me, he says. It's a great population, and
(30:48):
they like when they're called by various names. Now Washington,
the Redskins, that's possibly a little different, a little bit different.
But I can tell you I spoke to people of Indianheritas,
and they love that name and they love that team.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Trump said.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
The President also he praise on the Kansas City Chiefs
and their quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who's been criticized for the
Native American imagery there. They're not changing their name. A
great team, great people. I like that team. They're called
the Chiefs, and frankly, I've seen nothing wrong with them.
How much do you think the Washington Commanders are worth?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
These teams, NFL teams, It's scary, isn't it. I'll tell
you the answer, but in your mind how how much?
The answer is six point three billion dollars. They're the
tenth most valuable team in the NFL. So that is
to be continued. Chris Merrill is standing by. I know
(31:49):
he's standing by. I don't need you to tell me
I was wrapping up. Didn't it seem like I was
wrapping up Chris to you.
Speaker 8 (31:56):
Yeah, it's toughly a good help around here, It really is.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
If I adore my Chris merrill I would never forget that.
I love the I love the controvery.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
We have to create a controversy so that Fox has
something to talk about this week.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
So other than Epstein, of course.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
What if we were to rename them like the Washington
Epstein Files.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
There you go, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 8 (32:22):
All right, Well you know what, President Track, we are
considering a name change. We're looking about calling it the
Epstein Files. Nothing more feared than when the Epstein Files
come for your team.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, that's very funny. Gosh, I love that. It's almost
a shame you have to do a show that was
so perfect.
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Do you think they you think that the administration and
for that matter, any politician, do you think that they
have like a whole list that the is just ready
to go in case something starts to hit the fan
and they need a distraction.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh that's a great yeah. Well yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Well the thing, the big one, the wag the dog
moment is always you know, military action, right, a military.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
Well, it's funny. This week I was talking with a
with a colleague of Mount, and he said, you know what,
what's going to happen here?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
What?
Speaker 8 (33:05):
Because nobody seems to get distracted. I go, it wouldn't
be surprised if all of a sudden some American bombs
third landing in Moscow. Oh oh yeah, well yeah, well
we give them to Ukraine, and Ukraine used them, and
now all of a sudden we're dragged in.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I mean, what were we going to do? Right?
Speaker 3 (33:20):
That so brutal. This is really how stuff happens, and
it's it's scary. Yeah, but I saw Canadian Bacon. You
know that Sandy's last film.
Speaker 8 (33:30):
Yeah, Alan Olda was in that They attack Canada because
of Ellan Olda's uh sagging polling numbers and come back
to that periodically.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I think you know that movie wasn't.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
As as farcical sometimes is maybe we thought it was
when it came out.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Bright They pitched Canada because it was deliberately so funny
to suggest that they would have attacked Canada, and all
of a sudden, it doesn't seem funny anymore.
Speaker 8 (33:50):
No, no, god, I know so many times I think
that life is imitating art.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Now you know it's any times?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, Well, I as I say, I think you'll have
trouble out doing the last couple of minutes on your show.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
But I got nothing to listen. That's it.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Honestly, dead air is going to be better than any
content from here on.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Huh, Chris, we adore you.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I'll be listening all right from here, Chris Merrill next,
Thanks everybody, Thanks to all of the Kofi kids, and
look forward to seeing you Tuesday afternoon, with Conway Thompson
here saying so long.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
KFI AM six on demand
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