September 13, 2025 • 25 mins
ICYMI: Hour Two of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A follow-up on the wager between Mo’ & Melissa, the Founder of the independent Black-owned media company ‘2UrbanGirls,’ regarding former KTTV, Fox L.A. host Elex Michaelson’s next move…PLUS – Thoughts on the new Texas “anti-Anime bill” AND Mark Rahner has a review of the new Lionsgate adaptation of Stephen King’s first-written novel ‘The Long Walk’ in The Rahner Report - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI AM six forty is Later with bo Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
We're live everywherey iHeartRadio app and I think it was
last month I had a conversation with Melissa no last name,
the founder creator of two Urbangirls dot com. It is
a news and cultural affairs website. That's how I would
describe it. It's it's really informative. They've broken some national
stories and we have some mutual friends in common, one
(00:32):
of them being Alex Michaelson, you know who's a friend
of KFI. And let me bring Melissa back on the show.
Melissa is good to talk to you, yin. How are you?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I'm good? How are you mo?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm doing well? And just to reset for everyone.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
When we last talked, we talked about Lexmichaelson, who at
that point announced that he was leaving Fox eleven and
you know Elexon. I know Elexon and we did not
speak to him, but we had like a friendly wager
as to where he would end up after or Fox eleven.
I said that I thought he was going to be
part of the new what was called the New York Post.
(01:06):
They're doing a West Coast version of The New York Post.
I thought he was going to head that up, because
that is a real thing. And you said, correct if
I'm wrong, that he was possibly going to head up
Governor Knewsom's presidential communications bid.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That is.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
As it turns out, neither of us was right. And
I don't know how we pay off the bet.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And if you don't know, Elex Michaelson announced yesterday that
he would be going to CNN and he would have
his weeknight show on CNN, And I don't know if
it's going to be like the issue is, but it's
going to be, I will say, in the vein of
what he had been doing. When you saw the news,
(01:47):
what did you think?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I thought, Wow, we both got it really wrong. But
in a lot of ways I thought we got it right.
I think that he is heading up something new. Come
to find out, it was a show that he pitched
to them a while back that they passed. He went
ahead and brought the idea to Fox eleven, who welcomed it.
He did a fantastic job. If we look at his
(02:12):
roster of guests. Gavin Newsom has been on there the
most time, and a lot of news exclusives that Gavin
brought to the station came through well. A lot of
the news that he brought was exclusives to Alex Felix.
So I think that for me, I feel like we
both foresaw him doing something new, still continuing communications on
(02:38):
behalf of the state of California. He's still going to
be based in la I first see Gavin Newsom being
another prominent fixture on his show, especially as the speculation
continues to grow that he's going to run for president.
Going to CNN, it's going to give him a bigger
platform to talk than just on Fox eleven. So now
(02:59):
he'll be able to read each the nation in a
different capacity, and with someone that like Alix, who has
become a trusted voice and not only Los Angeles but
in these political circles. Given his political and journalism background,
he's the best choice for that job opportunity.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
You make a great point as far as a larger platform,
And I've done a lot of unpaid commentary on CNN
for many years, and people don't necessarily know or understand
that they're seeing in the domestic channel that we see
on our cable systems. And there's also CNN International. They
have like eighty eight bureaus around the world. I say
(03:37):
that because whatever Lex Michaelson does for CNN now ostensibly
could be used to go around the world. And I
know that he had been at Fox eleven for a
long time. We texted back and forth, but I didn't
get into the specifics of why he left. But I
do know he had been at Fox eleven long enough
to know that he probably could not grow more where
(04:00):
he was, and sometimes you got to go to grow,
and this gives him the platform to do more. I
root for him every single day. And I tell people
all the time when you see someone leave, they got
a better offer, and CNN gave him a better offer,
like they did Chris Wallace and other people. And I
know some people want to look at it through this
lens of oh my gosh, I hate Santa and it's
(04:21):
a Clinton news network, it's a communist news network. No,
it's just another outlet, and people kind of forget that.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I'm happy for him.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Do you know when Alex is supposed to start at
this point, I honestly.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Don't know he's supposed to start based on what the
news channel put out, he should be starting right around
the time of early November, and they mentioned he'll be
starting right when we go to the post to vote
on Prop fifty for the redistricting. So hopefully he can
get a show out before election day. But I do
(04:57):
see him being able to grow his show and become
a major force in providing balance coverage leading up to
next year's election.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
He's a consummate professional. I don't think people understand that
he's one like me, at least in this respect, who
is willing to engage people who watch him. He will
be on social media, he will respond directly to people
who may criticize him, and he is someone who is
very serious about journalism as far as how he presents
(05:28):
a story, how he tries to keep his personal feelings
out of a story.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He's a concept.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I remember when he was just coming out of USC
and I think he was working at ABC seven. He's
put in his dues, he's done his time, and now
he's going to get a national, slash international audience to
follow him.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I think his success is our success.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But I do want to ask you, since I do
have you, to switch gears, just Briefly, you do a
wonderful job talking about things which are going on in
ingle Would and also right around Inglewood. So let me
ask you, what are some of the top issues or
topics of conversation right now within the Inglewood community.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Our biggest conversations now are revolving around the immigration rates.
It's in Inglewood very hard, along with the unincorporated part
of Inglewood, which is linux the to get conflated a lot.
But I think the bigger conversation is where do our
elected officials stand on the issue? And one breath that's
(06:36):
saying hey, we support you. And then we just put
up a video showing code enforcement being heavy handed with
street vendors who were assembled outside of the Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
Chargers game.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
I mean ramsgam, I'm sorry. So I think that, you know,
especially with us having two Latino Council members, it's really
important for the community to fill their voices are being
heard throughout weekly city council meetings saying hey, what can
you do to help us their legal funds or there
things that can help with you know, food donations, et cetera.
(07:11):
We see what cigure of the LA is doing unprecedented
things like saying, hey, if you get taken and detained
by ice, will wave you know, parking enforcement and toe
fees if you can show that the car was left
there because of ice, detained being detained by ice. So
(07:32):
I think that in Englewood they're looking at that. Also,
we're looking at, of course the parking issues. What's going
to be the next development with this transit connector. So
I think it's still kind of primarily around immigration enforcement.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
My time is running short with you, Melissa, But since
you mentioned immigration enforcement, you may not have been listening.
I was talking about the law which is getting ready
to be signed by Governor k Newsome regarding law enforcement
of ice.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They will not be able to use.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Masks and they have to be clearly identifiable going forward.
How do you think, Well, let me ask you this
because I was making the statement for those of us
who live in these communities.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I live right outside of Inglewood.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It has always been a concern as far as you
have these mass individuals, armed individuals, how they interact and
how they try to detain or go about these ice raids.
How have you seen these ice raids play out specifically
with regard to mass and non identification in the Inglewood
and surrounding communities.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I think it's very disturbing because you don't know who
these people are. I think the federal government got a
huge win when Supreme Court allowed them to go ahead
and resume immigration enforcement in the city of la specifically
because they were still doing it in surrounding areas. I
(08:58):
believe social media definitely fuels us seeing the more humanistic
side to these rates, when you see people in the
streets trying to stop the activity of the federal government.
But it's interesting because our elected officials in Inglewood will say, well,
you know, they don't tell law enforcement when they're coming here.
(09:20):
We have no idea when these action takes place, and
then there becomes the issue of federal law over state
and local law. So it'll be interesting to see how
it continues to play out, if Governor Newsom does sign
the legislation, and if the Trump administration will.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Even follow it. Before I let you go, we know
each other just a little bit, but I need to
know something about you so I could really appreciate whether
we can be friends or not. You mentioned what was
going on around SOFI stadiums have to ask you rams
are chargers.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
I'm a Saints fan.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Okay, we can end this conversation right now.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I don't need to ask you. Then Dodgers are Angels,
then right.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Dodgers Dodgers absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, Kings, Kings or Ducks.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
I don't watch hockey, okay USC or U c L
a USC of course.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I okay, Now I can rock with you. I can
rock with you.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Three out of four good enough, but listen of two
Urban Girls dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Thank you so much for your reporting.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thank you for being such a good sport with our
our bet regarding Alex Michaelson. I guess neither of us won,
so we'll have to find something else to put a
wager on in the future.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Absolutely, thank you for having.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Me back talk soon.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It's Later with mo Kelly caf I AM six forty
Live everywhere in the iHeartRadio AP.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
CAMFI Later with Mo Kelly Live Everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
No video simulcast tonight. That'll be back on Tuesday. But
let's talk about what's happening in Texas regarding this what
is being dubbed as an anti anti anime bill, and
there's no one who I think better understands anime than
(11:10):
Tula Sharp. Let me just tell you about this bill
real quick. On September first, Texas embraced this what is
called the Anti Anime Bill, Senate Bill twenty And according
to the new legislation, anyone who owns or shares quote
unquote obscene material featuring a character who appears to be
a minor is now committing a serious crime punishable by
(11:32):
jail time. And it has untold consequences for different comic
book retailers, just book retailers, Tuala, I know you know this,
and we've had some companies which had to pull out
of comic con and auntime conventions because of this.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, in the state of.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Texas, they had the San Japan Convention in San Antonio
over this past week, and there were publishers had to
pull out out of fear of retribution.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Look, the fact that this is happening in Texas, it
doesn't surprise me at all because right now Texas does
everything big and that includes extreme, extreme extremist views to
go after autome companies and target the material that is
(12:28):
being released or created by autome distributors. Be it film,
television or manga comics. It's absolute insanity. I mean, look,
I got tickets for tomorrow Tomorrow after noon, Imax, Demon Slayer,
(12:49):
Commitsu No Yayiba, Infinity Castle. Me and my son, we
are going to veg out. That's what we do all Saturday.
We watch these shows. And I understand that some of
the material in anime can be considered risk. There is
a lot of material that you look at and you
(13:10):
go that's wild, but it is also content that is
created by a far less uptight society. If you go
to places like Paris and you go to Japan, you
go to different places that have different ideas about sex
and sexuality and also what they consider risk a what
(13:35):
they're doing in these anime series lots of times considered
tame by comparison. Now, to me, the issue that I
have is when I think about a place like Texas
that goes this far to try to ban and make
it punishable by crime, to even sell this stuff, and
say a comic book shop or to have a convention
(13:56):
that has attracted people to come and see it, I
think dust protest that's too much. I think a lot
of the individuals that are against this are some of
the freaks that are wearing ballgags and getting beat at night,
you know, and forgetting their password.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You think every accusation is a confession. Huh. I think
it's a full on confession. I think that they're like,
burn it to the ground, but save me some.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
It's weird, that's my word, because we always hear about
free speech, free speech, you know. And I use this
against the backdrop of the murder of Charlie Kirk, because
people were talking about, hey, you know, he was just
saying this and you may not agree with him, but
he didn't necessarily need to die because of it. So
we are more focused on the speech that we have
(14:41):
right now. I don't understand the cognitive dissonance where we
want to talk about free speech, but then we want
to go to such great links in this instance to
limit speech or limit creative expression.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
That is because the definition of free speech in a
state like Texas seems to be by all the things
that they want to roll out. Free speech for some
or free speech by way of what we determined to
be right or righteous or Christian or however you want
to have it. You're talking about a state who tried
(15:17):
to leave a movement against the wokeness of Disney. We
want our superheroes to be like they were when we're
growing up. What you mean only uh crash landing in
Kansas and growing up eating mom's apple pie. You can't
have anyone else that could be a superhero.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, not even that.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
I gotta add to that because before we go to break,
Jeffrey Wright, who played Commissioner Gordon in the most recent
iteration of The Batman, he was talking about the amount.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Of hate that he got. He's not even playing a superhero.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
He was playing Commissioner Jim Gordon on the silver screen,
and he got so much hate because so they well,
Jim Gordon has always been a white man. It's like, well,
it's a cartoon character and the person who owns all
things Batman. Michael Eusland, who's been on the show four
or five times, wanted that yes, he got death threats.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
He did, so, yes, he is.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
This is the world that we're living in in a
place like Texas that can say, you know what, we're
not happy that on a man in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You obviously weren't watching it in the first place. What
are you talking about? On Ame and Texas are probably
not hand in hand.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah, that's absolutely, But it's one of those things where
you want to come out, you want to beat your
chest and look at us.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
We're Americans. We don't take Kylie Tady of that, uh
the may. We don't even know what it is. We
don't know what they're saying, because you know what we
don't do. We don't even read.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Subtitles, so we have no idea what's going on in
that dark show.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But we know it's not American. That's what we know.
Funny to alve.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Nature, Mark Talks pontificates the pop culture Run and Report
with Mark Ronner.
Speaker 7 (17:19):
It's Later with Mo Kelly on k f I AM
six forty live everywhere on the iHeart App. I'm Mark
Ronner and this is the Runner Report. This week. I
endured the Long Walk. Here's a little of the trailer
in the.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
Very first Long Walk years ago to inspire every day people.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Smile.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Boys, you're on candid camera and you gotta not think
about the things out of your control, think about your plan. Personally,
I can't stop thinking about all that money.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Listen mark.
Speaker 9 (17:55):
Walking's Second Morning, Third Morning's.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Heavy sack to sign up for this contest.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I'm not going to go through the whole rule book,
but it boils down to this. If you fall below
the speed of three.
Speaker 8 (18:21):
Miles per hour, you get your ticket. Walk until there's
only one of you left.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Who's ready?
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Whad well? I got some bad news for all but
one of the people. This is based on a Stephen
King book that I haven't read. It's the first one
he wrote a few years before he wrote Carrie, which
was the first one he published, and it became one
of the infamous Bachmann books that he wrote under the
pseudonym of Richard Bachman. The Long Walk was collected with
three other King novels in that volume called the Bachman
(18:55):
Books in nineteen eighty five. It also contained a short
novel called Rage about it school shooting, and after the Paducah,
Kentucky school shooting in nineteen ninety seven, kN let it
go out of print along with the original paperback. At
this point, I think you can get all the other
three novels individually, except for Rage. Last night, I saw
a Rage first edition on eBay for three thousand bucks.
(19:16):
You can get the Bachmann Collection paperback for less than
one hundred. I'm too cheap for either one. The premise
of The Long Walk you kind of heard in the trailer,
which is generous of them to provide exposition like that.
In a dystopian America, there's an annual contest in which
a bunch of young men walk hundreds of miles for
days on end, and the one who outlasts all the
others gets anything he wants for life. A few minor rules.
(19:39):
You can't walk below a certain speed, and you only
get three warnings before armed guards shoot you in the head.
You can also get executed for a variety of other
things which fall under the general category of not continuing
to walk and at the minimum speed. If you've never
heard of the Batan Death March in World War Two,
have a look on your Wikipedia. The Long Walk is worse.
(20:00):
And to answer your other question, no, you cannot stop
to poop, and yet poop we must. For further illumination
on that, you're gonna have to see the movie yourself.
As a game show, The Long Walk is nearly as
bad as that one where they shout know whammys all
the Time hosted by Elizabeth Banks, and I suppose you
like that was that jokers w No, I forget the
(20:21):
name of it. I looked it up on car Sharks.
I don't like. Don't get me sidetracked. The contestants in
the Long Walk get plenty of whammies with high powered weapons.
Mark Hamill, that's a voice you heard. He plays the
major who's in charge of everything, and he yells at
the guys, generally from a moving vehicle in front of him.
Not a huge role. The focus is on the walkers.
(20:41):
I don't know if he's right for the role, but
I like seeing Mark Hamill in pretty much anything. The
contestant we follow is a regular guy played by Cooper Hoffman,
the son of a late Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's starreding
Licorice Pizza, which I thought was terrific. Judy Greer plays
his mom, who's just beside herself that he's entered this
death contest, which is rational since only one person survives it.
Your odds of coming back from I don't know, Popeyes,
(21:04):
the Marines or College are significantly better, So it's okay
to cry let it out along the way on the
Long Walk. Friendships are formed, enemies are made. Some guys
antagonize others, They share their secrets and motivations with each other,
and their bodies begin to give out again. We're talking days,
no rest, no sleep, no bathroom, no in and out,
(21:25):
drive through, no creatine. Yesterday I stared down a guy
in the Costco parking lot who didn't return his cart
to the metal corral. So I'm thinking most of us
wouldn't do so well in this kind of contest. But
I think there's also plenty of allegory to it all
in the long walk.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Not the Costco guy. He was just an a hole.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
Not returning your carts dispositive proof in the real world
that you're a bad person. You don't have to search
real hard for allegories in this movie, though. I mean,
something like sixty percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck
and are having trouble making ends meet right now, and
there's more and more talk of cutting retire benefits. So
you know, a movie about people who are forced to
(22:03):
walk for more powerful people until they drop dead isn't
the most escapist concept ever. I mean, you could be
watching Alien, which is a far fetched sci fi thriller
about a group of underpaid space truckers who work for
a corporation that regards them as expendable if that means
huge profits from a new weapon.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Uh, all right? Moving on.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
The Long Walk is directed by Francis Lawrence, who did
several Hunger Games movies. He did the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie,
which has been growing in reputation over the years.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He also did that terrible Will.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
Smith I Am Legend movie, which is so wretched and
so stupid that I'm not sure he understood the book
it came from, written by Richard Matheson. As for a
movie that's largely walking and talking punctuated by some shooting,
this moves along and doesn't get dull. I don't know
when I first became aware of the walk and talk
as a staple end show is probably The West Wing,
But then I noticed it in older shows like the FBI,
(22:57):
and I realize now what those were all missing. The
Long is grim, it's grueling, it's neilistic. I wouldn't exactly
call it a crowd pleaser, but it pleased me. There's
been talk of a movie of this story forever, with
different directors over the years, and I'm glad to see
a version of it that isn't embarrassing. King's original ending
(23:17):
sounds more haunting, but movies necessarily change things. Sometimes it's
a dystopian story King wrote in the sixties, but the
dystopia goalposts have moved since then. They get into the
characters' motivations for joining this death contest, and everyone's different,
but our point of view, Guy is at least in
part motivated by financial security for him and his hot mom,
(23:39):
sorry his mom played by Judy Greer. And it's more
and more desperation in real life now. When I see
a game show and someone wins and the host asks
what they're going to spend the dough on, I'm seeing
more people say, well, they'll finally pay off their student loans,
or they can finally afford a house. A house, not
a castle, not a mansion, just a house to live in.
And that's where we're at. And maybe you remember a
(24:01):
short time ago a TV producer pitched a reality show
to the government about immigrants competing for US citizenship. This
was in May. You can look it up. It's real.
Even though the producer's name sounds made up, Rob worse
Off as in worse Off His credits include Duck Dynasty,
so I guess the name is apt and by the way.
King's Bachmann books also include another death game show contest story,
(24:24):
The Running Man. I bet you've heard of it. We're
going to get a remake of that soon, which is
a much more over the top action spectacle than this
thought provoking, nasty little piece of filth The Long Walk. Now,
let's be honest about Stephen King. For some time now,
he's been like Pablo Picasso, and Picasso could just sketch
on a napkin and pay his dinner tab with it.
(24:44):
Except King can do that and it'll get made into
a movie.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No matter what.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
We could do a whole show on the best and
worst of King movies. I think The Long Walk is
one of the better ones. It's focused at smaller scale. It's,
like I said, nasty, and it has the distinct advantage
of not being the Dark Tower or the lawnmower Man
or the Tommy Knockers. I could keep going, Langaliars. You
get the idea. Oh yeah, the Langoliers. Yes, I was
(25:09):
going to say the Langoliers. Great animation in that one,
you know of those flying mouth things, bang things. So
there you have it. That's the long Walk. I recommend it.
I enjoyed it, maybe not for everyone. There's your runner report, Moe,
what do you got. Press your luck. That's the game
(25:30):
with the whammies. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you press your luck.
I'm not watching that show
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI AM six forty is Later with bo Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
We're live everywherey iHeartRadio app and I think it was
last month I had a conversation with Melissa no last name,
the founder creator of two Urbangirls dot com. It is
a news and cultural affairs website. That's how I would
describe it. It's it's really informative. They've broken some national
stories and we have some mutual friends in common, one
(00:32):
of them being Alex Michaelson, you know who's a friend
of KFI. And let me bring Melissa back on the show.
Melissa is good to talk to you, yin. How are you?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I'm good? How are you mo?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm doing well? And just to reset for everyone.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
When we last talked, we talked about Lexmichaelson, who at
that point announced that he was leaving Fox eleven and
you know Elexon. I know Elexon and we did not
speak to him, but we had like a friendly wager
as to where he would end up after or Fox eleven.
I said that I thought he was going to be
part of the new what was called the New York Post.
(01:06):
They're doing a West Coast version of The New York Post.
I thought he was going to head that up, because
that is a real thing. And you said, correct if
I'm wrong, that he was possibly going to head up
Governor Knewsom's presidential communications bid.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That is.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
As it turns out, neither of us was right. And
I don't know how we pay off the bet.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And if you don't know, Elex Michaelson announced yesterday that
he would be going to CNN and he would have
his weeknight show on CNN, And I don't know if
it's going to be like the issue is, but it's
going to be, I will say, in the vein of
what he had been doing. When you saw the news,
(01:47):
what did you think?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I thought, Wow, we both got it really wrong. But
in a lot of ways I thought we got it right.
I think that he is heading up something new. Come
to find out, it was a show that he pitched
to them a while back that they passed. He went
ahead and brought the idea to Fox eleven, who welcomed it.
He did a fantastic job. If we look at his
(02:12):
roster of guests. Gavin Newsom has been on there the
most time, and a lot of news exclusives that Gavin
brought to the station came through well. A lot of
the news that he brought was exclusives to Alex Felix.
So I think that for me, I feel like we
both foresaw him doing something new, still continuing communications on
(02:38):
behalf of the state of California. He's still going to
be based in la I first see Gavin Newsom being
another prominent fixture on his show, especially as the speculation
continues to grow that he's going to run for president.
Going to CNN, it's going to give him a bigger
platform to talk than just on Fox eleven. So now
(02:59):
he'll be able to read each the nation in a
different capacity, and with someone that like Alix, who has
become a trusted voice and not only Los Angeles but
in these political circles. Given his political and journalism background,
he's the best choice for that job opportunity.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
You make a great point as far as a larger platform,
And I've done a lot of unpaid commentary on CNN
for many years, and people don't necessarily know or understand
that they're seeing in the domestic channel that we see
on our cable systems. And there's also CNN International. They
have like eighty eight bureaus around the world. I say
(03:37):
that because whatever Lex Michaelson does for CNN now ostensibly
could be used to go around the world. And I
know that he had been at Fox eleven for a
long time. We texted back and forth, but I didn't
get into the specifics of why he left. But I
do know he had been at Fox eleven long enough
to know that he probably could not grow more where
(04:00):
he was, and sometimes you got to go to grow,
and this gives him the platform to do more. I
root for him every single day. And I tell people
all the time when you see someone leave, they got
a better offer, and CNN gave him a better offer,
like they did Chris Wallace and other people. And I
know some people want to look at it through this
lens of oh my gosh, I hate Santa and it's
(04:21):
a Clinton news network, it's a communist news network. No,
it's just another outlet, and people kind of forget that.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I'm happy for him.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Do you know when Alex is supposed to start at
this point, I honestly.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Don't know he's supposed to start based on what the
news channel put out, he should be starting right around
the time of early November, and they mentioned he'll be
starting right when we go to the post to vote
on Prop fifty for the redistricting. So hopefully he can
get a show out before election day. But I do
(04:57):
see him being able to grow his show and become
a major force in providing balance coverage leading up to
next year's election.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
He's a consummate professional. I don't think people understand that
he's one like me, at least in this respect, who
is willing to engage people who watch him. He will
be on social media, he will respond directly to people
who may criticize him, and he is someone who is
very serious about journalism as far as how he presents
(05:28):
a story, how he tries to keep his personal feelings
out of a story.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He's a concept.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I remember when he was just coming out of USC
and I think he was working at ABC seven. He's
put in his dues, he's done his time, and now
he's going to get a national, slash international audience to
follow him.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I think his success is our success.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But I do want to ask you, since I do
have you, to switch gears, just Briefly, you do a
wonderful job talking about things which are going on in
ingle Would and also right around Inglewood. So let me
ask you, what are some of the top issues or
topics of conversation right now within the Inglewood community.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Our biggest conversations now are revolving around the immigration rates.
It's in Inglewood very hard, along with the unincorporated part
of Inglewood, which is linux the to get conflated a lot.
But I think the bigger conversation is where do our
elected officials stand on the issue? And one breath that's
(06:36):
saying hey, we support you. And then we just put
up a video showing code enforcement being heavy handed with
street vendors who were assembled outside of the Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
Chargers game.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
I mean ramsgam, I'm sorry. So I think that, you know,
especially with us having two Latino Council members, it's really
important for the community to fill their voices are being
heard throughout weekly city council meetings saying hey, what can
you do to help us their legal funds or there
things that can help with you know, food donations, et cetera.
(07:11):
We see what cigure of the LA is doing unprecedented
things like saying, hey, if you get taken and detained
by ice, will wave you know, parking enforcement and toe
fees if you can show that the car was left
there because of ice, detained being detained by ice. So
(07:32):
I think that in Englewood they're looking at that. Also,
we're looking at, of course the parking issues. What's going
to be the next development with this transit connector. So
I think it's still kind of primarily around immigration enforcement.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
My time is running short with you, Melissa, But since
you mentioned immigration enforcement, you may not have been listening.
I was talking about the law which is getting ready
to be signed by Governor k Newsome regarding law enforcement
of ice.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They will not be able to use.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Masks and they have to be clearly identifiable going forward.
How do you think, Well, let me ask you this
because I was making the statement for those of us
who live in these communities.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I live right outside of Inglewood.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It has always been a concern as far as you
have these mass individuals, armed individuals, how they interact and
how they try to detain or go about these ice raids.
How have you seen these ice raids play out specifically
with regard to mass and non identification in the Inglewood
and surrounding communities.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I think it's very disturbing because you don't know who
these people are. I think the federal government got a
huge win when Supreme Court allowed them to go ahead
and resume immigration enforcement in the city of la specifically
because they were still doing it in surrounding areas. I
(08:58):
believe social media definitely fuels us seeing the more humanistic
side to these rates, when you see people in the
streets trying to stop the activity of the federal government.
But it's interesting because our elected officials in Inglewood will say, well,
you know, they don't tell law enforcement when they're coming here.
(09:20):
We have no idea when these action takes place, and
then there becomes the issue of federal law over state
and local law. So it'll be interesting to see how
it continues to play out, if Governor Newsom does sign
the legislation, and if the Trump administration will.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Even follow it. Before I let you go, we know
each other just a little bit, but I need to
know something about you so I could really appreciate whether
we can be friends or not. You mentioned what was
going on around SOFI stadiums have to ask you rams
are chargers.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
I'm a Saints fan.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Okay, we can end this conversation right now.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I don't need to ask you. Then Dodgers are Angels,
then right.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
Dodgers Dodgers absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, Kings, Kings or Ducks.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
I don't watch hockey, okay USC or U c L
a USC of course.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I okay, Now I can rock with you. I can
rock with you.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Three out of four good enough, but listen of two
Urban Girls dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Thank you so much for your reporting.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thank you for being such a good sport with our
our bet regarding Alex Michaelson. I guess neither of us won,
so we'll have to find something else to put a
wager on in the future.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Absolutely, thank you for having.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Me back talk soon.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It's Later with mo Kelly caf I AM six forty
Live everywhere in the iHeartRadio AP.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
CAMFI Later with Mo Kelly Live Everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
No video simulcast tonight. That'll be back on Tuesday. But
let's talk about what's happening in Texas regarding this what
is being dubbed as an anti anti anime bill, and
there's no one who I think better understands anime than
(11:10):
Tula Sharp. Let me just tell you about this bill
real quick. On September first, Texas embraced this what is
called the Anti Anime Bill, Senate Bill twenty And according
to the new legislation, anyone who owns or shares quote
unquote obscene material featuring a character who appears to be
a minor is now committing a serious crime punishable by
(11:32):
jail time. And it has untold consequences for different comic
book retailers, just book retailers, Tuala, I know you know this,
and we've had some companies which had to pull out
of comic con and auntime conventions because of this.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, in the state of.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Texas, they had the San Japan Convention in San Antonio
over this past week, and there were publishers had to
pull out out of fear of retribution.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Look, the fact that this is happening in Texas, it
doesn't surprise me at all because right now Texas does
everything big and that includes extreme, extreme extremist views to
go after autome companies and target the material that is
(12:28):
being released or created by autome distributors. Be it film,
television or manga comics. It's absolute insanity. I mean, look,
I got tickets for tomorrow Tomorrow after noon, Imax, Demon Slayer,
(12:49):
Commitsu No Yayiba, Infinity Castle. Me and my son, we
are going to veg out. That's what we do all Saturday.
We watch these shows. And I understand that some of
the material in anime can be considered risk. There is
a lot of material that you look at and you
(13:10):
go that's wild, but it is also content that is
created by a far less uptight society. If you go
to places like Paris and you go to Japan, you
go to different places that have different ideas about sex
and sexuality and also what they consider risk a what
(13:35):
they're doing in these anime series lots of times considered
tame by comparison. Now, to me, the issue that I
have is when I think about a place like Texas
that goes this far to try to ban and make
it punishable by crime, to even sell this stuff, and
say a comic book shop or to have a convention
(13:56):
that has attracted people to come and see it, I
think dust protest that's too much. I think a lot
of the individuals that are against this are some of
the freaks that are wearing ballgags and getting beat at night,
you know, and forgetting their password.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You think every accusation is a confession. Huh. I think
it's a full on confession. I think that they're like,
burn it to the ground, but save me some.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
It's weird, that's my word, because we always hear about
free speech, free speech, you know. And I use this
against the backdrop of the murder of Charlie Kirk, because
people were talking about, hey, you know, he was just
saying this and you may not agree with him, but
he didn't necessarily need to die because of it. So
we are more focused on the speech that we have
(14:41):
right now. I don't understand the cognitive dissonance where we
want to talk about free speech, but then we want
to go to such great links in this instance to
limit speech or limit creative expression.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
That is because the definition of free speech in a
state like Texas seems to be by all the things
that they want to roll out. Free speech for some
or free speech by way of what we determined to
be right or righteous or Christian or however you want
to have it. You're talking about a state who tried
(15:17):
to leave a movement against the wokeness of Disney. We
want our superheroes to be like they were when we're
growing up. What you mean only uh crash landing in
Kansas and growing up eating mom's apple pie. You can't
have anyone else that could be a superhero.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, not even that.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
I gotta add to that because before we go to break,
Jeffrey Wright, who played Commissioner Gordon in the most recent
iteration of The Batman, he was talking about the amount.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Of hate that he got. He's not even playing a superhero.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
He was playing Commissioner Jim Gordon on the silver screen,
and he got so much hate because so they well,
Jim Gordon has always been a white man. It's like, well,
it's a cartoon character and the person who owns all
things Batman. Michael Eusland, who's been on the show four
or five times, wanted that yes, he got death threats.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
He did, so, yes, he is.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
This is the world that we're living in in a
place like Texas that can say, you know what, we're
not happy that on a man in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You obviously weren't watching it in the first place. What
are you talking about? On Ame and Texas are probably
not hand in hand.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah, that's absolutely, But it's one of those things where
you want to come out, you want to beat your
chest and look at us.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
We're Americans. We don't take Kylie Tady of that, uh
the may. We don't even know what it is. We
don't know what they're saying, because you know what we
don't do. We don't even read.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Subtitles, so we have no idea what's going on in
that dark show.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But we know it's not American. That's what we know.
Funny to alve.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Nature, Mark Talks pontificates the pop culture Run and Report
with Mark Ronner.
Speaker 7 (17:19):
It's Later with Mo Kelly on k f I AM
six forty live everywhere on the iHeart App. I'm Mark
Ronner and this is the Runner Report. This week. I
endured the Long Walk. Here's a little of the trailer
in the.
Speaker 8 (17:31):
Very first Long Walk years ago to inspire every day people.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Smile.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Boys, you're on candid camera and you gotta not think
about the things out of your control, think about your plan. Personally,
I can't stop thinking about all that money.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Listen mark.
Speaker 9 (17:55):
Walking's Second Morning, Third Morning's.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Heavy sack to sign up for this contest.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I'm not going to go through the whole rule book,
but it boils down to this. If you fall below
the speed of three.
Speaker 8 (18:21):
Miles per hour, you get your ticket. Walk until there's
only one of you left.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Who's ready?
Speaker 7 (18:34):
Whad well? I got some bad news for all but
one of the people. This is based on a Stephen
King book that I haven't read. It's the first one
he wrote a few years before he wrote Carrie, which
was the first one he published, and it became one
of the infamous Bachmann books that he wrote under the
pseudonym of Richard Bachman. The Long Walk was collected with
three other King novels in that volume called the Bachman
(18:55):
Books in nineteen eighty five. It also contained a short
novel called Rage about it school shooting, and after the Paducah,
Kentucky school shooting in nineteen ninety seven, kN let it
go out of print along with the original paperback. At
this point, I think you can get all the other
three novels individually, except for Rage. Last night, I saw
a Rage first edition on eBay for three thousand bucks.
(19:16):
You can get the Bachmann Collection paperback for less than
one hundred. I'm too cheap for either one. The premise
of The Long Walk you kind of heard in the trailer,
which is generous of them to provide exposition like that.
In a dystopian America, there's an annual contest in which
a bunch of young men walk hundreds of miles for
days on end, and the one who outlasts all the
others gets anything he wants for life. A few minor rules.
(19:39):
You can't walk below a certain speed, and you only
get three warnings before armed guards shoot you in the head.
You can also get executed for a variety of other
things which fall under the general category of not continuing
to walk and at the minimum speed. If you've never
heard of the Batan Death March in World War Two,
have a look on your Wikipedia. The Long Walk is worse.
(20:00):
And to answer your other question, no, you cannot stop
to poop, and yet poop we must. For further illumination
on that, you're gonna have to see the movie yourself.
As a game show, The Long Walk is nearly as
bad as that one where they shout know whammys all
the Time hosted by Elizabeth Banks, and I suppose you
like that was that jokers w No, I forget the
(20:21):
name of it. I looked it up on car Sharks.
I don't like. Don't get me sidetracked. The contestants in
the Long Walk get plenty of whammies with high powered weapons.
Mark Hamill, that's a voice you heard. He plays the
major who's in charge of everything, and he yells at
the guys, generally from a moving vehicle in front of him.
Not a huge role. The focus is on the walkers.
(20:41):
I don't know if he's right for the role, but
I like seeing Mark Hamill in pretty much anything. The
contestant we follow is a regular guy played by Cooper Hoffman,
the son of a late Philip Seymour Hoffman. He's starreding
Licorice Pizza, which I thought was terrific. Judy Greer plays
his mom, who's just beside herself that he's entered this
death contest, which is rational since only one person survives it.
Your odds of coming back from I don't know, Popeyes,
(21:04):
the Marines or College are significantly better, So it's okay
to cry let it out along the way on the
Long Walk. Friendships are formed, enemies are made. Some guys
antagonize others, They share their secrets and motivations with each other,
and their bodies begin to give out again. We're talking days,
no rest, no sleep, no bathroom, no in and out,
(21:25):
drive through, no creatine. Yesterday I stared down a guy
in the Costco parking lot who didn't return his cart
to the metal corral. So I'm thinking most of us
wouldn't do so well in this kind of contest. But
I think there's also plenty of allegory to it all
in the long walk.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Not the Costco guy. He was just an a hole.
Speaker 7 (21:43):
Not returning your carts dispositive proof in the real world
that you're a bad person. You don't have to search
real hard for allegories in this movie, though. I mean,
something like sixty percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck
and are having trouble making ends meet right now, and
there's more and more talk of cutting retire benefits. So
you know, a movie about people who are forced to
(22:03):
walk for more powerful people until they drop dead isn't
the most escapist concept ever. I mean, you could be
watching Alien, which is a far fetched sci fi thriller
about a group of underpaid space truckers who work for
a corporation that regards them as expendable if that means
huge profits from a new weapon.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Uh, all right? Moving on.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
The Long Walk is directed by Francis Lawrence, who did
several Hunger Games movies. He did the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie,
which has been growing in reputation over the years.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He also did that terrible Will.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
Smith I Am Legend movie, which is so wretched and
so stupid that I'm not sure he understood the book
it came from, written by Richard Matheson. As for a
movie that's largely walking and talking punctuated by some shooting,
this moves along and doesn't get dull. I don't know
when I first became aware of the walk and talk
as a staple end show is probably The West Wing,
But then I noticed it in older shows like the FBI,
(22:57):
and I realize now what those were all missing. The
Long is grim, it's grueling, it's neilistic. I wouldn't exactly
call it a crowd pleaser, but it pleased me. There's
been talk of a movie of this story forever, with
different directors over the years, and I'm glad to see
a version of it that isn't embarrassing. King's original ending
(23:17):
sounds more haunting, but movies necessarily change things. Sometimes it's
a dystopian story King wrote in the sixties, but the
dystopia goalposts have moved since then. They get into the
characters' motivations for joining this death contest, and everyone's different,
but our point of view, Guy is at least in
part motivated by financial security for him and his hot mom,
(23:39):
sorry his mom played by Judy Greer. And it's more
and more desperation in real life now. When I see
a game show and someone wins and the host asks
what they're going to spend the dough on, I'm seeing
more people say, well, they'll finally pay off their student loans,
or they can finally afford a house. A house, not
a castle, not a mansion, just a house to live in.
And that's where we're at. And maybe you remember a
(24:01):
short time ago a TV producer pitched a reality show
to the government about immigrants competing for US citizenship. This
was in May. You can look it up. It's real.
Even though the producer's name sounds made up, Rob worse
Off as in worse Off His credits include Duck Dynasty,
so I guess the name is apt and by the way.
King's Bachmann books also include another death game show contest story,
(24:24):
The Running Man. I bet you've heard of it. We're
going to get a remake of that soon, which is
a much more over the top action spectacle than this
thought provoking, nasty little piece of filth The Long Walk. Now,
let's be honest about Stephen King. For some time now,
he's been like Pablo Picasso, and Picasso could just sketch
on a napkin and pay his dinner tab with it.
(24:44):
Except King can do that and it'll get made into
a movie.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No matter what.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
We could do a whole show on the best and
worst of King movies. I think The Long Walk is
one of the better ones. It's focused at smaller scale. It's,
like I said, nasty, and it has the distinct advantage
of not being the Dark Tower or the lawnmower Man
or the Tommy Knockers. I could keep going, Langaliars. You
get the idea. Oh yeah, the Langoliers. Yes, I was
(25:09):
going to say the Langoliers. Great animation in that one,
you know of those flying mouth things, bang things. So
there you have it. That's the long Walk. I recommend it.
I enjoyed it, maybe not for everyone. There's your runner report, Moe,
what do you got. Press your luck. That's the game
(25:30):
with the whammies. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you press your luck.
I'm not watching that show
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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