I'm a homegrowd that knows a little bit about everything and everybody.
I don't know if you don't lie about that, right, l came in, Hey, y'all, what's up.
It's Laura and Rosa and this is the latest with Lauren Rosa.
This is your delly dig on all things pop culture.
Entertainment, news and all of the conversations that shake the room.
Baby.
So first, that's checking behind the scenes to the grind Our last episode, I was in real life.
I was going through things at the exact.
Time up until I walked into the podcast, and it was no way I could do a full podcast episode without talking about I went through the whole day just kind of like dealing with it my grandmother. I told you, guys, please go back and listen to the episode. The episode the title when Life Gets Real. And in that episode we talked about Mattel debuting the autism Barbie and Mary J. Blige announcing her Vegas residency. But in real life, life
got real. I had a bit of a health scared with my grandmother who spent the night at my home the day before yesterday, and it freaked me out. Man, Like just watching people you love get older. We talked about that on that episode, so please go take a listen. It is such a beautiful thing because you get to watch them experience life and you know, get get their flowers and just everything they put into like you watch them get out of it and get to enjoy it.
But at the same time, it is such a crazy uh like mental excuse my language, but I have to say it this way. It's such a crazy mental mind fuck to watch people you love get older at the same time because health becomes a thing, and you know, especially if they're not like married, or they don't have a life partner, whatever the case may be, it's just such a weird space to be in. So I was dealing with that in real time, and we talked a bit about it, which really helped me be able to
get through the episode. Yes, so if you guys don't hear it in my voice and just in my my energy, I'm feeling a lot better today. I pray and I just decided to do as much as I could and just know that God got us. Okay, my grandmother she knew that I was like really upset, so she's been calling me since then, just checking in, like are you okay, I'm okay, okay.
So behind the scenes of the Grind, things were a little shaky, but I'm feeling a lot.
Better today if we're checking in. Now, let's get on into the latest. Wow, there's a lot to talk about with this story. So first up in the Latest, Drew Ski, comedian Drew Ski, he'dne pissed the people off. Okay, Now, let me just say that anytime somebody makes fun of anything in the church, there's always somebody that's upset.
You're either upset.
Because you're one of them church going folk who don't believe the church. And when I say the church, I don't physically mean God, I don't like you know, I'm talking about the physical uh place, like the church itself, physical place itself, but also the community. So the people that you meet in the church, and the people who run the church, work in the church, all that stuff. Right, If you're one of those people who don't think any of those people can do anything wrong, you get upset
when people laugh and joke about the church. If you're one of those people who y'all know them people. Everybody got at least one or two in their family where it's like they kind of grew up in church and then they had like one thing that happened to them in church. And I don't mean like nothing, because you don't know something is going on sometimes in these churches.
I mean like, uh, you know, maybe they heard something they didn't like, or the pastor because this happens denounce something that they you know, believe in, or you know, the way that they live in their life or whatever. So now they hate all things God, religion. They're just they're they're universe people, right, see one of those people, or you're just one of those people who grew up you know, like a lot of us. Did I know,
I'm one of these people. I'm not mad at this skit though I thought the skit was funny as hell. I'm one of those people who grew up in the church, grew up in a very faith based family and home. So from the elders, you just don't play with certain things,
and church is one of them. So Drewski has a lot of people having a lot of conversations right now because he dropped a skit via his Instagram and on his social media platforms all about the Mega Church and some of the things that go down let's that's what I'm sad.
I'm gonna have Wanda stand up here, Wanda please. Wanda told us earlier this month that she cannot have a baby anymore. So I impregnated her with the word of God. I'm going to impregnate everyone with the word of God. You don't gonna get pregnant with the word of God. Don't won't get pregnant with the world of God. Don't gonna get pregnant with the I had somebody in the congregation asked why I'm wearing Christian to York and Christian lupid Because I'm a Christian and I walk in the
blood of Give them some prey. I'm a question part and I'm walk in the blood. I give them some pain. Give them.
It's the subtitles. It's the subtitles on the the the video, the that appear like Snapchat for me. So Drew Ski on a surface level, right, takes some of the big things that happen to church. So you have ties, you have offering, you have the prayer, like the prayers for
people in the church. So when he brought the lady up and basically like those prayers for those miracles, and you know how like there's that time in church where like you do like church announcements, right, and they talk to you about this person was going through this and then survived this, and we pray this, and you know, he does all of that, even the prayer requests at the end of the video where people are asking for
the pastor to pray for their rives. There, you know, all the things, the fundamental things that go down in church where people come to praise, to wordship, write.
All that stuff.
But the difference in Jewski skit is he leans in to the megachurch vibe. So at the megachurch is you have And there's been a lot of pastors who went viral for the theatrics in their church flying through the ceiling, uh, you know, just even in how they preach, leaning into things that are like pop culture and culturally relevant, like can you help me?
I said, baby, can you help me? Then he's like, but I'm gonna do the church version of it.
Right.
A lot of churches flipping hip hop and rap songs on its head have went viral as well. And whenever these certain things happen, people always have the commonnversation about whether these things help the church, and a lot of people who you know have younger congregations will say they do because you attract a younger audience, you keep that audience there. It's hard to get people in church. People
want a church from YouTube now, especially young people. And then there's the other side of people who were like no, because if you're coming and you're coming for God, and you're coming for the Word, and you're coming for the deliverance, you don't need a production like this, right. And then there's always the conversation about money in the church, and Drew Ski leaned into that.
You are raising funds for a project in Zimbabwe. Yes, we are trying to get a congregation over in Africa. Hey man. We wanted to raise four million dollars for that iliyah that needs to appear today. We are not letting anyone leave until we reach out gold Amen. Hello Loui, your life savings here. Give him some praise for that.
Give it this life savings other.
Now.
I talked about a lot of pastors who went viral for the way that they went about money and collecting money within their churches. Pastor Marvin Whinings more recently was a pastor that I covered people were very upset at this moment that happened in his church.
Hi ROBERTA.
McCoy giving faith and standing unity with the vision of perfecting church or sowing this seed of one thousand dollars plus two hundred and thirty five dollars and receiving the blessings to come to all that participating.
Now that that's only twelve hundred dollars.
Yes, y'all not listening to what I'm saying. If you have a thousand plus one thousand.
Okay, I'm gonna work.
On the other hand, well, that ain't what I asked you to do. Now, I don't know. People are up arms. Drew Ski and this skit have.
Been trending across x all day long. Honestly since he first dropped the skit. Last night, I saw that Drewski posted that this video has now become one of his videos that has over one hundred thousand comments right on Instagram. But I spoke to a rep from Jewski who tells me this is his most popular video. The video, y'all, at this point, hasn't even been up twenty four hours. Drewski posted this video last night at eight o'clock PM.
I'm gonna give you guys the numbers.
So a rep for Drewski tells me that this is that not even one of his most popular videos, that this is his most popular videos.
This video in less than twenty.
Four hours, has thirty four million views in eighteen hours. And I'm trying to explain to you guys. A lot of it is the discourse around the video. People were upset, people are not upset. A big part of it, and from what I was seeing online is there's a lot of people who feel like you shouldn't play with the church, that you shouldn't discuss certain things.
But I feel like.
If these things are happening in some churches, right, not all because, not all because I do like at the end of the Drew Skies video the way that the pastor of the church is portrayed as like there's money hungry. You know, I rock the red bottoms, I'm driving away in the car. I don't really care about the people. This is all just a business. But I mean, all of this stuff stems from somewhere, Like none of this is made up. This stuff is really happening in some churches.
Drewski posted this video of this pastor flying down from the ceiling.
To preach to a church.
If it's really happening, Like, why are we upset that someone puts it together and makes it funny. One of the things that I'll never understand about conversations about church is the sensitivity of it. And y'all can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not a pastor whatsoever, but I do attend the church shout out to seize the greatness. My pastor would never fly in from the ceiling, just wouldn't. But back to my point, if this is something that is actually happening, why are we upset when people put
together and have conversations about it. I think one of the things that really distracts people from getting to God.
It's not the theatrics.
It's not you know, someone sitting in the church and trying to figure out who's really here for God and who's really sent by God to let people versus who's here to be manipulative and just make money and you know, take money and all the things. But I think it's the judgment of like maybe some people like the theatrics.
I remember my first time.
Pulling up to a megachurch in La I had never been to one before. All the churches I've been to in Delaware prior to that were smaller churches, and even if they were bigger in congregation, it just wasn't what this was. I went to one church LA in LA for the first time. Pastor Torrey and Sarah James Roberts used to be the pastors there. They're now over in Dallas at another Potterhouse church. They took over for Pastor T. D. Jakes, who is Sarah Jakes's dad. But this is when they
were preaching there. This was some years ago, and I remember Number one seeing metal detectors and I was like, what, you have metal detectors at a church?
But what blew my mind?
They have valet. They have valet, like you could valet your car outside of the church. And I don't know if one church is still like this, but you could valet your car outside of the church. At this point, I've never used the valet system there, so I don't know if it was paid for or if it was not paid like if you had to pay or if you did it, or if it was just more of
like a parking like customary service. But I remember my first day walking up, and when I saw that that they had somebody that could park your car for you, at that point in time, it threw me off. I was like, is this, Like is this the church I shouldn't be going to? And then something in me was just like, you're in La. You know this is a bigger church. And I had heard of the church online before, so I'm like, you know, you never know who they're
trying to accommodate by having something like this. And also, don't let the physical things that you might not be used to or agree with stop you from getting to work. That's my point, is like, if we really focus on getting to God, just pour your own poison, pick where you want to do it at, and focus on whatch
I got going on over there. People are always so upset and so not upset, but people are always so touchy about these church things as if they don't happen, but they do, and because they do, low key it's fair game in my opinion, right, So I go into
the church, and I love the church. I was at one church my whole all of my eight years in La, I was at one church, and I'm so happy that I did not allow what was different and what I wasn't used to stop me from getting to where I needed to get to when it came to my relationship with God. And once I got to know the people, not even got to know, but once I got to
because that is a big church. It's hard to kind of get to know the leadership and all that stuff in a church like one church La, especially if you're if you're new to the church. But once I was there enough and I begin to see just the different people that would attend the church. Right, So you have Beyonce's mom coming on any given Sunday, and Miss Tina be in church and she's there most of the time.
She's not there with security, just different things. I begin to realize, like, Okay, this is not about trying to look elite or a way to collect money. This is about understanding who you have in your church and just trying to make sure everybody's good and everybody's protected, which is why there's also meta detectors, which again too that threw me off girl when I first saw it, But even right now in this moment looking back at that, I'm like, yo, people run into churches and shoot them up.
Imagine if you I have the metal detector from allowing you in the church because you're used to walking in the churches that don't see the need for that.
The distraction would have been so real. I don't know.
I think the skit was funny. I think we let it be funny and we move on. But if we really being honest.
This stuff happens in the church.
And I've reached out to a few faith leaders who you know, I was unable to get someone to come on and make a comment. I didn't know this was so touchy, did not know, but chot out the drewski though. I mean he accomplished what I think he set out to do. I mean there's conversations started, the engagement is real, and now we move on, hopefully hopefully, And now we move on because one thing that's not gonna happen. If somebody is corrupt and they in the church, that person
gonna be corrupt until they not. If somebody is in church with the wrong intentions, them intentions ain't gonna change. Hopefully God get to them, but them intentions are not gonna change. You just got to focus on being you, understanding what you came to that church to take out of it. And if it's not a right fit, just leave. If we're being honest, there is a business component to anything that houses people, serves people, or provides any type of product for people. I don't care if it is
a shelter. I don't care if it's a food bank or a food shelter and a food desert, or if it's a church. There is a business element to it. There has to be a business element to it, because when you're inside of that church, you got to look up, you got lights, you got heat, you got comfortable chairs to sit in, you know what I mean. And a lot of times of people that are working in these churches that are volunteering their how many churches are not being paid. But when you do have a pastor that is,
you know, leading your church, they are being paid. Now the thing. And I get it, people don't want to be manipulated. Totally understand that. And I think it's nothing wrong with calling out people when those things are happening. But why do can we as people act like this stuff doesn't happen to church? Like why are we so mad at Drew Skie. I saw somebody say that they had to unfollow Drew ski for this skit because it
just felt demonic in their soul to watch it. So now we don't know that there are pastors out there that are very money hungry, that's walking in red bottoms for all the wrong reasons. And like, y'all, this is all real stuff, Like this is real, real things. Focus on you and your church. If it's not happening where you at, you good?
You know what I mean? You got, y'all, You're good. Now.
In other news, as we move right along, this segment is all about the people being upset. Next up, in the latest following Drew Ski, people are upset about the autism barbie. Now, we talk so much about wanting diversity and inclusion and all the things, and Mattel has tried to do that with this line of barbies that they call the Fashioniste the Barbies. So these barbies are not only diverse in skin color and in look, but they're also diverse in weight, they're diverse in disability, and the
people are upset. So yesterday, so honor so on one of our previous episodes, please go check that out if you guys get a chance, we talked about the fact that Mattel dropped this autism Barbie, and with the autism Barbie became a pink spinner. The autism Barbie also has on really big headphones. All these things are because of the sensory needs that go along with a person who
is living their life with autism. We also talked about the clothing and the clothing being flowy and you know, just different sensory things when it came to like, you know, various fabrics and how they touch your skin and they on your skin if you are a person dealing with certain levels of autism as well, y'all people are upset.
They're saying, Mattel missed the mark. So we're gonna take it to the streets, into the tweets and I'm an tell you, guys, some of the things that the people are saying, and I want to hear from you.
Let me know if y'all think that this is valid.
I honestly, and I said this in the episode when we talked about this, when it originally dropped an autistic Barbie. To me, I'm like, how do you even know that the Barbie is autistic? And then I looked into the accessories and I'm like, okay. And CNN did a interview with a girl. I'm gonna find her name, and that is what made it registered to me, Like, Okay, autism
isn't just a isn't just a Look. There are things that accompany, you know, people who are autistic that help their life be a bit easier, the same way that if you had a paraplegic barbie, the barbie would be in a wheelchair and it would be very easy to spot, but it would also add to visibility for people who are also a paraplegic.
I don't know, I'm gonna get to the streets.
Let's take it to the streets and the tweets, which is our segment where we take these pop culture segments and we look at what.
Are y'all saying, Low riders, what are y'all talking about? You call a treat? We outside? We outside?
Okay?
Every other played drug? Okay.
So doctor Jessica Taylor, she is a Sunday Times best selling author, a psychologist. She studies victim focused forensic psychology. She's been seen on Netflix, various TV stations, radio, So this is all in her bio. I don't know doctor Jessica, doctor Jessica Taylor, but I do know that her post about the autistic Barbie is going viral, so she says, autistic Barbie by Mattel just landed.
So let's get into it.
She is thin, conventionally attractive, feminine, long, straight haired, neatly presented Barbie proportion with the mini dress and long legs. And what makes her out as autistic headphones, a fidget spinner, and I quote, a vacant look in her eye, according to Mattel, to represent that autistic people struggle with eye contact. That's it, Doctor Jessica Taylor on XSYS, be real with me. This is not representation of autistic lives. It's esthetic labeling.
Autism reduced to a single, sanitized visual cue that has become popularized through social media stereotypes. Headphones function as a shorthand for sensory sensitivity, which is then flattened into autism. This is branding and commodification of autism. Autism is where you have headphones on and a vacant look in your eye. I mean, are we being serious? Nothing about this die reflects the material realities of autistic people's lives. There is
no engagement with power, exclusion, or harm. Autism is treated as something you accessorize, not something that's shaped to how you are treated by schools, employers' healthcare systems, families, friends, partners, police, court, police, court's prisons, or the state. But forget about all that look pretty, get your legs out and play with your fidget spinners.
This my new article. Then she posts an article that she did on this.
I mean, I can like, I hear her, but like, now, let me go to the CNN article because because I hear her, but I also don't. I do think that there are people who, you know, use these certain accessories to make their walk through life every single day a bit better. And the only reason I'm saying this I don't know. I don't have anyone close to me who
suffers from autism. But I read this article when I was preparing for this segment the other day, and because I also didn't understand it, I was like, why would you create an autism Barbie, Like, how do you physically
show autism? Because I know it's in mannerisms, it's in it's in so many different ways that you know you can pick up on a person's like autism, and when you're seeing them, when you're talking to them, when you're experiencing them, and there's various different things that people like. She said that people other you by when you are an autistic person. It's not just your physical dress or the things that you carry along with you.
Right.
So in this article, by seeing in there's a young black girl and her mom that they focus on. And this girl, her name is Miko. She is five years old. So this scene in an article says five year old Miko's eyes light up with glee when she noticed something familiar about her Barbie. The doll held a fidget spinner and wore oversized headphones just like hers. The moment was almost magical, said Miko's mother, Precious Heel, who's based in Las Vegas.
Then they go in.
They go forward to say Miko, who is nonverbal, also uses an AAC device, which is the tablet device that the autism Barbie also comes with, which helps people who have speech or language problems communicate. Autism is such an invisible disability at times. And to see that it's being represented through Barbie. Everybody knows who Barbie is, it felt really good. Hail says, it's Miko's mom. It's really important
to me that Miko walks through life having representation. It really matters to me that she is not alone.
So I mean, I.
Some outrage, y'all, is just why it's very selective, Like I don't understand the point in being upset about something if there are other people who will likely agree that this thing deserves to be in the world.
That is the whole. That's the through line of this whole episode with drewski skit.
Be mad all, y'all want to Let's not get away from the fact that everything that he called out in that skit, either we've actually seen it over the last couple of years and it's went viral. You've experienced yourself in church or you know, so blink if you know someone who knows someone okay, like church people themselves will tell you there are people in churches who are not good people. There are church experiences in church, you know, infrastructures that are set up that are not good things.
It is real.
The church is a physical place where you come to get close to its spiritual being or beings, God, Jesus, that whole, you know, the Trinity, the God, God, the Father, the Son period. I might not have said that right, but I'm promise you I'll go to church, but we can't lean on that so much. Like I just wish people would stop leaning into like these And maybe this is me getting older. Oh my god, do I sound like an old person yapping because I wish people would stop leaning.
So much on other people's.
Experience or take on things or lack thereof, like with the autism barbie, Like I didn't understand it, but the more I looked into it, I'm like, Oh, if there are people in the world that feel like this is helping me with anything, I'm happy for those people. Let them have the barbie, not the trendy or the now trending and viral discourse about why this autistic barbie is a slap in the face to autistic people in our There may be people who actually suffer with autism that
feel that way. I'm not taking that away from them either, I am not. But what I'm saying is is that here we y'all just get along. Honestly, That's what I'm really saying. But I know y'all don't want to hear that. Nobody wants to hear that because that's not the thing that you want to talk about. But what I'm saying to each his own period. If you don't like Drew ski skits and you don't think he's telling the truth about what happened in some of these churches, baby, I'm following.
But when I saw y'all say I'm gonna following Drew Ski because he's demonic because the man did a skit about church that it was very funny, by the way, and entertaining, I'm like, okay, we need to take one hundred and twenty five or more characters away from some of your people. It's Lorna Rose that this has been another episode of the Latest with Lauraa Rosea, your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news and all
of the conversations that are shaking the room. I tell you, guys, every single episode, you could be anywhere with anybody discussing all.
Of the things, but you choose to be right here with me, my low riding and know I appreciate you for that.
I'm Lorda Rosa, and I will catch you in my next episode.