QLS Classic: Stephanie Ruhle

Course Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

What up, y'all, It's like eah and this QLs classic episode is all about our MS seventy C girl, Stephanie Rule. Yup, no stone gets unturned. In this classic episode, Stephanie Rule, MSNBC news anchor talks about her transition from Wall Street to news anchor and shares her views on complicated issues. Oh yeah, we had some real hard talks from the twenty eleven financial crisis to free speech and the Me Too movement. And remember that time we all talked about

Enjoy Suprema Suh Suh Supremo role called Suprema Suh Suh Suprema. Oh call Supremo Supremo role Call Supremo Sun Sun Supremo roll call.

Yeah yeah, sure, Supremo Sun Supremo Rod.

My name is Fante.

Yeah ha ha yeah. With Stephanie Rule. No relation to jobs.

Suprima su su.

Supremo role called Suprema Sun Sun Supremo roll call, Let's.

Go to school. Yeah with Stephanie Rule, Yeah, just talk slowly. Yeah, this ain't a jewel.

Supremo Supremo suck Supprimo roll before.

We get to Yeah, and that's cool. Yeah to working TV news Boss Bill went to school.

Supreme Supremo roll call, Supremo Supremo roll call.

It's like yeah with Stephanie Rule. Yeah, she's smart as hell and she'll shade you.

To roll Supprima Subpremo, roll sure, Supremo roll.

My name sub rule. Yeah, I came to hang. Yeah, I'm kinna do.

This Supremo roll call, Supremo so So Supremo Role.

Supremo, suthing Sun Supremo roll call Supremo Supremo roll.

I can't thank myself right now.

Yeah, you had a nice sisip. Steve got that.

Steve got it. He the winner. Steve might be.

Me or Fonte. Yeah, all right, I lost. Nobody cares about.

I care about your life experience.

Bill. Has anybody ever run major in?

But I've got for a long time people.

Conversation like not many things.

Rhyme with the mirror, thank got the chair, a mere camere cashmere, first pitch at a at a baseball game.

No, it wasn't a up pitch Steve anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, Uh, welcome to another installment of course, Love Supreme, your host quest Love Jenkins, and we got Team Supreme in the house.

H everything, fante, how's home life?

My home life is cool. I've been getting back into my dancing. You know what I'm saying.

Yeah, back on my dancing like baby powder all on the floor. Nah no, nah, I don't. I don't quite use the baby powder.

I just do. I do my Chicago stepping like so oh yeah, I dance.

Oh my god, it's like a ride dancing with Fonte get to baby Powder on the floor.

It might the baby Potter is en route. But is there a society in North Carolina? Yea throwing in sexy dancing.

Yeah.

Step is like we do, uh we do like for the older for the black set, we do Chicago step. But then for like the older white set, it's East Coast swing like Lindy hop, like all of that West Coast swing.

Where is the street from my crib?

All the baby baby So at house parties like with like music, the parties to play house music sometimes like at the end of the night when the drugs have really kicked in, people will put baby powder on the floor.

It helps you dance, it helps you just moved.

Yeah, Yeah, that's funny because I was going to just say that's how Jane her dancing in the first couple of years, that's how she performed really cost to floor.

Yeah, I didn't know that, So that doesn't ruin the wing tips at the bottom of the shoe or I don't. I've never done. I've only seen it in action once once in my life. Really, where was it? What was it that I went to like one of the body and soul parties here in New York.

Yeah, it was on that like Nails Grown and Sexy.

No, it's like a house music party. Like Okay, I think, who does that party? I should be ashamed of myself.

I should know that Steph us a dancer.

Wait time out, Let's introduce our guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Today. Our guest is I guess my part time work wife. Hey, are we there?

Your real friend?

Okay, well, I'm going to get to that. I'm going to get to that friend.

You don't know that yet.

I have a few part time wives at thirty rocks.

But yeah, and my real friend.

Uh, but basically I'll say that you got to put your trust and someone to inform you of what's going on. And I'm the kind of guy that still wakes up at eight eight eight a m. Nine am to make sure that the world still running. Yeah, it has it imploded. Yeah, and uh, our next guest today, I kind of trust her to give me, give me the straight how ad t I t I Z wait? It was always t I z y. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

The black Heart just got a little real restrictions.

You got it, but yeah, you saved it from going off in the wind.

Thank you. Uh, ladies and gentlemen. One of my square glasses. Well, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, one of my favorites at my building at at thirty Rockervilla Plaza, M S n b c's own Stephanie Rule.

So we were talking about baby powder.

Yeah yeah, yeah, you put it on the floor to hip slide.

But but now me and my wife, that's whatever we get back in that dancing we do a Chicago step.

I do like it all, but she kind of just sticks. Just from a d day standpoint, so this is kind of a grown in secon it's like an over thirty, like just mostly old thirty. So like for a DJ set. The stepper, like the funny thing is like when people think of stepping and things stepping name of love, ar killing whatever.

That temple is like really kind of too fast. So like the slow the sexy ballroom is gonna fall anywhere from like between the sheets.

You can't. That's you can yep footsteps in the dark, not that footsteps might be too slow. What you can do?

It is it really good for your marriage?

It is?

It is.

It keeps you, It keeps you going to have something to do.

Yeah, you gotta have something and I get born dinner, yes, whatever in the movies, just the Netflix and chill.

You know.

So when you're married, like the beautiful thing about being together and dancing, you don't need to talk because talking when you're married involves like twice no, but just like so much men, like how do you go from I'm dealing with bills, I'm dealing with life, I'm dealing with who are you putting to bed to? But dancing takes that out.

No, dancing is the It is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire right down if bill right now what you also realize they called sex the horizontal mambo, so you know, hey, there it is so yeah, that's yeah, but we that's what we do.

Wow, words of wisdom from fun Okay, Oh damn, I'm sorry. I mean you know, I have to represent for paid bills. What song I forgot? Don't have a song. I'm gonna make it.

I'm gonna make up one. He kills it with more.

Okay, yeah, I don't have scholar Yeah, I mean super wisdom or something like that. Anyway, we should also know that trustees Era is here and she's already shaking her head knowing that she doesn't want to say anything.

I don't want to talk.

Okay, thank you.

People should know that this is only Sarah's second appearance here at q L last, which means that.

Getting word on the.

Yeah, no, she was. She was active in doing Roan. He was banging.

We had Roan Pharaoh on the show stuff.

He's a serious man, well not.

On our show.

Yeah, he was crooning. He was crooning like little little blue eyes. He was crooning.

That was a little bit he.

Did it on. Roan did it on purpose. He knew he was going to think you about that when he did it?

Come on, well, wait, let me let me ask you, because you know, I don't want to be all serious and funny games because everyone knows you for your your seriousness and taking.

I can tell how I know you?

Okay, how do we know each other?

Well?

See, I have my story of how we met, and you have your story.

You start first, he and I met.

We were doing this wacky conference, uh and it was Quest. It was Steve a okay and I and we just like really got on and it's a likely trio and we really got on and blah blah blah.

And then he invited me to.

One of his food salons, and I got to tell you, I felt pretty good about myself.

Wait, that's that's your take hold. I love you for saying that.

Just waiting. I walk into the food salon and like, my husband's with me, and I'm like, yep, what's up? You know here I am. I'm a Quest food salon. And I run into the fashion designer of Leila Rose, so I hadn't seen in years and blah blah blah. And again I'm feeling pretty good that I'm there, and I'm like, hey, Leilah great to see you. What are you doing here? You know, like what brings you here?

I came with quest.

And she's like, yeah, that's his name.

And I'm like, oh my god, right and dying.

I'm like at this point, I'm just like power eating everything there. I want to run away.

And so I don't even know who to talk to.

And at the party, he had this Instagram installation that every picture you take, you press something and the photograph can get printed and then you get to take a picture home. Okay, so I meet a guy named Kevin. Okay, so I'm so embarrassed by already what's happened. I don't want to talk to any significant person there. So I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna talk to Kevin, who's printing the pictures.

So I'm like, hey, Kevin, blah blah, Oh, Hey, what's your name?

This is cool?

I love Instagram. He's like, oh, that's cool, and I'm like, how long have you been with the company And he's like, oh, kind of since the beginning, and I'm like, oh wow, like you must have nailed it, like you must have cashed in like that, right, And I'm literally thinking he's the guy who prints the pictures.

And I'm looking him like, god, I feel like I know you. I'm like, did you ever go out with any of my girlfriends? So I'm like, I'm like, where do you live of right?

Like thinking maybe he dated one of my friends and he's like California And I'm like I don't really know anybody, like right, And all of a sudden, my husband is like, I'm gonna need you to shut up. That's the founder of Instagram. And then I'm like, what are you the founder of Instagram bringing the pictures?

So at that point at home, dang.

Boss, he.

Here's the thing about the fourteen job a mirror.

Luckily he didn't break up with me after that, neither four Yeah, you lost five jobs today.

Damn. I've always had it down to fourteen, and I'm trying to take it down to eight. I'm trying to take it down to eight. I'm looking for some extra ploy I'm just saying. I'm just saying that neither neither the twain shall meet. And what you did was kind of revealed to these guys, you know, the Bruce Wayne when he ever ever bring up to the.

I knew any moment you left me for jay Z and Beyonce's house. I know who he is now.

I still got a big into a game that I made. I got invited to foods Loan and was mad I had to miss it.

I don't know where you live.

Oh damn you before you do know that his name is a mirror, I do.

You're already I know the middle one too. Yeah, but that's about it.

Look, man, I just bring people together, just indifferent. I do food versions of Quest Love Supreme. I do Quest Love Supremes versus Quest Love Supreme. I do jam sessions. And you got popcorns out now?

Yeah? They need to bring that ship a shelf up. Do you been to Williamson Noman and saw miror stuff?

Yes? But I didn't know you had popcorn saw.

See because that's because knowing.

People. I'm all things to all people, and literally what people know me for that one thing that's all they knew me for.

I have a salt that I am a huge fan of this, which one like jay Z Jane's crazy.

So have you ever had it, Noah, what kind?

I'm gonna send it to you.

What is what is called James crazy?

James Jane's crazy and it's like a spy. It's like assault with a bunch of other stuff in there. I'm gonna mail it to you because they don't have it in New York City.

I think the thing is because if I tell one person what every everything I do, then.

You spend time with the person they got.

Just see and you know that said that said Jay and B's event. So he did the most mind blowing thing ever and had Daniel Whom cater it, which having Daniel Whome of eleven Madison catering your party is kind of.

Like such rich people talk. I don't even know.

I see food is not rich people ship.

It depends on how much it costs food. That's a rich people think that.

My whole point is that if this guy is catering your party, you can afford it. My whole point not finishing the sentence is fast enough for me.

Yeah, yeah, Okay, I'm giving too much space for the I'm just saying that that's the equivalent of Oh, these are the guys that paint my crib John Michelle and yeah, and Andy right, it's like that. So I was just rather impressed. But I think he was rather impressed that I knew who Daniel Home was because I've had history of conflicts with him. A lot of people ask like, well, why don't the roots participate in the Philly uh made

Thing in the food world, he hasn't who doesn't know z?

J didn't know Jay Z.

He don't know as job that.

He just thought that was crazy talk, And I'm like, well, dog, I've written James Beard nominated books and New York Times bestseller, Like did you say that?

Though I wanted, did you say that?

You didn't? You didn't.

We don't know that you didn't do.

But that's the thing.

If someone don't know the job, then I can't I get it.

I get it.

Yeah, you can't sound crazy talk. He's like, come on, dogs, I would.

Have just sent your music.

I just would have sent Carling the books and said, explain these to your boss when you're done. Well, Carling knows what time it is, but she knows, like I feel like in order.

I think the number one rule of life is people always try to go for the figurehead and that never worked. Just get to the six people that have their ear and then that's the thing, you know. So anyway to bring it all back home out of this rabbit hole. You have a lot of jobs. And I'm a popcorn salt.

Yeah, but the popcorn saw, I say, the popcorn saw is really more seasoning than it is.

Yeah.

Really Yeah.

So she went and got some of the house. Oh yeah, we bought.

So my wife she went to the winds So Noma and she bought because we go to the movies a lot and normally we'll like buy the popcorn salt like from our ghost store or whatever and then just bring it in. But we was like all right, yeah, I was like no, I was like, yo, almost support black business. My man got a salt with this sauce. So we went and got it in the it wasn't really salty.

A female ceo.

Yes, it's a seasoning. It's a season and I didn't know that. I know now, so what I do.

So the trick what we do is we'll take your because you got the avocado. We didn't do the avocado. We got like the sweet kind. You got the Saturday Morning the Saturday Morning cereal. And then the other one is my lemon pepper.

Mine with you. We got the lemon pepper. But oh yeah, come on, he knows the democratic.

And I love him. I just didn't want to say it.

Yeah, no, it's the cindermon. That was hard because they wanted me to go to barbecue and I was like, that's back in the day.

Yeah, we had a limating and the black limon peppers is the new black flavor, right, So what you do is you take if you take the lemon pepper and your other one that's really good, it's the parmesan parmesan take that and you kind of mix them and then you hit it with like some salt.

Salt.

So if you hit them with your salt, Stephan in the Crazy Crazy James Crazy, you with that, and then you add some butter. Actually put the butter on first, and then you put the salt in the seat, and so it sticked to the popcorn. And it's like a flat at this point in the movies, what do we go see? She it was when she took uh I was actually working in l A. She took my son to see Aquaman, so they took it into So, yeah, you might have.

To break my health protle cals and try that and see if the ship works. Hey, bro, hey, listen, it's real.

Man. Rewind it back for the full recipe, though, Yeah, you just.

Take you just take his seat something and the salt with butter.

The butter first hit a little season in salt, so it sticked to the popcorn, and you good money.

I had an option to include salt or not include salt, but I figured that no, it would have been too.

Much because it's like, you know, so Steph, Now you know that I sell popcorn, salt, many flavors.

Many Well, well there's only three.

But how do you like working with williams Sonoma?

It's cool.

I enjoy it.

I love it so much.

Anyway, who's cooler William? Or so? Wait, you said something earlier about domestic life and if it just hit me that yes, you're also a wife and a mother, but I also know you as sort of already in of the galaxy as far as getting news straight and the way that you know for people that aren't familiar with your I guess your interrogation style. First of all, she's

First of all, like I feel like.

You have to do, is you have to do so much fact checking, so much research in the type of news that you delivered today, because someone can instantly deliver an untruth, and.

You know, some news journalists will just take that as law.

As in So, I don't have any sort of journalism backgrounds. So I was in investment banking for fourteen years.

We say you brought the MSNBC to talk money and you just happen to get hired during the most corrupt politically.

I was in investment banking for fourteen years, and I always wanted to work in media my whole life. And one day I was giving a speech for a nonprofit called the White House Project because I used to do a lot of women's things. And after the founder had the board all having lunch, and she said, you know, women and black men always get compared to one another. And she said, if you take the fifty most powerful women and the fifty most powerful black men, they always

They think, how do I get someone.

Else in my group a board seat, a book deal,

And it was my turn.

Everyone had to say what they wanted to do in their next chapter, and someone else had to raise their hand and say, I'm going to get you there.

And it was my turn, and I said, do you know, I think.

I've always wanted to work in the media, especially after the financial crisis when people were just so anti power and money didn't necessarily understand it. And I said, you know, I think I've always wanted to work in the media. And there was a woman there who worked directly for Mike Bloomberg, and she said, I'm going to introduce you to Mike. And I met Bloomberg, and I met the guy who ran Bloomberg Media, and he said, and this really speaks to what you all are doing right here.

And he said deal.

So you're telling me that you, unlike Boss Bill here, you had zero radio, television film experiences.

I had done TV a couple of times as a guest Jersey.

South South County, North Jersey, South Jerseys like Philly, Yes, yes, yes, yeah, South Jersey.

Is you're serious?

Yeah, I'd never done it before.

Okay, So my version of meeting you. You mentioned with the speech that you, me and Steve Aoki did.

First of all of all the things I do, I hate public speaking the most, which is what I think. I tweet and write better more because I can edit better and it seems fluid, but I don't know. My mind also has edit in real time, so there's always gaps in spaces. And I'm in a room with a bunch of fortune five hundred people. You know, of course, like my management they want me to do more speaking

Yes, so that it was all it was basically people who run marketing for Fortune five hundred companies and consumer companies, and then the speakers were sort of influencers. So those heads of marketing would understand what you have to say in the way you think, so your management team would want you there because you're a highly marketable guy.

So okay, So basically I get on the mic and totally mirrored up like hello, like just say a sentence there, this is me, How are you exactly? That was wow?

Wow, sound like mprs.

Yeah. So there's there's a room for creativity and about to cry advertising world. And I feel it like me giving the speech in seventh grade.

Yeah, And I feel like Steve also was sort of like.

Well you know, I uh, we're gonna like and so today we're going to do this literally.

So here's the thing. I'd never heard of Stepan you. But she walked on that stage and like it was instant. We all came in attention like oooh yeah, cot and We're like, who is this woman? Like at first I thought she was a comedian, so I'm like trying to google her at the same time. Oh wow.

Well, the thing was, she's at the presence of like, yeah, I was at the mic stand, id and take the mic off the mine stand. She like took the mic off the mine stances, okay, show off hands no no, no, no, Like she totally took over the room, and I was like, who is this woman? I have to know who this woman is?

So then why did you go to the business route first instead of doing the media right, I'm curious if you had the personality for it in the past.

My point was that you were born star.

Yeah, that's my point. That was my question based on I knew that's where you were going because I ended up.

In banking right out of undergrad because I went to college in the US only for two years, and I studied abroad for two years read right, Kenya, Guatemala in Italy, and I stayed in Europe because I had no money left. But I wanted to day in Europe, and in order to do so, you need to get a job. So I'm like, I'll get a job with the bank. They have banks all over the world, and I got a job with Merrill Lynch. They ended up sending me back to New York. And a newsroom and a trading floor

Living, I'm going to do this. And the other thing is you can make a lot of money.

And no one wants to say that that's an ugly truth, but especially for women, if you can do something to make yourself financially independent, it's a game changer. When you think about all the things that happen to women in

It's crazy when you think about how many peop I'm thinking about my me. Of course I'm thinking about myself, but then I think about how many people just don't know what that feels like. Financial freedom like not check because it's not like chasing like not having to have a job, like being able to chase your career goals like that is.

But that's because we don't teach anyone to save money.

When you think about what we go to school for, and I'm not talking about college, I'm talking about high school. Are you using algebra? Are you using calculus?

No?

But it really would have been great if they taught you how to get a mortgage, if they taught you how a savings account worked, if you didn't have a parent at home that ever said let me show you. And I don't mean how to be an investor, but how the stock market works. No one teaches you those things.

And especially I mean not for nothing, but yet that's black homes.

But but that's if you think about financial mobility. You're never going to get that if someone doesn't teach it to you.

That's why they try to not teach it to us, because they don't want especially for black people, we've been had hundreds of years when they don't want you to have that.

So it's not part of the core curriculum in public schools. I think that's a huge problem. I've been trying very hard to talk to anyone.

I can just do one class called life.

You forget when you had home economics in school. Home ac which public schools don't have anymore.

Because budgets are gone, but homeck is not.

Was not just cooking and sewing. It was also personal budgeting right, And so we live in a world where people are going, I got to run to a sample sale because oh my goodness, everything's on sale. It's not on sale if you're buying it on your credit card and you can't pay your bill at the end of the month. And if we don't start helping people learn

Amen. So okay, So in the banking game, what is the thin line between like what what should the real ceialing goal be? Because I know that when I think of banking, automatically think of Wall Street, Koch Brothers, Uh, not AIG but us Yeah, yeah, just ron Ponzi scheme like made off. Yeah, I think of corrupt people. Is there a good example of lucrative banking done right where you can serve a community and be okay?

If you think, I actually think every job on some level is the same. Every job is about relationship building and trust. I don't think that my job when I was in banking, truthfully, is much different than my job now. If you can sit down and help, whether it's your client or your viewer, get smarter and better and understand what they need and what they want to do.

That's your goal.

When I worked in banking, there was no one there was There wasn't a hedge fund that said, well, it is our mission statement to use Stephanie rule to give us the best investment ideas. But they just had to figure out Stephanie rules someone I could trust. Are there examples of good banking? Yes, like when we dump on Corporate America all the time. Corporate America is what keeps many cities thriving. Right. Well, when you go you were

And that's every industry.

But it seems like in the bank industry, everybody's had their fair share of controversy, except when I think I'm like, maybe I feel like TD right now is like the standalone but Bank of America TD Bank Toronto.

Toronto Dominion because it's a really vanilla bank that doesn't do too many sort of funky edgy things.

They say, thank you.

But one of the reasons to be so mad.

At the industry, and it's not their fault, there's not enough rules. Right, So after financial crisis when people didn't go to jail, and everyone's like, what the hell, how come no one went to jail? Well, the problem is they didn't go to jail because technically they didn't break the law. Now does that mean we need more regulation?

Of dollars because what do they do?

They have the big The pharmaceutical industry has the biggest lobbying effort out there, and so there are very few politicians on either side of the angle aisle that are looking to regulate big pharma and so lots of regulation is bad, but we need some rules to protect people.

The stakes are higher though, in banking than they are in every in other industries. You know, when somebody's corrupt and banks, it could cause it ever recession.

Yes, yes, if somebody steals away, especially I mean in banking. It was sort of the perfect storm of a lot of bad things. And listen, the unfortunate thing about the financial crisis is the people who were hurt the most, who lost their homes, still haven't recovered, but the industry has and that sucks.

Where do you think we are now? Do you think we're on the verge of a recession?

Like?

What do you think we are fering?

And like it's got to come again because we've now had ten good years now. One of the issues though, and it really led to sort of the birth of the Trump voter. It was President Obama's last State of the Union address, and I remember it like it was yesterday, and he said, anyone who says that the economy has

And just think about this.

I could say to you, it's two hundred thousand dollars a lot of money for a family to make, and you'd be like, yeah, that's a respectable amount of money. And that's a family who maybe that could be a family with two parents where somebody is a teacher or an accountant or an engineer. But a family who makes two hundred thousand dollars in the United States cannot afford to support themselves and send a kid to college, to

Call the girls are selling water or you do listen.

Those are very bad examples, and those are real examples of young kids who are entrepreneurial, who are doing great things. But that person who did that, that's one bad egg. And I'm not saying that that bag that egg isn't rotten. But can I tell you a story about a woman that I met if I'm.

And she was.

It was a terrible story, but she actually gives me hope. So I was an upstate New York at a dude ranch with my family and a woman comes up and the owner says, a waitress would like to talk to you and tell you why she loves President Trump. So she knew who she knew who I was, and I was like, we're going to send my kids off the table and she can come on over. So she sits down.

You allow it.

I allow it. That was a nice way for them to do it, though, So let me tell.

You I allowed it because I want to get smarter and better, and because I do have an open mind and an open heart.

Okay, No, I just meant, like I figure family time is if I'm at the table.

No, I can't take a selfie with you right now, like when you're at a dude ranch for four days. You're through three children. You're going to take a break. So she sits down, and she said to me, I want to tell you why I love Donald Trump. And I said sure, and she said I love him and he loves me.

And she said, and you. She said, you think.

That I am white to trash And I said, oh my goodness, I said I absolutely don't. And I said, why on earth would you think this? And she said, well, I want to tell you my story. I want to tell you who I am.

He thinks she's white trash, that's the crazy.

And I said, please tell me.

And she said, well, Donald Trump came to see me, meaning he did a rally up there where she lives. And she said and he cares. And I said, tell me what his policies are that are going to help you in your community. And she said, I don't know, but I know he came here. And then she said I'm fifty five years old, and she said I'm a single mother. And she goes and I have two adult daughters who are single mothers. And she said, where you live,

But him a couple of esquire last months. So with the whole white problem.

So but to her point, but to her point, it just makes me sad that she thinks she thinks he cares.

Because he show up.

The thing is, I think he knows. The thing is is that what makes me more frustrated with him than anything is because I believe he knows better because he's a vesting promoter. He knows.

Yeah, And it's like he played her.

But here's the thing.

She's not wrong in that Hillary Clinton did spend two or three work weeks in the August of twenty sixteen doing the one thing she didn't need to do. She went to the Hamptons. And oftentimes when people are their most desperate, they need someone to just look at them and just hold their hand. And this goes to the feeling of isolation people have with the birth of social media. People aren't talking to their neighbors or their friends.

Right.

I've lived in New York City for twenty two years. I never know the names of all my neighbors and the doorman and the building next to me. And you know who does my mother Because my mother is not of a social media generation. She doesn't use the cell phone, she doesn't use so she doesn't use a computer, but she knows my community. And so whether Donald Trump is sincere or not, and you're one hundred percent right, he's not.

When President Trump does.

A rally, he literally lands, unrolls the carpet, pitches the tent, does the show, throws the hats and gets back on and leaves. So what you're saying is completely true. It's sad because he doesn't care. But even if it's about giving people short.

Term hope, the idea of Kirie her.

But I also think about when people grew to know him and believe his story. They were watching The Apprentice. And here's the thing. In the nineteen eighties, Johnny Carson was considered the most trusted man in America. And it's because when people were watching him, they're watching him the same time they're watching Questlove at eleven thirty at night in their beds, in their underwear, in their pajamas, and they feel like they have a relationship with you. Right.

And he didn't. It's funny. I feel like he almost he cheated and used it. It's privilege in a way for him to be able to just go touch them by then feel affected and not have to tell them what he's going to do for them or anything. Meanwhile, I'm like Obama had to go touch people, lay down a plan, convince you, put a pen, you know what I'm saying, And all he had to do was come to your neighborhood and say how you doing, I'm out go And that's just an interesting breakdown in that way.

But it's great to think about Obama now. The one thing that Obama gave people, because remember Obama was elected as the financial crisis was crumbling. Obama was a message of hope, and President Trump had a different message of hope. Right, Obama had a universal message of inclusion and hope. And then eight years went by and a lot of people said, well I didn't get included, and President Trump, whether he's whether it's true or not, said but I love you and I see you. Let's do this.

Why didn't he They make them prove it though, if you let me show me.

Because the benefit that he had is he wasn't a politician, so there was no track record to point to. He was going up against somebody who had a lifetime track record in the public eye, who people had been critiquing for thirty years, and she had been critiqued so much that she lost a sense of her real self and humanity because she had been politicized for all those years.

Okay, I was.

Also going to add in that, I mean, I personally believe that with Russia interfering with and I do I have to say allegedly interfering oh no more think yeah, but I still don't believe that he would have won had had the election been unscathed. I truly don't think that.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I don't give any I don't give any time or heart to that because the toothpaste ain't going back in the tube, right, and so like even for me, Robert Muller is going to figure out what Robert Muller does, and in my opinion.

That you're going to be a result, Like what do you think the end game is going to be? He's still going to do his four years.

Honestly, I don't don't say eight years. Listen, I think there's a very good chance he gets reelected.

Serious, I do do.

I want to hear why? So what do you think? Why is it based on what you were just saying kind of about the interaction.

No, I think that the president has uh And again I'm not saying it's good, but I think he has a two pronged plan that works. So if you actually look at his policies, he is hooking up the rich, and the rich didn't actually vote for him the first time around, and he is helping them out all over the place. Corporate America and the super wealthy who do not have Trump signs in their front yard. They're not wearing Make America Great Again hats that they want to

At least he's taking this on because he talks the talk.

But then he stirs up these race baiting culture arguments that take in the build the wall. You know, these three word slogans, and he goes to those rallies and those people are going yes. So his base stands with him. Rich people stand with him. And then the third lane, which is his truly winning lane. What wait, nope, it's judges the president. It's judges.

Yeah, he's he's he's president.

Judges.

You've got two Supreme Court justices he's ready to gout on the bench. And even more than that is federal judges. Yes, okay, federal judges. He has got a record number of federal judges on the bench, and those are jobs for a lifetime, and the majority of them are white men under the age of forty. So if you are a Christian conservative and you say, and I'm going to you, I don't understand how the evangelical community could be standing by the president.

Right, I mean yesterday are today?

Excuse me, Paul Manniford's lawyers are arguing for a more lenient sentence, saying, well, he didn't kill anyone, he didn't run a drug cartel. He's not Bernie made Off. And I'm laughing to myself saying, well, really you're after you're representing Paul Manafort. Are you then going to be representing young African American males who get put in prison for small drug infractions and work on lesser sentences for them. The answer is no.

Well, okay, you mentioned about the beliefs in the lifestyles of the coasts versus that of Middle America.

But remember Middle America is also right here. We keep thinking that like that Trump voter is like way out there in the hinterland, and not.

Is Middle America.

So with what Alexandria Alexandria Cortes says about this new Green Deal, all right, I know she's wet behind the ears, I know she's a newbie, But does she have a point or Because the thing is is that you can look at it both ways. Because the thing is that, okay, I respect the ideal of the Middle America worker or whatever,

A lot of them aren't working. So aren't they kind of understanding that because having things shrunk in the middle.

But it's also not you keep.

Thinking it's the coal worker out there because people right here.

Why didn't the lady from upstate that you were talking about earlier, why and she just moved down to New York City?

No no, no, no, list stop stop listen, no no, no, but time out, time out. He's joking, But I'm kind of thinking of that. And but the thing is that people know you know what I'm saying.

I can barely, but that's real. That's real, like like the struggle is real for everyone, right, and the rich have gotten people who are like I'm talking rich, rich have gotten so rich that things don't even cut like there is no price on anything.

How do you redistribute Sorry to interrupt your thought, how I'm trying to just get to the some of some of the end endgame. How do you redistribute wealth without redistributing wealth listen.

It's really tricky.

You know.

It's somebody who you should actually meet if you haven't met him yet. Is a guy named Michael Tubbs. He's the current mayor of Stockton, California.

I love this boy.

He's twenty eight years old, grew up a single mom. I'm pretty sure his father was incarcerated for most of his life. He interned at Google I want to say he entered at Facebook, and then the last year before he graduated from college, he interned at the White House. And it comes home and he says to his mother, I want to go into politics. And she's like, uh uh. She's like, you're the one who's going to get us out of here, and he said, no, I think this

There.

So there's not a clear answer yet.

Philanthropy maybe is, but the.

Problem is it can't just be philanthropy because that's like this system has been so gamed that we're then supposed to say, oh, thank you so much, Microsoft for giving us these crumbs and these pennies on the side. The answer isn't corporate America bad. Individuals are good. Government and corporate America have to find a way to work together or we are going to turn into the Third World.

Do you think that corporate America should pay their taxes?

That mean corporate America should pay their taxes, But that's not the issue. Corporate America isn't evil for paying zero taxes. They're legally gaming.

The system, right, So it's a a system changed.

So change the system, okay, as long as every company has a need for a tax department, as long as someone is a tax lawyer. As long as the tax system is so complicated that sophisticated, wealthy people can use loophole after loophole to pay nothing and regular people can't,

Exactly shut up whatever, no good.

The answer is we've got to find a way. When President Trump said make America great again for everyone at this table or for a women, you could say like that phrase is rooted in racism because for women and minorities.

No, that was it wasn't great for us. We don't want to go back in town like black people don't own a time trap.

But I'll tell you what things used to be for many people. The disparity between the boss and the worker pay has never been great as great as it was now. It used to be like this and we're on the radio, so I shouldn't just use my hands or only speaking of no visual It has grown massively. We have to figure out a way to shrink that. So when they gave that big tax cut, instead of just giving it and hoping, hey, you're going to give people a raise. If you gave that tax cut, there should have been

But given what the rules are, you can't.

Let's say we were all shareholders in Questlove LLC, and Questlove decided tomorrow, Hey, guys.

Do a mirror.

Let's say we're all investors in a mere LLC and tomorrow Amir says, guess what I've decided. I'm going to take thirty percent of our profits and before I pay it back to you, I'm going to start a foundation and I'm going to give it to kids that I want to in Philadelphia. And then I'm going to turn this studio into I'm going to only use green energy. And the six of us sitting here could say, damn right, you won't. That's my money. I'm your investor. You don't

My concern is those things are only happening at the margin.

Yes, once you start really auditing, you know, it's funny.

Because it's president it is because people only do the right thing after they try everything else.

Because once you really start auditing the companies that you support in the smallest ways, whether it's the cereal that you eat or the stocks that you yeah, because you'll start seeing it's funny because they are starting to learn the politics of these corporations or presidents and things of

But do you reward the companies that do the right thing. And here's why I ask.

So.

Just today I sat down with Ed Stack. Ed Sack is the CEO of Dick Sporting Goods. Dick Sporting Goods is based in Pittsburgh. If you remember, it'll be a year ago Thursday, after the Parkland shooting, they said we're not going to sell assault rifles anymore. Okay, that's a big deal. That's a company based in Pittsburgh with huge hunting business. They went to their sales dropped, I want to say, just under, just like four percent. And here's

I'm boycotting them.

I want to know, on the other side, when a company stands up and makes a move that's around culture or social justice, definitely, where are those groups lining up to go buy products there?

We're looking for something to boycott and with the yeah company, but the people company, But the people who were.

Around they still I think the people who were boycotting with them still see that and go back. I mean I remember I hate to use Target as an example, but targeted during Hurricane Katrina. Right, they did all this stuff, they gave whatever that I remember that and that state my mind until you know, they fucked up everybody's debit card situation. But still.

We need to remember gratitude and forgiveness because this is an angry, divided time and we're quick to get mad and quick to say I'm done with you, I'm finished with you when someone does something we support.

You're also one of the few journalists that I know that actually takes a portion of your show to say, here's some good things.

Power respect.

That's the thing.

And the thing is is that no one's ever going to report the good news like I didn't know about. I think that's admirable that Dick Sporting Goods did that, But I don't think we're in society that necessarily will throw a ticket tape parade because someone helped my grandmother across the street today.

Let's find a way to do that. And the truth is right, so people always I'm going to get it wrong. A newspaper is something like right. And we do love train wrecks, we do love reality shows, we love the world Wrestling Federation. But we have to find a way, not in some Pollyanna way, but at the margins to celebrate good things.

But is it also okay?

You remember the Chris Rock joke where he's like, uh, Fithers always want credit for something this. Yeah, I was actually gonna bring that up.

Tell me, tell me no.

No, I mean like when dad say I'm babysitting my kids. Exactly, You're watching your offspring.

Your jobs, supposed to my keys, you supposed to take care of your key. So it's it's but could that also be the case, like.

You should give bad company. Yeah, you know, it's not a big deal, you should.

I mean, but in what ways would you feel that it's more prudent or beneficial for said protesters to let us know that it's great to shop at Dix again?

Listen, you you watch those protests.

You watch those protest groups go off on social media and say I'm done with this company instead.

Great.

Fine, Then when I don't know, Father's Day comes around, I want to see that same handle, say great, Dick's dorky golf shoes.

I'm gonna see. But Sey, I think what you're saying, that's a whole nother round because we all know, and you know this even better than we do. There are organizations that are just for protesting, like, uh, even with

Yes, I'm just saying there has to be a way to find goodness and push the goodness forward because otherwise we're just anger on top of anger, and I know that every day.

But there's a lot of unresolved issues, a lot I feel like. I think in the case of the Parkland shooting time, Yes, whenever there is a shooting and an occurrence, the one question that no one ever seems to bring up in you know, whenever these problems arise, that I never seemed to hear is the reasoning behind wanting arm to be armed, of which no one is really going

Like we know, get to that part of the conversation.

That's like our part. They don't get to our parts of the conversation, which is kind of like the best thing that I feel like.

The history of the gun in America starts with what were they used for? And it's almost like the white elephant, that.

Do we talk about.

What dogs was used for? I mean, shit, I mean.

They used to chase black people, and you know, that's what it was all about. But that's fine, you know, I get that.

Yeah, yeah, I know they did. I don't I don't fuck with dollars though Zara's not still happy with these answers. But my point is that my point is that I don't know if I would say, hey, okay, well dick'porting Goods did right by us, so go buy rifle. Like I personally, I mean, I don't want to put my personal beliefs on people. But you know, wait, wait, let me let me, let me backtrack. You're from the down South,

Not really because you just don't necessarily dwell where you feel. Yeah, I mean, I mean, listen, well, I don't know if this is a dwelling thing.

I mean for us.

Like so for my my earliest experience with guns, my granddaddy had a shotgun he kept like right behind the bed.

You know what I'm saying.

You had like a rifle back there, and I mean just in casey. Yeah, I guess your grandparents, I think, Yeah, all these granddaddy's had.

To gun grandmattle pistols.

Yeah, so my grand my granddaddy had the gun.

And I mean, like all my homies they pops had like shotguns or whatever. But it wasn't a thing of where like if you felt like you needed to, like if you were in danger or whatever, that you felt like you had to carry a gun. When I was coming up, it just wasn't It just wasn't that if it was really somebody, if you was just a regular dude, and my regular dude, if you was just a dude that just went to school, just you know, just you was just a regular cat.

If you had problems with somebody, you just damn y'all just scrapped.

But in twenty nineteen, if you.

Had guns, like if the niggas I knew they had guns, they was like all the duds in the streets.

So but in twenty nineteen, fast forward, do you feel like I feel like I know more people regular as we like to say that have at least something in the house. Not did you carry, but at least.

Something, Yeah, something in the house. Yeah, I mean I know some I got like one home. You just got like a ton of fucking guns. I've always wanted to ask those people, how often have you had to use the gun the youth? Yeah, that you just having you go to.

The gun range, just make sure the muscles still work.

Yeah, Because the thing is even with that, like when people say it's for home defense, Like I don't think people understand like how quick that ship jump off? Dude, Like, so unless you just walk around your house and your god damns with your gun you up under the on the top shelf, up under all them books. Yeah yeah, yeah, like they read like niggas. Man the other night, like we was in I was up one night this was

So but we live around like woods and ship. So it's I'm thinking animal.

It could have been an animal, it could have been a rand cause it could have been any kind of ship. And so I go and I open, like just look in the window and it's like a kid. It looks literally like my son outside, right, so like my older son. I got two boys, eighteen thirteen, so I'm seeing what looks exactly like my son.

So my first thinking, I'm just I was like, why is my son outside?

At four?

Them like what hold the fuck up? And then it clicks on me, so I like look at the window. I tap and homie, look, I run outside. What the fuck y'all doing? These niggas take off running? It was two It was these kids.

So because we live like by high school. So what it is?

It is these these fucking idiots. No, they won't even smoke it. They do this shit where they just go to cars and they don't even break in the car. They don't steal this cap, just try to damn try to if it's something unlocked. If the car is nun locked, they see if it's a lot, and then try to go and get something out of the car. So I run outside and like like run them off. And then I'm thinking, but I ain't got no gun. We mean, I'm not even thinking to go get a gun on knife.

Because you go the wrong house, well, yeah, you don't want you. They was lucky they went to your house.

You was like, yeah, because like the white dude was the next to me, I think that got a RC He could have you know, he could have let up what it was a thing where it was.

It was just like, dude, like I'm looking at this ship and it's just like, Yo.

First of all, I'm like, Okay, y'all are fucking idiots, because who the fuck try to breaking cars in a cul de sac nigga.

It ain't but one way in, one way out.

So y'all ain't that fucking suburban boy?

I'm like, y'all ain't really about that action, you know what I mean. So I came out and like we called police or whatever. I'm just like, look what they look like. I'm like, I just they had on hoods. I don't know, but yeah. So and even in moments like that, like me and my wife we talked, Yo, so do you think it's time to get a gun?

I was like, well that was a one yes, Like I don't, I don't know.

It just ain't that again, unless you just gonna be a commando nigga that just walk around in your boxes with a gun just while you eat your fucking corn.

Your face props it. Yeah, Like, are you describing to Omar right now for the yeah on bacon? Dude?

I just don't, yeah, And I just don't live my life in a way that like that requires that I find a thing.

Yeah.

So when you were just speaking, I was thinking, So this morning, my son, who's twelve, was pressing my husband and I that the music we let him listen to we have it on a filter that he can only listen to the clean version of songs cool, And he's complaining he's twelve, and he's like, I don't want to listen to the clean version. That means there's lots of songs I can't listen to, blah blah blah. What's the reason why I can't?

And I can't? Really, I didn't really have a good answer.

It requires a history lesson right, so right here, right, So I didn't really have a good answer. And so while you're sitting here speaking, and I'm going thinking about my son listening to this, because obviously is going to want to listen to it, he's gonna have a conversation with me after again about.

The N word.

I knew that's where you were going, So I want you to help.

Me right, because there's been all these conversations that lack education or that lack nuance, and now people are giving the wrong answer.

I want you to honestly help me with, like what's my right?

No?

No, no, obviously they can't, But what's obviously and what? And when you're speaking to children who can only who are like?

Who's funny?

From my heart and mine couldn't be more.

Understand And it's funny because I would have thought that you wouldn't have been serious until a week ago when I was sitting randomly sitting with them, a white mom who had like a one year old son, and I thought it was funny the cover of the Esquire magazine about the white boy, and she said, but no, seriously, though, what do I tell my son? How do I raise my son in this world and tell him how to react?

All right, So here's the thing with white people and and niggas a look talk about it.

Look, dude, this ship is real easy. Look like you can't in the terms of music. So just on the base level, like we're talking to your son about explicit lyrics. What I went through with my son like when they were when they were younger, my whole thing was, I mean,

A kid, well that too. But then even like the ship before, like.

Blank Wayne when he was like it was blood like, so it's a lot of like coded language and that ship they don't know that they don't know, And I'm like, Homie, you you say that ship in the wrong place, You're gonna get fucked up. So my thing was, I just need to have a conversation with you, so y'all know exactly what this is. You know what these references are? Stan starts saying that they from Bompton.

It's over, it's a.

Wrap, like, YO, no know, but how does Stephanie. But that's ill because you knew these things, right. But Stephanie's trying to say too that she doesn't know all of these right.

So just in general, somebody cares to put your you have to take yourself down the track of people who care less and less.

And we listen forget the moral stance up should we say should we not say it?

Should we listen to it and not listen to it?

Like could even say that right now, we're in canceled guards.

We're in cancel culture.

We're we live and cancel, cancel, cancel our can canceled, We cancel him.

But this is how social media works. We're in cancel culture. And we're also in in beat you down now and ask questions later right there.

And I don't want to be I want to find a way to be in a forgiveness culture and at least here and get smarter and think more.

Well, I would just say with the kids, I mean, I wouldn't personally limit them to the clean version just because that's just gonna make them want the dirty shit even more. So My thing is just like, all right, we're gonna listen to the dirty ship, but let's listen to what explain and explain like what it's about. And when it just comes to saying niggas like Homie, you just can't say that ship like I understand this show. You might listen to the jams and you can even

If he go to a show and.

You know, my favorite part of a jay Z concert is.

I've seen eighteen jay Z shows and literally when that ship starts to the widest part and just look at him, like I still do to this day, look like you're gonna say it.

You're gonna say it, Homie, Yeah you got You just have to explain to him, like yo, dog, Like I know the rappers are saying it, and I know you might want to say you might even say it in your head. But if you say this outside, like in the world, like you could get sucked up, just their consequences, consequences that ship.

Okay, well you're done.

I think I did I answer the question, Stephen, was that that makes sense. I appreciate it.

Actually, uh, Steph, well that's what I wanted my.

But you answered it, and I want to because it speaks to exactly this cancel culture, this beat up and give an answer later. And for me, the goal in twenty nineteen should get out of cancel culture and figure out a way to say. I might disagree with you, but I hear you and I see you, because right now we're not giving one another.

You're gonna do that stuff. You're gonna do that to arc, You're gonna listen here, I'm seeing what you got to say.

What you doing.

She hasn't been peen on.

I mean some people like.

No love.

The thing the thing with cancel culture too. I mean, I agree with what you're saying, and I don't think. I don't think gonna get another shot.

But we talked to the.

Fact that the woman from the daycare building out yeah yeah, yeah, here a white lady that owns a daycare that is Alabama. Nah, she white, Well, she well, you know what. I saw footage of her in the in the in the McDonald's. She looked white. She owns she importantly, she owns nine businesses.

Okay, what what's what is?

What is R Kelly's new work? Like it was like, should R Kelly be around him? Like I don't know since ignition, I'm nothing.

But they wanted to be total canceled like today and yesterday's work. It's not just about today, it's about erasure.

Eracis well, yeah, the checks up coming. His last few albums have sold nothing.

Yeah, but he made so much money they shouldn't even matter.

Boy, I think I didn't listen till all nineteen minutes of that song I did. What did he admit that he sold his publishing? He admitted, so, he admitted he sold his publishing. That he uh, he admitted he's he can't read. He admitted he's.

Illiterate, but he sold his publishing.

That's what he said in the Valuable Acid because he probably had to. Like, man, y'all understand, bro, like for you to that's the terminal trial. Five years I understand that. Five years of goddamn Billable album.

I mean to say, he can't afford his legal bills. There's no Trump super pack paying them.

Likes weren't that good? I mean they were probably good. They were probably even if they were slow. You don't piss on cheering, so they've been good for you. But I'm just saying, you know, if you got to keep paying off parents and ship every damn quarters.

And I know that, I know that publishing checks are really a three time a year thing, right, kind.

Of can't imagine that he's got any money?

No, well, definitely not because I initially thought, like, Okay, well when he gets arrested a million dollars this one hundred thousand, yeah, I believe I can. Yeah, he can come it off.

And I couldn't believe that she you know, yeah, I think I think it was the picture I saw when she was with him, and the when he went to McDonald's.

That's first thing he did. She owns the McDonalds owns it. She just went to him. He went to the rock and roll McDonald's. He got out, he went to he he went it is he went. He went to the rock and roll McDonald's like it, presumably to get a.

Macrib and what's the rock and roll McDonald's.

That's the biggest McDonald's in Chicago. It's like it's like Wily World, like Chicago. It's like a club in there at night.

Yeah, it's it's like a city block.

It's the biggest McDonald's in the south Side, No like downtown, like off of Michigan Avenue. A few times.

I just don't understand how these women continue to be in his web.

I think much like it's much like much like Trump, much like your Trump waitress. R. Kelly came and talked to him. He like he was. He came, he I saw you, and now you know it was That's what it was offered.

Doesn't that take us right back to this cancel culture. Look at these people who are rising, whether it's a Trump having his following on R Kelly, see someone hear them.

Well, I don't know if I need to hear Trump or Kelly, but the supporters, the people support those two.

But all those people out.

There that want to be seen in her, that are the ones that are falling victim to.

Oh that's falling, okay, gotcha, one's getting finished.

Yeah.

So yeah, so I don't know. I think he's I think he might actually see some time. I don't know.

Did you watch fire Festival?

I did that.

It was great.

Which which of the two? Because I watched the neat way better than yeah, the Netflix Netflix one.

How did that happen?

Yo?

It was the was to me that is one of the most Yo.

It's social media, and it's a story of just how in America you can sell any kind of bullshit as long as you package it right.

Except all of the except for the main guy, all those people like how did they not say, like, this thing isn't gonna work. I'm out?

I think it was what So my t was, yo, and the people who were early on I've been everything.

It was kind of almost like to make a financial parallel, like the banking crisis, I think there are a lot of people or then the housing crisis. I think it was a lot of people that knew that ship wasn't gonna work, Like they saw what was coming, but they was like, Yo, this ship is gonna fall down, but if I can get what I can get out of it before, then fuck it.

But they knew that ship wasn't gonna work. They saw hell Mary pass and just pray to god. Lynn Swan was at the end reference odel.

With one hand.

They had no because the thing is when Homemie, the key part to me was when your man was in the heavy not not the dick sucking water dude, you see it. I saw the planner dude when he was like most festivals take like a year, he was like most like if you know, they take a year, he said, when they told me I had six weeks to feed and do all this ship, dude, you knew this ship.

It was goddamn g Think.

About all those vendors there still never got paid.

Yeah, the lady did get up. They raised the uh for the main woman that lost like fifty thousand bucks, they uh, what do you call it?

A go fundme go?

Yeah, they go funded her.

But why did we have to pay for that?

Why didn't what's his name?

Jerry?

Fuck Jerry?

Who still make it breaking in money?

Yeah?

Because because then so was coming from it became fu Jerry. That was like the new hashtag. It became fuck fuck Jerry. And I think I think they took a little hit.

Said hey, I bring that John back though he said that day and after fifty.

Cent gonna buy up all the tickets. Soty when he come out that's not fraud. That's not fraud.

It was like.

That was how does Jo Rul come out of it?

Scared?

Because because miss the nineties? I think, I'm sorry, he's not a nineties rapper, he's an arts rapper. I don't know.

I think the documentary kind of painted him to be a kind of a victim of the whole situation too, where they just kind of used his his image to pull off this festival.

I mean, it's not that he's not.

I agree, he's not, like.

You know, completely blame free because he should have done his due diligence.

But that's it, Like, I agree, like we over use this word victim. A victim is somebody who's walking down a street who gets attacked in a gang initiation. A victim is not somebody who closes his eyes and closes his ears and lifts his champagne. Last to that point, like jar U looks at himself like I was a victim here, No, come on.

Now, I believe again. I love doing the Ray Croc versus Ronald McDonald thing. I think he was just Ronald McDonald really not knowing what Ray Croc was up to behind him. And you don't agree with.

Me, he's there.

No, I think he could have given some of his money to that woman that owned that bar.

I don't think he has money.

What you're saying he did two years in jail for tax evasions.

Oh that's right.

And I'm sure any money that he quote unquote earned, I'm sure got he probably.

Yeah, you're right, you're right.

Oh yeah, you know.

Should we haven't won the show one that?

Yes?

No, I love what's one?

What were talking about either one of them? Like the stories? Good story?

I like good story the nigga. Look, I was not a murdering fan listen, like I mean, I.

Respect was about the time you guys signed Vanessa Carlton. Yeah, what happened with that Vita album?

Like yeah, I just wasn't. I don't know. I wasn't a fan like that. I respect the movement. They had hits. I can't knocket, but I never thought none of that. She was hot.

I didn't need to start this story anyway. Can we ask fun the m SMBC questions? I've been waiting. I just want to Yeah, okay, because we were talking about this earlier.

Wanted to no no good.

First of all, the aspect of having two shows on M S, N b C. Can we talk about that on the daily And how the fuck you do that with being somebody's wife and three people's mom?

We never got to that was literally my first question, and we this is this has been a rabbit hole.

You're right.

All I wanted to say was, in addition to having to deal with pundits all day, you still have to be a mom and a wife.

How do you balance it? Like I could get to don Okay.

Here's the thing, but anyone like and all of us, none of us were ever balanced, right, People who are grinders and overachievers have never like achieved something and.

Been like, whoof you know? I'm all set and I think that, uh, these are blessings, right.

I'm so lucky to have this moment, to have this time, to be a news, to have this opportunity, to be married to somebody who hasn't kicked me out, and to have three kids who are all standing and tying their shoes and all work it out.

Can I ask you a question?

Yes?

Okay, So, so if a certain unnamed network, sugar network starts with the F a certain unspeakable network comes to you with the bag No, but you can still be yourself. How could you do this? Wat But listen, listen, Okay, now correct me if I'm wrong. There is Murdoch's son's going to take over away because of their political because of their.

Mur runs Fox News.

Okay, I'm I was hearing through the cheese line that Murdoch's sons weren't as extreme as you know, the Roger l.

Sky were trying.

They were trying to dilute it a little bit.

And then when they were trying to buy Sky, what they were trying to do is not have the huge sexual harassment issues, right, they didn't want to have. They weren't changing anything inside the company, but they didn't want to have massive sexual harassment headlines.

That was going to block that deal well.

But Sky also said like, we would never associate ourselves with you because everyone thinks you're a joke. And it almost seemed like they said, well, we're what what do we have to do to have a real conversation.

There's no reason for them to change what they make, and we're talking obviously about Fox News, right.

Fox News has.

No reason to change what they make because what they may, for me is extraordinarily successful for the people who watch it, right, there are the many people who watch it, you know, wear it like a badge of honor. Now they talk about other going to have to change to start to attract a younger demographic, because you know, they're the go to for that, you know, over the age of fifty, white male demographic, many of whom watch it.

I just want to see a pair of calves.

And more than that though, listen, I mean they they haven't skipped a beat in their success.

Lots of people are watching Kennedy. Yeah, she's on them every morning, she is in the afternoon.

MTV, KEM, Fox News.

She's quite conservative, a little bit more of a libertarian than a than a conservative conservative.

You know, she's a small government.

I'd never watched Fox News unless I'm trapped in an airport.

They're they're great at what they make. And now if you're asking me if they if they walked in and said, I'd like to give you a pile of money and you could still make your thing, I don't think it would be a I don't see that happening because what I have to say wouldn't sell to their audience. And now I don't necessarily have what you would call traditional, only progressive or only liberal views to me, like.

Would you ask the right question?

But that's it, Like I'm just myself.

I lean into I want to live the best life for my family, and I want my neighbors and my community to live their best. But that might mean I don't always align myself, you know, like let me make it easier to me. The most brutal place isn't cable news.

It's social media.

Because social media you don't ever get to actually speak your mind and be yourself. It's like performance art and the moment you're categorized as something you have to fit into this or suddenly I didn't know you were this, I leave you now, and you know, there's a really beautiful I wish I knew it. Off the top of my had Dave Chappelle quote that he gave a couple months ago where he said, when did the world get this messed up? Where everyone in your house you had

You say that they don't have more. Nicole Wallace's on Fox because I just gotta say, I love the way she has evolved as a Republican in her way of thought now that she's a Democrat. Now I don't think so, but just in her sense, and I feel like that kind of voice needs to be more president.

Most people don't label themselves I'm a Republican, I'm a Democrat. We're all the same. We're all just trying to get She did.

Because she was a ripe. I mean that was her correct job.

But for most people out there, we're all just trying to live our best lives, get to our highest self, and the more we can focus on that and less on politics. Listen, if you were a single mother in the South Side of Chicago, would you say I identify myself as actual?

Why? No, I didn't know. I side myself is trying to make my God damn.

Rent, but that's exactly it.

The thing is, though, is that I'm fine with disagreements. If the person disagreeing with me, I respect them, not even I respect them if they come with actual.

Fact, right Boom, you nailed it now.

Okay from a musical standpoint, okay, a music fan could give me the prose of why slide in the Family Stones, there's a Ryte Coin on. It's such a monumentous, important moment and funk. But a person like me is kind of sad at that record because I feel guilty is celebrating the joy of someone who's.

On heroin.

I feel like it's watching a car accident. And I acknowledge it, you know, But I'm just saying that. I feel that both arguments are based in fact. However, a lot of the political arguments are just more about my side's winning. My side's winning, and I don't know, I just feel as though I believe I'm on the side of the truth. Like when I watch Rachel Maddow, I don't feel as though she's trying to, you know, put me on her gin. I don't believe he hasn't a actually that she's revealing.

Show you feel like you're at a college court. And I didn't watch Rachel before I got into political news. I have to be perfectly honest. I don't have a great voting record in that it wasn't a priority in my life, and now that I see so many of our basic rights in question, I'm filled with guilt over that and even what I thought Rachel was. And then I started watching It's like watching a masterclass. I don't feel like there's a political agenda and where you're exactly right.

Fox News will look at her and say elitist, homosexual, she's trying to social rights. But I feel that the basic, the basic gripe in not listening or even taking her words and filtering it because she's not this or she's not that. Well yeah, but you know, because then I just feel that most conservatives might feel that, well, you know, she can't be telling the truth because she's she's a gay. Then find and then that, and then then that goes into.

A find a way to see those people and hear those people because people gay. Cable news ratings are up, But we have to break through the stereotype so people can actually hear you. And we have to stop attacking the president about his weight or his hair or is it like we don't have to go with all that he gives us. Correct, but I'm sing, we don't need to jump to conclusions about what we believe he's guilty of before we know it, because guess what, right now,

They do that.

I don't watch Fox News.

Here's the thing, when they do it, there's usually a little bit of fact in there. I got a little lazy that day I got over my skis. It was usually on a Thursday or a Friday because I didn't do my homework and I'm tired. So we are challenged right now. We must stick stick to the facts because the facts are on our side. But you make an amazing point around freedom of speech in that we support freedom of speech, but where we're conflicted is if people are just spewing propaganda and lies.

That's where we don't want them to.

But then it's but that that's but that's my next kind of thing, because you say, like we should hear these people.

I really think it's some people we just don't need to hear if they're talking that bullshit like you know me Tommy old time.

Oh yeah, like that, like when I saw like you don't give her any air?

Ye don't you know what?

We don't talk about her.

It exists because we're talking about her. So you know what, let's just put that.

We don't need to hear.

Huh, what do you think?

I want to know your opinion on Howard Schultz.

I think he's an extraordinary businessman. I think, listen, he's an unbelievable success story. I think that coming off the last election and looking at at at politics historically, we have a two party system, and the two party system might stink, it might be unfair, but that's what we got. Mike Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars researching what it would look like to run as an independent. He's done

Wait, has he been forgiven outside of Starbucks?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, yeah he did. Common did some commercials and the.

Bucks. You wouldn't take the call we can build.

That's Microsoft, Microsoft, It's the same thing. It's Common, the same guy in every part.

Yeah, missed that Zara joke. Though that was funny.

You missed it. You have to wait for Okay, it's too true.

Who makes you laugh at MSNBC? That's my question I wanted to ask.

I'm gonna tell you who makes me laugh. It's a comedian right now? Do you guys know who Sebastian Menescalco is. Yes, I love you don't think he's funny?

No, I don't. I'm not him.

Yeah, so, I mean I like dirty comedians too, But to be a comedian and not go after people and not be dirty, that takes the talent. And I saw this guy for the first time like nine months ago, Jerry Seinfeld had a night with sort of all of his favorite comedians.

I urge you look him up on YouTube.

I think he is something else. But on MS, I got to tell you I really love working there, and I really love the people I work with. They work so hard, they are so smart. There's great to be around.

I was just wondering if you guys ever really because in our minds we wait exactly.

Where she sent to everybody drinks for Christmas. But there are moments where I'm going, I can't believe Andrew Mitchell knows me right, Like I can't believe that, And just within.

All where he walks by Andrew.

Mitchell whenever she's decided to me, and was like, I can't believe it, right, I mean across the board right and on the Savannah got three. I mean like I was in England for the Royal wedding and I'm walking down the street with Savannah and Hodah and people are losing their minds when they see Hodah. And the beautiful thing about that is she brings them joy.

She's always smiling.

She brings them joy, and.

That is something like, yes, you're bringing people the news and really important stories. But you have a relationship with people at home, I mean my partner, Ali Belchi. I love them, Katie Sure, I love them all, Joe and me.

How did you come to have two shows? Or is it just two hours? Do I say two hours?

No, I have two shows. There came. I came to NBC and I was anchoring up my show on MSNBC, and I used to anchor the Today Show on Saturdays. But when you're a mom and you have three kids, you know, six day work week is something's got to get.

I was going to say that I still feel as though there's rooms for like, there's more room at the top for you, not to jinx anything.

But what is higher?

Is the Today Show a better lateral move or for me?

I can just say whether it's at NBC or anywhere, But is that how long term? I don't have dreams or long term?

Wow? Talk about that's interesting in the moment.

So I used to it, and it was, and all it did was give me stress and anxiety, and more than that, it put me in terrible positions that I would have bosses, that I would either have terrible bosses that treated me badly or a bad job with a great boss, and I'd say like, well, this is awful, but I just have to I just have to hang tight and then in a year it's all going to

My little never just that.

Just then the goalpost. Just keep moving and the like, there's only three things. You have no control of the weather, your health, and time and giving your time to something that you're like, no job do you love all the time?

Working is a grind. Waking up early as a grind. But you've got to be doing something that.

The people you like, or you're getting better or parts of it are exciting. And if it's not, that doesn't work. But as far as like what's my ultimate I didn't even eight years ago. I didn't know I was going to be in television. Two years ago, I had no idea I'd be covering politics. And here I am, you know, going to bed and waking up with Trump tweets. So if we can say I'm gonna try to go to bed happier than I was when I woke up, Like, that's it for me.

Amen? Amen, that's been addiction right there?

Is it like being a doctor?

Like right now, if something catastrophic happens, this episode's coming on way later. So you know, if something catastrophic happens in the world of politics or you know, development, is it you have to rush to stop what you're doing In me yes.

Okay, but oh absolutely right. And people are trying to gain their vacations and this and that. But I'm forty three years old and I have three kids, and in any job that you ever have, in that moment, either that massive deal at work or that massive show or the massive news thing, it feels like everything and then six months later you can't even remember that day.

That is so true, like you can't.

So it has living in this this time that we're in right now sort of ruined.

No, but Donald Trump doesn't get to take my joy. He doesn't get to take my personal life or my family. And when I'm there, I'm going to give it one hundred percent. And if I can be there at breaking news, I will be. But if I can't.

But they called you sometimes and you're like way in Jersey somewhere, They're like, uh, let's get Hollie.

Sure, yes, these things happen, but I can't live my life like, oh my god, I wasn't there and they picked you know. You know there's this idea in TV like she was on maternity leave and when she was out, the girl who filled in was the best, and then her career was well.

No, no, from a mortal standpoint, I just remeant from the logistics when breaking new do they send out like a massive text to see which one of the.

Takes you already know where you are. Every every Friday, you have to tell them here's where I am this weekend.

Wait, so can I ask is well?

I was going to ask, you're planning and having a rendezvous with me?

No?

No, no, I just mean, like, well, in the case of Brian, who always seems to be there in suit and like when something happens or breaks, is he like in a holding area just waiting for something.

So when there is like a big event or like a I mean that's Brian's jam, Like that's what Brian does.

I mean listen, if he's away, he doesn't do it.

But if like a massive but he always seems to be there when it's breaking news time.

It's the time.

Don't you ever go home? But his eleven o'clock.

But he's our breaking news person, so you know, if there's an awful thing, God forbid of shooting, you know someone's gonna be there taking us through it. And then probably at the top of the hour once Brian gets there. Brian's the guy who's gonna take you through For that.

I thought he had to come in in like twelve and afternoon just wait only he probably.

Has a fat contract to be that breaking news guy. Like that was a big deal for him to have him in the first place. Oh yeah, I'm gonna call you because I'm paying you all these guys.

Well, no, no, I wanted to know if he literally just chills there twelve hours a day waiting for something to break and it doesn't.

Okay, well I'm gonna go home now.

I was surprised to see you doing the last day of the Union. I was like, she gotta get up in the morning, and is she gonna wait for us?

Do you sleep at the office Sometimes No, But I have.

To tell you, like, there's some days where I'm like, because sometimes I do Brian Williams show at night, which is at eleven, and if I did have a shower in my off it would be better on those nights, because it's true that you know this from working late.

The thing is you know this if you work late, you get home.

Then you open your door, then you open the refrigerator, then you check the mail, then you turn the TV on, and it's two in the morning, as opposed to if you did TV at eleven o'clock at night, walked in your office, went to sleep, you might be asleep at twelve oh five, and I might be up early for work.

But on nights like State of the Union, come on now.

This is our super Bowl.

This is what we do it for.

Is you can't stay up late one night and wake up early one day. Then Laverne and Shirley called, you should be working at the bottle factory.

I have a question, yes, so he was asking, I think ten minutes ago. Essentially, is uh, what's the what could be bigger or whatever? Or what would you want next or more than what you have now career wise, I guess, or show wise or whatever, And wouldn't it seems like you well, I guess my question is wouldn't the next step be to get into politics rather than you know too?

I would never want to run for office. I think it's hard enough on my family that I chose to have a public life in the way that I do. My kids didn't choose this. I chose it. And what people go through who are running office, running for office is so brutal that I just wouldn't And.

I hypothetically all that aside, like where do you have a where do you have a louder voice or more chance to affect change?

Yeah, I think it's pretty good where I am right now. What I wish we could do, and I don't see it done enough, is actually cover thorny cultural issues because what I'm afraid of right now is we're not talking about a lot of hard topics.

Well, yeahs won't repeat, especially the cable news. It's like a fifteen minute.

But it's also arrow what we cover.

But there's lots of topics that because we're accusing one another of being ignorant, or being closed minded, or being stupid, instead of continuing the conversation, we're getting silent. Me too is a really good example. So for me, covering me too is very complicated. I don't think it's black and white. And when you try, yes, but when you try to

And so like a year of a year.

Ago, I was doing actually patau but in La the conference where Amir and I met, and I was doing a town hall about me too, and I tried to bring up the idea of you know, there's a spectrum and can we talk about forgiveness at all?

And and.

It was an know and one woman stood up and she said, absolutely not. I never want for all of the women in the world who have ever suffered from this, for this, I never want to talk about. I never want to hear from those guys. And so I said, okay, And another woman stood up and said, corporate America was built by a white supremacist patriarchy and until that's blown up, this conversation is moot. And I'm not saying that that woman is wrong, but what I am saying is that

But I think before we bring up forgiveness, which is a point that I see, we never talk about justice absolutely, and you know, and that's sort of like, Okay, I went months ago when I went to the oscars.

For for people who have committed the most offensive of assaults. I mean forgiveness in terms of just cultural forgiveness. We're getting more mature. We're seeing people in a different.

Way saying you're not allowed to grow, like you're not allowed to like we talk about the whole councel culture and everything. I mean, the thing about it is just that if you're if you see people, if you commit any kind of transgression or whatever, and you see that you're never gonna be forgiven, then you have no impetus to change, Like you know what I'm saying. If you see it's like, well, you know what, y'all ain't gonna fulp me no way, So fuck it. I'm gonna keep

A person like Russell Simmons, whom I've definitely seen the evolution of deaf jam eighties Russell Simmons versus yoga Russell, Yoga Russell.

And why he hadn't but go ahead, I'm sorry, but the world has changed from the eighties and the nineties and the early.

And it's a weird thing that we have to learn.

Right.

We were talking about this on our group text because we were I mean, I hate to bring it up, but we were talking about a controversial story where a guy is being accused of being inappropriate with women, as in like going on a date and just pulling his penis out right, and so talking about the levels of okay, yeah, yeah, the levels of how should this guy be, how should he be taking care of even though this may have happened twenty years ago, even though you could have walked away,

What does that look like?

What is that just like right, yeah, because I'm like, you could have just along the way.

I mean, I remember when a zis I'm sorry when his story came out, and the woman I'm like, yeah, hey, that sounds like a bad hookup. And I'm not saying she didn't have a bad experience. But last I checked the premise of Sex in the City, which was I don't know, the most successful show of its time was kind of based on four girls hooking up with rich guys in New York City.

Ooh, it's I'm broken.

And so it's just a complicated thing, and you want to show sympathy and empathy for anyone who feels wronged, but you also have to realize, especially sexual experiences, something could happen between the two of us, and when we walk away, what you thought happened to what I thought happened are two different day and so no one has clearly articulated with the new rules of engagement and the rules of the road.

Aar.

And when I say intimacy, I don't mean sex, but intimacy, especially among colleagues, is at least for me, what has helped me like be successful in my career. Emir and I are friends. Right, we're both colleagues at MSNBC or at NBC, but we've never worked together. But when I met him, I connected with him, and I cared him. I cared about him as a person.

You didn't even know his name, you know what.

I was dragging about it, and you hugged him. Which now it's like, I get worried about hugging people.

But if we get to a place.

Where we can't even show compassion or show any kind of.

Is I mean, if you worked in the music industry, if you worked an advert in a creative industry, you have to care about people.

Because you're working with these motherfuckers all the time. Like it's sometimes you might see these people more than you see your damn family, you know what I mean.

It's yeah, it's yeah, it's.

Wild we establish And I think that's the that's the whole thing about right now in this time with all these raised conversations and all of these conversies meet too, conversations like we're re establishing ourselves and the rules, and we're also acknowledging of what we didn't know.

Yeah, and I think you have to give people the space for that, like, because it's like even with the whole with the whole black face thing, like when they going through these white college yearbooks and finding all.

These white people doing shit.

It's like, dude, I mean again, for me, it's different as a Southerner because I went to these schools. I knew all them good old boys, like they was listening to Wu Tang, but they had god damn Confederate flags on they trust, but they should.

Be ched in some form of fashion, because not for nothing, that's that's the eighties, Not for nothing. Open a book, Like, I'm tired of white people having excuses for not knowing Black culture. That's excuses. I'm like, this is a part of a black face was a part of American.

Culture, but it wasn't. I mean, but you gotta think though, it's a thing like a society. To me, society is nothing more than just a contract. Right, It's just a contract, and like it's an ever evolving, ever renegotiatable contract. So one day it's like, Okay, this was cool, but then all of a sudden you wake up and it's like, no, this ain't cool no more.

I just know that people don't be offending Jewish people as much like they know the rules. People know the rules about certain cultures, they will not what but this happens much faster for other cultures. For us, we got to be understanding to understand it. They don't know and blah blah blahlah blah.

I'm not saying we understand. They don't want They don't want to know.

People don't want it.

There are tons of things that I'm not sure why you shouldn't do it, and this is an opportunity to explain and find out why.

I've had to explain to many people about minstrelsy and and that sort of and people that just didn't know about the history.

They knew that it was wrong, but they didn't know why.

And sometimes I feel like, you know, with some fight white folks, they can know why, but they're like, well that's that's no big deal to me, So I almost a big deal. I'm gonna just do it.

But that's because I think a lot of white people, when you say white privilege, they're like, what do you mean white privilege? I don't have it so easy because we take for granted what we don't realize because they're saying, how could you say because the idea of white privilege like, I don't have a privileged life. I'm struggling. But when you actually put it into content.

Cab, just stand outside real it, right.

I was. I was recently, I was upstate skiing and there was a woman there talking and she goes, you know, people talk about white privilege all the time. I mean, I don't think it exists. And I said, have you looked at this mountain? Do you see any black people.

That ain't serving you?

You don't even know when we're missing.

But because the idea, because for some people they think that they they conflate white privilege with white supremacy, and they're not the same thing. They're not, but those two things get conflated.

Interesting, it's like to say white privilege is like to say it's not saying that it's easy to be white. I'm not saying that just because you're white, you're gonna have an easy life.

That's not you. Yeah, right, everybody but.

Easier, but you ain't gonna know it, so it's still gonna feel hard.

But if you had to walk a day in my ship, you would jump off a fucking bridge. You ever see the Michael, Oh, yeah, that's the great I watched that ship one hundred times.

So Todd Bridges a nine year old time bridge. Yeah, he's talking to Michael Landon. He said, he asked some question.

From from from Little House on.

Different yet he was.

Like nine years old.

Yeah, he asked Michael Landon, would you rather be what was it?

Would you rather be black and live live to one hundred or be white and diet fifty?

And then all of a sudden, Michael Landon the panning and the John Williams jaws like music and Michael Landon's dependsive look of pain on his face and the look of defeat on his face when he realizes, yeah, I'd still be I'd rather die at fifty and white, like just walk away. And for the record, Michael Landon died at the age of fifty four. Wow.

And what was the rest of the joke? Who lived to be well?

No, no, no, he just walked away.

Basically, Michael Landon was basically saying, yes, I'd rather I'd still be white. Yeah, just like when Chris Rock said none of you would trade places with me?

And I'm rich right, I mean, I don't want to defend anything unpopular right now.

But the show is Little House on the Prairie, which is based in the Yes, seemed to be the lone liberal on the Prairie.

You always did the right thing, though, Yeah, I have a question.

Yes, So I hinted that the fact that I went to school for working in the news, working in television news earlier. What's what made me switch directions? Happened in my senior year, A little event that you might have heard heard of nine to eleven.

That morning.

You know, I I had to work first, go to work first, and then I had to go to class Ball State University in Muntsy, Indiana, and and basically like the whole department, like we just all came together and it was it was it was the class was the coverage of the news. And I'm just watching all this stuff, and I'm realizing, like if I go into this for the you know, as a career. You know, I've seen the Bud Dwyer suicide video in class. You know they

He was a corrupt UH councilman who strategically called a press conference in a in a Philadelphia judicial room. But he did it in from the judges position where there's like a protective barrier and then he pulls out a gun and then he uh killed himself live on television.

We all saw it.

So it was you know, your journalism ethics classes and all, and you know, yeah, I mean, because if I'm working in news, I'm gonna so you know, with watching nine to eleven happen, and you know, I'm realizing that I don't have time to process this as a human being. I have to get ready to get something on air. You know, this is you know, have you ever had a situation where you were had your emotions where your emotions were kind of running really high and you weren't sure.

Yeah, I mean, first of all, it would be odd to find a day when I don't cry a little bit on TV, because I definitely do. I did actually last summer, and it wasn't a great night for me when we were in McCallen, Texas at the border. Was sort of when there was first news coverage of what was going on with child separation. And it's very rare

You stood up for something.

And so I was so devastated by this idea of babies being taken from their mothers. Really you almost couldn't even understand what I was saying. I was crying so hard on air, and some people after were like, oh, that was real emotion and that was raw and that was great, but it really wasn't. And after the president of NBC's name is Andy Lack, who I worked for, it at Bloomberg too, gave me graded and he said, you can be real and you can be emotional on television,

Emotion, I would not have I feel like that.

I would not have gone into this business if I couldn't be my First of all, I went into it too late. I was thirty six years old, Like it was too late for me to be anything but me. And I think people want that people they don't want you to just give it. Here is the information. You could get the information from the internet. You can try to give it in the best way you can.

We had to do radio on that day. It was hard to nine to eleven on radio at six pm that night.

Not tasy, but it was.

But you also feel like you're doing a service too for your friends because you're giving them the information that they need. And so the more you get in your head about that and getting your folksed to information, unless you get it into the feelings part.

Covering shootings is horrible. Covering Parkland is horrible. Covering the Remember that shooting in Texas last year. That was in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a tiny little Baptist church, and a guy walked in and he shot everybody, you know, and they were facing the altar, so he shot him, No, shot him from behind. Those are horrible to cover.

I couldn't do it. So I had to like, literally, really, do you really? Like it was my senior year, like like I had to.

I had to finish out the major, but like nine eleven's like, I don't think I can do this, like because I just needed to process what had just happened, you know, like there was no way that like I wasn't trying to be an on air person, you know, I was either going to be behind behind the camera or an editing room somewhere. Editing room definitely would have been a problem because you getting all the unedited footage, You're seeing everything that's not going to you know, not

Yeah, here you are. I think things have changed. I'm not doing like you know what I get.

But I also even think the shows that I love to watch or listen to. I don't think have traditional roles. I don't think it's like you're the anchor, you're the I mean they're more Everybody involved is putting all the best ingredients they can think of in the pot, and hopefully everyone will rise with it. Right Like I think people were more famous, Like I think people on television ten years ago were more famous now. I think great content makes people famous because there used to only be

Wow?

Yeah, just passed away last month factor January. Fun fact, when that Bud Dwier thing happened. Uh, that was the day that Prince Premier kiss on parad So. I literally whenever I hear that intro, I always think of Bud Dwire. I'm sorry like that that yeah, that that that image was kind of.

No, no, no, it was.

It happened coincidentally at the same time, like my parents, my parents and family were screaming, do not google Bud Dwyer.

Don't do that to yourself. I don't know, maybe not.

You shoul look up. You should have that Bible that I'm wondering.

If it is on YouTube it is. Okay, So look, Stephanie, we're about to wrap up right now because I know you have to get up at zero clock in the morning. So technically only got one question out, so I don't even get to where did you where were you born? And all your child or whatever? Jersey, Well, yeah, I mean I asked, but anywaysy am Yeah.

So my second question, what was the first record you ever purchased?

The first record I can remember so vividly as a child. No, no, I'm gonna tell you so. The first record I can like when I close my eyes is the double soundtrack from Greece, the movie Wow. Being a little girl staring at the green record with all of the photographs.

What part one? Right, I'll just make sure Grease won.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, like Greece too. Nobody wants to admit that. But you know we're gonna score the bowling song.

Okay, I'll give you.

Yeah, We're gonna, We're gonna, We're gonna, We're gonna go and so not like right there you were gonna dump on Grease.

All the words.

It's true, it's just you know, it was the Grease double album. I can so vividly remember.

Yeah, that just happened.

You see, Greece is universal.

About Greece. It's far dirtier than you remember. Because I have little kids, and then I'm like, I'm sorry, what the chicks?

Who the what? Like, yes, I gotta go watch it again.

I hate keep from Kiniki.

Yes because my daughter's five Michael and I'm like, oh, come on, let's watch the dance scene. And I'm like, wow, Gregorio, you never.

You ever tried watching Back to the Future post me to.

Yo as well, you're the president from Back to the.

All right, what was your first concert material?

Girl Madonna?

Not a bad one.

Were the Beastie Boys?

The Opener?

I don't think so?

Okay okay?

And I went to a meet Loaft show at a community college.

Wow? Really? Yeah?

Somebody's parents took.

Us y when I when I was seven years old, I played meat loaf in a pinball game. Wow. Uh.

In Albany, New York.

This is back in the day when rock stars would normally stay at airport.

What are you laughing at, Zarah?

What do you mean you played him in a pinball game?

Okay?

You know what, Yeah, because it's hard to play.

With Okay, I thought I thought it was some sort of Okay, let me.

Explain to you hotel. Wait, she thought you, like, were in a play and your your role was meet looks.

So you were playing it was he was your opponent.

Okay, So I got you saying to back and most shared. In the holidays, they used to have something called game rooms and every arcade game. Hotels used to have fully stocked arcades inside of to keep kids occupied. Now it's just like pay per view on your and your but kids used to have something to either go swimming or you go to game room. So your parents give you five bucks and then that buys you depending on if

Yeah, I was saying, I didn't even hear that story. I just heard meatball music and I would do anything below.

Anyway, dude that I loved him.

Zero, What was your first concert?

Wango Tango you by Kiss FM?

What the hell is wingo Tango?

It's like, you know, jingle Ball? Yeah, Kiss FM and l A does a like a summertime one at the rose Ball who performed.

The Oh no, she don't make us feel? Oh go ahead?

Zero?

What nothing good? There's age? She just sounds fourteen.

I can't remember, but I think it was like the Backstreet Boys. Oh I remember Kelly Osborne saying she.

Has It was during the Osborne when the Osbourne's were going.

And uh, Jaul and Ashanti.

Wango tango.

You gotta have a little bit of everything, like dingle.

What's the first record you brought?

Osborne had a song, yes, cover.

Of Papa Don't Preach. It was her first single.

I loved it.

Yeah, what was your first record?

It was that? Kelly?

No?

No?

Probably yeah, Like, how do you know? I was a kid at one point to My parents didn't buy the RAF but my friend Evans from Dynasty, you know what I know?

I think Yanni did was the one word.

Okay, I thought they were Anyway, I appreciate this.

This is a very generous interview. We we enjoyed talking to you. Okay, you guys A drunken episode, Stephanie.

Stephanie cat just told you it was one episode already told Artis, But it knocked me off my feet. This guy was talking, he was on the Conservative and he came at Belshie for no reason. He said, and where are you from? It was totally racial and your ass jumped to his defense so quick that I thought you was gonna jump through that screen. And I just want to tell you ever since that day I had folk a spirit.

Thank you.

He why are you asking him where he is from?

He was trying to say that.

It was okay that Roy Moore down in Alabama went after underage girls because he looked at Ali and he said, well, you're from afar off Land, trying to make some sort of thinly veiled Muslim race like Canada.

So that guy could take a hike.

Yoh, you got pissed. It was great, Okay, I'm just let her speak then, yeah, you got she got this.

But think about that. Think about in Alabama that guy almost got elected. And listen, there was some Charles Barkley the night before went down to Atlanta and said, Atlanta and said we have to be better than this. And he got out the vote and made a difference.

It was Charles Barkley.

I remember twenty years ago. Charles Barkley was guy saying I don't want to be an idol. I don't need to. I don't want to be a role model for your kids. Evolution, all right, which guess what everybody can?

Everybody can. I don't say everybody before a lot of people can.

Before I let you go.

Everybody has the potential to potential. Yeah, before I let you go. No, this is no because she could come back, and you know we got we should have a beat for a yes episode.

Would you do a drunken episode?

Well for the year in episode we just have alcohol. Actually, wait a minute, when the drink has been poor. No, I think we need to do a drunken episode with Rachel.

Oh, Rachel and Stephanie.

That would be something, all right, because Rachel's starting to speak to me in elevators now.

I've been hearing about how good she is at pouring drinks. I just, you know, want to find out for myself.

She's very good.

Is Rachel single? She's still married?

She is not single.

Okay, she's still nice. They've been met together for a long time. It's great.

All right, Well, Stephanie, we thank you for coming on.

And your show airs win nine am and one pm.

She's about to walk out right now. Could you say that one more time because you got interrupted.

Nine am Monday to Friday, one pm Monday.

What network, M S, N b C.

Thank you very much.

Hey. By the way, I know our audience can't see this, but these Taates cookies have they been here since They've been here the entire time. It was a courtesy of this Sugar Network than Sugar Network. Oh no, Babe, Bill, Zarah Sugar, Steve with the Sugar Network. It's like and Fanciccolo and Stephanie roll Quest Love signing off only on Pandora.

We will see you on the next go around.

Thank you.

What's Love Supreme is a production of my Heart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.