Questlove Supreme: Joy Reid

Hey, Quest Love Supreme.

Family just wanted to give you a heads up that the audio quality of this episode at times may not be the stand that you are used to, but bear with us. We thought this sit down with joy Read was an important listen considering the current climate.

Enjoy Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Robert watching Bargin.

Okay, I've been watching this.

Hey, I'm doing this or all damn? Why you always got to ruin show Man?

No, I mean it's it's cool, like I like it. It's I liked it better than that other show that.

You jump You jumped the gun a little too soon.

I all right, I get it. I know Jordan's Hill Productions made us work for it.

And one day no, no, no, I hope one day that he does something and it just the point is there, Like, yes, I have to commit to watching Lovecraft Country two to three times every episode to catch Easter eggs.

I didn't get.

Yeah, it's too many. It's too many other shows that I can watch once. Intead are great and I'm just like, I mean, because my wife, my wife, she loves Lovecraft like she watches it. No, it's important and I will watch it sometimes with her, and I'll be like, but like I but like I been like, I'll be in another room and it's just like I hear just trap music and then I look at the screen and it's a fucking word wolf for some ship.

What the fuck is this? There's a lot of ship joint Hello, Hello, how you doing? Welcome to myself Supreme. This is literally how we just start episodes. We just jumping with Can we ask.

Her real quick?

Don't love trap music?

Wolve?

Hello? Everybody?

Let's go on love Craft? Yeah or day? Are you in it or not in it?

I'm watching it, but it traumatizes me.

Right, I can only watch so much of like the abuse of black people in history entertainment before I start to really just start to lose.

My mind a little bit.

So I watched The Payoff The Payoffice, episode seven.

It works in the end.

I stayed with it because first of all, the Nina Simone tracks are fire, the music is fire, and it pays off in the end.

But it's a.

Lot, it's a lot lot. The important the important thing about it, once I did the research was that I didn't know the history. Okay, so I knew the history of how modern comedy started in America, which starts with minstrel entertainment making fun of slaves and whatnot.

You know, the black face, we know that I didn't.

I didn't realize that the slave was also or the freed slave was actually the impetus for the modern horror flick, like basically the rising down the album cover Fonte, Yeah, that was the whole day, was HB.

Love Right? HB. Lovecraft?

Uh started writing fiction about how freed slaves were going to destroy UH plantations and get revenge once they were freed, and thus that's the.

Birth of the horror genre.

Like it was based on black people being the Boogeyman and all that stuff. So which makes you.

Show the ultimate buck you because them casting all these black people and making this a black story and remix it is like love Craft, No, white.

People the real they're the real horror people.

So it's it's it's it's the real. That's that's how we get into it. Ladies and gentlemen.

If you're just joining us right now, Uh, I insisted, you know, there were there was a way that would Yeah, there used to be a traditional way that we opened the show. But then you know now that we're in COVID. I call this the COVID Open, not the Cold Open. So we just decided to not have an official intro and just like faded in, let you eavesdrop on what we're talking about.

So we're talking about love Craft.

But of course it would be remiss if I didn't say that our guest today. You know, personally I look for there's there's very few people that I look for to be the voice of reason and the voice of calm, especially how we are now, the way that we can tumee our news or some people are traumatized, where I'm kind of traumatized by it now, so I don't watch it twenty four to seven.

There's only a few names.

That I trust to deliver the facts that I need to know what's going on, and today's guest is a prime example of that. I've been watching am Joy and of course the readout. She's my thirty rock mate. Do you refer to that building as thirty rock? Are the only one that calls it thirty Rocks? I call it thirty rock YEP, Okay, fine, yeah, it's it's it's my trusted source for information. Of course, when this airs today, this will be the day after the election, so we

Tired of or are we going to be okay?

I know everyone's asking you, can you tell us something that you know and.

We don't know? So how are you today?

I'm good, Quest, It's so good to be here with you. You know, I'm a big fan. Can I tell my quest Love story real quick?

Least know you have one?

Everybody has one.

So the first time I met you, Quest, I actually just got in an elevator with you at thirty Rock and I was like, I'm thinking.

Myself, Oh my god, okay, Quest of honest, how am I gonna act cool? I gotta act like normal, like I'm not gonna say anything crazy, so I must have been.

My face must have been like, like, I look like a crazy person, probably because you just turned me and you said hello.

I was like, so you're you're.

One thing I love is when you meet somebody that is, you know, famous, they are just as cool as they seem.

So I would give you that.

My students met you once you came out of your you know, studio, and everything sahi to them.

So you cool?

Yeah, I remember, yeah. I Actually, you know what's weird is Uh. I would often trail you, either in the cafeteria or like I didn't. I didn't want to be that person like Joy or whatever, because oftentimes when I see uh, like Brian Williams, we're kind of BFFs.

But when someone yells's name Brian, he never looks.

So usually when when news pundits and and and reporters are in the hallways of thirty Rock, they never respond to their name because they think that it's like a fan or even something more dangerous closer to Rupert Pumpkin from the King of Comedy following them. So basically, I didn't want to be the guy like Joy it's you know,

There has anyone ever seen me over there? You know?

Uh?

No, I noticed this.

This new COVID opening doesn't include introducing the team. I'm sorry, forgive me, forgive me, you know what. I well, you're supposed to jump in the conversation.

Look, okay, I think.

By now three years that we know that laya with her Oh nice, I look at her like you. It's kind of well, I thought it was braids because oh yeah, it's and we have a unpaid bill.

Hey, you speak.

Radio, so I gotta go with voices already high.

Yes, how you doing? And uh fan tickeolo in North Carolina right now? But up you were telling me you voted through a driving or drive through.

Yeah.

I was like, we went, me and my wife who went early voting the first day, which was the fifteenth, and when we pull up to our poll in place, there was a long line of cars and we thought that was the voting line, but that was really the line for just like the drive through, so like if you had health problems or like you were super elderly and couldn't stand in line, they were just you could drive through and they give you the ballots and do chick you in and all that.

So that line was kind of long.

So then we drove around and we saw the real like the line for just like regular and it.

Probably it don't took us for maybe like an hour.

It's probably like twenty people in line, which is the most people I've been around since March. And we was just you know, we went and massed up and it was distanced and we did it and you know, it was cool.

It was on about the hours to change.

Good Sugar Sea the night.

Yeah, I just want to say out of joy, that was my whole reason for interrupting.

This is a first.

Joy.

I know we have you for limited time, and there's so many questions I want to ask you, but just for this particular election cycle on what you're going through now, Like what is your average day, Like.

You know, the average day is long. I mean I was doing a weekend show for four years and it's a different kind of schedule. You know, we don't even start planning the show until Thursday because since Trump came along, he.

Disrupts so much that we used to have a Wednesday plan.

He would mess that up, so we started planning on Thursdays for Saturday.

But now it's a grind, you know. I used to do a day a day side daily show.

And I had forgotten, you know, I'm a little older and doing it now.

So it's a lot.

We do four meeting for show meetings a day by phone, sometimes by zoom, and then in between it's like taking a college course. You're trying to read everything. It's a blizzard of information and he just won't stop, you know.

I mean I covered the Obama administration.

When I was at the cRIO and as an MSNBC analyst, and Obama lets you rest every so often.

He would speak during my day side show. He's like, Obama, come on, man, you know, because he didn't do the big ethics speaker. Every time you come out and do a speak and go away and live his life and be president. This guy won't let you stop looking at him.

SHO.

I love my team. We make it fun and we try to bring a little levity to it.

We bring as much as we can for us to a traumatize public and we have fun together. But I have to admit it's a different level of exhaustion.

So is it to the place where, like, do you personally feel comfortable? I know that, you know, for people that don't know how television shows work, I mean there are assistants, there are researchers, there are people that can sort of just give you the quick version of it.

Like are there people feeding you in your ear?

Like?

How does that work?

So what we basically do is, you know, we start off first meeting of the day.

We figure out, Okay, this is what we want to talk about, and then I go through and pegment and say this is the way I want to frame it, and then the producers go off and they you know, they write up the intro, so the intros are great producer, so.

They you know, we then I go back.

And I edited, and we make sure that you know, it's in by voice, and then I feel over with it. And so it's a real team effort to together, right, I mean, our show is people, right, It's not just I just don't get out there just you know, information, Like we have people that are backing me up.

You know, we we plan for every continue because I like to just questions. I don't like to have question I like to just you know, glow with questions. But I want to make sure that no matter where I want to go, we have.

The backup to make sure it's factual, to make sure that you know, we've got a story.

That backs it up or some data that backs it up. So we kind of.

Think all the places that these questions could go, and we've got like an element ready to go. So if I say something about a rally, but like okay, we have a sound bite of that that's ready.

So that's a lot of the preparation is making sure that no matter where we end up going in these conversations with something to back it up.

Because we don't want to just give I just don't I don't want to just get my opinion. I want to make sure it's factual. So as far as how much I immerse myself. I have described Donald Trump as like having a toddler. Right, if you have a toddler, sometimes you want to you know, have a little out call, you know, little cocktail break, but you still have to put the baby monitor on.

You still got to watch them. You can't just go to sleep, take a nap and let the toddler, you know, home about the house. Right, we are like the baby box.

I feel like you do have to watch him all the time because, you know, some of the stuff he says it's just dumb, but some of the stuff is dangerous. You know, he will just make a pronouncement and change you as policy and then we have to deal with it, you know.

And sometimes he's just riffing, but you just never know.

Oh So, in terms of fact checking, like who's on standby it? Like is it just assumed that any statement he says is going to need a fact check? Like how's how's that database work? Like is there just a machine that you instantly have? Whatever his stats are, what he says, or.

Yeah, every producer, they're all remote, like this is the COVID time is weird because it normally they'd all be in the studio and they'd all be at a A at a you know, at a MAC and they can look up information all the ready. But now they're in fourteen different cities, but they're still listening in on this

So kind just ask you. You mentioned about like what's your daylight at work, but like what's your day like? Because when do you wake up your like somebody's whole mother and wife. How does that work intertrying with the dailiness of this.

Yeah, and now because you know we're we're we're not living in New York anymore.

I unfortunately gave up New York because you know.

More affordable house. You know, we're in the DMV area. Yeah, we're in the suburbs of DC. So all the kids are living with us now because one loss to you know, he was working as a usher on Broadway.

That's that's done.

We have one that's an artist that she's living there. And then we have the youngest one is a college junior going junior. So they're all in the house.

So that's one of the reasons. You know, a little apartment in Harlem that was going to be a war so we're like, we have moved. We got space.

So really the day is you know, and my husband runs our production company, so we we did have a lot going on in the house all the time. And so I wake up in the morning, my husband and I do a walk, you know, we try to get that health walk in and that's at like seven seven, seven thirty in the morning.

And then from the Monday through Friday, no.

Matter what, unless it's just unless it's really raining.

We did. We try to do it. I mean when I'm here, I do it.

In Central Park, I try. We try to do it every day. And then after that it's just call after call after call.

I'm on the phone all day and that is.

Tiring because it's yeah, that sounds exhausting, exhausting.

And I'm either replying to texts, replying to emails, or on the phone the whole.

So we're all in the house, but we don't really see each other that much. We're all in our rooms.

And any moment, if something were to pop off, you would have to in a moment's notice.

Just how often does that happen to you in a week?

I mean it happened not that often. I mean Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one. But so I the NBC has built a whole studio in my basement.

So the studio is.

Just a matter of running down into the basement and turning the whole machine on, the lights.

On, and just going. So that's good. It is bad because now they know they have that there.

So when I'm watching a m Joy that's a green screen, I don't want.

To for the no, for the readout, it's Basically, I'm sitting in a chair. In front of me are the cameras, just like the cameras in the studio. Behind me is a big screen TV and they can load the background.

Into the TV and it looks like a little studio.

It looks just like, Yeah, I thought you came back to thirty one.

I was like, oh, okay, she's back.

Yeah, well tonight I was in there. I saw this for this week and next week. I'm actually in working out of thirty rock. I'm, you know, here in my hotel. But normally the show, the five day a week show. For the readout, we're in the basement.

So he's helped. It's helpful. He's in production. And then my daughter she has to be the person that hands me the scripts and like, so it's like a family operation.

It's a family business. Yeah, are they union members or not playing?

But listen, I'm like, maybe they should get a check.

But yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I don't.

Want to go too far, boss man.

But I was curious because you said the whole production thing that I was doing research, and I was like, wait a minute. Jordan read went to Harvard and guy a degree in film for documentaries and so there's then there's a whole other aspect of life that we don't even know.

It's it's a.

Lot because we produce some we do a podcast like this one you know that we do also one Get Through You.

So so we're doing our.

Podcast, which is what to Read or we like do books, you know, because this is sort of my my kind of downtime is to just interview.

People who written books. But I got to get you on quest and I know how to get you for your books.

Yes, absolutely, But we.

Just talked to authors for that podcast.

And so we have other stuff we're trying to do too, So it's trying to balance the work work with the other stuff that we're doing. I have this other podcast I'm doing for NBC Kamala Hair. So I feel like my day is every hour is accounting for until I finally go to sleep.

Wow.

So can I ask it? Do you feel like this is your well? Not is this worth it? But do you feel like this time is your your your Bernstein Woodward movement like the water Well, I guess it's so hard to find something tangible to yeah, get him on, but do you is it an exciting feeling? Or is it, like you, this isn't exactly what you signed up for, because you know, for a journalist, this is like a key.

It isn't it is?

I mean, look, Donald Trump is Andrew Johnson plus Woodrow Wilson's failure on the nineteen seventeen pandemic, you know, plus Andrew Jackson's dmons and you know, murderous thoughts toward Native people and people who weren't white, you know, Andrew Johnson's just criminality as a president, plus Nixon, Like this is this dam is It's a multiplier of all the other bad presidents because he's combined, you know, in competence, cruelty, criminality.

And corruption all together.

And each of those presidents had one aspect of what Trump is. And then you throw on top of that the fact that Donald Trump doesn't believe in the presidency as it's always been constructed. He thinks he's the king. He thinks king of the United States. We've never had anything like that.

So for me, it's like Woodward and Bernstein, except Nixon is like Gargantua. You know, he's not even a normal Nixon. He made Trump make Nixon, you know, look like Charlie Brown.

So it's not even you can't even catch him because he's doing a different horrible thing every day.

So this is Nixon on steroids.

So for journalists, you know, I did write a book about him, and he's already done one.

Hundred and three.

Thousand bad things since then, since right, and it's like so you can't keep up with it.

It's a lot.

I think it's gonna take a good few years after he's gone for us to really compile all of this and really understand it. And I do think it is something that people are going to study because this is the closest we ever came to not being a democracy again. And I honestly believe that if Trump is re elected, what I do for a living will be a lot like what journalists in Bellar russ are doing or journalists in Russia are doing, or journalists in Turkey are doing, because we are then going to be.

Dealing with an autocrat.

And I don't mean to make that sound as hyperbole, because I don't mean it as hyperbably.

That's how curious.

Yeah, we're watching it like a lot's going to ride on what happened yesterday, which we don't know the results.

I'll just remind people.

That and we probably won't write like what do you that's an interesting question too, like when do you think this thing will be decided?

Regardless, Like I think it's a two week Well.

Here's my chance to say something great about my former state of Florida. I mean, listen, Florida has embarrassed US as a country for a really long time, and they've had a rough time with elections. But this might be the year Florida actually saves America in times.

Bo purple blue, purple blue.

However, Florida's a tough state to lose because listen, the reality is like angry mean grandparents all moved to Florida and the cool grandparents all moved to Vegas, right, So that's how you know. That's why you know, no matter you fun granny is in Vegas like I'm gambling, you know, the mean granny is that's Florida. So the problem is Florida is very unreliable and the voters there are very unreliable and they don't turn out to vote unless literally.

Obama is on the ballot.

Obama with Biden on the ticket did win it twice, so Biden has a shot.

But if Florida Florida.

The good thing about Florida is that Florida actually has been doing early voting, early absentee voting for a long time because Florida has so many senior citizens, the mailing mailing ballots are a regular thing for them, so they will actually have a result on election. It's not going to be like two thousand. We will actually probably know Florida early and so whether it goes to Trump or

Yes, wow, Ackerson was going on in Pennsylvania right now. Even though Philadelphia. I can't even you can't even look at Philadelphia for the example at all, because Pennsylvania is red and Philadelphia is blue.

But they're going right now, right.

Well, but you know, as of this speaking, uh you know, my both my my sisters giving me updates, like you know, there's stuff happening right outside of a window right now. Yeah, and it's looking very reddish, you know, right well, Red is coming there on the floor like ducking.

But Red is coming to town though, for this kind of activity, like Red lives for this activity.

Red been coming to town ever since they try to take down these statues.

Yeah, no, it's true. And you know, Pennsylvania is like a lot of states.

It is you know, Philadelphia surrounded by Alabama, right, And Ohio is like that, right, it's Cleveland surrounded by Alabama.

And most states are like that.

I mean Georgia that.

Exactly, and Florida is Miami and Broward, you know, browd and Dates surrounded by Alabama.

I mean. The reality is is that.

You know, we have racially polarized voting in America, and the majority of white Americans are Republicans, and people tend to vote their party. It's like a tribe, and so there are going to be some people who break.

Away who are Republicans.

Most Republicans will come home to the Republican Party even if it's Trump. And so the Republicans are about twenty two to twenty three percent.

Of the total population. They're actually small group, but they.

Both like greatly because they're also older and so because they are average older people. And the most elderly state in the country are Florida and Pennsylvania. So there are a lot of older white voters in the state of Pennsylvania, and they're falled in a vote pretty much much all but women. And this time even white women voters are starting to trend away if they have a college degree from Trump. So if he loses white women even by

You just need fifty percent or more of white women to turn away.

From Republicans and white the women because three percent voted for him before, Yes, and Democrats just need to get that down to fifty to fifty and believe it or.

Not, that's enough.

Well, yeah, A wise person once told me that Democrats fall in love Republicans following fall in line, you know, so.

But one more piece of good news. We don't know what's going to happen again. Anything can happen. But I think the Republicans actually made a mistake this time with that Amy Cony Barrett nomination. I think, well, in their mind, they thought this is going to rev up their base.

But it's like when you have a tea kettle on.

Once the water boils, it lets off that sound, and then that means the pressure is released. Republicans are always better off when their based is anticipating maybe getting.

A Supreme Court nomination.

Now that they have a six to three court, there's a lot less motivation and a lot less energy and a lot less rage behind the Christian conservative vote.

They've taken that off the table. So now they do have doubts about.

Let's talk about this now, because what a out this other argument that like, now that she's here, because we haven't talked about OKAYI Biden wins.

That doesn't necessarily mean the king the witch is dead.

If he turns around and decides I'm gonna figure out a way to stay here. And this whole you know theory about well, I'm going to go through the Supreme Court and I'm going to write this, So is it really.

I don't help him in the vote, because you know most I mean, I worked on a couple of elections, and I worked on one where we failed in two thousand and four with America coming together, we're trying to help carry from outside with your sources money, and I worked on both in the press shop.

And when you talk to voters, anger.

And retribution are much more powerful motivators than raditude.

People don't vote for someone because they're great.

They vote because they're pissed off and or because they want someone. So once you give voters a six report, they didn't feel comfortable and say.

It's not urgent to vote. So if I had doubts about Trump, I now have the thing I really wanted. I don't need, like his personality, I don't need to you know, thank you.

By voting for him, I can let go, I can back off, and I can now.

Accept the things I don't like. I don't want him anymore because I got what I wanted.

But if you're the women who voted like crazy twenty, including again a majority of white college educated women, or in rain by the election, and they really wait to get revenge. And black women always are out here trying to pay back. So twenty eighteen was the tsunami because women of all races were enraged and they kept that energy for two solid years and voted just everyone they can get out and gave the House back the Democrats.

So that anchor is still there. And so if for Trump to win, the only way he wins this now.

Is that he somehow suppresses enough votes in the key.

If they somehow are able to stop enough people voting electoral college, that's his only shot.

You can do it in Georgia, Jamie, thanks to the governor.

That's one state, But Georgie is I don't know.

I almost feel more confident about Georgia a little bit than Florida because Florida's so difficult. But Georgia black voters are voting like crazy.

I personally, I personally feel as though Biden will win. However, what I'm also certain about is the amount of pettiness and the amount of uncertainty that's going to occur from his last November. Yeah, from November fourth to January twentieth,

But like, that's what I'm concerned about.

What is a what is a transfer of power that's not the right way? What does that look like? Like all that? The only reference I have is like in season six of West Wing, you know, Jimmy Smith walks out of the thing, and you know, and whomever walks in the thing, and that's the only reference I have, Like, and they seem to be friends, and then he leaves a note, right, and then the note says, don't for you know, don't do the wrong thing and where the secret codes.

Are or whatever he says.

You know, I'm just I'm interested when they say, like, you know, Trump won't let the transfer power be be peaceful?

What does that mean?

Are we gonna have see like armies in the streets?

Like how.

I this is the thing I worry about more than the pride. I think what state that Biden won? I mean that Hillary Clinton one is by not. I don't see how Biden uses.

And he's got a good shot at capturing the three surprise breaks Trump.

So you know, I'm even at that point where I don't know that I you know, I do whipple anounsis for a living, and I like smart for me to trust my own god, which I'm looking at this data and I'm saying, everything I need in the data is this bib.

But it's hard for data to account her voter suppression and for just outright.

That which the Pennsylvania legislature is contemplated the same we don't care what the about.

We even need the elector.

And then of course that goes before that's the case in eighty twenty Varses.

Yeah, and given to Trump. So I don't trust the Supreme Court. I don't trust her car trust on claring. But let's just say none of.

That parents swear, and oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I just you know, I.

Mean, who else what's where?

Man?

I mean she is to women with Clarence is to us. So I mean.

Bubble and that's why we love joy.

The same thing.

But what I think happens if is that you know, Barack Obama as much as he buyes and was horrified by Trump, he.

Left him with no too, like in the West Way, right is gonna.

Leave a no no.

I know what it looks like for what he'll do, but I suspect you probably feel like he has to show up the inaugural. Maybe he just doesn't show up at all. But I'm I don't worry about him.

Because even if he acts food and just needs whatever and then goes enpires a lawyer.

And figures out his legal issues in New York, because he will have legal issues in New York. I worry about his fan because he doesn't have But I like Brock Obama a lot. I respect it.

I wouldn't die right, willing dying.

It's a cult, I said, it's a cult. Yeah, straight up.

It's a Jim Jones situation. And so are people willing to hurt other people.

I worry about that.

Worry about you, Nicole Willace and Rachel Maddals heads exploding on like at any given moment. That's that's what I worry about. With all this knowledge and information, I don't understand how that doesn't happen and how y'all still want to keep doing this.

Coverage so Joy, I would actually I would like to know you as a person because I watch you so much and I don't know anything about your your life beforehand, Like where were you born.

I was born in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.

The best, the only borough that counts. Uh. My parents or immigrants stuff, they somehow met in Iowa for some reason. My mother was from Guyana and my father was from the Congo.

And they somehow.

That's where you go.

I really think my mother had been in England and she had been teaching and then wanted to come here and go to graduate school.

And my father was also looking to to graduate school.

And I really think because for him, you know, the Congo had just gotten its liberation and the new government there was paying.

They were paying for everyone's college education. And I think they just said, when we spend out money wisely, we went to spending place to be inexpensive.

And I think they ended up being like, Iowa, that's just cheap, let's go there, you know. And I think my mother. I have no idea, because my parents are both deceased. I can't even ask them now, but that's where they met. And my sister was born in Iowa. And then I was born in Brooklyn, and then they somehow decided to move to Denver, Colorado, and that's where

All I really liked was football and the news.

News as a teenager who loves the news as a teenager.

You know, so one day I will never get this.

I was in like sixth grade, aging myself, and I came upstairs and I'm watching this show at night that was the Iran hostage crisis countdown, and for some reason, I was just fascinated by the fact that people had taken hostages and were holding them, would't let him go, and I just saw I was like, Mom, can I watch this? And she was like, Okay, you can stay up and watch it, and I ended up watching Nightline. With Nightline, I ended up watching that all the way

Football that's pretty much all I will watch. Well, i'd starting and so I you know.

Who was your favorite childhood annger? I'm just curious back then? Who's your favorite childhood anger back then?

Now you said that.

Today's show and yeah, I mean you know, later on obviously was Gwen Iifel when I got older and it was finally a black person. But growing up we were all about Dan rather like and now I follow him on Twitter and.

Yeah, it'd rather be going in right then.

He did back then too.

He had to be subtle with it, but I always loved him. I thought he was always really funny.

So when when did you make that in high school? When did you did you decide then that you wanted to make a real pursuit in the journalism. Why you mentioned that you were considering making documentaries first, and like, where's your life in your twelve year of high school?

Well, I mean, honestly, when I was probably about twelve, I also told my mother I wanted to be a doctor, and my sister told her.

She want to be lawyer. And West Indian parents don't play that.

You want to be and you want to do other stuff besides being a doctor or a lawyer. So I was supposed to be a doctor, like that's what I committed to. And I got into Harvard for pre med and so my mother was so proud, and so that's what I'm officially going to be. I was like, I was going to write books on the side, but really be a doctor, and I had committed to that. Unfortunately,

So I wasn't all church.

This was much So I ended up moving out and I moved actually right down the street bike Lee, and so there was all this stuff happening in Brooklyn at Fort Green at the time.

That was before Fort Green was gentrified, so it was just very.

Black, very It was just this amazing place to live, just ast fight doing everything all the time, and music videos and everything was happening on the block. So when I went back to Harvard, I switched my major film and they only had documentaries.

I was like, okay, oh documentary.

Wow, okay, who, like, who were the filmmakers that you idolized back there or what stories did you want to tell?

Well, I mean we studied everything Oscar Me Show on, you know, and but Fike is the person I really admired. I was sort of the one person in the class that wanted to do narrative films, and they were like snobs and they only wanted documentaries, so they wouldn't let us do narrative.

But I really idolized Fike back then, and.

So I was like, I'm gonna beat of females I leave when I come out. And I actually wound up meeting my husband because when I came out, we formed

York City, so we were doing I was the producer, So I booked everybody up. Yeah, no, we knew.

I mean it was wild because we knew a lot of these guys when they were like really just starting out.

We booked Shaggy, We booked all of these guys.

So we were we were doing our little yeah shout out.

To Shaggy, Thank you bro. No Shaggy slander on the show.

He said, now I'm gonna say, Shaggy, reason why you got your deal?

Right?

Yes exactly, Shaggy is, yes, the success gave me my budget.

Thank you.

I need to hear this story.

Yeah, basically, the success of it wasn't me and Casey and JoJo's All My Life. That's what paid for my entire things fall apart, uh marketing budget. So our fourth album, no no, no, no no, just saying that the promise you

Diamond Records my daughter when she was a little baby, and we would we had to take the kid had be portable and I had her. I pictured her propped up in the corner like, don't cry while we were interviewing Shaggy. So yeah, he was like one of the main We loved interviewing him. He was like a good guy. So yeah, we were literally doing like we were so left field with it. But we did video dub play for a while, and then I got pregnant again and then we had to actually have a normal jobs, and

I got into news really because I had to start over.

My Spanish wasn't good enough to stay in consulting, and I just wanted to do something I love to do and be fine.

So I ended up New.

Okay, So the common theme that I'm hearing here is that you've had to meet these sort of abrupt left and right turned to a whole nother uh, sort of uncharted territory. What is that like for you?

Are you?

Is there trepidation?

Like?

Okay, we worked really hard to make this video show work and now I love Brooklyn and I can't live Like how hard is the adjustment to doing something totally new, even with doing readout?

Like?

How hard is that adjusted?

It's not like I grew up with a very adventurous mother, you know. My mother literally got on a steamship and left Guyana by herself, you know, and went to London and lived there and moved here and moved to Iowa. Like you were just an adventurous family. We used to get in our station wagon to go and drive all over the country.

You drove the Utah, We drove to San Francisco.

We would just get in the car, Like we drove to Mexico to Wahaka and stayed there for a summer when she was working on this book project.

So she was just that bohemian lady.

So I just grew up a risk cacker and in just being comfortable switching plans. We always had to change our plans, you know, It's just the way it was. She was a single mom, used her life and her plans a lot, and so I just was kind of raised by somebody like that. So I actually am cool with it. I love changing. I like I like the change. I like I like new environments.

Oh okay, that's I admire that because you know, that's a lot of a lot of switching back and forth, you know, with your life. So do you feel as though you are living out your purpose? Like this is what I You didn't know that, this was the the destiny that you asked for.

No doubt that, no doubt.

I feel like all of the crazy adventures that I've had and the you know, the just all of the wild kind of changes in my life and prepared me for this. I feel like because I was raised in the Midwest, I can kind of understand where that sort of Republic inside is coming from and analyze them in a different way. My father was a Reaganite, my mother was a Carter Liberal, and so.

They had this whole conversation that was all, what's going on?

And I think that I think absorbing you know, this interesting information, young, and I think also struggle. You know, I've you know, I've been real, real, real broke. I've been you know, not sure what I was going to do, you know, day to day.

And I think that helped in this business.

And I think not coming from a journalism background actually helps me in this moment because a lot of ways, I am, in so many ways.

The victim of Trump. What trump Ism is trying to victimize, right.

Immigrant people, women, women who are you know, stuff for ourselves, all the things that trump Ism is fighting, I'm living those things. So I think the journalists in the traditional sense are hemmed in by the way they're trained to be objective. I'm an opinion drop I started off columns.

I'm an opinion droope. I can be open.

Thank god.

I'm glad you mentioned what you said earlier, because there's been a lot of people, especially on social media, that have been shocked at the alarming percentage of how many conservative black folks we have. And hey, I was trying to explain that. Yo, even in the eighties, like those Christian parents went with, well, who's more closer to my Christian values? And you know they were shocked. My mom

Be on the side.

It wasn't necessarily on the right side of the fence. I'm just yo, dog.

There's again there's a lot of you know, like that line, you know, three hundred and twenty five dollars.

Your soul, see go to college and I want to have I.

Got right, But I've seen more, But I've saw more people like yeah, yeah, Like that's when I realized that black people were mad conservative.

Three Zion is kind of like that too, right, It's like a subtle kind of pro life you miss. I just feel like black black people are tend to be pretty conservative socially.

And we're close to God. Yeah, that's being close to God is our hope. Like after all the stuff we've gotten through, Like if you tell me that that, like you let that go, then where else do we have? Like that sort of thing? So yeah, but the amount of people that whose minds have been blown at why, you know, a lot of my idols and heroes, uh, you know, the last thirty years in hip hop are sort of showing towards yeah.

And ways that I fifty cent though he's back, right, he's back with us?

Is that what? Heads?

He's such a troll. I can't even he's such a troll, Like, yeah, fifty knows the value of controversy and saying whatever.

You know what I'm saying.

So I don't know where he's at. I mean, who knows who he'll vote for?

But what What was surprising to me though, just because I'm a little older than I and I'm I'm i cam up in that public enemy era, and I've been surprised of how quiet hip hop has been overall on Trump period, Like I expected like war with Trump.

And I mean, like Eminem both.

About Trump than anybody else, you know, And I'm like, why is Eminem out here out front?

Everybody else is kind of quiet? Like that surprised me. I thought, there's more.

Why is that? Fellow jobs?

I think at the end of the day, you know, you're and we can go back to seventy two, Your Bill Withers, your Curtis Mayfields, you're edwin stars. Like they weren't balling in a penthouse apartment. They weren't, you know, and they didn't have much to lose, and hip hop became the thing that it was once against. It's mass capitalism.

I'm trying to think it's interesting because I'm like.

Well, yeah, I mean a lot of people are silent, and you know, and where they are, like, I know where a lot of the one percent hip hop people are hiding out as far as like what island they're on or what you know, that sort of thing. And then the other half it's I've gone, man, the amount of back of or bickering I've been dealing with in rappers d ms with me just trying to tell them.

Like both, well, I don't want them. I don't want.

Them to get canceled, you know what I mean. Like, and there's there's this there's this old mentality that they didn't get the memo on that they can't say certain things or you know, and it's not me trying to control their opinion. But I'm like, dog, I just don't want you, just I don't want you to stop your bag. And there's like ten of you know, and it's it's it's just disheartening to me.

Man.

It's like it's it's like my whole generation might be a lie. And I can't I can't come to grips with that right now.

Athletes, I have to say, I'm so proud of Lebron James.

Yes he's not, but he is not in.

No.

I mean he's a part of the hip hop generation. I mean for me, he's not a rapper. He's not right, I get it. I mean I think, you know, just speaking for me, you know, because I can only speak for myself, you know, and Frante is way younger person.

Yeah, I'm forty one, so you know.

So But for me, I mean, when when I saw Trump got elected, my thought was, and you know, I politics is not really something I've involved myself in, you know, I mean I vote, you know, of course, I voted in all the elections that I was able to, but that was eligible to but politics.

Weren't really my thing per se.

But for me, when Trump got elected, I was just like, man, white people got theirself into this ship.

They need to get.

Theirself out of, Like like I ain't got damn you know what I'm saying, Like.

That's not one to carry.

I mean, I mean it's some white people burning people in there is some I don't give a fuck black people in there.

There's something like that, right it is.

I mean, yeah, it is some loss. I get it. Fonte is a point because at the end of the day, I think we're more managing white people shock because no, no, no, at the end of the day, it's like one hundred percent.

If anything, this is.

The closest that white people will ever know, like that uncertainty of I don't know what's going to happen. And it's not exaggeration, Like you know how hard it was hard for white people to believe that, oh, we really are getting our ass kicked and all that stuff. That's why I never shared that journey story because it's like who would believe me? Like, oh really, quest love, like y'all all got pulled over and da da da da

Casey, you feel dirty?

There's data that backs up everything.

I'm just asking.

Yeah.

And the thing is is that you know, we've survived Reagan's crack era, like and I don't want to say this sort of like because it's not it's it's it's I don't want to be dismissive at people like I've I've had at least six people very close to me pass away from COVID, you know what I mean. So I don't want to be dismissive of like this should have been avoided at all costs. But at the end of the day, I think this is really about the

Yeah, you know, I mean you think about it. You know, we can go back through it again.

Right. But Abraham Lincoln who wrote in letters and did speeches saying, if you three black people sent him back to Africa because they shouldn't be allowed to live with civilized white folks.

You've got Andrew Jackards, right.

You've got Andrew and he was on pot slavery, and that was our friend. Black people became Republicans on site because of him. And he hated black people, just be honest. He thought black people were inferior to white people and wrote that down. You got Andrew Jackson who said kill anybody who was in white marched all the Native Americans uh into the trail attempts, don't want to be in camps, trailer tears, Kill them all doesn't matter.

He was just genicidal. You've got Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, top ten according to all the historians. Let almost as.

Many people die of the so called Spanish.

Flu as died in the Civil War. It just Trump lied about it.

Let soldiers come home home from Europe to World War One with it and give it out to all of their friends and family. Let people die just like Trump liar, vehement racist.

We'll talk about Thomas Jefferson, Joey tell him.

About exactly this.

He gives lie to the idea that if you have black children, you can't be racist.

Thomas Jefferson, Right.

I mean I used to tell my students, you know, I used to teach the class at Syracuse Nice to say to them, why do you think that almost everybody you meet named Washington, Jefferson or Jackson is right?

Wow?

Right? Got you know, mister and missus Washington. They may have three kids, one dies of consumption. Now you got two little Washington kids. That's four Washington. But they got three hundred slaves and they own every one of them, three hundred slaves. And every time they produce children, that's also Washington. So you just multiply ef right, So all

Like.

He wasn't exactly like super not racist, right, but he still did the right thing.

But if you listen in his mouth, you're like, wow, you know what I mean.

Look, even Nixon did busting every but he wasn't exactly a fan. So we've dealt like I think black people have a certain amount of cynicism even about our supposed friends in power, and they only like us for so much, and so.

We have to get what we can get. And we don't have.

As high a of a of a bar to say, you know, you've got to be perfect, whereas White America hasn't really had the sense of insecurity, as you said question that we've had. And for the wait, if you're in Portland, Oregon, that's not black kids getting there behinds kicked by cops when they're out for black lives, that's their kids.

That's their kids.

In Seattle getting their behinds beat and getting fire holes, that's them and find they're dying. This is in Utah and North Dakota and South Dakota.

That's them.

And so I think that sense of instability and insecurity at least for white women with college degrees is moving voter. So this is a referendum on how much you know, White America's willing to put up with.

We know how black men are going to vote, you know, we know two.

Thirds we could have it, didn't a new percentage come out about how the number of black men are went up for voting for Trumps.

Men on this that that was my.

I think it's.

Just I'm just going in and appeals to a certain consulinity, and he has.

He's actually gone the.

Hotel Biggers the outline, but that's you know.

It's probably he'll probably get you know, ten eleven percent, but you know ten eleven percent of black men tend to vote Republican anyway, So he'll get his ten eleven percent of black men, he'll you know, ninety four percent of black women, ninety nine percent of black women to vote against him. He'll get he's getting more Hispanics because there's just a certain kind of masculinity. Yeah, they'll get some, but he's the overwhelming majority of black men are going to vote by.

Yeah, I just thought that was interesting. I was like, okay, so why did why did go up?

Though?

Why to go up? Though?

Why did what go up?

The black men numbers for drunk drunk because there's a yeah, the the kind of toxic masculinity kind of me too blowback.

You know, that's that's you know, you cheer for the black bad guy. This is why we watched Scarface a lot, and not from Here to Eternity we watch? Is that the only film? I'm sorry that was an odd example, you know, I just in my mind, I was like, don't say that film, Just say anything pee Wee's bigg Adventurement. Don't but.

Sixty hip hop lyrics like he he meane a lot of you know. I remember interviewing Uncle Luke in twenty fifty and he was like, we were all at Trump's house party. You know, Trump's in our lyrics.

Like Trump's on like method Man's record, but a record thing.

I mean, I think that's a different context because I don't think it's fair to say there are plenty of people I hung out at parties with. I don't think the motherfucker should be president, you know what I mean? So I think it's a different context of like this guy in the eighties, I mean, you know, the eighties nineties.

I mean he was basically just he was just like a celebrity.

It was aspirational and it was he was just a nigga that finessed. He was basing the nigga that so prefaiked legal and was just a finessing everybody. But you know what I mean, Like that's all the shit was. But now you see the finesse. It's like, you respect the finesse. Like you see the finesse, it's like, oh man, he finessing and doing this and he's selling buildings. It's like, oh now he's doing this. Oh he's got a TV show,

Now it's dangerous.

Like before it was like a guy we just kind of looked at, you laughed at you laughed at the hair, you saw whatever. But now it's like, hold up, dude, y'all, don't put this motherfucker in the White House.

Are you shipping me? Like, nah, come to fuck on, you know what I mean.

That's the part where nah, bro don't don't do that, y'all, don't ran this shit too far.

I feel like that's what Joy be thinking every day when she's sitting at that desk.

I really, I still can't believe that.

People, because he did lose the election. I just can't believe them. Four hundred people in the electoral calls said yeah, let's do.

This, let's put this.

It was that close.

So okay.

So that brings me to a question, Joe, I'm curious to know your thoughts on So I'm curious to see what the post Trump effect will be on politics, because you know, on one hand, there's a lot of people that are saying, well, Trump got it, So now the I guess the kind of cold of personality and the celebrity that that door is wide open. So now you might see, hell, the rock might try to run some ship or.

You know, I mean, you know what I'm saying. But I'm thinking, and I want to know your thoughts.

I kind of think that now this may be a tipping point where the American public are looking at this ship and they like, look, dude, let the papers pop in, the breakers break, you know what I mean, Like, y'all motherfuckers like, let the politicians be politicians.

Just you famous niggas. Just be famous niggas. Don't it. You ain't never tried it, Like we gave you one shot. We tried to think out the box. Now rest your niggas. Just go sit home.

We don't care if y'all left right Democrat. No, just keep making movies. Stay the funk out of politics because y'all fucking shit up.

There.

You go.

Tell that to Puffy, Tell that to Kanye.

I mean they figure.

I think Republicans figured they're one, they're one for two because they had Reagan. You know, so I don't know that this is over because you gotta remember about.

Reagan too, But like even Reagan, it was different because Reagan governor, he was a governor at least got it and.

As an actor, you governor now, right, y'all do that.

No, he's not. I'm not saying that. Don't don't't talk about that.

You better move who running for now? He's he has his yay, now has his sights for being governor of California. First, good luck, not good for anyone.

Help him. He needs help.

But I mean, you can't tell nobody known with five billion dollars in their pocket.

Obviously we really got five billion in his pocket.

Though, you know, I asked Adidas this all the time.

With joy.

Is it crazy to ask you?

Can?

You?

Well? Well, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

That's the first question.

So you think do you think do you think celebrities are done out of politics?

Now?

Well?

What do you think the post Trump fit will be?

I don't think it's done, because you have to remember, part of what drives Republicans is a real anger that they've lost the culture. And I think they're more angry about losing the culture than they are about facing the political majorities. And they don't ever win majorities. They don't care about that. What they hate is that back when Reagan was in being a Republican was cool still. You know, they could still get invited to the Oscars. What they really want is they want you to like them. They

They snatched up on him.

They couldn't wait to tweet him out as a matter, but he was apparently wasn't prepared for them to tweet him out like that, not that I don't know. He didn't think they were going to do him like that, but they're so desperate to have the culture. So no, I think if anybody halfway famous tries it again, Republicans will do it because they're basically a minority party of Christian white men and their wives, and there's just not enough of those to ever be a popular political party.

And they feel like Mark Cuban is our standard bearer.

Maybe that'll translate over and people will ignore what he's saying and just look at who he is.

So I think it's not over.

I could see, yeah, I can see. Maybe I had thoughts. I was talking with a friend of mine. Earlier, we thought about Tucker Carlson being like a dangerous you know what I mean. I mean just I mean, he's he's in so many homes, you know what I mean.

Like well, And it used to be people who are really rich wouldn't want to be president because it's the Sallery cut, you know, scorners me five thousand years to a million.

But Trump has shown that you can make million.

Billions president, I mean president, now that you know people who have authoritarian you know, you richer while you're president.

He's broken all the rules. And then a smart version of Trump and then we're really in Joey.

I'm curious because I watched Unless way, way, way too much. And the one conversation I haven't heard people have yet is letting Trump out of the White House with the information that he has, what do we do about that? And him monetizing that and doing all kinds of mess up things to the country to pay.

Us back to what we did.

I don't I don't see Trump as somebody with the mental acuity to remember any important things to give them away.

I just don't sharp.

I know, if you'd like to talk about Biden being off, but Trump not right up there, you know, up here, I'm sure he could remember it.

I'm more worried about people like Art.

I was just about to say, Avonka, what about Ivanka don.

Jared, Like, yeah, you don't know what they would sell.

We don't know what's for sale when they you know, I've heard about that too, especially for Russia and especially.

To the studies and y'all go, I only know.

I don't dang.

We did exactly to joy what we said. We weren't politics. Yes, can I do want to ask you this though?

It's funny you mentioned just all the effects of Trump and how your career has kind of been, like you know, it's a effect of that, and with the readout it's so interesting as well, because even with the unfortunate you know, exit of Chris Matthew, of Chris Matthews kind of like the same thing as the Trump effect.

And I wanted to know how you feel.

It's do you feel like a heavy weight because now you are when Eiffel, now you are the lone black woman doing the primetime news.

Yes, can I answer this question? Yes, because you're you're going to answer a question that I also want to know, is how secure do you feel with the readout and how it's going now because I was emotionally attached to another black female journalist at this very station. Yes, and poof thin air. And that's that's kind of my thing when when a new show comes and I like, I don't want to get emotionally attached because then there's no security.

Oh, definitely.

I mean, look the I'm friends with both of those two ladies who are talking about and you know, I mean the you know, when I took over the weekend show, you know, I actually I was here talking to Melissa because I.

Didn't want her to leave, you know, I did, and I depended on her show. I was like, I really really missed her and I still miss her voice a.

Tip and.

Her name.

Yes, yes, I I.

Me too, me too with me and like tammeron Hall is just blown all the way up and I'm so proud of her and I watched her.

It's funny. I always already in Marylyn. Her show is on at one o'clock, so I already know every everything that happened.

When it comes off, like d it, I can't look at Twitter, but I mean so, I mean the good thing about this, there's always another light. And I had my show canceled my daytime, my daytime show canceled, and felt what that felt like. And so there's nothing that can really hurt me now, you know, getting canceled once it's happened to you back in that prospect. I'm a good writer, I'm a smart person. I'm innovative.

You know.

If the show end tomorrow, okay, well thank you.

Uh you know, we appreciate you coming on the show and giving us your time. I know that you know your hour plus is precious time.

And oh promote your commerce, your promis series, so please, please please, And I.

Want to just to add to my last answer to say that I you know, I'm not saying I don't absolutely love doing the show, which I do. I just want to make that clear because it's fun, Like we managed to have fun, and so I just want to big up we managed to like make that news fun, you know.

So I love doing the show. I love doing my weekend go back. Then I missed them as well, So it's fun. This is I'm lucky.

I'm blessed. But my mom never made a kind of money that I'm making. She never got the chance. You know, I'm proud. I think she proud because she was a new So I'm just happy to be out there making my mother proud.

You know, what do you what are you doing?

Decompressed?

Joy?

Like?

What do you watch? I don't want this just to be the doom and gloom? What do you do to relax?

You know?

Watching?

I love watching side By I know y'all started off talking about love Craft country.

I love side By stuff. I love anything with zombies in it. No, I was like, all the walking is all the walking, all of that. I just love like creature features, like, you know, give me a hunt. I just finished watching The Haunting a black House, good called Dark, which is like a crazy like time travel crazy.

Like.

I just love watching TV. I grew I'm Generation next, so I grew up watching the TV. So I love that's what I did for Did you watch?

Have you watched?

Well, there's two competing Coke documentaries. There's The Vow on HBO and then.

You want to go in, let's go in. Let's okay, okay, starts the val.

No, I don't watch the Vow. So the Vow is like series. It's a nine part series. First off, just right there a nine part documentary series like Nigga.

That's like a forty page suicide note.

You really don't want to do that, so right, So like it's the ship is nine fucking parts, right, and it's about this coat. It is this this white dude there's like running this like fu Heithaniery running who just got sentenced to one hundred and twenty years.

By the way, like yesterday, he would be long gone. Then asked, oh no, it's real.

This ain't.

This ain't fictionalized, that nigga sitting down for one hundred twenty of them things.

So they just you know, he got it.

The vow nine parts and but and it's directed by two of the directors that used to be in the Coat, or they went to some of them, and then there got all this footage of people and it's just basically about how this nigga was a scammer. He had like a a fucking pyramid scheme he was running and then he had this other thing on the side out of the pyramid scheme that it was a sex coat and he was branding women and you know, like all this shit. The vowel is nine parts, is super long, and don't

Whats to watch?

The other one that the competing one is seduced. Now seduced. This's on stars and seduce. Come on, listen, hold on, okay, now the difference seduced. It's only four parts and they come out the gate. The first two minutes it's all smoke, baby. Yeah, they get right to it. They get into all like all the all his funck ship and you know, just how basically hit and and they also in h in Seduced.

The duchess of some ship and so.

And so.

Then they get off his chest.

You got to see you go ahead, and so then like they get into how the Bronfman sisters were like bank rolling this nigga, like he pulled.

The funded my records. Yeah, them was about to go to jail and Jojo and Shaggy I'm good for right now.

It wasn't me, Claire and the other one I can't remember Claire and the other sister.

Yeah yeah, yeah, they about to go to jail.

But but yeah, so it's if you're in just for some good kind of trash, like white people foolishness, just to.

Take the load off your chance jewelry, I.

Recommend seduced you relaxing some white people foolishness. Fucking Okay, Well there you go. There's your white people foolish and stuff Filo the day.

After election day from Diana. So every time they would say, oh, wait, where's your accent from where you're from? And she would say Guyana.

They said, oh, are you from Jonestown and she would have to say Georgetown, georgetownwn.

Wow, cold stuff. I'll watch it.

Oh and I also watched it was good. If you'll check the forty year old version. That's really yeah.

That is a is a great black wonderfulness right there on Netflix.

Okay, all right, so now we gave you something to decompress. Thank you, Joey, We thank you for coming on our show. We appreciate it. Joy read everybody.

Check it out NBC.

The six part podcast is actually going to be ending right when this is coming out, when this episode is coming out of this show of this uh plus love show. And it is a six part series on the making of Kamala Harris. It's called Kamala Harris next in Line, so that is downloadable where you get the podcast. And then my other podcast is called What to Read and Me interviewing book authors hopefully soon plus love too. And

You should be on that one. I love that.

I just want you to know.

Black America just called and wanted me to tell you and say thank you, and we got your back forever.

I appreciate it. Thanks, Thank you America.

No, okay, well on behalf of fon Tikeolo, Sugar Steve, unpaid Bill lie here.

Uh, this is Quest Love Joy.

Thank you very much. We will see you on the next go round of Quest Love Supreme.

Thank you. Hey, this is Sugar Steve.

Make sure you keep up with us on Instagram at QLs let us know what we think and.

Who should be next to sit down with us. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast.

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