WEBVTT - Will Smith, Alopecia, and Hollywood Ableism 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.520 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay at Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.200 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, once again recording from the 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.200 Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, I want to thank you all so 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.959 much for your kind messages and notes while I was 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:28.040 on vacation, finally taking my own advice and getting some 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.920 much needed rest and vitamin d um. I also really 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.720 loved the fact that you guys enjoyed the content that 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.480 I left behind for you while I was away, particularly 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.000 the Dinner for One episode, which seemed to spark a 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.400 lot of conversation. And I'm really happy about that and 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.120 we will be sure to have Lauren back on the show. 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.280 But what a fucking week to return to my God, 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.680 So let me kick things off with starting my thoughts 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:59.760 on the oscars. Okay, so, folks, um coming up later 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.800 in the show, I have a guest on, a new 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.759 guest that has not been on the show before, and 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:11.600 so I'm really excited to bring you their perspective. Kara 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.240 Ready is the director of the Disability Association for Journalists 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.840 and has worked in a variety of newsrooms from CNN 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:24.080 to NPR, MSNBC and others. And I wanted to have 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.600 Kara on the show because you know the incident that 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:31.399 occurred at the Oscars. And if by now you don't know, 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.440 I don't know where you have been. But so let 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:39.080 me give you a quick remix. During Chris Rocks I 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:44.360 guess set conversation his joke set, he decided to make 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:49.120 a very, in my humble opinion, disrespectful joke about Jada 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.680 Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.400 Smith were there at the Oscars. Why because Will Smith 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:01.040 was nominated for his Best Actor role in King Richard, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:05.040 which he would later win that night after he smacked 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.560 the shit out of Chris Rock on national television for 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:13.440 making a joke about Jada Pinkett's hair. Now, let me 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.040 start to preface something right off the bat, which is this, 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.480 if you are not from the community that is the 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.720 butt of a joke, you don't get to say whether 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.400 or not something should just roll off of people's backs, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.320 or whether or not they should just laugh at their 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.280 own pain, in their own trauma. The fact is this, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.160 Jada Pinkett Smith has been very public about her battle 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.799 with alopecia, a immune disorder that has people's hair fall 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.880 out right and for some people who I've seen on 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:52.440 social media. It has shocked me, frankly that people are 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.160 just so cavalier with saying losing your hair is not 0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:00.040 a big deal. First of all, you can go so 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.840 far back into the fucking Bible, if that is your 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.640 religion of choice, where the woman's hair, women's hairs talked 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.360 about as their crown and their glory and all of 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.560 these things. We can also go back into history to 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.520 talk to you about the ways in which black women's hair, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.360 body demeanor have been policed over the course of history. 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.840 I can't think of a time when black women's hair 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:32.119 hasn't been the subject of somebody's joke, commentary, or abuse. Right, 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.960 And for Chris Rock, a man who actually did an 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:42.160 entire fucking movie entitled Good Hair talking about the politicization 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.640 of black women's hair, to make that joke at Jada 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:52.680 Pinkett's expense made no fucking sense. So do I condone violence, No, 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.040 But do I understand it apps a fucking lutely. I 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.160 do what I have said to Will Smith to tarnish 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:05.280 or to you know, distract people from your historic win 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:10.040 the first time ever for a long overdue Oscar. Yeah, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.440 wasn't the best choice. Right, You could have used the 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:18.800 opportunity during your acceptance speech to fucking roast Chris Rock, right, 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.960 and that would have been acceptable and okay. But you know, folks, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.160 here's the thing too. You never know what people are 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.159 battling with and what they are dealing with and what 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.640 will push them over the edge. And that is just facts. Again, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.400 am I condoning violence? No, But I also say that 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.600 if you've been paying attention over the past couple of years, 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.400 the Smiths have been in the news for a whole 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.479 host of things, and they have also been the butts 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.400 of many jokes, even when they're trying to be their 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:56.520 most authentic selves. Share their vulnerabilities, share their indiscretions, to 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:01.520 open up conversations about open marriages, entanglement, all of these things. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.800 They have brought it to their Red Talk table conversations. Right. 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.600 Will Smith sat there while Jada Pinkett Smith was talking 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.480 about her entanglement, her affair with a much younger man. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:20.560 We made memes about his pain. Right. So again, I'm 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.520 not condoning violence, but you have to understand that there's 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.440 only so much that people can take. And also for 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.880 those people that want to say that, oh, because of 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.960 their wealth and because of their fame, again, they should 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.400 just allow things to roll off their back and turn 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.520 the other cheek. Give me a fucking break, right, because 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.480 what we have seen over the course of the last 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.960 several years, as we've had more open conversations about mental health, 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:50.919 about depression, about anxiety, particularly in these COVID times, during 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.560 this pandemic, where mental health and those conversations have been 0:05:54.640 --> 0:06:00.240 at the forefront, you know, to just dismiss people's feelings 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.799 and their emotions because they have money, to me, makes 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.599 absolutely no sense because there are many celebrities that have 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:12.080 used their fame and their platform to advance conversations that 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:17.080 wouldn't have happened without them. And so again my problem 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.200 with what went down is this, I find it very 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.120 difficult to laugh at jokes at the expense of other people, 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:31.400 particularly people from marginalized communities. Alopecia, which is not something 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.080 that I know a whole lot about, But thanks to 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:39.320 the very openness of Congresswoman Ayana Pressley, thanks to the 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:43.920 openness of Jada Pinkett Smith, I have learned more right 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:48.480 about this immune disorder, about how it affects women, particularly 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.760 when society has wrapped up our femininity and our value 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.160 by what grows out of our head, and particularly for 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.640 Black women who have either had to iron their hair, 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.720 their hair weave their hair in order to meet European 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:09.400 expressions of beauty. Right, as a black man, Chris Rock 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.120 should have fucking known better than to talk about a 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.680 black woman's hair, particularly one that is actually suffering from 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.880 a health disorder. So to make the comparison to a 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.160 movie where the woman in the movie Gijan made the 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.520 choice to cut off her hair as opposed to what 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.080 Jada Pinkett Smith has been dealing with, was just absurd 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.920 on its face, right. But my other issue is with 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:39.440 people's lack of fucking nuance and to understand the layers 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.240 and the complexities that were at play, right, Because to me, 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.240 there is also something else that many people have been 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:51.240 talking about, which is this toxic masculinity. Right. Why does 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.240 love right or defense of a woman have to look 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.240 like violence? Right? Why did Will Smith feel the need 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.800 to get it up out of his seat to knock 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.440 another man out, which he didn't. He slapped him, open 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.560 hand slap, Because let's be honest, if Will Smith actually 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.840 wanted to cause real damage to Chris Rock other than 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.200 his ego. He could have right, but he did not, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.520 so that was also a calculated decision. But again, we're 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:24.400 talking about the issues of emotions and masculinity and toxicity 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.320 and what a man should do in defense of his 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.800 woman and all of these things, and not taking into 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.160 consideration all of the different layers and the nuances that 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:39.160 were at play is just, I don't know, intellectually dishonest 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.000 right at this point. And so you can see more 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.200 of my thoughts at Zora Magazine, where I wrote a 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.400 piece entitled in Defense of Black Women, And what I 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.720 did is start out with a very well known and 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:59.720 very well quoted speech from Malcolm X from nineteen sixty two, 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.480 right with regard to the fact that the most unpre 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.920 unprotected right and lack of care for person in this 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.520 country is the black woman. And you can't point to 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.840 something and tell me otherwise. So I'd love to hear 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.959 your thoughts on my piece, But now I want to 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.400 make the transition to talking about somebody else's wife, who 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.520 should actually be in the fucking news and who should 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:29.000 be on everybody's fucking lips and is not because we 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.360 are so invested in the slap that we are not 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.960 looking at who is slapping the shit out of our 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.079 fucking democracy right now, which is, Oh, I don't know 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.960 the Thomas is. So let's transition to this married couple 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:50.080 while I was on vacation, Clarence Thomas's wife, right, Jinny Thomas. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.920 It was brought to the attention of the world. Not 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.360 only was Jinny which I can't stand that fucking name, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.000 like I want to change the car into Jinny now 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:06.760 because of her. But anyway, I digress. Jenny found herself 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:11.800 at the insurrection on January sixth, and she said that 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.560 she was there in support of her president. Now, one 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:20.280 would assume that a sitting Supreme Court justice should not 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:26.240 have their spouse right be at any type of political rally, 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.800 let alone one that is based on a fucking lie. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.199 And you would assume that if your husband or your 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.440 wife is a sitting member of the Supreme Court, then 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.320 the Constitution wouldn't be something that is foreign to you, right. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.600 But as it turns out, Jenny Thomas wasn't just at 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.880 the insurrection, She wasn't just at the rally listening to 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.040 the speeches, but she actually helped fund the buses of 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.880 the protesters who would later shit in the Capitol building 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.360 and steal right and try and, oh, I don't know, 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:07.880 thwart our entire electoral process. An overturn an election that 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.920 sounds like, what's the word I'm looking for, Oh, a crime. 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.679 It sounds like a fucking crime that the Department of 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:20.800 Justice you would think would be active in investigating. But still, 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.040 as of yet we hear crickets from Merritt Garland's fucking 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:32.280 Department of Justice. Now, riddle me this. Justice Thomas was 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:39.439 also get this, ladies and gentlemen, the soul vote against 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:47.480 Donald Trump releasing his correspondence during the insurrection. Now we 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.560 should all be wondering why was that? Why was Clarence 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:57.280 Thomas so against the release of that information? Could it be, 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.560 as it turns out, that Jenny Thomas was doing back 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:06.240 and forks, back and forth text messages between herself and 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.160 Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was also 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.880 actively writing statements and letters to the Department of Justice 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:20.000 to get them to overturn or at least put out 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.160 some type of statement that would lead us to believe 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.440 that the election was fraudulent, and then Donald Trump would 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:32.360 quote unquote take it from there, folks, the amount of 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:38.120 fucking evidence that is staring Merrick Garland's Justice Department in 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:44.120 the face, the amount of information that we have received 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:50.520 from the over five hundred people interviewed by the House 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:56.480 Commission on the insurrection. Now we see reports that they 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:00.480 would like to write the House won six Commission would 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:05.200 like to request an interview with Jenny Thomas. And I'm 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:10.280 thinking to myself self, if this were the other way around, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:19.760 and Democrats had caused an insurrection where Democrats had their 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:25.720 followers be a part of the killings and the abuse 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:34.520 of police officers, right, that Republicans would not be requesting 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:40.120 so nicely for an interview. That instead, oh, I don't know, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.680 they would do the same type of aggressive shit that 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.479 they did with Benghazi, which turned up with zero indictments, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.000 but that they would make it known to the world 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:56.240 what exactly was happening Democrats. On the other hand, though, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.520 I'm looking around and I'm saying, how much more fucking 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.560 information do we need here from Merrick Garland to act 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:07.600 like he has a goddamn spine? How much more do 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:12.079 we need to know to understand that our Supreme Court 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:16.520 is fucking compromised? Right? That our Department of Justice seems 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.240 to be compromised, and that there is no push or 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.080 emphasis coming out of the Biden administration to actually do 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.520 any fucking thing about it. That once again, here we 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:36.400 have more money and resources and energy going to Ukraine 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.920 and preserving their democracy and none of that same energy 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.440 going to preserve the United States. Now let me say 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:50.720 this because while I was away, I did a post 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:56.400 on TikTok, which, by the way, folks, I'm on the 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.080 TikTok's now, so go and follow me. But I did 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.360 a post on ti talk saying that, you know, in 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:06.520 response to Biden's speech in Poland, which he then had 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.800 to walk back once again and apologize for saying that 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.400 there needs to be a regime change in Russia and 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.160 that Putin needs to be removed, which, by the way, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.360 every fucking person on this planet believes. But as we know, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.600 words that come out of the mouth of the President 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.480 of the United States carry more weight. But here's also 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:30.040 the reality. Do you know how many fucking regime changes 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:33.280 that the United States has orchestrated over the last two 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.960 hundred and plus fucking years A lot, so for us 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.560 again to feign shock and outrage like, oh my god, 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.440 people should be decided, be able to decide their own leaders. Yeah, 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.040 we'll talk to the people of Haiti, of Venezuela, of Columbia, 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.960 of Nicaragua, all of the places where the United States 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.520 has gone in and put in their own fucking presidents 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:03.320 and prime ministers in order to better right position themselves 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:09.040 in geopolitical world, in the geopolitical world, and in warfare. Right, 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.440 look at what happened in Afghanistan, look at what's happened 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.760 in Syria, in all of these places, I mean the 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:19.360 lists of the ways in which the United States has 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.880 stuck its nose in other people's business. So for there 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.400 to be feigned outrage that the United States could never 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.600 or would never just once again shows us that the 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.560 history that we are teaching our children and have been 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:38.280 taught ourselves has been based in the overall gaslight right, 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.160 which is to say that America is beyond reproach, that 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.640 we are all the good guys going around the world 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.360 to preserve democracy, and that it doesn't have anything to 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:53.080 do with the advancement of our own capitalistic interests. Folks, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.600 it's exhausting. The bullshit is exhausting me. It's why I 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.520 needed to take a vacation. And even as I'm listening 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.320 to people say that, oh my god, the president, those 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.760 nine words that he said, those nine words were a travesty. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:13.240 And I'm listening to Republicans. Republicans have the audacity to 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.560 say what exactly that, Oh my god, Presidents shouldn't say 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.720 things that people find offensive, when in fact, you hold 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.920 up Donald Trump, who won couldn't put together a cohesive 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.399 sentence if he had a gun to his head, but 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.160 also has said some of the most offensive shit, namely 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:34.240 wanting to tweet out potential nuclear war to North Korea. 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:39.280 Do people not remember that? Right? But again, America's memory 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.000 is like that of a gnat. Folks, Here's the thing. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.560 Clarence Thomas needs to be investigated. Jinny Thomas needs to 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:56.000 be investigated. Mark Meadows needs to be investigated. John Eastman 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.000 is going to be investigated because a federal judge has 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.879 said that he needs to release over one hundred emails 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.000 right that are that are still sitting over four hundred 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:13.600 days removed from the insurrection on this motherfucker's laptop. My 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:19.120 question is about this sense of urgency, is about the 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.800 clock that we are on as we count our way 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.520 down to midterms, and in all honesty, Democrats have nothing 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.920 to show. The last thing that I will say for 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:35.600 today is that President Biden also released his budget. And 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.520 when I tell you that, the only thing that I 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.120 needed to see in that budget that almost made me 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:47.680 turn absolutely green and want to vomit is the increase 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:54.560 in funding, increase in funding for police and the military 0:18:56.000 --> 0:19:02.200 from previous budgets. So when Joe Biden found himself saying 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.879 we don't need to defund the police, we need to 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:09.400 fund the police during his State of the Union, oh 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.919 he meant that shit because he's giving them more of 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:17.679 our tax dollars to kill more of us. Right, there's 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:22.000 no police reform bill. We didn't get rid of qualified immunity, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.040 but we're giving them more money so that they can 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.640 go around and play g I Joe and kill us 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.520 without any accountability or responsibility. So to the very people, 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.719 the black people that put Joe Biden's ass in the 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:43.440 White House, that was, sir, a giant fuck you. So 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.919 if you think that folks aren't going to return the 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.560 favor in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, you 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.040 are absolutely fucking tripping and Here's the thing that I 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.440 will say. I tell people to vote all the time. 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.840 I will absolutely vote, and I will vote for Democrats, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.560 but let me be very clear, I understand people who won't. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:09.320 Coming up next my conversation with Kara, I really really 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.800 hope that you take some really good nuggets away from 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.720 that conversation and let me know in the comment section 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:20.760 what you thought about the Oscars fiasco and how you 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:27.560 are feeling now a couple of days removed, folks, I 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.639 am very excited to welcome to woke f for the 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.520 first time, Kara Ready, who is the director of Disay 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:40.119 of the Disabled Journalist Association. Kara, I am really happy 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:45.160 to talk to you today. You know, removed from the 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.640 OSCARS twenty twenty two. Who knew that it was going 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:55.840 to provide such fodder and layered conversation given the alto 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:00.880 physical altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock Um after 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.280 Chris rock made what I will use in quotations as 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:09.240 a joke UM about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife, 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.280 Um and her hair and her appearance, UM saying that 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:18.119 she looks ready for g I Jane two, Um, I 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.160 want to talk to you, particularly about what were your 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.720 initial reactions, uh, if you were watching it live or 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:29.000 you saw it you know, um via you know after 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.520 after the fact via video like I did, um what 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.399 were your thoughts? Uh? And how how did it land 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.560 with you? So I have a I have a history 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:44.280 with Chris Rock actually, um, he's He's known to me 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:51.320 as someone who is willing to throw out ablest jokes, jokes, 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:56.560 quotation marks without like no, with no feeling or thought 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.359 about it. So when whenever I see him on screen, 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:03.240 I'm always like, oh oh, and then he did it 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:08.440 and I was like, oh oh, Because you know, there's 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:09.920 a lot of people that are like, well, no one 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:15.040 knew he had she had alopecia. Well, does not knowing 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.320 someone have alopecia make it okay for you to comment 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:24.800 about their physical appearance? Why is that an okay position 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.439 to have? First of all, disability, We don't know a 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:34.040 lot of people are invisibly disabled a lot. Yeah, and 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:37.040 so we have no idea what people are dealing with. 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:40.440 And so if that's all you can do is make 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:46.760 fun of the way people look, then like where is 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.480 the camp? Where's the skill? And you know, I've been 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:54.720 in comedy circles. I did the improv circuit, and I 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:57.240 had a lot of improv bros say to me, don't 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.560 you don't understand. I'm like, right, because when I'm on 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.879 stage with you, you always want to make fun of 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:07.720 my height. I'm a dwarf. Make fun of my height 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:10.800 because it's easy for you. And usually it's the guys 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:16.080 that aren't that funny yep, who immediately were like, I'm uncomfortable. 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.040 I'm not landing jokes. I know what will I know 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:22.480 what will land a joke? I'll make a midget joke 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:28.320 because she's right here and you know, and people are like, well, 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:30.120 it was just off the cuff, But why is not 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:34.639 always what comes out of his head off the cuff? Yew? 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:38.040 Does that say about you and your talent and people? Kara, 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.000 you don't know, you don't know. I do actually know, 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.720 and I've had I had a conversation with him into 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:49.760 the mall and a mall once because he texted or 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:55.919 he tweeted. Right after Hillary Clinton got the nomination in 0:23:56.000 --> 0:24:00.320 twenty sixteen, he tweeted something, well, now a lesson being 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:03.679 midget can be on the ticket now that we have 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:09.960 a woman. Now I'd already had a problem with him 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:14.679 because in his Bigger and Blacker special he said that 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.080 Stevie Wonders should be allowed a pet midget to walk 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:22.760 him around. So this is someone that literally comes for 0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:28.320 people and their appearance and their their disability. And so 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:32.480 when I went to him and said hey, yo, I 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:35.840 ran into him in the mall, just randomly it was 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:38.560 and I just was like, can I speak to you 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.159 for a saca? Because this is what this does. And 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.600 he kind of just acted super surprised that anyone would 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:48.640 confront him on that, and then kind of just kept saying, well, 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:51.959 I'm old and in my fifties, I can't change if 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:59.080 people are laughing, it's funny. And you know that actually 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:01.800 explained to a lot of what happened on Twitter last 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:04.640 night was the people were like, you guys are being 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:08.399 too sensitive. Amanda Steels came out and said, if you 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:10.639 guys can't take a joke, then what's up for you? 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:14.040 We got to be solidarity with black people. Well, black 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:17.280 people of the second highest rate of disability in America, 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.560 So who are you who are you being in solidarity 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:25.840 with if you can't acknowledge disability and blackness and how 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:30.560 disability is a core is a core tenet of blackness 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:34.360 in America, Like, if you can't acknowledge that, then you're 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:37.600 not in solidarity with black people. You're in solidarity with 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:41.840 this very thin view of blackness. And I have a 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:47.119 problem with that. You know, it's there are so there 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:54.640 are oftentimes right where comedians say things right. The point 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:58.280 of comedy in a lot of ways, right is supposed 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:02.840 to be to bring into conversation good comics. Let me say, 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:07.560 to bring into conversation issues that we struggle with talking 0:26:07.600 --> 0:26:12.399 about right without there being some type of punchline. And 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:16.439 you know, I had a similar type of conversation and 0:26:16.480 --> 0:26:21.159 have had similar type of conversations after Dave Chappelle's stand up. 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:26.520 Right and Dave Chappelle's stand up is targeting and targeting 0:26:26.640 --> 0:26:31.480 of the trans community. And you know, it's always the 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:34.280 people who are not the targets and the butts of 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:37.960 the jokes, who feel that they have the space and 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:41.359 the place to be able to tell those other people 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:45.399 who are harmed. Right. And when I say harmed, I 0:26:45.440 --> 0:26:49.720 don't just mean upset feelings, because upset feelings are also valid, 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:55.439 but words we know can turn into violence. Right. We 0:26:55.600 --> 0:26:59.400 had a former twice impeached President of the United States 0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:05.640 make a joke as a candidate about a disabled reporter, right, 0:27:06.800 --> 0:27:10.280 who was then jostled about at one of his rallies. 0:27:10.760 --> 0:27:15.520 Because people take those quote unquote jokes, right, and they 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:20.240 use them as a reason to dehumanize other people. Because 0:27:20.240 --> 0:27:24.360 without to me, without the context, right, without the understanding, 0:27:24.359 --> 0:27:29.680 and frankly, without really what it means to be a 0:27:29.720 --> 0:27:34.520 true ally to a marginalized community, you don't get the 0:27:34.640 --> 0:27:39.560 opportunity to make jokes that are harmful that can turn 0:27:39.680 --> 0:27:44.840 into actual physical violence. And the fact is that you know, 0:27:45.119 --> 0:27:50.240 the harms that words have are can cut way deeper 0:27:50.520 --> 0:27:54.520 than a physical knife, right. And these are the things 0:27:54.560 --> 0:27:59.040 that I you know, I am a big believer that 0:27:59.119 --> 0:28:02.920 there are just that it's laziness, right, Like I think 0:28:02.960 --> 0:28:05.480 that Chris Rock is a I do believe that Chris 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:09.439 Rock and Dave Chappelle are brilliant comedians. I do believe 0:28:09.520 --> 0:28:13.639 also that they are completely problematic at times, and that 0:28:13.760 --> 0:28:18.720