Speaker 1: Morning Run with Amy and TJ and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 2: Hey there, folks, it's Saturday, June twenty first. Welcome to
Speaker 2: this weekend edition of Morning Run. On the first full
Speaker 2: day of summer.
Speaker 1: In this little late it fuels late, especially given how
Speaker 1: hot it is here in the Northeast. It is near
Speaker 1: record setting temperatures. We went from you know, at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the week feeling like it was November in Ireland.
Speaker 1: It was like misty and in the fifties and sixties.
Speaker 2: It seems so late that we're just hitting summer. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's the official first day of summer, so.
Speaker 1: Hope the summer solstice.
Speaker 2: All right, you all enjoy this first full weekend of summer.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we're checking in with you on the weekend here.
Speaker 2: There are plenty of stories during our Morning Run Monday
Speaker 2: through Friday. They kind of keep us talking, debating, and
Speaker 2: even arguing with each other afterwards. And this is where
Speaker 2: we're going a little farther on some of those stories,
Speaker 2: and one of them in particular this week. One of
Speaker 2: the most romantic cities in the world. If you ask
Speaker 2: anybody that, they'll start pop up them off and they'll
Speaker 2: probably get to this city within top five, top five
Speaker 2: of everybody. But they want Jeff Bezos to keep his
Speaker 2: romance to himself, at least some there in Venice. As
Speaker 2: many of you heard, he's supposed to be getting married
Speaker 2: at the end of this month in Venice, a three
Speaker 2: day affair, big star stuttered affair. But in Venice they're
Speaker 2: kind of over it, and there have been protests robes
Speaker 2: saying we don't want you here. Of course the wedding's
Speaker 2: still going to go on, but still they're letting their
Speaker 2: voices be heard that we don't want you here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they only have what fifty thousand actual residents of Venice,
Speaker 1: and how many visitors come? Was it twenty million visitors
Speaker 1: come each and every year. And so interestingly, as these
Speaker 1: protests were going on and signage being put up in
Speaker 1: advance of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's wedding at the
Speaker 1: end of this month, they were not alone. There were
Speaker 1: several cities and there have been several cities now throughout
Speaker 1: Europe who have started to protest what they're calling over tourism.
Speaker 1: And you know, we deal with that a little bit
Speaker 1: here in New York City, So we do deal with
Speaker 1: to us and yet we're also folks who love to
Speaker 1: go to Europe as well in the summer and enjoy
Speaker 1: the annoying them.
Speaker 2: So that's what we do.
Speaker 1: We go over there, right, we get annoyed by the
Speaker 1: Europeans here in New York, and so I feel like,
Speaker 1: at least as a New Yorker, I don't feel too
Speaker 1: terrible returning the favor going back over there. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's a fine line because, of course, so many of
Speaker 1: these cities are sustained because of the tourist.
Speaker 2: Industry, big deal.
Speaker 1: Yes, the restaurants, the hotels, the cute shops, none of
Speaker 1: those could survive if people didn't come and visit these
Speaker 1: beautiful historic cities like Lisbon that was one of the
Speaker 1: cities where you saw some protests in and just these
Speaker 1: gorgeous cities that people want to see and spend their
Speaker 1: money in.
Speaker 2: But yeah, they're spending money, and then what happens is
Speaker 2: other folks around the world, other investors say, oh, a
Speaker 2: lot of money is going there, let's go take advantage,
Speaker 2: and they end up what running out some of those
Speaker 2: mom and pops and those smaller shops. That's been certainly
Speaker 2: a big complaint in Venice, that folks where the local
Speaker 2: artisans and folks like everyone in there is from somewhere else.
Speaker 1: That is true. I did recent recently visit Venice, at
Speaker 1: least in the last five years, and you did start
Speaker 1: to see that transformation. And I can understand if you
Speaker 1: were a Venetian, if you're Italian, you take great pride
Speaker 1: in some of these shops that have now been turned
Speaker 1: over to foreigners. But in other cities like Barcelona, they
Speaker 1: were actually taking water guns out and spraying the tourists.
Speaker 1: That's how annoyed they are. They said they wanted to
Speaker 1: cool down the over tourisms.
Speaker 2: Were they really doing They're just playing.
Speaker 1: They're effing with folks. You know, what are you gonna do.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get a ticket, You're not gonna it's
Speaker 1: not assaulting someone. But honestly, it's annoying, and so they
Speaker 1: took pleasure.
Speaker 2: So it was an act of non aggressive aggression.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine though here in New York sometimes like today,
Speaker 1: I actually fell and got pushed over when I was
Speaker 1: running because there were so many people in the streets.
Speaker 1: But can you imagine sitting down and shoe people with
Speaker 1: a water gun because you wanted them to go home.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the video, or go away.
Speaker 2: Little kids being playful or is it grown folks out
Speaker 2: there were water cannons.
Speaker 1: It sounded I don't know about water cannons, but it
Speaker 1: did sound like they were adults and they were making
Speaker 1: a point. They wanted it to be known that they
Speaker 1: were sick of tourists overtaking their cities and mass numbers
Speaker 1: during the summer.
Speaker 2: It's not the tour right, isn't it in some way?
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be on whatever locale. Aren't they
Speaker 2: making decision? What is it? You surely you want the visitors,
Speaker 2: you want the money. At what point can you cut
Speaker 2: that off?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So if you are yes, But if you are
Speaker 1: just a resident, oh yeah, you have to acknowledge that
Speaker 1: the reason why you have these cute little piazzas and
Speaker 1: squares and plazas is because these restaurants and businesses can
Speaker 1: afford to live in high rent districts because tourists are
Speaker 1: coming in and spending their money. I know it's annoying,
Speaker 1: we know it's annoying. There's a balance, but you have
Speaker 1: to at least acknowledge that that is part of the reason. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe there's a way to create a a visa system
Speaker 1: where you somehow weed out folks you know, from coming in.
Speaker 1: But I did see in Barcelona they were specifically saying
Speaker 1: that their neighborhoods were changing, like you were pointing out saying,
Speaker 1: we don't want bubble tea shops in our neighborhoods. This
Speaker 1: isn't what Spaniards have. We don't have bubble tea. So
Speaker 1: I get that to an extent, and then we didn't
Speaker 1: even mention the Love. The Love actually had to close.
Speaker 1: This is I can't think they had something when it
Speaker 1: happened last and it was like the pandemic. And then
Speaker 1: really the Louve does not close for any other reason
Speaker 1: other than Tuesdays when it's their day of rest. Apparently
Speaker 1: is Tuesday. But they had to actually shut down on
Speaker 1: Monday because the workers walked out because they were protesting
Speaker 1: the over tourism and the crumbling infrastructure and the fact
Speaker 1: that they were overworked. They said the situation was untenable
Speaker 1: and frankly hot. It was hot all the tourists in
Speaker 1: their thirty thousand people every day.
Speaker 2: So to aout the Caribbean folks. If you're thinking about
Speaker 2: vacation and give them a breakover in Europe. I hear
Speaker 2: Jamaica's lovely all year long. The other story that really
Speaker 2: got Robes talking. We couldn't believe it. There was one
Speaker 2: day we got the headlines, it was one thing, and
Speaker 2: then we got the follow up to it, and it
Speaker 2: was just, oh boy, this is R. Kelly who is
Speaker 2: making a plea to anybody who will listen that he
Speaker 2: should be immediately released from prison for house arrest because
Speaker 2: he says there's a conspiracy amongst the guards in the
Speaker 2: prison system to have an inmate kill him. So a plot,
Speaker 2: if you will, to kill R. Kelly. He says he
Speaker 2: should be let out now, Robes. What really got us
Speaker 2: the next day is when the government responded to this
Speaker 2: request from R. Kelly.
Speaker 1: Correct So because R. Kelly is not just saying that
Speaker 1: prison officials have enlisted the help of any inmate. They
Speaker 1: say he's actually they've actually chosen the leader of the
Speaker 1: Aryan brotherhood to kill him. So we actually are saying
Speaker 1: specifically who this inmate is. But the government response was
Speaker 1: that this is a fanciful, deeply unserious claim that makes
Speaker 1: a mockery of the harm suffered by victims of r Kelly.
Speaker 1: They called him a prolific child molester, and they basically
Speaker 1: in a nineteen page response to these claims by r
Speaker 1: Kelly and his lawyers, you kind of put it this way.
Speaker 1: They were kind of basically saying, lol, judge, as if.
Speaker 2: They just stopped just short of if you can, what's
Speaker 2: the legal I've never seen a legal briefing that literally
Speaker 2: said lol.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was.
Speaker 2: They said, you all got to be kidding me, like
Speaker 2: this is insane. It was almost they couldn't believe they
Speaker 2: had to respond to it.
Speaker 1: So then when just when you think that's unbelievable, yes,
Speaker 1: r Kelly's lawyer's response to that response was this that
Speaker 1: last Friday, r Kelly was given a life threatening overdose
Speaker 1: of his medication by prison officials and said that they
Speaker 1: moved him to solitary confinement. That scared r Kelly, so
Speaker 1: we said he stopped eating his food. He said he
Speaker 1: then got dizzy and lightheaded. Maybe that was because he
Speaker 1: stopped eating, but no, he claims it was because he
Speaker 1: was given an overdose of medication. Then his lawyers claim
Speaker 1: that he was rushed to the hospital. Then his lawyers
Speaker 1: claim that doctors told him yep, you've been overdosed. And
Speaker 1: then they claim that his doctors told him you actually
Speaker 1: have dangerous blood clots in you and you need surgery immediately.
Speaker 1: Then what did Kelly's lawyers claim next? That prison officials
Speaker 1: plucked him from the hospital, wouldn't let him get the surgery,
Speaker 1: and brought him back to solitary confinement.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a heck of a story. But all
Speaker 2: those officially on record, this is not purportedly. This is
Speaker 2: stuff that they have laid out in their own requests
Speaker 2: and letters and legal briefings. But it was a bizarre
Speaker 2: headline initially. And you know what, I my hands kind
Speaker 2: of threw up in the air the first day we
Speaker 2: saw this, you know, Okay, maybe we'll see then when
Speaker 2: we got more of the details. And then the government's response,
Speaker 2: I it sounds fanciful.
Speaker 1: As they say, yes, it's gone from strange to stranger.
Speaker 1: We'll let you know just how strange it gets and
Speaker 1: where this ends up. But if I were a betting woman, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say R. Kelly's probably staying exactly where he is,
Speaker 1: serving the thirty year sentence that he received.
Speaker 2: All right, this next story here is really a difficult
Speaker 2: one that we will probably continue to address here on
Speaker 2: our podcast, and who knows, weeks, months, even years to come,
Speaker 2: because it seems like we don't run out roads with
Speaker 2: these types of stories about artists, entertainers, celebrities of some kind,
Speaker 2: and sometimes some iconic names getting caught up in lawsuits
Speaker 2: and sometimes criminal proceedings having to do with sexual assault.
Speaker 2: This week it was Tyler Perry who has been hit
Speaker 2: with a two hundred and sixty million dollar sexual assault
Speaker 2: lawsuit by someone who worked on one of his shows.
Speaker 2: The show's called The Oval that was on Beet. Derek
Speaker 2: Dixon is the is the guy's name, but robes he
Speaker 2: laid out kind of We'll address this first, saying, essentially
Speaker 2: a pattern of retaliation if you didn't reciprocate his sexual advances.
Speaker 2: And this fella has some pretty damning accusations, but it
Speaker 2: was just here we are another. This is as big
Speaker 2: as you can get in black, oh in Hollywood, but
Speaker 2: certainly as far as black entertainment and black entertainers go.
Speaker 2: He is at the top in terms of being a black.
Speaker 1: Entertainment best friends watching Oprah Winfrey, Harry and Megan. He's
Speaker 1: somebody who obviously has movies that so many families love
Speaker 1: to sit around and watch. So he's not just yes,
Speaker 1: he's beloved in the black community, of course, but I
Speaker 1: would say in white communities, and I mean he is
Speaker 1: a household name and people know when they are watching
Speaker 1: his movie, you're going to have some wholesome family fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is pretty much what it is.
Speaker 2: But he was he has come out and strongly we
Speaker 2: should have to say this. He's come out and strongly
Speaker 2: deny this. I actually said, well, this was a scam
Speaker 2: that was set up. Now that was fascinating to me.
Speaker 2: They said this guy might have been plotting this for
Speaker 2: some time and trying to get close to him just
Speaker 2: so he could have this moment right now.
Speaker 1: And Dixon claims that he actually moved from Atlanta to
Speaker 1: LA to get away from Perry because he was so
Speaker 1: concerned about retaliation for refusing his advances. But he claims
Speaker 1: he was sexually assaulted multiple times. He goes into great detail,
Speaker 1: and he also claims to have submitted text messages screenshots
Speaker 1: of actual communication where he claims that Perry had a
Speaker 1: perverted desire for sexual gratification. So he gets very specific.
Speaker 1: So this is really sad to hear. Unfortunate to hear,
Speaker 1: especially on the hills of the Smoky Robinson allegations that
Speaker 1: have just come out recently, and of course we're in
Speaker 1: the thick of the Diddy trial. It's just it's disheartening
Speaker 1: to see that people who we've looked up to, people
Speaker 1: whose music and art we've appreciated and loved, now have
Speaker 1: all of these damning accusations surrounding them.
Speaker 2: No of everybody mentioned, oh, everybody we've mentioned in the
Speaker 2: past few minutes, R. Kelly is the only one who's
Speaker 2: been found guilty of anything. Correct, we should start there.
Speaker 2: So of course Diddy is in the middle of what's
Speaker 2: happening right there. But you can't get any more influential
Speaker 2: than that guy when it comes to hip hop in
Speaker 2: terms of what he did for hip hop and putting
Speaker 2: it on the map around the world. That dude is
Speaker 2: at the top of the hip hop mountain. Smokey Robinson,
Speaker 2: I don't even need to say anything exactly about how
Speaker 2: iconic he is. And Tyler Perry, now, what do you
Speaker 2: do with that art? How are you supposed to forget
Speaker 2: the personal just for I'm not saying because some of
Speaker 2: these folks we have been around and had relationships with
Speaker 2: through media, So just putting aside, Okay, I have a
Speaker 2: personal connection to that individual. What do you do with
Speaker 2: the art of someone like r Kelly, who is in
Speaker 2: prison for some of the accused of were all convicted
Speaker 2: of some of the most horrific things. What do you
Speaker 2: do with all that art? Are you supposed to separate it?
Speaker 2: Do you have to separate it? Was it say about
Speaker 2: you if you don't separate it?
Speaker 1: Right? And I would add Michael Jackson to that list
Speaker 1: as well. And for me, I think it's an individual
Speaker 1: personal choice. And I don't think you should judge somebody
Speaker 1: for still appreciating music. I think you can appreciate the art.
Speaker 1: I think you can appreciate the talent and you can separate.
Speaker 1: I say you, meaning me, I can do that. I
Speaker 1: don't want to suggest to other people if you've experienced
Speaker 1: something traumatic, I can understand why you might not be
Speaker 1: able to separate it. I have not had something where
Speaker 1: I feel triggered by any of that, so, but I
Speaker 1: would give respect to anybody who felt that way, turned
Speaker 1: it off, didn't want to hear anything. But I feel
Speaker 1: like I can separate some of the brilliance and talent.
Speaker 1: It makes me sad when you hear the beautiful voice
Speaker 1: and the unbelievable brilliance of some of these artists, and
Speaker 1: to think what they were potentially capable of on the
Speaker 1: other side, but to also enjoy how wonderful their music
Speaker 1: and art is. That it's something I can separate. How
Speaker 1: about you.
Speaker 2: I think you nailed it when you said it should
Speaker 2: just be a personal choice. We don't have to make
Speaker 2: a decision or what's best. No, it really is a
Speaker 2: personal choice. I I have all these artists. I have
Speaker 2: to tell you. R Kelly has been his music. R
Speaker 2: Kelly and Diddy. That's the nineties.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: That the stuff you listened to from junior high to
Speaker 2: high school and starting call that's the stuff's gonna be
Speaker 2: with you the rest of your life. Those were the
Speaker 2: guys who got me through those particular years. So that
Speaker 2: is you talk about the most listened to artists I
Speaker 2: would have had in the nineties, those two guys.
Speaker 1: And you can't and for you, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's fair to ask that you somehow stop liking
Speaker 1: those songs or loving those songs, or having those songs
Speaker 1: take you back to that point in your life where
Speaker 1: you had good times and care free times. I think
Speaker 1: that's okay, I do.
Speaker 2: It's just it. It does again. Ditty and Smoky and
Speaker 2: Tyler here haven't been convicted of a thing, but it's
Speaker 2: just one of those things to where you're it's tarnished.
Speaker 2: Something about the legacy scene to be tarnished. All of
Speaker 2: this stuff can be completely made up and false, and
Speaker 2: maybe Diddy goes home right and guilty.
Speaker 1: And I was just gonna say, sadly to jump on
Speaker 1: what you were saying these days, just to be accused
Speaker 1: of something is to be tarnished forever for a lot
Speaker 1: of people, in a lot of folks minds, and that
Speaker 1: is unfortunate. But that is where we are.
Speaker 2: We will see what happens with Ditty. Yeah, we might
Speaker 2: be close to a jury getting the case very soon
Speaker 2: the next up here. This will keep us talking for
Speaker 2: a long time. We have this discussion somewhat daily. I
Speaker 2: think if if you ask anybody of robes, what are
Speaker 2: the recommendations for how much adults should consume alcohol every day?
Speaker 2: I think a lot of adults, certainly over the age
Speaker 2: of thirty at this point, you've heard it so much. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you can recite it for women. It's one drink or
Speaker 2: less a day. For men, it's two drinks or less
Speaker 2: per day, so that might be changing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the thing is, I also have heard recently,
Speaker 1: there's been a big recent surge in this that no
Speaker 1: amount of alcohol is safe, that no amount of alcohol
Speaker 1: is okay because you are introducing toxins to your body.
Speaker 2: Why not recommend that?
Speaker 1: Right? Well, but they haven't, right, why not? There are
Speaker 1: a lot of interested parties who might wish you to
Speaker 1: consider otherwise. And look, you also, truthfully, how many times
Speaker 1: have has a centurion been interviewed someone who makes it
Speaker 1: past one hundred and they say, what's your key to
Speaker 1: a long, happy life? I have a glass of wine
Speaker 1: every day and or I have a shot of whiskey
Speaker 1: every night. I mean, you hear that consistently. So part
Speaker 1: of it is balance. I think you know you want
Speaker 1: to say, well, I work out every day, I eat, right,
Speaker 1: If I really want to have a glass of wine
Speaker 1: or two every day, is that actually going to kill me?
Speaker 1: And then I've gone to this whole thing where what
Speaker 1: do I lose three years? Four years, the last four
Speaker 1: years of my life. I might be okay with that
Speaker 1: if I can actually have a little bit more fun you're.
Speaker 2: Playing any mind games?
Speaker 1: That's right?
Speaker 2: Okay, we're talking about the federal governments recommendations, right, yes.
Speaker 1: Does do other people have these same thought?
Speaker 2: I don't think they do. Okay, Sorry, the federal government
Speaker 2: might change the recommendation of one drink for a woman
Speaker 2: and two drinks for a man. They might change it
Speaker 2: to what's the recommendation Now, They're not going to give one.
Speaker 2: They're not going to recommend a number of drinks that
Speaker 2: might be safe. They're just going to say possibly to
Speaker 2: do it in moderation. This is according to who does Reuters?
Speaker 1: I think Reuters is reporting that this is going to
Speaker 1: come from the Department of Health and Human Services, that
Speaker 1: they're going to take away those numbers, and yes, next
Speaker 1: month say hey, we're not going to tell you men
Speaker 1: how many drinks per day you should have and women
Speaker 1: how many drinks per day you should have. And look,
Speaker 1: I know we have different genetic makeups, but I actually
Speaker 1: think that's fair because think about it, how much you weigh,
Speaker 1: how tall you are, what your genes are, what types
Speaker 1: of ability you may personally have, it you inherited to
Speaker 1: metabolize alcohol? Everyone is different. How much food did you
Speaker 1: eat you know, if you had one drink and you
Speaker 1: didn't eat all day, or you had two drinks and
Speaker 1: you had a lot of meals, you have a different
Speaker 1: alcohol you know, percentage in.
Speaker 2: Your b So how do you recommend what should they recommend?
Speaker 2: So they're recommending just drinking moderation.
Speaker 1: You know what I appreciate. They're treating us like adults,
Speaker 1: drinking moderation, and if you don't, your consequences will be
Speaker 1: your guide. Well, your wait, reality will be your consequences.
Speaker 2: But they give us all kinds of recommendations on how
Speaker 2: many calories we should have, how much vitamin this, this, this,
Speaker 2: and this we should have, how long you should be
Speaker 2: in the sun, how much exposure you should have to this,
Speaker 2: how many meals you used to have a day, how
Speaker 2: much water you should drink a day. You're telling me,
Speaker 2: you give me all these recommendations on my health, and
Speaker 2: this one about a toxin you're just gonna say, hey,
Speaker 2: figure it out, your a big boy.
Speaker 1: But there are some benefits to some alcohols. There are
Speaker 1: lower rates of this cancer. There are higher rates of
Speaker 1: X cancer. I mean there are, and they're always consistently changing.
Speaker 1: Because how do you get a focus group where you
Speaker 1: can actually say all other things are equal. That's the
Speaker 1: hard part when you're dealing with humans. Science isn't actually
Speaker 1: exact when it comes to that kind of thing. When
Speaker 1: you're studying groups.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fine, but they can give us all those
Speaker 2: other recommendations. In general. There are some people who should
Speaker 2: be on a two thousand Calleri diet, others should be
Speaker 2: on a thirty five hundred for different reasons. All kinds
Speaker 2: of stuff you can. So they're giving us a baseline,
Speaker 2: give me the baseline.
Speaker 1: I think they're just saying, you guys, figure it out.
Speaker 2: I don't want that good Like doctors. Could you imagine
Speaker 2: going through your doctor with whatever problem your foot's broken? Woof,
Speaker 2: it looks tough.
Speaker 1: Do the best you can walk in moderation rows.
Speaker 2: This is crazy. I would like a recommendation. I would
Speaker 2: like to know that I'm hitting some kind of target
Speaker 2: that gives me a better chance. Now zero, I'm probably
Speaker 2: not going to do. But if you're telling me, give
Speaker 2: me the warning that this stuff is so bad, we
Speaker 2: don't think you should have a sip of it. I
Speaker 2: will listen to that.
Speaker 1: I believe you. But you know what is interesting, This
Speaker 1: is the first time they have adjusted these recommendations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in thirty five years. These recommendations came out in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably why you and I are so
Speaker 1: familiar with them, because it's been pounded into us. But look,
Speaker 1: I kind of look at it like this. Whatever. Whenever
Speaker 1: I think I want another glass, I always say, when
Speaker 1: I wake up in the morning, I never regretted saying no,
Speaker 1: I never regretted taking that bottle of water. Instead, my
Speaker 1: regret always comes from when I wake up and there's
Speaker 1: a glass of wine by my nightstand, I'm like, why
Speaker 1: did I need to do that? So these are the
Speaker 1: moments where I can take I can subtract one.
Speaker 2: Well, do I get that right? You're you're upset that
Speaker 2: you wasted the glass of wine.
Speaker 1: Well, there's that drink and thats okay.
Speaker 2: It's both sometimes the glass empty and sometimes when I
Speaker 2: wake up.
Speaker 1: When I see a glass of water, I'm like, I
Speaker 1: made a good choice. Okay there, Gamio.
Speaker 2: We always appreciate you running with us, even on a Saturday.
Speaker 2: So make some good choices today. What you decide to drink,
Speaker 2: and if you decided to drink anything, just do it.
Speaker 1: In moderation exactly everything in moderation. Everyone, thanks for being
Speaker 1: with us, have a wonderful Saturday.