Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central coming to you from New
Speaker 1: York City to the only city in America. It's The
Speaker 1: Daily Show tonight, dontroversy at the World Cup, Trump's dinner party,
Speaker 1: and Will Smith. It's The Daily Show with Driver Nolo. Everybody.
Speaker 1: Welcome to The Daily Show, trumpor thank you so much
Speaker 1: for tuning in. Thank you coming out inbody, welcome back,
Speaker 1: hold back back, take a seat, take a seat. We
Speaker 1: have got a jam pack show for you. Tonight. The
Speaker 1: Daily Show is going to the World Cup. If you
Speaker 1: have monkey pups, you're racist? And Donald Trump somehow us
Speaker 1: beef with Kanye West. Plus the one and only Will
Speaker 1: Smith is joining us on today's show. That's going to
Speaker 1: be a tough post. Let's see there's people's some strip
Speaker 1: into today's headlines. All right, all right, Before we get
Speaker 1: into the big stories, let's catch up on a few
Speaker 1: other things going on in the world, starting with monkey pox.
Speaker 1: This morning, the World Health Organization announced that, because of
Speaker 1: concerns that the word monkey pocks is racist and stigmatizing,
Speaker 1: the disease will officially be renamed m pocks. And I
Speaker 1: don't know who this is for. You know, this sounds
Speaker 1: like they were trying so hard not to be racist
Speaker 1: that they ended up being racist. You know, some guy
Speaker 1: was like, we can't use monkey. That immediately makes me
Speaker 1: think of you know, all right, come on, we're all
Speaker 1: thinking it, right, I might there only one because here's
Speaker 1: the thing, if you're really trying to get rid of
Speaker 1: the stigma, just give it a completely different name, all right,
Speaker 1: because you realize just abbreviating the word that you don't
Speaker 1: want people to think about, which works until someone says,
Speaker 1: what does the M stand for? In international news, a
Speaker 1: French court has officially ruled that companies cannot require employees
Speaker 1: to have fun at work, after one man was fired
Speaker 1: for refusing to participate in office parties. Yeah, and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that I am with this guy. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you ask me, companies require way too much of the
Speaker 1: employees or making them go to office parties, team buildings.
Speaker 1: You're forcing them to wash their hands after going to
Speaker 1: the bathroom is too much. You gotta pick one. Oh.
Speaker 1: In some news out of the Pentagon, the U. S.
Speaker 1: Defense Department just failed a government audit, with officials saying
Speaker 1: that they are unable to account for more than sixty
Speaker 1: percent of the military's three point five trillion dollars in assets. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they just don't know where it is. And I don't
Speaker 1: I don't even know how it's possible to lose track
Speaker 1: of that much money. Like, what are they waterboarding people
Speaker 1: with Christal? What are they doing there? Huh? And honestly,
Speaker 1: the Pentagon deserves to be punished for this. Unfortunately they
Speaker 1: happened to have all the missiles. So we'll let it
Speaker 1: slide this time. Pentagone rule, but next time. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to some of the biggest stories of
Speaker 1: the day, starting with China America's loan shock. How since
Speaker 1: the coronavirus originated in one of China's major cities, Jijingping's
Speaker 1: government has been doing everything it can to clamp down
Speaker 1: on COVID nineteen. But after three years of some of
Speaker 1: the strictest lockdowns in the world, it looks like the
Speaker 1: Chinese people have officially had enough. Protests are spreading across
Speaker 1: that country. Thousands are taking to the streets, some even
Speaker 1: calling for China's president to step down. All of this
Speaker 1: amid rising frustration over the government's zero COVID strategy, crowds
Speaker 1: swelled and defined, spilling over to the heart of aging
Speaker 1: right out on the chanting for freedom from the grip
Speaker 1: of the COVID policy that protesters say has worn on
Speaker 1: too long. They're calling for the end of blockdowns, the
Speaker 1: end of testing all of the zero COVID measures that
Speaker 1: have ruled daily life here. Yeah, that's right. People in
Speaker 1: China are taking to the streets to protest the government's
Speaker 1: draconian COVID policies, which is a big deal because remember,
Speaker 1: China is not one of those chill countries. We can
Speaker 1: like talk trash about the government, or storm the capitol,
Speaker 1: or plot to kidnap a governor. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Protesting in China is a big deal. It's like growing
Speaker 1: up in an African family and trying to tell your
Speaker 1: parents that you don't think Noah's ark is real. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm just saying, mom, thinking about it, How
Speaker 1: can they fit all those animals on one ball to
Speaker 1: be like the same way I'm going to fit all
Speaker 1: this foots on your back side? How you send that backgood?
Speaker 1: Is not real? You send that back floor? Just just
Speaker 1: chut now. Now, there are many reasons why China has
Speaker 1: been so hardcore with this lockdowns. Right, less than half
Speaker 1: of the elderly population is vaccinated. The Chinese vaccine isn't
Speaker 1: particularly effective, and the Communist government has refused to bring
Speaker 1: in outside vaccines obviously because they think it will make
Speaker 1: them look bad. You know, it's the same reason I
Speaker 1: was reluctant to bring a dudo into my relationship. Yeah no,
Speaker 1: I don't mind that you use it, but the fact
Speaker 1: that you cuddle with it off towards that's what hurts me, Candice,
Speaker 1: That's what hurts me. And almost three years into this pandemic,
Speaker 1: it is still crazy to see the range of responses
Speaker 1: from different countries around the world. Right, China shuts down
Speaker 1: an entire city if one person coughs. Meanwhile Americans are like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I tested positive for COVID, so I'm just gonna play
Speaker 1: the first few rounds of spend the bottle tonight. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's very responsible. But let's move on from a dictatorship
Speaker 1: to someone who wishes they could stop their own Donald
Speaker 1: you making me crazy? Trump. Since Donald Trump announced that
Speaker 1: he would be running for election in many have been
Speaker 1: wondering will this finally be the moment when he becomes presidential? Well,
Speaker 1: judging by his recent dinner party with Kanye West, the
Speaker 1: computer says no. Former President Donald Trump is facing fierce
Speaker 1: criticism tonight, even from his own allies, for having dinner
Speaker 1: at his Mara Lago estate with controversial musician Kanye West
Speaker 1: and white supremacist Nick Flentes. If you're not familiar, Fuentes
Speaker 1: is this high profile figure on the far right, holocaust denier,
Speaker 1: but he's best known for running the America First Organization, which,
Speaker 1: according to the A d L quote, seeks to forge
Speaker 1: a white nationalist alternative to the mainstream GOP. Even for
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, this was outrageous. Okay. First of all, First
Speaker 1: of all, this whole story sounds like the setup to
Speaker 1: one of those jokes that your uncle tells you at dinner,
Speaker 1: you know, like, okay, so it's just billion nan anti
Speaker 1: Semitic rapper and a white supremacist walking to a bar,
Speaker 1: and then what happened to hold on the black waights
Speaker 1: coming hold a diet coke? Please, thank you, thank you. Secondly,
Speaker 1: why do journalists still act surprised when Donald Trump does
Speaker 1: Donald Trump stuff? Even for Donald Trump? This is what
Speaker 1: do you mean? Even for Donald Trump? Is Donald Trump
Speaker 1: doing Donald Trump? Trump having dinner with Nazis is not outrageous.
Speaker 1: He had dinner with vegetables. That would be outrageous, that
Speaker 1: would be crazy. What Yeah, and he was spelling words. What.
Speaker 1: But because of this dinner, Trump has taken a lot
Speaker 1: of flak from all sides, and so, in classic Trump style,
Speaker 1: he sends out a few posts about why. As for usual,
Speaker 1: he isn't to blame for anything that he did. But
Speaker 1: Mr Trump tried distancing himself, posting on social media that
Speaker 1: West called me to have dinner, expressed anti Semitism and
Speaker 1: claimed I didn't know Nick Fuentes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
Speaker 1: Trump's defense, I mean, how would he know that the
Speaker 1: guy Kanye rolls with couldn't be a white supremacist. I mean,
Speaker 1: I get what he's saying. He's like, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to have dinner with this anti semit I didn't know
Speaker 1: he was going to bring a friend. Because I love
Speaker 1: how Trump tries to immunize himself by saying Kanye expressed
Speaker 1: no anti Semitism at the dinner, and then one I'm
Speaker 1: also sure he didn't wrap up the dinner, but you
Speaker 1: still know that he's a wrapper. Now you might be
Speaker 1: wondering if Kanye didn't want to talk anti Semitism at
Speaker 1: the dinner table. What did he want to talk about? Well,
Speaker 1: apparently he was trying to convince Trump to not run
Speaker 1: for president, but not in the way you think. The
Speaker 1: dinner was not completely amiable. Trump became angry when West
Speaker 1: asked the presidential candidate to serve as running mate for
Speaker 1: West's own newly announced presidential bid, posting this video to
Speaker 1: Twitter titled mar Lago Debrief, explaining he asked if Trump
Speaker 1: would be his vice presidential running mate at the dinner.
Speaker 1: I think the thing that Trump was most perturbed about
Speaker 1: me asking him to be my vice president. But then
Speaker 1: he goes on to say that Kim is you can
Speaker 1: tell her I said that, And I was thinking, like,
Speaker 1: that's the mother of my children. Trump started basically screaming
Speaker 1: at me at the table, telling me I was gonna lose.
Speaker 1: I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history?
Speaker 1: To I'm like, well, hold on, hold on, Trump, you're
Speaker 1: talking to you. Okay. First of all, Kanye whoever made
Speaker 1: his video, they bleeped him when he said the thing
Speaker 1: that Trump said, And I'm going you have people that
Speaker 1: bleep you, why don't you use them more? He should
Speaker 1: be like, here's what I think about THEO and also
Speaker 1: the fact that Trump got so mad at Kanye just
Speaker 1: shows you, like where his priorities are. Here's no problem
Speaker 1: hosting a guy who wants to go death con three
Speaker 1: on the Jews or the Holocaust deny that he brought
Speaker 1: to dinner with him, who he got along with. But
Speaker 1: if you ever suggest he should be number two on
Speaker 1: someone's ticket, Trump would be like, you discuss me, sir,
Speaker 1: talk like that. There's no place in America. We don't
Speaker 1: talk like that in this gut Jake and I get
Speaker 1: where Trump is coming from. Kanye is asking Trump to
Speaker 1: be his Mike Pence, and Trump is probably like you,
Speaker 1: I could never be Mike Bench. I have sex with
Speaker 1: my eyes open. All right, that's for the headlines pot.
Speaker 1: Before we go to quick break, let's check it on
Speaker 1: the stock Marke with finance expert Michael Cost to everybody, Michael,
Speaker 1: good to see your man. I'm gonna say, if what
Speaker 1: on earth is happening in the market today? Man, I'm
Speaker 1: crushing it, Trevor, I am crushing it, and I got
Speaker 1: a hot tip for you. I got a hot tip
Speaker 1: for you, So pay attention. Okay, Now, today the Dow
Speaker 1: was down big all right, but I don't care, alright,
Speaker 1: because today is cyber Monday, right, Not to be confused
Speaker 1: with Black Friday, or small business Saturday or Giving Tuesday.
Speaker 1: It's not thirsty Thursdays or Taco Tuesdays or Sunday Blooday Sunday.
Speaker 1: It's cyber Monday, the day George Washington declared off of
Speaker 1: all plasma screen TVs. Alright, So the way I'm crushing
Speaker 1: it today, Trevor, is by spending, all right, Experts like me, No,
Speaker 1: you gotta spend money to make money, which is why
Speaker 1: today I am making boatloads of money. All right. Now
Speaker 1: let me show you what I'm buying. Okay, first thing
Speaker 1: in my car Stocks for Dummies book. Okay, look, I
Speaker 1: don't know shit about stocks, all right. Yeah, I crush
Speaker 1: it and make tons of money, but I don't understand
Speaker 1: any of it. So as soon as I learned to
Speaker 1: read this book is gonna be super helpful. Now, speaking
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Speaker 1: little known fact they can pump anything. Okay, you got
Speaker 1: a flooded basement. You need to put air in your
Speaker 1: bicycle tires? Muscle definition, Okay, how do you think I
Speaker 1: got these fat baby twins all right by borrowing my
Speaker 1: sister's breast pump, all right, and now I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: seven in my own. Next item in my cart a
Speaker 1: picture frame. Look, I don't need a picture frame, but
Speaker 1: this is a family that I want to be a
Speaker 1: part of. Look at that innocent, pure together. I bet
Speaker 1: this family doesn't think my mashed potatoes are too salty.
Speaker 1: Everything about that my family ugly. Okay, next one. I
Speaker 1: always wanted to get a guitar, so I put a
Speaker 1: guitar in my cart. And I was gonna get a
Speaker 1: real guitar, but I got this Fisher ice one cheap,
Speaker 1: no strings attached. Also, no strings attached, so very easy
Speaker 1: to learn to play now, somber note on my next
Speaker 1: item in my cart, it's an adult casket. Okay. Now, look,
Speaker 1: I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. But I ate
Speaker 1: a bag bad egg sandwich on a west Jet flight
Speaker 1: coming back from my ugly family's Thanksgiving, and I was
Speaker 1: contemplating my own death, and during that time, I thought,
Speaker 1: holy sh it, I haven't planned for my funeral. So
Speaker 1: I got a good deal. Also, caskets great place for
Speaker 1: storage while you're still alive, paper towels, kids toys, New Yorkers,
Speaker 1: you get it, smaller caskets plus bonus. When my wife says,
Speaker 1: go sleep on the couch, I say, okay, no problem,
Speaker 1: but secretly I sleep in the casket jokes on her.
Speaker 1: And with the extra storage space, I got plenty of
Speaker 1: room from my last item. Seven more breast pumps just
Speaker 1: in case my first seven break. That's why I'm the expert.
Speaker 1: All right, I promised you a hot tip. Remember alright,
Speaker 1: hot tip. Stop watching this right now and start online shopping.
Speaker 1: You can't buy any of this any other day. Back
Speaker 1: to you, Trevor. Let's go Michael Cup. That are always
Speaker 1: don't don't stop watching this, keep watching as you can
Speaker 1: buy the things whenever you want. All right, when we
Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna catch up on the World Cup.
Speaker 1: Plus Will Smith is gonna be joining up on the show.
Speaker 1: Throwns all away. Welcome back to the day's show. Let's
Speaker 1: take a moment to talk about the World Cup. It's
Speaker 1: the world's biggest socker tournament when every four years, the
Speaker 1: best players from the best countries gathered to compete until
Speaker 1: one team is declared champion of the world, or until
Speaker 1: someone kicks the ball through the neighbor's window and we
Speaker 1: all run home. Now, because I'm from the world, I
Speaker 1: love the World Cup. So let's catch up on everything
Speaker 1: happening in Qatar with a new installment of our World
Speaker 1: Cup coverage. The two World Cup is being hosted by Kata,
Speaker 1: Middle Eastern country with a deep and rich history of
Speaker 1: having oil and uh. If you've been following the news,
Speaker 1: you know that there has been some controversies over Qatar
Speaker 1: hosting the World Cup. You know, like, did Qatar offer
Speaker 1: bribes to FIFA to be the host? Did Qatar exploit
Speaker 1: migrant workers to build the soccer stadiums? Are we pronouncing
Speaker 1: kutar rights, is it Qatar? Or is it cut her?
Speaker 1: Or is it cut her? And if we mumble it,
Speaker 1: do you think they'll notice? All of these are questions
Speaker 1: for one of the biggest controversies that Qatar has has
Speaker 1: been the fact that they have very strict laws prohibiting
Speaker 1: same sex relationships. And these anti gay policies are causing
Speaker 1: some tension on the pitch amid the cheers of World Cup.
Speaker 1: Band controversy is simmering. It's over the host country, guitar
Speaker 1: and other nations treatment of lgbt Q people. Rainbow imagery
Speaker 1: a sudden flash point after FIFA demanded the captains of
Speaker 1: seven European teams not where this arm band in support
Speaker 1: of lgbt Q causes, insisting the captains where FIFA sanctioned bands.
Speaker 1: The team captains of several countries say they will not
Speaker 1: be wearing the rainbow colored one Love arm bands as
Speaker 1: they had intended, after FIFA threatened to give players yellow
Speaker 1: cards just for doing so. After receiving two yellow cards,
Speaker 1: of course, a player will face a one match suspension. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. The captains of seven European teams planned to
Speaker 1: show their support of the LGBTQ community by wearing rainbow armbands,
Speaker 1: but then when FIFA threatened them with yellow cards, they
Speaker 1: scrapped the idea, which, in my opinion, shows that you're
Speaker 1: not the ally you claim to be. Right. He's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I support your right to live free from prosecution. Unless
Speaker 1: I get a warning in a game where I kick
Speaker 1: a ball, then I'm out. Your gaze on your I'm
Speaker 1: just saying that's a yellow card. I mean, it's like
Speaker 1: a yellow card's not even like you're out, just a warning,
Speaker 1: and you're like yeah, no, no, I cod I tried.
Speaker 1: And by the way, the rainbow band's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: for the referees too. You know that's risky because the
Speaker 1: referees are out there and they're like yellow god red card.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, we just started a rainbow No, don't take
Speaker 1: me away. Oh A little crazy story as well. If
Speaker 1: you happen to be in China watching the World Cup, um,
Speaker 1: you probably are missing some things because on the government
Speaker 1: TV network you'll barely see any footage of the fans
Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, because China doesn't want its citizens to
Speaker 1: see people from every other country enjoying themselves without wearing masks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because they're like, they just don't want them to know
Speaker 1: that that's possible. You know. Yeah, I mean it sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: but it's the same way Canadian TV sensors their footage.
Speaker 1: She'll never show fans having rudely because then Kenny will
Speaker 1: be like, wait, other people are telling other stuff off.
Speaker 1: We didn't know we could do that. Hey. But maybe
Speaker 1: my favorite part of the World Cup is seeing how
Speaker 1: people from different parts of the world find ways to
Speaker 1: yell at each other. Because I remember a lot of
Speaker 1: the teams have coaches who are not from their country,
Speaker 1: you know. Like, for instance, Saudi Arabia's coach is actually French.
Speaker 1: He doesn't speak Arabic, but the Saudi translator doesn't speak French.
Speaker 1: So when the coach got mad at the team's performance
Speaker 1: in the first half, he had to yell at them
Speaker 1: in English so that the translator could yell at them
Speaker 1: in Arabic. What are we doing here? You say the defense.
Speaker 1: You like your fun, you can make your mind you
Speaker 1: all yes, oh, you see. This is the magic of
Speaker 1: the World Cup people. A Frenchman yelling in English to
Speaker 1: a group of Saudi's about a British sport. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1: I also wonder if the translate is augmenting the message
Speaker 1: so he doesn't lose any friends. He's like, you are terrible,
Speaker 1: you are sucked. You should be ashamed of yourself, is
Speaker 1: what he said. Because you know memod, I love you guys.
Speaker 1: I thought you were great in the First Cup. I
Speaker 1: thought you guys were great now. So far, this World
Speaker 1: Cup has had a lot of great moments, you know.
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia pulled up a huge upset over powerhouse Argentina.
Speaker 1: Mexico had a heroic penalty save against Poland Wales proved
Speaker 1: to the whole world that they are a different country
Speaker 1: than England. And one of the most exciting moments was
Speaker 1: when Japan defeats a Germany in an incredible match. But
Speaker 1: my favorite part of that game was what the Japanese
Speaker 1: fans did off it. When Japan beat Germany, fans worst
Speaker 1: att it right, but instead of leaving after the match
Speaker 1: to celebrate, hundreds of Japanese fans stayed in the stadium
Speaker 1: and picked up the trash that other fans left behind.
Speaker 1: Pictures on social media so the Japanese fans threading their
Speaker 1: way through the seats, making sure the stadium was tidy
Speaker 1: before leaving some online comments calling them the best guests
Speaker 1: in the world. Wow, that is amazing. Unfortunately, all of
Speaker 1: those Japanese fans were arrested because the Qatari police deemed
Speaker 1: the act of tiding up quote kind of gay. Now
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. This is one of the most
Speaker 1: amazing things to see, and you see that every world
Speaker 1: couple will be Japan, will be South Korea, and I
Speaker 1: think it's a valuable listen to all of us. If
Speaker 1: you're throwing a party, make sure you invite Japanese fans
Speaker 1: to your house because when you don't have to clean
Speaker 1: up and you know, if you ask me though, this
Speaker 1: is a huge flex from the Japanese fans. Everyone's like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's so humblest No, it's a flex. What is it?
Speaker 1: More boller move, then beating somebody and then cleaning after them.
Speaker 1: Here but here, Oh, let me take out your trash.
Speaker 1: Did you dropped this? Did you drop this? Oh? Yeah, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we'll clean up. You guys can go and figure out
Speaker 1: how to play soccer. Yeah, we'll just do that. All right.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break, but stay tuned because
Speaker 1: when we come back, the one and only Will Smith
Speaker 1: will be joining me right now on the sell Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the day Show, my guests, to Mike As
Speaker 1: an Academy Award winning actor and Granny Award winning rapper.
Speaker 1: He's here to talk about his youth film Emancipation, which
Speaker 1: will be in select theaters this Friday and streaming on
Speaker 1: Apple TV Plus December night. Please welcome Will Smith. O Smith,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Trying Sir, How are you? I
Speaker 1: am so good. I flew thirty hours to be here
Speaker 1: with you. Are you in Bhutan? What are you doing
Speaker 1: BTU the n g O Show. So you're traveling around
Speaker 1: the traveling around the world, just like finding the secrets
Speaker 1: of life, and are you finding them? No? Not yet? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because we've seen you everyone, I mean you, you've been
Speaker 1: everyone would like you said Bhutan, you travel the Middle
Speaker 1: Eastern African? Were you going next? South Pole? South Pole? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a real thing. But why why? Yeah, like, what
Speaker 1: are you hoping to discover that? Nine people don't like
Speaker 1: the cold Wood? What are you? Why are you there?
Speaker 1: Will know? So the show is I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'm supposed to be announcing it yet, but
Speaker 1: the show is called Pole to Pole. So we're going
Speaker 1: from the South Pole to to the North Pole and
Speaker 1: all the stops along the way, and uh, we're we are.
Speaker 1: It's called other People's Wisdom, So we're seeking the wisdom.
Speaker 1: There are people who live at the South Pole. They're researchers,
Speaker 1: so we're going there. We're gonna talk to him. Scientists
Speaker 1: basically say, like the world's knowledge is story story. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: you got me. You're making me cry already, Yeah about
Speaker 1: just not just the South Pole is just such a
Speaker 1: when I think about all that cool, don't surprised you're awake.
Speaker 1: The guy, the guy who discovered this outh pole is
Speaker 1: named Will Smith. For real. Yeah, that's true, you said,
Speaker 1: that's what. I don't even know if you're lying right now.
Speaker 1: You said, that's so convincing. No, it's true. It's true.
Speaker 1: You'll be somebody can google it, somebody, I'll just believe.
Speaker 1: So you're traveling aroun the world. Emancipation. I just I
Speaker 1: just watched it. It is a I mean, it's so
Speaker 1: hard to describe movies like this because you people see
Speaker 1: it in the clip. But you play one of the
Speaker 1: most famous unknown people's surprising day and you know what
Speaker 1: I mean from America's history, a man whose picture went
Speaker 1: around the world that basically showed many people who didn't
Speaker 1: know innately how brutal slavery was. Let's let's talk about this.
Speaker 1: First of all, Emancipation is not the kind of film
Speaker 1: we would expect to see you and immediately as Will Smith.
Speaker 1: So why this project, Why get into the story and
Speaker 1: why this story in particular? You know when I when
Speaker 1: I read this script, man, it's like, you know, we
Speaker 1: we've you've probably seen the image. Um, it's a black
Speaker 1: man and it says, you know, his his back and
Speaker 1: his army sitting. So it's a pretty pretty famous I
Speaker 1: think we have that image. I think it's one of
Speaker 1: the famous. Yes, right, yes, so it's it's it's that
Speaker 1: that image and first seeing that image was one of
Speaker 1: the things that really uh got me, you know, excited
Speaker 1: to explore this because you you see the image, but
Speaker 1: you don't know who he is, you don't know what
Speaker 1: the story is. And then as I started to do
Speaker 1: the research, and you know, it's American slavery was you know,
Speaker 1: one of the most brutal aspects of human history. You know,
Speaker 1: it was it was it was something that was was
Speaker 1: so incomprehensible, you know, it was just so it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to understand the the level of human cruelty. Um.
Speaker 1: And the screenplay was spectacular, and uh, Antoine Fuqua just
Speaker 1: he you know, he did his thing on this man
Speaker 1: and gripping the whole way through. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1: It's it's scary, it is, it is gripping. It is
Speaker 1: not it's not glamorizing because because it is the story
Speaker 1: of how you know, the Union is moving and people
Speaker 1: start hearing whispers of Lincoln has declared that you know,
Speaker 1: slavery is abolished, he is free the slaves. But then
Speaker 1: you see how many people haven't received that news, and
Speaker 1: you see how that news doesn't change everybody's lives over nights. Yes,
Speaker 1: so the emancipation was January first, and slaves weren't free
Speaker 1: until June nine, So the the period of emancipation. Yes,
Speaker 1: so January one, slaves were free, but the South refused
Speaker 1: to allow the slaves to be free, so the the
Speaker 1: enslaved people started trying to run to get to Lincoln's army.
Speaker 1: Uh and in Baton Rouges where Lincoln's army was from,
Speaker 1: from this this place in Louisiana. So it's about that
Speaker 1: period where the slaves were free, but they weren't being freed.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a you know, it is a beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful movie. Um. And you know, my daughter asked me,
Speaker 1: She's like, Daddy, do we really need another slave movie?
Speaker 1: When I was thinking about it, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I said, baby, I promise you I wouldn't make a
Speaker 1: slave movie. This is a freedom movie, you know. You know, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're a live Yeah. It is interesting that you say that.
Speaker 1: It is interesting that you say that because the story,
Speaker 1: you know, One of my favorite lines in the movie
Speaker 1: is when um, you know, I think it's one of
Speaker 1: the he's leading one of the battalions and he talks
Speaker 1: to your character, right, he's like a general commando, and
Speaker 1: he says to your character, says, I was born free,
Speaker 1: and he says, we're allowed to own houses were because
Speaker 1: And your character says to him, if you're if someone
Speaker 1: must allow you to do it, are you really free?
Speaker 1: You know? And you know, this film, what's really what's
Speaker 1: really interesting about it is its centers on faith, you know,
Speaker 1: and the power of faith, you know, to be able
Speaker 1: to endure or anything, you know. And this character it's
Speaker 1: just what what he had to endure and what he
Speaker 1: had to survive. Um, only God could, you know, make
Speaker 1: a man when you look at those marks on his back,
Speaker 1: you know, only God could make that possible, you know.
Speaker 1: And there there he talks about a period in doing
Speaker 1: the research. He talks about he was whipped into a
Speaker 1: coma and he was in a coma for three months
Speaker 1: and he said that he met God while he was
Speaker 1: in the coma, and when he came out, he believed
Speaker 1: in a way that he had never believed before. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I learned the difference between faith and revelation. Right. So
Speaker 1: faith is one thing when you have to you know,
Speaker 1: you have to have faith. I'm not crying to my eyes,
Speaker 1: you know, I just got tired. I got airplane eyes.
Speaker 1: I got airplane I got a plane eyes, you know.
Speaker 1: But you know the difference between faith and revelation, right,
Speaker 1: that that he walked in the world, um with a
Speaker 1: knowledge of the divine, with the knowledge of God, that
Speaker 1: was just something I've desperately wanted to understand and explore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you watch the film, you wonder you know,
Speaker 1: it's one of those movies where you watch it and
Speaker 1: you go, this is harrowing, this is gripping, this is
Speaker 1: it's it's wild. It seems unbelievable, and then you see
Speaker 1: the images of the real person and you you, your
Speaker 1: mind cannot comprehend that it was possible for this to
Speaker 1: happen to a human being and that they actually exist.
Speaker 1: It's a story that you know, that that goes beyond everything,
Speaker 1: and and I'd love to know, like in the telling
Speaker 1: of the story, you know, beyond faith, beyond revelation, what
Speaker 1: is the biggest thing you took away from it? Because
Speaker 1: it's interesting, you know, I get what your daughter was saying,
Speaker 1: do we need another slave movie? And I understand what
Speaker 1: you're saying about it being a freedom movie, But I
Speaker 1: feel like each story has a different you know, because
Speaker 1: it's it's a movement, it's a riven question freedom. What
Speaker 1: do you think was the biggest lesson you took away
Speaker 1: from the story? You know? I think that you know,
Speaker 1: as an actor, anytime you go into these characters and
Speaker 1: you you uh, you go these deep, this deep into
Speaker 1: these roles, it it changes something about you. You understand
Speaker 1: something that you didn't understand um before. And I guess
Speaker 1: that the the major thing that came through from me
Speaker 1: with with Peter is the the power of the direction
Speaker 1: of love. Right, So this is he's trying to get
Speaker 1: back to his family, and that that comprehension of love
Speaker 1: and how love actually is a superpower. You know, when
Speaker 1: you can fill your heart with that kind of love,
Speaker 1: it's a propulsion that is unlike any other thing, is
Speaker 1: stronger than fear, is stronger than hate, you know, is
Speaker 1: stronger than tie. You know. It's like when you can
Speaker 1: really latch into and fill your heart with love in
Speaker 1: a way, it really is shield an armor unlike anything
Speaker 1: that exists. It's beautiful, It's it really is. Congrats again,
Speaker 1: you know, congrats some movie. Great seeing you again. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's been a while since I lost so it's
Speaker 1: been a while since many people have seen you. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been away. What y'all been doing you you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's been I can only imagine what it's
Speaker 1: been like for you, because it has been weird for
Speaker 1: many of us. You know you, you Will Smith, you
Speaker 1: know you are you Will Smith, you are you one
Speaker 1: of the biggest movie stars that has existed, you know,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people that I've ever seen inhabit
Speaker 1: a screen, you know. And then you you had the
Speaker 1: Oscars where in one night you have no independent recollection
Speaker 1: of I can only imagine because you you know you
Speaker 1: you you want you know, you won your first Oscar
Speaker 1: that night. Well deserved Oscar that night. But it is
Speaker 1: it is simultaneously in many ways, not the worst. I
Speaker 1: won't say the worst, because I know the life you've
Speaker 1: lived and read the book, but it is one of
Speaker 1: the best days of your life and one of the
Speaker 1: worst days of your life. And I would I'd love
Speaker 1: to know, I mean, just you know, us talking first
Speaker 1: of all, what has the journey been like since that day? Like,
Speaker 1: because we everyone speculates everyone I think this, I think that,
Speaker 1: I think this, I think that. What has it been
Speaker 1: like for you? Yeah? That that was That was a
Speaker 1: horrific night as you can imagine. Um. You know, there's
Speaker 1: many nuances and complexities to it, you know. Um, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I just I lost it,
Speaker 1: you know, And I guess what I would say. You
Speaker 1: just never know what somebody's going through, you know. You know,
Speaker 1: in the in the audience right now, you know, you're
Speaker 1: sitting next to uh strangers, you know, and somebody's mother
Speaker 1: died last week. You know, Um, somebody's child is sick,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, somebody just lost their job. Somebody just
Speaker 1: found out their spouse cheated. You know. There's it's like
Speaker 1: there's all these things and these there's strangers, and you
Speaker 1: just don't know what's going on with people, you know,
Speaker 1: and there's I was going through something that night, you know,
Speaker 1: and uh, not that that you know, justifies my behavior
Speaker 1: at all. I would just say, you know, you're asking
Speaker 1: what did I learn? And it's that, Um, we just
Speaker 1: gotta be nice to each other. Man you know, it's
Speaker 1: like it's hard. And I guess the thing that was
Speaker 1: most painful for me is I took my heart and
Speaker 1: made it hard for other people, you know. And it's
Speaker 1: like I understood the idea where they say, hurt people,
Speaker 1: hurt people, you know, and it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I remember again everybody was speculating. One of
Speaker 1: my friends called me and we're talking. We're talking, everyone's
Speaker 1: got these opinions. And then someone said, I feel like
Speaker 1: we saw the real Will Smith in that moment, because
Speaker 1: there's a guy who's so full of love and so positive.
Speaker 1: But I feel like in that moment, we saw the
Speaker 1: real Will Smith. And and I said, and not because
Speaker 1: I know you you know, but but I said, honestly,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, if anything, I feel like it
Speaker 1: was the opposite. Like, you know, you're talking your book
Speaker 1: about growing up so afraid of conflict. You grow up
Speaker 1: in your book talking about how you always afraid to
Speaker 1: fight with, how you were afraid to For me, it
Speaker 1: felt like in watching that moment, I felt like you
Speaker 1: were like is it's like in a weird with you
Speaker 1: stood up for the wrong thing at the wrong time
Speaker 1: in a way you know what I'm saying. It felt
Speaker 1: like you've taken everything because here we are, you know,
Speaker 1: human to human, man to man. But like people have
Speaker 1: said some shitty things about you and your family. You know,
Speaker 1: you're a human being. It felt like, and I would
Speaker 1: say this people like it is it's becoming relentlessly shitty
Speaker 1: now and people think it's okay. That's the thing. People
Speaker 1: think it's okay, and not Chris by the way. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about people the internet, et cetera. But it felt
Speaker 1: like this was Will Smith for the first time, going okay,
Speaker 1: is this how you want me to respond or not? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: it was you know, it was a lot of things.
Speaker 1: It was the little boy that watched his father beat
Speaker 1: up his mother. You know, it's that you know, all
Speaker 1: of that just bubbled up in in in that moment um.
Speaker 1: You know, I just that's not who I want to be.
Speaker 1: You know, you've known me for a long time, so
Speaker 1: you know me personally, so you know, um, but you
Speaker 1: know y'all might not know. Um. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: that that that is, that's not who I want to be. Man.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to you know, I'm trying to. I also
Speaker 1: think that's not who you are. I'll be honest, I
Speaker 1: think it's not who you are. I think everybody can
Speaker 1: make a mistake, and I think I think it's an
Speaker 1: honest opinion. I mean, I think how I how I
Speaker 1: think of living my life. But I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's honestly. I'll tell you, but I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why because so
Speaker 1: on my side as a human being, I go the
Speaker 1: reason it was shocking is because that's not who you are.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense exactly? Like like I saw, for instance,
Speaker 1: there wasn't There was an article that was written I
Speaker 1: think it was a Hollywood report or whatever. They had
Speaker 1: a list of like problematic actors order I was personally
Speaker 1: offended for you and Letitia funny enough in it for
Speaker 1: a different reason. But they had you guys in the list,
Speaker 1: where I was like, wait, some of these people are
Speaker 1: here for sleeping with underaged kids. The people are here
Speaker 1: for abusing their spouses and again what you did with
Speaker 1: I always tell you that I love Chris, I'm friends
Speaker 1: with him, I love you, I'm friends. But I was like,
Speaker 1: this is But I was like, but it's not the
Speaker 1: same world. And that's where it was weird, especially I find,
Speaker 1: you know, because there were all these dynamics. So I
Speaker 1: know that as black people, black people together and be
Speaker 1: like what was weill doing? What the hell happened here? Right?
Speaker 1: But then I know a lot of black people are like,
Speaker 1: you know when people came out and they were like
Speaker 1: he should go to jail, Like you need to relax yourself.
Speaker 1: It was a weird, like some people overreacting, which made
Speaker 1: some people underreact. You know, it's it's the I understand
Speaker 1: you know how shocking that was for people. Man. You know,
Speaker 1: um when that stage you seemed you seemed a little
Speaker 1: dazed afterwards them I was gone, dude, I was gone.
Speaker 1: I was gone. I was you know, that was a
Speaker 1: rage that had been bottled for a really wrong time. Um,
Speaker 1: And you know, but it's it's I understand the pain.
Speaker 1: You know. It was like, um, my little my nephew,
Speaker 1: Dom is nine and he's the sweetest little boy. He's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we came home and it's like he had
Speaker 1: stayed up late to see his uncle, will you know.
Speaker 1: And we're sitting in my kitchen and he's on my
Speaker 1: lap and he's holding the oscar and he's just like
Speaker 1: why did you hit that man? Uncle? Will you know?
Speaker 1: Damn it, you're you Why are you trying to oprah me?
Speaker 1: He's string he's sitting on your lap and yeah, you
Speaker 1: know so yeah it was um, you know it was.
Speaker 1: I was like, it was a mess. You know. I
Speaker 1: don't want to go too far into it to give
Speaker 1: people more to misunderstand. Is it is? It? Is it hard?
Speaker 1: You know? You you have lived. I realized this morning
Speaker 1: when I was thinking about you coming on the show.
Speaker 1: You are one of the rare breed of human who
Speaker 1: has lived more of your life in the spotlight than
Speaker 1: out of it. You got into this industry as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, you grew up and blew up into it
Speaker 1: as a young man. You had your tax issues, you
Speaker 1: had your life, you had your family, you had you know,
Speaker 1: but you have lived in this world for so it's
Speaker 1: it's funny again. I realized chatting to friends, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what's interesting here is for us.
Speaker 1: This is the Oscars, for Will Smith. This is like
Speaker 1: a cookout. And I'm not diminishing Oscars, but I don't
Speaker 1: like those are your people, that's your world. This is
Speaker 1: like you know, And I was like, I was saying
Speaker 1: I think that as part of the reason many of
Speaker 1: us were that because you go like it's this lorded event,
Speaker 1: it's it's bigger than life, whereas many movie stars are
Speaker 1: at the Oscars like, oh, nice to see you again. Hey,
Speaker 1: good to be here, good to be good to be back.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that that was part of the disconnect.
Speaker 1: I feel like that was part of But but what
Speaker 1: I what I've done? One thing that's killing me? Um.
Speaker 1: You know, so Emancipation is Antoine's masterpiece. That's right, he
Speaker 1: has created an absolute masterpiece. Um. Bob Richardson the DP
Speaker 1: and Ben Foster and just all the way down. It's
Speaker 1: like these top artists in the world have done some
Speaker 1: of the best work of their career, and the idea
Speaker 1: that they might be denied because of me, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like that that that is killing me dead,
Speaker 1: you know, And it's like the thing that is so
Speaker 1: critical for me is that, you know, these people came
Speaker 1: and they trusted me, and they were down for for me,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just I hope that their work
Speaker 1: will be honored and their work will not be tainted
Speaker 1: based Dawn, you know, a horrific decision on my part,
Speaker 1: I honestly hope and I don't think that that will happen.
Speaker 1: I um, I you know, I have conversations with people
Speaker 1: all the time about restorative justice, you know, conversation, you know,
Speaker 1: but restorative justice about like atonement, about we have all
Speaker 1: these components, we have them at the highest levels often
Speaker 1: and what I realized is we we often don't have
Speaker 1: these conversations as they pertain to daily life. You know,
Speaker 1: what somebody says, what somebody does, and especially in isolation,
Speaker 1: I don't That's why I say the sum of the
Speaker 1: person is oftentimes how I define them as opposed to
Speaker 1: a moment, you know. And and on a personal level,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I speak for many people if
Speaker 1: I don't forgive me. But you know, obviously people were
Speaker 1: hurt because we love you and we love what you do. Um.
Speaker 1: People were shocked because you know, will submit, it's Chris
Speaker 1: Rocket's you know, you know, so oscars all these things.
Speaker 1: But I also think I speak for people when I say, like,
Speaker 1: I don't want that to defer find you. I don't
Speaker 1: think it should define you. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: likeness that I don't think, Yeah, I don't think any
Speaker 1: one of us I don't think any one of us
Speaker 1: in life deserves to be defined by our like you know,
Speaker 1: if anything, I mean like you and Chris have the
Speaker 1: biggest story to handle on your own. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: our our foray. But but yeah, man, Um, I hope
Speaker 1: you don't stay hidden forever. I hope I hope you
Speaker 1: know that you don't always have to bottle it up.
Speaker 1: I hope you know that you you you you. Not
Speaker 1: being perfect is what will make you you will smith Man.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Dude, we love you
Speaker 1: for real? I did that? Do you know? The big
Speaker 1: guy was that was one of the big things for
Speaker 1: me over this last couple of months. You know that
Speaker 1: I had to forgive myself for being human, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's like, trust me, there's nobody that hates the
Speaker 1: fact that I'm human more than me. But I know
Speaker 1: that you um and just you know, finding that um
Speaker 1: space for myself within myself to be human, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I want I've always wanted to be Superman.
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to swoop in and save the damns
Speaker 1: all in distress, you know. Uh, And I had to
Speaker 1: humble down, you know, and realize that that I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a flawed human, and um, I still have an opportunity,
Speaker 1: you know, to go out in the world and and
Speaker 1: contribute in a way that fills my heart and hopefully
Speaker 1: helps other people, you know. So I think you've got
Speaker 1: that as you may. Look, we're gonna tell everybody right
Speaker 1: you're gonna take a break over right back. I'm not
Speaker 1: for real. Well, let's all shut it tonight before we go.
Speaker 1: Before we go, I just want to remind you tomorrow
Speaker 1: is Giving Tuesday, so please consider donating to One Simple Wish,
Speaker 1: a charity that grants wishes to kids and young adults
Speaker 1: in foster care. If you want to help grants wish
Speaker 1: or donate towards their holiday Wish fund, then please do
Speaker 1: so at the link below. Until next time, stay safe
Speaker 1: out there, and remember it's not called monkey poks anymore. Now,
Speaker 1: we just say the M word. Watch The Daily Show
Speaker 1: weeknights at eleven ten Central on Comedy Central and stream
Speaker 1: full episodes anytime. I'm on Paramount Plus. This has been
Speaker 1: a Comedy Central podcast