WEBVTT - Stephen A. Smith Speaks On His Father, First Take, Ayesha Curry, Rihanna Comments + More 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.520 Morning. Everybody is DJ n V Charlemagne the guy. We 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:05.680 are the breakfast club. We got our guest host with 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:09.559 us Lilight here this morning, and we got our guests person. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.880 I'm happy to see, but also not happy to see why. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:20.720 He knows why. Yes, Steve Smith, gentlemen, welcome whatever, It's 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.479 always good. You know, this man dedicated the whole last 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.360 chapter to his book Damn Near Slander, and cowboy fans 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.000 mad at it. I'm like, why I wouldn't say slander. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.040 I wouldn't say slander. I was being factual, and once 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.919 again I was proven to be correct. I mentioned you 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.120 on on on, get up the other morning. It's ridiculous, man, 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:44.400 these these Dallas cowboy fans and like cockroaches everywhere. I 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.519 told them, I said, just be patient, eybody. They was 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.640 winning games. Everybody's the signed. I said, just be patient, 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.360 it's coming. And sure enough, when the lights got brightest, wow, 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:54.160 you'll be happy to though I had no expectations for 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.400 the playoffs, They'll tell you I had none. After thought 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.040 they were gonna lose the temple. Okay, well, you do 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:03.280 understand you're an anomaly. You never I'm most cowboy friends. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:05.400 That's what you have to do. You have to do 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.360 because they're gonna break your heart broke. That's right. That's 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.040 what the Knicks do to me. That's what the Cowboy's 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:10.360 gonna do to you. That's right. Now. We can talk 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:11.959 about sports all day, But you got a book out, 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.679 an amazing book, by the way. Now you go into 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:16.720 your life about this book. Usually you don't talk about 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:18.679 your personal life at all. We never hear about your 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.160 personal some of these stories that I've been hearing, I 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.319 was like, really have no idea, So why did you 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:25.679 decide to talk to go so in depth about your 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.600 personal Well, first of all, the seat that I sit 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.000 in every day doing first take on the ESPN. You know, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.759 I pride myself and my character assassinated people. I talk 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.399 about what you do now who you are. But nevertheless, 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:37.480 by being in that seat, similar to the seat that 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.080 y'all have, if you're gonna do something like that, then 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:41.760 you know what you owe it to the audience to 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:43.640 let them know who you are, where you come from, 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:45.959 what your perspective is, et cetera, et cetera. And I 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:47.880 got to give both of y'all props, actually all three 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:49.800 of y'all props, because all of y'all have been authors, 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:51.240 and the fact that the matter is the kind of 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.480 lime light that y'all have been in the seat that 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.520 y'all sit in. When you start writing about something you 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.000 know you you ultimately feel an obligation to let people 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.200 know who you are, what you're all about, what your 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.360 perspectives are. And so to me to see people do that, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:07.440 I knew that it was. If I was going to 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:09.280 write a book, there was only one way I could 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.760 go about doing it. Ain't know the some damn sports book. 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:13.919 It's got to be about me, who I am, how 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.440 I think, why I came to be, how I am, 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.920 the way that I think, et cetera. I thought I 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.760 owed that to the audience, and the only reason I 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.079 hesitated once I got left Go Let Go by spin 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.120 of two thousand and nine. In two thousand and eleven, 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.600 people were coming to me to write a book, and 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.760 I knew I wanted it to be about, you know, 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:33.880 my life, et cetera, et cetera. And my mother at 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.320 the time, who had just gotten diagnosed with cancer, one 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.480 that she lost in twenty seventeen, got rested soul. She said, 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.560 she made me swear, you will never write this book 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.040 while I'm alive. I understand why after we reading it, 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.680 because I'm sure it had to do with your relationship 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.079 with your father, yes, which I felt like exactly why. Yeah, 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.320 you addressed the topic most men don't discuss enough, and 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.760 that is our relationship with our fathers. How difficult was 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.360 it to explore that topic? It was hard. And the 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.440 reason why it was hard it wasn't the writing process. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.720 It was the editing process, which y'all all know. You know, 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.120 you write it, but they look at it the editing processes. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.760 So when they're editing, it's calling upon you to revisit 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.440 and revisit over and over and over again. And I 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.560 didn't wait until the book was finished to like show 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.000 it to my sisters. I got four older sisters, and 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.520 I didn't wait until the book was finished. When I 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.120 wrote those specific chapters, I sent it to them and 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.600 they didn't talk to me for two weeks. And I 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.280 thought they were originally upset. They weren't upset. They were 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:33.400 just saying, we had buried these memories a long time ago. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.320 And they said, and you brought it back up. We don't. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.080 We ain't knocking you for it. We understand, but it 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.640 just hurt a lot to revisit some of those experiences 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.320 because we had buried them for the longest time, and 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.720 the details that you had they couldn't believe that I 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.120 remembered because I reminded them, and they were like, yeah, 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:56.360 this happen, this happened. That happened. No hero, Yeah, my 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:58.680 dad he wasn't. I feel like the things you said 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.440 about him in the book are the things you wanted 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:05.160 to say about him at his funeral. Yeah, that's accurate. Yeah, Um, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.880 I told him to his face. I didn't say anything 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:09.480 in a book that I didn't tell him to his face, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.840 So let me be clear about that. In twenty eighteen, 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.800 he passed away, fourteen months after my mother passed away. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.840 And when he passed away, I called my sister Carmen 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.960 the morning of his funeral, and they had mapped out 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.520 the funeral, and you know, the pastor was gonna give 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.760 the cermony, he was gonna eulogize him, all this stuff, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.440 and I said, I'm doing the eulogy, and Karmen was like, God, no, Steve, 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.479 please please, Steve, don't do this. Don't do this. She said, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:36.800 what are you gonna say? I said, you'll find out 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:38.680 when you get to the funeral and she's like, Steve, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.680 don't do this. What would mommy want? What would mommy want? 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.640 You know what mommy would say? Said, I got it, 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.320 and I was gonna go in and I was gonna 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.279 literally say everything that you see in the book. And 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.080 and I peo. I called paste Arperna something told me 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.000 to call him. You know, I've been going to see CC. 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.400 I have no pastor Banar for thirty years. And so 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.400 I said, let me call him. And I called him 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:00.919 and told him what I was feeling. And he was like, 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.159 you right to feel that way. I'm very familiar with 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.200 your story. He said, You're not wrong. He said, but 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.599 the Bible talks about God's grace and God's mercy, and 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.200 he said, and you might want to think about that 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:17.040 before you decide to speak your truth. And when I 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.640 eulogized my father, I went up. I went up on 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.760 the stage after everybody gave all the paudables, all of 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:25.640 you know, all all the nice things, the pleasant trees 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:27.680 they had to say about him, and I walked up 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.680 in the first words out of my mouth was, that's y'all, 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.760 memories of him, memories of my family. We have an 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.880 entirely different story. And I saw my cousin Derek kill 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.640 over like oh no, please. And I saw my brother 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.280 in Lay. I was like, oh lord, he's about to 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.520 go in. And I saw a neighbors that were in 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.720 the audience that I hadn't seen in years that just 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.000 showed up for my dad's funeral, and they were like, 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:53.000 literally lipsacred to me, Please, please don't do this. And 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.000 I said, my father was not a good man, I said. 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.400 But then I brought up my mother. I said, my 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.160 mother knows nothing about sports. I'm Steve and A I 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.120 worked for ESPN. The world knows, the sports world knows 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.960 who I am. My mother says, EPs and whatever it is, 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:09.520 I don't know. But she didn't even know the letters, 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:11.839 I said. But she knew what a home run was, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:13.919 she knew what a or no hit it was. She 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.320 knew what a stolen base was. She knew it because 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:21.200 of him, Because she loved my father so much that 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.880 she knew baseball because of him. I said, So there 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.080 evidently was something very special about him to have a 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.359 woman like my mother. And then I talked about a 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.560 lot of the happy moments that he gave us and 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.280 then I ended it by saying, at the end of 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.560 the day, he's still my dad and I love him, 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:40.839 and I don't think I would have gotten to that 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.239 point if it wasn't for Alborno. What made you change 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.440 your perspective of how to talk about him for the 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.600 book was because you could add more context, because I 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.919 could add the full context. And not only that, I 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.040 owe it if I'm gonna write it, you know, but 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.240 then you know they I didn't know it was gonna 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:57.280 be like seventy eight to eighty thousand words, but I 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.520 literally wrote ninety thousand words. I wrote the book myself, 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.320 and when no ghostwriting, it was me. I wrote this book. 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.360 I did the audio. There was another voice, it was me, 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.400 and I just said, if I'm going to do this, 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.680 then I owe it to everybody. I mean, and you know, 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.520 because of the business that I'm in, I imagine talking 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.320 to you, you or you. I can see the questions, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.800 you know, because I'm experienced enough to know what's coming. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.120 I know what I would ask, I know what I 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.920 would think about, and I wanted to make sure that 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.800 I left no doubt as to where I stood. And 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.000 you know what I was trying to say, and that's 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:30.760 what I did. And I have a question. So, even 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:32.880 even though obviously you know how you felt when you 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.120 were writing the book, because it was your thoughts and feelings, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.840 was there a sense of like that therapeutic element, like 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.560 you know, and people actually put the words on paper 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.800 and write it down and read it and look at it. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.520 A lot of authors say like it's a form of therapy. 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:48.920 It's like I finally got it out in my head 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.680 and on the paper. Possibly, So I'm not I'm not. 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:53.840 I'm not saying that I didn't feel that way, but 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.120 there was a bigger emotion coming from it, La la I. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.760 When you know, when my mother passed away, I was 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.880 a mama's boy. I loved the dearly. We were very tight, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.320 and I was devastated for a long time. What I 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.840 would tell you is while everybody else around us was 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:15.040 very sad, the emotion that I had was fury. And 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.680 the fury that I had was that, you know, this 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.600 is five years ago. I got my first big contract 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.320 from the ESPN in twenty fifteen. I got the second 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.080 one in twenty twenty three, years after she passed away. 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.240 But I was there and I knew that I was 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.240 in a position where obviously I could give to her, 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.640 But I was getting to a position where it was 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.959 so much more that I could give to this woman 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.240 who had done everything for us and worked two jobs 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.839 sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, one week's 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.319 vacation a year for twenty plus years because she had 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:52.000 to because he wouldn't do his job. And so because 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.120 of that, to see her in the grave before him, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.720 and to see her deprived, she was seventy six years old. 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.320 My mother was at a point where let her go 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.680 on a couple of cruises a year and she's in heaven. Well, 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:07.760 obviously I'm in a position to do more than that 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.439 for her, and so for me, for her to pass away, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.320 I was furious. So when it came time for his funeral, 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.720 it it just galled me, the thought of everyone showing 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.640 up to celebrate someone who had taken so much away 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.040 from her. He took away from us too, But that's 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.760 all right. Stuff happens. Nobody's perfect. Mistakes, deal happened. But 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.120 when it came to my mother's a different kind of animal. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.079 You can make mistakes in life and a relationship to 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.560 fall apart. I'm man enough to say, Okay, that's your 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.319 all business. Longer you ain't put your hands on my mother. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.480 We good, that's you'all business. What was unforgivable to me 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.480 was not paying any bills, allowing her to work the 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.800 hours you were supposed to be working, to have the 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.800 obligations you were supposed to have, supposed you're supposed to 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.480 take off. Said you had a conversation with him, when 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.280 you had the conversation before he died, what was his reasoning? Well, 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.160 this was years early. I would tell you about five 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.640 years earlier. We were in my dining room, were in 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.439 my mother's dining room, and my father was one of 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.280 those dudes that were stubborn to the end that he 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.360 didn't he never saw that he was wrong until he 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.800 absolutely had to. And so he's in there and his 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.240 older brother, my uncle Freddie, was sitting next to him, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.520 and my father was like, you don't know what the 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:22.439 hell you're talking about. You don't realize what I've done 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.800 for you. I said, you haven't done anything for me. 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:27.800 You know, you haven't done anything for me. Don't give 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.040 him too much of the book now, right exactly? And 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.160 I said, and I said that, and you know, he 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.040 started arguing with me and my uncle Freddie looked at 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.120 him and he said, by Soul. That was his middle name, 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.720 by Soul, And he said, shut the fuck up. He said, 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.120 this is Stephen. He's a journalist for a living. You know, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.640 he knows what you what you haven't have not done 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.080 Chapter in verse, you have no shot. Just be quiet. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.800 And my father just sat back and just took it, 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:56.760 and I just I just left it alone from there. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.599 You know, I think the relationship with your father the 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.720 most important part of the book because it opens up 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:03.959 so much other stuff, Like you talk about how watching 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.520 your father and your mother's relationship made you never want 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.440 to get married. Yeah, and you talked about things in 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:09.760 the book. I didn't know. I didn't know you had 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:15.080 two baby mamas. How didn't you gonna feel about that? Well, well, 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.360 first of all, I don't expect them to like it, 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.480 because it's the one thing that my mother was ashamed 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.400 of of my entire life. I've been on this earth 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.000 fifty five years. She passed away when I was forty nine, 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.720 going on my fiftieth birthday, and that was the only 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.960 thing that my mother was ever ashamed of before because 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.200 I wore you know, I had condoms on lock, like 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.079 like like credit cards. It was like, I didn't leave 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.600 home without them. You know, I was never going to 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.120 compromise myself by putting myself in that position, and then 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.200 I lost my way and so because of that, you know, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.520 my mother was like, Okay, so now that you did, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.560 you screw this up. She said, there's only way one 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.600 way you can make up for it. You have to 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.679 be the best father that you could possibly be. You 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.560 have to make sure what you made a promise to 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.280 me about from the time that you was sixteen years old, 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.200 that you will never be like your father. She said, 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.839 that's what I expect, and so be since that moment 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.960 in time. That's why I when Kobe passed to win, 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.160 everybody's told about that girl dad, that girl Dad's like 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.840 it resonated with me in a very significant way, because 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.360 I mean, my daughters are everything to me and so 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.800 you know, and I've always lived by this philosophy. But 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.040 it's the same with my mom. It was with my 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.240 mom as it is with my daughters. You know, I 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.200 think I'm not comfortable unless they comfortable. I don't need less, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.960 they eat, don't I don't go on vacation until they 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.280 go on vacation. I don't live a passion of fluent 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.560 life unless they live in it. I make sure that 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.000 they're taking care of first. And the thing that I 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.840 was that I shamed her with is also the things 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.199 that I've made her very proud about. She was very 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.880 proud of the father that I am, and I'm very 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.040 proud of the father that I strive to be. It's 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.480 a never ending process. I am not looking forward to growing, 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.240 you know, growing older with two daughters, thinking about the 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.160 man I once was before I became a daddy, you know, 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.920 praying and hoping that they don't run in to a 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.920 young stephen A. Um, you know, I'm definitely, I'm definitely 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.120 that dude. But I'm also very very happy and very 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.640 proud of the father I am, and having two beautiful 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.160 daughters has made me a much better man and a 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.679 much better human being and far far, far more compassionate 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:23.880 than I ever thought i'd be. And I know we 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.319 don't got much time because you gotta get the state 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.920 due first take, But it's so much just skip ever 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:30.640 get in trouble for anything, he said on first take, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.920 because you talk about the times, or you can you 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:36.400 talk about the time that you got in trouble on 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.920 first take, and I'm like, well, Skip had crazy opinions too, 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.800 and the opinions you had weren't necessarily like I never suspension. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.240 I never recalled Skip getting in trouble. Wow ever um 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.000 in terms of a suspension or anything like that. Um. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.120 When I got suspended, I was furious. I did not 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.880 believe I deserved it. I was pissed off to the 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.559 highest degree because I just thought that, you know, it 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.400 was made into something that it wasn't. And so for me, 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.559 whatever my opinions are, I don't mind anybody coming at 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.760 me about that. This is what we feel about what 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.880 you said. It's when they try to branch it out 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.720 and turn it into something that it was not. That's 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.000 what pisses me off. Because what happens is when you 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.600 have Disney Disney. And I'm not knocking Disney for this 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.240 at all. Listen, man, we got stockholders, got shareholders, you 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.040 got people to apiece, and so you got to pay 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.280 attention to everybody. You ain't after black white and hispanic appeal. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.560 You have to mass appeal. You want it all. And 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:32.080 so as a result of that, you have to pay 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.800 attention to everything and everybody, And so when that noise 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.120 is made, my boss at the time felt compelled to 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.320 respond to the noise, and when he got suspended forty 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.440 eight hours earlier, he told me I wasn't gonna be suspected, 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:47.800 and then you know, he turned around spend to me, 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.160 And so for me, it was I've learned a lot, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.320 I'm a lot better and what I try to do. 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.600 And all of y'all can attest to this. At one 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.320 time or another, We've all had private conversations. I whispered 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.880 something in y'all ear about something to watch out for. 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.280 I'm very, very big about these are the mind fields 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.240 watch out because what I'm saying is, as a product 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.880 of corporate America, somebody that's been in corporate America for 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.520 over thirty years, I kind of know where the mind 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.800 fields are. And so as a result of that, I 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.040 might see cats on the come up that I think 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.440 is going to be in my position or an even 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.040 higher position. And I'm saying, come in, let me make 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:23.840 sure I tip you off to this. Watch out for this, 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.760 watch out for this, watch out for that, because I 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:27.720 want y'all to succeed. I don't want y'all to field 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:33.560 who the hell wants to be successful alone. Oh lja. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.960 It shocked me too. But he listen, he he walked 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.200 off the sets that I ain't coming back until my 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.680 man comes back on because he knew it was wrong too. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.480 But I was really shocked that he took that position. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.320 I certainly didn't ask him too, and I'm appreciative of that. 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.960 Doesn't mean I mean, shoot, we still disagree ninety nine 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.400 percent of the time, but I did appreciate the fact 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.080 that he took that position on my behalf. I was 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.600 gonna say, who the worst fans are they? Cowboy fans 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:06.080 that skip fans or the Navy fans Cowboy fans. Nobody's worse. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.640 Nobody's worse. But I will tell you I would tell 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.120 the Navy got at you a little bit. First of all, 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.800 let me be very very clear, I don't give a damn. 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.160 I want to be very very clear about that doesn't 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.800 phase me, It really really doesn't. I'm just after you've 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:26.000 known you know me for years. I'm just built that way. Rihanna, 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.400 if she had a problem, that would have bothered me, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.840 not her fans. I want I challenge anybody to tell 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.400 me one negative thing I said about that wonderful performing 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.720 young lady, I no nuance to it, and you just 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:44.360 said nat. You said Rihanna doesn't perform as well. Let 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:45.520 me give you any time. Let me give you, let 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.600 me hook you up on the inside. Sherry Shepherd's team. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.440 I'm promote my book last Tuesday, Sherry Shepherd's team comes 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.600 up to me and they said, since you're here, we 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.960 want to debate like format. We want to have fun 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:04.240 with it. I said, okay, bring it, no problem. I 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.000 didn't know what they were gonna ask, right, but the 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:11.080 problem so I'm expecting a debate, right, And I knew that. 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.399 I was just in the room talking about Beyonce because 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:17.879 one of my all time favorite performance Beyonce with Bruno 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.840 Mars and cold Play is one of my favorite now 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.679 obviously Jay, you know Doctor Dre and snooping him last year. 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.120 I mean that, I mean Lord Ha Mercy, I mean 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.679 I'm mad I wasn't there, but that's I think that 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.400 Beyonce might be the greatest female performer of all time. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.840 That's how I feel about it. I think Rihanna's fantastic. 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.600 I think Rihanna's fantastic. By the way, both of them 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.719 got my money because I bought both albums. Okay, So 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:46.959 my attitude was Rihanna's great, but I'm thinking you got 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.680 a lot to live up to because there's only one Beyonce. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:55.760 Now you agree, fine, you disagree? Fine, How we get 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.320 to the point why he got a pit two black women? Again? Really? 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.800 I can't, I can't. I just can't be a fan both. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.800 But I prefer Beyonce over Rihanna. That's a crime. Now, 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:08.479 And I didn't know that. In your book you talk 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.760 about learning lessons, yes, and you have gotten in trouble 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.439 for that before when you pushul Curry against Savantage. That's right. 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:22.120 Listen first of all this yeah, ye, fair question, la la, 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:28.480 And I'm gonna I'm gonna talk. I didn't know. I 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.080 didn't know that. Yes, yes, let me explain what happened. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:36.000 So Steph Curry is in Game six of the NBA Finals. 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.600 Lebron and Kyrie are coming. They won Game five after 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.880 Draymond got suspended, bo getting Eagle Dollar got hurt. They 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.160 win game five. Game six, they coming at Golden State. 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.480 They're down twelve with about four minutes left and Steph 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.000 Curry fouls out. Steph Curry pulls out his mouthpiece, tries 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:00.480 to throw head to the official. But missus it's a 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.280 fan by accident. Blah blah blah, i Issia Curry goes ballistic. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.919 What y'all may not have known was that. And I 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.360 love i Usia Curry, I mean, and no problem, no throwing, 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.600 no shade on her whatsoever. I'm just telling what happened. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.960 Prior to the game, she had tweeted that she was 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.120 upset because they were backed up in traffic. Now, Jay 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.800 Z and Beyonce were coming to the game, but nobody knew. 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.280 So the Cleveland a reader and the Gundery or whatever 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.440 it was, right, the quickest Loans a reader, they held 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:31.720