WEBVTT - Checking In w/ Jawn Murray 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:04.920 iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:19.720 What's Up, everybody? 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.520 Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Checking In, y'all. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.480 It's going to be a fun one. When you've got 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:33.240 a longtime friend that's checking in, you are bound for laughs, wisdom. 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.560 I have no idea what he's gonna share, but I'm 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:43.520 so excited to have award winning television producer, my personal friend, 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:49.000 John Murray is coming up next on Checking In. Y'all. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:53.239 Welcome to another another fabulous week of Checking In. I 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.640 cannot do what I do without you and your continuous 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.960 support and those downloads. You gotta keep those downloads going. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.320 I'm excited about today's episode because I've got a dear friend, 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.520 oh going on a lot of number of years. He 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:13.960 has been a TV commentator, executive producer, pop culture expert. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.640 Once again, did I say executive producer executive producer of 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.839 the Emmy nominated amazing show, The Sherry Shepherd Show. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.920 Please welcome my friend John Murray. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:27.480 I love that because you always say my name like 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.959 we're on Bobby, Joe, Bunny, judesus. 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.560 But John, he calls me, so we talked, so he 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:38.400 never gets to see how I look when I said, John. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:42.080 Murray, you know, since we hear checking in, I'm just 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.440 checking into my checking in. Candles that I have from 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.640 you over here still smells really good, so good that 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.880 I haven't burned it yet because you haven't sent me 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:50.400 another one. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:56.400 So black people, black people, why don't we burn the candles? 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.920 Sometimes they smell too good to birth. Sometimes you just want, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:02.160 you know, burn that. 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.200 Candle so you can get another one. 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.200 Yes, I need to go, and I do need to 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.079 go and get me another one. But it's wonderful. I 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.160 love it so and you said, I have it right 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:11.679 here behind me, y'all. 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:16.280 He is sitting in his office of The Sherry Shepherd Show. 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.040 So I'm so thankful for his time. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:19.320 Is that? Okay? 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.080 Let me guess what it is? NAACP Award in the back. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.680 Oh, this little thing right here. Yes, this is my 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.079 NAACP Image Award that I got for Season one of 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.639 the Sherify Show for Outstanding Talk Shows. One of the 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.639 executive producers, you get one of the awards. So yeah, 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.200 I'm very proud of this. You know, there's another award 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:39.880 on my other side. You can't see it in the shot, 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.079 but it's called the Telly Award. So all of our 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.400 digital campaigns are something that we used to launch the 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.080 Chevy Show. We got recognized for this was the Telly 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.760 Bronze Award for a fun Joy and Laughter and fun 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.240 Joy Laughter was the part of the campaign that also 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:58.520 got us Emmy nomination for season one. So we're excited 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.560 that folks have connected with our little show that Could, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.360 and you know, one a few wards nominated for some others. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.600 We just got nominated for People's Choice Awards, So we're 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.720 just grateful that people really are connected with our message. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.400 You know, well, that's what our relationship has been about. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:19.839 And the relationship that you have with people translate very 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.440 well on television because that's just who you are, a 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:27.359 person that loves to have fun, full of joy, full 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:28.720 of laughter. 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:31.280 I met John. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.600 Two thousand and eight, so the first time we met 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.400 was brief. He was at one of the Soul Traine Awards. 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.240 You had just put out your solo album Hard to Yours. 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:48.480 Oh, two thousand and two one, and Tony Ferguson, who 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.560 worked at Sony Records with your personal publicis Now You've 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.600 Got No Shore, was handling you at. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.680 The Soul Train Awards. Tony and I were good friends. 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.240 He's a big champion of around when I started in 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.960 the business, initially as a writer, and so he knew 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.920 I always love people who could bridge the gap. You 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.880 are a church girl who's doing mainstream music, and hearty 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.080 yours was your fur way back into gospel music. So 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.320 he knew I wanted to meet you, and he brought 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:10.800 me up and introduced me to you. He was like, 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.280 this is your biggest fan, and he jokingly says, one 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.280 day y'all gonna get married. He was like, well, honey, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.480 where's the ring? And we laughed and we took a photo. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.880 And then years later I was at the opening of 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.320 The Color Purple in La so you might remember that 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.200 year better than me, and one of the guys who 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.000 was in the ensemble of the show went to introduce us, 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:34.520 and he was like, I don't know who you are. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.159 You've been talking about me on the town a boarding show. 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.440 I've been hearing you. I love when you talk about me. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.159 And we laughed and he was like, here, stay in 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:43.760 touch with me. But you gave me your email address, 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:50.000 not your telephone number. And but years later, you know, 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.680 we built our rapport and I remember there was something 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.520 going on in the industry that I was like, I 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.320 want to give you some insight on something, and I 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.760 sent you an email and you called me. I was 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.560 on my way to the toront Film Festival, because I 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.920 remember I can see myself sitting in the airport when 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.680 we had our conversation and we sat and talked, and 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.320 we've been talking on the phone ever since. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.560 Y'all, listen, that's why you gotta be careful how you 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:18.479 treat people, because sometimes they remember more. I guess maybe 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.239 the person that's on the receiving end of various types 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.239 of communication remembers more. 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.560 I only gave you my email address. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:32.440 And but listen, boundaries, you've learned that over time, sometimes 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.120 you got to you know, you got to start slow 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.280 with people on the same way down. People will run 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.080 up to me on the street. Now, this is a 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.360 working in this business. I've always had a level of notoriety, 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.880 but being in people's homes every day, it's a whole 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.920 different investment. Like people feel like they know you. And 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.839 because Sharry and I are friends in real life, though 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.360 I happen to be the executive producer or her talk show, 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.040 people see our friendship, and they try to emulate that 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:57.919 when I run to them in the grocery stores and 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.720 then the target and places like that. And so people 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:02.560 can be really aggressive and run up for you. You'll 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.599 give me a number, And so I had to learn 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.279 how to establish boundaries because you know, you know, sometimes 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.440 you don't want the confrontation of an aggressive Now though 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.960 I'm very comfortable with the word no, but sometimes people 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.240 can catch you in a weird predicament where they put 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:19.000 you on the spot and you're trying to navigate out 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.960 of it. And so Google Voice and those telephone numbers 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.680 have worked to create a great alternative to the fact 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.800 that no, no, you can call this number. You just 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.479 hain't called the one that's you know, getting direct access 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:30.680 to me. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.920 They go, get this number, yeah, yeah, John, and I 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:41.480 go as far back to what was known as AOL 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.359 Black voices. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.480 Yeah, that was a good time. 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:48.760 Such good times. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:53.680 I always looked forward to looking to see what was 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.800 going to be on AOL Black voices. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.760 So you got your start. You are a writer and 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:01.680 me he was a writer journalist like. 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:08.960 Yeah, yeah, real journalisten. Yes. I went to an HBCU 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.559 Norfolk State University, inspired to go to an HBCU because 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.440 I love the sitcom A different world. And I went 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.920 to school and I would tell my professors, I'm not 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.080 learning any of the technical stuff. I gonna be a star. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.160 I'm working in television. I only need to learn how 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:26.320 to work a camera. That kid was so arrogant, even 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.080 though he wasn't. He just had a vision, you know. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.239 But I had a professor that told me, he was like, listen, 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.720 TV's gonna be hard, and as a black man, it's 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.840 gonna be particularly harder for you to break into it, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.280 and you need to think of a plan. B He's like, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.200 you're a really good writer. So I started taking journalism 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.840 courses as my electives. And the whole dot com boom 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.920 was happening. All the digital companies were happening. Everybody was 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.600 really thriving in the digital space. And here I was 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.960 a college kid who created a newsletter after an internship 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.960 at a radio station in DC just started generating national 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.120 attention for me. It was based off my middle name. 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.440 It was called Garrick News. I had to set up 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.400 in a Hotmail account and people would come to the 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.640 radio station or come into my market. They give me 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.560 their email and you had to email me to get 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.880 added to my database because it didn't have one of 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.960 those lists serves and stuff like we have now to 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.679 send out newsletters and stuff like that. So our master's 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.240 database of celebrities, and then sometimes I signed it to 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.880 my AOL account and celebrities would hit me in the 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.240 instant message and then I'd have to hit some other 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:25.960 celebrity I met and be like, YO, is this such 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:30.720 and such celebrities real message chat name? But I had 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.760 like four major celebrity friends who befriended me through instant 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.280 message chat because they love the work. And so the 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.480 newsletter turned into me working for a newsworter called euur Web. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.600 I was there a short amount of time, and then 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.680 AOL had acquired Black Voices, and I got approached about 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.040 doing what was initially a weekly column. And then when 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.840 the age of the blog came about, they turned our 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.040 weekly content into like daily content to kind of compete 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.280 in the blog space. But my column was one of 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.319 the most successful columns there, and so I left Norflea 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.120 State before graduating because the work and the money offers 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.360 got so good. I was like, how come I can 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.680 finish this up later? But my writing career really took off, 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.640 and here I am, indeed at the time was in 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.400 DC uh and even though DC had b ET's headquarters, 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.080 TV one's headquarters, Discovery had an office there. Serious had 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.120 a headquarter there before merging with Serious x M. It 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:26.120 was a political time and I was able to make 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.920 a national name for myself as a writer. And one 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.520 of the things that worked for me was that, for 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.240 the most part of a celebrity freely. You know, sometimes 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.080 celebrities would get mad if you just would report the 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:39.760 truth about them, as celebrities often do. But I was, well, 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:44.920 you know, but I cared more about the human nature 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.160 of celebrities than I did about the selacious nature of 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.200 stories and a headline or what we now call clickbait 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.640 of gotscha moments, and having that level of care for 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.840 people and their humanity early on, and maybe it was 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.360 the church boy and me, it has served me well 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.199 my entire career because many of those relationships that started 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.760 when I was just the writer continue to flourish now 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:09.680 and have even helped me with booking some of the 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.240 guests and calling in some favors here to talk show. 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.240 Listen, let me tell you something. Everything that he is 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.679 saying is true. I'm going to share this with you, 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.439 y'all remember those times I was co hosting on the 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.839 View or the talk. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.000 Meredith Vieira. 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:37.400 It is all because of John Murray's insight, and I 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.160 have to thank him for that, Like that is what 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.800 I've wanted to do, was to be a co host 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.600 on one of these talk shows. And I believe it 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:53.480 is going to happen one day. But John could have, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.080 knowing that that's something that he wanted to do, he 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.880 didn't have to tell me that. He could have easily 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.640 just kept it to himself for himself to be on there. 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:06.800 And we thought we were going to be doing Meredith 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:07.760 Viera together. 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.480 Yes, because people don't know it's in this business, they 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.520 do this thing called chemistry test, which is like musical 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:20.079 chairs of auditioning. And so this one summer week weekend 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:24.120 it was we all got brought into New York. At 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.679 the time, my agent was told I was the only 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.560 man up for the job because I had gone in 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.559 and met with NBC. They liked me and they were like, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.000 we want to figure out something to do with him. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.360 So they tried me out on Meredith Show. And after 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.480 the first appearance, they offered me more dates to come back, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.079 and so I had done like twelve appearances on her 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.520 show prior to we got to this secret test. But 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:45.720 you and I never worked together. They had you working 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.800 with everybody else, they had me working with everybody else. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.680 We never worked together. But we did this secret test, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.680 and I'll never forget. You were like, well, why do 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.800 I have to get there like three hours earlier than you? 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:56.960 And I was like, I don't know. And you went 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.559 there and they had you tested with another male entertainer. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.560 Text me and he was like, such and such entertainers there, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:04.760 but they not as good as you are on cameras, 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.400 so you could be fine. And I got your text 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.600 message and I text my agent. I said, this is 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.360 his job, and she's like, what do you mean. I said, 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.400 they know what I do, they know why I'm here, 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.560 and they've misled us into believing that I was the 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.800 only man testing for this show. Now they brought this 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.000 other guy in at the eleventh hour. Somebody's called in 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:23.600 a favor. I'm gonna go and do what I do, 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.400 but this is somebody else's getting And that was the 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.440 first time you and I actually got to work together. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:29.800 And it was a lot of fun. 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:38.240 It was tons of fun, y'all. There is so much 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.640 history here. I want to respect John's time, but I 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:47.160 also want to respect everything that he is. But I'm 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:48.840 going to go back to something that you said that 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.679 is so important. When you were in college, you were 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.840 talking about how you knew you wanted to be on TV, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.800 but someone told you you probably should also get into writing. 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.520 What do you think would have happened had you been 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.439 too arrogant or prideful to take their suggestion. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.720 I probably would have ended up like a lot of 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.800 people that I know who started on the pathway to 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.680 entertainment realized that it was tough, and you know, you 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.360 start living life, you start making bills, you start making babies, 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.040 you start families, and you have to support that financially. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.320 So a lot of people needed to take jobs to 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.280 support their lifestyle, and that caused them to have to 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.319 avoid their dream. And I was really blessed that the 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.160 plan b writing open doors for me that I could 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.439 not have fathomed for myself. I was able to create 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:44.360 my own space. It was the quintessential example of when 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.920 time and preparation meet. I was prepared for that moment, 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.920 but the timing of the business was wide open, and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.600 I was someone who was able to make space. And 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.600 so it's been great to see some of the people 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.240 who now use social media and digital media to make 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.320 space and they're having success and their bloggers and their 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.480 YouTubers and they're you know, doing video content and stuff 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.560 and cultivating an audience with it, because that's what I 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.640 was able to do with the print medium at that time. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.960 And so I was able to be a full time 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.360 writer for twelve years and it opened doors for me. 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.040 So I was maybe four or five years into my 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.040 writing career when one day I got a call from 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.560 an executive named Sheila Eldert who said, Hey, the Tom 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.200 Jorder Morning Show is interested in adding a younger voice 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.560 to their show. They like to test you out, and 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:31.520 so they booked me for a one off segment. I 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.400 did the segment the same day they made me an 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:36.720 offer to join the show. So I was aoll block 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.560 Voices for seven years. Six of those years I also 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:41.320 was on the time during the morning show. So I 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.840 had this rock star media life. One hundred thousand frequent 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.920 five miles a year, five Star hotels, flyinding to La 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.720 taking the anitrak to New York to interview top music 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.640 stars and top Hollywood stars because the industry respected my 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.760 platform and my voice. And one of the graces that 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.160 God gave me early into this thing was I could 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.880 sit with a celebrity they have done twenty five interviews 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:05.400 that day, and I would sit and have a conversation 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.600 with them. And the biggest compliment to give a media professionalist, 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:10.720 Oh my god, that's such a great question. Nobody's ever 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.040 asked me that before. If I know, you know, I've 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.160 done thirty interviews today as a part of some press 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.480 junket and you say that to me, I've just gotten 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.240 off like I'm my ego is just like yes. But 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.360 at the end of these interviews, celebrities will say to me, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.680 there's just something about you. You're different than the regular 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.680 industry guy. Can I give you my information and listen? 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.840 You know, I'm in my forties now, so like I remember, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:32.240 there was a time where you go out with a 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.560 music artist and they'd be like, yo, I got to 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.920 hang out with you, or can I call you for advice? 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.480 Sometimes I'm thinking you got Grammys and you calling me 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.960 for advice, And they would say, here's my two way 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:48.880 page number, it changes every sixty days. If it changes, 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.200 called my Mama's house line, and the cod word is Gertrude. 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.440 If you say gert true, She'll give you my new 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.880 number and then I'll make sure I hit you back. Well, 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.280 it was I remember like and I was nineteen twenty 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.240 years old hanging out with these bold face named superstars 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.320 just because we'd have an authentic connection through conversation. So 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.320 it was a crazy time in my life. But I 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.880 never tried to dishonor those relationships, and again those relationships 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:16.680 continue to serve me to this present day. 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:23.080 That's so good because you have a genuine passion for 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:29.960 all things entertainment, broadway, film, television, music, everything as it 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:31.080 relates to the art. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:35.640 You have a genuine passion versus I don't know if. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.520 It's because social media or what it is. It makes 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.960 me scary about people's true intentions. 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.400 Oh yeah, yeah, And I got into this business because 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.680 I love the business. Listen. I was a latchkey kid, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.680 you know. As a teenager, we lived in a two 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.680 bedroom apartment. My mother worked, her husband worked because her 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.720 husband with my daddy, and so I had to let 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.360 my hope in after school and talk shows with my babysitters. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.720 Ricky Lakeer was my babysitter, Orlanda Watch was my babysitter. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:13.440 Mantel Williams was my babysitter. Sally Jesse, Roelfaia, all those hosts. 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.639 It was my babysitters. And I fell in love with 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.360 this format. I fell in love with television. I fell 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.760 in love with the escapism that TV provided, you know 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.800 what I'm saying. I had that even as a pretty team. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.600 I had an aunt that used to babysat me, and 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.679 when she was babysit me, she loved to watch the 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.359 vintage talk show. So she would watch repeats of I 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.280 Love Lucy and leave It to bab And I love 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:38.080 the comedic storytelling of I Love Lucy. And my favorite 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.760 iteration of that show is when Ricky went to Hollywood. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.960 And so I always had these visions and fantasies of 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.960 getting to LA because I wanted to do what Ricky 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.480 and Lucy did on those episodes. And you know, so 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.120 as kids were impressionable, you know, these are the foundations 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.399 that are stat and so I had a clear vision 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.479 that I wanted to get into this business. And then 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.480 once you started a business, I came in this business 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.200 and I was just a black entertainment journalist. I could 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.200 tell you what was going on with black celebrities and 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.639 music in Hollywood and that was it. But I realized 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.040 in order to have greater successor you had to be broader, 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:14.840 and I'll never get two thousand and eight, I was 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.280 on the time during the morning show my AOL column 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.600 is Thriving. Star Jones had a talk show on Core TV, 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:22.480 and she called me and told me, she says, I 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.719 really want you to come and do my show, and 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:26.960 you know, start war her where She's like, baby, you know, 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.080 I know you got this black stuff down on lock, 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:31.000 but I need you to be broader than that. So 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.040 I'm having you come on here talk about Britney Spears 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:34.920 and a few people, because you know you're an expert 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.000 on them too. And it stretched me. It requires that 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:39.920 I had to work a little bit. And the truth 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:41.920 of the matter is the storytelling was still the same 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:44.840 I you know, I always brought with and I tried 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.840 to bring a comedic aspect to my storytelling. That was 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:49.560 still the same. But if it requires that I did 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:51.480 a little research, which mean I always had to be 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.679 well read and I always had to study before I 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.879 showed up to do a segment. And so, you know, 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.959 just being prepared, doing your research and having an appreci 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.240 ciation for every facet of the business really makes you 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:07.000 a well rounded talent because the business changes. You know, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.200 I made a real joke about how our celebrity would 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.359 give me their two way pager number. We don't have 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.520 two way pages anymore, you know what I'm saying. Vinyls 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.280 having a resurgence, but it went on a style for 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.680 a while. All of us used to have CD collections. 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:25.000 We don't know CDs anymore. This industry changes and genres change, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.080 and we used to have just linear television and it 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.919 would get twenty million viewers on a TV show and 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.679 now we have streaming networks. And so you have to 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.200 be versatile enough to be in the pivot because if 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.640 the sector of the business that you're working in goes 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.880 out of style, what do you do next? If you're 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:41.560 not well read. 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:44.880 That's so good preparation. 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.000 And we've both been in this for so long and 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:54.600 having to be flexible and navigate even through being prepared, 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.679 and y'all, it's been so much fun watching John throughout. 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.440 The years on CNN. Heck, the BBC Meani. 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.119 There are times he would have to be ready at 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.720 all times of. 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.440 The O in the morning, absolutely and. 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.680 Or night to talk about even some of the biggest 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:18.879 stars to ever be on our planet, like Michael Jackson. 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:20.800 So much stuff that has. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:27.720