WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 040222 A Decidedly Black Reaction to Will Smith and Chris Rock (Part 1) 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.400 Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host, rams' Jah. 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.880 I go by the name q Ward. Talked to him q. 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.959 Most of the time, so well, is it sometimes or 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.000 most of the time? If it, what's the race you 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:17.560 would have to be for it to be most instead 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:17.720 of some? 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:23.120 It's okay, So yeah, most of the time they call 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:23.880 me q Ward. 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.440 Yes, indeed, listen man, we got a interesting show to 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.320 talk about today, and because the way the world works, 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.880 we kind of got a lot of stuff entertainment based. 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:37.640 So we'll call this an entertainment special. That what you 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:38.279 do about that? 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:42.279 I think we were overdue for entertainment special anyway, So 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:43.320 run the play rounds. 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:45.880 Let's do it, so stick around. We are, of course 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.720 going to be talking about the slap hurt around the world. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.960 What did the five fingers say to the face? I 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.760 think those five fingers said slap slap. You gotta talk 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.360 about that, but not for the reasons you may think. 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.120 So definitely stick around because we have to break that down. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.640 There are some cultural elements that you may not be 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.880 familiar with that are things that we wrestle with and 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.399 we would love to share them with you today. We're 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:20.119 also going to be talking about rap beef and other 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.959 types of beef, and like those viral videos of students 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.039 fighting and those sorts of things, and how those things 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.759 hit us as well. You know, there's a different weight 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.560 that we carry that a lot of folks may not 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.120 know about, So I definitely want to peel back some 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:39.080 layers with respect to that. We're going to be talking 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.800 about a woman named Hattie McDaniel for Our Way Black History. Fact. 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:48.240 She is an actress who was the first Oscar winner, 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:53.040 first one nominated, first black woman and black person nominated 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.240 to when Oscar, and we're going to share a little 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.480 bit of her story. But first and foremost, we are 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:03.000 going to talk about a man who maybe you remember 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.920 from your childhood. I certainly do. His name is Tim Reid, 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:09.639 and we're going to share a little bit about what's 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:15.160 going on in his world. In Our Way, Sorry, in 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.600 our em any excellent segment, Ramsey is just trying to 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:19.560 jump to the end of the show. I wasn't trying 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.120 to do that. Topics put a lot of pressure on 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.920 him today. Give him no no. So Tim Reid, for 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.360 those that don't know, starred as the father in a 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.960 show called Sister Sister, and this being our entertainment episode 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.799 and the timeliness of this story coming out, we thought 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.120 it'd be important to share kind of what he's been 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.320 working on. Not if you're like me, you hadn't caught 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.280 up or kept up with this guy over the years, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.680 but you do remember him the show Sister Sister starring 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.560 Tia and Timara, the twins, and he was their father. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.680 I think he was a widower in the show, and 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.040 he raised the two girls with I guess it might 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.040 have been their aunt or something like that. But a 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.120 lot of like father daughter lessons and just father lessons. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:07.640 So this guy kind of holds a special place in 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.600 our youth, you know, in the way we remember it, 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.680 not unlike that of Uncle Phil, you know, from the 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.680 Fresh Prince. But what he's been up to is he's 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.160 created his own streaming network. This comes from the Atlanta 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:21.959 Black Star. By the way. He's created his own streaming 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:26.160 network called LGCYTV. I believe he pronounces it Legacy TV. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.680 It's a quote from him. I'm not out to fight 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.320 and say blacks invented the world. I mean make a 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.920 case for it, But the contextualization of history is important. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.560 It's important to me, Reid said of the opportunity. The 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.960 network will include three channels, culture, history and sports. There's 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.240 another quote, blacks have fought in every war on this planet. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.120 Those kinds of things are what I want to do. 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.200 I can't expect everyone to tell the stories that I 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:51.440 want told. It's nice to see what black people have 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.000 to say about white people for a change, economically, socially, 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.640 the propaganda wars are real, it's powerful, it's real. There 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.760 has to be another way. It has to be less 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.800 filtered by the European pipeline, He said of his passion 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.120 for his network and how it came to fruition. As 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.320 it relates to people who may not develop an appreciation 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.120 of the channel, Reid said, then don't tune in. Nothing 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.520 wrong with a lot of opinions. Let's have some diversity. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:18.599 So shout out to Tim Reid for starting his own 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:25.279 network and hoping to tell more stories. Love to see it. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:26.839 There's your ebony excellence. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:33.000 Now looking forward to it the topic of the day. 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.360 You know, we do this show every week, so there's 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:40.839 been some time between when you first heard about this 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.080 and when we had to process it. And you know, 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.159 we always say we make this show it's a black show, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.360 but it's for non black people. It's kind of our 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.919 way of giving you a glimpse into what it's like 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.440 for us, your brothers and sisters, who you know. Maybe 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:01.080 you are a thinking, loving, kind human being, but maybe 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.400 you don't have the connection to the black community in 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.320 the way that you might like. And so we felt 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.240 this show was necessary and we try to speak to 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:18.120 you using that, bearing that in mind. But by now 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.960 we're sure that you've seen the clip from the Oscars 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:27.960 where Will Smith, you know, approached the stage and slapped 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.120 Chris Rock in the face. I want to say something. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:33.280 I know you have a lot to say to you, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:34.719 so I'm going to give you the floor, but i 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.839 want to say a couple of things. First, I've mentioned 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.920 on the show that I do another program day to day. 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:47.360 I work with the Black Information Network, do a daily show, 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.640 a daily podcast with him. And the day after that happened, 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:57.520 I was very troubled, very very very extremely deeply troubled 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.640 by Will Smith's slapping Chris Rock in the face on 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:07.160 the world stage, and for people who might not know why, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.520 it was so unsettling, you know, I'm gonna give you 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:14.720 a little bit of insight here. You know. The next day, 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.480 I woke up, had to talk with my other show 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:22.520 producers and they asked, what's wrong, and I says, if 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.960 I'm honest, I'm just having a I'm just very, very sad. 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.520 And they're like, we can tell. Shout out to Tannita Meyer. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.960 She said that she's like, I can absolutely tell. I 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.080 see every day, I know there's something off. She's like, 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:38.480 what's the problem. And I says to her, I just 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:42.719 can't make that make sense. I can't believe that Will 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:48.760 Smith slapped That's a special kind of assault from one 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.120 man to another that we're not we're not here to 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.240 break that part apart. But he slapped Chris Rock in 0:06:56.360 --> 0:07:02.560 the face in front of everyone. And you know, he 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:08.680 had his reasons, but the fact that it happened just 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.920 it was so unsettling. And my other show, I normally 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:19.720 talk about politics. I talk about you know, conceptual ideas 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.160 and things like that, things that affect you know, the 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.800 black population that you know, conversations of black folks need 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:30.880 to discuss and need to be aware about. Right, this 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:34.080 story was more of like a tabloid story. But my 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.400 producer says, you know, no, absolutely, if you feel that 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.840 strongly about it, ramses, that's the show we're going to do. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.520 She said, I feel the same way. And then the 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.560 vice president of the company was on our call that 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.880 day and he said, I agree one hundred percent. We 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:52.240 need to talk about this, right So I wrote a 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.040 little bit of a monologue and I'm going to share 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.160 some of it with you right now, just so you 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.440 understand kind of how that feels. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.400 And I just want to point out I'm hearing this 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.440 monologue with you guys today live for the first time, 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.640 so we get to take this in together, digest it 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:19.200 fresh while you're listening, and give some some counter. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.960 Feedback if you're and for those just so you know, 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.000 actually I'll say that at the end. Okay, Sunday evening 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.160 At the twenty twenty two Oscars, Will Smith slapped Chris 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.720 Rock in the face after Rock's mention of Smith's wife, 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.880 Jada Pinkett Smith. Will Smith later received the award for 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:37.080 Best Actor, and uses used his acceptance speech to mention 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.400 his role as a protector and how quote art imitates 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.760 life and quote now, I look like the angry father. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.840 Social media was promptly divided as to who had gone 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.720 too far. Rock or Smith. Why did Chris Rock make 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.800 a joke that could be connected to Jada Pinkett Smith's 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.080 medical condition and subsequent hair loss. Why didn't Will Smith 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.720 take his wife's hand and just walk out in protest. 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.520 Regardless of the answers, we are left with a disturbing 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.080 situation that played out on the world stage. We are 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.640 left with the people that society tells us to try 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.680 to emanate looking like the very people's society has come 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:17.960 to fear angry, violent blacks. So what does it mean 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:19.800 for the rest of us now that these two black 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.880 comedic icons have ended up in this situation? So this 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.640 is how I got the ball rolling on the show, 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.640 But the way I closed it out was as follows. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.280 We've all been on one or maybe even both sides 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.080 of a situation like this. The difference is that we 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.559 probably weren't being tested in full view of the world. 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:41.320 If you're like me, you hear the news stories of 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.160 violence or theft or drugs, and you hope in your 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:50.240 heart that the suspect isn't black. Pause. Remember this is 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.000 me talking to a black audience right now that I'm 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.000 talking to you, our listener today, I know that this 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.880 is not necessarily a black audience. But on this show, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.800 it's on the Black Information Network, it's for a black audience. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:06.199 So when I'm saying this that whenever we watch news 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.199 stories about drugs or theft or violence, we hope that 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.280 the suspect isn't black. That's a very real thing for 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.040 black people. Right We're gonna, We're gonna peel some of 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.080 those layers back. I'll continue. The part that feels unfair 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.040 is that white people don't seem to experience this in 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.839 the same way. White people are allowed to have cultural 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:30.160 and behavioral outliers to a degree that black people are not. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.400 We don't live in fear that all white men are 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:38.000 mass shooters to the degree that white people often live 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.000 in fear that black men are thugs and gang members. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.320 Right now, there are, of course, not all white people 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.760 feel this way, and some Black people feel that way. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:51.400 But if we really take into account how it really 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.800 feels to live in this world, one of those things 0:10:53.880 --> 0:11:01.320 is way more true than the other. Okay, I'll continue. 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.760 We know that our outliers often reinforce or further shaped 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.000 stereotypes that aren't true to the fullness of our black stories. 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.280 Some of us might talk during comedies or horror movies. 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.280 But I've been in rooms where white people talk through 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:20.000 friends reruns, aching to tell me behind the scenes details 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.800 are all about their favorite parts. The thing is that 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.960 they don't worry that they are misrepresenting all white people. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.920 In other words, there's a burden, an extra burden that 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:36.560 we carry. That burden came to the forefront when Will 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:41.320 Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face. Oh now, they 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.280 ain't gonna never let us back in here no more. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.080 You know what I mean. It's like a real thing, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.439 you know. So let me continue and then we can 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.120 break this down. When looking at Will Smith, perhaps the 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.440 disconnect is that the black man would say, let me 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.679 not misrepresent my people, but the man would say let 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.800 me and my wife that night we saw Will Smith, 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.040 the man, Okay, I'm not saying anybody's right or wrong. 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.720 I would never do that. I'll continue. We live in 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:14.360 a society that doesn't allow black men to be men. First. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.240 The same is true with black women, you know what 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.880 I mean. An angry woman protecting her children, for example, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.240 is simply an angry woman, But an angry black woman 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.800 is this cultural monster. The same is true for the 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:33.120 angry black man. Historically, our manhood wasn't even a part 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:38.040 of this new American identity. Remember, they used to refer 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.679 to us as boy and in some places they still do. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.160 So maybe no one won out of this situation, but 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.080 at the very least, now the whole world knows a 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.839 bit more about what we're up against. If Leonardo DiCaprio 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:55.040 had slacked Jerry Seinfeld, the story might be half as big. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:00.360 If that two black men leading excellent black lives at 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.160 the height of fame and wealth. However, and the ripples 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.319 go further. It's almost like black excellence as a concept 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.439 is being called into question. That is a weight too 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.160 heavy for me to bear. So this was how I 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:21.440 closed out my show or my podcast Weekly Podcast, which 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.760 if you want to check that out, just download the 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.000 iHeartRadio app and look up the Black Information Network. You're 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:31.640 bound to find it. But this kind of gives you 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:37.760 an idea of how a moment like that between two 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.880 black people, like I'm so grateful that Chris Rock didn't respond, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.559 because imagine what it looks like if two black men 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.920 are fighting. It looks like the Source Awards, you know 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.680 what I mean, And that's you know, we have to 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.280 be perfect to be good enough. You know, we can't 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.560 have human moments, and thank god, I believe that Chris 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.480 Rock kind of saved that moment for us, you know, 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.040 because it could have gotten a lot worse. But what 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.920 I'm trying to impress upon you is not who is 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.679 right or wrong, but that there's another burden that we 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.640 all have to bear. Like it's almost like we are no. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.160 We can never be better than what the best of 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.240 us is, right, and if the best of us, in 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.480 your mind is Will Smith, then the best of us 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.360 just dropped the couple rungs on the ladder, and that's 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:30.240 why we all had to shoulder that burden as well. 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.240 Now I've talked a lot, I do want you because 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:34.760 I know you got a lot to give me. Q 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:41.040 go ahead, jump in rams. 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:45.560 It's so much, you know what I mean, Like, I 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.720 don't know that we have enough show for all that 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.000 I have to give, because it's not like. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.960 Will Smith is the best of us. Will Smith is 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.440 actually the best of us. It's not like, you know 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.040 what I mean, It's not like he's the best, He's 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.760 actually the best of us. There's Tom Hanks, there's Will Smith. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:15.120 And maybe that weight is unfair but it wasn't unknown. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.720 And this is where my problem starts. The topic has 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:28.760 become explosive in its divisiveness amongst people, but especially amongst us. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.240 You know, I've seen all the If it ain't that, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.320 it ain't memes and tweets right right. If you're not 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.760 going on stage to slap in my honor, then that's 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.160 not the love that I want, which is a great 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:49.280 mean to pass along and laugh about. Except I came 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:54.480 across some words pointing out that Will Smith proved in 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.040 that space or in that moment, that he didn't belong 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:03.800 in that room, and those thoughts would have seemed ridiculous 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:10.200 the day before that happened, and his action in that 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.240 heated moment should not define him. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.240 Except that's the world we live in, and we cannot 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.640 decide when we feel like it. Well, why do we 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.760 care what white people think about us? Anyway? 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.640 Oh so then what's all this talk about progress? 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.560 And you know a few years ago there was a 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.800 boycott of the Oscars because not enough black people were 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:34.560 being represented. 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.120 Correct, So we care or we don't care? I'm confused, y'all. 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.760 Let me know, send me a DM. You know, you 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:41.240 can put a letter in the mail if you want, 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.920 but let me jump in right here please. So this 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:52.680 is why this is the burden. Okay, we all stand 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.440 shoulder to shoulder in solidarity that, yes, we do need 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.880 more black representation, not just black people. There are non 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.000 black allies that stand with us. Yes, there needs to 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:04.800 be more diversity. There needs to be more women, There 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.639 needs to be more l G B, t q I 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.600 A plus representation. There needs to be more Native uh 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.600 An indigenous representation, and so forth and so on, Asian 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.320 American and Asian you know, bona fide Asian. 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.880 UH and and Hispanic and and and so forth, right, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:27.080 And that is true. We do need that. And we've 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.360 all stood together, we've all boycotted or voiced our opinions 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:36.840 or shared things online or whatever, and the feeling like, okay, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.760 we're standing in solidarity, our voices are being heard. We 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.880 see progress. There there's more. There's more films, We see 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.840 more uh empowerment of women and and black folks and 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:48.840 and on down the list. We you know, there's there's 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:53.840 been more of that. Right, The weight of Will Smith 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:01.720 slapping Chris Rock in the face on live television and 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:08.840 embarrassing everyone, making everybody extremely uncomfortable right what it looks 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.080 like and feels like to me and to us a 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.119 lot of us. I can't speak for every black person, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:19.360 but I do live a black life in a black community. 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.880 It feels like, well, now that we got here, that's 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:31.639 how you're going to act, you know, I and I 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.200 get it. I get it. There are some people who 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.040 say that man had to defend his wife, he had 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.879 to get up there, and he had to draw the 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.840 line somewhere, whatever, whatever the case. But if you're going 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.960 to the optics of this are okay? Are we all 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.520 moving forward? That show is produced by a black person, 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:56.800 by Will Packer. By the way, there were black presenters, 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.680 women present you know, there was. There was a concerted 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:04.560 effort to make it. But the award of the night. 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:11.760 Was presented to Will Smith, the fifth black man in 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.040 the history of the Academy to win the award for 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:19.680 Best Actor. That isn't even an afterthought. It's not even 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:25.680 a thought. No one's talking about that. In a passing 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:30.280 of the torch moment in a category up against Denzel Washington, 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:36.040 Will Smith won that award. No one cares, and some 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:41.200 people won't remember because of what happened a few minutes before, you. 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.200 Know the idea that. 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:53.280 Our woman in the space of bad words has to 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.960 be defended by her masculine hero of a man because 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.920 she can't articulate in her own right, because it's words. 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.000 If that man had physically attempted to assault his woman 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:07.639 and got slapped in the face, then you got what 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:12.000 you had coming. But a comedian cracked a joke, as 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:13.800 they do. They do that, And I don't know if 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:17.199 you guys have ever watched the Academy Awards. It's a 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.560 room full of really really rich, really really successful people 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:24.960 giving each other trophies for being really rich and successful. 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.160 So part of the reason why there's a comedian hosting 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.080 every year is to kind of make fun of the 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:35.000 really rich, successful people in the room side. That's the 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:35.800 whole point of it. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:40.200 I get that. And I don't know if you guys 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:44.120 have ever met Jada Pinkett. Of course they haven't. 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:46.560 But I don't even mean in a personal sense. I 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:48.960 mean as an onlooker, as a fan, as a viewer 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.000 a film TV the Red Table. She doesn't have a 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:57.800 problem with defending herself as an orator. She's not some damsel. 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.960 That The reason I said that because for those that 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.119 don't know, Q actually does meet these people. Q has 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.080 met Will Smith. He actually lives that life, and that's 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.000 why it was a joke. Of course they haven't you have. 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.040 And pointing that out as to why this night was 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.159 so difficult for me. Some of the best advice I 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.800 got as a young man trying to come into my 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.639 own as a professional was from Will Smith at his home. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:23.400 So I was let down in a very personal way. 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:24.040 The other night. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.480 I watched it about to happen, thinking there's no way 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:31.159 that this is about to happen. And I think the 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.240 reason why so many people's response was this has to 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.560 be fake is because in their mind, it could not 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.720 be real that he would do that to him. Yeah, 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.000 you know, I brought up the idea that this somehow 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.160 proved that he didn't belong in that room, and how 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:52.760 ridiculous that seems. However, the action in and of itself 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:57.040 proves the detractor right. I'm going to to add some 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.560 levity or make light of a situation I used to manage. 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:05.240 I used to be a road manager for comedians, most 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:06.840 noteworthy of them Earthquake. 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.199 Who's Special just dropped on Netflix. Check it out. It's 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:14.360 hilarious part of their yearly calendar. 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:16.520 At some point there is a space in the routing 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.879 for those guys to leave the country and go support 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.920 our troops. Earthquake bo Hugh Ley, like all of the 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.600 biggest and best touring comedians, took some time out to 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.879 go make our troops laugh, you know, in Japan and 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:32.160 all over the world where our troops are based away 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:35.720 from their families, defending our freedoms. And I'll never forget 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.680 DL bringing up a story where on one of the bases, 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.800 you know, the black guys show up at Popeyes, and 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:47.159 the manager in Popeyes comes from behind the counter and says, 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:52.760 I knew you would come. He meant this in the 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:58.480 most racist way possible, except the black men are standing 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.760 in Popeyes right and now all you can do is 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.440 laugh at the truth and what should have been insulting 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:09.680 When you walk on stage and you slap Chris Rock 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:11.960 in the face ten minutes before you win the Best 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:16.480 Actor Award, all the people that want to say that 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:21.480 the best of us are still not them because we 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:26.520 are prone to violence, because we can't articulate, because we 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:28.479 can't problem solve our way out of stuff. 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:31.119 We just want to fight that's the weight and hold on, 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:34.040 let me let me, let me just say this, that 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:38.720 weight is unfair. It is because you know what, as 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:43.040 I mentioned in my monologue for my other show, I'm 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:47.600 not Will Smith, every individual person should be able to 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:52.160 make their decisions and be judged by their individual decisions. Right. 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:55.000 You know, I'm not the sort of person that laughs 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:57.440 in the movie theater or talks throughout the horror movies. 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:02.520 I don't even watch horror movies, but I am. It's 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:05.399 sort of married to that stereotype. So I have to 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:07.879 be extra careful. When I leave a hotel room. I 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:11.520 try my best to leave it clean because the last 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:13.600 thing I need is for somebody who is not black 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:15.360