Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it is Friday, February thirteenth, and we are
Speaker 1: going to try our very best to get through this
Speaker 1: episode without laughing because it's a very serious topic. It's
Speaker 1: a very serious word. But we only get to all
Speaker 1: the controversy if we get through fart knocker and fart digger.
Speaker 1: And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and
Speaker 1: TJ Knocker and digger knocker and digger knocker and digger.
Speaker 1: Someone messed up those two words and can you imagine
Speaker 1: what words they came up with? And now she lost
Speaker 1: a job ro this You brought this to my attention,
Speaker 1: this story is well.
Speaker 2: Yes, so if anyone is a fan of a very
Speaker 2: popular and it was supposed to be coming back in
Speaker 2: big fashion, this show called Rehab Addict. And we're not
Speaker 2: talking about drugs, We're talking about rehabbing Holmes. This is HGTV.
Speaker 2: I love a rehab show. It's so fun to watch.
Speaker 2: I have I've watched this show, not recently because it's
Speaker 2: been off the air for some time.
Speaker 3: So this was a big deal.
Speaker 2: Nicole Curtis, the host of Rehab Addict, made this big
Speaker 2: announcement they were coming back season ten nine or ten,
Speaker 2: was it nine.
Speaker 1: Nine, but it hadn't been on since what twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: I believe, So this was a big deal and her
Speaker 2: new series was supposed to air Wednesday, coming out, big deal.
Speaker 2: She had it all over her Instagram, social media, and
Speaker 2: then record scratch a video is leaked to a tabloid website.
Speaker 1: In that video and the headlines will tell you that
Speaker 1: Nicole Curtis uses the inWORD. Nicole Curtis uses a racial
Speaker 1: slur in video, and absolutely we can tell you she does.
Speaker 1: She doesn't deny it. You hear it, absolutely clearly. So
Speaker 1: it leaks and robes. HGTV reacted pretty.
Speaker 2: Immediately, immediately, they did not even I mean it was
Speaker 2: an automatic response. Not only did they fire her, but
Speaker 2: they literally scrubbed the entire series.
Speaker 1: She never existed.
Speaker 2: It's gone. So actually we do have their statement, just
Speaker 2: to get it out there right now. HGTV was recently
Speaker 2: made aware of an offensive racial comment made during the
Speaker 2: filming of Rehab Addict. Not only is language like this
Speaker 2: hurtful and disappointing to our viewers, partners, and employees, it
Speaker 2: does not align with the values of HGTV. Accordingly, we
Speaker 2: have removed the series from all HGTV platforms. We remain
Speaker 2: dedicated to fostering a culture of respect and inclusion across
Speaker 2: our content and our workplace. Here's the deal, though, she
Speaker 2: says that did not happen during the filming of rehab
Speaker 2: atte Oh, that this was her own personal behind the
Speaker 2: scenes video and it was shot there were just a
Speaker 2: few people in the room, and it happened four years ago.
Speaker 1: Not a justification of any kind now at all, But
Speaker 1: she's making a point a clarification here. AGTV said it
Speaker 1: was during the filming of rehab Atic. She says, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: So she pointed clarity. Fine, but we have video you
Speaker 1: white lady saying the in word white lady on video canceled.
Speaker 1: Done nothing else to talk about.
Speaker 4: Robes impossible to recover from. I would say, cannot and
Speaker 4: then hold your horses. And this is why we should talk, folks.
Speaker 4: There's context needed.
Speaker 1: This is not a defense of what she did, but
Speaker 1: there is an understanding robes and a conversation and just
Speaker 1: pump of the breaks for a second and let's talk
Speaker 1: about what happened. So in this video you see her
Speaker 1: and she is at her home. Yes, I believe doing
Speaker 1: a renovation. I think she's going up on a ladder.
Speaker 3: She's a ladder okay, with a nail gun or something.
Speaker 1: And she's doing her thing, does something and then blurts out.
Speaker 2: What robes fart N word, which is not a phrase
Speaker 2: people use. And then as soon as she says fart
Speaker 2: N word, you can see her gasp and go, oh
Speaker 2: my god, what did I just say?
Speaker 3: Why did I just say that?
Speaker 1: And to help if you haven't seen it, you might
Speaker 1: see it later, but it imagine making a mistake and
Speaker 1: you just go, oh shit. It's kind of how the
Speaker 1: context she said, oh fart inward sounds ridiculous, sounds childish, sound,
Speaker 1: sounds nothing made up. As soon as the in word
Speaker 1: comes out of her mouth, probably it was a millisecond,
Speaker 1: is that she said ooh?
Speaker 2: She immediately gasped at herself, and that is clear on
Speaker 2: the video.
Speaker 3: What was your reaction to seeing it mine?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am still laughing at the phrase, oh fart inward?
Speaker 1: What It's just silly, it's made up, doesn't make any sense. Look,
Speaker 1: the N word we've talked about this here, doesn't get
Speaker 1: me worked up because anybody uses it towards me. I know,
Speaker 1: I've just won that fight because you're an idiot, so
Speaker 1: that's just not a big deal. I don't get offended
Speaker 1: hearing it is not the first thing I do is
Speaker 1: to get outraged and oh my goodness, what does this
Speaker 1: woman doing a stupid silly phrase. I am not defending
Speaker 1: that or getting onto HGTV for reacting how they did.
Speaker 1: But Robes, I was so curious you. I think you
Speaker 1: told me this, and I think Gabby Bernstein told you
Speaker 1: this first. Get curious. What happens if you get curious
Speaker 1: first and don't have your first reaction be emotional, and
Speaker 1: certainly our first emotions sometime I'll always say this country,
Speaker 1: it's outrage. I was curious, what is this about? And
Speaker 1: then once we start digging into it, Robes, the story
Speaker 1: took a weird turn to me.
Speaker 2: It did because and you actually have to dig define this.
Speaker 2: I will say, her and we can get into her
Speaker 2: official statements aren't about making excuses. She and we can
Speaker 2: She says all the right things.
Speaker 1: I took an issue with a couple things. We'll get
Speaker 1: into it. Oh yes, right, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: But then upon digging you can hear some other reactions
Speaker 2: that she gave. And I thought this one was really interesting.
Speaker 2: Because a lot of people say this that came out
Speaker 2: of your mouth too easily, right, That was the first
Speaker 2: thing a lot of folks said.
Speaker 1: Now, that is the first thing I went to because
Speaker 1: one of the things will say in her statement that
Speaker 1: she it's not in her vocabulary. That is hard to
Speaker 1: get your head around, because they're just all of us
Speaker 1: have words in our lives that will not come out
Speaker 1: of our mouths. We are just not programmed, and you
Speaker 1: can't say it. I have some things. I have gay
Speaker 1: friends that say things to each other. Ain't no way
Speaker 1: in hell I could even accidentally slip up and say it.
Speaker 1: You can't accidentally say the in word unless it was
Speaker 1: in there.
Speaker 2: Correct, That is what everyone is saying. But listen to
Speaker 2: what she said, and it's actually interesting And to your
Speaker 2: point about getting curious. When I read this and we
Speaker 2: read it together, all of a sudden, you felt a
Speaker 2: little shift right in how you're feeling about her.
Speaker 3: She said.
Speaker 2: You ask, how did that just easily come out? I
Speaker 2: don't have an answer for that. It did, and it
Speaker 2: shocked me. As shown now you ask, what were you
Speaker 2: even saying? I throw words to I throw together words.
Speaker 2: This is documented on fifth teen years of TV interviews
Speaker 2: posts of these random words, my most famous son of
Speaker 2: a beehive digger, which took the place of SOB when
Speaker 2: I became a mommy and could not swear on TV.
Speaker 2: In recent years, I've added fart digger, fart knocker.
Speaker 5: It's documented, here we go, here we go, fart digger,
Speaker 5: fart knocker, fart bigger, fart knocker.
Speaker 1: So they are claiming, and one of the problems I
Speaker 1: had with some of the statements was one that came
Speaker 1: from our team. But they were saying she was exhausted,
Speaker 1: it was a long day, and something came out of
Speaker 1: her mouth, slipped up and it happened. Here's the thing, ropes.
Speaker 1: I've seen that happen to a bunch of people I have.
Speaker 1: And you say that sometimes you say a word, not
Speaker 1: even a word. I've seen it happen. That makes it.
Speaker 1: I am not excusing. I saw what happened, and I
Speaker 1: see this white leg's saying the in word clear as day.
Speaker 1: But context matters, right, There's a reason we have first degree,
Speaker 1: second degree, third degree murder, and manslaughter. It's not all
Speaker 1: the same. She didn't look at somebody and called them
Speaker 1: the inn word. She wasn't making a reference to somebody
Speaker 1: she said a very very stupid, silly, little nothing phrase.
Speaker 1: Now it's a convenient excuse, I think some would argue,
Speaker 1: but it takes a little bite off of a headline
Speaker 1: that say she's fired for racial slur exactly.
Speaker 2: And when she says that word is not a part
Speaker 2: of my vocabulary. When you hear her saying she basically
Speaker 2: she's saying she accidentally conflated the two words, you could
Speaker 2: understand why then she would say that word is not
Speaker 2: a part of my vocabulary, because it doesn't make any
Speaker 2: sense for her to have said that and for us
Speaker 2: to have clearly heard her or hear her saying the
Speaker 2: N word. Clearly it isn't her vocabulary because she said
Speaker 2: it out loud. But when she explains that she conflated
Speaker 2: two words, that maybe explains why she put it that way.
Speaker 1: Is that actually makes sense. I didn't like. We'll say
Speaker 1: her first. Her statement from her team says she takes
Speaker 1: responsibility regardless of context. She said what occurred was a
Speaker 1: clear slip of the tongue, a mistaken version of one
Speaker 1: of her well known expressions, spoken after seventeen hours of
Speaker 1: physically demanding work and very little sleep. Eh that's fine
Speaker 1: to try to explain. I don't like too much of
Speaker 1: the explaining away. This is what happened. She is sorry.
Speaker 1: Leave it at that. However, she was tired though, guys, Okay,
Speaker 1: so she's tired, so slurs come out. Give her a break.
Speaker 1: That's how I read. That's how I didn't like.
Speaker 2: That is how it actually sounds. Yes, and that is
Speaker 2: annoying and infuriating. I'm sure to many many people.
Speaker 1: I don't sleep much at all. You should hear the
Speaker 1: slurs I throw around.
Speaker 3: Like come on, no, no, because they didn't provide the context.
Speaker 2: They said one of her well known phrases that didn't
Speaker 2: really give the context that was needed to back up
Speaker 2: what they were saying.
Speaker 1: Art digger and fart knocker.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so she has made some follow up statements
Speaker 2: because as you can imagine, look, this all came to
Speaker 2: a head yesterday, I believe, and she is saying we
Speaker 2: are going to hear more from her today, so we
Speaker 2: can get into that in just a bit. But she
Speaker 2: has made some follow up statements, and she said there
Speaker 2: is more to this, but my family comes first, and
Speaker 2: I need to be mom right now more than anything else.
Speaker 2: I will take the time to be as I've always
Speaker 2: been with you, transparent and honest. TMZ called me as
Speaker 2: I had just turned my phone on after being at school.
Speaker 2: I said this briefly, but there is more. I am sorry.
Speaker 2: I am filled with remorse and regret just as much
Speaker 2: as I was one second after that word was said
Speaker 2: four years ago.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: I show this, I say this, and I realize you
Speaker 2: are getting a limited view as what has been circulating
Speaker 2: is a clip of my footage.
Speaker 3: It is that was stolen, then manipulated.
Speaker 1: It is edited, oh.
Speaker 2: And sold to a tabloid to coincide with my return
Speaker 2: to television, only to create this chaos of hate, anger
Speaker 2: and disappointment.
Speaker 3: And she is correct in the timing.
Speaker 1: It does exactly what it feels like, and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I sympathize with that. This is time to take this
Speaker 1: woman down. Now. My questions are about manipulated and edited.
Speaker 1: What is she trying to suggest there? I mean, we
Speaker 1: heard this come out of his mouth. That's a little okay,
Speaker 1: we'll see what that ends up being. But I don't
Speaker 1: know what she could possibly mean by that. If there's
Speaker 1: more context they've given us the context, I don't know
Speaker 1: what else we need to understand.
Speaker 2: She says she plans to release the full video from
Speaker 2: the filming, which she said happened at her home.
Speaker 3: It was her footage.
Speaker 2: She says she is going to release the full video
Speaker 2: unedited on Friday, which is today. Then she says she
Speaker 2: is going to go live on social media to address
Speaker 2: the situation. She didn't give it time, but that is bold.
Speaker 2: You know, if you go on in Instagram live or
Speaker 2: whatever she's planning, however she's planning to do it, you
Speaker 2: got comments coming up, and so if you know she's
Speaker 2: trying to do damage control at this point, I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's going to work. Have you ever seen
Speaker 2: anybody survive something like this.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know. You could survive being tried
Speaker 1: for murder easier than you can survive a Twitter scandal.
Speaker 1: And I I encourage this not a matter of defending her,
Speaker 1: but I will be an advocate for context and patience
Speaker 1: and understanding and humanity and learning before we just react
Speaker 1: with outrage. There was a headline that said, this woman
Speaker 1: is fired. Bro, it's because she used a racial slur.
Speaker 1: If your first reaction is hell, yeah, let me get online.
Speaker 1: Put in my two sense before you read and understand
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. This is and some I hear this
Speaker 1: and say, TJ, you're a black man standing here defending
Speaker 1: a woman who said the N word. Yeah, what I'm
Speaker 1: doing is defending the truth of the matter that we
Speaker 1: always skim over, skip over because it doesn't fit into
Speaker 1: a two hundred and eighty character statement that we want
Speaker 1: to make. Context is important here, she messed up. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's in this woman's heart, but I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna assume it's the bad thing, and I'm not assuming
Speaker 1: it's the good thing. I just don't know. So therefore, Robes,
Speaker 1: let's talk about it. Let's have proper context and move on.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's so wonderful to hear you say something
Speaker 2: like that, because that is what's needed in this instance
Speaker 2: and in so many others, because we all just read headlines,
Speaker 2: assume the worst, and love to demonize other people. It
Speaker 2: just makes us feel superior morally, makes us feel better
Speaker 2: than that person, and so we actually, I think psychologically,
Speaker 2: just our egos just jump right on that headline and
Speaker 2: just assume it's all true, because that makes us feel
Speaker 2: less guilty about anything we've done.
Speaker 1: In our lives, robes this one. I don't this here's
Speaker 1: the thing, never seen the show, didn't know her name,
Speaker 1: finding out about her now she might be the worst human.
Speaker 1: She might be dropping inwards left and right behind the
Speaker 1: scenes for all these years. But all I know is
Speaker 1: this one incident. And taking just this incident in context, robes,
Speaker 1: we hear a lot of people make excuses when things happen.
Speaker 1: We know how to read. Okay, they're trying to find
Speaker 1: a way out of it with this statement. This one's
Speaker 1: from their lawyer, and this from the publicist. And we've
Speaker 1: this is not that. This is not just came up
Speaker 1: out of the blue with some stupid excuse. I don't
Speaker 1: know how I said that word. She's actually got a
Speaker 1: documented foolishness that comes out of her mouth. You had
Speaker 1: me when you said part knocker and part digger.
Speaker 6: We started laughing. Wait to what that just say? So
Speaker 6: stay with us, ere, folks, We're not done.
Speaker 1: I will tell you the part of her statement that
Speaker 1: did make my skin crawl just a little bit. Also,
Speaker 1: let's finally say it out loud. Can you ever forgive
Speaker 1: a white person for being caught saying the in word.
Speaker 1: We continue here on Amy and TJ coming back from
Speaker 1: the break talking about certainly the heaviness of a white
Speaker 1: woman being caught on camera saying the in word. Every
Speaker 1: time we come back from a commercial break here with
Speaker 1: Robot and I say, hey, you got anything? Who wants
Speaker 1: to start on this one? Robot is like, you take
Speaker 1: it please.
Speaker 2: And it's funny because you talked about and we haven't
Speaker 2: had this conversation beforehand. What made your skin crawl? What
Speaker 2: made you cringe when you read her statement? I knew
Speaker 2: exactly what you were referencing. Anytime anyone a white person
Speaker 2: references inner city or urban area, you know what they're
Speaker 2: actually saying, and it's it's it probably should be avoided
Speaker 2: at all costs.
Speaker 1: I don't know what, don't know her at all, don't
Speaker 1: know where her head is, where her heart is, and
Speaker 1: what she's done in her life. It's just this part
Speaker 1: of the statement in which she is giving her black credentials,
Speaker 1: if you will, She says, I'm here because I am
Speaker 1: not okay with the fact that I said that. I
Speaker 1: am and have been submerged in the African American community
Speaker 1: my entire adult life. I'm a mom of two children.
Speaker 1: I chose to live and work in the inner cities
Speaker 1: of many major cities, but most famously Minneapolis and Detroit. Yes,
Speaker 1: I hear that word on a daily basis. People say
Speaker 1: it all around me. I listen to it in music.
Speaker 1: I'm not secluded to the I am the white, small
Speaker 1: blonde in the neighborhood. Who knows that's a word that
Speaker 1: represents evil, pain, torture, trauma when used by someone like me,
Speaker 1: And yet it came from me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's saying, Hey, I'm not you know, this white
Speaker 2: woman who is in a suburban bubble of whiteness.
Speaker 3: I actually live in a diverse community.
Speaker 2: I'm aware of the issues, but I don't even know
Speaker 2: how that plays into any of this.
Speaker 3: I understand she's in defense mode.
Speaker 2: I understand being called a racist is something that you
Speaker 2: actually almost never can undo, and so she's desperately trying
Speaker 2: to say I have put myself in a diverse community
Speaker 2: to be more aware. But that actually is completely beside
Speaker 2: the point. If she actually just conflated words because she's
Speaker 2: a silly talker and she got frustrated a moment and
Speaker 2: accidentally put in N where a D was supposed to be, Well, okay,
Speaker 2: that I'll accept or it's not even for me to accept.
Speaker 3: But it's understandable.
Speaker 2: You can understand that there's no need to go into
Speaker 2: a larger conversation about where she lives, who her friends are.
Speaker 2: I got black friends. I live in a community, in
Speaker 2: a street where there are black people. I mean, that
Speaker 2: is what she's saying, But that doesn't have it. She's
Speaker 2: trying to defend her character and her integrity and that
Speaker 2: she's not just this ignorant white person who doesn't associate
Speaker 2: with people of color. That's what she's trying to say.
Speaker 2: Obviously it's cringing.
Speaker 1: I don't know the lady and them all of that
Speaker 1: might be true. Yeah, felt it felt very icky to
Speaker 1: be giving black credentials in this moment. But again, and
Speaker 1: maybe she's all that stuff is true, robes, but can
Speaker 1: you can we ever, ever, ever, can a white person
Speaker 1: ever be forgiven? I don't know if white celebrity is
Speaker 1: caught on video at a club singing and dancing to
Speaker 1: a Kendrick Lamar song and just blurts out the N
Speaker 1: word every time Kendrick says it, are you? Are you
Speaker 1: going down for that as a racist? And that's a
Speaker 1: serious hypothetical that I'm giving. Well, I think only what
Speaker 1: can't what will society do to that person?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think a white person can answer that question.
Speaker 1: Well, the answer is I think society would absolutely come
Speaker 1: after that person, would absolutely persecute that person, would want
Speaker 1: to hear nothing else. And maybe that's the case. Can
Speaker 1: a white person ever say the N word in any
Speaker 1: type of context other than in a Quentin Tarantino movie
Speaker 1: and not be canceled?
Speaker 3: Right because you're reading a script from a character that
Speaker 3: isn't you.
Speaker 2: That would be the only way, and even then that
Speaker 2: would be borderline.
Speaker 3: The only person who I think could probably do it
Speaker 3: is President Trump.
Speaker 1: Damn, oh my god. And again we're not suggesting he will,
Speaker 1: but we're saying that is the most outlandish racial thing
Speaker 1: you can blurt out. Can you ever come back from that?
Speaker 1: But to your point, rote so much about racism and
Speaker 1: the talk of racism and things that are being allowed
Speaker 1: to be said. Now some people feel a freedom to
Speaker 1: do so, they feel a comfort and doing so. And
Speaker 1: how long does that bar keep moving to where now
Speaker 1: this word becomes mainstream.
Speaker 2: And to it well, that would be just so disturbing.
Speaker 2: But to your point, this is going to be interesting.
Speaker 2: We don't know how big this may blow up. It
Speaker 2: may blow over not for her, she's almost certainly done,
Speaker 2: but in her effort to try and redeem herself or
Speaker 2: find some way to.
Speaker 3: To uncancel herself.
Speaker 2: Will this be something that because of the political environment
Speaker 2: we're in and what we've been seeing over this past year,
Speaker 2: will there be a rallying cry in her defense? Will
Speaker 2: this become something more than it is right now?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I hope it doesn't, But I started thinking about that, like,
Speaker 2: where does this story go from here? And she is
Speaker 2: going to continue her defense today, and look, I think
Speaker 2: she has every right to do so. I understand her
Speaker 2: need to do so. And it's just we will be
Speaker 2: watching to see where this conversation you just.
Speaker 1: I just sank because you just made me remember something
Speaker 1: that you'll remember as well. That woman raised about a
Speaker 1: million dollars on whatever go fundme type website after she
Speaker 1: was caught on video repeatedly calling a.
Speaker 3: Child child.
Speaker 2: And that is a very different story totally obviously than
Speaker 2: the one we're talking about, and yet they're both lumped
Speaker 2: into the same category.
Speaker 1: She had defenders to the point they raised a million
Speaker 1: dollars horrific for her horrific that is, I will never
Speaker 1: now offend or say, well, let's look for some context
Speaker 1: in that this other situation is not that at all.
Speaker 1: Be mad, Be okay, she got fired. No, I'm not
Speaker 1: defending that word coming out of her mouth at all.
Speaker 1: When I am attacking. Is the way the story is
Speaker 1: being reported. The context that is me and sometimes robes
Speaker 1: hour as society lack of willingness to understand and have
Speaker 1: your first reaction be something other than outrage. I love
Speaker 1: the Gabby Bernstein thing you keep pointing to pass it along.
Speaker 1: It's so it calms you when you hear something and
Speaker 1: your first thing is to go is to be curious
Speaker 1: before you're mad. Man.
Speaker 2: It does wonders, It really does, and you can apply
Speaker 2: it to almost everything in your life, even from someone
Speaker 2: cutting you off in traffic. Get curious. Maybe his mom
Speaker 2: is sick, maybe he just got fired. Maybe he is
Speaker 2: racing to the hospital because he got word that his daughter.
Speaker 3: Was in an accident.
Speaker 2: You don't know what people are going through, and so yes,
Speaker 2: in this situation, in your personal situation, get curious instead
Speaker 2: of immediately reacting with a fence and anger.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, world, I don't know what to do. What are
Speaker 1: we supposed to do with a lady that we hear
Speaker 1: say the N word, but then has somewhat of a
Speaker 1: plausible reason why she might have conflated words and that
Speaker 1: came out. What are we supposed to do? Am I
Speaker 1: supposed to really just say? Well, then word came out
Speaker 1: of a white lady's mouth. Done with you? You're a racist.
Speaker 1: That can't be our reactions to everything and everyone. It
Speaker 1: is great that we're talking about race. It is just
Speaker 1: not that black and white. It's just nuts and we
Speaker 1: have folks. We always appreciate you spending some time with us.
Speaker 1: For my dear Amy Robach, I am T. J. Holmes.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to y'allso