Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Everyone was good, was popping. It's your girl
Speaker 1: a mad You already know this is exactly a mata
Speaker 1: you guys hear us every Thursday here on my Heart.
Speaker 1: I am so excited as usual to bring you a
Speaker 1: new episode, new content. You know, some episodes is a
Speaker 1: little bit more fun than others, and others are more
Speaker 1: educational than others, and others are more motivational and empowering
Speaker 1: than others. But with that being said, I want to
Speaker 1: thank you guys and invite you to continue to download
Speaker 1: and subscribe. Um and obviously give us those five stars,
Speaker 1: gang Gang, give us those five stars because you already
Speaker 1: know that this show keeps getting better. I always go
Speaker 1: and review the comments, so if you have anything to say,
Speaker 1: whether it's good or bad, I'm always there to check
Speaker 1: it out. So make sure to leave your review because
Speaker 1: I'll be checking them. With that being said, let's get
Speaker 1: right to it. Today we're selling reading women. It's Women's
Speaker 1: History Month and we're celebrating Latina's who helped pave the
Speaker 1: road for all of us, for women like myself. Um,
Speaker 1: and then not just for myself, but just say than
Speaker 1: to hint them motival Sin speed it doesn't matter that
Speaker 1: gets it, doesn't matter what country they're from, just the
Speaker 1: fact that they're Latina's alone. Just come okay, I don't
Speaker 1: know me, Yes when I see a strong, powerful woman
Speaker 1: that knows what she's talking about. And that's why today
Speaker 1: I am so excited to have my guests. She has
Speaker 1: her own comedy special on HBO MASS called Fighting Words.
Speaker 1: We've done so many events, podcasts and things together. Gayl
Speaker 1: was like me, at the end of the day one
Speaker 1: you have to come to my podcast and too, I
Speaker 1: feel like we might as well continue to work together,
Speaker 1: continue to unite forces, to break more barriers and and
Speaker 1: and pay more a past for other people that you
Speaker 1: know are inspired by us at La latinas whom. With
Speaker 1: that being said, her name is II That Rodriguez. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. Thank you so much for joining me today,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, and congratulations on your blessing.
Speaker 1: Thank you congratulations. As before we really get into all
Speaker 1: the questions of all the great things that you're doing,
Speaker 1: I really want to know, do you know how much
Speaker 1: you really inspire and motivate people around the world with
Speaker 1: with with your your comedy, with the what you represent
Speaker 1: with your words. Do you really have your process, how
Speaker 1: impactful you really are? No, because I have imposter syndrome
Speaker 1: and I struggle with self esteem issues from a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff that I'm working through. I'm working on. I'm
Speaker 1: doing the work, as they say. But then I'll get
Speaker 1: an email, you know, or I'll get a d M
Speaker 1: and someone saying, you know, you have no idea what
Speaker 1: you mean to me, and it really really, uh, it
Speaker 1: just redirects my perspective because you know, this business is
Speaker 1: filled with so much negativity and a lot of people
Speaker 1: we tend to focus on it a lot and we
Speaker 1: overlook the positivity. You know. Sometimes we let all that
Speaker 1: stuff get to us and we forget to celebrate our wins.
Speaker 1: So I'm working on that. Thank you for asking me that,
Speaker 1: because that that is something that I'm currently working Yes,
Speaker 1: for sure. Like and I can totally understand where you're
Speaker 1: you know where you're coming from because it happens to
Speaker 1: me sometimes. But um, it's funny because you know, when
Speaker 1: people look up to me, I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's just me, Like, you know, I see me like regularly,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Hell? Here? Great? Whatever? But
Speaker 1: then I feel the same way when I look at you.
Speaker 1: So now I understand you know that feeling of like yo, um,
Speaker 1: like better between one thing and the other. Knowing that
Speaker 1: you're a strong You're a strong woman. You have your
Speaker 1: very vocal um. You're not afraid to say how you feel,
Speaker 1: on what you feel, and stand up for what you believe.
Speaker 1: How was it for you to get into comedy? Well,
Speaker 1: you got into comedy first? Um? Were you always this outspoken? Um?
Speaker 1: You know? It was? So I grew up in Miami
Speaker 1: and I remember being in school and being very um.
Speaker 1: I was very active, and I was very vocal. I
Speaker 1: actually I brought Tipper Gore, like the first Lady to
Speaker 1: Miami to debate about censorship, like music censorship. So I
Speaker 1: have been vocal, but I think that you know, what
Speaker 1: happens is that the more you the more confident you become,
Speaker 1: the more threatening you become to people who are insecure,
Speaker 1: and the more that if you allow it to you know,
Speaker 1: into your psyche, it can become an issue. And so
Speaker 1: I I remember that I've always been vocal, but now
Speaker 1: I feel more confident in that because now even when
Speaker 1: somebody questions it, I know that I'm coming from the
Speaker 1: gut and it's it's it's hard to shake. So it's
Speaker 1: been an evolution. Okay, I feel you. Now, tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about your comedy special for those that had,
Speaker 1: you know, don't know too much. So Fighting Words is
Speaker 1: a special that I got from HBO Max before the pandemic,
Speaker 1: and I started working on it, and then the pandemic
Speaker 1: hit and we all got shut down. So I had
Speaker 1: to redirect and had to start working on it through Zoom,
Speaker 1: like I was doing Zoom comedy shows, which are the
Speaker 1: worst thing. I hate. It's the world because you need that.
Speaker 1: You need people's energy, like you feed off people's energy, right, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and so I mean any any live performer. And so
Speaker 1: then I had to redirect and I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about some things. We started dealing with a lot of
Speaker 1: racial strife during the pandemic, a lot of stuff that
Speaker 1: had been here forever, you know, like when we talk
Speaker 1: about inequities, we know that that's been here for a
Speaker 1: long time, and black people and are like, oh really, y'all, y'all.
Speaker 1: Now now everybody's surprised. This has been happening forever, and
Speaker 1: now everybody else is like, So I was like, I
Speaker 1: want to talk about it. I want to talk. I
Speaker 1: want to be confrontational. I want to talk to all
Speaker 1: the woke people. I want to talk to the races.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to my people, Latinos, Latin X.
Speaker 1: And so I decided to go in. And that's why
Speaker 1: it's called fighting. Oh no, you went in. You always
Speaker 1: go in, okay um? And then I'll ask you this
Speaker 1: I'm being because I don't know a lot of people.
Speaker 1: How does it feel to be the first after Latina
Speaker 1: to do this? Or how does it feel to be
Speaker 1: the first after Latina to do that? In your case,
Speaker 1: you were the first afric Latina to have a comedy
Speaker 1: special on HBO. Um, did you even think about it
Speaker 1: in that way of like your present dando Latina in
Speaker 1: this process or it's just the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a woman here making this happen, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: I have decided to Uh. I have made some changes
Speaker 1: in my identity and not my my identity, but in
Speaker 1: the way that I speak about my identity and being
Speaker 1: Afro Indigenous and knowing how I identify. Because what happened
Speaker 1: was that I mean simpery man Miami and I eat
Speaker 1: through Savaka with racist Cubans that are always pointing out
Speaker 1: that my lips weren't think so, uh, what is the
Speaker 1: or the Nadia like all that bullshit. But um, that
Speaker 1: was the very reason why I said, I want to
Speaker 1: show people in the Dominican Republic and all of all
Speaker 1: of their beauty right because the reality of it is
Speaker 1: is that life for me and you have been has
Speaker 1: been very different. And for me to say that my
Speaker 1: journey has been the same as yours is being disingenuous
Speaker 1: because we all know that the lighter you are, the
Speaker 1: more privilege you have in this country and in others.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to make sure that I was respectful
Speaker 1: to my darker skin Afro Latinos by claiming my indigenous
Speaker 1: roots and saying I know that I present differently, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to be honest about our people, and so
Speaker 1: I wanted to show the Dominican Republic in a way
Speaker 1: that I'm tired of people showing little children begging for
Speaker 1: money when they show the Dominican record or everything is
Speaker 1: all right. I mean, there's so much beauty in our
Speaker 1: country all over it. And so because I'm new to
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic, it was part of my new my
Speaker 1: new experience and meeting my father your thinking in Monica
Speaker 1: song Monica Monica Yo, And I was like, I wanted
Speaker 1: people to see us in our fullness. And if I'm
Speaker 1: gonna show that, then I'm gonna talk about the reality
Speaker 1: of what we do to each other. Because we like
Speaker 1: to act like we don't do that. We're like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's about Puerto Ricans. I love to say that, Oh,
Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans don't do that. Yes, Puerto Ricans do. That
Speaker 1: is true. That is true. Do you when you were
Speaker 1: here in Miami, um, or rather that are growing up
Speaker 1: in Miami, do you feel that you were connected more
Speaker 1: with the with the black community or do feel that
Speaker 1: you were more involved in the Latino community? Would? I
Speaker 1: guess that would be the us. The black the Black
Speaker 1: American community is the one that has always embraced me,
Speaker 1: even in comedy, Like even in my journey, Latinos came
Speaker 1: to it Latin next, Latin A they came to it later. Um.
Speaker 1: The black community, American community has always embraced me, especially
Speaker 1: in Miami, which is why I left because I didn't
Speaker 1: want to raise my kids in that city hearing those bellomalope,
Speaker 1: like I didn't want my daughter to ever hear that craziness,
Speaker 1: though I couldn't shield her from it. California has its
Speaker 1: own brand of racism. I was so traumatized by it
Speaker 1: that I didn't want my kids to experience any of it,
Speaker 1: so I left. I don't know, because you know, shout
Speaker 1: out to everybody from Miami three or five gangan gang,
Speaker 1: Shout us to Highaliah Brown Seub, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: I padded to the stobbing any who that's around from
Speaker 1: Alippa really oh nice? And my TV show that I'm
Speaker 1: writing is about is set in Alipada. On me or well,
Speaker 1: then you must have a lot to say from Alipada
Speaker 1: because and so whom cho I? Um? You know that
Speaker 1: for the most part, I feel that the entertainment industry
Speaker 1: is predominated by men, and there's always only but so
Speaker 1: much that you can say. I feel that men sometimes
Speaker 1: can get away with saying more things than women can.
Speaker 1: I feel like all eyes are on you the moment
Speaker 1: that you say something like, oh no, she didn't right.
Speaker 1: But did you ever feel a little bit like, oh
Speaker 1: my god. I don't know if I should really um,
Speaker 1: you know, if I started talking about um tackling like
Speaker 1: white supremacy and racism, and other things that happened in
Speaker 1: our culture on your show. Was that something that you
Speaker 1: kind of felt like this could be like a cancel
Speaker 1: culture moment where they can destroy me. Either this is
Speaker 1: gonna destroy me or this is really gonna build you
Speaker 1: know a show. Yeah, it's happened to me before. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I was on the panel where the uh
Speaker 1: dark skinned black after Latina and there was an issue
Speaker 1: with her and another person on the panel, and then
Speaker 1: they attacked me for not saying anything. But when I
Speaker 1: said something, then they attacked me for speaking on behalf
Speaker 1: of dark snameing people and I was like, I can't
Speaker 1: win for losing. And that taught me something very valuable.
Speaker 1: It taught me speak your truth and don't worry about
Speaker 1: what they say because they have something to say regardless.
Speaker 1: And a lot of the times Alando song video, so
Speaker 1: they don't really care about the cause and that's really
Speaker 1: what it is. So I just when I feel those
Speaker 1: moments that I feel in my nervous or scared, I
Speaker 1: had to evaluate why and it's usually because I'm about
Speaker 1: to tell my truth. There you go, and it's scared.
Speaker 1: The truth is scary to everybody, and that's when I
Speaker 1: have to say do it and don't worry about the
Speaker 1: consequent to just do it. And that's that's been my
Speaker 1: last five years in comedy. Is like I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna tell it how it is, but I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie because um. I also have this other
Speaker 1: show called Don't Cancel Me, and we talk about those
Speaker 1: things about how I somewhould feel that we're in a
Speaker 1: very sensitive era where you can't express yourself without people
Speaker 1: automatically yeah, everybody. Yeah, she said the worst thing, and
Speaker 1: now I'm emotionally her for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: I do understand how, yes, you need, you need to
Speaker 1: be held accountable for the things that you say. I
Speaker 1: get that part. I get that some people do say
Speaker 1: things that you know, do deserve to get canceled. I
Speaker 1: get that part. But then the being is like some
Speaker 1: of the things that you say, whether you want to
Speaker 1: admit it or not, whether it's sensitive to you or not,
Speaker 1: it is the truth. You know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 1: it's like we all see it, it's in our faces,
Speaker 1: but nobody wants to talk about it. So when a
Speaker 1: person like you has the balls of cone to get
Speaker 1: up on stage or get on a you know, on
Speaker 1: a big platform, and you express it. It's like everybody
Speaker 1: is like scared for you, Like, oh my god, is
Speaker 1: she really gonna say that? Or did she really say it?
Speaker 1: And you don't know if to alfready laugh at ha
Speaker 1: ha ha that was part of a comedy, or like, no,
Speaker 1: she really she really just said that? Like that was
Speaker 1: some real Have you ever regretted saying something come and
Speaker 1: get damned? That was maybe too deep? What I what
Speaker 1: I do is I don't lose the lesson because whatever
Speaker 1: I did in that moment, regardless if it was it
Speaker 1: turns out good or bad, there was a reason for
Speaker 1: why I said it, and it maybe the reason was
Speaker 1: for me to learn a lesson. And so I stand
Speaker 1: by what I say, and I've said some problematic things.
Speaker 1: I'm still learning. Have you ever taken it back? Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought it was funny, but after I thought about it,
Speaker 1: maybe it wasn't that funny. I know. What I did
Speaker 1: is just eliminate the joke and just say I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say that again. But I did have a conversation
Speaker 1: with two trans women on my podcast who said that
Speaker 1: one of my jokes was problematic and we had a
Speaker 1: conversation about it and I and then I understood why
Speaker 1: they felt that the joke was problematic, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I can write another joke. I don't have to tell
Speaker 1: the joke about. If I'm hurting a lot of people,
Speaker 1: then maybe the problem is me. But if it's one
Speaker 1: person that's mad because their father left them and they
Speaker 1: got an issue with a joke I made about my father,
Speaker 1: there's nothing I can do about that. That's your personal healing. Baby.
Speaker 1: I ain't got nothing to do. And you know what,
Speaker 1: that's something to extremely be UM to respect, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. The fact that you know, if for
Speaker 1: any answer what reason I funked up right, or I
Speaker 1: may had made a joke that was rude, disrespectful or
Speaker 1: hurtful or something. Just the fact that, um, your your ego,
Speaker 1: as your ego hasn't gotten you know who meld in
Speaker 1: and you can say, well, I'm sorry if that did
Speaker 1: offend someone, I'm willing to change it. I'm willing to
Speaker 1: because I don't want to hurt a fan base. I
Speaker 1: don't want to hurt my audience because you guys do
Speaker 1: support me. So I definitely admire the fact that you're
Speaker 1: willing to, like, you know, press reset on those things. Now.
Speaker 1: I do know that you reconnected with your father on
Speaker 1: the special and everybody has heard my shell then on
Speaker 1: how I feel about my father and how I reconnected
Speaker 1: with him and all the ship that I went with
Speaker 1: you know, went through with minds. But we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that later. But how was that experience for you
Speaker 1: to to be able to reconnect with him? You know, um,
Speaker 1: after after so long, I'm still processing it. It was
Speaker 1: it was first of all, was happy that had happened
Speaker 1: because I always wanted to beat see him and touch
Speaker 1: him and hear his voice, and here in person, I
Speaker 1: wanted to meet my siblings that I didn't know existed.
Speaker 1: And also for my own personal healing, needed to take
Speaker 1: that journey because whether you know that we were romanticized
Speaker 1: this whole thing. Oh, you know, you meet your father's
Speaker 1: you're gonna live happily. Ever after that may not be
Speaker 1: the case. I may never see him again, we may
Speaker 1: never talk again. But that moment was very special to me,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to show people who were in that
Speaker 1: same situation that it's okay. Um, you know, you do
Speaker 1: it for your healing. You do it for your personal healing,
Speaker 1: that's true, but I love him. Yeah, but who First
Speaker 1: of all, who made this connection happen? Did you reach out?
Speaker 1: Did he reach out? How did this happen? So they
Speaker 1: found me on Facebook? My my sisters found me on
Speaker 1: Facebook some years ago. He actually my grandmother went to
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic before she died. She went because I
Speaker 1: always used to tell my grandmother when I was like,
Speaker 1: I want to meet my father, I want to be
Speaker 1: with my father. I want to see my father. So
Speaker 1: every year she would tell her she was going to
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico and she was going to the Dominican Republic
Speaker 1: and looking for him, and and they gave it to him,
Speaker 1: and that is how we actually reconnected. Um, he called
Speaker 1: me and then we touched base, but it wasn't real.
Speaker 1: And then my sisters reached out to me on social
Speaker 1: media and say, hey, even if you don't want anything
Speaker 1: to do with him, we want to be involved. We
Speaker 1: want to know you. And that's where how it happened.
Speaker 1: When when you saw him, did you feel I say, yo,
Speaker 1: was there a spark, a connection, a thing, or did
Speaker 1: you see him you're like, oh my god, it looked
Speaker 1: like you or I can see how there are certain
Speaker 1: characteristics about you that resembled like did you feel anything
Speaker 1: or was it just like you know, like meeting a
Speaker 1: new person, like hey, you know what's up? No, it
Speaker 1: was I was. I mean people people commented on the
Speaker 1: face that I made when he walked into the room,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't it was yes, man, I looked like
Speaker 1: this man look at me. Um. Also, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do, like do I hug him? Do I
Speaker 1: told him to hug me because he was scared to
Speaker 1: hug me. And then it was just a very strange.
Speaker 1: But when I felt when I of course there was
Speaker 1: a connection and I felt I felt something that I
Speaker 1: felt in that moment that I learned. I learned I
Speaker 1: had a flashback of like my situation in life and
Speaker 1: the way that I have I interact with men. At
Speaker 1: that very moment, I was like, oh, this is why
Speaker 1: because he wasn't there, you know, So it was it
Speaker 1: was deep though. So let me say a little bit
Speaker 1: about my father. My father left me Win I was
Speaker 1: like almost two years old with my mom knowing that
Speaker 1: when Mike is my mom crossed the Mexican border to
Speaker 1: get to the United States and went through that whole journey.
Speaker 1: I hate a la you know, everybody comes in differently.
Speaker 1: But Mommy had to take that route get to Miami
Speaker 1: after going to Panama, Texas. She did a whole not
Speaker 1: just to get to Miami. Has me there, um And
Speaker 1: like I said, my father left, he went to Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: He got le and me that I was his daughter.
Speaker 1: He never I had money to give me, to support me. Nothing. Um.
Speaker 1: Years later, obviously he sees me and Don Francisco realizes
Speaker 1: that I resemble and he's like, oh, it isn't that
Speaker 1: his daughter? Oh yeah, that's my daughter. So he came
Speaker 1: around here and there are a few calls back, then
Speaker 1: disappeared again and then basically came back around the fame.
Speaker 1: So it was kind of hurtful because I always felt like,
Speaker 1: I don't think that men and and I'm and I
Speaker 1: and I'm speaking very from my heart right now because
Speaker 1: I'm you know, you know, in the process of obviously
Speaker 1: now being a mother, But I don't think that men
Speaker 1: really understand the importance of a father figure in a
Speaker 1: in a girl's life the l because it might not
Speaker 1: be all the time. Sometimes you might even forget that
Speaker 1: he exists. It's like whatever, but there'll be certain moments
Speaker 1: that you're like, Damn, I wish that I had a
Speaker 1: father figure here. I wish that I had that protection.
Speaker 1: I wish that I had that hug. I wish that
Speaker 1: I go said that. I don't feel that as men,
Speaker 1: they understand, Thank God, UM in my case and I'm
Speaker 1: sure yours as well. We were blessed with amazing women,
Speaker 1: you know, our mothers that sacrificat it. Don't fuck it.
Speaker 1: But it's very hard. And I know that once you
Speaker 1: reconnect with this person, because it happened to me when
Speaker 1: I saw him again. In my mind, it is true,
Speaker 1: I had like this fairy tale of like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: see my father, He's gonna hug me, He's gonna be
Speaker 1: like a miss to you and me high. It wasn't
Speaker 1: like that at all. It was just like, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: what's up. You know what I'm saying, what's up? You
Speaker 1: know it's me. It was so dry and like a
Speaker 1: little bit awkward. I don't know, maybe you know your
Speaker 1: mind you wanted to be, but how has how has
Speaker 1: it been after meeting him? Like you know, it was
Speaker 1: tough because you know, you guys still talk we communicate
Speaker 1: your text. I haven't talked to him in a while.
Speaker 1: Something happened after the meeting um and he went off
Speaker 1: on me, and that just, you know, like because of
Speaker 1: course you start questioning why, you know, what do you want?
Speaker 1: Like if do you want something? Like I can't be
Speaker 1: your savior in this moment because I've had some success.
Speaker 1: I struggled a lot to get what I where I
Speaker 1: am in life, and you know, I don't feel like
Speaker 1: I owe you anything. And so just because I grew
Speaker 1: up in the United States and there are different opportunities here,
Speaker 1: I still struggled in the United States, I went through hell,
Speaker 1: so I don't I just was like, just I had
Speaker 1: to take some space, and they didn't. He couldn't understand
Speaker 1: that I needed a moment because it was a lot.
Speaker 1: And I went straight to Puerto Rico from the Dominican
Speaker 1: Republic because I was shooting the other part of my
Speaker 1: documentary and I had to put it on hold. I
Speaker 1: was like, I need to I need to get to work,
Speaker 1: I need to finish what I'm doing and then I
Speaker 1: can deal with this later. And he was really upset
Speaker 1: with me, told me never to call him again. So
Speaker 1: he agitated the wound right, and so then he called
Speaker 1: me and asked for forgiveness. And so now you know
Speaker 1: my trust, my trust is off with him because it's
Speaker 1: when when my mom took me from the Dominican Republican
Speaker 1: and brought me to Miami, he could find me. He
Speaker 1: was coming to Miami's a performer, he was a musician.
Speaker 1: He was in Miami performing in different places. He saw
Speaker 1: my mother one time. So I was like, you had
Speaker 1: opportunities like you had forty years me, you have forty years,
Speaker 1: forty whole years, that's four decades. And you he raised
Speaker 1: his other children like he raised you, see, and that
Speaker 1: is so hurtful when you see that. You didn't do
Speaker 1: it with me, but you were willing to do it
Speaker 1: for you know, for your other children. I your siblings, Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, of course. And even my siblings are the
Speaker 1: most understanding people in that they were like you know,
Speaker 1: even they are like girl, we I don't know which
Speaker 1: one was worse, you not having him or was having him. No,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this your when you spoke to
Speaker 1: your mom about you know, I'm gonna meet him, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna reconnect with him or whatever. My mom has been
Speaker 1: always very bitter, they say, whoever, you don't gotta like
Speaker 1: bien dominicana, you already know. I don't got to tell
Speaker 1: you how it is, all right? So but there was
Speaker 1: a part of me that I felt that when you
Speaker 1: said it, I felt connected to you, because a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't understand that when you want to go
Speaker 1: um meet your father or whatever, or reconnect with him somehow,
Speaker 1: it's a personal healing. It's it's not about them, it's
Speaker 1: about you, like you need to fill in that gap,
Speaker 1: that that space, that void and as sometimes it doesn't
Speaker 1: turn out the way you want it, but once you
Speaker 1: do it, you feel better. Yeah, how was that? It
Speaker 1: was healing? How was your mom's reaction? Was she supportive?
Speaker 1: Was she The first thing she said was Gui. Now
Speaker 1: that was you know, right, is what she said. But
Speaker 1: she doesn't happen right, So I get on a phone call.
Speaker 1: My mother matters to me more than anything, so I
Speaker 1: needed her to be okay with it, right. I respect
Speaker 1: her that way. So when his mother died, he wanted
Speaker 1: me to go to the d R to the funeral. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I called my mother on the three way call
Speaker 1: with him and I said, look, I have him on
Speaker 1: the line. First of all, she won't let me call
Speaker 1: him my father. She goes I would say my father
Speaker 1: and she would say Maximo. And then um, he was like,
Speaker 1: my mother. My mom is sick. They she's gotta she's
Speaker 1: gonna die, and she wants to see. Ida's what they
Speaker 1: called me, or cookie, he's what he calls me. And
Speaker 1: my mom was like, absolutely not and he goes me
Speaker 1: my mom, im mamala sne So you talk about bitter
Speaker 1: and so in that moment, I was like, am I
Speaker 1: going to just funeral? I know we need to talk
Speaker 1: to her care forth? Oh my gosh, her last and
Speaker 1: her last breath. No screw that. She said. She was
Speaker 1: really really bad to us. And you know when I
Speaker 1: went to the dr for the documentary, I you see
Speaker 1: in the documentary that you don't hear them speak. I
Speaker 1: went to visit them. I meet, we would pick you
Speaker 1: up and we would we would put your mom here.
Speaker 1: My mom was only a teenager. She was a very
Speaker 1: young mom. And so they were like, because you spend
Speaker 1: so much time with us, because every time they threw
Speaker 1: you out, you guys will come here. So I think
Speaker 1: my mom was a lying I'll tell you this where
Speaker 1: it does and I because then it falls in your face. UM.
Speaker 1: You you you know, sometimes we may do things in
Speaker 1: her youth, we may do things when we're in our
Speaker 1: highest moment thinking like you know, karma really doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to necessarily just mentioned karma, but
Speaker 1: you have to. You have to pay attention to your
Speaker 1: actions and the things that you say and the things
Speaker 1: that you do, because you don't know what the future holds.
Speaker 1: Treat them main they unfortunately, because you know, regardless UM,
Speaker 1: she passed away, we don't really know. UM in her heart,
Speaker 1: if she if she actually really truly felt bad for
Speaker 1: the way that she treated your mom and she wanted
Speaker 1: those those last words beat or being based off her
Speaker 1: actions that your mom didn't even let her finish her
Speaker 1: last wish. But I'll ask you this talking about strong,
Speaker 1: powerful women, I love my mother. I admire her extremely
Speaker 1: to the core of me. UM, I see the way
Speaker 1: that you speak about yours. I mean, what are other
Speaker 1: women that inspire you, that motivate you that you feel like, Um,
Speaker 1: I grew up watching this person or this person really
Speaker 1: influenced me. So I have to start with Mayawela. My
Speaker 1: grandmother was the strongest woman I know. The name the
Speaker 1: woman I named after. Mind you, my other grandmother was
Speaker 1: named Aida too, so it's very strange. But my grandmother,
Speaker 1: who came from Puerto Rico, she had she raised six
Speaker 1: kids alone. She was a victim of rape, a victim
Speaker 1: of violence, and still she didn't know how to read.
Speaker 1: And when if you met this lady, you would never
Speaker 1: know she had. She worked, She was a landlady of
Speaker 1: some buildings. She always had a new car. Her apartment
Speaker 1: was cute because she was like, you know, but um,
Speaker 1: I would say her. But women that I've always admired,
Speaker 1: you know, It's so funny because I am I have
Speaker 1: been so influenced by the women in my life. I've
Speaker 1: never really idolized celebrities like that outside of like I
Speaker 1: love Mohammed Ali. And when I think about strong women
Speaker 1: growing up, I think about the ones that I watched. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny because I would. I would. I would always
Speaker 1: try to sympathize Lamla right, like I would be like
Speaker 1: for no reason, what what? Why is this one? But
Speaker 1: I always respect people can say they hang hold in right.
Speaker 1: So so it's funny because I used to watch a
Speaker 1: lot of novelas then go Ascelia because Celia is like
Speaker 1: my epitome Dona Florinda, because I used to watch it
Speaker 1: travel and I used to think she was funny and
Speaker 1: it is chuck on like on for sure. My life
Speaker 1: before that was jail in Kim Kardashian with the ass
Speaker 1: tell the truth was period period mena personally that Atrisma
Speaker 1: um really talking about paving the way. Each one definitely
Speaker 1: was one of them, um because she La Lupe Laupe
Speaker 1: was another one personally that lane though, I mean just
Speaker 1: everything and the fact that I love the fact that,
Speaker 1: you know, we think the times are hard now, but
Speaker 1: times were even worse and different in the entertainment industry
Speaker 1: back then, and they were still willing to be themselves,
Speaker 1: be outspoken, be controversial, be all those things back then.
Speaker 1: So I definitely always said we have to pay the
Speaker 1: I mean, give our respects to those that pave the
Speaker 1: way for for Sela cruise. For sure, scause Women's History Month,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be so many Latinos that we're gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, um talking about and and we're gonna see
Speaker 1: them all over the place. I'm glad that you said,
Speaker 1: uh Sela cruise, And I feel like who doesn't know
Speaker 1: who say at cruises at this point, Celia Riveta as
Speaker 1: a trans woman, I'm being I mean, there's just so
Speaker 1: many people that we can really talk about it. I
Speaker 1: feel like I need to show just to go over
Speaker 1: the list, but the amazing women. But I'll tell you
Speaker 1: that one thing. Even though I raised I was raised
Speaker 1: with my Puerto Rican family, I love that my mother
Speaker 1: gave me meine melee like because then be out like
Speaker 1: I and every New Year's we celebrated listening to Melee.
Speaker 1: So I think that my mother and my mother tried
Speaker 1: to give me the best of the Dominican Republic in
Speaker 1: her way because she even though they I was around
Speaker 1: all the Puerto Ricans all the time. I grew up
Speaker 1: listening to the music, eating the food. My favorite food
Speaker 1: is Dominican food, like and that's you know what menicano like,
Speaker 1: that's that's breakfast for me. So I'm thankful for her
Speaker 1: for that that in her own ways, regardless of how
Speaker 1: bitter she was with my father, she wanted me to
Speaker 1: love that part of myself and she gave me some
Speaker 1: amazing women. I mean melal And I was like, I
Speaker 1: adore that woman, like I think she's one of lactor
Speaker 1: and I was like, Yo, you know how hard it
Speaker 1: is to do that as a comedian. When I'm on
Speaker 1: the stage and that all these men are on there,
Speaker 1: we do We're going because I did all Start Shock
Speaker 1: All Star and this d Ray Davis is Michael Blacks
Speaker 1: and all of these big time men and me. It's
Speaker 1: hard to hold your own with all of that masculine,
Speaker 1: sexist and talk about it. And so when I saw her,
Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, that's her boss, Okay. I love
Speaker 1: the fact that we are able at We were able
Speaker 1: to look, you know, back somewhat into the women that
Speaker 1: inspired us, the women that motivated us, whether they were
Speaker 1: the ones um that surrounded us right like our mother,
Speaker 1: our grandmothers, in and out at on in our in
Speaker 1: our artistic at least in my case artistically, UM, I
Speaker 1: admired a lot of these women. So I think it's
Speaker 1: a blessing to be able to celebrate. It sucks that
Speaker 1: it's just one month, like I always say, because we
Speaker 1: can still do it all year around, but at least
Speaker 1: we're dedicating this time to recognizing all the hard work
Speaker 1: and the way that they changed the world in many aspects. UM,
Speaker 1: I pray that one day, one day, um, treatment that
Speaker 1: when we're no longer here, people can still sit down
Speaker 1: and say, oh my god, you know, um, which is
Speaker 1: my dream one day. You know, when when I was younger,
Speaker 1: I used to hear about or Sea Orriguez and they
Speaker 1: really inspired me to be the woman that I am today.
Speaker 1: And that's what really matters at the end of the day. Yes,
Speaker 1: we have this big platform. Yes, you know, people see us,
Speaker 1: we have followers, we have all these things, were on TV,
Speaker 1: we do all these and that's fine, But how are
Speaker 1: we how can we be impactful to the people looking
Speaker 1: up to us? How are we really going to make
Speaker 1: a difference through your comedy, through my music, through my activism,
Speaker 1: through everything else that we do. So, with that being said,
Speaker 1: has been an honor of pleasure to be able to
Speaker 1: have you on exactly a matter today. I am so
Speaker 1: grateful for you and are doing for us. Say and listen,
Speaker 1: let me just point out something about you. You came
Speaker 1: out the gate being exactly who you are, and that
Speaker 1: was revolutionary because there was a time when a lot
Speaker 1: of people would not call themselves negatro because they allowed
Speaker 1: the stigma that's been given to black people, which is
Speaker 1: so false and the opposite of what blackness really is.
Speaker 1: And you came out la negra and I just want
Speaker 1: to celebrate you because you don't understand the impact that
Speaker 1: you've had on young women and young boys and young
Speaker 1: trans people who are black and Latino and seeing somebody
Speaker 1: so successful, so beautiful, so talented saying it's okay to
Speaker 1: be black and that that is something that should be celebrated.
Speaker 1: So I'm grateful for you. Uh man, I'm yeah. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Guys, you already know fighting words on
Speaker 1: HBO Max. Go check it out right now. By the way,
Speaker 1: give your social media platform so people can go follow you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: suck at that, but you call me a'm my funny
Speaker 1: I A I d A on Twitter and and on
Speaker 1: Instagram and on Facebook. I that dot roy this when.
Speaker 1: Thank you everyone for joining me, and remember to follow
Speaker 1: Exactly Amata and Michael toutera podcast on Instagram and on Twitter.
Speaker 1: You can also watch us on the YouTube channel. Just
Speaker 1: go to the search bar right exactly A Mata or
Speaker 1: I'm Not and you'll find all the episodes right and
Speaker 1: there you can just binge watch and enjoy and remember
Speaker 1: that this has been a production of I Heeart Radios
Speaker 1: Michaeltuter podcast Network. For more podcasts from My Heart, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite podcast. This has been exactly a mark