Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central coming to you from New
Speaker 1: York City to the only city in America. It's the
Speaker 1: Daily Show tonight, tracking the abortion conversation, look back at Pride,
Speaker 1: monk in bad late in Junior. This is the Daily
Speaker 1: Show with driver Noel about Welcome to the play show
Speaker 1: to travel along. Thank you so much for shooting in
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming out in prac Thank people be
Speaker 1: inca the scene that can see you. Take a seat.
Speaker 1: Let's go to everybody. We've got a great show for
Speaker 1: you tonight. Russia is turning Europe into the Avengers. Dazzy
Speaker 1: Ldek finds out where Pride Month came from. And I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to tell you, but your flight this weekend has
Speaker 1: just been canceled. So let's do these people. Let's jume
Speaker 1: straight and since today's headlines, okay, let's kick things off
Speaker 1: with some major international news. It has now been four
Speaker 1: months since Vladimir Putin sent his troops on the shittiest
Speaker 1: road trip ever, and not only has he failed to
Speaker 1: quickly overwhelm Ukraine, he's managed to unite the rest of
Speaker 1: Europe against him. A landmark announcement today, NATO formerly invited
Speaker 1: Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, and President bind
Speaker 1: announced that the US will strengthen its military posture in Europe.
Speaker 1: NATO's thirty member countries are poised to add two more.
Speaker 1: The move will more than double the length of NATO's
Speaker 1: border with Russia. And I'm pleased to announce that we
Speaker 1: now have an agreement. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO
Speaker 1: membership last month. Puton's decision to invade one neighbor had
Speaker 1: them worried he might be willing to attack another. After
Speaker 1: two hundred years of military and non alignment, Sweden has
Speaker 1: chosen a new path. Wow, this is huge. Sweden is
Speaker 1: joining NATO. You understand, they've been a neutral country for
Speaker 1: two hundred years, two hundred years even when the World
Speaker 1: Wars were happening, they were sitting on the side like, well,
Speaker 1: that's none of mya bsiness. But today they are ending
Speaker 1: their neutrality. This is so wild. This is like the
Speaker 1: moment in a kung fu movie where the monk drops
Speaker 1: his broomstick and it's like I'm taking a new vow
Speaker 1: to whip some ass. And surely at this point, even
Speaker 1: letting me a Putent can admit that this invasion has
Speaker 1: been an abject failure, right because you realized the whole
Speaker 1: reason he gave for invading Ukraine was to stop the
Speaker 1: expansion of NATO, and now his war has caused the
Speaker 1: expansion of NATO. You know, I mean it's sort of like,
Speaker 1: it's sort of like those um those dare anti drug programs,
Speaker 1: remember those They're trying to scare kids away from drugs
Speaker 1: by sending cops into schools who are like, gather around,
Speaker 1: let me teach you about drugs, And then twelve ye
Speaker 1: old kids were like, okay, crack sounds is fun. Crack guys. Now, look,
Speaker 1: it is a big deal. It is a big deal
Speaker 1: that Sweden and Finland are joining NATO. But I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's gonna scare Russia into retreats, because,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, these people on exactly the vikings they
Speaker 1: used to be. You know. Yeah, back in the day
Speaker 1: they would pillage your village and have sex with you
Speaker 1: on showtime, you know, but these days they're not exactly
Speaker 1: military superpowers. I mean, their fights and jets are probably
Speaker 1: made by Ikea. You know, yeah, they look great, but
Speaker 1: you don't want to sit on them. Actually, you know,
Speaker 1: what maybe maybe that's what they should do. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: should use their Ikea powers to help them win the
Speaker 1: war in Ukraine. That's what they should. They said, they
Speaker 1: should try and distract the troops with meat balls, just
Speaker 1: be like would you like some would you like something?
Speaker 1: Or they should put those stickers on the floor all
Speaker 1: over Ukraine. Yeah, because that way the Russian troops will
Speaker 1: never get where they're going. Where's clear? I keep ending
Speaker 1: up in the kitchen section. God damn me that yain
Speaker 1: uyan boris again. But let's move on from the war
Speaker 1: in Europe to the war that America is waging on
Speaker 1: women's bodies. Ever since the Supreme Court decided that having
Speaker 1: a child is a sacred choice between a woman and
Speaker 1: her state legislature, abortion laws have been chaos because you see,
Speaker 1: some states banned abortion, some states are protecting abortion, and
Speaker 1: other states banned abortion, but then their courts unbanned those bands.
Speaker 1: So abortion is legal again until they reban it, which
Speaker 1: means right now, women's reproductive rights are as unpredictable as
Speaker 1: the mac rib. It's here, it's gone, it's here, it's gone,
Speaker 1: it's back again, it's gone. And it turns out the
Speaker 1: overturning of Ruvie Wade has been such an earthquake that
Speaker 1: it's sent shock waves through the rest of the world.
Speaker 1: In fact, France and Israel saw what happened in America
Speaker 1: and decided to strengthen their abortion rights in their countries.
Speaker 1: Imagine that. Just imagine that. And I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this, but that's what Canada
Speaker 1: did with guns, right, they saw the two mass shootings
Speaker 1: in America and they took away. Canadian done So I
Speaker 1: gets in a way, in a way, America still is
Speaker 1: a world leader, you know. Yeah, America does something and
Speaker 1: that leads the world in the opposite direction. Yeah, at
Speaker 1: this point in America is almost like the dumb kid
Speaker 1: in class that you reversed cheats off of, you know,
Speaker 1: It's just like he circled. See. So it's definitely not
Speaker 1: c But the big question in the States is if
Speaker 1: abortion is illegal, how are the States going to enforce that. Well,
Speaker 1: it turns out they might have a snitch in your pockets.
Speaker 1: In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn
Speaker 1: Roe v. Wade, many women are now deleting their period
Speaker 1: tracking apps. Now, privacy experts are concerned that data from
Speaker 1: apps like Flow and Clue could potentially be used to
Speaker 1: identify someone that's seeking an abortion. The data on your
Speaker 1: phone in apps, search data, and other digital data is
Speaker 1: not necessarily protected by hippop. I think it's important that
Speaker 1: people realize there have been past court cases where online
Speaker 1: searches for abortion pills or abortion services have been used
Speaker 1: to prosecute women. That's right. If prosecutors are aggressive enough,
Speaker 1: they could use your apps or your search history on
Speaker 1: your phone to prove that you had an abortion, which,
Speaker 1: first of all, is a very unhealthy practice in a relationship.
Speaker 1: You don't search through anyone's phone, Okay, it destroys trust.
Speaker 1: Don't do it. And also what a ship world for
Speaker 1: women to be living in. Think about like you need
Speaker 1: to use your phone for everything, especially period tracking, or
Speaker 1: where you're gonna find an abortion tale? Like how are
Speaker 1: you going to search for abortion pills without Google? Or
Speaker 1: you just gonna have to write a question on a
Speaker 1: piece of paper, throw it out the window and hope
Speaker 1: for the best. But that's where that's where we are
Speaker 1: in America right now. Women taking care of their own
Speaker 1: health have to cover their tracks online like they're planning
Speaker 1: a heist. They've got to disable location services, they have
Speaker 1: to talk to each other through encrypted apps. They have
Speaker 1: to kill the dual lingo out before it snitches on
Speaker 1: them in English and Italian. And you know, you know
Speaker 1: this puts into perspective just how much our phones know
Speaker 1: about all of us, right only when they say the
Speaker 1: government's going to use the things on your phone to
Speaker 1: come after you. Because your phones know where you go,
Speaker 1: you know who you with, what we eat, what we buy,
Speaker 1: which actor we can't remember from that movie whose name
Speaker 1: we forgot. It means at any moment, cops could just
Speaker 1: bust down your door like bam, you run your rest
Speaker 1: And by the way, it's Richard Gear. Yeah, that was here.
Speaker 1: That's why whenever I use apps or anything online, I
Speaker 1: try to throw the authorities off. Yeah, whenever I'm doing
Speaker 1: something shady, I never search where do I find weed? No?
Speaker 1: I search where does Mitch McConnell find weed? Yeah, now,
Speaker 1: now the cops are looking for Mitch McConnell, and I've
Speaker 1: got the munchies. All right, let's talk about some vacation,
Speaker 1: that special time of year where you don't get laid
Speaker 1: in a different city. The U S travel industry is
Speaker 1: expecting record numbers this weekend as the summer season kicks off,
Speaker 1: with some forty two million people driving to their vacation spots.
Speaker 1: So if you have to pee, go now, because we
Speaker 1: are not stopping, I believe it or not. As chaotic
Speaker 1: as it's going to be on the roads, it turns
Speaker 1: out it could be even worse in the sky. Hundreds
Speaker 1: of flights canceled across the US to day, more than
Speaker 1: a thousand flights canceled over the weekend. The summer travel
Speaker 1: season is heating up, and so is frustration for thousands
Speaker 1: of Americans this week their summer getaways, landing them in
Speaker 1: an airport armageddon. More than two thousand flights acts just
Speaker 1: since yesterday. Travel app Hopper reports more than a quarter
Speaker 1: of recent flights have been delayed, fueled by industry staffing shortages,
Speaker 1: soaring demand, and severe weather. The chaos comes just as
Speaker 1: airports brace for another flood of travelers July fourth weekend
Speaker 1: and anticipated eleven million to pass through airports over the holiday.
Speaker 1: Despite the soaring cost of travel, Envoy Air, a regional
Speaker 1: carrier owned by American Airlines, is now offering pilots triple
Speaker 1: pay to work on their days off, saying it's part
Speaker 1: of a proactive strategy to run a reliable schedule during
Speaker 1: the peak summer travel season. Industry experts say, big picture,
Speaker 1: the airlines just weren't ready for this kind of demand
Speaker 1: coming out of the pandemic. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Hold on,
Speaker 1: did they say airlines didn't expect that there would be
Speaker 1: a surge in air travel after the entire planet was
Speaker 1: trapped in our bedrooms for two years straight? Speaking to
Speaker 1: our grand models through a hazmat suit. You didn't expect
Speaker 1: that ship? What is it like? Why? Why isn't that
Speaker 1: airlines are always shocked by things that should be easily predictable.
Speaker 1: If you shocked? Oh shocked? Who would have thought people
Speaker 1: want to travel after they couldn't for a long time?
Speaker 1: Oh guys, it turns out that that by booking too
Speaker 1: many people for the flight, there are now too many
Speaker 1: people for this flight. There is no way to know
Speaker 1: that this could have happened. Who could have seen this coming?
Speaker 1: Of course, people want to travel been cooped up for years.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'll bet you half the people at January six,
Speaker 1: which is there for a change of scenery. You know,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't really want to hang Mike pants,
Speaker 1: but it's better than staying home in Idaho. And you
Speaker 1: gotta admit all the TV during the pandemic made it worse.
Speaker 1: I mean, we watched all those Who shows where people
Speaker 1: are having fun in Fiji, you know, or in Paris
Speaker 1: or in South Korea. It made everything look so cool.
Speaker 1: I want to play red Light Green Lights. So of
Speaker 1: course people are traveling in record numbers. You know, you
Speaker 1: realize we don't even care that flying has gotten worse
Speaker 1: and worse. Everyone wants to travel. Everything's gotten worse about flying.
Speaker 1: Everything is delayed, legroom is shrinking, Your bags are always
Speaker 1: on another flight going somewhere else. But we don't have
Speaker 1: a choice, right airlines have got us. Man, As soon
Speaker 1: the airlines are gonna be like, all right, we've replaced
Speaker 1: all the seats with just a spike that goes up
Speaker 1: your butt. What are we gonna do? Which is gonna
Speaker 1: be like, well, loop it up? Because I'm going to
Speaker 1: disney Land. I'm going. I will say I am happy
Speaker 1: that Cavin Cruise and pilots are getting paid more because
Speaker 1: of this. Yeah, because they said that pilots are getting
Speaker 1: paid triple their nor most salary just to come to work,
Speaker 1: which is great for them. Yeah, although I will say
Speaker 1: I'm a little worried that the airlines being so desperate
Speaker 1: might make the pilots a little cocky. Ah, what's gonna on, bitches?
Speaker 1: It kind of speaking and just half yay. I'm bawling
Speaker 1: out of control. I'm forget feet wherever the hell I
Speaker 1: want to go, because what are you gonna do about it?
Speaker 1: Find another pilot? Good luck with that, there are none.
Speaker 1: I can do whatever I want. In fact, here and
Speaker 1: check this ship out. Oh man? That I was fun.
Speaker 1: By the way, faster your seat belts, because I should
Speaker 1: have said that first. Right, Well, whatever injury or flight,
Speaker 1: where's my co pilot? I gotta pay? There's no one here, Okay,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll just do it right here? Ah, she relaxed.
Speaker 1: Company be cheered for that pilot. What an asshole? Oh?
Speaker 1: Speaking of people getting paid more, all across the United States,
Speaker 1: workers are unionizing to fight for better rights. All right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is happening everywhere, from Amazon to Stop Bucks, even Apple,
Speaker 1: and now the movement is gaining so much steam it's
Speaker 1: even stretching back in time medieval times. Workers in New
Speaker 1: Jersey will vote next month on forming the company's first union.
Speaker 1: The group pushing for a safer and more enjoyable workplace,
Speaker 1: siding safety concerns. They claimed guests can be disruptive, make
Speaker 1: loud noises and startled the horses, who will then throw
Speaker 1: the cast members off their backs. Unruly children and drunken
Speaker 1: adults have been known to grab actors and even reach
Speaker 1: out to touch the falcon as it flies overhead. Workers
Speaker 1: say Medieval Times skims on security to save money, leaving
Speaker 1: performers to enforce boundaries and police the crowd. Wow, do
Speaker 1: you know how wild the crowd has to be to
Speaker 1: mess with people in armor carrying swords. I mean, I
Speaker 1: knew white people get drunk, but this is a whole
Speaker 1: other level. This is I want to fight that horse, bro.
Speaker 1: You know what they need to do, Actually, they need
Speaker 1: to make a new policy that if you course ship
Speaker 1: at Medieval Times, you get a medieval punishment. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: forget getting escort to the parking lot. You're making people's
Speaker 1: jobs of misery. You're going down to the dungeon where
Speaker 1: group of like play greats are gonna eat your dick off.
Speaker 1: That's what they should do. You were in medieval times.
Speaker 1: Because here's the thing. You're never going to stop people
Speaker 1: from getting rowdy at medieval times. It's never gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Those people are just trying to act like they're in
Speaker 1: medieval times. That's why they're trying to grab the falcon.
Speaker 1: People in the year even they were definitely getting drunk
Speaker 1: and messing with birds. That was one of the only
Speaker 1: hobbies back then. All right, you could drink meat and
Speaker 1: throw ship at a falcon, or you could die in
Speaker 1: the street. Those are the main activities. What are you
Speaker 1: doing next weekend? I'm dying. Oh no, no, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: catch a falcon. So I'm glad. I'm glad these workers
Speaker 1: are trying to unionize. First of all, I love medieval times.
Speaker 1: You know where else can you get a glimpse of
Speaker 1: what America is gonna look like when the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: is done? But also also these people deserve protections. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are serious performers. Have you seen them in character?
Speaker 1: They never break never break character. Almost Maybe wonder if
Speaker 1: like they stay in character during the union negotiations. You know,
Speaker 1: we're here by demandeth that our healthcare plan color nature's
Speaker 1: also our wenches and hales want maternity leave. Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry Kimberly and Amber. Kimberly and Amber one maternity. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I got carried away. I got carried away. You know,
Speaker 1: whenever I whenever I see medieval times, I always wonder
Speaker 1: if years from now, they're gonna have a themed restaurant
Speaker 1: where people come to watch actors pretend they're in the
Speaker 1: twenty twenties, because we're in the old times of then.
Speaker 1: You know, is there someone who's gonna stand in the middle, like,
Speaker 1: welcome to millennial times. Watch us this man of legend
Speaker 1: binges Netflix, who are also scrolling on his phone. All right,
Speaker 1: that's it for the headlines. But before we go, let's
Speaker 1: check it on the traffic without very own bright with
Speaker 1: junior everybody. Oh yeah, it's going on. It's up a man,
Speaker 1: Good to see see you. So what's that? What's happening
Speaker 1: with the traffic? Roy? I don't even think we need
Speaker 1: to talk about today's want to talk about the traffic, roy, No,
Speaker 1: I do. I do want to talk about traff I
Speaker 1: want to talk about the weekend traffic, that holiday traffic
Speaker 1: that's gonna be wild. Okay, we don't need to talk
Speaker 1: about this. We need to talk about this weekend. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a huge travel It's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of them. You just need to be wherever the traffic ain't.
Speaker 1: That's where you need to be. I'm sorry, what Look, Look,
Speaker 1: I just want to give people a couple of tips.
Speaker 1: I just want to give people a few tips on
Speaker 1: how to deal with the holiday traffic. Which roads to
Speaker 1: go on and like like that. We all we already
Speaker 1: know the basics, right, we already know. If you stuck
Speaker 1: on the freeway, you just take the shoulder and you
Speaker 1: drive on the shoulder. If if you're in the car
Speaker 1: pool lane, you just get you blow up the sex
Speaker 1: dolls and you put the sex dolls which and in
Speaker 1: the car pool lane. If you got a rental car,
Speaker 1: you get the coverage. You bull those people out the way,
Speaker 1: and those those are those are the bread and butter.
Speaker 1: But this traffic, for did you lie? Traffic gonna be crazy.
Speaker 1: We gotta level up. You're stuck in traffic right now.
Speaker 1: Whatever street you on, call in like a fire or
Speaker 1: a heart attack or an emergency up the street where
Speaker 1: you're trying to go, and then follow the ambulance to
Speaker 1: wherever you need to go. You just follow the ambulance.
Speaker 1: That sounds crazy to me. That's I got that from
Speaker 1: die Hard three. It's a great movie. A lot of
Speaker 1: good traffic tips in that movie, like did you do that?
Speaker 1: That only works for a couple of miles. Don't work
Speaker 1: for a couple of miles. You know, if you're trying
Speaker 1: to go somewhere fare you have to call in eight
Speaker 1: nine tragedies to get to where you're going. So if
Speaker 1: you're trying to get far, it's gotta be bigger than
Speaker 1: dealing with traffic. You got to avoid traffic altogether. Traffic
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta avoid traffic altogether. Everybody talks about
Speaker 1: you know, the best way to avoid traffic is to
Speaker 1: leave early. Leave late. Oh you mean like like like
Speaker 1: eight pm, nine pm. I'm talking about for July fourth
Speaker 1: travel you should leave July tenth, leave late, Roy leave late, yeah,
Speaker 1: okay late. Yeah, But then you missed the traffic, but
Speaker 1: you missed your life fourth like the hot dogs, the fireworks,
Speaker 1: you miss it all. Yeah, you missed all of that,
Speaker 1: but you also miss sitting on your ass in a
Speaker 1: car for three and a half hours. You missed the
Speaker 1: traffic to that's the beauty of yours. What are you missing?
Speaker 1: Would you lie? Forth? What you missing? What? What? What?
Speaker 1: What you what? You dog? Dog? The hot dog? This
Speaker 1: is America. Every day we eat a hot dog and
Speaker 1: try to blow up some ship. This is July fourth.
Speaker 1: There's just a reason to do what we was already doing.
Speaker 1: People was popping fireworks in the hood where I grew
Speaker 1: up all the time. Five works and barbecue is a
Speaker 1: regular a curl story. No, this is not something new man. Okay,
Speaker 1: missed your life forth to escaped your life forth? Traffic?
Speaker 1: All right, that's that's a tip. It's so damn good tip.
Speaker 1: I don't like the judgment if your face right now.
Speaker 1: I'm not judging here. I just think it's weird, all right.
Speaker 1: I'm just but I'm look, it's just important. Over the
Speaker 1: holiday weekend, did you stay safe? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Stay safe. You do your best to obey the speed limit.
Speaker 1: If you feel yourself drowsy, pull over, not drive drowsy,
Speaker 1: especially if you've got kids in the car. If you've
Speaker 1: got kids in the car and you're feeling drowsy, you
Speaker 1: pull over. Let them kids drive. Kids got to kick here,
Speaker 1: and they got to pull their weight. So you let
Speaker 1: them kids drive. If you're just get in the back seat,
Speaker 1: get you some sleep. You got them sex dolls back there? Anyway,
Speaker 1: you cut up Roy, that's illegal, that's a crime. It
Speaker 1: comes off their record when they're eighteen. They are nobody
Speaker 1: tripping or no kid hitting the cup so much and
Speaker 1: sit your old side swipe a couple of cars, don't
Speaker 1: nobody can't get to see all the records. I'll teach
Speaker 1: you about that later. These are some fantastic tips where
Speaker 1: every any anything else. You know what I mean. I
Speaker 1: gotta bounce, man. I'm hitted down Alabama for the julyne
Speaker 1: and I think my son just pulled up. I got
Speaker 1: my son driving me. How old is your son? Right? Eight?
Speaker 1: You know what? Would Jr? Reach the pedals though? You
Speaker 1: need to reach the petals though? Right when we come back,
Speaker 1: KEDI light is gonna tell us how June's gout so gay?
Speaker 1: So I don't go away, No, it's gonna be like
Speaker 1: fight after Welcome back to the day's show. Tomorrow is
Speaker 1: the last day of Pride Month, after which Rondo sciantists
Speaker 1: can safely look at a rainbow once again. But how
Speaker 1: did Pride Month starts? Well, Daisy LTE has the answer.
Speaker 1: Happy Pride Month, every One, or as it's called at
Speaker 1: Mike Pence's house, June Pride is a celebration of queerness,
Speaker 1: acceptance and club remixes you can actually dance to. And
Speaker 1: today I'm here at Rue Paul's private pool to tell
Speaker 1: you how Pride Month came to be, because just like
Speaker 1: all queer people, June has a coming out story of
Speaker 1: its own. You could say Pride's roots go back to
Speaker 1: the sixties with Billy's Reminder Day. Pickets. Reminder Day was
Speaker 1: like the precursor to what Pride is now, in the
Speaker 1: same way that Madonna was the precursor to Lady Gaga.
Speaker 1: And if you don't get that reference, you should probably
Speaker 1: stop watching now because this is a Pride segment and
Speaker 1: you're a terrible ally. The sixties also saw protests all
Speaker 1: over America, like the Black Cat Tavern riot in l
Speaker 1: a and a protest at the White House demanding equal
Speaker 1: employment opportunities for gay people. That's right. It used to
Speaker 1: be legal to fire people just for being gay, which
Speaker 1: makes no sense. Who you have sex with should have
Speaker 1: no bearing on whether you get to keep your job
Speaker 1: unless you do it on the copy machine. Well known fact.
Speaker 1: That is how most paper jams get started. I learned
Speaker 1: the hard way. But then, of course, came Stonewall in
Speaker 1: sixty nine, when police raided a gay bar in New
Speaker 1: York City called the Stonewall Inn, and the queer community
Speaker 1: fought back. It was such a significant moment in America's
Speaker 1: gay rights movement that to this day that whole block
Speaker 1: is now a historic site visited by people from all
Speaker 1: over the world. The only way that corner of Christopher
Speaker 1: Street would attract more gay people as if Brittany had
Speaker 1: a residency there. Stonewall was the big turning point. Though
Speaker 1: they still faced so much discrimination, the LGBTQ community finally
Speaker 1: felt empowered enough to hold big public celebrations. The first
Speaker 1: ever official gay Pride parade was held in Chicago in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, but one day later, New York held an
Speaker 1: entire Pride Week. During this seven day celebration, the community
Speaker 1: marched from the village to Central Park with slogans like gay,
Speaker 1: Gay All the Way, and gay power, which isn't just
Speaker 1: a good slogan, it's also the energy source that keeps
Speaker 1: the lights running on Broadway. Of course, we can't talk
Speaker 1: about pride without talking about the symbol of it. No,
Speaker 1: not your grand parents googling what is scissoring. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the rainbow flag, which was designed in nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight by Gilbert Baker. He called himself the gay Betsy Ross,
Speaker 1: which makes sense. Not only did they both design iconic flags,
Speaker 1: but they also belonged to communities where whigs were very popular.
Speaker 1: One of the coolest things about Gilbert Baker was that
Speaker 1: he refused to trademark the Pride flag. He wanted everyone
Speaker 1: to be able to share it and reinterpret it, which
Speaker 1: is why today the flag has become as fluid as
Speaker 1: sexuality itself. By the time we reached the eighties, the
Speaker 1: AIDS crisis came to the forefront, and Pride took on
Speaker 1: a new mission. It wasn't just about visibility and acceptance.
Speaker 1: It was about destigmatizing and promoting public health, which was
Speaker 1: especially important because the federal government pretty much just pretended
Speaker 1: AIDS didn't exist, like what Tom Hanks does with CHET.
Speaker 1: Once we made it to the nineties, Pride was even
Speaker 1: more mainstream than ever before, and in nine President Bill
Speaker 1: Clinton signed the executive order officially recognizing June as Pride
Speaker 1: Month for the first time. Yeah, if two people of
Speaker 1: the same gender wanted to have sexual relations, that was
Speaker 1: fine with him, even if he didn't totally understand the
Speaker 1: definition of sexual relations. I did not have. Clinton's executive
Speaker 1: order referred to June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
Speaker 1: Then in two thousand nine, President Obama changed to Lesbian, gay, Bisexual,
Speaker 1: and Transgender Pride Month. Then President Trump dialed it back
Speaker 1: a little and just called it LGBT Pride Month, which
Speaker 1: makes sense, no big words, and it's less scary for
Speaker 1: my pens. But these days the Biden administration extended the
Speaker 1: name again to Lesbian, gay, bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month,
Speaker 1: making it as of now, the only thing that's been
Speaker 1: built back better. But whatever you call it, Pride has
Speaker 1: truly become a global phenomenon. It's celebrated everywhere Manila, South Africa, Brazil, Madrid.
Speaker 1: Pride has gone to so many places. If it had
Speaker 1: an Instagram, you'd have to mute their stories. We get it, Pride,
Speaker 1: you had fun in Spain, stopped making the rest of
Speaker 1: us feel so boring. So this month, don't forget where
Speaker 1: Pride came from and all the people who fought to
Speaker 1: make it a reality. The LGBTQ community still faces many challenges,
Speaker 1: but it's also experienced a lot of progress and if
Speaker 1: you ask me, that's worth celebrating. Hello, Hello, Hello, we
Speaker 1: paused back from vacation early. Thank you so much about Depie.
Speaker 1: All right, when we come back. Van Laken Jr. Will
Speaker 1: be Jamie on the show, so don't go right Welcome
Speaker 1: back from here. Should My guest to life is the
Speaker 1: co host of the Higher Learning podcast, and he's here
Speaker 1: to talk about his new memoir, Fat, Crazy and Tired
Speaker 1: Tales from the True Innches of Transformation. Please welcome Van
Speaker 1: Lathan Jr. Well, welcome to the day show. What's up.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you here, especially after reading the book.
Speaker 1: You know, I know many people will probably know your
Speaker 1: face from TMZ. You know, people have seen you, you know,
Speaker 1: on your podcast now, which is weird because now we
Speaker 1: watch people's podcasts, which is whatever. But yeah, but it
Speaker 1: feels like you've done everything and now you're in the
Speaker 1: world of being an author with with what I mean
Speaker 1: I have to say is it is a really um
Speaker 1: I think it's a really revealing book. You know, you
Speaker 1: you you you open yourself up. It's really vulnerable, fat, crazy,
Speaker 1: and tired. Talk me through why you thought this was
Speaker 1: going to be what defined your memoir? So your own
Speaker 1: so initially, like part of my story has always been
Speaker 1: my weight loss. Right, Yeah, I used to be a
Speaker 1: lot heavier. Um, I was around like three seventy pounds, right,
Speaker 1: And so whenever you tell someone that, that's kind of
Speaker 1: the response, I was like wow, right. And I remember
Speaker 1: the first time I ever expressed that to a lot
Speaker 1: of people. They were so amazed by it that I
Speaker 1: was like, well, let me do it. Let me write
Speaker 1: a book and talk about like how it was that
Speaker 1: I took control of my health right. Um. And I
Speaker 1: know people are looking at me right now and they're going, wow,
Speaker 1: he's fat. I don't think anyone, no, no, what I'm
Speaker 1: saying is the pandemic came, and like everyone else, I like,
Speaker 1: I'll put some with some weight on. So when I
Speaker 1: started reading the book, I had a revelation I saw
Speaker 1: writing the books I say, I had a revelation that like,
Speaker 1: there's something inherently wrong about me telling people how it
Speaker 1: was that I became socially acceptable, interest that there's something
Speaker 1: wrong with me saying hey, I was this one way
Speaker 1: that people for no good reason excoriate you and make
Speaker 1: you feel uh, you know, shameful, and look how I
Speaker 1: became one of you. Even though it's inspirational, for some people,
Speaker 1: it didn't feel right. So I thought it was better
Speaker 1: to explore some of the stigmas, some of the ways
Speaker 1: that sometimes people lose control of their health, and some
Speaker 1: of the very good reasons that you might find yourself
Speaker 1: mentally or physically or spiritually in a spot you don't
Speaker 1: want to be in. And that's kind of what the
Speaker 1: book is. The The book takes us through your life,
Speaker 1: you know, it touches on your relationship with your father,
Speaker 1: it touches on your journey as a human being. Many
Speaker 1: people recognize your face from TMZ, and you talk about
Speaker 1: that in the book and the place that it was
Speaker 1: and in the life that you were living. I found
Speaker 1: it really interesting that you wrote about the environment at
Speaker 1: TMZ in what felt to me like a very measured way.
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about Harvey, who everyone knows is
Speaker 1: the face of TMZ on television, and you talked about
Speaker 1: how he shaped you, how he encouraged you, how he
Speaker 1: nurtured you into a lot of who you are today.
Speaker 1: But at the same time you talk about the conflicts
Speaker 1: that you had with him when you felt like TMZ was,
Speaker 1: you know, pushing Trump propaganda. How how did you find
Speaker 1: you know, I guess it's not a balance, but but
Speaker 1: how did you reconcile a relationship with somebody who you
Speaker 1: grew to admire against a person who clearly had politics
Speaker 1: that you were against. Because it feels like that's happening
Speaker 1: all over America. It's insanely difficult, and I and my
Speaker 1: heart goes out, uh to anyone who's dealing with it.
Speaker 1: It's it's not easy. And the thing that's not easy
Speaker 1: about it is, uh, the feeling that you feel being black,
Speaker 1: being a woman, being gay in this country when you
Speaker 1: can see danger coming and you're saying to someone who,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, you had a relationship with, this is dangerous.
Speaker 1: This is dangerous. As Black people, we are experts at
Speaker 1: sounding the alarm. Like my mother, I would bring people home.
Speaker 1: My mother will be like that that boy right there,
Speaker 1: the third one, he is snitched. I'm like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like I would be like one like
Speaker 1: the third from over right there. And I don't want
Speaker 1: the pink, don't want the blue snitch And and we're
Speaker 1: always type yeah, we're always telling each other, watch out
Speaker 1: for danger, watch out for danger. So truck comes and
Speaker 1: I'm like, danger, danger, danger, And it's not just me,
Speaker 1: it's so many people in the office. Danger danger, danger, danger, danger.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna do any of that. He's not gonna
Speaker 1: do any of that stuff. We're actively out there peddling
Speaker 1: some of that stuff. And where we are now, Trevor,
Speaker 1: where we had now everyone who who had whatever reasons
Speaker 1: they had UH for throwing their support behind them and
Speaker 1: being as vocal is about about supporting him as they did.
Speaker 1: Millions and millions and millions and millions of women now
Speaker 1: don't have control of their own bodies. And I wonder
Speaker 1: like if I could even talk to him right now,
Speaker 1: with him and I don't speak anymore, how do you feel,
Speaker 1: as in regards to part of your legacy having been
Speaker 1: a part of something like that, especially when it is
Speaker 1: it just me, It was the women in the office.
Speaker 1: There was all kinds of people saying, this is not
Speaker 1: something that we are that that that we're comfortable with.
Speaker 1: And it ended up being, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: something you know, I talked about it in the book.
Speaker 1: That was a real sticking point between him and I.
Speaker 1: And once again, I'm not gonna people gonna have whatever
Speaker 1: kind of opinions they want to have about Harvey. But
Speaker 1: at some of the lowest points in my life, I
Speaker 1: thought I had an advocate there and it was just really,
Speaker 1: really disappointing during that time politically. It really is a
Speaker 1: fascinating book that takes us through your life, through your journey.
Speaker 1: And I know you you've gone on to do to
Speaker 1: do you know many things now you know you worked
Speaker 1: on as an executive for you so the Oscar winning
Speaker 1: short film To Distance Strangers. You know you you you're
Speaker 1: You're not an author. It feels like your life is
Speaker 1: opening up and you you're getting into a place where
Speaker 1: van lay things changing. I mean people, I didn't know this.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that you used to be a tour
Speaker 1: guide on one of those TMZ busses driving around in
Speaker 1: l A. And you know your life has gone in
Speaker 1: a in a really magical direction. What do you hope
Speaker 1: to you from here where you're trying to go? Um
Speaker 1: and and and why are you guys ready for in
Speaker 1: l A? Like super flaky weird answer, Yeah, we're ready.
Speaker 1: You guys ready for it. I'm piece man like like.
Speaker 1: What I want out of my life is physical, emotional
Speaker 1: and psychological peace. Um. My father died, right. Um, My
Speaker 1: father died right, And I'll be honest. The way my
Speaker 1: father who was uh, he died while I was writing
Speaker 1: a book, so I have a chapter in there about him. Um.
Speaker 1: The way that he died sort of for me, reflected
Speaker 1: the way that he lived. He was just going. He
Speaker 1: was a man that could run through any wall. You
Speaker 1: put a problem up in front of him. He doesn't
Speaker 1: negotiate the problem. He obliterates it, but he's always waiting
Speaker 1: for the next thing to overcome. Right. You never get
Speaker 1: to that point to where you have an understanding who
Speaker 1: you are, what you are in the environment around you,
Speaker 1: and the lessons that I learned from him, you know,
Speaker 1: the way the way my dad died, I didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to even see him. I got a call, Hey,
Speaker 1: your father's been taken to the hospital. He passed away. Um.
Speaker 1: And so for me, I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: I have things in my life in order to where
Speaker 1: I feel good, peaceful and reassured about where I'm going,
Speaker 1: who I am, and how the people around me feel
Speaker 1: supported and encouraged, and so that's the most important thing
Speaker 1: in my life, beyond anything, uh professional, beyond anything any
Speaker 1: amount of money I can get. I like money, um,
Speaker 1: but but I just want to have some peace. Bro.
Speaker 1: I love that, man. I mean, we'll be going on
Speaker 1: the should I appreciate you, th j G Fact, Craizy
Speaker 1: and tire is available without want the book to fall.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick creak, be right back and
Speaker 1: after this when I talk sufor tonight before we go.
Speaker 1: Before we go, if you or someone you know needs
Speaker 1: help accessing abortion care, please go to abortion find a
Speaker 1: Dark Org or call the National Abortion Hotline at the
Speaker 1: number below. You still have options until next time. Stay
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