Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn
This is what the world needs now: two free-thinking “seasoned” Black women speaking their truth and inspiring others to do the same. Shaped by 45 years of friendship that began at the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School through the Ivy League, medical school, marriages, divorces, triumphs, parenting queer children, life-threatening illness and many many amazing adventures. Each week, besties Leslie Osei-Tutu and Angella Fraser will push against boundaries in love, culture, careers, faith, politics and out-dated assumptions about women of a certain age. Remember, you’re never too old to change your mind…or your hair! (but more on that later :-)All views are our own and do not reflect the views of our institution/company. Information provided is not intended to serve as medical advice.
Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn
We Ain’t Mad at Katt Williams
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Katt Williams said whaaaat???
In his recent interview on Club Shay Shay, Shannon Sharp’s popular online show, comedian Katt Williams almost broke the internet. His nearly 3 hour appearance skyrocketed to 37 million views within hours. He had to “tell the truth couldn’t let the lies stand” after some fellow comedic contemporaries were earlier guests. And boy did he go all in. He had folks clutching their pearls!
The Besties (esp. Ang) were hooked and share their candid opinions in this episode.
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Hey Ange. Hello. How are you? I'm doing good. Doing good. You look good. Thank you. Thank you. You look nice in your orange.
SPEAKER_05Orange is becoming, I don't think anything is gonna take over green as my favorite color, but orange is is is heading up there. Yeah, yeah, orange. Orange in my life.
SPEAKER_02I like orange also. And I realized that like my whole summer wardrobe is pink. Really? Pink in future. Ain't that something? You see, that's less 2.0. That's less 3.0. What? You trying to be Barbie? Not that kind, not bubble cum pink.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_02But anyway.
SPEAKER_01All right. Welcome to another episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_05Brooklyn. Hey folks. We're so happy to be back. Um we are clearly not together, but um we've been like we've had a break from recording. We we were on a uh good run.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were on a good run, and then we kind of I've been working a lot, you know.
SPEAKER_02They've been really working me. They've been getting their money's worth. No, I'm not sure. So I'm tired. I'm looking forward to taking some time off next week.
SPEAKER_05So yes, so should we mention we're both going to the same place, but not together.
SPEAKER_02Right. We'll we'll actually leave details for it when we return and tell you guys all about it and all of that good stuff. But again, listen, I am not too much in social media. I listen to the radio occasionally, but about Kat Williams.
SPEAKER_05Listen, it consumed me. It consumed me. I have I have put it aside now, kinda, because I'm still waiting for a few responses, but it consumed me.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so here's how I I I learned about this. I'm listening to Karen Hunter on Sirius XM's Urban View. Right. And she and her co-host were talking about the Cat Williams interview. And I'm like, and they're like, she's like, wow, they dropped the bomb. And I can't believe the buzz that's going on and it's going viral, and this. And I'm like, what are they talking about? Cat Williams. I know Cat Williams, he's a comedian, funny guy. I didn't pay too much attention to him or whatever. He's been in some shows and things like that, right? And then I look to see, like, okay, what are they talking about? Because now it's everywhere, everybody's talking about it. Right, right. So, do you want to describe what oh my gosh, what's going on?
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03On January 3rd. What's in January 3rd?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. All I know is I also found out about it from Karen Hunter, but I was um, I subscribed to her YouTube channel, and so I got um a notification on an episode.
SPEAKER_00Whoa, and I went, and that's how they called you out. They're like, and they were like residents.
SPEAKER_05You gotta check this you and the other 50 million people. It has to be 50 50 million by now because the last I looked a few days ago, it was um it was only all almost 40 million views. What?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a sixth of the population in the country has viewed this.
SPEAKER_01No, 50 million is 300 million people in the US. What? Leslie.
SPEAKER_02And just just think our podcast is gonna have 50 million views.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so you know I'm gonna get those names. I'll take it. I will take it.
SPEAKER_02Um so all right, let's tell people what what what this Cat Williams thing is.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so I owe you. Well, you you will probably remember the names of the the um the the show. I know it was Club Club Shay Shay, I think was the name of it. Whose show is that? I'm gonna forget his name, even though I've seen him a zillion times because my son is a basketball fan. Um I know it starts with an S.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_05But tell me his name. Well, Shay Shay, Shannon Sharp. Shannon Sharp. There we go. So Club Shea Shea. So this is Shannon Sharp's um YouTube. It's it's uh, I guess it's a podcast. It's probably a podcast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but his interview show where he gets stars coming on, and you guys know Shannon Sharp, ex-football player. He's now right, he's been on television for a long time and as a commentator and broadcaster and things like that. So he has his own show and he gets stars on and he interviews them. And then he interviewed Kat Williams.
SPEAKER_05Well, before he interviewed Kat Williams, he interviewed um Cedric the Entertainer. Cedric the Entertainer and Um who's the other guy, um, Ricky Smiley. And they had some things to say about their history and um and the the comedic industry in Hollywood, correct, and how things went down and how things didn't go down, and you know, um uh Cedric the Entertainer was a part of the Kings of Comedy. So um this is with Steve Harvey, who else? Um was Dale Oogly on it? Was he one of them? I don't remember. And also um he's my favorite. I'm drawing a blank now. Um come on, you see his face. Oh my gosh, he was in Transformers, ooh Lord, Bernie Mac. Bernie Mac Bernie Mac okay, so um Ricky Smiley.
SPEAKER_02I think he was um one of the kings of yeah, I think he was and um so they told their side of how things went down, and then but it wasn't any particular incident, they just started talking or gossiping or or dishing some dirt about things, how things went on in Hollywood, talking about their comic comedy shows and how things started, some of the movies that many of the black comedians were in, and notable uh black celebrities were in, and addition about black Hollywood, I guess you could say, and the the the comedy circuit in particular, because there's a whole a whole other level.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Um and some of what they said involved Cat Williams. Okay, so Kat Williams then came on the show. I think he requested, no, no, no, no. This is not true because Shannon actually said he's been trying to get him for a while. And so he came on, and his position was he could not let the lies not get challenged. The truth had to come out.
SPEAKER_02He said 2024 is the year of the truth, the year of the truth, essentially let the chips fall where they may, and boy didn't be let out. Oh my like some like backdoor secrets, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05At this point, we are not going to um worry too much about um uh uh spoiler alert because it's been out for a while, and we won't remember.
SPEAKER_02The country has already seen it. Mind you, this episode is it's almost three hours long. The show was three hours. And she had me sitting here, she sent me a link. She's like, Did you hear the interview? I'm like, no, I haven't. She sent me the link, which we'll put on our webpage. And um and over two days, I sat and listened to it, and I'm like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_05It just got better and better and more expose. And Kat Williams is not someone who holds his tongue. First of all, he's as funny as all get out, but he is a serious, serious, serious. And he's very smart. Very smart. Very smart. I don't think he um a lot of people recognize his level of brilliance because his name has been smeared so many times. And if you are to believe what he has to say, um, and you know, I'm I believe him. I have to say that, full disclosure, I believe him.
SPEAKER_02He was he was very believable.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and and not even about his clap back on what these folks said, but just his life and what kind of um um experiences he's had and what kind of shaped him. He's very, very clear about his um religious beliefs, his faith, definitely, and uh for sure a man of faith. Yeah, definitely, yes. And he left home the way that I heard it, he didn't say this, but in further research, what I read is that he got emancipated from his parents when he was 13. Now, again, this is not what Cat Williams said.
SPEAKER_02He did, actually. Well, he didn't say he was emancipated. He said, No, he didn't say it like 13. Correct. He didn't essentially hitchhike uh a truck to Florida.
SPEAKER_05Um, he rode on trucks. He said he didn't hitchhike, he rode on trucks. We don't know how by what means he got there. Well, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I mean hitchhiking, you're kind of riding inside. I think he kind of hitched on the back that, like I see Jamaican children do all the time on the bathroom truck. So that's why it was very believable to me. And from Ohio to Florida.
SPEAKER_04I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, Les. I'm just saying, listen, I'm picturing his little body hanging on the back of it, you know.
SPEAKER_05He was a stowaway. He was a stowaway. No, but he is very well read. Um, he's had um one of the things that he mentioned that I'll just say up front because um otherwise I'll forget, is there was a time when he was homeless and he was living among a lot of people who were um um drug addicted and all different types of drugs. And he was always interested in people and their stories. And because of all the stories he heard about these people's lives, he doesn't do drugs. But we were led to believe that he had been strung out and and all of that stuff. He he is a weed smoker, he's very clear about that. And he um what he said is that he uses it to be able to sleep because of his um, you know, the life of a comedian is you know, very, very um, rhythm is off. Exactly. Is um and so um yeah, and so just in general, one of the things that I really appreciated about the interview was um how serious he was about um telling his truth. And I'll say it that way just out of respect for the other people because I didn't live in these stories. Um and the way that he um he you know he spoke from a listen, this is not about me exposing people, this is about truth, and I can't have lies out there and not speak the truth.
SPEAKER_02He said that he has to come out. He was speaking because people came on on um Shannon Sharp's show and said things that were not true, and he wanted to set the record straight, certainly pertaining to himself, yes, right, and his friends because he set the record straight on on Bernie Mack and um Yeah, he said that Bernie Mack was mistreated by those um people in that group in his circle at the time, and yeah, yeah, said he would never work with them again because of the way that they treated his friend when he was alive. Bernie Mack died quite a number of years ago of um dad young at um sarcoidosis.
SPEAKER_05Oh, is it okay? I I didn't know what um what happened. I remember I saw him as he was getting sick, and I just felt um terrible for him and his family.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um but here's a couple of things I want to say about Pat Williams. Um in addition to him being what I um what I say uh seemed like a man of integrity, yeah, he also had such a um a giving spirit. Yeah, he adopted seven children, he had one of his own and adopted seven children and raised them as a single parent.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You know, um and I can only imagine how difficult that was living um the Hollywood comedian life that he led successful. Right. And then going home to be a father to all of these children.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well, that part kind of um a few things that he said, um yes, he adopted these children, but he did mention that um at least for some of them, their parents were involved, but he he was their father. And so I don't know to what extent the children's biological parents were involved in their lives. And he also said that he is a lover of women, and I think that there were probably women around these children also who, you know, having women around you doesn't mean that they are involved in parenting necessarily, but I just wanted to mention that because he did. Um but that doesn't um diminish the fact that he chose to um be the person responsible for these um for seven children. And um just in general, his um his generosity and I said that I got consumed by this stuff. So in the days following, in the days following, several people, um, comedians came out and talked about how um generous he had been anonymously. But this isn't, you know, he's not expecting people to, you know, ooh, look what look what I did. Um one comedian, I wish I knew these people's names, but I but I don't. One person said that um he after a show and Kat Williams was there and um he was outside and he got into his car, and Kat threw like a rolled-up towel into his car. And he thought it was just him giving him some weed. He didn't even um pay attention to it. And when he looked, it was $15,000. And he said he needed it so badly because he had been living in his in his car. And um, other people said that um, you know, they found out later, like women would come up to them and just put $1,000 into their hands after uh after a show, and they came to find out later.
SPEAKER_02It was right, that williams had been in the audience, and this is something that he was known to do.
SPEAKER_05Exactly, exactly. So a very generous um um man in in in what what we're hearing. Um and his his dates just just lined up, and again, I've been watching, but um like like um Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer.
SPEAKER_02And let me just tell you, I'm sitting here listening, and like I listened over two days, and yeah, I would listen and I'm like, like, what did I run it back and it's like so no, he called out the behaviors and practices and yeah, theft of jokes, yeah, and this like like he gave like proof like in 2000 and or 1998, he was on stage and said this joke and introduced it this way, and then in '99, Steve Harvey went around the circuit telling a joke with instead of it being a car, it was a spaceship or this.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Well, that was Cedric. Come on now, get the get the it doesn't matter. But because that was that was one of my most favorite Cedric the Entertainer jokes. So now I'm mad.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so see, you know, see, I don't pay that much attention, so I don't know. I couldn't tell you any of the jokes any of these these people say.
SPEAKER_05But um can I go one-on-one person? Because you know I had a thing about him from the get. All right, who Steve Steve Harvey. Okay. Okay. So I've seen family feud, Steve Harvey. I've seen him live, and um I've seen it, uh, you know, I went to one of his shows, and it was really off-putting. It was like he was really angry, like, I'm just here just to, you know, I don't care about. He was just really, you know, so that put a bad taste in my mouth because I I had been not a super fan, but I was a fan of his. Look, I bought money to go to a show, so I must have really liked the guy.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So, and then um I saw Monique. Remember when Monique had been kind of black, black ball, blacklisted? What is the term?
SPEAKER_02Um I guess blacklisted, yeah.
SPEAKER_05She had been shunned in the industry by the industry, yes, and she went on to Steve Harvey's um TV show, his um, you know, where he interviews his talk show. Thank you. Right. And basically, she was saying that um behind the scenes, everyone, including him, tells her that she didn't do anything wrong. But no one came out in public and supported her.
SPEAKER_02Took her side. And you know what that man said? Invalidated her.
SPEAKER_05Do you know what he said? I can't even believe that he actually said this.
SPEAKER_02So she was on his show and she said, I think something like, Why didn't you defend me or why didn't you have my back? Or we've always been cool, what's up?
SPEAKER_05Exactly. Exactly. I'm out here in the deep end drowning, and nobody threw a life, a life observer to save me. He basically said, This is about money. I'm not going to worry about integrity over money. I've got my family, I've got my legacy, I don't care about integrity. What am I gonna do? Think about integrity, and that is exactly. He said this on television, he said this on his show. On his show. Whoa. Monique, this isn't about black and white, this is about green. You want me to, and he was so you want me to talk about integrity? I'm talking about green.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, his audience is applauding. And stuff like throwing this woman under the bus, and yes. Oh, yes, no good comes to people that do things like that.
SPEAKER_05So bad. That's right. That's right. And the other thing is I don't know if you guys remember um Mark Curry. Remember that? Yeah. Hanging with Mr. Cooper. Hanging with Mr. Cooper.
SPEAKER_02He had the TV show. He was the uh principal or teacher in the school, and yeah, exactly. Apparently, he really got jafted. Cat Woods talked about how. Um, was it Steve Harvey again? It was Steve Harvey. I don't remember the T. I'm just Steve Harvey.
SPEAKER_05Listen, didn't Steve Harvey have a show about being a teacher?
SPEAKER_02I think so. I think he did.
SPEAKER_05So the claim is that he basically took Mark Curry's career. He took his jokes. Wow. And I did see recordings of that, and he took his whole career. And yeah, so I I know. Let me just say this though.
SPEAKER_02I not being in the industry, what do I know? But you have to explain that you're not in the industry. You know, listen, what I really wanted to say is how about we get Kim Coles on here to give some commentary about what's going on.
SPEAKER_03We don't want to get our sister into trouble. No, no, we do not.
SPEAKER_02Happy birthday, by the way. Happy birthday, Kim. Today's her birthday. Um, let's get her on the phone.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_04I hope she's out hanging out, having a good time.
SPEAKER_02But anyway, um, I honestly thought I didn't know that jokes actually were like proprietary or like people own jokes. I kind of thought like they kind of passed around stories, you know? Yeah. Like I didn't know that people could actually like steal a joke or well.
SPEAKER_05Listen, okay. It's just like music, right?
SPEAKER_02It's just like any but no, music is copyrighted or or whatever. You can't steal music.
SPEAKER_05I I understand that, but people sample music and that's allowed, right?
SPEAKER_02If you get permission.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Well, maybe that's not a good example. However, you there's always in in any creative field, you're going to, you know, there's going to be kind of a a um gray area or um a loose barrier between one and another. However, some of these jokes are verbatim.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_05That is stealing.
SPEAKER_02But not only is that stealing, like, aren't they, why aren't they ashamed? You know, like to be like found out or whatever, like called out. I'll tell you what's interesting though. Well, you're you're you're plugged into this a little more than I am, because I have a life. But oh, did I say that out loud?
SPEAKER_03You did. I heard you too. Everybody heard you, Les.
SPEAKER_02Everybody heard you, but but I'm not hearing too many people coming forward and saying he's lying and denying it. That is true. I'm not hearing too many people that is true. In fact, Omari was telling me that um Smiley, what's his name?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Ricky Smiley.
SPEAKER_02Ricky Smiley. Oh my gosh, why did he do this? Went on social media, yeah, and was in tears crying into the camera. Like, this is a bad time for me, and why he gotta call me out like this, and why he gotta do this, and something happened with his son, maybe tragically or whatever.
SPEAKER_00And he's like, I mean, he was like, Amari's like, why is this grown man on social media crying?
SPEAKER_05Like, why he gotta do me like oh no, oh no, that's that's too bad. That is too bad. Yeah, I think I guess people have to be responsible for their own stuff because the thing that went down with him is um they were on a um doing a movie together, and Ricky Smiley claimed that there was a part that um that the part that Cat Williams had was actually slated for him, which apparently was a bold-faced lie.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Cat Williams keeps saying, how is it possible? He's like, I developed that character. How is it possible that he says he this was his character? And right, I don't why would people say that? I guess because they don't think that they'll get caught or people won't come forward or whatever.
SPEAKER_05I think so. I think people get caught up in in the moment, you know, and probably things that they were thinking or hoping and you know became a part of just slips out over. And then it just slips out, and then yeah, and I think too, not in kind of current time, but uh a lot of these kind of um um joke stealing that was going on happened before the internet, and yeah, yeah, this happened right, right before there was and stuff, right? You're not thinking you don't think that people will find out exactly, and now side by side, you see a joke being told in 1998 and another time in 2004, and it's like it's the same joke. Talk on thief, for goodness sake.
SPEAKER_02It's like you know what though, I I I love this part about um Monique says she listens to uh um Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharp um often. I've never even heard of it before. I've heard of it, but I don't listen to it.
SPEAKER_00I loved Shannon's reaction to stuff, he was like cracking up, he was like, like, oh no, yeah, nobody's ever gonna come on my show again, man. Come on, man. Come on, man. And we even heard the people in the background so many they were cracking us.
SPEAKER_05They were like, ooh, let me tell you, let me tell you, this is a part of history that I'm still waiting for these folks to clap back and say, like, I want to see what Steve Harvey has to say.
SPEAKER_02I want to see what Steve Harvey has to say. We already see what um Smiley said.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I saw um Steve say something. I just have to confirm that it was something that was recorded after because I don't, you know, I don't like to just um I do fat fact checking as much as I can. Um so I just want to look at when that was recorded, but I think he did respond, but it was something very benign about you know looking at people what people learn, not what they earn, or vice versa. But I don't think that anyone really is gonna clap back because I believe Kat when he says that he knows things that people do not want him to tell. Right.
SPEAKER_02And people don't realize that exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. And so I don't think anybody's gonna come for him. Not not in kind of a clap back kind of way, thank God forbid. I hope they don't come from it for him in other ways, but yeah, yeah, I don't think that um I don't I just don't think that they're gonna do it. I I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02I I liked how he said, you know, when he got to Hollywood, he knew that he was not gonna sell himself out in certain ways, yeah. Inappropriate ways or uh unethical ways with producers or whatever, whatever, you know. Right.
SPEAKER_05Um and he asked for certain changes to be made in scripts, and when they wouldn't change them, you know, it's it's the script moved moved on. But for him, he would see, okay, this person was okay with doing that. Yeah, but I wasn't okay with that.
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure. I don't need to put on a dress in a uh in a show. I don't need to he changed one of the uh scenes in the movies, you know, to uh that he thought was inappropriate and unnecessary.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, one of them involved um a rape, and he's like, in no way is that funny. And um, but I I don't know if that stayed in or out. But I guess overall, you know, all of these kind of um these um sensational stories aside, and I was really interested, so I'm not gonna pretend that I wasn't.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you certainly were.
SPEAKER_05But all of that aside.
SPEAKER_00And then when I every time, every person I talk to about it, they're like, Yeah, I listened to it. I'm like, what? Am I the last one?
SPEAKER_02Yes. It was all it was just um filmed on the third, it was just taped on January 3rd. Man, in a week, it like went like a tornado. Really? I am gonna ask him, obviously, not publicly, but I'm gonna ask what um what the back end, what the industry is saying about it. It's saying about it, yeah.
SPEAKER_05I here's the thing. Um I this to me is a is such an example of big fish and small fish thing. And I don't mean in terms because Cat Williams is wealthy. He he is wealthy. He's wealthy. What I mean by that is that people who are kind of the the apple of the industry's eye, right? Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, you know, uh the other ones are are are are less so um that they have ways of masking truth and and having this idea. I don't want to go crazy with this, but when you think about people like um Weinstein, right, and these these big names, um, is it what's his name? Is it Epstein Epstein? Yeah, but Epstein.
SPEAKER_07Right, these on the island.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, these people who believe that they have this level of um of clout, that they can do anything like our former president. Exactly. Yeah, and and nothing will happen to them. I I l really like that what seems to be truth is being um spoken. What is it? Bringing truth to power.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I like 2024 being the year of truth. I like that. I like it. That works for me. I'll take it.
SPEAKER_05That works for me.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna try to see Cat Williams. He's gonna be in Raleigh. But um, I have to see if all the dates line up, but I think I may go to see him. So anyway.
SPEAKER_02My um pastor said that uh 2024 was the year of alignment. So I like that.
SPEAKER_04Okay, truth and alignment. So do you have a word of the year? For me. Do you have a word of the year?
SPEAKER_02Well, you know me. My word is always honesty.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I'm gonna have a new word. What do you think? Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna give us each another week, and I want you to think about your word in this way. I want you to think about um where you want to be at the end of the year, and then what is the word that's going to fill the gap between where you are now and where you're gonna be. That's what I what you what I want your word to be. So I hope it's already has a word. I hope it's not honestly.
SPEAKER_02I already have the word.
SPEAKER_05What is it?
SPEAKER_02Focus.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. The word that I'm playing with right now is expansion, but um I'm not sure if it will stick. I will let you know after next week. But I think it should be expensive.
SPEAKER_02I think it should not be expansion. Oh my gosh. You don't choose my word, Lesh. I can't take it. If you expand, it means I gotta expand.
SPEAKER_00It's too much for me. Please don't expand. How about if your word is shrinkage?
SPEAKER_05That will never happen, Les. You better get off the train right now if you think it's if you think it's shrinkage.
SPEAKER_02I think I okay. In other words, I gotta gear off. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_05Strap on straight on.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna be a bumpy ride. But anyway, this has been another episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn. Brooklyn!
