Nothing But Anarchy
"Nothing But Anarchy" hosted by Chad Sanders explores and subverts sports, media, Hollywood, and culture. Chad's vulnerable and raw commentary creates a fresh podcast experience you don't want to miss. Tune in Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12PM ET on Youtube Live.
Subscribe to the "Nothing But Anarchy" Youtube channel for full interviews and more anarchy!
Game analysis, social commentary, and music.
Instagram: @chadsand
Executive Producer: Chad Sanders
Producer: Morgan Williams
Music: Marcus Williams
Nothing But Anarchy
Eps. #61 Issa Rae's Rapsh!t, Quinta Brunson's Abbott Elementary, Being Allowed to Criticize the Great Black Millennials, and James Harden's Leverage
As we navigate the intriguing dynamics of anarchy and personal preferences, we'll discover how the delicate dance of honesty and diplomacy plays out in the public sphere.
0:00 Chad's LA recap
5:13 Feedback from friends and Rapsh!t
17:06 TV Show Discussions and Personal Opinions
24:35 Quinta Brunson and Abbots Elementary Discussion
30:47 Censorship within Black Communities
42:32 Navigating Social Decorum
49:59 Importance of Communicating Preferences and Tone
57:00 James Harden's Career and Personal Choices
1:04:09 Company Trips
Tune in Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12PM ET to watch the show live on Youtube. Follow @chadsand on Instagram and subscribe to the Nothing But Anarchy Youtube channel for full interviews and more anarchy!
Executive Produced by: Chad Sanders
Produced by: Morgan Williams
This is Nothing but Anarchy, the show that explores and subverts sports, entertainment, media, hollywood, bunch of other stuff. Whatever you think is interesting, we do it here. Welcome to Nothing but Anarchy. Hey y'all, this is Nothing but Anarchy, episode number 61, but episode number one.
Speaker 1:Here on YouTube Live, I am your host, chad Sanders. I'm here live from Brooklyn, new York. We are on a new platform now. It is a visual platform where you can see me the entire time. I did not bring Chapstick. Do we have a Chapstick here? Okay, morgan has a Chapstick for me.
Speaker 1:I'm dehydrated because I was in Los Angeles for the last 48 hours. I got home, I'm going to tell you a little bit about my trip. I'm going to tell you about why I was there, because I'm very excited. I just got a Chapstick from off-screen. I am brand new to YouTube Live. I've never done it before. I'm going to channel my inner kaisenot. I barely know who that is, but I know enough that I think I can try to be like him.
Speaker 1:I was in Los Angeles for the last 48 hours and I was there because I have an eight-part podcast series coming to a network that will be announced sometime in the next I'm guessing in the next few days. Maybe it's already been announced, I don't know, but I think it'll be announced soon because it's coming out very soon, very, very, very soon, as in like days from now. So look forward to that announcement. I was out there spending some time with the people who run that network getting ready for the launch. I also got a chance to tap in with a couple of my oldest friends who I haven't seen in a very long time Justin and Taylor, leon and Kristen. Justin and Taylor's dog, april, leon and Kristen's babies, my godson, nico, who is one, and their other baby boy, luca, who is, I think, luca's four.
Speaker 1:It was probably one of my best LA trips ever because the flight on the way was easy. I sat between two white men who were nice, who were very nice. The one on my left was a looked like a deadhead, like, looked like some sort of like rock and roll fan kind of guy. He gave me a right on at one point and the guy to my right was like. He looked like the white haired co-star of Mad Men. What's that guy's name? In the show? Anybody watch Mad Men? Um, what's his name? I think it was Sterling Sterling. That's right, sterling. He looked like that guy and we both were having issues with the wifi. So we got very close and I got to LA. I did my. I executed like I did what I needed to do.
Speaker 1:When I take a trip to LA, it's a real. I have a real surgical precision about it. Like I time things out. I time out how much time I'm going to need to get ready in the morning before something. I steam things, I map things. I'm much more organized there than I am here because I just don't know. I just don't want to get like lost or caught up or confused.
Speaker 1:In fact, when I was trying to get back to the airport at the end I had a rental car. Oh this, I knew it was going to be a good trip because I tried to get the cheapest rental car that they had and they fucked up my rental. So they upgraded me to a 2024 Mercedes Benz SUV a black one and I got in and it was like I was in a spaceship. I didn't know how to use anything. I didn't even know how to use the. I didn't even know how to change the transmission, like I didn't know how to like. Is that what it's called? The thing that you turn from drive to park to reverse, I guess the transmission Okay, that's the transmission Like I was touching things, I was talking to things. It was very confusing, but I did feel very cool and very important in that car. This was an interesting moment.
Speaker 1:Okay, my life like I've said this several times on the other platform, my life is very chaotic right now. I have a million different things going on. We are building a business here. There are many expenses, there are many moving parts. Me and Morgan are finding ourselves more and more inundated with millions of things that we have to get like on track and get together and have precision on. And this morning, briefly, morgan and I talked about communication. We have to like get our communication airtight because there's so many things going on and we both have um. Outside of this, we both have so many other things going on and for me, some of those things include I just turned in a new book, I have a pitch, I have a Netflix pitch on Tuesday, I have a practice for that pitch immediately after this show. I have probably four other things that are in the can right now getting ready to be launched and over the next year I am going to be trying to focus on building audience so that when my projects come out, I don't have to rely on the studios or the networks to make sure that there's an audience for them and, hopefully, I don't have to split the economics with them.
Speaker 1:On a human level, on this trip I stopped and saw a few friends and one of those friends said to me it was very funny. This is funny. This is funny when you, when you do work that goes out for mass consumption, when you do a job like I do, um, where the shit that you work on is available to everyone, right, including your mom, including your partner, including your friends. Sometimes people don't like your shit, sometimes people don't like the stuff that you work on, and there is a delicate dance that happens between you and the people in your life where they the ones that are that care about you they are meaning to be supportive, like they want to show you that they love you, that they care, that they're interested in what you work on, but they also have to be true to themselves and their tastes, like it's art. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:I my least favorite thing is accidentally letting myself tell somebody I like something that I don't like, for instance, we're going to talk about what's going to Brenton's show called Rabbit Elementary. We're going to talk about that in a bit. Morgan's making a face at me. That's perfect, cause that's what we're actually going to talk about. We're going to talk about what are you allowed to not like as a, as a Negro? What are you allowed to not like as a black person? What are you allowed to say outside you don't like, including right, anime and Issa, who we're about to circle back around to in two seconds.
Speaker 1:Like Issa made famous the phrase I'm rooting for everybody black, right, issa kind of coined that. She said that shit at, um, well, I don't know, was it the Oscars, the Emmys, one of those? She had a very beautiful dress on when she said it, that's all I know. She was on a step and repeat or a red carpet, time difference. Um, and like, I am rooting for everybody black mostly, but that doesn't mean I have to like everything that black people make. We're going to come back to that, because here's what happened to me I was having a conversation with two friends, friends who I love dearly, and part of why I love them is because, um, I'll say specifically the one who said this thing a part of what I love about her is like there's a purity about her, like the shit there's, there's clarity, like you can she's see through. She's not like her agenda doesn't isn't hidden as far as I can tell. Like her, um, she I'm not going to describe it because I'm going to give away who she is and she's and she's compromised.
Speaker 1:So my friends in LA all work in show business. That's how it is. We're in our thirties. People have grinded their way up. They have pretty good jobs now, working for series and movies and writing movies and producing stuff and whatever. And like now we are like full on adults but with these jobs that entitled look very glamorous, which is funny. Because you walk into our houses like our lifestyles are not glamorous. That's actually a lie. Like my friends drive nice cars, my friends have nice houses, but like life is still chaotic inside. Like when you really get inside someone's house and you can see the tapestry of what, how they're actually living. Like there is, there is, um, it's not as glamorous as you might imagine and this particular friend there's. That segue is just. I just had to go back over here. That has nothing to do with what I'm about to say but I'm going to get to the point Somehow, or another rap shit comes up.
Speaker 1:I'm so, I'm so giddy because she said it and I didn't say it, she said it. And then rap shit comes up and she now I've given away her gender, so that narrows it down a little bit more. But whatever, fuck it, she just goes. She just splurts it out Like she. I think she didn't even mean to. She was like I hated rap shit.
Speaker 1:And then, when she got it out, once she realized she had said it, she looked at me like oh yeah, oh shit, like Chad, you wrote on rap shit. And I'm smiling. I have a big, I have this exact smile on my face because I'm like this is perfect, like this is juicy, like this is you know, now, when somebody breaks the rules in front of me, a few different signals go off in my head and they're all exciting to me. One is I can offer safety. Now I can give them. I can connect with them and be like your rule breaking is safe here and I can participate with them. Another one is I can mess with them. I can pretend. I can pretend like I was really offended, that she didn't fuck with rap shit Like I can, I can pretend to feel prickly and angsty and vulnerable about it or whatever, but in this case she plowed through it so fast.
Speaker 1:She looked at me I was already smiling and then she just started, just once the cat was out of the bag, she just started like applying. She just started applying like more truth to it. She just started saying basically like yeah, I mean I'm going to tell you all what she said. Okay, okay, morgan, are you nervous? Okay, good, morgan called me before I walked in here and she was like just remember that whatever you say about rap shit is going to be live. So, like she was saying without saying, like don't self detonate. So I'm just going to tell you what she said.
Speaker 1:What she said is the show one is it doesn't, it doesn't connect. For her, it feels like a lot of like cackling and it feels now and now I'm going to start paraphrasing her what she and the person who was also standing next to us were saying, because they both kind of joined in and they were saying like it feels like someone outside the culture. Someone else said this. I'm just telling you what someone else said. Am I so loud right now? I feel loud, am I loud? All right, cool, can whatever happens here. Someone else said this. Okay, I'm just telling you what someone else said.
Speaker 1:It feels like someone outside the culture, pointing at the culture and basically doing like you know how. Sometimes, like God, I'm about to get so spicy, episode one you know how? Sometimes black people will cosplay as black people on Twitter. Yes, you guys familiar with this? Like black people will try out extra black shit that they don't actually say in real life accents, ways of speaking, euphemisms, terms like it's. Like black people will learn how to be black from other black people on Twitter. Are you guys familiar? It's okay to just say yes or no.
Speaker 1:I'm familiar with this concept, not necessarily on Twitter, but okay, but in general, yes, I'm familiar with the concept of like Josh laugh because I know he knows.
Speaker 4:Absolutely familiar with this concept.
Speaker 1:Like black people will try to not all black people, obviously, but like hey, man, we're doing it, you. You put rap shit and Abbott elementary on my docket, so I got to talk about how I feel. So black people will cosplay like into blackness, use terms that they don't use in real life, use jokes that they got off other people as kind of their own, just like. It's a place where people experiment with their black voice. I know what I'm saying is true, so I don't feel embarrassed about saying it out loud. That happens. Y'all know that shit happens. Now that is something they're accusing rap shit of doing. I wrote on rap shit, okay. So I spent 20 weeks of my life in a room with other black people, mostly crafting the shape, tone, dialogue, dialect of a character made up of black characters in this world and the Black feel because they, you know, are all in a different 1080 Jade. Oh, absolutely, you're cool when you're in a movie like that. Well, that audience, the role of that estuary, is just seriously what will keep you are. Excuse me, what I will say is like this is almost I'm almost going to give a little bit of protection to rap shit and shows like rap shit that are accused of that same thing. Right, accused of, I think, what I'm hearing when someone says, like that's someone outside the culture pointing at the culture, like I think what they're saying is that they felt there was caricaturizing happening in the show. Okay, and I will say, as a writer, what is, what can be difficult when trying to craft something that indeed speaks to blackness and indeed like speaks on the black experience is like you do have to signal to the audience that there is something inherently black about the show and something inherently like, specific to a culture about the show. Right, the show also takes place in Miami. As far as I remember, there was only one writer on the show From Miami and that was Kid Fury. And actually there was one other who joined later on in the process, but like Fury was more or less like the Miami guru, he was like the Miami expert. You know, we would like every time, you know we got to figure out what neighborhood with this thing happened in. And so you ask Fury, like you got to figure out what you know, how might these two people talk to each other, what dialect, what lingo, whatever. Like Fury was, more or less, I think, the go to person for like answers on that stuff, and I think he did quite well to like hold down that spot for us. But it is like as a writer, no matter.
Speaker 1:I'm reading my sister's book right now and every time I read a chapter of the book, by the end of the chapter, I am really emotionally tense and I call or I text my sister and I'm like so what is this chapter saying? And what I'm what I'm getting at is like, what are you saying about men in this chapter? Like, because my sister is having to write all of the characters in the story, including the male characters, and I'm noticing things about men that I believe my sister believes by way of her characters, but she's outside the male experience and so in some way she has to just assume, she has to guess. That's the same thing we had to do on rap shit with a like a rapper duo from Miami living in Miami. None of us have that experience to women. Like none of us actually had the experience. None of us are Carisha. So like we had to. You got to guess a little bit and indeed you are outside the experience on some level. But enough of that. That was all like an unplanned defense of the show.
Speaker 1:Let me get back to the point. The point is and I'm happy for this moment, I'm happy we have gotten here in my friend group, friend group on the way here, there were so many eggshells to walk on like as a unit. Okay, there was so much. Who's getting a shot first and who's getting an opportunity and who's like who's here and who's here and like. You know, you kind of want to keep everybody level, so like if somebody great, if somebody climbed too high, you might find people being a little more sniping with that person. If somebody was like at a low point, people get a little condescending.
Speaker 1:And when people would put shit out, like when my book came out, I have friends who wrote on other shows, whatever it was just so eggshelly about like what do we like, what do we not like, whatever. And I felt that way, like when I only had one thing out there. It was like whatever someone says about that one thing, black magic. At that point that feels like a referendum on me because it's the only representation that I have of myself out there in the zeitgeist. Now I have a few things out there and one of the things that I participated, a couple of things that I worked on. They're not mine.
Speaker 1:So when my friend said that, like, I wasn't stung. In fact I wanted to egg her on to like go further down the hall, tell me more about what you don't like about this show. She's a black woman. This show is meant, I think, to reflect a dimension of a black woman's experience. I wanted to know where did she think it missed the mark? And she told me exactly where she thought Now the show is coming back, comes back on. I'm yelling comes back on November 9th, correct? I was talking on the phone last night to someone this is a total. This is over here. This is an off ramp. I'm going to come back. I was talking on the phone last night to someone who listens to this show and I realized that I just don't talk like this in real life. You know, is that like my opinions are different in real life, but like I really do project when I'm, when there's camera and microphone here. But I think I think that's what I'm supposed to do. The show comes back on November 9th, wrap shit.
Speaker 1:For those of you who have never seen me, met me before, here's some background. I wrote on the show. I said that it was a couple of years ago that I wrote on it for the first season. I appeared in the show for one second. I offered somebody champagne. I was not asked to return to write on the show for season two, and so let's explore whether or not I am a reliable narrator or a commenter on season two of the show. Let's explore it. Here are some ways someone might see me in this sort of position.
Speaker 1:Right, let me get this out of the way. I am rooting for the show to do well because, just in the way that, like every year, does Gronish still come on? Anybody know? Yeah, it ended. It ended, well, rip. But what I was going to say is like, just in the way that every year that Gronish continues to exist, it is. It just gives one more way for people to do brand association on me. When my name comes up for them to know like, so outside of Hollywood people might be like, ooh, I didn't really like Gronish, so like his taste might not be great. Inside of Hollywood, all people care is did something get another? All people care about executives is like did it get another season? Does somebody like it? So as long as Gronish persists, it is good for my brand association that, like people know, I wrote on that show and that's it Doesn't matter how long I wrote on it, doesn't matter how many episodes doesn't even really matter, like what my role was on the fucking food chain of writing on it.
Speaker 1:The truth is I wrote the fourth episode of Gronish co-wrote. That is the only episode of Gronish I have ever seen and I have not written on anything else having to do with Gronish. I don't even know nobody else that works on Gronish. Now for rap shit. It was different. I wrote on an entire season of rap shit. I know those people. I was in that room. I have no one of the people that writes on Gronish since I was 15 years old. So I am rooting for the show selfishly, for my own brand association, but also because I care about the people who write on that show.
Speaker 1:However and this is where people would be fake in this industry they didn't ask me to come back, so part of me is also like I'm curious to see what did they want the show to be? That was different, that made them make the personnel choices that they made, and are they able to execute that change in direction? Okay, I'm not the sort of person who would be like I was there for season one, season one got season two, now let's see if season two gets season three, am I? No, I am that sort of person. I am going to pay attention to that. I am going to be like I am going to be watching to see how the show is talked about, also now, with a little bit of distance from the show.
Speaker 1:Right, most people who follow me, who engage with me, don't know that I wrote on that show. I'm sorry, don't know that. I didn't write on season two of that show. In fact, people have already started to congratulate me on season two coming out whenever it comes out November 9th no, that's not true. November, what? November 9th? But I didn't. And so people who are close to me, who know that I didn't write on the show, I now think I'm going to be privy to their honesty, just as I was with my friend a few days ago, and being privy to other people's honesty about that particular piece of art is going to also give me more access to my own honesty on that particular piece of art. That shit, care about it, care about the people involved. Can I just be honest to say probably not a show that I'm gonna be watching. Like that's not a show that I think I would have naturally gravitated to as a watcher, as audience. Maybe you know what. That's not true. I definitely would have given it a chance, off the strength of Insecure, issa, etc. Even like association in themes, to like Atlanta.
Speaker 1:I always want to watch a show about some rappers, that's that kind of. I haven't watched the Hulu. What's it called Method man? What's that show called? Yeah, is it called Wu Tang? Though? Haven't watched the Wu Tang Show, point being. I've run very long on this topic and I'm gonna end the segment now. Let me flip it really quickly. I just want to ask you all tell the truth, as I have told the truth Do you like rap shit? Yes, yes, do you like it?
Speaker 3:I liked it. It took me a minute to get into it, but I liked it.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you like it?
Speaker 4:I watched two episodes. I enjoyed the two episodes I watched. Haven't been back, though.
Speaker 1:Okay, are you guys telling the truth?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, All right, great, All right. End of segment. That was really long, that's it All right. Welcome back. This is Nothing but Anarchy.
Speaker 1:I was supposed to do that first segment in 12 minutes. I did it in 27 minutes, so the rest of the show I'm gonna try to move a little bit more expediently. Here's what we're gonna talk about next. We're gonna get to sports. Don't worry, we're also gonna get to questions Q&A from my Instagram. We're gonna get to a few, quite a few things. Please, please, feel free to ask questions in the chat. We will respond to your questions. We are gonna try to make this more interactive as we go. It is kind of crazy that you all can see me now. That's so weird, but I like it. Yeah, before I was just like, I mean, the camera was there, but I was just kind of sitting with the phone in my hand reading the chat. It was just very, very different from this. All right, I tease this at the top, but we're gonna get into Quinta Brunson's glamour interview. Quinta Brunson, okay, first of all, why did she do this interview? Is there a new season?
Speaker 3:coming out. She's Woman of the Year.
Speaker 1:She's Woman of the Year. Okay, amazing Glamour, Glamour. Is that a Kanye Nass property? Does anybody know? I want to say yes, Okay by the way, this is how I consume things. This is probably why I consume fewer things than most people, because, yeah, because if I read something I got to see then who wrote it, then I got to go see what company owns the publication, and it's just a very long process of digesting information.
Speaker 3:And sorry correction, she's One of the Women of the Year.
Speaker 1:She's One of the Women of the Year. Okay, now what we are going to talk about is probably not that much what's actually in the interview, but can you, morgan, you read the interview? Can you tell me what did you take from the interview?
Speaker 3:Just like they delved into her process just from being from Philly and creating Abbott Elementary and kind of like what's next? And her being both a producer starring and writing on Abbott and how that was extremely difficult to do and she was like I will never do that again. But she appreciates all that Abbott is, but she's ready to try out other things.
Speaker 1:Yes, she is the third millennial creator, star black of our. Like, that's a thing that happened in millennialism. Okay, issa Rae happened, donald Glover happened, quinta Brunson happened, and that I'm getting all my nice shit out the way. That is fire. That's what I was trying to do and did not succeed in it, like, didn't end up where she's. I am to Quinta Brunson as Joe Budden is to Drake. Okay, I meant to try to do that thing and I ended up doing this other stuff. But, like, what I'm saying is that thing is fire because it may.
Speaker 1:I think that concept, that like that sort of character, the creator, executive producer, director, star black, young, you know, like kind of like straight shooter thing, like I think that archetype of person inspired so many other black people to try to launch themselves into entertainment in a way that, in a way that was more creatively powerful than just like trying to be an actor. What I'm saying is I appreciate people like Quinta and there are only three of them as far as I'm, as far as I'm concerned because I think that, like, that size of ambition and execution inspired me to try to get something that was really far away and really big and even in not succeeding. It birthed an entirely like different life for me, like a better, like a better life for me than probably where I was pointed. What direction I was pointed? All right, we're gonna go the opposite direction. Now you like Abbot Elementary.
Speaker 4:Honestly, I've never watched it.
Speaker 1:Never watched it. You like Abbot Elementary? Yes, morgan, I love.
Speaker 3:Abbot Elementary. Yeah, okay, thank you, morgan.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Morgan, all right now, without saying anything that is a pleasantry or like politically correct, but just the truth, like just the truth, like I'm not saying don't say something negative, I just mean like just nothing, that's like off script, like on the script. Just what is your point of view on Quinta Brunson, morgan, you first.
Speaker 3:I think she's like, honestly, kind of an icon, like in the sense of what you literally just said, like to executive produce, to write, to star in something is extremely I feel like it's extremely difficult to do one of those things, let alone all three of them simultaneously. And then I think she also like what the show I don't know like what, what its premise is, what her hope for it is. All of that seems so like great and like the type of television that's like nice to watch and consume and like yeah.
Speaker 1:Charlotte.
Speaker 2:Yeah, similar to Morgan, I echo that and like I've been watching Quinta since BuzzFeed so I've just kind of always liked her, so like and I love a good workplace comedy so like having this person who I've always like looked up to and like admired and like appreciated, doing a style of television that I also really like and admire, it's kind of just I don't know what the word is I'm looking for, but yeah, I just love it.
Speaker 1:Josh got a point of view.
Speaker 4:Fortunately I don't. I don't, I don't know. I've never watched Abbott Elementary. I'm not really. I know who Quinta Brunson is very familiar with, like I know what she looks like and everything like that, but I don't know her work all that well. But that's also because I've been pretty much, you know, running this business for five years. So I know nothing of anything.
Speaker 1:Okay, josh has tapped into a phenomenon that I is important for me to point out here, which is that if you do not watch Abbott Elementary, you must have an excuse for why you don't watch Alibaba elementary. In the company of blacks, you must say I do not watch Alibaba elementary because because, once you have said the words, I do not watch Abbott elementary, people will make a face at you, and that's really what I want to explore here, more than because I don't watch Abbott elementary and therefore I cannot give an educated critique of the show. I don't watch workplace comedy Like I really even like, so much so that, like for people that I love, I tried to sit on the couch and watch the office and, like my brain I have to accept my brain needs a different type of stimulus than like a quiet, like still handheld camera sitcom. I mean it does like. My brain does not hook on that. I'm. I'm in a place of making peace with who and how I am, and that is not a fish hook that I bite onto it, just any. If I end up with someone in life who wants to watch that stuff, I am going to have to be allowed to do something else with my hands and my eyeballs while that show is on the TV, like that is, that is just the case, and so I can't watch Abbott elementary. But forget about that. What I want to examine is like wow, this is not new.
Speaker 1:I'm not inventing this concept or this topic, but I do want to examine what are we allowed to say in public? What if? What if, when the mic got to me when it was my turn, what if I sat here and gave a 15 minute scorching critique of Quinta Brunson the show, why I don't think it's fire, like you know, I'm saying as an example. I'm not saying this, but if I were to enter into this conversation, as one might, of Donald Glover, if I were to say Quinta Brunson is married to a white man, where, how does she get to speak to?
Speaker 1:And for our culture, I'm, these are straw men that I'm holding up. Will you guys just? Will you guys just fucking? Let me do the thought experiment before you attack me with pitchforks. Like I'm saying what if? Okay, everybody's like holding their breath. I'm saying what if that was what I came in here with, because to do my job, I have to when Morgan throws something at me, right, I can't come in here and say, oh my gosh, quinta Brunson, I love Abbott elementary. Like that's not doing the job, like I cannot, just I can't, just like ride on the team bandwagon for whatever it is. That is the thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, you really felt that way, you could if I really felt that way, you know I would. But when you introduce a concept to me, I have to then start looking at it from all. Anything that is entered into the system has to be, it has to be analyzed from, like all angles. Which is to say, quinta Brunson is a human and therefore, of course, is not beyond reproach. But I do know that there are certain figures in our cultural community who are indeed beyond reproach. Like I would not dare fucking take this microphone and say some wild shit about Quinta Brunson in here, right, that is to the net negative of the art form, this particular art form, because that's fearful, like, in my opinion, that's bad, like if I really, if I had those feelings I don't know enough about Quinta Brunson to really like have formed any feelings like that. But Do, okay, let me start here. Do you all agree with and accept there is a phenomenon here that has taken, that has taken on Abbott Elementary, even more so than it took on insecure, where, like you are not allowed to say something bad about Alamed elementary.
Speaker 1:This is an audio medium. Please use words if you agree or disagree. I In public.
Speaker 3:I feel like, okay, I also feel like there's something are you saying in just like black communities or in all oh, I wouldn't dare say such a thing around white people.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I would now see. That's a whole other thing. If someone else did that around white people, then I would burn their eyebrows off with the intensity of a thousand suns. Like I would not. No, I would never say that in front of white people. Like I would never say, or I should say I would say it in front of them, like I would do it here white people listen to this. But like I would never say it in a room with white people. No, that's a sin, that's horrible. Like I would never do that.
Speaker 1:I just I literally mean like if I am at a party or if I'm like watching football with five other black folks at a friend's house and two of them I'm close to, two of them are friends of friends, like their friends. If Abbott Elementary comes up, like I am not about to be. Like you know, I actually think Abbott Elementary is overrated. Like I think the jokes are a little underwritten. Like I'm not, I would never do that. Like it's not, it's illegal, it's, it's not allowed. Do you all agree that that is the case?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, do you guys think that's okay?
Speaker 3:I mean no, like you should be able to share, like how you feel in rooms. I think you just have to be able to like back it up so that you don't sound like just a hater.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, hold on. Okay, Charlotte, we're coming to you next, so be prepared. But let's just exit like, let's look at this, right? Okay, I used to be accused frequently. This is actually something that's changed in my life recently.
Speaker 1:I used to be accused frequently by my friends of being a hater. Right, and a couple of things changed. One is, I think I think I was first among many of my friends to feel comfortable developing my own tastes, which is to say, I felt comfortable saying you know what. That's a lie. It's not about comfortable. Something that I don't like, morgan, you know this to be.
Speaker 1:So something I don't like is so uncomfortable to me that I can't even fake it, like if I hate something, I hate it so bad that it hurts me. Or if I dislike it, I hate it so bad that it hurts me. So I got to tell you like I can't watch the office. Like because I, because I can't, because my eyeballs can't watch it. I can't watch the Avengers. My eyeballs and my brain, I guys. I can't watch Black Panther. I can't do it. I can't like I did it, but I can't do it. I would. You couldn't get me to do it again, like I just it's not about the thing, it's about the type of thing.
Speaker 1:So let me go back to the point. Point is you said you will be accused of being a hater, right? I already said, I already got it out the way at the top of this, quinta Brunson succeeded at the thing that I wanted to do and I failed, right? So that much like is there. I can't get it. I can't get it out of the lens between me and the person that I'm talking to. And yet, and still like, I should still be allowed to not like something without it having to like. It's like. What you're saying is I can't voice my opinion on this thing without someone turning that into an attack on me in some way. That's what you're saying, right?
Speaker 3:Well, a little, yes, but I also think there are certain things. Okay. So you said Black Panther, right, I think that can also be something that's my hater and say no, no, no, like in the sense of like you didn't watch Black Panther or like you didn't try to support Black Panther. So I don't like workplace comedies either, like I also like don't do dock you, mock you, henry, whatever. And I really like Abed Elementary, and so I would say like, give it a shot.
Speaker 1:I've watched. I have watched a couple of episodes Like it's not. I am willing to believe, and I do believe that like she is a master of the art form of the workplace comedy. I have no doubt in my mind that if you fuck with workplace comedies, that that's hot. You know what I mean, because when I watch it I can even tell how it's like the office. Like you know what I mean, even as someone who doesn't watch that stuff, I'm like, oh, this is like the office, but she made it. She made it special because she made it this world and not that world or whatever. Black Panther I went to go see that with one of our boys years, like when it first came out it's probably maybe before it even came out we went to a PAC theater.
Speaker 1:Where were we at? Maybe Brooklyn, can't remember. 10 minutes in I was like get me the fuck out of here. I was like everybody around me is enjoying it and I was so much feeling get me the fuck out of here that afterward he said he had to go see it again because he could feel how much I was not having a good time. So can you imagine that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can. You have like physical, like a versions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I get, I get squirmy, but so okay. So okay, charlotte, we're coming to you. Okay, so you're not allowed to say you don't like it, because then you're a hater. Oh, also, by the way, when I started down this path, one of the goals that I had and I told my friends this early on one of the goals I had was to get to the point where if someone says they don't like your stuff, other people get mad at them. Other people then accuse them of being stupid, not getting it, being a hater. I think Donald Glover reached that point, I think Issa had it at some point and I think Quinta Brunson has it now. Charlotte, yes, why are you not allowed to say in a room of blacks that you don't like that? You don't like Abed elementary?
Speaker 2:I think it speaks to what you said earlier, like they're literally excluding Tyler Perry. They're like three black people that are doing this thing. So it's like to say one person and not to say this is what you're saying, but to say that one person isn't doing that great of a job at it. It's just like there are so, but so many of us. It just seems like not only you're a hater, but like you're not supporting and like it's not encouraging to other people, not saying that it's true, but that that might be how it comes off.
Speaker 1:There, indeed. And there's something else, there's another objection that like I don't think I ever loved my friend more than when it slipped out of her mouth that she didn't fuck with rap shit. Like I don't think I ever wanted to hug her more than that I'm literally standing holding like one of her babies and I'm and she said it, and she said it was such purity and didn't care about my feelings at all and didn't back off of it and like that is a lovable trait in a person. When they it's like, regardless of what's allowed, regardless of what the rules are, like my point of view, how I feel is how I feel. Like that is lovable. Like I can I can be around white people who feel some shit. That is not great for me, but they feel how they feel and I can tell they feel how they feel. And there's something endearing about that, there's something I connect to. When everybody has to toe the company line, like when everybody has to be fake about something not even necessarily fake but like there's not even room for nuance, like if someone was like I think rabbit, rabbit, I think avid elementary is pretty good. That's not even allowed. Like you're not even allowed to say like I think it's good. You know what I mean. It has to be like I love it. So there's another reason why I don't like that.
Speaker 1:As a circumstance and I'm going to wrap up this segment because now I have spent probably like 17 minutes talking about it Um, this, and this is like maybe the anarchistic element of it. It supposes, like this is the dynamic you just presented. Those people are in a rare place for black people, right? Kenya Barris, quinta Brunson, issa Donald, shonda, rhimes, um them, right, it's a small room. Oh, leads me to another point that I forgot about, rap shit, which is, um, I'm gonna say it, I'm just say it. No, I'm gonna finish this and then I'm gonna say it because it's such a good point. All right, it supposes that the place that they are at and what they're doing I'm doing the hand thing because they're over there it's supposed that the place that they're at and what they're doing is so important and so impactful and valuable to black people as a community that it is more important than your, specifically your, point of view. That's what it's saying.
Speaker 1:Sacrifice your point of view, for whatever the fuck they got going on. I could tell you right now. Whatever the fuck Kenya Barris got going on. Not more important than my point of view. I pro I could stand on that. Okay, that's funny to you, josh. I promise you that. Okay, I'm telling you like I'm not sacrificing my point of view for anybody else's fucking empire. Like I'm not, I'm not going for it and I don't want y'all to do. I hope none of y'all ever do that for me, no matter where I end up, ever. Morgan, it would make me so sad to find out that you sacrificed your actual feelings like that. You shut your mouth about something because you wanted me to win so bad, because you thought what I have going on is that much more important than what you have going on. That would make me sad.
Speaker 3:I feel like that can't happen because you I have a very expressive face.
Speaker 1:I know you could always tell yeah, and I asked you what's wrong. 20 times every day and I'm like Morgan, just spit it out, finish saying what you're saying. But do you, does that? Does that resonate with y'all in any way? Like Quinta Brunson, I'm happy for what you got going on. I love it, but like I'm not about to bite my tongue for anybody else's empire, it just doesn't. That just doesn't feel equal. That doesn't feel right Like that. That's not. I don't like that. Yes, does somebody else? You have something else to say? Does anybody else want to speak on this topic? Okay, well, you're welcome to. Your point of view is valuable.
Speaker 4:I'm just nervous because I'm trying to hit these breaks.
Speaker 1:So we're about to hit a break. We're about to hit a break. Last thing I want to say, and it's regarding rap shit and not actually what I just talked about but yeah, they can see I'm giddy when I have a good thing. Okay, rap shit, right, you guys all express your points of view. You all know what the show is and what it's like.
Speaker 2:Yes, Morgan yes, yes, yes, you know what.
Speaker 1:You've seen episodes, you've seen how people talk to each other, etc. Yes, um, and this is where when people say like oh, I can separate the art from the artist, like that's bullshit, because if Lena Waithe made rap shit and not Issa Rae, people would talk about that show entirely differently. If Lena Waithe made that show and not Issa Rae, it would have a completely different reputation in black Twitter. Okay, that's it. All right, segment break. That was excellent. Great job, chattie. That was one of my best ones ever. All right, cool, let's move on. A couple of things came up while we were away and I do like to sort of keep the audience in on the production of the show. I think that's one of the elements of the show that is fun to me. If I were listening to the show, I would be into that. But, um, oh, there's a lot of chatty chat happening. People are chatting.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I see chatting it was um Shannon.
Speaker 3:She said that I'm not in big groups a lot, but I feel like usually people are like, oh weird, I love it when somebody's lukewarm about Abbott, but it's not like a aggressive I think I mean, I think that's true.
Speaker 1:I also think, um, I live it while I live in Queens, but like I spent a lot of my time in Brooklyn with um, with I spent a lot of my time around Black folks in their 20s and 30s, where you're not allowed to say there's a, there's such a company line around certain things right, you're not allowed. You really like I don't want to sound like fucking Joe Rogan or anybody like that, but like you're really not allowed to say a lot of shit. Like you're really not allowed to not like certain things.
Speaker 3:I think you just have to be able to back it up.
Speaker 1:I can back it up. Yeah, okay, I mean if y'all, if okay, okay, I mean and when I say you're not allowed, I don't mean I don't mean like actually, like anybody's gonna smack you up, I just mean, like you, you make people uncomfortable, like you just see, you can see it on people. But the other thing you can see on people Listen, I live here, okay, and I'm, and I'm, I'm really here, some. I Don't care how y'all feel, I really don't. Like, I really live here. Most of y'all are fucking Transients. I've been here for 12 years. I've been in Brooklyn. I don't even live in Brooklyn, but I lived in Brooklyn for a lot of years. Like I'm here, I'm always here.
Speaker 1:You all know the vibes. Like you all know that it's like every third topic we got to talk about skeptic. Every fifth topic we got a fucking Somebody has to drop a name. Like, oh, I went to this Nike event. Like, oh, I went to this. Like y'all know what the script is here.
Speaker 1:Like you're not allowed to say no crazies about Abbott elementary in In a group of people. Like you're not allowed to. Like you're not allowed to, definitely not allowed to say anything about Quinta Brunson. Like I'm not even. I'm just pointing it out before I even assign a value to it. Just acknowledge that it's true. Like there are certain, there is a decorum, there is a, there are rules. Like there is a script here I and you can see it on people's bodies.
Speaker 1:Like people aren't loose, people are uptight, people are fucking, they got their faces a certain kind of way. They're networking in the party. They're networking at the kickback like and a part of okay, thank you, chad, you found it. When everybody's networking all the time, like You're at work, like that's the thing, and at work You're not allowed to say everything. When everybody's job is so loosey-goosey this person's a fucking influencer and this person is in marketing at this company and this person is works in the Music industry and everything's just so loosey-goosey and you pretend like you're hanging out, but you're actually really working and networking. You're like working on a relationship. That's what you're actually doing. Like you you kick it so you can get closer to people, so you can get an opportunity, like In a work environment. No, you can't just say whatever you want in a. At a corporation, you can't do that. And like a lot of the social scene in Brooklyn operates as a corporation. Who did someone disagree with me. Disagree with me how y'all feel.
Speaker 3:Like you mean, with everything being a networking event. Yeah um not everything, but but yeah like the decorum um, I would say yes okay, well done.
Speaker 1:Thank you, morgan.
Speaker 4:All right, yes, Josh, I was gonna say, like you just explained the whole reason why I don't go outside at all, like a hundred percent, and mostly it's just because, like yeah, there's, you can just feel it in the room that everybody is Everybody. You know, yeah, you just feel like you have to walk on eggshells around everything and you know, and I'm not a person who, like you know, usually has like such a strong opinion about many things, like I'm not usually that person but at the same time it's just like yeah, there's just like an entire vibe, especially in Brooklyn, especially like at any of these quote-unquote events that look like they're they they're not gonna call them networking events, but anytime you're going out and out like it's a networking event right, right, and like I'm not gonna stay on this long because I don't want to start.
Speaker 1:I can feel myself sounding like a male podcaster on some. Like I want to just say whatever I want and like I thought I'm not really saying that. I just mean, like when you're kicking it with your friends, like it's like no, we're not on TV, are we like we can just talk right, like we can just make a joke, or no or no, or like I can literally just say how I feel about XYZ or no. That's not the segment. Okay, let me get to the point. Let me get to the segment. What even is the segment? I didn't even think about it during the break. Do you want to do sports? Wait, no, you said hold on, hold on, hold on, no, I can do it, guys, I can do it. I can do it. Josh said wait, you said hold on. I came back and then what did I say? Oh, okay, cut the thing with Lena. Wait, cut that thing. We need that as a real later. Okay. So I told Morgan I was like yo, cut that real. That has me asking the question like, if that's so, it mean like that tells you that we know what the rules are the fact that you had that response right, because I said cut the real.
Speaker 1:That says, if Lena wave made rap shit and not Issa Rae, wouldn't we talk about that show completely differently, right? Which is y'all know what I'm saying like Lena wave would get dragged if she made rap shit. Yes, y'all know what I'm saying. Y'all nervous, like Cuz I'm nervous, but that's true. So so, and and Morgan was like oof, I don't, you know. Like are you sure you want to say that? Like that's your friend, right? Like, and Lena is, I've sat in this chair and told y'all, like, among all the Hollywood folks, that I know she has treated me the least Hollywood. Like she's the one that always hit you with a text back. She's the one that always shows love when you see her outside. She's the one that never forgets your fucking. You know I'm saying what you got going on. Like she's, she's, she's really down, like she's really with the shit. So I Honestly think, like that's not fair to Lena. If people would treat her art differently, then they would treat the next person's. You know, I'm saying I think we need one real that has that in it, and then I think we need another real that has oh Like, are you allowed like some of the, are you allowed to? But what I'm really saying and this is feedback for the reels and also we we have on the docket we're gonna talk about the show and tastes.
Speaker 1:I want us to start cutting and Distributing the more spicy parts of the show. I want us to take big, bigger swings with the reels. I want him, I want to. I don't want there to be any question about what is the tone of the show when people Tune in. I want them to know and I want them to decide like. I want them to either be like I'm in or I'm out. I don't want to like, I don't want to fuck around like, I don't want to dance around it, and part of that is because now this is the litch to let y'all in on it.
Speaker 1:Like my audience is growing. I think it's about to probably hit a pretty big inflection point in a couple weeks when this new project comes out. Our team is growing, our Platform is growing, we got more like, so everything's growing and I think how we set the tone of it now is gonna like shape what it becomes, and I want to make sure that we I don't want to like, let the blade get dull as it gets fatter. You know what I mean. I don't, like I have to say the thing about Lena, and he said because, like, I don't want to start getting cute and getting scared as it gets bigger. So here's something that's been happening. I'm a really, I'm a really zoom out and pullback.
Speaker 1:So I am being advised by a couple people on how to build out all of my stuff right now, how to really build the Chad machine, and one point of feedback, one point of direction that I've been given is pay attention to who has enthusiasm for what you're doing and Find ways to help them, like, find ways to help them plug into what you're doing, like, whatever it is that they do, whatever it is that they're great at, whatever it is that they can offer like, find a way to take that offer, because Energy is the resource you can't evaluate, like it's a resource you can't just pay. You can't pay someone to love your shit. You can pay them to do the job, but you can't pay them to like love. I can't pay someone to Be like Morgan. I can't pay someone to be, like, so Enthusiastic and thinking about stuff and being creative all the time and trying so many different things like you can't really get that out of people the same if they don't care about something.
Speaker 1:So, as a part of that, we are having more people Participate here. Right, there's someone out there who is sign us, trying to sell sponsorships for this show. There's someone who is building a web website for me for, like, different forms of content to live on. There's someone who's come in to help us with content here and cutting reels and stuff. Luigi, who I, who you all met on the last show and, as a result, as things get bigger, it means more people are acting as stewards of, frankly, like my point of view and my taste. There is a musical playlist made for the breaks of this show today and I called Morgan this morning and I was like hey, wait, what's up with the music? Like where is it? And Like she was like oh, I made a playlist for blah, blah, blah and I was and I'm like no, I got to sit down and like go through every song and make sure I'm comfortable with that song contextualizing me.
Speaker 1:So there's more decisions, artistic, creative decisions being made around the show and what I'm speaking to is like there's a balancing act that I have to do here. I can't, I Can't be reductive of my taste, because my taste affects me like it. It makes me feel some kind of way and I do think, like it's hard for other people to know what it is about, what I do and what I like that other people respond to because it's one thing for you, it's one thing for another person. But at the same time I don't I don't want to dull anybody's enthusiasm for what we do here, like I don't want to smack anybody on the hand and say, like you know, I hate that song. Like I'll say it to Morgan but I won't say it to anybody else. I don't want to be like I hate that song so much, don't put that on the real because I want people trying to take shots, like I want people try, I want people. I don't want people to pull that energy back, I want them to pour it in.
Speaker 1:And I, what I have to learn how to do, is like I have to learn how to communicate to other people what I like basically and I have never, honestly, I have never been good at that like that has been an issue that's come up in my relationships. That has been an issue that's come up, um, if it's mine, if I have like complete control over it, if it's words on a page, if it's words that I'm speaking, it's easy because I don't have to like help anybody else understand. But if I'm trying to tell someone else like I like yellow, I don't like red. I've never been great at that and that's a skill set that I have to cultivate now so that we can grow Appropriately, all right, that was a segment about our business. I hope anybody found that interesting at all. I got to talk about sports, so I'm gonna do that right now.
Speaker 1:So I have been expressing my adoration for James Harden lately on this show. I have said to a few friends for years now. I think James Harden has some things figured out about life that other people do not, that other, especially other pro athletes do not. Okay, james Harden is one of the greatest players in the NBA, but he is not like among the Pinnacle, like the elite. He's not one of the guys who can lead a team to a championship. He is an MVP, he is a. He has averaged a triple double. I think. He has averaged 35 points per game in the NBA. He has averaged over 10 assists in the NBA. He has led the league in scoring and assists in the NBA.
Speaker 1:I have gone to see him play a lot like in person. He's an absolute wizard of basketball tree. He even looks like a wizard. He has this long-ass beard. He is magical with the basketball. His vision is incredible. He can shoot, he can score, he can handle. He's big as shit. He's like six, five. His broad shoulders, a big chest like he throws people around on the court. He's nimble. He's acrobatic like his feet are quick. He's smart, he's, he's, he's um White sports people. When you all talk about these things, like, just make sure you say he's smart, because he's fucking smart as hell he is. So his basketball IQ is like through the roof. But I also think his life IQ is through the roof. Okay, here's why James Harden is notably Someone who has been outside for his entire career.
Speaker 1:Right, he was. He is known to be out in Houston, in Las Vegas, in LA, in New York, in Overseas. He travels with Travis Scott, travis Scott's people. Sometimes I see him on my boy Earl's Instagram all the time down in Houston like he lives his life and he does his job at the highest fuck at like, if not the highest, like, let's say, the 10th highest level. Okay, he has made hundreds of millions of dollars playing basketball. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsements.
Speaker 1:He and, on top of that, when he doesn't like how management is moving, he understands his leverage. Like when he's ready for a new situation, he leans on whoever he needs to lean on until he gets a new situation. That, in my opinion, is unassailable. If you think that being company man would make him an extra $50 million let's call it $30 million after taxes, depending on where he plays and he's already made $400 million after taxes in the NBA Maybe it's not worth it to him to be company man for an extra $30 million.
Speaker 1:In my personal opinion, that's having your priorities straight. That's having your shit worked out. You know like I got enough money, that an extra dollar here and there is not enough to make me be a different person. It is not enough to make me not sit in front of a microphone and say Darryl Maury is a liar. I, personally, I'm saying these are core principles, these are organizing values. I respect that.
Speaker 1:Again, it goes back to the other thing how I feel and my point of view does not get outweighed by the grander mission of some other individual right. It does not get outweighed by my employer. It does not get outweighed by the general manager, who makes two and a half million dollars and I make fucking 50. Like it doesn't get outweighed by Joel and Bede. It doesn't get outweighed by Tyrese Maxie. It doesn't get outweighed by Tobias Harris, doc Rivers. My point of view is my point of view. You put a microphone in front of my face. You're asking for my point of view. If I'm going to give you someone else's point of view, I might as well not even sit down.
Speaker 1:So James Harden got what he wanted, right. He leaned. He missed a few games, not many, five maybe. Got what he wanted, got traded. The 76ers go floating into fucking no man's land. Who's even going to care what the fuck they got? Going on for the rest of the year James Harden gets to move home to Los Angeles, gets to play with three other All Stars, gets to live in his hometown, doesn't have to play under the pressure of being a Los Angeles Laker, is going to be outside every day and still be great at his job. And on top of that he continues to talk his shit in front of the microphones. And here's what he said most recently During Introductory Clippers Press Conference. James Harden says he felt like he was on a leash while on the 76ers because of the coaching staff. He says, quote, unquote someone that trusts me, believes in me, I'm not a system player, I am a system Someone that could have that dialogue with me. That's via Bleacher Report. His use of the term leash, which triggering for me.
Speaker 1:When I worked at a company called Dev Boot Camp, which was a startup that I worked for after I left Google, I went on a work trip. Okay, so this is going to be a complete step away from this James Harden story. So just like, brace yourself. I may or may not even get back to James Harden, if I remember, but like, this is an important story, it's an informative story and experience for me. So I leave Google, I go and work at this tech startup. I literally leave on. I leave Google on March 5th. My birthday is March 6th, I turned 26. My first day at Dev Boot Camp is March 8th, the following Monday or something like that.
Speaker 1:My boss is this white guy who recruited me from Google to help start the New York office and as a part of that conversation, as a part of his recruitment of me, he said I would be offered equity in this startup because all of us who were part of this small founding group co-founding group of members, we're going to get partners. They called us. We were all going to get a little little little bit of equity, like ranging depending on how big your job was, et cetera, whatever. I was so excited. This was the whole reason why I wanted to leave Google at that point was to go be a part of a startup. Because I saw people getting equity and getting rich on some of these tech startups. I was like cool, I want to go fucking do that. So I go with him, take his word on it on a handshake, and when I get there, I quickly realize a part of my job is to really make this guy, who ultimately ended up being really inadequate and really bad at his job and got fired before Kaplan acquired the company my job was to make him comfortable. My job was to make him feel like he was doing a great job and I was like his I don't know like his, his something like his report, like his, like someone there to reflect back to him you're doing a great job, sir.
Speaker 1:And we went on a company trip and the company would always like make us save money by sharing this is not going a weird place, I promise by sharing hotel rooms, and it was all. There was this company ethos as a startup where it was like we're doing this thing for the startup, we're saving money for the startup where you know, because one day we'll get acquired, and then, like we'll all get to share in the, in the rewards and it'll be great. So we're doing this thing for the startup. And Google even used to do that shit. I remember one time I used the rest of my per diem one day on a work trip for Google, like to take my friends out to dinner.
Speaker 1:And when I got back to to to work in New York, my boss was like well, that wasn't very Google-y, like we're supposed to be saving money here. Like I'm like why the fuck am I saving money for Google? That's ridiculous. That's when I started to like realize, like this is an absurdity. Anyway, so we saved money by staying in this hotel room together and I was with this guy all weekend and by the end and he was just so dry, such a very, very, very difficult hang. And it was one of those situations where I know you can make yourself believe your boss is cool because you have to, but you all know your boss is such a terrible hang and he was like that and we spent the whole weekend together. We might have been in like Chicago. So like every dinner, every conference meeting, every networking thing, we went together like bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
Speaker 1:By the end of it, I was so ready to get away from this dude that on the last day we had a flight out of Chicago at like 10 am and I must have left our hotel room at like six, before he even woke up, to just take my ass straight to the airport, to just like have an hour and a half to breathe without him. And he starts sending me texts as I'm on my way, like probably by the probably woke up at like seven, maybe I had already gotten to the airport, I'm on my way starts sending me texts when are you? Where are you? Back to back to back, where are you? Did you? Did you do this? Did you do that? Did you do that? Like I need to, we need to go to the airport together and I just I'm ignoring them all because I'm just like I just can't talk to this guy until I have some coffee or like until it's 9 am. I just can't. I just can't, I just can't.
Speaker 1:And keeps texting no reply. Then he starts saying hey, if you left already, I need you to come back. I want to go together. I want to go together so we can talk about this. I want to do this. He just keeps trying to get me to come back, trying to get me to like ride with him. He just needs somebody to hold his fucking hand and make him feel like he's a boss. And I don't reply to any of them.
Speaker 1:Then I'm sitting at the, I'm sitting at the airport in those dreadful little seats by the terminal and he pops up like out of breath, like he's just like had such a rough morning and he's disheveled and I wasn't there to like talk to him about business stuff and like help him get the taxi and yada, yada, yada. And he sits down like right in the seat next to me and he looks at me and he's like man, I'm going to have to put a leash on you and I was like oof and in the moment I'm going to be real with y'all, in the moment I'm 26. I'm like tech startup guy just left Google. I'm just a, I'm a different person and I just like I didn't even have, I couldn't even feel things at that point in time, and so it just kind of like went through me and I didn't even respond to it. But then I get on the flight and I'm processing it all and like it comes back and it's just ringing around my head I'm going to have to put a. By the way, he's sitting in business class, I'm sitting in the back of this plane and I got to put a fucking leash on you and like our relationship didn't change immediately thereafter.
Speaker 1:I continued to sort of treat him as my like overlord, because that was my job. But as I think this happens this happens with white people, guys as I think back on our relationship, even though I never, ever liked him again, after that moment it was hard for me to pinpoint exactly what was the thing that like gave me permission to accept my feelings about him, and it was that. It was that thing that he said to me in the airport he needed to put a fucking leash on me, and yeah, and then that is my villain origin story, and so now I became this person instead, and one day I'll say his name on the record, but I got to be careful, because his dad is somebody powerful. He later also screwed me out of my equity and said I should have got it in writing.
Speaker 4:So, james Harden?
Speaker 1:So James Harden, james Harden Thank you Josh who notably said what I wish that I could say out loud with his name in it, and I probably could at this point, but like I just don't ever want to see him again, I don't want to hear from him again he outright said Darryl Mori is a liar. Darryl Mori and this is something I want y'all to understand, and I especially want whoever's listening right now to understand James Harden, darryl Mori. Darryl Mori has never been and will never be James Harden's boss. Okay, james Harden, playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, had a business partner who owned the 76ers. That is also not his boss. Okay, so James Harden is an independent contractor or not an independent contractor? He's a contractor to the Philadelphia 76ers for his services as a basketball player, in the same way that audible HBO, max, simon and Schuster. Those people are not my bosses. I do a service that I provide for those companies, but they do not offer me health insurance. Okay, they don't give me no benefits. They're not my daddy. Josh Harris, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, is not James Harden's daddy. James Harden is in a collectively bargained agreement with the 76ers and the rest of the NBA to play basketball so that they can render his basketball services, but he knows they're not his fucking daddy and so if he doesn't want to show up to work, he doesn't have to. He didn't lose any money from this. They paid him. Like James Harden got what he wanted and he only had to sit out five games.
Speaker 1:And I just can't get with. Like we can accept when people have to make bad business decisions to feed their families. We can accept that. We can accept when guys told the company line because they need the money or because they need an opportunity or whatever. Like I can accept that. I can't accept looking at someone doing the thing that we all wish we could do, which is staring down a business partner and saying, no, I have the leverage, I'm going to do what the fuck I want to do. I don't care, I will tell the truth in this microphone, I will still get what I want. How can you watch somebody do that and feel anything other than inspired? How can like, how can you watch somebody have that level of confidence in their ability and also in their in, like how they feel and what they want and go for it and feel anything other than like that's fire? Like I support that I want to be like that. Anything else just doesn't feel. I'm just like how's your back so fucked up? How's your back so fucked up that you think that's something wrong with that? So, james Harden, I love you. All right. That's the end of the show.
Speaker 1:This has been nothing but anarchy. Oh, what do I need to do? Tower of Anarchy yes, shit, I got to get out of here so soon. Um, you know what we're going to do. The tower of anarchy picks in the chat. I have a meeting at 130. Um, this has been nothing but anarchy. The show that explores and subverts entertainment, media and sports. Thanks all for being here for our first YouTube live, and you can join our email list at the link in our YouTube channel. You can also follow me at Chad Sandle on Instagram. You can check out everything I do at Chad Sandle on Instagram. We will be back here on Tuesday at noon. There's one more thing I wanted to say. Oh, nothing but anarchy. Merchandise is coming next week Tuesday. Right.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Tuesday Tuesday, nothing but anarchy. Merchandise will be available Tuesday. I am wearing one of our sweaters. We have several different options for you all, with multiple different designs. We have t-shirts, hoodies, blah, blah, blah. We have bottom bushings up. You're going to see it soon. Okay, ready, we're ready. Where is?
Speaker 2:it? I don't know. Um, yeah, we're having some intense discussion and we have the undergoings before the Wenn E. Thanks for watching, guys.
