Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Clifton Powell Full Interview

Transcript

Clifton Powell Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: my next guest. He's here live in studio. I tell you.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Last time he was a studio with me was in
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: uh Los Angeles Steve Harvey Morning Show. You know, he's
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: just gotta stay busy anyway. He's appear in more than
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: one hundred movies beginning in the nineteen eighties, and credits
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: including Minutes to Society, Dead Presidents, Why Do Food, Fall
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: In Love? Rush Hour, Next Friday, Whoa? And I've been
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  Speaker 1: loving him recently because he hedn't died maybe three times,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and one of my favorite series on c W called
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  Speaker 1: Black Lightning. Please work with the show. Clifton Pole, good
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: to be here. How you doing, Hey, Clifton, how you're doing? Man?
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I'm good. First of all, I'm happy you came by.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the movie I just hung up with
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: with Call Call Paying and regards to misguy that behavior
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  Speaker 1: and you play a dominant role in there a mini roles.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: First of all, let's talk about your career a little bit. Man.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You're busy, bro, You're working actor. You know, that's what
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: people strived for in Hollywood, a working actor. You know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I want to be a football player. So I'm you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I'm still kind of like blessed that I've had such
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a long career. I really, I really just really want
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to be a football player. And you know, my nephew
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: is the sportscaster James Brown. You know JB. JB was
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: a basketball star in d C. So, um, I ended
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: up going to the Matha trying to play basketball. But
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I and I played a little bit of football. But
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I grew up in the hood. You know, it was
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: before you can went to training and all that stuff. Um,
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  Speaker 1: so I didn't get to, you know, get the kind
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of support you know that was really fast and I
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: was good. And that's so after football, I really had
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: no desire to be anything other. I was gonna be
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a bus driver. I come out of the hood and
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: I you know, I didn't driver, well I couldn't. I
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: didn't play football, so I didn't know what I was
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: gonna do. So I was gonna be a bus driver
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: because somebody told me bus drivers made six dollars and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: fifty cents and so you know, um, then I you know,
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  Speaker 1: God had another plan, and so you know, once I
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: got into it, I was I tell all the students
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: that you know, I was the worst actor in my program,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and I had to work harder than anybody else. And um,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I had a little bit of tragedy. My dad had
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a nervous breakdown and they were gonna I had to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: drop out of the program. And they decided, you know,
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  Speaker 1: even though I was a little bit of a knucklehead
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  Speaker 1: when I got there because I wouldn't wear my leotards
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  Speaker 1: and type. Debbie Allen was my dance teacher and uh
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  Speaker 1: and uh so you know, one of the teachers, God
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  Speaker 1: rest his soul, Charles Brown, who's a fabulous actor, came
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  Speaker 1: to me. He said, man, you gotta put your leotards
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and tyson, and you're scaring everybody, you know, a little
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: rough around here, a little edgy. And so finally I
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  Speaker 1: put my tights on and then I stayed in the program.
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  Speaker 1: And then you know, I went to Emmerson and then
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  Speaker 1: I got to New York I think in uh seventy nine,
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  Speaker 1: and Sam and Denzel and all those guys were there,
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  Speaker 1: and I just knew that that if I kept myself together, uh,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and I don't think any of us really thought about Hollywood.
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  Speaker 1: We just would want to be a working actor. And
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: then I got to L A and eighty nine, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and you know, for those first five or six years,
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  Speaker 1: I was unemployed, and you know, doing all kind of
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: clerical work and counseling and stuff. And then you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: when I went to auditions, I would just go in
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  Speaker 1: so prepared. So when I went in and did Rock
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: was the first show that kind of like introduced me
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: to the public. I went in it was for a
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: cracked out crack dealer. And I had met Charles Dutton
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: at a beach party and I knew a friend of his,
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  Speaker 1: my buddy Walter Ben. I said, man, I'm I'm a
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: friend of Mr Bennis. He said, all right, man. So
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  Speaker 1: two weeks later, I'm auditioning and he comes down the
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  Speaker 1: hall and every everybody else got on T shirts and jeans.
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  Speaker 1: I look like a crackhead, had dirty clothes, dirty teeth,
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  Speaker 1: hair with dirt in my hair. So Charlie said, I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: got in the room and he said, you know, they
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  Speaker 1: really got a real damn crackhead. And uh So, once
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  Speaker 1: I booked that, I just kept on booking him. The
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  Speaker 1: rest is his ship. You know, but one thing I
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  Speaker 1: want to say to the young people there, it's preparation
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  Speaker 1: meeting opportunity. That's all it is. They got a real
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  Speaker 1: cracking it out there because I would go and I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: did a tour duty with Miguel New Year's and I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: came in full army dress and the man said, where
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  Speaker 1: are you from. I said, I'm just I'm from New York.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just is trying to get a job. And then
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  Speaker 1: I did my monologue from the hallway. By the time
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  Speaker 1: they said, you know what, You're gonna be the guy
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  Speaker 1: just wow, you know. So it's just it's just about
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  Speaker 1: training and preparation and also willing to go there and
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  Speaker 1: willing willing to go there, and and but then you know,
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  Speaker 1: I got a note from one casting director and said
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: tell them not to wear the whole army suit next time.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So I was a different audition. So sometimes they don't
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  Speaker 1: like you to go all the way go there. But
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  Speaker 1: it worked in my behalf, and I'm just blessed to
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: be a Well it's been working because you've been busy,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and you've been being consistently busy, and I know that
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I was just telling you, you you know, I've been a
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: casting writer and all that. So I know Hollywood is
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: especially for African American men. You know, they'rest for a dark, strong,
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  Speaker 1: black African American man role. The roles there there, they
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  Speaker 1: can they can be far in, few between, few between.
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  Speaker 1: But for you, You've always been able to keep that
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  Speaker 1: check roll. And why is that? I think that the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: real blessing is is one of the way I was
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  Speaker 1: trained in the standards Klaski system. But also I um,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I just I had a versatility, you know, like you know,
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  Speaker 1: I can go from playing Dr King to Pinky to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Ray the next Friday to rush hour. You know, I
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: have different looks, um different voices, and and just being prepared.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when I went in to do King, um
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: they Ruben Cannon looked at me, said, man, how are
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: your picture getting here? You're always playing bad guys. I said, well,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: let let me try Keen. He said, well, do you
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  Speaker 1: have anything prepared? I said yeah. I said, now it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter what happens now, we've got some difficult days ahead.
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  Speaker 1: He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, Okay, let me get you
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  Speaker 1: to the producers. And and but I stayed up that
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  Speaker 1: whole night and watched Eyes on the prize. So part
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  Speaker 1: of it is is preparation and the other part is
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  Speaker 1: being versatile enough to change a look. So you have
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  Speaker 1: a gob a movie with uh call was just on
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that for this guy to behavior. We were talking a
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: couple of months ago talking about this movie. What what
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: What got you involved in this project? Because an anti
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: bullet movie bringing Bulley awareness to the everyday life. There's
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  Speaker 1: really there. I'm gonna tell you what got me involved.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: This guy named Levi who used to beat my butt
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  Speaker 1: really bad every day. And I apologize, y'all, but he
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  Speaker 1: used to tear me up and every time. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I just read an article I sent to Sharon the
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  Speaker 1: other day about this little black girl who just killed
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  Speaker 1: herself that she was being bullied. And so when Sharon
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  Speaker 1: sent me the script, I said, man, I want to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: be a part of this. And and when you see
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: this movie, man, it really makes you feel like you
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  Speaker 1: gotta protect those young people black, white, Latino, Asian, straight, gay, transgender,
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  Speaker 1: no matter what you are from, from from men or
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: women who are going to bully them. You know, I
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: got bullied every day. I grew up in a in
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  Speaker 1: a part of d C right right across from I
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: grew up in Mayfair Mansion right across from Parkside, and
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  Speaker 1: in Parkside was one of the roughest projects in d C.
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  Speaker 1: And I used to get bullied every day and it's
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  Speaker 1: nerve wracking. I like, I love the fact that you expanded.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about transgenders gay because it does
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  Speaker 1: come in so many different lanes, and it's affects so
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  Speaker 1: many different people, so many different rays, and we could,
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  Speaker 1: we should, We would be selfish if he says it's
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  Speaker 1: only affecting my child, or or my race, or my
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: my economic class structure. I think I think we have
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: to look at it across the girl, across the board.
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  Speaker 1: I mean boys bully boys and girls girls bully other girls. Black, White, Latino,
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  Speaker 1: Asian is transgender. I mean, you know, we still are
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: not transgender friendly in this country. That's because people don't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: do their their homework and understand that sometimes it's a
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: biological thing. It's not something that just happens. A kid
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: just wakes up and just wants to be a boy
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: who's a girl and a girl who's a boy. You
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: gotta do your research. I tell everybody all the time,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: stop making blanket statements without doing research, you know. Um,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: but this movie is really really touching and and it
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: made me cry because you know, I watched the father
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  Speaker 1: bully the son. You know, Um, parents gotta be careful,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: especially African American parents because we grew up. You know
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: when I grew up, man, you didn't have a voice,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: you know. And um, you know, I I remember being
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: tough on my son, my my youngest son, Clift and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the third and and and my ex wife called me
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and said, you need to talk to Steve about how you,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you know, spanking him. I was like, yo, man, this
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: this cat ain't listening to me. I gott watched my language.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all. Um, you know I'm from the hood.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Every now and then a little cursed word to slip out,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, I pray for me. Shut up, shut up. Um.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: So anyway, you know, I had to change my parenting
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: style because it's an offshoot of what they did to
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: us as slavery. And we end up and and and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: somebody brought that to my attention. And I'm not gonna
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: get that heavy, but bullying has to stop. Schools have
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to have a zero tolerance. I'm telling you, I was
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: terr Levi, God rest his soul. I mean, I was
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: terrified him and all my friends. No, it was Levi,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and as soon as I walk out the house, he
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: would tear me up, you know, um, and nobody in
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: that time could protect you. That's that's that's absolutely true,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and that's why I got involved with the movie because
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I got bullied growing up. I think that what happens
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: is you realized there's so many people out there been bullied,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and then then this movie will make them more aware
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: that they've been bullied. And that's the beauty of uh
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: being a part of this project, you know. So Cliff,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I want thank you for coming in. Man, we ran
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: out of time. Absolutely all y'all, y'all go see this movie. Man.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: It's is really truly if you have young people in
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: your family, you know, anybody, it is. It is really
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: a horrible thing and it leaves are psychological scarring you.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Even I'm looking at you like looking like a tough guy.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I look like a tough guy. But there was a
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: kid years ago who used to beat me up every day.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you you. I want to bring you back,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you know, because you know, just call man. You ain't
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: gotta come in to studio. We talk lone world. It's
• 10:40
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