Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews Emmy Award-Winner, Sheryl Lee Ralph about her career and Abbott Elementary!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews Emmy Award-Winner, Sheryl Lee Ralph about her career and Abbott Elementary! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. I am your host,
0:03
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. I recognize that we all have different definitions
0:06
Speaker 1: of success. For you, it may be the size of
0:08
Speaker 1: your paycheck. Mine is helping people wake up and inspiring
0:11
Speaker 1: them to accomplish their goals and live their very best life.
0:14
Speaker 1: It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
0:17
Speaker 1: start writing your own. People always talk about their purpose
0:20
Speaker 1: or gifts. If you have a gift, lead with your
0:22
Speaker 1: gift and let your friends, family, or coworkers stop you
0:25
Speaker 1: from planning or living your dreams. My my next guest
0:29
Speaker 1: is a perfect example of leading with her gifts, understanding
0:32
Speaker 1: the purpose, and accomplishing her dreams because she lives in
0:37
Speaker 1: every day. Her name is Shirley Raft and the world
0:39
Speaker 1: winning actress, singer, producer, Arthur and philanthropists. Shirley's renowned entertainment
0:44
Speaker 1: career on screen and stage spans over three decades and
0:48
Speaker 1: the ever changing entertainment landscape. Shril's career has spanned the
0:51
Speaker 1: range of comedy, drama, TV, film, and theater. She's starting
0:55
Speaker 1: currently in a new comedy series, very very funny comedy
0:58
Speaker 1: series called Abbott Lamentary Errors on ABC on Tuesday nights
1:04
Speaker 1: at nine pm. And also I saw the three episodes
1:07
Speaker 1: on Hulu, so you can catch the ABC dot Com
1:09
Speaker 1: or Hulu. I saw him on Hulu all three episodes. Fantastic.
1:13
Speaker 1: She plays the character Barber, a long time and respected
1:16
Speaker 1: Philadelphia kinderycarten teacher, and it's amazing and very very relatable.
1:21
Speaker 1: By the way, and while working in front of the camera,
1:23
Speaker 1: she keeps her life busy. She's also a passionate health
1:26
Speaker 1: advocate and honored AIDS advocate. She is the founding director
1:30
Speaker 1: of Diva. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. The incredible,
1:35
Speaker 1: incredibly accomplished Shirley Ralph. How are you doing? I should
1:41
Speaker 1: not say miss Ralf because you can say goddess because
1:48
Speaker 1: you look like a goddess. You look like a diva.
1:51
Speaker 1: You have an amazing career. I recently saw this interview
1:55
Speaker 1: uh it was on YouTube which he was talking about
1:58
Speaker 1: uh Sidney Porty and and and he was moved by that.
2:02
Speaker 1: Can you, before we get into the master class, can
2:04
Speaker 1: you give my audience your reaction to his passing and
2:08
Speaker 1: then in the significance of someone like Sydney Portier in
2:11
Speaker 1: his background of relationship to you you know, it's it's
2:15
Speaker 1: so interesting. Well, first of all, you gave me, you
2:19
Speaker 1: took a few years off of my career, which I'm
2:21
Speaker 1: sure is a wonderful thing, except for the fact that
2:23
Speaker 1: it's been close to forty five years. My very first job.
2:27
Speaker 1: I was nineteen years old, freshman college and Sydney Quoittier
2:32
Speaker 1: gave me my very first job in a film called
2:35
Speaker 1: The Piece of the Action, which was the last of
2:38
Speaker 1: a trilogy of films that he did. Absolutely and I
2:45
Speaker 1: played a bad young girl, Barbara Hanley. So funny because
2:56
Speaker 1: Barbara Hanley. I've been hearing people's say that's why Barbara
3:02
Speaker 1: Howard is such a great teacher, because she was Barbara Handley.
3:07
Speaker 1: So I just love the fact that people are able,
3:11
Speaker 1: you know, through all of these generations, are able to
3:15
Speaker 1: put it together full circle like that, and that The
3:19
Speaker 1: start for me was Mr Pootier, who stayed in touch
3:23
Speaker 1: with me for most of my career. The last time
3:27
Speaker 1: I spoke with him, I had just gotten cast in
3:29
Speaker 1: the series called Instant Mom and timar right, Tim r right, Yeah,
3:38
Speaker 1: And he was so wonderful and he told me how
3:41
Speaker 1: proud he was of me, and that I didn't let
3:44
Speaker 1: him down and it was a great, great conversation. Well,
3:49
Speaker 1: you know the interesting thing about your character because you know,
3:51
Speaker 1: I've been a sitcom writer and so I've been fortunate
3:54
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, create lines with Sara Findy Johnson,
3:58
Speaker 1: who was uh Sarah. You know, Sarah Fini is one
4:01
Speaker 1: of the great Sarah is another one of those people
4:06
Speaker 1: who you know, she was one of the creators of Moisha,
4:10
Speaker 1: And from generation to generation people know Sarah from the Quad,
4:15
Speaker 1: they know her from you know, so many things, and
4:19
Speaker 1: right now she's on Queen Sugar. But there's been so
4:22
Speaker 1: many series that Sarah Finni has had a major hand
4:26
Speaker 1: in quite literally, well you know, you've You've had Joe
4:29
Speaker 1: hands in several levels. You know. We can all go
4:32
Speaker 1: back to dream Girls, and I remember I was doing
4:34
Speaker 1: the Steve My First Thing Come with Steve Harvey's and
4:37
Speaker 1: me and the boys and all we could do. And
4:39
Speaker 1: that was in eighteen eighty four, and all they kept saying,
4:42
Speaker 1: we gotta get Shirley raf On because she's the one,
4:44
Speaker 1: She's one. We gotta have Hi Mess because he needed
4:46
Speaker 1: a love interest our first because I first love interest
4:49
Speaker 1: was Wendy Rickart Robinson. And yes, she's good, but we
4:52
Speaker 1: gotta get Shirley Rapp. And I remember it was just
4:55
Speaker 1: a push in the writer's room and all the executive producers,
4:58
Speaker 1: all ABC Networks. She's the one and you've always had that.
5:03
Speaker 1: She's the one tone from the industry, and it comes
5:07
Speaker 1: from not only relationships, but doing the job and being
5:10
Speaker 1: a professional. And a lot of people misstep that because
5:12
Speaker 1: of the fact that you can only I think, have
5:14
Speaker 1: a long career when people have worked with you and
5:18
Speaker 1: want to work with you again. Talk about longevity and relationships.
5:21
Speaker 1: I think you just put your your voice on it.
5:25
Speaker 1: Who knows you, who likes you, who wants to work
5:29
Speaker 1: with you, who wants to work with you again. I
5:33
Speaker 1: just came back from Philadelphia. You know, I commute my husband,
5:36
Speaker 1: Senator Hughes of Pennsylvania. He and I, well, I do
5:40
Speaker 1: the commuting. But we were laughing because a friend of
5:46
Speaker 1: mine has a new series, Sean McBride. Shan and I
5:50
Speaker 1: did a movie together called Distinguished Gentleman with Yeah, and
5:56
Speaker 1: then Shan and I have you know, on and Off,
5:59
Speaker 1: you know, in Touch. He got his new sitcom and
6:02
Speaker 1: he said, I gotta get Shirley round. And I came,
6:07
Speaker 1: I was on the plane and they were like, Shy
6:09
Speaker 1: has asked me if you do this show with him,
6:11
Speaker 1: and you know it's small, but I'm just like, when
6:15
Speaker 1: your friends and people call you because they've got to
6:18
Speaker 1: have you, the least you can say is okay, yes, Well,
6:23
Speaker 1: I tell everybody I've been in the room when they've
6:26
Speaker 1: been demanding and asking for this young lady, this diva,
6:30
Speaker 1: this goddess, and over the years I've seen her, you know,
6:33
Speaker 1: and and it guess what. She came on the set
6:35
Speaker 1: and she delivered. But here's the thing about it is
6:37
Speaker 1: that she delivered with humbleness professionalism. Um, there's a certain
6:43
Speaker 1: way you come on because I've been fortunate to be
6:45
Speaker 1: around a lot of stars, and some stars I don't
6:47
Speaker 1: want to be around, okay, and some talent that orange
6:49
Speaker 1: stars I don't want to be around. Okay, we only
6:51
Speaker 1: get in that beautive. She knows what I'm talking about.
6:53
Speaker 1: And so but the problem that the issue is always delivery.
6:57
Speaker 1: If because we're working on a stress situation, you know,
7:00
Speaker 1: we have to deliver. We do a lines, we have
7:02
Speaker 1: to make sure the live reach right. You have to
7:04
Speaker 1: write a character, you have to come in and we're
7:06
Speaker 1: all hoping in praying that this series gets renewed. People
7:10
Speaker 1: watch the series and get the ratings. There's so many
7:12
Speaker 1: things that go into creating the project. Did you have
7:14
Speaker 1: to put it out there and see if the general
7:16
Speaker 1: public likes it. And then you have to have a
7:18
Speaker 1: talent like Shirley Raff who wants to promote it. See
7:21
Speaker 1: see if she doesn't what I'm saying you See, that's
7:24
Speaker 1: why you're doing this show about money making because promotion, promotion, promotion.
7:30
Speaker 1: You can have the most incredible idea script series out there,
7:37
Speaker 1: but if nobody knows it's there, it means absolutely nothing.
7:42
Speaker 1: You know. I shoot two series. I shoot Abvid Elementary,
7:46
Speaker 1: and I shoot a series called Motherland Ford Salem, which
7:50
Speaker 1: is an outstanding series on the free form. I don't
7:55
Speaker 1: I got you, I got about you. I got you, Okay,
7:58
Speaker 1: I got you? Because that Demetria's exactly right, and people
8:05
Speaker 1: should see Demetria. People should see the show. When you've
8:10
Speaker 1: got a woman like me as the president of the
8:16
Speaker 1: United States in an alternative world where the future is
8:20
Speaker 1: truly feminine, they should see it. But they don't see
8:24
Speaker 1: it because of a lack of promotion. But Abbot Elementary
8:28
Speaker 1: as the sauce they did on Evermore you hear me.
8:35
Speaker 1: Oh gosh. When we were shooting this show in secret,
8:40
Speaker 1: people were like, mold up, wait a minute. That that
8:44
Speaker 1: that little girl from what Black Lady Sketch show? No, no, no,
8:48
Speaker 1: that that little woman from BuzzFeed, the cut Lady that
8:53
Speaker 1: I call her the true Queen. Oh, we need to
8:57
Speaker 1: know about this. It has been amazed saying it was.
9:02
Speaker 1: You know. The interesting thing about it because before the
9:04
Speaker 1: show came on my radar, you know, it hit buzz
9:06
Speaker 1: And then my staff I said we shouldn't have you
9:08
Speaker 1: saw a emplementary. I said, no, I have said, you
9:11
Speaker 1: gotta see it. It's funny. This is funny. This is
9:14
Speaker 1: really really funny. And so and then I saw an
9:17
Speaker 1: article on her. Because I live in to city. I
9:19
Speaker 1: live in Atlanta, I live in Houston. I always read
9:21
Speaker 1: the Houston newspaper and I just saw an article on
9:24
Speaker 1: the creator in the lead in and I was just
9:26
Speaker 1: reading about her, and I would go okay, and then
9:28
Speaker 1: they said, oh, you know, Shirley raf schedule to do
9:30
Speaker 1: your show. I go okay, I gotta watch it because
9:33
Speaker 1: what I don't do, shir I do not interview people
9:36
Speaker 1: on that you know, just read your bio and ask
9:39
Speaker 1: your nere courtions. I hate that. I hate that. So
9:42
Speaker 1: I'm sitting on my sofa yesterday and I saw episode one,
9:45
Speaker 1: I saw episode two, I saw episode three, and I
9:49
Speaker 1: the principal, uh, the James. I think it is a
9:57
Speaker 1: bright talent that she has not acted before. This is her.
10:02
Speaker 1: Your Kid is a show like this, and she is
10:06
Speaker 1: killing it, killing it you. And and here's the thing
10:10
Speaker 1: about it. Sett in Philadelphia, there's is a kindergarten setting,
10:13
Speaker 1: you know, like, oh, it's a primary primary school and
10:18
Speaker 1: so and so when when we say that means that
10:20
Speaker 1: it's a public school, correct, because they are. They're struggling
10:24
Speaker 1: for funds, they're struggling the kids supplies, they're struggling to
10:28
Speaker 1: deliver adequate and correct education to these young kids. And
10:32
Speaker 1: and and it is a black population of kids. And
10:35
Speaker 1: the tending school, which is typical for a public school.
10:38
Speaker 1: And her character, Barber is the seasons teacher that I
10:43
Speaker 1: would say that you always have these shows where you
10:45
Speaker 1: have to have somebody who's extreme, and that's uh, that's
10:48
Speaker 1: the white character. She's extreme because you don't know if
10:50
Speaker 1: she because she has a line as she said you know,
10:52
Speaker 1: I can make more money on the streets. And you
10:53
Speaker 1: don't know what that means. You go, is that drugs?
10:57
Speaker 1: Is that prostitution? Which talking about? And and and that's
11:05
Speaker 1: played by Lisa and Walter and it's really amazing and
11:10
Speaker 1: wonderful as well. And you feel the reality of a character,
11:14
Speaker 1: You feel that the comedic frustration of all these characters
11:17
Speaker 1: that are put together. And I think that's what it
11:20
Speaker 1: all happens when we talk about this series Abbott elementary.
11:24
Speaker 1: When you do a table read, sirl and the table
11:27
Speaker 1: read them and tell everybody's like, you know, they bring
11:29
Speaker 1: everybody in the cast. There's that cat producers there, sometimes
11:32
Speaker 1: Network is there, of course, the person who wrote the
11:34
Speaker 1: script and other writers and then the cast sits around
11:37
Speaker 1: the table and they read the script okay on in seats.
11:41
Speaker 1: That's when you really get a sign of sense. So
11:44
Speaker 1: if something's flat or something works, stand on it. You
11:48
Speaker 1: add to it all that we don't we'll fix that,
11:51
Speaker 1: We'll fix that, We'll fix that. How is it that
11:53
Speaker 1: table read when you sat down for this series the pilot,
11:58
Speaker 1: I honestly have to tell you that sitting there listening
12:03
Speaker 1: to the show, I really knew that I was onto
12:08
Speaker 1: something very special. You know, when we were doing dream
12:12
Speaker 1: Girls back in the day and we would stand in
12:15
Speaker 1: the wings and listen to Jennifer Holiday saying, I knew
12:19
Speaker 1: we were onto something special. When I met Brandy doing
12:24
Speaker 1: Moitia and this young girl came on in all of
12:28
Speaker 1: her braids and just being herself, I knew we were
12:32
Speaker 1: onto something special. That table read with abad element I
12:37
Speaker 1: was doing what I have been. Yes, like, we will
12:53
Speaker 1: be right back with more money making conversation with Rashan McDonald. Now,
12:59
Speaker 1: let's return some money making conversation with Rashan McDonald. First
13:02
Speaker 1: of all, I felt you were You were two of
13:04
Speaker 1: my teachers in high school. Uh, that's that's limit trad
13:07
Speaker 1: Let's she's my biology teacher and there's Georgia Nelson that
13:10
Speaker 1: used my math teacher. You know, they were both people
13:13
Speaker 1: who focused me. Who who who allowed me to sit
13:16
Speaker 1: here in this chair today because of those two teachers.
13:18
Speaker 1: So I felt your character, Barbara was very relatable from
13:22
Speaker 1: that step bone because because I needed that, I needed
13:25
Speaker 1: that person to Okay, you stop, stop all the silliness.
13:29
Speaker 1: This is who you are and that's what your character
13:31
Speaker 1: is defines this role in there and the beauty of
13:34
Speaker 1: this series. Everybody. It's kind of like shot like it's
13:37
Speaker 1: a docuseries. In other words, if it makes it seem
13:40
Speaker 1: like a documentary. Team it's following them around in the school,
13:43
Speaker 1: so you get a lot of action towards the camera
13:46
Speaker 1: and then a lot of did I say that in
13:48
Speaker 1: front of the camera and so and so. So that
13:52
Speaker 1: also plays into another fourth wall and you are the
13:56
Speaker 1: fourth wall that they're talking to. And that really makes
14:00
Speaker 1: for an original concept for us to review this sitcom
14:04
Speaker 1: because I'm pretty sure it's a single camera issue. Is
14:06
Speaker 1: not a multi camera single camera we have. It's amazing
14:10
Speaker 1: because what um Quinta has developed here is something literally
14:17
Speaker 1: brand new. Well maybe it's not brand new, but it's
14:21
Speaker 1: it's very different because when we're working, we have a
14:24
Speaker 1: whole ballet going on with the cameras. They they're never still,
14:29
Speaker 1: they're they're not on you know, not rack and roll.
14:32
Speaker 1: They're only sort of scooters with wheels and everything. So
14:36
Speaker 1: they're there. It's almost like a dance that we're doing
14:40
Speaker 1: each other to make sure that they catch everything. There
14:45
Speaker 1: are some things that they have caught and I was like,
14:47
Speaker 1: I know they didn't just catch that. You know, and
14:52
Speaker 1: sometimes I see the show and I'm like, oh my god,
14:56
Speaker 1: they're like watching everything. You know, it's it's like that,
15:01
Speaker 1: and it's been it's been great to be a part
15:04
Speaker 1: of something brand new. And I say this a lot,
15:08
Speaker 1: but Quinta Brunson, when I look at Quinto Brunson, I
15:13
Speaker 1: feel the way I believe Maya Angelou felt when she
15:19
Speaker 1: looked at me. Maya Angelou looked at me and said,
15:23
Speaker 1: one day, when I hear you speak, Shirlee Ralph, I
15:28
Speaker 1: know it was all worth it. And I felt so,
15:33
Speaker 1: oh my god. It just made me feel so good.
15:37
Speaker 1: And now when I look at Quinta and here she is, writing, creating,
15:45
Speaker 1: producing this show, I look at her and I've been
15:49
Speaker 1: through it with this industry, and I feel it was
15:53
Speaker 1: all worth it. And I'm just so proud of her.
15:58
Speaker 1: And you should be. You know her back around her
16:00
Speaker 1: mom was the teacher, the Quinta that's the start showing
16:03
Speaker 1: the creator, uh, and so that so she's she's she's
16:06
Speaker 1: gaining information from a lifestyle that she grew up around.
16:09
Speaker 1: And then it still goes back to the characters that
16:13
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's the janitor, whether it's the sub
16:16
Speaker 1: teacher Sanford, and he is funny because he's always in
16:22
Speaker 1: the room. And then he said something crazy and you're like,
16:24
Speaker 1: I forgot he was right there. Oh he knows y'all.
16:28
Speaker 1: When y'all in the break room, he can say whatever,
16:30
Speaker 1: y'all not listening, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. Nobody goes,
16:36
Speaker 1: what did he say? But exactly, well, you know that.
16:39
Speaker 1: It's the fun part about it. I'm speaking to Shirley Ralf.
16:42
Speaker 1: Incredible Shirley Ralf. I have on one show. We all
16:44
Speaker 1: know her history and television stage directing author um but
16:49
Speaker 1: this show that she's starting in Abbott Elementary, which aired
16:53
Speaker 1: on ABC on Tuesday's Few miss Go to ABC dot Com,
16:56
Speaker 1: Go to Hulu. I called it on Hulu. It's an
16:58
Speaker 1: amazing show from a docuseriies doll because the cameras they
17:03
Speaker 1: there there. Sometimes they go, oh, I didn't know the
17:05
Speaker 1: cameras were there. I didn't really mean to say that,
17:07
Speaker 1: you're gonna cut that right, and then so and so.
17:10
Speaker 1: It captures a lifestyle. Uh, it's a very modern approach
17:14
Speaker 1: to school them that the principal of the school principle
17:17
Speaker 1: she actually has a green screen studio in her in
17:21
Speaker 1: her office. And so that's why I really loved about
17:25
Speaker 1: it. It It felt so modern, but it didn't feel forced.
17:29
Speaker 1: And I think that I think that that's important to
17:31
Speaker 1: people here that because I had a friend of mine
17:33
Speaker 1: they were saying that day they were they were working
17:35
Speaker 1: on a project, a sitcom project, and they said that
17:38
Speaker 1: the executive came back and said, well, it feels kind
17:40
Speaker 1: of dated. It feels like it feels like a traditional sitcom. Well,
17:44
Speaker 1: this is not a traditional sitcom, and I'm just gonna
17:46
Speaker 1: let you know that it's it's a very innovative. It's
17:49
Speaker 1: very it's very modern, it's very sensitive. It also has
17:53
Speaker 1: those dramatic moments which I like in brilliance sitcoms, where
17:56
Speaker 1: you know, we can laugh through the pain, but did
18:00
Speaker 1: we got the message of the pain? Talk about that?
18:02
Speaker 1: Thank you? You know, it's so interesting. When I first
18:06
Speaker 1: saw the script, I love the character of the principle
18:09
Speaker 1: and I said to Quinta, give me a shot at
18:11
Speaker 1: the principle and she said, no, absolutely not. We need
18:15
Speaker 1: a queen from Mrs Howard and that you and he
18:19
Speaker 1: has given me the wonderful task of doing exactly what
18:22
Speaker 1: you just said. I delivered the heart and the message
18:25
Speaker 1: of the show. Last week's episode when someone when a
18:29
Speaker 1: group of um privileged college students come in and they
18:33
Speaker 1: want to fulfill the wish list, and they break into
18:37
Speaker 1: the classroom and Miss Howard has to say no, no,
18:41
Speaker 1: get out, get out, and then to confront young Janine
18:45
Speaker 1: to say, I know my students don't have everything, but
18:49
Speaker 1: my students don't need to know that they have everything.
18:54
Speaker 1: Let them be happy and enjoy what it is they have.
19:00
Speaker 1: And that's very true. These expensive gifts. Oh hell no, no,
19:04
Speaker 1: you know, it's really interesting you say that because you know,
19:07
Speaker 1: if you know, slice of my life, and I grew
19:08
Speaker 1: up in the hood, and I grew up a six sisters,
19:11
Speaker 1: two brothers, to bear room, shotgun house. That was me.
19:14
Speaker 1: So I go through high school and I'm gonna tell
19:16
Speaker 1: you it wasn't to college that I actually use the
19:20
Speaker 1: fork and knife, you know. So, so when I would eat,
19:24
Speaker 1: and when I eat, my friends and go, why you
19:25
Speaker 1: eat everything with a spoon? Well that's all I had.
19:28
Speaker 1: If the house was a spoon, and so I would
19:30
Speaker 1: cut my meat with a spoon, I would go, dude,
19:34
Speaker 1: there's a knife and a fart there. Well, I guess
19:36
Speaker 1: what I didn't know. I didn't have it, so guess
19:39
Speaker 1: what I was. I was cool with it. And then
19:41
Speaker 1: of course I realized, Okay, there are other you can use.
19:47
Speaker 1: Did you use? But that that's exactly what you're saying.
19:49
Speaker 1: If you don't know, then you're comfortable with. Guess what.
19:53
Speaker 1: It didn't hurt my growth. It didn't stump my growth.
19:55
Speaker 1: It was just something I didn't know it was available
19:57
Speaker 1: to me. But it didn't stop me from being succe.
20:00
Speaker 1: And that's what I take away from that line. When
20:02
Speaker 1: I saw that moment, it was just a flashback to
20:05
Speaker 1: my life when I was just in college cutting everything
20:08
Speaker 1: with a spoon. I was even with a spoon, and
20:10
Speaker 1: when I when I went through the line, I just
20:12
Speaker 1: grabbed a spoon and because you know, I got a
20:14
Speaker 1: knife and okay, no, biggie, I'm cool. And but thesonderful point.
20:19
Speaker 1: The wonderful point to this is that you were raised
20:23
Speaker 1: in a home that made you feel good about what
20:28
Speaker 1: you had. You did not feel less than. And I
20:33
Speaker 1: love the fact that we were able to say that
20:35
Speaker 1: out loud. You should not be made to feel less
20:39
Speaker 1: than because you don't have as much as others. You know,
20:44
Speaker 1: I I tell you. I'm a plane all ordinary, middle
20:47
Speaker 1: class child of the sixties kid, and I always thought
20:51
Speaker 1: I was rich, always thought I was rich. I grew
20:54
Speaker 1: up and found out I wasn't rich. Right, Larans made
21:00
Speaker 1: me feel good about what I had and where I
21:06
Speaker 1: was in life, and just like you, it did not
21:09
Speaker 1: stop me from reaching for my dreams. It did not
21:13
Speaker 1: deter me from being becoming who it was I am
21:18
Speaker 1: still becoming. I want to talk about you being an
21:24
Speaker 1: AID advocate activists before I close out, because I think
21:26
Speaker 1: it's important part of who you are. I've seen what
21:29
Speaker 1: you've done over the years is you've been front and center,
21:32
Speaker 1: and I think that's important that people know that you
21:34
Speaker 1: know you want to you know, like I see how
21:36
Speaker 1: recently Betty White passed away and they honored her on
21:39
Speaker 1: a hundredth birthday by because he's an advocate for pets,
21:43
Speaker 1: you know, animal animals, so and I'm not comparing her
21:49
Speaker 1: activism for age to pets. I'm just saying that people
21:52
Speaker 1: are more than what you see they are. They do
21:55
Speaker 1: more behind the scenes, and sometimes just because they are
21:57
Speaker 1: public figures. You entertained. That's how we care about. That's
22:00
Speaker 1: all we want to know. You've been an activist in age.
22:04
Speaker 1: Talk about why that was so You've been honored the nations,
22:07
Speaker 1: You've been honored the Jamaica. You know, you have been
22:11
Speaker 1: a international advocate. Talk about why that has been so
22:15
Speaker 1: important to you. As an original company member of dream Girls,
22:19
Speaker 1: the musical, the original on Broadway, you know, we lost
22:24
Speaker 1: one third of our company to AIDS, not HIV, two AIDS,
22:30
Speaker 1: and nobody said anything about that loss, and somehow it's
22:36
Speaker 1: stuck with me, and I said, no, we have to
22:39
Speaker 1: do better. We have to acknowledge these talented, amazing, beautiful
22:45
Speaker 1: men that we have lost, and a few women too,
22:48
Speaker 1: but not in our company. But that's how I got involved.
22:53
Speaker 1: And it's so hard for me now after everything I
22:58
Speaker 1: learned about the HI the virus and the Corona nineteen virus.
23:04
Speaker 1: So many parallels, so many similarities that tell me a
23:08
Speaker 1: lot about human behavior. People are hardheaded. People do not
23:14
Speaker 1: believe the truth even when it is told to them.
23:18
Speaker 1: People enjoy lives when they say, ignorance is not bliss,
23:23
Speaker 1: it is only a same as a warning. When it
23:27
Speaker 1: came to HIV, we knew that condoms were a known
23:32
Speaker 1: barrier to the disease. Could we get people to wear condoms.
23:36
Speaker 1: Could we get women to carry condoms and protect themselves? No,
23:41
Speaker 1: just like we can't get people to adhere to mask
23:45
Speaker 1: wearing now with COVID nineteen. It doesn't feel good. It
23:50
Speaker 1: doesn't fit. Same excuses we had back in the day
23:53
Speaker 1: with HIV, the same excuses now we have with masks
23:59
Speaker 1: and the virus. Get tested, know your status so you
24:03
Speaker 1: don't spread the disease HIV get tested. Could we get
24:09
Speaker 1: people to get tested and if they did get tested,
24:12
Speaker 1: they would only go in for their first test and
24:15
Speaker 1: would not come back for their results, like so many
24:18
Speaker 1: people walking around halfway vaccinated for CORONA now or completely
24:25
Speaker 1: unvaccinated for corona. People who know or knew that they
24:31
Speaker 1: were positive for HIV back in the day did not
24:35
Speaker 1: tell anybody, like people now know they're positive for COVID nineteen,
24:41
Speaker 1: don't tell anybody and then act like it's a lie.
24:47
Speaker 1: HIV did not have to become a black woman in
24:50
Speaker 1: the South burden, but it is. Corona nineteen does not
24:56
Speaker 1: have to become endemic, meaning a part of who we are. So,
25:00
Speaker 1: just like the flu, you have to get a booster
25:03
Speaker 1: a shot every year or every two three, four months.
25:08
Speaker 1: Who knows when it's gonna be with Corona. People are
25:12
Speaker 1: hard headed. They don't want to listen to the truth,
25:15
Speaker 1: and they want to make up all kind of stories
25:19
Speaker 1: around these things, talking about why should people why should
25:23
Speaker 1: the government be telling me what to do? Well, here's
25:26
Speaker 1: here's some things that you don't have to do. Please
25:30
Speaker 1: do not get a driver's license. Get out there and
25:32
Speaker 1: drive without your license. See what happens when they find
25:36
Speaker 1: you driving without a license. Please, if you're in a
25:39
Speaker 1: state where they charge you income tax, don't pay your taxes.
25:44
Speaker 1: Just don't pay your taxes because when the I R
25:47
Speaker 1: Rest finds you, you're gonna see when what happens when
25:50
Speaker 1: people tell you some of the things that you have
25:52
Speaker 1: to do. And by the way, we vaccinate our children
25:57
Speaker 1: for a lot of diseases so that they can go
26:00
Speaker 1: to school, so that other children don't get sick. I
26:05
Speaker 1: suggest you try not vaccinating your child for anything, because
26:10
Speaker 1: that child will not be going to school anywhere. So
26:14
Speaker 1: those are just a few of the things that the
26:16
Speaker 1: government tells you you must do. What you're gonna do,
26:20
Speaker 1: that's what I need to know what you're gonna do,
26:22
Speaker 1: because see, I need you to survive and I need
26:24
Speaker 1: you to fight for our dog going right to vote,
26:26
Speaker 1: because if you want to make some money, you need
26:29
Speaker 1: to be able to vote and tell people where to
26:31
Speaker 1: spend the money that they have got for you that
26:34
Speaker 1: you don't know about. Because you're not part of this,
26:37
Speaker 1: you're not voting. I'm just saying, don't get misstarted. That's
26:41
Speaker 1: my life. Well, I would tell you this, that little
26:45
Speaker 1: portray right there will be clipped and put on mine
26:48
Speaker 1: social media, because that's the part of life. That's the
26:52
Speaker 1: that's surely right after I don't that's sure if I've
26:54
Speaker 1: seen that's the part that you hear in this interview.
26:57
Speaker 1: She's awarded an actress, singer, producer, author for Anthropist. She's
27:01
Speaker 1: a goddess, she's a diva. More importantly, on Tuesdays Hulu,
27:05
Speaker 1: ABC dot Com, watch a very funny, serious Abbott Elementary.
27:10
Speaker 1: It's stars in airs on ABC, but they've got so
27:12
Speaker 1: many great outlets that you can see. It's a brollier
27:15
Speaker 1: comedy set in Philadelphia primary school. You my friend outstanding.
27:21
Speaker 1: You still look amazing. Also, so you're walking around that
27:23
Speaker 1: little babies tooth on social media too, So I thought
27:26
Speaker 1: that they went fire. I didn't want to say that
27:28
Speaker 1: till the end. I saw you walking around. I saw
27:30
Speaker 1: you walk around you with viral and I'm I'm saying,
27:33
Speaker 1: I see you, I see on my Timeline show. To
27:36
Speaker 1: my wife, I said, I surely right for my timeline
27:39
Speaker 1: walking around her poop, walking around her poo. But girl,
27:42
Speaker 1: you're fantastic. Thank you. You wanted to put that little
27:44
Speaker 1: embarrassment in front of you, but you look great. I'm
27:47
Speaker 1: promoting your show. Thank you for taking the time to
27:50
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation master Class, Shirley Raf. I'm your host.
27:54
Speaker 1: Ro Sean McDonald's thank you