Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Don Lemon Full Interview

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Don Lemon Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: to you. Every Thursday, my next guest uploads a podcast
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Speaker 1: entitled Silence is Not an Option. It's a new weekly
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Speaker 1: podcast series Daily hosts. He can also be seeing weekday
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Speaker 1: doing prime time host in CNN Tonight. The podcast Silence
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Speaker 1: Is Not An Option embarks on tough, honest and provocative
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Speaker 1: conversation with activists, artists, and thinkers, offering perspective of all
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Speaker 1: the nation's deep racial survide while exploring what Americans can
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Speaker 1: do to help find a path forward. He is no
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Speaker 1: strangers to success. Every magazine named him as one of
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Speaker 1: Emny Power one fifty. He has won an everwin ur
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Speaker 1: Mural Award for his coverage of the to the Washington
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Speaker 1: d C Snipers. He's one an Emmy for special report
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Speaker 1: on real estate in Chicago, land age epidemic in Africa,
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Speaker 1: and Hurricane Katrina. He's also won three more local emities.
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Speaker 1: On CNN Tonight, he has known for holding politicians and
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Speaker 1: public officials accountable. He earned a degree and broadcast journalists
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Speaker 1: Brooking College and also attended l s U. He's on
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Speaker 1: the show to talk about his podcast and the power
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Speaker 1: of not remaining solid Please Walk on the Money Making
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Speaker 1: Conversation A Varge for Black America, Don Lemon, thank you. Wow,
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Speaker 1: what an introduction. How did you introduced me every night
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Speaker 1: on my show? Well, they do a great job of
2:37
Speaker 1: doing that, my friend. When I watch you, uh, you know,
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Speaker 1: it's it's it's amazing. Um. You know, I met you
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Speaker 1: long time ago when I was still manager Steve Harvey
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Speaker 1: and the early years when you was you know, that's
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Speaker 1: one we say we all find in that way, we all,
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Speaker 1: you know, we all. He came by the radio station
2:53
Speaker 1: and we sat down, we talked. You couch probably don't remember.
2:55
Speaker 1: You meet a lot of people over your journeys, but
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Speaker 1: my first impression when I met you, uh for in
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Speaker 1: my knowny Nicholas had introduced us, was that you were
3:03
Speaker 1: a person who wanted to do great things in life.
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Speaker 1: Explain to us who is Don Lemon? We see you
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Speaker 1: on TV, but who are you before we get into
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Speaker 1: the podcast? Uh? Well, I am a truth teller and
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Speaker 1: I'm someone who tries to inform people. I've always been
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Speaker 1: curious about life, and UM, I just that's it. I
3:23
Speaker 1: just think I'm a truth teller. And then so, you know,
3:27
Speaker 1: the pandemic hit, and then and then amainst all this.
3:30
Speaker 1: You know, we can't do anything but stay home and watch,
3:33
Speaker 1: especially when they made this the nationwide shutdown. When did
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Speaker 1: the concept of a podcast start to brew? Was started
3:39
Speaker 1: and then became a reality? Uh? It started after right
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Speaker 1: after George Floyd and we started tackling all these really
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Speaker 1: tough thing conversations about race. People started asking me questions
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Speaker 1: what should I do? Um, You're on the forefront, You're
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Speaker 1: at the matrix of this situation, and I don't know
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Speaker 1: what to do. Can you please help me out? And
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Speaker 1: then I just you know, I figured someone I was
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Speaker 1: actually writing an email to CNN to ask them to
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Speaker 1: start a podcast, and lo and behold, I opened up
4:08
Speaker 1: my email and they were They sent men emails saying, Hey,
4:12
Speaker 1: would you like to do a podcast, so as they
4:15
Speaker 1: call it serendipity, oh like a great minds think of
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Speaker 1: Like that's another phrase that they can use because great
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Speaker 1: minds think. You know, I've listened to your podcast and
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Speaker 1: it's really you know, uh, you know, I do a
4:26
Speaker 1: podcast and it's not that. But your podcast feels visual.
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Speaker 1: It feels like it feels very visual and especially opening
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Speaker 1: and you have such a great uh tone to your
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Speaker 1: varge and your great storyteller. What's that the goal? Because
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Speaker 1: you know, I sit up, you know, you know, we
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Speaker 1: all into audiobooks, were all into that, but but they
4:47
Speaker 1: opening always feels like I can see the imagery of
4:50
Speaker 1: your of what you're trying to set before we actually
4:52
Speaker 1: get into the actual interview process. Talk about the whole
4:55
Speaker 1: production and what's that your vision that other people come
4:58
Speaker 1: in and say, can we do it as way? And
5:00
Speaker 1: you had some suggestions, so the whole podcast world was
5:03
Speaker 1: was something that's new to me. So I let the
5:05
Speaker 1: producers take the lead, but they go on the vision
5:07
Speaker 1: pretty much the vision that I had. I told him
5:09
Speaker 1: what I expected out of the podcast, what I wanted
5:11
Speaker 1: to talk to people about, some of the subjects and
5:14
Speaker 1: topics that I wanted to cover and so they went
5:18
Speaker 1: from there. But I mean, the producers are really good.
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Speaker 1: I'm glad you you said that, Um that it it
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Speaker 1: feels a vigital to you, because that's quite an accomplishment
5:27
Speaker 1: when it comes to audio. As you know, I haven't
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Speaker 1: worked in radio. You know, that's the interesting to part
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Speaker 1: about it, because the fact that you know your TV
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Speaker 1: every night, your your your your your image, your look,
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Speaker 1: your your voice. You know, your voice are becoming starting
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Speaker 1: to become such a commonplace in society that you know,
5:45
Speaker 1: you can probably start talking in the room and somebody
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Speaker 1: says that done, let me talking, because they know your tone,
5:49
Speaker 1: they know, they know, they know the credibility of your addiction.
5:53
Speaker 1: And so that's why I was important to me. I said, well,
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Speaker 1: I see him every every I visually see him. And
5:58
Speaker 1: then I went to the podcast away. Wow, he still
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Speaker 1: is achieving that visual concept that his voice is telling
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Speaker 1: a story that's very colorful. And how you open up
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Speaker 1: with these interviews and uh and these and these short uh,
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Speaker 1: these short visual storytelling moments. It's really important to setting
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Speaker 1: the tone for your actual podcast. That's really really a
6:21
Speaker 1: dynamic that I think is uh, it's not really it's
6:24
Speaker 1: not really normal in the audio podcast world. Oh wow, Well, uh,
6:30
Speaker 1: that's the first time I'm hearing that. So come on,
6:34
Speaker 1: come on, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
6:36
Speaker 1: I'm not. I think I'm a very creative guy, but
6:39
Speaker 1: I do know exceptionally good produced quality. And you are
6:43
Speaker 1: a guy who's popular, You're a guy who can't. Let's
6:46
Speaker 1: put this way, man, you have a credibility brand that
6:49
Speaker 1: cannot be cannot be messed with, you know, because you
6:53
Speaker 1: know when you go at CNN, you have that model
6:55
Speaker 1: there and we and you know seeing it. There's a
6:58
Speaker 1: certain degree of programming when you get in the podcast world.
7:00
Speaker 1: You've got people smoking weed doing shows. You've got people
7:03
Speaker 1: you've got people having sex shows. You have all kinds
7:05
Speaker 1: of shows out there in the podcast world. You know
7:13
Speaker 1: what I'm saying because definitely, because I definitely would like
7:17
Speaker 1: to hear and see some of that. I was just
7:21
Speaker 1: I wasn't it wasn't a podcast, but I was listening.
7:23
Speaker 1: I was watching, um a Netflix thing on on healing,
7:28
Speaker 1: and uh, there was one on to trick sex. And
7:31
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, man, they're talking about everything out here.
7:34
Speaker 1: Now you think they're talking about it on Netflix, go
7:38
Speaker 1: to the podcast world and it's on fire out there.
7:41
Speaker 1: It's on fire out there. And so that's what I'm
7:42
Speaker 1: saying is that it's important that your brand translate in
7:46
Speaker 1: this world or anything goes. You know, it's like because nobody,
7:49
Speaker 1: nobody basically has a has a just disclaimers sometimes to
7:53
Speaker 1: be able to take content down. You have YouTube subscribers,
7:57
Speaker 1: you have you have a lot of things out there.
7:58
Speaker 1: People and put that part cause was the wild wild
8:01
Speaker 1: West of entertainment, and so you wanted to be entertainment,
8:04
Speaker 1: but you also want to be informative and also you
8:06
Speaker 1: wanted to be responsible. So when you came up with
8:08
Speaker 1: the title, the title which is so important, you know,
8:11
Speaker 1: silence is not an option. What was the basis of
8:14
Speaker 1: that title? Well, the basis was in this moment when
8:20
Speaker 1: we have when we were talking about you know this
8:22
Speaker 1: George Floyd moment um, when you have all these issues happening,
8:26
Speaker 1: when you have people wanting um uh equality uh justice,
8:31
Speaker 1: racial justice, criminal justice, so on and so forth, is
8:34
Speaker 1: that you couldn't sit around and no one should sit
8:36
Speaker 1: around and be silent about it. No person who is
8:39
Speaker 1: that who has a position of power, no white person
8:42
Speaker 1: or black person. If you feel if you feel that you,
8:45
Speaker 1: if you're an American, then you have a responsibility in
8:49
Speaker 1: this moment to speak out and to um and to
8:54
Speaker 1: talk about this because races is the race is the
8:56
Speaker 1: third rail in American culture. You know, you touch it,
9:00
Speaker 1: it's a hot button, it's a hot rail, you're gonna
9:01
Speaker 1: get shot. And people people have wanted, people want to
9:06
Speaker 1: have these conversations that they're afraid to. They're afraid of
9:09
Speaker 1: being um uh, being judged. They're afraid they're gonna say
9:13
Speaker 1: something stupid. They're afraid of someone calling them a racist,
9:15
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. And I don't think
9:17
Speaker 1: that I don't think that you should, um feel that
9:20
Speaker 1: way in this moment. I think it's time for all
9:21
Speaker 1: of us to let our guards down a little bit,
9:23
Speaker 1: to give people um, to cut people some slack, and
9:27
Speaker 1: to talk about these things. And in order to talk,
9:29
Speaker 1: in order to change, you gotta listen, and you have
9:31
Speaker 1: to speak, you gotta ask questions. So in this moment,
9:35
Speaker 1: silence is not an option. And that's how that came about.
9:37
Speaker 1: And it's brilliant, um. Well, you surprised as as I was,
9:41
Speaker 1: they doing the marches, the protest marches, to turn out
9:45
Speaker 1: of white participants. UM, Yes and no. I was surprised
9:53
Speaker 1: that I was. I was. I was actually surprised at
9:57
Speaker 1: people UM that people actually did it for so long,
10:02
Speaker 1: because I was surprised that they were doing it in
10:05
Speaker 1: the middle of a pandemic. Was that surprised that we
10:07
Speaker 1: had UM in the moment that we was, you know,
10:10
Speaker 1: watching someone basically lose their life in front of our
10:14
Speaker 1: very eyes on on on television. You know, you had
10:17
Speaker 1: our very first, and then you had UM and so
10:20
Speaker 1: many before. But I mean just in in recent you know,
10:23
Speaker 1: the recent months, you had an Yeah, and so then
10:28
Speaker 1: you had George Floyd, and I wasn't surprised that that
10:30
Speaker 1: would discuss anyone. And young people, UM, you know, they
10:34
Speaker 1: don't feel the way us old folks feel. They're they're ready,
10:38
Speaker 1: they're ready for this to be over with. They're ready
10:40
Speaker 1: for for the most part, if they're not being brainwashed
10:42
Speaker 1: by their their parents or some political party or organization,
10:47
Speaker 1: they're ready for this whole race thing to be done with.
10:50
Speaker 1: And I mean in a way that we not just
10:52
Speaker 1: like not just say okay, let's get this over with,
10:54
Speaker 1: but the way that we tackle it, we deal with
10:56
Speaker 1: the issues and we stopped, you know, we stopped racist.
11:01
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to see so many people who are
11:03
Speaker 1: not of color, so many different ethnicities there. I was
11:06
Speaker 1: just surprised that they were out there in the middle
11:08
Speaker 1: of the pandemic and still out there, and still out there,
11:10
Speaker 1: and then still out there when I look at POTL
11:13
Speaker 1: and I go, Okay, I've been to Portlands, I've been
11:15
Speaker 1: to Seattle. The black populations aren't aren't there with Black
11:20
Speaker 1: Lives Matter movement? And then you realize that the younger
11:23
Speaker 1: white generation that's saying, okay, enough is enough. We see,
11:26
Speaker 1: we saw what don't you see? Why don't you understand
11:30
Speaker 1: these things that are happening? And when you when you
11:32
Speaker 1: talk about how do you pick your subject matter or
11:35
Speaker 1: your interviews for your show? And we're talking to Don Lemon,
11:37
Speaker 1: he's the host of the Very Hot, Very High High podcast,
11:41
Speaker 1: silence is not an option? How do you how do
11:42
Speaker 1: you select your interviews? Um, again, a collaborative effort. But
11:46
Speaker 1: we talked, well, you usually talk about the issues that
11:48
Speaker 1: are out there, I mean mine. UM, it's easy and
11:51
Speaker 1: then it's hard because it's easy and that we know
11:53
Speaker 1: that that we are subject is going to be something
11:56
Speaker 1: that is that relates to race, right, uh and um,
12:00
Speaker 1: and it's also easy in the sense that I feel
12:02
Speaker 1: that race could touches almost every subject in America. If
12:06
Speaker 1: you if you look at Wall Street, if you look
12:07
Speaker 1: at finances, if you look at mortgages, if you look
12:10
Speaker 1: at healthcare, if you no matter what it is, I
12:12
Speaker 1: think race plays a fact. If you look at policing,
12:15
Speaker 1: race places fact. If you look at sports, race plays
12:17
Speaker 1: a factors. So we know that we're gonna be talking
12:19
Speaker 1: about the subject of race and whatever realm we may
12:22
Speaker 1: want to do it. And so, um, really we talked
12:25
Speaker 1: about the issues at hand. So now we have the
12:28
Speaker 1: sports world trying to figure out what they're gonna do
12:29
Speaker 1: about COVID, and then you also have them trying to
12:32
Speaker 1: figure out what they're gonna do about justice. And so
12:35
Speaker 1: you've got all these players now who are feeling empowered.
12:38
Speaker 1: So we talked about sports. The podcast that's out now
12:41
Speaker 1: is with legendary journalists Bill Rodin where we talk about
12:44
Speaker 1: uh sports and he very provocative question that he raised
12:48
Speaker 1: during the podcast was was integration good for black people
12:51
Speaker 1: and for black athletes and for black colleges? And and
12:54
Speaker 1: I'm like, whoa that was really profound and we discussed that.
12:58
Speaker 1: We talked about UM education, the race, the role race
13:03
Speaker 1: plays in education. That's one of our podcasts. Now we're
13:06
Speaker 1: the subject that's coming up this we're going to talk
13:08
Speaker 1: about UM environmental justice. Right, what how does race play
13:13
Speaker 1: a role in environmental justice? Do do people of color
13:16
Speaker 1: live in places that aren't environmentally friendly to them that
13:19
Speaker 1: causes them to get sick? Um that may you know,
13:22
Speaker 1: they may be in a food desert and so on
13:24
Speaker 1: and so forth. But we have to figure out a way.
13:26
Speaker 1: The tough part is making those subjects interesting enough that
13:30
Speaker 1: people want to tune in and listen to them. And
13:32
Speaker 1: again I have to say, I have to get my
13:34
Speaker 1: productions because you still think going to be in visual
13:38
Speaker 1: um on subjects that people may not you know, they
13:41
Speaker 1: may not be so um interesting to people in the moment,
13:45
Speaker 1: but it's good that you feel that way when you
13:47
Speaker 1: listen to So that's how that's it's easy and it's hard.
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Speaker 1: T e R dot ai. Well, the thing about it
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Speaker 1: is day We all know you know you are face,
15:50
Speaker 1: but you win with great teammates. And the teammates are
15:52
Speaker 1: the producers and the people who follow your vision. And
15:55
Speaker 1: one of the things about that I love watching about
15:58
Speaker 1: watching your TV's day. You know your face tells a
16:00
Speaker 1: story to you know, watching you, because you know, you
16:04
Speaker 1: know if if it bothers you, your face can sometimes
16:07
Speaker 1: at least when I'm watching, you can tell me, Okay,
16:10
Speaker 1: he's not liking this, or he or he's annoyed by this,
16:13
Speaker 1: and but it also it shows that your face can
16:16
Speaker 1: also show that your kid that you care. Your face
16:18
Speaker 1: can also show that you're happy your face. Your face
16:21
Speaker 1: can also show that your disappointment. Is that just natural? Uh?
16:24
Speaker 1: Just Don Lemon being Don Lemon? Well, yeah that's me. Rashan. Listen.
16:29
Speaker 1: I have to say, you know, when I first started too,
16:31
Speaker 1: and you know you you would know this from from
16:34
Speaker 1: you know, being in the business, you want to be perfect,
16:36
Speaker 1: You want everything to be you know, I gotta get
16:38
Speaker 1: this perfect. I have to read this perfectly. I think
16:40
Speaker 1: I can't portray anything. I decided the more I became
16:46
Speaker 1: me or let me shine on television where there's no
16:48
Speaker 1: difference between me on TV and on TV. The more
16:51
Speaker 1: successful I became, the more people started to tune into
16:54
Speaker 1: my show. That the the stronger and louder and bigger
16:58
Speaker 1: my voice became. And I said, Wow, all I have
17:01
Speaker 1: to do is just be me, because not a lot
17:04
Speaker 1: of people can do that on in this industry. They
17:07
Speaker 1: think that they have to be someone else, They have
17:08
Speaker 1: to be perfect, They gotta read be a robot, they
17:10
Speaker 1: gotta do this, they gotta do that, when all you
17:12
Speaker 1: have to do is really just be you, be authentic
17:15
Speaker 1: and and try to try to portray what's right in
17:18
Speaker 1: the world. Right, even when people are against you. Then
17:21
Speaker 1: you'll be successful. We know that's perfect cause I always
17:23
Speaker 1: tell people you're gonna lose, lose being you. If you
17:25
Speaker 1: fall down, you can get up. But if somebody you
17:27
Speaker 1: is making believe, it's harder to get up because you
17:30
Speaker 1: don't have people. You know, you don't have the puppet
17:31
Speaker 1: screens anymore. Once you get cut, you have to be
17:34
Speaker 1: able to stand on your own two feet. And there
17:36
Speaker 1: was a classic example. I was watching the night that Compla.
17:39
Speaker 1: Harris was announced as the running mate for Joe Biden,
17:43
Speaker 1: and you came on the air and you're like, you
17:45
Speaker 1: you broke that wall. He said, look, I'm gonna do
17:47
Speaker 1: some a little different tonight. You know, Um, I have
17:50
Speaker 1: six sisters, and you know one of your sister would
17:53
Speaker 1: have been sixty one and uh and you're saying that,
17:55
Speaker 1: you you know, black women being recognized and have been
17:58
Speaker 1: the backbone of the Democratic par Party. Uh. Trump does
18:01
Speaker 1: not pull well with women. And that was a moment
18:04
Speaker 1: when I'm talking about what you said. You know something
18:06
Speaker 1: I can be done, Lemon, I can say this, I
18:09
Speaker 1: can I can articulate this relationship I have emotionally and
18:14
Speaker 1: how I feel about the announcement of Kamala Harris. That's
18:17
Speaker 1: what you're talking about when you're saying when people listen
18:20
Speaker 1: to the show, we all can be great actors, but
18:22
Speaker 1: in the end, it's who we are that's going to
18:25
Speaker 1: create sustainability and create the relationship or longevity in this business.
18:29
Speaker 1: Can you articulate on that? Yeah? Well, and but it's
18:33
Speaker 1: also to I mean, it's also like an actor. It's
18:36
Speaker 1: I would say, and I don't mean like I'm acting
18:38
Speaker 1: and faking. It's like a performance. You have to be
18:41
Speaker 1: able to any performer, even if you're being yourself. You've
18:44
Speaker 1: got to be able to hold the audience right. You
18:47
Speaker 1: have to be able to sit or stand in your
18:49
Speaker 1: power uh and um and realize and own whatever platform
18:55
Speaker 1: it is that you have so I can sit there.
18:56
Speaker 1: I feel you know that I've gotten to a point
18:59
Speaker 1: where I don't have to fill dead air like I'm
19:03
Speaker 1: not worried about this que You know it sounds not
19:07
Speaker 1: an option to podcast. I'm not worried. I'm not worried
19:09
Speaker 1: about h Silence on television sometimes it speaks more than
19:14
Speaker 1: feeling it with words. That's something that I learned. Like
19:16
Speaker 1: when I'm sitting there and I'm trying to get my
19:18
Speaker 1: thoughts together and I go, huh, how do I say this? Wait?
19:21
Speaker 1: Let me think about this one, right, And that's what
19:24
Speaker 1: you did when you when yeah, yeah, And that's what
19:27
Speaker 1: you did when you when you made that, like I
19:29
Speaker 1: always say, broke that third wall. Bring that wall over. Okay,
19:33
Speaker 1: I am about to just just not on there's not
19:35
Speaker 1: on a telepropter. Okay, I'm sorry, guys, I just I
19:39
Speaker 1: gotta say this because emotionally everybody knows me. I'm you know,
19:43
Speaker 1: we're fans of you. But to be done, Lemon, I'm
19:47
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just gonna ask this general question because I
19:49
Speaker 1: I manage a lot of talented people who are reach
19:53
Speaker 1: superstar level and but in the entertainment side. But you're
19:58
Speaker 1: in the news, you and decide where you you. You know,
20:03
Speaker 1: sometimes your credibility can't be questioned. Sometimes when you make
20:07
Speaker 1: a statement and it is the right statement, it can
20:09
Speaker 1: be questioned. How do you be how do you maintain
20:13
Speaker 1: who darned Limon is and then maintain the message you're
20:16
Speaker 1: trying to deliver every night on CNN Tonight, Um, well,
20:24
Speaker 1: I realized that I have um, I have a great
20:32
Speaker 1: I have a great responsibility, and I realized that I
20:35
Speaker 1: am I am lucky enough and blessed enough to be
20:38
Speaker 1: able to have this platform. And so the only thing
20:42
Speaker 1: that I can do with it is speak the truth.
20:45
Speaker 1: My truth, I should say, but my truth may not
20:47
Speaker 1: always be yours. And so you know, and so if
20:50
Speaker 1: you well, you know, if you want to criticize me
20:52
Speaker 1: or what have you, then that's all part of the gig.
20:54
Speaker 1: But I think the best thing I do is I
20:56
Speaker 1: learned that I don't take anything personally because most people
21:00
Speaker 1: who are if they want to be critical, they don't
21:01
Speaker 1: really know me. And the more critical you are of me, uh,
21:06
Speaker 1: you know, whether you critical in a good way or
21:08
Speaker 1: in a bad way, that means that that that shows
21:11
Speaker 1: you how big my voice is and my platform is
21:14
Speaker 1: and how powerful it is and how much you're tuning in.
21:17
Speaker 1: Because people will tune into people they don't agree with
21:19
Speaker 1: are people they as you know from being in the business,
21:22
Speaker 1: hate watch or hate listen to people. People who hate
21:24
Speaker 1: you will listen to you or watch you more than
21:26
Speaker 1: people who like you because they need that, they need
21:29
Speaker 1: to be fueled by they're like, oh my god, it
21:30
Speaker 1: gives me off, and so um, you know, they need
21:34
Speaker 1: that stimulus. So I don't take it personally, and I
21:37
Speaker 1: just speak my truth. And I try to speak for
21:40
Speaker 1: the person who doesn't really have a voice and for
21:43
Speaker 1: the people, for the people who don't have a platform,
21:46
Speaker 1: and I speak for the everyday people. And you know
21:49
Speaker 1: right now, you know it's it's crazy. You're shown because
21:53
Speaker 1: everybody is calling me. Not everybody, but the people who
21:55
Speaker 1: are mad at me because I have silence. I say,
21:57
Speaker 1: silent is not an option to speak up on. This
22:00
Speaker 1: is a race that I'm a race beader. I'm a racist.
22:03
Speaker 1: You know, if you read the blogs and you read
22:04
Speaker 1: any of the of the you know, press, I'm a racist.
22:08
Speaker 1: Why are you always talking about race? Why do you
22:09
Speaker 1: hate the white man? Why? I don't hate anybody. I'm
22:12
Speaker 1: just speaking the truth. And people get mad. A white
22:15
Speaker 1: broadcaster can say the same thing I say and will
22:17
Speaker 1: not get criticized. But for me, because I'm black, I
22:21
Speaker 1: get it, especially from the biggest absolutely and I get
22:24
Speaker 1: it and I respect you. That's why the questions that
22:26
Speaker 1: I answered, I'm a black man, and I know the
22:29
Speaker 1: type of business that you're in. I know the level
22:31
Speaker 1: that you are when you when you because you you,
22:34
Speaker 1: you are are allowing yourself to be yourself in a
22:37
Speaker 1: CNN format, and when you slide over to this podcast world,
22:40
Speaker 1: this is actually a voice that you can dictate and control.
22:44
Speaker 1: And that's when the criticism these things can come even stronger.
22:46
Speaker 1: We're talking to Don Lemon. He's an amazing podcast called
22:50
Speaker 1: Silence Is Not an Option. Every Thursday he drops a
22:52
Speaker 1: new show. It's a couple of things I want to
22:54
Speaker 1: ask you before we wrap up that really on the COVID,
22:57
Speaker 1: theteen side. Early on in the COVID in eighteen, I
23:01
Speaker 1: was watching you and a lady called. He was interviewing
23:03
Speaker 1: a lady and she had told you that eight out
23:06
Speaker 1: of ten black people who are hospitalized in Atlanta. I
23:10
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this interview had COVID N eighteen.
23:13
Speaker 1: I would tell you something when when um, you had
23:17
Speaker 1: a stunted look on your face. If you saw my faith,
23:19
Speaker 1: it would have matched it. I just could not believe
23:23
Speaker 1: that number. And so when you get live, because I'm
23:26
Speaker 1: sure you get prepped for the shows, but when you
23:28
Speaker 1: get information like that that sounds so incredible, that eight
23:32
Speaker 1: out of ten COVID eighteen patients that were hospitalized in
23:36
Speaker 1: the city of Atlanta or African Americans, how do you
23:39
Speaker 1: compartmentalize that intend to go and still deliver what you
23:44
Speaker 1: have to deliver to the American people. I have to
23:47
Speaker 1: keep my composed number one. You know, I got bills.
23:53
Speaker 1: I've got to keep my composure so that I can
23:55
Speaker 1: be the folks at home. But but I'm honest, I
23:59
Speaker 1: was honest, is shocked like you. I'm like, wait, wait
24:02
Speaker 1: what that's what you're saying? You went when you were you?
24:04
Speaker 1: And I was like, I was like, I couldn't. In fact,
24:07
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tall you something. We're gonna I want you
24:08
Speaker 1: to continue. But I actually came to work the next day,
24:11
Speaker 1: I went, I watched Don Lemon and he has some
24:14
Speaker 1: lady on talking about eight out of ten black people
24:17
Speaker 1: and who had COVID natena in Atlanta? What what black?
24:22
Speaker 1: And the Then then I opened up a j C,
24:25
Speaker 1: which is Atlanta General Constitution, and it was true. You
24:29
Speaker 1: I got to play that out behind closed door and
24:31
Speaker 1: front of my employees. You get to play that out
24:34
Speaker 1: on national TV with a person and a kind of
24:38
Speaker 1: in the Zoom TV. I remember that the declarity wasn't
24:42
Speaker 1: that good. It was because she had a bad zoom camera.
24:45
Speaker 1: And here you are on national TV going really just
24:49
Speaker 1: the first time I've heard of any incredible information like that.
24:52
Speaker 1: Now you can continue, Yeah, well, because it is, and
24:56
Speaker 1: I figured, you know, that's the same way I asked
24:59
Speaker 1: questions I'm asking. I try to sit there like a
25:02
Speaker 1: viewer and like people at home, because people at home
25:04
Speaker 1: want to know, like you know, they're getting me. I
25:07
Speaker 1: may have been pressed for it by producers, write a
25:09
Speaker 1: lot of it, some of it, a lot of it
25:11
Speaker 1: is also happening live, and I you know, and I'll
25:14
Speaker 1: tell you I'm getting this information when you're getting so
25:16
Speaker 1: you you know, bear with me. But um, yeah, because
25:20
Speaker 1: I'm speaking for the people at home, I'm asking questions
25:22
Speaker 1: for the people at home, just like you were, shayning
25:24
Speaker 1: the people who are listening to us. Now, those are
25:27
Speaker 1: the questions that I asked. Again. That's why I don't
25:28
Speaker 1: sit there and try to be perfect, like you know
25:30
Speaker 1: when people when your mom says, act like you've been somewhere.
25:33
Speaker 1: I get that, but sometimes you really haven't been somewhere,
25:37
Speaker 1: and you just have to I just have to say
25:40
Speaker 1: I have never been here, and I'm taking you here
25:42
Speaker 1: with me, and it gets what I was alone for
25:44
Speaker 1: the ride, and I was like, I was, I was.
25:46
Speaker 1: I was so traumatized by the information I actually tuned
25:49
Speaker 1: out the rest of the interview. I was like, it's crazy.
25:52
Speaker 1: I went to those terminologies, those levels of terms like
25:55
Speaker 1: no way, no way, how could this be? And then
25:58
Speaker 1: then you realize, okay that then as you started playing
26:01
Speaker 1: off you do the research. You realized that, you know,
26:03
Speaker 1: the COVID ninteen was overtly affecting the people of color,
26:07
Speaker 1: people in the black community, and uh and and and
26:10
Speaker 1: then in this the White House had nothing to say
26:13
Speaker 1: but whatever, And that also affects you emotionally. And then
26:17
Speaker 1: I want to fast forward to a recent interview, I
26:19
Speaker 1: believe last week where you was interviewing this family. I
26:22
Speaker 1: believe it was in Florida and the husband and uh
26:26
Speaker 1: and and her father in law had died from coviden.
26:29
Speaker 1: You was interviewing the family. There was a children's dad
26:33
Speaker 1: and granddad. They were both doctors, yes, and they both
26:36
Speaker 1: contracted um COVID and they both died. Father and son,
26:39
Speaker 1: and I think they died a couple of days apart
26:41
Speaker 1: in the hospital. I'm gonna tell you them done. I
26:45
Speaker 1: know that was a difficult interview at times, you know,
26:48
Speaker 1: you know, and so I wanted to bring that up
26:51
Speaker 1: and in my interview with you, just to show you
26:53
Speaker 1: the range, you know, the range. Sometimes you can get
26:56
Speaker 1: to get lost in this information pool and just be
26:58
Speaker 1: doing your job to see that here at the at
27:02
Speaker 1: the height, at the very beginning of unknown, you find
27:06
Speaker 1: out that the people and COVID patients and in Atlanta, Georgia,
27:10
Speaker 1: or African Americans, and then you do an interview last week,
27:13
Speaker 1: or white family, attractive white family because you mentioned that
27:16
Speaker 1: in your interview, and they they were doctors, and they
27:20
Speaker 1: still were victims of COVID eighteen. And we still have
27:24
Speaker 1: people out here, you know, condemning mask, calling to the
27:28
Speaker 1: fraud and all that. But you have to hold it together,
27:32
Speaker 1: and you have to be that that sustained force, a
27:36
Speaker 1: reason of credibility and information. That's a tremendous burden, Dared.
27:40
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to wear you down, my friend, but
27:42
Speaker 1: I have to give you respect because I love you, man,
27:44
Speaker 1: and and you can't you can't stop. You can't stop.
27:47
Speaker 1: I won't let you stop, man. I support you to
27:50
Speaker 1: the mountaintop because you are taking us there, and I
27:53
Speaker 1: just wanted to just talk about that range when you
27:56
Speaker 1: were from from from that black information that the at
27:59
Speaker 1: the beginning of COVID, and we at the peak of
28:01
Speaker 1: COVID right now. You're talking with the father and grandfather.
28:05
Speaker 1: Give us that, give us that that in the middle
28:07
Speaker 1: of all that. George law yeah, and and and George Floyd.
28:12
Speaker 1: But I mean, listen, you gotta this is I gotta
28:16
Speaker 1: be honest with you. I've never nobody's gone through it
28:19
Speaker 1: this before. I've never dealt with this before, with anything
28:22
Speaker 1: like like this, with the with the race issue to
28:24
Speaker 1: this level, with the you know, people being sick obviously
28:29
Speaker 1: at home, a lot of people don't even know where
28:30
Speaker 1: their next meal is coming from. You've seen the lines
28:33
Speaker 1: out there for the food banks and what have you.
28:36
Speaker 1: People at home, they don't even know if they're gonna
28:37
Speaker 1: be able to pay their bills. They don't know if
28:38
Speaker 1: they're gonna get picked it. They have no idea. This
28:41
Speaker 1: is unprecedented times. And then we have an administration who's
28:44
Speaker 1: pretending that it's not happening, who's also trying to restrict
28:47
Speaker 1: voting rights and suppressed votes. This is an unprecedent at
28:50
Speaker 1: a time I want to I want to sit in
28:52
Speaker 1: my bed and not get out and pull the covers
28:54
Speaker 1: up and you know, close the curtains. But I can't.
28:57
Speaker 1: I've got to. Like you said, you don't want to
29:00
Speaker 1: bring me down. But that's that's the responsibility. I took
29:02
Speaker 1: on with this platform, and I have to bring it
29:04
Speaker 1: to people now. And I think it's even more important.
29:07
Speaker 1: It's never been a more important time to be a
29:08
Speaker 1: journalist in this country. And either you're going to do
29:10
Speaker 1: it right or wrong, and I hope I'm doing it
29:13
Speaker 1: the right way. You're doing a great uh your state.
29:15
Speaker 1: This is a statement that came from your people. Americas
29:18
Speaker 1: in crisis right now. A lot of people want to
29:20
Speaker 1: help but have no idea what to start. In our
29:23
Speaker 1: new podcast, we're going to dig deep into the reality
29:25
Speaker 1: of being black and brown in America and explore what
29:28
Speaker 1: you can do to help find a path forward. We'll
29:31
Speaker 1: have tough conversation with activists, thinkers, and leaders. I love
29:35
Speaker 1: that Cream ab Dul Jabbar interview that you've done, But
29:38
Speaker 1: more importantly, we get to rebuild America together. Don I
29:42
Speaker 1: want to I want to thank you for taking the
29:43
Speaker 1: time to allow me to have on this conversation with
29:46
Speaker 1: Don Lemon. Okay, allowed me to do this as well.
29:52
Speaker 1: And I know you've been trying to get me for
29:54
Speaker 1: a while and I had some scheduling issues, but I
29:56
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that I got on to speak
29:59
Speaker 1: with you, and I really appre shape the opportunity to
30:01
Speaker 1: speak to you and be safe and always know you
30:02
Speaker 1: gotta advocate out here, ma'am, and we're going to promote
30:04
Speaker 1: you and keep you at the front lines of information.
30:07
Speaker 1: And also that you understand that your support group is very,
30:10
Speaker 1: very strong. They are haters, but the line of lovers.
30:13
Speaker 1: When I say lovers, I mean people. Advocate what you
30:16
Speaker 1: stand for, advocate your voice, and uplift what you're trying
30:19
Speaker 1: to do for us every night on TV and on
30:22
Speaker 1: your very very successful podcast. Silence is not an option.
30:25
Speaker 1: Keep going and keep dropping them every Thursday. Okay, thank
30:29
Speaker 1: you very much, brother, I really appreciate you. Take care
30:31
Speaker 1: and you'd be safe. Okay, thank you. In this season
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