Club Shay Shay - Keith Lee Part 2

Summary

Club Shay Shay - Keith Lee Part 2: A Deep Dive into Integrity, Personal Growth, and Resilience

Published on December 4, 2024

In this compelling second part of the "Club Shay Shay" series, NFL legend Shannon Sharpe engages in an intimate and revealing conversation with Keith Lee, a multifaceted individual known for his prowess in mixed martial arts (MMA) and his burgeoning career as a viral food critic. Hosted by iHeartPodcasts, The Volume, and Shay Shay Media, this episode uncovers Keith's journey from the gritty streets of Detroit to becoming a respected voice in the food community, all while maintaining unwavering integrity and overcoming personal adversities.

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1. Upholding Integrity in Brand Partnerships

Keith Lee emphasizes the importance of authenticity when partnering with brands, refusing to endorse products he doesn't personally use or believe in. This steadfast commitment to integrity is a cornerstone of his professional ethos.

Keith Lee [02:37]: "I'm looking at some of the companies you partner with... and how does Keith Lee determine who he's going to partner with?"

Hoda Kotb [02:50]: "For me, it's a conversation that's had after. Like I said, I prayed before everything, and I can feel when something's right and something's not right."

A notable moment occurs when Keith recounts his encounter with the CEO of Chipotle, leading to a menu item named after him:

Keith Lee [02:35]: "We got a Chipotle named after us. It was surreal... I never questioned God, but it was like, why me?"

This anecdote underscores his belief in divine timing and personal deservingness, reinforcing his authentic approach to endorsements.

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2. Making Thoughtful Personal Purchases

Keith discusses his selective spending habits, primarily investing in shoes—a passion supported by his wife, Hoda. This disciplined approach extends to avoiding frivolous expenditures, ensuring that every purchase aligns with his values and family’s well-being.

Hoda Kotb [09:24]: "No, I have a shoe wall that I collect. I'm at... probably if I had to guess the worth, I would sell it right now for like, $200,000."

Keith acknowledges the role of his supportive wife in curbing impulsive purchases, highlighting the strength of their partnership.

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3. Navigating Public Perception and Impersonations

The duo delves into the challenges of dealing with impersonators and public misconceptions. Keith shares his experiences with individuals mimicking his persona, which sometimes leads to unwarranted criticism and misrepresentation.

Hoda Kotb [17:25]: "It's hilarious to me... Keenan Thompson tried the impersonation, and I give him a 10 for that."

Keith reflects on the necessity of authenticity, stressing that his manner of speech is a product of overcoming social anxiety rather than a natural trait.

Hoda Kotb [19:54]: "I still have a lisp, I talked with... Why you think I got a speech impediment?"

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4. Addressing Controversies with BET and Taraji P. Henson

A significant portion of the conversation addresses a tumultuous experience Keith and Hoda had with BET and actress Taraji P. Henson during an award show segment. Miscommunications and production mishaps led to public misunderstandings, with media portraying Keith as disrespectful.

Hoda Kotb [22:02]: "We had a conversation with BET transparently about it... They wanted to highlight us, but it was forced."

Keith recounts the ordeal where they were moved from a comfortable setting to a staged segment that didn't reflect their true selves, resulting in backlash and hurt feelings.

Hoda Kotb [25:54]: "I took the role that they gave me... I was speaking directly to production. Don't do this again."

The hosts discuss the importance of clear communication and genuine representation, underscoring their commitment to maintaining respect within their professional relationships.

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5. Overcoming Personal Struggles and Building Resilience

Keith opens up about his past, detailing a challenging childhood marked by familial conflicts, financial instability, and personal hardships. These experiences fueled his determination to succeed in MMA and later transition into the food industry.

Hoda Kotb [65:13]: "I got scars all back here... It was one of those things where I feel like that really molded me as a person of who I am."

He credits MMA with instilling discipline and resilience, qualities that have seamlessly translated into his current endeavors.

Hoda Kotb [76:33]: "MMA gave me resilience... My work ethic is, bar none."

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6. Transitioning from MMA to Food Criticism

The conversation explores Keith's shift from a professional MMA fighter to a viral food critic, highlighting how he leveraged his discipline and public persona to carve out a niche in the culinary world without compromising his integrity.

Hoda Kotb [44:09]: "We do it for the restaurants... It's about marketing these places."

Keith emphasizes that his reviews aim to support small businesses rather than seeking personal gain, maintaining transparency by not charging restaurants for coverage.

Hoda Kotb [43:31]: "It's about highlighting restaurants that have great food and customer service but need marketing."

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7. Future Plans and Continuing Legacy

Looking ahead, Keith shares his aspirations to expand his food tour, reinvest in his family and business, and continue championing authenticity and support for underrepresented restaurants.

Hoda Kotb [15:24]: "The next few years are gonna be insane... As long as I'm with my family and I'm happy, that's all that matters to me."

He expresses optimism about future projects, including potential media ventures like a sitcom, while reiterating his focus on family and personal fulfillment.

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Conclusion

This episode of "Club Shay Shay" offers an unfiltered glimpse into Keith Lee's life, showcasing his unwavering commitment to integrity, resilience in the face of adversity, and dedication to uplifting others through his unique platform. His journey from overcoming personal struggles to building a reputable career serves as an inspiring testament to the power of authenticity and hard work.

Notable Quotes:

• Keith Lee [02:35]: "We got a Chipotle named after us. It was surreal... I never questioned God, but it was like, why me?"
• Hoda Kotb [09:24]: "No, I have a shoe wall that I collect. I'm at... probably if I had to guess the worth, I would sell it right now for like, $200,000."
• Hoda Kotb [17:25]: "It's hilarious to me... Keenan Thompson tried the impersonation, and I give him a 10 for that."
• Hoda Kotb [22:02]: "We had a conversation with BET transparently about it... They wanted to highlight us, but it was forced."
• Hoda Kotb [43:31]: "It's about highlighting restaurants that have great food and customer service but need marketing."
• Hoda Kotb [15:24]: "The next few years are gonna be insane... As long as I'm with my family and I'm happy, that's all that matters to me."

This episode not only delves into Keith Lee's professional strategies and personal philosophies but also highlights the significance of staying true to oneself amidst the pressures of fame and public scrutiny. For listeners unfamiliar with his story, this summary encapsulates the essence of Keith Lee's admirable journey and the valuable lessons he imparts.

Transcript

[Savannah Guthrie]

Hi, everyone. It's Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Cotney from the Today Show.

[Hoda Kotb]

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[Savannah Guthrie]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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[Keith Lee]

Thank you for coming back. Part two is underway. So how was that experience? Because like you said, bro, I'm in my apartment.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

And I got the CEO of Chipotle on the phone. On the phone.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

And he's talking about, okay, we want to name a. So we're gonna put something on a menu. Name something after you.

[Hoda Kotb]

They had it. It was called a Keith Edia and it was on the app. The. Like I said, the Chipotle. The craziest thing about that Chipotle is the Chipotle. Me and my wife, we met when we worked at Asics inside a South Premium Outlet, and that Chipotle was directly in front of South Premium Outlet. So to go back there three or four years after. No, it was longer than that. Maybe like seven years after me and her met and standing in front of the spot that we met, but now we got a Chipotle named after us. It was surreal, and it was one of them things where it was like, I never questioned God, but it was like, why me? Yeah, I did.

[Keith Lee]

What did I do to deserve this?

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. Facts. Thanks.

[Keith Lee]

I'm looking at some of the companies you partner with. Chipotle, Pizza Hut, Wingstop, Doordash, Pepsi, Chime, Hyundai, Microsoft. I mean, how does Keith Lee determine who he's going to partner with?

[Hoda Kotb]

For me, it's a conversation that's had after. Like I said, I prayed before everything, and I can. You can feel it. You can feel when something's right and something's not right. I give you an exclusive here. We had a conversation with. I was hearing. I said her name because I ain't gonna. We had a conversation with. Okay, I ain't gonna say name, but one of the biggest fast food companies in the entire world. We had a conversation with them and.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, I was about to say the name either. Okay, my bad, my bad. Okay, go ahead, Michelle.

[Hoda Kotb]

Come on, Michelle. What we doing, Michelle? Hypothetically, but we had a conversation with somebody and. Come on, Shannon.

[Keith Lee]

They like us.

[Hoda Kotb]

No. So we had a conversation with somebody, and they initially reached out and it was like, we want to have a foot. This must be like a full commercial, a full deal, like a really big thing. And mind you, I'm not making that much money at the time. I'm making good money, but not like, nowhere near to be turning. They was offering almost a million dollar champion, and I wasn't making nowhere near that. But they was having a conversation and they asked me, do I eat that food? And I don't. Instead of saying, of course I eat it. Trying to get the money.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Me as a person of integrity. I told him straight to his face. I was like, no, I don't. I've never ate it as a kid. I don't eat it now. I don't really eat fast food.

[Keith Lee]

How much y'all offer? You know what? I always wanted to try. I always wanted to try that.

[Hoda Kotb]

But it's like I said earlier, with integrity. Like, it's something that I feel like I have to be able to turn pass down to my kids. Had this conversation with them when I'm. When I'm 50 or 60, and tell them, like, no matter what position I was in, I've always been myself and I've always stuck to what I believe is right in my heart. And I had the conversation with them. He put me on the phone with again with the CEOs. CEOs. And the first time, the first question he asked was, all right, Keith, do you like this food? The brand or whatever it is, do you like our brand? Thinking I was going to back down because we having a conversation from the cosmic. And in front of all of them people. Nope. And they said, oh, okay, well, we'll have a conversation in the back end. I already knew it was a rap, right? That meant. Absolutely. That's not about the word. But it was just, like I said, a testament to who I've always stood on. And I've always stood my ground and put my feet in the ground and been who I say I am.

[Keith Lee]

Is it easier to represent a brand? And because I find this myself, it's a lot easier to represent a brand if you use the product, if you eat the food.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely.

[Keith Lee]

Because it's not rehearsed, it's not forced. I actually drive this car, I actually go to this place, I actually eat this food as opposed to. Yeah, I do.

[Hoda Kotb]

For me, again, we blessed enough to have people that will really go out and get the product and try the product. And I refuse to step anything that I personally don't like because I understand these are people's hard earned money that they're going to spend. I think a lot of people don't think about it like that. They just be like, oh, it's my money, I'm going to get the money for my family, I'm supporting. But it's like you also affecting other people's money, other people's family. Because if it's a product that you won't even stand behind and you don't eat in your daily life or that you would eat, why are you about to make them spend they last earned money, Right? And like I said, I'm blessed enough to really have people that will go out with they last. And I'm talking about people be standing in line and having their own real issues. They stand in line for eight, nine hours.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

And it's like, I don't take that lightly. I don't play with that. And I appreciate every last one of y'all. So all every decision I made, like how you asked what decisions go into me picking certain partner partners that we deal with. I think of them, I think of my family, I think of if I can ask myself 20 years from now if that made sense, I can still say yes no matter how it went. No matter if, like I said, I missed out on a million dollars. No matter if I got a million dollars. Like, I can have that conversation with myself later on the road and not regret it. Wow.

[Keith Lee]

Congrats on being the first person in your family to own a home.

[Hoda Kotb]

Thank you, man.

[Keith Lee]

You just recently purchased a home. You and your beautiful wife and your two daughters. What was that moment like?

[Hoda Kotb]

It didn't feel real. It felt like. I remember having a conversation, like, multiple times of, like, who gonna walk in this house after we done? Like, where the landlord at?

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, I know.

[Hoda Kotb]

He gonna come in here and be like, you can't change this. You can't change that. It. I'm gonna be transparent. It put me in a depression. It put me in a pretty deep depression. Survivor's guilt, survivor's remorse of, like, feeling like it's gonna be snatched away, feeling like, yes, I have it, but how long do I have it for? It's trauma. It's definitely trauma. I had to sit and question and ask myself why I'm. Why am I in this house with my family and with the people that love me? And I'm surrounded by love, and I feel alone. This is two weeks ago, so this ain't, like three or four years. It's, like, recent, and it just. So we sitting on almost two acres of land. I am, and I vividly again a week ago, standing in the backyard like, whose is this? Like, is one of those things where it's like, you don't believe you earned it, and you don't believe you're worthy enough of it or for it, but other people. Other people, and God deems you worthy enough and just finding that self worth and finding that self confidence and being. I'm always thankful, but for me, it was like, this ain't mine. But then once I start seeing our stuff roll in and I start seeing my kid, what really changed it for me and brought me out of depression? My daughter just learned how to ride a bike for the first time.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, she's got a lot of space.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm teaching her in the backyard of how to ride the bike. And we got a hill in our. In our backyard. And when I say two acres, it's just all land. It's like, we got trees, but for as far as I can go, it's just grass. And I literally, like, put her on a bike and let her roll down the hill, and I let her go, and I'm just watching her roll in this field of, like, grass. And, like, I was like, you did it, man. Like, I really had to sit. It's not many times in my life I've been proud of myself. And I had to sit back and be like, I'm proud of me, man.

[Keith Lee]

That's your best purchase. Have you made any bad purchases since you've been this Keith Lee?

[Hoda Kotb]

No. I got a wife. I got a black wife. She don't let me make no dumb. No, no dumb purchases. So my whole team is women. They be on my head, Shane. Like, it ain't no go out, splurge.

[Keith Lee]

You ain't got no new whip. Yeah. I mean, I know you got something.

[Hoda Kotb]

She bought me a whip, so I don't splurge. The only thing I buy is shoes. Shout out to Nike. Only thing I buy is shoes. I don't spend my money on nothing else. But, like. So I have a shoe wall that I collect. I'm at. Probably if I had to guess the worth, I would sell it right now for like, 200 grand.

[Keith Lee]

Really?

[Hoda Kotb]

Wow. That's the only thing I really spend money on. But other than that, I don't spend money on nothing. Like, they talk about me all the time. I walk around in, like, Target T shirts. Like, I go to H and M, I go to Zara. Only very fancy thing I have other than the house. My wife bought me a Genesis G90.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

It was probably 120,000. Yeah. But I wouldn't spend it, right. Yeah, she spent it because she know I wouldn't.

[Keith Lee]

Is it now because of how you grew up and not having. Sometimes you had to go without.

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, let me backpedal. Sorry.

[Keith Lee]

Go ahead.

[Hoda Kotb]

The biggest purchase, not bad purchase, but the biggest purchase that I. Look, in retrospect, it was the amount of money we gave out. The first year we started doing taxes. Shannon. We gave out. Damn it, $300,000 the first year. Just like, here. Here you go. Take it.

[Keith Lee]

I'm sure she said, no, we're not doing that no more.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. Out of anything, I feel it's not a regret because in my mind, to be a blessing, you got to get a blessing. I mean, to get a blessing, gotta be a blessing. It's just in retrospect, I think a lot of that comes from the way that I was raised to. Of like, yeah, we had money every now and again, but we. I ain't never touched this kind of money.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's different.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, it's a different. And it was hard for me to figure out how to say no. I ain't never been a person to. Now I am. Well, I'll say no in a heartbeat. Like, it was a video that just Came out when we was at complex and a guy walked up and he asked me to record him for two seconds and I was like, no, no, thank you. They be trolling. He wanted to, like, turn the camera around and, like, either do a dance or, like, stand there awkwardly or something like that. But now I'm getting to a point where I know how to say no. It took me a while to get there for sure.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, so you go to sneaker con and you go to complex con. You be buying sneakers.

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, yeah, Shannon, you spend that kind.

[Keith Lee]

Of bread, she let you spend that kind of bread on kicks.

[Hoda Kotb]

Only on shoes. Only on shoes. Shout out to Sacred Sneaks. I got a personal sneaker guy who is my best friend. He crazy. He 21, but he the type to be getting, like, pairs dunks that's worth $100,000. Or he'll fly over to Italy just to sell one pair of shoes that's worth 80, $90,000. When I get them. I don't be paying that.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

But yeah.

[Keith Lee]

What's the most. What's the. What's the most expensive pair of sneakers? I don't have to know how much you pay for them, but what would you say you have?

[Hoda Kotb]

That's probably my 1985 collection. I got maybe six pairs of Jordan Jordan wands from 1985. All of them was a pretty penny do.

[Keith Lee]

Are you not. You're not going to wear them, are you?

[Hoda Kotb]

On my feet? I wear them when he's in Japan.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, yeah, I'm one of them. But yeah, I don't. I don't spend money on stuff that other than shoes. So for me, I've always wanted to collect shoes. I've always wanted to be a sneaker head, but I just never could afford it. I used to wear air walks in high school and I used to get made fun of a lot. That was the only time I wouldn't even say bully. But, you know, people roasting. Yeah, I used to get roast all the time for shoes. But it was like I said, I either was wearing hand me downs or I was wearing, like I said, air walks or stuff that my mom and dad could afford. I got in trouble once. My brother, he Wore A size 12. I wore a size 8 and a half. I took a pair of his Air Force ones and he used to, like, color them, like with this. Back when you used to keep like white Air Force One and color them with the coloring pencil. Yeah, I took a pair of them. I stuffed three pair of socks in them, put them in My book bag. He was going to wear them to school that day. I had no idea. I put in my book bag. I used to take the bus. So I walked to the bus stop. My mama. I had a full outfit back there too. I had a polo that came to, like, down here. It was supposed to come up here, but it was like, down here.

[Keith Lee]

You don't steal all your brother clothes.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm stealing everything. I go to school, I go to the bathroom. I take rubber bands. This is no lie. I take rubber bands. I take the sleeves. Put the sleeves up here. Put the rubber bands up. I take the socks, put them in the shoes. I'm walking around school looking like bozo the clown. My shoes coming up here. My mama, I ran. I'm walking through the hallway feeling like that guy. I randomly hear my mama voice. You know your mama voice cut through everything. Yeah, I randomly hear my mama voice. I look up and she's standing there with my brother, like that was his outfit for the day. I'm like, oh. I start running, bookie, bookie. I'm running through the hallway. They end up catching me, end up putting the other clothes back on. I got talked about that so much, like, for weeks, bro, for weeks. But now I think that has. Has sparked the. Now that I can afford the shoes that I've always wanted back then I go in and, yeah, treat myself a bit.

[Keith Lee]

Did you get to see my live on what? Not a few weeks ago, I sold 300 pairs of sneakers from my personal collection and all the proceeds are going to my alma mater, Savannah State. That's going to be donated at a later date in time. The best part of the night was someone purchased a pair of shoes off my feet. For those who don't know, Whatnot is a live stream shopping platform where you can buy and bid on items in just about every category you can think of. For the sneakerhead, Whatnot is celebrating the best sneakers of 2024 with two days of crazy deals and giveaways from hundreds of sellers. You don't want to miss it. It's on December 5th and 6th on whatnot. Use my code, Shannon. 15 for 15 off your first purchase. Over $20. Not knowing how long this is going to last, hopefully it lasts another 10, 15, 20 years. Investing. Are you a big investor now? And be smart with your money because like you said, you never imagined in your wildest. I don't even know if you thought if you become a professional MMA fighter, you'd be making bread like this.

[Hoda Kotb]

A thousand percent. So again, I Have a very strong thing behind me. Like I said, we just bought our first. Our first house. It's been maybe like a year and a half almost. Yeah, I would say like a year and a half where we start making this kind of money. We are doing big things. Shannon first, shout out to bet and shout out to Churchy. We about to be on tv. We're going to do a sitcom. Churchy Kevin, stage, one of my best friends. He has a sitcom that runs on normal cable and it runs on bet. That's big for us. You know, normal cable is different. It's different when you want an app, but if you could just scroll on cable, you can see a TV show. Appreciate. That's a different level. So I think that's. It's just investing and reinvesting in ourselves. The first year and a half, we literally just took all of the money that we was making and we put it right back into what we was doing. So with Food Tour, like I said, all of that, most of that comes out of pocket, right? Because when you got too many hands in it, people get to tell you how to do it and what to do. I like my family being on the forefront, and when I work with companies, if I was work with a company that sponsored the whole Food tour, I don't think that'd be the reality. So we really just invested all of our money right back. That's very expensive to go on a road like that. Like, it ain't no joke. Like, from hotels to flights to, like, the restaurants itself, to just driving around in a sprinter all day. It add up, bro. Like, but again, it. To get a blessing, you got to be a blessing. And pouring into what I feel like I was called to do has brought us to where we are now. I think I'm gonna speak it into existence. These next few years are gonna be, like, insane. I don't know where I'm gonna be. I'm saying it right now. When I look back at this three, four years from now, as long as I'm with my family and I'm happy, that's all that matters to me.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

Impersonations, you become. People like to parody. They like to parody you now. How do you feel about that?

[Hoda Kotb]

It's hilarious to me. It's one of those things where I feel like it's only a few people who's done it. Well, Keenan Thompson being one of them. Yeah, he got me. Yeah. I ain't gonna lie. I like when people are realistic about the impression. A lot of times it's like a trope to impersonate me. And it's like a very stereotypical like, hi, my name is Keith Lee. I got it. Let's try it and rate them 1 through 10. I don't talk like that. I don't sound like that at all. It be, like, real high pitched and real, like, stuffy. Um, the only reason I speak in that cadence and that conversation again, you doing a great job. Cause we touching stuff that I didn't think was gonna touch. The only reason I speak like that is because, again, my social anxiety. If I don't slow down, you won't understand anything that's coming out of my mouth. Right. They always say, like you said, I got a speech impediment. That's why I said what? Who told you I got a speech impediment? You've been talking to my wife before the camera turned on. So I was like, they always talk about my voice. So the only way that I can make sure I'm enunciating and you can hear me is to slow down and talk in a very monotone, relaxed way. But if you do an impersonation, it just gotta be, like, calm. Yeah, I feel like that's more than anything. I don't talk like this.

[Keith Lee]

Keenan said he tried the Hennessy Habanero Fruity pebble chicken sandwich from Lisa Soul Foods.

[Hoda Kotb]

He got it. Shout out to snl. Yeah, he got it. Yeah, he got it.

[Keith Lee]

So on a scale of 1 to 10, you give him a 10 for that?

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, yeah. He was the best one so far. There is a guy who. He been impersonating me for, like, a year and a half, to the point where that's, like, his main page.

[Keith Lee]

Is that the evil Keith Lee?

[Hoda Kotb]

Uh, no.

[Keith Lee]

You got evil Keith Lee.

[Hoda Kotb]

I got a few Keith Lee doppelgangers, but it's no, there's one guy, he does, like, Keith Lee parodies, but he's, like, in Atlanta, and we met him in person. We don't look nothing alike, really. He, like, six feet tall. It's like six feet tall. He had, like, plaits. He didn't even have locks. And he walked up, he's like, yeah. People tell me we look like all the time. I was looking. Yeah, he was like, six, two. I looked around.

[Keith Lee]

No, we don't.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm five, nine, like. But I feel like, impersonation wise. Yeah, it's definitely. Keenan got it right.

[Keith Lee]

You did run into some controversy with Taraji P. Henson.

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, let's talk about it, Shannon.

[Keith Lee]

What happened?

[Hoda Kotb]

All right, so Again, these are things that I've never talked about specifically because I like my family to be on the forefront and I like the restaurant to be the main focus. The main focus. The only time I do speak on it is when I feel like it's starting to affect my family or starting to affect the money that I bring in for my family. But, like, the details of it, I've never gotten the details. So we'll get into details. So I had a conversation with BET before we had walked out or anything. We did a convention. It was like a foodie con or something, maybe like a week before. And we met one of the heads from BET there and we had did the BT Awards the year before. So when we met her, she was like, oh, yeah. Which I went to the BT Awards. At this point, we didn't even have an invitation. So I'm like, I'm not. I don't know. We not going. She like, what? Everybody would love to have y'all there. Y'all got to be there. We love you all so much. And this whole year, we had worked with BET maybe like three or four times prior to this. And she was like, yeah, we love you. We want you here. Like, we had a full conversation. They end up getting us the tickets. We had front row tickets. We had the red carpet and all of that. I told her beforehand, the love that y'all say that y'all have for us, I don't feel it. Because when y'all do mention us or y'all do bring us up in conversation, it's always the most negative thing that you can possibly talk about. Oh, it's always like the drama or like, it's never like, we went to a restaurant and we was blessed enough to leave thousands of people at a restaurant that was about to close tomorrow. Or like, anything that be that was positive and is 90%, I would like to think, is 90% positive. What we do, 10% of the right. And I feel like a lot of times it was the bullshit that was being brought up. So I had a conversation with her transparently about it. We talked about it. We talked again before we got. Before we went up into the award show. We were sitting backstage and I was talking to one of the heads of BET and I told her the same thing. And I was saying, you don't have to include us. I'm okay with being in the sprinter van with my family and just eating food. That's more than enough of me. If you are going to include us, include it from a place that Y'all want us here and not just because we viral or we food influencers that, like, are big right now. I was like, include it from a place of the love that you say that you have for us.

[Keith Lee]

Correct.

[Hoda Kotb]

Because what I don't like is that you come to us every time you see me. It's immediately like, oh, we love you so much. We want to do this, we want to do that. And then nothing comes out of it. Right? So we go to the war show. We sit in behind DC Young Fly. We sit next to. What's his name? No, the. The original seats that we were in, we were sitting next to an older guy, and everybody was, like, being super rowdy. And me and him, we talking, we have conversations, we laughing with each other. I'm telling him, like, you ain't gotta worry about my wife standing up and twerking. We sitting here, we enjoying the show, we laughing, we having a ball. So it's probably halfway through the show, a person from BET walks up or a person from production walks up and she says, hey, we about to switch your seats in a minute because we're doing a episode or we doing a segment to where we giving people their flowers. Right. Mind you, I just talked to BET right, an hour ago, and I'm like, y'all don't have to do this. I'm okay sitting in these seats having conversations with. I think his name was Dr. Bobby Jones. That. Yeah, we sit next to Dr. Bobby Jones. I'm like, this is more than enough for me. Like, I'm more than thankful just to be here. They like, no, we gonna sit you on the front row, and we gonna give your flowers, and we really wanna highlight you. We really wanna. And I'm saying all of this to the production lady. Like, don't bring us up here with the. Like, I'm okay with sitting here. She like, no, come on. So they come get us. Maybe like, 10 minutes later, they put us in Tyler. She was sitting there. She had got up and left. So they put us in Tyler seats. Sit next to Tyler, we sit next to Jordan. And what's going.

[Keith Lee]

Jordan?

[Hoda Kotb]

No, Jordan the Stallion. He's a guy from TikTok. He does, like, the hit where he, like, turn his camera around here in the bathroom, and he, like, do, like, reaction videos. Me and Jordan look nothing alike again. Jordan, six, two, big scruffy beard. He got a curly afro. Me and Jordan are really friends, too. That's what made all of this even crazier. So me and Jordan, we sitting there. They Taraji Come out. And this is the biggest thing that I want to get throughout this whole story. I didn't blame Taraji for one second because it was all production that was making. Things didn't have to be made. They was making a spectacle that had no business being a spectacle. So they come around. She's starting to do her segment. We're reading the prompter, and owner prompter is saying, like, give Flajay her flowers. Say this about Flajay, do this, that, and the third. So she read off of the prompter for Flajay specifically. She do like two or three more people. She come over to us, and she immediately walked past me, walk to Jordan, and she start talking to Jordan as if she was. As Jordan was me. And I'm reading a prompter and a prompter is saying, like, tell Keith Lee. Give Keith Lee his flowers. This and a third. And she look at Jordan and she go, I bet you rate this award show 10 out of 10. And Jordan go, oh, no, no, no, no. That's him. Mind you, at this whole time, I'm not upset at Taraji at all. I'm like, I understand. A whole bunch is going on. They just threw this on you. They didn't have to throw this on you, right? Again, we was okay sitting in the back. Like, they just made this a last minute ditch effort to give us our flowers. They had a con. She come over. She like, oh, my bad. She immediately start, like, improving because again, this is a situation where it's a lot going on. So she starts saying, like, you look good too. Even though my wife is sitting right here. She like, oh, you look good. Give. You give him his flowers. This, that, and the third. And then she tell Jordan that he look good. And just a whole bunch of improv. She leave me and Jordan looking at each other like, what just happened? Like, it was the craziest thing. I'm looking, I'm sitting there like, you didn't have to do that. Like, my wife and I were more than content with just being in the.

[Keith Lee]

Moment, sitting in the seats where we were having a good time talking.

[Hoda Kotb]

You didn't have to do all of that.

[Keith Lee]

So. But you put us in that spot.

[Hoda Kotb]

And F it up for no reason. Now that I open my phone, literally when I say five seconds after it happened, my phone be the number one thing on Twitter. And it's like, Keith Lee looks so embarrassed. His wife looked humiliated and his wife, they. She was flirting in front of his wife. She was this and the third. And they was just dragging the situation out. And I took a roll. I took the rolls that they gave me. I dropped it on the flow. The reason I dropped it on the floor because this whole time I'm like, that's not for me. That wasn't meant for me. What was meant for me was to sit there where I was sitting at and mind my business. Because if it was meant for me, it would have went just as smooth as everything else was going. Like I said, we were sitting there laughing, smiling, having fun. When I dropped the roles, I was speaking directly to production. Like, don't do this again. If we gonna come and we gonna enjoy the world show. Enjoy how we had the conversation. Mind you, I know all of this is happening because I had the conversation with them before, but people online, they just see he dropped the rose, he talking directly about Taraji. So they make it into a huge thing of, like, me disrespecting her. This. And third. So I take the video down because I am a supporter of black women, and I'm a supporter of us as a people. And to see her on stage killing it the way she killed it, I didn't want that to be clouded by the unnecessary. So I took the video down specifically for that reason. But then, you know, people dig into that. They, like, why he take the video down? It's because people was getting on his head and this and the third. So Taraji come out and she say, yeah, his ego was hurt. And the whole time, I'm like, taraji, I didn't have no issue. I didn't have no problem with you. I. If anything, I feel like she should have understood that I was talking directly to production because I know the situation that she was in. We was in it together. We was literally looking at the problem, the prompter and the teleprompter together. So I understand that it was nothing that she did. It just was a spare the moment kind of thing. And I felt like she would understand that I wasn't coming from a place of attacking her. But it was one of those things where it was like, it is what it is. I still got love for Taraji. I never had no ill will in my heart for her. I still got love for BT that's why I said, we doing the bet thing, because we called. I called them. We had a con. I still haven't had a conversation with Taraji, but BT called me and we had a full conversation. I told him exactly how I felt, and they apologized, and they was like, we understand that it was super last minute, and next time we do something, we gonna plan it out, and we actually gonna think about it and make it a heartfelt thing if we gonna actually do it.

[Keith Lee]

But how did it make you feel for probably the first time since you started and you became this Internet sensation that you had had people kind of come for you. How did you. How did you. How did you handle it? How did your wife handle it? Because you. You guys are a package deal.

[Hoda Kotb]

I was pissed off, but I was pissed off from a perspective of it was being made as if I was going at Taraji. I don't care what people say about me. People been talking about me my whole life. So I told her, I've always been the one that stick up for myself. So that part in my head again, I don't see myself like that anyway, so you can say, he ain't a celebrity. He want to be a celebrity. I want to be Keith. I want to be nothing else. So when those comments was coming, I wasn't paying no attention to it. Only time I ever got upset is when people was like, he's down in black women. He's taken away from the shine of a black woman in a black woman's time, where she was doing something amazing for us and pushing the culture forward. That's when I was getting pissed off. I didn't want it to be misconstrued that I was coming to her. My family will tell you, I literally was having conversations with them, and I was like, bro, if they just leave her out of this. And then when she started getting mad at me, I'm like, why is. Why are we going at it? Like, why is it always spawn to where it's two of us that look the same, getting into an altercation that don't need to be had.

[Keith Lee]

Would you have felt better had she just. If she would have picked up the phone or somebody could have put you guys in contact with each other so you guys could talk to this thing.

[Hoda Kotb]

Man to woman, rather than just saying, like, oh, his ego hurt. Like, I feel like if. But again, I'm not. I don't expect anything because we don't have no personal relationship. But I understand it was just as stressful for her to get all of those comments and getting all of the feedback. And so just as stressful. And again, it was clout and what she was doing that night. So I understand the frustration from her end because she, like, I'm doing something that I've always dreamed about doing and getting. Cause, you know, she came out publicly about her not getting the respect that she deserves right? And she was getting the respect that she deserved at night and it got clouded by something as stupid as dropping a rose. So I feel like from her perspective, I fully understand. Alexa. I don't hold no ill will or no feelings towards the holidays are just.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Hoda Kotb]

We have one more act for you this evening. I don't even need to say his name.

[Keith Lee]

Mr. Bob Dylan from the director of Walk the Line and Ford versus Ferrari.

[Hoda Kotb]

If anyone is going to hold your attention on stage, you have to kind of be a freak.

[Keith Lee]

And starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan.

[Hoda Kotb]

Are you a freak? Hope so.

[Keith Lee]

Once Upon a Time Inspired by the True story. I want to know which side he's on. Then you this Christmas.

[Hoda Kotb]

They just want me saying I'm blowing in the wind for the rest of my life. Bobby, what do you want to be? Whatever it is they don't want me to be. How does it feel?

[Keith Lee]

He defied everyone.

[Hoda Kotb]

Turn it down. Be loud.

[Keith Lee]

To be on your own to change everything.

[Hoda Kotb]

He's our Elvis with no direction.

[Keith Lee]

Timothy Chalamet Edward Norton Elle Fanning Monica.

[Hoda Kotb]

Barbaro make some noise BD track Some mud on the carpet.

[Keith Lee]

A complete unknown. Only theater's Christmas Day. Rated R. Under 17, 90 minute without parrot.

[Hoda Kotb]

It's one thing that I did I didn't want to talk about.

[Keith Lee]

What's up?

[Hoda Kotb]

I didn't even think about it. The BET wars again. I've never spoke on this before. There was a video that came out of a guy walking up in Gerald, Gerald Houston. You know, he walk around with the cameras, the glasses, the cameras on his glasses. And he purposely mistakens people for other people. And he did it to us. And he called me ddg. And he walked up and it turned into like a fiasco. Of what? Of us like, actually getting into it. I wanted to make it very clear because again, I never spoke on it. I didn't have a problem with Gerald. Gerald grabbed me, right? He walked up, up the thing and he grabbed my waist, right? And I was like, hey, don't do that.

[Keith Lee]

Right?

[Hoda Kotb]

It's the difference between him saying, oh, you ddg. I'm the type to laugh about that. I don't care about.

[Keith Lee]

No, I'm not ddg.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, but I don't care about people trolling. Yeah, but me and DDG stood next to each other. He came, I just met his mama. Was that last week. And my whole family said we look alike. So from that part, I was like, I can laugh. Like, I just don't like being touched.

[Keith Lee]

It was the touching part.

[Hoda Kotb]

So I wanted to make that very clear. I think that was one of my biggest things. I wanted to get off while we doing this is that, like, if we trolling, you trolling. I get that. I just don't like being touched, bro. Like, I think that comes from me being a fighter my whole life and from just anxiety in general and me being outside and really trying to get to that space of being comfortable in Those spaces of 1,000 people around us and taking pictures and whatnot. I'm getting a lot better. And I do pride myself on that. It's just the touching, right? That takes me immediately back to, like, get Away from me. Like, don't grab me, troll, but keep.

[Keith Lee]

Your hands to yourself.

[Hoda Kotb]

Exactly. Exactly. But it was fun to like. I was mad that he was calling me ddg and I wanted to be a celebrity and I want him to know who I am. And I was mad here. I didn't care about none of that. I don't care if you know who I am. God know who I am, man. My family know who I am. That's what matters the most to me.

[Keith Lee]

Go James. And the Lakers are back putting on a show. And you know I gotta get the best deal on tickets. That's why I need to tell you about my sponsor, SeatGeek. With over 28 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events on SeatGeek, including concerts, sports festivals, and more sports. I'm excited to go see the Lakers. Y'all know who it is. It's your favorite unc. And I'm riding around here in Vegas with my guy, Keith Lee. And he's the Internet's most popular and famous food critic. He was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 class member for 2024. A viral food and local restaurant reviewer, charitable influencer and advocate for small businesses. One of the top digital content creators, social media superstar, and sensation king of TikTok food community. He has over 19 million followers between TikTok and Instagram. A former mixed martial arts fighter, beloved father, husband, and he's the people champ, Keith Lee.

[Hoda Kotb]

God is amazing, man. I'm honored to be.

[Keith Lee]

I appreciate it, bro.

[Hoda Kotb]

All my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle paid the price, want a slice, got the roll of dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life all my life been grinding all my life Sacrif spice hustle paid the price, want a slice, got the roll of dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life.

[Keith Lee]

I'm excited about this.

[Hoda Kotb]

Who you was intro. And I said who that? I don't know who that man is.

[Keith Lee]

But. But I appreciate this. This tour of Vegas and some of the local hot spots.

[Hoda Kotb]

Let's do it. Yeah. I'm excited.

[Keith Lee]

I'm super excited. What are the five best cities for food?

[Hoda Kotb]

Top five in order.

[Keith Lee]

You. You can put them in order if you like. Or you can just give me your top five.

[Hoda Kotb]

My order personally?

[Keith Lee]

Yes.

[Hoda Kotb]

New Orleans is number one.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Houston is number two.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Chicago is number three.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

Toronto will be four.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Right now, I. I would go Miami. Yeah. If I had to think of where I would go back. I would go Miami for sure, man. But top three is solid. My top three is New Orleans, Houston, and Chicago. Wow. Solid.

[Keith Lee]

No, no Atlanta, no New York.

[Hoda Kotb]

So very specific reasons why I say that, right?

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

So for those that don't know, we. We go on food tour, but we go on food tour for people that look like us and people who come from the background that we come from.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

So we specifically do it for people that can jump on a plane that are foodies and just want to go try food. So I don't do it in a way where you can go call the biggest influencer in that city or the biggest celebrity and had them chauffeur you around and show you places. I do it specifically for people that literally just want to go try food. So we go to spots that are more on an unknown level. Places that only locals know about. If you know, you know, kind of places that have great food, great customer service, but can need the marketing. But we also go to staples of the community to show respect to each city that we go to. So when I'm picking these places that are my top five is more on accessibility. Like, what's the easiest to jump on a plane and just go get some great food?

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

And I feel like New York isn't in that top five for me, because the accessibility of to know the spots is really hard to find great spots unless you're from there.

[Keith Lee]

Correct.

[Hoda Kotb]

And if you do meet somebody that's from there, if y'all not super close, if you just meeting this person for the first time, they more than likely not gonna give you the spots that they go to.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

Because one, they don't want the spots blown up, so they don't want everybody there. Two, they aren't a super welcoming group of people.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

They want you to be a tourist, and that's it. But once you start venturing off of that and you start deep in it, digging into, like, local spots and spots they've been going to for years and spots they have nostalgia attached to. They don't want no parts of it.

[Keith Lee]

What's the best city to get pizza in?

[Hoda Kotb]

New York. Got that. New York. New York. Got that. That was one of the best things that we had when we was there was pizza. I'm from Detroit, so I like a deep dish. Thick, hearty.

[Keith Lee]

I tried brain deep dish.

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, I'm a deep dish.

[Keith Lee]

I like the thin.

[Hoda Kotb]

See, but that's cause you from Atlanta.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Understood.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Are you born originally?

[Keith Lee]

I'm From South Georgia.

[Hoda Kotb]

Georgia. Understood. Understood.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah. But I see, like, when I get that deep dish, I feel like I'm eating a piece of cake or something.

[Hoda Kotb]

Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. See, now, if you don't like a super thick, then I wouldn't say. But personally, like I said, I'm from Detroit, so I like a deep dish. I like. I like the dough to be super high quality and to be the main focus.

[Keith Lee]

What about. What's the five most underrated cities?

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, you put me on the spot. Let's go there, Shannon. Top five, most, most underrated. I will go Detroit. I feel like not a lot of people know that Detroit has a food scene. Seattle, I feel like, is one of those places again, if, you know, you know, if you were true foodie, you know, Seattle has a great food scene. Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is a place that is very specific now. Like, it's black people. Black people, black country food. So if you are into country food, I'm talking about hog mall, neck bone.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Smothered everything. Smothered and covered. Then Baton Rouge is definitely a undernour spot. Arizona. Oh, Arizona. That's perfect. Arizona. I feel like Arizona is underrated. And the reason I say that is because you get a lot of healthy spots, but you also get very authentic. From my knowledge, authentic Southwestern, Southwestern food, even. They have a really big native population, so you get native food. And I've never been to a place that has native food.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

Milwaukee got a good food scene that's. That's pretty underrated. Wow. Yeah. Oh, Dallas. Dallas got a food scene that's definitely underrated.

[Keith Lee]

Really?

[Hoda Kotb]

For sure. Ace hit or miss. Because it's a place that, like, doesn't have much of a big food culture other than barbecue, Right?

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Southern Texas roots. But as far as stepping into other cuisines and other ethnicities, they don't really do it that much.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

So. But the barbecue alone carries.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Some of the best barbecue I've ever had in my life.

[Keith Lee]

What about the worst? Where you go, like, man, y'all, y'all, they be hyping this up, and it ain't even like that, food wise. Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

So, you know, you're gonna start talking about it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I just want you to know that's my home experience.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely. So for me, Atlanta and that. It is. I'm. I'm so happy you asking this. Atlanta had really good food. Atlanta had a good food scene. It's just you have to be somebody in order to get food. Do you have to name drop when you Go to Atlanta and get food?

[Keith Lee]

Nah. Cause I really don't go. The places that I go to, they kind of know me. So when I like, I call. They're gonna take care of me, but I ain't.

[Hoda Kotb]

But do you feel like if they didn't know Shana Sharp. No.

[Keith Lee]

Hell no. Ain't getting in.

[Hoda Kotb]

And that's exactly why I say we do the food tour for people that really want to jump on a plane and just go get food. If we go to a place specifically, because I'm Keith Lee, and we go eat at the best restaurant and people want to jump on a plane and go try that spot, they're not going.

[Keith Lee]

To be able to get it.

[Hoda Kotb]

They're not going to be able to get it. Not only the service, they're not gonna be able to get the food.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

They gonna go in there and they're like, oh, we ain't got no bookings for the rest of the day this after. But let Shannon Sharp walk in. We got six tables is wide open. We about to clean them right now. You get the fresh food. So that's one of the main catalysts of why we do.

[Keith Lee]

So it's not so much the food is the service.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely.

[Keith Lee]

In order to get.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. For sure.

[Keith Lee]

Are you surprised? You got so much blowback for. When you critiqued Atlanta and you let them know that it's not so much the food, it's the service. It. If you're not somebody, you're not. You're not getting in. They're always crowded, they're always booked, and they only treat people that are of influence.

[Hoda Kotb]

Was I surprised? No. Because it's like ripping a band aid off of something that people didn't know was a scar. Right. If you from there and you was born and raised in that environment, you don't know no better. You think that that's what the food scene is, and you think that's what culture is. Right. Because that's part of Atlanta's culture.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

I just came from a perspective of somebody who wasn't from there, and somebody was experiencing it for the first time, the death threats and whatnot. Was I surprised about that? Yeah. That was the first time I ever experienced something like that.

[Keith Lee]

People taking food that serious.

[Hoda Kotb]

Oh, it's bad. It's real. Even in D.C. we got a death threat from a guy who, like, who's a rapper out there, and he talking about next time he come, instead of reviewing food, we gonna review his life or something like that. We just eating food, man. It's like my opinion isn't the end all be all. I understand that everybody has a different opinion on food and I always say that, but I get how the Internet gets to. And I don't blame them because people are prideful on where they come from.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

And people have a lot of love and nostalgia in the city that they come from and they feel personally attacked. And I want to make put it on a record right now that when we go for the food tour is not to find what the best food is, is specifically to highlight the restaurants that have great food, great customer service, but can eat marketing and don't get the marketing specifically because either they in a food desert to where a lot of people don't have access to the food that they, that they would need or want. Or two, it's a location based place, or three, it's a place where the owners have put so much into the restaurant itself that they don't have the time or the money to market. Right. Because a lot of people who do food reviews, that's why I don't consider myself a food influencer or a food creator, any of that. Because I don't charge restaurants anything. Right when I first started, people was telling me I could charge anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 per video for a restaurant. And I know people that do that, that charge more modern way more than that. But I specifically do it for the restaurants and I don't charge them a dime. So that's what the food tour about is about. It's about marketing these places. And it's about going out and trying food that my mom can go in the next day and get the same experience that we got.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Look like old school whoopings can't sit on my ass.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, Atlanta had good brunch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Atlanta had good brunch for sure.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, you call hell getting in there for brunch.

[Hoda Kotb]

And I don't want that to be mistaken at all. Atlanta has.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, you're not saying they don't have good food.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, Atlanta has a good brunch anything.

[Keith Lee]

You're just saying the customer service the way.

[Hoda Kotb]

I really like the people in Atlanta. I love how many of us is out there. I love the wealth that's out there and the things that those kids that are from there are exposed to. When it comes to black wealth, when it comes to black excellence, when it comes to a community that's built around us for us, I never want that to be lost in translation. When it comes to the mecca of what we do and the highlight of us is Atlanta. But at the same time, if you ain't got a certain status or a certain million followers, you better cook at home for sure.

[Keith Lee]

Or eat before you leave at home. Cause the wait will be a minute.

[Hoda Kotb]

1,000%.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah. Yeah. Do you try crazy foods? Have you tried crazy foods?

[Hoda Kotb]

What you consider crazy?

[Keith Lee]

I mean, I ate. As a kid, I ate raccoon, I ate squirrel, ate rabbit, ate turtles.

[Hoda Kotb]

Country. Country. No, I try anything that I always say. I'll try anything once.

[Keith Lee]

So you try raccoon, possum.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, I'll try it once.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

But I like it. I don't know.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

You eat what you. But how do you eat it? You eat, like, corn soup.

[Keith Lee]

No, no, no. You. You bake it.

[Hoda Kotb]

You put it in the bakery.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah. You put it in the oven. You cut it up. Bell peppers, onions, celery. You put it in there.

[Hoda Kotb]

You a different kind of country, Shannon. I'm not gonna lie to you and say I won't. Because, again, I'm a foodie, so I get very interested in stuff. I'm the type to. My. My family be getting mad at me all the time.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm the type to walk into a random establishment and be like, oh, we was in Seattle, and we walked by and we saw ducks hanging out the window.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

We walked in, got a duck. He cut the head off right in front of us, and we went in the car and ate it. That was my first time ever doing something like that, but I'll do everything.

[Keith Lee]

You like duck?

[Hoda Kotb]

It was real good.

[Keith Lee]

This is good. I mean.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. It depends on where you get it from. A lot of times it can be gamey.

[Keith Lee]

Yes.

[Hoda Kotb]

It can be a little too overpowering and chewy in Texas. But the one we just had was super crispy. It was flavorful. It was fresh. It was juicy. Like I said, they took it right off the rack and cut it in front of us.

[Keith Lee]

You like quail? I like quail.

[Hoda Kotb]

I like quail.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. We just had a quail egg. The scotch from when we was in Seattle. It was like a scotch egg. It was wrapped and it was fried, but it was a quail egg that was wrapped in bacon and then fried again on the outside. It was good.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah. But you need to eat, like, seven of them to get full.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. That's a fact. They like this bitch. I eat Shannon. Yeah. I'm an eating man.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah. I saw where you ate the sushi worm.

[Hoda Kotb]

I knew that was coming. So when we was in Seattle, we went to a place. It was a sushi spot, okay? A bunch of people were recommended, okay? It was a staple of the community. And it was out the door when we went. So we went just to show respect to the city and go to a place that was a staple, Okay? I did the full review, did the full video. I posted it two days later. Somebody tagged me in a clip of them slowing it down. And on one of the nigiris, there was a. What seemed to be something moving. I can't confirm or deny what it was. I'm not gonna say it's a worm, a parasite or anything. It was something that looked like it was moving, and I ate it. I had no idea what it was. I had no idea there was anything moving into somebody tagging in that video.

[Keith Lee]

Okay?

[Hoda Kotb]

That whole thing spiraled into something else. Allegedly. I can't confirm or deny that this is specifically from the restaurant, but somebody was hospitalized a day after we left. And again, I can't confirm or not it was from that restaurant. And in my mind, if anybody did go to a restaurant that we did go to and they were sick in any way, I came and spoke up about it because I wanted to send my heart and my support to that person.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

They say you like sushi. I love sushi, yeah.

[Keith Lee]

I mean, I've never had it. I just like my food cooked. I just can't.

[Hoda Kotb]

You don't like none raw? No, I can't. I was about to say something. I'm gonna leave it alone.

[Keith Lee]

I'm a. I like something wrong, but not.

[Hoda Kotb]

No, come on.

[Keith Lee]

I know where you going. See?

[Hoda Kotb]

But yeah, no, I. So I. Again, I'm a foodie. I can't have shellfish, but I explore everything else other than shellfish.

[Keith Lee]

That restaurant got closed down, though, right?

[Hoda Kotb]

From allegedly. From what I hear, they did put a statement out and said that it was closed, but I believe it was closed because they are looking internally, the owners have reached out to me on a bunch of different occasions, and I get the impression that they are just fine tuning things and getting things together. Because I don't get the impression that they were malicious in any fashion or that they were neglectful. I believe it just was a isolated incident. I feel like it was just an unfortunate incident that was put on the Internet. And I feel like anybody could have put on the Internet and it would have blew up in the same manner. It just so happened to be that we were the ones that posted it. But I truly believe that not only. In my opinion, I even gave the sushi that had the alleged Whatever it was, moving on. I gave it like an 8.5. And that was the highest thing out of the entire thing, out of the entire what I was eating. Because in my opinion, it was delicious.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

I just believe that once they take a step back and really, like, see what. What it was, that could have been an issue, that they'll be back better than others. And I'm not opposed to going back. And that's where I was going.

[Keith Lee]

I was going to ask you, would you be open to going back and offering another review?

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely. I'm not opposed to going back if I'm welcomed, if it's not a review, if it's just having a conversation, if it's being back on opening day and bringing my family and showing my support and showing that I mean it when I say I understand that as a business, it's a lot harder than just food itself. And I have nothing but respect and love for them and what they do.

[Keith Lee]

Keith, I went shopping yesterday for you. I know you be doing all these reviews and sometimes the food is really, really good and you want to take some of it home. So I went shopping for you at Amazon. I got you something.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's fire.

[Keith Lee]

Keep the leftovers.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's fire. I appreciate you, man. Just being here with you was more than a gift.

[Keith Lee]

Appreciate you, man.

[Hoda Kotb]

Hard times. I was broke. Member Santo 5 on 4 these days when the only thing that I know. All right, Shannon. This is where everything started, man. We was in here two years ago. We've been living here for like three or four years. This is where I had my babies at. This is where everything started for me as far as contracts for this fighting food reviews starting at paw patrol chair. Yeah. This is the Mecca for real.

[Keith Lee]

This is the beginning of Keith Lee as we know it.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely. And then something. Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

The days are warmer, the walks are longer, and one easy way to help your dog shine this season is with fresh, healthy food from Farmer's Dog. Farmer's Dogs make fresh, real food and delivers it right to your door. Recipes are developed by vet nutritionists, made from real meat and veggies and proportioned just for your dog, making it easy to say goodbye to burnt brown balls. Feed your dog real food with real benefits. My Pomeranian, Teddy, love this stuff and his coat has never looked better. It's smart, healthy pet food. You can feel good about feeding your puppy. It's the best option for your dog of all life stages because it's not kibble, it's not kangoo. It's real, healthy food and it doesn't matter if your dog is young or old, it's always the right time to begin investing in their health. That means more happy, healthy, full years together. Get 50% off your first box of fresh, healthy food from farmersdog.com Shay plus you get free shipping. Just go to farmersdog.com to get 50% off. That's farmersdog.com shade Keith, we're back at the condo where it all started.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely.

[Keith Lee]

Being back here, what kind of memories come rushing back?

[Hoda Kotb]

Everything, man. This is insane to me. So literally from we moved here 2019, when me and my wife had no money coming in. For real, when I say no money, we were trying to figure out how to even survive down there. The rent was $1,000. We moved in, we had both our babies here. The pandemic happened here. All of the videos that you see online happened here. Me even starting on TikTok, because I always had bad social anxiety, so I never posted. I never, man, four years ago, you could never get me on camera, right? So, like, this is where everything, me even getting comfortable to be on camera started. I don't know if you can feel it, but it's like I'm getting goosebumps, bro.

[Keith Lee]

Right?

[Hoda Kotb]

Like, I ain't been here so long, I'm like, look, you can see that. Yeah, man, but, yeah, this mean everything to me.

[Keith Lee]

You mentioned that you started posting the Tick Tock videos to help with your stuttering, to help with your social anxiety, and also to help you, because in mma, you're going to have to do interviews and so you could be more fluid in your conversation. How did, how did the Tick tock. What made you think, say, you know what, let me get behind the camera, let me just talk, build up some courage to do this. And then once I get in front of people, I should be able to.

[Hoda Kotb]

Do it sitting right here doing interviews. I was sitting there, I had like a little table and I would sit, do MMA interviews and I would be so bad, it would literally mess up my entire week. Like, from the point where, like, the second I got to think about doing an interview to three or four days before the interview to the actual interview, to a week after interview, it literally would just like ruin me. I'd be sweating, I'd be nervous, I'd be clammy. So during the pandemic, we really had nothing else to do. Like, we. Like I said, she was pregnant, so my brother fought in Brazil, and the second he fought from in Brazil, the pandemic started while I was out there.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

So she Called me. And so they don't really. They didn't really have the same newsfeed that they have out here. So when my wife called me, she like, everybody taking stuff off the shelves, they panicking, they grabbing stuff and they wearing masks. And that's this when it first started. So, you know, people wearing hazmat suits and all type. So she called me and she was panicking and I'm like, okay, as long as I can get back, then I'll be safe. But I was worried about getting back. And so by the time I got back, I was like, whatever we need to do to get this issue like under wraps, even a little bit, I'm gonna start doing. And TikTok at that point, it was either like you was made fun of for having it, or you people was like, bro, you missing out. Because this is where everybody. We in the house. So this is where everybody at. So I think it's one of those things where God don't make no mistakes. And my wife was telling me to do it, so I was like, I might as well try it.

[Keith Lee]

Seeing where you are now, seeing where you were then. What's going through your mind?

[Hoda Kotb]

Emotions, bro. Like, I'm trying not to cry. I ain't gonna lie to you. Yeah, it's. It's surreal because I remember vividly having conversations about the exact moment that we in right now, coming back and rejoicing and having like that, like, I made it moment and the fact that it's here, I don't even think it's. I think it's impossible to put in the words. Right. I just can't wait for my kids to be able to watch this because I got a four year old, a two year old, and both of them were born in his house. So I just can't wait for them to watch this and let them know their daddy made it.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, you mentioned the MMA aspect of it. So how did sports help you get over your anxiety? Because you're around people all the time. I mean, it's kind of hard to play sports and not have a conversation, not be having interaction. So did it help or hurt you playing sports?

[Hoda Kotb]

I would say it kind of hurt me because the sports that I was playing. So I wrestled all from middle school to high school to my first year in college, and even my first year of college. The only reason I didn't wrestle all the way through is because I couldn't afford it, so I got kicked out. But I feel like the reason it hurt is because wrestling and MMA guys are Very awkward, anyway. And a lot of them go through a lot of eating disorders, they go through a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, but it's not a thing that's spoke of in the sport. It's not a lot of people that come in the forefront and say it because we MMA fighters, we like the modern day gladiators, we supposed to be the tough guys. So I think a lot of it is hidden. So for me, once I got into the real world and I got into a space where I wasn't around nothing but fighters or wrestlers, it made me feel like the outcast. I always kind of felt like the outcast even in wrestling, but even more so when I was in normal society, because you had. It's a different level you got to turn off when you fighting, you know?

[Keith Lee]

For sure.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

It's a different level. You got you really fighting, you locked in. So it's something that I feel like a lot of people don't have to be able to switch on and switch off. So for me, it was hard to switch that off once I got into like a space where people looked at me more for doing cooking videos or more for doing food critic videos, and they looked at me for fighting because as you know, as a professional athlete, you think that's all you're gonna do for the rest of your life. So it was such a drastic change for me that I feel like fighting hurt a little bit because again, I didn't have that social interaction with people. All the social interaction with people I had was people that got kicked in the head for a living. So it was like, they talk different, they act different, they have a different mindset. So once I got into this space and I'm like, you don't worry about getting punched in the face, but did.

[Keith Lee]

It because, like, as you mentioned, other fighters, they're kind of socially awkward, kind of like yourself, they have anxiety, they don't really care to be speaking on camera. Did it give you a certain level of comfort hanging around people that were kind of just like you? You guys had something in common subconsciously.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah. Because like I said, you don't really know what you don't know.

[Keith Lee]

Right?

[Hoda Kotb]

I didn't know because I don't really consider myself socially awkward. I consider myself a person who willfully exits from conversations and exit from social interactions. So again, it's something that you don't even realize until you get around other people and you like, wait, y'all be sitting here talking to people. Like, you be mingling like I never did that. Like, even networking, I don't do that.

[Keith Lee]

Are you naturally an introverted person?

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely, yeah, a thousand percent. I think a lot of it is trauma based. I had a very traumatic childhood.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

My parents did the best that they could because my mom and dad were always super involved. I've just always been kind of like a quiet state of myself kind of person. And then when I didn't and I tried to step out of that and tried to be like the life of the party and like the extrovert that would go out, party, drink, smoke. I always ended up in like, I was always the one that was targeted for some reason. Like, and I, I genuinely believe now in retrospect it was because God was telling me that that's not for you and you trying to fit into something that don't belong for you. So I'm gonna make you an example and I'm gonna stick you in the forefront. And I felt like that was always the example for me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Hoda Kotb]

Now, we have one more act for you this evening. I don't even need to say his name. Mr. Bob Dylan.

[Keith Lee]

From the director of Walk the Line and Ford versus Ferrari.

[Hoda Kotb]

If anyone is going to hold your attention on stage, you have to kind of be a freak.

[Keith Lee]

And starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan.

[Hoda Kotb]

Are you a freak? Hope so. Once upon a time, you just so.

[Keith Lee]

Inspired by the true story. I want to know which side he's on this Christmas.

[Hoda Kotb]

They just want me singing blowing in the wind for the rest of my life. Bobby, what do you want to be? Whatever it is, they don't want me to be how does it feel?

[Keith Lee]

He defied everyone.

[Hoda Kotb]

Turn it down Be loud to be.

[Keith Lee]

On your own to change everything he's our Elvis with no direction Timothy Chalamet Edward Norton El Fanny Monica Barbaro make.

[Hoda Kotb]

Some noise BD Track Some mud on a carpet A complete unknown A complete.

[Keith Lee]

Unknown Only theater's Christmas Day rated R.

[Savannah Guthrie]

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[Keith Lee]

Happy riding Being socially awkward as a child Having a speech impediment. I had one of the. I still have a lisp I talked with.

[Hoda Kotb]

Why you think I got a speech impediment? Where'd that come from?

[Keith Lee]

It seemed like you had a stuttering problem, correct?

[Hoda Kotb]

Kind of. Yeah. Okay, we gonna speech impediment.

[Keith Lee]

I mean, you do realize stuttering is a speech impediment.

[Hoda Kotb]

Well, it wasn't necessarily stuttering. It was more or less of like trying to. I guess it's veteran. Yeah, you got it. You got it.

[Keith Lee]

But the kids. The kids make fun of you and make you go deeper, deeper into being, into yourself and deeper. Deeper introverted.

[Hoda Kotb]

No, I was. If anything I was a bully. I ain't gonna lie to you. Okay, I was a. I can guess. Oh, I was an asshole, bro. Growing up as a kid, it wasn't no me getting bullied. It was more the opposite because I was always real small. So when I graduated high school I was like 411. Maybe like 100.

[Keith Lee]

And who you bullying at 4 11.

[Hoda Kotb]

Exactly. It was one of those things, it was. I got a. I had a little man complex, little man syndrome. So it was like the last thing he was about to do was mess with me again and again. I wrestled all through high school, so I had that edge over a lot of people. But for the most part, I always was fighting, I was always arguing. I always had a problem with authority. So for me, again, I never really realized that I was this introvert or this super quiet person until I got into spaces where I would be around other extroverts, or I got in spaces where, like, say it was networking events or, like, people looked at me, something other than a fighter. So my. My older brother fought. He was in the UFC by the time I graduated high school, so I always was in his shadow. So for me, it was easy to be like, I'm just Kevin Lee's brother. Like, I don't really have to step out of that. So when all of this started taking off and, like, I was Keith Lee, that's when everything, like, opened up for me. And I really saw, like, oh, you really got an issue. Like, you really can't do interviews. You really can't talk to another human being for more than five minutes without you sweating bullets and, like, literally, like, want to shut off and run in your room for the rest of the day. That didn't really start until, like, I said, like, 2019. 2020. But as a kid, yeah, you couldn't tell me nothing.

[Keith Lee]

So how was it a family time? Because you said. I mean, did you realize it? How is your family? Are they very talkative? You know, you guys sit around the television and carry on conversation or watch a program together. So how was it growing up with your brother? And, well, you said he was already in the ufc, so he's probably, what, five, six years older than you?

[Hoda Kotb]

Four years. So I got a brother that's four years older than me, a brother that's four years younger than me, and I got a sister that's seven years older than me.

[Keith Lee]

Okay, so how was your childhood? How was your, you know, you and your brothers, did y'all get along? Did you fight?

[Hoda Kotb]

No. So we definitely didn't get along.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

But for me, Alex, I was always. I feel like the black sheep, but I feel like me and my sister argue about that a lot because she felt like she was a black sheep. But so my sister, she had godparents, so growing up, she was always with her godparents. And then it was me, my older brother, my younger brother. My older brother was a very smart kid. The kid who everybody like modeled after and everybody was like praising at all times. He always had like a 4.0 grade point average. He was in sports. He was light skinned, curly hair, pretty boy.

[Keith Lee]

You do light skin too.

[Hoda Kotb]

Way lighter than me.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And right. Typical B2K.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

Like super curly. When I was younger, I was always the darkest out of everybody in my family. So. And I like, I was small. The main thing about me as a kid, I always either hurt myself or I always like ended up in a situation to where I was the center of attention but for the wrong reasons. Self hurt yourself or I was clumsy. So my head was the same size it is now. I was just 4:11, so it's like my neck wasn't strong enough to carry. I got scars all back here. I got a scar on my forehead. You see here?

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, I see.

[Hoda Kotb]

I got scars all in here. When I say like that was a normal thing for us to have a family function and us to end up in an emergency room because Keith didn't bust his head open, had staples, that's happened to me at least I would say six, seven different times, seven different occasions. And for me, like I said childhood wise, it was more or less of like, I was always trying to figure out where I belonged and why I belonged where I belonged. And I never could really like figure it out. So I was always longing for attention. So I always had a problem with authority and I would make it known that I had a problem with authority. So I was always the one getting suspended. I was always the one getting kicked out of school. I got kicked out of five or six different schools. I got expelled. When I say kicked out, I mean expelled from the whole school district. So yeah, it was like that.

[Keith Lee]

Did you have a problem with, you know, parents are authoritative figures. Did you have a problem with your parents?

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely. Yeah. Me and my dad used to get into all the time to the point where I moved out when I was 16 and with my God brother. And then when I moved back in, we end up moving here. And then when I met my wife, I met my wife when I was 18. I was homeless at the time. Let me tell it. I ran away from home and we sleep in my car.

[Keith Lee]

You had a place?

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, I had a place. I just wasn't staying. She'd tell you I literally was sleeping in my car. And I never told her this until maybe like last year. I would like, so I was working as a lifeguard. I would drive to work and I had like a 2000 Nissan Maximum Super Bucket. I used to drive to work in it. And then as soon as I would get off of work, I would text her and be like, hey, I'm on my way over to you. Little do she know, I'm already sitting in a parking lot and I've been sleeping there for three days. And I'm literally, like, on the phone with my cousin, with my sister, and telling them, like, what's going on. And she think I'm getting off of work. But whole time I've been sleeping in the parking lot. I walk upstairs, take a shower, get some food, be like, oh, I'm headed back to work just because I didn't want to be embarrassed, walk back downstairs and sleep back in my car. Wow. Yeah. So that was happening for maybe like, what, a month? Maybe. Yeah, maybe like a month. So my relationship with my parents have always been very rocky, but I take a lot of credit for it because my dad always tried the best that he possibly could. When he would come home, it would be like, either you going to do what I say or that's it. No other if, ands or buts. I grew up in an old school household, so it was different for me because I've always been a big communicator. So you either got to explain to me why I'm doing what I'm doing or I'm not doing it.

[Keith Lee]

No, no, no, no.

[Hoda Kotb]

Old school.

[Keith Lee]

Don't explain nothing. Exactly.

[Hoda Kotb]

Don't do any kind of sense. That's a fact. I'm the king of the household, she the queen, and you listen to everything we say. And that always was a problem for me.

[Keith Lee]

Did your brother and sister have those same problems with your father? Or they just like, okay, no, it just.

[Hoda Kotb]

It was me. Yeah. But so it trickled down from me to my younger brother. So my younger brother and I was in prison, and I believe a lot of it. No, it's okay. He horrible. He was bad for you to say, considering you were bad. It trickled down from me to him, but I think a lot of times it was more or less of, like I said, just a communication issue. So my sister, like I said, she was with my godparents. So by the time a lot of the traumatic stuff happened for me, she was already in Chicago, where she went to school at. And then my older brother, he was already in college. So quick story. When I was in 11th grade, my brother had like, he's four years older than me, so he had graduated already. He was in college. We were living in. So I'm originally from Detroit. So we were living in Detroit on 7 Mile Auto Drive and we had. My dad bought us a chopper bike. We bought my little brother Chopper bike. You know what the top bike is? It's like one of the bikes had the real big tire on the front and then a real fat tire on the back. Yeah, he bought my little brother one of those. And he was riding around the neighborhood acting like he was the. And it was a group of kids across the street. Obviously they ain't like it. Again, we still in the inner city of Detroit. So one day they stole his bike. We end up going to get it back and we put it back in the garage. One of the little boys from across the street came while we asleep. It was just me, my mom, me, my mom and my little brother. My dad was at work. He came in the garage while we asleep and I saw him. Nobody else saw him. So I walked outside and confronted him. He went to go take the bike anyway. I punched him in the face. He ran downstairs, told his brothers, told all of his cousins and whatnot. I go back in the house, not thinking nothing of it. Maybe five minutes later. All you hear is like, it sound like a war, war starting outside. All you hear is like people screaming and yelling. I go peek through the window. No exaggeration, it's probably 30 people and they all running down the street and they taking their shirts off. You already know what that mean, they taking their shirts off, screaming, squabble, it's over with. Yeah, it ain't even nothing you can say at this point. So they full blown coming down the street. I go to close the window, acting like if they don't see me, then they go the opposite direction. Before you know it, there's a brick that comes through the front window and it shattered all the glass. We had a glass that like was in a like. So the front door was here and then a glass was here. It literally shattered through the living room. So now it's a big brick in my living room. My mom come downstairs and she panicking. She go to open the door. They rush the door. They completely like try and take me outside. I end up getting jumped. They end up hitting my mama. They hit my little brother by when this happened. Of course, you know, my dad get a call. I handle my own. I like to think I still got jumped. So I go in the house, I call my dad, tell him my brother ends up driving down because he went to school in Grand Valley. Was maybe like an hour, hour and a half. He ended Up. Driving down. Well, I'm in. Kids. I don't know how far it feels, but it felt like it was probably like an hour. But he drive back, he pull up, my dad get a gun. Long story short, he go down, do whatever he was supposed to do at the house. According to court documents, he went down and did whatever they said he did. And your older brother or your dad? My dad.

[Keith Lee]

Okay.

[Hoda Kotb]

So the next morning, my dad's in jail. We still staying at the house. Maybe a week later, we get an eviction notice. They come. My brother went back to school by this point, so it's literally just me, my mom, my little brother. We here, my dad gone. We get an eviction notice. They come and tell us, like, hey, you got two or three days to get out, and we throw everything on the curb. My mom's best friend used to live, like, on the opposite side of the block, but she had a house that she had just moved out of. And it was one of those situations, like how I was telling you here how when we moved out, we just didn't tell the landlord that we moved out. So the landlord still thinking we there, but at this point, we squatting, basically. So we get evicted, we move over to that house, we squatting. And it was one of the darkest times in my life. And I'm telling you, I'm at this point of, like, not understanding really, but, like, fully, like, what am I doing? My mom, she has no money. At this point, we eating checkers. Shout out to checkers, because at this point, I want a sponsorship. We eating checkers box, and they had a popcorn chicken box, and it was like, popcorn chicken and fries, and you get it for, like, $2. And we all get one a day, and that's always eating. So that, again, my older brother wasn't there. My older sister wasn't there. It was just me and my younger brother that had to go through that. And it was one of those things where I feel like that really molded me as a person of who I am. So that's probably why I act the way I act a little bit now as an adult. I feel like I've learned from a lot of it. And being in this house is really, like, reminding me of why I'm exactly where I'm at and where I'm supposed to be at.

[Keith Lee]

Did that experience.

[Hoda Kotb]

You about to choke me up. Come on, man.

[Keith Lee]

That experience that you went through, did that have anything to do say, you know what? I'm going to the mma. I got jump. I'm gonna Be able. You say you handle your own, but, I mean, you can only do so much.

[Hoda Kotb]

When it's 10, 5, 10, there's a bunch of people. Yeah, yeah. Not necessarily. I feel like the main reason why I end up fighting is because I got kicked out of school. I got kicked out of college. Well, I couldn't afford it. And they basically was like, either you give us $25,000 by tomorrow or the next day after that, or you gotta leave. So I came back home to Vegas, and my brother, he saw me on the couch and he saw I was depressed and I didn't know what I was about to do. And he was like, bro, come to the gym with me. And he took me to the gym, and I never turned back. Wow.

[Keith Lee]

So what. What did MMA give you? What is. What does MMA do for Keith Lee?

[Hoda Kotb]

Hard work. It gave me a lot of, like, resilience, and I feel like that's exactly what I take into this profession that I'm in now. I feel like my work ethic is, bar none. I honestly don't. That's why I don't compare myself to nobody. And I don't consider myself an influencer. I just consider myself Keith. And I feel like the reason I do that is because, not to sound cocky or sound like an asshole, but I'm him, Shannon. I'm one of them. I ain't gonna lie to you. I take a lot of credit, and I give it to my wife, and I give it to my kids, and I give it to my sister and the people in our family. We some dogs, bro. When I tell you, like, it might look like we just eating food, but even this last week, we've been in four different states, thugging it out the sprinter van. And a lot of this we do with our own money. We do it our own time. And before you know it, we look up and we on food tour, and we've been outside in a sprinter van for nine hours a day.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

And I feel like a lot of that is attested to my MMA background, because, again, it's a different switch you gotta turn on in order to really, like, lock everything out and just do what you feel like you called to do. And that's what I feel like I take into food and anything.

[Keith Lee]

You have eight and five record in mma. You won three by knockout, one by submission, and four by decision. What's. What's the hardest part about mma? I mean, you know, look, there is everything. I mean, the back fist and kick you and hit your elbow, you and choke you Out.

[Hoda Kotb]

Absolutely.

[Keith Lee]

Because really, people ain't really trying to go to the cards.

[Hoda Kotb]

No.

[Keith Lee]

If you try to be in the ufc, Dana won't.

[Hoda Kotb]

Action. That's a.

[Keith Lee]

He want action. So you go get a couple of decisions. Dana go like, nah, you're not for the ufc. So what is the hard. What is the hardest part about mma?

[Hoda Kotb]

I can't speak for nobody else, but I feel like the reason why my record looked the way it did is because I. Again, I had a brother that was already in it, so I didn't have the slow roll. I. If you go back and watch and see who I fought, I was jumping into the deep end immediately. Like, my first three fights was in Canada. Most people don't fight internationally until they get to their 10th, 15th pro fight. I was outside immediately. So the hardest part for me was fighting guys that were out of my experience level and not really having anybody to be like, relax, bro. Like, you ain't gotta rush it. I was 18, fighting guys that had kids and wives and real life struggles. So for me, I felt like that was the hardest part, but physically the hardest part. I feel like if you were to beat me, it was pressure. It was guys that was coming forward nonstop, had nothing to lose, was willing to get knocked out. I always was a person who valued my feet, my footwork. So I'm moving. I don't want to get hit, right. I don't like getting punched. I got a pretty face. Shannon, I want to keep this hair, bro. Yeah, it was guys who didn't give a damn. But, yeah, once I. I didn't even really officially retire. My wife wanted to officially retire, but everything kind of just took off in, like, the end of 2022 and in, like, December. I fought in September 2022. So right after that last fight, everything kind of took off. Right. But I feel like, yeah, the hardest part was just like. And it's relinquishing. It's like you have no control over what's about to happen. You just gotta let it happen. And that's the hardest part for me. It's like just getting into that mindset of, like, God, I trust you, and I know whatever's about to happen is about to happen, and it ain't nothing that I'm about to do. I can train for eight weeks straight. The hardest training camp to be the most prepared. Train with the world champions, train with everybody who they claim is the best. You go out there and get finished in 20 seconds, so it ain't really nothing you can do about it. Other than just let it be what it is.

[Keith Lee]

You said you had a wrestling background, so clearly you're good at grappling. You can try to take people down, get them off their feet. You don't want to, like you said, you don't want to get punched in the face. Or the best way not to get punched in the face is get them on the mat and do what you need to do. So that was, that was what you tried to do.

[Hoda Kotb]

I was a hybrid, so I mix it up really well, in my opinion. I came in an era where people was doing everything, so there was no more just grapplers or just strikers. There's very rare cases of it and like somebody like Khabib where he's a straight grappler, I came in like on the tail in that. So like I said, I turned professional in 2015 when I was 18 or 2014. So that was when literally you had to do everything. People on a grassroots level or like the amateur ranks, they was literally like switching stances already. Stuff that most people don't do until like I said, 20, 25 pro fights, they was fighting at 19, 18, grappling, striking. So I like to consider myself part of that generation.

[Keith Lee]

What does it feel like to knock someone out and what does it feel like to get knocked out?

[Hoda Kotb]

So I've never been knocked out. I've been finished once in my entire career and that was me being choked out. Rear naked.

[Keith Lee]

Triangle.

[Hoda Kotb]

Rear naked. Okay, so that was probably in that. And I feel like I, I love that you even brought that up. That fight right there was literally what made my life begin to where it's at right now. So I was in his house when it happened too, by the way. That's crazy. I was here when it happened. So I just had a contract with Bellator, which is the second biggest promotion in the world when it comes to mma. I was two in one in a promotion. I had just beat they number seventh ranked guy and they numbered eighth ranked guy. And I was, I had just lost today, number one ranked guy. So I'm thinking in my head like, oh, it's just a bounce back fight. I'm fighting this guy. That's like seven, zero. I'm like, oh, this is going to put me right back into top contention because they had a tournament coming up at 135 to where the top eight guys fought for a million dollars. So the winner between me and the guy I fought that was 7, 0, went into the tournament. So I'm thinking like, mind you, I just bought, I just fought number seven, number eight. This guy was. I think he was ranked number 12th at the time. I'm real cocky, Shayna. I'm like, oh, it's over with. Like, I'm already coming home. And I'm telling her, like, what spot, man? What? I'm telling her what spot of the tournament I got. I'm telling her exactly what we about to do with the money. I'm taking a camp serious. But I already. I'm going into it with that mindset of like, oh, it's over with. I get smoked. I'm talking about whooped on first time in my entire career. So at 8 and 5, I only had my four losses were by split decision and split decisions to where, like, it could literally go like this, like, razor thin. That was the only time where I got shut out and I got finished in the first round. He was. When I say jab, everything was landing. I was looking up, like, how many people in here? I'm looking at his coaches like, why you gonna let him jump over the top and come punch me in the face? It's bad, bro. I look up, before you know it, he got my back. And it's maybe like 10 seconds left of the clock. And I could hear. So they do a smacker for the last 10 seconds. So I can hear the 10 second smacker. And you can see on my face in the video that I'm. He. I'm still there. He got the choke, but I'm like, I'm all right. I'm still scrambling. Before you know it, I go to lift up, I get up and I run to the cage. I don't know. I've been out for like three seconds.

[Keith Lee]

Wow.

[Hoda Kotb]

And he looking at me out. You can go watch the video. I'm completely bloodied up in my head. I didn't go out at all. In my head, I'm like, oh, this choke not even in. Oh, let me get up. Oh, I hear that the time is over. Let me get up and run to my corner. Literally, you know, I'm out. I wake up, my head snap back, I stand up and I stumble all the way over to the corner. And the ref, he picked me up and he like, it's over with. I'm. You can see in the video, I'm like, why? What happened? I was out, gone. That it felt like a movie. Like, it felt like. It's such a weird feeling because you still hear everything. You still feel everything. Like you feel like you watching somebody else. Like, I felt like I was standing over Myself and being like, oh, the joke. Not even in, but the whole time I'm like, come on. So for me, that felt like, like I said, it felt like a movie, but putting somebody else to sleep, that's one of the most amazing feelings. That's why I say it's a switch. You, you, it's. You got to be a little crazy, right? You got to be a little off to say you feel good to put somebody to sleep. But when you in a heat of the moment, I feel like it's one of those, like vindicating moments, because the second, for anybody who has never fought before, the second that, you know, you won everything from. So it's usually like an eight week process that goes into fighting. And that's from cutting weight, that's from eating right, that's from making sure that you running in the morning.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, no sex.

[Hoda Kotb]

None of that, none of that. I'm talking about like full blown militant. So the second that the fight is over, it could be from you finishing putting a guy to sleep. Everything comes crashing and you just feel like, oh, I can breathe now. Like. So it's literally like when people say, like it's a monkey on your back, that's no joke. Like, you know, winning like the super bowl, that's exactly what it feel like. Every fight is like somebody lifting somebody off your shoulders, right? So it's like literally the second the fight is over, you just go, oh.

[Keith Lee]

And then it showed that all that hard work did, all the eight weeks.

[Hoda Kotb]

All of it paid off. Absolutely, absolutely. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

[Keith Lee]

What about a return? Are you interested in returning to the Octagon?

[Hoda Kotb]

It gotta be a lot of money involved, Shannon. A lot of money. I got kids, man. And the main reason I even stopped training, like I said, there was never official retirement. The main reason I even stopped is because you either gotta do it or you're not gonna do it at all.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, yeah, it's all in.

[Hoda Kotb]

It ain't no plan. It ain't no, like, oh, I'm about to go on a food tour. I'm about to go drive, drive around the city and I'm about to go eat. And then I'm a train. Ain't none of that.

[Keith Lee]

No.

[Hoda Kotb]

I trained with one of the best guys in the world. His name is Dewey Cooper. He trained Francis Ngannou. He's got like four or five different championships in the UFC alone. He a bad man. So it would playing with him, it wouldn't know. Like, oh, I'm about To come in. I'm a celebrity. Ain't none of that, man. Go get on the bag. So for me, it was either you gonna do it or you're not gonna do it at all. So that's probably the main decision when I come back. I'm looking at my wife right now, and that's a no.

[Keith Lee]

Yeah, she's over there.

[Hoda Kotb]

It's over with. Yeah, for sure.

[Keith Lee]

So have you ever met Dana?

[Hoda Kotb]

I've met him, like in passion, right? Because I've been. My brother fought for 10 years, but I never had like a full blown conversation.

[Keith Lee]

So do you still train? Like.

[Hoda Kotb]

No, sir. You see me in this chair. I'm spreading out in this chair.

[Keith Lee]

So there's. I mean, do you still work out?

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah, I play basketball.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

Yeah.

[Keith Lee]

So that's it? No. No. No training, no math, no blood work? No.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm blessed enough to say I got a lot of contracts right now. And all of those contracts says that I can't have any blemishes on my face. Right? So if I go train from just scar tissue from doing it for so long, my face is automatically either gonna swell up or it's gonna open up or it's gonna get cut real easy and that mess up the money. I can't mess with money.

[Keith Lee]

You don't mess with money. Yeah, we just saw the fight this weekend. Jon Jones took out Stipe. Now he's the heavyweight champ. He also took the belt from zero gane.

[Hoda Kotb]

I hate that whole conversation. We can talk about it. I hate that whole.

[Keith Lee]

So you hate the conversation of goat?

[Hoda Kotb]

I hate the conversation of him ducking from Tom.

[Keith Lee]

Oh, no, I don't.

[Hoda Kotb]

I hate it, bro. Now we talking. Cause I like to consider myself an mma. What's the nerd?

[Keith Lee]

Geek. Aficionado.

[Hoda Kotb]

Aficionado, all of that.

[Keith Lee]

Okay, tell us about what you think about Bones.

[Hoda Kotb]

I don't even think it's a conversation or it's a question that he's the best that we've ever seen do it by far. I hate the conversation of like, he ducking time. We did this maybe like a year ago with Sergei Pavlovl. That's how you say his last name. Excuse me if I pronounce it wrong, but when he was coming through the ranks and he was killing people, everybody was like, oh, he gotta fight Jones. And Jones scared of him. And then he got finished by Tom. And don't nobody talk about him no more, right? It's like, don't nobody pay him no attention. But it's like it's it's very annoying to see somebody, especially somebody that look like us, be in a space where it's like every single time you do something, it's something else that got to be done in order for you to submit your legacy. It's like, he's been doing this since I was a kid. Yes, he been doing it well.

[Keith Lee]

He's been the champ since 2011.

[Hoda Kotb]

That's insane. Yeah, that's insane. And he hasn't lost to anybody. No, it's for. If he was anybody else.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

It wouldn't even be a question.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

It wouldn't even be a conversation. Because when Khabib beat. That was Gaethje, his last fight. When Khabib beat Gaethje, there wasn't a question of, oh, he gotta come back and he gotta fight Ilya to submit his legacy or he gotta come back. He gotta fight Volk to submit his legacy or he gotta come back, he gotta fight Holloway. It wasn't none of that. It wasn't even a like, even. There's no conversation as we speak revolving around his legacy, his greatness. But with Jones, he gotta beat everybody and they mama in order to get any kind of recognition.

[Keith Lee]

And then when he beats Aspinall, they're gonna come up with something. They will come up with somebody else. Well, he gotta wait till.

[Hoda Kotb]

It's always gonna be something else. Yeah, it's always gonna be something else. And even if he don't beat Aspinall, because it's the fight world, anything can happen. I don't think that takes away from the greatness that is Jon Jones, and that always will be Jon Jones.

[Keith Lee]

To have that type of ring for a decade and a half, I don't.

[Hoda Kotb]

Think time doing that. I ain't gonna lie. He might again, everything happens the way it's supposed to, but I feel like it's a little. A little too late because again, Joan, what time is 27:31, I think.

[Keith Lee]

I think he's seven years younger than I think that.

[Hoda Kotb]

I think that. I think the conversation's over with that alone. Alone, even just his age.

[Keith Lee]

Are you a boxing fan?

[Hoda Kotb]

Every now and again I watch. Yeah. I predicted Tank and Garcia in front of Tank, literally the punch, the round, and exactly how it's about to go.

[Keith Lee]

Right.

[Hoda Kotb]

Because again, I'm him. Shannon.

[Keith Lee]

So who do you want to see Tank fight? People say they want to see a rematch. They want to see Tank fight Shakur, they want to see him fight Boots. So who would you like to see Tank fight?

[Hoda Kotb]

That's a great question. I feel like there's so many options, but at the same time, I think a lot of people feel like he hasn't been tested yet because we are in this era of protect the Oath. But just from seeing him up close and watching him. So I trained at Mayweather's for years, so just seeing him up close, I feel like I'm about to sound like a tape recorder with anybody that's in his camp. Take him, bro. Take one of them. So I don't care who he fight. I feel like he is our generation's best. And I feel like at the end of the day, when the smoke is clear, he gonna come out of like, really being one of them. One of them.

[Keith Lee]

Were you on this celebrity boxing? We just saw Jake Paul fight tyson. We saw McGregor fight.

[Hoda Kotb]

I hated that fight. I hated everything about that fight.

[Keith Lee]

What? What did you hate about it?

[Hoda Kotb]

You.

[Keith Lee]

Do you think it was staged?

[Hoda Kotb]

Do you think what happened first to the lead up? I told my wife that I can't be there because I was gonna jump in the ring. I was one. It's Tyson, bro. Right? He's a legend of the sport. He's a legend of our community. He is somebody who should be held to the highest regard. I don't like that there was like this conversation of like, competitiveness. He's 60, bro. Like, if we bring up any legend of any other race or demographic, there's no way that you touch in one of their legends. But we allow our legends to get in there. And no, he allowed that mockery. I agree with you. I agree with you. But us as fans still was having conversations around the fight itself, like it was about to be a competitive or back and forth fight.

[Keith Lee]

I mean, Keith, if what they're saying is true, the man made 20 million. I mean, can you.

[Hoda Kotb]

I hear you, I hear you. But is it.

[Keith Lee]

And his money, jump for it. Now you gotta realize here's a guy that's made what, five, six, seven hundred million dollars and I'm not so sure he has half of that. I'm not so sure he has a third of that.

[Hoda Kotb]

I hear you.

[Keith Lee]

And so $20 million at the age of 58. 50.

[Hoda Kotb]

But you, Mike Tyson, the money gonna come and go, right?

[Keith Lee]

Yeah.

[Hoda Kotb]

He's had way more than 20 million before for sure. So in my mind is. I know he. I watch Tyson very religiously and I know he don't believe in legacy, but for me, it's not necessarily him. It's the kids that's below him. It's my kids. It's me. It's somebody who's watched him literally from the beginning. So to stand on integrity, this is one thing that I always preach to my kids. To stand on something that you can. That would last forever and that you can pass on to another generation. And that's as far as integrity, and that's as far as something that you. A code that you stand behind to stand on that is way more valuable than any amount of money. Yeah, for me.

[Keith Lee]

So would you do a celebrity boxing match?

[Hoda Kotb]

Maybe. Maybe. See, maybe.

[Keith Lee]

But you say the money has to be right.

[Hoda Kotb]

So they got 5 million for me. So money wise, it would specifically be professional fighting. That's where I say the money got to be right. Because again, my life isn't in. Yeah, no, this is celebrity, but celebrity, the money don't necessarily gotta be right. It gotta be the right money, gotta be the right fight. For me, I wouldn't fight necessarily the celebrity because I feel like it would erase what I've done for 10 years in a space Gotcha. It would really just be to go out there and have fun but still be competitive. So it had to be that middle ground of being competitive and still not getting cut off by my wife because I'm getting cut and stuff.

[Keith Lee]

Is there any way we could do a celebrity MMA fight?

[Hoda Kotb]

Maybe we can be the first of the kind. Who you want to see me fight, Shannon?

[Keith Lee]

I don't know who I like. You say you weighed. You. You fought at 135.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm not that at all right now. 155, big boy. No, I'm solid.

[Keith Lee]

160. You're not more than 160, though.

[Hoda Kotb]

Way more than 160 now.

[Keith Lee]

Come on, Keith.

[Hoda Kotb]

Way more.

[Keith Lee]

Come on, Keith.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm solid, bro. I'm built like a brick house.

[Keith Lee]

Okay, 163. 163.

[Hoda Kotb]

Not even close.

[Keith Lee]

What you trying to say? You not 190, Keith.

[Hoda Kotb]

I'm like 180. 183. Solid.

[Keith Lee]

I'm thinking 68ish.

[Hoda Kotb]

Feel that, Shannon? Solid.

[Keith Lee]

170. Give 170. J. Let's get 170.

[Hoda Kotb]

So one thing I know when you kept asking Shannon, who would he want.

[Keith Lee]

To see you fight if he threw out Jake Paul, what would your video response?

[Hoda Kotb]

What's poppin Justin Jefferson here? Football is a lot of explosions, a lot of energy and attitude. It's a whole different vibe with these open earbuds. It's like you're in the moment, but also you can hear everything around you. You can be involved to have good sound and to be so light on.

[Keith Lee]

Your ear means a lot to me.

[Hoda Kotb]

Putting that music into my ears. You feel good enough to go out there and play.

[Keith Lee]

You turn on that switch, no one can stop you.

[Hoda Kotb]

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[Hoda Kotb]

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