Taking Over the City w/ Jason Lee!

Summary

DOPE AS USUAL PODCAST

Episode: "Taking Over the City w/ Jason Lee!"

Hosts: Thomas Araujo (“Dope as Yola”) & Marty O’Neill
Guest: Jason Lee (Vice Mayor of Stockton, Media Personality, Host of "The Jason Lee Show")
Release Date: April 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth and candid conversation with Jason Lee, known for his media presence and now as Vice Mayor of Stockton, CA. The discussion traverses Jason’s unique rise from poverty in the Central Valley, his impact on local politics, personal health transformation, the relationship between community and governance, and the importance of civic participation—all delivered in DOPE AS USUAL’s trademark raw and humorous style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jason Lee’s Media Evolution and Platform Strategy

• Network Hopping & “Audience Jacking”
  • Jason describes his career path as moving between major platforms, capturing audiences, and taking them to the next venture.
  • “I go to Revolt. I go to Breakfast Club. I go to Audience Jacker… I’m an audience jacker. But that’s not why I left Zeus...” (Jason, 01:26)
• Intent to Uplift Others
  • Cites his new partnership with BET as a chance to help creators build their shows, explicitly saying he’s not a gatekeeper but rather wants others to win.
  • “I like to see other people winning too… it’d be a great way to help launch their new program.” (Jason, 01:15-02:20)

2. Civic Engagement: From Merced to Stockton

• Roots and Aspirations
  • Both Thomas and Jason relate through their experiences in Merced and Stockton—cities often stigmatized by crime and neglect.
  • “Stockton, California… I grew up poor… it was also the city that unlocked my dreams…” (Jason, 05:19)
• Taking Over Local Politics
  • Faced rejection from local politicians; decided to run, organize, and help elect others, ultimately shifting the city’s power structure.
  • “I went and found other people… got us all funded and we took over the city.” (Jason, 06:45)
• Policy over Spite
  • Discussed organizing for community benefit, emphasizing programs for youth and overcoming skepticism from those in power.

3. Reality of Local Government & Crime

• Systemic Roots of Crime
  • Points to poverty as a root cause, not just individual decisions—calls for structural solutions like job creation and investment.
  • “For me, what real crime resolution looks like is poverty alleviation… You can't have poor people who continue to be strategically oppressed…” (Jason, 07:49)
• $12.4 Million State Grant
  • Lee and Stockton recently received a major grant, focusing on reinvestment for crime reduction and social programs. (08:47)
• Relationship With Law Enforcement
  • Describes organizing large meetings with law enforcement and policymakers, balancing accountability with the realities officers face due to limitations of state law. (54:07)

4. Personal Transformation: Health, Identity, and Authenticity

• Weight Loss Journey
  • Details his dramatic weight loss through surgery after failed attempts, focusing on health reasons: “I went to the gym… I just could not lose a pound… I did the gastric sleeve.” (13:25–14:16)
  • Uses humor and candor: “He told me, you might die in this procedure… I was like, fuck it. I’m gonna risk my life for it.” (14:19)
  • Maintains his health vigilantly, now using modern therapies and emphasizes honesty: “People just jump to HIV or cocaine. I just wanted to be healthy!” (15:45)
• Shifting Identity but Staying Grounded
  • Despite political status, insists he remains authentic: “I'm a real motherfucker from the hood… I still talk to people the way I talk to my friends.” (11:03)
  • Resists “politician” label due to its negative connotations.
• Cultural Representation and Inspiration
  • Takes pride in origins and seeks to inspire “the next generation of Jasons” from places like Stockton and Merced. (28:58)

5. Barriers & Frustrations in Community Work

• Stigma and Gatekeeping
  • Thomas narrates being labeled as gang-affiliated for charity work due to background and appearance—Jason validates these are common obstacles for Valley natives.
• System Slowdown
  • Jason provides real-life government examples: “It took four months to fix a fence.” (53:35)
• Fraud, Section 8, and Welfare Programs
  • Open debate on fairness and misuse within social programs; Jason advises action: “Know who your county supervisor is… and be the educated voter officials fear.” (50:53–59:16)

6. Politics, Voting, and Collective Responsibility

• Voting Matters
  • Emphasizes local elections' real-world impact; shares how one colleague "won by 500 votes." (41:41)
• Cynicism and Engagement
  • Strongly rebuts the “my vote doesn’t matter” mentality, arguing apathy is exactly what allows dysfunction to persist.
  • “You’re involved in politics. You just don't fucking participate in the moment that matters most.” (40:19–41:41)
• Pushes for Accountability
  • Enjoys “making people uncomfortable” when holding fellow officials to their campaign promises—specifically on safety and resource allocation. (45:49)

7. Raw Takes: National and Global Issues

• America’s “Gangster” President
  • Unfiltered view of the Trump administration and global policy:
    • “The biggest warmonger of them all is President Trump… you put all the gangs in front of me… they won't add up to Trump.” (00:00, 34:57)
  • Critiques hypocrisy and corruption: “Elon Musk spent $250 million supporting Trump… now he’s making $8 million a day in contracts. It’s the biggest heist ever.” (37:24)
• Violence, War, and International Atrocities
  • Outraged about tolerance for violence abroad and inaction at home: “Is it right… to just go drop a bomb on a school and kill a bunch of kids in Iran? Nah, that shit is not.” (36:22)
  • Connects issues from Gaza to Congo, urging listeners to think humanity-first. (69:57)

8. Authenticity, Humor, and Everyday Relatability

• Falling as an Adult—“Senior Moments”
  • Memorable bit: Jason’s story of tripping up the stairs, FaceTiming a celebrity, and needing a dignified life alert. (24:01–26:49)
• Humanizing Public Officials
  • Advocates for seeing politicians as people: “Politicians are people. We have to start humanizing these people, and you can do that by thinking about them fucking.” (17:08)
• Fat, Fame, and Fashion
  • Riffs on comedian branding, body image, and self-doubt post-weight loss—showing vulnerability and confidence side-by-side (23:24–24:14)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

“My whole career has been built on audience jacking… I’m an audience jacker.”
— Jason Lee (01:26)

“The biggest killers are the people in politics. These are the biggest gang members ever.”
— Jason Lee (07:23)

"When I see, like right now there's a huge development in Merced… it's only Section 8… I start getting mad at the people that are also in it with me… resentment, I feel."
— Thomas (48:30–49:31)

“You’re involved in politics. You just don’t fucking participate in the moment it matters most… your vote does matter.”
— Jason Lee (41:41)

“If you don't vote, you cannot say you care. You just can't.”
— Jason Lee (70:17)

“I'm still fat in my head, though, because that doesn't go away… Cardi B will call me and say, you look good, why you still wear baggy clothes?”
— Jason Lee (24:01)

“Everything I said I was going to do, I’ve done.”
— Jason Lee (45:34)

“We all need each other… this is how they demonized me… and now look, I went back and not only became the council member and the vice mayor, I got other people elected and we took control of the city.”
— Jason Lee (00:00, 34:57)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro & Jason’s Media Career: 00:00 – 02:45
• Politics & Stockton Story: 03:54 – 07:49
• Crime, Poverty, and Community Action: 07:49 – 10:48
• Authenticity in Politics: 10:59 – 12:04
• Balancing City Council & Hollywood: 12:07 – 13:07
• Weight Loss Journey & Health: 13:13 – 16:26
• Public Stereotypes, Stigma, and Personal Stories: 16:26 – 19:46
• Local Problems: Crime, Section 8, Social Support: 48:30 – 53:35
• Systemic Issues in Government Action: 53:35 – 56:38
• Law Enforcement and Reform: 56:38 – 66:56
• Youth Investment & Community Building: 66:53 – 68:43
• Global Politics, War, Voting: 36:22, 69:14 – 71:20
• Wrap-Up, Comic Relief, and Takeaways: 69:22 – end

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Conclusion

This episode is more than a city politics lesson; it is a deep, personal, and refreshingly funny examination of how real people from tough backgrounds can—and must—reshape their communities. Jason Lee’s story of comeback, refusal to gatekeep, and radical candor serve as both inspiration and a challenge to listeners: don’t check out, get involved, and do it with pride and authenticity. Whether you want insight into local government, genuine life advice, or just want to laugh, this episode delivers.

Catch Jason Lee’s show on BET and follow DOPE AS USUAL for more unfiltered, real-life conversations.

Transcript

[Jason Lee]

So we all need each other. There's no, you know, good or bad group or person. And, you know, this is how they. They demonize me. And now look, I went back and not only became the council member and the vice mayor, I got other people elected and we took control of the city. So, you know, you gotta be careful who you. Who you talking to. And let's be very clear, though, the biggest warmonger of them all is President Trump. The biggest gangster. You tell you put a Norte sereno, Crip blood, you put them all in front of me, they cartel, I even put them in there, they won't add up to Trump.

[Thomas]

Perfect, Perfect, Perfect, Perfect. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Dope As Usual podcast. My name is Thomas Dope as yolo, whatever you want to call me. This is my co host, Marty o'. Neal.

[Marty]

What's up, guys?

[Thomas]

Guys, today we have a very special guest, has a new show coming out. Author, philanthropist, host. Welcome, Jason Lee.

[Jason Lee]

Thank you for having me. Yeah. The show's not new. The network is new. No, no, we've been doing it for a minute.

[Thomas]

It's been a while. But what's the. Why do you jump networks like that?

[Jason Lee]

Why do I jump networks like that is a crazy question. Because, listen, the reality is I started on Revolt.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jason Lee]

Revolt TV season one. And then after that, I was done with that. I went to Hollywood unlocked for a minute. Then we went over to Zeus, and then now we're at bet. I mean, well, overall, my whole career has been built on audience jacking. Like, I do podcasts like this, I grab an audience, they come find me. I go to Revolt. I go to Breakfast Club, I go to Audience Jacker. I mean, all the shows, I'm an audience jacker. But that's not why I left Zeus. Zeus is one of my best partners and has been one of my best partners from the beginning. We did Bobby Lights. I love you, Per. I love you. I think I love you. I can't remember what it's called. I was executive producer and creator on that. And then we have the Impact Awards over there. And I did the show. But with bet, they created the creator studio to let other creators have an opportunity to build their shows. And I felt like as somebody who's, you know, been leading in the culture for a long time and doing what I'm doing, I like to see other people, you know, I'm not a gatekeeper. I like to see other people winning too. So I thought it'd be a great way to help launch their New program.

[Thomas]

Okay. And it's a digital.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, right.

[Thomas]

Okay. And this launches tomorrow.

[Jason Lee]

Tomorrow.

[Thomas]

And it's 801. I looked at said 801, you know,

[Jason Lee]

I, I literally last night text bet. I was like, 800 real, you know, what is the one about?

[Thomas]

I honestly think it's a funny joke. Like, are late, so give them an extra minute to log.

[Jason Lee]

It's bet, you know, color people time we showing up. No point.

[Thomas]

I think, like, give me an extra minute.

[Jason Lee]

And it's 801 Eastern, so we ain't even gonna be awake. I was like, yo, I'm not even gonna be awake to watch a premiere. But I've already been there. Obviously. I sat through the interview. But yeah, it's eight. Listen, it's BET's platform and they know their digital audience because, you know, we all got our audience. We know. I know my audience ain't up at 8:01 Eastern, but, you know, we'll catch it at 1201 Pacific. I don't know. But look, 801 Eastern Standard Time, okay?

[Thomas]

And this is a new partnership with bet. Just a random question. What's up with BET After Dark again? Bringing that back. Can you put a word? Yeah, that used to be awesome when

[Jason Lee]

I was a kid doing BET After Dark. Diddy. After dark. Anything after dark is supposed to say

[Thomas]

he's asleep at 11.

[Jason Lee]

So I, I, I'm not sleep at 11. I just ain't doing when it's dark. I, I, you know, I may stop by Alba, eat some food or if I'm running the city, you know, in Stockton, where I live, you know, maybe I'll go give me some tacos from the taco truck. But I'm not, ain't no after dark with me. Plus, I'm 48 now. I'm about to be 49 years old. Ain't no if there's no reason to be outside after dark.

[Thomas]

I agree. I agree real quick. Before we're going to get into the whole thing, I have to know, I have to ask. This is Merced. I'm from Merced, California.

[Jason Lee]

Right. Okay.

[Thomas]

This is 6th Street. This is where the ghetto is, where all the shootings happen. That's Buffalo where he's at. Stockton. I had to double check. I had to make sure there wasn't a Stockton from another state. Yeah, I had to make sure I'm born and raised in Merced. When I saw vice president or vice mayor of Stockton, how long have I said, I'm gonna be the mayor of Merced one day? Been saying this since before I was 18.

[Jason Lee]

Anything is possible.

[Thomas]

It's. No. You just showed me. You're the vice mayor of Stockton, One of the scariest places on Earth. I used to not drop packs off there because I'm like, I'm going to get shot.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, you might. I got shot there.

[Thomas]

There it is. I got shot there.

[Jason Lee]

But let me say, shout out to Mayor Serato from Merced. I just talked to him not too long ago because we had a woman from Stockton and her family go out to Merced and she drowned out there and. And died. And the. The family was looking to recover her body, and so I had to call the sheriff and I had to call Mayor Serato, and he helped me out. Yeah.

[Thomas]

Is it the atv? The girl with the atv? Yeah, I saw that. She did. She ended up drowning. That's what it was.

[Jason Lee]

Well, she's let me back up. I don't know how some circumstances. She died, you know, unfortunately, it was a sad. A sad situation, but, you know. Yeah. I'm literally the sitting vice mayor right now.

[Thomas]

Can you tell me how and why? I have to know. This is an actual thing I've been talking about since maybe the 10th grade. I hate cyclists. When the mayor, remember the Tour de France came through the valley? I used to deliver pizza, and they just ate the road up. I'm like, I can't. I'm gonna be the mayor, my outlaw this one day. And that's the only reason I ever talked about it.

[Jason Lee]

But I think that's how people, you know, naturally get involved in politics. You're not happy with something happening in your city, or you're not happy with something happening in the country you live in or the state. And you're like, you know what? That. I'm tired of people taking advantage of people for me. Stockton, California. It literally made me. I grew up poor. I grew up in foster care. I grew up in, you know, to a mother who was addicted to drugs. As a single mom, my dad was absent. I had a lot of adversity, but it was also the city that unlocked my dreams and showed me what possibilities were out there. When I met Queen Latifah at a fairgrounds concert. And so when I found out what I was passionate about, entertainment, celebrity, culture, I started in pursuit of that. And then, you know, I've had a. A very interesting, crazy, successful ride where I've had lots of ups and downs and challenges, but I've been looking at it like a social experiment. Like, how do I become the king of the Internet? How do I become like the post of pop culture. And then as I'm doing it, I'm like, looking at home, I'm like, yo, why is home not getting better? All this money y' all got, all this, all these opportunities. I don't look at a problem and say, oh, this is a problem. I look at like, okay, that's something that we can fix. When are you going to do better? So once I made all this money and success, success, I went home and I said, look, I'll give. I'll put a million dollars in for these kids programs. If you put a million dollars in and let's match it and like, let's create programs. And they were just like, shitted on me. Like, nah. Like, you know, you got all this money, you got all these friends of money. You go figure it out. I. I just got offended. So I looked at it as a challenge. And so I said, look, if y' all don't switch up how you do things, I'm gonna switch. Everybody that sits up there, they still thought it was a joke. So I went and found other people who were running. I got us all funded and I used my platform and we got everybody out there and we took over the city. And now we'.

[Thomas]

You know, I thought it was a spite move. That's exactly how they outlawed my clothing company in Mercedes gang attire now, really? Because I did a charity event for kids, but it happened to be an ex gang member.

[Jason Lee]

Okay?

[Thomas]

And now, now my weed clothes are classified as Norteno. Gang affiliation really isn't that crazy?

[Jason Lee]

Wow.

[Thomas]

You hear the way I talk? I'm not a gang banger, man.

[Jason Lee]

Like, gang bangers are articulate. Let's not do it. Let's.

[Thomas]

I know I say do too much, man.

[Jason Lee]

Let me tell you something. I haven't moved to LA and working entertainment and seeing how gangs are woven into this business that I'm in, I've met a lot of Crips and Bloods who dress with the nicest clothes, who drive the nicest cars, and they're the politest people. They just happen to be killers. And so I don't put it. You know, and now I'm in politics. The biggest killers are the people in politics. These are the biggest gang members ever.

[Thomas]

Scariest.

[Jason Lee]

But I'll say this. You know, the thing that I love about what I'm able to do is, you know, I have cousins that are still in gangs, and I tell them all the time, you know, you have a choice. Like, I had a choice. And if you choose to keep down this path, we have committed to a safer city. They're going to come and get your ass. And when I say they, it's really we, because we're a part of that system that wants the city to be safer. On the other hand, I just held a meeting with the California treasurer, our board of Supervisors, police, our sheriff, all of our elected officials at the county, state and federal, and our assembly woman ransom, shout out to her to talk about what real crime, what real crime resolution looks like for me is poverty alleviation. You can't have poor people who continue to be strategically oppressed and not figure out a way to get them out of that by creating jobs and opportunities and think that they're going to be different, like you're just not. It's not going to happen. So now we're looking at how can we bring more money, more opportunities to the city and how we can help change more lives.

[Thomas]

And I saw you got a. What was it, 12.4 million dollar grant.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. From the governor, Stockton. Yeah.

[Thomas]

So what are you changing? I. I have to. This is so close to home. It's just, it's in the most interesting thing I've talked about in a while. Like, this is where I'm at Merced's going. I was just talking about how, how nice it's getting. And now there's nothing but murders the past four months. It's like when I was in high school and everyone's getting shot every weekend. I.

[Jason Lee]

That's.

[Thomas]

Stay inside. That. That really got me. I'm just gonna stay inside.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. I mean, everything is interconnected. Like when you look at what's happened on the national level where the federal government's like starving states. And then you look at the state, you know, we just had that major wildfire out here in Southern California. We had the Palisades burned down. You had, you know, Altadeen. And all these fires just take out lots of homes and communities where there's like $250 billion of damage that comes from the state in terms of repair. So, you know, when you have a federal government starving families of SNAP programs and benefits and then. And there's attack on ada, which is the Obamacare, not ada, I'm sorry, Obamacare, which is aca. And then you have attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, all these poor people, poor families that are already struggling. Now you see the war we're in and the price of oil and gas going up and so we're paying more at the pump. Like all of that stuff does impact communities that are already struggling. And so what happens? Am I going to starve, or am I going to go rob somebody to eat? Literally, the mindset of a lot of people, and I'm not condoning crime, but I understand the causation of it isn't just people waking up saying, I want to go kill people. So now being on the other side of it, I'm like, yo, Like, I. You know, I don't feel the pain at the pump like other people do, but I'm. But I'm dialed in enough to acknowledge, oh, my car used to take $75 to fill up, and now it's 130. Like, something's wrong with that. And so, yeah, I think that, you know, as I continue to go down this path of pursuit of how we can balance out the. The opportunities for people and create jobs to make people less prone to want to go out and create violence, that's the only way that we're going to effectuate change.

[Thomas]

Beautiful, articulate. Usually we're smoked out. Yeah, dude, I get it. No, I just like the way you said, it's an actual politician with a background that we care about. Yeah. Which is something.

[Jason Lee]

Don't even. Like, you know, it is.

[Thomas]

You are.

[Jason Lee]

I know.

[Thomas]

You know, the glasses and the. You're.

[Jason Lee]

You're made for it, man. The product glasses are definitely sharp. But listen, I don't want to be looked at as a politician because I think there's a negative connotation on that. Right. Like, I am an elected official. I'm a community advocate. I am a politician because I'm in politics. But the thing I think that people have been struggling the most with me is that, like, I'm a real motherfucker from the hood. Like, I grew up in the hood. I still talk to the people the way that I talk to my friends. I don't think every day, like, I got to make sure people see me as a politician. Like, nah, I'm. I'm Jason. I am elected. I do have the relationships and authority to do certain things in the city, and I have lots of relationships outside the city in politics. But, like, politicians who literally just get elected to use people as a career ladder to move on up and get more money and more power for their friends and stuff. Like, I could never be that. That's why I don't really see this, for me, at least right now, today, I don't see this as a career change or. No, I want to be the governor. Like, if I want to be the governor, I think I could Figure that out. But that's not where I'm at right now.

[Thomas]

Balance, dude, how are you balancing this life? You live in Stockton.

[Jason Lee]

I live in Stockton.

[Thomas]

Is it because you have to, because you're an official?

[Jason Lee]

Because that's where I serve, damn it. Yeah, so I live in Stockton. I live in Stockton. I have a house here too, because my studio's here. So when I do the Jason Lee show, I'm filming at the Hollywood Unlock studios in Hollywood. So I, I come in a few days, do my show, do my podcast, any meetings I need to do, and then I go home or like yesterday I was in Dallas to night. I'll go to New York for press. But I'm always constantly working. And the thing that's interesting about city council, like Stockton and other cities is that it's a part time position, so you really could do it part time. But I do it full time, like I do my career full time. So when you talk about balance, you know, I got an IV this morning, so I have my vitamins. Tonight I'll get on the plane and slay down and go to sleep and wake up in the morning and go straight to press. So it's, it's constant. Go, go, go, go. But I have a good team, so. And I get my sleep.

[Thomas]

Yeah, that's one thing I haven't got yet. I'm trying to, I'm, I'm trying to balance life right now too, so. Oh, another question, dude. And they brought you up my Jason Lee. My wife's a big fan, so she automatically knew and I saw the old picture go.

[Jason Lee]

This is Saint Bull.

[Thomas]

I remember you. I thought you were a Dominican DJ a long time ago, dude. I swear, with the big jackets, that's

[Jason Lee]

all I could wear. I was going to the little china shops downtown LA 4X. I think I was a forex at the time. Yeah, I lost 123 pounds. I think right now today I'm at 204. 5.

[Thomas]

How what you do?

[Jason Lee]

Oh, I cheated like a. Listen, people be talking about, oh, I, I remember when I said I want to lose weight. They were like, yeah, you got to start eating chicken, right? Chicken, brown rice and broccoli. I'm like, well, first of all, I like broccoli. Brown rice tastes like plastic chicken is cool. But like, I don't have time to really cook like that. I eat out still today, all the time, all day long. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go to Houston. So I said, I'm gonna give myself a year to lose Weight. And. And let me tell you, my own personal choice wasn't just. It wasn't vanity at all. It was. I had sleep apnea. I was pre diabetic, I had inflammation. I had done this micronutrient test, which is the thing I always tell people, and I gifted it for all my staff because I wanted them to know, like, the micronutrient test told me, literally, the status of my health on the inside. And. And I've gotten the micronutrient test for friends who look healthy on the outside, but on the inside, they had things going on. And I've always had this thing where I, like, I just don't want to die. Like, I know.

[Thomas]

Yeah, I mean, I got you too.

[Jason Lee]

Like, is out here dying at 25, 20, 28, 38, 48. And. And so I did the micronutrient test, found all these things, and I told myself, I'm gonna give myself a year to try to lose weight. I went to the gym all the time. I ate healthy, but I just could not lose £1. I was £323 at the time. And then I just said, you know what it. I found a friend of mine who lost weight. He had a surgery. He had the gastric sleeve in Texas from this doctor named Dr. Marvin. This is free advertisement for that because that motherfucker is the real deal. He told me, you might die in this procedure, but you might not and sign this paper that says if you die, you won't sue me, but you'll more than likely be okay. And I was like, fuck it. I'm gonna risk my life for it. Because I'm risking it every day anyway because I can't lose weight. Went in, did the procedure in Texas. In five days, I lost 22 and a half pounds. So that psychologically did something because I know now I spent a year, I said, couldn't do lose one five days. I lost 22 and a half. They put you on a regimen. If you follow it, if you follow the recipe, you will lose the weight. So I lost, you know, 22 pounds. 32, 42, 52, 60, 122. And then I got down to a medium, which was kind of crazy because I didn't want to be a medium. So now I'm a large. But nonetheless, sleep apnea went away. Pre diabetic, that went away. I just had my blood work a couple weeks ago. I'm the healthiest I've ever been, by the way. Still HIV negative. For everybody out there wondering, I don't

[Thomas]

think Anybody was wondering.

[Jason Lee]

Well, they wonder, you know, what the. Because that was horrendous. No, it's not. Not in my community. Because, you know. You know, people, as soon as I lost the weight, they were like, oh, my God, he on that cocaine. Hiv. I'm like, God damn. How I go straight to HIV can. I just had no diet, no Weight Watchers, nothing.

[Thomas]

Damn, they went straight to the worst

[Jason Lee]

thing on earth, and I went straight to cocaine. I didn't even go weed, no pills. I went. I jumped all that, said, I'm a hero. Straight to cocaine and heroin. The Internet is a crazy, dangerous place, by the way. I love y'. All. No, I lost all the weight, and then I could shop and wear different clothes and. And so now. Yeah, now it's all about. I'm obsessed with maintaining. Like, I was 207 last week. I had to lose two pounds.

[Thomas]

Oh, you're on it now.

[Jason Lee]

Oh, I'm on it. And I do that GLP1, too. I'm on that, too.

[Thomas]

Oh, damn, you're. You're on everything. You're on that TRT too, or the. The peptides.

[Jason Lee]

I'm on the peptide.

[Thomas]

Damn, everybody I know.

[Jason Lee]

I'm on nads. I just did nad drip today. I do IV therap. I eat healthier. I do go to the gym at least three to four days a week now. I get good sleep. I still have lots of great sex. I'm single. I can do that. Vice mayors do have sex. People always thought, like, why would they think you're not. When you get it. Well, no, I don't have. I'm not doing the weird. They're all doing. I'm not in no files. Won't Never.

[Thomas]

No, no. Just. I would never think, like, politicians. NFL ain't at all. Why would you think that?

[Jason Lee]

I mean, you're not looking at Trump and saying, he's.

[Thomas]

That's. The president's a different guy. I'm talking about, like, regular politicians that are.

[Jason Lee]

That look like you like, no, but, like, yeah, he's out there. Nobody's looking at Nancy Pelosi and going, anyway, I love Nancy, so I'm not gonna go.

[Thomas]

I might. I'm like, who's banging her?

[Jason Lee]

Booker the other day, though, he was with his wife and, you know, they were at the hotel, so obviously they. Anyway, they may have in the hotel. Politicians are people. We have to start humanizing these people, and you can do that by thinking about them fucking.

[Thomas]

I like the way you're going, like, every time you get mad at a guy Just think about his dick.

[Jason Lee]

No, no, no, no, no, no. No more funding for healthcare.

[Thomas]

Okay, so you went from three? Because that's where I'm at. Right? Like, I've been.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

I don't know what's going on. I did the test and all that I used. I was fatter, but I'm still fat. Like, I'm trying. I'm going. I'm doing everything I should.

[Marty]

I mean, we had Dr. Dubrow in here.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Marty]

Such an advocate for the GLP that

[Thomas]

he was, like, expert.

[Jason Lee]

And listen, GOP's. Look at Oprah. She looks the best. She's 70. She looks the best she ever has. I literally now go to Oprah's page just to see what she looks like, what she's wearing now. But she's also super rich, and she can afford all this. It is expensive. But the thing I love about the. The. The gastric sleeve and. And, you know, when I say, okay, what's the difference between the gastric bypass? They were like, well, the gastric bypass, we're.

[Thomas]

Slice it right.

[Jason Lee]

Slice your intestines. We're not doing that. I'm not slicing my intestines. Plus, those are the people. And no disrespect to anybody that's gotten the. The gastric bypass get fatter again. No, those look like pop balloons. I can't. I. I. For me, it was also like, I need to look healthy. I need to look and feel.

[Thomas]

You don't look like you have the lollipop going on. When you said the glp, I'm like, oh.

[Jason Lee]

So I didn't do the gastric bypass. The gastric balloon, they put a balloon down your throat, it fills up your stomach. Six months, they take it out, you can gain the weight back. So the. What I love about Dr. Marvin, he literally broke down the percentile of weight gain again. And so, like, the balloon, you're gonna. You're gonna gain it back.

[Thomas]

That's insane.

[Jason Lee]

The bypass, you're not gonna gain it back, but you may look crazy and it. And it does a lot of other weird shit to your body. The sleeve was safer. The safest option in the middle, where you can gain it back. And trust me, I have gone back up to 215, and I get to 215. There's, like, something in my. In my mind that goes, you gotta go back down. So I'm constantly on top of it. But here's what I will say. Like, you know. You know, you say where you are right now. I had the most confidence like you, the Weight didn't change me in any other way of more confident, less confident, better and worse. I just was not healthy at the time and where I wanted to be in life. So I made the choice. I was, I don't know how old I was at the time. Maybe I was in my 40s. So I was like, still in my 40s.

[Thomas]

Yeah, it's a scary thing once you hear 40, go overweight. Usually people die like that.

[Jason Lee]

Well, people dying earlier for no reasons too, you know, for sure, for sure.

[Thomas]

But that, yeah, is a big factor because I think of all the time, like, I'll. I'll be 50 before, you know, before you know it.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, I'm like, I can't do you right now.

[Thomas]

36.

[Jason Lee]

Oh, you're a kid.

[Thomas]

But you know what I'm saying? Like, yes, I'm fat. Like, hey, put it this way, I don't want people going, yeah, get why he died. You know, I don't. Like all those nights I could have just did some push ups or something

[Jason Lee]

with the push ups. See, here's the deal. And this is. I did see again, I'm Shauna. Oprah. Oprah, the other day, she was talking about, like, people who were using GOP1. She's like, yo, like, I learned I was anti GLP1, but then I learned, like, there's people who have just gained weight. It's literally like an illness, like having the flu. So the medicine is like, it's, it's addressing the symptoms of whatever the illness is. And, And I'm a fan of doing whatever it takes to be your healthiest person. Right. So, like, for me, the, the Dr. Marvin trip, the best $11,000 I've ever spent. I spend more $11,000 nights in the club, shopping bottles, going to taco trucks, you know, being reckless.

[Thomas]

11 bands, damn.

[Jason Lee]

That's not. Not.

[Thomas]

I know, I know it sounds.

[Jason Lee]

The tacos on the way home may be a couple because there's a group of us, but a couple hundred dollars mixed in with about $10,000 in bottles. Buy clothes, you have a driver, you have security. Like, it all adds up at some point, but why not invest that in myself? And I did. Best $11,000 ever spent. And if I gain the way back, I'm going to get it again. It.

[Marty]

Oh, how much is the micro test, the nutrient test?

[Jason Lee]

$250.

[Thomas]

Oh, and what does that do? It's just everything inside you.

[Jason Lee]

Or it tells you your organ health, it tells you your entire body, it tells you your blood cells, it tells you everything about Your body. And just the other day, because I woke up in my back hurt. You know, I'm also hypochondriac. I paid for the pre novo body scan where you. They do a full body scan to tell you everything wrong with your body.

[Thomas]

It's so funny. It's like hypochondriac used to be fat. Me too. Every time. Like, it's probably gonna break. Something's broken, huh? I'm dying. I feel you. Because I have a bad back.

[Jason Lee]

That horrible you had in here. In his own chair. That broke the chair. Whoever that is. That needs to get a micronutrient. He probably needs micro needling. Micronutrient. He needs hard. He needs to do it all. Because it's funny when you break the chair, but when you literally die early and don't get to live out your full life, that's just kind of fucked up.

[Thomas]

It is. I just think all the nights, like, you know, what I could be doing right now, except I'm dead, you know, Like, I love smoking weed and watching hilarious things. Yeah. It's not worth dying.

[Jason Lee]

It isn't. But you do it on your own terms. When you're ready. I would say start with the micronutrient test, because that will tell you what's out. Then you get to decide, like, do I want to do it or not? For me, it was. It wasn't vanity, though. A lot of people thought, oh, he just did it to me. To. To. That helps, bro.

[Thomas]

Yeah, it helps. So you. Then you now go, yeah, we're gonna watch this guy. That's why I always say you can't market a fat dude. That's why.

[Jason Lee]

Yes, you can. Hold on. Yes, you can.

[Thomas]

A Chris Farley way. Like, I do comedy and Right. I do stand up. All that. It'd be a lot easier. Someone goes, yeah, these are liking this guy. He's in shape. And it's a lot easier being Matt Rife than Tom Segura.

[Jason Lee]

No, but I just. I just went to Sofi Stadium where Joe Koi shot.

[Thomas]

That's different. That's Fluffy, man.

[Jason Lee]

Fluffy's big ass Fluffy.

[Thomas]

That's his. That's his thing.

[Jason Lee]

He's an anomaly, but he's made it. He's made it work for him. No, for sure. You know, like, look at Jelly Roll. Jelly Rolls lost the weight. He's losing it. Every time I look up Jelly rolls, Jelly Roll today looks like Eminem. I'm like, how the does Jelly Roll look like? And nicest motherfucker in the world. But how does he look like Eminem? But, you know, he. I don't know why he did it because I haven't yet to talk to him since he lost it. But he probably did it because he was on his health journey, you know, I mean.

[Thomas]

I mean, he's getting older. He's a. That man's huge.

[Jason Lee]

Huge, but the nicest. Dopest dude. Like, dopest dude.

[Thomas]

Yeah. No, I mean, as a fat person, I don't think fat guys are mean. I met very few fat guys, mean, fat guys in my life. I just feel like, like you said, it's a health thing. I'm like, man, that's cool, too. It's just. It's just easier, man. I'm tired of going, I want to get up. I.

[Jason Lee]

Well, when you get to 48, that happens too. I. I felt. Okay, let me first back up and say I'm still fat in my head, though, because that doesn't go away. Oh, that Cardi B will call me and say, you look good. Why the you wearing all these baggy clothes? I'm like, because it's Balenciaga.

[Thomas]

She's like.

[Jason Lee]

She's like, well, you got that body. You need to, like, wear more fitted things. So some days I. I will wear it, but I'm still in my mind. I'm very aware. Let me back up the other day, talking about your knees hurting, and I fell running up the stairs.

[Thomas]

Oh, ow.

[Jason Lee]

No. Like, I had a senior citizen moment where I. As a growing up, me and my sister, we used to always make fun life alert people.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jason Lee]

Like, I fall in and I can't get up. Like, she's in the shower, falling down, holding the shower. So dramatic. Falling all slow. We're like, get your ass up now. You know you playing. Okay. I now need a life alert. I told my assistant the other day, go get a nice little pendant because we're gonna have to design it in a way where it looks like it looks cool. You know, that way when I'm falling, I can push and it alerts everybody because I was running up the stairs outside of the house on the phone with Evan Ross, who's on FaceTime, playing me his new music. And I'm, like, listening to his new music. He obviously probably been sipping a little the Bahamas because he's rich. That's what the rich people do. I'm running up the stairs, but by the time I get to the third step, I trip and fall. Face flat, face on the cement, knee on the cement, elbow. My elbow still hurts right now. Bruises all on my leg. I literally look like I've been in the show the Wire.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jason Lee]

I felt going up the stairs, I had a senior citizen moment where I'm like, yo, this is what it feels like to get older.

[Thomas]

Did you get up?

[Jason Lee]

I got up slow, as fast as

[Thomas]

I could, but it was slow. It took a while.

[Jason Lee]

It took me a minute because I had to realize, like, you know, as I was. First of all, as I was falling, I was like, yo, I'm literally falling.

[Thomas]

It's the last time you fell. Isn't a weird thing.

[Jason Lee]

I've never fallen. I've never fallen.

[Thomas]

Winston. As adult with a. Hello, weed. I just laughed. I dropped all. It broke everything. Just like. Yep.

[Jason Lee]

Because what can you do?

[Thomas]

I can't do nothing.

[Jason Lee]

I literally. As I was falling, I go. As I was falling, I go, damn, I'm literally falling. And then I hit the ground, and I was. And the phone flies out my hand. And Evan still singing his song to me. So I'm like, this motherfucker is so disrespectful because I'm literally laying face flat on cement. And I could be dead. Like, the coyotes could come and eat me. I could be. I could have rolled over in the pond and drown. This is how people get found. This is how you fuck. This is how you find your grandma died. Didn't have life alerts. So I got up, I got on the phone, I go, yo, like, I literally just fell. And you're still singing. He goes, how you do that? I'm like, talking to your dumbass. How do you run up the stairs?

[Thomas]

Yeah, it's so odd to fall as an adult, man. Like, it's really disappointing on the way down, right when you're about to hit, like, for real, I feel you. I hit my chin. Everything. I did the same. You did, but down a driveway, nothing you could do.

[Jason Lee]

Well, falling down makes more sense.

[Thomas]

Falling up is fine.

[Jason Lee]

But I will say I didn't have shame the day I fell. I had shame the next day. Because the next day it was like I felt going upstairs and I'm in pain, and I don't understand how I fell. And this is going to be my life in the next 10 years. I'm just gonna fall all the time.

[Thomas]

So depressed.

[Jason Lee]

I need to get in a relationship now. Get in a relationship with motherfucker. They can hold me up, up, you know, hold me up. I'm gonna hold you down. No, hold me up. I fall down. You hold me up.

[Thomas]

I've. My sister's a. What do you call it a klutz. So I've watched her do this my whole life. So I think that's what you watch Final Destination. Like, I'm gonna fall, fall over and line the pond. That's how I think of everything. But no, that's. I'm gonna fall and crack my head on this.

[Jason Lee]

Do you think that way every growing up?

[Thomas]

Where I grew up? Yes.

[Jason Lee]

Everything. Everything.

[Thomas]

I didn't wear blue until I moved to la.

[Jason Lee]

Because you get shot.

[Thomas]

Because you'll get. I'm so glad you know what I'm talking about. Because you will get shot.

[Jason Lee]

You can still get shot here too. They shouldn't be.

[Thomas]

Yeah, but with the blue, it's more like home team.

[Jason Lee]

Like, I guess Dodgers.

[Thomas]

Yeah, like the Dodgers, man. What's up, guys? Taking a moment to talk about the sponsor of this episode. Shout out to my bookie right now. In your first bet. Use our code dope as usual and you'll get up to 500 bet back bonus. What does that mean? You can bet 500 bucks right now. And if you lose on your first time while using our code, they'll refund you the money. You get your money back on the first bet if you lose. If you win, you keep it. You get your money Back up to 500 bucks by using code dope as usual. And right now, guys, there's so much to bet on. The world is very exciting right now. Coming up, we have Wrestlemania, we have the Masters, we have ufc, and we have BKFC. Coming up. Shout out to our homie, David Diaz. Going to be fighting right here in LA. May 22nd. BKFC, UFC327 just passed. But coming up very soon, UFC328. I'm not going to even mispronounce his name. Kamazaki Kamazat. I can't say his name. Versus Sean Strickland. Undisputed WWE Championship. All of these fights. Bet on anything you want with my bookie because you bet on anything, anytime, anywhere. Use our code 500 bet back bonus. Risk free. Up to 500 bucks. Have a dope ass day. Can't wear no niner down here. You're the. We always say fear factor. Needs to come back. Like, walk through Merced in a. A Cowboys jersey and just walk all the way to me and Edge and see if you live. Like, it's not that bad, but it's scary, dude. Like especially, you know.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Never meant to wear blue. When you were in school, you were allowed to wear numbers or colors?

[Jason Lee]

Oh, no.

[Thomas]

Same. No colors, no starter, nothing. That Was plain.

[Marty]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Damn. See? But so cool to know. So, yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

[Jason Lee]

First of all, I think it's dope as hell that you have. Wait. Dope as usual. Yeah, I think it's dope as hell to have Merced on your wall, though. Like, I think that, like, people have to understand when you come from where we come from a Merced or a stock to whatever. Like, I wrote on my Facebook this morning how proud I am of being from Stockton. There's people in Stockton right now who don't have the pride. I'm like, I don't give a fuck how fucked up the city can be, whether we have murders or this or that. Like, and we have some fucked up shit that's gone on, but, like, there's fucked up shit everywhere. I find the pride in my city to have the only wall. It's like you're surrounded by what grounds you. And I think that like that for me and why I'm. I'm the vice mayor and all that. I spend all my time talking to young people. I always tell people, because I'll get hit up for all types of people be hitting up city hall, like, yo, can he produce my movie? Can you, can you call Tyler? Barry can go over. I'm not doing none of that. I'm not Hollywood. Unlock Jason at city hall. I'm literally Jason and I spend all of my time talking to young people. Because think about it, we're. We're remembering at our good old age of 36 and 48, all the we went through as kids. These kids are literally going through it right now. So we know every single thing that they're going to go through that we went through is going to live with them forever. So why not do some dope on, on the way? Bring wilding out, sell out the arena. You know, go speak to a kid's school and call Cardi and let him talk to him. Like, I was at church one day and this little kid walked up to me, goes, do you know Nle Choppa? I said, first of all, why do you know Nle Choppa? That's my favorite rapper. So I FaceTime Nle Choppa. And he talked to the kid and like the kid, every time I see him now, he's like, yeah, he called. He's gonna remember that forever. You know, Tiffany Haddish and Jonah Lucas coming out and, you know, being Ms. Claus and handing out thousands of toys. Tyler Stockton in Stockton. Tyler Perry paid for Christmas. Shout out to the Tyler Perry and Zeus Network pay for Christmas so 5, 000 kids and their families can come out and have a free Christmas. I think we gave away 10 or 20 PlayStations or whatever. Like, yeah, like, it's. I'm enjoying the ride and I love what it's doing for, like, the future Jason. Jason's who are like, yo, like, you can. You can literally pursue your dreams, become everything you want, but you should still feel obligated to give back because that next generation needs to be us. You know that.

[Thomas]

And like you just said, I'm always happy. I'm always proud of Merced, even though at the end of it go, the place sucks. But I love that place because, you know, you like Stockton. Like, I know where to stay. I know where not to go. I still love it. There's always times where I go back. I remember when I was nine years old, this place right here was the. It's just weird going back. Like you said, you can actually do something. That's when we did the charity event. Like, wow, I almost got jumped to this park.

[Jason Lee]

You got to have your mirror. You have to have Mayor Serato on. I will call the mayor and ask him.

[Thomas]

Look, I am not affiliated with gangs. I want to do so much shit for the school. They won't even let it in the school.

[Jason Lee]

Well, if you have a shirt with marijuana leaves.

[Thomas]

Not even that. Okay, no, I know we should not be in schools. I. I can separate myself from that to know enough. But to label me as a Nortanial gang affiliate is insane. It's bullshit.

[Jason Lee]

Have you ever talked to the mayor?

[Thomas]

They don't like, I do a big Ouija. That's what I do on the other channel. I have the biggest weed channel. Okay, Everybody in Merced knows that they have little nicknames for the stoner kids at school. They call me basically a little group of yolos over there.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

I have sisters that are still young. They go to school, so I know that they don't with me.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, but you're reaching the voters that they want too. Like every. Like when I ran for office, I went to the hood. I didn't just start meeting with the moms and the accountants and the teachers. I went, met with the gangsters and said, what is it going to take to get you out of here? Like, what type of hood contract does the city have to do with you and your gang to make this a safe zone and not a hot zone? You know, how do we. And we've had those conversations. And then when we had the mass shooting happen A lot of the young people I was talking to in those meetings I saw on the news in jail relate. Related to that scenario. Party.

[Thomas]

Right.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. So, you know, again, policymakers don't understand what in the world could motivate an individual from going into a kid's birthday party and killing people's children. I can't even understand it. But I. But I understand that we live in a. No, no, no snitch cultures community. So nobody's gonna tell when, like, if you come shoot up my family and kids, I'm calling 911 immediately. So I. I'm really trying to make people think. And that's why Mayor Serato, I mean, I don't have the strongest relationship with him, but I do have his number. I think he could benefit from having a conversation with you and getting to know him.

[Thomas]

Down.

[Jason Lee]

It's worth a try.

[Thomas]

More than down.

[Jason Lee]

All right, Marisa, I'm calling you super down.

[Thomas]

Yeah, no, we do. We do the events in Merced and whatnot. And just after that, I just. Just really bugged me. Like you said, I got spiteful. Like, I'm gonna take that job. Yeah.

[Marty]

You were doing charity events, like, back to back.

[Thomas]

Back to back, yeah. But, I mean, it was. It was a lot of gang banging. But that is Merced. That's the whole neighborhood.

[Jason Lee]

I will tell you this. I have events in Stockton all the time. National Night Out. We have the largest one out of the city because obviously people know me and they want to come out. And I take pictures with everybody. I talk to everybody. I have music in the park and all that. And thousands of people come out. I never know who's going to show up. I know they don't ever come shoot my up. They don't ever come and do anything at my. Well, if you do, I mean, obviously you're going to have a major problem. But, you know, people come out and. And I remember having somebody from the north side say, I really want to come out there and support you, but I'm scared to go out there. No. Yes, you can come out here, because I got tons of armed security, tons of police. And they came out, and I remember at first they were really uncomfortable. But I want people in our city to know, like, your life matters no matter what side of town you're on. And this is what the mayor of Mercedes understand, that you have a reach, you have a platform. Obviously, I'm here. I saw it. I see it, and it matters. And you're talking specifically to a demographic that they're all trying to Help or at least, you know, reach. So we all need each other. There's no, you know, good or a bad group or person. And, you know, this is how they. They demonized me. And now, look, I went back and not only became the council member and the vice mayor, I got other people elected and we took control of the city. So, you know, you got to be careful who you. Who you talking to? And let's be very clear. The biggest warmonger of them all is President Trump. The biggest gangster. You tell, you put a Norte sereno, Crip blood, you put them all in front of me. They cartel. I even put them in there. They won't add up to Trump.

[Thomas]

Well, when you run the whole country, it's a little different.

[Jason Lee]

You know, you. When you're the president, You. You run the world. You run. You are. You are the leader of the free world. You. He woke up this morning and said, I'm gonna annihilate a whole country.

[Thomas]

I get on Twitter, and sometimes I'm like, yeah, fake meme page. I saw that on online.

[Jason Lee]

You didn't believe it.

[Thomas]

That was real.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

I gotta be honest. We're letting the guy from the Apprentice run the. It's our fault. It's our own fault for doing this. Dude.

[Jason Lee]

In Congress, the Republicans are too. Too scared to say, you're fired. How you. How. How you watch the show where he fired people who failed and president

[Thomas]

and

[Jason Lee]

afraid to say, you're fired. You know, it's funny because I text Jasmine, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett all the time. I text the other day. I go, why y' all letting this man blow up Iran like this? And she's like, it's not us. It's the Republicans. I like that. It's not us, you know, so this is where like, we have to stop going red, blue. I look at it like, what's right and wrong? Is it right for us as a country, as the United States to just go over and drop a bomb on the school and kill a whole bunch of kids in Iran. Nah, that shit is not. Because we. We wouldn't even let it happen in our country.

[Thomas]

No, we would never let.

[Jason Lee]

Well, although they won't do gun reform and kids are getting killed in schools in our country. I don't know. You know, I think we just. We need to start getting good, real people in office who aren't there for just to be an elected official, but actually want to change our country. Country. Because otherwise, what's next from here? Like, we are as low as low. I. My whole life in 48, 49 years. I mean, I left, lived through Reagan, I lived through all of the Bushes. I've never seen nothing like this. We should be concerned for sure.

[Thomas]

That's why I stay at home. Shit's going crazy. It looks like an actual video game. Lobby server fools are getting robbed. Not even that. The fact that you can just rob and go. It's under a certain amount up and people just allowed to leave. I feel like it starts from what I'm seeing. Say you're 15 and you see somebody else just robbing the store, but I'm gonna take it. And what does that do? That just now floodgate. Well, that's okay with me. That's the baseline. I'm all right with robbing. What's next? Like you said, why do money? What's that? I just went and got jobs and collected cans when I need money because I. My mom will beat the out of me if I talk to gang bangers. You know what I mean?

[Jason Lee]

That's true for most of our experiences, but you look at like, Elon Musk spent $250 million supporting Trump and then got in the White House, and Now he's making $8 million a day in federal contracts. Like, it's the biggest heist ever. Trump came in office as a billionaire at three. A little bit. A little $3 billion. Now he's worth almost 10 billion. His youngest kid, Baron, who's like, tall, asshole. Yeah, tall. He's worth, you know, he's worth like $700 million right now or something. Crazy.

[Thomas]

I mean, Baron, he should be right? If his dad's billionaire. Give me some money.

[Jason Lee]

What is he doing trading baseball cards?

[Thomas]

Give me some fucking money, dude.

[Jason Lee]

You're fire, Baron. You know, I would all fire.

[Thomas]

I just. Every time I think about it, like, they're pieces of shit. I get it. If they weren't up the actual economy or American, nobody would bat an eye. Like, yeah, make money, dog. You haven't fucked anything up. It's fine. Just like the presidents before you made money, nobody batted an eye at it. It's just somebody so blatantly not giving a is really what it is. It's like stealing going, I'm not stealing you.

[Jason Lee]

But here's. It makes everybody steal nothing because he told y' all what he was going to do. That's me telling you that if you come to my house, I'mma shoot you. And then you come to my house and get shot. You came to my house. I told you I was going to shoot you. Like, you can't be mad at the shooter. You made a choice. We, not me, but y' all made a choice. And now for the next three years, unless the primary changes everything, we got to live through this. Like, we literally got to live through waking up and looking at a post and going, that ain't real. Because it's unbelievable. We're going to go. We're going to go steal the president of Venezuela. We're gonna go over here and steal Greenland, because that should be ours. Don't forget, the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America. And we're gonna swing over to Cuba and get them. Right after we obliterate Iran and we're gonna take Cuba for 200. Like, what?

[Thomas]

I gotta be honest, man. It sounds like a really funny movie. Like, it's like, idiocracy, too. Like, you know what? I'm just gonna steal it, and nobody's gonna do the fact that you can go and kidnap a president. I thought it was fake.

[Jason Lee]

He's in our country right now somewhere.

[Thomas]

I. You're not allowed to do that, man. You can't just steal people's leaders. That's fucking insane.

[Jason Lee]

This is literally the conversation that you would feel like you've smoked a lot of weed and like, you're just high as hell.

[Thomas]

What if. No, no, just. What if I, like, was the president and I stole it? It's. It's all the hypotheticals. Like, oh, it's real. I have to check CNN every time I see something on Twitter because I'm like, there's no way.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, it's.

[Thomas]

There's no way. I.

[Jason Lee]

We.

[Thomas]

We found out what Republicans and Democrats worth three years ago on this show. I have stayed out of politics, and I do not give. I'll swim the other way. I do not give a. I have to do. Everybody's mad at each other. The thing with politics is, ready, say we disagree.

[Jason Lee]

Okay?

[Thomas]

Most people go, well, you're a piece of now because you disagree. It's like, hey, man, I have a home friend that's disgustingly homophobic. Right? My sister's gay. As he knows that. He thinks it's a mental retardation. My friends from the south, he's extremely old.

[Jason Lee]

He's probably sucking dick. You know, the problem is nobody really gives a what other people are doing. Like, I don't fucking wake up. Thank you. What are Mexicans doing today? No, what are Jews doing today? Like, if you wake up saying, I hate the gays, you woke up mad because you sucked somebody's dick, okay? And you don't want to get caught. But hold on, let me, let me, let me back up. You're not, you can't, You're. You're not absolved of politics. When you say, I don't like politics, I don't get involved. You drove here in a car that has tags. Those tags are regulated by the government. You drove here at a speed that's regulated by the law. You are wearing clothes because it's illegal not to. You are paying taxes because if you don't, you will go to jail. You're going to buy groceries, which is regulated by the fda. You're involved in politics. You just don't fucking participate in the moment that it matters the most. And that's casting a vote and using your platform to tell other people. So people have to stop with this idea that I don't want to be involved in politics. I don't get involved. You're involved. You're just not actively in pursuit of using your voice where it matters. And that's where a lot of people in Stockton and Merced, in different communities, people of color that look like us, they go, man, I ain't getting involved in this. Ain't nothing gonna change. Well, yeah, because they doing everything to make people like you say, I'm not going to use my voice or my vote. And that, to me, is the thing that I hope I, I know I've changed in Stockton. And I just always want to tell people like, yo, even if you think it doesn't matter, I have a colleague who won by 500 votes. He's there because of 500 people that didn't say my vote doesn't matter. So it does matter.

[Thomas]

I think in the small state to say it can matter because you can swing a whole city for sure. I know the mayor. The mayor stocked him like eight years ago. He was a young dude, too, right?

[Jason Lee]

Huh?

[Thomas]

Right? And there, there it is right there.

[Jason Lee]

That.

[Thomas]

That just proves it. But I feel like in the terms of, dude, even if you didn't pay, vote for Donald Trump that won, say he didn't still won. I see what you're saying, like, I don't want to get involved in politics. It's not the politics. It's the. It's the drama and ignorance that comes

[Jason Lee]

with people, but also draining. Speaking of ignorance. So your friend who's homophobic. Oh, yeah.

[Thomas]

I'm pretty sure he's just closeted. I'm pretty positive because he tells me it's a mental retardation. And I'm like, are you, you were there. I have this conversation with him a lot and I can't throw away a person because they're stupid ass thought. He's a very good person. Other than that.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

So then I'm, I always, we always get into it because I'm like, chill the out, bro. They're not. Are you scared? Are you scared you're gonna like kiss a guy or something? What is the. I always.

[Jason Lee]

Tell me, what's the problem, trans girlfriend. Who knows? You know, again, I just don't get the.

[Thomas]

I just don't get the mindset of like, it doesn't bother you. I mean, it doesn't affect you. Why is it. Why does it matter? But like I said, when it comes to the politics, the reason why I stay out, the reason why I've had a conversation with one person about it, a friend, and I've watched a different side, an irate, insane side come out of that person. Yeah, you're stupid. And now it's making me go, are you ignorant? Because you can't differentiate. This is a belief. This is my side. Can we still be friends? Yeah, of course not. I mean, of course we can. It's just a weird thing. So when you say the politics, I don't want to be involved. It's. I don't want to be involved in other people's.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

To voice it. I'll vote. I voted.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Yeah. I don't want to go sit there and go, this is why. This is what you. Because then it brings you 100. You're going to split everybody and it starts to argue.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, I mean, this is. I mean, yeah, I don't talk about politics and religion and just general conversations because we all have our beliefs and everybody's entitled to believe what they want. But this is where I would say strip away. Republican, Democrat, white, Mexican, black, Latino, all that, whatever. Is this the America that you want? If this is not the America that you want, start changing it. Where you have the most influence, of course, obviously, the local politics, you know, city, state, county, all that stuff. You know, get active there. But like definitely get active in the national politics too. Your senators matter, your assembly, women and men matter, your president matters. I mean, you're controlling the state controller controls the state, you know, the municipalities and making sure that people aren't up tax money all throughout the state, like the state controller, the state treasurer may they manage a trillion dollar bank account here in, in California. So all of it matters. And I'm not one that sits around and says, oh my God, I Want to be the president, United States, But I'm not gonna not hold people accountable, especially having millions of followers and a platform and, you know, lots of people that listen to me. I'm gonna always use my voice to make people wake up where I can.

[Thomas]

I see that.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

No, I. And I agree with that. But you see my side.

[Jason Lee]

I get it.

[Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jason Lee]

I get it. To anybody that's homophobic, I mean, look.

[Thomas]

Oh, that's like.

[Jason Lee]

That.

[Thomas]

That's just.

[Jason Lee]

But I get. But I get, like, you know, politics is also. A lot of it is, like, marketing, right? Like, I'm gonna get this base, so I'm gonna feed it what it wants to hear. And that's what a lot of these politicians do. Because I'm watching people right now in my own city that are up for election. It's like, public safety. We're gonna make Stockton safer. We ain't had one public safety meeting as a council since that mass shooting. What you gonna do differently when you get elected again? What you gonna do? So, like, stop. But. But people want to hear, oh, I'm gonna fight for public safety because you're. You're marketing towards people's desires. But what are you really doing? Everything I said I was going to do, I've done. You know, there's one thing that's like the bane of my existence right now and is getting this council to support, you know, adding another police substation in one of my neighborhoods. But I'm going to be pressing the council in public because I'm like, yo, you. You promised these people this. You're running on public safety. You only need these four votes. I'm with it. He's what it? He's with it. Why the. Where are the rest of you? So, you know, I've been loving watching people get uncomfortable being held accountable because accountability is a great thing.

[Thomas]

The holding accountable. I think that's one aspect I'm down with.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Like you say with politics, if I can change a city like Merced, if I can change things, talk to five people that live in the city and go, what would you change? It's going to be the same four things out of five, Right? It's always going to be the same things. And I feel like Mercedes is the youth. What? There's nothing. Drugs, kids. That's all there is to do in the Valley. You can have kids or you can do drugs. There's not much more to do. It wouldn't work at McDonald's again. Yeah, like, there's not much more. There's no examples of people doing other things like. Like you. You're a great example. I believe for the Valley especially. I found out yesterday you're from the Valley. Blew my mind. Now I'm excited. Like this is cool. There's an actual change. There's something going on because no matter what man, it's Merced. That's where I'm from, is where I'm always going to be from. I love it. I hope it does great. It looks pretty but there's a bunch of. It's always been that way. Same with Stockton. So I feel like talking you it is open to my brain a little bit because I'm very just I'm done. I'm good.

[Jason Lee]

But we got. Nick and Nate Diaz are from Stockton. You know we. Jamie Lee Curtis went to school in Stockton. You know Stockton beyond just the famous people and all that because we have athletes and all that. You know we have of a lot port. So there's you know we. I just brought FIFA to the city. We're exploring bringing a team there. I just helped bring over $200 million in mental health funding that's going to create jobs because it's infrastructure grant. So that's going to be prevail wage jobs where people are going to be able to build these, these places that are going to provide mental health resources to our community, you know and again, you know taking people from a. A community where affordability is number one issue because people don't have good paying jobs and providing those good paying jobs allows them to dig themselves out of poverty. Right now we're looking at and this is why elections matter. You got to have people who are going to like think about the future. I'm looking at what does our continuum of housing program look like where we can take a family who's in low income housing or affordable housing and get them into market rate housing. What does that process look like? We're challenging the staff to say come to us with real strategies. We, we put a smoke shop ordinance ban in. We're like not weed, we have a cannabis program but where we have 25, we have one smoke shop per 2500 residents. Let's, let's reduce the amount of smoke shops, make it a healthier city. What is healthy grocery stores look like? How do we build our community? So it's, it's been an experiment to get in and say like yo, like you actually can get more but we need to be able to reshape the focus and intentions of staff. So that way their efforts are aligned with that every day. And it's happening. Like, I'm watching it happening. We just spent, I mean, passed like $16 million in low income housing support to build new properties last week. Yeah.

[Thomas]

Okay. So may I ask you a very. It's a. I want to get your opinion on this.

[Jason Lee]

Okay.

[Thomas]

I grew up poor, too. Section eight. I mean, we were at the Grove, you know, government housing, Whatever. I was saying I was 19 years old. I'm not gonna qualify for certain things. I get student aid or whatever. When I went to college, I worked at the pizza spot. I sold weed. Obviously I was doing stupid. When I see, like right now there's a huge development going on in Merced and It's only section 8. You can only get it in section 8. And it is nicer and doper than anywhere I've ever lived in Merced. So when I'm sitting there working my ass off, or the 21 year old guy that just had a kid with a family can't afford to live there because he makes too much money, right?

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

But he's not making enough money to fucking survive. You know what it's like to scrape by, dude? You know what it's like living, like, all right, I made an account before I go grocery shopping. I have 43 bucks. Right? You know, I mean, I hate. I hate that feeling. But when I was a Section 8, I was at the Grove. Every fool around me was gang banging their ass off. Every fool around me was lying about the paperwork. Having eight fools live in their apartment, you know what it's like?

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

How do you stop that, man? Like, because I'm looking at the section eight houses, I'm like, this is section eight. What the. This is nice than I've ever lived, ever immersed. How does the dude that's going to work 12 hours a day going. How the. Is that right? How is that fair? People do need help. They need help. They have kids. There's 80 of people on welfare and like need that. But you know what? I was like, growing up in the ghetto, how many have sick ass everything? Like, you got food stamps? How I don't have food stamps. You just bought an eighth. You. Then I start getting mad at the people that are also in it with me. And it just starts like a resentment, I feel. And then when you start getting like 25 and you have a kid and you have a family, like, how I'm paying for that, that's when I start getting. The only thing that makes me upset about that because I've been in there I've been dirt poor getting made fun of and to going like you don't need that. But you get it. Because my, my mother in law was the head of the welfare office. She's like, you need it, you don't, you need it, you don't. And she's seen the worst of it. You know, people pull up and new Mercedes asking for food stamps. It's insane to me. So how do you stop that? How do you, is there a, is there like a ahead of something delegating? Like this person's real, this is legitimate. We checked on their house because at a point it's like that's all tax money. And like if I'm going to tax money so your boyfriend gang Banner can live here, how do I feel okay with that?

[Jason Lee]

Well, there's two things and I don't want to over politicize this but one, right now we're spending billions of dollars in a war that we did not approve as taxpayers. So that's our money going to fund this war. So just in context, government and elections matter because your elected officials can decide what to do. I think it's first understanding that like welfare, housing, the housing authority section, that's all county. So like it's funded, HUD is funded by the, by the federal government. There's tax money that goes into that, but it's managed by the county. So you need to know who your county supervisor is. Your county supervisor, who's in your area is the person you would go to if you have concerns about fraud, waste and abuse or wasted resources, whatever. But yeah, the county has their own process of evaluating who's eligible or not. But there's fraud in every industry. There's fraud in medical, there's fraud and in, you know, the food stamps. At city hall in Stockton where I govern, we found people just giving jobs to friends, like bypassing competitive review, doing all types of crazy things. And I've had to take them to task for that because I'm a by the book person. Like as you're saying, like if I'm, if I'm. Even though I don't struggle that way anymore, I still know my family struggles that way. And so yeah, I mean, you know, that's where I've been really on them about being accountable to the taxpayers because people like you matter and you're going to ask these questions. I hear them all the time.

[Thomas]

See that, that gets me excited to be like I need change and there's something has to. I get that like the lower level stuff where It's. I can see. I think what it is, is when people think big politics, like, I don't see a change. I matter you.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

That's how they think. Well, that's how I think. Yeah. When I see something in the level where I can see it go. Merced changed. They changed that. They fixed it. Then I feel it gives kind of like some kind of hope.

[Jason Lee]

I'm on my city right now. My. My city manager, if he watches this, he knows. I ask him all the time. Not all the time, but for the last. Since December now, mind you, it's April now. December. Four months. I've been asking, why is this gate not fixed? He wasn't there for all four months, but he's been there for three months. And it's a process going through, finding the vendor, making sure we're following the procurement processes, making sure. Like, it's been a. I'm like, it took us four months to fix a fence. So if I can ride by as the vice mayor and see the fence broken and complain, what does the small business owner who has to get to work so that way they can make enough money to take care of their three kids who are on their way to three different schools, how are they able to look at things in the community? And it's been an exercise where now when I walk in City hall, the first thing, it's getting fixed. Two weeks, you know, so now it's getting fixed. But it took four months to fix a fence.

[Thomas]

And from the inside, imagine some concerned citizen. What's going to happen four months, you

[Jason Lee]

know, as you know. And so. But, but. But I also remember a conversation at the White House when I was telling the president, President Biden's chief, one of his employees, her name is Erica. I remember saying, you know, I'm gonna run for office. And she started laughing. She said, I can't wait till you get in and see how slow government works. It's really slow. And I'm personal. I'm like this, you know, hollywood unlocked. I get something, I'll get it today, I'll get it tomorrow. That's not how government works. It does take a time, but you have to have people who are going to stay at it and be consistent and hold people accountable.

[Marty]

Like we talk about. It's a recurring theme on the show. We work with. We're friends with Dads Against Predators. I don't know if you've ever seen him online, but, like, he's basically steps up and fills a void because it's very hard for Police to arrest child predators if they don't actually kidnap the kid. I just had this happen on my street this week where we had a dude literally trying to steal kids. Like you're saying, yeah, it's, we have some runners down the street and now we got the uncle moved in without anybody knowing and he's out trying to

[Thomas]

literally, literally try to snatch a kid up with credit with debit cards.

[Jason Lee]

Is he a registered sex offender?

[Thomas]

I don't know.

[Jason Lee]

Hey, he's never been arrested before.

[Thomas]

We have no idea. They wouldn't arrest him.

[Marty]

The sheriffs came and didn't arrest him. They let him go. And it's like that's a recurring, I know it's a recurring theme because I work with dads against predators. Like I'm, I'm sitting there making the website and I have this going on outside my door, literally. So it's like what I want to understand is like how would the change actually happen?

[Thomas]

Yeah, like what task force?

[Marty]

Cuz the police are like well he didn't actually kill the kids or whatever.

[Jason Lee]

Here's the, the deal and this is a great question and this is where like all of us who don't understand how the government is working, we get really frustrated with the police instantly. So I'm really good friends with, I've become good friends with our sheriff Patrick Winthro and I, I, I, I, he's a great guy. And our Police Chief Stanley McFadden is also great. And our, and our officers are great. I always say to people like if we had bad officers, I would be the first one out there saying gotta go. Got it. Our state right now is so crazy as it relates to laws that the police can't do their job. When you think about just like gangs are recruiting 13 year olds to go create homicides because the 13 year old's not going to get life, they're going to get out by 25. So 12 years, you create a homicide, you got the body for your, for your gang. But like you know, so there, so there, there needs to be a law to address that. You know, then you have, like I said earlier, I don't know if we were on camera, off camera, like if you break in my house, I should be shooting you. You're in my house. So this should be a safe at home bill where I as a gun owner and I have lots of guns and I believe in the, my right to bear arms as everybody else to bear arms. I feel like we should be able to defend ourselves and our property without wondering if you're going to go to jail because this person has more rights than you when they're breaking your house. But here's the deal. Even if he believes or you believe or I believe that we should be able to do it, that's not the way the law works. So that police that you're going to get mad for arresting you for shooting somebody in your house is not the bad guy. It's your legislator who made the laws. So we live in a state where

[Thomas]

put the blame on the closest person you can see, basically.

[Jason Lee]

Well, no, it's not even that. It's like you're, you know, I did a tour of juvenile hall because Chief Jackson in my county, I used to work with him when I worked in probation years ago. He's a great chief. So I said, I want to, I want to take a tour of juvenile hall to talk to the kids and see how I can like motivate them to do better. I went in. First of all, it's, it's un. It's. There's not that many kids in there like there used to be because you can't really lock a kid up anymore because the states of California. And I'm not, listen, I'm not here to say whether or not we need the reform or not, but most of the kids in juvenile hall were in there for murder. So what are you going to say to them? Because they're already in there for the, the most. Worst thing you could do, worst crime you can commit. So like we came and reach our kids the way with prevention like we used to. So going back to your point, you know, is that person registered? If they're reg. If that person is that person. Sex offender. First question. Question. If they're not, well, then they're not. They don't have to be on the registry. If they are a former sex offender and they're not on the registry now there's a crime that they can, they can deal with that. So it's like the laws that govern have to change to protect those, the most vulnerable. Child predator laws. You know, if you say to me, somebody molested a kid and you want to castrate them, I ain't gonna fight with you because I'm somebody that's been molested. So I get it. But like, are we a nation? That's right now in our, in our state, I think there's a, there's a moratorium on death penalty. So like your legislators, your assembly men and women, your state senators, those people have to make laws that make our State our state safer. And that's where, you know, I love the people that I have a relationship with in my city because I'm able to call up the senator or the assembly, like, yo, why are we not addressing food deserts and like figuring out tax credits for people who want to build in food desert communities? Or why are, why in this case, why don't we have tougher laws for child predators? How can we introduce a bill that keeps our kids safer? Like, what does that look like? You know, but you have to have somebody that not only has the passion for it, but then has the ambition to go and organize support for it and then, like, stay with it until it gets past because it takes a while.

[Thomas]

Thank you. Yeah, because we've been sitting here like, spinning the wheels, like, why isn't it changed?

[Jason Lee]

And it's a no brainer. It's a no brainer.

[Thomas]

It's this way. I'm so obvious if I did anything, I'd go straight to jail. These guys actually doing something. I don't understand the, you know, what is that a county thing is that

[Jason Lee]

at the county, sheriff is county and the police are city. So like, you have to also know, like, when you look at all of this, right, this could be the city of Merced, but this right here could be what's called a county pocket. Which means if you live here, the police are not coming, the sheriff's coming. You don't even get to vote for the mayor, city council right there because you live in the county, you can only vote. I was right.

[Thomas]

Sheriff's only came out to my grandma's house.

[Jason Lee]

So if the sheriff, sheriff comes, that's because you, when you dial 91 1, it goes to dispatch and they send the count. The sheriff, because you're in the county, so you got to know one, the municipality that you live in, who governs and who's elected, who's your person. The worst thing an elected official wants is an educated voter who knows, like, you know how to find me. You know how to say I'm responsible. You know how to go on social media. They will cater to you because they don't want you to be a problem. I call every, I mean, I either call everybody back if. Or I have the staff calling back, or I'll send their complaint to a department and I track it all and I follow up. Because for me, I never want that person online saying, my council member doesn't call me back. I'm Jason Lee. I'm busy as fuck launching the Jason Lee show, award show. Coming up. But. But even though I'm here right now, when I get out of here and get in the car, I'm gonna check my email and I'll see all the city emails, and I send stuff to staff all day long. And we have a council liaison who makes sure that it's all followed up on, because that's what people voted for. That way, when I leave office, the bar has been raised. And people know, like, if I call and say, there's a person trying to molest kids on my street, if you're in my district trying to molest kids on the street, you're gonna fuck around and find out, you know, but you have to have somebody that's dialed in enough to not just say, oh, that's the county issue. No, I can pick up the phone and call the sheriff's office and say, hey, this is happening over here. Or I can call the county supervisor in my district and say, hey, Mario, Supervisor Gardea, this is happening in your district, in our district, over in your neighborhood. I need you to call the sheriff and follow up. And they do. And we. We work well together.

[Thomas]

I've never seen anybody take action before. It's kind of. It's kind of shocking, honestly.

[Jason Lee]

It's sad, though, because it shouldn't be that way. Like, we all pay taxes, all of us.

[Thomas]

I said this yesterday. My pothole this big on the 170. Like, I pay so much in tax, I just smacked the biggest pothole in my life. It just. Especially in LA, like, it's an ongoing joke by all the 170. Oh, you hit that pot. But why is it fixed, man? Do it overnight.

[Jason Lee]

Colleague. Council member Mario Enriquez. In my city, he is the pothole king. He literally. I don't know how this finds so many potholes. I'm like, yo, he posts on it. He posts so many pothole repairs that I drive around my neighborhood because I. I fixed one the other day, and I'm gonna. Matter of fact, I'm.

[Thomas]

You fixed one.

[Jason Lee]

Why did you. It. But, you know.

[Thomas]

No, no, no. Somebody fixed the pothole. Isn't that so sad? Like, for real.

[Jason Lee]

No, Mario fixes potholes all the time. I'm like, first of all, I had. I went to our. And Mario, I ain't even a hater. I ain't gonna lie. I went to see Magic. How the. He keep fixing all the potholes. I need my potholes fixed. I don't know where they are, though, because I drive around looking for potholes. Recently, though, we did send out Our public work staff and the people to go find all the potholes. Because I really want to fix. Like, I. I'm. I. But also, I'm mad that Mario looks like he's fixing. Fixing more than me. So, like, now I'm in a competition with the pothole king because I want to fix potholes. I actually want to fix.

[Thomas]

Get one sponsor. I saw Domino's fixing potholes in the Midwest, and they just sprayed a Domino's logo on every pothole they fixed. Really great advertisement. Thanks, Domino's. That's awesome.

[Jason Lee]

That's brilliant.

[Thomas]

City of Stockton. You're welcome.

[Jason Lee]

You know, and if it's a neighborhood with a lot of potholes, we'll have a pizza party sponsored by Domino's.

[Thomas]

It's. It's such a good. Everybody wins, dude. Everybody gets to eat. Domino's gets publicity. Potholes are fixed. Everyone's. I love it so much. Sponsor it.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. I'm sitting here kind of mad at Mario Enriquez right now. How you get all the power sticks, you know, like, p. Staff, they have their favorites. Mario's a great guy, though. I'm actually, he's. He's somebody that I've. You know, he's also gay. On the city council. We're both. He's Latino. I'm black. First gay. And. Well, first out, gay counselors like that. First out, a couple of y' all that I know, you know, look a little gay. But, you know, I really like his. His determination to fix. Like, he wants to fix everything. And. And I. I had to tell him, like, yo, slow down and balance. Because if you die as a result of, like, overextending yourself to fix, like, potholes are always going to pop up. But, like, balance. Balance your time. And he. He's somebody. I have an immense amount of respect for him. We're doing a lot of good work together.

[Thomas]

A question. Do you think. I know it's a lot of this talk, but it's so.

[Jason Lee]

It's all good.

[Thomas]

We never get to talk about this. Do you think paying public staff more, like, say, cops made 10 more or the dispatchers made 5%. Do you think that I've never been that way. I'm not sure. You've never been an officer, so I don't know what it's like to work constantly and then have people not like you.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Or have that taboo, like, oh, cop you. I couldn't imagine having that. So it's like a. It's a very dedicated person to do that job. First off, because, you know, people already don't like you. Which is should be the app. When I was a kid, I thought cops were cool, man. You know, until I got older and went and got influenced by everyone, all the criminals around, like cops, like why we just called him. He needed help.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

You know, so do you think that's an incentive? Because I know some dispatchers from, from Merced and they don't get paid very well at all.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think you should get paid more because people don't like you. No, no, but, but I will say, like I'll take our department for example. When the city elected leaders ran the city into bankruptcy, the public safety workers of fire and police were the first two to take the biggest hit. Lost their retiree benefits, lost benefits for their spouses. They haven't been able to be brought up to market rate. But this is why I always say to the people in Stockton, like, yo, it's not just about giving them more money. When you have a 980 something million dollar budget and you're already spending 190 something something million dollars in public safety and you can't afford anymore to bring it up because we're in negotiations now where we're trying to figure it out. Right. This is where you have to have a focus council that says economic development, being able to really increase our tax base so we have more money to work with. So that way we can take that more money and bring them to market rate, make sure we can restore the benefits. I look at it like a business where some of my colleagues, they do not, they talk about it, but we ain't really doing it. And that's the most frustrating part about it because when you look at like a FIFA that wants to come in and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars opportunity, that's money that's gonna go in our tax base to get us to a place where we can increase the officer's rates. Yeah. You know, I don't want to not validate the national conversation around police reform or the concern with black and brown people being shot, unarmed people being shot by police. Cuz that's a real thing. But it's also a real thing that there are, you know, people who look like you and I and gangs that we're not all of that. Like, like, just like all officers are not bad people, all white people aren't racist. All one, all groups of people are not the sum of one person. But I do feel like, you know, as an elected official, we should be doing everything every day to be able to have more so we can do more as it relates to public safety because it's the number one issue everywhere. And public safety is the number one issue everywhere because our state laws are so it all, you know, were the judges you're electing, you elect judges. Those judges are making a determination of law. Who is your district attorney? Are they actively pursuing justice or not? Who are your elected officials making sure that they're bringing in money so you have jobs so you're not out robbing people? And then do you have a department that is supported with the resources they need to keep you safe when crime is up and people are concerned about their safety? So it's, it's a multi layered dynamic though. And I do think that when, when you, you know, you're saying your city is underfunded in terms of police and public safety, so is ours. And we're in a community where right in our county, surrounding agencies have better pay, better benefits. Well, why is that? Because those people are probably prioritizing their economic interests. So that way they're having more to do with. So it's, it's an ongoing thing. It's not simple. But yeah, Stockton, we, you know, our, our homicides are down, but we just had somebody, I just saw an email this morning. Somebody just got murdered, you know, today or yesterday.

[Thomas]

Yeah, I haven't heard too much about Stockton lately. It's more Mercedes. It's.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, but you know, it fluctuates. And then you had opioid increase, you know, now you have Fentanyl. That's crazy. So like there's so much going on. And I know like you can look at your childhood in Merced and I can look at my childhood in stock. We have more then than kids have now. Kids are not prioritized in terms of investing in them. They're just not. That's why that meeting I just had was so important because everybody that was around that table, I had about 70 real high level leaders in education, county, state, federal, all the electeds and educators really talking about how are we using kids as the compass of which like we're directing all our power and energy to. Because we should be investing in the kid. Because I believe when you invest in kids, you invest in their family. So it's a no brainer to me for sure.

[Thomas]

One kid could help the whole family.

[Jason Lee]

No brainer.

[Thomas]

There's always the one like, oh, he's the good one. Like, it shouldn't be that way. Oh, he's the bad one out of all of Them. That's how I was when I was growing up. Oh, it's the bad uncle. He's gonna sleep in the bag. He's on drugs. Like, that's what it used to be. Now it's like, oh, we have one good one. But he moved. Yeah, that's how I feel like.

[Jason Lee]

But I learned, I learned through my mom's addiction that, like, those people, they deserve redemption, but they also deserve support and love. And we got to figure out how to help them because nobody's mom woke up and said, I want to smoke crack today. I want to give up my kids. I want to struggle. I want to lose everything. I want to lose my life to this. No, it's called a addiction for a reason, you know, and, and, and, and whether we're talking about that addiction, mental health issues, like, we have to, have to figure out how we provide more support and love to those people in our communities. In Mercedes Stockton's, they're all hurting right now. And that's why I want to bring all the way back to my show, the Jason Lee Show. People thought, oh, he's going to get elected and he's going to give up the Jason Lee Show. No, I want you to escape all the shit you're going. All the shit. We literally just talked about. Trump dropping bombs on kids on Fentanyl. The, the, the out chasing kids in the community who won't get arrested. Potholes. Mario out getting more potholes fixed than me.

[Thomas]

See what happens? You don't smoke weed. You just recapped.

[Jason Lee]

Put a pot pause on life and just go over to BET and watch my show, the Jason Lee show and escape for an hour, two, three hours. You know, K. Michelle is my first guest tomorrow. She, she talked a lot of. And it's gonna have the Internet in shambles, but so what? It's a distraction from all the other things that are going on, at least for some entertainment, some joy and then go back and get in all this heavy we talked about. Because it all matters, you know, it all matters. Imbalance matters.

[Thomas]

I'll be honest, I think I learned more about politics today than I ever have. Yeah, but for sure.

[Jason Lee]

But more importantly, use your platform to educate people because your audience that may well, you know, my audience, they love the bullshit. They love what teas are going to spill, what interviews. Yeah, I'm going to give you all that. But I woke up today and read a tweet from the president about annihilating an entire country. Like the kids, those, those kids and families. I don't care what you think or don't think or like or don't like. I don't look at Mexico and say go ahead and slaughter the whole country. I don't look at Venezuela, just slaughter the whole country. Like those are people too. They may have leaders that we don't, that they don't agree with, but those kids in that school in Iran didn't deserve to be bombed like that.

[Thomas]

They say take out California. Like we didn't do that.

[Jason Lee]

All the kids in Gaza didn't deserve to be bombed. The genocide in Congo that nobody wants to talk about because they're slaughtering black people. Those lives matter. Like we need to prioritize humanity. And until we reign in this gang banger in the White House, we're going to keep having the same shit. And I just, you know, again, I may not speak to billions of people, but if I do reach millions and I'm going to reach everybody and say like you, you know this podcast you log in on one week and talk about weed, log in the next week and talk about getting child predators locked up or how your elections matter. And you know, we talked about other shit today that's, you know, entertaining too. But like, like politics has to become as significant as everything else or you're going to tick tock your way right into a war that you, you can't control. Fact the way you be tick tocking. Like I'm gonna do the tick tock test. How about you do the vote challenge? How about you get off your ass and go vote? If you don't vote, if you do not vote, you cannot say you care. Like you just can't. I'm against voting. Okay, well stop complaining about when they put your uncle in a cage that you did that when can't afford gas to go trick on his, his girl. You did that. Okay, when you can't afford no meal and little Johnny going to bed hungry as tell my daddy feed me. No I can't feed you cause I ain't but I don't give a star and don't call me about cause y' all voted for it or you didn't love it.

[Thomas]

We ended with child starvation and tricking on.

[Jason Lee]

Tricking on, tricking on and starving your kids.

[Thomas]

Political topical.

[Jason Lee]

Like the vice mayor of Stockton quote me those kids. No, I didn't say that. He said that.

[Thomas]

Well, dude, did not expect this to go this way. Yeah, very informational. I, I know Marty and I like, like I said, we've had people here that do dabble in politics heavily I never learned. Thank you for putting in the sense that I can understand because I get it does matter. I understand. But yeah, it goes back to always. Why is that I don't matter? It's one like you said, somebody won by 500 votes. It does matter.

[Jason Lee]

It matters. And, and listen. And also we also learned that your friend who's homophobic might be gay. Listen, if you're watching, I want you to go with me to the Abbey. I'm gonna hook you up with it.

[Thomas]

I'm gonna go use the Avenue.

[Jason Lee]

If you have with a trans or somebody gay, I'm get you a date. Might have one. You get one good gay date, your ass.

[Thomas]

Starve those kids your friend's actually gay.

[Jason Lee]

Trick on.

[Thomas]

I love this dude. Yeah, but no, no, we've talked about it for years.

[Jason Lee]

Feeds your kids and get you a. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, like what do you, whatever you do I from the

[Thomas]

vice mayor of Stockton, California.

[Jason Lee]

Do you. But just do it. Well.

[Thomas]

All right. So April 8th. Well, tomorrow. This comes out a couple days ago. Yes, bet. Yes, Jason Lee show.

[Jason Lee]

It's K. Michelle. It's, it's, it's a great episode. I mean, I, I, I love K. Michelle. She is somebody I called. It's coming, it's airing right after love and hip hop. Loving hip hop where she and I were both on that show years ago and now the show is going away and it's in his final season on bet. So this comes right out of that on linear and then it's going to be on YouTube channel. And yeah, I mean, I, I just say to bet, like, you know, who you got in business with? I'm not gonna change. This is definitely louder than anything I think they've had before. I'm excited to watch all the phone calls they get because people are gonna be in their feelings and I've been texting people all morning, say, hey, I need to give you a heads up because this interview's coming out and I

[Thomas]

don't want you to be oh like that.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. Because she's told her truth. Everybody that comes on my show, they get to tell their truth. Yeah, they may. You know, you ain't gonna come on there and talk about Rihanna now. You know, Ricardo, you can talk about everybody else. You can talk about those two or Tiffany Haddish. Okay. But everybody else.

[Thomas]

Okay. I like your, your do's and don'ts. Yeah, them three.

[Jason Lee]

Those three. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[Thomas]

Okay.

[Jason Lee]

Well, this is well Floyd May without them out there too. It's my brother inside my family.

[Thomas]

Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, he. I like his strip club in Vegas. It's very cool.

[Jason Lee]

He's there for his birthday.

[Thomas]

I like that spot. Yeah.

[Jason Lee]

Okay.

[Thomas]

Well, thank you for being here once again. I had, like, 18 other questions. I'm glad we went this route. Thank you for actually informing me, because it's just so cool to see somebody from the Valley, man. I love it.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah. And I'm gonna call Mayor Serato.

[Thomas]

Yeah, do that. Do that.

[Jason Lee]

Like I'm a set up a meeting.

[Thomas]

Do that. I'm doing nothing but good things, man.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah, but that's what. He just needs to meet you and understand, man. You know, I probably sold your brother weed, dude.

[Thomas]

What the. You're from Merced. Not for real. I'm just talking.

[Jason Lee]

I don't know what he just said.

[Thomas]

I'm just talking, man. Yeah, it's. You know. Hold on. You know who you are? You know who I am. Then you know what you got yourself into. Just remember that.

[Jason Lee]

Make the mayor your friend. I'm telling you, there's more power in partnerships.

[Thomas]

Like, be my friend.

[Jason Lee]

Yeah.

[Thomas]

Nobody.

[Jason Lee]

He just needs to meet you.

[Thomas]

Yeah, just me, man, because I didn't do nothing. I probably delivered you pizza for years, man. I don't know. It's just cool to see it. But thank you so much. Jason Lee show.

[Jason Lee]

Yes. Bet. Yeah.

[Thomas]

All right. Oh, and it come out the eighth, but every Wednesday.

[Jason Lee]

Every Wednesday.

[Thomas]

Every Wednesday.

[Jason Lee]

Six episodes. It's a heavy order.

[Thomas]

Damn.

[Jason Lee]

You already film tomorrow episode every week? Yep.

[Thomas]

All right, cool. So you have, like, basically over six months of. Of content coming up.

[Jason Lee]

Was that like nine weeks or six or six? Six times four. I don't know.

[Thomas]

I don't know. There's a math. There's a math in there.

[Jason Lee]

He may have smokes a week. I think it's nine months either way. 9:36 weeks starting April 8th.

[Thomas]

Awesome. Yeah. Congratulations. I'm glad to see someone from the Valley doing such amazing things, man. I appreciate you. And maybe I'll be the mayor of Merced one day. You never know. Clint Eastwood was the mayor of Carmel.

[Jason Lee]

Wilder things have happened. Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincinnati.

[Thomas]

Jerry Springer.

[Jason Lee]

And Jason Lee's the vice mayor of Stockton. You're fired.

[Marty]

Awesome.

[Jason Lee]

All right.

[Thomas]

Thank you so much. I appreciate it, guys. It's been the dope social podcast with Jason, Marty and I have a dope ass day. Perfect,

[Jason Lee]

Perfect,

[Thomas]

Perfect.