← Piers Morgan Uncensored
Piers Morgan Uncensored
'The Pilots Sacrificed Themselves' Captain Steeeve on LaGuardia Crash + Max Amini & Afroman
00:48:55
Loading summary
Transcript148 lines
- [00:02]
A
Not sure how to tackle your taxes. Are you sweating the small print? You may be experiencing FOMO, the fear of messing up the answer using TurboTax on Intuit credit Karma. They help you get your biggest refund
- [00:16]
B
and then we help you do more
- [00:18]
A
with it with a personalized plan designed to help you hit your money goals. It's time to take your taxes to the max. Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. Stop Truck one.
- [00:33]
C
Stop. Stop Truck one. Stop.
- [00:36]
D
Why do you think the truck would have been cleared to cross?
- [00:39]
C
Looks like one agency wasn't talking to another. Or they were trying to save a dime.
- [00:44]
A
Afroman will bring it to ya.
- [00:47]
D
This came down to free speech, right?
- [00:49]
A
This whole thing, that's the only power the little man has. But that's the only power the little man needs to get justice.
- [01:00]
B
Everything is different in England. Everything. They drive on a different side. Oh, Shakespeare, we took a shit here. They are so full of themselves.
- [01:09]
D
Would you like to take this opportunity to apologize to the people of my country? Max and meaning?
- [01:14]
B
So this whole thing was a setup, Pierce.
- [01:20]
D
The Iran war has rightly dominated our coverage for several weeks now, and we'll be returning to the subject a little later in the show. But there are, of course, other issues affecting our audience. Illegal dramas of the rapper Afroman, for example, who will be joining me shortly. On a much more serious Note, chaos at US airports. First, a deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Now, massive security delays and the deployment of ICE agents. Joining me to shed a light on what's happening is the former commercial and military pilot Steve Schneibner, known to millions as Captain Steve. Welcome back, Captain Steve. How are you, Piers?
- [01:54]
C
It's a pleasure to be with you under awful circumstances, however.
- [01:57]
D
Yeah, terrible. And sadly, that is why I normally talk to you, because it normally follows something sort of apocalyptic in the air industry. This is a weird one. A very strange thing to have happened when you first heard about this with a. For those viewers who haven't seen it, here's a bit of footage of what happened here.
- [02:16]
A
Stop truck one.
- [02:18]
C
Stop.
- [02:19]
A
Stop truck one. Stop.
- [02:22]
D
L 2603.
- [02:23]
A
Go around Runway heading 2000.
- [02:25]
D
So what you have there is an Air Canada plane just running into a fire truck at LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in. In America. Obviously, when you first heard about this, could you quite believe this had happened?
- [02:40]
C
Well, I was based at LaGuardia for most of my career, so I'm very experienced at that airport. And that airport is one of the top 10, probably most precarious airports on the planet. It's a small real estate footprint there. There's a lot of volume in and out. And then even at 11:30 at night, there's a fair amount of traffic going on. And you throw in the weather and the rain, visibility is low. Think about driving down a dark country road at night, even though the Runway has lights on it, it's not lit like an expressway where you could see the pavement. And so the again, the truck is going to have a hard time seeing the airplane, the airplane is going to have a hard time seeing the truck until the last minute. Then you throw in the issues with a kind of a. Seems like an overwhelmed controller and it's a recipe for disaster and it's a shame.
- [03:28]
D
Have you come close to a similar thing yourself in all your career?
- [03:32]
C
Well, I've had to go around. Going around is now you see it at the last second and something was either still on the Runway most of the time, another airplane hadn't vacated the Runway properly. Never really had a fire truck go on the Runway. However, I'll say this, in our simulator training, every 12 months, you're in the simulator for two or three days, about 12 hours of simulator training altogether. And eventually they will throw in one of those types of scenarios. You've been cleared to land, you're at about 100ft off the Runway and the simulator instructor sitting behind you will just whisper, a truck just drove on the Runway. And that's your cue to hit the buttons and go around. I don't think these guys had that much of a heads up. Clearly, I think they were touching down at the point where the truck pulled onto the Runway.
- [04:19]
D
So let's just go through some of the questions which the National Transport Safety Board are obviously going to be considering. The first one, why do you think the truck would have been cleared to cross? The investigators found that a controller cleared the fire truck to cross Runway four just 12 seconds before the plane landed. How could that happen?
- [04:39]
C
Well, that's clearly the mistake. And remember, you still got human beings involved in all of this. You can get all the technology you want. There's this air surface detection system that's been on the airports. LaGuardia has one. It's been there for 30 years. It's supposed to detect things like that and give a little alert into the ear of the controller, letting them know that there's an impending conflict on the Runway. That system didn't work because the truck didn't have a transponder installed in it. So it renders the rest of the system inoperative. And then at the end of the day, the controller just missed. He had cleared the Jazz flight, I think two minutes prior to land. He got distracted, it looks like, by another emergency that was on the airport. That's why the trucks were going from where they were over to the other side of the airport. And then they're going to ask for clearance to go across Runway four. And I think he just lost track of where that airplane was. And he clears him to go on. He realizes it at the last second. And then you hear in the audio he says, stop, stop, stop. But they're in that big truck. It's a big old diesel truck. They've pushed their foot down on the gas. It's loud in the truck. I'm not even sure they even heard his command to stop.
- [05:49]
D
Right. And that command came just nine seconds before impact. The audio reveals the controller shouting as he said truck one, stop, stop, stop. But nine seconds is pretty short period of time, isn't it, to hear that react to that, especially given all the conditions.
- [06:06]
C
It's a, it's a, it's a short period of time and it's the type of vehicle that's moving is a very large, heavy vehicle. So they're going to push down on the gas and that thing is going to lumber onto the Runway. Now if they hit the gas even harder, it's not a sports car, it's not going to take off. And if they hit the brakes, it's going to take them a while to stop. And I think that's what you saw. You saw this slow moving truck kind of lumbering out on the Runway. If they hit the brakes or hit the gas, they can't move much. And that airplane is coming. I think they hit them at about 90 to 100 miles an hour. The first report said 30. It's clearly much faster than that. And again, it's a rain slicked Runway. So the airplane who was slamming on their brakes at the time slowed down a little bit, but didn't slow down enough.
- [06:48]
D
The transponder, which should have been equipped on the fire truck apparently wasn't equipped. That would have allowed the tower's radar system to track its precise location on the Runway. Is that just a fundamental bad mistake?
- [07:08]
C
Well, it's beyond a mistake. It's the way the system is set up. So they have this system that they've spent all this money on, this ASDS, ASDX system. It's been there for 30 years. They've updated it several times, but it's dependent on all of the vehicles, including fire trucks, to have a transponder transmitting to the receivers. That airplane did not have one installed. There are little different factions there in New York and Boston and a lot of different airports. The fire trucks are owned by the New York, the local New York port Authority. And that's a totally separate pot of money, a totally separate command chain than LaGuardia Airport or any of the other things that are, you know, at work at LaGuardia. So it looks like one agency wasn't talking to another or they were trying to save a dime and didn't put transponders into their vehicles. But the system is useless without those transponders. So why in the world weren't they installed? That's a big, big, that's a big head scratcher for me.
- [08:09]
D
If it had been installed and was working, presumably this, this wouldn't have happened.
- [08:14]
C
Well, it would have been the last line of defense. So the last line is that alert that's going to go into the controller's ear that says there's an impending conflict. And maybe the controller had, would have seen it prior to that nine seconds. Maybe if they'd had 12 seconds or 15 seconds of warning, they could have hit the go around buttons and avoided and flown over the truck instead of having to land on the Runway and smash into the truck.
- [08:38]
D
The cockpit voice recording shows that the control of the aircraft was transferred from the first officer to the captain just six seconds before the crash. And people are wondering why that happened. Why did it happen then? Is there anything unusual in your experience about that part of this?
- [08:57]
C
Yeah, that's very unusual because usually the control, if the first officer is making the landing, usually the first officer lowers the nose of the airplane, applies the brakes, you roll all the way out to the end of the Runway. When you get down to about 30 miles per hour, you hand it over to the captain. The captain has to steer the airplane with the tiller. So that is a smooth handoff at the end of the Runway. The fact that it took place two seconds after touchdown indicates to me that the captain saw the truck out ahead and took over, commandeered control of the aircraft by slamming on the brakes. One of the really heroic parts about this is that the captain could have veered the airplane to the left or the right to avoid harm for them up in the cockpit. He did not. He kept the airplane straight and the airplane impacted at a 90 degree angle. That truck, if he had veered left or right, the wings would have hit the truck and all that Fuel in the wings would have ignited. As you notice, in this accident, there's no fireball at the end. And that's due to the actions of the pilots. The pilots sacrifice themselves to save everybody else behind them.
- [10:00]
D
That's amazing. I hadn't factored that in. So a lot of lives would have been saved by an act of total self sacrifice.
- [10:10]
C
Correct.
- [10:11]
D
With that pilot in making that call, do you think he would have known that he might himself die?
- [10:17]
C
Well, I think it's a split second decision. And whether it was done intentionally or or not, they still, through their actions, saved everybody's life in the back of that airplane. As you noticed, there was no explosion at the end.
- [10:29]
A
The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a
- [10:40]
D
new highlight, a new moment you've got
- [10:42]
A
to see for yourself.
- [10:43]
C
That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app.
- [10:46]
A
For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place.
- [10:54]
C
Download the Bleacher Report app today so
- [10:56]
A
you never miss a moment.
- [11:00]
D
People are saying that there was apparently, according to the Aviation Safety Reporting System administered by the US Space agency NASA, a pilot using the airport in the summer wrote, please do something after air traffic control has failed to provide appropriate guidance about multiple nearby aircraft in that case. But that certainly shows an issue potentially with just the volume of traffic on the tarmac at LaGuardia. I mean, you've, as you say, you've flown there many times. Do you think there is an issue generally with traffic at LaGuardia?
- [11:35]
C
There's always been an issue with traffic at LaGuardia. Now, the pandemic, during the pandemic, all of that was kind of masked in, if you will, because half the airplanes were in the air and half the airplanes were on the ground. There just wasn't that much traffic. Now, since everybody's come back to flying, we're at full capacity and then some. There's still an air traffic controller shortage. You can't create an air traffic controller overnight. You can't create a pilot overnight. And so Congress could fix some of those issues overnight. They could get rid of the mandatory pilot retirement age. They could get rid of the mandatory air traffic controller retirement age. They're forced out at age 56. All they would have to do is bump that up to 65 and they'd get rid of both Shortages. They could do that in the next 24 hours. But again, there's a lot of dysfunction over there in Congress. I think the capacity issue is there's only so much concrete and there's only so much real estate and more and more people want to fly. The only real answer to that is larger and larger airplanes. Those little regional jets only hold about 70 people. If you had airplanes that were holding 200 plus, you could have fewer flights and still get as many people around. But that's a decision that the airlines are going to have to make and the government might have to help along with that decision process at some point.
- [12:51]
D
There were apparently only two controllers in the tower, which apparently is not uncommon. Many might view it as though as unsafe. What would your response be to that revelation?
- [13:05]
C
Well, listening to Jennifer Homendy, she's the chairperson of the NTSB and I'm a big fan of hers. I think she does a great job. She was saying that that's standard operating procedure at LaGuardia and a lot of other major airports around the country. They'll go down to two controllers at a certain time of night, usually the midnight shift. It makes sense. There's not that many flights in and out. Now in this case, he was dealing with an emergency on the other side of the airport. He still had the traffic coming in. You he had the trucks trying to cross and the cross frequencies. He was working two different frequencies at the same time. It's unclear what the other controller was doing at that time. I'm going to assume the best. But the reason that they went from one controller to two was because in the midnight shift sometimes the controller would fall asleep. You know, 2:00 in the morning, there's nobody arriving, nobody leaving. It's hard to stay awake sometimes. So they ended up putting two people in there so that they can monitor each other. I don't think the second controller was there looking over the local controller's shoulder to see what was going on. I think clearly if they had been, they would have made the call that airplane was about to land. But again, the final report of the preliminary report will tell us a bunch more.
- [14:14]
D
When we had that crash at Washington last year, there was a big debate about whether DEI had played a factor in what happened and a general sense that DEI had been a bit of a problem in recruiting air traffic controllers and stuff. What do you feel about that? Is there any merit to that, do you think?
- [14:38]
C
I really don't. Here's why, and I understand the emotional side. People get wrapped up in Those sort of things. It takes so long to become an air traffic controller and so long to become a commercial pilot. For a commercial pilot, it's 10 years. Before I got hired at my airline to be a flight engineer, I was the third wheel in the cockpit. It took another 20 years to become a captain. So you're going to filter out anybody that's not up to speed at that point, regardless of their skin color or their gender. Same thing. Over at Air Traffic Control, the system filters out anybody that's not up to the standard. Now, whether or not they were wasting time on people and trying to fill corners. I don't know the first thing about any of that. All I know is that the people that do make it to, like, a LaGuardia Tower are really professional and really qualified. And my heart breaks for these two guys up there because I'm sure that they're just distraught over what happened.
- [15:28]
D
And could any of the Doge cuts that were made have had an impact here?
- [15:33]
C
No. I think this goes back decades. You know, if you want to. If there's any finger pointing and blame assessing to do, it goes back at least 40 years. This has been a long time. A lot of administrations didn't pay much attention to what was going on in air traffic control and the updating of the system to get. Get it into the 21st century. So there's a lot of blame to spread on this. I don't think it goes back as short as just, you know, six months or a year ago.
- [15:56]
D
A couple of quick things just to finish on. One is, as this is all going on, of course, you've got this huge problem with the TSA agents, many of them not going into work, and the ICE agents now being brought in to replace them. Enormous lines now at airports up and down the country. How bad are you hearing things actually are, and how important is it for safety, never mind anything else that this gets resolved quickly?
- [16:27]
C
Well, I've heard the same reports you have, and I've been in the airport at least three or four times in the last 10 days, and the lines were a little bit longer than normal. I think it depends on what airport you're at and who's calling in sick. I can't blame these people. This is, what, the second or third time this year that they've had to go. They've been asked to go without a paycheck. They have bills to pay like the rest of us. They live from paycheck to paycheck. The problem firmly rests on Congress. Congress is the answer to A lot of these things. And everybody in Congress has got to get over the dysfunction in that place and do their job. They got elected to go to D.C. and make the life of the American people better. And I don't know what they're after, but, man, it's frustrating.
- [17:07]
D
It just is 100%. I mean, it's ridiculous. In a country like America, you're seeing these scenes. It just seems farcical to anyone, doesn't it? Finally, you were first a military pilot. You served eight years in the U.S. navy flying aircraft including the P3 Orion, the T44, the T34 Charlie. You ran up 3,500 flight hours from 1983-91. You, your primary responsibility was hunting submarines, specifically tracking and monitoring Soviet subs in the Atlantic. You got your wings of Gold in January 1985. So you must have been watching what's happening in the Iran war very carefully because obviously most of it so far has been done from the air. What is your assessment just of the military aspect of this?
- [18:02]
C
Well, the military aspect is it's important. Whether we should have gotten in or not is another question for another day. Once you get in, you better do it right. And that's the part of this thing that I think is going correctly, is going right. If you're going to do it, don't do half measures. If you're going to try to take over, either it's regime change or get the country to change their ways, whatever it is, don't do it halfway because there's lives at stake. And the more hand wringing you have over this whole thing, the more lives you're going to lose. If you're going to do it, do it decisively. And I think the tone in that regard has been spot on. We're going to do this thing, we're going to do it right and we're going to do it overwhelmingly. That's the military aspect of it. And once you gain air superiority, you can basically do whatever you want because now the other country is basically impotent to, to fight back or to stop you from what you want to do next.
- [18:56]
D
I mean, I get all my knowledge about American military aircraft and their maneuvers from Top Gun movies. Probably. How realistic are they compared to what is likely happening over the skies of Iran right now?
- [19:12]
C
Well, Piers, it's a movie. That's all I'm going to say about that. You know, it's made for entertainment. It's got a whole different focus on it. I love the Top Gun movies. I don't think they're very realistic. But I do like you really enjoy the flying scenes in those. I think the reality on the ground is it's evil. Very, very complicated business to wage war with. The precision that we've done up to this point, it's amazing. If you look back at Vietnam to today, the amount of precision that we're doing this in and the fact that there's only maybe a dozen or so fatalities on the US side, all those are awful. But compared to the Vietnam era, it's just absolutely unbelievable how we do it these days. And hats off to the military members because they do a fantastic job.
- [19:57]
D
I've always had you down more of a nice man in the skies than a maverick, am I right?
- [20:03]
C
Yeah, I'm a nice captain.
- [20:04]
D
At least I'm not nice. Trying to get along with the Iceman from Top Gun. Oh, Iceman.
- [20:10]
C
Iceman, yeah.
- [20:11]
D
No, rather than Tom Cruise's character, Maverick, you're Val Kilmer's Iceman, I think.
- [20:16]
C
Yeah, I'm the guy that comes along and keeps Maverick straight. Yeah, I'll take that role. If they want to give it to me, I'll sign the contract right now.
- [20:23]
D
Just on a serious point about the sort of movie analogy, I've been a bit uncomfortable, I have to say, with the White House putting out these memes and stuff where they evoke imagery from movies and sort of celebrate destroying stuff in Iran and so on. As a military guy yourself, historically, do you have a problem with that? Do you think they should keep it real?
- [20:48]
C
Well, I think that it's easy for military and ex military to get all kind of excited and hyped up about what's going on and the adrenaline is flowing and the testosterone is flowing. I think the practical side of these things is everybody needs to take a big deep breath, look at what's really going on. This is, this is as serious as it gets, what's going on right now. And everybody go into it sober minded and yeah, it bothers everybody if there's any frivolity in this or any silliness on the side, it ought to be taken very, very seriously. And to the extent that either side of this issue is being silly or not taking it seriously, I'm not a big fan of those things.
- [21:27]
D
Just finally, in 20 years time, are we even going to have fighter pilots or will everything be automated? Will it be run by robots and drones?
- [21:37]
C
Well, it's moving in that direction. It's moved that direction since I was a pilot. There weren't any drones when I first got trained. Now there's a bunch. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't go completely that way. But I think there's always going to be a need for human eyes and more importantly a human brain in the equation. That last minute decision that looks at a target and says no, that's a hospital, that's a school, that's not the right thing. A drone is going to make mistakes, even AI is going to make mistakes there. A human can make that last minute decision even after they've, they've delivered a weapon. They've got the ability to abort that weapon at the last second. So again, that's the need for the human spirit and the human mind and the human eyeballs to be on the situation. So I don't think it'll ever go 100%.
- [22:26]
D
I mean, finally, I mean, a human would say that and many would agree. I got to say the slight counter argument. I was in Los Angeles a few months ago, driving behind a Waymo in the middle of Beverly Hills and the car in front of the Waymo suddenly did a ridiculous attempt at a U turn in the middle of a little junction. And it happened so quickly. I was utterly convinced that the Waymo was going to go straight into this car. And it did an incredible last second pivot left into a side road that it knew was empty because its technology had told it that and the sensors. And I just concluded, I watched all this happen, I was very close behind and I just thought, I reckon nine out of 10 human drivers in that Waymo, if that was a human driven car, would have hit the car in front. So there is a flip side to this, that their reactions and sensors can get so good that actually they can just react quicker than a human.
- [23:25]
C
Yeah, I don't disagree with you. Many times they're much, much faster. But if speed is the only criteria that you're looking at. Yeah. Then the automation is superior. If you're looking for discernment, wisdom and judgment, it's always got to be a human being.
- [23:38]
D
Well, Captain Steve, I don't get much better than you as a human being in the inner plane or out of it. So thank you very much indeed. I appreciate you coming back.
- [23:47]
C
My pleasure.
- [23:48]
D
We're turning that to a man who's definitely ending the week on a high. Joseph Foreman, AKA Afroman, has reignited his career after successfully defending himself against a $3.9 million civil defamation lawsuit brought by seven law enforcement officers. It all relates to diss tracks the singer released mocking a no evidence raid they carried out on his home Here's a sample of what he did.
- [24:10]
A
Will you help me repair my gate? Will you help me repair my door? Randy Walters is the son of a bitch My knives have seen informants get busted with felonies Tell the cops I'm a kidnapper and I sell a lot of Raid my house and then get pissed Cause the dungeon don't exist My proof's on the Internet they found no kidnapping victims Just some lemon pound cake Mama's lemon pound cake.
- [24:53]
D
An Afroman currently driving across the US on a nationwide tour has pulled over just to join me now on uncensored Afroman. How are you?
- [25:02]
A
I'm good. How you doing?
- [25:03]
D
Well, great. Congratulations. You've had a tumultuously successful week. In the end, this came down to free speech, right? This whole thing?
- [25:13]
A
Yes, sir.
- [25:14]
D
Why was it so important to you?
- [25:18]
A
Well, that's the only power the little man has, in my opinion, in America. But that's the only power the little man needs to get justice. You have freedom of speech, you can address the problem and possibly solve it from there. But if you don't have freedom of speech, you can't even let people know there is a problem.
- [25:46]
D
This all started when they came and raided your home for no stated purpose at the time. What do you think they were looking for?
- [25:58]
A
They said narcotics and kidnapping victims.
- [26:03]
D
Really?
- [26:05]
A
Yes.
- [26:07]
D
Did you have any kidnapping victims in your house?
- [26:10]
A
No, sir.
- [26:12]
D
Have you ever had any kidnapping victims in your house?
- [26:15]
A
No, sir.
- [26:16]
D
So what was it, what was this all about? Why were they doing this?
- [26:23]
A
Some girl, she got arrested and if you. I believe they call it swatting. But if. If you give up some information on somebody, they'll let you go. So she lied on me. I'm a rapper in this little town. She doesn't. She told them that I had Dungeons and Dragons and I had pounds of marijuana stacked up from the floor to the ceiling. And then they let her go. They take her word for whatever she said. And they came around there like the US military, kicking down my door, cutting off cameras and stealing my money.
- [27:12]
D
And you decided the best way to exact revenge from this was to take to music, which is your art form, of course. And you were pretty like full on with them in these disses you did. Let's take a listen to one. This is one called Lick Em Low Lisa. Which involved a lampooning of several of the deputies, including Lisa Phillips. Let's take a look,
- [27:47]
A
Sir.
- [27:49]
D
All around
- [27:51]
A
from Adam's cabin to the 275. She raided my house. She disconnected My camera.
- [28:10]
D
She did. Now lick them. Lo. Lisa clearly wasn't amused by your dis. But in the end, the. The court wasn't buying it. They. They felt that you were protected by your first amendment to do what you did. Right. You had a free speech right to express yourself in the way that you chose to do that. They seem to have a massive sense of humor failure. The sheriffs.
- [28:40]
A
Yes, sir. They were poor sports. I believe that they are the type of people that don't shake hands after the basketball game. I didn't make a song with anger. I didn't say f the police. I didn't tell people to go out and kill them. I sung silly, slightly humorous songs about him looking at my pound cake jokes. These are police officers. These are tough people. They supposed to have thick skin. And I figured I was doing something legal. I was up. I wasn't happy about my house being damaged, but they didn't want to pay for the damages. I am a rapper, so to pay for the damages, I made a rap album designed specifically for paying for the damages. I could monitor the album and make sure I raised the money for the damages. And I thought it was like the peaceful, most civil way I could pay for the damages. And I really thought they were poor sports.
- [29:48]
D
Yeah, I agree with you. And in order to demonstrate that your client wasn't to be taken overly seriously, your lawyer pointed out that you had come to court dressed in a stars and striped suit. Unless I'm mistaken, you're wearing something vaguely similar right now. Yes.
- [30:04]
A
My theme, I'm the hungry hustling American dream. Yes, it was appropriate. I love dressing for the theme. If I go to a St. Patrick's Day party, I'll join the festival and I will patronize the theme. But the theme was freedom of speech. It's being taken away from the little man in America, and there are some corrupt government officials doing some things, and America can't check them if they do not have freedom of speech. It's for the people, by the people. So the people should be in a position to speak up about corruption and get it solved if it ever pops up. It's kind of like if you ever get a cold, there's a remedy. There's always gonna be the common cold. It's never gonna go away. The common code is going to always be there. However, we have a remedy for the common cold. So when it comes around, there's a group of things we do to help us get over the common cold where there ought to be a remedy for corruption. In government. And one of the remedies is freedom of speech. So I'm glad the jury understood what was at stake. I'm glad America understood what was at what was at stake. And I'm glad everybody in their hearts and spirits stood with me as I fought for our right.
- [31:32]
D
Now, Aframan, do you think that one of the reasons the sheriffs may have had a slight suspicion about your marijuana stash that turned out not to exist, because in 2024 you ran to be President of the United States on a platform to be the cannabis commander in chief?
- [31:52]
A
Yes sir. Even though I ran. Yes, yes, yes. And I ran. I ran to legalize cannabis all the way across the United States. Even though that was my primary platform, I'm still a law abiding citizen. I want it to be legal. So there's nothing wrong with me obeying the law, using the right process, trying to get cannabis legal.
- [32:22]
D
You're an incredibly sought after man right now. In fact, in many ways you've united America. You've been on the Daily show, the Daily Wire, Fox News, cnn. Everybody across the spectrum of the media in America wants a piece of Afroman action, including me on uncensored. How do you feel about the fact you've united the nation, the world, uh, thank God.
- [32:47]
A
And I just want to say the Lord works in mysterious ways. And if he can use a goofy, silly, crazy rapper, so be it. And thank God.
- [32:57]
D
And out of interest, how many albums have you sold off the back of all this?
- [33:03]
A
Well, not that many. I mean, you know, cause. But I believe now I haven't dropped my album yet. I believe when I drop my album freedom of speech on 4 20, I believe something different might happen.
- [33:19]
D
Yeah, I think it's gonna be huge.
- [33:25]
A
There's nothing wrong with me fantasizing. I. You know, the little tiny baby hairs, not the big hairs on my neck, but the baby, my little hair's children, they're standing up on the back of my neck. I'm. Because I got high flashbacks. This might be big.
- [33:42]
D
You know what, Aphraman? This could be the moment you've dreamt of your entire life.
- [33:48]
A
Yes, sir. Yes sir.
- [33:50]
D
Now you deserve it. You fought the good fight for freedom of speech and I'm right behind you. Congratulations and many thanks for coming on uncensored.
- [33:59]
A
Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
- [34:01]
D
Take care. Max.
- [34:03]
A
It's not just something you made.
- [34:04]
B
It's the privilege that you get to work with your hands. It's building something that serves a purpose. Proof that you have the grit to
- [34:11]
A
keep going at Timberland.
- [34:13]
B
We understand you take your craft seriously, and we do, too, which is why our products are built to the highest quality.
- [34:20]
A
We put in the work so you
- [34:22]
B
can perfect yours with purpose, in every detail, and crafted with intention. Timberland built on craft.
- [34:29]
D
Visit timberland.com to shop is a prominent Iranian American comedian, actor and producer who's often used his platform to talk about the need for Iran's rescue mission. And he joins me now. Max, welcome to Uncensored.
- [34:44]
B
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
- [34:46]
D
I can't think of anyone better qualified to appear on a show called Uncensored than you.
- [34:54]
B
Well, I try my best to be as uncensored as possible on your show and all the credits and all the disaster on you.
- [35:05]
D
You're a fascinating guy to talk to right now because your parents left Iran in 1979 after the revolution. Then they went back when you were about 8 years old and you lived in Iran until I think you were 17. So you've got a kind of unique perspective on this, I guess. You know, I was told a very interesting thing yesterday in my local cafe in West London, and I'll just run it by you as well, because I'm interested in what you think about this because a lot of people have been asking, why have Iranians not been taken to the streets to rise up against the regime? If, as everyone gets told, they're broadly all against it or mostly against it, why are they not storming the streets? And of course, one reason is it's a war zone. There are bombs everywhere. Secondly, obviously many thousands were killed in the protests in January. There's a third reason which was put to me by a Kosovan who was in Kosovo when NATO attacked Milosevic and who had some Iranians who came in the cafe who were talking about this, who said they against the regime in Iran, but since Iran got attacked, they have now moved behind their country. And he said he recognized that sentiment because it was exactly the same happened in Kosovo that many Kosovans who were very anti Milosevic when Kosovo was attacked, reined in behind their country. What do you feel about that as being perhaps an added component here, that when the enormous strikes were launched against Iran, that many people there possibly who were anti the regime did the same, reigned in behind their country.
- [36:50]
B
Well, first and foremost, I'd like to know what's the name of this cafe? Is this the Islamic.
- [36:55]
D
It's a great cafe.
- [36:58]
B
Cafe of the Republic. Public. Look, I think personally, if I give you my own sort of feel on this topic, would be that someone who says that is not speaking from the, from the voices that are coming out of Iran. We are just outside of Iran connecting to the people that we know. I have a strong, big fan base in Iran. Listen to the people. I get thousands of messages. I talk to people and, and it's not that all of a sudden Iranians forgot about 47 years of repression. They forgot about a mass murder that just happened less than a month ago. And all of a sudden they came behind their country and they're now supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran, the regime that brutally has affected these people's lives. I just find that hard to believe. I think, I think there is a sort of a sentiment that nobody likes war. Me sitting here having this conversation with you, it's so painful to see these images coming out of Iran. We don't like that. And I don't think any Iranians or any non Iranians would agree that these images are pleasant to see. I think we're in a really bad predicament. We're trying to see what outcome is possibly going to give us a better future. We're hoping for the best. We're hoping for a strategic attack on Iran. We're hoping for this not to be a war on Iran, to be a war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, meaning the attacks and the way their military is attacking Iran is very well calculated. That's what we're hoping for. This is a very tricky topic because we have to be honest, we like for this regime to fall with the least amount of casualty, with the most amount of calculation, well thought plans on everybody's side that's going in to do this. So I'm hoping for the best. I know the people of Iran hoping for the best and hopefully we see it soon.
- [39:10]
D
Does it worry you that the regime in Iran has kind of accepted they can't compete with the Americans and Israelis in from a military point of view. A lot of their military has been degraded in the last few weeks. But they've realized that by having control of the Straits of Hormuz and by attacking the neighboring Gulf states in the way they have attacking oil refineries or tourist hotspots and so on, they've managed to wield an economic strike, if you like, against the west, which has proved to be highly effective and that that may embolden them and may actually keep the regime in place and may embolden them going forward. That they've always got that trick to play. They've always got that control over the global oil output. If they want to Play it.
- [40:00]
B
I just hope that so called experts have already calculated these. I just find it hard to believe if as a country who has one of the biggest militaries in the world, hasn't calculated the Hormuz conflict in the situation and how Iran is controlling it. So I believe that as civilians who's watching the news and as seeing the effect of this situation, we are worried. But I would really, truly think that it's naive thinking that the experts have not already calculated the length of this and they haven't calculated what options they have, and so on and so forth. So I think in any conflict we're going to see oil prices go up. In this situation, it's obvious because this is a very, you know, very important place in the Gulf for the oil to travel through. So obviously it's going to be a lot of complication. But I do truly believe the answer is there. I'm hoping that Trump is buying time with this ceasefire because they're strategically making their next move, et cetera. I'm an optimist and I hope that they succeed.
- [41:23]
D
How hard is it to be a comedian when your country is in this predicament right now?
- [41:32]
B
It's definitely not easy. I'm doing my best as an individual to find a positive worthy of a situation where I can help my people. I can be a voice and amplify the messages they want to be heard from my platform. I like to be able to inform the non Iranians that are coming out to these events and they're really finding me a person who's authentic, who's honestly, unapologetically himself. So I think it's positive in that sense, but yet it's difficult as a comedian, but who cares? I think so many people's lives are in such terrible situation, they've lost their loved ones. Honestly, the last thing I think about is my own difficulties in this whole equation.
- [42:31]
D
You know, a lot of Israelis have said to me that they really resent the fact that they get judged because of the actions of their government. For example, I think a lot of people probably blur the lines between hearing the word Iranian and the Islamic Republic regime. I mean, of course they're all Iranians, but there can be a world of difference between an Iranian and a member of this regime. For those who are not familiar with Iran and its history and its culture, it's such a rich country in so many ways, isn't it? That's been kind of strangled for 47 years. But give me a little bit of insight into what you believe the real Iran is people like you are fighting to. To bring back.
- [43:21]
B
Absolutely. I think social media has done a tremendous job in educating the world of what the real Iran is. People who are curious and do a little bit of research, not even so much. They'll see what the young Iranians look like, what their lifestyle is like, what their thinking is like. The country is one of the most educated countries in the world. There's wonderful, brilliant kids at universities that are getting their PhDs, masters, et cetera. They're coming to Europe, they're going to us, and they're making such difference in the whole world. So I think it's obvious that a country like Iran has a image on the media and a complete different soul and lifestyle behind this image. And I think Iranians are coming out on the streets and protesting and really trying. They're tired. They want to shine. They want to show who they are. And I hope soon the world can truly experience the pleasant side, the fun side, the hospitable side, and really fall in love with a country that truly loves everybody. I mean, it's beautiful what's happening. Nobody wants to be attacked by any country, but yet they're showing such grace, such class. The people of Iran have been tremendously strong through these difficult times, and I hope soon the world can recognize that.
- [45:01]
D
Now, Max, I can't let you go without mentioning your stand up and in particular, a particular target of your stand up routine, which is, frankly, it's hit a bit near the bone for us over here in England. Let me play a little clip.
- [45:17]
B
Now, people from England, they think they're better than everyone else in the world. This is the truth. The British, they think they're so much like. They just. Everything is different in England. Everything. They drive on a different side. Everything. Their buses double deck the streets, the sinks. The sinks are like from 1920s and the buildings are old and like, oh, Shakespeare, we took a shit here. What are you talking about? They are so full of themselves.
- [45:46]
D
Would you like to take this opportunity to apologize to the people of my country, Maximilian?
- [45:53]
B
So this whole thing was a setup?
- [45:55]
D
Pierce, it was all about this moment, nothing else.
- [45:59]
B
Look, the whole world is jealous of your cool accent.
- [46:02]
D
I just want you guys. You know what the best line I heard about it was? An NBC executive once said, you know, Piers, the thing about the English accent is that it conveys to many American ears a perception of a higher intelligence which often bears no relation to reality. And I thought that was probably the best explanation I've heard. But the reality, Max, is I'm afraid, whether you like it or not, in most ways we just are superior. I'm sorry, but we are, you know.
- [46:32]
B
You know, I cannot disagree. You have ruled the world for centuries. We are in your command.
- [46:41]
D
Look, I know you come to the UK a lot. I look forward to getting you over here again and please come on the show when. When you're here. Love to see you in the studio. It's been great having you. Wish you all the very best, obviously, for any uranium.
- [46:53]
B
Thank you.
- [46:53]
D
It's a very different.
- [46:55]
B
I'm playing the O2 in a couple of weeks. If you're in town, would love to have you.
- [47:00]
D
That's very kind of you. Thank you very much. I've got a slight hip, as you would say. Cheers, Max. Thank you very much.
- [47:08]
B
Take care.
- [47:11]
D
Here's Morgan Uncensored is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask for only one simple thing. Hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Piers Morgan Uncensored on Spotify and Apple podcasts. And in return, we will continue our mission to inform, irritate and entertain. And we'll do it all for free. Independent Uncensored media has never been more critical and we couldn't do it without you.
- [47:40]
C
I didn't expect this. TikTok has more short dramas than I could ever finish. Each episode leaves you wanting the next. Download TikTok now and try it.