The Manipulating Manager with Priscilla Davies

Summary

Scam Goddess – "The Manipulating Manager" with Priscilla Davies

Podcast: Scam Goddess (Earwolf)
Host: Laci Mosley
Guest: Priscilla Davies
Release Date: November 10, 2020

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Episode Overview

This lively, comedy-packed episode of Scam Goddess brings Laci Mosley together with comedian/writer Priscilla Davies to break down scams with their signature irreverence and wit. The episode is rooted in a celebration of the recent 2020 election results, “the number one scammer being booted from the highest office in the land,” and uses this vibe of freedom to dive into tales of petty grifts, listener letters, and the infamous story of Milli Vanilli—the quintessential music industry scam. The episode explores what it means to be complicit in a scam, cultural attitudes toward “fakes,” and the line between opportunist and mastermind.

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Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. Opening Vibe: Political Joy and “What's Hot in Fraud”

[00:19–06:13]

• Laci and Priscilla open with political banter, taking liberal jabs at Trump supporters and riffing on the theme of “scam artists” as a part of current events:

  “They’re the true scammers, listening to me, knowing damn well that I don’t want them to.” (Laci, 01:02)

• The mood is jubilant, celebrating the 2020 election and the hope for more progressive change, particularly for Black Americans and marginalized communities.

  “We’re still Black. Well, we gonna pretend today like we completely free today…” (Laci, 02:54)

• Playful improvisation with white alter-egos “Farrah Fawcett” and “Rebecca” underscores the lighthearted mood.

2. Listener Letter: The Bronx Jewelry Scam

[06:13–13:00]

• Listener “Bel Biv Devoe” from the Bronx details a scam: drivers pretend their families are stranded, offering fake gold jewelry for gas money, especially targeting Spanish speakers:

  “It’s the same neighborhood in the Bronx, same pickup line. The whole ‘give you jewelry to get gas’ thing… and family in the backseat. A sob story. Basically, the whole same grift.” (Listener letter read by Laci, 08:15)

• Laci and Priscilla analyze why the scam is ineffective in NYC, teasing its flaws:

  “You’re doing this in the boogie down Bronx… niggas got sense out there, okay?” (Priscilla, 10:47)

• They reference the prevalence of pawn shops, making the jewelry-for-cash angle unconvincing.

• Discussion drifts to high school class rings and why those were also a “mini scam.” (08:45–10:00)

  • Memorable quote:

    “Nobody has a class ring anymore. No one wears that ugly piece of jewelry.” (Laci, 09:43)

3. Historic Hoodwinks: The Milli Vanilli Scandal

[13:38–52:47]

• Setup:
  Laci’s favorite segment, “Historic Hoodwinks," features the unraveling of the infamous Milli Vanilli fraud—the pop duo who never actually sang their own songs.

The Making of Milli Vanilli

• German producer Frank Farian recruited dancers Pilatus (German) and Morvan (French) as the faces for music sung by other, hidden vocalists.

• Farian had a pattern:

  “He had done the same thing with his 1970s disco-funk group Boney M. with a singer who was actually just a dancer… lip-syncing to Farian’s own vocals. He was able to hang on to that secret for 25 years.” (Laci, 23:18)

• The duo was “discovered” living in poverty, offered $4000 each to be the public image, with no idea of what awaited.

Rapid Rise & Red Flags

• The group blew up globally. Songs like “Girl, You Know It’s True” and “Blame It on the Rain” topped charts; they received a Grammy for Best New Artist (1990).

• The ruse started to unravel due to thick accents:

  “Every time we gave an interview, the reporters would hear my French accent or Rob’s German accent, and they’d say, ‘No way. How could these guys have sung these songs?’” (Morvan, 31:40)

• They were given dialect coaches, but fast fame made hiding the truth impossible.

The Scandal Breaks

• On tour in Bristol, CT, a skipping backing track revealed their lip-syncing to 80,000 fans.

  “I wanted to die. It stopped… I panicked. I ran off stage.” (Morvan or Pilatus [audio clip], 39:37)

• Laci and Priscilla riff about how the duo simply wasn’t prepared—“They’re not true scammers”—and that they were victims of a larger manipulation by Farian.

• They discuss the aftermath:

  “They were just trying to get out of a bad situation. And now they’re the laughing stock—even though they weren’t the bad guys.” (Laci, 36:23)

• Notably, one member died at 33 (suspected overdose), reflecting the devastating toll the scandal took.

Memorable moment:

“If you were a real scammer, you would’ve rode this bitch to the wheelchair loft. The fact that y’all were so nervous…” (Laci, 44:00)

• Conversation also touches on shifting news cycles (things “lasted longer” back then), public shaming, and the implications for mental health.

4. Scammer of the Week: Students for Trump Co-Founder Scam

[53:29–59:56]

• John Lambert, co-founder of Students for Trump, pleaded guilty to scamming over $46,000 from customers, posing as a lawyer.

• The hosts humorously debate whether scamming Trump supporters is less ethically dubious:

  “You can scam Trump supporters all you want. I’m not against it.” (Laci, 54:11)

• They analyze his methods—fake law firm, credentials, legal advice online—and joke about expertise and how you “don’t have to be an expert to be on a news show.” (56:28)

• Ultimately, they discover Lambert is a Trump supporter himself, reducing their sympathy:

  “If you had been scamming from a better place in your heart…” (Laci, 59:28)

5. Motivational Close: “Do the Work”

[59:56–62:38]

• Laci and Priscilla transition into a serious aside: calls for listeners—especially white liberals—to do anti-racism work within their own circles, not just on social media.

  “If you’re really an ally, guys, get out there and spread the good gospel to your cousins, your aunties, your problematic uncles.” (Laci, 60:47)

• Both hosts note that “the work is just beginning” even after a hopeful election result.

6. Wrap Up and Plugs

[62:38–end]

• Priscilla shares her socials:
  Instagram: @priscilladaviesactor
  Twitter: @qotdesert

• Laci encourages listener interaction via email ([e-mail]), reiterates the need for supportive criticism (“consider texting your group chat”), and closes with signature catchphrases.

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Notable Quotes & Moments by Timestamp

• “Racism like a weighted blanket on your soul. Oh, Lord.”
  – Laci Mosley, 01:17

• “Nobody has a class ring anymore. No one wears that ugly piece of jewelry.”
  – Laci Mosley, 09:43

• “He was like, that’s just a pedestrian driving a car. Like, we shouldn’t do this.”
  – Priscilla Davies (on Tom Cruise’s wild stunts), 17:20

• “If you were a real scammer, you would’ve rode this bitch to the wheelchair loft…”
  – Laci Mosley, 44:00

• “You can scam Trump supporters all you want. I’m not against it.”
  – Laci Mosley, 54:11

• “If you gotta rhyme for the truth… razzle dazzle? They lyin’.”
  – Laci Mosley, 57:41

• “If you’re really an ally, guys, get out there and spread the good gospel to your cousins, your aunties, your problematic uncles.”
  – Laci Mosley, 60:47

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Tone & Takeaways

• Playful, sharp, and unfiltered: The show’s signature is cutting through scam logic with rapid-fire banter and pop-culture references, but never at the expense of sincerity when discussing real-world impacts.

• Empathy for victims: Despite the comedic tone, Laci and Priscilla end up expressing deep sympathy, especially for Milli Vanilli, recognizing the manipulative underbelly of the music industry and public scapegoating.

• Fresh perspective: Listeners hear not just about the scams themselves but about the social and psychological tolls of being deemed a “fraud”—and how the true masterminds often escape heat.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timecode | |---|---| | Political banter, “What’s Hot in Fraud” | 00:19–06:13 | | Listener Letter: Jewelry Scam | 06:13–13:00 | | Historic Hoodwinks: Milli Vanilli | 13:38–52:47 | | Scammer of the Week: Students for Trump | 53:29–59:56 | | Motivational Close: Do the Work | 59:56–62:38 | | Plugs & Sign off | 62:38–end |

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

If you enjoy Scam Goddess for its balance of comedy and cultural critique, this episode is essential listening. The discussion of Milli Vanilli especially challenges the usual “scammer narrative,” unpacking how exploitation often hides behind the scenes and those in the spotlight rarely write their own scripts. Expect pop-culture shade, political hot takes, and a deeper empathy for the complexities behind even the most meme-able cons.

And as Laci and Priscilla prove: in a world full of scammers, sometimes all you can do is “stay schemin’,” keep your eyes open, and never lose your sense of humor.

Transcript

[A]

What's poppin, congregation? It's your girl scam, Gary Goddess. And I'm thrilled to be joined today by an old, dear friend.

[B]

Not that old.

[A]

Not that old, honey. But very funny. Very, very funny. Very talented comedian, writer, Ms. Priscilla Davies.

[B]

Hello, congregation. It is a pleasure to be here.

[A]

Guys, I've gotten some letters and some writing from some Trump supporters who love this show. So, guys, if you're a Trump supporter who loves the show, you should probably turn this shit off.

[B]

You have Trump.

[A]

I do, and I don't court them. I was like, bitch, I'm not trying to give you joy. Please don't listen. This is not for you.

[B]

They're listening right now, enjoying every second of this.

[A]

They're the true scammers, listening to me, knowing damn well that I don't want them to. So shout out to y' all during these trying times. What are you gonna do without your racism, guys? God damn. Just kidding. You still have it. Ooh, ouch.

[B]

A zinger.

[A]

It'll keep you warm at night. Racism like a weighted blanket on your sou. Oh, Lord, we needed some joy on today. Truly, 2020 has been a raggedy. Oh, Lord, but today we celebrate.

[B]

And, guys, let's get into it.

[A]

I won't. I won't give you too much politics. I'm lying. This is going to be sprinkled throughout the episode, like Adobo, honey. Oh, wait, we don't With Adobo no more. There.

[B]

Too much salt in there anyway. That tastes good.

[A]

Oh, God. Your delicious ass. Adobo. You raggedy, especially.

[B]

That's our song.

[A]

And Goya, That's. We're specifically talking about Goya's Adobo. Everybody else Adobo.

[B]

Fine by us.

[A]

We. Sweetie. But guys, let's get into it. What's hot in Fraud besides the number one scammer being booted from the highest office in the land?

[B]

The number one scammer got busted, y'.

[A]

All. What a blessing. I'm sorry. I know I said we was gonna get into it. We is gonna get into it. Can we all just relish?

[B]

Can I. Can we have a moment, please? Congregation, don' mad at us.

[A]

I'm so glad y' all showed up to church today because this is a high holiday.

[B]

Oh, he's gonna be preaching.

[A]

Amen. Amen.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

We got Ms. Gertie on the organ.

[B]

Chelsea's gonna add organ later for that.

[A]

She does have arthritis, so the organ music will be a little shoddy, but we gonna let Ms. Gordon cook. She gonna cook today, y'.

[B]

All.

[A]

I Just. I truly can't believe it. Woo.

[B]

We are free.

[A]

I mean, we're still black.

[B]

Can we have our own game?

[A]

Well, we gonna pretend today like we completely free today. I am a white woman. I am Farrah Fawcett in the 70s.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Wind cascading through my flaxen locks.

[B]

Oh, Farrah, it's me, Rebecca. So good to see you again.

[A]

So good to see you. Rebecca.

[B]

Do you know how good it feels to be free in America?

[A]

It feels so good. Would you like a watercress sandwich?

[B]

Of course I would. Do you have any sparkling water?

[A]

Oh, absolutely. Actually, we only have flat sparkling. It's too spicy for me. All right, we'. So this is about to be foolish. I'm so sorry to all of y'. All. Guys, let's get into what's Hot and Fried. We've got a special listener letter from what's Hot and Fried. I need a name for this gentleman. He is from the Bronx.

[B]

Oh, from the Bronx, baby.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

My name is. Or his name is.

[A]

Oh, God, not the prayer hands. Why did she immediately go into prayer hands?

[B]

Cause it's the Bronx. Um, let's call this guy Bel Biv. You know what?

[A]

We are gonna call him Belved because shout out to Philly Motown. Philly back again. Wait, that is Bell Biff Debo, right?

[B]

No, that's. That's.

[A]

It is. Because they say it's not like a boy. Stemit. Okay, okay, okay. Well, did they get no fight? Nah, that was Belved. With. With Bobby. Bobby? No, Bobby Brown. Bobby Brown got a fight with Bob. With Belv Devone. You ain't see that movie on bet.

[B]

I thought he's in a different group. He's not in Bel B.

[A]

He's not in it. He just fought them.

[B]

He just fought them. Okay, well, now that makes sense.

[A]

All this adds up to say Belphiv is the name of the listener letter today.

[B]

Right?

[A]

So he says, hey, scam goddess and guest. Okay.

[B]

Hello. Thank you for acknowledging.

[A]

I appreciate you for knowing the structure of the show. So I'm gonna skip past the mushy stuff, but I will say there is a leg 2020 shout out in here. And guys, we fucking did it. Like 2020. You guys went viral with the shits. You got lit. You bought shirts. Yeah. And those shirts pros. The proceeds went to Black Lives Matter. That's at the time where all the proceeds were going to. From Earwolf. So, you know, y' all was also doing yalls part.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

Amen. Skim off the top at all.

[A]

I didn't. And I regret that. I sorely regret it. But I did not skim off of the top. So, guys, we did it. We got them legs to the poles, and. And we love it. If you're in Georgia, I don't know when that runoff's happening. It's probably this week, huh?

[B]

No, girl, I don't think so at all. I'm pretty sure runoff is like a process. Okay, okay. So Chelsea said the runoff's in January.

[A]

Let me stop spreading misinformation because I told y' all to vote on the wrong day, and y' all knew what I meant. But yes, guys. So shout out to Georgia followers if y' all out there. Georgia, Georgia. The whole day through, make sure y' all get out. I'm get sued by Ray Charles ghost Fact. He's litigious. The ghost.

[B]

I believe it.

[A]

So y', all, you know, stay woke. Cause there's probably gonna be a run out runoff, and we gonna need those seats. So y' all gonna have to get out there and get that leg back to the pole.

[B]

Come on, Georgia. Keep that momentum going for us.

[A]

Take those Georgia peaches and those legs.

[B]

You heard.

[A]

To the poles. So back to Belviv. We gonna get there.

[B]

Back to what the hell we came here to do.

[A]

We gonna get there, y'. All. This is actually. We're getting into it pretty quickly. I said seven minutes ain't so. So Belviv says, my name is Belviv Devoe. Okay, we said that. But still, this is. I'm a Latino who lives in the Bronx. These are Latinos bk forever, he says. And he lives in a very Italian neighborhood. The first time someone tried to run this possible scam, it started the same way. So he said, someone pulls up and is like, tu hablaz espanol? And he's like, si. Unsure, because he doesn't like to talk to strangers. And if you don't know what yeto hables means, it just means to use Spanish. But also, like, there's no official language of the US. You guys should know that, right?

[B]

That's a fact.

[A]

So. So the guy continues, and he says, I'll give you this jewelry for money so that we can me. Which is Belle Bibdevo. He says, I don't have money. I'm so sorry, and walks away. Which, you know what, Belle Smart, you did the right thing. The guy tries to talk to him more, and he says, sorry, and he walks away. So the first time he didn't write in because he was like, I Don't know. Scammer. Real. It could have just been random, and I didn't fall for it. Fast forward to the pandemic in New York City in 2020. The day before the election, I believe. Ooh, recent. We love fresh con.

[B]

Very fresh.

[A]

He says he rarely goes outside. Okay. A distancing king.

[B]

Respect.

[A]

A duke of distance. And when we do go outside, I wear a mask. Okay, cool. That's what you should do. So he says, a different guy in a different car, same story, same type of ring, same family guilt trip. He said this time it was a guy who asked if he speaks Spanish again. And he had a car seat in the back of the car and a woman in the back seat, assumably with a baby. But he couldn't see the baby. So again, Belviv says, I don't have any cash. And the guy's like, but I'll give you this ring for gas money. And he's like, sorry, no cash. And he crosses the street. So he says, I guess this is a popular scam because it's the same neighborhood in the Bronx, same pickup line. The whole give you jewelry to get gas thing is the same thing. And family in the backseat. A sob story. Basically, the whole same grift. So then he did some Googles.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

We love Google. And the San Francisco gate said, drivers beware of roadside scammers offering gold for cash. It's fake. Now I know you know, gas is high. Is it gold ring high? No.

[B]

In parts of California, I'm keeping it real.

[A]

In San Francisco, you actually may need to give up your baguettes.

[B]

Okay. If you have a high school ring, a graduation one, Right?

[A]

Listen, I used to sell those. What I worked for redacted rings.

[B]

Company Stop.

[A]

And my mom used to work there. So she got me a job on campus scam. And my job was social media coordinator. So I would post on Facebook and I post on Instagram about class rings. It was. I was just making money for doing nothing. And I would have to sit at the graduation table and be like, do you want a ring? And I got a ring for free. It was. Nobody has a class ring anymore. No one wears that ugly piece of jewelry.

[B]

It's so ugly. And I'm so grateful. I never spent any money on any. And they would try to do, like, for ladies, for the girls.

[A]

There's a tiny one.

[B]

Little. Yeah. And it's just. They're just not.

[A]

I lost mine.

[B]

I never had one. I never ever. Because I. Even as a kid, I was like, this just seems Like a bad investment.

[A]

You did the right thing.

[B]

I mean, back in the day when

[A]

it, like degrees really mattered, it was like a networking tool. Like you had your Penn State bring on and be like, oh, shit, I see.

[B]

So that's what it's.

[A]

How about those Panthers? Are they Panthers? The Penn State Panthers? It's some kind of cat. I don't know. I went to Pitt.

[B]

I know Penn State.

[A]

So this is basically another one of those tug on your heartstring scams. It's like, oh, my family's going through this. The thing that I don't understand about it in New York is like, there's like a pawn shop on every corner. Like, how you. Like, why are we going to think you can give us a real ring when you can literally go to the corner and it's going to be a liquor store, the bodega, and then a pawn shop.

[B]

And that's. And that's why this scam gets an F from me. Because first of all, first of all, you're doing this in the boogie down Bronx. Come on now. Like, niggas got sense out there, okay? And then, like, it's just. It's just such a. I just feel like, where can.

[A]

Who.

[B]

Who has got by this? Apparently some people have also, like, what

[A]

is the whole point of being like, hablaz espanol? Like, what is that supposed to bring?

[B]

Like, it's to.

[A]

It's the Bronx. Who doesn't speak Spanish? The Bronx. I feel you gotta be like. Like you gotta hit him with some. Something different, right?

[B]

I guess it's supposed to be like, hey, compadre. Like, you know, we are the same. Help me if you help us and our people, right?

[A]

And our people. It's like, look, give me gas money for La Raza, okay? I don't know if that adds up, bro. Seems complex, seems complicated.

[B]

I just need to know who's gotten got by this and. Did you keep the ring?

[A]

You keep the ring? I love doing that reference. It's from. Hey, Marnold, you keep the money.

[B]

Okay, thank you.

[A]

No, it was this episode where you know how they live in that building, that border house, you know, and it was. Don't. No, listen, I don't know about Hayne Arnold.

[B]

I didn't have cable growing up, so.

[A]

Hey, I don't know what's this shit

[B]

I missed out on so much?

[A]

It was like this old, old fuck boy and he lived with his woman. His woman was always paying the bills, always paying the rent. This is a child show on Nickelodeon.

[B]

His woman.

[A]

It was on Nickelodeon, and so it was a fuck boy. Oh, it was Chelsea. I'm right, right? It was a fuckboy and his bottom bitch, and she was always paying for everything, Always holding him down. And then one day, he, like, came across some money or something like that, and, like, his bottom bitch was like, you really about to take this or whatever? And he was tempted. And then at the end, he came back and redeemed himself, and he was like, you keep the money.

[B]

She was like, damn, that is the plot of Belly. I don't want anything to do with this anymore.

[A]

Get out of here. She said, I love you, boo.

[C]

For real.

[A]

He was like, you give the money. And, like, literally, he did that. That's all he did. And then he was back in good graces and back to his fuckery. Oh, my God, I love it. Shout out to. Hey, Arnold.

[B]

Shout out to Nickelodeon.

[A]

She's just so problematic. Keisha Cole. Ass.

[B]

Shit.

[A]

She should have definitely left that nigga. He said, you keep the money. She was like, oh, come back here, boo. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Arnold. Really, really good content scams. I was just so hyped today, guys. Like, can y' all hear me smiling because I'm smil so hard?

[B]

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

[A]

A lovely day for a neighbor.

[B]

Won't you be mine?

[A]

Would you be mine?

[B]

You Donald Trump?

[A]

Yes. All right, guys, we're back, and it's time for historic Hoodwinks, My favorite part of the show. This is where I will regale Priscilla with a famous hoodwink, and we'll get our opinions all throughout. And we're talking about a very strong special one today, guys.

[B]

Oh. Mm.

[A]

We're talking about Millie Vanilly.

[B]

Mm. Kat, what's their song? Come on, give it to me.

[A]

I don't know what their song is.

[B]

It's a girl.

[A]

You know it's true. Ooh, ooh, ooh.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I don't know it. Girl wasn't born when they were famous.

[B]

Well, I was, and I'm proud of that.

[A]

Oh, God. So Milli Vanilli was a German French R B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian and consisted of Fab Morvoron and Rob Pilatus. They became one of the most popular acts in the late 1800s.

[B]

In the 1800s, since the late 80s. In the turn of the century, with

[A]

millions of records sold and won. They won a Grammy for best new artist in 1990. However, their success turned to infamy when it was discovered that they did not sing any of the vocals to their music releases.

[B]

Their music releases.

[A]

Why did my voice go full like their music. Their music releases? I am an anchor now. Low key. I am. Y' all seen me on the con on abc. Scam. I waited to be an expert.

[B]

That was the biggest scam of it

[A]

all, truly of 2020. That's my biggest scam that I've done so far is me sitting in this like, chair and being in your expert.

[B]

You should be fucking proud of yourself.

[A]

It's a crime. So the making of Milli Vanilli 1. I have to say I don't know if this would have been such a huge scandal if it happened now. Because it's like with auto tune and how much we do to fix people's voices and change them and how few artists actually sing live at concerts and performances. Like, is it really that wild to not sing your own music?

[B]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes. Like, yes.

[A]

Are you kidding me? Think about all the singers we got singing in italics and webdings these days. You know what I mean? I go to hell and jail about your boy. I go to hell.

[B]

Delete. I do.

[A]

Where did it go? I don't like this song.

[B]

Skip this. Oh, damn. I got the anti skip button on. Oops.

[A]

Shout out to CD to Walkman Whisper singers. Come on, Janelle Aiko.

[B]

Oh, now here's my thing. I do think it would be a problem today because in the end we still expect the artists to be able to sing their actual songs.

[A]

We don't expect actors to do their own stunts.

[B]

Okay, that's not even equivalent at all. Like, what? Like, how can I wish you would go to every actor and be like, wait, you can't do a kickflip and do a backflip off of a building.

[A]

And if you can't, how am I supposed to believe you? How am I supposed to believe you? Did Vin Diesel flip them cars?

[B]

I'm sure he.

[A]

Is he really even bald? I can't trust anything. I can't trust anything.

[B]

The only person who does their own stumps is Tom Cruise. And that's cause he's crazy. That's cause he hasn't felt anything on the inside since the early 80s.

[A]

He was like, no, I'll jump under the car like, Tom, it's not even gonna be in the movie like that. We don't own that car.

[B]

Let's just get it in case

[A]

he's like, that's just a pedestrian driving a car. Like, we shouldn't do this.

[B]

Dude, I definitely think that's like, no, you can. No, you would still get dragged by the media if you. Okay. Remember when Jessica Simpson's little sister. She got caught. She got caught lip syncing. Oh, yeah. She got dragged. However, it was still.

[A]

She got dragged for that jig, though.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It was like, I'm sweating on a

[C]

twist

[A]

on a Wednesday.

[B]

How do I again? How do I skip?

[A]

I love that song. And the fun. Sun rings and I hear you at the darkness There's a Claire of you succumb to rescue Matt.

[B]

I hate it.

[A]

I know. Everyone's so angry right now. I'm gonna stop. But it's hard. It's hard.

[B]

I just. I. It would be. In my opinion, it would be a scandal even to this.

[A]

Okay, maybe. Maybe you're right. I think. Okay.

[B]

T. Pain could sing underneath that.

[C]

That.

[A]

Oh, yes, he can.

[B]

He showed the. He was like, I wish you would talk shit about my voice. And to go on the masked singer, Marai.

[A]

I don't know what he says.

[B]

In Wisconsin. He rhymed.

[A]

Wisconsin, Wisconsin.

[B]

What was it? He rhymed.

[A]

I'm gonna take you to a mansion somewhere in Wisconsin. And beautiful. It was truly, truly a moment of artistry. It's just Shakespeare. So Frank Farian, a German record producer, was in a disco in his native country when he heard the song Girl, you know it's true by the Baltimore band Numero and immediately knew it could be a bigger hit.

[B]

When I say girl youl know it's true.

[A]

You said that. So he started recruiting singers in 1988, singers Linda and Jody Rocco sang backup and Charles Schar rapped on the track. Okay, so this is because he decided that he was gonna assemble a team to recreate the version of that song, taking the original hip hop track and mixing it with a little bit of Eurodan.

[B]

I mean, what a dumb move. Like why?

[A]

I mean, the song was a hit. The one that you heard was the remix.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

Is Frank Fairy in the original Diddy.

[B]

I mean, here's my thing. And this is, I think, why this was probably doomed from the start. The goal was. I see. I. I didn't know that they were put together for a song. I thought they were put together as a. As an actual group.

[A]

Well, so this is just the song. So this is where it started. So this is Farion being like, oh, I like this song a lot. I'm gonna steal it. I'm gonna hit it with the remix. I'm gon to give it some flavor.

[B]

But then he found people to sing the song, right? Or he Just.

[A]

Well, he found real singers to sing the song. He started recruiting singers in 1988. Singers Linda and Jody Rocco sang backup and Charles Schar rapped on the track. When he played the record for me, I already knew the song, said Shaw. He told Billboard magazine this. He said I had been dancing to the numero version on the weekends in an American club in Hamburg. Fion played it and I said, this song ain't new.

[B]

And exactly. That's exactly how he said it in 1990. Let's continue.

[A]

This song ain't new, homes.

[B]

Hey, this song ain't new.

[A]

And then I said to Bella, that's how people talk in the 90s, right?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

So Faring admitted that the song wasn't new, but he still went with it and started mixing the voices. You can't really hear the vocals or exactly who's singing because there are so many voices on the chorus, he said. Eventually, Brad Harrell and John Davis were brought in for vocals. His version of the song quickly became popular in. Now he just needed faces to go along with the music group.

[B]

That's what I mean.

[A]

He.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's like.

[B]

It's empty. It's not real art.

[A]

I don't know. A lot of music is made for mass consumption and some of it's good. It's not all bad.

[B]

If it. If it happened the other way around. If it was like, I put together this amazing band and they came. But it's like I heard a song and then I like built this monster around it.

[A]

But think about producers and writers. Like, they're writing music and song for like, whatever model is hot right now.

[B]

True.

[A]

Like, there's some people can really sing down. Like, I think Ariana Grande can sing. I don't think she's like drawing very hard, but she can sing. But people make music for her all the. You know what I mean? Like, it's like there's very few Ariana Grande's. It's mostly just like models now who can carry a tune.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Look at the R B scene. There's a lot of very beautiful models here.

[B]

R and B is dead.

[A]

Smoking a weed oh, my man stole my money from my purse. The latest again.

[B]

How do I skip? I hate this song. Yeah, I. Yes, yes, you're right. Well, yeah, you're right.

[A]

So he was like, okay. Gotta find some faces to go with these voices. So this is discovering Pilatus and Morvan. At the time, Pilatus and Morvan were dancers living in a housing project in Munich. They were pretty Poor and were often stealing food to survive.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Farian came along and offered each of them $4,000 to become the faces of the duo.

[B]

That's a lot in the 90s, right?

[A]

4,000. You can definitely move out the projects.

[B]

For sure. For sure.

[A]

So he named the duo after the nickname of his girlfriend. So his girlfriend was named, like. Nickname was Milli Vanilli. And he was like, that's what I'm gonna call y'.

[C]

All.

[B]

I thought it had something to do with vanilla, but that's fine.

[A]

Maybe the girlfriend's name was Millie or Mildred. Nick called it.

[B]

I mean, look, I. With it. It's still a great name.

[A]

So Farion wasn't new to the game. He had done the same thing with his 1970s disco funk group Boney M. Well, that's not a great name with a singer who was actually just a dancer, by the way, M is short for Mil. Bony Millie. All he's got is Millie, and he's just been making it work. He's like, Milli Vanilli, Bony Milli. So he did. Again, this was with someone who was also just a dancer who was lip syncing to Farion's own vocals. He was able to hang on to that secret for 25 years.

[B]

Wait, Farian was a singer, too? This is really what this was all about. He was trying to get his vocals on the track. I need a picture of this guy.

[A]

Oh, so, yeah, can we Google a photo of him? Because I wonder if he's. He. He can't be hot. Maybe.

[B]

That's exactly. Because back in the 90s, like, it was super.

[A]

You had to be like, I forget who wrote this tweet, but they're like, remember in the 90s when we had all the posters of, like, the hot singers and actors on our walls, like we were trying to solve a horny murder? And I was like, yes. Like, you had to be someone we could cut out of a magazine and stick on a wall and be so horny for, right? So Farian came back after the song hit the charts in England and said he had to have two faces for the project. I was already paid $12,000 for singing Girl.

[B]

And you look at this nigga's face.

[A]

Wait, okay. And he said, keep your mouth shut, and you can do the whole album. I'm thinking that's studio work for me. This is Shaw talking. So he's already. Oh, my God.

[B]

Yo, congregation, do yourself a favor and google Frank Farian and you why he went through so much work to find people to sing his damn songs. Come on.

[A]

Oh, God. I feel. No, no, I feel bad because, like, we should be able to have more people, like, what's that? Who, like SpongeBob Daniel Caesar, where, like, you sing really well, but you're like, hideous. But he's.

[B]

This guy's not hideous. He's just like an interesting looking character. That's not a positive either.

[A]

But it's not.

[B]

But I mean, it's not that he's ugly.

[A]

It's just like, who needs to normalize ugly people in music?

[B]

Well, we're doing better than we did in the 90s.

[A]

Yeah, the 90s was like, you had to be like a horny superstar. Oh, gosh. So Shaw is basically saying, like, well, I kept working for him because it was a check and I needed some coins. So had Farian realized how popular the group Milli Vanilli was gonna become, he would have realized the dancer's accents would have an issue. Pilatus had a German accent and Morvon had a French accent. Well, see, I don't know because, like, I think about people like Craig David who, like, when he sings, he was like, why were you creeping around? And like. And then when he talks, I am.

[B]

Yeah. Like, I'll see you down at Piccadilly. Ace of Bass. Like that. Yeah.

[A]

So I don't think that's a big deal. But Linda and Jody, the two original singers from earlier, were also brought back in for more vocals. So he was like, all right, I'm not gonna worry about the fact that they don't have accents or they do have accents. I'm gonna just bring in Linda and Jody for more vocals and Shaw's gonna come in the studio and he gonna record stuff. They said there was really no plan. We were just recording stuff real fast to get enough together for a four song EP for the American market. Pilatus and Morvine would come in and go down to the basement where they the pool was and hang out for a couple of hours. They'd make appearances then, then go down to the basement. But they never sang a note or went into the studio.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

I love that they showed up for

[B]

appearances to record, though.

[A]

They were like, there's plenty of footage of us going inside of the studio.

[B]

Your Honor, I like you to turn your attention to exhibit A. My clients went in the studio and

[A]

they came out hours later. Okay. Whether any tracks were laid down, that's

[B]

none of our business.

[A]

None of our business. I love the dedication, though, to having them come and then just like, hang out somewhere. I mean, like, oh, we gotta go. Like, I can't do a German accent.

[B]

We, ah, we have to go to. And, you know, we call. You want to go to the studio?

[A]

We love to go to the studio. I love going to the studio. You swim so much in the water.

[B]

You know, your congregation knows we speak French.

[A]

Moi, I want to go.

[B]

I am German again. Because German accents and French accents from the American perspective are very similar. It's very easy to mix it up.

[A]

We don't do any one justice. We're so disrespectful in this country. And I love it. So. So they're basically pretending, cosplaying to be artists. I stand. So Linda said that they were kept a distance from the guys so that they wouldn't get too close. The real singer was secretly brought in at night, and he would to the studio late at night, even after the other staff was gone, so that no one would know he was the true voice.

[B]

So hold up. So this guy's coming in masked singer style. Like the visor over his face.

[A]

They roll him in a filing cabinet. He's like, guys, why do I. Yeah, yeah. No, you got a record deal. You did. We're so excited to work with you here.

[B]

If you could just stand behind this bush real quick and not make any noises.

[A]

We're so excited to have you at German Sony Records. Yeah. Okay. We're gonna need you to put this blanket over your head. No, it's all the rich. Michael J. Jackson's doing it to his kids. It's like a thing. So just put it on your head. Come inside the studio. So, yeah, Poor guy. Whoever was really singing these songs. So they were doing all this shady shit, which is very fun to me. So looking suspect. As soon as the music video for Girl, you Know It's True was a global hit. Milli Vanilli also had four other hit songs.

[B]

Blame it on the. How does Blame it on the rain.

[A]

Ooh, ooh, ooh.

[B]

Okay, I'm mixing the two songs, but I know the congregation knows it's like Blame it on the Rain. You don't remember that?

[A]

No. Why would I remember this?

[B]

Well, your parents. Well, they wouldn't be jamming to this. They'd be like, what the hell? Give my bell bib to Bo.

[A]

Back then they had Girl, I'm gonna miss you, and Baby, don't forget My number, which all hit number one and All Or Nothing peaked at number four. They were everywhere. So Milli Vanilli was a huge sensation. I want to wait. I don't know if we'll get sued by Frank or whoever the fuck actually owns.

[B]

Frank is definitely suing us.

[A]

But I need to know. I truly need to know, because I've never heard a Milli Vanilli song.

[B]

Well, I sat back and thought about the things we used to do which one is this?

[A]

Girl, you know it's true.

[B]

Oh, yeah. You mean a lot to me.

[A]

Why they talking?

[B]

Because it was the 90s. They got a big intro, every song. Here it comes. Yep. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Oh, let that shit rock for a second. Hey.

[A]

Okay, where's the song, though? This is all intro.

[B]

You know how the 90s was

[A]

all intro, no song. All intro, no song. Where is the song?

[B]

It's coming, girl.

[A]

It's taking way too long to get here. Not Chelsea dancing in the booth.

[B]

That's the rapper.

[A]

I'm turning this off. So that's Charles Shaw. That's Shaw. Oh, goodness. That's terrible. So basically, they blew the fuck up, right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And every time.

[B]

And hold on. I just want to tell you. What? Like, I was alive. They blew the fuck up. They were on everything, everywhere. Like, they were the shit.

[A]

What do you think contributed to their success? Are they hot?

[B]

They're fucking hot. They're models. They were both. That's. That's also how. What we learned about them is that they were models. They're hot.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Both of them.

[A]

I'm looking right now to see if they're hot, if I think that they're hot. Okay. They have this wild hair. One of them has, like, very strong bone structure.

[B]

Yeah, Yeah.

[A]

I mean, they are giving the girls fashion, and they were like a whole scene.

[B]

They were a whole vibe, too.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, and they. They were wearing the eyeliner. And Millie or Vanilli, I don't know which one, but he was rocking a lot of concealer.

[B]

It was like a whole. They were. Yeah. And then it's so funny because they look so much alike, but apparently they're

[A]

not really related at all. Okay.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

He got crochet braids in this. Lord Jesus. Okay, so this is a quote from Morvan, from Milli Vanilli. He says, every time we gave an interview, the reporters would hear my French accent or Rob's German accent, and they say, no way. How could these guys have sung these songs? Well, obviously, they never heard of Craig David.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Or Adele. Or Adele be like, hello. And then she'd get off the record and be like, oi, oi, oi. Like, someone go get me. Go get me fish and chips.

[B]

Like that cockney accent so they even

[A]

had dialect specialists brought in, paid by the record company to try to help the situation. But fast fame didn't make it easy. So they blew up so fast that they didn't have time to, like, fix their accents. Which nowadays, I feel like you could have a strong French accent or German accent and still sing in an American one and nobody would be the wiser.

[B]

I have to say, I'm actually surprised that that was an issue.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Like I said, like, Ace of Bass was around this time, too, and they had, you know. You know, they had their, like, Northern European accent and whatever.

[A]

Oh, my God. So we didn't. So basically they said we didn't want to do any more interviews. Pilates added, the more we talk, the worse things got. Their former manager recalled the situation to Billboard, saying, I remember there were some world, some words that Fab couldn't pronounce. He had a pretty thick French, Guadalupe and accent. Oh, French, Guadalupe. But, okay, so, yeah, accents, accents. So on the girl, I'm gonna miss you. He couldn't say miss. And he would say miss. He would say, girl, I'm gonna miss you.

[B]

Miss you.

[A]

Miss you. You think those. You say merry.

[B]

Come on. French miss.

[A]

Oh, right.

[B]

Miss you.

[A]

I miss you.

[B]

Hey, I miss you.

[A]

That's hot.

[B]

I'm okay with it.

[A]

I'm okay with that. But I guess the issue is, is, like, if you can't say me as you say it on the song, because I'm not gonna say one's right or wrong, but if you can't pronounce it the same way that you pronounce it on the song, then people are like,

[B]

interesting.

[A]

Interesting. Because you sang it like, miss, you sang this, right? My true question is, why do we care? I love chaos. I'm like, why do we care? Like, let Milli Vanilli keep. Like, they could dance, right?

[B]

They could dance their asses off. And they was. When I tell you, why is that not enough? And there it is. They were gorgeous. They could dance their asses off, and they didn't start no trouble. They were willing to let somebody take over their lives, force them into. Forced them into labor they didn't agree with. And they kept. You know, they showed up every day.

[A]

I love them. I love them so much.

[B]

They showed up, up to the recording

[A]

studio, and what's interesting here is, like, Milli Vanilli took so much shit. Like, the only reason I know of Milli Vanilli is because of the joke of, like, oh, these guys who are imposters, however, they were not the ones who orchestrated these scams, they were at in the projects and like. And someone came and was like, they

[B]

were on in the projects, chilling on the stoop.

[A]

We are moving on up, moving on up to the end. East side. East side. We finally got the piece of the.

[B]

Is that the German or the French guy? Cuz I was going to do the other one. I don't know.

[A]

I was trying to do French and it's terrible. But like, they literally were just chilling and somebody was like, hey, $4,000 and you get to go to a pool every Tuesday to pretend that you're singing.

[B]

Think about, like, what exactly. This is a great gig. They have to literally just show up and they're just getting paid.

[A]

Paid pictures, right? And if a shitty record deal, of course it's probably a 360 where they own your whole booty hole, but. But they had nothing before that.

[B]

Also this.

[A]

And they weren't planning to be singers.

[B]

Also, like, the company owns everything, but it never was yours to begin with.

[A]

Like, truly, you should Only sign a 360 deal if you are Milli Vanilli. Because like, if you can't sing or contribute anything but like, beautiful looks. I don't know though you should still get some more coins for that. Because it was the face.

[B]

It could dance too.

[A]

Cause think about it. Frank's face wasn't bringing in them cl.

[B]

Yo, shout out to what's his name? Let me look it up again. Frank Faran.

[A]

Shout out to Frank. But he was gonna bring no coins in, so. But I do feel bad for Milli Vanilli because they took the hit. They weren't the people who made the name. They weren't the people who made the music. They were just trying to get out of a bad situation. And now they're the laughing stock. Even though they weren't the bad guys. Yeah, I don't know about Frank. What the fuck is that nigga's name?

[B]

I don't know anything.

[A]

I don't know him. I don't know that girl.

[B]

I don't even know Milli Vanilli's name. I just know Milli and Vanilli, right?

[A]

So I feel bad because I never knew Frank was pulling these strings. I was just laughing at Milli Vanilli, robbery and fraud. So on July 21, 1989, while on the Club MTV tour in Bristol, Connecticut. Wow. Have your life fall apart in Bristol, Connecticut. That's tragic. Like, I can't imagine a more sad place to have your life fall apart.

[B]

So I will spit all My shit everywhere. Not Bristol.

[A]

So Pilates. You know Bristol. You know the girls Keep it real In Bristol, Connecticut.

[B]

B town, baby.

[A]

B town, baby. We don't be having that shit. You in the hood now, baby.

[B]

Of Connecticut. Although there are some really hood parts

[A]

of Connecticut, so Pilatus and Fab Morvoran Morvat. Sorry, I'm fucking y' all names. They were singing their mega hit girl, you know It's True, which we just heard, which is mostly intro, which makes sense. It makes sense to me because I'm like, okay, y' all can't sing, so we're just gonna have a lot of intro. I'm not mad at it.

[B]

That's a lot of good math right there.

[A]

So they're singing this. When their live backtracking began to skip.

[B]

It was. And I just. Again, first person point of view. It was. Was like a national international story. It was like. When this happened, everybody's like, did y' all hear that? Milli Vanilli's track started skipping? And they're not actually. It was a fucking scandal.

[A]

The fucking BBC is like, tonight, Milli Vanilli, a fraud.

[B]

Now, I know you don't recognize me because my singing voice is very different.

[A]

Very different. Okay? I know that when a singer sound like 21 Savage, and I am the same person, because 21 Savage is British.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

I love the 21 Savage British it. I love it so much. He like, 21. It's a knife, but they not gonna have some stabs. Like, that's why I imagine 21 Savage at home. He's like, bring me the blicky. That's what I think is happening. That's a gun. Oh, yeah. That's how. What the kids call firearms, the British gun.

[B]

The British kids.

[A]

No, the black ones, yes. They call it the bookie with the sticky and the blicky.

[B]

Oh, well, that makes sense now.

[A]

So I. I just think this is so fascinating because they ran off stage. Do we have a clip of them, like, running off stage?

[B]

Yeah, it was like a. A thing. It was. I want to. I want. I just need you guys to hear the hook.

[A]

Oh, my God. Because I'd never heard the hook. I'm about to. While you're doing that, I'm gonna pull up this damn video of them running off of the stage when they're backing began to skip. Because I need to fucking know. I think that personally, they shouldn't have run away. Like, this is a moment where you gotta stand up like Patti LaBelle and be like, my music is skipping.

[B]

You Asking way too much for two Negroes from the fucking projects who don't actually sing. She said, you need to. They're not performers.

[A]

But by this time, they weren't ready.

[C]

I wanted to die. It stopped. Good. You know it's girl. You know it's good. 80,000 people. Girl, you know it's girl. You. You know, I couldn't repeat it 15 times. You got obvious. So I stopped. I panicked. I ran off stage.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

Used to work for mtv. Ran after me. I didn't want to go back to stage. I had enough. 80, 000 people waiting.

[A]

He said, I did not want to go back to stage. And I get it. I feel you. I don't know if this is Millie or Vanilli. Who's talking. I'm gonna guess Vanilli because he's blonde. So I'm gonna guess I was Vanilli talking.

[B]

But sense to me.

[A]

He said, I do not want to go back to stage. I said, no more stage. Please, please, no more stage.

[B]

Russian.

[A]

I'm bad at accents. That's my scam. The place. No more stage. I think if he had stayed on stage and just been like, the track is skipping.

[B]

Okay. Just imagine you are a black person in Germany living in the projects. Some random white dude shows up, offers you $4,000 flash forward. You don't even know what happened. It's three years later, you'. Stage. You asking way too much, honey. That's too much. They're not real performers. You gotta remember you're a performer. Like we would know what to do.

[A]

We're performing for long enough that you don't think they can develop some skills. And they were already dancers.

[B]

Were they real dancers or were they just black people who can dance?

[A]

What is the difference?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I don't know. I don't know if they were real dancers or black people who could dance. I consider myself to be a black person who can dance.

[B]

I'm a black person who dance, but I am not a black person. Choreography is a rat.

[A]

No, but I am a black person who can dance the shit out of some shit. Listen, I'm so sore right now. So I don't truly don't know, but I just feel like as a. Okay, yes, they're adjacent to the scam. Yes, they weren't the people who created it, but they are willing participants.

[B]

I don't think they're adjacent. When you're a willing participant. That's not adjacency.

[A]

Okay, but they didn't make the scam up. So it's like if you throw a rock in the scam. Yeah.

[B]

You hit them.

[A]

You would hit them if you threw a rock, but they're not like the can.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Does that make sense? No.

[B]

It's like, if you. If, like, it's like a run. It's like the getaway car. And then they ask you to get in, and then you get in, like. But you didn't actually rob the bank.

[A]

Yeah, you didn't rob the bank.

[B]

Why are you hanging out with these motherfuckers?

[A]

Okay. And they did keep the secret because obviously, while they're blowing up, they're not. Like, we're not singing the songs. Like, they're not.

[B]

We don't sing at all.

[A]

We don't sing. Ooh. Oh. We don't sing. They don't say that. They don't sing. They don't say that. You're right. But. So that's what I'm saying is, like, at this point, this has become your career. You got women fawning over you, men fawning over you, everybody because you're hot.

[B]

How much sex they had during those years, right?

[A]

Millie. Evan is just sticking it. So, like, they're getting everything. They're getting the fame. They're getting, like, the thing is, like, yeah, it's probably a shitty 360 deal, but they're probably getting so many free perks. Hotels, cars, jewelry.

[B]

But it's not a shitty360 when you don't do nothing.

[A]

Look, they brought the looks and the

[B]

dance moves, and in Hollywood, that's a lot.

[A]

That's a lot. Looks are a lot, bro.

[B]

Is.

[A]

Is hired models, okay? Everyone on the CW is just hot. And they're like, get up there and say these words that we told you to say with your perky boobs. So there's. You know what I mean? So I just feel like they should have tried to preserve the scam more. They should have stood there and been like, oh, our track is not working. MTV fix track. Like, you know, and everyone would have. That would have been fine.

[B]

I think really what we're seeing is they couldn't do. They just couldn't. And they were just like, we're done. I like, you know what I mean? I think it was the end of the run.

[A]

Maybe. They were constantly afraid that they were going to get found out, and they're not true scammers. And that's what it is, is that Milli Vanilli weren't. And I want to nilly vanilly.

[B]

So it is their fault. They weren't true. Scammers.

[A]

I want you guys to come on the show. I love you so much. I just want to say, Milli Vanilli, I sympathize with you guys because you aren't pure of heart.

[B]

Scammers.

[A]

You were literally chilling at your project, and this man, this really strange looking man came up and offered you $4,000. It's not your fault. You're not scammers, because if you were scammers, you would have rode this bitch to the wheelchair loft. The fact that y' all were so nervous because they were like, that's acting.

[C]

Accents.

[A]

That's accents. You're already nervous about the accent. Then finally the music skips and you run off stage like these things ran off stage like they were Usain Bolt. They were like, and we're out.

[B]

They were too good for the world. I. And that. That is the sad part of this story, is that one of them killed themselves. Yeah. They committed suicide because of this scandal. Yeah. You didn't know that?

[A]

No.

[B]

Well, maybe it was an overdose. Well, the story. The story I heard was that he killed himself. Yeah.

[A]

It says Pilates was found dead at 33 in Frankwood on April 2, 1998, of a suspected overdose. And they got famous in the 90s, so.

[B]

Yeah. And it was because it was like,

[A]

right after all this.

[B]

Yeah, it was really fucking sad. And when you now, like, talking about this and understanding the breakdown of shit, it's like, oh, they. Because I had always understood it to be that this was their idea, that they had. Whatever. I didn't know they were. Basically, they were pimped out by this

[A]

Frank guy, which makes it extra. And I never knew that either. So, guys, share this with your friends, because I truly didn't know that Milli Vanilli wasn't the orchestrators of. You know, because there's so many million jokes. Every early 2000s, late 90s sitcom was like, Milli Vanilla, tongue in cheek, Wink.

[B]

Also, there was a lot of weird

[A]

Denzel references in the early 2000s, because I guess Denzel was like the Michael B. Jordan of that time. Oh, my God. And there were so many television shows. Well, don't come over unless you didn't sell Washington because I want him to fuck me.

[B]

They didn't say that on network, but you get the idea that.

[A]

And Morgan Freeman Half and Half has a ton of references about. I'm rewatching Half and Half on Netflix. They have a ton of references that are like, oh, well, if it's Morgan Freeman, let me know. I'll come over and rub on him. I was like, he's the voice of God. Like, what are we doing?

[B]

Okay, that's weird.

[A]

It's weird. But so back to this really sad thing. Chelsea just informed us that he had had, like, addiction issues and that his death was formally ruled an accident. Yeah, but obviously we don't know. We weren't there. And Priscilla.

[B]

No,

[A]

but I do want to say, like, you know, addiction's nothing to joke about. Suicide's nothing to joke about. I. There's something I could hope that would make this more positive. However, I'm just like, damn. Like, I wish that we had all known that this Frank guy was like, the sick fuck who was, like, really controlling this because this was his second attempt. Like, guys, Milli Vanilli was just the one that hit. He's been going to projects and being like, here's $4,000 and I will fucking make your face a star. And you can just hang out in the pool while we record the album. So, like, he's done this before, but this is the one that hit, so. And I know that we were all so mean. And here's the thing, too, is like, pre Trump. Pre that raggedy bitch. 45. And honestly, like, pre, like, the social media age, news was news for a long time. So right now, if Milli Vanilli came out and they couldn't stay saying, we'd probably talk about that for, like, 16 hours on Twitter if that if the memes are slapping. So, yeah, Alcor's Internet wasn't popping like that at the time. And so everything, word of mouth and everything in the news lasted so much longer. It was like dinner party conversation and conversation on the news and jokes and television shows. Like, things lasted longer because it wasn't like the raggedy orange bitch in office who literally had crack rocks flying out his nose. And that was news for two hours.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

God, this whole Melania turned into the Grinch and was like the Christmas the kids. That was News for literally 30 minutes. Meanwhile, when Obama wore a tan suit, we was talking about that for two weeks.

[B]

My Lord, he looked good, right?

[A]

Or when I just saw this on Twitter and I missed this the first time around. But Brockwam apparently called Kamala Harris fine. It said she was the best looking woman in the. Said it. Or like, the best one. Best looking attorney general.

[B]

Where. When was this?

[A]

This is a few years back.

[B]

And they would have been a cute couple.

[A]

Right? That was too much. Too much light skin energy.

[B]

Right. But they would have been a cute couple.

[A]

But he said this and. And everybody was like, that must have been lit because it was completely unprompted.

[B]

Barry.

[A]

Barry got shit for it. But he talked about. At the Correspondence Center. He joked about it. So it was like, you know, Michelle was chilling. It was. Everybody was like, laughing. But it's funny, though, because, like, I truly didn't even know. But, like, those things used to last longer in the news cycle. And so if you're thinking about that as someone who's under duress, was under stress, who wasn't the mastermind behind this fucked up shit, and they got dragged on television, film, radio, everywhere. A dragging like that would weigh on you.

[B]

Of course it would. I mean, and again, just to reiterate, it was a huge. When I tell you it was a huge fucking story when this shit happened.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah, it was everywhere. I mean, like, I remember it. I remember being, you know, you know, seeing this. And it was. And it. Again, like you said, it's in all the shows, right? Every show talks about even to this day. You can still make that Milli Vanilli reference. And only Gen Z won't know what's going on.

[A]

But I'm bummed for them, because if they had just stayed on stage, it wouldn't have been in this context.

[B]

I need you to stop trying to save Millie. Can we just get that out there? I need you to stop. You're such a, like, such a sleazy manager. Like, why didn't you just stay on stage?

[A]

I am a sleazy scam manager. I am. Because they ran off and that's what made them look guilty. They look like they were clearly lip singing. They rest off stage. And the chorus continued to repeat over and over again, which makes me think, because, like, look, okay, it's back in the day, right? Technology, it really ain't shit.

[B]

Okay? This was only like 30 years ago. Relax.

[A]

Okay, but if some shit is skipping, like, y' all couldn't unplug the bitch. I couldn't turn the song off like this. Someone sabotage Melly vividly. Was it Frank did Frank was Frank, like, oh, they got more fame than I ever could. And then he did he. Yolanda Saldivar, them.

[B]

He's what now? Is that. What's her name? Is that Selena?

[C]

Yes.

[B]

How did I know?

[A]

Know the woman that murdered Selena, who was the president of her fan.

[B]

Oh, you say Yolanda. Oh, Yolanda.

[A]

Yolanda Salar.

[B]

Oh, I know the up Yolanda and Yolanda selfie bar.

[A]

She's still in jail, I think so.

[B]

Is she in Jail for this.

[A]

She has she been in jail?

[B]

Jail and her.

[A]

You know what? I honestly, like, feel bad for the actress who played Yolanda Salivar in the selena movie with JLo, because whenever I think of Yolanda Salivar, I think of that woman's face.

[B]

Poor lady. She.

[A]

I don't think of the real Yolanda.

[B]

Hopefully. She had heavy makeup on, so she looks totally different in real life.

[A]

No, she's very recognizable. And I feel super bad for her because I'm like, anytime I think of Yolanda Saldivar, I think of that bitch. And I'm calling her a bitch. She's just an actress.

[B]

She's a bitch and an actress. Oh, she's still alive.

[A]

She's 60 years old.

[B]

Yolanda.

[C]

Mm.

[B]

Fuck that hoe.

[A]

Fuck that hoe. Fuck Yolanda and Donald Trump, both of them. Fuck both of them. So, man, I really feel for them. So eventually it was exposed that they had never even sung on their six time platinum album to begin with. Never. Not a note. Not a tune.

[B]

And that was the other thing is that they had. They won Grammys. Like, it was like, y' all were fucked. From like, can you imagine?

[A]

C, D, C, D, E, D, W,

[B]

G, H. Talk about a fucking whirlwind.

[A]

Not a note. And you.

[B]

Can you imagine that whirlwind?

[A]

And you, how do you repo a Grammy? This John Legend show up to your house and he's like, all of your grandma's come with me. There's been so much thinking on this episode. I'm so sorry, guys. It's all from me too. I'm apologizing a little bit, but I won't stop.

[B]

And I'm like, I definitely sang as well in addition to you did.

[A]

But, like, I feel like more necessary than my singing, which was like, I just feel like singing today. Damn, I feel so bad. So they were exposed guys in November of 1990 as complete frauds. Their Grammy was rep. They debo'd their Grammys, snatched it right off their necks. And unfortunately, their careers were never able to bounce back. Which makes sense because they never really had careers. It's like, it's hard to bounce back from, like, something you never had. They went. They went back into the studio where they swam in the pool, but, you know, they just couldn't make any more music.

[B]

No, they weren't allowed in that pool anymore. Frank was like the out of here.

[A]

I think Frank is behind this. I'm gonna put a conspiracy theory out that Frank. Frank was the person who sabotaged Milli Vanilli.

[B]

I support it.

[A]

I think he was hating on them. They got too big. He wasn't ready for that. And he sabotaged them.

[B]

I believe it.

[A]

I feel like Frank came in and was like, milli Vanilli, let's hang out. And they're like, Flank was the no one to hang with you. We have the groupies here. We want to be with the groupies. And he was like, these bitches. I found them at the projects and

[B]

I gave them $4,000 back to the projects for you. Oh, you know, they're horrible people.

[A]

So scammer of the week.

[B]

This is.

[A]

This is perfect. Students for Trump co founder pleads guilty to scamming business out of $46,000.

[B]

Donald Trump.

[C]

Hey.

[A]

Donald Trump.

[C]

Hey.

[A]

What the shoulders? Donald Trump. Hey. Hit the dance. Donald Trump. So John Lambert. So co founder, founder of Students for Trump, pleaded guilty to scamming consumers and businesses out of $46,000 by posing as a lawyer online and dispensing legal advice. We love a litigious lying king. Yeah, you can scam Trump supporters all you want. Like, I'm. I'm not against it.

[B]

I'm for it.

[A]

I'm like, should I make some recount merch for Trump supporters?

[B]

Right? Like, how can you turn leg into a Trump supporting

[A]

leg has gone full Trump support leg.

[B]

Trump 2020. Trump leg. I don't know.

[A]

Kick Joe Biden out with the leg. I don't know. I just want to make money. So 23 year old Lambert went by

[B]

Eric Pope, which already I'm not. I don't trust a nigga named Pope. You know who else is named Pope? Olivia. We don't fuck. She a shady, too.

[A]

Listen, we love. We stand. This is Olivia Pope. Stand account. Okay, okay.

[B]

But she got some dirt on her hands.

[A]

I know she did. She was the Republican president. Wasn't that supposed to be based off Condoleer Rice? Let me stop talking before I get sued. But Eric Pope, I love that. He was like watching Scandal. He's like, what do I call myself? Olivia Pope. Olive Pope. Oliver Pope.

[B]

I'm so close. I can feel it.

[A]

Let's go, Eric P.

[B]

So he pretended

[A]

to be a New York based attorney at a law firm called Pope and Dunn.

[B]

That done got you, though?

[A]

Done. Sounds like you work at the law.

[B]

Done and done.

[A]

Done and done. So the Justice Department basically said this. He pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Are you an attorney? Judge Valerie Caproni asked the Tennessee native in court. The New York Post reported. Reported no, Your honor, Lambert said, that's crazy. He said, look, he said, I'm not an attorney. I just said that I worked at Pope and done.

[B]

Yes, my last name is Pope.

[A]

Look at the.

[B]

I am the Pope.

[A]

Davies and Mosley. Like, look, we work for Davies and Mosley. We never said we were lawyers. Did I have Esquire on my email signature? Yeah, but it don't mean just law.

[B]

Just cuz my card, my business card says I'm a lawyer. Doesn't mean I really, really am. Please, come on, come on. Now back up, your honor.

[A]

So Lambert founded Students for Trump during the 2016 presidential election. He ran this scheme from August 2016 to April 2018 and made several appearances on news shows. Prosecutors said he created a fake website and claimed to have 15 years of experience in corporate patent law.

[B]

I'm just going to go ahead and say you don't have to be an expert to be on a new show. And I think Lacey scam goddess Mosley is proof positive.

[A]

Yeah, guys don't trust experts on new shows. Cause I'm one of them.

[B]

I just.

[A]

Yeah, you should not trust that.

[B]

Like, got you rethinking your whole life, right?

[A]

I'm gonna just tell y' all point blank, as an expert on the news show, as an actual expert on abc, like, retweets, like, videos of me, like, talking about scams, and I'm like, bro, yeah, don't trust none of that.

[B]

Nope. So.

[A]

And I'm also very fascinated by that because I'm like, y' all go come over here. Listen to y' all about to get some expert information. Look, we. I told y', all, I will tell y' all when I'm making stuff up. We do. Sherilyn Vera does research our facts. They are factual and actual. However, I do add non goya adobo to them.

[B]

I just want to say anytime someone rhymes their defense, factual and actual. Cause if the glove don't fit, you must acquit. Acquit.

[A]

Yeah, you should know they lying if you gotta rhyme if you gotta hit niggas with razzle dazzle for the truth. Oh, razzle dazzle they are lying. We're doing some rhymes for some razzle dazzle if you gotta throw razzle dazzle

[B]

in Nigga, you lying, don't make it rhyme. That's all that matters.

[A]

So they also alleged that Lambert pretended to be a graduate of NYU's law school, which, you know, another scam. But yeah, no, seriously, like, I don't know how I feel about the scam because I'M just like, yeah, scam Trump supporters seems fair. Seems only right.

[B]

Here's what. Okay, so here's my thing about the scam. Again, I'm with you. I don't know how to feel. And the only reason why I don't know how to feel is because I'm like, was this guy scamming Trump supporters, but he also was a Trump supporter, you understand what I'm saying? Was he just scamming his fellow people? Because that is very Trumpian, you know what I'm saying?

[A]

Right?

[B]

Or was he really on our side and, you know, scamming Trumpers as a, as a lefty, as a radical, as a progressive, whatever you want to call us in 2020? That's the question. If he was a Trump supporter, her, then fuck him. But if he wasn't, then I'm gonna put some money on his books. Because he's in jail, right?

[A]

No, we don't know if he's in jail. Let's figure out if he's in jail right now. I'm about to find out that we did get some information on this Lambert character, and unfortunately, he is a Trump supporter. He actually did have involvement in a student organization that was supporting Trump. He just decided to lie and say that he was a lawyer and scam for the $46,000 from people. So I'm disappointed in you.

[B]

Yeah, John, now I'm mad at you.

[A]

Now, honestly, I think if you hadn't have been a Trump supporter, you probably would have made more money. Just saying, like, if you had been scamming this from a better place in your heart.

[B]

Because when you scam, it has to come from the altruistic part of your heart. Okay?

[A]

At least if you're scamming degenerates, it has to like, like, yeah, and look, I get it. Like, nobody wants to be called a degenerate for voting for Donald Trump. Hey, gotta.

[B]

I don't wanna be in degenerate.

[A]

Honestly, I'd say if you voted for Trump the first time around and you were like, oh, a Republican, okay, he's kind of fucked up. But, you know, a lot of Republicans are. And Democrats, let's be honest, I'll let you rock with that. But after four years of this raggedy bitch, a whole pandemic, and all the raggedy ass shit he's done, and you still voted for him.

[B]

Not only you still vote for him, but you were like, let's, let's vote in higher percentages.

[A]

Yeah, okay, white women. Before I go, y' all went from 53% to 55.

[B]

How dare you.

[A]

What happened?

[B]

We. I went on Amazon Filth and you did this.

[A]

And the Karen wigs were sold out. I think the Karen's assembled. They said, you're gonna call us Karen's old and we're gonna show you what

[B]

a Karen really is.

[A]

They assembled like a fucking power Rangers. Like they were like, it's morphin Time. And they all put on their spiky wigs with the bangs, swooped to the right and they voted against all their self interests. Guys, please talk to your family members. You can't if you're a liberal and you enjoy this show, especially cuz, you know I'm a blackity black woman. You have to talk to your family. Please don't spend any more time posturing on Twitter or talking to your black friends about how bad the world is. We know, but if you're really an ally, guys, get out there and spread the good gospel to your cousins, your aunties, your problematic uncles.

[B]

It just fucking work.

[A]

Don't let Uncle Chris tell that weird racist joke he tells every Thanksgiving that you all politely laugh at. Like, guys, we have to. We have to do the work.

[B]

The work is just beginning. Yes, we have won this battle, but this is a fucking war. And the war is for the conscience of this nation. And we have never gotten it right.

[A]

And don't think that black people are doing this work too. You think I don't have cousins who believe ti when he said that if you drink boiling hot water, the virus will get burnt out of your throat and you won't get coronavirus. I absolutely do have to talk to those people. I have hotep uncles and aunties who think that milk will stop you from getting your period. And guess what? I get on Facebook and I'm like, hey, uncle so and so. That's not true. I know T I told you to invest in bitcoin and also that you could sanitize your throat for coronavirus. But he lied. I have to do that. So. So do you.

[B]

We are. We are all doing the work. It's hard. Hard, right?

[A]

And you got to come from a non pretentious place. You got to come from a like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also love Louis Farrakhan.

[B]

Anyway, honestly, he's woke as minus all

[A]

his other wild that he says you gotta be like, oh yeah, Dr. Umar's last sermon lit. Anyways, let's talk about. Let's talk about how you're severely misguided, but all right, guys, we're gonna get out of here. Um, congregation.

[B]

Wait.

[A]

Do you have anything you wanna plug?

[B]

Yes, I do. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

[A]

You think it's trash? I'm so sorry.

[B]

No, I actually. I guess at this point. Do I have anything to plug? Not right now. It's the coronavirus.

[A]

Can you plug your socials?

[B]

Oh, that's right. Okay, come find me on Instagram. Priscilladaviesactor. P R I S C I L L A D A V I E BS Actor. Just rewind this four times and on Twitter, you can find me at Q O T Desert. As in Queen of the Desert.

[A]

I don't know why you made such a drastically different Twitter name. I'll say it one more time. Q O T Desert. Because, guys, you're gonna need to hear it twice. Three times. Q O T Desert, guys, as always, email scamgodispod, gmail.com snitch on your friends and family. Just make sure your scam is retired, because we do not want to up your bag. Scam got his PO. All platforms, Twitter, Instagram. If you want to find me and my shenanigans. D I V A L A C I Diva Lacey. On all platforms. Guys, please, if you have a thought or a criticism about the show, consider texting your group chat. Okay? I, like, I'm a black woman in America, and I'm already tired.

[B]

She stressed, y' all see, already scratched.

[C]

Leave her alone.

[A]

And, like, look, if it's something that you think is actually serious, think about that in your own head. Because I'm pretty woke and I listen to all these and I edit them. But if you really think it's serious, go ahead and jam me sometimes. You know, I'll listen. I'm like, okay, I understand.

[C]

Understand.

[A]

But for most of y', all, leave me alone.

[B]

Please stop. Also, Donald Trump.

[A]

Oh, wait, I'm sorry. I didn't. I didn't hear you.

[B]

What I said was,

[A]

Listen to that. Right out to that. Guys congregation, Stay scheming. Yeah, I've got it. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess is starring me. Duh. Scam Goddess, AKA Lacey Mosley. Scam Goddess is produced by Chelsea Jacobson and engineered by Marina Baiz with research by Sherilyn Vera. Stay.