FULL SHOW: Charlie Kirk Fatally Sh0t, G. Herbo Reacts To Trump Sending National Guard To Chicago, And More

Summary

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The Breakfast Club – September 11, 2025

Episode: Charlie Kirk Fatally Shot, G. Herbo Reacts to Trump Sending National Guard to Chicago, and More
Hosts: DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God
Special Guest: Mehdi Hasan

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Episode Overview

This episode covers a seismic day in current affairs: the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a live event, a fresh high school shooting in Colorado, heated reactions from lawmakers and the media, and a thoughtful, challenging interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan. The morning’s conversation pivots from grief and outrage, through listeners processing national trauma, to a deep dive into international politics and the state of American media. A lighter side returns as the team discusses music, pop culture, and listener advice calls.

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Key Discussions & Insights

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Breaking News: Charlie Kirk Fatally Shot

[05:29–10:42]

• Incident Recap:

  • Charlie Kirk, a high-profile conservative and founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while fielding questions on gun violence at Utah Valley University.
  • Suspect(s) remain at large; police have released prior detainees.

• Social & Political Reaction:

  • The hosts play reactions from Fox News’ Jesse Watters and Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who immediately politicized the homicide, blaming “the radical left.”
  • President Trump orders flags at half-staff, denounces the act, and blames political extremism from opponents.

• Hosts’ Emotional Responses:

  • DJ Envy ([09:25]):

    “He had an opinion. Whether you liked it or not, part of being in this country is the right of free speech. The fact that he was shot and killed… is absolutely, positively sad. … To be killed for your opinion is disgraceful.”

  • Jess Hilarious:

    “All I know is that he had a family and was taken away… my heart goes out to his children and his wife, but he’s gone now, so everything that he was judged for saying… that’s all over.”

• Reflection on Rhetoric & Violence:

  • The hosts stress the tragedy regardless of Kirk’s divisive stances, advocating for empathy and the sanctity of public speech.

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Colorado High School Shooting

[10:42–11:38]

• Another Tragedy:
  • Student-perpetrated shooting leaves two wounded at Evergreen HS (near Denver) before turning the gun on himself.
  • Reflection by DJ Envy and Charlamagne on gun violence’s normalization in America.

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Listener Calls: Processing Crisis & Culture

[13:19–16:40]

• Callers debate:

  • Links between heated political rhetoric and public safety.
  • A second caller laments the “crisis of young men without guidance” and the destructive influence of hate content online.

• Charlamagne Tha God:

  “We like to say that there’s freedom of speech, but we have to understand that there are consequences to the words that come out of our mouth … you do not get to determine the consequences of the impact of your words.” ([15:59])

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Gun Violence, Extremism, and “Donkey of the Day”

[71:17–80:39]

• Charlamagne’s Rant:
  • Blames the gun lobby, gun industry, and politicians refusing common-sense reform for a society “in a state of emergency” from within.
  • Recites grim mass shooting stats: “356 mass shootings in America this year; zero days since our last mass shooting.”
  • Plays a viral Charlie Kirk clip where Kirk insisted, “some deaths are worth it to protect the Second Amendment.”
  • Charlamagne:

    “Even if Charlie Kirk had a gun yesterday, it wouldn’t have protected him. When somebody got the drop on you, they got you … Only thing that could have saved Charlie Kirk yesterday was keeping guns out of the hands of violent extremists.”

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Special Guest: Mehdi Hasan

[26:14–55:18]

Mehdi Hasan Interview Highlights

• Middle East Escalation:

  • Charlamagne: “In the past 24 hours, Israel has bombed Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar… What is that about?” ([26:42])
  • Mehdi Hasan:

    “…It’s one country in the Middle East that doesn’t have to abide by the rules that everyone else follows. There is no red line… If they were any other country, we’d be calling them a rogue nation.”

  • Criticizes US administrations (Biden, Trump) for bipartisan allowance: “On Israel, it's a bipartisan consensus. … Both parties let them do whatever they want.” ([27:29])

• Debate on Genocide in Gaza:

  • Dissects and debunks Ben Shapiro’s denial of genocide:

    “The 1948 Genocide Convention says genocide is … intent to destroy, in whole OR IN PART, a national, religious, racial, or ethnic group… Israel’s met at least four of those five conditions… Based on those conditions, it is a genocide.” ([33:09])

• On Argument, Debate, and Media:

  • Mehdi Hasan:

    “Whether you want to avoid an argument, you can't, therefore you should be equipped for it… I do think arguing gets a bad rap. Argument is fundamentally about disagreeing in good faith to come to a conclusion... Democracy requires healthy debate.” ([38:32])

  • Emphasizes the difference between good-faith debate and performative, “bad faith” cable news performances.
  • Advice: When facing extremists or misinformation:

    “When I debate those people, I’m not trying to change their minds; I’m trying to change the audience… It’s about the watching audience, not about you and the other person.” ([41:33])

  • Critique of Fox News:

    “It’s not a news outlet. It is a force for evil in this world in terms of spreading racism and misogyny and election denial and climate denial. I don’t want to go on and legitimize them.” ([43:09])

• US Political Parties and Leadership:

  • On Kamala Harris and Biden’s Gaza policy:

    “The genocide would not have happened had Biden not hugged Netanyahu close… Harris would have been better on Gaza than Biden… still, she didn’t take that opportunity.” ([49:21])

  • On Democrats:

    “The opposition party has to fight for us. These people don’t fight. Nobody believes that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are fighters.” ([54:16])

  • Predicts the need for new, outsider Democratic leadership, possibly someone like Jon Stewart.

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Other Notable Segments

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Chicago National Guard Debate

[95:00–97:04]

• G Herbo’s Reaction:
  • Rapper G Herbo tells TMZ he would welcome the National Guard if it “keeps kids safe.”

    “Just want to keep the babies safe, that's all I care about.”

  • Hosts and Lauren LaRosa debate whether Herbo (and most asked on the spot) truly understand the implications of military presence.

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Pop Culture & Celebrity News

[60:38–70:43, 97:04–99:28]

• Whoopi Goldberg on Retirement:
  • Viral conversation about whether Whoopi can afford to retire, sparking discussion on pay disparities for Black women in entertainment and old clips with Monique.
  • Charlamagne:

    “Retirement’s not an age, it’s an income.” ([62:20])

• Paul Wall on Jill Scott Collaboration:
  • Funny recounting of being too shy to write explicit lyrics for Jill Scott, surprised by the sexual boldness in her music.
• Portia Williams Divorce:
  • Update: Portia’s legal victory in her highly publicized divorce.

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Listener Advice

[85:00–89:50, 90:19–93:21]

• Weight, Family, and Self-Esteem:
  • Call from a young woman distressed by family (especially her mother) repeatedly mocking her weight, despite her efforts with therapy and exercise.
  • Mix of empathy, tough love, and humor from Jess and Charlamagne.
• Long-Term Relationship, No Ring:
  • Caller wonders if 13 years with her man (two kids, two houses) but no marriage means she should leave. Jess’ blunt advice:

    “If that’s what you really want, you obviously can’t be with him. That’s not your man.” ([92:47])

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Notable Quotes

• Charlamagne Tha God on Gun Control ([71:17]):

  “Gun control in America is an oxymoron … America doesn’t control guns. Guns control America.”

• Mehdi Hasan ([33:44]):

  “The US and UK spent 70 years building up the international order. It’s all been burned down over the last two years for one guy, Netanyahu.”

• Jess Hilarious ([92:47]):

  “If that’s what you really want, you obviously can’t be with him. That’s not your man.”

• Mehdi Hasan on Debate ([41:33]):

  “I’m not trying to change their minds; I’m trying to change the audience…”

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Time | |---|---| | Breaking news: Charlie Kirk shooting | 05:29–10:42 | | Colorado school shooting | 10:42–11:38 | | Listener calls on violence/speech | 13:19–16:40 | | Charlamagne’s “Donkey of the Day” gun rant | 71:17–80:39 | | Mehdi Hasan interview: Israel, debate, media | 26:14–55:18 | | G Herbo/National Guard in Chicago | 95:00–97:04 | | Whoopi Goldberg discussion | 60:38–65:49 | | Listener advice (weight/family) | 85:00–89:50 | | Listener advice (no marriage proposal) | 90:19–93:21 |

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Tone & Style

• Emotional range: From raw outrage and sadness, to incisive political critique, to signature Breakfast Club humor and pop culture banter.
• Quotes preserve original voices: “Retirement’s not an age, it’s an income.” (Charlamagne) “I just want to keep Chicago safe.” (G Herbo) “I’m not trying to change their minds; I’m trying to change the audience...” (Mehdi Hasan)
• Candid & unfiltered: Hosts speak their minds and challenge each other, especially around issues of race, gun violence, and media truth.

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Summary

A dramatic, news-heavy episode, this show plunges listeners into America’s anxiety over gun violence—with the killing of Charlie Kirk and fresh high school tragedy—while refusing to flinch from the complexity and emotion behind the headlines. Guest Mehdi Hasan delivers a powerful, multidisciplinary interview unraveling U.S.-Israel relations, genocide accusations, and the decay of meaningful debate in modern America. Listeners' calls reflect the country’s deep divides and everyday struggles. The program mixes raw realism, urgent advocacy, and moments of levity, making for a truly consequential installment.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[Lauren LaRosa]

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[Mehdi Hassan]

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

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[Mehdi Hassan]

Everyday yay into your life. I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

This is Wisecrack available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

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[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt, a young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend 2016. No goodbyes, no clues, just gone. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You guys, this is history. What you've done, what you guys have built a platform that influences.

[Mehdi Hassan]

World'S most.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Dangerous morning show, Wake the up Breakfast DJ Envy Every play by record. I made it Jess.

[DJ Envy]

Hilarious.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She'll spare nobody.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Charlemagne the God made.

[Mehdi Hassan]

You think the Viking of controversial questions would take his part? I like this show.

[DJ Envy]

Thanks.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good morning usa. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo yo yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.

[DJ Envy]

Just hilarious. Hey, Charlamagne, what's poppin?

[Mehdi Hassan]

It is Thursday. Hey.

[DJ Envy]

Tried to be all the voices. How y' all feeling this morning? What's up, Red? How you feeling, brother?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What up, Envy?

[DJ Envy]

Ah, man. Hope you guys are doing good. Woke up this morning, you know, if you listen to the show, you know, I have these two puppies that I'm trying to train. And it's been going well. I'm not gonna lie. It's been going well. They've been potty trained. Everything has been great until this morning. And as soon as I walk downstairs, I could smell all men. Yes, all men. And I'm already running halfway late, so I'm like. But I'm already dressed, so I'm like, I can't. There's nothing I can do. Like, what do you do in that situation? Because I didn't have time to clean up the dog poop. Right. Or to pee. So you know what I did?

[Mehdi Hassan]

What you do?

[DJ Envy]

Called my wife. Hey, babe, there's a gift for you downstairs. So she wakes up, she comes downstairs and she smells it. And she's cursed me out the whole way to the station.

[Mehdi Hassan]

So they spread it out all over the floor.

[DJ Envy]

It was all. It was everywhere it was. And I don't know. Cause they've been so good. It's two twin Doberman pinchers. And they've been so great. So good. But last night or this morning. Morning, I should say. I don't know, maybe something went through their stomach or something. Maybe it was something they ate. I don't know what it was, but it was all over the floor. Yeah, that's what I said. Oh, to the point where, I mean, you could. Oh, my goodness. Well, salute to my wife. Good morning, babes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Rough way to start the morning.

[DJ Envy]

Rough way to start the morning. I got out of dodge, though. But, yeah, we got a great show for you today. Mehdi Hassan will be joining us now. He's a journalist, broadcaster, and author. He put out the book Win Every Argument, the Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking. We're gonna be chopping up with him a little bit later. And then coming up next, we have front page news. Mimi will be here. She'll be breaking down everything with Charlie Kirk and rest in peace and condolences to that. That. That young man. And we'll get into all that next. All right? So don't go anywhere if you got some things to get off your chest. 800-585-1051. Phone lines are wide open. Charlemagne and Jess will be here in a second. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Let's get in some front page news. Start off with some quick sports and Thursday night football. The commanders take on the GRE US tonight at 8:15pm that is on Prime Video. What's up, Mimi?

[Jess Hilarious]

First of all, I just want to say, yes, I am here. Don't play with me every. Because I don't know what you said before you got before y' all let me in the zoom, but don't play with me. And Mimi, you look pretty. Go ahead.

[DJ Envy]

I was trying to be you. I was like, what's up, Jess?

[Jess Hilarious]

Hi.

[DJ Envy]

That's what I did. What's up, Mimi?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, y'.

[Caller/Listener]

All.

[News Reporter]

Good morning, Jess. Good morning, Envy. So we're going to start this morning with breaking news out of Utah. A shocking and deadly shooting involving one of the most controversial voices in conservative politics. 31 year old Charlie Kirk, the co founder of Turning Point USA and a loud advocate for expansive gun rights, was fatally shot and killed yesterday while speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit at Utah Valley University. Now, a manhunt is still underway. Two people who were considered suspects were later released, according to police. Now, if you're not familiar with Kirk, he was hugely influential among young conservatives, building Turning Point into a nationwide network on more than 3,000 college campuses and high school campuses. He was also, though, very polarizing, known for spreading election conspiracy theories, opposing gun restrictions, and pushing rhetoric that critics say fueled division. At yesterday's event, he was taking audience questions, taking audience questions about mass shootings and gun violence when he was killed. Now, we're going to play the audio leading up to the shooting. I want to warn you, it may be hard to listen to, but we do stop right before we hear the gunshots. Let's listen.

[Mehdi Hassan]

So do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years? Too many. Give us credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Last 10 years, counting or not counting gang violence? Great.

[News Reporter]

So right after that, when he says gang violence, a single gunshot rang out. Video circling on social media shows Kirk grabbing his neck as blood pours from his wound. You can also see people panicking, screaming, scrambling for safety. Now, Kirk, he often defended broad gun rights, even saying that some deaths were worth it to protect the second Amendment. Now, video of that statement is also circulating on social media in the aftermath of his death, sparking a different conversation about gun laws and political extremism. And of course, of course, as news spread, lawmakers on both aisles, they are condemning the shooting. But the blame game has escalated. Fox News host Jesse Waters reacted to the shooting during his show. Let's listen to what he had to say.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Charlie spoke the truth. He said what he felt, and they killed him for it. The message is shut your mouth. And this isn't the first time this has happened. This is just the worst time. They shot Trump. They went to Kavanaugh's house with a rifle. They're firebombing Elon's cars. Rioting in la. Trans shooters are killing our kids. Hell, Rand Paul got his ribs broken by his neighbor. ICE agents have to wear masks because their families are getting death threats. They're telling us we're at war.

[News Reporter]

And then there's Republican Congresswoman Nancy May. She also spoke with reporters right after the shooting. Let's listen to that exchange.

[Caller/Listener]

Democrats own what happened today.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I am devastated. Just because you speak your mind on.

[News Reporter]

An issue doesn't mean you get shot.

[Mehdi Hassan]

By that logic, do Republicans own the.

[DJ Envy]

Shooting of the two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Isn't this on both sides?

[Jess Hilarious]

Are you kidding me?

[Mehdi Hassan]

No, I'm asking.

[News Reporter]

We don't know what conditions Charlie Kirk.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Is in right now.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Some raging leftist lunatic put a bullet through his neck. And you want to talk about Republicans right now?

[News Reporter]

No, no, not at all. You said the Democrats owned Democrats own this. Well, President Donald Trump has ordered flags to fly at half staff until September 14th in response to Kirk's death. And he called this a dark moment for America and blame the shooting on the radical left.

[Jess Hilarious]

Envy.

[News Reporter]

What do you think about this? I think that this shooter hasn't been caught yet. So I think our elected officials need to be a little bit careful before we absolutely place the blame.

[DJ Envy]

Charlamagne's here now as well. I do feel like the gentleman wasn't a politician. Right. He wasn't a lawmaker. He had an opinion. Whether you believed his opinion, whether you liked his opinion, whether you disliked his opinion. Part of being in this country is the right of free speech. And the fact that he was shot and killed and he has two kids and he has a wife is absolutely, positively sad. And I don't believe in that. You know, you should be able to say what you want to say, whether people like it or love it or hate it. But the fact that you have an opinion and you're killed for it is very Disgraceful. And I'm. I feel sorry for that. That that man's family, he has two kids, is. Is just disgusting in America. To me. That's how I feel. Charlemagne.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just sat down. Give me a minute. Why do we have to start this show at 6am all the time? Exactly.

[DJ Envy]

Well, that's, that's, that's the time I literally just said, what's up? What's up, Jessica?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, I don't really know enough about, you know, Charlie, Kurt, to have an opinion about the things he said when he was alive. All I know is that I did hear that he had a family and he was taken away from them simply. And that's just. That's messed up. So my heart goes out to his children and his wife, but he's gone now. And so everything that he was, you know, judged for saying or whatever, I mean, that's all over. That really don't matter now because he's not here.

[News Reporter]

Well, you know, we're also following another shooting, sadly, this one out of a high school in Colorado about 30 minutes outside of Denver. Authorities there say a student opened fire yesterday at Evergreen High School. That's just around 12pm wounding two students before turning the gun on himself. Now, police confirmed the shooter died from a self inflicted gun wound. Three students in total were rushed to the hospital. One remains in critical condition, another is stable, and a fourth student was treated for other injuries. Now, after the shooting, the school went on lockdown. Officers, of course, they swept the campus. Students were evacuated, and parents were reunited with their children at a nearby elementary school. The FBI, the FBI and the ATF are assisting. The motive is still unclear, and the suspect's identity has not been released. We're just seeing. This was in Colorado. This was right outside Denver, about 30 minutes outside Denver yesterday.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, I just sat down. Do we have to start the show at 6:00am Every day? Like Cammy, can we maybe 6 o'?

[Jess Hilarious]

Clock? You knew that y' all been doing this for the last 15 seconds.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know. And you know what? The older I get, I want to adjust things for moments like this. Like, you just walk in and it's just heavy immediately off the top. I got to get my bearings. You're right. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. We fight. We started smooth.

[DJ Envy]

We talked about the dogs. We played some music. My dog, whatever. My dogs pooped on this morning. I had to clean up about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm like.

[DJ Envy]

We had. We had a nice conversation. Jess came in, she was telling, like, it was nice.

[Jess Hilarious]

And then you just, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did we tell a Medie. A song going to be here this morning.

[DJ Envy]

We did that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. Do you tell me. Taped it yesterday, though. Just. Just to be sure. We taped it yesterday. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, we taped Medi yesterday. I just want everybody to. To know that.

[DJ Envy]

And you know what?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because of all of these different current events that have happened, I don't want, you know, to think that we're not discussing. Good morning, Mimi. How are you this morning?

[News Reporter]

Good morning, Charlotte.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'm good.

[News Reporter]

How are you?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm blessed. Black and highly favorite. Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Jess, grab my phone charge. You know how phone charges up here? Charlamagne using my phone charge. I want to make sure. Because Lauren stole his. I want mine back. Get it off your chest.

[Jess Hilarious]

800 laptop charger. My job.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Jess Hilarious]

Damn. Yeah, go ahead.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, phone lines are wide open. 800-585-1051 is the breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club. This is your time to get it off your chest.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Whether you're mad or blessed.

[Jess Hilarious]

I hate the way that you walk.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The way that you talk. I hate the way that everything we need is blessed.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Call up next.

[DJ Envy]

800-585-1051.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not just me.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'm with the culture feeling.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hello?

[DJ Envy]

Who's this?

[Caller/Listener]

This is Kiki from Jersey City.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, Kiki from Jersey City. Good morning.

[Caller/Listener]

Good morning. I did want to make a point about the Republicans are spewing make America great and hatred and all these other things. But what they also need to take into context is what comes along with making America great is now the attempted assassinations on our politicians. We came away from that when America was great, our politicians were safe. There were no assassinations. So when they want to bring back the great America again, they have to realize that this is also what they're going to bring back, where our politicians and our public figures are no longer safe and they are targets.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I really do want to.

[Caller/Listener]

Well, they have to take the good with the bad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I wonder, was there ever a time where politicians or public figures were safe? I mean, I think that there's different moments in our history where, you know, things get ramped up, but they're never truly safe.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, it seems a lot worse the last couple of years, though. It seems like the attack on people's speech and what they say seems a lot worse the last couple of years. Hello? Who's this?

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, this is CT from Jersey.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, CT from Jersey. Good morning. Talk to us.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, man, I just want to say, guys, I'm a huge fan of what you guys do, but I want to say, just because everyone listening, we have in a crisis right now in this country with young American men and a lack of guidance and a lack of morals and love and unity and respect as people. And these young men are taking to the Internet and watching videos of hate speech and xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, misogynistic views. And I just want to say to people, raise your kids right. Raise these young men. This is the future. Right now, we are responsible for the direction this country is going in as parents as. It's just sickening to see people who are having children, they're not raising their children right. They're letting the Internet raise their children. They're letting hate speech and Islamophobia and homophobia and sexism raise their children. And we all need to come together. Today is a perfect example of differences in opinions and. And it's just so sad when you see the way this world is going. And I was raised by a single mother who worked three jobs, and I am now a husband and father. I'm trying to raise a young man myself and seeing the world that he's living in and the fact that someone who can parade around the country spewing hate speech can be celebrated, it's just very sad. And I understand there's differences in opinions and the freedom of speech, but there's limits to freedom of speech. There's actions.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When you say things, I definitely agree with that. I think we all need to practice more mindfulness. You know what I mean? Like we like to say. We like to say that there's freedom of speech, but we have to understand that there is consequences to the words that come out of our mouth, which is why we should very. We should be very mindful of the things that come out of our mouth.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, there are consequences for. Should there be consequences? Should there be death consequences regardless of.

[Caller/Listener]

No, I'm not saying that is. I'm not saying that's the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And by the way, I'm not. I'm not talking about any particular situation. What you just said, envy is exactly why you should be mindful, because you don't get to determine those consequences now. You're right. That's why you should be very mindful of what comes out of your mouth, because you do not get to determine the consequences of the impact of your words.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, hit us up now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good Morning. There's something special about folks who come through without being asked. Like your coworker surprising you with your favorite coffee just because. Or your friend handing you the aux cord the moment you get into the car. No debate, no fight, just positive vibes. That kind of love. It just hits different. And that's exactly the energy. AT&T is on with their new guarantee. If there's ever a network interruption, AT&T will proactively credit you for a full day of service. No calls, no emails, no jumping through hoops. It's just handled. It's like the universe saying, I got you. Except this time it's not the stars aligning, it's your network. And let's be real, that connection is everything. Whether you're holding down the group chat, checking in on your parents scrolling TikTok, your network's gotta come through. And if there's a problem, AT&T is on the case. No stress, no drama, just real backup when it counts. Credit for Fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guaranty for full details. AT&T connecting changes everything.

[Mehdi Hassan]

My name is Ed. Everyone say hello Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer and my mum is a cousin. So like, it's not like, what do.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

You get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

[Mehdi Hassan]

On 22 July 2015, 23 year old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack where stand up comedy and murder take center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Power struggles, shady money, drugs, violence and broken promises.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals. There's no integrity, there's no loyalty.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's all gone.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Mehdi Hassan]

F Hook.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hook Mike deals. Let's get models in, let's get them out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And the models themselves, they carried scars that never fully healed till this day.

[Hunter]

Honestly, if I see a measuring Tape, I freak out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

The Model wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Gregoriadas, this is the untold story of an industry built on ruthless ambition. Listen to Model wars on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[DJ Envy]

The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This is your time to get it off your chest.

[DJ Envy]

Whether you're mad or blessed, we want.

[Mehdi Hassan]

To hear from you on the Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this?

[Caller/Listener]

It's KG from kc, man. What's up?

[DJ Envy]

What's up, brother?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

KG from kc.

[Caller/Listener]

What's up? What's up? Charlamagi or Charlemagne.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right?

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, Envy, man. I just got something off my chest, man. Hey, I Instagram stalked you last night, man. And if Black Excellence had a picture next to it, man, it'd be your family, bro. He's got a beautiful family.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

First of all, how the hell could they ever be Black Excellence?

[DJ Envy]

We all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When they're all Dominican.

[DJ Envy]

I know. We're not Dominican at all. I appreciate that, brother. Just trying to do the right thing. Trying to raise six kids and try to be a good husband.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think y' all are excellent.

[DJ Envy]

But we all black, man. Great job, but thank you, brother. I appreciate you.

[Caller/Listener]

My other thing is, man. Hey, have y' all watched the Hurricane Katrina documentary?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, not yet.

[Jess Hilarious]

I heard. I heard about it. I haven't watched it yet.

[Caller/Listener]

Oh, my God. Oh, Jess. What's up, baby? I'm sorry.

[Jess Hilarious]

What's up? What's that now?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You good?

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, I watched that last night, man. We. Hey, man, the government should be ashamed of theyself.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like no bull crap, man.

[Caller/Listener]

I almost came to tears watching that, bro. Like, how the government treated our black people, bro. We should be scared to live here, bro. Like, I mean, it's crazy, bro. Y' all should watch it. Check it out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, it's so crazy. Like, when I heard the last caller call up in, he was saying, how, you know, man, you know, look at where we're going as a country. But then you can watch a Katrina duck or. Today is the 24th anniversary of the 911 terror attack. What do we. America, We've been here. We been here.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Hello. Who's this?

[Caller/Listener]

This Nick out of Florida wrote down five solutions for the trucking economy. I wanted to share.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, Nick, you came in hot.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. Go. Go, Nick, go.

[Caller/Listener]

All right, the first one say don't say load because of that low IQ individual. All right, we're not going to expound on that one. I don't think we need to. The second one says broker transparency. That one means basically that these brokers need to share what they're getting paid on the load. That way we know that we're not getting undercut. The next one is create an app that puts shippers directly in touch with the drivers. And I think that'll help out a lot because we can basically cut out the middleman, which is the broker. They can create an app to where we, as the driver, we just turn on our gps and that'll tell the shippers which driver is the closest to them. So the shipper can connect directly to that closest driver to them to do whatever they need done. The next one is a $400 minimum. It got to be a $400 minimum just as a base. And the next. The last one says, don't undercut anybody. If a driver bid on something for 750, don't say that you're going to do it for 700. That's just taking money out of your pocket. And his, like, leave it at either bit higher or leave it at what it is. And that's all I wanted to say.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

About the trucking economy in Florida. You should add one more. Never raw dog. Never raw dog. A lot lizard. Okay.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, Jess there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, what's up?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Don't.

[Jess Hilarious]

Don't question me after he say something like that, sir. But yes, I'm right here.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jess husband is trucking.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk about, because I know Jess has been a truck driver. I never been over the road. I'm always welcome to Florida. So I kind of wanted to get your feedback about how your husband is doing over the road, but first, let me. I wanted to say something to Charlamagne first. Charlie, man, you said you don't gamble, but you buy lottery tickets. You know that's gambling, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Shut up. That's gambling.

[DJ Envy]

You right. That is gambling.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't place bets. I don't place bets. That's what I don't do.

[Caller/Listener]

I feel ya.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I feel you.

[Caller/Listener]

But my last thing is. My last thing is Charlamagne. I wanted to say when people call about whatever they going through and they want to put their cash app out there, man, let them people put their cash app out there. Like, it might not be a big deal to you, but let them people.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Put that thing out there.

[Caller/Listener]

They going through a lot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, some of them don't be going through a lot. So it depends. It depends on what it is they're going through. Like, we can't just be letting people, you know, guilt our listeners into doing things they. They ain't got no business doing just because, you know, they got a flat tire.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know, we do that, but we do let them.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It depends on the circumstance.

[DJ Envy]

Sometimes we block them a little bit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It depends on the circumstance. Some of these people just be talking to be talking.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. We got the latest with Laura coming up. What we talking about?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, we do. We're going to get into some more Young Thug because I spoke to a source with Cobb county who let me know that as of yesterday, nobody can request any jail calls or any open records when it comes to Young Thug. And this took effect yesterday because they're concerned for young thug safety and the safety of his family. So we gonna talk about it because all those jail calls that leaked, now we got some answers as to why and when it's gonna stop.

[DJ Envy]

All right, we'll get into that next. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlamagne.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tha God.

[DJ Envy]

We are the breakfast club. Lauren LaRosa is here as well. We got a special guest in the building.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, indeed.

[DJ Envy]

Writer, broadcaster, Minnie Hassan.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Welcome.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Thanks for having me.

[DJ Envy]

How you feeling?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Feeling tired.

[DJ Envy]

Tired. Why so tired?

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'm not a morning person. I could never do a show called anything breakfast related.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What are you trying to usually wake?

[Mehdi Hassan]

I mean, I wake up early. I just don't get going until later in the day, and I do my best work at 2:00am Got you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know you don't have a lot of time, so I did a lot of questions I want to ask you I want to start off in the past 24 hours.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Israel has bombed Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar. Am I missing somebody?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Tunisia.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tunisia. What is that about?

[Mehdi Hassan]

What it's about is it's one country in the Middle east that doesn't have to abide by the rules that everyone else follows. There is no red line. They are. If they were any other country in the Middle east, if they were Arab country, a Muslim country, we would be calling them a rogue nation because they just bombed, as you said, multiple sovereign countries, many of which had not attacked them. Tunisia didn't do anything to them. They bombed the flotilla in Tunisia. And that's just in the last couple of days. You go back further. They've bombed Iran and Iraq and Yemen, Syria. So they've bombed, I think around nine different places in the Middle east over the last year, which I can't think of any other country in the world that has done that in modern times.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And why?

[DJ Envy]

No penalty.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to know why. Period.

[Mehdi Hassan]

So why they're doing it?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We know Pat, we know Palestine.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Why are they doing it? Currently, they are run by the most far right government in their history, which is super belligerent, super aggressive, has people like Bazalo Smotrich, the finance minister who talks openly of Greater Israel, wants to have Israel with even bigger borders than the occupied territories they have. And why are they getting away with it? Because of our leaders in Washington D.C. where I'm based, because of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, because of Congress and because of both parties. Parties in Congress. Let's be clear. When it comes to Israel, I know every other issue in America is like Democrat versus Republican, red versus blue. Not on Israel. On Israel, it's a bipartisan consensus. Joe Biden let him do whatever he wants. Donald Trump lets him do whatever he wants.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The Qatar thing was interesting because why did they block Qatar? Didn't Qatar give Trump a plane? Didn't they say they're going to invest a trillion dollars?

[Mehdi Hassan]

But they did give him a plane. They are doing a golf course with Eric Trump. They are a very close ally of the United States. They host a US Military base, is in Qatar. Think about that. The United States clearly signed off on a military strike on an allied country where like 10,000American troops are based, which is kind of insane if you think about it. No matter what you do, you can host an American military base, you can give the President a plane, you can host his family golf course. You can be really close allies. But if Israel wants to bomb you, the United States will let Israel bomb you. That's. Think about how insane that is.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I'm still trying to wrap my mind.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Well, their reasoning for Qatar was we want to take out the Hamas leadership, which is basically based in Qatar. What they omit to mention is that the Qatar leader, the Hamas leadership in Qatar, because the United States government asked for them to be in Qatar. Barack Obama in 2011 said, I want you guys, I want. He said, I want you guys to host Hamas. I don't want Hamas to go to Iran. I want them to be somewhere we can talk to them. So the Qataris have always hosted Hamas, but with US and Israeli approval. They don't tell you that when they're bull.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So there is Hamas leadership in Qatar?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yes. No one's ever hidden that. That's where they negotiate. That's what. And by the way, these guys were meeting when they were attacked to discuss a ceasefire deal, which is another reminder that Israel and Netanyahu and Smochu don't want a ceasefire. Every time there's a negotiation for a ceasefire, they attack the negotiators. Last year they killed Ismail Haniya, leader of Hamas in Tehran. The guy was in the middle of negotiations for a ceasefire. They killed him in Iran. Remember, they bombed Iran the other day. One of the people they targeted was a guy called Ali Shamkhani. He went on NBC News just two weeks earlier and said, I'm up for a deal with Donald Trump. We can do a nuclear deal. They bombed him. Why would you bomb people who are negotiating peace deals and ceasefires unless you don't want peace deals and ceasefires?

[DJ Envy]

Why wouldn't they want peace deal?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Why wouldn't they? Because that constrains their vision. Their vision is we should have no rules. We shouldn't have to stop fighting for anyone else. We want to continue the war. Matthew Miller, who was Joe Biden's State Department spokesman, said recently that when he was in government, he heard Netanyahu say, this war will go on for decades. So what do you use? Decades long war.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So if Hamas leadership is there, does that justify the bombing?

[Mehdi Hassan]

No, because they're there because we wanted them there. And you can't just bomb any sovereign country where there's people you don't like or you're opposed to. I mean, this is a very dangerous road we've gone down over the last couple of years. We've burned down international law, the Geneva Conventions, all the norms and precedents. I mean, you don't think people around the world are watching this saying, why can't I do What Israel does, like all the. The idea that we're going to go to Russia and be like, you can't bomb hospitals in Ukraine. Putin say why Israel can bomb hospitals. I'm bombing terrorists in those hospitals. Like the arguments that they've deployed to justify torture, the bombing civilian areas that can be replicated by every, quote, unquote, rogue state in the world. Why not? Very dangerous road. We spent 70 years, the United States, the UK, the west, building up the international order. It's all been burned down over the last two years for one guy, Netanyahu.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now, Ben Shapiro was. Was here earlier this week, and you hit me.

[DJ Envy]

Why you start laughing like that?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why you start. Gave a BS Answer on genocide?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Oh, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What? Exactly what you want to. We have a clip.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, we have the clip.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You. You don't think what's happening in Gaza is a genocide?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Correct.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. But the world's leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza based off the pure definition of.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Well, it's not actually. If you read their actual study, it's not based on the quote, unquote, pure definition of genocide. They don't actually even define genocide in the document. The question is not whether some sort of coterie of people who call themselves experts in an issue are quote, unquote, experts on the issue. The question is whether the definition is met. The definition of genocide is not met.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what does a genocide do?

[Mehdi Hassan]

A genocide is the attempt to forcibly destroy an entire population, which is not what has happened.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So it's not the attacks on the personal facilities needed for survival, like healthcare and educational institutions.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Well, again, Israel has shipped in more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip than literally any army. In a population that supports the enemy in literally all of human history, they've been shipping in about 4,400 calories per day per person into the Gaza Strip in the middle of a war in which the enemy is holding actual Israeli hostages underground, who, as we've seen from some of the pictures, are actually starving, going crazy over there. Kyle, I think you're being generous. You said he gave you some on genocide. He gave you on the whole topic. Right? He said, we don't give them that much money. We give them 3 billion a year. We actually give them close to 4 billion a year. And last year we gave them $18 billion a year. He said they've been shipping in age. You just played that clip. Israel doesn't ship in any aid. The aid comes from everyone else. He acts like Israel's giving the aid. It's international aid that Israel decides to switch on and off whenever it wants. But on the genocide question, it's funny that he kind of patronizingly says these genocide scholars, they didn't give you the definition and you rightly said, what's the definition? He said, forcibly destroying a whole population. That is not the definition of genocide. The 1948 Genocide Convention gives us the definition of genocide. Article two. It says very clearly that genocide is any of the following acts with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, religious, racial or ethnic group. And one of those acts, killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to the group, inflicting conditions of life on a group that causes physical destruction, preventing births within that group and taking children away from that group and giving it to another group. Five conditions. Israel's met at least four of those five conditions. By any sane description of what they've done in Gaza, it is a genocide. Based on those conditions. The Israelis are saying it's a genocide. Just listen to what they say. They say genocidal stuff all the time. And here's the worst part. Israeli, you know, he brushes over the IAGs, some, some organization I've never heard of. Well, I'm sure they don't care that he's never heard of them. They are the International association of Genocide. But let me just give for your listeners actual people who say it meets the definition. People like Omabat, who is the Israeli Holocaust historian at Brown, wrote a New York Times op ed saying it's a genocide. Daniel Blackman, Amos Goldberg, Israeli Holocaust historians at Hebrew University. They say it's a genocide in Gaza. Shmuel Lederman, all these Israeli scholars, Raz Siegel, they. None of them, by the way, all of them said, we didn't think it was a genocide at the beginning, but we definitely think it's a genocide now. These are Israeli Jewish experts on the Holocaust. They're saying it's a genocide. We're supposed to just ignore them.

[DJ Envy]

All right, we got more with Mehdi Hasan when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Mehdi Hassan]

My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. From a very rural background, myself. My dad is a farmer and my mum is a cousin. So, like, it's not.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

[Mehdi Hassan]

On 22 July 2015, a 23 year old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand up comedy and murder take center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Power struggles, shady money, drugs, violence and broken promises.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals. There's no integrity, there's no loyalty. That's all gone.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Book, book, book my deals. Let's get models in, let's get them out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And the models themselves, they carried scars that never fully healed till this day.

[Hunter]

Honestly, if I see a measuring tape, I freak out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

The Model wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Gregoriadis, this is the untold story of an industry built on ruthless ambition. Listen to Model wars on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jess Hilarious]

Hi, my name is Enya Umandzor.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

A crime junkie and you love crimes.

[Mehdi Hassan]

We're not the podcast for you, but if you have unmedicated adhd. Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness psychobabble? Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom's the podcast for you. Open your free iHeartradio app. Search emergency Intercom and listen now.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning everybody. It's DBJ Envy. Just hilarious Charlamagne. The guy we are the breakfast club. Lauren LaRosa is here as well. We're still kicking it with Mehdi Hassan. Charlemagne.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Your book, I haven't got a chance to read it yet. You just gave it to me this morning. But it's when the art of debating every persuading and argument, that's the stupid.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Cover that makes you look. It's actually win every argument. But the way it's written, it looks like that. That's one of the funny things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, I don't want to argue and I don't want to win argument.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yep.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I just want to learn.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So why. Why do you think arguing is the. I mean, you end up doing it anyway, but.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah, yeah, you end up doing it anyway. So that's one thing. You can't avoid it. It's one thing I say. Whether you want to avoid an argument, you can't, therefore you should be equipped for it. It's a book, it's a very practical book about skills, debating skills and arguing skills. But also, I do think arguing gets a bad rap, right? There's bad faith argument. People who argue for the sake of arguing, people who argue without really believing what they're saying. A lot of cable news talking heads that have given argument a bad rap. But argument, fundamentally, intrinsically, is about disagreeing in good faith, trying to come to a conclusion. I would argue that you can't find the truth unless you have a back and forth, forth. We don't want to live in echo chambers where everyone agrees with each other all the time. We should have healthy debate, productive debate. That is how people discover truth, new ideas. I do think democracy requires healthy debate and argument. Going back to, you know, ancient Greece, you're having people have at flesh out the issues, but it has to be done in good faith. What we've done in the US especially, and especially in our cable news world, I'm an ex MSNBC host. We have a lot of bad faith argument. We have a lot of fake debates. And I think that's undermined. And this book is about saying, you know what?

[Caller/Listener]

What?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Arguing can be fun. People who do debate club in high school, kids love. Some kids love doing that because it can be so pure and so raw and so authentic. But we've lost that. Our media has killed what was good faith debate and argument. And this book is an attempt to try and bring it back.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How do you know when you're in a healthy debate, a good faith debate?

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's hard sometimes. I realize halfway through I did the Jubilee debate right on YouTube, which was insane. I went into that, obviously I knew there were gonna be some bad faith people. I didn't realize all of them would be insane. Like, I went with like notes and facts and figures, like traditional. All of it was a waste of time. Like these people are not interested in that stuff. So sometimes you kind of realize it in the middle of. You know, the Supreme Court was once asked, how do you know? How do you define porn? They're like, you know it when you see it, right? Like when you're in the debate and you know there's a bad. I've interviewed people that I realized, I've interviewed, like leading politicians from our government, foreign governments. And halfway through you realize this guy is just not interested. This is just pure bull.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. I think the 20v1, that's just entertainment. Like it can't be in good faith because it's literally designed.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Well, you say that, but what's interesting, that I'm going to sound partisan, but if you watch all the right wingers who went on it, if you watch Jordan Peterson or Candace Owens, when they go on it, they get a bunch of like, well meaning, really earnest young liberals who are like, ah, but Mr. Peterson, what do you think about, you know, this argument against God? Like, I go on it and I'm like, get out of our country. And I feel like, I feel like I'm a fascist. I'm a fascist. Yeah, I'm a fascist. So I think, I do think, like there is a real asymmetry in our politics right now, which is where like there are a lot of liberals, leftists, who do want to have like a really earnest argument about policy, like, how do we get Medicare for all? And on the other side there's like, how do we get rid of all the black and brown people? And it's not the same thing. I know the media loves to treat us like both sides, the far left and the far right. The far left wants universal health care, the far right wants Nazism. That's not the same thing.

[DJ Envy]

When you jump into those debates, you know, it's so much misinformation out there. They really believe some of the stuff. Sometimes some of the times which makes it horrible is some of the, some of these, these news programs report misinformation. Like it's right. So how do you debate somebody that, that is getting misinformation that believes they are totally right? We see it all the time. We see it up here all the time as well.

[Mehdi Hassan]

So here's my thing. When I debate a lot of those people I'm not trying to change their minds. I'm trying to change the audience. I'm always got my eye on, on the third agent in the room or not in the room at home watching on YouTube. And I think sometimes we get lost in like, I'm going to change your mind when I go on with some of these freaks and ghouls on Piers Morgan showed coming to defend the genocide. I'm not trying to change their mind. I'm not gonna change the mind of someone who's defending a genocide two years in. Right. That person is a lost cause morally and politically. What I'm trying to do is get some people in the middle who may have accidentally come across this show or debate while they was, while they were surfing on YouTube and maybe they're open minded to say, oh, I didn't know that. I didn't hear that particular argument. I never heard the humanization of these people I just see as insurgents or militants or terrorists. So my goal is always and the first chapter of my book is win over an audience. The audience is key. It's not about you and the other person. It is about the watching audience. Because, Because I want to change people's minds. That's what I do. What I do. Otherwise, as you say, it's just entertainment. If you're not actually having.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a different perspective than I think a lot of people. Because I think a lot of people do focus on the audience, but they focus on the audience because they want an amen corner as opposed to actually trying to teach them.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah. And I, I find that sometimes boring. I go to events and the whole audience agrees with me. It's nice, it's good for the ego. Everyone's applauding everything, but it's not. I much prefer having an audience. That's why I do people like, why do you go on Piers Morgan show. It's this. Whether you like it or not, you reach a huge audience of people who don't agree with you around the world and that is an opportunity. Now there's a, there's a line like, I don't, I don't, I know you go on Fox. I don't go on Fox. I wouldn't go on Fox.

[DJ Envy]

Why not?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because you should though. The reason I think you should is because I think, look, look how effective President Obama was when he went on there. Think about how effective Stewart was when he goes on. I think about Gavin people many. You absolutely should be.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why I can't go.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You do the Jubilee but not go on Fox.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I mean, would I do the Jubilee again, though? That's the issue. So, so the thing is that Jubilee, I have a, I have a basic standard which is like you asked about debating and how do you know about, like I won't debate fascist white supremacy. People say, oh, you should interview Marjorie Taylor Greene. I'm like, the woman is, you know, she's, she thinks the Rothschild lasers cause fires. Like she's, she has weird QAnon conspiracy theories. She's an anti vaxxer, she's a climate denier. Like, I, I don't think there is value in debating Holocaust deniers. Climate change denies, election denies. It's just pointless. Right? I'm not going to debate is up down is cold heart is black white. I just don't think there's value in that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You've never been in a black barbershop in the hood, but you hear some of that same rhetoric.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'm a, I'm a loyal Korean barbershop guy. I've had these debates. I'm just saying they're not valuable. I try and avoid them. But going on Fox, for example, I get the argument what Democrats make like we should go and reach a new audience. Bernie does a lot of Fox. The problem is the Fox model is not built around, it simply is built around entertainment, as you say. And also I do think Fox is an irredeemable company in the sense that it is a force for evil in this world in terms of spreading racism and misogyny and election denial and climate denial. But I don't want to go on and legitimize them. I know that sounds old fashioned, quaint, but I feel like if I go on there, then I'm treating it like a legitimate news outlet. I don't even call it Fox News. I call it Fox. It's not a news outlet. I mean, they paid billions of dollars, they paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement to Dominion. They are a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and for maga. So for me, I just don't see the value. And by the way, the people who go on, you can go on and do a great job on Lara Trump. Trump problem is for the next 23 hours, they undermine everything you said in that one hour. So it doesn't really have an enduring factor, which is why when you poll Fox viewers, they are so misinformed. No matter how many Charlamagne's, Pete Buttigieg's or Bernie's go on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But then when I'm out in the street, I see the. The real reaction, you know what I mean? I don't see the propaganda that's being pushed or the message or narrative they're trying to push. Actual people come up to me and be like, hey, man, I'm a lot farther right than you, but I appreciate a lot of the things that you say. That's fair, you know. Do you think mainstream journalism in the US has gotten too cozy with power?

[Mehdi Hassan]

I would dispute the premise of your question. Gotten too cozy with power?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Always.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's always been cozy. When was it not cozy with power? Right now we're in a different situation, which is we have media outlets joining up with a fascistic government. That's a whole different ballgame. But in general, the US Media has always been too cozy with power. Never really be taken an adversarial position against the people in power. Journalism should be adversarial journalism. It should be challenging the people in power. It should be, you know, you know, what's the line? Afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. And we've really not done that in the US when I moved here in 2016, one of the reasons people got to know me was because I do tough interviews. And people were saying to me on the street, like, you're that guy who did that interview. Erik Prince. I can't believe out. And then I went to MSNBC and I started doing those interviews, and luckily some other people started following me. And now I think interviewing has improved a bit on cable. But in general, for example, we don't do tough interviews in this country with people in power. It is. You watch some of the Sunday morning interviews. It's very, very friendly. Like, I saw one the other day where Marco Rubio just said some absolute BS and Margaret Brennan said, thank you for joining us. And it's like, where's the follow up? So I do think that is a problem. Especially our interviews are not adversarial enough.

[DJ Envy]

All right, we got more with Mehdi Hassan when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlamagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast. We're still kicking it with Mehdi Hassan.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Lauren, what do you think will emerge as, like, the leading place in media? Because it's not cable news anymore. YouTube and online. It's like, you got to know who you listening to, whether it's factual information. Yeah. Like, what will be that one? Like, go to. Here's where we know we can trust that will emerge out of all of this mess.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I mean, the shameless small business of me, says Zateo, come to my media side. But the serious answer is, I don't think we can project, predict. I think anyone who tells you they know what the media looks like in 3, 4, 5 years time is either a liar or a fool. I mean, none of us could have even seen where we are today three or four years ago. I don't think if you'd said before the 2024 election that the big question is going to be, did Kamala Harris go on Rogan? If you'd said that in 2020, people laughed in your face. If you'd said 10 years ago the guy from home alone, two would be president, United States, people have laughed in your face. So I don't think anyone can predict where it's going. What I can say is, obviously YouTube is a dominant force right now. Now, I mean, Jubilee is a classic example of that. You talk about people, the number of young people. I was on a college campus last night. All the college students had really never seen me in anything except Jubilee. They were like, you're the guy from that circle debate. So that the YouTube power, especially for young people, is massive. Obviously, that's a problem because it's owned by Google and Google has its own agenda, which ain't always great when it comes to misinformation. You just saw the heads of Google and Microsoft and Facebook and Meta all sitting around the table with Donald Trump lavishing praise on him just the other night. So it's not great that these big tech corporations control so much of our discourse, but that's the world we're in right now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I definitely want the record to show that in February 2024, I absolutely told the vice president she needs to go on Rogan and she needs to start going on Fox News.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because my thinking was Joe Biden is not going to win this election in November unless you start getting out more in the forefront and showing people who you are. So at least they feel like, well, maybe I can vote for her on the ticket. This was way before she even became the nominee or any. This was February 2024.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Have you seen the extract in the Atlantic today from my book? And did she say saying that? She's basically saying what you're saying. She's like, I tried to get out there. They should have realized that putting me out there would help them look like they've got a succession plan, that they have confidence in me and they didn't. Right. They. No daylight. No daylight. And she, by the way, she, I need to read the whole thing. I need to read a whole book. But, like, she has to answer why she didn't just say, oh, get lost, I'm doing my thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't wait to read it. I want to read you something from that expert that came extra excerpt that came out today. She says, I gave a strong speech on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Gaza, desperate people have been shot when they swarmed a food truck. And I spoke of families reduced to eating leaves or animal feed, women prematurely giving birth with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration. I reiterated my strong support for Israel's security and called on Hamas to release the hostages and accept the ceasefire agreement. Then on the table, I also called on Israel for greater access to aid. It was a speech that had been vetted and approved by the White House and the National Security Council. It went viral and the West Wing was displeased. I was killing, castigated for apparently delivering it too well. What do you think when you hear that?

[Mehdi Hassan]

So I think two things. Number one, I think the Joe Biden administration will forever be complicit in a genocide. The genocide would not have happened had Biden not hugged Netanyahu close, given him pretty much everything he wanted. We rightly castigate Trump right now, but we have to remember this began on Joe Biden's watch. At any time, he could have pulled the plug on the whole thing. He could have called Netanyahu and said, end it now. It's over. He did not do that. He had multiple opportunities. Did not do that, do that. Harris. Here's a second point. I think Harris would have been better on Gaza than Biden. I think Harris definitely would have been better on Gaza than Trump. But it's very hard to persuade people, especially my Palestinian friends will say, no way. She was up to it, up to her neck in it with Biden. I do think that, like that speech and other little things she did were signals that she would be better on it. I had people in the White House who were on her side were telling me at the time, Harris is definitely better than Biden. Although the bar is low, it's not hard to be better than Biden on guard Gaza. The problem is she didn't do it right. She didn't take that opportunity. And she, you know, we'll never know. Right. It's one of the great counterfactuals. Would Israel be bombing Qatar and Iran and ethnic cleansing now, if Kamala Harris was president, we'll never know because she didn't take the opportunity to, you know, politely throw Joe Biden under the bus. She went on the View for me, the day I knew she lost that election, when she went on the View and they say, what would you do differently to Joe Biden? And she says, nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I'm not even saying Gaza. I'm not even saying she should have come out and be like, I'm going to recognize the Palestinian state and I'm going to stop. Stop now. Just anything. Health care, the economy, immigration, Nothing. Right? It's a change election. People want change. People aren't happy with America. All the polling told us people were dissatisfied with the economy, dissatisfied with the. You come in and you go, I'm going to take it from Joe Biden, but it's going to be the same. That is insanity. Whoever is advising us should never work in politics again. I know they're all trying to rehabilitate their careers. That was an insane electoral strategy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I agree. It's my opinion that I don't know what's going to happen for her in the future. But what I like about what she's writing in this book, to your point, I've been saying it over and over. Whoever is going to lead the Democratic Party in the future, you have to throw the Biden administration under the bus. You have to.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I think you have to throw all of them.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I agree. The whole old regime.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I mean, we're talking about Epstein right now. I mean, Bill Clinton is in. Bill Clinton's in the book, right? He's in the birthday book. Ghislaine was at all the family events, hanging out with Chelsea and rest. I mean, all of them got to go. I mean, Donald Trump won in 2016 when he took on the entire Republican establishment. Let's not forget how he won in 2016. I remember watching a debate, I was sitting on my couch, it was a debate in 2015. And he goes on TV and he says. He says to Jeb Bush, he goes, well, the Twin Towers came down under your brother. Oh, he didn't just say that to a Republican crowd. Instead of getting booed, he gets booed by a few people. Crowd cheer. His polling goes up. Right? He throws the Bushes under the bus, happily blames them for Iraq, 9, 11, even though Trump supported Iraq war. But he throws them all under the bus, right? You have to be able to. The Democratic convention last year had Clinton and Obama and Hillary still speaking. Get rid of these people. People are done. Whether you think they were good or bad presidents. And they all had pros and cons. Clinton, Obama, Biden. They all did good things and bad things. Move on. You gotta be forward looking. We're here in New York. You have a candidate who's forward looking. Stop living in the past. Why is Bill Clinton, a man who hasn't been president for 25 years, speaking at the DNC?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What you said is so profound just now. I'm gonna tell you. 2016, that's exactly what Trump did. But Trump was also an outsider. We know nobody in the Democratic Party is going to do that. I love a lot of these people. I love Governor Josh Perry. I like.

[Mehdi Hassan]

What's more, they all have red lines. They're not people that weren't criticized. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's why it has to be somebody like a Jon Stewart.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It has to be an outsider.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I agree.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They're the only ones that's going to throw them under the bus.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I agree. Or outsider. Or kind of fresh blood to go back to a mom. Dani. Who is within the party but has the guts to take on the establishment. I mean, Jon Stewart, obviously, you and I are big fans of Jon Stewart and running. I wrote a piece saying he should throw his hat in the ring. I'm not saying he's going to be the best president or he should be president. I'm saying the Democratic presidential primary debate could do with a Jon Stewart on stage throwing some fireworks and hand grenades in.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you believe in Democrats moving forward?

[Mehdi Hassan]

The big D Democratic Party?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. The whole. I haven't.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Not under the leadership of the current folks. No. I've openly said that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer should go. They need to stand down. They are not as you. As you called him. Aipac Shakur is not the man for this moment. They are ludicrous in their interventions. They both keep saying, oh, we need a strongly worded letter. This is not. I'm not even making that up. That's not me being sarcastic. They've literally on the record saying, the AG of D.C. did a really good letter. Chuck Schumer's like, I wrote a really good letter about Harvard. Like, this is not the time for letters. Right. American democracy is on the line. We may not have a free and fair election in 2028. And these two guys are pining for a golden age of bipartisan politics that never existed and certainly doesn't exist right now. We need people who are going to fight. And I say this not as a big D Democrat. I'm not a Democrat. A small d Democrat. Someone who believes in democracy wants my kids to grow up in a democratic America. We only have two parties, so the opposition party has to do the fighting for us. These people don't fight. Nobody believes that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are fighters. But there are other Democrats who can just, as you say, they're too scared to challenge.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who are the people that become, like, the voice or like the. You know, like, you have, like, people that you point to, People that do have a fight. Yeah, they do have the fight.

[Mehdi Hassan]

There are Democrats who fight.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But who.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So if.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I mean, there are obvious people like the AOCs of this world, the Ilhan Omar, the Rashida Talaves in the squad who are very outspoken. But there are other people. There's Jasmine Crockett's got a big following now. She's been very outspoken from Texas in the Senate, there's people like Chris Van Holland of Maryland who went to El Salvador when apparently Hakeem Jeffries was telling Democrats, don't go to El Salvador. It's unpopular issue. Chris Van Holland went to El Salvador and got Kilmart Abrego Garcia back. He came back because of people like Chris Van Hollen going out there and picking that fight. So I think there are Democrats who are willing to speak out on some issues. Jamie Raskin is always very strong on constitutional issues. There are a bunch of them, but they just don't have leadership roles because Democrats are in this kind of. Why Chuck Schumer lost the Senate. He should have resigned the next day. You lose an election, you should stand down. We live in a country where you lose an election on the Democratic side, you don't stand down. On the Republican side, you say you won't. Like, we need to get back to. You lose, you quit, you move on with your life. Build a library, whatever it is.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, Medi Hassan, check out the book. Win Every Argument. The Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking. And thank you for joining us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go subscribe to the network.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Thank you so much. Zateo.com don't be a stranger, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Pull up anytime you want.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Whenever I'm in New York, I'll drop you a line.

[DJ Envy]

All right. It's Mehdi Hassan. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Mehdi Hassan]

My name is Ed. Everyone. Say, hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself.

[Jess Hilarious]

My dad.

[Mehdi Hassan]

My dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin. So, like, it's not.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke. But that really was my reality nine years ago.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

[Mehdi Hassan]

On 22 July 2015, a 23 year old man had killed his family. And then he came to my house.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand up comedy and murder take center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Power struggles, shady money, drugs, violence and broken promises.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals. There's no integrity, there's no loyalty. That's all gone.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Book, book, book my deals. Let's get models in, let's get them out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And the models themselves, they carried scars that never fully healed till this day.

[Hunter]

Honestly, if I see a measuring tape, I freak out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

The Model wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Grigoriadis, this is the untold story of an industry built on ruthless ambition. Listen to Model wars on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Pocket Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing success sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girl. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor and I'm Drew Phillips and we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If you're a crime junkie and you love of crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated adhd. Oh my God.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Perfect. And want to hear people with Mental illness, Psycho babble. Yes. Yes. Then Emergency Intercom's the podcast for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Open your free iHeartradio app.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Search emergency Intercom and listen. Now I notice Somebody who loves me.

[DJ Envy]

Somebody who really loves me.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And that's.

[Jess Hilarious]

All I, I, I need we in.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Miami turning up another night we smoking broccoli but she's smelling baccarat I mean our pennies trying to get out in our cry Friends are my friends and they trying to get her name is angel but she's far from God said he don't pay well to fall in love Must be the stars but something's.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Lining up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Somebody who loves me in the building Somebody who feel me in the feeling we throw 50 the ceiling oh, yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We in Miami.

[Jess Hilarious]

Turning up another night we took the trophy let the shorties take the yard we all in Santos I rented out.

[DJ Envy]

The spot Friends all on my friends.

[Jess Hilarious]

And they trying to get God her name is angel but she must forgot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She said bestie, wanna get home and swap I said on shot, baby and.

[Jess Hilarious]

That'S doing a lot I'm trying to do.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Larish. I mean, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Let's get to the latest with Lauren.

[Jess Hilarious]

Lauren becoming a straight fat.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She gets him from somebody that knows somebody. Details.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She be having the latest on the.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Be the the Latest with Lauren LaRosa.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Sometimes you have facts, sometimes you have details. Sometimes she have a little bit of everything.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Well, it's the latest on the Breakfast Club.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So Whoopi Goldberg is making headlines, as she always does, but this time, it's about her money and her retirement. So Entertainment Tonight was on set of the View. They pulled up because the View just came back for their new season, season 29 on ABC, and they were having a conversation about returning and all of the things. And they asked Whoopi Goldberg and Joy about retirement because they're getting older and they've been doing this for some time. Let's take a look. Listen, do you ever think about just.

[Hunter]

Retiring and enjoying it all? Or are you.

[Mehdi Hassan]

There's no such. You know, creative people don't really retire. Do you ever think about throwing out, just enjoying this?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but who can afford to do that?

[Caller/Listener]

Who can afford to start? You know, if you don't marry well.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You got to keep working.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I feel like you might be one.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Of the people that could afford it by now.

[DJ Envy]

No, not by now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not yet. Whoopi. Whoopi should Be caked up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So that is the conversation. So. So when this video went live. So this. This video went live or whatever, and people begin to have a conversation about, number one, the fact that, what, we should have money to the point where she can retire at this point. And again, we don't know. She seems serious in the video. There wasn't like a joke after I watched it as well. Her facial expressions were very serious. But also the fact that her tone on retirement and Joy's tone are very different. Joy seems like she wants to keep working because, you know, it just. It fulfills her. And she's a creative. Whoopi's like, I got bills to pay. I can't afford to retire. So the conversation about pay disparity.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, they say retirement is. Retirement's not an age, it's an income.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So, yes, I think Whoopi got it. She probably was just being funny.

[DJ Envy]

I think she was being funny also. It's a feeling too, right? Like, I look at my mother and my pops, right? And they both retired. They've been retired for a while now, and they enjoy retirement. And I'm happy for them. Like, I'm happy that they're happy. But myself, I. Even if I take too many days off, I feel like I'm not working. I feel like I need to do something. You know what I mean? That's just me personally. I feel like I just have to do something. You know, whatever that may be.

[Jess Hilarious]

Even me being sick right now and I'm not home, and y' all acting like I don't want to be at work. I want to be there. I feel like I should be there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't wait to show y' all how. I can't wait to do nothing. You don't worry, I'm gonna show y' all soon.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wait, you want to retire?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen, I cannot wait to show y' all how much I enjoy doing nothing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But doing nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just wait.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You say that now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Always remember, retirement is not an age age. It's the income.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, no, I agree. But sometimes you feel like. Well, I. I just speak for myself. I just feel like even. Like, even when I'm on vacation, my.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm.

[DJ Envy]

I'm fidgety. And maybe that's because I've been grinding since 16 and I don't know anything else.

[Jess Hilarious]

Ready to sit down. But you're not ready to sit down.

[DJ Envy]

But I admire my parents. Like when my parents say, you know what? I'm going to the casino on a Tuesday at 5 o'. Clock, just because they want to.

[Caller/Listener]

I'm like, dang.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. I was gonna say there are.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to be here. I gotta wearing a damn T shirt that say so sick. You stay your ass right where you at. Okay. You should have a map. I want you to wear a mask over zoom. To be honest with you. Hey.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was gonna say so. Reportedly, the host of the View make anywhere between 5 million to $8 million. Yeah. Their yearly salary. So, I mean, Whoopi should be fine. But this was as of 2016. But the. This is where it's being reported as of right now.

[Jess Hilarious]

I thought it was more than that.

[Mehdi Hassan]

That.

[Lauren LaRosa]

To be honest with you, that's still a good amount. I mean.

[Jess Hilarious]

No, that's great.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They've been doing it for so long.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know, all of them women up there, I thought that it was more than that.

[DJ Envy]

Whoopi's cake, though, man. She'd be eping so many different things. Whoopy's all right. I think she was funny.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But you know what people are pointing to, too? Back in 2019, Monique did an interview. Remember? She. Monique was having a conversations about pay disparity, and she talked about a conversation that she had with Whoopi Goldberg about how much she made and basically being okay with what you're making and working toward trying to make more. So people are pointing to that. Let's take a listen to Monique.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See, Whoopi Goldberg told me the salary.

[Jess Hilarious]

She makes from the View, and that hurt my feelings. That you've been there for 10 years.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you accept them paying you that.

[Jess Hilarious]

And you telling me, don't worry about the little one coming up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn if I ain't got to be.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Worried about you too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because you accept that salary.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It makes it hard. Yeah. So people are making this a patient.

[Jess Hilarious]

Talking about what we go over.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Remember when Monique was campaigning for everybody to boycott Netflix and all those that, you know, she was having a paid discrepancy conversation. She went into a conversation she said she had withy Goldberg, but that came back up because of this. This cop.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How much they say we'll be making a year?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's reported anywhere from 5 million to 8 million a year. Some people are keeping her between 5 and 6. And this is all the host interview.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And they say her net worth is between 30 and 60. Who am I sitting there counting other people's pockets? Hey, we'll be gonna be fine. What are you talking about, man? Yeah, well, she just don't want to sit down yet. That's okay. That's all it Is talking about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, and she's young. She's 70. She's. Well, she will be 70 in November.

[Jess Hilarious]

She's young and young. She's 70.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's young for us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The whole I won't marry well, that's clearly a joke. If you don't marry well. If you don't marry well, you don't. That's a joke. She's joking. What are you talking about?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, in other news, Paul Wall. So Paul Wall sat down with Art of Dialogue, and he's been having some conversations and reflecting on his career. So he was talking about, you know, some big songs and opportunities he almost missed. He talks about missing the opportunity to get on a ghost face song because he was a huge Wu Tang fan. And then he also talked about missing the opportunity to get on a Jill Scott song. But then the opportunity coming back around and being too scared to talk nasty to Jill Scott. Let's take a listen.

[DJ Envy]

She was like, man, you know the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Song, your verse is cool, but I want you to. Oh, I'mma you down, I'mma pull your hair. I'm a. Ooh. I want you to the out of me on your verse, and I want.

[DJ Envy]

You to say stuff like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I'm like, I don't know, because it just got. I ain't never heard nobody rap on speak. I never heard that language on the Jill Scott singer song. So I. I'm like, man, the neo soul community might whoop my ass if I'm on here talking like that.

[Mehdi Hassan]

You know what I'm saying?

[Caller/Listener]

My mama might whoop my ass.

[Mehdi Hassan]

My auntie, they gonna jump me if.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They hit me on the juice. My pastor wife might slap the out of me. She hear me talking vulgar on the juice God song. Just got wrote my whole verse, for the most part. She wrote my verse.

[DJ Envy]

She told me what to say.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The last thing she said was, might sound crazy, but I want you to say that's what a diamond chip do.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And I was like, all right.

[DJ Envy]

Right, Paul, that sound perfect.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

First of all, Paul Wall, you don't listen to enough Jill Scott, okay? My wife's. The two favorite artists are. Eric. About doing Jill Scott, okay? You ain't never heard Crown Royal on a. You ain't never heard Epiphany, huh? You ain't never heard imagination. You ain't never heard Quick. What is your. What are you talking about? He was being respectable.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, but I don't know why people.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People Scott is sex, but people do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That with Jill Scott. I don't know why people treat her, like, she's like a girl gospel artist. I don't know. Maybe it's because you feel something spiritually.

[Jess Hilarious]

When you hear her music, but most definitely royalty. So she definitely.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She provides the soundtrack to getting bricked up. What are you talking about?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Let's listen to the verse that she wrote for Pawal on the song. What's what my mind says so far?

[DJ Envy]

She didn't write the verse for him. Like, she didn't sit there and write it for him.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He just said that she ended up having to write.

[Jess Hilarious]

He just said that she told him everything to say.

[DJ Envy]

She told him what to say, but he wrote the verse. She just directed him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I can't think of too many. I can't think of too much music that focuses on intimacy.

[DJ Envy]

Stop looking at me. Let's hear it Looking at me Break down right now Y' all look each.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Other in the eyes back to back.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Man, I know you feel it all.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

In your stomach Whenever you arch your.

[DJ Envy]

Back I'mma pull your head I know you love that.

[Mehdi Hassan]

When I maneuver this tongue, your eyes.

[DJ Envy]

Roll back I work inside angles I'm a karma central pro kitchen table down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

To the flow Ass in the air while you bite Nepal know how.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay, yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Don't play with her. Jilly from J.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

From Philly.

[Jess Hilarious]

Man, it's just crazy to me when.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I hear people talk about her like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Glasses put Colonel Royal on ice right now.

[Mehdi Hassan]

See what happen?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I bet you get bricked up just driving in the car.

[DJ Envy]

Stop looking at me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You keep looking back.

[Jess Hilarious]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Look back at it. That's what I'm talking to the men.

[Jess Hilarious]

Why?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Jess Hilarious]

I guess you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because I'm a man.

[Jess Hilarious]

Listen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What do you mean?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, so talk to the women, not the other.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but I'm.

[DJ Envy]

I'm speaking from my perspective.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jill Scott, my wife's favorite artist. But from my perspective, yes.

[DJ Envy]

When you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When that Jill Scott is on and them candles is lit and that instance is burning. Yeah, buddy. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, buddy, buddy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, buddy. Well, the song was actually inspired by a relationship that Jill Scott Scott was. She says that she was in, and it was purely sexual and it was hard for her to leave, so that's why she pushed him so hard on, like, you gotta talk that. Talk to me on this song.

[Jess Hilarious]

You sound good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So I'm waiting for another Jill Scott project right now. When is Jill Scott giving us some. Another soundtrack? Jill ain't dropped in a long time.

[Lauren LaRosa]

A soundtrack.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And when you even think about it, man, when you think about people like Jill Scott and Erica Badu. Like, their catalogs are incredible. Incredible. But they've only put out like four or five albums a piece. I think Erica might be at four, Jill might be at five. I don't know. Something like is he or. Or vice versa.

[Lauren LaRosa]

There's a. The root article as we wrap up. There's a Root article. 5 reasons why Black men love some Jill Scott.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Come on now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Charlie May Hughes. Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Come on, man. Drop on a clues box.

[Jess Hilarious]

When the last time they've been on?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, they always on Talk. Yes.

[DJ Envy]

They both.

[Jess Hilarious]

They always on the road together.

[DJ Envy]

I don't know together. But Erica Badu is always on the road.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I seen this them old sugar water festivals that we used to go to back in the day. Jill Scott, Erica Badu. Flow Tree Queen, Latifa. Phenomenal times, man.

[DJ Envy]

That is the latest with Lauren. Now don't forget, just fix my mess. 800-585-1051. You can on them phone lines right now if you need relationship advice, any type of advice. And donkey today is up next. So you give that donkey.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I want to talk to America, man. We just need to come to the front of the congregation and have another conversation that we always continue to have, but, you know, might as well continue having it.

[DJ Envy]

All right, we'll get to that next. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Mehdi Hassan]

You're checking out the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford. Two legends, one ring. And for the first time ever, it's all screaming live on Netflix. Yep, your subscription gets you ringside seats. Watch Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford. Saturday, September 13th at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific Standard Time, live on Netflix. This is America.

[Mehdi Hassan]

There is no question that there are.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Problems in this country between police and community. Yes, you are a donkey. The latest on that police killing of a black man.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Now to new developments in the deadly spa shooting rampage.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And yesterday was a really bad day for him. And this is what he did.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And so we are in, in a state of emergency.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay? White supremacist violence is and always has been the number one threat to our society. But I'm also very proud that my wife is white. To the Breakfast Club. All right, Charlene, please tell me, why was I your donkey of the day? Donkey of the day for Thursday, September 11th goes to the gun lobbyists, the gun industry, and all the politicians who refuse to pass common sense gun reform norm in this country. Today is 9 11, the 24 year anniversary of 9 11. And over two decades later, America is still in a state of emergency. Okay? We are still Having constant terrorist attacks, but the attacks are more frequently coming from within. Okay? It's like we keep repeating ourselves and things seem to be getting progressively worse. For example, yesterday, three teenagers are in critical condition after a mass shooting at a Colorado high school. Now, I was born in 1900, 178. So I'm old enough to remember the mass shooting that happened in Denver back in 2012 at the Aurora theater. That's when James Holmes threw tear gas in the theater and started shooting in the audience. 12 people killed, 70 injured, 58 of them due to gunfire. You would think a situation like that would lead to some type of massive change in America, but no. I did some research and by research I googled and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website said in a 10 year period from 2014 to 2023, Colorado experienced 77 mass shootings in which 103 people were killed and 299 were injured. Guns. Okay? I was on mass shootingtracker.com. yes, that is an actual website. Mass shootingtracker.com and in 2025 this year, year it has been 356 mass shootings in America. 6,888 mass shootings since January 1, 2013 in zero days. I repeat, zero since our last mass shooting. Zero days. Now I am 2A all day. I believe in the right to bear arms, but I also believe in common sense gun control. But I thought to myself yesterday, the term gun control is an oxymoron. Okay? When you think of a gun, you have to know the gun industry, right? You got to think about the gun industry when you think of guns. And that's one of the most powerful industries in America. It's protected by the Constitution. The gun lobbyists, especially the nra, they have significant influence over politicians. And guns are worshiped like religion in this country. So no matter what the tragedy, okay, no matter how much blood is spilled, no control will ever be placed on guns as long as those campaigns contributions keep coming in. Keep coming in, okay? And when you we use the word control, right? Gun control. Control is something this country will never have, okay? Gun control will never happen in this country. Especially when lobbyists, the NRA are writing the rules, okay? You put gun and control together, it sounds good on paper, but in reality it's like saying organized chaos are honest politician. Okay? These politicians won't even be honest with you on why they can't even create legislation to ever get to a point where we have common sense gun reform. But it's never happening in America. People, no, no, no. It is a complete oxymoron to say gun control, okay? Gun control in America, because America doesn't control guns. Guns control America, all right? We treat the Second Amendment like it's one of the Ten Commandments, okay? In America, historically, guns have had more rights than women, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ and black people combined. Okay? And the reason we need gun control is because people clearly have no self control. I agree with anyone who says guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people. And since those people don't have any discipline or any self control, that's why we need gun control, okay? Common sense, gun reform that can protect us all. And every time there is a mass shoot, shooting or a tragic shooting, we should absolutely blame the gun lobbyists in the gun industry. I was reading a great article that was published last year. It was on a website called Every Town for Gun Safety. And the headline was how the Gun Lobbyists and the Gun Industry Fanned the Flames of Extremist Ideology. And it spoke to how in recent years, political extremism and extremist violence in the United States have risen prison at an alarming rate. Okay? Many extremists see guns as the most effective tools for their violent aims. And lax gun laws in the US Often able these extremists to access firearms. We saw that play out yesterday when we witnessed the murder of right wing political activist Charlie Kirk. Okay? He was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University. Of course, immediately people start politicizing his death. The right, right is blaming the left, saying their rhetoric about the right is what led to this. The right is blaming the left, saying their rhetoric is what led to this. And we don't even have the person who did this in custody. We don't know what this person's issue is or was with Charlie Kirk. Everybody is just assuming this is political violence. And it quite possibly is, matter of fact, I'm sure it is. But you know what else it is? Gun violence. Okay? These nut jobs who don't believe in freedom of speech clearly believe in their right to bear arms. And because of the lax gun laws in America, they are able to able to get firearms to carry out these violent acts. Now let the record show, when I heard what happened to Charlie Kirk yesterday, I immediately felt fear. Okay? I was afraid. I'm a black man in America. I think about getting shot every day. But guess what? Every American should think about getting shot every day. When you are out and about in a public place simply because it's been zero days since the mass shooting happened in this country. But my personal fear was also because, because I'm a media personality, I don't want to live in a country where media personalities are being shot and killed for their opinions or what they believe. But I also know that as much as we like to point to the First Amendment and say we all have freedom of speech, we are not free from the consequences of said speech. That's why mindfulness of what we say is very important. Because there is a cost to everything that comes out of our mouth. And unfortunately we don't get to see set the price. And I must say Charlie Kirk understood the price of our freedoms more than most. I was watching this clip of him go viral yesterday. Can we play it? You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's dribble. But I am, I, I think it's, I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second Amendment to protect, protect our other God given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Now he's absolutely right. Because of the way the Constitution is structured. Because we have no common sense gun laws in this country, these high gun deaths will happen every single year. It is a consequence of the right to bear arms. Just like we don't get to determine the consequences of our free speech, we also don't get to determine the consequences of everyone having the right to bear arms in this country. I just wonder when people say things like Charlie Kirk said, play the, play the clip again. Right. You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's dribble. But I am, I, I think it's, I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second Amendment to protect, protect our other God given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. I just wonder when people say things like that, do they think they may be one of those deaths? It is, is it worth it when one of those casualties is you or someone you love to protect the rights given to us by the Constitution? If, if, if they believe they too could be one of the, of those deaths and they're cool with that, I respect it. So I guess, you, Honor, Charlie Kirk by buying more guns based on that logic. Yeah, but I don't know about y'. All. That sounds kind of ridiculous to me. See, even if Charlie Kirk had a gun yesterday, it wouldn't have protected him. When somebody got the drop on you, they got you. Only thing that could have saved Charlie Kirk yesterday was keeping guns out of the hands of violent extremists like the person person who killed him. And the only way to do that is with common sense gun reform. I believe we can find a way to protect our second amendment rights while also having some type of common sense gun reform that keeps the guns out of the nut jobs hands who want to exercise their right to bear arms to kill those of us who want to exercise our freedom of speech. Please give the gun lobbyists, the gun industry and politicians who refuse to create create common sense gun reform the biggest he haw.

[DJ Envy]

All right. Well, thank you for that donkey of the day.

[Jess Hilarious]

That was really. That was tight. That was dope.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you, ma'. Am.

[DJ Envy]

Up next, Jess fix my mess. 800-585-1051. Just there's a lady on the line right now. When we come back, we'll answer it. She says she wants advice on how to deal with her family who makes fun of her weight. She says she's has a huge eating problem and her comments hurt her feelings.

[Jess Hilarious]

And their comments hurt her feelings.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, ma'.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Am. You know, we also need portion control in this country, but that's a whole other country.

[DJ Envy]

We'll talk, we'll talk to Pauline next.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Day for another day.

[Jess Hilarious]

Hang up now.

[DJ Envy]

All right, we'll get to it. Next is the Breakfast Club.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Good morning, my name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. From a very rural background, myself, my dad is a farmer and my mum is a cousin. So like it's not.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

[Mehdi Hassan]

On 22 July 2 in 2015, 23 year old man had killed his family and then he came to my house.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack where stand up comedy and murder take center stage. Available now listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Power struggles, shady money, drugs, violence and Broken promises.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals. There's no integrity, there's no loyalty. That's all gone.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Fuck, fuck, fuck my deals. Let's get models in, let's get them out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And the models themselves, they carried scars that never fully healed till this day.

[Hunter]

Honestly, if I see a measuring tape, I freak out.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

The Model wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Gregoriadis, this is the untold story of an industry built on ruthless ambition. Listen to Model wars on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jess Hilarious]

Hi, my name is Enya Umandzor.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And I'm Drew Phillips and we run a podcast called Emergency Interco.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated adhd.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness psychobabble. Yes. Yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Open your free iHeartradio app, search emergency.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Intercom and listen now.

[DJ Envy]

The Breakfast Club.

[Jess Hilarious]

Exactly. Go ahead, Paulina, continue.

[Caller/Listener]

And I've. It's really bad. Like I don't like at like formal events, I don't call my mom and tell her what I'm wearing because usually you want to show your mom what you wearing but all she wants to do is just laugh about it and stuff. And I told her because she stopped, but she won't stop. And it's like it's affected our relationships at some point like she used to. Paul, dude, like, what are you wearing and stuff? And I'm like, I don't feel comfortable telling you at all. Because she started to lose weight because that's her metabolism. Me, I can't help it. It's literally genetic. Obesity runs in my bad side and.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah.

[Caller/Listener]

But even though now I'm on Olympic and stuff, she will never stop. And it like it's made me suicidal at some point and she knows, but she doesn't care. She just tells me that you did it to yourself know.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay. You said you 24.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Although it you saying, you know, I do understand obesity runs in your family, but it doesn't really. It doesn't sound like you're helping that either. You know what I mean?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Eating.

[Jess Hilarious]

Have you ever, have you ever went to therapy? Because if you have a binge.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, I am in therapy.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay. It's like nothing's. Does it work? Do you like them?

[Caller/Listener]

So mess up? Yeah, I do. I've actually been in therapy for. For five years now because of it. He knows about it.

[Jess Hilarious]

What are you stressed out about financially?

[Caller/Listener]

I'm the oldest in my family. My parents are both immigrants who came here. You know, I try to, you know, be the perfect daughter they always wanted even though I can't always be. But I try my best, you know, and it's not easy. I have a 20 year old sister and a 7 year old brother. It's not easy trying to be the oldest and not basically. Yeah. Like I pay for all the streaming services. I help my mom, I will help Wi Fi. I don't even live with my mom, pay the bills at my house with my dad. And like right now I got injured at work and my job don't want to take me back because I got injured.

[Jess Hilarious]

You have a lot going on, y'.

[Mehdi Hassan]

All.

[DJ Envy]

Can I ask a question, Jess?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, please.

[DJ Envy]

How much do you weigh right now?

[Caller/Listener]

I weigh about 175.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's not big. How tall are you? All right.

[Jess Hilarious]

No, no, no, no, no. What's your height? How short are you?

[Caller/Listener]

I'm five two. I'm five two too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That still ain't that big.

[Jess Hilarious]

You all right? You good?

[Caller/Listener]

Well, I have African parents.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What does that mean? You're a funny person. And see, this is what got me so mad about you. As soon as I laughed earlier, you snapped on me. Why you can't snap on your mama. Okay, That's.

[Caller/Listener]

This is because she's.

[Jess Hilarious]

She African.

[Caller/Listener]

She's black. African and Muslim.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All I hear is great jokes. I hear you just gave me. I hit, I hit Mad jokes.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, if you are serious, I don't want to laugh at you.

[Caller/Listener]

You got to respect your parents.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

You got a lot going on, though. You know what I mean? I. I do understand. You do have a lot going on, though. You got to figure that out. It's a lot going on.

[DJ Envy]

Just be unraded.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You can't curse.

[DJ Envy]

Like, I know it feels like you're at home right now, but you can't curse.

[Jess Hilarious]

Oh, my baby, my baby, my baby. Yeah, it's. It's a lot going on with you. You get that together. I don't know if you joking. If you for real. I don't want to laugh. If you for real.

[Caller/Listener]

My sister warns me, like, she'll call me on the phone and be like, mom was just talking about, like, how your gut was looking a little bit. And like.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, well, look, work out. Work out 30 minutes a day. You know what I mean? No, I mean, for real. Stop. Stop lying. For real.

[Caller/Listener]

No, I swear to God I do. I go to Ghost gym. I don't play with that. But I also got of. Yeah, I got a ton of tater cup, so it kind of set me back to my workout a little bit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jess, you know what we need to do? We need to have her send us a picture of her mama, and we just need to write some damage. And we going to write five good things to reply back to your mama whenever she call you fat.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay. It seems like she got that down low key, but, yeah, she's skinny.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She's skinny, so she look like a spear.

[DJ Envy]

All right?

[Caller/Listener]

And by the way, I need us. Can I say one thing?

[Mehdi Hassan]

Okay.

[Caller/Listener]

Charlemagne. Your book, I think, like, shock on me or something. It honestly saved my best friend's life. She told me. It honestly saved my best friend's life.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, wow.

[Caller/Listener]

His name is Taylor. He's in the military and stuff, but it saved his life, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a blessing. Send him my love, please.

[DJ Envy]

Hold on. We'll get your email so they can send you some jokes to go at your mother.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm not.

[Mehdi Hassan]

We not. I'm not playing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Y'. All.

[Caller/Listener]

I'm scared of my mama, and I'm on my way to her house right now. That's who I'm flying to.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, I hope you lost a little.

[Jess Hilarious]

Bit more weight than you did when you last saw her. She gonna get in? Yeah.

[Caller/Listener]

Oh, it's Texas. I'm going to Texas. It's hot. I know. When I get off that plane, I'm gonna drop 10 pounds.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[DJ Envy]

All right, Paulina, hold on.

[Jess Hilarious]

Bye.

[DJ Envy]

Well, I don't know if you fixed a mess, Jess. I don't know if you fixed.

[Jess Hilarious]

I, I. She ain't never had no mess. That girl playing?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, she just needed somebody to talk to.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest, Ada. 800. I'll get it off your chest. Just fix my mess. 800-585-1051 is the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Mehdi Hassan]

X about me.

[Jess Hilarious]

Relationship problems.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

X about me, you need to beat.

[Jess Hilarious]

Your co worker's ass.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ask about me.

[Jess Hilarious]

Your co worker need to beat your ass. Call it up, Dr. Jess. And I'm here to fix your mess. It's getting very much messy. Let me fix this.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. We're in the middle of Just Fix my mess. And we have Dominique on the line. Dominique, good morning.

[Caller/Listener]

So, number one, I love all of y'. All. Number two, me and Charlamagne have the same birthday. So shout out Charlamagne. So cancer's in the building. Number three, Jess, you were holding it down for Baltimore. West Baltimore is so proud of you. So thank you.

[Jess Hilarious]

Thank you, baby. Thank you.

[Caller/Listener]

But let's just put the pin on it. I've been with this guy for 13 years. We have two kids. We had two houses, we had three cars. And I think the only reason why I'm not getting the ring is because he doesn't have the money to buy the ring. Now, I, as a woman, I'm thinking, like, get out of there. But I love him, and I love our family. I love our dynamic. I mean, he's a Taurus, I'm a cancer. So, you know, earth and water make brick. And so I'm just wondering, how long do I say if I've been building this brick? For 13 years. We got a mansion now. So when do I get the key, you know?

[Jess Hilarious]

All right, but look, this is the thing. Congratulations on staying together that long and then having a beautiful family, as you speak of and all that. But you think with a mansion and three cars and all of this, that he don't have the money to get the ring. How the hell wouldn't he have the money to get the ring if y' all live in a mansion? Mansion.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Word. Yeah.

[Caller/Listener]

The math is never mathing, but at the end of the day, the math does come out some type of way.

[DJ Envy]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, this one be getting deported, man. They sick us. They tired.

[Jess Hilarious]

I don't understand. I don't understand. Babe, like, it is. What? What is the problem. What is the problem? Have you talked to him about it? Yo, like, I want to get Mary. What's up? We've been together 13 years.

[Mehdi Hassan]

I have.

[Caller/Listener]

I said, let's go to the courthouse, let's do this, let's do that.

[Jess Hilarious]

And what he say?

[Caller/Listener]

It's a lot of. It's a lot of circuits, you know, a lot of.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's. What do he say that. That. Is that what he say? Like, give me. What does he say to you? No, I don't want to. I don't want to get married. Does he say marriage? What is marriage going to do? Like, we. I like how we've been rocking and rolling for 13 is. What. Is he saying those things?

[Caller/Listener]

Those exact things? Yes.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay, well, then you don't want to get married. Boo.

[Caller/Listener]

Got it. Thank you.

[Jess Hilarious]

Olivia.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Is that your deal breaker after 13 years? I mean, you waited this long. You might as well just stay and not be married. But if that's what you really want, you know, you. You obviously that's not. You know, you can't be with him. That's not your woman one. But you waited so long. What is. I mean, don't matter now, right? 13 years.

[Caller/Listener]

It really don't. There's no sweat off my back.

[Jess Hilarious]

Get on my phone.

[DJ Envy]

Damn.

[Jess Hilarious]

Get off my phone.

[DJ Envy]

I just want to let everybody know. Jess told me to hang up on it. I didn't not hang up on anybody. Just gave me the key to the. The clue to hang up on it, so I hung up on it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right. But.

[Jess Hilarious]

But it's like, was. Was I wrong?

[DJ Envy]

No, it wasn't. I don't think I'm wrong when I.

[Jess Hilarious]

Hang up with people.

[DJ Envy]

Either just fix my Mess or maybe not. 800-585-1051. When we come back, we got the latest with Lauren. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Morning, everybody.

[DJ Envy]

It's DJ Envy. Jess Hilarious, Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Now, this weekend, Jess Hilarious is going to be in Cleveland doing her. What is Cleveland, Ohio.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Never been to Cleveland.

[DJ Envy]

Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I know, right?

[Jess Hilarious]

He definitely said Cleveland. Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. At the Funny Bone. We got four shows in total. I got two shows tomorrow on Friday, two shows on Saturday. If you have not got your tickets yet, they are on the website and there's still some available for both nights, actually. Jessalaris official dot com.

[DJ Envy]

All right, now, my daughter's boyfriend's going, her family's going, so make sure you take care.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, Okay. I got them. I got them now. Yo, how many of them is it?

[DJ Envy]

4.

[Jess Hilarious]

Mexican, right? Because I know they be trying to travel in packs.

[DJ Envy]

No, they. There's four of them.

[Jess Hilarious]

Oh, it's four. Okay. Oh, yeah, that's not bad. All right, cool. That's fine.

[DJ Envy]

All right. They're not Mexican anyway. But let's get to the latest one.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Lauren.

[Jess Hilarious]

Lauren becoming a straight thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She gets them from somebody that knows somebody.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She be having the latest on.

[Mehdi Hassan]

The Latest with Lauren LaRosa.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Sometimes you have have facts, sometimes you have details. Sometimes you have a little bit everything.

[Mehdi Hassan]

What was the latest on the Breakfast Club?

[Lauren LaRosa]

So G herbo is weighing in on the National Guard and their presence potentially coming to Chicago. He was caught in the airport by tmz, who asked him about, you know, everything that could potentially be happening over in Chicago with the National Guard. Here's what he had to say. Let's take a listen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's a lot of politics in this, but now Trump's threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago.

[Mehdi Hassan]

That's your city.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What.

[Mehdi Hassan]

What do you feel about this?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Keep us safe, man. Whatever you need to do to keep.

[DJ Envy]

The kids safe and the women.

[Mehdi Hassan]

So you, so you give it a thumbs up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There's a lot of people going to.

[DJ Envy]

Keep us safe and clean the streets, man. I'm all for it.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow. You know what? Make sure the babies get home, man. Hey, you know what? It's all I care about, man.

[DJ Envy]

There's a lot of people, like even.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like gangsters posting stuff on social media saying like, I dare him to send him wilt.

[DJ Envy]

I'm a taxpayer citizen, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Everybody to get home safe. Yeah, and I, I saw some reports that the mayor there, Mayor Brandon Johnson, had released some statements saying that they're still left in the dark. They don't know what the plan is. There's been no conversation about coordinating with them at all. So people are starting to weigh in, like G herbo and, you know, people that are trying to figure out what should be done in Chicago. But that debate has been really big about whether they should come or not.

[DJ Envy]

Really knows what's going on. I think somebody just stopped him the middle of his traveling and asked him, and he answered with, yeah, I just want to keep Chicago safe. I don't think he knows the particulars of what exactly they send the troops in.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know they tearing G Herbo ass up online for that. But the reality of the situation is, I'm like you just said, I'm sure he doesn't understand what happened to military on the streets.

[Lauren LaRosa]

The mayor don't even know what's happening. So.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, no, the mayor. The mayor definitely knows. There's a reason the mayor doesn't want the military in Chicago. He knows. Just like Governor JB Prince knows. I was listening to the weekly show this morning with Governor, Governor Princeton, John Stewart. They know she herbo. Actually, he has no idea.

[DJ Envy]

I'm sure it was recording records. I'm sure he don't really know what's going on outside of his recording, but when they stop people like that, it's kind of like he gave the answer of, I want to keep Chicago safe.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. But I do think, though, that, you know, the. For the people that are even having a conversation right now about what should and shouldn't happen to him, trying. What his intention was is that he just wants to see Chicago safe. He not agreeing or disagreeing, even if he doesn't know. He just meant that he wants Chicago safe. He's from there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

His family is say that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, y' all say he don't know what he talking about. I'm just saying what I think his intention was. Y' all didn't say that. Y' all didn't speak to that? No, y' all did not. What are we arguing about right now? Let's go to the next story. So first of all, this is my hair.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I a say nothing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, cuz, this is all mine. Envy. I know you ain't talking about me. I know. Take that hat off. Yeah, you ain't die today.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Take your hat off. And she's angled.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is angolina. Make sure you get the angles. Okay? Yeah, don't, don't. This is not a wig. But speaking of wigs, Portia Williams, you know, of course she has go naked hair. Thank you for to Charlemagne for getting me some hair. So Portia Williams has won again in her divorce case. So y' all saw the video that Portia posted when she was walking to the plane and she was playing the Destiny shots on Ain't no Feeling Like Being Free or the jet. Yes, correct. Ain't no way you ain't seen that video. Portia look good being free. Okay. She is free. All right.

[Jess Hilarious]

Yes, she does look good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. So we have been reporting on the divorce between her and Simon Guardia. And Simon had said a while ago, he had told us that he planned to appeal. And because he doesn't think that what she was awarded was fair, the judge has ruled that he. That the judge does not want to even hear Simon's appeal. So at this point, Portia has won again.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

In this divorce.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Reporting.

[Jess Hilarious]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

She's flying PJ too, right? She's flying private.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. And then she capped. She did another swipe through miss. Well, he called her miss 265 days, and then she owned it. So she posted again signed Ms. 265 Days. And he's referring to. Remember when she was talking about volunteering and she said she. It was an old housewives clip. She said she know.

[Jess Hilarious]

How many years was that? I mean, how many days was in the year?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, she said 65 days. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So how much money's in her bank account, though, period?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay. One thing she do know how to do is count and be free because she look good, period. Yeah. So that's the update. And I did reach out because there was an attorney that we were talking to when I was doing all of the exclusive breakdowns on the divorce and what Portia got and all the things that attorney had said that, you know, Simon wasn't paying her at the time. I reached out to see what the update there was because she was trying to get her money. Money from Simon for the work that she put in on his divorce. And she has not responded to me. But, you know, hopefully I have an update on whether he's cleared that debt with his attorney or not. That's it. That's all we got in the latest.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, that is the latest with Lauren. Salute to Ludicrous. Today is Ludacris's birthday.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, Luda.

[DJ Envy]

Salute to my Virgo brother. We're gonna get some Ludicrous on in the mix.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Born day, Luda.

[DJ Envy]

So you can make a request.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who. What do you say?

[Jess Hilarious]

Yeah, Ludo was a whole era, too.

[DJ Envy]

Like, that was a whole.

[Jess Hilarious]

He never missed neither.

[DJ Envy]

Taraji's birthday is today, too.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't know why I felt like Taraji was like a Scorpio or a sad Virgo. Her energy gives sad to Scorpio.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Two chains is tomorrow. So you make sure you get that two chains ready. Because two chain. And make sure y' all go out there and pre order two chains. Debut. Debut memoir are the voice in your head is God. Which will be out March 3, 2026, courtesy of Black Privilege Publishing, Simon and Schuster.

[DJ Envy]

Yes. Salute to all the Virgos. Nas is a Virgo. Swiss Beats is Virgo.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Myself.

[DJ Envy]

Two chains, Luda.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yourself.

[DJ Envy]

Myself.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's me. Think about you.

[DJ Envy]

You think about me all the time, man.

[Jess Hilarious]

And be put some clowns. Hey, yo, Did y' all see Lizzo and Big X the Plug online? They look good. Yesterday, doing the little dance. You wanna see that?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I saw it. Yes, I saw it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What?

[DJ Envy]

Nothing. Mix us up. Next, get your requested. It's the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good morning. You're checking out the Breakfast Club.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ever wanted to try an Olympic and Paralympic sport? Try fencing. It's fast, safe, and easy to start. Find a beginner class near [e-mail] TRIFENCING that's usafencing.org TRIFENC dancing.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious Charlemagne, the Guy we are the Breakfast Club. And I want to salute. I see Shade Room posted it yesterday. But I want to salute to the legends and the icons. Patti LaBelle.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You better get this right.

[DJ Envy]

Stephanie Millsaka Khan. They will actually be on the the show tomorrow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. You know they're on tour. They're going on the second leg of their Queens tour. Gladys Knight is also a part of that as well. She wasn't here in. In our conversation.

[DJ Envy]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. Those queens will definitely be here tomorrow.

[DJ Envy]

They were here and. And I. When. When the queens are in the building. The queens are in the building. So a lot of fun. So make sure you tune in tomorrow because the queens will be joining us tomorrow. But today we got to suit Mehdi Hassan for joining us. Of course. Journalist, broadcaster, the author of Win Every Argument, the Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking. Salute to him for joining us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, go check out that conversation online, man.

[DJ Envy]

And when we come back, we got the positive notice. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess, Hilarious Charlamagne, the Guy we are the Breakfast Club. Don't forget, this weekend, our very own Jess Hilaris will be out in Cleveland, Ohio.

[Jess Hilarious]

Absolutely. I got four shows at the Funny Bone, y', all, so get your tickets. If you haven't yet, just alert official.com. and I will not be doing meet and greet, but it's all good. It's gonna be two funny shows on Friday and two funny shows on Saturday. And shout out to real 106.1. Can't wait to get in the city, y'. All. Can't wait to see you, Cleveland.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, Charlemagne, you got a positive note.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, the positive note is simply this. Those who cannot adjust to change will be swept aside by it. Those who recognize change and react accordingly will benefit. So y' all better start mother freaking changing, man. Have a great day. Breakfast Club.

[Caller/Listener]

Finish or y' all done?

[Mehdi Hassan]

I just normally do straight stand up, but this is a bit different.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

This is Wisecrack, available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In the 1980s, modeling wasn't just a dream, it was a battlefield.

[Mehdi Hassan]

It's a freaking war zone. These people are animals.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

The Model wars podcast peels back the glossy cover and reveals a high stakes game where survival meant more than beauty. Hosted by me, Vanessa Grigoriadis, this is the untold story of an industry built on ruthless ambition. Listen to Model wars on the I Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt, a young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend 2016. No goodbye, no clues, just gone. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jess Hilarious]

Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor.

[Mehdi Hassan]

And I'm Drew Phillips and we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If you're a crime junkie and you love crime, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated adhd.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness psycho babble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom's the podcast for you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Open your free iHeartradio app, search emergency.

[Mehdi Hassan]

Intercom and listen now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an iHeart podcast.