FULL SHOW: J. Cole Doesn’t Actually Think He’s The Best Rapper Alive + Wanda Sykes & Dr. Puma Interview

Summary

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The Breakfast Club – FULL SHOW: J. Cole Doesn’t Actually Think He’s The Best Rapper Alive + Wanda Sykes & Dr. Puma Interview

Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God
Guests: Wanda Sykes, Dr. Puma, Mimi Brown, Lauren LaRosa

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Episode Overview

This episode covers the hottest cultural and political topics of the week, including a viral debate over J. Cole’s rap supremacy, Wanda Sykes’ dramatic film debut and candid takes on comedy, a deep dive into political party history following Nick Cannon’s controversial comments, celebrity social media gaffes, and life-saving information about full-body health scans with Dr. Puma. All this, plus the classic Breakfast Club phone lines, music news, and the latest on TLC’s Chili and Cam Newton's “almost date” with Angela Simmons.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Weekend Recap & Announcements

• Personal stories from Charlamagne and DJ Envy about parenting and weekend events.
• Shout-outs for MC Hammer’s birthday and discussions about spring break schedules disrupting routines.
  • [03:07] Charlamagne: "I feel blessed, Black and highly favored. Happy to be here. Another day to serve our beautiful listeners."
• Hints at upcoming interviews with Wanda Sykes and Dr. Puma.

2. Front Page News: Government Shutdown, Global Tensions & Viral Protests

With Mimi Brown and Lauren LaRosa

• Shutdown Stalemate: Congress can’t agree, government workers left in limbo.
  • [09:23] Charlamagne: "Why should the lawmakers get paid? I bet there would be a greater sense of urgency if their lives were disrupted..."
• TSA Payments & ICE at Airports: Reports of ICE filling in during TSA shortages; 3,000+ TSA agents have called out or quit.
• Middle East Escalation: Reports that the Pentagon is preparing for the possibility of troops in Iran.
• Historic 'No Kings' Protests: 8 million protestors nationwide, marking the largest single-day movement in US history.

3. 'Get It Off Your Chest': Audience Vents and Celebrations

• Callers share frustrations and celebrations, from missing meet-and-greets to legendary New Edition concerts and the phaseout of pennies.
  • [16:27] Lauren LaRosa (caller): "It was immaculate. I enjoyed the [New Edition] show a few weeks ago myself. Everybody showed up and did great.”

4. Chili (TLC) Caught in a Political Scandal

• Chili responds to media scrutiny over small donations linked to MAGA organizations and an accidental repost of anti-Obama conspiracy content.
• [22:07] Chili (via clip): “I have the utmost respect and admiration for Michelle Obama, and I would never say or do anything that is disrespectful to her or to any woman… I had no clue that this repost had happened.”
• [31:57] DJ Envy: “People have donated like millions and millions of dollars to Trump and it was less than $1,000? She said she made a mistake…”

Charlamagne’s Insightful Question

• [32:05] Charlamagne: “Why is it so easy to cancel someone like Chili but not someone like Elon Musk?... Just a question. Why is it so easy to let go of what Chili offers, but hard to let go of what people like Elon Musk offer?”

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Headline Interviews

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Wanda Sykes: In-depth & Candid

[42:34–66:58]

Journey to Comedy

• From government work at NSA to open mic nights, inspired by her family's love of comedy.
  • [44:38] Wanda: "I just got to the point where I was like, this is not where I'm supposed to be... I’m gonna write some jokes."

Chris Rock Show, Breaking In

• Discusses being the only woman in the writing room, the responsibility of leaving the door open for others, and early career challenges.
  • [47:01] Wanda: "You get in the door, you got to make sure you leave it open or open it wider for someone else."

On Comedy’s Role in Telling Hard Truths

• [48:11] Wanda: “You’re allowed to do it, but it’s just who wants to do it?... If I’m trying to fill an arena… you got to appeal to the masses. And sometimes, right now, that’s what the masses want to hear. It’s ugly.”
• [49:07] Wanda: "You can't do it for them. You got to do it for you. You got to say what you want... if what I want to say and what makes me feel good... if I’m only going to get maybe 600 people, then that's who I'm supposed to be speaking to."

Punching Up, Punching Down

• [51:06] Wanda: "I always try to punch up... I try to use [my gift] not just for myself but for... I'm a Black woman and queer, so I'm always coming from... going up."

New Dramatic Lead in 'Undercard'

• [54:30] Wanda: “[Director] Tamika Miller... said, I want you to check it out... I wasn't looking for the role at all... She made me believe I could do it.”
• Reflects on being challenged to push her emotional range and forgive herself (and others) in performance and life.
• [62:06] Wanda: "You have to, like, forgive yourself. Her character, she had to really, like, forgive herself and be accountable..."

Oscars & Chris Rock/Will Smith Slap

• [67:35] Charlamagne: "I don't think people realize how close you and Chris are... I remember you saying you were physically sick..."
• [68:50] Wanda: "I was upset, like physically upset by that. And then it didn’t... just sickened me more watching everybody just sit out there… and then to give that man an award afterwards… I was like, I'm done with y'all.”

Legacy & Final Thoughts

• [70:53] Wanda: "I want Wanda Sykes to mean that she was a voice for those who didn't have a voice... and she gave it her all. And funny. Hella funny."

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Nick Cannon’s 'Donkey of the Day': Politics, History, & Context

[79:26–89:32]

• Charlamagne calls out Nick Cannon for echoing misinformation about Democrats and the KKK, and the idea that Republicans care more about Black people—while providing a thorough history lesson on party realignment and current events.

  • [83:54] Charlamagne: “Saying Republicans freed the slaves is historically true, but using that to describe modern Republicans without context is misleading…”

• Takes both Nick and Amber Rose to task for over-simplifying, warns of influencer responsibility, and again poses the question about selective 'cancel culture' when it comes to celebrities vs. billionaire CEOs.

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Dr. Puma on Preventative Medicine & Full-Body Scans

[90:18–103:05]

• Dr. Puma, founder of Soren Medical, explains the importance of regular scans for early detection of heart disease, aneurysms, and cancer, especially in underserved communities.

  • [91:01] Dr. Puma: “With a three minute heart scan, we can see your arteries in your body, we can see if you have plaque, we can see if you have blockage... We’re just trying to improve the health of the community and... giving people an access point.”

• He and the hosts discuss community health disparities, advocacy, the value of knowing your own health numbers, and providing 50 free heart scans via the show.

  • [101:05] Dr. Puma: “I’ll leave it open to you... so we’ll give away 50, 100, whatever you’d like to do... When people come in... we find diabetes, we find high blood pressure, we find things that weren’t treated or inadequately treated... every day.”

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J. Cole’s Press Tour & Rapper Self-Perceptions

[103:32–107:17]

• J. Cole clears up the misconception that he dissed Jay Z on "The Fall Off," saying it was wordplay, not a shot.

  • [104:57] Lauren LaRosa: "You’re J. Cole. You play with words all day long and now all of a sudden... I didn’t believe him when he said that.”

• Most notably, Cole admits he doesn’t walk around thinking he’s the best rapper alive.

  • [106:06] J. Cole: "Bro, Bro. It’s a name Black Thought that exists. It’s a name Lupe Fiasco that exists. Even my peers, a Drake or a Kendrick... if you ask me in real life, do I walk around like I’m the best rapper alive? No, I don’t like that.”

• DJ Envy and Charlamagne debate the meaning of confidence and bravado in rap, suggesting top MCs should believe they’re the best.

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Other Notable Moments & Quotes

• Tiger Woods’ DUI Arrest

  • [72:12] Lauren LaRosa covers details of Tiger’s DUI crash, failed sobriety tests, and implications for his career and health.

• Kanye West’s "Bully" Album Debut

  • [76:40] Kanye’s new album "Bully" sets Spotify streaming records but leaves hosts looking for deeper storytelling.

• Cam Newton & Angela Simmons: A Date That Wasn't

  • [107:53] Lauren LaRosa: "At first, I was like, why even bring that up? But [Cam] was honest, and they cleared it up."

• Women's History Month

  • [114:44] Lauren LaRosa: “Stella Payne from How Stella Got Her Groove Back... deserves to be honored for reclaiming her joy, simply choosing to live, work, and dress however she wants regardless of being an older woman.”

• Charlamagne’s Positive Note

  • [117:19] Charlamagne: “Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races, one after the other... The most certain way to succeed is always to just try one more time.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [03:00] Weekend Recap, Spring Break, MC Hammer’s Birthday
• [08:03] Front Page News: Government Shutdown, Senate vs. House, Protests
• [13:08] 'Get It Off Your Chest' (phone lines open)
• [21:19] Chili’s Political Scandal, Social Media Accidents
• [42:34 – 66:58] Wanda Sykes Interview – Comedy, 'Undercard', Chris Rock, Oscars, The Upshaws
• [67:35] Reflections on the Chris Rock/Will Smith Slap
• [79:26 – 89:32] Donkey of the Day: Nick Cannon’s Political Comments & Party History
• [90:18 – 103:05] Dr. Puma Interview: Life-Saving Scans, Community Advocacy
• [103:32 – 107:17] J. Cole on Not Being "Best Rapper Alive" & Rapper Self-Perceptions
• [107:53] Cam Newton & Angela Simmons’ Date Debunked
• [114:44] Women's History Month–Stella Payne Tribute
• [117:19] Charlamagne’s Positive Note

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Episode Highlights – Quotes & Memorable Soundbites

• Wanda Sykes on Legacy:
  • [70:53] "I want Wanda Sykes to mean that she was a voice for those who didn’t have a voice, that she was, you know, common sense. And she gave it her all. Yeah. And funny. Hella funny."
• Charlamagne’s Reflection on Cancel Culture:
  • [32:05] "Why is it so easy to cancel someone like Chili but not someone like Elon Musk?"
• J. Cole on Artistic Honesty:
  • [106:06] “Do I walk around like I’m the best rapper alive? No, I don’t like that.”
• Dr. Puma on Health Advocacy:
  • [101:05] “We just want people... we find diabetes, we find high blood pressure, we find things that weren’t treated or inadequately treated... every day.”
• Lauren LaRosa on Representation:
  • [56:58] "The little brown girls look at you and go, I want to be like you. Take me through that."

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Tone

The conversation is warm, funny, vulnerable, and passionate—balancing jokes, cultural analysis, and tough truth-telling. Wanda Sykes’ wit shines throughout her interview, and Charlamagne is particularly sharp in contextualizing political and social missteps. The hosts’ camaraderie and their rapport with guests create a dynamic, engaging show, while serious news items and health advice are handled with care and urgency.

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For More:

• Follow the team and guests on Instagram and social (@djenvy, @cthagod, @jesshilarious_official, @iamwandasykes, @drpuma, @mimiBrownTV, @laurenlarosa)
• Register for Dr. Puma’s free heart scan: power1051.com
• Keep up with show updates, upcoming festivals, and more at blackeffect.com/podcastfestival

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Transcript

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Let me get this straight. You're in Italy, Child pretended to be the white Italian man's fiance. Hard to believe. This is Michael, my nephew. Then you ended up catching feelings for the black Italian Cousin Brothers.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On April 10, she came for the pasta and got lost in the sauce.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Please just tell me that you support me.

[Wanda Sykes]

Damn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No. Is he fine, though?

[Wanda Sykes]

Come on, baby.

[DJ Envy]

You can eat, pray and love me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Baby, you be in Tuscany B13 only. Peterson. April 10th may be inappropriate for children under 13. You've been working in the garage with your dad every week, Monday to Sunday, trying to get the old school up and running. Today, after all the hard work, y' all finally finished it. Even better. Your dad says all yours, son. Yep. Same car that belongs to your grandpa that your dad helped him fix. It's yours. To really keep the tradition going, you need to get State Farm insurance.

[DJ Envy]

Just like them, generation to generation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Remember to choose the agents that your family counted on. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[DJ Envy]

Want a game changing way to watch college basketball? With a one day pass from Sling, get instant access to the men's and women's tournaments. Starting at just $4.99. You can catch all the action on TNT, TBS, ESPN and ESPN too. Want even more hoops? Then add an extra pack to your subscription for just $1. No overpaying, no over committing. Just tournaments so crazy, they crazy to miss. Visit sling.com to learn more. Sling lets you do that?

[Dr. Puma]

You know Roald Dahl, he thought of Willy Wonka and the bfg.

[DJ Envy]

But did you know he was a spy? In the new podcast, the Secret World

[Dr. Puma]

of Roald Dahl, I'll tell you that

[DJ Envy]

story and much, much more.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What?

[DJ Envy]

You probably won't believe it either.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Was this before you wrote his stories. It must have been okay.

[Wanda Sykes]

I don't think that's true.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy.

[DJ Envy]

Listen to the Secret world of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Saturday, May 2, country's biggest stars will be in Austin, Texas at our 2026 I Heart Country Festival presented by Capital One. See Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Greene, Shaboozie, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen W. Chase, Matthew Lauren Elena. Tickets are on sale now. Get yours before they sell [e-mail] wake you up.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartRadio. 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.

[DJ Envy]

Jess is running a little late. Charlemagne the God.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Peace to the planet. It's Monday.

[Wanda Sykes]

Hey,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

how y' all feel out there? I feel blessed. Black and highly favored. Happy to be here. Another day to serve our beautiful listeners. Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning. Monday, the beginning of the work week. How you feeling out there? What up, Charlotte? How was your weekend?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It was good. You know, my daughter had cheerleading competition this past weekend. So I've been living that cheer dad life the past few days, man, you

[DJ Envy]

know, which is crazy because most kids, a lot of kids have spring breaks. So, you know, for me, this week, all my kids dance is shut down for the week. And I'm excited about that. I ain't got to be driving around like a Uber. I could just relax and just enjoy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's so crazy is my three youngest got two weeks spring break off. So last week they was off and this week they off. And then my oldest is off this week.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And then we're off next week.

[DJ Envy]

Then we're off next week.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Which makes no sense.

[DJ Envy]

No sense at all. No sense at all. But anyway, yes, salute to everybody I seen out and about. I was in Middletown, New York, which is upstate New York. I had to do an R and B day party, which was crazy. Had over a thousand people. It was just. It was just a great time. Grown and sexy type of fun. So salute to everybody I ran into in Middletown, New York. Now, today on the show, Wanda Sykes will be joining us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Man, let me tell you something about Ms. Wanda Sykes. She's got a new movie out called Undercard, and this is her first dramatic role. But I'm about to say, forget all that. But no, Wanda Sykes has had such a great career. Absolutely. Going back to when she was a writer on the Chris Rock show. Of course, we've seen shows like the Upshaws, her stand up comedy. Wanda got a lot to talk about. So I can't wait to sit down and build with Wanda Sykes this morning.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, absolutely. And Dr. Puma will be joining us. So, of course. Dr. Puma is the founder and president of Soren Medical. He does the heart scan now. He does the head to toe scan where you can get your body scan and check for damn near everything from aneurysms to blood CL to cancer. So charlamagne makes me nervous all the time on the radio. I see.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't make you nervous. You a grown ass man who should be taking care of theyself I do.

[DJ Envy]

But every time you be like, I just tried this test, I'm like, oh, let me try it just in case. So the other day. Make y' all laugh. The other day, a friend called my. A friend called me and said, I haven't spoke to him in a while because he had prostate cancer. So I asked him why, you know,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Heavy ran to get that prostate exam.

[DJ Envy]

Yo, shut up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know how he do.

[DJ Envy]

Shut up. So anyway, he told me that. So I asked him if he did the scan. He said he did the scan. He said the scan. Didn't pick it up. So he said he did the blood test, which allows you to see if you have different forms of cancer. Now, Charlamagne took the blood test and the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, to make sure I did both.

[DJ Envy]

He did both.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I'll do it again.

[DJ Envy]

And I'll do it again. So I was kind of nervous, So I called Dr. Puma on Friday, because Dr. Puma took my blood a couple of weeks ago. And he was like, no, envy. You are fine. I told you, everything is cool. We took your blood test, we checked the levels. Everything is good. So we're just telling everybody out there, if you get an opportunity, not even if you get an opportunity, make an opportunity. Make sure you get to the doctor and get yourself checked out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And by the way, when you do the prostate exam, the way they get the blood is by putting the finger in your. Never mind.

[DJ Envy]

No, they don't. Man, let's get the show cracking, man. We got front page news. Mimi is joining us where we starting the show with what we got.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey, today is MC Hammer's Born Day. MC Hammer stuff. All right. Today is MC Hammer's Born Day. Drop one of clues bombs for the legend, MC Hammer. Damn it. Yes. Okay, yes. Why not take them back to the late 80s once? Actually, early 90s while we playing. You can't touch the early 90s. That's damn right. Why not? All right. Why not?

[DJ Envy]

What a way to start a Monday.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Can't touch this.

[DJ Envy]

It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. We are the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good morning. Oh, oh, oh, oh. O, man, you're not even at that part yet. You're not even at that part. Shut up.

[DJ Envy]

Excited.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

May 1st, 1990. Okay, MC Hammer, you can't touch this, all right? Y' all don't know Nothing about buying 10 CDs for a penny and then getting hit with all them taxes and shipping and handling, and you ain't had no money, all right? But that's how I was Listening to MC Hammer. You can't touch this back then on cassette tape.

[DJ Envy]

Salute to MC Hammer. Let's get in some front page news. Not Mimi. Did you do the typewriter in Alaska? Were y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[DJ Envy]

Y' all jamming her?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know what?

[Mimi Brown]

Yes, Envy. In fact, MC Hammer was probably, like, the first concert I ever went to.

[Wanda Sykes]

I don't even know how old I was. But, yes, it was the first concert. All right, I don't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You don't strike me as a liar, Mimi, but I don't believe you. I don't believe. I don't believe you. I don't know why.

[Mimi Brown]

Anyway, let's get into the news. Any sports, Envy?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Let's do some quick sports now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay.

[DJ Envy]

Over the weekend, a lot of NCAA basketball. Duke seems like Duke was upset yesterday. UConn beat Duke 73, 72.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What a finish.

[DJ Envy]

What a finish, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Dr. Clues bombs for coach Danny Hurley. I. I haven't seen a coach will his team to victory like that in a long time. Salute to Coach Danny Hurley, man.

[DJ Envy]

Also, Arizona be produced. 79, 64. Michigan be Tennessee, 95, 62. And Illinois be Iowa, 7159. Now. NCAA women's, huh?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. Salute to my South Carolina Lady Gamecocks. Okay, we play tonight. We play against TCU. TCU. TCU. Yeah, TCU tonight.

[DJ Envy]

So over the weekend, South Carolina beat Oklahoma, TCU be Virginia, UCLA beat Duke, and UConn beat Notre Dame. Tonight, South Carolina plays TCU at nine and Texas plays Michigan at seven. What's up, Mimi? Let's jump into the news.

[Mimi Brown]

Good morning. And Charlotte, you may be right. I think MC Hammer was the first person I remember coming to Alaska. So that's the difference. Yeah. All right, so we start this morning on day 45 of the government shutdown, now the longest shutdown in U.S. history. And we're getting a clearer picture of why it's going on and why it may not end anytime soon. So we told you about this on Friday as it was breaking. The Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan bill. That vote was 100 to 0, meaning both Democrats and Republicans supported it. That bill would have funded tsa, the Coast Guard, fema, and most of Homeland Security, but the House rejected it. So the problem, according to House Republicans, is that the Senate did not include funding for ICE and some Border Patrol operations. And that's where the fight is. So House Republicans, they rejected the Senate plan. They passed their own short term bill, which does not include funding for ice. Or, excuse me, which does include funding for ice. So here's why all of this is confusing. The Senate agreed on one plan. The House passed a different plan. And for a bill to become law, the House and the Senate have to pass the exact same bill. And right now, that hasn't happened. And because lawmakers have now left Washington for two weeks, there is no immediate vote scheduled to resolve any of this, meaning the shutdown will likely continue. For now, here's House Speaker Mike Johnson.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let me just be completely unequivocal and put this out here in the open. And in the beginning here, the Senate Democrats have hoisted upon this appropriations process their radical, crazy agenda. They want to reopen the borders and they want to stop the deportation of dangerous criminal illegal aliens. The Republicans are not going to be a party to this. They have taken hostage the funding processes of government so that they can impose their radical agenda on the American people, and we can't have any part of it. Why should the lawmakers get paid? I bet, I bet there would be a greater sense of urgency if their lives were disrupted by not being paid. I mean, how can they just up and take two weeks while people are not getting their paycheck?

[DJ Envy]

Sounds wild.

[Mimi Brown]

Absolutely. And so again, also the Republicans, they voted for this bill, and Democrats, they don't want to stop the deportation of illegal aliens, as he just said. They just want to reign in. So they want reforms on how they operate, judicial warrants, no mask body cameras, and they want them to stop racially profiling. So just to make that clear, meanwhile, as the shutdown continues, President Trump, he did sign an executive order aimed at getting TSA workers paid. And officials say those paychecks could start going out as soon as today. Border czar Tom Holman, he was asked about this on cnn. Let's listen to that.

[Dr. Puma]

Yeah, I talked to Secretary Mark Wayne Mulanester. There is a plan to get these TSA agents pay, hopefully by tomorrow, Tuesday.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Once TSA agents start getting paid, will ICE agents leave the airports?

[Dr. Puma]

We'll see. You know, it depends how many TSA agents come back to work. How many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan coming back to work?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, when I flew out of LaGuardia Friday, I ain't see no TSA agents. ICE was, ICE was doing everything.

[DJ Envy]

And how was it? How was your experience?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, they were great, to be honest with you. Like, to be honest. Like they were and that and that for that particular terminal I was flying out LaGuardia. I forgot what terminal it was. But yeah, they, they were being extra nice, like Chick fil a workers. I was saying to myself, I'm like, there's no way in hell this is the same ICE agents that was on the streets of places like Minnesota with the mask on. Like, they not wearing masks. Like they being super nice. I think it's a psyop, okay, for the midterms, right? Because if you put them in the airports and they're super nice and they're helpful and they got things running efficiently, when he says we're going to have them at the polls in November, nobody going to think twice about them.

[Mimi Brown]

Well, over the weekend, maybe you didn't see them because over 3,000 TSA officers nationwide, they called out sick at some of the major airports. And more than 500 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began. And as this continues here at home, really quick, there are developments in the war overseas that could signal a major escalation. New reports that the Pentagon is preparing for possible boots on the ground operations in Iran, which could mark a major escalation in the war that's entering its seventh month, our second month. So right now there are 50,000 U.S. troops on the ground in the Middle east. About additional 3, 500, they arrived over the weekend. And all of this, the shutdown, airport delays, the possibility of a wider war, that's fooling, fueling frustration around the corner the country. And so over the weekend, organizers say about 8 million people, they showed up at those no Kings protests across the country and across the world, making it the largest single day protest movement in US History. So a lot happening this weekend. And coming up at 7, we're going to talk more about a lot of celebrities are jumping into the political talk. And now one comment in particular about history, politics. It's spreading misinformation. And we'll talk about it in the next hour.

[DJ Envy]

All right, everybody else, get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, phone lines are wide open again. 800-585-1051. Justice in the building. What up, Jess? Yo, Mr. Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's a new day.

[DJ Envy]

This is your time to get it off your chest.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wait.

[Wanda Sykes]

Wake up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Whether you're mad or blessed, it's time

[Charlamagne Tha God]

to get up and get something.

[DJ Envy]

Call up now. 800-585-1051. We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who's this?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, this is Alexis.

[DJ Envy]

Alexa. Good morning, Alexa. I seen your number pop up on this caller ID like three, four times. You calling from a bunch of phones this morning? Huh?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, I've really only been Calling from this one number, but I've literally been calling since y' all started the show, like, before six AM I so heated this morning.

[DJ Envy]

I seen your number.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What's up? What's wrong? So, Jess, girl, let me tell you. I went to your late show on Saturday night, and I know the second the afternoon show or the seven o' clock show was a mess, but, like, I was really disappointed that I didn't get to meet you or buy any merch. But you are the last host of the Breakfast Club that I have yet to meet. Like, I got. I met Charlamagne, I met DJ Envy. I got both of them to sign their books. I don't even have a kid. But I was gonna buy your book just to have you sign it because, like, you're the only one I have yet to meet. Yeah, I apologize about that. I mean, the club needs security and it's just. It just got you out of hand. And, you know, to protect me, we just had to. We just had to. We couldn't do meet and greet.

[DJ Envy]

We had to cut it off.

[Wanda Sykes]

Then the manager was getting upset because

[Lauren LaRosa]

they said I kept going over my time. And I'm like, I don't even know what that mean.

[Wanda Sykes]

If I'm the headliner, I'mma do an hour. I did an hour and like 20

[DJ Envy]

minutes the last show. Just because I knew I wasn't going

[Lauren LaRosa]

to be able to do meet and

[Wanda Sykes]

greet the last show. So I apologize.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm sorry. At least you got to see the show. The book is actually available for pre order, so you wouldn't even get it until April 28th. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I was wondering if there was any way I can get something like that. You could send me something like signed or something like that.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So if you. You can.

[DJ Envy]

We'll put you a hole. We'll put you a hole. Yeah. Because I don't know how I would.

[Wanda Sykes]

I was supposed to sign a book pre order.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know, she pre order it. She can't get it to 418. I mean, you know, 428.

[DJ Envy]

We'll put you on hold and we'll get your information. We'll get you something. We'll make sure you got it. You got something for me? You got something?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Can I just turn on my boyfriend real quick?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go ahead.

[DJ Envy]

Mama.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hi, Jose. I love you, Jose Rosado. That's my boo. That's my baby. He gonna marry me.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, you gotta marry me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You got a Mexican man, too. That's why you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, he's Puerto Rican. And Black.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But he.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He think he all black.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, Alexa, hold on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay?

[DJ Envy]

Don't hang up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Thank you so much.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He said her man name was Jose Cuevor.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, Jose Rosado.

[DJ Envy]

And that is not black.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's reposado. Reposado is still tequila.

[DJ Envy]

Hello? Who's this?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Misha.

[DJ Envy]

Misha, what's up? Where you calling from?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm calling from. One second. Sorry. I'm calling from Columbus.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest. Mama.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I just. I just to let y' all know that if they people have not gone to see New Edition in concert, y' all don't know y' all are missing the best right ever, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I promise you. Last night, Nyla salute to Nyla Simone. Nyla text me last night, she was at the New Edition Tony Braxton concert. And she was like, man, I came to see Tony. But boy, the excellence a New Edition should be studied.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, I'm so upset about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

From. From the moment they came on stage

[Wanda Sykes]

to the ending, everything, it was immaculate.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Immaculate. I enjoyed the show a few weeks ago myself. Everybody showed up and did great.

[Wanda Sykes]

Everybody still looked good, sound good, all

[DJ Envy]

that, I ain't get to see it. My daughters had dance when they were in town. But I'm gonna go to another city and I'm gonna go check them out.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That was the only concert you was talking about for. For like a month.

[DJ Envy]

But, you know, I didn't see them like four or five times, but I just wanted to see this, so I

[Charlamagne Tha God]

wanted to see it. That's it. Four or five.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, I see them every time. They. In essence, I see them when they was in Aruba. I see them. I see them all the time. Like, that's my favorite group.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, there's nobody I've seen more than New Edition. Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Jay Z.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, mine is New Edition and hov. Those are the two I've seen the most. But get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, hit us up. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This is your time to get it

[DJ Envy]

off your chest, whether you're Mad or blessed. 800-585-1051. We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello? Who's this?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, this is DJ Marley.

[DJ Envy]

DJ Marley. What's up? DJ Marley?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hey, girl. All right, so I don't know if y' all remember me, but I called

[Charlamagne Tha God]

when I was a little, little girl

[Lauren LaRosa]

about a few years back, and you guys were telling Al that he needs to get me on the radio. But this Friday, I actually got the DJ, the midday mix at 10:35 beat.

[Wanda Sykes]

Hey, I just want to thank y'

[Lauren LaRosa]

all for sticking it into existence.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what it is. Dropping a cool bar for DJ Molly.

[DJ Envy]

He said, when I was a little girl two years ago. Marley, how old are you?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm 15 now.

[DJ Envy]

Okay?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So, yes. She wasn't. She's still a little girl now. She was definitely a little girl 20 years ago.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was a little bit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

A little.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, yeah. I want to thank Miss Jill Stroud.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, shout out to Jill. Salute to Jill. Jill Strada.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Salute to Jill.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. Big salute.

[DJ Envy]

Congratulations, mama.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Thank you. Thank you, guys.

[DJ Envy]

Alrighty. Good luck with everything. Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All right. All right. Make sure you guys follow me on Instagram @djmarlee954.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right?

[DJ Envy]

DJ Marlon.

[Wanda Sykes]

954.

[Mimi Brown]

All right.

[Wanda Sykes]

She in Florida?

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, Florida.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right.

[DJ Envy]

Hello? Who's this?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Hi, this is Karen.

[DJ Envy]

Hey, Karen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Get it off your chest.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm calling about.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I saw a commercial recently, and it's about the pennies. You know, they taking the pennies out of circulation. 20, 25. Yes, ma'. Am. The commercial says. The commercial says, no, you can buy a roll of 50 cent pennies for $9.99 plus tax. Now, that's so ridiculous because Trump said that it costs $0.03 to make a penny.

[Wanda Sykes]

Why not make the value of a

[Lauren LaRosa]

penny, three cents instead of taking it out of circulation? And why show how stupid they think that the value people are that we would buy a roll of 50 cent pennies for $10?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, I think. I mean, I think that is silly. But the reason they're doing that is because the penny is that that penny is probably going to be worth something in the future. Just because it's not gonna be around.

[DJ Envy]

It's out of circulation.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That is crazy. And it cost $3.69 to make a penny. I was mad. I'm with you, too, ma'.

[Wanda Sykes]

Am.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It is so ridiculous. I mean, I can't get over it. And I wanted to say, too gu.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, I really.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I have to give it to you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You are brilliant.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I think that you're a very smart person, and I enjoy listening to you guys every morning.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I'm gonna call back because I have another thing to get off of my chest. My name is Karen. And they have turned the name Karen into something ugly, which before it wasn't. You know, I have a T shirt out there that it says, I have to say this it says if a stupid ass mother does or says something stupid, don't call him a Karen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just call him a stupid ass.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you, Karen. Goodbye. She's right. She's absolutely right. She's absolutely right. Because there are good Karens out there. There's people named Karen that are good people. I prefer exactly what she said. Just call them a stupid ass mother.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. What's up, Lauren?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

We got the ladies coming up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

We do. Chili from TLC is in some hot water she's trying to clear up. I've been talking to her team all weekend, so we're gonna get into the conversation.

[DJ Envy]

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

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I'm not dumbing myself down. I'm being myself. The homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everything. The little brown girls look at you and go, I want to be like you. Take me through that. Take me through that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On the Breakfast Club. LL Cool baby, talk to me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Alrighty, guys. So Chili from tlc, there has been a lot of upset over the weekend because it was revealed that she had donated to three different organizations or three different companies that are directly tied to Trump and or things on the Republican side. Now, Chile has had to come out and clarify that she is not MAGA after these reports went happened, but she's also being, you know, caught out right now because of something that she retweeted on her Instagram regarding Michelle Obama. It was a conspiracy theory that mentioned that Michelle Obama. And this is completely false, and it's been debunked many times that Michelle Obama had registered to vote as a man at one point. So Chili is speaking for her herself in a video she's posted. Let's take a listen.

[Wanda Sykes]

I have the utmost respect and admiration for Michelle Obama, and I would never say or do anything that is disrespectful to her or to any woman. I had no clue that this repost had happened until I started getting phone calls and text messages from everybody. And I immediately went to my page to see what was going on. Now, mind you, I'm not very computer savvy, so I'm looking for this repost button, and I see that all of these buttons are very, very close to each other. And clearly I was scrolling and my thumb hit the repost button. I took that down. I have supported the Obamas. I gave to the campaign, both runs, voted twice. For him and supported the organization that Michelle had in the schools for exercise for the kids. If you look on my page and see my post, it's all about love, faith, Faith and connection. That's what I'm all about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I've definitely liked and retweeted things that I didn't want to, but. But I. I catch it in that moment.

[Wanda Sykes]

I did.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I just realized I did that on, like, Wednesday. I retweeted something from. Some of me, kept posting. I retweeted. I'm like, why did I do this? I didn't mean to.

[DJ Envy]

I've done that several times. I just looked down. It was something that I retweeted that I had to unreak. I. I didn't do that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what gets me, Especially on Instagram, you know how you be, like, trying to clip people's names. Yeah. See who likes something. That's when you end up pressing all the hearts and the. The Repost app and all that other stuff. That was, you know, when the little pictures be floating. Yeah. You see your picture floating. I gotta have my picture floating.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes. That'd be messing me up all the time.

[DJ Envy]

But I've definitely done that before.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She also, in addition to this video, because of just how crazy things were going, she posted a written statement that just clarified again that she's not maga. And she says that she doesn't support any of the many policies that are causing great harm to the American people. She made a mistake that many make. And this is about the donation she says. I did not read the fine print. She thought she was supporting causes, and it just echoes what she said in her video. She thought she was supporting causes that were related to human trafficking, especially with children, which is a passion of hers, and things with veterans because her dad is a veteran. Now, I've been in contact with Chili, her team, all weekend. And I know Saturday when a lot of this, like, started hitting, she was so upset. Like, I mean, like, very, very upset. And her biggest thing was, you know, she feels like all of her career and everything that she's built and her legacy is now being in question. Let me get this straight.

[Wanda Sykes]

You're in Italy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Child pretended to be the white Italian man's fiance. Hard to believe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This is Michael, my nephew.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Then you ended up catching feelings for the black Italian Cousin Brothers.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On April 10, she came for the pasta and got lost in the sauce.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Please just tell me that you support me. No. Is he fine, though? Come on, baby.

[DJ Envy]

You can eat, pray and love me, baby.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You be In Tuscany radio PG 13 of only in theaters April 10th.

[DJ Envy]

May be inappropriate for children under 13. You know Roald Dahl, the writer who thought up Willy Wonka, Matilda and the bfg. But did you know he was also a spy?

[Mimi Brown]

Was this before he wrote his stories?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It must have been.

[DJ Envy]

Our new podcast series, the Secret World of Roald Dahlia is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the

[Dr. Puma]

wives of powerful Americans.

[Wanda Sykes]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And he was really good at it.

[DJ Envy]

You probably won't believe it either.

[Wanda Sykes]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[DJ Envy]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy.

[Dr. Puma]

Did you know Dahl got cozy with

[DJ Envy]

the Roosevelts, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman? And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did the Secret Agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids? The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the Secret World of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dr. Puma]

I'm John Green.

[DJ Envy]

You may know me as the author

[Dr. Puma]

of the Fault in Our Stars. And now, I guess also as the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

co host of the Away End, a

[Dr. Puma]

brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, the Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

[Dr. Puma]

For us, soccer football is a story we've shared for over 30 years, since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Very debatable.

[Dr. Puma]

And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all

[Charlamagne Tha God]

the unimportant things football, soccer is the most important.

[Dr. Puma]

Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John green on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lauren LaRosa]

An ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy

[Wanda Sykes]

mother looks like in the black community.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This woman's History Month. The podcast Keep it positive, Sweetie celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy.

[Wanda Sykes]

Love.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's not a destination.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You have to work on it every day. Keep it positive. Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud. I have several conversations with God and

[Wanda Sykes]

I know why it took 20 years

[Lauren LaRosa]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Pies as sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance and everywhere in between this season of Math and Magic I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken. Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

[Dr. Puma]

If you're unable to take meaningful creative

[Charlamagne Tha God]

risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't

[Dr. Puma]

play in this business.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and our own Chief Business Officer Lisa Coffey.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

[Lauren LaRosa]

your podcast because of something that she's telling people were a mistake. Now the donations that people are talking about, specifically the FEC reports that were revealed through Midas Touch, they're from 2024. They're across three different companies. WinRed, which is a payment processor for the Republican campaign. So it's like the opposite of Act Blue. The Trump National Committee joint the Trump National Committee, a joint fundraising committee which raises money for Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and affiliate Republican Party committees. And Never Surrender Inc. Which is a national political action committee that has been closely associated to Donald Trump and that before 2024 was known as Trump for President 2024 and then converted after he was the assassination attorney attempt in Pennsylvania where they started, you know, doing the Never Surrender stuff. But here's the thing, when you go to the FEC's website, which this is public information, you can only see these organizations in the amounts, right? And their her amounts are as small as like $3 and they go up to like a hundred. Like they're not crazy big enough amounts. In total, it's less than 900.

[DJ Envy]

It's not a lot of money.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So people making all this noise for less than 900, not a lot of money.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But also, too, you can't see what company she thought she was directly donating to. Now, I have reached out to the FEC to try and get that information. I'm working closely with Chili's team as well, too. Because the thing that all you see is are these organizations or these companies I just mentioned. But there could be a website that doesn't directly state that they are connected to Trump or maga.

[Wanda Sykes]

Right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And she thinks she's supporting a cause and that's what she's saying is happening. But yes, people are making so much noise behind this. Oh, it's crazy. I've seen people even blame who she's married to. Like, all of that. The fact that she's with Matthew Lawrence. And he's right. I've saw people have that conversation as well, too. But also, people are now threatening to not support the tour that TLC is supposed to go on with in Vogue and Salt and Pepper, which is crazy to me. That's why she's so upset, because, you know, Chili feels like I've built all this legacy I have, you know, this tour that the promotion of it kicked off so great. They had that amazing performance at the iHeart Awards. She just can't understand why people are taking this one thing and making it her whole conversation. Right. And I saw Salt of Salt and Pepper post in support of her and basically, you know, tell people that if you want to come, you should still come. If you don't want to come, you're going to miss a great night of Legacy. And she told Chili to please keep her head up. The world is very quick to believe anything and everything posted on social media, quick to crucify and slow to forgive. Even when you straighten it out, haters will always hate. Salt is reminding Chili that, you know, the people know her heart and that she's praying for her and that she prays that she doesn't shed one tear or lose a night of sleep over this. And, yeah, she just wants her to continue to let her light shine. But, man, I was surprised to see how many people so quickly. Yeah, Got on her.

[DJ Envy]

Like, it was bad.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, I had to comment somehow. It's still not surprised. Like, what you mean not surprised?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What has she ever done?

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I'm saying. I don't know. I mean, I really don't understand where all of this is coming from. I know that the times that we're in, people are like, there's no room for gray area. But you know how many people have donated, like, millions and millions of dollars

[DJ Envy]

to Trump and it was less than $1,000? She said she made a mistake. She didn't know. She said she wasn't maga. She said, like, Jesus Christ. Like, what are we doing?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen, can I, Can I, can I. Can I make a statement? If people are mad at Chili, they have that right, okay? If they don't want to go to the concert, they have that right, okay? But to all the people saying they aren't supporting Chile anymore, saying they're not going to the concert, I just want to ask a simple question, and it's just a simple. It's just a question. Why is it so easy to cancel someone like Chile but not someone like Elon Musk? Musk chili donated, what, $900?

[Lauren LaRosa]

A little less than that, to be honest.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

A little less than $900. But Elon Musk donated $250 million to Trump's campaign and used X to amplify MAGA messaging and suppress content that opposed maga. But y' all folks are still driving Teslas, and you're still on X. You're still on X tweeting your life away. So I just want to know. It's just a question. Why is it so easy to let go of what Chili offers, but hard to let go of what people like Elon Musk offer? Just the question. I just want. Just a question. I'm pos.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Our superpowers in the right way. That's what this weekend made me realize. Like, we always actually trending on X. Yeah, yeah. To the point where she was very upset. Like, she's worried about her legacy, like TLC's legacy, because of something that is a moment. You know what I mean? Like, I just wish we used our superpowers in a different way. I see all these people and commentators speaking as well, too. It's like, man, if we came together and did that other places, we wouldn't be as powerless as people try to make us seem.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We make. We make minors majors, and I don't even think we know how to deal with the majors at all. And. And once again, it's just a simple question. I just want to know why is it so easy to. To let go of what Chili offers, but hard to let go of what people like Elon Musk offer? It's just a question. Before you answer emotionally, just sit down and, you know, think about it for a second. Before you reply, because I really want some, like, some. Some smart answers about this. That one.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, that is the latest with Lauren. Thank you, Lauren.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You're welcome.

[DJ Envy]

Now, when we come back, we got front page news. And then comedian and actor, or actress, I should say Wanda Sykes, will be joining us. So don't go anywhere. 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 back in some front page news now. Let's get to some quick sports now. Over the weekend, of course, The Men's Elite Eight Yukon beat Duke 73. 72.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What a game.

[DJ Envy]

Man, that was a great game.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What a game. And I really want to salute coach Danny Hurley because I've never seen a coach. Well, I haven't seen a coach in a long time will their team to victory the way that Danny Hurley did. Because I think they were down by like 19 at the half. Yeah, like 19 at the half. And the way he just willed them to win and never gave up on that team and was hyping the crowd up, I just thought that was an exceptional coaching job. So salute to Danny Hurley.

[DJ Envy]

It was Arizona beat Purdue, Michigan beat Tennessee, and Illinois beat Iowa. Salute to St. John's they were taken out by Duke on Friday night, but that's the. The furthest Duke has been. I mean, the furthest St. John's has been in years. So salute to St. John's Rick Patino. Yo.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And shout out to the Indianapolis Clowns. They.

[Wanda Sykes]

They won. They beat the Bananas, I think, over the weekend.

[DJ Envy]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What are you talking about?

[DJ Envy]

What's that?

[Wanda Sykes]

It's a league, y'. All. It's the league. Y got to get up on it. It's kind of like the.

[DJ Envy]

They kind of like the.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They. They play baseball, but it's kind of like the.

[Wanda Sykes]

The Harlem Globe.

[DJ Envy]

I've seen clips of it. I always thought they were fake, where they do flips when they pitch and they.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But it was so entertaining.

[DJ Envy]

It was good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was watching them between my shows.

[DJ Envy]

All right, well, let's go to the women's basketball over the weekend. South Carolina. South Carolina Be Oklahoma.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tcu.

[Wanda Sykes]

I watched that game.

[DJ Envy]

And Yukon beat Notre Dame.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And tonight we going to beat TCU to go to the Final Four to play against UConn. And then we going to beat UConn. Okay. On our way to a national championship.

[Wanda Sykes]

Gamecocks are really good.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I was watching that game, too.

[DJ Envy]

Between the clowns.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yo, in between shows. I was watching it because the Clowns

[Lauren LaRosa]

ain't even come on till 10.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I got to watch the other game at 8.

[DJ Envy]

What's up, Mimi?

[Mimi Brown]

Good morning. MV Jeff Charlemagne. How y' all doing this morning?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Peace.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Mimi Brown.

[Mimi Brown]

Good morning. So we start this hour with a major settlement connected to Jeffrey Epstein. So bank of America, they have agreed to pay $72.5 million to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation after a lawsuit claimed that the bank helped to enable his crimes by continuing to provide banking services and failing to flag suspicious transactions. So the bank, they do not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, but the money would go to women who say that they were abused and they were trafficked by Epstein. Now, this case centers around whether banks should have done more to stop Epstein, especially after he had already been investigated and charged years earlier, and whether financial institutions have a responsibility to report suspicious activity when it may be related to a. A crime. Other major banks that have already paid settlements in Similar cases include JP Morgan, which paid about 200 and 290 million, and Deutsche bank, which paid about 75 million to Epstein victims. A judge, though, still has to approve this settlement in this case. And that hearing is scheduled for sometime in April.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, listen, speaking of wrongdoing, if the bank is paying that kind of money, that's a huge emission of guilt. So somebody needs to be in prison.

[Wanda Sykes]

Absolutely.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Mimi Brown]

But it's this to make it clear. They said that this is not an admission of guilt, but they. They support Epstein victims.

[DJ Envy]

And the crazy thing, I know there's people out there that's listening right now that have a bank, bank of America, and then they can't even cash a check.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Crazy.

[DJ Envy]

Without them taking 10 business days. Jesus Christ.

[Mimi Brown]

Absolutely. And now to a story that has been trending online all weekend. Nick Cannon is going viral after saying on his show Big Drive during a conversation with Amber Rose that Democrats are the party of the KKK and Republicans are the party that freed the slaves. Let's listen.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Democrats don't care about black people. They don't care about people of color, and the Republicans do.

[Mimi Brown]

And that's the misconception.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you know what? I agree with you. 100 people don't know that the Democrats is the party of the kkk. Yeah. People don't know that the Republicans are the party that freed the slave plays. Yeah, I mean, both of you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And I have some conservative views.

[DJ Envy]

You just a little bit more outspoken about it than I am.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We got the Gulf of America now charging. He's like the club. You charging a Five million dollar bottle, service fee to get into the country.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know, listen. But guess what?

[Mimi Brown]

All right, well, now those comments are getting a lot of pushback online with many people saying Nick Cannon, he stepped into a very complicated and political historical conversation and oversimplified it in a way that could be misleading. So to talk about this for a second, because this part really matters. So, yes, Abraham Lincoln, he was a Republican. Yes, Republicans helped to end slavery. That part is true. But it's not the whole story. And I think it's important that that's the whole story is understood. In the 1960s, during the Civil rights movement, you know, the political parties changed. So many Southern politicians who opposed civil rights, they left the Democratic Party, they became Republicans, and many black voters, they started voting Democrat because Democrats were the ones who were pushing civil rights. So the parties that we have today are not the same parties from the 1800s. And so that's why many feel like this is dangerous, because when you oversimplify history, you confuse people. And when you confuse people, you influence how people vote. And when you have a big platform, you have to say the whole truth and not the half truth.

[Wanda Sykes]

Absolutely.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But the KKK was Democrats.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but that don't matter. Without context, those statements can be. Without context, those statements can be misleading about how US Politics evolved, because the Republican and Democratic parties of the 1800s are not the same coalitions they are today. The ideologies are totally, totally different.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, that was like in 1865.

[Mimi Brown]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And then you Fast forward to 1964 with Voting act and all the other different things. And, you know, the parties totally switch. And so it's very important to make those distinctions when you're, you know, just having a conversation like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So just to be clear, Mimi, to answer just his question. Yes, okay. He's not wrong. The members of the K. There were members of the KKK that were aligned with the Democratic Party of that era. But that, you know, that. That doesn't reflect how things change shifted

[DJ Envy]

between the 50s and the 70s.

[Mimi Brown]

Yes, yes, exactly.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And Nick also. Nick contradicted himself, too, because after he said I effort Trump, he went on to say, I don't subscribe to either political party. And then he quoted W.E. dubois saying one is one evil party with two different names. So I'm like, I don't know. I be honest with you. I don't know what Nick was trying to say in that statement.

[Mimi Brown]

Yeah, and then so that's. There's a. You know, he was trending all weekend for. For A lot of those comments. And I want to say we did reach out to Nick's people. They have not responded yet back to us. So we wanted to get some clarification and we'll continue to, to follow this story and see we can get some answers. And lastly, let's end on something that could actually put some money back in your pocket. So if you've got some old electronics sitting around the house, an old phone, laptop, tablet, smartwatch, don't throw it away just yet because it could get you free groceries at Costco. So Costco, they have a trade in program where you can send in old electronics, get a digital shop card in return, and depending on the device, the conditions, some people can get hundreds, even thousands of dollars back. So go online, you answer a few questions about your device, you get a quote, you ship it, and once you receive it, they send you that digital card and you can use it at the store.

[DJ Envy]

Now how much are they giving you though? Because I, I've been to Apple before and I brought a laptop and they'd be like $10 and I'm like, you know, my laptop.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

How much they offering though?

[Lauren LaRosa]

They said depending on how you know

[Mimi Brown]

the condition of your device, you could get hundreds, even thousands. So, you know, dust it off.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Costco's though, right? Yes.

[Mimi Brown]

You have to spend it at Costco. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, you know, it could be any old device that's still working, that's in good condition. You just gotta go online, you know, ship it, send it and see what it's worth. So, you know, we could all use some free groceries, some money.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Mimi Brown]

Absolutely. So. All right, y'.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All.

[Mimi Brown]

Well, that is your front page news. I'm Mimi Brown. Follow me @mimi Brown TV. And for more stories, follow the black information. Now work.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you, Mimi.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Peace, Mimi.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Thank you, girl.

[DJ Envy]

All right, when we come back, Wanda Sykes will be joining us. We're going to talk to comedian Wanda Sykes, who don't go anywhere. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren laros is here as well. We got a special guest in the building, the legend, Wanda Sykes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

[Wanda Sykes]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

How you feeling?

[Lauren LaRosa]

How are you feeling?

[Wanda Sykes]

Great, great. My energy, I got good energy right now, you know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right now.

[Wanda Sykes]

Right now. Yeah, I'm, I'm sure I'm going to crash in about an hour.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, you been up all night or something?

[Wanda Sykes]

All night. But, you know, I had a little thing last night. A screening of.

[DJ Envy]

Of the movie, which is out right now.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So we.

[Wanda Sykes]

I may have had a few drinks.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So. So today.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, yeah,

[Lauren LaRosa]

last night.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But she had a part where she gives out $5,000 dollars to the person who can shake their ass the best. And so.

[Wanda Sykes]

And you won.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I didn't try.

[DJ Envy]

He tried.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, in these tr. You know, in these trying financial times, they was out there shaking that ass

[Wanda Sykes]

to get that money for 5,000. Yeah. But I was upset because I slipped the disc.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I got upset because it was all women. And then this guy came out there popping ass better than all of them, and he won. And I'm like, y', all, of course I ain't like that.

[DJ Envy]

Charlemagne's eyes is on him all night.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I know you taking money out your women pockets like you ain't had to do that.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah. Ass is ass.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Well, this is Wanda's first time on the show. Welcome.

[Wanda Sykes]

It is.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wow.

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, man.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah. I don't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I don't think I've ever.

[Wanda Sykes]

I've never been in.

[DJ Envy]

I think you did it one time on Zoom. Yeah, I think you called it on one time.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

During the COVID Yes, yes, I did. I did a Zoom.

[DJ Envy]

Before we get into undercut, I want to start from the beginning, if you don't mind, for people that don't know wanda from the 757.

[Wanda Sykes]

Okay.

[Dr. Puma]

How you.

[DJ Envy]

How did you get into the arts? What made you want to get into the arts? And comedy and acting and all of that.

[Wanda Sykes]

You know, I grew up in that time where it was all variety shows was on, you know, like, you know, Flip Wilson and even Ed Sullivan all back then. So. And my family, we, you know, we watched all that, you know, watched all the. All those shows and. Yeah, and. And I just remember sitting together and laughing, and so that always stayed with me. But, you know, my dad was in the military, and also I grew up where you. You go to school, you get a good education.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

You had a good job. And that's what I was doing, working for the government. I worked at NSA when I. When I came out of our beloved Hampton University, ended up at nsa, and. And I. And I just got to the A point where I was like, this is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm like, you know, the job is great. Security and all, but I know something else I was supposed to be doing. I was, like, looking at my high school yearbook, and everybody had written things like, you're so funny. Even the teachers were like, you should be on stage. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna write some jokes. And. And I. I just wrote jokes and. And went to. To radio station. Was having a. A talent competition, and comedy was a category. So I was like, all right, let me try. I audition. And they said, okay, yeah. And I. I got on stage and did it. And. And just, like, the lights came on for me from.

[DJ Envy]

Right away. They knew. You knew you was a star?

[Wanda Sykes]

No, but I just knew, like, ah. I felt like I was in my skin, like, this. Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Was the Chris Rock show one of your first big breaks?

[Wanda Sykes]

Absolutely.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. When you was a writer.

[Wanda Sykes]

Absolutely. Yes, Absolutely. Right on. Chris Rock show was my. My huge break. Yeah. Chris, you know, I. He was doing Bring the Pain, and I. I opened for him at Caroline's while he was working on that, and.

[DJ Envy]

And he.

[Wanda Sykes]

He said, you know what? I'm. He. He just remembered me. So when he got his show, so I got a. Somebody calls, like, hey, can you submit some writing materials? I was like, yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So, yeah, y' all had a dream team. It was Louis C.K. chris Rock, Ali Leroy, Lance Crowther.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What were those rooms?

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, man, I was the only woman in there. But it was. It was great. Those guys were. Those guys were funny. And Chris. What I love about Chris is he. He's a great general man, manager, you know what I'm saying? He put together a team and just let everybody be themselves. Like, it's. It's quirky and out there, you know, and we were able to produce our own bits. You know, he. He would look at something, put his thing on it, and, hey, all right, you know, do this, do this, but just let us. Just let us go.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Were you ever intimidated being only woman?

[Wanda Sykes]

A little bit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know?

[Lauren LaRosa]

A little bit.

[Wanda Sykes]

I just. I felt like, okay, I can't. I can't mess this up because that. We ain't gonna hire another woman.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right, Right, right.

[Wanda Sykes]

You know what I'm saying? That's. That's how it works with us. Like, you get in the door, you got to make sure you leave it open.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. And.

[Wanda Sykes]

Or open it wider for somebody else to come through, like, leave your mark. So. A little bit. But they were very supportive. All the guys were real supportive, especially Louie. Louie was real cool with me. I mean, he coughing from it. I guess I ain't shake that ass enough.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You heard about that. Did you feel left out? You was like, damn, you know what?

[Wanda Sykes]

I was like, God damn, that Was like, right down there. It was like two doors down. Two doors down.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It was my office, Ali, Lance, and

[Wanda Sykes]

then Louie right there. Nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But, I mean, y' all used to be on the phone, so you did. Sometimes you got quiet on the phone. But the thing I used to love about the Chris Rock show, it was. It was just full of uncomfortable trips.

[Wanda Sykes]

Truths. Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Even that. That whole era was full of uncomfortable truths.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right, right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you think comedy is still allowed to be that honest? We're in an era now where everybody wants jokes, but they don't want the truth that comes.

[Wanda Sykes]

No, you know what? I think you. You're allowed to do it, but it's just who wants to do it? You know what I'm saying? It's like, I. I think it's there, but I think people are. You know, if. If I'm trying to fill an arena, you can't.

[DJ Envy]

You.

[Wanda Sykes]

You know what I'm saying?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You.

[Wanda Sykes]

You can't be that common. You gotta be. You gotta appeal to the masses. And sometimes right now, that what the masses want to hear. It's

[Lauren LaRosa]

just.

[Wanda Sykes]

It's ugly, you know? You know? Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So.

[Wanda Sykes]

But I think you can do it, though. You still can do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All right, good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm glad you said that.

[Wanda Sykes]

I'm gonna do it.

[DJ Envy]

Do what?

[Wanda Sykes]

Do it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Just do it.

[Wanda Sykes]

Just do it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I'm going do.

[Wanda Sykes]

Exactly. I mean, you're funny, so just. Thank you. Just do it. Yeah, but when I do me, when I do, funny people be getting mad.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Who.

[Wanda Sykes]

Who gives?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

You can't do it for them. You got to do it for you. You got to say what you want. And hey, if. If what I want to say and what makes me feel, you know, good about my. My gift that I have, if I'm only going to get maybe. Maybe 600 people, then that's. Those are the 600 people that. That, you know. Yeah. You're supposed to be speaking to.

[DJ Envy]

But do people get offended too fast?

[Wanda Sykes]

You know what I'm saying? But if you want. Oh, I want to. You know, then you. Then you got. You gotta compromise.

[DJ Envy]

But do people get offended too fast where. It's like, you know, back then, jokes just flew. It didn't matter. You made fun of everybody.

[Wanda Sykes]

Exactly.

[DJ Envy]

It could be the crippled person. It could be to this person. It didn't matter. People laugh now. It doesn't seem like they laugh. They look for a reason to say, you know what? We're gonna boycott your next show.

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, yeah. Everybody wants to, you know, I even hate using, you know, like everybody, but a lot of people like to, to be, to be the critic. They want to be the police. And you know, so it's like if you say something and it, it might offend you, but, but you got to look at where that person is coming from. May, you know, maybe their life, their perspective is different from, from what, you know. Yeah, you're offended, but you're not staying in my shoes. You don't see it from, from my perspective. So I think that's what, that's what we, we've gotten away from is seeing it from. I, I gotta, you know, see where you're coming from. I got it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the whole, it's empathy. Really. Yeah, it's empathy. We've, we've gotten away from that. People don't, don't, don't get that.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

And there's more than one perspective on one thing, you know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So do you think there's a, like when you talk about like empathy and people, you know, having an opinion about jokes, I feel like the punching up, punching down conversation gets brought up a lot in that.

[Wanda Sykes]

Right, right.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Do you feel like there's a fine line between that, like, do you think somebody can punch down people, still respect what they're saying, have empathy and they have actual take. Or do you feel like that's always going to end in somebody being upset and you being, trying to be, trying to cancel you.

[Wanda Sykes]

I have no problem. Like me, I always try to try to, I always try to punch up because I feel like, like, but, but that's me. I, I know the, the, the. And I always call it a gift, the gift that I have. And so I try to use that for not just myself but for, I mean, naturally, I'm, I'm, I'm in a position where I'm a black woman and queer, so I'm always coming, I'm coming from. Yeah, yeah. You know, going up. I gotta go up. You know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I didn't know you would quit.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like how she was looking.

[DJ Envy]

Like how

[Wanda Sykes]

always moisturized beautiful skin moisture. Oh, I know you.

[DJ Envy]

Jesus. Okay, continue.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Sorry.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, but, yeah, I think but, but if you, if you punch down, if it's funny, I'm gonna, I'm. Yeah, but it's a different, it's a difference in punching down and coming from a, a perspective of, perspective of I, I, I, I hate you or you or being mean. You can punch down and be funny, but if it's coming from a place of love, you know, like one of One of Chris's good jokes, like, one of my favorite jokes is punching down, but when he says about, I have my money in. In books, you know,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

but it's also true. You want to hide something from a black person put in the book.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, exactly. But it's. It's a funny joke, and it's also like, hey, a little message. A little message there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So start reading. Have you ever held back a joke

[Wanda Sykes]

in today's climate to date? Now, I. I know I. I did a. I wrote a joke on Chris. On Chris Rock show, and it's like, oh, God, what was that? It was bad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn. It was bad. In the 90s.

[Wanda Sykes]

It was bad.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It was bad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Remember Ray Ku?

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, yeah. The. The. The play for the Panthers.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

And he. He shot his. His girlfriend who's pregnant, and he had the baby, and. And they was. And I was like, yeah, you know, it was raised.

[DJ Envy]

Jesus. Damn. Damn.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jesus Christ.

[DJ Envy]

That might have been a little too far back.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That might have been too far back.

[Wanda Sykes]

Horrible joke. Laugh. The chill at rehearsal, and Chris was like, you know, I ain't going to do that joke. He's like, damn good joke. You know, I ain't going to do that. I was like, and you shouldn't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But now you got the new movie undercard, right?

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And it's a. It's a. It's a drama. You know, you've been making people laugh your whole career, right? What made you say, let me stop joking and give him some pain? Let me step into this pain real quick.

[Wanda Sykes]

You know, I. I was not looking for the role at all, but the director and co writer, Tamika Miller, she came to me and she was like, look, I got this project. I want y' all to. I want you to check it out. I. I want you to do this role. And I. I was. I read the script and I was like, it's a drama. And I was like, so. And it was good, you know, And I. And I. I just called out, I said, so what? Queen Latifa said, no,

[Dr. Puma]

Stupid.

[Wanda Sykes]

That must be that. That.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Right?

[Wanda Sykes]

And she's like, no, I. I really want you to. To play this part. So I didn't believe it at first. Like, o, can I pull this off? And, yeah, she just talked me through it and. And how she wanted to shoot it and. And the cast that she, you know, was going to build around me. And I felt like she made me believe I could do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Do you still audition for roles or. No?

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, God, I'm the worst at audition. I can't really? Yeah, I can't. Like, my, my agents always say, hey, they want you to for this part. I was like, okay. They say, so the audition. I was like, oh, no, it's a pass, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What, what about auditions?

[Wanda Sykes]

I suck at audition.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Really?

[Wanda Sykes]

I have actually, actually like, been in a situation casting people and, and, you know, holding the script and auditioning, and they've, they've actually taken the pages out my hand and say thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Really? Really?

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah. Well, I'm like, like now. What was that?

[Lauren LaRosa]

That, that's recent early on.

[Wanda Sykes]

This is not for me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Is it memorizing lines or getting nervous in front of the people or is stiff?

[Wanda Sykes]

I don't know. I just, I'm just horrible at it. But if you give me the part, it's a real job. I gotta show, I'mma show up, I'mma bring it. Cuz I'm like, hey, you know, I, I, I gotta, I gotta deliver. But if it's like, I'm not good at trying out, I don't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Let me get this straight.

[Wanda Sykes]

You're in Italy.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Child pretended to be the white Italian man's fiance. Hard to believe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This is Michael, my nephew.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Then you ended up catching feelings for the black Italian Cousin Brothers.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On April 10, she came for the pasta and got lost in the sauce.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Please just tell me that you support me.

[Wanda Sykes]

Damn.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No. Is he fine, though?

[Wanda Sykes]

Come on, baby.

[DJ Envy]

You can eat, pray and love me, baby.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You, me in Tuscany. Radio PG, 13th of only theaters April 10th may be inappropriate for children under 13.

[Dr. Puma]

You know Roald Dahl?

[DJ Envy]

The writer who thought up Willy Wonka, Matilda and the bfg. But did you know he was also a spy?

[Mimi Brown]

Was this before he wrote his stories?

[Lauren LaRosa]

It must have been.

[DJ Envy]

Our new podcast series, the Secret World of Roald Dahl is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the

[Dr. Puma]

wives of powerful Americans.

[Wanda Sykes]

What?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And he was really good at it.

[DJ Envy]

You probably won't believe it either.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[DJ Envy]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spot. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelts, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman? And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids? The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dr. Puma]

I'm John Green.

[DJ Envy]

You may know me as the author

[Dr. Puma]

of the Fault in Our Stars. And now I guess also as the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

co host of the Away End, a

[Dr. Puma]

brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On our new podcast, the Away End, we'll show share with you the magic of international football all leading up to

[Dr. Puma]

the 2026 World cup for us. Soccer football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Very debatable.

[Dr. Puma]

And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak and above all its beauty. Together we'll find out why a boy

[Charlamagne Tha God]

of all the unimportant things football, soccer is the most important.

[Dr. Puma]

Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John green on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy mother

[Wanda Sykes]

looks like in the Black community this

[Lauren LaRosa]

Women's History Month the podcast Keep It Posit Sweetie celebrates the power of women, choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy.

[DJ Envy]

Love.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's not a destination.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You have to work on it every day. Keep It Positive Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud. I have several conversations with God and

[Wanda Sykes]

I know why it took 20 years

[Lauren LaRosa]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Positive sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry, to finance and everywhere in between. This season of Math and Magic I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken, Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

[Dr. Puma]

If you're unable to take meaningful creative

[DJ Envy]

risk and therefore run the risk of

[Charlamagne Tha God]

making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't

[Dr. Puma]

play in this business.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and our own Chief Business Officer, Lisa Coffey.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Making consumers see the value of the human voice and. And to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. How are you before you take the stage, then? Cause I would feel like that's kind of the same thing a little bit.

[Wanda Sykes]

No, not really.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, I don't know. I. I mean, I. I get little butterflies before I go out, but that's good. That's. That's good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, it means something.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah. Yeah, it means something. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But.

[Wanda Sykes]

But I don't know. You give me a script. I got auditioned in this movie, Undercar.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Were you fighting the natural her just to be funny or was it.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, a little bit. I mean, there was, like, some moments where I was like, oh, man, this would be real funny if I said this right now. Like, there's a scene, a beach scene where the little girl, she runs out, you know, to the. To the. Into the water, and I was like, hey, you know, I was like. And make a way. And, you know, I want to say, you know, I can't swim, like, you

[DJ Envy]

know,

[Lauren LaRosa]

you know, but, but, but.

[Wanda Sykes]

No, and. And also, you know, it's really. We're on tight budget and. Yeah, tight, you know, on time. So it was like there was no room to, like, you know. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Was there anything that you took from this character and, like, portraying this character that you're taking back to the stage, which you even though was a dream drama?

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, I think it's.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's.

[Wanda Sykes]

It's her where we.

[DJ Envy]

You.

[Wanda Sykes]

You have to, like, you know, like, forgive yourself. You know, her character, she had to get to a point to where she had to really, like, forgive herself and. And to be accountable, you know, and so there's this. So there's moments on. On stage with my comedy where, you know, I. I find ways to. To use that, I think.

[Lauren LaRosa]

What are you forgiving yourself about for right now, like, currently on stage? Like, what. What are those thoughts? I don't.

[Wanda Sykes]

I think it's more about, you know, like, like, you. You want to do better or. Or be a better person bit, you know, a better wife, a better mother.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That rake.

[Wanda Sykes]

That, too. Yep. Absolute. Yep. That just.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I can't believe.

[Wanda Sykes]

I can't even believe I said that. Yeah, I repeated that. But, yeah, it's just. It's just those, those moments. But hey, that's why we keep going though, because there's always the opportunity to. To do better the next day or the next. With the next minute.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, I want to ask you about identity too, right? Because you know, you talk about. We were talking about what people think and what people feel like. Even when I look at the characters, Cheryl and the undercarriage. Did she have to be called a butch? Cuz it says a butch. Retired boxing champion and recovering alcoholic. Couldn't it just be retired boxing champion and recovering alcoholic?

[DJ Envy]

He said plays a. A Jack Butch drama.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, you didn't know that? Yes, that's the description.

[Wanda Sykes]

I know that's right. Come on, come on, Michelle.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What the point of the butch at me? Do we.

[Wanda Sykes]

I mean, that doesn't bother me. I guess that, that doesn't bother me that her character, you know, she was, she was a former boxer. So I, I guess it's the, you know, that if that's how the. The writer saw the character, then I'm like, okay, so, yeah, I'm hearing she was in shape. I say, I say to that. Thank you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So I have to ask you what happened to the Upshaws? Because we had Mike Epps up here and this is what he said that

[DJ Envy]

Wanda Sykes and the other lady, Regina

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hicks, they just couldn't see eye to eye, really.

[DJ Envy]

You know, the, the lady, Regina Hicks,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

they both did a great job. First of all, before I go any further, they did such a great job writing. We had the best writing team. I mean, man, the writing team was incredible.

[DJ Envy]

But I think the lady Regina, she

[Charlamagne Tha God]

had, she had an agenda that she wanted to push with the show, you

[Lauren LaRosa]

know, and everybody didn't agree with it all the time.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, they wanted the show to go this way.

[DJ Envy]

Show started off this way and then it starts slanting.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Then it went over there, and then

[Lauren LaRosa]

it went over there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We should have just kept it right

[Lauren LaRosa]

there in the middle.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Might have did 10 seasons, but I

[DJ Envy]

think it was about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

In the writing.

[Wanda Sykes]

I love Mike. I love Mike early. And I think the show just kind of like ran its course. The kids got older. We, you know, Mike is. The show was his idea. He came to me and was like, hey, I want to do the show about a working class family in the Midwest. And that's what we delivered. I think the writers and the showrunner, Regina, we, yeah, every, it was all, it was all love. But everybody's gonna have a difference of opinions and sometimes, you know, voices gets. Get. You know, we raise our voices when you're passionate about what you're doing.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

So I think overall, we, we all wanted to make the best show possible. We, we just wanted to. We. But was just a difference of opinions, that's all. But I think what we delivered, everybody was, was, was happy with it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh, they live and breathe by that show.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

My mom, you can't tell her not to love showing us.

[Wanda Sykes]

I love that show and I love. Everybody worked on that show. I love what we did and hated to see it end, but really, I mean, it was. I thought we did a good job and, and I'm happy with the way, you know, we finished it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you wanted to keep it going.

[Wanda Sykes]

If, if we could have done another season, I would have. Yeah, I would have signed up for another other season.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Everybody said it was your fault.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn. I don't think nobody said that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I made that up.

[Wanda Sykes]

I know absolutely no one said that. But, but no. Yeah. Yeah. But no. I think Netflix, they were a great partner. And, and I think it was. And, and we knew, we knew going into that last season that was the, the last season. So we got to, we got to end it the way we wanted to end it. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How do you make a special. Special material wise, Push it.

[Wanda Sykes]

Push, push the limits. Don't. Don't go up and just do it. Chris Rock always told me that from the jump, like from my first special, which was a half hour, he's like, don't go up there and do a set. Then make it special. So you got to push yourself, polish it. You know, just go, go, go, go. Go to a place where, you know, challenge yourself. Go. Go to, to areas where people are going to be a little bit on this, on their seats or, or like, oh, damn, she said that. I've been wanting to say that, you know, so, yeah, that's.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't think people realize how close you and Chris are. I remember that night of the Oscars you were hosting, and I remember you saying you were physically sick. And everybody's like, why is she physically sick? And I'm like, but y' all don't realize how close one than.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Chris Hawk.

[Wanda Sykes]

Right, Right. Yeah. People don't.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That.

[Wanda Sykes]

I, I caught a lot of flack from that. Like, because I said, you know, about how I felt. Wow. But I'm like, y' all gotta realize I was working that night. Yeah. And, and I watched my co worker get popped, you know, at work. You know what I'm saying? It's. Yeah. You're not, that's not supposed to happen. And so, yeah, so I, I really, I was upset, like, physically upset by that. And then it didn't. It just even sickened me more watching everybody just sit out there and, you know, and, and not react. And then to give that man an award afterwards, I was like, I'm. I'm done with y'.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All.

[Wanda Sykes]

I really was. I was, like, done with all that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know Will Smith reached out to apologize to you too, for overshadowing that night.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, he did. He called. He called. But you know what? I was actually physically sick. I had a. I had a nasty, like, sinus effect, so I didn't even pick up. But he left a message and. Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Have you ever had an extensive conversation after? Oh, sorry.

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, my bad.

[DJ Envy]

I just call.

[Wanda Sykes]

You know what? I was like, I received it. I accept it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm.

[Wanda Sykes]

I'm good. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What did your mama say about seeing them black people act up in front of all them white people?

[Wanda Sykes]

Exactly. Exactly. Lord Jesus.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why,

[Wanda Sykes]

why, why, why they do that, Wanda? I was like, I know, Ma. I know. All the white people just looking at them. My God, they never gonna give us nothing else.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Did you see when those favorite reports were circulating that Will Smith and Chris. Chris Rock were supposed to sit down together and do like a one on one? It was fake, though. It was fake, and I cleared it up and reported. But I was wondering if you saw and if you were like, dang, no way. Hell, that's gonna happen.

[Wanda Sykes]

Oh, yeah, I. Yeah, I was like, nah, nah, nah. That. Yeah, I knew that. I mean, I know, Chris. I'm like, that's not gonna happen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you. You would never really host Oscars again?

[Wanda Sykes]

You. I'm not going to say I would never host again, but I probably will never host again. Love it.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You traumatized, like, in real life.

[Wanda Sykes]

I'm not going to say I'm traumatized in real life, but it, It's. It's a thankless job. Nobody.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah. And.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you know, don't seem like it's no up to.

[Wanda Sykes]

Did a great job. Exactly. There. There's no yeah. There's. There's no yeah. I mean, it would have to be some, like, maybe, you know what, Maybe if. If somebody, you know, did, you know, Uptown Saturday Night did a remake and that's, you know, and that's up. Maybe I'll.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'll like up the best picture. Okay. That makes it. When it's all said and done, what do you want Wanda Sykes to mean to. To come? Comedy.

[Wanda Sykes]

I want Wanda Sykes to mean that, you know, she. She was a voice for, for those who didn't have a voice that she was, you know, common sense. And she gave it her all. Yeah. And funny. Hella fun money.

[DJ Envy]

Well, definitely check out undercard. It's out right now and we appreciate you for joining us.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, it'll be on video. What's that? Video on Demand. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

[DJ Envy]

Definitely check it out.

[Wanda Sykes]

My flashlight is always. My kids always taking my phone. The flashlight is on.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Oh. Oh, shoot.

[Wanda Sykes]

I ain't even touching that.

[DJ Envy]

It's Wanda Sykes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Let's get right to the latest with Lauren.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah, I'm not dumbing myself down. I'm being myself. I'm the home girl that knows a little bit about everything and everything. Little brown girls look at you. And God, I want to be like you. Take me through that. Take me through there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The latest with Laura on the Breakfast Club. LL Cool B. Talk to me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So Tiger woods was arrested over the weekend. At first the the headlines that broke was just that Tiger woods was involved in a car accident in his car. There was a photo of his car flipped on its side and then that progressed to Tiger woods being arrested for DUI after the car accident. It let's take a listen to the deputies down in Jupiter, Florida talking about

[Dr. Puma]

the accident details our investigation revealed as follows. Shortly again before 2, the pressure cleaner truck, truck pulling a trailer, a small trailer was northbound on South Beach Road and was pulling to turn into a driveway. And the driver of that vehicle looked in his mirror and saw a Land Rover, dark colored Land Rover overtaking him at high speeds and, I don't know, low speeds. The Land Rover kept overtaking him. He saw it coming so he tried to edge off to the side of the road, but, but this is a small two lane road and there was no shoulder for this pressure cleaner gentleman to get off the side of the road. As he was trying to move to the side of the road, the Land Rover overtook him at the last minute, swerved to avoid a collision, but clipped the back end of the trailer of the pressure cleaner apparatus listed to the side and then rolled on the driver's door north past the truck that had

[Charlamagne Tha God]

just avoided the crash with. Yeah, man, Tiger woods hasn't been the same since y' all took away his hoes. Man, when that man, when that man got exposed for having hoes, his life hasn't been the same since.

[DJ Envy]

Boy, but this is ridiculous. It's his second dui, his fourth major accident. When do you get to the point where you Be like, you know what? I'm gonna get me a driver.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. And you could have killed yourself, killed somebody else. Like you said, his car was flipped over.

[DJ Envy]

Flipped over. This the second time his car flipped over.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So I told you guys that it had progressed to the DUI conversation. Tiger woods did refuse to do any additional testing at the station. He refused the urine test. Uh, he was booked on a dui and he was booked on refusal to submit the, uh, urine analysis. Um, so at that time, he had to spend eight hours in jail, which is like standard because he was under the influence of something. Um, and then he was let go. Let's take a listen to the deputies talking about the details of after the, the incident.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The individual driving that Land Rover was

[Dr. Puma]

able to crawl out the passenger door of the car and was identified to be Mr. Tiger Woods. Our DUI investigators came to the scene here, and Mr. Woods did exemplify signs of impairment, but they did do some in depth roadside tests. And when it was determined, he was placed under. Under arrest and taken to the Martin County Jail. At the Martin County Jail. And even on scene, we really weren't suspicious of alcohol being involved in, in this case. And that proved to be true at the jail. So Mr. Woods did a breathalyzer test, blue triple zeros. But when it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And so he's been charged with dui,

[Dr. Puma]

with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.

[DJ Envy]

He did a breathalyzer and it came back zero.

[Lauren LaRosa]

They don't think that it's alcohol, so they think that he was under the influence of something, but not alcohol. And he refused the urine test, so we don't know what he was under the influence of.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, it don't matter if it was drinking and driving or being under the influence of anything and driving is wrong. Wrong. Okay. It's one of the most selfish things that you can do is to be high or drunk and get behind the wheel.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. And, and he had mentioned when they had, when the cops got there that, you know, he has different injuries, so he's taking different medicines. And the cops say they took all of that to into account, but still, he failed certain sobriety tests that led them to this point. So, I mean, does it matter when you, when you refuse the test? I mean, you still getting booked, you still getting the dui? I mean, you know, you still under some type of influence? Well, it's an additional charge now because he refused the, the urine test. I'm just saying he in even more trouble for ref. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

But I'm always confused about that. You say, take a breathalyzer, you take a breathalyzer, you pass and be like, all right, what? Well, now we want you to do this. Now we want you to. How many times can they make you take a test?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because if they think you under the influence of something. Yes. They can make you take a urinary test. Because the urinary test. Urinary test is different than breathalyzer.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Urinary test for drugs.

[Lauren LaRosa]

It's different ways to discover different things. Yeah. Yeah. So there will be more that develops here because now he'll be going back and forth to come court.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey, man, what if the used to be the drivers? So now that he doesn't have his, he got to take the wheel himself.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Lord have mercy. His Uber and lift and all of

[DJ Envy]

that, though, like, he got.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Say he could have a personal drive.

[Wanda Sykes]

Whatever. Now you got one more.

[Lauren LaRosa]

So Kanye West. We talked about Kanye last Friday because I was so confused about Bullying. It dropping right out. It's actually on streaming platforms now. And actually, actually bully earned Kanye west the biggest Spotify streaming day of any rapper in 2026, because it released on Spotify first and then it hit other DSPs. He also released a video for the song Father that he does with Travis Scott. His wife Bianca actually directed that video. Okay. Did y' all listen to. I only listen to four songs so far.

[DJ Envy]

I like them.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I ain't finished.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I gotta finish the album.

[DJ Envy]

I haven't listened as it. Yeah, Charlotte, you listen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, I haven't gotten a chance to listen.

[DJ Envy]

Listen. What about you?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Listen this week, though?

[Lauren LaRosa]

I listened. I listened to it three or four times. I like the whole album. Yes. I like the production of it. You know, the sampling. He's. I think he's. He's back in that bag, but I just. I thought there was going to be more, like storytelling or substance.

[DJ Envy]

I don't know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I mean, he's talking. We have some. Some of the music we can play. Let's hear. I can't wait.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hurry. Love.

[DJ Envy]

No, you just have to wait.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She said love don't come easy It's a game of. It's a game of.

[DJ Envy]

They hate to see the system actually figured out. They want you caught up in distraction, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Fire, but fire.

[Wanda Sykes]

Storytelling or not.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Like, he and he producing in the lab.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Real creative.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I feel like Kanye. I feel like Kanye should just be producing for other artists. Right? Right now. Yeah. I don't. I don't know if he has a. A whole lot to say personally, but I think that he. I think his production still will add value to the. To the business.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's crazy, cuz I thought he would have so much more to say. Maybe he's not in the space to talk about some things, but I just feel like we've watched him go through so much, and if he's in a better, clearer space where he wants to be putting out music and stuff, I thought we would hear some more clear conversation on, like, what we've witnessed in his life these last couple years. And we didn't get a lot of it, like, at all.

[DJ Envy]

I'm listening.

[Lauren LaRosa]

But it's out, though. And that video got like 5.9 views and 5.9 million views in two days. There's a Michael Jackson impersonator in the video. Yeah. People are like, why is he there? But that's all he's talking about, like, the death of the old him and the birth of the new him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The interesting thing is, though, Kanye doesn't. He doesn't write like that either, though, so. Yeah, maybe he has to find the right writer to help him tell that story.

[Lauren LaRosa]

True, true. Well, we'll be back in another latest in it.

[DJ Envy]

All right, Charlamagne, who you giving your donkey to, man?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I need the good brother Nick Cannon to come to the front of the congregation. I'd like to have a word with him, but, you know, it's a teachable moment. This isn't. Isn't necessarily about. About Nick per se. It's a moment to teach.

[DJ Envy]

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

[Lauren LaRosa]

Charlemagne, the devil possible.

[DJ Envy]

The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes, donkey. Today for Monday, March 30th grade goes to the good brother Nick Cannon. Now, let the record show I'm not here to reduce Nick Cannon to this current viral moment he is having. Because the reality is, whether you want to hear this or not, Nick Cannon has done for. Done a lot for black people, okay? Especially black people in entertainment. So I have no reason to attempt to dunk on Nick Cannon or kick his back in like I see a lot of people doing. I have a lot of love for that brother, and that viral clip does not change that at all for me, okay? Now, donkey of the day is about giving people the credit they deserve for being the stupid. And in that moment, I thought what Nick said was stupid, okay? Because it lacked a lot of historical context. This is just an opportunity to teach and add some historical context to something that Nick Cannon said on his Big Drive talk show while in conversation with Amber Rose. Can we hear the clip? Can we hear what he said? You up there with the.

[DJ Envy]

The elite now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Not even close. Not even close. Democrats don't care about black people. They don't care about people of color,

[Mimi Brown]

and the Republicans do.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And that's the misconception.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you know what? I agree with you. 100.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People don't know that the Democrats is the party of the kkk.

[Mimi Brown]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People don't know that the Republicans are

[DJ Envy]

the party that freed the slaves.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, both of you. And I have some conservative views.

[DJ Envy]

You just a little bit more outspoken

[Charlamagne Tha God]

about it than I am. And I honestly, I don't subscribe to neither party. I Rock with W.E.B. du Bois when he said that there's no such thing as two parties. It's just one evil party with two different names.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I voted for Donald Trump. Cause he's. We had two options, and he was definitely by far the better option for us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Mother cleaning house.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We got the Gulf of America now charging. He's like the club.

[DJ Envy]

He charging a $5 million bottle service

[Charlamagne Tha God]

fee to get into the country.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I know. Listen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, let's discuss. So much to unpack here. First off, Democrats don't care about black people, and they don't care about people of color, and the Republicans do. And that's the misconception. That's what Nick said. He agreed with 100% when Amber rose said it. Let's stop there for a second, okay? Because my question to both Amber and Nick would be, what have Republicans done to show that they care about people of color? Now, I'm sure they would reply by saying, Republicans freed the same slaves. We'll get to that part shortly. Because my retort to that would be, in the words of the immortal Janet Jackson, what have you done for me lately? Okay, Amber and Nick, have you heard of disparate impact? All right, that's the legal standard used to challenge policies that aren't explicitly racist, but still harm certain groups more than others. Okay? The Trump administration has limited or stopped altogether enforcing that standard. Okay, that's important to know, because disparate impact back has been used to fight housing, hiring, lending, and education discrimination. Okay? When you roll that back, you have fewer tools to challenge systemic inequality, and that disproportionately hurts black people. Okay? Trump also ordered federal agencies to eliminate DEI roles and initiatives. He also expanded that to federal contractors and private sector influence. He literally reversed policies, policies meant to address racial inequities. Okay, now listen, I'm on the record that I didn't like a lot of the corporate dei, but there were DEI programs designed by black people that addressed historic disparities in hiring, education and funding. When you get rid of those, it reduces opportunities for black workers and students. So explain to me how that shows Republicans care about people of color, okay? Especially in 2026. We don't even got to get into the cuts and changes. The social safety net programs. I mean, Medicaid, snap, Affordable Care act support, all of that has been reduced. Man and black people are statistically more likely to rely on those programs due to wealth and income gaps. I can go on and on about why Republicans don't care about people of color, especially. Especially this administration, okay? They literally limited how race and racism are taught in schools, okay? They are removing or altering content related to black history. So miss me with the the Republicans care about people of color. That just doesn't even make any sense in 2026. Now let's get into the second part of what Nick said. Can we play that part?

[Dr. Puma]

Red People don't know that the Democrats

[Charlamagne Tha God]

is the party of the kkk.

[Mimi Brown]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People don't know that the Republicans are the party that freed the slaves.

[Mimi Brown]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, okay, okay, listen. This statement Nick made is correct, historically correct. Republicans did free the slaves, but the Republican and Democratic parties, 1800s are not the same coalitions we have today. I am a Dallas Cowboy fan, okay? My Dallas Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the 90s. Look at us now, okay? Same name, but a completely different roster, different coaches, different play styles. So we might be the same brand, okay, but we're not the same team. Except for Jerry Jones. Ironically, he was alive to see the changes in the Republicans, Democrats and Dallas Cowboys. Cowboys. Okay? Saying Republicans freed the slaves is historically true, but using that to describe modern Republicans without context is misleading. Nick. Yes, Republicans were largely anti slavery and based in the north, Democrats included, you know, a lot of pro slavery factions. And they were in the south, but that was in the 1800s, okay? My God, over the last century, the parties have shifted accepted ideology, ideology, ideology. Ideologically, okay? And geographically. All right, Republicans of the 1860s. I'm a little excited. Okay? Republicans of the 1860s did lead the charge to end slavery, but those Republicans are not politically identical to modern Republicans, okay? When people say Republicans freed the slaves, they're not wrong historically, but they're just leaving out the evolution of the parties, okay? Nick said Democrats were the party of the kkk. Once again, he's historically not wrong. Members of the KKK were aligned with the Democratic Party of that era. Key words, that era. Okay, but that reflects the political alignment of that specific era, not today's party. All right, who is the party of the KKK right now? That's the question I would ask Nick. All right, snapple fact the KKK endorse Donald in 2016, and a newspaper associated with them called the Crusader. David Duke, former leader of the kkk, he endorsed Donald Trump as well. In fact, so many white supremacist groups and neo Nazis have endorsed Donald Trump. Oh, my God, the Proud Boys, okay? Neo Nazi blogs like the Daily Stormer. In fact, Mark Poltok of the Sovereign Poverty Law center, which tracks U.S. hate groups, once said, donald Trump is appealing to the same constituency that the Ku Klux Klan appeals to. Okay? So you can say Dems were the party of the KKK in the 1800s, but in 2026, I think it's safe to say MAGA is the party of the KKK. Okay, listen, Nick, you can't claim credit from 1865. Like, nothing has changed in 150 years, okay? My guy Nick also contradicted himself. Play to play. The last time part. Red. I honestly, I don't subscribe to neither party. I. I Rock with W.E.B. du Bois when he said, there's no such thing as two parties. It's just one evil party with two different names. Yeah, Nick, you can't say, I don't subscribe to either political party and then quote W.E.B. du Bois saying, one evil party with two different names, but then turn around and say, I F with Trump. That makes no sense. Which one is it, brother? Is it Uchiwali Wally, or is it one mic? You can't say in one breath, okay? You know, quote W.E.B. du Bois saying, one evil party with two different names. Then in the very next sentence, say, you know, you. You effort Trump. That makes no logical sense. Listen, man, context will always matter, okay? We truly live in a world without context and without context. Context. These statements Nick made are misleading about how US Politics evolved, okay? And just like a recipe cannot produce a meal without ingredients, a quote without context cannot provide true understanding, okay? It actually leads to misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and me saying, please give Nick Cannon the sweet sounds of the Hamiltones.

[DJ Envy]

Of the day.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You are the.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now. Now, I would like to pose a question. You know, and it's the same question I asked earlier when we were talking about chili. I see a bunch of y' all saying, you gonna cancel Nick Cannon. You're gonna unfollow Nick Cannon. You don't support Nick Cannon anymore. So I will ask once again, why is it so easy to let go of what Nick Cannon has to offer? Offer, but hard for y' all to let go of what someone like Elon Musk has to offer. Elon Musk donated $250 million to Trump's campaign. Okay? He used his platform X to amplify MAGA content and voices while potentially suppressing opposing perspectives. Elon was the head of Doge. Okay, we don't even talk about that no more. Elon was the head of Doge, which fired so many federal workers. I mean, totally ruins people's lives. People's lives still haven't gotten back on track because they got fired by Elon Musk and Doge. But I see y' all still driving Tesla. I see y', all, you know, still over on X, tweeting your lives away. I'm just asking a simple question. Some black people are very quick to cancel other black people when they express opinions like this. But, boy, y' all find it very hard to let go of folks like Elon Musk, who played significant, crucial roles in getting Trump elected. So I'm just asking the question, why is it easy to cancel one, but hard to cancel the other? Discuss amongst yourselves.

[DJ Envy]

All right, that's crazy, but I was

[Lauren LaRosa]

wondering why you didn't give the donkey today to Amber too.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Why ain't going to the passenger and

[Charlamagne Tha God]

the driver for the same reason. Social media is not outraged over Amber, but they outraged over Nick.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Damn, that's crazy. When nobody mad that she said that. Cuz it was her that presented the whole.

[DJ Envy]

Well, she's been saying it for a while, for the last couple of years. So I think people are used to it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think people. People were more shocked by Nick.

[DJ Envy]

They were more shocked at Nick Cannon. All right, well, thank you for that donkey today. When we come back, the founder and president of Soren Medical, Dr. Puma will be joining us. He's the one we've been telling you guys for the last couple of years about getting your home heart scan, and now he does this head to toe scan. We'll talk to him when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren laros is here as well. We got a special guest in the building.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We talk to you about him all the time.

[DJ Envy]

All the time. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Puma. How you feeling, doc?

[Dr. Puma]

Great to be here again. Thanks. Thanks for having me and it's great to be here with Jess.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes.

[Dr. Puma]

Who I love. And Lauren, great to meet you as well.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Charlamagne, always good to see you, my guy. Now, we always tell you about Dr. Puma and we encourage everybody to go to Soaring Medical because cardiovascular health is very important. But today we got something very special for listeners because we're giving away free art scans. Wow. Medical courtesy of Dr. Puma. Hey. No, that's right.

[DJ Envy]

Well, for people that don't know who Dr. Puma is or don't listen to, the show might not have heard us explain what Dr. Puma does, that that helps and benefits so many people, it

[Charlamagne Tha God]

keeps you from dying. Well, in long form, we hope so. Yes.

[Dr. Puma]

I mean, in short form, doctors can only do two things for people, Help you feel better or live longer. But there's real differences in care in this country and especially in New York. And, you know, I'm a Brooklynite, come from South Brooklyn and have really focused majority of my care, but especially the last third of my career on just improving care in underserved areas. People who either don't have access, don't know how to have access. And with our technology, with a three minute heart scan, we can see your arteries in your body, we can see if you have plaque, we can see if you have blockage. And truthfully, you know, as you know, Charlemagne, the majority of people who go to the cardiologist just have anxiety and are having all kinds of different symptoms. Chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath. And so a normal scan is as valuable as anything else. So we're just trying to improve the health of the community and, and really reaching out and giving people an access point.

[Wanda Sykes]

Now, you often should you.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I'm sorry, how often should you get a heart scan?

[Dr. Puma]

It depends if, if you're having symptoms, it depends actually what the results are. If you have no calcification, no plaque buildup in your arteries and normal coronary, then that has the lowest risk of heart attack, stroke or death over the next eight years, less than 2%. And so in that case, there's pretty much nothing you're going to do to have a heart attack. So just, you know, we'll see you in eight years and that should give you peace of mind. So even if you get chest pain or shortness of breath for some reason, you know, it can't be coming for your heart. But if you have severe blocked arteries, which we see every day, and you end up getting bypass surgery or stents, then we personalize it for you and you may Have a scan more frequently

[DJ Envy]

now, the head to toe scan that, that you can do as well, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Full body and brain scan?

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, full body and brain scan. Now, of course, you do the veins and your arteries and those type of things, but can you see cancer through those scans?

[Dr. Puma]

Yes. And, you know, we're at a different time in the world today.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Right.

[Dr. Puma]

And I think that the two things that we really have to work hard on in medicine is action, success and trust. We've lost, especially post Covid, we've lost a lot of trust in people. And underserved communities in particular already had a lower trust level. So people are searching and people are trying to advocate for their own health. And a full body scan, we see all the tissues, the organs, but the way we do it is we also accentuate all the arteries, arteries in the body. So if there's an aneurysm or any calcification or blockage, we'll see that also from head to toe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's what I went for. Because, you know, for like the past years, I'm changing. I just kept hearing people catching aneurysm, getting aneurysm, getting aneurysm, getting aneurysm. So I went and got the full body and brain scan because you can detect for those, as you just said, who should be getting them?

[Dr. Puma]

Well, well, it depends. I, you know, I work with you on mental, well, wealth every year. Charlemagne. I think there's so many people who have so much anxiety and don't have access even to a primary care doctor or, or they don't go to anyone who sits and listens to them. Those are the people who are signing up most commonly because they're just trying to find answers, right? They're not even sure what the questions are, but they're trying to find answers. But certainly anyone at risk, anyone, if you're a male over 40 or a woman over 50 and you have any risk factors for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, and then again, anyone who's having symptoms. So let's separate people who have no symptoms versus people who have symptoms. If you're having pain somewhere, dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, those types of symptoms,

[DJ Envy]

I was going to ask, you know, when people do go for the scan, how often should they go for the scan? Because, see, the first time when I go there, the first thing you say is, what did you see on TV that made you come in? You know, what did Charlemagne say to you? And that's usually what it is, right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what he said to me when I went to for the full body brain. He's like, what are you here for? I said something about you guys. No, what are you really here for? I said, I just been hearing about all these aneurysms.

[DJ Envy]

The same. See, Charlemagne gets me going. Charlamagne's like, yo, I just went and I got a full scan and I'm good. And then I just start seeing stuff on tv and this person just passed. And then I wound up going. He goes, what are you here for? What did you see on television? And we go through the scan all

[Charlamagne Tha God]

morning, and we've been talking about ass warts.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, Doc, I have not been talking about ass warts. But my question to you is, how often should people go and also stroke silent killer. If I go to you and I get it clear, should I have to worry about a stroke? Or is there other things that can happen? Or can you see it from your skin? Because that's another thing that. That scares me now.

[Dr. Puma]

So we could. So first of all, I'm not talking about warts. I. I came in saying I talk about it. Yes, I said I talk about anything, but I have a limit between here and here. I'm not talking. Okay, fair enough. But. So if there's a vascular abnormality in your arteries, if there's blockage, if there's aneurysm, you'll see it, and then I can give you a risk score what your risk is over time. Right, because the body changes over time. But the key is, especially in the black community community, is high blood pressure damage or death from high blood pressure. And complications of high blood pressure now in the black community is higher than heart attacks. Okay. And most commonly, because black Americans, compared to white Americans, develop high blood pressure sooner, it's usually more resistant to treatment, and they have it longer in life. They develop complications, congestive heart failure, stroke, Stroke and heart attack. And so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And there's no symptoms.

[Dr. Puma]

And the high blood pressure is what we call the silent killer.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That, that.

[Dr. Puma]

That's exactly right. So in those cases, again, everything is customized. But. But you're right, Charlotte, man, when people come in, usually there's some event that happened, a friend died young, or a co worker or family member. And there's always something. And you know, put yourself in my position. I've spent 40 years primarily in an 8 by 10 room sitting, interviewing people. People, not the way you interview them, but hearing their. Their worries, their anxieties, their symptoms. And. And you learn what the right questions are to Ask to get them to open up. And it's usually, so what's bringing you to, you know, to see me?

[Lauren LaRosa]

What.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What are you worried about?

[Dr. Puma]

And. And usually that's one of their triggers.

[DJ Envy]

How often do you see somebody and they have to go straight to the hospital? Like, maybe you do their blood pressure and you're like, oh, this is too high. You're gonna go now?

[Dr. Puma]

Every day.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Really?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Wow.

[Dr. Puma]

Every. Every single day. And I can tell you the work you've done here, and I appreciate that, that you talk about it. And by the way, puts a lot of pressure on me, by the way, because when people leave, I said, please make sure you tell them I did okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know, because we don't want any.

[Dr. Puma]

Anything negative. But so many people have come in that would otherwise not see a doctor or have gone. Gone to doctors, and. And they're not listened to, or they go to the hospital and. And, you know, they don't have their specific doctor. And, you know, Lauren and I have.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I just recently went through that, and I called Dr. Puma and he l, like, saved one of my family members lives.

[Wanda Sykes]

Nice.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know, like, literally, like, they were. I had a family. I'm not gonna. Not too much detail, but I had a family member who was going through something in the hospital. Her family wasn't there, like, at the moment when something was happening. And. But when they got there, they knew something was wrong, and the hospital was telling them, oh, no, no, no. And it was something very seriously wrong. And I called Dr. Puma and I'm like, I know something's wrong. Here are her symptoms. What do you think? And he's like, here's exactly what you need to tell them to do. So I called and I'm like, hey, like, this is what we need to say to them. And. And on the other side, advocating, like. And that's what I wanted you to talk about too, like having an advocate in hospital on the advocate side. I also talked to him about, if they don't do it legally, like, what can she say? Who should we talk to? Who in the hospital should she talk to? And everything got going within, like, the next hour, and it probably saved her life, even though there is damage that's done because they had neglected some things for some time. But I called you in the airport, and he just, like, stopped everything he was doing to help me figure it out. And people like, you really save people's lives from phone calls like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But.

[Dr. Puma]

But I guess the thing that concerns me more than anything is this is a national Problem now people don't have primary care doctors anymore that they're connected to that advocate for them. How. How would the patient know what to advocate for? Right. You talk about it all the time, Charlamagne. And I hear you talking about on the show about insurance issues. Insurance doesn't cover this procedure or that doctor or this medication. I heard you talking about. I heard a caller this morning. They're alternating every month.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's crazy.

[Dr. Puma]

I mean, in what universe do we live in? Right?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you got a ration, as you see, the rational.

[Dr. Puma]

Yeah, rationing medication. So. So I think there's a lot we can do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I've.

[Dr. Puma]

I've tried to use, you know, I got a tiny little platform, but I'm screaming from the top of my lungs and, you know, bringing people in that. That relate to different communities and. And instead of just talking to doctors, you know, like, we had our conference this year.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You.

[Dr. Puma]

You were at it last year. Charlemagne.

[Wanda Sykes]

And.

[Dr. Puma]

And I'm trying to open their eyes. And, you know, we. We had the lat. Let's Rap about it podcast there this year, and we're just having honest, open conversations and trying to go direct to the community. And. And that's why I love coming on the show, because it definitely triggers something in people. And they. And they come in and then we find diabetes, we find high blood pressure, we find things that weren't treated or inadequately treated. We find blocked arteries, DJ envy every day, or blood pressure that's over 200, and we send them straight to the hospital every single day.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So how do we give away some free heart scans, Dr. Puma? Right now.

[Dr. Puma]

Right now, you could give away as many as you want.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Anyone who calls in, don't say that now. We got millions and millions of listeners now.

[Dr. Puma]

You know, we give away one every week.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That is true.

[Dr. Puma]

We've been doing it for last year. This year, we give away one every week.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Amazing.

[Dr. Puma]

And. And we, you know, these patients that come in, you know, last week, two weeks ago, a woman came in, she won a free heart scan, ended up getting two stents one day and coming back for. You know what I mean? So people are finding things. So we're glad to do it. So I'll leave it open to you. You know, my heart is open. It's all love here. So. So we'll give away 50, 100, whatever you'd like to do. We just want people. Because when people come in for their free heart scans, we're checking their blood pressure, if they let us. We check blood, we find out if they're diabetic, you know, we'll go over their medicines with them. And so we find so many other things that we could be helpful whether they stay with us or not or they take it back to their, you know, their community. So we're glad to do it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you pick a number. Pick a number. Pick a number. Just pick a number. One through 105, huh? God damn. I was gonna say one through 50.

[Lauren LaRosa]

48.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's just round it up to 50, then.

[Dr. Puma]

I'll tell you. I pick 50

[Charlamagne Tha God]

people right now.

[DJ Envy]

Don't call right now at power1051.com.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, that's good.

[DJ Envy]

You gotta register on the website. Power1051.com.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I didn't know we still had a website.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, yes. Register on the site.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Come see you.

[DJ Envy]

It doesn't matter where you from. If you drive them out of town, they can still come, right?

[Dr. Puma]

Absolutely.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

So it's not just New York, wherever you at.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you got to go register on the website.

[DJ Envy]

Register. Yeah, register on the website.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was gonna say first 50 people call from New York, give it to them right now.

[DJ Envy]

But no, no, no, let's do anybody. Anybody that wants to get to New York and do this, just register on the website.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's the website again?

[DJ Envy]

Power1005one.com.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Had to dust that website off.

[DJ Envy]

Dr. P, we appreciate you so much for joining us. Thank you so much.

[Dr. Puma]

Appreciate it all.

[DJ Envy]

And last, I just want to say make it a family thing. Bring your whole family when you go see Dr. P. I didn't brought. I brought my wife. I brought my kids.

[Lauren LaRosa]

How many times I called you said, I'm bringing my family, Trying to get them out the house. Can you help?

[DJ Envy]

B spots.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Shut up.

[DJ Envy]

Okay?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is Dr. Puma.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You should ask that before you dyed that hair.

[DJ Envy]

It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. 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

[DJ Envy]

the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Latest with Lauren LaRosa. Sometimes you have facts, sometimes you have details. Sometimes she have a little bit everything. Well, it's the latest brought to you

[DJ Envy]

by Top Dog Law on the Breakfast Club.

[Dr. Puma]

Talk to me.

[Lauren LaRosa]

All right, so J. Cole sat down on 7pm in Brooklyn and he is on this press run, okay? The interviews are coming out and he talked about a lot of different things. You asked J. Cole about the shot that J. Cole took at Jay Z on the fall off. And J. Cole says it wasn't a shot.

[Wanda Sykes]

Let's take a listen on on the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

fall off is inevitable. You're talking about the so called. You were signed by the so called

[DJ Envy]

Kings or the so called Goats or whatever.

[Dr. Puma]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Not saying that was a shot at

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Jay or whatever, but a lot of eyebrows were raised. I was like, absolutely wasn't. What was that about?

[DJ Envy]

You know what's crazy is when the song dropped and people started saying what they saying? It was the first time I was like, oh, you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean it like that.

[DJ Envy]

But I didn't realize they would take it like that. Like, like.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But I'm like, oh, I see what they saying.

[DJ Envy]

But it was not the intention in my mind. It was just like, yo, so called king. Like, they do call.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I call him a king. You know what I mean?

[DJ Envy]

Like, so caught. And I feel like there was a biggie line in my mind that it's like, since then, I'm like, that line don't exist. Like, especially.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Cause you know what I mean? You're unabashed Nas fan Let Nas down is a big record.

[Dr. Puma]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

Yeah. But I'm also unabashed Jay Z.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Same way. Does J. Cole know what's going on ever? Like, why does it seem like he never knows what's happening? Everything is always crazy. You know what's crazy? See, you can see that he wrote a lyric and then he.

[DJ Envy]

He didn't mean for people to interpret it the way that they inter.

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, no, no. Not jcole, the lyricist who understands a lot of how things could be flipped. And I didn't. I didn't believe him when he said that.

[DJ Envy]

You didn't believe him?

[Lauren LaRosa]

No, because you're jcole. You play with words all day long and now all of a sudden. Let's take a listen to the line. Let's take a listen to it.

[DJ Envy]

What is it? I don't care to convert on cloud nine. Now signed to my hero, one of the so called kings of this rap thing, that I swear to you, sir, decades later, mama cut on the cable. My motivation to be greater ends the moment I appear in a purse.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, you can't say one of these so called kings. You can't say that about Nas. You can't say that about Jay Z. You can't say that about Scarface. You can't say that about Andre 3000. Those are kings of this hip hop thing. Not one of the so called kings. Like, yeah, that's a deliberate line.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds like a shot. Especially you just say I would just sign to him and then he goes to that line. Yeah, Absolutely.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And he even said in the interview, like, I understood why people took it that way. Yeah, because you understand wordplay and you understand how we already have this narrative or thought about you and Jay Z's relationship, which you been clearing up on this press run. Now, one of the clips that I saw a lot of people having a conversation about is J. Cole admitting that he doesn't always think that he's the best rapper. Let's take a listen.

[DJ Envy]

You said something in the beginning, how, like, on songs, like, how I say I'm the best on songs, it's like, ask me in real life, do I think I'm the best rapper alive?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you think you're the best rapper alive?

[DJ Envy]

Bro, Bro. It's a name Black thought that exists. It's a name Lupe Fiasco that exists. Even my peers, a Drake or a Kendrick, where it's like, yo, I know any given day I could show up to the studio, get these 80, but I know they could show up on any day in the studio and give me 80, and I might only have 30. So if I'm taking on a rap Persona, of course, that's. That's what I like to. That's how I like to rap. And guess what? Sometimes I hit the mark and I say, and I. I'll spit a verse that really might have. You believe in that. But if you ask me in real life life, do I walk around like I'm the best rapper alive? No, I don't like that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The. The ne. Oh, go ahead. What you about to say?

[DJ Envy]

I don't. I don't like that. Because all my favorite rappers think that they the best. When you could go from Biggie, you could go to Jay, you could go to Nas, you can go to Drake. Like, that's how you're supposed to feel. Like you're supposed to feel like you're the best. That's why you're in this rap game. Like, right. You ain't do it to be like, nah, I'm all right. I'm. I'm number 10. I'm number 20. Don't you want to be the best?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Especially listen, the next interview J. Cole does, someone needs to ask him what does he actually believe in? Is there anything J. Cole that you say that you actually stand on? Because that's what I would like to know.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I just think J. Cole is trying to appeal to the everyday person who might feel one way one day, might feel another the next, and it changes. But I don't like.

[DJ Envy]

I don't like Jada can say I'm best dead or alive. Like that's how you supposed to feel if you're a lyricist.

[Lauren LaRosa]

I heard. Well, there's a lot of people who feel like this pressure on is changing their perception of him and the actual music. And. And I. I don't know if that's going to work well for him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I like that answer.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, shifting gears a bit, talking about conversations and answers, a lot of people weighing in on this right now. So Angela Simmons and Kim Newton had a conversation on Funky Friday about the fact that there were photos that leaked of them on out on a date some years ago. Let's take a listen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did we ever date?

[Lauren LaRosa]

We did not date. We went out on a date. We hung out in New York. A mutual friend connected and do we

[Charlamagne Tha God]

share the mutual friend?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You don't remember Corey Cory? Yeah. So he connected us.

[Dr. Puma]

Corey Gamble.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes. Good people.

[Lauren LaRosa]

We sat down, we talked. You the whole time were making jokes and laughing at your own jokes. You sat across from me. Okay. And you're making jokes that I thought were just not funny. And you were doing this, patting yourself on the back and laughing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Me. Do you remember this?

[Wanda Sykes]

Yeah, you.

[DJ Envy]

Are you serious?

[Lauren LaRosa]

You were such, like. I was like. I was ready to go. So we take the taxes, and when

[Charlamagne Tha God]

we take the taxi back, that's when

[Lauren LaRosa]

you decided to be, like, nicer. And then we, like. I was about to be like, all right, bet. Bye. But we sat outside the hotel and we talked for one. I got to know. That's when I got to know you. And you were like, super nice there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See, I got hit. Been in the blue tent a couple times. I remember I had a lot on my mind, though. That was the night before I got drafted.

[Mimi Brown]

I remember.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So I may have had an out of body experience. Could have been.

[Wanda Sykes]

Yo.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And there was a lot of people getting mad at him because he said, do we share the mutual friend? I don't think he was saying, like, do we share the mutual friend? Cause that's what mutual means means. I think he was saying, like, do we share the name of the person or do we. Do we not?

[DJ Envy]

No, it seemed like he was saying

[Lauren LaRosa]

years ago. At first, when I saw the clip of this, I was like, why even bring that? Even if it was a moment, like years ago, why bring that up? You're in a relationship now. She didn't obviously moved on. Like, why reach for the moment? Then when I watched the full interview, I was actually kind of glad he cleared it up on his own platform because it made him look kind of crazy. I think people like to make Cam look like this. Like, like insane. Like, almost like, I don't know, like he just says things and does things because he wants to rile people up. But when they talked about it, I'm like, oh, he was being honest. He knew he, he, he, he, he kind of dropped the ball there.

[DJ Envy]

But he said that was the day before he drafted. So that was 2011. So that was he 20 years old. 20.

[Lauren LaRosa]

That's what I'm saying. A lot going on. And he talked about watching her grow like, like we all did watching her grow up on television. You sitting with one of the girls that you've watched on TV forever. You know what I mean? Like, and he was probably nervous. That's why he was corny like that. Like, you laughing, you saying things, and then she a New York girl. You know, things don't fly with them. Yeah. You know, people like to throw his. His corny at him. I thought this was one of the moments where it was fair. Like it was a good conversation and they cleared it up, so.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hey, man.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Too many things.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I find Cam Newton highly entertaining. Okay, Cam, don't you ever change just to keep evolving, but don't ever change. Cam is a very, very highly entertaining media personality. Whether he doing that Funky Fridays or whether he on 4th and 1 or whether he on ESPN. I find Cam Newton highly entertaining.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And he don't be caring what, what the response. He go for it.

[DJ Envy]

He was 21 years old.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yeah. He was nervous about being drafted and nervous about sitting across from Angela. You know, of course he gonna do

[DJ Envy]

some jokes and pat himself on the back.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She wasn't laughing. I wish that people clipped the full part of it, though, where he gave his perspective. I feel like it was clipped so unfairly against his, like, you know, make him look crazy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And you know what makes Cam a good personality? The fact that he is not trying to be a second rate version of anybody. He's just a first rate version of him. Whatever Cam is on, okay, whatever Cam believes Cam's going to express that at all times. And he, and he doesn't care about the backlash he gets for it. That's what makes him a damn good person.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He don't be caring whatsoever. He going to go for it. But yes, that's the latest. Thanks to Top Dog Law for sponsoring the segment. Any accident, big or small, call Top Dog Law. And happy birthday to Celine Dion, y'.

[Wanda Sykes]

All.

[Lauren LaRosa]

She is 58 years old and MC Hammer. But y' all said him in the beginning.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, we Said him. Right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Because he was the first.

[Wanda Sykes]

He.

[Lauren LaRosa]

He was the first one to go to Alaska. That's what I walked in. Was not discovered Alaska.

[DJ Envy]

No, he did not discover Alaska. Mimi, who's from Alaska, that was the first concert she remembers going to to see him. See him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, he went down there.

[Dr. Puma]

Yeah.

[Wanda Sykes]

Okay.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Just so he discovered. Right. I walked in on Eddie's and he was the first one. One to go to Alaska.

[Wanda Sykes]

I'm gonna say, yeah, we making history. I do not know.

[DJ Envy]

All right, now let's get to the mix. Before we do, I gotta remind you guys, the Black Effect Podcast Festival. If you haven't got your tickets, get your tickets. Who's gonna be in the building, man?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Saturday, April 25th, Atlanta, Georgia and Pullman Yards. We got drink champs gonna be in the building. We got Keep it positive, Sweetie. With Crystal Renee Haslet, Carlos King Reality with the King Moaning with the Don't Call Me White Girl show. The Grits and Eggs podcast with Deontay Kyle and Big Ice Cupcake Cat and Jeff teague with the Club 520 podcast, man. So go get your tickets. Black effect.com podcast festival right now. Go get them. Peace of the planet. Charlamagne. The God here. It's time for another Shopify story segment. Now, I'm sitting here with Lauren LaRosa, and today we're talking about something we love highlighting on this show. Black owned businesses that inspire.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And this is one of my favorite conversations because we talk about culture all the time, and culture is also business. So a lot of the things that we love, from fashion to food to beauty, are all coming from entrepreneurs who started with just an idea.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's right. And the thing about entrepreneurship is a lot of people think these brands start big, but most of them start small. Sometimes in somebody's living room, kitchen, or even their phone.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Exactly. And today we're gonna highlight a few brands that really built something powerful. Coco and Breezy and Capital City Wing Sauce.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now, if you don't know ADE and IO, that's a brand that really taps into culture and storytelling. Telling the founders built something that celebrates heritage and identity, and they've turned that vision into a business that people connect with.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And that's what makes a brand stand out. Whenever people feel connected to it. It's not just about selling a product. It's about the story behind it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Then you've got Coco and Breezy. And if you know anything about fashion or eyewear, you've probably seen their work. They started designing glasses years ago, and now their brand is Global recognition.

[Lauren LaRosa]

You know what I love about their story is the creates. They took something as simple as eyewear and turned it into a statement piece. And they've been so consistent for years. Years. It just shows what happens when creativity meets consistency.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And let's talk about Capital City Wing Sauce. Because food entrepreneurs deserve love too. I got some of that in the cabinet right now.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Really?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Well, never D.C. i gotta try. Okay, so listen. Food businesses are not easy to scale. But they took a recipe and turned it into a product that people can buy everywhere. Now that's the power of believing in your idea. And that's where platforms like Shopify come in. Shopify gives entrepreneurs the team till the tools to build their stories online and reach customers all around the world.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's important because you might start selling to people in your city, but the goal is to reach people everywhere.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Exactly. And Shopify makes it so easy and so possible to sell online, on social media or even in person. It gives a small business the chance to like grow into something way bigger.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Salute to Ade and IO, Coco and Breezy and Capital City Wing Sauce. And salute to every entrepreneur out there building something from the ground up.

[Lauren LaRosa]

And to everybody listening, please support black owned businesses whenever you can. Your purchase might be helping someone build the next big brand.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's another Shopify stories moment.

[DJ Envy]

Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlamagne the guy we are the Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now.

[DJ Envy]

It's Women's History month. Who we repping today?

[Lauren LaRosa]

Yes, today. Played by Angela Bassett, Stella Payne from How Stella Got a Groove Back. She deserves to be honored in my opinion for reclaiming her joy. Joy simply choosing to live, work and dress however she want regardless of being an older woman. She prioritized self love over professional burnout.

[Wanda Sykes]

Right?

[Lauren LaRosa]

She was very successful and all the things that comes with her career, you know, she was dealing with that. So she was always busy and she was, you know, burnt out. In the film she is a successful 40 something year old black woman navigating career, single motherhood and personal happiness. Stella breaks the Superwoman show trope by recognizing she is burnt out and allowing herself a spontaneous rejuvenating vacation where she meet a young guy and get down, period. So shout out to all the Stellas out there, period. Yo, and whatever. I. Because I'm done trying to.

[Wanda Sykes]

Trying to appease you.

[DJ Envy]

One more day. I know, one more day, one more

[Charlamagne Tha God]

day, one more day.

[DJ Envy]

Hold it down.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Whatever. But anyway, Florida. I will be coming there May 1st first, Fort Lauderdale. I will be there at the Lillian S. Wells hall at the Parker. That's May 1st at 7:00pm, Fort Lauderdale. Then on that Saturday, May 2nd, I'm

[DJ Envy]

skipping over to Orlando, Florida.

[Lauren LaRosa]

Meet me at the Plaza Live. That show also starts at 7:00pm and then Sunday, May 3, 2026, at 6:30pm I'll be in Tampa, Florida at the Ferguson Hall. So get your [e-mail] y' all will be doing meet and greet because all of those venues have security and now have security as well. So love you, Florida. I can't wait to see y' all the first three days in May.

[DJ Envy]

Reminding you guys, if you haven't got your tickets, get your tickets to the Black Effect Podcast Festival is going down in Atlanta, Pullman Yards. So many different people performing. Give them the lineup. Charlotte, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

April 25, in Atlanta, Georgia, Pullman Yards. We got the drink champs going to be on that stage. Dj EF and N O R E. My girl, Crystal Renee Haslett, she'll be on that stage with the Keep It Positive Sweetie podcast. Carlos King will be on that stage with the Reality with the King podcast. Jeff Teague will be on that stage with the Club 520 podcast. My girl Mona will be on that stage with the Don't Call Me White Girl show and the Grits and Eggs podcast. Deontay Kyle and Ice cupcat, they'll be on that stage. Plus, we got the Black Effect Marketplace. We got the NASCAR racing simulator is gonna be out there. You know, that's what. That's what Roger Carruth. That's how he learned to, you know, handle the car the way he handles the car, man. So we got a lot of great things. April 25, Saturday, Pullman Yard. So go to black effect.com podcast festival to get your tickets right now.

[DJ Envy]

All right? You got a positive note.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I do have a positive note, man. And the positive note is about perseverance. Okay? Okay. Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races, one after the other, other. And our greatest weakness in regards to perseverance lies in giving up. Okay? The most certain way to succeed is always to just try one more time. Perseverance, y'. All. That's the word of the day. Have a great Monday Breakfast Club. Wake you up.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Program your Alarm to Power 105.1 on iHeartradio.

[Lauren LaRosa]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.