Larry Hoover Jr. Speaks On His Father's Commuted Sentence & Responds To The Backlash + More

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Breakfast Club Episode: Larry Hoover Jr. Speaks On His Father's Commuted Sentence & Responds To The Backlash + More
Release Date: May 29, 2025
Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
Description: The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

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Introduction to Larry Hoover's Commutation

The episode opens with Angela Yee [00:00] breaking the news that Larry Hoover's federal sentence has been commuted by President Donald Trump. She clarifies that this commutation only affects his federal charges, which means they are effectively excused or overlooked. However, Hoover remains incarcerated under a severe 200-year state sentence for murder.

“Larry Hoover is very much so still dealing with a 200-year sentence for murder on the state level.” [00:00]

Clarifying Larry Hoover's Incarceration Status

Charlamagne Tha God [00:27] seeks confirmation about Hoover's freedom, to which Angela responds that Hoover is not free.

“So he's not free.” [00:29]

Charlamagne echoes public misconceptions, questioning rumors of a “welcome home” celebration for Hoover. Angela emphatically denies any imminent release or celebrations, emphasizing Hoover's continued imprisonment.

“He is not coming home. He is not walking out. Ain't no welcome home, Larry Hoover party.” [00:32]

Misinformation from Chance the Rapper

The conversation shifts to Chance the Rapper's reaction to the commutation. Chance misunderstood the situation, believing Hoover was being moved out of prison, leading him to post supportive messages online.

“I just gotta say I am glad that Larry Hoover's home.” [00:48]

DJ Envy [01:23] criticizes Chance for disseminating misinformation, asserting that Chance lacks a full understanding of the legal nuances.

“Feelings because that's just spreading such misinformation.” [01:23]

Angela clarifies that Chance's confusion stemmed from a misleading post by J. Prince on Instagram, which inaccurately stated that Hoover was pardoned.

“He was commuted. So to explain a bit really quick... he wasn't a pardon, he was commuted.” [01:49]

Insights from Larry Hoover Jr.

Larry Hoover Jr. [01:34] joins the discussion to provide a detailed explanation of his father's legal situation. He emphasizes that Hoover is still battling both federal and state cases, with the commutation only affecting the federal charges.

“He still had two cases to fight. So he had to fight the federal case and he still had to fight the state case.” [02:58]

Hoover Jr. explains the complexities of dual jurisdiction and how Hoover's state sentence remains intact despite the commutation.

“He's been held under juris due jurisdiction... so now we're dealing with state law now.” [02:58]

Understanding the State Case and Sentencing

Angela delves deeper into the movement Hoover Jr. and his supporters are spearheading to address the state-level sentencing. The goal is to seek leniency or a reduction in Hoover's already lengthy sentence.

“We want to reach out to Governor Pritzker... ask him to sign the paper to give my father a second chance at life.” [07:53]

Hoover Jr. outlines the specifics of Hoover's state sentencing, highlighting that as a "C number," Hoover's indeterminate sentence mandates regular parole hearings without a fixed release date.

“He has to go to the parole board every... it was supposed to be every year.” [03:59]

Despite Hoover's rehabilitation efforts, past allegations of drug trafficking, extortion, and murder continue to overshadow public perception.

Addressing Criticisms and Reputation

Angela raises concerns about the backlash Hoover Jr. faces, with critics accusing him of glorifying his father's criminal actions. In response, Hoover Jr. counters these claims by disputing negative narratives and emphasizing his father's transformation.

“He has rehabilitated himself. He has transformed from the young man that he once was... he's for everything for black people.” [05:41]

He argues that the prevailing negative image is based on hearsay and misinformation, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of Hoover's current character and contributions.

Call to Action: Seeking Governor's Intervention

Hoover Jr. passionately calls on listeners to contact Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois to support his father's clemency. He stresses the importance of justice, rehabilitation, and the belief in his father's genuine transformation.

“We want to reach out to Governor Pritzker... ask him to sign the paper to give my father a second chance at life.” [07:53]

Concluding Remarks

The hosts summarize the key points, reiterating that there are no immediate plans for Hoover's release and that efforts are focused on mitigating his state sentence. DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God express skepticism about the success of these efforts, citing political challenges.

“Larry Hoover is not. There's no welcome home Larry Hoover parties today or tomorrow. It's not happening.” [09:52]

The episode wraps up with a brief mention of upcoming topics and transitions to other segments.

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Notable Quotes

• Angela Yee: “Larry Hoover is very much so still dealing with a 200-year sentence for murder on the state level.” [00:00]
• Charlamagne Tha God: “So he's not free.” [00:29]
• Chance the Rapper: “I just gotta say I am glad that Larry Hoover's home.” [00:48]
• DJ Envy: “Feelings because that's just spreading such misinformation.” [01:23]
• Larry Hoover Jr.: “He has rehabilitated himself. He has transformed from the young man that he once was... he's for everything for black people.” [05:41]
• Larry Hoover Jr.: “We want to reach out to Governor Pritzker... ask him to sign the paper to give my father a second chance at life.” [07:53]

Key Takeaways

• Federal vs. State Sentencing: While Larry Hoover's federal charges were commuted, he remains incarcerated under a 200-year state sentence.
• Misinformation: Public misunderstandings, particularly from influential figures like Chance the Rapper, have led to confusion about Hoover's status.
• Advocacy Efforts: Hoover Jr. is actively seeking to reduce his father's state sentence by engaging with local leadership and urging public support for clemency.
• Rehabilitation Narrative: Hoover Jr. emphasizes his father's personal transformation and contributions to counteract long-standing negative perceptions.

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This summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[Angela Yee]

This is an Iheart podcast. So yesterday, Larry Hoover was commuted on a federal level by President Donald Trump. For people who don't understand what that means, that means that basically, and we talked about this in front page news this morning, his charges on a federal level will be like, excused or overlooked. But anything else you're still dealing with, you still have to deal with. And Larry Hoover is very much so still dealing with a 200 year sentence for murder on the state level.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

State level, right?

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, state level.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So he's not free.

[Angela Yee]

No, he's not.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

People were saying welcome home and all that. He is not.

[Angela Yee]

He is not coming home. He is not walk. Walking out. Ain't no welcome home, Larry Hoover party.

[Chance the Rapper]

Know what I mean? That's why I text you on the group land, what is commutation or what is commute?

[Angela Yee]

Yes, he was.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, he was moving him from one person to the other.

[Angela Yee]

I didn't know Chance Rapper was one of the people who actually posted online. He didn't understand what was happening. Let's take a listen.

[Chance the Rapper]

Hey, before I let y' all politicize this or memify this, I just gotta say I am glad that Larry Hoover's home. And I gotta remind y' all that he was a political prisoner that was set up by the federal government that he created the, the. What was it, Chicago votes? He did so many things to like, to really, like mobilize our people and he was really targeted for that. And so before get to Kooning or doing whatever they finna do with this information, I just want to say I'm so glad that he's home and God bless his family. And yeah, thank God Chance hurt my.

[DJ Envy]

Feelings because that's just spreading such misinformation. And Chance is way smarter than that. You know, he. If you just read a little bit more Chance, you would know he's not coming home. But that just lets me know. All Chance did was read the headlines.

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

Yeah.

[Angela Yee]

Or saw J. Prince's post. J. Prince of Laugh A Lot over in Houston.

[DJ Envy]

Rap a lot.

[Angela Yee]

Rap a lot. Sorry. Rap a lot.

[DJ Envy]

This has to stop.

[Angela Yee]

He don't even laugh. Rap a lot now.

[DJ Envy]

This is disgusting.

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

This is crazy.

[DJ Envy]

Rap a lot.

[Angela Yee]

Rap a lot. Rap a lot. Sorry, y' all. Okay, my bad. Rap a Lot posted yesterday. And when he posted, his caption literally said, larry Hoover has been pardoned by Donald Trump. So even when I posted it and people were upset, I posted it exactly with what J. Prince said because I knew people were going to be upset about it because it doesn't mean that he's walking out of. That's not even accurate anywhere today or tomorrow. He wasn't a pardon, he was commuted. So to explain a bit really quick, who Larry Hoover was, he was the co founder of the Gangster Disciples, which was a Chicago based gang that according to police, engaged in drug trafficking, extortion and murder. Which is why he's going through everything he's going through right now. Right now. We talked to Larry Hoover's son because I was trying to get clarification for you guys on what this actually means and what the state level looks like for Larry Hoover right now. There was so much misinformation going around with a lot of people thinking that, you know, what we saw yesterday with Trump and everything that was announced with Larry Hoover meant that your dad was going to walk out of, you know, federal prison. And you know, be clear of everything today, like right now.

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

Right. So I've been speaking on this anytime I was interviewed and I was trying to let people know that he was being held under juris due jurisdiction, which is he's been held under state law and he has been held under federal law at the same time. So he still had two, two cases to fight. So he had to fight the federal case and he still had to fight the state case. So now he's dealing with the state case. I don't really know the law on it. They, I heard that it was illegal to help hold a person under dual jurisdiction, which they don't usually do, but they never uplift the state case when they took him into federal custody. So now we're dealing with state law now.

[Angela Yee]

So, so I know that you guys have like this movement that you're trying to do where when it comes to the state things, you guys are asking for like local leadership that would actually be able to do anything to. Is it like less than the sentence or what are you asking for on a state level?

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

Okay, so I'm filed there's actually a C number and C numbers were, because, you know, people have a misunderstanding of everything that's going on. People are talking about the narrative of who they say my father is and what he has done. We're going back to his state case and he was sentenced as a C number. C number were men that were sentenced in the 70s and they gave him indeterminate sentences. So his sentence was to be at least 200 years and he has to go to the parole board every. It was supposed to be every year. And when we went to court last, they wanted to make it five years but the lawyers fought and they made it. Made it three years. So the seat numbers go to the parole board. They don't have a determined amount of time. They go to the parole board, and it's up to them to decide whether they deserve to be paroled. And when my father went to bed paroled last time, they said that he didn't do what they needed him to do, even though he was in the ADX and it was no way possible for him to do the things that they needed him to do. They said like, oh, you didn't take classes. You didn't do this to try to show. Show that you was thankful and that you regret what you did. But at the same time, he's locked in the closet underground in Colorado.

[Angela Yee]

And then when I posted it online, I knew that the natural pushback would be. But this man is responsible for you. The. Like I mentioned, there is alleged drug trafficking, extortion, and murder. So I asked his son, like, this is how people feel. They feel like you're glory. We're glorifying someone who caused all of these things in the community. What do you say to that? And here's what he said.

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

People that say that they don't understand who he is. They listen to the narrative of people that don't know what they're talking about. Can they tell you people that he has caused to be killed or that he has said kill or kill himself. He's been in prison all of this time. Right now we're fighting up. We're fighting the state case that happened when he was 22 years old, when he was a. A baby. And they said that he gave the call for somebody to be murdered and his ratio on the case said that he did the murder and he was released. That. That's what we're fighting with right now. Right? The, the stuff that those people are talking about are hearsay rumors. I'm not saying that my father wasn't in leadership at one point and wasn't involved in the streets, but he's. He's had transformation. He was a. He was a illiterate, dyslexic child when he went to jail. He taught himself how to read. He taught himself how to become a man. He educated himself. He went to college. He became a. A paramedic. You know, he taught classes, but he went in as a dyslexic kid. He couldn't read and he taught himself. Nobody taught him. Like, people are speaking of who they think he is and what the rumors of him are, they don't know who he is. They need to look for some. They need to hear real information instead of listening to rumors that have been passed around the city. See, we fighting the monster, the picture that they painted. But we not. They don't know anything about Larry Hoover. If it was, if they knew about Larry Hoover, they would understand that he wants the same thing that these people want. He's, he's not for kids dying in the streets. He's not for ladies being raped and harmed. He's not for man. He's a peaceful individual. He, he's for everything for black people.

[Angela Yee]

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining us. And what, so what's your call to action? What do you, I saw something on the Live yesterday. You guys were tagging. Who was the, who's the person you guys are tagging? Is it the governor, Mayor?

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

Yeah, we was. It's at Governor Pritzker. That's his, his Instagram and then his Gmail. Is governor illinois.gov we want to reach out to Governor Prisca the Tell him to ask him to sign the paper to give my father a second chance at life. We're fighting a, a case from when he was 22 years old in which his rappy said that he committed the crime and he was released. We're not fight, we shouldn't be fighting the rumors. We should be fighting what the real situation is. That was the problem in the first place. If the law applied, he would have been released because of the law. Everybody that was on his case with him, they was released because of the First Step act, because the time didn't amount for the time that they gave him. And all of his rappies were released. But because he was Larry Hoover, they didn't agree with the law. And I had to thank Donald Trump for going above the law to give my father opportunity. And now as far as the state case is concerned, can we please follow the law? We're supposed to believe in justice. And if we supposed to believe in justice and follow the law, the law needs to work for us. And our governor says he believes in transformation. He believes it. He believes in rehabilitation. He believes in redemption. And my father has rehabilitated himself. He has transformed from the young man that he once was. And he deserves redemption. He, he's folk, I mean, he, he's been there. Imagine living in a closet for 30 years. Close your eyes and go in your closet and stay there. Can you stay there for 30 years? You don't think he's re regretful for what he did? Do you think he would be interested in coming back to the world and being a part of criminology? He's a senior. He's an elderly man. This picture behind me is not who he is right now.

[Angela Yee]

Larry Hoover is not. There's no welcome home Larry Hoover parties today or tomorrow. It's not happening. They're trying to get things handled on a state level. But even if so, what I think and what they're trying to do is they want less. They know that he. There's no way that he's going to walk free 100%, but they want less. They feel like it's over. Excessive. And as you heard his son say, they feel like he's a changed person now. He should be looked at as that.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, yeah, 200 years. 200 years in prison is crazy, but I. I can't see it happening. Only because of who the governor is. The governor is J.B. pritzer. He's a Democrat.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, they trying to put some, I guess, pressure on him, get the public to start writing letters and things like.

[DJ Envy]

That, but JB don't give a damn.

[Angela Yee]

They were online yesterday on Instagram Live. I was on there. They was on there for about an hour getting people to tag him and saying, call his office. And I'm like, I don't know if that's gonna work. Because Larry Hoover was such a big name, the case was such a big thing. Like, I don't know if he cares. And then. Yeah. Okay, so that's it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now, that is the latest with Lauren. You heading to court now?

[Angela Yee]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right. All right. Well, she'll give us an update later on to what happened in the DD trial. Everybody else, let's get to the mix, the People's Choice mix. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[Larry Hoover Jr.]

Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.

[Angela Yee]

This is an iHeart podcast.