← The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club
Wendy Williams still has plans to sue + South Park inks $1.5B streaming deal.. streaming has power!
00:19:08
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Transcript9 lines
- [00:00]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an iHeart podcast. Let's get to it. Time to do it. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody, you know.
- [00:11]
Joe Tacopina
If she don't lie about that, right?
- [00:12]
Lauren LaRosa
Lauren came in hot. Hey, y'. All, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news, exclusives, because we get into the exclusive things and all the conversations that shake the room. Now, we got. We got a lot in the latest today, so we gonna get right on into it. So in the latest today, the last I talked to you guys, we talked about Wendy Williams, and people are always. I mean, shoot, when we did this story at the Breakfast Club, when Wendy Williams came on and she talked about, you know, her conservatorship battle and everything that was happening there, it's like, ever since that day, people always ask me, how is Wendy Williams doing? What's up with our girls? What's happening? Or, girl, what's happening? All the things I told you guys on a previous episode. Make sure you guys go and check out that episode that I've been told the legal team in the A and E lawsuit against Wendy Williams. But this is the. This is the attorney that is representing the guardian that Wendy Williams had begun some of the testing, some of the cognitive testing to free her of her guardianship. But things are, you know, moving, but they're taking their time. But, you know, there has been times where the guardianship and, you know, the people involved on that side have come out and said things, and Wendy Williams has been, like, completely not true. But that is what I was told from the attorneys there. I did reach out to Wendy's attorney to get anything on what I told, and they did not respond to me. I reached out to Joe Tekapena, to be exact. Now, Joe Tekerpina is not representing Wendy Williams in that Annie suit at all, because Wendy is technically represented by the same attorney for the conservatorship, because the conservator filed on Wendy Williams behalf, but he is working closely with her just as a personal attorney. And it seems like almost like a consultant helping her navigate through attorneys and steps and processes that should and should not be happening while trying to get her free from this guardianship in New York. Now, TMZ called Wendy Williams out in New York, still celebrating her birthday, but this time she was out with Joe Taina. She was out, and we talked about this. I'm like, man, is it really A happy birthday. Because she still wakes up in that room where she can't even receive phone calls. She has to call out. But Wendy did actually end up going out for her birthday. She went out for dinner and it had been established. I told you guys, the guardianship said, look, her. Her family can come and see her. She was out to dinner with her attorneys and her niece, Alex Finney. Shout out to Alex, who's been by Wendy's side throughout this whole thing, loves her aunt. But they caught Wendy out with Jo and talked about the conservatorship and just got an update. Let's take a listen.
- [02:43]
Joe Tacopina
What's next is hopefully justice. I mean, it's been so long, and I'm not a guardianship attorney. I'm Wendy's personal attorney. But this process is really despicably slow because she's in a facility. And Wendy's Wendy. We've had conversations over the course of six months. She's the same Wendy Williams that you know from tv, right? And so this is a person who is control of her faculties and is a great human being. And it sickens me, honestly. This is not even about a case for me. It's about a cause. And I'm gonna do everything.
- [03:15]
Lauren LaRosa
I just had a birthday and I'm still in guardianship. If that doesn't say enough, I don't know what does. Now, I have a question. How many other people have reached out to you asking for your help? Have you gotten phone calls from people? Yes.
- [03:26]
Joe Tacopina
Oh, so many. Right now my focus is on Wendy and I have to get her through this. I'll deal with that later. But I will tell you this. It is scary, this guardianship process. Once you get in the vortex of a guardianship proceeding, it's hard to get out.
- [03:40]
Lauren LaRosa
Yo, Joe, tag a pina. Talking about. He get calls in support of her. Let me tell y', all, the people will want. They will run you down about a Wendy Williams. Okay? And can we say in the videos and photos from her birthday dinners and this video here that's on TMZ's website, Wendy looks amazing. Okay? She's keeping up with conversation. She's very, like, fluid in conversation. She. Because at one point, I remember when we did were doing the interviews with her, her guardianship tried to say that basically she was like, almost coached. Like there was basically like a script that Wendy was sticking to. And that's the only reason why she had been able to speak out. I'm watching this video right here. Wendy is just there chilling, tracking conversation and jumping in as she needs to. She looks good. She sounds good. What are we talking about here now? Wendy talking about getting back to work. I don't know what that looks like for Wendy in 2025. I'm thinking definitely, like, you know, podcast. I don't know if it could be something daily just because I feel like that grind might be a bit much for her now. You know, she's still, you know, an older woman dealing and, you know, all the things with graves, but definitely something from her home where she's comfortable and she can just kind of go through her things and talk as she talks and do the Wendy Williams thing that she does. I do think that the world is missing her, though. I think when you are able also too. Wait, let. Let me just say this. I also don't know when we talk about Wendy Williams getting back to work, what Wendy Williams voice is now, because me and Charlamagne went to dinner with Wendy Williams and her niece, Alex Finney. And when we were there, we were having a conversation and she. She randomly came out to us and said she felt like she was going through everything she was going through because of the way that she had talked about people and dealt with people throughout her career. She felt like this was her karma. She felt like she was being made to sit down and experience these things so that her empathy for people in the situations that they find themselves in will be different. Because y' all know Wendy Williams. Wendy Williams was cut throat. Okay? Cut down. All right? And I think her just delivering the news and telling the stories and the things that she has so much connections to, so many things that are topical right now. Right. Like, you know, Diddy. And there's so much nostalgia that is coming back around because, you know, people are having an answer to certain things or, you know, just. Just things of that nature. I think there's definitely space there. But it didn't seem like at that dinner, Wendy Williams wanted to be the same. Cut through drag, you for filth. Don't care about nothing. You nor your mother. Okay? It didn't seem like that is who she wanted to return back to work being. She actually said it like her niece was saying, you know, I think the difference is you've experienced life. And Wendy thought about it a bit and she said, yeah, you know, I just think things are different now. She said, if I get a chance to do it all again, I'm gonna do it a little bit different. So I don't know what that looks like. What does Wendy Williams, with a bit of empathy, look Like, I think she's still gonna be very honest. I think it's still gonna be like, oh, shoot, did she just say that? But I do think that there was a part of Wendy's audience that tuned in for the reading to filth, the taking down through the mincing of her or non mincing of her words. And it don't seem like that's what she about to be given. So that's, you know, I mean, that's something to think about. But yes, there's still very much interest there, which speaks to the work into her career. As far as a lawsuit, the only thing that I would say and I would have followed up shout out to Celia from tmz. That's who conducted this interview. The only thing that I would have followed up with question wise for Joe Tecopena is it's like, okay, when Wendy is free of this conservatorship, it is clear, and Wendy has said she signed into this conservatorship back in May of 2022. So it has been some years now that this has been going on because she knew that she did need some guardrails and she did need some help of some sorts when it came to business and organizing her life and things of that nature. If those things are still needed today and a judge deems that and releases her from certain constraints on the conservatorship but doesn't fully release her, are you able to then still follow suit? Because it's like even though Sabrina Morrissey, right, Sabrina Morrissey, we move along, hypothetically speaking, is not Wendy Williams conservator anymore, right? But if there are still things in place that need to stay in place as deemed by a judge, hypothetically speaking, and we don't know if this is going to happen yet, I'm just thinking, I'm just being devil's advocate, right? But if this does happen, how does Wendy Williams legal team then come and say, we are suing you? Because A, B, C and D were set into place when a judge is deemed that it was needed. Now, whether it was supposed to be as extreme as it was or not, maybe that's where they lean in lawsuit wise, you know, and they talk about, you know, the stress and anxiety and loneliness and depression and all these things health wise, that, that feeling of having to go through what Wendy is alleging these, these extreme circumstances being in this conservatorship and living in the facility in which she lives is a conversation. But if a judge is saying, well, no, you know, it wasn't that she was mistreated or neglected. She needed the help. We're just now willing to back up the restraints or constraints a bit because she's showing proven. She's showing that she doesn't need now what she needed then because Wendy has also openly talked about dealing with the alcohol abuse and different things, which is a lot of what, you know, the conservatorship is arguing caused the restraints that she has. If you guys remember, they talked about, you know, why Wendy Williams ended up on the floor that she's on, which is like a no memory floor. You can't open doors yourself. You can't receive calls in. You gotta call out. They allege that Wendy Williams went to the rooftop restaurant in the facility on or around her birthday and got drunk knowing that, you know, she wasn't supposed to be having alcohol. This is what they allege. And because of that, they put her in a situation where her actions could be monitored more tightly. So I'm just wondering what Joe Teacapena's argument is in between all of these things. Because, yes, these things happen, but does a person then, is it fair for a person then to be placed in a position where they're made to feel like they're prisoner and maybe that is it. I'm not for sure, but we'll have to wait to see because they said the lawsuit is coming. They said it's coming. But I think first she has to get out of the conservative thing. We got to figure that out. And I have not yet gotten an update anymore in any more. I have yet to get an additional update from Wendy's side of things or anywhere. So I'll keep you guys posted if something comes up. But as of now, this is all we got. Our girl got out the house on her birthday. She was able to go out, eat fellowship with family, smile, laugh. She looked amazing while doing it. But at the end of the day, she still returns back to that room. And that is. That's the issue. Now, in other show news, as we take a swing on into some other things, y', all, south park is gonna be releasing 10 new episodes a year. I am not the biggest south park fan, but I know people are super excited about this because they have a $1.5 billion streaming deal that they are almost to the finish line with. And this deal, a part of this deal, means that they have to drop 10 new episodes per year. So according to reports, according to the LA Times, Paramount has reached an agreement to buy the global streaming rights for South Park. Now, this deal will bring the show to Paramount. Plus, for the first time in the US ever. And this has all been put on sources, they couldn't reveal who they talked to in this article because they said the deal is still going through. But there were three sources that the LA Times said that they spoke to to confirm this information. So it's a production company called Park County Production, and this company is owned by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who are the owners of south park. And that is who made the deal. Deal is a five year deal, and it totals to $1.5 billion. That's $300 million a year to stream south park on Paramount. Oh, my God. Creators Father, I have seen what you've done for others. I am a creator. I can figure this out. I can write, I could do all the things, Dear Lord, I've seen what you've done for others. Please bless me. $300 million a year. It's a five year deal. So $1.5 billion just on streaming alone because there's gonna be other licensing situations that come into play because people walk around with South Park T shirts. People want to license this outside of where it's currently living. It was living on HBO Max for some time, but that deal ended back in June. But this is just like, I'm sorry. And I know this is a TV show, not a movie, but people always have the conversations about whether movie theaters are back or like traditional forms of digesting content are back. So, like actual cable television and, you know, movie theaters. And I'm, if I'm a creator and I'm seeing deals like this, but you got to have the quality work right, like, you got to have a product right? But if you got that, and I'm seeing deals like this, $1.5 billion, $300 million a year. And don't get me wrong, south park has been out for decades. They have built an audience, they have built a brand that people love. And there's a lot to it. It's not just like, you roll over, write something and boom, $1.5 billion. But if I'm a creator and I'm saying this, and I am a creator, and it's inspiring to see. I'm not really tripping off a traditional nothing coming back or like, these deals are not happening because the audience isn't there anymore. The advertisers are barely there because everybody on streaming, it's just crazy how everything has, like, reverted. Like, even the shows that we used to love, like on television, we're celebrating them coming over the streaming. This happened A while ago. But I remember being so excited when Girlfriends came to Netflix, and I've literally watched it in full all of the seasons so many times. Same thing with Sex and the City. Same thing with Issa Rae's Insecure. When it came to Netflix, I was like, God, yes, you heard my call. But if I'm a creator, like, and I say that because y' all are probably like, well, duh, you know what I mean? Because most creators are going to lean into streaming. But you would be so surprised. Like, you'd be so surprised how many creators have issues with streaming because they feel like the barrier entry is a lot lower and a lot easier, and there's just so much content out there, it's harder to really throw spotlight or focus on content that should be highlighted. But if I'm a creator, I'm not worried about that. Because if you get something good and you break through to the point where you got the audience in a chokehold, baby, listen, $1.5 billion. I'm going where they streaming, period. And that is it. And that is all. Now, last up in the latest, congratulations to Pete Davidson. Talking about creators and streaming and television. Pete Davidson is all over the place and his newest job, though, he is going to be a dad. So it was announced. It was about a week ago. About a week ago, we found out that Pete Davidson was going to be a dad. But he recently spoke out finally on the news that he is going to be a dad. And he is super excited. He says that he is. He says that he's looking. He spoke to E. News. He was at the New York premiere of the home on July 22, and he spoke to E. News, and he said he's very, very lucky and he's very, very happy. He's expecting his baby with his girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, and he says that he's looking forward to being able to take care of something and show it the childhood that he did not have. He says, I assume you just try to give them what you didn't have and what you didn't like not to do it. Now, he also says, because he talked about, like, you know, all the great advice he got from friends like Adam Sandler, Colin Joust. And he says that everybody has been super excited for him because they know that it's been his dream to be a dad. He says that they've all just been like, you're going to be great at this. It's the best you'll ever do in your life. That's the advice that Adam Sandler gave him. And he says that it's been really nice that you know that everybody's super excited, everybody's super happy for him. He says when we do anything, you want everyone to be excited, especially if you have child. And that is the feeling that he is feeling. So congratulations to him. I'm, I'm happy for him. I remember when Pete Davidson decided that he was going to step away and not return back to snl and he was dating Kim Kardashian at the time and there were photos of him all on the golf carts with Kim Kardashian's kids and there was back and forth with Kanye and Kanye was mad at his penis size and just all these things were going on. People were really trying to have a conversation about like what Pete Davidson's life would be like because he was leaving SNL and he was dating Kim and then that stopped and him and Ariana Grande. Grande didn't work out and like all of these things. Right. And for some reason I feel like people love to fixate themselves on the negative or the unfinished or what didn't work with Pete Davidson. And I don't know if it's because he's very self deprecating himself in his comedy and the way that he goes about comedy, but he's also been very, very vocal just about like his mental health struggles and you know, his struggles when it comes to partners and in relationship and all these things. So I don't know if that's where like you know that, that cloud of conversation over him. But I love seeing happy and positive news when it comes to him because oftentimes like I, I feel like the last report I saw before this was something about him entering into a rehab facility. It was like toward the end of last year, I believe I saw those reports in. Let me double check. Yeah, October 24th, 2024. Cause other than that it's been low. It's kind of been like who he's dating and stuff like that. But Pete Davidson had checked himself into a rehab facility a few months prior to October. So it was in the, it was earlier in the year of 2024. And then he popped out in LA in and people were just happy to see him out. He was out with mgk, just having a good time. It's. It was months prior to that. It wasn't a rehab facility. I'm sorry, I want to correct myself. It was a mental health treat treatment facility that he had checked himself into. And he's also been vocal about that like knowing when he needs help and knowing when he wants to check into things and check on things and doing that for himself and so that he can be a good partner to, you know, the people that he chooses to date and just the people in his life as well. And. And I don't know, I'm just. I'm always happy to hear good news about Pete Davidson, whether you think he's funny or not, whether you think he has the biggest penis in the world or not. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please look it up. I'm just always happy to hear good news with him. I think that he's young, I think he's very successful, rightfully so. And I think he has a lot of life to live and a lot to put out into the world. So to hear him doing well, always a plus for me. So Pete Davidson here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. We're excited for you. We're happy. Congratulations on your. It's his first child. Guys, congratulations on your first child. You know we're gonna be all up in your business when the baby comes, so please keep us updated at the end of the day. There's always so much to talk about and I tell you guys every episode. You could be anywhere with anybody talking about it, but you choose to be right here with me. My lowriders. I appreciate you guys so much. I will see you guys in my next episode.
- [19:13]
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- [19:42]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an Iheart podcast.