Hour 2 - Did You Watch the Oscars?

Summary

The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show — Hour 2: "Did You Watch the Oscars?"

Date: March 16, 2026
Podcast: The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (iHeartPodcasts)
Episode Theme:
A lively, irreverent takedown of Oscars night, Hollywood trends, and current events in politics and culture—with characteristic sarcasm and a critique of "woke" changes in media and society.

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Episode Overview

In this hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton riff on the 2026 Oscars, Hollywood’s embrace of diversity, and the directions of both pop culture and politics. The hosts use their trademark banter and skepticism to dissect the state of movies, TV, and the current political climate, touching on topics ranging from TSA chaos and left-wing double standards to diversity mandates for Best Picture nominees. The conversation grows broader, linking Hollywood trends to deeper issues of historical literacy and media bias.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Oscars Recap & Hollywood Critique

• Oscars Apathy & Film Quality
  • Buck confesses only watching the last 15 minutes of the Oscars, largely to see if his least favorite film "Sinners" would win Best Picture.
    • "I was hoping that Sinners was gonna win Best Picture and then I'd be able to just tee off on just what garbage it is and how Hollywood is such trash in general now and everything else." (17:53)
• Oscars Diversity Requirements
  • Clay reads out new Oscars diversity guidelines demanding representation in casting and crew. The requirements include having a lead or significant supporting actor from an underrepresented group, at least 30% of the cast from two or more underrepresented groups, and storylines centered on these groups.
    • “You have to meet the diversity and inclusion guidelines to be considered for a movie... The Godfather would not qualify... Titanic, I can’t imagine would qualify, really. Um, it’s kind of crazy to think about.” (21:02–23:45)
• Cultural Impact of Past vs. Present Films
  • Both recall how movies like "Gladiator," "Braveheart," and "Saving Private Ryan" were major cultural events—yet wouldn’t even qualify for a nomination under current rules.
    • “Now it’s just trash. They’re just churning out trash all the time. Once the Academy and Hollywood put this race Marxism into place, it’s very hard to get rid of.” (24:13–26:11, Buck)

2. TV & Streaming Trends: Woke Storylines

• Netflix shows and others are called out for inserting what the hosts see as gratuitous LGBT+ storylines or unrealistic DEI-driven casting.
  • On "Stranger Things":
    • Clay: “Spoiler alert. From evil monsters. And in the next to last episode they just have like a... big ‘hey, I’m gay talk.’ It was totally out of left field. Doesn’t fit the plot at all.” (01:15)
  • On "Billions":
    • Buck: “When it got to the, the hookup scene with the trans girl and the guy and like we’re going like the trannies getting naked ... I was like, I’m done. This is a little, little more than I need.” (01:55)
    • Clay: “What I didn’t buy was all of those hedge fund baller dudes using the preferred pronoun. ...That’s where I was like, I can’t keep watching this show because that’s a chick. And they would be calling her her.” (02:45)

3. Politics: TSA Chaos & Blame Game

• Clay calls out Congress and the Democrats for TSA understaffing and long airport lines, making a connection to security risks amid recent terror attacks.
  • “If you’re standing in line, if you are listening to us right now and you are standing in hours long lines to get through TSA, the Democrats have done that to you.” (04:39)
• Buck elaborates that while the airlines are blamed, the issue stems from Congressional gridlock and election-year political ploys.
  • “This is what you get when you have a media environment that refuses to hold one side accountable for its unwillingness to just go with funding that was already agreed to.” (06:10)

4. Media & Politics: Double Standards on Anti-Semitism

• Clay discusses the controversy over the New York City mayor’s wife illustrating a book deemed anti-Semitic, and the administration’s dismissal of criticism.
  • “Can you imagine...if it was about black people? ...This story would be the number one story in America.” (07:21)
• Buck argues that left-wing circles excuse anti-Semitism from minorities, but not whites—even among politicians and college campuses.
  • “Among the left in this country, if you are non white, you will get away with whatever anti Semitism you want.” (09:47)
  • “Even Jewish leftists will say, some of these black and brown leftists are clearly full of hate when it comes to Jews, but they’re useful and so they’ll excuse it.” (10:13)

5. Historical Literacy, Media, & Social Construction of Race

• The hosts draw parallels between current cultural debates and how history is taught and retold.
  • Clay wonders how World War II or the Holocaust would be covered by today’s media, arguing coverage would be skewed by identity politics.
    • “I do wonder how the media would cover World War II in, in the context now in which we’re seeing how Iran is covered in everything else.” (12:27–14:11)
• They discuss casting choices in historical biopics (e.g., Denzel Washington as Hannibal, Cleopatra’s ethnicity) and the reinterpretation of history to fit DEI narratives.
  • Buck: “Cleopatra was Greek by ethnicity. ...They want to say she’s black.” (37:24)
  • Clay: “If you control history, which is the foundation of the 1619 Project, then there is a belief that you can control the future.” (38:05)

6. Cultural Taste & “Hamilton” Debate

• Buck rails against the musical “Hamilton,” calling it a “mass delusion” that people pretend to love because of social pressure.
  • “Hamilton is trash. It is garbage start to finish. There is no reason for you to pretend that you like this.” (31:24)
  • Clay suggests the show’s popularity is due partly to DEI factors.
    • “If a white guy had done Hamilton, I think it would be a fraction as popular. I think the fact that he’s a minority...played in.” (36:34)
• They check musical gross records, confirming Clay’s view that older shows like "The Lion King" and "Phantom of the Opera" outgrossed "Hamilton." (34:32-35:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Oscars Diversity Rules:
  Clay (21:02): “In order to compete for best picture, all films must now meet the diversity and inclusion quota. ...I saw Jimmy F. tweet about this. In theory, The Godfather would not qualify…"

• On Netflix and TV “Wokeness”: Clay (01:15): “Netflix seems to require a gay or trans plot element of virtually every one of their shows. Or somebody who’s white being played by someone who is black.”

• On TSA Chaos:
  Clay (04:39): “The Democrats have done that to you [if you’re waiting in long TSA lines]. … Four different terror attacks in the last couple of weeks. ...This to me is inexcusable.”

• On Political Double Standards in Media:
  Buck (09:47): “If you’re black, as long as you’re not white, the left will excuse any level of anti Semitism.”

• On Modern Film vs. Classics:
  Buck (24:13): “It’s actually just sad because movies were the dominant art form in America… And now it’s just trash. They’re just churning out trash all the time.”

• On "Hamilton" & Social Pressure:
  Buck (31:24): “There is no reason for you to pretend that you like this. I know it’s the most successful financially musical of all time. I don’t care.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Topic | Speaker(s) | Timestamp | |---------|-------|------------|-----------| | TV “wokeness”/Netflix & Billions | Clay, Buck | 00:35–04:08 | | TSA/airport chaos & politics | Clay, Buck | 04:39–07:21 | | NYC Mayor/anti-Semitism critique | Clay, Buck | 07:21–14:11 | | Oscars & Best Picture diversity rules | Clay, Buck | 17:34–24:13 | | Classics wouldn’t qualify under new rules | Clay, Buck | 24:13–28:52 | | Trash films vs. past classics | Clay, Buck | 28:52–30:49 | | “Hamilton” is “garbage” debate | Clay, Buck | 31:24–36:34 | | Historical literacy & media | Clay, Buck | 36:34–38:05 |

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Flow & Tone

• Informal, sarcastic, contrarian, and highly conversational.
• The hosts are skeptical of DEI mandates in entertainment and politics, seeing them as forced and often counterproductive.
• Consistent use of pop culture references, personal anecdotes, and humor to illustrate broader political or cultural critiques.
• Willingness to call out sacred cows on both left (“Hamilton,” Oscars) and right (acknowledging infighting).

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a full-throated critique of how “wokeness” and identity politics, according to the hosts, have infected everything from TV and film to airport security and national debates about history—leaving core American cultural institutions diminished in the process. The banter is fast, opinionated, and intentionally provocative, mixing pop culture dissection with political hot takes—all delivered in a signature breezy, sometimes abrasive style.

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For More:
Find Clay and Buck on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human people don't listen to radio

[Clay Travis]

ads while you're driving or making a sandwich. Your subconscious pays full attention.

[Buck Sexton]

So relax, let it take over.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling through the Monday edition of the program. The Clay and Buck team has now made a flyer for a Netflix original series. The gay Atolla with an ayatollah in rainbow colored robes. Feels like Netflix does make everything gay. So you're watching like Stranger Things are perfect. Did you ever watch Stranger Things at all? Have you ever watched any of this?

[Buck Sexton]

I saw the first season. The first season?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, first season was pretty good. Well, you know, they're trying to save the world. Spoiler alert. From evil monsters. And in the next to last episode they just have like a 20. While they're trying to save the world, they have a pause and one of the characters has to be like, hey, I'm gay. And have a big hey, I'm gay talk. And it was, it was totally out of the left field. Doesn't fit the plot at all. And they were universally ridiculed. But it is true that Netflix seems to have require a gay or trans plot element of virtually every one of their shows. Or somebody who's white who is actually being played by someone who is black.

[Buck Sexton]

I thought the show Billions had its fair share of problems and a lot of degeneracy and all kinds, but it was entertaining. So I'm willing to put that aside for a while. But when it got to the, the hookup scene with the, with the trans girl and the guy and like we're going like the trannies getting naked, the whole thing, I was like, I'm done. This is a little, a little more than I need. There's a little, little too aggressive here.

[Clay Travis]

I don't talk about. Oh yeah, totally. I remember that scene. I didn't mind that. What?

[Buck Sexton]

What?

[Clay Travis]

Hold on, hold on. I didn't mind that because at least I could buy that that would occur. What I didn't buy was all of those hedge fund baller dudes using the preferred pronoun of that person they started.

[Buck Sexton]

Acts would not be calling the person they in the office.

[Clay Travis]

There's no super successful dude on Wall street who is trading and putting Billions of dollars on the line. That is a preferred pronoun, dude. All right? And. And even if there's one or two, they're not all using preferred pronouns when they're, like, having conversations not involving that person. That's where I was like, I can't keep watching this show because that's a chick. And they would be calling her her. So that was my. Like, the. The show just got too woke and, you know, the truth of the matter.

[Buck Sexton]

Unbinding. Unbinding the boobs and ever. You were, like, good with all that.

[Clay Travis]

No, I was. I didn't enjoy that. Look, I. What I have learned is I didn't enjoy that.

[Buck Sexton]

What?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. What? Well, I was gonna say is I used to. My wife used to make fun of me for many things, but when we would watch HBO back in the day and Game of Thrones would put the nudity thing on the, you know, screen, like, hey, you know there's gonna be nudity early on in Game of Thrones. Every time, legitimately, every time it happened, I would just say yes, and I would kind of pump my fist. My wife would just roll her eyes. Then it turned to all dudes naked, and I had to, like, Game of Thrones just. Just went, it's only naked guys now. And it's not anywhere near as enjoyable of the new. Excited about.

[Buck Sexton]

They were getting ready for the Mujtaba show. You know what I mean?

[Clay Travis]

Would. Would they. This is actually a funny question. Would they put a fatwa on the executives at Netflix if they made a gayetola show? Or would it draw more attention to him being gay if they put the fatwa out? Like, are you in danger? Are they going to put a fatwa on me because I just shared the gayetola?

[Buck Sexton]

A.

[Clay Travis]

Or does it draw more attention to the fact that he's gay?

[Buck Sexton]

It's a. It's a fair question.

[Clay Travis]

This is a real question. Real dilemma. You know what else is a dilemma? I wanted to tee off on this buck, this TSA agent thing, regardless of your politics. Have you seen all these videos of people having to stand in line now for hours to get through TSA? There are reports that. That over 300 TSA agents have just said, I'm over this. They're not getting paid at all. This is something. And. And I flagged it this morning because I took a. A picture of it. Every airline CEO is now begging congress to fund the TSA because many people get angry at the airlines. They get angry at the airports. They get angry at everybody. They should be Angry at Democrats because if you're standing in line, if you're listening to us right now and you are standing in hours long lines to get through tsa, the Democrats have done that to you. And so it's interesting to me that the airlines are now coming out, to say nothing of the timing on this, with the fact that we've had four different terror attacks in the last couple of weeks, New York City, Austin, Old Dominion and the Detroit area. Don't you think that if they were going to do a terror attack and they could related to airports, this is the time, maybe more than in the last 10 years, when it's likely to occur and we have the lowest level of security, regardless of your politics, this to me is inexcusable.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, of course. And it is unfair to the airlines because let's be real, everyone's going to get upset at what seems to be airline incompetence, when in this case it actually is Congress playing games, trying to get people upset and then blaming the other people in Congress instead of doing things that are constructive and worthwhile for the American people, like passing the Save America act, which unfortunately I think is unlikely to happen. I wish that were not the case, but at least talking about it and drawing more attention to it, enforcing a standing filibuster. There are things that could be done that would be constructive. But tsa, the long lines, this is what you get when you have a media environment that refuses to hold one side accountable for its unwillingness to just go with funding that was already agreed to because they want to make an issue of something in an election year, which is they want to make problems for ice. This is about ice, fundamentally. You were waiting in line because of Minneapolis and all that stuff. And they're going to be running these ads about it because the Democrats want to cause problems.

[Clay Travis]

The yes, all of that is true. And the coverage on this would be totally different if the Republicans had shut down TSA as opposed to Democrats. So it's not paid attention to. Here's another one that would be totally different. Did you see the awful mayor of New York City? We talked about the ridiculous decision to put forward a policy to potentially have an estate tax for $750,000. His wife Buck provided illustrations to an anti Jewish book. And now did you see that the mayor came out and said that it was unacceptable for her to be criticized at all for the artwork that she provided to this book. And I just come back to. Can you imagine if, if you took everything that has been said about Jewish people by the mayor, the likes, all of those things. And you shifted it and it was about black people. And then in addition to that, he had had a actual white supremacist. He'd been able to find a white supremacist. He had an actual white supremacist to eat in the mayor's mansion. This story would be the number one story in America, and it would be on the front page of every newspaper. And yet where we are right now, a lot of people are just saying, well, it's the mayor's wife, so it shouldn't be a story. I think Jewish people are continuing to find out that they are seen as white. And it doesn't matter what anybody says about white people.

[Buck Sexton]

We have a cut here. Mamdani talking about his wife in this situation. This is 26. Let's hear from the commie.

[Mamdani (NYC Official)]

I think that that rhetoric is patently unacceptable. I think it's reprehensible. And as is common for freelance illustrators, the first lady was commissioned to illustrate an excerpt of a book by a third party. She has never engaged with or met with the author, nor had she seen the tweets that you're referring to. And we stand in our administration, and I can tell you our administration, which is separate from the first lady, as she doesn't have a role within it, against bigotry of all forms. And we do so unflinchingly because every single New Yorker deserves a place that they can call home without having to be wary of being their full self when they do so.

[Clay Travis]

He's so good at lying. I mean, he just is really an eloquent liar. I mean, I have to give him credit.

[Buck Sexton]

So one thing to remember is that among the left in this country, if you are non white, you will get away with whatever anti Semitism you want. And any. You don't have to be Arab, Muslim, anything. If you're black, as long as you're not white, the left will excuse any level of anti Semitism. And if you're a white leftist, they kind of make a case by case, you know, we'll let it slide with you or not.

[Clay Travis]

How.

[Buck Sexton]

How useful are you to the movement? How bad is your anti Semitism? But if you're a black guy, if you're a brown guy, girl, all the. You can say whatever you want about Jews in the left will be okay with you. That's just the way it is. It's just the way it is. I think we saw that on the college campuses. We've seen that over and over. Again, they have made a clear decision. And there are Jews on the left who maybe even recognize this reality that there are black and brown people in particular, but also others who are very anti Semitic and very, you know, members of Congress we could talk about. I mean it's very clear that this, this is a thing. But they'll say, but because we agree with them on so many of the other civilization destroying issues and America last agenda items will excuse it. So even Jewish leftists will say, some of these black and brown leftists are clearly full of hate when it comes to Jews, but they're useful and so they'll excuse it. And I just trust me when I say this, think about all the different people that can say all these things and get away with all this stuff. If you're on the left, they don't, they will not hold you to account on it at all. And I know there's a lot of fighting right now on the right. There's a lot of fighting right now on the right over. But just keep in mind, there's fighting, there's fighting over what the acceptable parameters are. There's fighting over what the, this is an ongoing on the left. Like I said, they've already, they've decided a long time ago black and brown people can say whatever they want about Jews and that's okay. That's where they are.

[Clay Travis]

I do think that it has stunned a lot of Jewish people in the wake of October 7th because of the history of being Jewish, that they're just seen in the identity politics worldview that has predominated on the left. Now they're just seen as white. Their thousands of years history, none of it matters. They're just seen for purposes of identity politics as white. And therefore they're the bad guys even when they get attacked. And I wonder, honestly, and I tweeted a little about this because I've been

[Buck Sexton]

reading there are white leftists who believe what you're saying, by the way, which is why they're okay with what goes on in the Democrat party and don't have an issue with it because they view minorities as victims. And then Jewish victimhood is not as

[Clay Travis]

important to them in this moment exist in their worldview that there cannot be a situation where innocent, you know, white people are attacked. And so they had to look at October 7, which is the biggest attack on Israel since World War II and the biggest attack on Jewish people Since World War II, literally the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust. And they found a way to try to make Jewish people responsible And I was tweeting about this over the weekend because I've been reading so much about World War II and, and the history around it. I do wonder how the media would cover World War II in, in the context now in which we're seeing how Iran is covered in everything else, when there were actually bad things that happened and when we lost battles. I don't know. Because, look, whatever you want to say about Iran, the loss, the casualties have been very small, right? We have basically wiped out Iran, and yet there are many people out there writing articles saying, oh, Iran's winning this war. Oh, the United States is losing. I mean, these things are very predominant on left wing media sites. How would World War II even be covered today? There'd be a lot of people who said, hey, you know what? The Jews belong in the concentration camps. And most of them would be on the left. Most of them would say, well, just let, just let Germany take control of this. They're not doing anything wrong. Is anybody in the Middle east going to complain about what Germany would have been doing? And how many people on the left in America would have actually defended that? It's really kind of wild to think about, but when you see the way the media covers today, it is. I don't think we'd be seen as the heroes by a lot of media with World War II.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Inspirational stories that unite us all each day. Spend time with Clay and Buck. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. And look, I know, I know. The Oscars.

[Clay Travis]

It was pretty sad.

[Buck Sexton]

I'll be honest with you. There were whole I only watched the last 15 minutes.

[Clay Travis]

I would have lost a lot of money if you had. I would have been stunned that you watched any of it. Is this just because you hate sinners, where you hate watching to see if it was gonna win? Was that the reason?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. I was hoping that Sinners was gonna win Best Picture and then I'd be able to just tee off on just what garbage it is and how Hollywood is such trash in general now and everything else. Instead, maybe the second worst movie up or maybe it's worse than Sinner. See, this is the thing. I have not seen this one battle after another movie that won best Picture. Now I don't care about this, by the way, the Academy. So it's all these Hollywood libs who are making the votes and making the, or, you know, casting the votes, making these decisions. So I get it. Producer Ali, who was our left wing infiltrator because she, you know, she has like the ability to blend. She says one battle after another is terrible.

[Clay Travis]

Is terrible.

[Buck Sexton]

I have to know now, is it worse than Sinners? This is, I'm, now I'm going to have to sit at and waste at least two hours of my life to see if it is possible that they made a worse movie than Sinners and then celebrated it as the best picture. Ali is saying in his way, have you seen both Producer Ali, one battle after another is worse than Sinners. I got, see, I got to see this for myself. I want to take her word for it, but I can't because Sinners is such trash.

[Clay Travis]

Did you see the. I want to share these when we come back. Did you see the requirements on diversity that are necessary for a movie to qualify for Best Picture? Now, have you seen this?

[Buck Sexton]

No.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, I'm going to read for you. After the lack of black nominees, I don't know, back in like 2018 or whenever it was that they decided to, to go off on it, they came out with new guidelines that every film has to meet for diversity and equity and inclusion purposes in order to be considered to win a Best Picture. And I'm going to read them for you. This is, this is out there publicly. I saw it last night and I could not believe that it was real. It is unfortunately not spectacular either. Wow.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show Okay, Buck, this is real, like I said, and not spectacular. For those of you out there that are Seinfeld fans, these are the real rules. In order to compete for best picture, all films must now meet the diversity and inclusion quota. To be nominated, there are, these are the requirements. Buck A lead or significant supporting actor must be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. At least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an under underrepresented racial or ethnic group, including black, East Asian, Hispanic, indigenous peoples, Middle Eastern, North African, Pacific Islander, South Asian, including Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Nepali, Pakistani and Sri Lankan Southeast Asian, including Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong in Indonesian, Laotian. Some of these I'm not even that familiar with. Candidly Malaysian mien. I don't know what that is. Singaporean, Thai and Vietnamese. I think I deserve credit for not saying thigh. All right, that's one. This is one part. Second part. Buck at least 30% of all actors not submitted for Oscar consideration must be from at least two underrepresented groups, including women, racial or ethnic groups, LBGTQ plus people with cognitive or physical disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing. Now there's a joke there because you could just be like, oh, we'll just say that he's, you know, like sub IQ'd and then another one. Buck main storyline or subject matter? The main storyline, theme or narrative of the group must be centered on an underrepresented group. Women, racial or ethnic group, LGBTQ plus, people with cognitive or physical disabilities or or who are deaf or hard of hearing. So in order to qualify you have to meet the diversity and inclusion guidelines to be considered for a movie. So, for instance, I saw Jimmy F. Tweet about this. In theory, the Godfather would not qualify, I don't believe, as a Best Picture nominee now, because my recollection of it is it's the story of an Italian family, obviously mobsters, but there's not a lot of diversity, equity, and inclusion in that film. I would imagine a movie like Braveheart or Gladiator would not qualify now for an Oscar. Like, you can go back through a lot of phenomenal movies that would no longer qualify to even be nominated. Titanic, I can't imagine would qualify, really. Um, it's kind of crazy to think about.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. In Braveheart, Edward Longshanks throws the gay lover of his son out the window summarily. I think that would be a big problem for the day. I think there would be issues that they would not, you know, be willing to overlook from movies that were. Were celebrated as the best movies of. Of our youth. Um, it's. There's a part of me that's. That is actually just sad because movies were the dominant art form in America for. For really. I think everyone listening right now. I mean, you can go back even into the 60s, and, you know, people would say music in the 60s, 70s maybe, was. Had the same kind of cultural resonance. The biggest movies in the 80s, 90s, and the other 2000s were the biggest cultural events that we had. Okay. It was bigger than any band. It was bigger than anything else, and certainly had the most staying power, I think. And now it's just trash. They're just churning out trash all the time. And I think part of this is that once you've created some of these dei, which really. It's race Marxism, and once the Academy and Hollywood in general put this race Marxism into place, it's very hard to get rid of because you have a lot of people now who have positions of authority that they were given because of skin color, LGBTQ status, whatever it may be. Right. Gender identity. Do you think that they're ever going to say, you know what? We're. We're kind of messing things up by creating these rules that. That privilege and empower people like me? No, of course not. So they're the ones calling the shots, and they're the ones that are going to say that that list you wrote off is. Is insane. It's insane. And it also tells you on its face that this is not about the best movie. This is about the movie that the people that think that these rules you know, the movies that the people who think about these rules want you to see and think is the best, well, it's very, very thinly sliced onion.

[Clay Travis]

So think about this. Could you even. Could Saving Private Ryan be nominated? When. When I think about history movies, right? We make fun of the fact that you watch a Viking historical drama and suddenly there's a black female Viking, and you're like, I, you know, leader, I. I don't think it was very historically accurate that the Vikings were led by black women. And then you see, like, the Shonda Rhimes of the world who make tons of money from Netflix, and they say, you know, race is such a cultural construct, and they make, I don't know, whatever it is. Pride and Prejudice was Bridgerton, the thing that she watches. I don't make. I don't watch it now. But you basically couldn't nominate a. A show like that for inclusion because it's set in England in the 17th, 18th century, whatever the heck it is. But I mean, think about it. Just recently, would you say Saving Private Ryan, whatever you think, is probably, what, one of the jewels of modern American cinema. If you consider just the entire concept of the movie from start to finish, the D day shots, everything else, it clearly wouldn't qualify for Best Picture. They would have to create a. Think about it. They would.

[Buck Sexton]

Almost. None of the best pictures would qualify.

[Spreaker Advertiser]

Almost.

[Buck Sexton]

No, I don't think any of them.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, if you go back and look through them. But anything that has a historical aspect either, they have to create a subplot that has nothing to do with the actual history, right? So you're like, and here Saving Private Ryan. And now we're going to also tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, and we're going to weave somehow that into this story of D Day. But, I mean, think about, like, Braveheart, they would just create black characters in Scotland and they would have them in the movie so that they could qualify for Oscars, right? I mean, any movie that's made. I just watched Napoleon. Any movie that's made that actually features white guys and any military drama, for instance, of the last thousand years basically couldn't be made and compete for an Oscar. Now, without a created subplot that involves a gay lesbian angle or a black subplot or a female subplot, I mean, maybe you could say, oh, oh, we're going to make Josephine the star of the Napoleon drama, so that it qualifies, and she's going to have 30% of the lines. This is awful. It destroys Great art by making you check boxes as opposed to just make a great film. The Godfather is a perfect example because probably the greatest film that's ever been made, I mean, it's up.

[Buck Sexton]

It used to be. It used to be the case that the Best Picture nominees, and also just in general, the movies that would get a lot of acclaim were also the movies that everybody saw and a lot of people love. Now, that's not universally the case, or it's not 100%, but movies that people love would get nominated for stuff, you know. Didn't Gladiator win Best Picture? Oh, yeah, yeah. Gladiator.

[Clay Travis]

One best Titanic, one best picture. Did Braveheart win?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, Braveheart. 100% Braveheart won best Picture and Best Director. So Mel Gibson.

[Clay Travis]

So did Saving Private Ryan win? I mean, no, no.

[Buck Sexton]

Shakespeare in Love, I think, beat Saving Private Ryan that year. Well, that's a. I remember this. That was a. It was a Weinstein Miramax film.

[Clay Travis]

Well, Harvey Weinstein never did anything wrong. We all know that.

[Buck Sexton]

So we had Hollywood's favorite.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, everybody who lectures you about morality, they loved Harvey Weinstein.

[Buck Sexton]

I. It's. It's astonishing to see how far it's fallen, though, where now it's like they're celebrating weird arthouse films and trying to get everybody to act like they're so great and they're just not. When people say, like, what makes a movie good? Is it really entertaining? Are you sitting there and it's in the. Time is flying by because you're really into the story. I mean, I think that's one of the first ways you can know. I mean, the movie Sinners is just.

[Clay Travis]

It's a.

[Buck Sexton]

It's a rip off of From Dusk Till dawn, which is a movie that is probably best seen after drinking a 40 of Old English or smoking something when you're in college. Okay, From Dusk till Dawn is not a great movie. It has its entertaining moments and it

[Clay Travis]

is among the best. Thank you, Salma Hayek, for Dancing with the Python back in the day.

[Buck Sexton]

I knew, I knew Clay was going to come in with the Salma Hayek there. I just knew that was one of

[Clay Travis]

the great scenes in film history. I'll just point out Selma was.

[Buck Sexton]

Selma did very well for herself. So. But this is. You look at Sinners and the plot, you just, you just read the plot. You're like, this is stupid. This is stupid plot. It's not. It's not a good move.

[Clay Travis]

I haven't seen it. I love that you hate Sinners this much. I haven't seen it at all.

[Buck Sexton]

You know that there's now memes about people that feel like they have to tell you how much they hate sinners. Like, this is a thing now, you know, because it's. It's not enough to just be like, it's a bad movie. Like, they want to tell everybody. But, yeah, I'm. I'm somebody who wants to tell her. It's a terrible.

[Clay Travis]

That's the great line for succession. Do you remember when they're in that party and they're like, what kind of party is this? And he was like, it's a party where you can tell everybody that you actually think that Hamilton.

[Buck Sexton]

Hamilton is bad. Yeah, that totally resonated with me because I. I was kind of a holdout.

[Clay Travis]

There were people who were right of

[Buck Sexton]

center who were like, I think Hamilton's really good. And I was like, you're just part of the mob, part of the herd on this one. It is absolutely not. Hamilton is trash. It is garbage start to finish. There is no reason for you to pretend that you like this. I know it's the most successful financially musical of all time. I don't care.

[Clay Travis]

Is that true? Yes. No way. Yeah. It's not more successful than Katz and Les Mis.

[Buck Sexton]

Check it out, team.

[Clay Travis]

There's no way that's true. Look at it. Those are just way long. I. I know nothing about musicals. I just don't think it's old enough.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay. People were charging like a thousand dollars a ticket for years to go to see Hamilton. And that was just like basic tickets. It was crazy. It was a total. It was like. It was like paying penance for all of America's historic and racial wrongs. You had to pay like a mortgage payment to go see Hamilton. To be a good person.

[Clay Travis]

I song, I thought it was okay, but I like history and I was. I just. I. I still think a country in western version of the Obama administration played by white actors to prove how race doesn't matter would actually just kill. And I would love to see the reaction. We're going to do a country in western version of Obama, and we've got white men and women playing Barack's. Race is a cult.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm going to let you redeem yourself here. I'm going to let you redeem yourself. What's better, Scream 7 or Hamilton?

[Clay Travis]

Scream 7.

[Buck Sexton]

There we go. I haven't even seen Scream 7 and I can tell you it's better than Hamilton because Hamilton sucks.

[Clay Travis]

I got to tell you right now, we've got battles going on for everybody to be in the best possible shape that they can be. And if you're out there right now on a Monday and you are thinking to yourself, I do not feel like I have the energy that I need to be able to keep up with my kids, to be able to do my job, to be able to keep up with all the different events going on. You can get hooked up right now with Chalk and you will get an incredible offer right now. Lowest subscription rate available when you use my name Clay. If you have seen so many of the weak democrat universe out there and you're starting to think to yourself, oh, I don't want to be weak like an average democrat. I want more testosterone back in my life. I don't want to look like sleepy Joe Biden. I don't want to look like I'm being carried around by my advisors. You can get hooked up right now @chalk. Use the code Clay. Clay for the best possible offer on subscription. You can cancel at any time. What do you have to lose? Just in time for spring. More energy necessary as we move into the summer season. I know it's cold right now in many parts of the country, but but spring is going to be here before you know it. Get hooked up today@chalk choq.com my name Clay for the best subscription discount for life. That's chalk.com code C L A Y two guys walk up to a mic. Anything goes. Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, I'm taking a lump on this one. I'm when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And I'm wrong. Hamilton. And this is where my trivia got a little confused. This was actually from a trivia night question, Clay recently, which Karen I maybe won trivia night for the third time, but who's counting? No big deal. The fastest musical to a billion dollars was Hamilton. Hamilton's a billion dollar musical. The all time gross though to your point, you were totally correct on this one, which I hate saying out loud but it is true. Totally correct that the highest grossing five musicals of all time are the Lion King $8 billion Phantom of the Opera Six billion. Wicked Five billion. Mamma Mia. Four billion Mamma Mia. Really? Wow. Five cats. I knew cats would be in there. And then les mis is 6. So those are the highest grossing but those are around 40.

[Clay Travis]

I'm embarrassed to be correct on this to be fair to be know which

[Buck Sexton]

ones are so musical expert now on the show. Clay is our musical guy it's good to know he is a flute player and he's musical.

[Clay Travis]

H. I hate musicals. I'm fine with plays. Just don't start singing in the middle of them. I. I just. I despise all of them. But it is intri. I. I do think Hamilton is an. You. Did you include this in your book?

[Buck Sexton]

No. About like a mass hysteria that had to.

[Clay Travis]

Well, just a mass delusion that everybody feels compelled to say this is the greatest thing that's ever existed. I do think Hamilton would be an interesting example of that because there are some shows that I watch and I say, you know what? This is really well done. Or some movies that I watch. And I think this is really well done. There are others that I think people have just gotten bullied and they feel like if they say anything else that they're going to be judged by the people that they think are the tastemakers. And. And. And that's where I think Hamilton is a perfect example of this. And I think the fact. What is the guy's name who wrote it?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, of course, there you go.

[Clay Travis]

Lin Manuel Miranda. I think if a white guy had done Hamilton, I think it would be a fraction as popular. I think the fact that he's a minority Hispanic guy, whatever, he is Puerto Rican, I think that played in. And again, the whole. I'm going to replace white actors with black actors to demonstrate that race is a social construction is absurd on many levels, but particularly when it comes to history, because people were or were not a certain race. And I think that kind of factors in. On the historical accuracy element associated with that. Isn't it Denzel Washington who's playing Hannibal?

[Buck Sexton]

I think that's right. Yes.

[Clay Travis]

I'm willing to give a pass because Denzel is maybe the greatest actor of his generation. But they've tried to do all sorts of things. Like Cleopatra. They tried to say she was actually.

[Buck Sexton]

Cleopatra was Greek by ethnicity. People don't realize this, but the Mediterranean basin, what we. What we think of today as. Oh, you're from Tunisia. Yeah. No, that's not what Tunisia was in 500 B.C. no, not. Not the case. But people.

[Clay Travis]

So they tried to say Cleopatra was actually black because there's this constant demand to take historical figures and try to make Egypt who are alive today feel better.

[Buck Sexton]

Not even that she's Arab. They want to say she's black. And you're like, she's from Egypt, which is predominantly Arab, but it actually was Greek, which is why it was a part of the Hellenistic world. And anyway, this is, you know, this

[Clay Travis]

is all again, if you control history, which is the foundation of the 1619 Project, then there is a belief that you can control the future. And this is why I'm so fond of fired up about the lack of historical literacy in America today. And you should read more history and hopefully you should teach more history to your kids and your grandkids because if you do, you will have a better comprehension of the world today and a more favorable impression of America's role in it. When we come back, President Trump, a bunch of different quotes from him on a variety of topics. He had a press conference. We will play some of those for you and Buck. This is actually an awful story. The original Iranian women's soccer team that stood up to the ayatollahs and the Islamic regime. There is a sad postscript to this story. We will share it with you. Probably nobody else will. Thanks for hanging with us on Clay and Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

This is an I heart podcast, guaranteed human.