97.) Hantavirus, Gerrymandering + Youth Involvement in Politics (5/11/26)

Summary

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The Ebro, Laura & Rosenberg Show – Episode 97

Date: May 11, 2026
Theme: Hantavirus, Gerrymandering, & Youth Involvement in Politics

Episode Overview

In this episode, Ebro Darden, Laura Stylez, and Peter Rosenberg blend their signature dynamic with current affairs and pop culture, focusing on pressing issues like the hantavirus outbreak, the impact of gerrymandering in the U.S., and youth participation in politics. The hosts weave in sports banter, reflections on gambling and addiction, and commentary on music and cultural events, keeping their trademark wit, candidness, and community vibe at the forefront.

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Sports and Gambling: Knicks, Celtics & The Rise of Betting Apps

Timestamps: [00:30]–[06:33]

• Knicks vs. Celtics: The show opens with Ebro and Rosenberg debating the NBA playoffs, celebrating the Knicks' sweep over Philly.
• Personal Experiences with Gambling: The trio discuss the normalization of sports betting, with Rosenberg sharing how he started betting on the Knicks as a joke and winning "fake" money from a betting app ([04:24] Rosenberg: "I'll throw $500 on it right now... they win. $500 again. They win. So, like, it just became a thing.").
• Addiction & Apps: Ebro expresses skepticism towards app-based gambling, preferring “the in-person experience” ([03:08] Ebro: "I like playing blackjack... showing up to play the game. But to just sit there...punch stuff in on an app, it never really hit for me.").
• Gambling Psychology: They reference a recent interview with Danny Funt, author of "Everybody Loses," about the addictive cycle of winning and losing, and the "chase" involved ([06:00] Laura: "He was just saying how people are also addicted to losing, like, because you want to lose. So when you win, you feel the high again.").

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Arcade Addiction, Family, & Claw Machine Skills

Timestamps: [07:59]–[09:46]

• Claw Machine Fandom: Light-hearted stories about family outings to arcades, comparing claw machine and token-pusher games to gambling for kids.
• Skills & Strategy: Laura and Rosenberg recount how their family members have mastered the claw machine, and reflect on the "winnability" of games being tied to their strength or setup.

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Hantavirus Outbreak: Facts and Reassurance

Timestamps: [12:09]–[16:44]
Key Clip: [13:12] – WHO Expert

• Clarification from WHO: The hosts play an informative press clip clarifying that the hantavirus on a cruise ship is not like COVID-19 ([13:12] WHO Expert: “This is not SARS-CoV-2… This is an outbreak that we see on a ship, there's a confined area. We have five confirmed cases so far… It doesn’t spread the same way like coronaviruses do. It’s very different.”).
• Transmission Details: Explanation that most hantaviruses are not easily transmitted between people—typically only via contact with rodent droppings/saliva, except the Andes virus which has rare human-to-human spread ([13:34] WHO Expert).
• Commentary on Public Trust: Laura expresses anxiety about U.S. institutions' response post-COVID, Ebro notes historic struggles with rodent-borne outbreaks, and Rosenberg laments the loss of U.S. global leadership in public health ([16:32] Rosenberg: “We live in a country that does not do anything well right now.”).

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Gerrymandering and American Democracy

Timestamps: [20:14]–[27:20]

• Virginia Supreme Court Ruling: Discussion covers a recent Virginia Supreme Court decision blocking redistricting that would have benefited Democrats, with a clip asserting such actions could ironically energize voter turnout in a "wave election" ([21:00] Political Commentator: “When a Supreme Court...overturns the will of the people...that’s only going to fuel the fires more and put in danger Republicans in Virginia…”).
• Historical Pattern: The conversation connects the topic back to aggressive Republican gerrymandering in Texas, recognizing both parties now attempt it but reminding listeners where recent escalations began ([22:31] Ebro: “This started because the state of Texas, at the order of the President... just went and changed maps... without voting.”).
• Impact on Black Representation: Ebro highlights efforts in states like Tennessee to erase the representation of marginalized groups by manipulating districts.

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Protests, Youth Involvement & New Forms of Activism

Timestamps: [24:44]–[27:06]

• Apathy vs. Agency: While Rosenberg laments what he perceives as declining street protests among youth, Laura pushes back, arguing youth activism has shifted online and takes new forms, especially around campus protests and social media mobilization ([25:10] Laura: “They're using [social media] as their weapon. I see a lot of young folks that are really passionate about things, so they give me hope.”).
• Information Challenges: The crew examines the difficulty in distinguishing credible sources from "jabronis" (unqualified voices), echoing a broader crisis in public discourse and journalism ([26:46] Rosenberg: “There are random ass people who literally...aren’t knowledgeable people. They’re just saying things. And they're usually saying things that speak to our algorithm…”).

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Systemic Racism, Backlash Politics, & Historic Context

Timestamps: [28:05]–[37:22]

• Targeting of Black Americans: A news commentary details the Trump administration's efforts to roll back diversity, fire black public officials, and cut federal programs supporting black Americans ([28:05] Political Analyst: “We are now about 16 months into what has been...a concerted and intense targeting of black Americans...”).
• Strategic Response to White Supremacy: Ebro suggests that this time, unity against white supremacy might require strategic silence, not highly visible protests ([30:00] Ebro: “I think our unity comes in silence this time…because they're studying our behavior. And so then they have counter moves on counter moves. They have the banks, they have the resources, they have the backing. All we have is the numbers.”).
• Historical Importance of Black Activism: Discussion connects civil rights history, black women’s leadership, and the dangers of erasing history through book bans and curriculum censure.
• Intersectionality and Solidarity: Laura and Rosenberg reflect on ethnic divisions, misconceptions among immigrant groups towards black Americans, and the co-opting of marginalized struggles.

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Music & Cultural Rundown

Timestamps: [47:29]–[59:44]

• Versus Recap – Rick Ross vs. French Montana: Ebro gives a firsthand account of the event and clarifies Ross’ on-stage comments about Drake; he suggests there was more nuance than the online "diss" narrative ([50:21] Ebro: “Drake, if you listening to this...I don't want to see you lose. No real want to see you lose. That ain't what about this culture, this game, this rap. This ain't what it's about.”).
• Essence Fest Lineup: Excitement over new performers – Cardi B, Babyface, Public Enemy, Leon Thomas, and others. Recognition of the festival’s long legacy despite recent hiccups.
• Chris Brown’s New Album: Mixed feelings emerge when Chris Brown’s latest project is discussed; a listener calls out the show for promoting an alleged abuser, sparking ethical debate ([68:35] Rosenberg: “You have every right, Hope Coleman, to not want to have anything to do with Chris Brown....But he's important and people care about his music. So it's worth paying attention to. To me.”).
• Grammy Hall of Fame Inductees: Laura announces that Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” Tupac’s “All Eyes on Me,” and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” were inducted, as well as honors for Janet Jackson, Selena, and Radiohead.

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Community & Activism: Local Importance

Timestamps: [41:17]–[43:05]

• Local Politics: Strong reminders that meaningful change starts locally; shout outs to school board activism, Newark’s “Do It All” Dupree, and practical advice for community engagement.
• Boycotts vs. Organizing: The hosts debate whether economic pressure (boycotts) or more traditional organizing is more practical for people with busy lives.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Gambling Addiction:
  [06:00] Laura: "He was just saying how people are also addicted to losing, like, because you want to lose. So when you win, you feel the high again."
• On Hantavirus Fears vs. Reality:
  [13:12] WHO Expert: "This is not SARS-CoV-2… It doesn't spread the same way like coronaviruses do. It's very different."
• On Systemic Racism:
  [29:49] Political Analyst: "Nothing had moved backwards in the federal government for black Americans this quickly or this far in over 100 years since Woodrow Wilson came in, in 1912 and resegregated the federal workforce."
• On Youth Activism:
  [25:10] Laura: "They're using [social media] as their weapon... I see a lot of young folks that are really passionate about things, so they give me hope."
• On White Supremacy and Strategy:
  [30:00] Ebro: "I think our unity comes in silence this time. ...All we have is the numbers. So... We can't just put our... all our cards on the table."

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Quick Hits & Music Moments

• Versus Battle – No Drake Vocals:
  [50:21] Ebro to Ross: "Drake, if you listening to this homie… I don't want to see you lose. No real want to see you lose… Real just want to see real shine together."
• Chris Brown Controversy:
  [68:35] Rosenberg: “You have every right, Hope Coleman, to not want to have anything to do with Chris Brown...But he's important and people care about his music."
• Grammy Hall of Fame Discussion:
  [59:11] Rosenberg: "He was nominated for six Grammys during his career but never won. And All Eyes on Me is now in the Grammy hall of Fame."

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Advice & Community Q&A

• Gurus’ Segment ([63:28]–[68:23])
  • Dilemma: Whether to tell an acquaintance about their partner's infidelity, when the information comes via a workplace connection.
  • Verdict: Mind your business unless you're close; don't let gossip mess with work or personal dynamics. If uncomfortable, politely opt-out of hearing about it ([66:13] Rosenberg: "Yeah. I hate to. I see why this is uncomfortable, but it feels like a mindyourbusiness.com.")

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Knicks/Gambling & Poker: [00:30]–[06:33]
• Hantavirus Explainer: [12:09]–[16:44]
• Gerrymandering & SCOTUS: [20:14]–[27:20]
• Systemic Racism/Trump Era: [28:05]–[37:22]
• Versus Recap & Ross/Drake: [47:29]–[55:25]
• Grammy Hall of Fame: [58:15]–[59:58]
• Gurus’ Advice Segment: [63:28]–[68:23]

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Conclusion

This episode masterfully intertwines sports fandom, public health realities, current political battles, and the continuing fight for civil rights. Ebro, Laura, and Rosenberg deliver cultural critique with authenticity, humor, and a willingness to grapple with messy realities—whether in politics, community, or the music industry.

Notable Takeaway:
The biggest throughline is the importance of context—whether evaluating virus scares, understanding political shifts, or judging a celebrity's legacy. The hosts urge for vigilance, local action, thoughtful skepticism towards information, and strategic solidarity against systemic oppression.

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For fans and newcomers alike, this episode is an insightful snapshot of how culture, politics, and lived experience intersect—inviting listeners to think, question, and engage.

Transcript

[Ebro Darden]

Focus features in Blumhouse Obsession.

[Laura Rosenberg]

When I have a crush on a guy no one knows.

[Ebro Darden]

Be careful. I wish Nikki loved me more than anyone in the entire world. Who you wish for?

[Rosenberg]

Obsession is 96% fresh on rotten Tomatoes.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I love you so, so, so, so much.

[Rosenberg]

It's blood soaked nightmare fuel.

[Ebro Darden]

Brooke's blood you put on her. You have been warned. Obsession. Rated R under 17.

[Rosenberg]

Animated without parent only theaters May 15 with special engagements in Dolby.

[Ebro Darden]

Just don't call it a P.O. the ERO Laura Rosenberg Show. Get it on, man. Hantavirus gold statues. Nick Sweet. Kevin Hart roast.

[Rosenberg]

You're just saying things.

[Laura Rosenberg]

You're just.

[Rosenberg]

You were just shouting out things on a paper.

[Ebro Darden]

I'm just going down. Just going down here. I really enjoy watching the next sweep. The Knicks. Sweep three Philly, though. That was a good. That was enjoyable. Happy for the Knicks and really happy for the Knicks fans. You know, I'm a big lover of Knicks fans.

[Rosenberg]

You're a fan of the fans?

[Ebro Darden]

I'm a fan of the fans. How did. How's it going for your Celtics?

[Rosenberg]

I'm a Knicks fan. Be a fan of me. No, I mean the Knicks. The Celtics lost to Philly, which is crazy.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

And now they're talking about.

[Ebro Darden]

And then the next swept Philly, which is great. I didn't expect that.

[Rosenberg]

Philly sucks, bro.

[Ebro Darden]

I just didn't expect them out the water. Like.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, no, they were up by 50.

[Ebro Darden]

Was it 50 last night?

[Rosenberg]

Close it was. Every time I looked, it was 30. It was 40. It was 45. The. The entire fourth quarter, everybody was out. I bet. I just keep betting. The Knicks, they just keep winning and covering basically all. But they've covered in, like, every situation but one where.

[Ebro Darden]

What do you have, like, an app that you bet on?

[Rosenberg]

FanDuel Sportsbook.

[Ebro Darden]

They don't advertise.

[Rosenberg]

No, not. Not now. They. They did, but not. Not.

[Ebro Darden]

We need to get them on this ELR show.

[Rosenberg]

Not. Not on this program.

[Ebro Darden]

I can't. I still haven't. I was talking to Issa over the weekend. We were talking about different addictions that people have. I don't know how it came up.

[Rosenberg]

Serious conversation on the old Mother's Day.

[Ebro Darden]

No, this wasn't Mother's Day. This was like, Saturday.

[Rosenberg]

Okay, okay.

[Ebro Darden]

And I was talking about gambling and how I just. Oh, no, she was saying her. Oh, I know what it was. She had a little. Her sixth grade class had an overnight camping trip. There's an annual overnight camping trip. And they all. Everybody goes. The whole class. And she was telling me that some of the students in her sixth grade class. The boys like to play poker.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. That's the thing.

[Ebro Darden]

Right. And so she was like, I, you know, I wasn't. I wasn't. Wasn't interested. And then that's how we started talking about it.

[Rosenberg]

The boys in poker and gambling and stuff is the thing. We. We had a guest on this.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I know. I was gonna say on Friday.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

With Danny Funt.

[Ebro Darden]

We're talking about it. And I was just gonna say, I, like, I told her. I was like, I never got into, like, gambling in an app. It's just not like I like playing cards.

[Rosenberg]

Right.

[Ebro Darden]

I like playing blackjack. I like rolling the dice. I like showing up to play the game. Right.

[Rosenberg]

You like playing the games.

[Ebro Darden]

Right. But to just sit there and, like, punch stuff in on an app.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

It never. Never really hit for me. And Sportsbook never hit for me.

[Rosenberg]

You were never into sports game.

[Ebro Darden]

I used to go to the horse races with my dad, but at least that was like, we were watching the horses run.

[Rosenberg]

It's an experience of some sort, but it just.

[Ebro Darden]

Staring at a screen, it's just not cutting well.

[Rosenberg]

I mean, listen, obviously, people utilize these apps in a lot of different ways. And as we talked about with our. With Danny on our show on Friday about how much sports addiction is. Gambling addiction spread. Yeah. There's so many different ways to do it. There are people out there who literally just. They're betting on every game every night or. Or. Or a bunch. Every night.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

And they're met, and they'll be like, you know, I'll talk to someone, and I know they don't have an interest, like, oh, you like so and so tonight. And then I'm like, wait. And I can just tell them, like, oh, you're betting on all these games you're not winning. If you're betting that many, you're not winning. I started betting the Knicks as a bit on the Don Han and Rosenberg show because I was like, I was so confident at the beginning of their streak that the first game, when their streak began, I was so confident, and I had money in my app because I had met with the FanDuel people a couple years ago, and they're like, oh, we'll give you some money to play with. So I had money in my app.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Okay.

[Rosenberg]

So I was like, I'll throw 500

[Ebro Darden]

on it right now.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, I was just gonna ask you how far you go.

[Rosenberg]

I don't. In real. In real life, I would never. I'm being honest, never bet $500 on anything. But it was in there. I'm like, 500 on the Knicks. They win. 500 again. They win. So, like, it just became a thing. No, of course not. It's gambling.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rosenberg]

Just keep it in there. Keep going.

[Ebro Darden]

Ah, no cash out.

[Rosenberg]

See where I'm at right now? But anyways, take your money out. But I'm doing it in a way that's like. That's, you know, I'm having fun with it, right? There are people, and it's not your money.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It wasn't.

[Ebro Darden]

See, I'm trying to make money. So that's why I'm like, yo, if you won money, if you're up 20%, take your money out, put that money back in your pocket, at least for a second.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I wouldn't take.

[Rosenberg]

Even though you're good, even though you're

[Ebro Darden]

going to spend it again, but at least just take it back.

[Rosenberg]

So right now I have. After yesterday's win, I have 1700 in my account because I lost. I did hit the Celtics.

[Ebro Darden]

You're up 1, 200. Take the 1, 200 out.

[Rosenberg]

I hit the Celtics one time, which is. Messed everything up.

[Ebro Darden]

He's not listening. You see how he's not listening to me? You got to take the 1200 out.

[Laura Rosenberg]

He wants to keep it in there and keep going.

[Ebro Darden]

No, that's how you.

[Rosenberg]

I'll take. I'll take. I'll take 700. Keep it a nice even thousand out. You think take a TH000 out.

[Ebro Darden]

No, take 12.

[Rosenberg]

Well, 12's under 500, so 1156 is what you're saying.

[Ebro Darden]

All right, 1156.

[Rosenberg]

All right.

[Ebro Darden]

All right.

[Rosenberg]

I'll take some money out. You're right. It's hard. It's hard. I'm in there now.

[Ebro Darden]

I know you said you had 1700 six.

[Rosenberg]

I have 1656.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, got it. Okay.

[Rosenberg]

All right. I'm. Take some out.

[Ebro Darden]

And they gave you five.

[Rosenberg]

Let's see what happens when I try to take money out.

[Ebro Darden]

And they're like, wait a minute, hold on, buddy. They're gonna hit you with a 10 fee up there, huh?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Gotta pay for that. Nah. But the conversation with Danny Funt was good. Ebro, because he has a book called Everybody Loses, but it was. He was just saying how people are also addicted to losing, like, because you want to lose. So when you win, you feel the high again.

[Ebro Darden]

It was really. But clearly, people don't recognize that's what they're addicted to. Hello?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Ladies and gentlemen, the ELR phone number is 8. 4. 4. ELR. ELR. 3. I guess you could call about your gambling addiction. If that's where Boom took a thousand,

[Rosenberg]

put it straight to Venmo. They didn't do anything. It's immediately gone.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Okay. Okay.

[Rosenberg]

Thousand to Venmo.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, there we go. Now you can kick back and figure out what you're gonna bet on. So do you. You just do sports betting, though?

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, and I barely do. I forget that I have the account for a year and then I. Oh, and if Super Bowl. I got some money in the account and I'll do it for random things. The commanders ruin my life enough on the weekend. I don't need to, like, think about. So I don't really do fantasy. I don't really do sports gambling. I just care about my team and that's it.

[Ebro Darden]

But fantasy was another one. I never got into fantasy.

[Rosenberg]

Never did.

[Ebro Darden]

Like, because when I was a football fan, I was like. So wait a minute. So you're not a fan of your team now? You've created this like your own team offshoot team that you spend time track separate from the team. So sometimes you could be rooting against guys on your team if you didn't actually get them in your. In your face.

[Rosenberg]

If you cared that much about fantasy.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, well, if there was money on the line, what am I. You know what I'm saying? If you actually put money in to win money.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

In this fantasy league, I've never. I'll say this, I've never met anyone who cared more like they were literally actively rooting against their favorite team because of their fantasy players. I've never seen that. I'm sure it happens, though. But it means you're a fraud fan of your team. Let's be honest.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, or you just want to win money or you're. That you just really, really into winning money, man. Why not?

[Rosenberg]

By the way, the house always wins. I mean, that's what the book's kind of about.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, well, so like I could. I never got into slots, cuz I'm just. Just sitting there hitting a button. I just hit a button and y' all tell me whether or not I win or not. I don't get to touch the car. I don't get to do anything. I have no.

[Rosenberg]

Listen, I don't want to say anything, but I think in some ways, Kenzo was already playing slots. Yesterday. We linked up. We linked up at this cafe. Natalie and I had dinner plans and they had already had their lunch. We met for at this little. How would you describe that?

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

Place.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It's like, okay, Ebro, they sell boba ice cream and they have, you know, the claw machines.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

So it's like.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It's all pink, and it's like.

[Rosenberg]

It feels like you're in Tokyo.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Rosenberg]

What? It feels like.

[Ebro Darden]

Yes, of course they were in it.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, of course. The styles. You know how the styles get down.

[Ebro Darden]

Styles, family, anything. Anything Asian.

[Rosenberg]

But once, once, once. Once, Kenza and Rick found the little. And by the way, these machines have existed at every one of these places ever. Go all the way back to Putt Putt, Chuck E. Cheese. You know, the joints that have the tokens all stacked up and the thing moves and pushes them up to the edge.

[Ebro Darden]

That's right.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, they were in on that. Which only gets you more tokens.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

That's it.

[Rosenberg]

You could play more.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

But look, Issa. Issa's in on that. Was in on that game and the claw game.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

Claws. Fun. We played. We lost a lot of claw.

[Ebro Darden]

But Issa loves the claw to get the. The actual tickets, you know, ring of tickets.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Ebro Darden]

And come to find out, Jazz is a claw machine master.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, my God.

[Ebro Darden]

Claw machine master. She's going to win in the first couple of drops.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, wow. Ricardo's kind of like that, too.

[Rosenberg]

That's a skill.

[Laura Rosenberg]

He's very much like. He analyzes the whole thing and he. If there's a kid, a random kid that wants a toy, he'll get that toy.

[Rosenberg]

By the way, I just want to say, though, there are levels of this claw.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

Like those places the claw seemed winnable.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Rosenberg]

Like, we almost. Natalie came in, and Natalie's pretty into claw. Yeah, she came in right away. Almost one of the first one. There are some, like, back in the day at the bowling alley.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, for sure.

[Rosenberg]

They'd have some that. I'm like, no one's ever winning this. And they'd have, like, that one really expensive thing in there.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, no, because you could tell it. It was like. You could tell the claw's not even strong enough to pick up whatever thing is once that. I'm not playing it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yo, bro, it's so weak. They're just. They're like, oh, like a P.S. whatever they have.

[Ebro Darden]

What you got there?

[Rosenberg]

Oh. Oh, hello.

[Ebro Darden]

Chanessa's back on. You got a Mother's Day bag, Chanessa from Starletta Estraga. Yes. How did it work out? Did it deliver on time? Everything came on time. I wanted to say thank you so much for looking out for me because you didn't have to. I appreciate it so much. Well, that was actually. The company did that. They didn't. They actually granted. Did the giveaway for you. Even though we had a phone system malfunction, they ended up doing that. So I didn't actually have to pay for it. So I ain't going to take credit for that. The company paid for it. Starletta Estraga.

[Laura Rosenberg]

But we're happy you're enjoying it.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, thank you so much.

[Laura Rosenberg]

You didn't even have to tell me

[Ebro Darden]

that, E. You could have kept it to yourself. But I ain't going to take credit.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Right?

[Ebro Darden]

That's right. You still came up.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

You know what I mean? How. And. And. And you like the Starletta Estraga bag? It. It's a nice quality. Oh, fire bag. Awesome. The only one thing because, you know, I'm a cancer and the sign for cancer kind of look like a 69 symbol, so my.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's always a thing.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, that's just that how that symbol looks.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, listen, y' all freaky deaky, then that just means you freaky deaky. There we go. Hey. All right. Thank you for listening. Thank you. All right, take care.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's nice.

[Ebro Darden]

8 4, 4 ELR ELR 3. It's good to hear from y', all, man. Give us a call now. The super chat is ringing off, so shout out to y' all in the chat and. And Laura, you're working on what for the rundown today, so, you know, you

[Laura Rosenberg]

got to give us a scoop about verses.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, versus.

[Laura Rosenberg]

You were front and center. Rick Ross was trending over certain things he said about Drake. So we'll talk about it in the rundown.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Also, ESSENCE Fest just announced new performers which are fire, you know, people we love. So people are very excited about that. And I'll let you know who got to join the Grammy hall of Fame. Some of our legends that I. I didn't even know this was happening. But I'm happy they're being on. And I'll let you know who it is.

[Ebro Darden]

Coming up now. Laura. You know, Laura, the hantavirus started moving around and we started getting news clips from Laura staff.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, my God.

[Rosenberg]

Virus updates, you know, are coming from ls.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, man. Listen. Well, anyway, let's watch clip six Rahsaan. Who, the World Health Organization says hantavirus is not coronavirus.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

This is not coronavirus. This is a very different virus. We know this virus. Hantaviruses have been around for quite a while. But I want to be unequivocal here this is not SARS cov2.this is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There's a confined area. We have five confirmed cases so far. We completely understand why these questions are coming and we are trying to provide all of the information that we can. That's why we're having a press conference here to give accurate information and we're grateful for all of those out there who are asking these types of questions. But this is not the same situation we were in six years ago. It doesn't spread the same way like coronaviruses do. It's very different. It's that close intimate contact that we've seen. And most hantaviruses don't transmit between people at all. Most hantaviruses are transmitted from rodents or their feces or their saliva, their droppings to people. And only this one particular virus, the Andes virus, which has been identified here. We've seen some human to human transmission. And again I want to reiterate, the actions that are being taken on board are precautionary to prevent any onward spread. And so there's a lot that is being done right now to be able try to minimize the risk even further. What makes unique here is, is similarity crowded in a confined space. We had a similar situation in Argentina in 2018, 2019, when a symptomatic individual attended a social gathering. So that led to a lot of people getting infected. We are in a similar situation right now. A cluster in a confined space with close contact. Does that mean the rest of the world is disease will spread? We had that outbreak in 2018 and led only 34 cases. We may have similar cases from there. So I just want to show that if we follow public health measures and the lessons we learn from Argentina is shared across all countries. What needs to happen in contact tracing, isolation, we can break this chain of transmission and this doesn't need to be a large.

[Ebro Darden]

Feel better, Laura?

[Laura Rosenberg]

I do, I do.

[Rosenberg]

It's not a worst case scenario.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, you know, I really hope

[Ebro Darden]

you're traumatized from coronavirus rfk.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Put down the beef tallow and let people who know what they're doing do what they do.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, this, that's all I asked. Here's the deal. Whatever is happening here in the United States, let's just the rest of the world. The World Health Organization is not a representative of the United States.

[Rosenberg]

No, we're not even down scientists.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, we've like, we don't even talk to them. Or something anymore. Of course, those are doctors from around the world coming together.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah. But it scares me because when they have to deal with the United States, how will they receive this information? How will they execute said things? That's what scares me.

[Ebro Darden]

So I, I, when Laura, the, the news clips, I went and did, did my own research, you know, when it comes to viruses. Doing your own research.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

And apparently the hantavirus people have been getting for a long time, as the woman said there.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Especially when you have to sweep up mass amounts of rodent doo doo and you don't wear a mask.

[Rosenberg]

Mass amounts of.

[Ebro Darden]

So if you're like in a, I don't know, an old rat den and there was like, or bats or, you know, some sort of rodent and you're like cleaning it up and there's. The dust is moving around.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

The hantavirus is in that fecal dust. I don't know if that's how this happened, but I'm just saying that's how cases have happened in the past is that people were cleaning up an area that had a mass amount of rodent doo doo. And it's in the dust of the road.

[Rosenberg]

That is a. Just describing it as horrifying.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Right.

[Rosenberg]

And by the way, don't you have to know that's where the diseases come from? Could you be more in disease central than cleaning up rodent crap? I mean, where else would disease come from, folks?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Right.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, and then I guess she mentioned the Andes one, which I told you guys in the chat is the one that could be airborne through or through saliva, which is a different version of the hantavirus.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I'm not here for the remixes, man.

[Rosenberg]

No, no. And all this is just made scarier because, you know, we live in a country that does not do anything. Well right now. Yeah, we don't do anything. Well, we went from being a leader on some things to.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, maybe we thought we were a leader.

[Rosenberg]

No, I think we were. I think scientifically we were pretty up there.

[Ebro Darden]

We were up there.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, I think so. I think so, yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

You're not sure either?

[Rosenberg]

No, I can't. How could I be sure? How do I know? I think, I think from a medical and science standpoint, we've always been well respected and highly regarded. I think things are in the absolute garbage. This is an unusual circumstance. We were, we just had a president. By the way, the whole thing is set up that if your president is out of his mind or like a lunatic, usually you'll be all right because. And we just experienced this with Joe Biden. Even if your president has basically gone full Weekend at Bernie's, they have competent people everywhere. And as we've talked about a million times, the president is the figurehead. And as long as he can just show up and be places and have some conversations, we've got people to do this.

[Ebro Darden]

It's like the CEO of any company basically like that.

[Rosenberg]

The CEO, the current CEO of this United States company, has now, over time, removed everyone who might be competent in any way and the few that remain that are like, semi normal politicians, example, we're not fans of him, but relative to the rest of the group, Marco Rubio is a smart enough guy who could probably get you from point A to point B. We don't like him politically. He's a normal person who's gone through this process and would know, like, oh, we probably wouldn't want to do this. We want to do. He's not empowered to do anything. He now has to. Just, you ought to fight for your job. And that is now to be upheld by the crazies that have surrounded you. So there's really no one in there who can make a normal decision on anything.

[Ebro Darden]

I can't substantiate your claim about Marco Rubio. I don't know enough about it. All I know about Marco Rubio is bad. And that he was thrashed by this current president and still signed up to liquor.

[Rosenberg]

No. And politically, I've never liked anything that he said. I just don't get the sense that, like, Pete Hegseth literally shouldn't manage a store. Okay. Marco Rubio ran a political career for a long time. When that's all I saw, you say, yes. Whereas, like, these other people, literally, there's like, yo, you did something. You know, like, I listened to an interesting story about Linda McMahon. You know, Linda McMahon was, like, pretty highly regarded after the first term for doing small businesses. She was actually like, the small business people actually liked her. The people in small businesses were like, we found her easy to work with. She understood what our needs were. You know why? Because she was part of running a business.

[Ebro Darden]

Right?

[Rosenberg]

So when it came to then working with other businesses, and then when the second term came around, she went to Trump and said, I would like to be. Which secretary is it?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Education?

[Rosenberg]

Commerce.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, Commerce.

[Rosenberg]

I'd like to be Commerce. And he was like, cool. Because she was small business, I think commerce would be like a natural sort of transition. He was like, cool, cool. That sounds good. You're gonna do education.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Right, right, right.

[Rosenberg]

She's like, I Don't know. This is from this book, this book about Linda McMahon. And she was like, well, I don't know. Education, that's not what I do. And he's like, don't worry about it. Your only job is to eliminate the

[Laura Rosenberg]

department, which is what she did.

[Rosenberg]

So that's what she's tasked with, is you're gonna get rid of the department. So even when there's someone who comes along who says, I might be useful here, they go, no, no, we don't need you there. We need you here.

[Ebro Darden]

We need you to go break things.

[Rosenberg]

We need you just go break things.

[Laura Rosenberg]

And they also agree to do it.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

She could absolutely be like, yeah, no, I'm not participating.

[Rosenberg]

Well, yeah, I could not be a part of this at all. But everyone wants to be a part of this. They all need to.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, guess what? Oh, my gosh. Since you played yourself, ladies and gentlemen, we're living in an interesting time in the United States. We had the state of Virginia actually vote. They had a vote to change their, you know, voting districts. And the Supreme Court of the state of Virginia said, no, you cannot.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. Which is. This is happening in all over the country. But this was one that. Where the Democrats were actually going to get a win.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

But of course, because it's the Democrats who got a win, the Supreme Court said, this doesn't sound right. Let's get rid of it.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, and I want to go to clip two, because this is a positive outlook on it from the Midas Touch outlet.

[Rosenberg]

That'll be awesome.

[Medical or Health Expert]

Conventional wisdom says the Virginia Supreme Court ruling overturning the will of the people in Virginia is a big loss for the prospects of the U.S. house going to Democrats in January. Conventional wisdom, though, is a dangerous thing when it's a wave election, when conventions are thrown out the window. Let's look at some of the components of this. Virginia had ambitions, the Democrats in the Commonwealth, of swinging four Republican seats to Democrat through redistricting. Without the new maps, there are still believed to be a seat or two, if not three, Democrats can win in Virginia, even in the old system, even under the old maps. What's more, what is fueling so much of what appears to be a blue wave forming in November is a frustration with the electorate, including with independents, that they're not being heard, that their concerns about more foreign wars from a president who promised no more foreign wars, their concern about prices from fertilizer to gas from a president who promised to lower prices on day one is indicative of not being heard and when you don't feel heard, you're more likely to vocalize your displeasure at the ballot box. And when a Supreme Court in Virginia overturns the will of the people, that there is a fear that people haven't been heard. They made their choice, they drove to the polling place, they took the time to vote and it got overturned by some judges. And that's only going to fuel the fires more and put in danger Republicans in Virginia in terms of holding their seats.

[Ebro Darden]

Now, I want everybody to remember we got started going down this road because of Texas.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Like people forget. Like, I see a lot of commentary on why are the Democrats, you know, trying to change. Are gerrymandering also. The Democrats are gerrymandering also. But this started because the state of Texas, at the order of the President of the United States, who said, find me more was. He was like, I need five more seats. I think was the mandate from the president. They just went and changed maps in Texas without voting.

[Rosenberg]

Right. And they were like, we can't find the seats the other way. They're not going to win. So we got to add. We got to find more seats.

[Ebro Darden]

They just went and changed them. No vote check for me. I believe Tennessee was the same way. Changed it. No voting. Where they're basically the one black representation, which is actually a Jewish man who's been there for like 30 years or something representing this black district is that can now be gerrymandered out there. I mean, it was in days. They started changing maps.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It was so sad.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, and it's. Yeah. And more coming. But it's interesting that everybody tries to act like we are in some post racial society, especially Supreme Court, with how they gutted the voting rights.

[Rosenberg]

That.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, man, it's very interesting.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It's like, and you really think about it like, people died for this. Like, how many people died, were jailed, were beaten and look where we're at. And I was talking to my friend because I was like, yo. And some people just don't care. We care. But some people are like, oh, what's the next so and so? Like, they just do not realize they

[Ebro Darden]

have no concept for how it's going to impact them.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Nope.

[Ebro Darden]

No.

[Rosenberg]

Well, and then I think there are some people who just don't know what to do anymore too. They do care. Then they're like, but what am I gonna do? And then people get, understandably, people then get selfish and go, well, I'm here. I'm on this earth for X amount of time. I can't be miserable all the Time. But it's. It's a. It is a powerless feeling. And. And also, like, it's funny. People really hate on. People hate on the baby boomers a lot. Like, that's a. That's a common theme. My one cousin's always hating on the baby boomers. They're the one reason. Look what's happened now. You see? You see? You see? And I'm like, I don't know the baby boomers. When things happen, though, we're out in the streets here when voting rights gets gutted. I didn't see anyone step outside. No one has done any in the last couple of years while we have our big scheduled no Kings protests. And they're always very nice and everyone's planned for them, and I question how impactful they are. It's like one Saturday, Everyone stand together. It's like a social gathering when the real ish goes down here. The. The youth right now is not motivated. They're staring at their phone. They may read about it, but they're not doing anything.

[Laura Rosenberg]

They're motivated in different ways, though, because I will tell you, I. I do see more of the youth stepping up and pushing their messaging through what? They have social media. Remember, back then, boomers didn't have social media.

[Ebro Darden]

True.

[Rosenberg]

That's true.

[Laura Rosenberg]

So they're using that weapon. Yeah, they're using that as their weapon. I think I see a lot of. A lot of young folks that are really passionate about things, so they give me hope, but I think it's just different. It's different now.

[Ebro Darden]

I would add to what Laura's saying too. At that time, talking was that mid to late 60s. Right. There's a lot of people writing a lot of journalism.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

You know, I was having this conversation about hip hop, but we could have it just worthy outlets, substat, kind of.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, that's really.

[Ebro Darden]

And if you're not subscribed, you're not seeing it. And it's not getting. Unless the individual themselves is promoting it on the social media, it's not getting promoted. There's no machine promoting that voice. You know what I mean? So it's independent journalists. And then, you know, somebody like yourself who's accustomed to looking at these quote unquote, vetted outlets, you're gonna see somebody promoting something on their own Instagram account and likely go, who is this Jabroni? They're not validated by any sort of institution that we would deem respectable, but the respectable ones have been bought and compromised. So what do you. What are you actually listening to?

[Rosenberg]

But that's why it's all. But that's why this is perfect for them. Yes, because I'm not wrong about the unvetted people. There are random ass people who literally. I can see them reading the Wikipedia page on the thing. These aren't knowledgeable people. They're just saying things.

[Ebro Darden]

That's right.

[Rosenberg]

And they're usually saying things that speak to our algorithm. So we're seeing. They already know. That's the one thing about doing it through social media is you're very often yelling into an echo chamber. You're not reaching. It's hard to reach people who disagree with you. So, yeah, it's perfect. Everyone's kind of in their own world seeing certain things.

[Ebro Darden]

I mean, to the point of you not seeing it like what you're seeing.

[Rosenberg]

Is it that, right?

[Ebro Darden]

You're going, I don't want it. I want to see it bigger. There is no bigger. There's no there. It doesn't exist anymore.

[Rosenberg]

I mean. I mean, it does. It does. It exists somewhat bigger. But you. It takes work and.

[Ebro Darden]

But you got to make it, I guess is my point. There's. There's. We give me a person. There's Ms. Now. We got mad out. Mad out comes on once a week.

[Rosenberg]

Ms. Now is okay.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, right. You got, you got. Jon Stewart comes on, you know, once a week, you know, and does a thing.

[Rosenberg]

Shows on every day, though.

[Ebro Darden]

The show's there every day. Yes.

[Rosenberg]

And was doing.

[Ebro Darden]

But John. But then. But they have people hosting where you're like, okay, are they vetted?

[Rosenberg]

I don't know them.

[Ebro Darden]

Are they just funny? You know what I mean? Like, you don't. They don't have that credibility. It takes time to build that credibility. Speaking of Ms. Now, Matt, Al had something moving around last week that was popping up a lot on my algo clip 4.

[Political Commentator or Analyst]

We are now about 16 months into what has been from day one, a concerted and intense targeting of black Americans, specifically by this president and by this administration. On his first full day in office, he proclaims war on diversity efforts not only in government, but in any institution in the country over which he can exert leverage. Everything from schools and universities to law firms to private businesses of every stripe. Keeping track, he then immediately started firing some of the highest profile black public officials in the whole US Government, seemingly regardless of any other thing about them. I mean, right away we get the firing of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles C. Q. Brown. We get the firing of the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, and then it's Gwen Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board. And then it's Robert Primus, the chair of the Surface Transportation Board. And then it's Alvin Brown from the ntsb. And then it's Peggy Carr, the head of the national center for Education Statistics. And then it's Willie Phillips from FERC from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And then it's Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and on and on and on. When Trump and his top political donor, Elon Musk, then started just lopping off huge swaths of the federal government to disastrous practical effect, the largest and most egregious cuts targeted federal agencies that employed a disproportionate number of black employees. Reporter Erica Greene wrote about this a few months ago for the Times, noting that nothing had moved backwards in the federal government for black Americans this quickly or this far in over 100 years since Woodrow Wilson came in in 1912 and resegregated the federal workforce.

[Ebro Darden]

You guys, these are white supremacists. That. This is how it works. And I want to go back to what you were saying about, like, seeing protests. I'm on the other side, actually.

[Rosenberg]

You don't want to see protest.

[Ebro Darden]

I think our unity comes in silence this time. I think. I think how we move this time is not about them seeing us collectively

[Rosenberg]

gather because a lot of the ex Trumpers ain't gonna. The people who might be being like, I'm not too good with this, aren't gonna be those people.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, not only that, but it's. It's also, you know, they're studying our behavior. And so then they have counter moves on counter moves. They have the banks, they have the resources, they have the backing. All we have is the numbers. So they can't. You. We can't just put our. All our cards on the table.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

And most of us are unified against white supremacy. Like we. And. And I know there are people who didn't see this as white supremacy earlier, but hopefully now you could see it, because that Maddow piece captures something that I hope all of you can see if you didn't see it before, which is there is a. They can go after black Americans because we don't have the financial backing like many groups in the United States of America. We also don't have a nation externally representing on our behalf. Many immigrants come from nations outside the United States that represented for them. So when they got here, they had certain resources. Also remember, this country gave resources to European immigrants when they got here. Black Americans never had that kind of financial Support. So our fight here in the United States has been about numbers and strategy. And as you said, getting beaten in public and using media and journalism to show what white supremacists are doing to us, killing us. Like, that's been how we've gotten our inroads in this country, which has benefited all marginalized groups.

[Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

But other marginalized groups come here and think, buy into the narrative that we're the issue.

[Rosenberg]

It's so true.

[Laura Rosenberg]

And it's like, I. I talk about this too. I was talking to my mom about this, and obviously, you know, I. She's in a Spanish speaking circle, but we talk about things like this. And it's like. And I speak to my Asian American family members, that chosen family, obviously really close friends of mine. But I'm like, bro, none of us would have voting rights, especially the women. I said, do you? I was like, black folks mobilized and organized black women. So why wouldn't we be fighting for them? Because they fought for us. It is so important. And people forget. But it's all part of the plan, though. That's why they keep taking the books out of the classes. And they don't want you to learn history. That's why the women's suffrage movement. Oh, what were you bringing that up? A book report? Get it out of here.

[Rosenberg]

I think every group in every place sort of does this.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Rosenberg]

They think, no, I'm. My group is closer. We're better. You know, I mean, who. Who has not in New York had an African cab driver who at some point starts talking ish. About black Americans.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

And think. They think that you're gonna like it because you're white.

[Ebro Darden]

I haven't had that.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I've heard it.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah, no, no, the blacks. I'm not black. I'm African. And I'm like. You're just sitting there like, I'm just trying to get to Times Square, sir. I don't need to hear your weird. Whatever weird stuff you got going on. I'm like, no, that's a common thing. And that's not just.

[Ebro Darden]

No, we know. Black people know what happens, bro.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, no, it's set out loud.

[Ebro Darden]

I was joking that they're never gonna have that conversation with me.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Touche, touche. I didn't even get the joke. Cause I'm not smart. But that's everywhere, though. I mean, that's. That's in. I feel like in every country, there are people hearing it going, oh, but it's not about me. And it's like, no, no, it's about you.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Rosenberg]

It's the same thing we say about Mizrahi Jews and Israel who are okay with what's happening to Palestinians being like, you know, that they would do the same to you, too. You just happen.

[Ebro Darden]

Using you.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. And you just happen to be like, okay, because you're Jewish, but they don't like.

[Ebro Darden]

It's the same thing we talked about with MJ on the Patreon last week.

[Laura Rosenberg]

About.

[Ebro Darden]

About white supremacists using Jews conveniently. Right. Because they were out there with those tiki torches, talking about the Jews will not replace us.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah. We were the main ones there.

[Ebro Darden]

Right. But then all of a sudden, now we got to get cool Israel. Which one is it?

[Rosenberg]

How could it be both?

[Ebro Darden]

How could. It's not both. I got news for you. It's not.

[Rosenberg]

And let me tell you, let me tell you who is happy with that Patreon.

[Ebro Darden]

Mj, really.

[Rosenberg]

He went in the comment, like, the comments were so overwhelmingly. You know, I felt validation on behalf of my dad. I don't know if I've ever done anything that got that. That positive response. Our Patreon just loved it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I went in there, too, and I was looking. I read a lot of the comments. I was like, oh, my God, they're feeling.

[Rosenberg]

And by the way, it was validating. Cause it felt like, I mean, hey, I'm proud of my dad. It's good to see him out there using the muscle that I know he has. But also it felt like family love. Cause, you know, like, people might always talk ish to me, but when they saw my dad, like, the level of love they gave my dad was very sweet to see, but he was like, I'll come back once a month. We can run this back. No MJ's.

[Ebro Darden]

Was there anything we left on the table that we didn't cover?

[Rosenberg]

I think. I think where my dad could be useful as long as I could teach him. Riverside. For him to pop in on a big thing related to the issue on a regular show would be dope. I don't know if we need the entire thing again, because he really gave us, like. Yeah, I thought we did a good job. You did a really good job getting, like. We went back and got kind of the whole origin story.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

But it was.

[Ebro Darden]

I think. I think it's. It's, you know, so much is discussed now without context. And I think context is super important. Right. Like, even in short term, you can't talk about Trump without talking about Obama.

[Rosenberg]

Right?

[Ebro Darden]

Right. Like, you have to we got a white supremacist government because we had a black. And we got an overtly white supremacist government. Let me say it that way. We got an overtly white supremacist government because we had a black president.

[Rosenberg]

Correct.

[Ebro Darden]

It was a backlash. And now. And now because we got a black president. Backlash, sorry, backlash. We are seeing what we're seeing happen to black Americans for sure.

[Rosenberg]

And, and, and to the point you were just bringing up about my, the interview with my dad bringing context. You can't have this conversation about Zionism when all the people having the conversation really just came to the subject since October 2023. Like, we gotta give you, you have to understand, like him breaking it down, which I never really heard him do, talking about how he was a lefty on everything but Israel. And there were other lefties who were against that then. I didn't know that. I didn't know that my dad wasn't. I assumed all left leaning people were in favor of Israel. And no, there were some then, like he said, Black Panthers, even though he sort of co opted when he was writing about them, the Black Panther ideology. They were actually, no, we're not for Israel because that's more white people taking land from brown people.

[Ebro Darden]

Brown people and indigenous.

[Rosenberg]

And my dad, who at that stage in his life was like, yeah, but nah, this is about our self determination. And there were some people like, all right, buddy, calm down. I didn't realize. I didn't know that I had. So I do think adding context here is really important, especially to getting other Jews to understand it who have been indoctrinated their whole life. And you're like trying to get them to understand something that's like, it's really deep in there.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, it's tough. Let's see the super chat. You're looking at it, Rosenberg. You see any activity? Anybody that needs a shout out before we get to talking about Cozy Earth and the Rundown Doctor Asked how the

[Rosenberg]

Celtics lost those bums, Chip Osorio said, odd to say young people don't care when protests against genocide in Palestine and ICE tactics were led by young people. I didn't say young people don't care. Maybe I did. Certainly some young people care and have shown it for sure. Um, and Baby K Love said, boycotts, don't give them your money. I do think boycotts is probably the most important if you want to silently change the politics of this country.

[Ebro Darden]

Mm.

[Rosenberg]

None of those huge businesses as much as their owners. May we? Oh, this one leans right. This one is most of them aren't Miriam Adelson, where their whole life is about supporting one cause. Most of them really just want you to buy their product and make them rich. And if you stop that could have an impact. I agree.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, and I think on that note, I saw Ryan Clark. Who else? Other athletes talking about black athletes not attending universities in these states that are gerrymandering black votes into oblivion.

[Rosenberg]

So that's a great conversation because those schools, some of them in, in Alabama, lsu, in Auburn, lsu, they're the biggest. The coach, Tennessee. Those coaches of their teams are the highest paid state officials.

[Ebro Darden]

That's right.

[Rosenberg]

These are big business for those states. That's a great point.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, I, I want, it's going to be interesting to see if that conversation takes off or if that conversation will be silenced. Right. Because now you're talking about affecting the sec.

[Rosenberg]

That's, that's right.

[Ebro Darden]

You're talking about affecting the acc.

[Rosenberg]

But you know, this is why I always felt weird about college football.

[Ebro Darden]

Of course we've talked about this, but

[Rosenberg]

not everyone gets that I've always been college football averse because like you see these southern white states and then the coach walks out on the field after the game with the two sheriffs next to him. I've always been like, I don't know what vibe this is, but it ain't the vibe I'm looking for.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, I've always thought about it in the context of not all of them, but many of those states. Especially when you look at Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas. I think those four.

[Rosenberg]

Tennessee, Kentucky.

[Ebro Darden]

Well no, they don't have NFL teams.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

Tennessee Titans.

[Ebro Darden]

Well that's why did I say. That's why I didn't say Tennessee. But they don't have, they don't have NFL teams. And I always thought that they were just. And though. And that for a time those were just the biggest college.

[Rosenberg]

Right.

[Ebro Darden]

Especially football schools and you, your stadiums full of a hundred thousand people and the Coach is making 5, $10 million a year and the boosters are making all this money that is the professional sports.

[Rosenberg]

But the kids, but now the kids are getting paid.

[Ebro Darden]

Now they are.

[Rosenberg]

And that's the part that's going to make protesting it complicated because now you're gonna be, if you wanted to do it, there are gonna be families that are just saying to the kids, hey, they want to give you this amount of money.

[Ebro Darden]

Come here. Now you, you gotta go get it.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, that's gonna be complicated. Aco choa, aco choa. Art, by the way, people have been Playing me in the super chat, by the way, and saying things I don't know how to pronounce. And then they laugh at me in the comments. I don't, Sorry. Last week they did a whole thing. They ran a whole skit playing me and I didn't even know what it was. And Laura, you didn't catch on to it either?

[Laura Rosenberg]

No, no, I don't know what it was.

[Rosenberg]

But this one says ELR tuned.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Uh huh.

[Rosenberg]

Local politics and school board involvement matters. Westchester, New York here. Dismantling of DEI is moving old white strongholds up. Organize and mobilize. Get involved. More voices. Create real impact. I hear all that, but I'm kind of going with the one before it because I think the whole Organize and mobilize, I'm just being realistic. We are asking a lot of people who have kids and jobs and things they're trying to do to get through each day and they won't end up doing it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It.

[Rosenberg]

Whereas boycotting and finding a way to divest from things that are taking your money I think is a practical way, but it's about what are those things.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah. And it also, for once again, the convenience factor you talk about. Right. Like there's people who would love to not use Amazon, you know what I'm saying?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Correct, correct. But also I think sometimes when you say mobilize is just pushing people, encouraging them to vote locally.

[Ebro Darden]

True.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Because people don't, they're too busy, they don't know. So that, that alone can be a form of, you know, mobilize.

[Ebro Darden]

We've said on this program for a long time that local activity is way more important than federal voting because you can dictate what happens on the federal level by what you do locally and your representation locally. And speaking of that, shout out to our guy. Do It All. Do it all over there in Newark, New Jersey. Newark West Ward. Reelection and community impact. There's a election going on. Tomorrow is election day over there. City Council in Newark's West Ward. So if you're watching this program, you're over in Newark, New Jersey. Do It All. Dupree, who's been on the job, it says here, when he's not in City hall, he's inspiring the next generation to be sure to check out his acclaimed children's book, you Could Do It All. So shout out to Do it all, which we've known Do it all for a long time and had him on the program several times.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, man, he's doing, he's doing a great job. He's doing It All. Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

I mean, honestly, he's doing it all. And yeah, shot. And also, you know, of course. Shout to the Lord to the underground.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox. Onobotulinum toxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It prevents on average 18 to 9 headache days a month versus 6 to 7 for placebo.

[Medical or Health Expert]

Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Magnets don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

[Rosenberg]

Why wait?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844botox to learn more.

[Ebro Darden]

You know what I mean? And the Lord Chief Rock.

[Rosenberg]

That's right, number one, Chief Rock.

[Ebro Darden]

Before we get to this rundown Cozy Earth, ladies and gentlemen, get to that website and type in the promo code ELR Listen, in my house we are. Listen, Cozy Earth came on the ELR show. I'm just keeping a hundred.

[Rosenberg]

You keep it a buck with everybody.

[Ebro Darden]

And I was so excited that we got our. One of our first sponsors.

[Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

I was like, listen, we're going on here to buy some. So they gave us a pair or a set of the sheets and we

[Rosenberg]

all started using the sheets.

[Ebro Darden]

Right, the sheets. The bamboo sheets, guys. Especially right now as the weather heats up. Fantastic.

[Rosenberg]

Assuming the weather ever heats up. Yes.

[Ebro Darden]

But it's warmer than it was.

[Rosenberg]

Sure.

[Ebro Darden]

It's on the way. Then for Mother's Day, I was like, my lady loves the cozy earth material so much that they use. Let me go ahead and buy her some of those little tank top nighttime short sets.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, the little jogger set.

[Ebro Darden]

So I copped her a few of the black and a few of the white. She tends to just wear black or white when she's going to bed. Nothing too crazy.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

She fell in love.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, my God. So then she went out and bought the Cozy Earth duvet.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

So now we have the duvet combo with the sheet set. And let me just tell you guys that we actually get into bed and giggle like children because it's so comfortable.

[Laura Rosenberg]

No, it is.

[Ebro Darden]

By the way.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Fire.

[Ebro Darden]

No. Far no stretch of the imagination. Am I exaggerating? If I was to get, get Jazz on the show to talk about Cozy Earth, which I'm not gonna do, but she'd wax poetic. Listen, bro, it is really a, it is really a conversation on how so get to that site. Cozyearth.com promo code ELR. And you know, they got many, many amazing things that they offer at Cozy Earth, one of which is the, the 30 day return policy.

[Rosenberg]

We love that. What?

[Ebro Darden]

Try it for yourself. Cozy Earth backs everything with a 30 day return policy because they're confident and I'm.

[Rosenberg]

Ebro's backing it up right now.

[Ebro Darden]

You're not sending this stuff back.

[Rosenberg]

And by the way, so, so they have the brush bamboo jogger set Ebro's just talking about. That's right, the lake house clogs.

[Laura Rosenberg]

You need that very important. Take off your shoes at the door. Put on the clog.

[Ebro Darden]

You guys, I'm going to the whites.

[Rosenberg]

I need to talk to the whites out there, some of y'.

[Political Commentator or Analyst]

All.

[Rosenberg]

And I was part of it too, in my house. We were just walking around with dirty shoes in our house. And then I grew up and I and I civilized and I married someone who's civilized. And we don't want dirty ass shoes all up in the house. Get yourself the lake house clogs. They're there for you folks.

[Ebro Darden]

Babe, if you're watching today, let's do the clogs. Because, you know, we keep some shoes by the door for visitors or like when people want to come in. And we have like a little terrace outside. So to get from the front door to the terrace, you would either have to carry your shoe. So we keep a couple of little slides by the right there.

[Rosenberg]

Lake House Clogs, cozyearth.com and use our code ELR for an exclusive 20% off. That's the code ELR for an exclusive 20 percent off. And if you see a post purchase survey mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here, that helps us out as a show.

[Ebro Darden]

Keeps cozy.

[Rosenberg]

Real quick, Ebert, just to clarify one thing. The legend, the icon, the former giant, Carl Banks reached out. He's enjoying the show. And he referred, he referred us to, referred me to a, a tweet from Ryan Clark yesterday.

[Ebro Darden]

Okay?

[Rosenberg]

That said, always weird to have to say this. I have made no statement about where college athletes should or shouldn't play the quote and graphic using my face and name is fake. It's a lie. I post enough on social. If it's not on my profile, I didn't say so.

[Ebro Darden]

He didn't say it. So I retract that. Ryan Clark didn't say it.

[Rosenberg]

But we wish you did because it sounds great.

[Ebro Darden]

It's a great conversation.

[Rosenberg]

We really thought it was dope. But I mean, that is interesting. But again, doesn't that go to how crazy the times are? Yeah, they take something that it feels like he would say attribute.

[Ebro Darden]

That doesn't feel like a stretch for Ryan Clark to say that.

[Rosenberg]

No. Although. But it is a big statement to me.

[Ebro Darden]

Right.

[Rosenberg]

And we don't know what his relationships are with.

[Ebro Darden]

Right, Exactly.

[Rosenberg]

So that is the thing. So, Carl, thank you for the clarity.

[Ebro Darden]

All right, let's go. Run down time.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Let's go. Okay, man. All right. So, Ebro, you were front and center. Rick Ross versus French Montana for the Versus battle live from Los Angeles. How was that energy?

[Ebro Darden]

The energy was great in the room. You know, French and Ross obviously have a great camaraderie and, you know, they were having a great time on stage. So, you know, I loved being there. I felt up. I didn't know that things were going to get controversial. I didn't. I didn't see that coming.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I wonder if you're referring to this video of Ross on stage.

[Ebro Darden]

No, Drake vocals. Minus Drake vocals. So easy. You want to sing that? I'm gonna let you sing that.

[Rosenberg]

The name of the song. You know what to do.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I don't know.

[Rosenberg]

Is this a dance kind of mix?

[Ebro Darden]

Well, so I didn't think it was. It's not good. I. I didn't take it as a diss at all.

[Rosenberg]

Well, it was 3 1, boss. Here goes.

[Ebro Darden]

Pull up on the block and it drop chicken. I think the Internet is turning it into a diss. I'm not. Cuz if it was a diss, why would he. Cuz that's why I asked him after the show. He has done this before at other shows. Like, this is not like.

[Rosenberg]

So you asked him what he say?

[Ebro Darden]

Well, I didn't want to take Gloria Star.

[Laura Rosenberg]

So yeah, you know, shout to Rap Life review. They definitely asked him about the situation. Now here's a clip of the statement.

[Ebro Darden]

Drake, if you listening to this homie listen to me my shine I don't want to see you lose no real want to see you lose that ain't. What about this culture, this game, this rap? This ain't what it's about. I don't want to see you lose Real just want to see real shine together. Real come up together. You understand? When I was the number one in the rap game, I show love. When French was on fire, he showed love.

[Laura Rosenberg]

So, yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

So I'm not sure I think it. That's what I'm saying. I'm not sure it was a diss because I straight up asked him, hey, you've done this no vocal Drake thing at shows before. People are making it messy because clearly I could see what's going on on social media in real time. As I want to give you space to articulate why you're not throwing shade. That was the literal setup for that.

[Laura Rosenberg]

But listen, I know, I know you're questions because everyone's like, no one, no one is going to forget bbl. Drizzy. He was the one who coined that term, bbl.

[Ebro Darden]

No.

[Rosenberg]

And he continued to go hard on the Drake thing until, like, I don't know, somewhat recently. That's why it seemed like I just assumed. But at the same time, he didn't say anything nasty when he said no Drake vote.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, there was. People on the Internet was saying he said something, called him little man or something.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I saw that. I saw.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, I saw that on the Internet and I didn't hear that in real time, so I missed that in real time. I heard that out.

[Rosenberg]

I know. I will. I will add quietly, Rick Ross is one of the more confusing interviews you can ever do. He will quietly say things in circles that you're kind of like, it's hard to follow. Exactly. So all he said there was that he just wants to see him shine.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, so he goes on actually after that clip and you can watch the whole thing on Apple Music's YouTube page and on Rap Life review on Apple Music. You can go watch it in there as well. He goes on to talk about French and Drake. And he keeps talking. He was like, yo, French, no matter who's in the room, French is always making sure people ain't talking greasy about Drake. And he's like, French is one of the most loyal dudes. French even has checked me before. Like, he goes on to really talk about, like, what you're saying.

[Rosenberg]

Okay.

[Ebro Darden]

The relationship is basically like, you've said shady things. He was like. And even after the interview, he kept talking about French would like, you know, call him and be like, yo, bro, like, Drake's a good dude. Like, why are you guys going so hard, you know, that kind of thing. So it was a lot of that. It was a lot of that. Now I don't think it's really that complicated. I think Ross and Drake had a lot of collaborative material. Ross wanted. Remember, there was rock. Didn't Ross tweet some years ago, like they were gonna do a joint album together or something? It never comes out. The Kendrick Drake thing starts to un unravel. Ross jumps in on that moment. I don't really think it's deeper than Ross probably feels like Drake, when you was coming up and wanted to be in, get some street cred, I was there to do records with you, no problem.

[Rosenberg]

And you didn't return the favor.

[Ebro Darden]

And you're not now that I'm like, yo, you're not returning. I think it could be that simple.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. Because he did say, when I was the number one, I looked out right when French was the number one. Like when French was hot. He looks out. The part that he's not saying is, you've become the guy. Are you still looking out?

[Ebro Darden]

So I think it's that simple. So for him to still go, look, ain't nobody. Nobody wants to see you lose, bro. You know what I'm saying? Nobody in this moment. But we've talked about the battle being different than the album. Like everybody that's been in this game long enough, two guys getting at each other in a battle. People pick sides. It happened with Jay and Nas. It happened with Big and Pac. It had. It happens all the time where people be like, this guy bodied this guy with the music or whatever. And then after that, we go listen to the album and enjoy the albums. It doesn't.

[Laura Rosenberg]

How dare you. No. People pick sides, and that's it. Don't you fix your face to say. Fix those lips to say, you want to listen to the album.

[Rosenberg]

It does feel different now because the Internet. The Internet.

[Ebro Darden]

But people made you feel different. But you as a person has been around this long enough.

[Rosenberg]

You're right in here. When I saw the clip moving around. That's the thing. It's just like the Ryan Clark thing. I saw it. I didn't. I didn't see the verses. I was WWE'd out this weekend. I ended up just seeing that clip moving around and I go, oh, man. I guess he's still going after Drake now. When I hear you saying that. And we had. Maybe he really wasn't. It's just as simple as seeing. Because I'm saying when you have the whole crowd singing someone's part that's not dissing them, that makes them seem hotter than ever.

[Ebro Darden]

Right?

[Rosenberg]

If you wanted to diss them, you would go. You would go, nah, bleep that. And cut the song off before the hook, before it gets to his part. We don't do that anyways. And then you keep going. So by letting the whole crowd sing it, it's not really how a dis would work, in my opinion.

[Ebro Darden]

So the Internet's gonna turn into what they're gonna turn into. And we all know narratives get controlled. Like we've talked about these narratives that get controlled around, you know, certain topics. And because there's pack mentality on the Internet, unless you want to argue with a bunch of people that are sent to create a narrative, people don't say anything, right? They just lay out.

[Rosenberg]

All right.

[Laura Rosenberg]

In other news, Essence Fest just announced Babyface, Public Enemy and Leon Thomas to join the festival. Listen, they have Cardi B Lotto, Kehlani, Brandi and Monica Petti, Lavelle, Leon Thomas. They have George Clinton and Funkadelic, Babyface, Public Enemy, Dougie Fresh and Big Boy and Big Frida Fire.

[Ebro Darden]

No, it's going down. Essence Fest. Now, remember the Essence Fest coming off after out of a rough situation last year where there was a, you know, people talk about, you know, what was going on with stage rentals and this sort of stuff. So all eyes on Essence Fest. But it's. I. I can't imagine that after how many years have been doing Essence Fest? 25.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It's been a long time.

[Ebro Darden]

It's a long time. That one bad year is gonna. Now, all of a sudden, you know, people are out on Essence Fest.

[Rosenberg]

That's Essence Fest, for God's sake.

[Ebro Darden]

That's what I.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's what that line of people girls trip is about.

[Rosenberg]

Them going to ESSENCE Fest. Now, granted, they went to go see 32 years.

[Ebro Darden]

32 years of the essence.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. No, I mean, they saw Diddy at the Essence Fest in the girls trip, but still.

[Ebro Darden]

Hey, man, listen, that was the time.

[Rosenberg]

No, listen, the time we were in.

[Ebro Darden]

Yo, speaking of, did you guys. I want to throw this in. Did you guys get a chance to listen? You know, Chris Brown's got a new album he put out tonight, this weekend.

[Rosenberg]

I didn't see that. He dropped a new album.

[Ebro Darden]

You didn't see Chris Brown drop a new album? That's crazy.

[Rosenberg]

I didn't. I told you, I barely saw anything from Versus either.

[Ebro Darden]

I didn't.

[Rosenberg]

I didn't see anything.

[Ebro Darden]

That's crazy. Phenom. Yo, Chris Brown dropped A heater, bro.

[Rosenberg]

Real. How many songs? Tell me it's not 38 songs.

[Ebro Darden]

It's not 38 songs. It'S definitely 20. It's 27 joints.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Okay.

[Ebro Darden]

I thought it was like 21, actually, but that's why I said it like that. I didn't know it was 27. But. No, there some fire records on there. Him and that Leon Thomas, they got something. There's a few things on there. Say again. Oh, the Cartel record. The Vibes Cartel record. Yeah.

[Laura Rosenberg]

No, I gotta hear that.

[Ebro Darden]

Vibes. Cartel. Chris Brown is a situation.

[Rosenberg]

Oh, he hit the Michael Jackson Thriller.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, that's the. That's the R B lean, though. That's just the R. True.

[Rosenberg]

He's bringing R B hat.

[Ebro Darden]

He's got R B. Are you talking about the album cover? That's a R B lean. Before Michael Jackson's Thriller album, there were Lionel Richie.

[Rosenberg]

Teddy Pendergrass was leaning.

[Ebro Darden]

I think Teddy Pendergrass leaned. You know, when you lay down, he's

[Rosenberg]

got Tank Friday, Lucky Day, NBA, Youngboy Vibes, Cartel, Sexy Red and Glorilla Leon, Thomas, Bryson Teller.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, no, it's a good one.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Nice, nice. All right. Also, guys, Eric B and Rakim, Tupac and Funkadelic joined the Grammy hall of Fame. Now, this was special because the Recording Academy inducted the album All Eyes on Me until the hall of Fame, the Grammy hall of Fame, and then paid in Full. And also Maggot Brain, Those are the albums that are now part, you know, of the. Of the class of inductees. And the ceremony, by the way, also honored Janet Jackson, Selena. Selena and Radiohead.

[Ebro Darden]

Now, this means they get Grammys, Honorary Grammys. Is that how this works?

[Rosenberg]

I don't.

[Ebro Darden]

Is that what this means?

[Rosenberg]

I don't know if Grammy hall of Fame is like an honorary Grammy win

[Laura Rosenberg]

or it's like a. A plaque of some sort. You know what I mean?

[Rosenberg]

And they put you in the Grammy Museum and stuff like that.

[Ebro Darden]

Because Pac never won a Grammy. Right? I don't think outright. I don't think Pac ever won a gram.

[Rosenberg]

Not alive. Did he ever win one posthumously?

[Ebro Darden]

I don't know, but I know I'm pretty sure Pac didn't win a Grammy while he was alive.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I don't think so.

[Ebro Darden]

And did George Clinton?

[Rosenberg]

He was nominated for six Grammys during his career but never won. And All Eyes on Me is now in the Grammy hall of Fame. No.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's.

[Ebro Darden]

Selena never won. Selena.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Selena. Wait, I think she did.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, she did.

[Ebro Darden]

She did.

[Rosenberg]

She had to have one.

[Ebro Darden]

I'M just trying to understand what the hall of Fame.

[Rosenberg]

She won one Grammy and received two nominations.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rosenberg]

She became the first to handle artist to win best Mexican American Album for Selena Live.

[Ebro Darden]

Was that posthumous?

[Rosenberg]

No. 94.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She won that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rosenberg]

She accepted it.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah. So the Grammy hall of Fame was. I don't even know.

[Rosenberg]

The Grammy hall of Fame was established in 1973 to honor recordings of lasting, qualitative, or historical significance that are at

[Ebro Darden]

least 25 years old.

[Rosenberg]

So it's about throw. It's about honoring old stuff that didn't

[Laura Rosenberg]

get at least 25 years old.

[Ebro Darden]

That mic still doesn't work, Griff. I don't know if you guys were after, like, working on it. I don't know what happened. I don't know what you. Huh? Oh, God. Okay. Okay.

[Laura Rosenberg]

All right.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

All right.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's your rundown, guys.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh. Ow. Bow intro.

[Rosenberg]

Is the outro. Physical and.

[Ebro Darden]

No, I'm just tired. Like, I landed on a red eye on Saturday morning after the verses and then took the kids to the activities east had Alvin Ailey Selassie, gymnastics. Then we had, like, a Mother's Day with, you know, jazz and all and the kids. And we had a Mother's Day dinner also that day. So all the running around, boom, boom, boom, that day. And then. And then I went to Saturday Night Live. Oh, you went in on Saturday night.

[Laura Rosenberg]

So you did a red eye. And Saturday night, which is basically another red eye.

[Ebro Darden]

That's crazy, because it was Keenan's birthday. And, you know, me and Keenan have been really cool for years. And cut. Me and me and Joe were headed over there.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Okay.

[Ebro Darden]

And because, you know, Keenan's not a big, like, rah, rah hoopla. Imma have a. You know what I mean? So his. His mom, his sister, you know, his, like, nephew, me, Joe. And then all the SNL cast. I put it in my stories on. On ig when the la. You know, after they say goodbye for the night, he. They had a birthday cake. So we were all, like, in the hallway with the SNL cast.

[Rosenberg]

That's pretty amazing.

[Ebro Darden]

It was pretty cool. It's a cool thing. And on purpose, I walked in with a stogie in my ear. I just walked into NBC studios with weed rolled in my ear to see if anybody was. Nobody said anything. And so, yep, I lit up in the SNL hallways. I have officially smoked weed in the SNL hallways when nobody was looking.

[Rosenberg]

Wow.

[Ebro Darden]

I smelled the wafting of weed in the hallway.

[Rosenberg]

Well, other people are definitely smoking there.

[Ebro Darden]

And so I was like, they smoking it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

It. I see that as a welcome sign.

[Rosenberg]

I just want.

[Ebro Darden]

It felt historical to me. It felt like something.

[Rosenberg]

I just want to be clear, by the way. I just want to be clear, by the way. This is the example. This is the not. This doesn't work everywhere, certainly like driving a car down a highway in America. But this is also large black man privilege that Ebro pulled out.

[Laura Rosenberg]

What do you mean?

[Rosenberg]

At snl, they ain't coming up and saying to you.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Rosenberg]

Swear to God, they're walking by, like, trust me, he should be smoking. He's fine. I promise you. He's got to be friends with someone, folks. We don't know who he is. Let him smoke.

[Ebro Darden]

Let him go.

[Rosenberg]

I don't know. He's friends with Snoop or something. We don't know. You guys ready for the gurus?

[Ebro Darden]

Let's get to the guru. Rosenberg. Laura, you know you are beautiful queen Ebro. Don't ever play yourself. You're not a guru.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Ah, yes. The original gurus. Gmail.com. the original gurus. Gmail.Com. where the gurus unite to fight for its rights. Burn the sage. Ebro.

[Rosenberg]

Zen. Zen.

[Laura Rosenberg]

All right, Rosenberg, who's out there? Who needs us? Who's writing to us?

[Rosenberg]

The original Gurus. Gmail.com. the original, original. Gurusmail.com your destination. For clarity, send your emails today. Hey, gurus. Love the show. Started listening when I was stationed overseas, and you guys were my link to home while I was away. So glad you guys got your own thing going on. I've landed in some messy, small world drama. I need your take. There's a guy I've known since high school who I still see occasionally because we share a mutual friend. We're cool, but I wouldn't consider us close. I just found out he's being cheated on by his girlfriend with my co worker. My co worker knows I know the boyfriend, but he's open about the affair. Anyway. I have a good working relationship with this co worker, but I feel shady keeping this from the guy from high school. I feel like I'm violating bro code. Either way, do I tell the guy and risk blowing up his life and my work dynamic, or do I stay out of it since we aren't that close? Thank you, Gurus.

[Ebro Darden]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. He's not close with who? Which person?

[Laura Rosenberg]

The high school guy.

[Ebro Darden]

The high school guy. Stay out of it. Violating what? Bro code. Like, what are you talking about?

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, but he's gonna do. I think he's just saying he feels Gross. Because like, he's like, ah, damn. But I know that guy. That's terrible.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, but you don't know that guy. You just. You know him, but you don't really know him.

[Rosenberg]

Right? Like, enough to go in and like,

[Laura Rosenberg]

what are you gonna do? Message him on social media? Hey, by the way, you know what I mean? Like, it's. He's not someone you talk to all the time.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, but like, for all intents and purposes, you don't even know what this guy's situation is. Like, you don't. You don't know him well enough to even know, so.

[Ebro Darden]

And I kind of feel like your co workers trolling you if your co worker knows you went to high school with this guy and he's like, yo, yo, you know that dude you go to went to high school with? Yo. His girlfriend is out here tripling and stumbling on dude all over the place.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh, my God.

[Rosenberg]

I don't know if that's how that to frame it, but sure.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Oh my God.

[Ebro Darden]

Then yeah, he's trolling you. He wants to see. He's just. He's getting a kick out of you knowing the guy. That's why they keep telling you only

[Laura Rosenberg]

because you're not that close to him. I kind of like, just maybe you should mind your business.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. I hate to. I see why this is uncomfortable, but it feels like a mindyourbusiness.com.

[Laura Rosenberg]

yeah. Because if it's gonna mess with your work, you know what I mean? Your workplace environment, all that stuff.

[Guest or Correspondent (possibly a health expert or reporter)]

Is it?

[Ebro Darden]

And why is that any of your business?

[Laura Rosenberg]

Right.

[Rosenberg]

I get it. If you know of and are fond of the person, but you're not that close with them and you blatantly hear they're getting placed. I see why you not like it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, I mean, it's messed up. Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Well, no, he's thinking, I hope somebody would tell me one day if I'm out here getting played.

[Rosenberg]

Right.

[Ebro Darden]

That's what he's thinking. Right. And he's like, and I got news for you. They're not. Unless you really know him like that. Matter of fact, you could know people like that and they still might not tell you.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That happens too.

[Rosenberg]

Now, if you happened. What if he happened to be still close with someone who's still really close with the person, though.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's different though.

[Rosenberg]

Like, what if you gave him.

[Ebro Darden]

I mean, yeah, he's really close to somebody.

[Rosenberg]

Like, you're really close to a mutual friend between you guys. Like, yo, just a heads up, bro. I think he should be, you know, just

[Laura Rosenberg]

it's gonna.

[Rosenberg]

Those.

[Laura Rosenberg]

But it's gonna give back to him, though.

[Rosenberg]

It probably would.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, man. Well, get back to his co worker.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, he'd end up.

[Ebro Darden]

Because that's what he's worried about. He's worried about his co worker who has told him this. These stories and giggling and laughing about dude being played by his girl. Now.

[Rosenberg]

You, you, you. Is he saying he's hearing it directly from the person doing the cheating?

[Ebro Darden]

No, I thought he was saying his co worker knows about it.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, that's.

[Rosenberg]

You could always tell your co worker, by the way. Like, yo, by the way.

[Ebro Darden]

Don't.

[Rosenberg]

I don't need to hear. I don't need to hear about it.

[Ebro Darden]

Yeah, I was gonna say that's another.

[Laura Rosenberg]

You can do that.

[Rosenberg]

The other, like, I don't think it's cool. It's not my business, but I don't, like, need to play by play play. I'm good.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I'm good off that. Yeah, you can use that approach, by the way.

[Rosenberg]

What?

[Ebro Darden]

And you listen.

[Rosenberg]

Why are men talking about this?

[Ebro Darden]

What? Well, because dudes just like being messy, just like anybody.

[Laura Rosenberg]

That's what they. People will talk about it.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, I guess so.

[Ebro Darden]

And you could also just be like, yo, I don't like hearing about it. Like, that's whack, B. Like, I feel bad for bro, because that's really what's happening. Yeah, he feels bad.

[Rosenberg]

He thinks it's not cool.

[Laura Rosenberg]

So you could do that and then that's it. End it there. Keep it to yourself. So say the gurus.

[Ebro Darden]

Wow. That's the Monday program.

[Rosenberg]

Hope. Hope Coleman jumped into our super chat and said, not y' all promoting an abuser because he made good music.

[Ebro Darden]

Oh, Chris Brown.

[Rosenberg]

Y' all just talked about boycotting the machine.

[Ebro Darden]

Chris Brown.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, I know.

[Ebro Darden]

Wait, Rasan you shaking your head. Why? I mean, I don't. Abuser is rough. No, it's not.

[Rosenberg]

I mean, he definitely wasn't abuser.

[Laura Rosenberg]

I mean, what he did was.

[Rosenberg]

No, no. The rough part is. The rough part is, do you deserve to get labeled something horrible for the rest of your life because of something you did? That's a question of conversation.

[Laura Rosenberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rosenberg]

Now. Now, people will also come up and tell us, though, that in years after that, he did other things. Stock more like stocky or like, you know, listen, we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. With Chris Brown, we've done every angle. I crushed him for years, and people hated me for talking about him and not letting him up. Then eventually, it seemed like he made

[Ebro Darden]

good critique and came up.

[Rosenberg]

No, he accepted it came up face to face conversation. I decided, listen, who cares? It's just me. But I decided as a person, maybe he deserves another chance at to be a human being. And then people will say no.

[Ebro Darden]

How can you give him that chance?

[Rosenberg]

So everyone sees it differently. You have every right, Hope Coleman, to not want to have anything to do with Chris Brown. I don't begrudge you that. I can't say that I go running every time Chris Brown drops music. But he's important and people care about his music. So it's worth paying attention to. To me.

[Ebro Darden]

But I feel you promoting Chris Brown. I could have said nothing about Chris Brown's album today. Guess what? Those stadium shows with Usher was still gonna sell out.

[Rosenberg]

Right? Right.

[Ebro Darden]

And that music was still gonna move around. But yeah. No, what what people feel about Chris Brown is. Is how they feel.

[Rosenberg]

Yeah. You have a right to feel that way. For sure.

[Ebro Darden]

There you go. Ebro Laura Rosenberg show. Thanks for locking in with us. We will be back Mana 8 08:00am Please subscribe and hit the hype button and hit the chat with all the love and the hate. And we'll have a new Patreon this week too. Have you subscribed to the Patreon? Last week we had Rosenberg's dad a great episode. Get that on the Patreon. See bro. Laura Rosenberg. Ra.