This Man Is Not A Home

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Read – "This Man Is Not A Home"

Release Date: May 22, 2025
Host: Kid Fury and Crissle
Podcast: The Read by Loud Speakers Network

---

1. Celebrating Black Excellence

Janet Jackson's Icon Award
Kid Fury kicks off the episode by celebrating Janet Jackson, who is set to receive the Icon Award at the 2025 American Music Awards. Jackson's illustrious career, boasting 11 American Music Awards, five Grammys, and a Golden Globe, is highlighted as Crissle expresses her astonishment:

"I'm honestly, I'm shocked she hasn't already received this award... better late than never. Definitely well deserved."
[02:10] – Crissle

Quinta Brunson Honored in Philadelphia
The hosts also applaud Quinta Brunson for being awarded the key to Philadelphia, commending her contributions and multiple achievements.

"And Tyrese Maxey, and that's just about it. That is just about it. So, yeah. Go, Quinta."
[03:09] – Kid Fury

---

2. Pop Culture and Current Events

Angela Bassett's Ebony Cover
Crissle and Kid Fury discuss Angela Bassett gracing the cover of Ebony, praising her timeless beauty and dedication to maintaining her appearance.

"Angela Bassett has looked just like this all my life."
[04:35] – Crissle

They delve into the interviewer’s perspective and Bassett’s consistent allure, sharing personal anecdotes about encounters with the actress.

Halle Bailey and DDG Custody Battle
A heated discussion unfolds around Halle Bailey being granted temporary custody of DDG's child, Halo. The hosts critique DDG's behavior based on his online presence and interactions with his child, emphasizing the importance of responsible fatherhood over financial success.

"They don't care about DDG no more. This is the read, baby."
[08:51] – Kid Fury

Crissle adds, highlighting the negative impact of DDG's actions on his child's wellbeing.

Chris Brown's Legal Woes
Kid Fury reports on Chris Brown's arrest in Manchester for an alleged assault from two years prior. The incident involves Brown allegedly smashing a tequila bottle over a producer’s head, leading to significant legal repercussions.

"That's so hard because it's Chris Brown being violent, but I suppose we'll see how this plays out."
[14:15] – Crystal

Crissle voices skepticism over Brown's release for a tour, questioning the justice system's leniency.

Smokey Robinson's Sexual Assault Allegations
A serious segment addresses multiple sexual assault allegations against Smokey Robinson, involving former housekeepers from 2007 to 2024. The hosts condemn the accusations and discuss the broader implications of such misconduct in the entertainment industry.

"I'm disgusted by these allegations against Smokey Robinson."
[18:52] – Crystal

Joe Biden's Health Update
The conversation shifts to President Joe Biden's aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis, discussing the potential impact on his ability to fulfill presidential duties.

"His Gleason score is nine. That is very high risk."
[23:19] – Crystal

Crissle critiques public figures' reactions to Biden's health, intertwining political grievances.

---

3. Listener Letters and Advice

Claire's Abusive Relationship
Claire, a listener, shares her struggles with an abusive husband who belittles her efforts post-C-section while she juggles homeschooling her toddlers. She seeks advice on escaping the toxic relationship.

"I do feel safer with myself now, finding that I share too much with my kids because they are the only people I speak to."
[26:36] – Crystal

Kid Fury and Crissle offer support, encouraging Claire to prioritize her and her children's safety and consider therapy.

April's Marital Betrayal and Dating Dilemma
April writes about discovering her high school sweetheart and current husband has a long-term girlfriend. Overwhelmed by the betrayal, she seeks guidance on handling the ensuing divorce and reintegrating into the dating scene.

"How do I prepare for meeting new people? Are dating apps the only option?"
[43:18] – Crystal

The hosts strongly advise April to disengage from her current relationship before pursuing new connections, emphasizing self-care and psychological healing.

Judy Winslow's Family Neglect Post-Birth
Judy expresses frustration over her family's lack of support following the birth of her child. Despite reaching out, her relatives prioritize other events, including events featuring Beyoncé, over meeting her newborn.

"When a miracle happens in my life, I eventually had to ask people to come visit... but nobody made an effort to be there when it mattered."
[58:15] – Judy Winslow

Kid Fury and Crissle empathize with Judy, suggesting boundary-setting and therapeutic support to navigate her strained family dynamics.

---

4. HBO Max Rebranding and Streaming Services

A significant portion of the episode critiques HBO's rebranding of HBO Max back to its original name, expressing frustration over the unnecessary name changes and marketing mishaps.

"Max becomes HBO Max. That slogan is about as dumb as the name Max."
[86:56] – Kid Fury

Crissle and Kid Fury reminisce about the original branding, emphasizing the importance of consistency and brand recognition in streaming services.

---

5. WNBA and Angel Reese Controversies

The hosts turn their attention to the WNBA, particularly focusing on Angel Reese and the toxic behavior exhibited by fans. They condemn the harassment directed at players, highlighting the intersection of sports fandom and racial issues.

"Crissle and Kid Fury call out the relentless harassment of Angel Reese, advocating for respectful and supportive sports communities."
[97:00] – Crystal

They argue for separating personal biases and racism from sports enjoyment, urging fans to appreciate athletes' professionalism without toxic interference.

---

6. Closing Remarks

Kid Fury and Crissle wrap up the episode by reinforcing their commitment to addressing both light-hearted and serious topics, encouraging listeners to engage thoughtfully with pop culture and personal narratives.

"Yeah, you're not wrong for feeling how you feel. I would feel some type of way, too."
[59:48] – Kid Fury

They invite listeners to continue sending in their letters and engaging with the podcast's community.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "We don't give a fuck."
  [07:32] – Kid Fury

• "I just can't believe you are even thinking about it while you are still not only sharing a home, but a bed."
  [49:02] – Crissle

• "I hate everybody."
  [54:41] – Kid Fury

• "It's a game. And they're not chess pieces. They're people."
  [111:26] – Kid Fury

---

This episode of The Read navigates a spectrum of topics, from celebrating iconic figures to dissecting complex personal dramas and societal issues. Kid Fury and Crissle maintain their signature blend of humor and candor, providing listeners with insightful commentary and heartfelt advice.

Transcript

[Crystal]

Hey, y' all. Inspired by Judy Blume's groundbreaking 1975 novel Forever Watch the reimagined coming of age series about young love by Mara Brachaquil, the iconic creator of Girlfriends. The epic love story follows two black teens, Keisha and Justin, as they explore romance and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other's first. Watch forever. Now playing only on Netflix. Courage. I learned it from my adoptive mom. Hold my hand. You hold my hand. Learn about adopting a teen from foster foster [e-mail] you can't imagine the reward brought to you by Adopt Us Kids, the U.S. department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council.

[Kid Fury]

Hello, niggas, as well as friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I.

[Crystal]

Am Optimus prime and I am head of security for Angel Reese. And this is the read. Thanks for coming back.

[Kid Fury]

It is. Thank you indeed. Let's begin the show with some black excellence, starting with Janet Jackson, who will receive the icon Award. The 2025American Music Awards will celebrate the already 11American Music Awards that Janet Jackson has to her name, as well as five Grammys and a Golden Globe to her name. It will be her first televised performance as well in seven years. It will air. Damn. For real?

[Crystal]

That is crazy.

[Kid Fury]

Now that I think about it. Yeah. I feel like the last time I remember seeing her perform. I mean, this is probably not the last time she performed. The last one I remember is her tribute to her brother.

[Crystal]

Oh, I saw her at Essence.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, but was that televised?

[Crystal]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. But seven years makes sense because the past five have been the pandemic, so.

[Kid Fury]

Right.

[Crystal]

Yeah. So that does. It's crazy to think that it's been five years, but, yeah, well deserved. I'm honestly, I'm shocked she hasn't already received this award. Like, I didn't know there was still something. I didn't know there was still an honor or recognition that Janet hadn't received, so. But good, you know, better late than never. Definitely. Definitely well deserved.

[Kid Fury]

Quinta Brunson's getting the key to Philadelphia.

[Crystal]

Of course, man.

[Kid Fury]

This next Wednesday, May 28, couldn't be more deserved. I mean, right feely, right now you've got eagles, you've got the song Dreams and Nightmares. You've got cheesesteaks, and you've got Quinta.

[Crystal]

And Tyrese Maxey, and that's just about it. That is just about it. So, yeah. Go, Quinta.

[Kid Fury]

Okay, so let's get into this week's pop culture nonsense. Oh, God, it's really wild.

[Crystal]

Oh, Lord. What happened this week?

[Kid Fury]

Just, everything is a mess.

[Crystal]

Oh, well, that is true.

[Kid Fury]

I'll start with something nice. Queen mother Angela Bassett is covering ebony.

[Crystal]

Oh, yes.

[Kid Fury]

The COVID story is already out, and she looks absolutely amazing and gorgeous, as usual, and we are ever so excited. I don't say I haven't read the.

[Crystal]

The.

[Kid Fury]

I haven't read the actual piece yet. I've only marveled at the. The photographs.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

And how this woman is truly stunning and has not changed in that manner at all.

[Crystal]

I love how she was like, yes. And I work very hard for this. Don't think that I just roll out of bed looking like this.

[Kid Fury]

I. Oh, no.

[Crystal]

I try very hard to be this. Fine.

[Kid Fury]

There's a photo where she's got. Where she's, like, in a. Like, in a shadow, and she's got one arm up against the wall. That. That this lady works out.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's strict about her exercise and what she eats. Yes. All of that. But, I mean, truly beautiful. Angela Bassett has looked just like this all my life.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, she really has. Like, she looks the same.

[Crystal]

Yeah. And I see that Corey Murray is the one who wrote this story, so I'm sure it's. But, yeah. I mean, God, Angela Bassett. One time, I actually saw her and called her Queen Mother, and she was like, get out my face.

[Kid Fury]

That's so funny.

[Crystal]

But it's like, what am I supposed to say?

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, what else? I just miss Angela or Ms. Bassett?

[Crystal]

No, the Queen Mother, obviously.

[Kid Fury]

I'm calling you.

[Crystal]

Obviously. You're royalty in my life.

[Kid Fury]

Right.

[Crystal]

You need a bigger title than that. So. So.

[Kid Fury]

Right. You're fucking Angela Bast. Like, what? Okay, so I've read here that niece Halle Bailey has been granted temporary physical legal custody of our baby, Halo.

[Crystal]

Jesus Christ.

[Kid Fury]

Halo's father has been ordered to stay over 100 yards away.

[Crystal]

Correct.

[Kid Fury]

Both Halo and his mother.

[Crystal]

Correct. Correct.

[Kid Fury]

At all times until their court hearing, which is scheduled to begin on 4 June. Hallie asked the judge not to allow DDG visitation, but supervised visits with a professional company. I know that's once a week for six hours only. She also be. She also requested that DDG not be allowed to take Halo outside of LA County. I mean, you make the bed, and, sweetie, you either sleep or you. You don't. I don't know what. I mean. Like, this is where you stay. This is where you stay.

[Crystal]

Oh, man. I just know Halle was like, Excuse me, Mr. Judge. Have you ever heard of Twitch? I. I'm begging you to just look at this. Nigga's Twitch for 20 minutes. And you'll understand why my child needs supervised visits.

[Kid Fury]

They've had clips, highlighted moments you don't even. Just click, click just a little bit here.

[Crystal]

Go link just a little bit. And you will see why my baby needs to meet in the McDonald's parking lot with somebody who works for the court.

[Kid Fury]

Like when you wrote it. I'll never get over it. My dying days. When you wrote a diss record to this lady for doing press for the film she was in, I knew something was right.

[Crystal]

Yeah, I knew someone right jealous.

[Kid Fury]

That was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen a nigga do. And I am an old nigga so mad.

[Crystal]

Mad. Cause she's gorgeous, talented, successful and working. Like, just find you one of these little hoes like you probably running around right now just find your little too good for you.

[Kid Fury]

That was the gag. That's always been the gag. She's too good for you. That was always the gag. That was why you trying to run behind niggas, be like, oh, I've been making X and X Y amount of money on Twitch and YouTube and blah blah, blah. We don't give a fuck.

[Crystal]

We don't.

[Kid Fury]

She was always past you. She was always too good for you. She was always probably holding your hand, babysitting your ass, feeding you, making sure you remember to drink water and wash behind your black ass ears.

[Crystal]

Being rich would not make you a good person. It doesn't make you a good boyfriend or father.

[Kid Fury]

It's not at all.

[Crystal]

It's maybe an accomplishment and that is it. It doesn't say anything else. Right? Because a lot of people are just born that way. But you ddg, okay, yes. You made a lot of money. Congratulations. That doesn't mean you're worth dating or being with.

[Kid Fury]

You see how that was not. It helped you none at all here in terms of getting are keeping custody of your son.

[Crystal]

And it's.

[Kid Fury]

You see how your actions and your wild, ridiculous behavior that ain't got nothing to do with your bank account have put you and your son in this situation.

[Crystal]

Exactly. Exactly. And they don't care. These little niggas don't care about real life.

[Kid Fury]

They told me her fault.

[Crystal]

All they have to do is get online and say whatever to their followers and then those people will go and endlessly harass that girl. The truth is.

[Kid Fury]

And she put up with that when y' all were together. She put up with that when y' all were separate.

[Crystal]

And she has to. She will have to continue putting up with it until them little niggas don't care about DDG no more.

[Kid Fury]

And that won't take long. This the bed, baby. We don't have no more pillows. We don't have no blankets.

[Crystal]

It ain't none. It ain't even no sheet on this bitch. You better roll around on that mattress. And that's all we have for you. It's the same thing with Sky Jackson and Kiki Palmer. It's like all of y' all with these little dumb niggas.

[Kid Fury]

They be trying to save these niggas or, like, make them into, like, a good person.

[Crystal]

I don't know how we could all see that. Halle Bailey was a million times too good for this nigga, but she couldn't see it. And. And now here we are. I hope she and that child are safe and protected. I hope she gets, you know, whatever she needs from the court. And I hope DEG leaves her the fuck alone. Just leave her alone. Go on about be a dad and leave her alone. Stop talking about her on your stream. Stop making up lies and insinuating that she out of the country with niggas and took your child and all this. Just be an adult.

[Kid Fury]

Furthermore, if she did, she should, like, I don't know why some of y' all feel like this whole other nigger around my son thing is supposed to get you, like, points when you're a horrible person and father, Right? I would rather your son be around anybody that's not you.

[Crystal]

And they'd be like, well, I couldn't take him out of the country with some bitch. Right? Because only one of us is a good parent, right?

[Kid Fury]

Right.

[Crystal]

Only one of us is a good parent.

[Kid Fury]

It's not like it's a difficult equation.

[Crystal]

I can do it cause I'm a good mom.

[Kid Fury]

It's really simple math.

[Crystal]

You can't do it cause you're a bad dad.

[Kid Fury]

It is how it works.

[Crystal]

It's really, really simple if you think about it. It doesn't take much.

[Kid Fury]

Just because I have grinned and laughed and enjoyed clips that you have posted with this baby before doesn't say anything about your parenting, like, a single thing. If anything, it just further proves that Halo is fish. And I meant fierce. Like, Halo is fierce. He makes me laugh. He is adorable. He looks like his mama.

[Crystal]

He like, does.

[Kid Fury]

I enjoy the baby regardless. Chloe has posted clips with him where I'm like, yes, because the baby's adorable.

[Crystal]

You're lucky the baby is the. Ain't it? That's no joke.

[Kid Fury]

Adorable, adorable baby with a seemingly Beautiful spirit. But just because you post viral cute clips and stuff with them doesn't mean no, you're a good man.

[Crystal]

Well, because first of all, in 80 of them clips it's funny because that child is looking at you crazy, beating your ass, sniffing you and being disgusted, contributing to the rumors that you stink.

[Kid Fury]

Like there will never be the funny. They were playing games or something.

[Crystal]

And.

[Kid Fury]

DDG got up in Halo's face and was like, ha ha, you can be. Ha ha, you can be. He just like did it for a little too long and at one point Halo just looked and scrunched up his face, cocked his arm back and smacked the fuck out of there.

[Crystal]

Because only one of us is supposed to be childish. Why are you. You're acting like a six year old teasing their new baby siblings. Bitch. What? I'm glad.

[Kid Fury]

Like the videos cute. But the videos are cute because Halo is fierce and he's funny. He's a baby and adorable baby.

[Crystal]

Yes, exactly.

[Kid Fury]

But, but you, that doesn't.

[Crystal]

Doesn't make you a good dad. Parenting is actually a 24 hour job. See, women know that because they have to do it. I don't even feel you're a parent at all hours of the day. If you don't have your child, then you have to make sure that your child is under the safe, loving care of someone else. It's a 24 7. Some cute clips on Twitch. Does not a good father make.

[Kid Fury]

This just doesn't.

[Crystal]

Kind of wish I wanted to believe it. Wanted to believe the way you seem to be so like smiling and happy and doting on this child. Wanted to believe that you wasn't gonna be the little jealous fuck nigga that you seem to be. But here we are now with the court system involved. Cause you don't know how to keep your hands to your goddamn self.

[Kid Fury]

What a dumbass Lord. Speaking of, I guess the Chris Brown superhero era is over because he was arrested in Manchester.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Regarding an alleged assault that took place some two years ago. He allegedly smashed a bottle of tequila over the head of a producer named Abraham Dia two to three times. Says here Abraham lodged a civil complaint against Chris Brown for $16 million. And District Judge Joanne Hurst informed Brown that charges of grievous bodily harm are too serious to be heard in the Magistrates Court. And move the case to a Crown Court. A new date is set for June 13 at the Southwark Crown Court in London. He will remain in custody until that date.

[Crystal]

I think they just let him out.

[Kid Fury]

For being a flight risk.

[Crystal]

They just let him out this morning they said he could go ahead and go on his little tour, but yeah.

[Kid Fury]

This was last night.

[Crystal]

Yeah. So.

[Kid Fury]

Well, I mean, I guess this is another one we'll hear about.

[Crystal]

I mean it does this fully sounds like something Chris. Chris Brown would do. I don't know why it took from November of 2023 to now. That's the part I mean, I don't know.

[Kid Fury]

I mean especially if this whole thing is true about them. It getting tied up in courts and them wanting to push it to a different court and so on. Two years is. Is wild. But yeah, I don't think it's unheard of. Well, neither is Chris Brown being violent, but I suppose we'll see how this plays out starting June 13th. So he. Oh yeah, you say they let him out this morning, but yeah, in about a month. I guess we'll see where things go with that. And like I don't guilty then what?

[Crystal]

Right, because it's hard to imagine Chris Brown going to jail in England for some. Any significant amount of time. It's just hard to believe that he would actually face consequences like that. But think so beating somebody over the head with a bottle of Don Julio and then whooping they ass is. Yeah, that's prison behavior. That's prison worthy behavior. It is. Especially because it says this man ended up in the hospital with lacerations on his head and torn ligaments in his leg and permanent damage, severe emotional distress. So yeah, gonna have to. I'm honestly shocked they even let him out for his tour. But that the fact that they did. The fact that they did let him out makes me feel like, yeah, he ain't gonna get in no trouble for this.

[Kid Fury]

Maybe not. I would expect that at least. You're gonna have to come up. Come up off of some bread because boy wanted 16 million and now they pushing it to the Crown Court talking about some. This is Tuesday. Well, okay, well can I have my. Can I have.

[Crystal]

You just have to be patient. But.

[Kid Fury]

It'S 2025 now, bitch.

[Crystal]

I did see they made him pay 5 million on this bail bond, whatever they call it in the uk. So I guess that's refund some of that. I think that's like refundable if he actually shows up to court. But I mean imagine having to take that. They give you your 5 million back just for you to then turn around and give this other man 16.

[Kid Fury]

Like well and right.

[Crystal]

Yeah. Gonna go on that tour. So you got this man, $16 million. Make sure you got it.

[Kid Fury]

He just sold out Johannesburg two days in a Row or something like that. He's still on tour. He should have this.

[Crystal]

It is so many birds on TikTok showing us footage from they Chris Brown concert. It's a lot of y' all still support Chris Brown. So y' all will give your money to Christopher and then Christopher will give it to this man.

[Kid Fury]

And they rave after Christmas.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah. No, they love it. They love every bit. Greatest performer on earth, Michael Jackson. Who? Beyonce.

[Kid Fury]

Michael.

[Crystal]

Never heard of her.

[Kid Fury]

They ra. So they're having a great time.

[Crystal]

They are. Good for them.

[Kid Fury]

Don't get that man his money. If you. If you cracked him over the head through three.

[Crystal]

And I mean, does anybody doubt that Chris Brown did this?

[Kid Fury]

I mean, he did step in the middle and save some celebrity young adults from jail.

[Crystal]

No, you have to prove to me that Chris Brown didn't do it. I'm just going to assume Chris Brown is guilty and you show me evidence that it's not him.

[Kid Fury]

That's how I. Chrissy was so close to being a vigilante. You were so close.

[Crystal]

You know what? This is old shit that you finally have to account for.

[Kid Fury]

Right?

[Crystal]

So maybe you are changing.

[Kid Fury]

Saved Diddy's kids from going to jail last year. He's making up for there. She's finally changed his way.

[Crystal]

He said, God damn it. Trying to do something good in this world. Good luck.

[Kid Fury]

Smokey Robinson is under criminal investigation. This is where I have to just pull the car over. I have to ask the car to be pulled over so I can just get out. This was. I'm not even taking my stuff with me. You can keep it.

[Crystal]

This is insane. Nigga. Smokey Robinson.

[Kid Fury]

This is regarding multiple allegations of sexual assault. And the R word for former housekeepers filed a lawsuit against Smokey, claiming he repeatedly assaulted them for years between 2007 and 2024. This suit seeks at least $50 million in damages. My God. My God. There's four different housekeepers, former housekeepers, all have different allegations within the realm of sexual assault. And this is almost 20. This ranges between almost 20 years, starting in 2007.

[Crystal]

And his wife is in it, too. They like. And the wife was right there the whole time facilitating and I think heard this officially creating a hostile work environment or something like that. But it's both of them in this suit. And I mean, smokey Robinson is 85 years old. It's kind of hard. It can be hard to picture this.

[Kid Fury]

But, I mean, I can picture it, unfortunately. I just wonder what they will do about it.

[Crystal]

Yeah, I don't have. For me, this Is not an issue of believing them. It's more of. I don't know, it's kind of like Smokey Robinson. Been old my whole life. So how. It's just. But I mean, whatever. This started 18 years ago and they got all kind of pills and stuff to keep men who should be laying down keep em coming right on back up. So I hope they get okay. Men who should be laying down somewhere. You. You know, nature took care of that for us. You were only supposed to wreak havoc until you were like 68, and then you were supposed to sit down somewhere, but y' all went in the lab and came up with that blue pill. Anyway, I also saw that three of these housekeepers didn't speak up because they were concerned over, like, immigration, that their immigration status would be fucked with or they might be deported or something like that because of it.

[Kid Fury]

So Jesus is king. Yeah. Like I said, I don't. It's not like I'm struggling to believe this one as much as I am kind of flabbergasted because I really don't.

[Crystal]

Put too much of nothing past nobody. Just. I'm just shocked. But yuck. I'm disgusted. And it. Things like this happen all the time. People who are in positions of like you, stuck between a rock and a hard place. You need a job, you need money, you need to be able to take care of yourself and your family. And you're scared of being deported. Like, it's all these factors that contribute to you being the quote, unquote, perfect victim. So it's like. And it's four different women with the same goddamn story. All Latina, all housekeepers. Only one of them, a, I guess a legal citizen or whatever child. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I have a feeling this will be one of those settled out of court. Oh, wait, no. Oh, no. This is a criminal investigation.

[Kid Fury]

That's what I'm saying.

[Crystal]

We will see then.

[Kid Fury]

Are they going to clink?

[Crystal]

Clink him suing is one thing. Criminal is something else. Yeah, I guess that's a. Yeah, that's another. That's another fine. That's another. We'll see what the findings say. Yeah, yeah, yuck.

[Kid Fury]

We'll also. Wait. What the findings see say about Joe Biden, who's apparently not well, he's been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that is apparently spread to his bones. That is rough cancer is the absolute worst of it. Is also incredibly old. Hopefully he's surrounded by those who love him personally.

[Crystal]

Yeah, I did see that his cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management. But then also this professor of urology said that this is probably the worst version of this kind of cancer that you can get. Plus, like you said, he's elderly, so. Oh, okay. So his Gleason score is nine. Yes. That is very high risk. So, yeah, I guess they'll see how physically he able he is to go through treatment. But, yeah, I mean, I did see Angelica Ross was like, I am so sorry to hear Joe Biden has cancer. Cancer's horrible. I want him to live so he can be held accountable for his war crimes, his crimes against the people of Gaza.

[Kid Fury]

And I was like, work, just can't agree any further. Work, like, I can't agree any further than that. That is just salty.

[Crystal]

I want you to stay alive so you can be held accountable for your shit.

[Kid Fury]

I could not have worded it any better. Yep, there it is.

[Crystal]

Love, Angelica.

[Kid Fury]

Amen.

[Crystal]

Made it plain.

[Kid Fury]

That's it for the hot tops this week. Going to take a break and see you in a bit.

[Crystal]

One of the most important ways that we can express our individuality and our style is through our clothing choices. Over at True Religion, those good people really believe that you should own your true. It inspires you to live in confidence, unfiltered and unapologetic. From its beginning, True Religion set their own path by revolutionizing denim. They're known for their iconic exaggerated stitch, creating jeans that are instantly recognizable and making those who wear them impossible to ignore. True Religion is a symbol of individuality and confidence. It inspires you to silence the noise, carve out your own path, embrace your inner power, and take bold steps forward. That's literally. I feel like the era that I'm entering in my life right now, I am becoming more of my authentic self. And you can be the authentic you as well. And True Religion, I'm actually so, so excited because I just got the cutest and I mean the cutest denim dress. You can go find it on their website right now. It's called the Georgia super cutie belted shirt dress. Thank you so much. True Religion again, y' all be on it. Okay, you can own your true@true religion.com and use code the read for 15% off your full price purchase. That's true religion.com and code the read for 15% off. Hey, y' all. Inspired by Judy Blume's groundbreaking 1975 novel Forever, watch the reimagined coming of age series about young love by Mara Brak Akil, the iconic creator of Girlfriends, the epic love story follows two black teens, Keisha and Justin, as they explore romance and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other's first. Watch forever. Now playing only on Netflix.

[Kid Fury]

Okay, folks, we're back. It is time to read your listener letters.

[Crystal]

It is Send your questions to Ask the Read gmail dot com. We may read them aloud on the show. We do have an update this week from Claire. If you remember, Claire wrote in because she had had this man's baby, her husband's children. She's a 33 year old stay at home mother of three and she was talking about how she just had a C section. She's been slipping in household chores and her husband said two months is more than enough time to bounce back from a C section while she is homeschooling two toddlers. So.

[Kid Fury]

So you were able to email us from jail.

[Crystal]

So Claire said, hey y' all, I heard my letter in the middle of me doing the dishes and I had to actually stop, sit and really absorb what you were both saying to me. I did just give birth to his big head baby. And not only was the head huge, but so was that 11 pound body.

[Kid Fury]

Jesus Christ.

[Crystal]

I lost so much blood I had to be on blood thinners for a month. I really am that correct? Correct. Okay. I don't live anywhere near my family, but they were on that same unhelpful. My mother actually told me that I should just wait it out because his cholesterol is high and I would up any veteran benefits I could get if I leave. Meaning he might die early because his cholesterol's high.

[Kid Fury]

That is such a mama. Like what girl?

[Crystal]

I'm only surrounded by his family and our church family who have also told me to count my blessings because at least he don't hit me. I bet Crystal, you called it a thousand percent. We had an argument the day before the show about me putting on makeup and putting myself together for the day. He said I'm home all day and don't need all that because I'm teaching our three and four year old to be whores. That felt ridiculous and I suggested we go see a counselor, but he said it doesn't matter who we see. I'm not changing because I'm not wrong. I've been looking for a work at home job I can do to stash some money away and get me and my babies out. At this point, I'm looking for therapy for myself only. I'm finding that I share entirely too much with my kids because they are the only people I speak to. And I don't want this to affect them later. The light in this dark tunnel is that a mom from the playgroup inadvertently introduced the rest of us to weed. And I'm not sure why I waited until my 30s to try it, but, baby, I will never go a day again without it. I feel so much better. I feel so much better and like a much more patient mother. I know my husband would blame the devil if he ever knew. So I've been smoking after everybody goes to sleep, and I really adore that 17 minutes of me time in between crying babies. Love you all so much. Thanks, Claire.

[Kid Fury]

Hold on. Hang in there. It sounds like you've gotten the information you needed.

[Crystal]

Yes, it does.

[Kid Fury]

I'm glad that our silliness and advice meant something, and I hope that you can get yourself and your babies out of there asap. I'm ready to. To murder today.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Kid Fury]

But just like, for I can. Just.

[Crystal]

Just seeing the email pissed me off, like.

[Kid Fury]

And then your mama gonna talk about some be careful before he die type shit.

[Crystal]

Girl, please just wait it out because his cholesterol is high, girl. And in the meantime, he is terrorizing me and my children. Do you understand they're being traumatized by being in a home with this man? Yes. Stack your money, do whatever you steal from him. $20 here, $30 there. Do whatever you need to do.

[Kid Fury]

I agree.

[Crystal]

Do whatever you need to do. Go stockpile it, save it, squirrel it away somewhere, and then get your children out of there while he at work. One day, just you come home, me, the kids, and the dog is gone. Literally straight like that. Cause this nigga to say, it don't matter who we see. I'm not changing. Cause I'm not wrong. You want a dictatorship as a marriage, and that ain't gonna work.

[Kid Fury]

Walls would be bare.

[Crystal]

Me, I'm leaving.

[Kid Fury]

Ain't nothing here but us mice. And there would be one paper plate, one solo plate in the middle of the floor. That's it boxed. Hungry Man's dinner on it. That's really it to say good luck.

[Crystal]

I saw a TikTok of some woman who was like, yeah, my husband's abusive. So I left him while he was at work. But before I left, I cooked all his favorite food. I froze most of it so he would have something to eat. I paid all the bills. I left him instructions on how to log in and pay the bills. But I paid them this one time so he won't have to worry about it until next month.

[Kid Fury]

I'm like, why don't you just stay?

[Crystal]

Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you left, but you. Then why are y' all. You know, I. I'm gonna blame the church for that and we gonna move on. I'm glad.

[Kid Fury]

I agree.

[Crystal]

Happy for you, Claire. Best of luck to you and those children. Our first letter this week comes from Trouble, who says, hey, this is more for Kid Fury. Because I know Crystal don't do horror, which I respect. Have you played Sorry, we're closed?

[Kid Fury]

She watched Sinners. She also watched.

[Crystal]

Well, this is horror video game, which I'm absolutely not going to do.

[Kid Fury]

But I don't know what sorry, you're closed is.

[Crystal]

Oh, you haven't played Sorry, we're closed.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah.

[Crystal]

Okay. Well, so Trouble says it's a dope ass horror game. Beautiful art, angels and demons, contemplation about what it means to be loved. And all of the characters are hot. It is so sickening. I'm literally obsessed with that game. Very curious about what you would think about it. But you haven't played it. Okay.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, check it out.

[Crystal]

Sorry, we are closed. All right, let's move on then. This letter comes from Billingsley, who says, I love y' all. And I've been listening for years. But I'm gonna get right to it. Because this has been weighing on me for a while. Back in early 2024, my then boyfriend said he would pay for my girls trip in summer 2025.

[Kid Fury]

Oh, God.

[Crystal]

I told him I wasn't gonna go because I had been laid off and couldn't justify the cost. But when he said he would pay for it, I agreed to go. A month later, we found out we're pregnant. And we got married like the next week.

[Kid Fury]

Don't say that you are pregnant.

[Crystal]

And I wanted to rewrite it, but I didn't. Cause that's what she said. She said we're pregnant. So. All right.

[Kid Fury]

I hate that saying. I'm so sorry. I. Okay.

[Crystal]

We had discussed marriage plenty before. So this basically just sped things up because I needed to get on his health insurance. Sure, 2024 was kind of rough. He definitely felt some type of way about working and taking care of me while I stayed home. And he made that known. I was so overwhelmed with preparing for an unexpected baby and getting the house ready. That I couldn't put any energy into finding a job. Plus, I have never felt fatigue, like pregnancy fatigue. I was exhausted all the time. I started making the payments myself for the girls trip because I was too scared and felt too guilty to ask him for money since we Weren't in a good place, and he was paying the majority of our bills. It's now 2025. We have a baby. I found a job that starts in May, and the trip is in a couple of months. Did I wait too late to say anything about paying for the trip? Should I just forget it since he's taking care of me for the last year? Or should I bring it up since he offered and that's the only reason I'm out $5,000? I know that communication is something we need to work on. We tried couples therapy a while ago, but we stopped after four sessions. I'm trying to find a personal therapist, too. I've always had a hard time with any type of confrontation, but this rough 2024 made it even worse. I appreciate any advice. Thanks for reading Billingsley.

[Kid Fury]

What do you mean? Assuming it's a joke?

[Crystal]

I literally just made it up because I couldn't think of a name. So I don't even think it's a real name or word or anything else.

[Kid Fury]

No, Billingsley is a last name for sure.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well.

[Kid Fury]

I mean, I don't see why you can't. I hear. I hear you on the. She said confrontation is not her tea.

[Crystal]

Right.

[Kid Fury]

So I can get that, but it's like, girl, what's your alternative? Right? You want to go on this trip, you need to say something to him. The time is not gonna go back.

[Crystal]

She wants that $5,000 back.

[Kid Fury]

So I just feel like you have to. You should just say something. And maybe. Maybe it's about. Maybe we're. Maybe the question is about how it is said, because obviously you need to say something. You're just struggling with how to communicate. I wish I had, like, a little bit better of a. Because you said that you guys went to couples counseling, but you stopped after four sessions, and then. And then that was it. And you're thinking about going to. Or working to get therapy by yourself.

[Crystal]

Mm.

[Kid Fury]

So I'm not entirely sure what to expect conversation wise here, but it feels like one of those things where you kind of just have to rip the band aid off and have the conversation. You want your five grand? The thing is, in two months, you said, I think. And this was something that he asserted himself about. So I guess I just don't know how to. For someone who I guess maybe has anxiety over confrontation, how to say something like this, that is sensitive.

[Crystal]

Yeah. Yeah. I. My issue, Billingsley, is that I don't think you should ask him for it. Even though. Yes. Even though he said he would pay for the girls trip. He also then supported. Has been supporting you for the past year and a half now. Supporting you because you had his baby. Yes, that is, you know, appropriate and something he should do. But in early 2024, neither one of y' all could have foreseen things going the way they did you. This was an unexpected pregnancy. You had just been laid off. You probably thought, I'll find another job within a couple of months. Like, the pregnancy and all that really threw things off. He was not expecting to pay 5,000 for your girls trip and to pay all the household bills and everything else for the past year and a half. So, yeah, if the relationship. Well, I don't know. You can have a good relationship, even if y' all struggle with communication. I don't. I don't know that you. But you did also say that he felt some type of way about being the sole provider of the home and made that known. So if he's, you know.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, I forgot about that part.

[Crystal]

If he's walking around being a dickhead about it, that my. My concern then is more of, do you. Should you even be with this nigga?

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, I knew there was something in that later that I didn't like.

[Crystal]

Cause I didn't really care for that.

[Kid Fury]

I think I was conflating it with Claire's nigga.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Cause I still want to put hands and feet on that bitch. Cause, like, I'm so serious.

[Crystal]

I could see not really wanting to pay the bills for another grown person. I don't want to either. But when you nut in that person and get them pregnant, it's just kind.

[Kid Fury]

Of a little bit different.

[Crystal]

Right. And she was. And you were. Billings was unemployed when you got pregnant. So if he was that worried about it, then there were precautions that he could have taken. Y' all didn't do that. And so now here we are. So, like, all of that to say, I don't know whether Yalls relationship is a good one. If it is, I would not ask for this money back. But that is just me. I would be like, you know what? You have actually paid that 5,000 over and over again. So you don't even worry about it.

[Kid Fury]

You're right.

[Crystal]

You don't even worry about it. Because I agree y' all are married. But you're like, you know, he offered to pay for this trip. That's the only reason I'm out $5,000. Aren't y' all out $5,000?

[Kid Fury]

Well, this is.

[Crystal]

I'm. I'm actually a little Confused about it.

[Kid Fury]

Well, it.

[Crystal]

Y' all are. Y' all, you found out you were pregnant. Y' all got married the next week, you on his health.

[Kid Fury]

Like, y' all, this is husband found out we're pregnant. They were both pregnant. They were both pregnant. So just saying.

[Crystal]

Let me only have that.

[Kid Fury]

But no, you're actually completely right. I actually agree with you wholeheartedly here. Like, y' all, you were unemployed when you got pregnant. Y' all both were having some issues.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Understand what he was supposed to do. Do you now things are a bit different. Yeah, I agree. That, like, if I'm even after four, four sessions, dipping out of therapy, if I wanna keep this nigga, I probably would just eat that five grand, too.

[Crystal]

Yes.

[Kid Fury]

I think I agree. I do.

[Crystal]

If I wanna keep him. If I don't, then I'm asking for an invoice.

[Kid Fury]

But.

[Crystal]

I'm sending it now. I'm giving you an invoice. Yes. Remember when you had said. But yeah. What I will say, girl, go on your girls trip and enjoy it. 1000% enjoy it. Have your little nightly FaceTime, your little good morning and good night FaceTime with your baby, and then go fucking kick it. Be drunk at 11:30 on the beach with your homegirls. Yes. Go have you a good time because you deserve it. But, yeah, best of luck, sweetie. Our next letter. This is just so crazy. I'm actually not even sure that this one is. We gonna do it anyway. All right. This comes from April, who says, hey, y' all, my name is April because that's the month I found out about all this shit. I have been a longtime lover and listener of this show. I never thought I would have anything to write about, but here we are. I'm single for the first time since I was 17. I just turned 34, and weeks before my birthday, I found out that my high school sweetheart slash best friend slash husband has a girlfriend and has had a girlfriend for years. Okay, naturally, I'm devastated, but there are a few things that I'm experiencing that are making this situation a healthier transition for me, or at least I think it is. I'm trying to do what's best for me at the moment. The truth is that I've been grieving the person I have known for so long during our relationship. Life does change people. And I realized a while ago he was just different. But did I think he was cheating? No. Never in a million years did I believe the perfectly kind, sheltered boy I met in middle school was going to be a cheater. The Struggles he has have nothing to do with me and everything to do with his childhood and the lack of healthy examples around him to learn to cope with the stress of life. I'm excited to just be alone. I've never had this opportunity and to live alone and just be me. This situation is a gift in many ways, but being alone is probably the greatest one. Yes, I have just wait.

[Kid Fury]

Like she's.

[Crystal]

It's sounding great, I know. Yes, I have a therapist. I started seeing them at the beginning of the year for unrelated reasons, but I am speaking to someone weekly and processing this situation. We still live together. Our situation is amicable and while we don't want to be apart, we know our relationship will never be the same after this. So we have agreed to a divorce. He is still seeing her. Let's be real. The situation is only new to me. So he is continuing to live his life but with full transparency to me. Now he tells me when he's going to see her in an honest matter of fact way. We are operating in honesty in order to end our marriage amicably. He doesn't deserve this, Grace, but I do care about the energy I put into the world, so I'm okay with this. He has become the most honest liar I've ever known. Yes, he is. He is still a liar because we are still sleeping together and he's lying to his girlfriend about that part.

[Kid Fury]

Okay.

[Crystal]

Yes, we are still sleeping together. To be honest, not much has changed. I figured not much has changed with our routine. Once the pressure of our relationship was released, we became ourselves again. And now, weirdly, we both have the relationship we always wanted. But I am.

[Kid Fury]

What the fuck are you talking about?

[Crystal]

But I am not. But I am not open to reconciling. So our relationship will never be the same. We have been thought of as perfect for years and that created so much strain and people pleasing in both of us. Now that the pressure is off, we're just being us. My question is, how do I prepare to jump back into the world of dating? To be clear, I'm not ready to date right now, but eventually I will be, right?

[Kid Fury]

Oh, clearly.

[Crystal]

I do know that being social is in my nature and that's been hindered in this relationship because being social was not his thing. And that was fine. I didn't mind compromising on that for him. He's the only person I've ever been with. So sex is another huddle that I'll need to jump over.

[Kid Fury]

Oh.

[Crystal]

I should not be thinking about this right now, but I can't help but be concerned about meeting people that will be into the kink I'm into or allowing me to be myself fully in a sexual way. How do I prepare for meeting new people? Are dating apps the only option? Do I accept these blind dates people are trying to set me up on? What are some steps on getting my groove back and just meeting people without the trauma of this relationship looming? Thank you both for any advice you may have. Let this be a cautionary tale to anybody else out there. Take the time to learn and grow before continuing relationships straight out of high school. I will never call our time together a waste, but we should have taken the time to grow as individuals and then found our way back to each other later in life. It would have made a world of difference. Thanks again. Love you Both, April.

[Kid Fury]

Well, April 1st, you need to be far away from that nigga and not fucking him.

[Crystal]

Girl, girl, girl. I cannot believe this. He made.

[Kid Fury]

I don't. You have to, sweetheart. The first day that lady's man, you have to start having sex with him.

[Crystal]

Stop helping that man cheat on his girlfriend.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, you should start there. Outside of that, I would say, you know, welcome to the wild world of dating. It's a shit show. It's random, it's fast, it's slow, it's. It's not reliable. But it can also be fun and exciting and liberating. And it's just a thing you have to do if you want to.

[Crystal]

If you want to be partnered. Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

You know, have romantic relationships or sexual relationships and like coming back to the high school sweetheart of it and him being your only partner thing just reminded me of like the stakes and this anxiety for you, I assume, because it's not as simple as just getting back out there. It's like getting out there in like period.

[Crystal]

Right.

[Kid Fury]

So, yeah, I would just say there isn't any particular. Excuse me, direction I think either one of us can give you. You named directions, you called out dating apps and this and that. So you have some sort of idea of directions you can go. I would say you have to choose who you feel like is most comfortable to you and then just accept that. With dating comes, I think said this like last week or the week before that. That with dating comes like the expectation.

[Crystal]

Oh yes. The risk is.

[Kid Fury]

Of getting your heart broke or your feelings hurt comes along with it. And it's just a regular everyday thing for most people who date or who are dating.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

And the person who's linking up with you is putting themselves at just as much risk if that makes you feel any better every time you're dating? Especially now, cause you fucking somebody's boyfriend. But even in general, it's. It's a. It's rough on. On both ways a lot of the time. But, yeah. Yeah, get out from underneath that shadow and underneath a new one or a few new ones.

[Crystal]

I. I mean, all of that dating stuff, I fully agree with. I just can't believe you are even thinking about it while you are still not only sharing a home, but a bed. You are fucking this man still April. Okay? You just found out last month. You've been with this man for, I don't know, 18, 20 years. Okay, yeah, almost 20 years. I do get that. However, dating, new social situations kink. Will other people like it? Will they not? How do I meet new people? How do you get that man out of your house? Yeah, the. I couldn't believe you gave us all this information and then said, my question is, how do I date? No, girl, My. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm so sorry. No, the question is, where are you gonna live? The question is, who's your attorney? This is an amicable divorce. Great. That means we should be able to wrap it up. Let's get it on out of here. You're willingly contributing to this. This weird dynamic where this man now gets to have the best of both worlds. Like, what I want to hear from you. He gets to have his wife and pussy at home and then say to his wife, yeah, I'm going to get my backup pussy. Talk to you later. And you just sit there and wait for him to come.

[Kid Fury]

Like, let him.

[Crystal]

You not even fucking nobody else, girl.

[Kid Fury]

That's why she's talking about dating now. Because it sounds like two things. One, she want to be able to have that same sort of, like, luxury or what she feels like whatever the fuck it is that he's getting. And the other part of it is that it sounds like she feels like they've discovered this casual approach to sexuality and intimacy where she can think about dating while this is a situation because that's what he's doing. But he's not thinking about dating. He has a girlfriend.

[Crystal]

Right?

[Kid Fury]

You know what I'm saying?

[Crystal]

Like, and he. You're not the only person he slept with. Y' all are in very different places, right? I. This idea that, like, now your relationship is perfect because the pressure to be this ideal couple is gone. Is. I hope you bring that up to your therapist. Tell your therapist that you told us.

[Kid Fury]

Please. Yes, please.

[Crystal]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's plenty of time, and I do mean plenty, the rest of your life for dating and finding other people who are into what you're into. I know you're worried about, oh, my goodness, you have all the time in the world. Whatever you're into, somebody else is also into. So for sure, you really don't have to worry about that. If I were you. If I were you, my very first order of business would be to stop.

[Kid Fury]

Sleeping with this man directly today. Like, the first thing you should do is find out where you will live that he does not.

[Crystal]

Yes.

[Kid Fury]

And not sleep with him anymore.

[Crystal]

Literally.

[Kid Fury]

If we're talking about dating, even if.

[Crystal]

Y' all are still sharing a home, stop fucking him. Do you think you're having emotionless, detached sex with this man?

[Kid Fury]

I was just about to say. I was just about to say.

[Crystal]

Whatever.

[Kid Fury]

You're not even going to maneuver the way he do.

[Crystal]

Sweetie, whatever hard feelings you're having are going to be that much harder if you continue to sleep with him. I'm begging you to stop.

[Kid Fury]

You are not going to have a successful dating situation even meeting another nigga that you like if you stay up with this and keep fucking him. It's not gonna happen. It isn't just because he does it. He's a dirt bag.

[Crystal]

Like, I just. I. I am like, oh, we could both be. No, it's not even. You're not both dirt bags at this point. You can't get him back. Like, you think it's gonna hurt him just as much for you to have a boyfriend on the side when. Blah, blah.

[Kid Fury]

Like, girl, I don't even think she think that. I just think that she has fallen for some okie doke foolishness where she's just kind of convinced herself that this situation is tea and fun and okay. And if she go gets herself an extra branch that, you know, they'll be like, on equal footing. And what you need to do is just go be your own tree.

[Crystal]

Yeah, you wanna get your groove back and meet people without the trauma of this relationship. Okay? So, yeah, first of all, stop. Stop perpetuating the trauma. It. It's going to be worse the more that you sleep with him. But that therapist you have, they can help you work through the trauma of your relationship so you don't take that baggage into the next one. Stay right there. Stay right there. Especially.

[Kid Fury]

I would still take a good like two to three month. I'd take at least three months off.

[Crystal]

@ least.

[Kid Fury]

At least I'm thinking about me. Bitch, you would be with this niggas in shows in high school.

[Crystal]

Yeah, yeah, I'll be single.

[Kid Fury]

Leave this nigga. Move out, kick him out, whatever. And I'll be single for at least a year.

[Crystal]

Yeah, you're so excited to be alone. You're like, oh, my God, I can't wait to live alone. Can't wait to live alone. Girl, go live alone. Go live alone. You. You. You absolutely said it. His issues didn't have nothing to do with you. They had everything to do with him. Separate yourself from this mess and go put yourself first. I know that nigga is over there. I know that nigga is at work telling every all of his little homeboy niggas at work. Y' all ain't gonn. Y' all ain't gonna believe this shit. I told April and she said, well, bring the in here.

[Kid Fury]

We could both up 50 cent wing Wednesdays be a trip. Cause this nigga won't shut the up about you and his girlfriend. And you over here talking about dating. And the email started so progressive.

[Crystal]

It did. It makes me think of when girls are like, yeah, me and my man go to the strip club. We find something to take home. We find something to bend over. No, y' all don't. And you know how I know? Cause number one, you never, ever fucked a girl, sucked a titty, licked a clit. Before you were with that nigga, you did it cause he wanted you to. That's how I know that. And number two, I know it. Because y' all don't never pick a nigga to take home and bend over and fold up and send about his way. It's you doing what you can to hold on to whatever idea of a nigga, whatever faint whisper of a relationship that this man is giving you. And I can't necessarily put that on you, Apryl, but I do think it's in your best interest to stop sleeping with this nigga yesterday and the guy.

[Kid Fury]

Cause these niggas be stupid and mean, and y' all still be just like, oh, whatever.

[Crystal]

And you were like, this is actually the best relationship. Because now it's so transparent, girl. What? For a nigga to fuck me? And they'd be like, all right, I'm going for round two over at Ashley's. I'll see you tomorrow.

[Kid Fury]

I don't know why. I just killed these men.

[Crystal]

Oh, it's not funny. Good luck, April. Hey, y' all. This episode of the Read is brought to you by Squarespace. We love Squarespace over here at the Read. They are the number one all in one perfect platform to get your website off and running okay. They give you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place, from consultations to events and experiences. Showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. With Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI Enhanced Website Builder, you can quickly create a personalized site that aligns with your brand and goals. Plus, Squarespace also streamlines your workflow with built in tools for appointment scheduling, email marketing, invoicing and seamless online payments to keep your business running smoothly and ensure you're paid on time. I do love Squarespace. We have been using Squarespace over here at the Read and for our own personal websites and different ventures for years and years now. Maybe almost 10 years because it is so easy to do. It's easy to sign up, easy to get a design together, and easy to start making money and showing off what you offer through Squarespace and their incredible website design capabilities. So if you're ready to launch your site, head to squarespace.com the read to start your free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code the read to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, that's squarespace.com the re a d Let them know Kifiri and Crystal sent you. Hey guys, make this your best season yet with nutritious 2 minute meals from Factor. Eating well has never been as easy as it is with Factor. All you gotta do is heat it up and enjoy, giving you way more time to do what you want. Factor powers your day with satisfying breakfasts on the go, lunches, premium dinners and guilt free snacks and desserts. With 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your goals. You can choose from Calorie, Smart, Protein plus Keto and more. It's easy to savor more this spring because Factor packs in the flavor with none of the fuss. As y' all know, I am obsessed with Factor and how easy they make it to have a nutritious, delicious dinner with almost no work. So the roasted garlic chicken is a favorite. Roasted red pepper tortellini and Italian sausage, the honey butter chicken breast, the Baja salmon. I have tried and loved every last one of them. Sometimes I splurge and get the steak with the potatoes and the asparagus. Girl, it's all good. Two minutes. You poke some holes, put it in the microwave, heat it up and dinner is ready. There is nothing easier. It makes it so easy for me to make sure I'm taking care of myself and meeting my goals at the same time. You can get started@factor meals.com theread50 off and use code the read 50 off to get 50 off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code the read 50 off@factor meals.com thereaD50 off for 50 off plus free shipping. Go get you something good to eat. Our last letter comes from Judy Winslow who says hey Kristen Kiffury. I gave birth to my first child in March and not a single person in my family made plans to come meet her. I live in Chicago, my sister's in Columbus, and my parents are in Selma, Alabama. They are all reachable Mobile and yet mysteriously unavailable. When a miracle happens in my life, I eventually had to ask people to come visit. My sister said. My sister, who has her own daughter said that she didn't want to go before our mom went, which I understand. So I didn't bug her. Then I asked my parents. We agreed on a date and then they backed out saying they had to take care of my 102 year old grandmother. Which I understand.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah.

[Crystal]

But then I found out they're driving to Columbus for my nephew's wedding. So that trip can indeed happen, just not for me or their granddaughter. In an attempt to save face, my mother called to plan a rushed, uninvited visit right in the middle of my work week. She spent a lot of her time locked up in one of my rooms because she's scared of my cat. But it's giving I showed up. Now what energy. My dad stayed back to watch my grandma. My sister still hadn't made plans to see the baby until Beyonce came to town and now all of a sudden she want to come to Chicago. But my sister didn't even think to buy my ticket as a gift. Instead, in in fact, I'm paying her to buy the tickets together. So now I'm working from home. I got both of them in my house and they're criticizing everything. The house, my parenting, everything, all this noise. But nobody made an effort to be there when it mattered. Nobody came to meet the baby, just to meet the baby. I've lived here for 20 years and my family has visited five times. I'm always doing the emotional labor, traveling and checking in. I always make space for them. But when is it my turn? So my question is, am I wrong for being mad that my family couldn't prioritize meeting my baby but somehow had the energy for everybody else, including Beyonce? Thanks Judy Winslow, the Forgotten child Jude's.

[Kid Fury]

I don't think you're Wrong for feeling how you feel. I would feel some type of way, too.

[Crystal]

Absolutely. I would.

[Kid Fury]

I would just say something, but I don't know how it would. I. Again, I don't. I don't know that that would be, like, particularly helpful here because it sounds like they'll just say excuse or excuse or excuse, and that's not necessarily going to make you feel any better. So I guess then it just is about boundaries for yourself and your baby and whatever makes you feel safest and your child, obviously, safest and happiest. But that one's complicated because, like, it's your family, it's your sister, it's your mom. You're talking about their grandchild. It's really silly and probably not that complicated thing to untangle, as long as it's untangled properly. Because I'm just like, I don't know how deep this goes. Is this like a Chicago thing where the girlies don't see it for Chicago? Is it something specific about you and in the family history? Is there something there in the dynamic? Have you been a black sheep for some other reason, some choice you've made in your career or in your life or whatever that has kind of made you feel like the odd one out? Or is it just niggas being, you know, typical niggas and flip floppy and, you know, and this is because the baby just got here. But I do like, typically, especially grandmas baby get here, it's like, okay, when do we go get to see the baby? Especially, bitch, when Covid after Covid.

[Crystal]

Right? Right.

[Kid Fury]

Grandmother's rioting, Meemaw's rioting.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

So this one's sticky to me because it. I don't know you or your family, obviously, but it sounds peculiar. Like, why is a drive up here to meet your grandbaby got all these complications? But then this nigga's wedding is cool. But then, oh, let me last minute come see this newborn that my baby gave birth to, right? And then my sister's like, no, I don't want to see the baby before mama sees the baby. Which to me, no, Shay, I don't understand.

[Crystal]

Especially because you're much closer than mama is. Columbus is way closer than Selma.

[Kid Fury]

Like, I don't know if that's maybe a regional thing, cultural thing. I don't understand or recognize if that's a woman thing, but I don't get it.

[Crystal]

Maybe it's a mom thing.

[Kid Fury]

But then, of course, the Cowboy Carter tour is over yonder and up the hill, through the woods, and now you want to, you know, go through the forest and shit. Yeah, that's going to be an issue. I don't know. I don't know. Because you're going to be particularly sensitive. It's her daughter. Like, I don't know, you would want. I think it is completely. You're not even just talking about like, yo, I don't know, graduation or your wedding anniversary or something else, which you would still be right to feel some type of way if you feel like people are just shrugging off this thing that is important to you. But your baby that you just had.

[Crystal]

Yeah, yeah. That's big.

[Kid Fury]

Her niece, her granddaughter. His granddaughter. That. Yeah, I don't like it. I just don't know how. What to say because I feel like when you, when you're vulnerable that way, especially with family and they are like flippant about it and in the mix now you're, you're talking about the life of someone that you. That is yours.

[Crystal]

Right, right.

[Kid Fury]

And protecting them. It might be a thing of. Oh, okay, well then just don't come, don't bother coming to Chicago. If you are in Chicago, feel free to not tell me and that's that. I don't know.

[Crystal]

Yeah, it's hard without knowing the dynamic of your family. If and only, you know, Judy, did you do something to piss everybody off. If so, then my advice does not apply because I'm looking at this like you come from a family that is. I don't know necessarily that it's necessarily abusive, but there is something to be said for family dynamics where the parents just don't seem to be interested or engaged in what the children have going on. There's this lady. Yes, but I'm thinking of it more in adulthood where it's. These are just the dynamics between us. Not necessarily what you grew up with, but what it's like now. Although it probably was still that way when you were growing up. But there's a psychologist on TikTok, I think her name is Dr. Sherry and she talks about low effort families. And this, this sounds like that the low effort family is this dynamic where, yeah, the emotional connections between family members really aren't there and you just have no real interest in the other person's well being, their problems, what they're going through, the things that are great in their lives, all of that. You just kind of, you like it's there. You know, you text I love you. We have, you know, maybe a family zoom once every couple of months or something like that. But there's no real engagement in Developing an emotional relationship with you, knowing who you are. So, yeah, so this. This kind of.

[Kid Fury]

Can that be.

[Crystal]

Sounds like that.

[Kid Fury]

Can that be, like, targeted at a family member, or does that typically sound like it's something that's just, like, widespread with everybody?

[Crystal]

No, it's a family dynamic. If one person is the target of all this, then they are probably the scapegoat. It just depends. There's a lot of things that depends on, because sometimes the scapegoat is the person who's causing hell in the household, but sometimes there's just one person in the family who's different, and they get picked on and beat up on or ostracized and. And that could be you in addition to the rest of this. But it's just strange that your parents, both of your parents and your sister, they're all just kind of like, oh, yeah, a baby. Whatever, bitch. A baby is huge.

[Kid Fury]

Like, huge.

[Crystal]

And you've lived in Chicago for 20 years. You know, these sorts of situations are so tricky because we're being asked to identify what's missing. What is missing here? There's a lack of excitement and love and consideration for what you're going through that's missing here. You know, there are people who. Their daughter moves across the country, and they move heaven and earth to still see her. Like, they do whatever they need to do to still be in touch with her. She has a baby. You have to force your mama to not be in the delivery room. You know, there are people whose parents are really invested, really want to know them and be a part of their lives. And it sounds like that is something you didn't get. So I really do understand. You've lived there 20 years. They visited five times. Yeah, you had to ask them to come. They weren't even. And then your mama canceled and then was like, oh, yeah, I guess if I'm going to this wedding, then it'll look bad if I don't also go see my grandbaby.

[Kid Fury]

Literally, like, bitch, yeah.

[Crystal]

Well, you actually don't even have to worry. And you, Judy, wanting your family so badly, invited them into your home, despite being treated like this. So I'm gonna recommend you go to therapy.

[Kid Fury]

And they came into the house and started to tell you how to parent and criticize you. Oh, everybody's lost it.

[Crystal]

Am I supposed to be.

[Kid Fury]

Everyone's lost it.

[Crystal]

Am I supposed to be the sort of mother who doesn't visit her child because she moved to a different city? Am I supposed to be the sort of sister who doesn't Want to drive a few hours to go see her niece. Just at some point, just. You wouldn't have to ask me to come see my baby. I'm telling you when. I'm telling you when I'm. And you can say, girl, no, we need some time. Push it back two weeks or whatever, but. Right, I'm inviting myself to come be a part of this because I'm excited for this child and I love you dearly. I've lived in New York for 13 years. My family, my mother. I should be more specific because my auntie has come up here, my cousins have come up here. My mother has never come to New York City to visit me or for any other reason, not even from my graduation. So I really do understand that sometimes we just have these parents, we have these family members who for whatever reason, they're not capable of showing that they give a fuck about us if they do. So, no, you're not wrong for being mad. You're wrong for letting these. These people in your house after they treated you that way and for allowing them to stay there even though they're currently criticizing the out of you. You deserve better than that. Your baby deserves better than that. So again, really gonna recommend that you go see therapy to help work through your feelings regarding your family. But yeah, no, not wrong at all. I would argue you're never wrong for your feelings. What you do with them you might be wrong for, but not for the feelings themselves. So, yeah, best of luck, baby girl. That'll wrap it up for this week. Again, send your Questions to AsktheRead gmail.com we'll be right back. Everybody sleeps, but no two people sleep alike. At Coop Sleep Goods, we celebrate the way you sleep differently. We believe everyone deserves a great night's sleep with their own pillow. And the adjustable customizable coupe pillow makes it easy. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, or even a starfish, we've got the perfect pillow for you. Crafted with our innovative memory foam and microfiber fill, our hypoallergenic pillows adjust to you, not the other way around. Just tailor the fill for the perfect fit, add some in, take some out until your pillow's just right for you. See why luxury hotels and spas worldwide feature Coop sleep goods and why we have tens of thousands of 5 star reviews with our 100 night risk free trial. You've got nothing to lose except those sleepless nights. Get 25% off your first order when you visit coopsleepgoods.com Comedy that's coopsleepgoods.com comedy. If you share a fridge with someone, Instacart can make grocery shopping so much easier. With family carts, you'll share a cart and each add what you need. Between the two of you, odds are you'll remember everything. So no more milkless cereal. Minimize the stress of the weekly shop with family carts. Download the Instacart app and get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes.

[Kid Fury]

Enjoy.

[Crystal]

$0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees apply for three orders in 14 days. Excludes restaurants.

[Kid Fury]

We're back. It's time for the read. You can start like a grill thing.

[Crystal]

Well, I want to talk real quickly about 2015. Do y' all remember when Donald Trump was running for president and everybody with good sense said, no, please don't. He's going to really fuck things over for generations to come. He'll stack the Supreme Court with pro life dumbasses and just things will be very bad. And y' all voted for him anyway and then did it again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we are seeing that now in the absolutely tragic story of Adriana Smith. I couldn't believe this flew under the radar for me just until the past couple of days. But if you don't know, Adriana smith is a 30 year old woman. She's a nurse and mother, and she went to the hospital in February complaining of a very bad headache. Doctors found out that she had blood clots and unfortunately, Adriana never left the hospital. I don't know exactly what happened from that point, but she is now brain dead. However, doctors at Emory University Hospital have been keeping Adriana functionally alive, keeping her organs functioning because she was nine weeks pregnant in February when she went to the doctor. And thanks to these absolutely ridiculous laws, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and Georgia being full of conservative, we now, we now have a brain dead woman being kept on life support so that her fetus can hopefully develop. That's the thing. The, the doctors are like, we're not even sure this is gonna work. This child may not have, you know, a lot of things functioning correctly. It's almost certainly gonna be born disabled because he's growing inside of a dead fucking mother. And the hospital's like, well, you know, we're erring on the side of caution. Nobody wants to lose their medical license, nobody wants to. To be sued, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Because of Georgia's law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks. So because of these laws, as a direct result of the people that y' all voted for a 30 year old woman who already has a child is literally being kept alive so that the state of Georgia can, I don't know, prove they care more about fetuses than anybody else. Georgia is really in a, in a conservative country with lots of conservative states. Georgia's even weirder because you can claim a fetus as a dependent on your taxes in Georgia, that they are taking it all the way there. When people said, well, if a fetus is a person, how come you can't claim on taxes? Georgia said, you know what? You right, go ahead and put that clump of cells on your tax return, girl. Like, we'll, we'll figure it out. It's, it's extreme down there. This child, the one that's currently baking inside of her, may not be able to walk or talk, maybe blind. There could have been so many different things that happened. And what this, what Adriana's mother is saying is not necessarily that they would have chosen to terminate the pregnancy. You know, this is hard for them that they expected this young woman to be around. You know, they, yeah, they're not expecting their 30 year old to go into the hospital with a headache and not come back out. So they're already in a horrific position emotionally. So she was saying, you know, I'm not saying that we would have chosen necessarily to terminate the pregnancy. We might have asked, you know, is this feasible? Can we do this? Is it viable? But it's not even up to us. It's up to the doctors. And even though I think the, maybe the state's attorney general or somebody was like, look, there is nothing in this law that says you have to keep a woman on life support after brain death. It's not abortion to pull the plug. Basically, like, we're not trying to terminate the life of this fetus, but if you can't survive unless she's alive, then guess what? Then guess what. It's almost like you're not a person. It's almost like you only exist because you are inside of this person's body. Like, the only reason you are even able to grow is because this woman, who is now just a host as far as the state of Georgia is concerned, is being kept alive on machines. I just can't even imagine what her family must be going through psychologically, emotionally, to be dealing with the death of this girl. And then to also have not a.

[Kid Fury]

Human not looked at as you literally.

[Crystal]

You literally are worth less than your fetus. Cause as soon as that baby's born, guess what.

[Kid Fury]

They're just looked at as like a. Like a shoebox rip.

[Crystal]

Yeah. You are literally them little girls in life and death. You are.

[Kid Fury]

And in the. In between. I suppose that's horrendous, the way kindergarten.

[Crystal]

Teachers get some eggs and they show the kids, oh, you know, we're gonna put a light on it. You know, we gonna wait for the ex. You're literally that. You're an incubator for this baby.

[Kid Fury]

For men to do what, Abuse you and play Smash Brothers with them? To act like they give a fuck about. I hate everybody.

[Crystal]

It would be different. Different if this lady was even at term or if the fetus was viable when she died. That would be different.

[Kid Fury]

This is nine weeks. This is like. This is like dystopian sci fi horror weird. Like. Yeah, but. Yeah, yeah, you said everything.

[Crystal]

It is really.

[Kid Fury]

Here we are in the movie. You feel the awful movie.

[Crystal]

This is what y' all want to do. And it. I mean, this is like the third case of a black woman out of Georgia that I've heard where. And this was. This is another question. Did she not receive the treatment for the blood clots she needed because she was pregnant?

[Kid Fury]

I would not put it past y' all.

[Crystal]

No. Because other black women have been allowed to die because the treatment they needed would have terminated the pregnancy.

[Kid Fury]

Yes.

[Crystal]

So y' all.

[Kid Fury]

I really don't.

[Crystal]

Who's paying the bill for this? Who's paying the bill to keep this lady alive?

[Kid Fury]

That's really what I want for eight months.

[Crystal]

Who's paying the bill to keep her alive for that long? Is it Emery?

[Kid Fury]

I need to know.

[Crystal]

Is it Emory? Is it the.

[Kid Fury]

It has to be.

[Crystal]

Is it the taxpayers of the state of Georgia? Is it this woman's family? Ding, ding, ding. Probably gonna be the family.

[Kid Fury]

I need to know.

[Crystal]

Know.

[Kid Fury]

Probably need to know. Gonna be taxpayers. Possibly hospital makes the most sense.

[Crystal]

Probably family is most likely family. Family is most.

[Kid Fury]

They are likely going to hand bed bill to them.

[Crystal]

So pro life that we only care about you until you get here. Once you're actually living, you're on your own. And y' all shouldn't have had kids if you couldn't afford them. Are y' all gonna not only pay to keep this woman alive, paid to have this child delivered, obviously via C section. This baby is almost certainly going to have some sort of disabilities, perhaps they're profound. Who's going to pay for that? Who's going to pay for the care and keeping of this child throughout their life?

[Kid Fury]

Not just physical. Like, who's also going to Pay for, like, the private schooling or tutoring that they're gonna need, because not only do other kids, but full grown adults like your motherfucking bitch asses, make them feel, you know, small, different, ostracized, unloved, unworthy, undervalued. Like, y' all don't give a about kids, life, anything. You don't get away. You. You give a about getting away with what you want, right? You don't even like your own kids, y' all.

[Crystal]

You don't like your kids and you don't like women. You really don't give a fuck.

[Kid Fury]

Really don't like.

[Crystal]

You're actually pretty pissed that women have been going around for the past 50 or 60 years doing whatever they want to with their pussies. And you're a little over that just.

[Kid Fury]

Being allowed to voting.

[Crystal]

Oh, you just have to do, oh, you got a bank account. You giving Social Security numbers, alimony. Let that bitch go outside by herself. Yeah, it turns out we're autonomous adult human beings and we can do that if we want to.

[Kid Fury]

And ain't nobody going the fuck back, bitch.

[Crystal]

Like, what? This is what you think this is?

[Kid Fury]

You are going to move around.

[Crystal]

What's really crazy is that this is just the beginning. This sets a horrific precedent.

[Kid Fury]

It's so scary because, like.

[Crystal]

Who'S this?

[Kid Fury]

This is something that you watch in like a movie with Jason Statham or somebody in it. This is like.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Do you feel me? If, like, Mad Liam is the president.

[Crystal]

It is because who would do this? Who would do this?

[Kid Fury]

A Bond villain.

[Crystal]

Yeah. Yeah. You would really have to be that.

[Kid Fury]

A Lannister. What the fuck?

[Crystal]

She's already died tragically, like, right? And at this point, I don't even know.

[Kid Fury]

30 years old.

[Crystal]

I keep coming back to, what must this family be feeling? What must her mother be experiencing? I really can't imagine. But this is why we begged y' all not to vote for Donald Trump. This shit right here when I said ten fucking years ago on this very podcast, Roe v. Wade will be gone if y' all elect Donald Trump. Look where we are now. Look where we are now. With a woman dead and yet being kept functionally alive. Not so she can be an organ donor. We medicine has gotten to that place they normally keep you alive for a few days so your organs are still good and they can donate them. And then they let you go. You rest. Your time on earth is gone.

[Kid Fury]

The way I knew that's not where the story was going to.

[Crystal]

Really should have. It should have been. We let her go. Because that's the humane thing to do. And now Emory University is battling with the Trump administration about it, but insane. I do actually feel for the doctors. I know your hands are tied to a certain degree. It's sort of like, you know, you're trying to. You're trying to keep your license, you're trying to continue practicing medicine. But where's the line here, y' all.

[Kid Fury]

Bitch, I would be the one.

[Crystal]

I think I would too.

[Kid Fury]

That 35 years from now, an Academy Award winning biographer. Bitch, I'm going to be the physician. That is like, if there's gonna be someone who has to go in front of all of the courts and say we were not going to keep this person functionally alive just to maybe keep their fetus alive, I'm gonna be the one to do it. Lose a license, death threat. Oh, white people and racism. They followed me home. I live in Georgia.

[Crystal]

Like, girl, so I was expecting the Klan.

[Kid Fury]

Let's just. Right? Let's just. How about we do the right thing and fight about the wrong thing later?

[Crystal]

Yeah. I just have been completely disgusted by this story. And at this point, I'm not even. I feel like, of course you need to let this girl go. But now, how attached has the family gotten to the idea of this baby? Like, who knows? Cause now the pregnancy is like, now the pregnancy is 22 weeks. Had y' all did what y' all was supposed to do, Perhaps if y' all had did what y' all was supposed to do in the beginning, this lady would be alive with the opportunity to get pregnant again.

[Kid Fury]

Talk about it.

[Crystal]

This is just insane.

[Kid Fury]

I hate this.

[Crystal]

It is. I hate it. Cause how are we valuing tissue and cells more than a living, breathing person standing in front of us? Yeah, y' all suck. Y' all suck. And that's. That's it for me. What you got?

[Kid Fury]

I have half the mind to piggyback off of this with where I was initially thinking of going. Since we were talking about. Since we are talking about protecting women, since we are talking about the ways in which niggas. I mean, when don't we. I was going to address Boosie's antennas.

[Crystal]

What?

[Kid Fury]

I was gonna.

[Crystal]

Oh, no, I missed something.

[Kid Fury]

But I was like, you know what? Good. Don't even Google it. It doesn't matter. He's talking about Puffy's case.

[Crystal]

Oh, okay, nevermind. I'm not even gonna look that up.

[Kid Fury]

But I said to myself this morning, I was like, you know what, self? You have to be the change you wanna see. And there's some niggas there you just got to stop talking to. It's some niggas that you have to stop legitimizing by acknowledging their voice. You got to look some niggas be stupid and mind your business. So I'm going to just pivot to something incredibly short and sweet and easy. I was watching the trailer for a new series called welcome to Derry. I think it's going to be called it welcome to Derry, a pretty cool series for the it films that Andy Muschietti did starring Bill Scarsgard. The film, I mean, the series is supposed to premiere this fall via hbo. And I noticed at the end of the trailer, very short teaser, mind you, it's like, oh, welcome to Derry coming this fall. And then it switches and says, max becomes HBO Max this summer. So you know that they announced like, a couple of weeks ago maybe, that they're changing the name back to HBO Max from that.

[Crystal]

Yes, I did see all the promo for that shout out to the social teams. That was cute.

[Kid Fury]

No, not shout out. What is that slogan?

[Crystal]

The social teams can't do nothing about it. I'm talking about, like, how they announced it using all their different shows, like the Insecure announcement, the Veep announcement. I wasn't about that slogan. Okay, yeah, no, that. I'm leaving.

[Kid Fury]

I don't know about that slogan.

[Crystal]

I'm leaving that alone.

[Kid Fury]

I don't know why that pissed me off. Like, fun pissed.

[Crystal]

Like, I sat up and I was.

[Kid Fury]

Like, now you said, max becomes who now?

[Crystal]

Didn't we just tell you? Okay, bitch.

[Kid Fury]

Okay, this is what you're not gonna do. You're not gonna insult my intelligence. Y' all are not gonna come in here and like. We never stopped calling it that. No, you did, right? Not a single breathing, living bitch I know ever called that shit Max. Nobody. No one. That name was stupid. It was always stupid. You never needed to change it in the first place. And none of us called it that. We always called it HBO Max. We never stopped calling it a fuck thing else. You changed it. Why do you think you changed it back?

[Crystal]

Exactly. Twitter.

[Kid Fury]

We never called that shit X.

[Crystal]

And we never.

[Kid Fury]

We don't call Facebook meta. We're never going to do it.

[Crystal]

We're not gonna.

[Kid Fury]

That's like, if I'm like, oh, have you ever watched Severance? It's on this fierce streaming app called tv. It doesn't like that name was horrible. You knew it was. Yeah, because nobody called it that.

[Crystal]

Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Don't come now on these motherfucking new shows, trailers and teasers Talk about some Max becomes HBO Max. This summer, Bitch has been HBO Max.

[Crystal]

HBO Max.

[Kid Fury]

That's like that tired comedy trope, you know, like when you're. Like when a doofy protagonist needs an idea and a side character is like, we should climb that mountain and go over the river. And then the protagonist goes, I've got it. We should climb that mountain and go through the river. Like, that's what Max becomes HBO Max.

[Crystal]

Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Cause how many meetings did y' all have about this? How many phone calls?

[Kid Fury]

The only reason that you. Thank you. You changed the name back. Because that name was Dub Bitch. And when nobody called me that shit in the phone. And now you gonna try and play in our face hole, Talk about something Max becomes.

[Crystal]

No.

[Kid Fury]

It'S always been HBO Max. At least come up with a slogan that's like, I'm sure, whatever. These social team interns and young people are doing something pithy and tongue in cheek in on the joke. Backstreet Smacks. All right, Something like.

[Crystal]

Bless this.

[Kid Fury]

We're going Max to Max. I don't. Whatever. Like. But Max becomes HBO Max. To me, it feels like. It feels like Bryan Cranston in. It feels like Katherine Hahn in the studio. Have you watched that yet?

[Crystal]

Oh, no, but I've heard hilarious things.

[Kid Fury]

Just at least watch the first thing episode, okay? At least watch the first episode, because the first episode is kind of about, like, licensing and studios kind of just making off of the most random IP that they get a license or they get rights for.

[Crystal]

Of course.

[Kid Fury]

And Katherine Hahn is the marketing.

[Crystal]

Oh, I love her. She's so funny.

[Kid Fury]

Studio. She's brilliant. She's basically her character from Parks and Recreation.

[Crystal]

Even better.

[Kid Fury]

Just like Mary Jane.

[Crystal]

Even better. That character is so fun.

[Kid Fury]

She. She's so fucking brilliant, like, in everything, but especially in this, because a big part of her thing is trying to find ways to sell all of these things and coming up with all of.

[Crystal]

These, like, oh, I know this is a mess.

[Kid Fury]

Ways to get it out into the public. So I'm just like, I am. I'm. I can't help but think of the meeting when they were like, the slogan that we're gonna put on all our teasers and promotional stuff is, Max becomes HBO Max. As if that's not what it was called, like, 15 months ago. As if we called it anything else. Why are y' all getting on my nerves? You already canceled our show.

[Crystal]

They did.

[Kid Fury]

And here I am, still tuned in to watch your fucking it Teaser.

[Crystal]

They have this show.

[Kid Fury]

You got John Lith going over here, getting on my goddamn nerves with the Harry Potter TV show that don't nobody fucking need. And you on top of that, talking about Max is turning into the shit that it's been. Everybody getting on my nerves.

[Crystal]

They can't say Max reverts to HBO Max. Cause they don't sound right.

[Kid Fury]

That. Actually, I would have ate that. I would have. I would have eaten that right on up. Because it's true. Keep it a bug. Max. That was a stupid name.

[Crystal]

It always was. And y' all did all this before with the whole change. And I just know every week y' all had a standup with all the different departments, and every week everybody said, yeah, the data's back. And people hate it. They really fucking hate it. They don't understand why we got rid of the brand recognition. For months. For months, people have been saying this. And finally somebody said, you know what? Just run it back, girl. Just run it back. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. They're not getting it. The little Max with the A was supposed to be like the HBO logo. People not getting it. Just call it HBO Care.

[Kid Fury]

And those that did don't care.

[Crystal]

No, it's too many streamers. Every fucking network has a streaming now. You need to give it a real name. HBO Max was fine. HBO Max was fine. Max by itself is just a word.

[Kid Fury]

Fine.

[Crystal]

It's just a word. Only thing, dubber is X.

[Kid Fury]

Literally. That's that. Like, I was literally. That was my exact comparison. Even when they changed it, it was like, I'm not calling that anything but Twitter.

[Crystal]

Obviously.

[Kid Fury]

No one ever does except for conservatives, right? I'm never calling Facebook anything but Meta. And if you change something else to a stupid ass name, I'm finna do. Like, that's.

[Crystal]

And Meta was already the name of something else. It was like, what are you doing? What are you doing over there, man?

[Kid Fury]

Y' all just. It's like if someone took TikTok, right? Very simple name. Not, like mind blowing, but it's simple, easy, whatever.

[Crystal]

Look, it's spelling. And that's it.

[Kid Fury]

Ryan Reynolds buys the app and he's like, I'm changing the name to yes. Like, what?

[Crystal]

Why would you. Why would. We're calling it Air.

[Kid Fury]

We're changing BT to plus.

[Crystal]

Plus what, bitch?

[Kid Fury]

Right?

[Crystal]

So stupid.

[Kid Fury]

Even the Nike Maxes are air. They max out the air. Like Max once. Yeah, it sucked. No one called it that, but at least be funny about it. Talk about some Max, but Cubs don't get on my damn Nerves.

[Crystal]

They were funny about it with the social stuff, with the, like. With the insecure. With the insecure. They did the scene where Issa's like, fuck that baby. It threw Lawrence and Condola's baby. But it was.

[Kid Fury]

That's hilarious. Yes. That's funny, right? That energy should have been in the slogan. Katherine Hahn. Katherine Hahn, please come and get them.

[Crystal]

Oh, boy. All right, hbo. I'm glad y' all came to y' all senses, girl. Cause come on now. HBO is an iconic brand. Why wouldn't.

[Kid Fury]

Why wouldn't you want that in the.

[Crystal]

Name known for excellent programming? Come on. Just.

[Kid Fury]

That's another thing I was gonna say. I was like, bitch, hbo, Home of Shit. Like, I don't know, Curb youb Enthusiasm. Some of the most iconic comedy specials of all time. You couldn't find a funny way of making a slogan about something that's obviously ridiculous. Max becomes HBO Max. That slogan is about as dumb and straightforward as the name Max.

[Crystal]

I think it's.

[Kid Fury]

It has to be the same idea, same person.

[Crystal]

It would have been so funny if they had just slowly started calling it HBO Max again and never actually announced it. If they just been.

[Kid Fury]

Like, I completely agree.

[Crystal]

If they're like, you know what, overnight, all of a sudden, the branding and everything is right back to HBO Max.

[Kid Fury]

Yes. If they just started putting it in, like, the names and stuff again, logos on tv. And next thing you know, you turn on the fire stick or whatever, and it just say HBO Max. And they just never made a big deal.

[Crystal]

One day you update your app, and now it says HBO Max.

[Kid Fury]

It just says HBO again.

[Crystal]

I didn't know it ever wasn't hbo. Correct. It was always hbo girl.

[Kid Fury]

That's what I would have done.

[Crystal]

Right?

[Kid Fury]

No shame.

[Crystal]

I didn't even know y' all changed.

[Kid Fury]

Exactly what I would have done. Slowly but surely, it would have been like, wait a minute, dude. That's not.

[Crystal]

Didn't that nigga.

[Kid Fury]

Why didn't I just change the.

[Crystal]

And when I say slowly, you'd be like, you know what? After y' all bitched about it for 14 months, we said, fine, Gina, you win. Damn, I will marry you.

[Kid Fury]

That one. It. This was not it. Between this and that Just kidding. Rolling TV show y' all got coming out.

[Crystal]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kid Fury]

You know, don't make it difficult for me.

[Crystal]

And I wanna say one more thing very quickly. Y' all are doing too goddamn much about Angel Reese.

[Kid Fury]

Oh, yeah.

[Crystal]

I am a casual fan. Okay. I, casual basketball fan. Didn't really start watching the NBA till the thunder Came to Oklahoma City, moved to New York, and decided the Liberty was my W team. Because the Shock left Tulsa. Casual fan.

[Kid Fury]

And they were.

[Crystal]

Wait, what?

[Kid Fury]

Oh, I mean, you said W team and I was thinking, win like W as in when.

[Crystal]

Oh, the way the kids say yes. No, right? No. Correct. Yes. Yes, they did. Oh, and the ring ceremony was so nice. Oh, my God, the ring is sick, nigga. It spins and it opens up.

[Kid Fury]

Shut the fuck up.

[Crystal]

It spins and opens up.

[Kid Fury]

It spins ands open.

[Crystal]

It opens up. It's got a little basketball court on it with the record from all three of the series. And then the other side is like a holder for these cunt ass solid gold earrings.

[Kid Fury]

Oh, this is beautiful.

[Crystal]

You can buy it. It's only $11,000.

[Kid Fury]

I've never gotten so excited and so depressing so quickly.

[Crystal]

I think they take Klarna. It's only like $400 a month on Klarna for the next 30 years.

[Kid Fury]

Cause, bitch, for two seconds I was like, oh, no.

[Crystal]

Same when they sent the email. Adjacent of Beverly Hills, Buy your own piece of Liberty. Championship, bitch. I'm not spending $11,000 on a ring.

[Kid Fury]

But thank you for all that.

[Crystal]

They have three tiers that, like, there is a basic ring for like 300 if you don't want to be out here. But anyway, I'm not on the team.

[Kid Fury]

I'm out here haggling for us to wear rings for games we ain't win. But this wing is beautiful.

[Crystal]

It is so really cool. Diverged two, two roads diverged in that yellow wood. Yes, I have watched every WNBA game so far this season. That the foul, the flagrant foul that happened between Caitlyn and Angel. Something similar happened in like three other games that same goddamn weekend. It was not like this before Caitlin Clark came to the league. It was not like this before y' all found out who she was. This is literally four years ago. You could go to WNBA games and not worry about hearing racial slurs or people making monkey noises. You could go online and talk about the W and not have thousands and thousands of magabies coming to tell you about how Caitlin Clark is God's gift to women's basketball and nobody cared before her and she's the best fucking WNBA athlete of all time. It was not so true. Y' all have made it. And here's the thing. Sports fandom is already messy. It's already full of lunatics. It's already full of people who don't want to do nothing but argue all goddamn day. Y' all made it so much worse. Oh my God. Caitlin Clark is not the first white girl to pick up a ball and dribble. She isn't the last. Is she? Great. Yeah. Did she break the all time scoring record and win rookie of the in college and win rookie of the year her first year in the W? Yes, she's great, but she is not the great white hope. She's not coming to save the wnba. I do. Cause y' all wouldn't have had to shake up that whole damn roster and bring in eight vets to help her out if she could do it by herself. It's a team goddamn sport. Y' all are being crazy about this girl. Relax. It's basketball.

[Kid Fury]

You hit the nail on the head though about it. Just like sports fandom.

[Crystal]

It's already hell.

[Kid Fury]

It's already like that.

[Crystal]

It's already hell.

[Kid Fury]

I was making a joke on Patreon about how when I worked at the American Airlines arena when. About how like basketball fans would regularly come in there and get drunk and beat the shit out of each other after the games, depending on who wanted. But like that's just a regular thing for people who are like actively out engaging in sports fandom.

[Crystal]

Exactly.

[Kid Fury]

But yeah, Caitlyn entering the league and this surge of whiteness that has coming with it has shifted that energy. Cause WNBA used to be so chill.

[Crystal]

And about the game and most of them still are. That weird energy is only around Indiana fans and it's not hard to find out why. Now, yes, there are plenty of crazies who are stans of all of the teams. But I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about regular sports. You need to get a life and chill out.

[Kid Fury]

That's fun. Yeah.

[Crystal]

I'm talking about this. This feral vitriol, this hatred that y' all are directing at pretty much anybody who ain't Caitlyn or on Caitlyn's team. But even then, like anybody who's not her can get it. Especially Angel Reese. The way y' all have been targeting this girl for your relentless harassment is insane. You all are not well. I'm saying that sincerely. You need to find something the fuck to do.

[Kid Fury]

They do.

[Crystal]

Harassing a 22, 23 year old girl for playing a fucking game. It's a game. And for being better than you monkey noises. Seriously, ple. I'm praying like that. That cannot be true. Like everybody. Everybody's. Everybody's lost the goddamn plot. Caitlyn is a great player. Please just let her play. Angel Reese. Angel Reese getting upset over being Fouled. Like that is normal. JJ and Chelsea Gray almost beat each other's asses because they thought that one was pushing on the other whole time the basketball fell in between both of their backs. And so it was the ball they was mad at.

[Kid Fury]

It's also a very regular thing in sports.

[Crystal]

Athletes get upset, especially when they get fouled or they feel like somebody. Like this is normal. Caitlyn gets mad, angel gets mad. Every goddamn body has feelings. They're professional athletes. And y' all know that. And y' all know that. So why don't you just set the racism aside and enjoy the goddamn game?

[Kid Fury]

Enjoy? I don't. I mean, do y' all not go.

[Crystal]

To these games for fun? That's why I go. I go. Cause Liberty games are fun, bitch. Liberty games are big on.

[Kid Fury]

When I've seen motherfuckers be at fucking at what you. What is that? Fucking. Why can't get the name of this goddamn place. Buffalo Wild Wings.

[Crystal]

Oh, no.

[Kid Fury]

I used to be business in Miami at Buffalo Wild Wings. Just, like, watching the game whole time. Like, by the end of the game or fourth quarter, move cha. They go home pissed, whole day ruined because their team lost or somebody got fouled or whatever. Whatever. And like, I get that because you want your team to win and so on and so forth, but when it gets to this, like, you being incredibly excited or bummed by the outcome of a game. Makes sense to me. You being violent, you being abusive, you being, like, a nuisance because of a game.

[Crystal]

Right, right.

[Kid Fury]

Is never gonna be okay. Or make sense.

[Crystal]

Showing up at the players hotel to harass them in the parking lots and the lobbies.

[Kid Fury]

Ridiculous.

[Crystal]

Pulling up on Angel. Angel Reese. Gotta have security now. What?

[Kid Fury]

Stalking, harassment.

[Crystal]

They're finally. The W is finally flying private. Thank God. Because y' all were harassing them in the airports. It's that bad.

[Kid Fury]

Excuse me. Yeah, I know there are some cities, too, that are like, this is a football town or this is a basketball town where, like, sports are very deeply ingrained into.

[Crystal]

It's America the place.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, but, like, some places are like.

[Crystal]

They don't have nothing else to do.

[Kid Fury]

It feels like. So, yeah, they don't have any. So sports and basketball. Football are, like, pretty much central to getting out or being celebrated or whatever. And I guess I feel like that is sometimes what can be attributed to. But, yeah, I feel I. Ain't it just supposed to be thrilling?

[Crystal]

And this is what I'm saying as a casual fan. I was excited to see what Indiana would do. Indiana, Dallas, The Valkyries. Of course, being the new team, the Sparks with Kelsey Plum, like, there were Atlanta picking up BG and Alicia Gray out there, like, and then the Mystics coming out and they. They two and oh. To start the season, like, I was excited to see how the season would unfold because I actually enjoy watching basketball and I respect the professional athletes.

[Kid Fury]

As you should. It's a lot of training work, dedication, diet, exercise, mental preparation.

[Crystal]

Of course. Why would I.

[Kid Fury]

Then you need in place to just be able to show other up day one. And then there's the actual performing.

[Crystal]

Right. And like, yeah, everybody just needs to come back to reality. Come back to reality. As much as we love the game, it is a goddamn game. Are you really about to get ejected from the arena and never allowed to come to another men, ba or W game again? Because you don't know how to fucking act.

[Kid Fury]

That used to be fair. So we killed like damn motherfuckers.

[Crystal]

You still can. There's little cards on the seat when you get there. If you're close enough to the court for the players to hear you, there are cards on the seat that say if you don't. If you act like you don't know how to fucking act, we'll put you out of here. No refunds or nothing, bitch. And you'll have to cry to your mama about it. Yeah, you're on your. You're on your 15th Twitter account because you keep getting suspended.

[Kid Fury]

And then you were blocked from the season. You can't come to another game because.

[Crystal]

You had to just go yell at Breonna Turner and Natasha Cloud because you just had to.

[Kid Fury]

You just had to do it. You couldn't stop me. I don't get it.

[Crystal]

It's these goddamn Indiana fans. It's not normal sports ridiculousness. It is another level of hate that y' all have for this mostly black league, a black queer league. So this white woman who says she's straight. Yeah, I see why y' all are. Because I don't know. Cause I don't know. Candace Parker said she was straight, too. I don't know what you are, but I know why. I know why MAGA is attached to your ass. Because when Caitlyn does shit they don't like when Caitlyn says, yeah, y' all are OD and chill out, or I'm voting for Kamala Harris or I believe that black people are equal to white people, then y' all turn on her.

[Kid Fury]

Yep, I've seen it.

[Crystal]

It's. It's. Y' all. Fouls happen. Fouls happen.

[Kid Fury]

If you don't like it, don't watch. Don't sports watch, or maybe I don't watch hockey or something.

[Crystal]

I think they do in our game. Niara got a fucking flagrant foul. Did. Do you think that made the news and was. And was running on ESPN for the next three days during everybody's fucking sports show? No. It's only a story because Caitlin Clark's fans are insane.

[Kid Fury]

Yeah, they are.

[Crystal]

I don't respect nobody who only became a Fever fan after that girl got to the team. Real Fever fans was in the trenches. Y' all ain't won shit since Tameka catches, and y' all been thirsty for years. Real Fever fans. Real Fever fans are like, no, we've been in the goddamn trenches for an eternity. How you think we.

[Kid Fury]

That's real.

[Crystal]

You'll win the draft two years in a row because your team is good. It.

[Kid Fury]

Okay, so real.

[Crystal]

I just.

[Kid Fury]

I just.

[Crystal]

I have checked out of WNBA conversations online because y' all are insane.

[Kid Fury]

It's such a bummer, too.

[Crystal]

It is.

[Kid Fury]

You should be able to go and expound upon this thing that you are.

[Crystal]

Into, cuz it's fun. And the. And honestly, I love being a Liberty fan. Everybody hates us. Target on our back. The, you know, the defending champs. I love it. Everybody is hating the Thunder right now, too. I love it. Give it to me. Hey, harder, bitch. Hey, harder. That's the sort of fun sports stuff that I love to engage in. But the Fever fans don't know how to be normal ass people. Y' all just don't. Y' all don't know how to have fun at the game. And let that be.

[Kid Fury]

That is having an annual birthday party.

[Crystal]

All right?

[Kid Fury]

That's going to be your enemy team. Historic and ridiculous loss at a. Well, a major, major sporting event. I think that's the way to do it. You go get cake every.

[Crystal]

Every year, you order a cake that says Happy Birthday.

[Kid Fury]

See how that hurts? No one.

[Crystal]

I mean, well, the Falcons fans, every year, they'd be like, goddamn, Crystal. Every. You're gonna. The same wound.

[Kid Fury]

You're still doing me. W. Like, that's how you do that.

[Crystal]

Yeah. Listen, I have two children. One of them's eight and the other is 10 months. And it's just like, that's fun. That's fun. What's not fun is following Dan Quinn around and issuing death threats to him and his family, talking about how I'm gonna sexually assault his wife or his children, break into his house and kill his dog or some shit. The kind of depraved unhinged shit y' all say to Angel Reef. That's what's not okay. Celebrate that the Fever won the game and get over it. Because very next one they lost Atlanta came home and spit in your face in your house. Well, so just calm the fuck down. It's a goddamn game.

[Kid Fury]

It's a game. And they're not chess pieces. They're people.

[Crystal]

They're human beings. That girl. Anyway, God protect Angel, Reese and all the other black women of the wnba. And that is going to wrap up this week's episode of the Read. Find us on social media at this is the Read. Our website is. This is the read.com. any other new oh, shout out to getting grown. Jade and Kia are going on tour. Their first show was last night in New York City. So, so proud of my sisters. But they are also going to Memphis, Chicago and la. So get your tickets. Yeah. Getting krone co. So, so proud of my girls.

[Kid Fury]

Ladies.

[Crystal]

Yes. Yeah. Anything from you?

[Kid Fury]

Nope. The usual. You can find us at this 3. Find extra stuff for me at patreon.com kfury and we will be back with more mess. Did we get the other. We got the other ticket winner, right?

[Crystal]

No, no, no. We haven't announced that yet, but soon. Okay, cool. Yeah.

[Kid Fury]

Yep. So that's it for now then.

[Crystal]

All right, girly pops. Take care of yourselves. We will. See y' all next week.