The Roseanne Barr Podcast - "I'm Too Old Not To Fight" W\ Sage Steele | The Roseanne Barr Podcast #104

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June 26, 2025 - The Roseanne Barr Podcast

01:29:41

"I'm Too Old Not To Fight" W\ Sage Steele | The Roseanne Barr Podcast #104

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	Greetings Earthlings and other life forms.
	What is it?
	Nephilim, Anunnaki.
	Naborum, Anunnaki, Time Travelers.
	We should do bots now after that story broke about the right-wing influencers getting paid by Iran and Russia.
	We should welcome the bots too.
	Iran bots, Qatari bots, you know, the devil's minions, Nazis, whoever's here.
	I guess God sent your consciousness did.
	You were magnetized to it.
	But above all else, of all living beings, animals, the most intelligent of all beings, because unlike humans, they don't need to bullshit themselves to enjoy the joy of living.
	Welcome to the Roseanne Barr Podcast.
	Oh, you see, my patience is growing thin.
	Well, y'all know how I love to talk to geniuses.
	In particular, I love talking to women geniuses because there are so few and far between of them.
	Most women are just blithering fucking idiots that do whatever men want them to do.
	I'm so sick of it.
	But anyway, we've got one today, a bubba-ba-ba-ba.
	Banger of a show.
	She's a friend and a kindred spirit and somebody who's gone through a lot of stuff with the same network I went through a lot of shit with and also has a great podcast and is an incredible human being.
	So help me welcome Stage Steel.
	Stage Steel.
	I said Stage Steel.
	I've been called a lot worse.
	Stage Steel.
	Hi.
	Hi, Stage.
	I can't believe I'm in Roseanne's studio.
	This is freaking cool.
	Oh, we're happy to have you here.
	Thank you.
	We love you.
	I loved you before you loved me, though.
	Yeah, that's okay.
	You hear that all day.
	But now I love you more than you love me because it's not possible for you to love me more than I love you since I'm way older.
	Just a little.
	I understand love way more than you.
	Well, we met Sage on Bircham, right?
	You want to tell people?
	Oh, yeah, we did that show with Adam.
	Yeah.
	For Daily Wire.
	Yep.
	For Daily Wire.
	Do you remember how I was a late ad to that?
	That's what I was going to talk about.
	Yeah, I didn't know anything about it.
	She replaced Clandis.
	That's what we call her now.
	Oh, is that true?
	Yeah, Candace got fired from Daily Wire.
	It was going to be her role, and they put Sage in.
	So you were added like weeks before it was.
	Oh, it was like three weeks before it came out.
	Yeah.
	And I had never done that kind of voiceover, which is done before the edit, right?
	I mean, well before.
	And what I learned, because I was in just the live TV world, is that they, you know, they match everything to your tone, your cadence, all of it.
	So Candace was, her job was completed.
	She was done and everything was ready to go with her voice and everything in it.
	And then they fired her.
	So they needed another black female conservative, I guess.
	And I don't know how many there are of us publicly.
	I know there's a lot of us privately, but publicly, so they had me come in.
	But it was so hard because I had to, we're doing it backwards and I had to go in and try to match every single thing she did.
	And if it, if that's 4.5%, embody Candace.
	Yeah.
	Kind of.
	Yeah.
	Was that scary?
	There was a lot there.
	Did that scare you?
	Nope.
	Nope.
	Because you know what?
	I don't think, I think Candace today, June 2025, is different than Candace May 2024 even.
	Yeah, definitely different.
	And I wasn't fully understanding what exactly had happened with her at Daily Wire.
	And I don't know that I fully do still understand this.
	All I know is that I got the call and love and worship Adam Carolla.
	So hell yeah, I'm going to say yes to that.
	It was just such a process to have to recreate her voice, her tone.
	And as you know, like in those little segments of the voice.
	Match the voice.
	I mean, and not obviously I can't match her voice specifically.
	The timing is impossible.
	So the edit is within, you know, 1 18th of a second.
	And it was like, do it over and go 1 18th of a second slower.
	And I'm like, how do I do that?
	It was hard.
	And then they didn't do another season, did they?
	No, I guess it got shit canned.
	That might be my fault.
	No, they're still trying to shop it, but it's not going to be on the Daily Wire.
	That's all I know.
	Well, that was a fun show.
	I enjoyed it.
	And they told me the writer said, wait till second season because we've got you doing all kind of crazy stuff, which I loved because I love being a huge bombastic character because, you know, after Roseanne, that would just be so fun to be like, she was an ex-Marine and she is beating guys up in a bar.
	I loved it.
	It was great.
	And it was, you know, we watched it, that premiere with, you know, a live audience.
	And it was cool for me to watch you in that theater while everyone else is reacting to you.
	It was beautiful.
	Really?
	I had never been part of it.
	That's Hollywood.
	That's not my world.
	So that was my first time being part of anything like that.
	But then to be sitting right near you and watching their reaction was really cool.
	You probably saw me roaring at myself.
	Oh, your cackles really were louder than anybody else.
	And they were at times where everybody else was quiet, right?
	That's how it is.
	You should have gone to see Ace Ventura with her.
	We saw six times in the theater.
	She ruined the experience for everyone.
	I love that movie so much.
	Ace Ventura and Sleeper.
	Yeah.
	I ruined it on myself.
	What do you mean she ruined it?
	Do you ever see Cape Fear when Rob De Niros got the cigar and he's like, I'm ruining the movie for everyone?
	That was her in the crowd at Ace Ventura.
	She didn't stop laughing.
	She laughed uncontrollably.
	I'm not kidding.
	She went five times to the theater and laughed as hard every time.
	And people would move from the theater around her because they couldn't hear the movie.
	But it was that good.
	Ace Ventura is the greatest comedy ever.
	Hysterical.
	He never did anything as good after.
	Yeah, he's changed too.
	He's another one of those.
	But that was cool for me to see it.
	And I'd never been around your mom.
	You know, I'd never been around you.
	So to witness that and your genuine cackles in between made us laugh harder.
	You know, it was great.
	But my favorite part was in the bar after, like the next day, I guess, wasn't it?
	Or was it that afternoon before, maybe?
	I don't remember.
	But we sat there for a couple hours at the bar in that hotel and drank wherever we were.
	That was, I think, after.
	Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
	I think it was the next day.
	That was the day I went down out of our hotel and walked down to get a drink because our hotel was a piece of shit that didn't have alcohol before 6 p.m., which I cannot take that.
	So I walked down to the W and I was sitting there having my eye-opener there in the morning.
	And I heard this voice, Rosion, could your health issues be caused by an invisible enemy?
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	And I'm like, oh, Christ, here we go.
	I got to act nice.
	And up comes, oh, I can't remember her name.
	She's the one.
	She's a stand-up comic.
	She's got a big show.
	Oh, she's got a big show now.
	She's like Roseanne of your ilk.
	Yeah, she's so brilliant.
	Morgan.
	Leanne Morgan.
	And I'm like, damn, I love you.
	What are you doing here?
	Well, she was doing something.
	And of course, she don't drink or anything.
	She's got a clean lifestyle, which is disgusting.
	But yes, she was still funny and adorable.
	And I sat there with her a couple of hours, and I just love her.
	She is such a great comic.
	And that was a delight.
	And then I staggered back home and we went in the, I don't know what we did, but I just remember drinking with you.
	You're a fun drinking person.
	Yeah, we had a really good time.
	Me and Jake were like, she's real.
	She can, first of all, she can carry her liquor.
	And then she gets even more interesting.
	You've had a really interesting life.
	Okay, wait.
	So my fiancé's sitting over in the corner.
	And is he handsome enough?
	He's hot, right?
	Oh, my God.
	That guy's gorgeous.
	He thinks I'm a lightweight, though.
	And now you're giving away like the real deep, dark secrets.
	But I'm a lunch.
	Well, you have to pretend you're sweet and sober to marriage.
	You're getting married this year.
	I am.
	I'm getting married in September.
	Congrats.
	So that's only a few months where you got to act like you're okay.
	I have to behave a little bit longer.
	Exactly.
	And hey, I mean, once they put a ring on it.
	That's right.
	They can't get out now.
	It's totally.
	Yeah, now the thing's going to be.
	Anyway, I got to tell you guys yesterday that, and this is like another one of our kind of spiritual connections, but I met him just last fall.
	So yes, it's quick.
	Get out of my mentions.
	Yes, it's fast.
	But when you're old, you can do that.
	Yeah.
	It's not really the 50 plus.
	You have a history.
	Well, but our history is something that we didn't know until we met, but our mothers have been friends for 32 years.
	Oh my God, that's God given.
	It is, yes.
	So if he dumped me, his mom would be pissed.
	So that's the thing.
	I feel like I'm protected by a lot of people.
	You are, you guys.
	Because our moms like each other more than they like us.
	Yes.
	So he's kind of stuck already.
	Say you've got that hedge of protection around you.
	She's going to gain like 250 pounds by this time next year.
	He don't care.
	You don't care, right?
	No, he cares.
	No.
	Oh, my God.
	Look at the way he looks at me.
	It's so juicy.
	Look at that ring.
	Oh, my Lord.
	I know.
	Look at that ring, son.
	It's beautiful.
	I have a funny, kind of a funny story.
	So we hang out at the bar, right?
	Yeah.
	I want to get back on track a little.
	And we love Sage.
	Like, she's the best.
	I get her number.
	She tells us that she has help.
	I don't want to give too much away, but she- You successfully sued Disney.
	Correct.
	Oh, my God.
	You're our idol.
	And you won.
	Right, but real quick.
	So does that mean what?
	Okay, we'll get back to that yes.
	I just want to say, so I got her number and then I put in the wrong number.
	So for like a month later, I'm like, horribly dyslexic.
	All my kids are dyslexic.
	I didn't know that.
	And she doesn't respond to me for a year.
	Nuh-uh.
	Yeah.
	And I'm texting her.
	I'm like, okay, she's a fake, another fucking Hollywood fake.
	I was so mad at you.
	And then Sage, another project comes up and she calls me and she's like, I missed you guys and talked to you.
	And I noticed right then it was a totally different phone number.
	And I'd been cursing you for like a year.
	Wait, you cursed at me?
	Well, you weren't responding to my text.
	Okay.
	I was very upset.
	Wow.
	Sage hates us.
	I was so mad.
	And my mom, she acted like she liked us, but she hates us.
	Yep, one big fake.
	No, I'm a terrible actress.
	No, but what I left from that, that to me was the best.
	I'm not saying this because you're here.
	I told my mom and dad right away.
	I'm like the best part of the Bertram thing.
	Besides seeing Megan Kelly, who's one of my eye dolls and talk about brilliant.
	Yeah, she's fierce as hell.
	She is.
	And we had the same attorney with, because she was with NBC when she got canceled.
	And Brian Friedman is the attorney.
	And then I had him.
	Chris Harrison from The Bachelor, he had Brian Friedman.
	He's one that's with Justin Baldoni now.
	And that thing's not over.
	Not over.
	Yeah.
	But anyway, I left and told my mom and dad, I'm like, oh my gosh.
	You know, when you have an impression of somebody and then, but then you're almost afraid to meet them because you're afraid you're going to be disappointed.
	Isn't that what everybody says?
	Don't meet your idols.
	Don't meet people that you love who are famous because they're going to disappoint you.
	You were so shockingly nice.
	That's a compliment.
	I hope you take it that way.
	Because Hollywood people, I don't like them.
	They're not my people.
	No, they're not.
	And that's not who you are, though.
	And I was so blown away at how genuine you were and looked me in the eye and were interested in just talking to me as a human being.
	Like, I didn't feel like I was annoying you, I guess.
	No, you weren't annoying.
	It was really special.
	You were very fun and very interesting and intelligent.
	I'm glad your son doesn't hate me anymore.
	Yeah, we were so relieved.
	I go, you fucking idiot.
	You always write everyone's number down.
	Actually, that's not true.
	It's the first time I've ever, honestly, the first time I've ever done that.
	There have been a few people that have ICE.
	Maybe I've done it more than once.
	But it doesn't matter.
	The bottom line is we're here and we're all friends and I'm very happy about it.
	Now I get to get really nosy about things.
	Let's get into it.
	Well, real quick, you were at ESPN Sports Center.
	You were canceled.
	I was.
	I feel like that's a badge of honor now to be canceled.
	Do you want to ask about that later?
	Yeah, because I wanted to know what made her tick to get there.
	I mean, I know you, your dad was in the military.
	Yes, ma'am.
	And so you grew up in the military, right?
	Yeah, so when people say, where are you from, like, pick a place, all of them.
	I was, I'd lived in four countries by the time I was 11.
	So like all over.
	And I could speak a couple languages.
	I mean, a little.
	And now hopefully English is perfected, but that's all I got.
	Yeah, I grew up just moving and knowing that every two years or so that we're going to go on a new adventure.
	And that's how my mom approached it was because it was hard, right?
	And you make friends.
	And then this is way pre-internet.
	I mean, I'm 52 now.
	So this is in the 80s when you have friends in junior high and high school.
	And you don't, you can't text them or snap them or email them even.
	It's a handwritten letter where you lick the postage stamp and you send a letter away to your little best friend.
	And it takes a week to get there.
	And then two weeks later, you might get a response.
	But therefore, you couldn't keep friends.
	You remember those days?
	And so it was hard to, every couple of years, say goodbye to friends and have to start over and hope that you get invited to the birthday parties or get picked for kickball at recess when you're the new kid.
	But the beauty of it is that in the military, all the kids feel that.
	And so they're all very welcoming.
	Our neighbors, the adults are welcoming.
	Everybody would bring over a bottle of wine and some banana bread and say, here's my phone number if you need us.
	It was genuine.
	It was the best.
	It was a real community.
	Such a community and so diverse.
	Before I even knew what diversity was, it just, people get mad.
	A lot of people get mad when you say that you don't see color.
	Yeah.
	Obviously we see it.
	Like don't take it literally, but that's not what you lead with.
	And that's what it is in the military.
	It didn't lead with white, black, Asian, a lot of interracial marriages.
	I come from an interracial marriage as well.
	And it just didn't matter.
	It was the most, I say diverse, but protected.
	Yeah.
	And not secluded.
	What's the word I'm looking for?
	Protected.
	Insulated.
	Yeah.
	I mean, I was.
	Well, don't you think it's because you all have a common goal and a common viewpoint?
	And you're not easily divided like the civilians are in our country.
	Yeah.
	And maybe at the timing, you know, probably made a difference as well in the 80s and living in different countries.
	But yeah, you're on an American base.
	We went to school on an American base.
	And even though people had different political opinions, I can look back now and kind of see some of it.
	There was respect and it didn't matter.
	And the goal was the same.
	And that was to represent our country as Americans.
	Right.
	Respectfully.
	And with respect to where we were living.
	I lived in Belgium.
	I lived in Greece.
	My Girl Scout troop would go to Paris for the day.
	You know, I would get annoyed because I'm like, oh my God, we have to go to Paris again because family would come visit from the States.
	Or my third grade field trip was to the Acropolis, which was 45 minutes away from our house when I lived in Greece.
	But as Americans, we knew to have respect for their culture, just like we hope today that they have respect for ours, which is a whole different story.
	But it was just a beautiful, innocent, I was very naive because of it, because it was insulated and people were just kind.
	But I had the people say, well, what is it like?
	You don't have a hometown to go to.
	It's true.
	I don't know where home is.
	Home is where I am at that moment.
	That's what home is, though.
	I agree.
	I don't have a hometown, like to take my kids back to where I went to elementary school or where my, you know, first T-ball game was.
	Like, I don't have that.
	It's impossible.
	But I wouldn't change it.
	I thought that was normal.
	I did get back to the States in seventh grade, and I was like, what do you mean you guys have known each other since kindergarten?
	That's so weird.
	Why would you want to know someone for that long?
	You know?
	So I think there's positives and negatives to both, but I had the best upbringing.
	Where did your parents meet?
	I'm just nosy because they're a mixed couple.
	And I wonder where did that meet and what year?
	Because that's an interesting thing for America.
	It is, especially considering in October, it'll be their 54th wedding anniversary.
	Oh, my God.
	That's amazing.
	I know.
	I know.
	Wow.
	You know what I say to people when I'm on stage and I ask how long they've been married?
	And they say things like that.
	54 years all the time all over America.
	So I always go, why?
	It's a great question.
	They met in 1970, right when my dad graduated from West Point.
	Well, Ma, we've been traveling.
	We've been in Texas for a little while now, like a few months, and we've been relying on our friends at Home Chef.
	We sell their ads.
	That's the people that send us the food.
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	I go to the porch and there it is and I'm like, hey, look, more cane.
	Yeah.
	And then, like I said, you can have fun with it.
	You can say, hey, I want to cook a big meal, big family gathering.
	Let's do the, you know, the raw ingredients.
	It's like the Lord is just put stuff on my porch.
	You know, I forget it's from Amazon.
	That's true.
	If this, if this happened a long time ago, that's what you would think.
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	What was your mom doing?
	She was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.
	Back in the day when being a flight attendant was a big deal.
	Yes, it was.
	It was fancy.
	And, I mean, can you imagine these people today having to adjust to the rules of, like, my mother would have to get on a scale.
	They would wave her before every flight.
	We have to go back.
	Sorry.
	I know.
	I know.
	But, like, their hair had to be tied back or a certain length.
	It was fancy.
	It's kind of like military.
	Actually, it was with the uniforms, but it was, it was a privilege to be a flight attendant.
	And everybody dressed up.
	Everybody, when you're traveling, it was glamorous.
	Yeah.
	And so anyway, that's what she was stationed.
	She was based, not stationed, based in New York City.
	Grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, West Springfield, Mass.
	You know, blue-collar, Catholic, all-white town.
	So my mom's half-Irish, half-attacked.
	You'll like this.
	My grandfather, father's name was William Edward O'Neill.
	So that's her Irish side.
	And my grandmother was Philomena Lena DiPertola.
	Wow.
	So the Irish and Italian.
	My mother, actually is beautiful, looks a lot like you, just with green eyes, white hair, kind of spiked.
	She's gorgeous.
	She's almost 76.
	And so super white Irish Italian mom.
	And then my very black, beautiful dad, who also was a military brat.
	And they had a birthday party for him after he graduated from West Point in 1970.
	And she showed up.
	And actually on my show, The Sage Teal Show, thank you.
	You would love this, Roseanne and Jake.
	I just got to sit down with my parents.
	I did an hour and a half too long with my mom and dad and heard things that I had never heard from my parents about their relationship.
	A lot of tears.
	I did it so long after I'm gone.
	Great, great grandkids, they can see the why and how I found strength to stand up for myself later, much later on.
	But what they went through makes my life.
	They go through a lot.
	Yeah, they did.
	And that's why I think I have good perspective that my cancellation and those struggles weren't fun and super hurtful and changed my life.
	But it's nothing compared to what so many others go through, frankly, including my parents in some ways.
	They got married in 1971.
	And, you know, my mom's family, my mom's, not her family, her parents disowned her.
	Oh, God.
	The Irish side, probably, though, right?
	I don't know.
	No, it was more my grandmother's Italian side, which is interesting.
	But you have to, first of all, you never know what people are going to do.
	You don't.
	And we had an incredible conversation about this actually at a bar right here in your town last night.
	My fiancé and I did last night where, you know, it took six or seven years.
	And my mom's parents came back.
	And then forgiveness, never forget, but forgiveness and a lot of healing.
	And it ended up being a beautiful relationship.
	And I got to know them too.
	So it was great.
	But whenever I tell the story, people are like, oh, so, yes, it's shitty.
	And you have to understand where people come from.
	It's not an excuse for bad behavior, for racism.
	But you have to respect their viewpoint.
	And if they had never been around black people and in their small Catholic town in Massachusetts in the 1960s and early 70s, it's foreign to them.
	And if all you saw is what was on TV, that black people are, I mean, the way that they were referred to as Negroes and they're inferior.
	And then they only show clips of violence.
	That's what you think is real.
	Well, then sometimes it's understandable why they were afraid for their daughter.
	And then they learned.
	I think the coolest, coolest thing that I learned about my parents, it changed me and again, my perspective on all my crap later.
	I didn't know this about my parents until about six years ago.
	They got married.
	Her mom and dad did not show up at the wedding.
	Her brother did, though, who was 20 at the time and walked her down the aisle.
	They got married at West Point, where my dad had graduated from.
	And then we're stationed in Panama, where I was born, Canal Zone.
	And my dad, apparently, from the moment they got married, and I don't know for how long, Dave, did they say for years, once a month would pull out a pen and paper and write my mom's parents a letter just to let them know that she's okay and that he is taking care of their daughter.
	Oh my God, your dad is something else.
	I'm going to send you the video from your dad.
	Every month for years, he did that and sent it to my parents.
	And the video, you'll see my mom, and she's like, I told him it's a waste of time.
	I told him, don't do it.
	And he kind of, you could see him get tight.
	And he was like, I needed them to know that despite what they thought of me, I was taking care of their daughter.
	And I was like, oh, my God.
	And so he didn't know if they ever read the letters, but he was doing the right thing.
	And so when your family leaves you, and again, comes back.
	And we are all so close to this day.
	And even friends back in 1971 didn't agree with an interracial marriage.
	It had just become legalized a few years prior.
	Yeah, right.
	My mom and dad got to be.
	Right.
	So this is so new.
	My mom and dad got to be like this.
	Their relationship was so close because they knew all they had was each other.
	Them against the world.
	Yes.
	That's why 54 years.
	That's why they're my heroes.
	And that's why they've, gosh, it's just humbling to see what they went through.
	And that's the other reason why I call BS on all these people who talk about, oh my gosh, being a black person in America today, Whippy Goldberg, give me a break.
	Like, I can't with them because Whippie understands too, and she's full of it, and it's disappointing.
	But that's the kind of upbringing I have.
	I've got that bitch right across her face.
	If she ever has the displeasure to run into me.
	Can I be there to witness it?
	Yeah, we have to set that up.
	Can I hold her arms back while you do it?
	She's just an ugly soul.
	She's an ugly soul.
	She didn't used to be, though, I feel like.
	They never were.
	I think they make her be that way on ABC.
	ABC is just a racist bullshit company.
	It really is horrible.
	But let's go to your dad going to West Point.
	That was a big deal for a black man.
	It was.
	In the, what, 60s?
	Yeah, he started there.
	His first year was 1965.
	Wow.
	And he was a football player and a track athlete.
	His grades were pretty good.
	My dad was a football player, too.
	He was.
	Jerry Barr, the boy built like a barrel.
	He was the center.
	Oh, if you're the center, you're like the captain of that offense.
	And that was your guy.
	He's the one that you fell in love with comedy.
	Yeah, he taught me everything.
	Wow.
	It's crazy, huh?
	Yeah.
	He was a weirdo, though.
	He wasn't like your dad.
	So your dad was like incredibly self-disciplined is what I'm taking.
	He doesn't like it when I talk about this, but he, I don't know.
	He never makes it about himself.
	And so I do.
	I try to do that for him.
	He played football.
	And if you think about the timing in the mid-60s, he was 6'6.5, 220 pounds, whatever it was.
	That's a big man today, but back then, it's a big man.
	And he actually broke the color barrier and was the first black man to play varsity football ever at Army.
	Oh, wow.
	Oh, my God.
	That's exciting.
	But he doesn't like to talk about it because he's like, I just was a football player.
	I just wanted to be a good teammate.
	It's super cool, though.
	NFL Films did a beautiful piece on my parents, and it's pinned forever to my ex-profile.
	I'll always leave it there because it's so cool.
	It just tells their story.
	Did he play in the NFL?
	He did not because back then you had to fulfill your military obligation if you're coming out of a service academy.
	He got drafted though by the Detroit Lions in the 17th round.
	Wow.
	Back when they had 17 rounds.
	17 rounds.
	Didn't they have like 20?
	What's that?
	They had like 20 rounds.
	At least 18.
	Yeah.
	So even though they knew he couldn't play, they still drafted him, which is super cool.
	But he just says, listen, somebody had to be first.
	And it just happened to be me.
	So humble.
	He is.
	But he was a stud, second team All-American, East West Shrine game, like just was a great, and track too.
	But one of the cooler things is that he was there at the same time as his brother.
	So his family had both of their boys, their black boys, at West Point in the 60s.
	Oh, God, that's.
	And he and that brother played or ran track.
	So they were studs.
	And again, they won't say that, but I will.
	And their father, my grandfather, was a Buffalo soldier.
	Wow.
	You talk about proud for him to have been segregated, couldn't even fight with white men or stand alongside his fellow troops who were white.
	And then to see his boys there was super cool.
	What a great American story.
	It really is, but it's funny.
	And I love his humility because we don't want to make it about race, actually.
	That's not what we should lead with.
	But I do think there's that balance of not forgetting history.
	And people like it took a lot of time.
	Well, the breakthrough that changed it all is so incredible.
	But that could only happen in America where we're always talking about our dirty history and slavery and racism here.
	But we changed it.
	We did.
	Yeah.
	That stopped progress and evolution.
	That's why I don't want statues taken down.
	No matter how, what it represented at that time, it's important that we remember that we can all change and be better and work harder.
	You mentioned the word discipline.
	Every Saturday morning, my dad had room inspections, bedroom inspections for us kids.
	Uh-oh.
	Just like he was at West Point.
	Could we bounce the quarter off the mattress kind of deal?
	Might as well have.
	It was everything else.
	But he would, it was 0900 hours, not 9 o'clock.
	It's be ready at 0900.
	Like, okay, dad.
	Yeah, we talked in military time because he wanted us to understand that.
	And so at 0900 hours, he would come and knock on the door, knock twice, just like when he was in school.
	And we'd have to salute.
	Wow.
	And he'd say, are you prepared for inspection?
	And we're like, it was a joke.
	We weren't scared.
	He created a competition with my brothers and to treat us respect for the nice things we had.
	And hey, this is a military salary.
	Not fancy.
	My parents didn't have any money.
	But We thought we did because we never wanted for anything, but there was a respect for that nice comforter that I got to pick out for my bed.
	You know, how are things folded in my drawers?
	And he would go around and he'd use a glove and see if there's dust on the dresser.
	I love that.
	I need to do that.
	And I know you have time.
	Your girls are young.
	You can do it.
	Yeah, I have to change who I am first and then I'll think about it.
	They'll be like hypocrite, right?
	Every, my dad, my dad sat there in his underpants, which were stained.
	And he never took a bath or nothing.
	And he sat there in front of the TV and all he left was sports, of course.
	And he got himself a bell next to his chair there.
	And he ring this bell, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
	And that meant a certain number of rings meant bring me cheese.
	Cheese?
	Yeah, we had it.
	We was on the welfare cheese.
	And so he always wanted the entire brick of cheese, not just a slice.
	We have to bring him the whole brick of cheese with the wrapping paper on it.
	And we did this whole, here you are, sire.
	And then he just hold up the cheese, and he only had eight teeth on the top and eight teeth on the bottom.
	And so you'd take a big old bite out of the welfare cheese there and say thank you.
	And then the next ring of the bell, you had to bring him a bowl of cat and crunch.
	Those are the only things he ate.
	Cheese and cat and crunch.
	Yeah.
	And then we put the cheese back in the fridge.
	And we told our friends, Daddy just takes big bites off our cheese.
	And they said, no, he don't, because they're all nice blonde Mormon folk.
	And so I go, yeah, he does.
	He just bites off the welfare cheese log.
	And so they go, we got to see.
	I go, yeah, because it's only got eight teeth in there, eight on top, eight on bottom.
	So we charge our friends a nickel when the parents were busy.
	And they come in through the kitchen door and we open the cheese door for a nickel drawer.
	And they'd go, oh my God.
	It had all these like rat bites out of it.
	From his chiclet teeth.
	Summer teeth.
	So he wasn't quite as elegant as your dad.
	That's okay.
	You wouldn't be who you are today.
	Right.
	Thank God.
	He was perfectly exactly how he was supposed to be.
	With the room inspections, though, whenever there was an infraction, if something wasn't done right, we'd have to drop and give him 10 push-ups.
	Oh, my God.
	And they had to be like real push-ups.
	We're not on our knees and our butt isn't up in the air and our elbows are tight.
	So my arms looked great from a very young age.
	Where'd you get the idea?
	Did you develop a love of sports from your dad?
	It was his fault.
	Yep.
	Yep.
	That was unusual for a girl.
	It was back then.
	But you know what?
	And I was going to say this about your dad.
	Isn't it amazing the influence they can have?
	Yeah.
	Especially for fathers and daughters.
	Yes, especially.
	Times two over there.
	Yep.
	Yeah.
	It's the best blessing in life, father.
	The best.
	And I believe for a daughter is the most important relationship.
	Yeah.
	And I have two daughters.
	And yeah, I believe it's the most important relationship.
	I wanted to spend time with my dad.
	Yeah.
	And, you know, he was busy.
	He didn't sit down much, especially on weekends because we had soccer games or swim meets or, you know, just fun stuff.
	And he'd been working all week.
	But if he did sit, there would be either NBA, basketball on, Lakers Celtics usually, or Cowboys, Redskins.
	And remember, we lived in Europe, in Belgium.
	So there was one TV with like four channels.
	Maybe two, three of them spoke English.
	So there were not many options.
	And on weekends, that's what was on.
	So that's what we would do.
	We'd sit and watch football.
	And I loved it.
	I saw my dad's happiness enjoying it, especially with football since he played and always wondered if he could have made it in the NFL after being drafted.
	And I also saw from like a patriotic perspective, especially the Dallas Cowboys.
	That was America's team.
	Yeah, it was.
	And living in Belgium, living in Greece, living in Europe, they didn't know much about American football because that's soccer, but they knew the Dallas Cowboys and they knew the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, right?
	Oh, they were.
	Yeah.
	And I mean, they were beautiful and it was Americana.
	It was.
	And so what I learned at a very young age is that sports brings people together.
	And it is the one time a week, whatever it is for football, basketball, a couple times a week for baseball, when everybody is sitting in a stadium.
	You could have 80,000 people there.
	And if it's a home game at Cowboy Stadium, you're all on the same team for three hours.
	And your politics don't matter.
	Your socioeconomic status doesn't matter.
	Your religion, who you sleep with, none of it matters.
	You're just rooting for the Cowboys and you're high-fiving people that you might never see again.
	And I felt that and I loved it.
	The team aspect, which is similar to the military, where you're in this together.
	So that's where it started.
	And I said when I was 11 years old that I was going to be a sportscaster and I wanted to work at ESPN.
	And you did?
	How hard was that to get into?
	Oh, my God.
	That's when I need alcohol.
	That's where.
	Very hard, but I loved the challenge.
	I wouldn't change a thing.
	It took 11 years once I graduated from college.
	And then you start local TV, you know, like all hours of the day and night.
	And there were no women doing it.
	No.
	And they let me know.
	There were coworkers who were not happy I was there.
	Some even said I heard through a friend of a friend who'd say, you know, that one said the only reason you're here is because you're a double whammy.
	Like HR loves you.
	You're a woman and a woman of color.
	You're getting hired.
	So, of course, I heard for years that that was the only reason I was there.
	That was before DEI was an acronym that anyone talked about.
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	They're really corn tasting too.
	The corn forward as the I'm going to eat one right now because they're good.
	They're good.
	Beef tallow.
	Like this is what a chip, this is how I remember chips tasting when I was a kid.
	And I knew that, and you know what?
	Maybe it was true at times, but you're not going to last there when you're on a TV screen.
	Sometimes it opens a door.
	It might.
	But it don't keep you in the room.
	Right.
	Because you'll get exposed on live TV really, really fast.
	You did it for a long time.
	I did.
	I mean, 11 years, local, regional TV, and then 16 years at ESPN.
	Yeah.
	And honestly, I loved every moment.
	I started off in South Bend, Indiana, a medium-sized market, like a good-sized market considering I had zero experience and did not deserve a job.
	But that was a friend of the man that I interned for at Indiana University who made a call to his friend who ran the station who said, give her a shot, all who you know and how you treat people along the way.
	And I think I had good parents to remind me to always just be kind, like whatever that means.
	When I say whatever that means, I mean like, it doesn't matter where you are.
	And if you think someone can do something for you, just be nice.
	It's the right thing and it pays off for your heart, most importantly, your soul.
	But also, who knows what people do with that when you're kind to them?
	And so I was on TV during the day and waiting tables at night.
	And they would recognize me where they're like, wait, aren't you that girl?
	And I'm like, yes, how would you like your stay?
	But I loved that time.
	I was so poor.
	I was so broke.
	And I wasn't going to call my parents for help because they didn't have any money.
	And also I wanted to do it on my own.
	So I look back at those days.
	How old were you then?
	Right out of college, 22, 23.
	And then fast forwarding all those years later to ESPN.
	And what was it like to work there?
	That must have been weird.
	Yeah, I think it depends on when.
	They weren't always owned by ABC or Disney, by the way.
	When I was there.
	When I was there, it was.
	It was.
	Yeah, I started in 07.
	I don't know when that took place, that merger.
	I can look it up.
	But yeah, ESPN was very cool when it first started.
	It was, which was 79.
	Yeah.
	So that was way before me.
	But think about the 1990s.
	And that was Mess C TV.
	And that was before phones and everything.
	So if you wanted to see how your team did, you had to either stay up late or wake up in the morning and see it.
	And then it'd be on repeat.
	So a lot of us would skip classes in college and be like, oh my gosh, did the Celtics win?
	I have to stay to see what happened because we didn't have any other way of knowing if you missed it on TV or whatever.
	So I was there at the beginning in 2007.
	I feel like it was its heyday.
	Kind of on the tail end of where the greats were, the Dan Patrick, the Stuart Scott, of course, who was one of my best friends who helped me so much.
	Keith Olbermann, before he became a psychoanalyst.
	He was great.
	Yeah.
	He was great at that.
	He's brilliant.
	He was a beautiful writer.
	So I try to choose to remember him that way, not how he is now or how he has become the last 15 years.
	But they were great and they made it.
	Chris Berman, who's still there.
	He was one of the originals from 1979.
	He's the best.
	He is Boomer is still there.
	So I got to watch them and learn from them.
	Most were pretty nice.
	Most were pretty cool.
	But that first day that I was ever on Sports Center, someone was sick.
	Someone called in sick and they didn't have someone to fill in.
	It was that type of thing.
	I was going to get on it eventually within a month.
	But that day I was not ready and it was a disaster.
	I was terrible.
	I was awful.
	I can't even look at the tape.
	But I remember 30 seconds before that red light on the camera went on and I could hardly breathe.
	And I literally went back to that 11-year-old girl on the couch with my dad with this crazy dream in 1984, a dream that girls didn't have, especially girls who looked like me.
	There were a couple of women nationally, but they didn't look, they were white.
	And that was just a different time.
	And I tried, I had to really keep it together that first day and for many years after that.
	And remembering how far I'd come and how many people, really, so many people helped me along the way and gave me a shot, even when I sucked.
	And I sucked for a long time.
	Like I was really bad.
	Well, they saw something in you that you saw potential.
	They didn't harness it yet, but they saw there.
	And they kept, people didn't really work with you in TV.
	I don't know.
	They just were like, okay, let's give it another chance.
	They saw I worked hard and they saw that I knew my stuff.
	It was just the delivery and slowing down and it's still a problem.
	Whatever.
	It's too late at this point.
	Like I can't change it, right?
	It is what it is.
	What do you think you brought to sports casting that nobody brought before you with your unique, you know, who you are and how you see things?
	I've never been asked that question before.
	Others certainly had had these qualities before me, long Before me, but what drove me was my curiosity and genuinely wanting to know what these athletes were feeling at that moment right before kickoff on the free throw line and game seven of the NBA Finals.
	Like, I wanted to know what was going through their minds because I've never been there and I never will be there.
	And that was my job was to get those feelings, those answers out of them.
	So the audience, the millions of people at home could come into their world too.
	That's why we love them because they're doing things that we're not capable of.
	So when I asked questions and I always asked my own questions, people didn't write my scripts.
	Like it was important.
	Very few people have scripts written for them at the SPN.
	And so I really wanted to know the answer.
	It wasn't like a fake thing.
	She's talking about the SPN.
	She needed a drink.
	And you heard me?
	I texted her.
	Can you bring me cigarettes out of my room on my team, Jane?
	Hannah and your one-year-old, can you please get the cigarettes?
	Thank you.
	What are you humanized?
	I think you eat champagne.
	Yes, darling.
	Roseanne Barr Podcast.
	This is the official human podcast.
	I think you humanized the athletes.
	Yeah.
	And that hadn't been done.
	I think only a woman could do that.
	Oh, I agree.
	And also the fact that you have that rich, how will I say this?
	Well, you have that rich ethnic upbringing culture.
	It was a little bit different.
	Right?
	You have that tradition of just that great strength of humanity, and you brought that also a kind of a lifting up and making human in a black woman way.
	I can't think of the right words.
	I'm not sure.
	Very verbose.
	But I was proud of you.
	And I was like, she humanizes the whole sport.
	And I think that that was a great thing to see a woman do, especially in such a masculine thing, you know.
	But I grew up with brothers.
	Yeah.
	And I was such a tomboy.
	And I had more guy friends than girlfriends because guys are usually easier than girls, right?
	Yeah, I do.
	And just in the sports world, it's always difficult.
	Women suck.
	Kidding, kidding.
	I'm not.
	They're terrible.
	We have so many hours of footage of crawling with the baby.
	Thank you.
	Thank you, babe.
	You know what I was going to say that I wonder what you think about this?
	It's funny.
	Through the years, I've had so many young women come to me and say, because I kept my hair curly and didn't straighten it, that that was part of it.
	I had so many bosses through the years who asked me to straighten my hair.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	And I was also told one time I didn't get a job, a really, really big job that I would have died for.
	The producer who's still around, still doing very big things.
	Harvey Weinstein, is it?
	No.
	Sounds like Ol Harve.
	No.
	Right?
	Actually, it's a great point.
	I wish I could say his name.
	The book's going to be really good, right, Dave, if I ever freaking finish it.
	Anyway, I'll tell you later.
	This producer told my agent, she's great, we love her, for a sideline reporting job.
	The biggest one.
	And said, but her hair.
	Was he white?
	Yeah.
	And I thought, sometimes it's black people that say that about the majority of people.
	Well, now black people, oh, that's a whole part of my story.
	Oh, my gosh.
	Did they give the job to someone else with straight hair?
	Yeah, of course.
	Oh, crap.
	Yeah, of course.
	Black woman or what?
	Was it a black woman?
	With straight hair?
	Trying to do it.
	A white woman.
	This is in 2000.
	Two or three.
	Okay.
	Anyway, he said, but her hair.
	And I'm like, my hair?
	But at that point, I was like, oh, I'll straighten it.
	I'll do whatever.
	Because this is the pinnacle job at that point in my career.
	And probably in anyone's career who was doing what I was doing at the time.
	And I thought, okay, can you imagine someone saying that now to an agent?
	I mean, maybe they would, but they certainly wouldn't say it publicly, have the balls to say it publicly.
	So at the end of the day, I was.
	Nowadays, think about it, what they'd say about black hair.
	Well, now.
	Black people would say about black hair.
	What do you mean?
	I mean, everything's so fucked up.
	You know, you know, culture is just fucking crazy.
	And now, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they, well, I won't say that in trouble.
	No, go.
	I'll go with you.
	Well, certain black people, you know, that are in the power structure, you know, they just want to go with what's popular.
	They don't really, I don't think they, in Hollywood, they don't feel any pride in their ethnicity or their people or nothing.
	It's just about the dollar.
	So they probably go, oh, she needs to be in a blonde wig.
	Yeah.
	I know who you're talking about.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's interesting.
	You know what I mean?
	I do.
	And I don't know that world as much, but it's interesting.
	You should hear what they tell Jews.
	Well, let me tell you this.
	She does this every week.
	She talks about how each culture, in order to gain power, especially in Hollywood, black, Jew, woman, whatever, you kind of have to sell it your own people.
	That's the sacrifice.
	That's how we talk about it every year.
	That's what she's saying.
	Yeah.
	No, for sure.
	For sure.
	You got to.
	Every group does this.
	You have to buy the narrative, which is you have to show your masters that you're one of them.
	Yeah.
	Not one of who you really are.
	Oh, well, and in the black community, oh, oh, the hate is real on me and has been for years and years.
	And by the way, I'm one of many.
	This is not, oh, woe is sage.
	I honestly am totally fine with it.
	And it's almost expected at this point.
	I mean, just from a visual perspective, when you look at TV now, I mean, about the hair thing, part of it was true in that you never, if you watch local TV, if you're watching in Dallas, Texas, Or New York City, there was never a single female anchor who had curly hair.
	No.
	Even if they had curly hair, that shit was straightened, right?
	And so it wasn't, I was unique in that way at that time, but it was only because I didn't know how to straighten it.
	Like, this would have taken me hours.
	And I was having babies.
	I was, it was a different face.
	I didn't have time or money to straighten it.
	It was like, this is what it is.
	I had straightened it one time at ESPN, and I had three bosses come up to me.
	They're like, can you do that every day?
	I'm like, no, I mean, are you going to pay for it?
	Because I can't do this.
	And so you go back to what God gave you, frankly, is the decision I made.
	I'm like, no, this is how God made me, and it is what it is.
	Now you look at TV and watch ESPN, watch any news or sports network, and people are much more themselves with all kinds of hair, right?
	There's a girl on ESPN who shaves her head bald on purpose.
	No, I like that, though.
	I like that.
	Oh, do you.
	Yeah.
	So I feel like that, I mean, it's awesome to have seen the evolution of it.
	But I don't know.
	I'd like to think that I was kept around because I did a good job and was a good teammate and wasn't there to fill some quota.
	And I know that for sure.
	But the industry is certainly not.
	They always try to belittle you every way they can.
	If you're a woman, I don't know that they do that to men.
	It seems that they always try to build them up.
	And I was always irate about it.
	They seem to always want to build men up as if they understand that men need that.
	But with women, it's like she needs to be knocked down a few notches.
	For sure.
	I think so.
	And I mean, just watching on TV, just at my old network, men could get old and fat and bald and all of it.
	And it didn't matter.
	It was fine.
	I mean, their shirts aren't wrinkled.
	They could look a hot mess.
	Some of them still do.
	Yeah, they do.
	But for us, are you kidding me?
	And it's crazy because as the show evolved through the years, Sports Center wasn't just done behind a desk.
	It is, you are walking and talking.
	You're doing highlights and four-inch heels run into the other side of the set.
	And top to bottom, it mattered.
	So not many at the time, heavy women in that role on national TV.
	You could be old and fat and ugly as a guy, but not as a woman.
	And that is not immune to just my industry, my goodness.
	But obviously, for a visual medium, and that's what you see, the standard, it was certainly a devil standard.
	I have two daughters, and I admit now, I think I see now more how I probably fell into some traps with that, with trying to make sure I looked the part.
	It's good.
	I exercised my whole life and stayed healthy for them.
	But what I did realize, and I'd love to know your perspective on this, when you are on air, on stages, performing, acting, hosting, I mean, you're in front of a mirror before you go on every single time.
	And it's really hard to age in front of a mirror every day with the world looking at you.
	And I didn't realize how much it got into my head until more recently, where then you get older and your body changes as women and your hormones change and everything, and you have no control all of a sudden.
	I'm like, what the hell is going on?
	This is different.
	It's tough and it's not a forgiving world.
	Now, in some ways, I guess you could say it is because now there's all the sensitivity to that and you have big, huge, out-of-shape girls in bikinis, and that's who's doing the ads for all this.
	That pisses me off.
	See Gross Anne on Mad Magazine?
	Gross Anne.
	Eating the whole sandwich on the...
	I don't know if you know this.
	My mother wasn't a beauty pageant winner, wasn't she?
	Yeah, it wasn't hard for me to age because I was always a big, fat slob.
	So it wasn't, you know, I think I got better looking as I aged.
	Everyone agrees, and I agree.
	But I never, I mean, I always knew I was out of the running anyway.
	But I knew I was breaking boundaries.
	I was going to say you were iconic in that way because really, who else came before you who was the first mainstream person, much less superstar, to be wholly who you are?
	Normally.
	Who you are.
	Representative of America.
	Yeah.
	I don't know.
	That's a good question.
	You know.
	I mean, Lucy, she was kind of a model, wasn't she?
	Yeah.
	But, yeah, I think I busted the model.
	Yeah.
	You broke the mold literally and figured.
	Yeah.
	But thank goodness, honestly, because in Hollywood in particular, my world is a lot smaller than yours was, you know?
	And there was no one else like you to do that and to own it.
	And that's, I mean, that's one of many reasons why that show did so well from its inception is because you represented normal people.
	Yeah, I looked like everyone else in the heartland.
	And so I think that's why people believed the family because they looked like everybody.
	And then had issues like everybody, and you put it out there in the best possible way.
	But you know what's funny is after the success of Roseanne, then it became okay for normal-looking Americans on TV.
	But if you think about it, it was the big fat dad, but the wife was still hot.
	I just realized that now.
	Like Kevin James and Leah Remini, they still never adjusted after you.
	They started to try and get back into that fashion.
	They don't.
	It's kind of gross.
	That's why I was so irate over, well, I mean, I did so much stuff for fat women.
	But I know where you're going.
	Our first viral clip on this podcast.
	What?
	About Big Fat Lizzo.
	Yeah.
	Oh, gosh.
	Because, you know, I got mad because all these fat women that broke into things, and it's because of me.
	Yeah.
	And not one of them goes, we'd like to thank Big Fat Roseanne for breaking the boundaries for our big fat ass.
	But they pretend like They did it, and it really makes me mad.
	But that's another thing of being a woman that's very successful and breaks a lot of boundaries for women.
	And I didn't know it till I got fired.
	But women hate you for it.
	Oh, my God.
	Women hate you for breaking down boundaries for women.
	And I didn't know that.
	I thought they would be proud and happy that doors were opened and stereotypes smashed.
	But no, they want to be the only woman.
	They don't want to thank women who came before or even acknowledge them.
	They want to erase them.
	And so I was going to ask you, I really want to get into this part.
	What took you down at ESPN?
	I want to hear it.
	First of all, I want to say you are so right with women, and that's been one of the most disappointing things throughout my journey because women are the ones that preach about, we are women, hear us roar in the glass ceiling, da-da-da.
	Where's the ladder?
	You're not pulling people up with you, but you're going to crush men along the way and tell men to be better.
	So I have always been more so lately, I'd say, open and constructively critical, I hope, with that situation and that topic, because it's so hypocritical when we criticize men, but then we don't even take care of each other.
	And then we're ugly to each other.
	So ugly.
	Yeah, it's not okay.
	And I tell that to my daughters.
	No mean girls.
	No mean girl shit.
	Like, absolutely not.
	And, you know, they catch themselves and they've got beautiful hearts.
	And I will remind them.
	But I always tell them, and of course, my daughters are 23 and 19.
	And I have a son in the middle who's 21 who's in between the two psycho daughters, as I say, because they are nuts because girls are nuts.
	But I try to remind them, like, that boy needs to come second to your friends right now, especially when you're teenagers and when you're young.
	You know, you take care of each other.
	And so if we as mothers instill that in our daughters from a young age, I hope and pray that then when they're going off in their careers, they remember that and they're better than what we saw and experienced.
	There's room for, I say this at ESPN, especially with some of these women, I'm like, what the heck was that?
	Like, why?
	We're all here.
	We all have signed a contract and are making good money.
	There is room for all of us.
	Why are we being more divisive?
	And we got to call them on it.
	And now it's so nice.
	I don't have to care because I'm not there anymore and I can say what I want.
	What blew me up?
	What ended it?
	Me opening my big mouth.
	I finally got my Roseanne bar on and I just said what I wanted to say.
	What did you say?
	I was on a podcast with former Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
	I mean, he's been retired for many years.
	It was a new podcast for him.
	And his publicist said, hey, he has not had a woman on yet.
	Would you like to come on?
	I was like, sure, I'll talk.
	And he asked me a couple questions, mainly about the band-aid on my arm, because I had literally just come from getting the COVID vaccine.
	And I got it because I was told by Disney and ESPN that if I didn't get a shot and was fully vaccinated by September 30th, 2021, that I'd be fired.
	Fascism.
	100%.
	And I fought it for the months leading up to it.
	I talked to my agent, like, how can I get out of this?
	And oh, do a religious exemption.
	Oh, do a medical exemption.
	I'm like, okay, but that's not what this is.
	I don't want to lie.
	Like, I want to be honest.
	I think this is wrong.
	And to force anybody to do this, it's experimental.
	Just give us time for more research to have taken place.
	It was a quick Google search.
	I'm no scientist, but I could see easily, on average, it takes six to nine years for the FDA to approve a vaccine.
	And I'm like, this is happening in a couple of months.
	Realized how political it was.
	You know, Trump was in office and it was evil.
	Biden's in office and it's required and it's good.
	And if you don't get it, then you're evil.
	So once you started to pay attention a little, you could tell, right?
	But I had this incredible job that I'd worked my whole life to get to that level at ESPN.
	I had three kids.
	I was very recently divorced and 100% responsible financially for everyone in my family.
	So I had to make that decision.
	And to this day, Roseanne, honestly, I get, I'm still trying to forgive myself for caving in and getting the shot.
	Well, you had to.
	You had children.
	You should forgive yourself immediately.
	And I know a little, we don't have to.
	You had to.
	I did have to.
	You didn't have to.
	I might have cried at the bar when I told them.
	You did.
	Yes.
	You didn't.
	Because it was even more wrong.
	But I didn't want to, I was so afraid of getting caught because everybody was getting fake cards too.
	I thought about that long and hard because I was so afraid of getting it in my body.
	But I thought since they knew I was against it, that they might go double, triple check.
	And then if I got busted, it'd be headlines, HDL, fake vax card.
	Who knows what they did to you?
	This is 2021.
	And so I went to the pharmacy that day that I was scheduled to be on Jay's podcast.
	It was the last possible day I could get the shot to be fully vaxed.
	And I sat in my car and I cried before I went in there.
	And I was like, and I'd prayed all night, the night before.
	And that day, like, if you want me to walk away from this job, God, please give me a sign or a sign that I'm going to be okay if I get this stupid thing.
	So long story short, I went in the pharmacy and the sweet woman who was administering it looked at me and she saw my red eyes and she said, are you okay?
	And I was like, no, I'm being forced to get this shot to keep my job and I don't want to do it.
	And she looked at me and she said, this is so wrong and I am so sorry.
	And she held my hand and squeezed it and then she put it in my arm.
	I've never been the same since here, here, mentally.
	Something changed in me that day.
	Like an anger, I think.
	I'm not an angry person, but for that situation, I was angry that they because you knew it was unjust.
	I knew it.
	And the my body, my choice people, like I was livid, but I did what I had to do at that moment.
	I would do it differently today, but that's okay.
	It led to today, and I wouldn't change a thing.
	But I got back in that car, cried the whole way home, went, oh my God, I have this podcast, flipped up the lid on my laptop and did the FaceTime, Zoom, whatever it was, and started talking.
	And I forgot that I had that band-aid on my shoulder because it had just happened.
	And when Jay asked me, and he asked me before, he's like, can we talk about the COVID stuff?
	I was like, sure, I don't care.
	Go for it.
	And then when he asked me an hour later, I was like, what's the band-aid?
	And it all was running through my head.
	And I just said, well, I think it's sick and scary for any employer to force their employee to do anything to their body.
	But I work for a global company, Disney, and I guess I'm not surprised.
	And I love my job and I need my job.
	But I think it's sick and I think it's scary.
	And I took it.
	And that's what I said.
	That was it.
	So what happened how long later?
	The podcast came out two weeks later and within a couple of hours, my agent called and he's like, so, and I'd actually, I thought they were, I thought I might get in trouble for something else, which I, it was the first time I talked about my divorce.
	And it was very, it was like a five-second thing, but I thought they'd be like, you know, why'd you talk about your personal life?
	And I really didn't, but it was more the part of having to bear the burden financially for the ex-husband, for the kids.
	And I was like stressing about that, you know.
	And my agent was like, this is not going over well.
	You're going to get a call from the number two in command, Norby Williamson.
	And I was very close to him at the time.
	And I'm not now.
	And he has since been let go from the company after 38 years or something, 39 years.
	And he called and he said, you whacked the company.
	You whacked Disney and you can't do that.
	And I said, what do you mean I whacked them?
	First of all, I complied.
	You took your shot.
	I can have an opinion.
	And he said it wasn't going over well in Burbank headquarters, Disney headquarters.
	And the other thing I said that ticked them off was about Obama.
	That's all I remember.
	I didn't know it was the COVID shot.
	I thought it was the Obama thing.
	What was the Obama thing?
	The Obama thing was Jay asked me why it was important for me to say that I'm biracial, not black.
	If someone says black, of course.
	Yes.
	If I'm asked, then I am a biracial woman.
	I'm so proud to be white and black.
	And I was on The View in 2014, and I was asked the same question.
	And what I did in 2021 with Jay Cutler was I repeated the same story I said in 2014 to Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg and Sherry Shepard and Jenny McCarthy.
	And it just hit a little different seven years later.
	What I said was, Barbara was upset that I wasn't saying I'm black.
	Obama was president at the time.
	And I said, and she goes, well, what happens when you fill out a census?
	And I was like, well, I haven't filled out a census in a long time.
	I don't know.
	She goes, but what would you check?
	And I would say, check black and white.
	I'm 50% each.
	And she goes, well, our president that's black checks just black.
	And I said, well, congratulations to the president.
	I said, but I'm pretty sure my white mom was there the day I was born.
	And she did not laugh.
	I thought it was funny.
	That's such a good laugh.
	As I said that, the monitor behind us put up a picture of my family with my white mom and black dad and two biracial siblings.
	But the thing that got me in trouble there was I said, I just think it's fascinating because Barack Obama was raised by his white mom and his white grandmother, and his black dad was not around.
	But you do you.
	That's fine.
	I'll do me.
	And I choose to, I don't know.
	Honor.
	Honor?
	Yeah.
	All of me, not just half of me.
	And I'm so proud.
	And I was sensitive to it because I had seen through the years where it was all about my dad and the famous, you know, the football player from college and the colonel.
	And like, my little white mom, you know, is the most beautiful soul and the glue that kept us together with all the moving.
	And isn't it, aren't we celebrating all of us?
	Yeah, right.
	That's diversity.
	And I think my family represents diversity in so many beautiful ways.
	So in 2014, it was fine.
	In 2021, it was not when I relayed that story from seven years prior.
	And so then I was racist and anti-Obama and I hate my black self.
	And so I got, and that's when I got suspended for like 12 days, paid suspension.
	They didn't want to call it a suspension because I got paid, but I'm like, it's just like in baseball or something, it's a paid suspension.
	Took me off the air, had to publicly apologize for talking about those issues.
	But it was interesting, and you'll like this.
	In the statement that had to go through Disney approval, I wasn't allowed to say the word Disney.
	I had to say the company, but not Disney.
	They wouldn't let that word in there.
	I thought that was fascinating.
	That is fascinating.
	Yeah.
	So they want to separate from you, but they're going to make sure you're crushed along the way.
	Absolutely.
	So that's how it began.
	And I was sidelined.
	And then they, you know, the apology, but I didn't file the lawsuit until six months later.
	And the only reason I filed the lawsuit, I mean, I apologized.
	They told me that I was going to go back to work, act like nothing happened.
	The problem is they kept taking assignments away from me after that.
	So the Rose Parade, Pasadena, that I did every year, the last few years prior, New York City Marathon, the events were disappearing and they weren't promoting the stories I was doing on another streaming show that I had begun on the network.
	All of a sudden they stopped promoting everything and they wouldn't talk to me.
	And I'm like, what is going on?
	And then when my coworkers went on the air and talked about abortion on an NBA show, Roe versus Wade being overturned, or the don't say gay bill in Florida on a college basketball show.
	Remember the moment of silence?
	Yes.
	So I'm like, wait, so you can have people who agree with you go on sports platforms and talk about things that have nothing to do with sports.
	And I was on a day Off talking about my own experience, and then I was suspended.
	So, when there's that hypocrisy, and it's been happening for years, that's when my friend Chris Harrison from The Bachelor called and said, You need to talk to my guy, Brian Friedman.
	Yeah, he got a raw deal, man.
	No, same thing.
	I just had him on my show the other day, too.
	And exact same thing.
	And that's when I realized, and when I talked to my attorney, well, I hadn't even hired him yet, when I told him the whole story, sobbing, because I'm like, first of all, you realize you're hated by many, not all, but that's what the social media and internet tells you.
	And he said to me, he went through all of it.
	He fought with Disney before.
	He got Megan Kelly everything she deserved from NBC after they canceled her.
	And he said, you have a decision to make.
	Is this the time that you stand up for yourself and you say enough is enough?
	Because I know you've experienced this for years.
	Or do you sit back and stay quiet?
	Because this is a major undertaking.
	Disney, right?
	And I, it's just me.
	And I'm single and I have these three kids, one in college, two in high school, alone.
	And I'm like, oh my God, I can't do this.
	And I was a pleaser.
	I was just that goodie two shoes for all those years.
	And I prayed about it and I talked to my parents about it.
	And of course, they were scared too because they just saw their daughter getting crushed.
	And I said, let's go.
	And I did it.
	And you won.
	I think settling out of court with Disney is a victory.
	It is, definitely.
	I do too.
	I look forward to settling out of court with Disney with my lawsuit.
	When is this happening?
	We're not allowed to talk about it, but I will say we can't talk about it.
	Okay.
	We can mention this, that you are pursuing what's rightfully yours.
	Yeah.
	Legally.
	Yeah.
	But did you get the letter from Disney?
	What?
	The scorched earth letter, like, we're going to destroy you and ruin your life and kill yourself.
	We did not get what you got.
	We got that.
	We've gotten that.
	Goodness gracious.
	It's terrifying.
	I read it.
	It's terrifying.
	I went, oh, well, they already tried to kill me.
	Yeah, I walked to mom and I was like, what do you think?
	She's like, man, fucking, I'm too old to be.
	I'm too old not to fight.
	That's what you said to me.
	Oh, that was the most important thing.
	But that is so bad.
	How many people would have said, I'm too old to fight?
	Yeah.
	And you said, I'm too old not to fight.
	Hell yeah.
	What are they going to say?
	After all the shit I've lived through?
	That is awesome.
	Yeah.
	I was scared.
	I was like, I don't know, ma.
	She's like, fuck it.
	Let's do it.
	Let's go.
	There's right and there's wrong.
	Absolutely.
	And I think that, gosh, I think I would have regretted it if I'd stayed quiet.
	Even though it would have been easier and cheaper and a lot of things, right?
	Just to stay quiet.
	But the fact that you're choosing not to.
	I went to every lawyer in LA because I always wanted to fight because I knew what they did after they got, they told me it was only going to be one season because we were renewed and that I had to pay for that season if I didn't sign my rights away.
	And I said, well, what if you get more than one season?
	They said, that'll never happen.
	They did six seasons.
	I think they did seven.
	Seven or whatever.
	And they swore, well, if we, I said, well, what if you do get another season?
	Oh, well, then we'll renegotiate.
	And then they said, we never said that.
	So I went to every lawyer in LA and they all said, well, we've previously represented Disney, so we can't represent you.
	So many.
	So there was not one lawyer in LA or New York or Chicago.
	And so I flew to Israel to find a lawyer.
	And he said, yeah, you've got a case.
	And I was so thankful and happy.
	And then three days later, he called and said, I'm going to work for the Trump administration, so I can't represent you.
	And I never gave up looking.
	It's been very difficult until I finally found some great Hispanic lawyers from Trump.
	And I say Hispanic because they're the most fierce Americans right now.
	They are fierce.
	God bless them.
	Because a lot of them came from communist countries.
	Yeah.
	They don't want to say that.
	And they hate communism.
	And that's what I needed.
	And so we'll see.
	Is there not a statute of limitations?
	There is.
	There is.
	Okay.
	We're shooting our shot.
	You're on it.
	Who knows?
	But I firmly believe this is so important and so well deserved for you to fight back, I mean, to the nth degree.
	And it's so much bigger than us.
	Gina Carano doing the exact same thing and battling with Disney.
	I'm like, gosh, I wish Elon Musk had helped me with my life.
	I know, I too.
	She in the thread said, hello.
	He's like, anyone else been fired?
	And she's like, he never responded.
	Interesting.
	Very interesting.
	Very interesting.
	Yeah.
	He never responds.
	He's got his own.
	But that's a whole other thing.
	Yeah.
	But I mean, when you're called a racist, people.
	When you're a civil rights activist for 30 years.
	Yeah, for 30 years, and then you're called a racist because they have no geopolitical intelligence about Iran, especially then.
	But now it's starting to come out what the Obama administration did with their Iran deal in Iran against women's rights.
	and that's what I was tweeting about.
	But anyway, when you're called a racist, nobody wants to represent you because they're like, They run from it.
	But can I ask you this?
	Yeah.
	And then we're going to wrap up.
	Is it that turning it on?
	I want to talk all day.
	I know.
	Well, you'll come back because we have too much more to talk about.
	We have so much more to talk about anymore.
	Stop.
	Don't say that.
	Including the fact that ABC and all these LibTards that work for the CCP and all this stuff, they want segregation back.
	Yep.
	They do.
	Don't they?
	They do.
	It's evil.
	It's evil.
	That is why we have to keep fighting.
	We have to speak up.
	And in your case, with the lawsuit, that is why, whether it's on social media, on your show, on my show, anytime that we have the opportunity, we have to.
	I know that you, if I have had as many people come up to me as I have, that you have had it times 10, times 100 probably.
	And people say thank you because they're afraid.
	They're afraid to speak up for good reason because if they see that Roseanne Barr can get canceled, which you haven't, you've been punished, but not canceled, you're still here.
	Or me or anybody else who's done things really the right way for all those years.
	I always say I understand why people stay silent.
	Maybe we're the dummies and we should have just it.
	No.
	So we have to do that for others.
	We really, I believe.
	Because what we stand for, I think, is American values because we believe in integration.
	I grew up in the inner city, in Salt Lake City.
	All my friends were black and, you know, I grew up in the inner city.
	So I have those values of just seeing the light in everybody.
	Yes.
	Not just a specific.
	But to accuse someone of being a racist.
	It killed me.
	I wept for three days.
	And I kept calling ABC and Tom Warner, who owned my show, and I said, can you please put out a statement saying that you know I am not a racist?
	It killed me.
	And then the next day, they said, if you'll sign away your rights, we'll make that statement.
	What?
	Yeah.
	And all I cared about was that because it was my whole life and a vow I took to God to fight fascism and Nazism and racism.
	And it's all that consumed me.
	And the next day, there was a ton of shit about my racist tweet.
	And it had nothing to do with race.
	I thought she was white.
	And it was about the Iran deal, which was a destruction of women and women's rights.
	And it destroyed me, killed me.
	I didn't think I would make it out alive of it.
	And I had people in the army that said, you need to go to, what's that town called over there in Taiwan?
	They said, you need to go because they're going to try to kill you.
	Because you had a number one show and you were a Trump supporter and they're coming for you.
	And Singapore, I was going to go there.
	But, you know, I felt like God was talking to me and saying, all you have to do, and I mean, I was down.
	I couldn't even walk.
	And I couldn't get out of bed.
	I was devastated.
	And then God came in, like he has a thousand times in my life.
	And he wrapped his wings around me.
	And he said, you will have to get louder and more fierce than you've ever been in your life.
	And that's how you have to fight.
	And so I did.
	I did.
	I called.
	I had so many people's numbers and I called them all.
	And I'm like, I'm doubling down.
	I'm tripling down.
	I won't go quietly into that.
	I won't go silent into that good night.
	I won't.
	Because I've already fought hard enough.
	And if people want to think I'm a racist, that's just because they're racist.
	And fuck them.
	Let me ask you this real quick, too, and I know we have to wrap it up.
	I'm wondering if the fact that Tom Warner would not say she's not a racist, you know, when people...
	That was a nice one.
	Yeah, that was nice of him.
	Thanks, Tom.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Appreciate it.
	But all the racist stuff, all the racist stuff about her racist tweet where she called Valerie Jarrett said Valerie Jarrett looked like an ape.
	They would never show the picture that I captioned, which shows her looking just like that woman in makeup.
	They would never show it.
	So I could never put context to it.
	Of course, because context truly matters.
	But when people that know you stay silent.
	They all stayed silent.
	I think that's the hard.
	Well, because they knew if they did stick up for me, they'd be called a racist too.
	So it's their fear, and I don't even blame them.
	You know what?
	I'm with you on that, but as we get further along in the culture wars and where we are as America, fuck you.
	Like, now's not the time to be silent and a pussy.
	It's just not.
	Maybe 10 years ago I could understand it, and I'd actually defended a lot of them.
	But right now, I'm feeling the divine spirit.
	Fuck you.
	Like, stand up.
	Stand up.
	This is why bad shit's happening.
	This is why bad shit's happening all over the world.
	It's because people are too afraid to stand up.
	Because they're silent.
	They're choosing.
	They're pussies.
	They chose silent.
	They chose to do that to me in order to do that to all Trump supporters.
	Yes.
	Yes.
	And when I made the connection, I'm like, fuck it, I'm fighting.
	Good.
	Because those are my fans.
	They're my people.
	They're every reason I came to TV.
	They're every color.
	And, you know, I was always so proud that I had a diverse audience.
	You know, whenever I did stand up, I had every color and nation of people in my audience.
	And the last few times that I've done some shows, you know, they ruined that for me.
	And it's devastating.
	I don't think anyone will truly comprehend what that feels like.
	It's horrible.
	Especially because of the way you've lived your life.
	I'm going to share this with you and then I'll shut up.
	Okay.
	I know it's.
	We never want you to shut up.
	We want you to come back.
	Can I?
	Yes, please.
	One of your gorgeous fiancée.
	We've got a party.
	He's engaged.
	I know.
	I don't have a sex drive.
	I'm just saying.
	You still don't have a sex drive?
	When you look at it?
	It's gone?
	No, I have no sex drive.
	Okay.
	But young people, I'm glad they do.
	But listen, you've got to come back and we've got to just hang out.
	I'm going to show you how to use my tractor.
	We're going to cut grass.
	Please, I know.
	We've got to have it.
	You know, we've got to have some more time together, dude.
	You are just a lovely person.
	Thank you.
	And I just loved you.
	Thank you.
	You are a sister in arms.
	I just love you so much.
	Can I share this?
	Can I share this little prayer?
	Because this has been the coolest, best thing I learned about your mom starting that day in Los Angeles.
	I didn't understand the strength of your faith.
	I didn't understand it.
	And it is so beautiful.
	And Dave and I were talking about this after our conversation yesterday where you really, you shared the story about when you were three years old and God told you what was going to happen in your life with your show.
	Like so beautiful.
	I can't wait.
	I can't wait.
	I'm able to see that on my show too.
	This is the prayer that my dad made us memorize as kids.
	Oh, great.
	From his days at West Point when he was forced to say it probably 10,000 times.
	But this is what got me through everything in my life.
	I love it.
	And it reminds me of what you're doing right now.
	What?
	Help me to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.
	Amen.
	I'm going to send this to you.
	Give it to your mom because you can apply it to everything in your life.
	Say again, harder right.
	The harder right instead of the easier wrong.
	Instead of the easier wrong.
	Oh, yeah.
	Right?
	Like, think about that.
	And what you're doing right now by fighting back, by saying I'm too old not to fight back, it is the harder right.
	Yeah.
	It would be easier to stay silent right now because, hey, you're good.
	You're not hurting in life financially, whatever.
	No, but I'm closer to going up there to see my God where he goes.
	Why were you silent?
	Yes.
	I know he'd asked me that.
	I gave you a big fat mouth and you was always going around.
	And now you're silent.
	Yes.
	Because you have, and the last part of that prayer, you have the opportunity to not settle for a half-truth.
	Like the whole truth has to come out.
	And people don't know it.
	I think now they're learning it in every aspect of our country and life and world with what's with the anti-Semitism and everything.
	So we have to speak the truth and not settle.
	So thank you for doing that for all these years for me and for so many others.
	Well, I want you to give your dad a big hug and a kiss and give your mom a big hug and a kiss and say, I sent it to them through you because what heroes and to create such a lovely child.
	Don't make me cry again today.
	I've already been crying this whole episode a couple times.
	Thank you.
	I just love you.
	Thank you.
	You're on a beautiful.
	You're a rare person.
	This guy is something else.
	I'll tell you.
	Remember, he still thinks I'm a lightweight.
	Let's let him believe that.
	Let's enjoy the last few months of him smiling, shall we?
	How lucky are you to hook up with her?
	Listen, it takes around two sometimes, right?
	Yeah.
	Or three.
	Oh, my second marriage is the best.
	I've been four times and I'm never doing it again.
	I'm just going to get a dog.
	You can't even get a dog.
	I can't let you get a dog.
	You won't let me get a dog.
	No, Jake knows.
	Don't let her do it.
	get an AI boyfriend.
	They have their AI.
	I don't want to listen to one more music.
	No, no, listen.
	You could have to any man tell me anything.
	No, no, no.
	You can have an AI boyfriend.
	I don't want to be a lesbian because I hate women and all they do is yeah.
	I don't want to be a lesbian either.
	Listen, you could program an AI boyfriend to just love every time you tell the same story over and over and be like, you are the most amazing person.
	You can do that.
	That's why I have grandkids.
	Tell me I'm beautiful.
	Tell me I'm beautiful.
	They love my story.
	They're going to miss their flight.
	They love it when I burp.
	Wrap it up.
	They're going to miss their flight.
	She hasn't belched one time during this show.
	I'm very disappointed.
	There you go, baby.
	Thank you so much for being here.
	You're coming again.
	We have much more to discuss regarding history in this country and where we're going.
	I want to talk to you about that.
	Love you.
	Thanks for tuning in.
	So you see, my patience is wearing fair in this synthetic libane.

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