The Megyn Kelly Show - Russell Brand's Friend on the TRUTH, Meghan Markle's Father Back in Jail, and Diversity Over Excellence in Culture, with Heather Mac Donald ｜ Ep. 1439

00:00:00 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.

00:00:12 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:15 We have multiple stories with major updates today, including Thomas Markle Sr.

00:00:20 allegedly trying to cut off his ankle monitor.

00:00:24 This is unbelievable.

00:00:26 He's only got the one leg.

00:00:28 It's somehow he managed to get down and cut off the ankle monitor after he was given the enormous gift of being released pending trial.

00:00:39 He was charged with the possession of child sexual abuse material, as you know, and somehow misunderstood what an enormous gift that was and abused it.

00:00:51 And now he's back in custody and will not be released again.

00:00:55 I think it's fair to say.

00:00:57 Unbelievable.

00:00:57 But we begin today with an update in the Russell Brand case.

00:01:02 As we reported Monday, a judge sentenced the British comedian to 10 and a half years in prison with a minimum of seven years behind bars after a London jury convicted him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

00:01:18 Brand is currently incarcerated in a reportedly decrepit facility where inmates are kept in, quote, unsafe, overcrowded, unsanitary and squalid conditions, according to a watchdog report.

00:01:33 The Daily Mail also reporting police say several more women have come forward with information about more accusations of rape and related charges potentially against Brand.

00:01:46 This is all pointing in a very dark direction.

00:01:50 And where were these people when they did the Channel 4 documentary, in air quotes?

00:01:55 Where were they when the police were putting together the criminal charge?

00:01:59 Now that he's been convicted, these women are coming out of the woodwork to say, me too?

00:02:04 Please. 0.88

00:02:05 All right, just like they will not be satisfied until this guy is behind bars for the rest of his life.

00:02:12 And the narrative now in the media, it's amazing how they're just piling on. 0.96

00:02:17 I mean, every publication is rapist Russell Brand, rapist Russell Brand.

00:02:21 I realize there's been a verdict, but please do a little research on the alleged rape before you run with this. 0.51

00:02:30 These people know they know how thin this is.

00:02:34 There's a hatred for Russell and you can see it behind the glee with which they're calling him a rapist. 0.72

00:02:40 it's a joke. The rape charge was a joke. These people obviously know nothing about Complainant 0.65

00:02:48 Five. Well, we wanted to speak with someone who actually knows Russell and who could shed some

00:02:54 light on whether these claims are believable at all. This alleged open secret now that they're

00:03:00 all saying, oh, it was an open secret. Russell was a rapist. Really? Where were you all? Why 1.00

00:03:06 weren't you all jumping up and down, setting yourselves on fire to say, oh, my God, don't be

00:03:10 alone with that guy. He's a known rapist. Is that true? Or is this just his political haters 1.00

00:03:18 trying to pile on as they enjoy his downfall? Samantha Presti is a British standup comedian

00:03:25 who has known Russell Brand for over a decade. She joins us now. We have all heard those radio 0.65

00:03:32 ads about owing money to the IRS. They try to scare you and push you into calling out of fear.

00:03:37 But Tax Relief Advocates takes a different approach.

00:03:42 If you owe the IRS $5,000, $50,000, or even $500,000 bucks,

00:03:47 TRA has real solutions to fix your tax problem.

00:03:51 Don't lose hope.

00:03:52 TRA can often reduce or completely eliminate what you owe.

00:03:56 Their focus is taxes and helping people and businesses resolve IRS problems.

00:04:01 They have more than 1,000 five-star Google reviews

00:04:04 and an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau.

00:04:06 You no longer have to fear the IRS.

00:04:09 Generous relief programs exist right now that can give you a clean slate, so act today.

00:04:15 Go the TRA.com route, that's TRA.com, or call 800-575-6845.

00:04:23 Again, 800-575-6845, Tax Relief Advocates, real solutions for real people.

00:04:31 Samantha, welcome to the show.

00:04:33 Great to have you.

00:04:33 Hello, Megan.

00:04:34 Thank you so much for having me.

00:04:36 Of course. So tell us how you know Russell. How did you and he get to know each other?

00:04:41 We met in a bar in 2006. His writing partner, Matt Morgan, was DJing at the bar and Russell

00:04:49 made an appearance. There weren't many people at the bar. There were about 50.

00:04:54 They were all following him around like he was the Pied Piper. And I was just being cool.

00:04:59 And then he came up to me and said, are you coming with me? And I'm like, where? And he's

00:05:04 like to my home and I was like no and he's like come on it'll be an adventure so I went to his

00:05:10 home uh we had a little bit of a romantic tumble um I think um the most important part of my story

00:05:17 is that I said no to him at the most frustrating possible moment the last possible moment I could

00:05:22 say no I said no and he was a perfect gentleman about it and um to this uh to this day I still

00:05:30 care about him dearly I've been around him a lot uh reconnected with him maybe around 2013 when he

00:05:37 started getting political we were both on the activist scene and I was around him sometimes

00:05:42 on a weekly basis and and all the comedy industry knew I was a comedian um all the comedy industry

00:05:48 knew that I was connected to him and not one single person ever warned me to be careful around

00:05:55 Russell Brand. So I don't buy the open secret. I would have been warned. It's a false narrative.

00:06:02 Why are they all coming out now claiming, we knew, everyone knew?

00:06:07 I think journalists planted the narrative because the first I heard of it was from

00:06:13 the comedian Alfie Brown. He said it on stage in 2023. And this guy, Alfie Brown, around 2016,

00:06:21 had ridden with me in my campaign van that Russell's team had decorated it got the trues on

00:06:27 the side it got Russell's website on it hop on the brand wagon so he knew that I was connected

00:06:33 to Russell and he didn't say anything around 2016 when he knew that I was around Russell everyone

00:06:38 knew I was talking about him on stage um I had publicity pictures that indicated a connection

00:06:44 I think there was a mention in my press release because we were working on a campaign together

00:06:48 which was a long political campaign called Sweetsway Resist.

00:06:53 So he said nothing to me back then.

00:06:55 His cousin also went to Russell's home around that time for romance,

00:07:00 and he never even warned his cousin.

00:07:03 So this is a lie that there was an open secret.

00:07:08 Maybe people knew that he was promiscuous,

00:07:10 but he told people that himself.

00:07:12 Nobody needed warning about that.

00:07:14 We all knew that he was that kind of guy and that kind of behavior.

00:07:18 in the UK is, is very normal and socially acceptable, even to this day.

00:07:24 I know you've said you think what's underway here is a feminist 0.99

00:07:27 hit job against Russell. Why do you think that? 0.78

00:07:30 Because it's the same narrative, the believe all women narrative, it's the same narrative as trans

00:07:39 women are women. And any comedian, me being one of them, that's spoken against that narrative

00:07:45 in recent years has been canceled it happened to graham linihan he's a bafta winner he's the

00:07:51 writer of father ted he's a bafta winning comedian and he got came on the show sorry

00:07:56 yeah we've we had graham yeah yeah he got canceled and all the police were waiting for him when he was

00:08:03 uh flying across he was arrested at the ocean it treated him like he was a gang rapist yeah it's

00:08:09 the same movement because the the human right is to be innocent until proven guilty that has not

00:08:14 happened here. Russell has not had a fair trial. Instead of being thought of as innocent until

00:08:19 proven guilty, no guilt has really been proven. Questionable women, anonymous women, have just

00:08:27 been believed. The ridiculous rush to just universally call Russell Brand a rapist now 0.97

00:08:36 on the word of complainant five of all the accusers complainant five which is to me a joke

00:08:45 and suggests no one has bothered to actually look into the claims or just no one cares they they had

00:08:52 it against russell to begin with and they're just enjoying his downfall which to me smacks of

00:08:57 politics given that the uk is very left and very woke and russell isn't what do you make of it um

00:09:04 I think it is that. And I also think that with his defense, anyone in the comedy industry that

00:09:11 may have had information that could have come to his defense, they would have been immediately

00:09:14 ruined. There's a musician that's just spoken out about Ian McNabb from Icicle Works. He spoke

00:09:24 saying that he thought it was a stitch up. He's been immediately canceled. All his tour has been

00:09:28 canceled so there's also this underlying cancel culture which has basically led the campaign

00:09:34 against russell brand and it's undermined the justice system yes that right that ian um

00:09:41 that comedian ian he said oh basically he just had like a social media post suggesting he didn't

00:09:48 believe these claims against him and now so he his whole tour has been canceled because he's thrown

00:09:54 his support behind Russell. That's it. So you're not allowed. You're not allowed to disbelieve

00:09:58 the jury's conclusion. You suddenly now you must go along with whatever the jury says. If the jury

00:10:05 had said not guilty, I guess everyone would have been required to go along with that.

00:10:09 And by this same logic, any woman out there posting, I believed the women and I think

00:10:15 Russell did do it. I guess those female comedians who posted that would have had their lives

00:10:19 cancelled too it's only if you're on this um if you're challenging the the narratives that you

00:10:25 get cancelled it's a it's a the comedy industry has been completely captured for years by this

00:10:31 leftist fake feminist ideology um i was about to quit in 2023 i wrote an article slamming the

00:10:40 industry saying that it was pushing an ideology that was curtailing freedom of expression and

00:10:46 undermining women's sex-based rights against the transgender narrative and um my show was cancelled

00:10:53 and i i i got terrible um it blew up on twitter apparently people were telling me i was getting

00:11:00 death threats um so it just basically proved my point what happened after the article was published

00:11:06 and and then i got cancelled um it proved my point that you can't tell the truth the comedian is

00:11:12 supposed to be the one that can tell the truth. But we've now kind of metaphorically killed the

00:11:17 court jester in the UK, and we're living in tyranny. We're not really a democratic country

00:11:24 if we don't have free speech. So this is against the values that not just the UK, but the whole

00:11:29 West has been built on. And this was Graham Linehan's sin, too, that he spoke out on the

00:11:37 transgender ideology. And that's why he got canceled and arrested and on and on. It went 0.96

00:11:43 like the harassment of him. His whole career had to go away because he would not accept that a man 0.77

00:11:48 can become a woman. This comedian you mentioned, Ian McNabb. This is what he is a musician. He's

00:11:55 a musician, sorry, musician. He posted Russell Brand is being stitched up for his outspoken

00:12:00 views. He got close to the target and he has a big audience. I know people who were in his orbit

00:12:04 and girls were throwing themselves at him every night.

00:12:07 If that happened to me, I know what I'd do.

00:12:09 Your pays, your money, your takes, your chance.

00:12:12 If you want to hang out with the artist,

00:12:14 don't cry when you're in the picture. 1.00

00:12:16 All the chicks who turn up at these situations 0.99

00:12:18 know exactly what's going on. 1.00

00:12:20 The ones who decided they were done badly to

00:12:23 10 years after the event are the worst. 0.89

00:12:25 He speaks for many people who are too cowardly to say that.

00:12:31 And then he posted the following after being canceled his concerts.

00:12:36 It's with a heavy heart and deep sadness and regret I make this post.

00:12:39 I've been canceled, and therefore all of my shows for the foreseeable future have also.

00:12:44 This is as a result of a post I made regarding the plight of British comedian entertainer Russell Brand.

00:12:49 He says, I don't support the actions of the man.

00:12:53 Both you and I know he behaved wrongly in many situations, but I feel the story goes deeper.

00:12:59 In no way did I mean to cause offense. I've committed no crime. But then continues to say when he turned on the Epstein class, his fate was sealed. I fail to understand how many who have committed worse offenses continue to roam free without consequence.

00:13:15 And he's exactly right. The double standard on rape claims in the UK is as plain as the nose on your face. There are how many of these Muslim immigrants who were never even charged with the rapes of young white girls because of skin color? That's been documented.

00:13:33 Yeah. And people that were speaking out against that, they were being labeled racists, which is wrong. Again, it's almost like another manifestation of cancel culture to label someone as a racist or a rape apologist or a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. It's crazy. It's insane.

00:13:57 Yes. And the woke mob will not be satisfied until Russell is in jail for the rest of his life.

00:14:06 What do you make of these reports that now all these other women are coming forward, calling the police, trying to add on to the charges that he may face in a potential second trial? 1.00

00:14:17 They could be gold diggers. I think that if a woman has believed that someone's hurt them, they should go straight to the police. 1.00

00:14:23 If that's the correct thing to do, you may stop that person from then hurting other women.

00:14:29 Just that person being arrested might stop them hurting other women, even if it doesn't go to a trial.

00:14:35 But at this point, after a documentary and the police coming out of the court and appealing for more people to come forward,

00:14:41 I think opportunists are likely to jump on this on this bandwagon.

00:14:45 Mm hmm. The notion that complainant five had her life ruined by Russell, her victim testimonial, which was read by the prosecutor, spoke to how she now no longer trusts her judgment.

00:14:59 And we're supposed to attribute all of this to her alleged anal rape by Russell Brand. 0.82

00:15:05 I know you've been paying attention to the case. Your thoughts on complainant five of all the women. Now, her allegations being used to label him universally as this terror terrorizing rapist. 0.72

00:15:18 she couldn't trust her judgment of the day that she met him when she went into his dressing room

00:15:25 and licked his back door who in their right mind would do that so it's clear that this is probably

00:15:34 most likely a woman that's got severe mental health issues the judge said as much but I don't 1.00

00:15:39 think they came after I think she already had them she was cheating on her boyfriend 0.87

00:15:42 she would have been upset about that she may wanted to place the guilt on someone else 0.99

00:15:47 um there was talk of her being an active addiction the way that she behaved not even 0.98

00:15:53 i used to hang out with all the groupies in the noughties i i don't even know any groupie that 1.00

00:15:58 would behave like that um to immediately go and do a thing like that like no um it's it's insane 1.00

00:16:08 that this this woman who has cheated on her boyfriend um done a really gross sex act within 1.00

00:16:15 minutes of meeting her hero she was an obsessed fan she probably had some parasocial relationship 1.00

00:16:21 with him and was disappointed when he discarded her she she couldn't have been in her right mind

00:16:26 anyone in their right mind knew that if if you were going to go into russell's dressing room you

00:16:32 you were you were going to be well she knew that she did that she went to his house she knew what

00:16:36 was going to happen but they should also know that he's going to quickly move on to the next woman 1.00

00:16:40 And I think that's probably what upset her, that she cheated on her boyfriend. 0.99

00:16:45 Maybe she had this fantasy that Russell would be her new boyfriend.

00:16:48 She'd be on the red carpet with him.

00:16:50 And then he just discarded her after the events.

00:16:56 Exactly. 1.00

00:16:57 That this person had consented to oral sex with him, to vaginal sex with him, 1.00

00:17:02 to she performed anal sex on him within seconds of meeting him. 0.99

00:17:07 And yet we're supposed to believe that him doing it to her, which was a bridge too far that she said no to Russell's testimony was that she did consent. 0.98

00:17:16 She asked him to, quote, be gentle. And he denied the claims that he treated her badly after the fact, saying, clean up the mess you've made, that he actually sat there and watched TV with her.

00:17:25 Her testimony was they ended. She had said no. And he scolded her. And, you know, she was effectively shamed and bitter about it as she had been cheating on her boyfriend and had committed or agreed to everything. But she claims the back door. The jury apparently bought it.

00:17:42 But now there is a question about how this whole thing got started, because there is this activist journalist, Roz Irwin, who was behind the whole thing.

00:17:55 This is the person who basically put together the collection of women who came forward and participated in that so-called documentary, which kicked things off, which we've been discussing with our audience.

00:18:07 the notion of having actresses play the alleged victims in a so-called documentary is farcical.

00:18:16 They are professional actresses who will portray the part of a victim, obviously, potentially much

00:18:24 better than an actual faker might, who is telling lies about the perpetrator. I mean, this is just 0.77

00:18:30 the whole thing is dishonest on its face. They play the scary music under the women's testimonial. 0.95

00:18:35 And now you have this woman who was with Russell. Her name is Georgina Bally. I know you know about her. She's now criticizing Russell, but she gave an interview in October of 2023 suggesting she too was contacted by so-called journalists, not necessarily from this so-called Dispatches documentary, but she, the journalists out there trying to get dirt on Russell had been calling her too.

00:19:02 and this is what she said on the podcast anything goes back then so i've been receiving calls from

00:19:09 channel four since 2020 about this and they've wanted me to contribute to it and i just said

00:19:16 well i don't really have anything to say other than everything was consensual because that's

00:19:19 the truth and i had a few of these randoms um sending me messages on on social media and stuff

00:19:27 and so it's been sort of in in my hemisphere for a long time um but i just

00:19:37 i just offered your money yeah yeah much oh i can't remember but like it was they wanted me to

00:19:45 basically anybody who's spoken to me from the mainstream media is trying to get me to bend

00:19:50 to their narrative and i simply will not do it because it's not the truth so they try to get

00:19:56 you would have been the dispatch documentary no so not people from dispatch but there were there

00:20:00 were there's a there were a few people that were saying like you know how did you did you feel used

00:20:05 or anything like that and really i was using him just as much as he was using me somebody's going

00:20:10 look there's 10 grand say that's about russell 100 of the time you're going to take the money

00:20:15 at then when i was younger absolutely that's what i did so these journalists so-called journalists

00:20:22 real journalists don't offer money for stories uh have been sniffing around russell's ex-girlfriends

00:20:28 for quite some time now samantha yeah yeah i believe that they've also planted the narrative

00:20:34 in the comedy industry because i'd never heard it before 2023 right before the documentary

00:20:41 was going to come out so maybe some comedians really believe that there was an open secret

00:20:46 they may have heard a rumor that had been planted by a journalist but if there really was um it

00:20:51 would have been around in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, all these years I was around Russell

00:20:58 when he was an activist and I was working with him and they knew that.

00:21:03 And you, is it true you offered to give character evidence on Russell's behalf,

00:21:07 but the defense did not follow up with you?

00:21:09 I did. I sent an email to his lawyers before Christmas. I told him about something that I

00:21:14 thought was contempt of court, the other comedian pushing the false narrative on stage

00:21:19 when the attorney general had warned about contempt of court and reporting was restricted

00:21:23 so i wrote about that um i also wrote about that's the police and i said look i can be a

00:21:29 character witness if you need me i knew that he would have uh difficulty getting anyone for his

00:21:33 defense because of the cancel culture that we have and people have mortgages and kids to feed

00:21:38 i'm already canceled i've got nothing to lose um so yeah i didn't hear back i did follow up still

00:21:45 didn't hear back, not sure what happened there. I just assumed maybe he's already got a strong

00:21:48 defense. I wish I'd tried harder now. Well, I mean, it was their obligation to follow up with

00:21:54 you. You did more than most people would do, which is volunteer to come forward and help a man who's

00:21:59 become a pariah. You know, Samantha, all I can think of as I cover this case is my friend Charlie

00:22:06 Kirk, who did interview Russell. And as with virtually everything, Charlie saw the story

00:22:14 correctly from the beginning and had the following exchange with Russell, some of which we pulled.

00:22:21 Watch this. The entire government is going after Russell. I hope you guys know that.

00:22:25 You're under attack from the UK government on, I think, completely fake stuff. And you better

00:22:29 believe the enemy's not happy that now you're proclaiming Jesus in front of millions of people.

00:22:34 And, you know, we as believers believe Satan is real. Satan is active. Satan attacks. Satan

00:22:38 targets satan is literally in hebrew satan means the prosecutor the deceiver so all of what you

00:22:45 are going through in the united kingdom is a satanic attack to try to say oh russell remember

00:22:50 that thing that happened 10 years ago try to have you feel guilty and ashamed remember satan

00:22:54 throughout the scriptures would constantly always whisper whether it be in the garden or elsewhere

00:22:59 about oh you need to be held back by one what you once did but christ sets you free

00:23:04 wow it's it's chilling to watch charlie would be dead within weeks of that conversation but

00:23:12 he saw exactly what was happening to russell and he understood there are demons out there

00:23:17 and the entire uk wants us to believe that russell is one of them as opposed to russell

00:23:23 was a big star with a lot of groupies who threw themselves at him he did not have to

00:23:29 perform non-consensual sex acts on women. He had hundreds, if not thousands of options for

00:23:36 consensual sex, but found God, reformed himself, changed his political outlook,

00:23:43 found someone he truly loved, had three children with her. They are completely resistant to that

00:23:49 narrative because the new version of Russell is what they find truly deplorable, Samantha.

00:23:54 that the old version of russell they completely supported allowed promoted it was the new version

00:24:01 that they objected to yeah and he was a sick man back then he was an addict and um they used him

00:24:09 the media used him they enabled him in his promiscuity and um and now that he's cleaned

00:24:15 up his life and his conversion is genuine i've i've been to countless um very small work in

00:24:22 progress shows q a's that he did and he would often recite the saint francis prayer before he

00:24:28 was officially a christian so i know that his walk with christ is a hundred percent genuine i've given

00:24:34 him books about christianity he was very grateful to receive them but they're trying to make out

00:24:39 that he's um made it all up to to try and avoid um getting caught for the alleged things that he

00:24:48 did. I mean, he he was promiscuous, but I don't believe that he was a criminal.

00:24:54 It's it's very chilling. I don't I just feel like I don't understand how a close relative to the

00:25:00 United States, somebody as close as the UK, you know, a country as close in so many ways and from

00:25:05 which we hail originally could be this far gone when it comes to due process and a man's rights,

00:25:12 the media, even though they weren't allowed to report on the case with analysis while it was

00:25:18 ongoing boy as soon as it was unleashed there's i mean literally every single person over there

00:25:24 other than dan wouldn't i think in the media is going with this he has almost no defenders it's

00:25:30 very unfair yeah and like i say if he did have defenders they would be canceled um that's what

00:25:36 it's like here now um people are getting arrested ordinary people for social media posts we have

00:25:42 hate crime laws we basically have a blasphemy law coming through um so that you can't criticize

00:25:47 islam just islam not christianity only islam so it's it's really weird it's really creepy it is 0.78

00:25:55 sinister it is demonic um yeah it's um it's hard to stay hopeful but um i'm just doing my bit i'm 0.99

00:26:04 telling the truth about russell what i know of him and i do i do feel that i know his heart i think

00:26:09 he's a good man like everyone he's made his mistakes but he's been in repentance from his

00:26:15 former lifestyle for over a decade. And it was a lifestyle that all these same media critics had

00:26:22 no problem with while it was ongoing and he was still pledged to the left. It was only when he

00:26:30 changed his politics, got outspoken on things like COVID lockdowns and vaccines, big government 0.78

00:26:35 overreach, that they started to turn on him and got very, very interested in paying women

00:26:41 for stories. It's deeply concerning. Listen, thank you. Thank you for speaking out. You've

00:26:46 been very fearless over there. I hope you're enjoying your cancellation. I mean, many have

00:26:51 found liberty in it. I'm one of them. Yes, that's true. It's very liberating. You can

00:26:56 just speak your mind and they can't get you twice. So I'll continue to tell the truth.

00:27:03 God bless you. Thanks for coming on. Thank you.

00:27:05 Wow. And the reports of that prison are very dark that Russell's in, which we told you about at the beginning. It's said to be a 360 prisoner—no, sorry, over the past year, there were 360 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults.

00:27:21 results. Reportedly, drugs and other banned items are regularly ferried in via drone or thrown over

00:27:29 the walls. There are some sort of record number of staff absences because the staff reportedly

00:27:35 doesn't want to be there. And they can mean that inmates can be locked in their cells for up to 22

00:27:40 hours a day. Alex Wood, 44, a Londoner who served a sentence in Wadsworth for fraud from 2015 to

00:27:48 2017, described the prison as a horrible and dangerous place, saying, quote, I don't think

00:27:54 the staff feels safe there either. This is quoting here from the New York Times. Just today, it broke

00:28:00 that there is a prisoner inside the prison who somehow is posting to his social media. I don't

00:28:09 totally understand how he's managing this. He's gotten in trouble for doing it before, but he's

00:28:15 a rapper named Turngu Aguera, 35, known as Mover, who posted a veiled threat to Russell

00:28:24 on Snapchat using his rap name. And it reads, Russell Brand, you naughty boy,

00:28:31 we'll be seeing you, we'll be seeing you, son. I don't know if he meant soon.

00:28:38 But that's disturbing. His words were pasted over a blurry photo that appears to have been taken

00:28:43 through a window frame of his jail cell on an illicit phone.

00:28:48 He was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years

00:28:50 after knifing a Lithuanian builder to death

00:28:56 in front of the man's father outside of a school in 2014.

00:29:00 So this is what Russell's dealing with now 0.97

00:29:02 because of this woman and the alleged anal rape. 0.87

00:29:06 I mean, it's just, for 10 years, 0.98

00:29:10 that's, this is just, it's incredible.

00:29:14 You know, I was just talking to a friend the other day who was asking me how I'm doing.

00:29:19 How am I?

00:29:20 I'm like, what do you mean?

00:29:21 On the Russell Brand stuff, like, oh, you know, there's been, you know, people are really

00:29:24 outraged with your coverage.

00:29:25 I'm like, they are? 0.99

00:29:26 You know, I don't even look at this crap anymore. 1.00

00:29:28 Like, that's so insane. 0.99

00:29:30 I mean, has anybody been paying attention?

00:29:33 Like, I'm fine with people who want to believe this story.

00:29:36 Okay, that's fine.

00:29:37 I would submit anybody who actually listened to the testimonial or read the testimonial accounts of Complainant Five would see it as I do.

00:29:46 But people don't.

00:29:49 And there are other people who believe all women.

00:29:51 They're still there. 0.97

00:29:52 And who think Russell's a dirtbag because he admits he was a dirtbag for most of his adult life. 0.84

00:29:57 And I get all that.

00:29:58 I don't defend Russell's conduct as that of a gentleman at all.

00:30:02 And as you guys know, when this story first broke, the story about him being with a 16-year-old when he was 31 was genuinely horrifying to me.

00:30:11 And I didn't want to talk to Russell.

00:30:14 I didn't understand conservatives defending Russell.

00:30:16 And then I learned more about his story, about what he had done from that point to this one.

00:30:22 And eventually I did have him on the show and heard him out and saw him very differently.

00:30:27 Not everybody is capable of reevaluating an earlier opinion.

00:30:32 or has any desire to. And look, there are a lot of people who genuinely believe he's a cad and

00:30:37 potentially a criminal and have come to that in good faith. And I don't, I don't, that's fine.

00:30:43 Everyone's entitled to their opinion on this, including me. It's crazy to think like, I don't

00:30:48 care, whatever. It's like the latest controversy. But if you follow this case, as I know all of you

00:30:55 have with me, you know exactly why I have serious doubts about this verdict. And I think it is

00:31:01 disgustingly unjust, that he's been found guilty of these absurd allegations and is going to prison

00:31:08 for nearly 10 years for them. The sentence is 10 and a half. He'll serve seven. His 10-year-old

00:31:13 will be going off to college when he's done. He's going to miss the whole thing. His three-year-old,

00:31:20 he'll miss all of the single digits. That child will be 10, his little boy, and a little boy needs

00:31:26 his dad when Russell gets out. It's just, this is very severe. I'm very worried that he might

00:31:34 not make it. I don't know Russell well enough to say if he has the strength to handle these

00:31:41 prison conditions where he's being held in solitary for his own protection. And while

00:31:47 this isn't the prison that he's going to serve the entire term in, the UK jails are apparently

00:31:52 known for their squalid conditions. And I do wonder, will he make it? Can he do seven years?

00:31:59 Is he going to be held in solitary for his own protection for seven years? Because we told you

00:32:04 the other day, they're treating him, the other prisoners, like he's a child molester. They were

00:32:09 chanting this word nonce, which apparently means child molester, when he arrived. And that's not

00:32:16 the case. Russell was not convicted of any, or even accused in this case of molesting anyone

00:32:22 other than mature adult women. And I just don't, what kind of a normal human being can go seven

00:32:31 years in solitary and be fine? You know, which he tried to say to his wife when they sentenced

00:32:37 him on Monday, it'll be okay. It'll be okay. I don't know how, but it will be okay.

00:32:43 when he sat here and I played you that sort of funny clip between us where I said Russell I'm

00:32:49 worried you're going to go to jail and he said I don't want to it was kind of funny and it still

00:32:54 makes me laugh so he was able to be funny even in thinking of that but I actually saw the longer

00:33:01 clip somebody else posted it online and I was watching it and I was like oh wow I forgot that's

00:33:06 where it went and what I said to him was maybe it's part of your journey maybe if you do get

00:33:12 sentenced to prison, maybe this is part of your redemption arc. You know, maybe God intends this

00:33:22 for you as well, because there's someone in prison who needs your help, or there's someone you need

00:33:28 to save with your own life experience and conveying it, or you need to go through this

00:33:32 and emerge out the other side with some level of wisdom that could be used by others or by you to

00:33:37 save others. I don't know. We as mere mortals can never know. But I have to believe it's part of

00:33:44 his redemption arc or God wouldn't have allowed it. How often do you give out your personal phone

00:33:49 number? It's tied to your bank, doctor, and personal life. Yet we hand it to websites every

00:33:54 day, leading to constant spam calls. That's why I want to tell you about Glacier, a mobile security

00:34:01 app co-founded by my friend Sean Ryan, alongside former U.S. intelligence professionals. Let me

00:34:07 tell you about this amazing feature of Glacier, your own burner phone number. Generate a separate

00:34:12 U.S. number for voice calls with businesses. When spam starts, just burn that number and get a new

00:34:19 one without changing your real number. Love this. Glacier also protects your overall privacy,

00:34:25 blocking background connections to trackers, ad networks, and malicious sites. Glacier never reads,

00:34:31 stores, sells, or shares your personal data. Open the app, tap connect, and you're done.

00:34:37 It makes keeping your digital life private and effortless.

00:34:41 Take your privacy back today

00:34:42 and download Glacier on the App Store or Google Play

00:34:45 or get 20% off your first three months at my link,

00:34:49 theglacierapp.com slash Megan

00:34:51 and use code Megan at checkout.

00:34:53 Again, that's theglacierapp.com slash Megan

00:34:57 and use code Megan at checkout

00:34:58 for 20% off your first three months.

00:35:01 Remember, privacy is not paranoia, it's protection.

00:35:05 Let's talk about something that is not always the most comfortable subject, but it is incredibly

00:35:10 important. And that's making sure the people you love have financial security. God forbid something

00:35:15 happens to you. I mean, I know that's not going to happen to you. It's not going to happen to me

00:35:18 either. We're all good. We're going to be here forever. But like just in case, just in case,

00:35:23 we should talk for a bit about life insurance. It's very easy to put off. You don't want to

00:35:27 think about it, but you know you need it. You have loved ones who rely on you. And getting

00:35:32 the coverage doesn't actually even have to be complicated or unpleasant, which is why I want

00:35:37 to tell you about Ethos. They make getting life insurance fast and easy, and the entire process

00:35:41 is 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage.

00:35:48 There is no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions online, and you can get

00:35:53 up to $3 million in coverage, and some policies are as low as $30 a month. So if you've been

00:35:59 putting off getting life insurance, take 10 minutes and look into coverage through Ethos

00:36:03 today. It could be an important step toward helping protect your loved ones and providing

00:36:08 financial security for your family. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance

00:36:12 through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash mk. That's ethos.com slash mk. Application

00:36:21 times may vary. Rates may vary, too. I want to get to more of today's news headlines,

00:36:30 including a story out of the University of Mississippi that is making national news. Now,

00:36:38 I mean, there's a real question about why this story would be making national news.

00:36:44 Why does the media think this is so important that they need to bring this to you

00:36:48 on ABC Nightly News and then again on their morning program. One does wonder.

00:36:57 They are so desperate for stories of white on black racism that they're going to feature it

00:37:04 all over ABC News when they think they found one alleged instance of it. They're so excited. 0.74

00:37:10 I mean, the number of crimes committed by black defendants on white victims, where in particular white women, but also white men and white boys are being murdered by black defendants is deeply disturbing. 0.96

00:37:29 The numbers are they will they will rattle you to the bone. 0.91

00:37:33 And most of us, out of like a sense of decorum and politeness, don't go there.

00:37:40 We're not looking to ratchet up a sense of racial grievance or target any particular group by reporting its crime stats on a day to day basis.

00:37:52 But the mainstream media doesn't feel that way when they find what they think might be a white racist. 0.99

00:38:00 They don't give a shit about the whites being murdered by blacks. 1.00

00:38:03 Just to be clear, they don't. 1.00

00:38:05 What they care about is black victims of white racism, especially if the white perpetrator 0.96

00:38:11 happens to be an attractive young woman. 0.96

00:38:14 Then it may lead World News Tonight. 0.82

00:38:17 It may lead Good Morning America.

00:38:19 They found a live one.

00:38:21 Or did they?

00:38:22 Um, it's just, it's genuinely upsetting, uh, because we do have stories of kids being 0.98

00:38:29 killed, kids being killed, white kids by black defendants, and they don't feel the need to 0.81

00:38:37 go all in on those stories at all, but they do like this one a lot. 0.97

00:38:42 Happened at the University of Mississippi, University of Mississippi, where they're

00:38:47 currently investigating a video that shows three white women. Only the first two you're going to

00:38:53 see on this video are at issue. The third to travel along in the video is not accused of doing

00:38:59 anything racist, as far as we know. Three white women outside a black student's apartment. And

00:39:05 just as I read this from the ABC write-up, of course, because they changed the style guide

00:39:10 the AP did back in 2020, and now all the media goes along with it, black is capitalized. White

00:39:16 is not capitalized, but black is capitalized. You have to cap. I don't do it. I'm not fucking 1.00

00:39:21 capitalizing black or Brown or anything like it. It's, it's a color stop. And by the way, 0.99

00:39:29 if you say something like black culture, they'll accuse you of being a racist. Well, what, which

00:39:33 is it? Is it like a special group? That's good. That gets a capital letter. Cause I just see them

00:39:38 as my fellow Americans. I don't see them as particularly more dangerous, less dangerous,

00:39:43 dumber, smarter, more prone to receive racism or to give it than anybody else. 0.96

00:39:50 It's just this is weird, woke language manipulation that requires the capital. 1.00

00:39:56 OK, a video showing three white women outside a black student's apartment Friday evening.

00:40:03 This just happened with two of them allegedly making racist noises and gestures captured on ring camera footage.

00:40:10 Quote, the incident is being actively investigating, investigated by the appropriate university offices, says the vice chancellor of the university.

00:40:18 Our staff have reached out to the students directly impacted to offer support, listen to their concerns and connect them with available resources.

00:40:25 We'll continue to support them as we work through this process.

00:40:28 The two women in the video, which was posted posted to TikTok, are seen briefly stepping toward the door camera, beating their chests while grunting and cooing like monkeys.

00:40:38 Reading here from ABC.

00:40:39 The third woman glanced toward the camera, but she did not appear to make any gestures or monkey noises.

00:40:45 The school said in its statement that it was investigating the incident.

00:40:49 Here is the video, which has now been viewed over 12 million times.

00:41:09 Okay, that's it. That's all we have from the alleged incident. The school confirmed that the students, sorry, that the women in the video are students at Ole Miss.

00:41:24 It did not respond to ABC News's question about whether disciplinary action was taken, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, meaning they have privacy rights there.

00:41:35 But one of the students and one of the students' mothers, so like a student and one of their moms, appeared on GMA and, sorry, CBS, and spoke to this, actually provided more detail about the alleged incident.

00:41:58 Let's watch part of that.

00:41:59 Who was first to discover this video on the ring camera?

00:42:03 Me.

00:42:03 and what did you do we actually went outside and tried to like approach them and like

00:42:11 haven't get them to like explain why they did that one girl was apologizing she was like i'm sorry

00:42:18 we've did that to like four doors and mind you we didn't see anyone else story it was just

00:42:23 ours that was targeted and she was like we didn't meet any harm okay so that was the girls who live

00:42:29 the apartment and their moms and um you could hear them say that they uh they there tried to

00:42:38 approach the students who made the noises and there's they went on let's play the next one

00:42:43 they say the first person seen in the november 6 video elena kunez apologized but the second

00:42:50 person who they say lives in their complex doubled down off camera she continued to make the gestures

00:42:56 after the girl was apologizing it was like a slap in the face yeah like what did you guys say

00:43:00 back when she continued because now i would imagine it's really hard for you to keep your

00:43:06 cool yeah i have said that i don't think they should go around even if they did go to other

00:43:12 people door and do that i don't think they should do that because it's very disrespectful do you

00:43:16 forgive her i feel like no matter like who we are or if she knew our race or not but the gestures

00:43:25 and the noises, I feel like it still was very disrespectful. I just have mixed feelings about

00:43:30 it. I appreciate the apology, but I feel like it still doesn't change what happened on that Friday

00:43:37 because it's still hurtful and it's still devastating. That's when we come to our

00:43:40 camera and do that. Okay. So the girls and their moms speaking out saying that they had a

00:43:47 confrontation with these girls after the alleged doorbell incident or door camera, whatever.

00:43:52 Um, and that the second girl shown in the video made the gestures again.

00:43:59 Let's watch the videotape one more time.

00:44:10 Okay.

00:44:13 So they're claiming that the second girl doubled down and did it again, which is relevant because

00:44:19 I believe it's the first girl who is denying that she knew that these were black girls in

00:44:28 this apartment. She says to the women, she's issued a statement. Her name is Elena Kunis.

00:44:34 She's a freshman, 18. She writes, and this is the first woman you see in the videotape,

00:44:39 making the sounds and beating her chest, quote, to the women I offended and to the Ole Miss

00:44:44 community, I sincerely apologize. Before the incident on November 6th, I never met the women

00:44:49 involved and was unaware of their race. However, I recognize my actions were insensitive,

00:44:55 inappropriate, and deeply harmful. I would have never intentionally made those noises or gestures

00:45:01 toward a person of color. I've apologized to the women, and I pray they will forgive me.

00:45:06 I can never truly understand the pain I've caused them, and it was never my intention.

00:45:11 These girls deserve to feel seen and understood, and what I did is not a reflection of who I am

00:45:15 trying to become. Over the past several days, my family and I have received death threats and

00:45:19 harassment. I'm grateful for the authorities working to ensure our safety. As I intend to

00:45:23 cooperate fully with the university's investigation, I ask for privacy from my family.

00:45:28 I understand the seriousness of this situation and remain committed to taking responsibility

00:45:33 and learning from this embarrassing ordeal. The student, that first girl, has also withdrawn from

00:45:40 the university according to a source. So she's out. But again, the suggestion is that one

00:45:49 apologized. One of these girls apologized. I don't know which one. That's what the girls who live in 1.00

00:45:54 the apartment said. One was apologizing and they say, yeah, they say it was her, the first girl.

00:46:02 They said the first person seen in the video apologized, but the second person who lives in

00:46:08 their complex doubled down off camera. Just want to be sure because they're using different names

00:46:14 here. The statement is from Elena Kunis, who's a freshman who says, I had no idea that they were

00:46:21 black women who lived in there. CBS is reporting that the first person seen in the video is Elena

00:46:28 Kunis, who apologized. So it could be that the second girl, forgive me, I just don't know,

00:46:34 was the girl who issued the statement and has withdrawn from the university.

00:46:39 Look, here's the bottom line, as far as I see it. 0.88

00:46:45 I do find it a stretch to believe these girls were randomly making monkey noises 1.00

00:46:51 and gestures outside of any old apartment door. 0.98

00:46:55 That seems like a stretch.

00:46:57 I mean, why?

00:46:58 I need more, if you want me to believe that.

00:47:00 Like, what made you do monkey noises? 0.52

00:47:04 And if the one girl actually lived in this apartment complex, I also find it a stretch to believe she had no idea that there were black girls living downstairs. 0.96

00:47:12 I mean, I don't know how big it is.

00:47:14 That's also a fact that we need to find out.

00:47:16 But if it's relatively small and, you know, they're freshmen, so it's still relatively early in the year, I think you'd know.

00:47:24 But we need to know more.

00:47:26 If it is true that the one girl continued, who doubled down after the black girls came out of the apartment to say, what are you doing? 0.67

00:47:34 And she then made those noises or gestures, that's ballgame. 0.63

00:47:40 There's no question that's racist, and we have a racist incident on our hand, and it's unambiguous.

00:47:47 So we need to know.

00:47:48 But I do think the bottom line about this story, to me, is why is it getting so much attention?

00:47:57 The media is delighted with this story.

00:48:00 They can't give us enough of it.

00:48:03 And yet, as I pointed out, we just had an incident just, just recently. Do we have it here of a young, a young white boy being murdered by, by a group of black assailants. His name was Austin Payne. And it got no, no attention whatsoever. 0.94

00:48:25 Todd Starnes, my old colleague from Fox News, was posting this.

00:48:29 It happened on Halloween.

00:48:32 Austin Payne called his mother on Halloween night, he was only 15 years old, to tell her that he'd been shot.

00:48:38 By the next morning, he was found dead inside an abandoned apartment in Georgia.

00:48:43 He's white. 0.57

00:48:44 His assailants were black, four of them.

00:48:47 Now all four have been charged with murder.

00:48:50 Albany, Georgia police announced the arrest three days after Payne's body was found on Cameo Lane in Albany.

00:48:56 The charges are against Jans Quincy Donaldson, 15, Omari Marion, 15, Adarius Wallace, 16, and Deltra Vian Parker, 22.

00:49:10 Witnesses told officers that armed individuals allegedly approached a group walking with Austin Payne,

00:49:18 ordered them to hand over their belongings and fired shots the night of October 31st,

00:49:24 according to an initial incident report. Didn't hear about that one, did you?

00:49:29 You have no idea who Austin Payne is, do you? Do you know it's spelled P-A-Y-N-E? Do you know

00:49:35 what he looks like? Looks actually very sweet. Do you have any idea what the story is around

00:49:41 these defendants? No, no one does because the media won't tell you about stories like that.

00:49:47 Now, you tell me which one is more offensive, the murder of a 15-year-old on Halloween by a gang of others or two girls behaving completely inappropriately, if this is actually the motivation, to black girls whose feelings would obviously be deeply hurt and they would be rattled by it, but they were alive.

00:50:10 I mean, just in the relative scale of sins, which, if you were a news organization, would be a bigger story.

00:50:18 And let me tell you why there's no big story on the four black kids killing the white kid.

00:50:23 Because the media understands, unfortunately, given the crime statistics, that that is a dog bites man story.

00:50:31 And they know, whether they'll admit it or not, that the actual racism, if that's what this is.

00:50:39 again, we need some more facts just to make sure, is more of a man bites dog story.

00:50:44 It's very hard to find.

00:50:47 You've got to really look for it.

00:50:49 And when you find it, it's like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

00:50:52 If you're ABC or CBS, they're thrilled.

00:50:55 It confirms the narrative they've been spinning all along.

00:50:58 Aha! 0.99

00:50:59 Latent racists everywhere in America. 1.00

00:51:03 and that we are 3-2-1 from them trying to get to these girls' social media posts 0.85

00:51:08 and look for anything that bears a MAGA hat or suggests conservatism is in their family, right?

00:51:15 We've all been through the drill. We know exactly how this goes.

00:51:19 So I object. I object to the whole thing.

00:51:22 I object to the fact that I know these girls' names, that I didn't know the name Austin Payne

00:51:28 or the names of any of the white kids who were killed by black gangs or others day to day in this country.

00:51:39 You know, I mean, we, Matt Walsh is pointing out, Carmelo Anthony, he writes,

00:51:44 stabbed a white kid to death and was still able to stay in school and graduate with no issues

00:51:48 while his family raised half a million dollars and bought a new house, bought a new house. 0.93

00:51:54 This white girl made a gesture and has had to withdraw from the University of Mississippi. 0.99

00:51:59 There's a double standard that makes it very hard to take this bullshit seriously. 0.98

00:52:05 Our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, says Washington politicians are always getting in your wallet and that now they're messing with your credit card. 0.93

00:52:13 They say your credit card and the security it offers are under attack and that Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall want to change the nation's payment system to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans.

00:52:28 Credit cards can keep your payments secure and provide rewards to families that they use to help make everyday purchases more affordable.

00:52:35 The Electronic Payments Coalition says the Durbin Marshall mandates would let corporate megastores cut corners on credit card processing, routing transactions over cheaper, untested networks with weaker security and fewer protections.

00:52:48 Find out more at GuardYourCard.com and consider telling Congress to guard your card.

00:52:56 Okay, two clarifications on our last report.

00:53:00 It was Elena Kunis, who is the first person in the video, who both apologized and is seen first.

00:53:10 It is the second person, whose name we do not know, who has not issued a public apology as far as we know,

00:53:17 who is accused of doubling down when the girls came out of the apartment.

00:53:21 So, just to be clear on that.

00:53:23 And it is also Elena Kunis, whose family is now being harassed.

00:53:28 Uh, she's 18 years old and she apparently has a granddad in Wisconsin-based Kunez Auto Group.

00:53:39 It's on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois.

00:53:41 And, uh, her father was the former COO before he left the company back in February, but

00:53:47 her grandfather owns this car dealership and CBS 58 Milwaukee issued the following report.

00:53:58 we've got part of it about that. Watch this. A southeastern Wisconsin woman caught on camera

00:54:04 making monkey gestures and noises into a black woman's doorbell camera no longer goes to the

00:54:09 University of Mississippi. She was one of three women in the video and has connections to a well

00:54:14 known local car dealership. Jenna Wells live in our newsroom with the new information tonight.

00:54:20 That's right. Jessa Ben-Natalie, a source close to the family confirms Elena Kunis

00:54:24 has withdrawn from the University of Mississippi due to safety and harassment concerns.

00:54:31 A representative for Kunis tells us Alina is the granddaughter of Greg Kunis, the owner of Kunis Auto Group.

00:54:40 What does the grandpa have to do with this?

00:54:45 Honestly, and now they're digging deep into his car dealership

00:54:50 And reporting that there was an incident back in January 2025 when an Oak Creek woman said a racial slur was written on an oil change sticker placed on her vehicle following a service appointment.

00:55:04 The Kunis Auto Group fired the employee when that happened and then issued a statement after CBS 58 did this report on granddad's car dealership in the wake of his granddaughter and the Ole Miss controversy, saying the individual in the video has no employment, ownership, or professional affiliation with Kunis Auto Group.

00:55:26 We do not comment on private citizens unaffiliated with the company. 0.67

00:55:31 So this is just ridiculous.

00:55:32 OK, so there was an alleged racial incident there in January 2025. 0.96

00:55:37 And so this is offered up, of course, so you can say the grandfather is a racist and that is why his granddaughter is a racist, none of which we actually know.

00:55:45 We have no idea what actually happened with this alleged incident on the receipt.

00:55:51 And we have zero idea whether this girl, Kunis, Elena Kunis, actually did know that there was a black person living inside that apartment.

00:56:00 We don't know.

00:56:02 What we do know is that as soon as she saw black women emerge from the apartment to say, 0.98

00:56:06 what the hell, she apologized. 0.94

00:56:08 And she has maintained from the beginning she actually didn't know that there were black 1.00

00:56:12 women inside of there. 0.88

00:56:13 It is the second girl who is alleged to have doubled down.

00:56:16 I don't know what the truth is, but dragging grandpa into the story seems like a below

00:56:20 the belt hit, even for our disgusting media. 0.50

00:56:25 Leave grandpa alone.

00:56:26 If you've got evidence that grandpa himself, as opposed to some employee he fired, has

00:56:31 done something racist, then we can talk about grandpa, but you don't have it. So in the news

00:56:36 biz, we would move right past that. Do we know whether the parents of the kids who killed Austin

00:56:42 Payne are racists? Do we know whether the grandparents of the kids who killed Austin

00:56:48 Payne have ever uttered a racial slur or had an employee who did something racist? Do we?

00:56:54 Should we start taking these deep dives into black on white violence about the entire family,

00:57:00 how they live, what comments they've made, whether they have any racism in their hearts.

00:57:07 Okay. Okay. I don't think you're going to like the way that's going to land.

00:57:12 Not sure the woke brigade of 2020, which appears to be back, is going to like the way that goes.

00:57:19 Instead, they would call all of us who did that a bunch of raging racists just for reporting

00:57:24 an actual black-on-white crime that's truly violent and devastating and robs somebody,

00:57:30 not of their dignity, but of their life. So it's just so galling. So now, I mean, again,

00:57:39 what is with the platforming? Again, all the national news networks are doing it. CBS gets

00:57:45 not only the girls who live in the apartment, but their moms have to participate too. Their moms 1.00

00:57:51 are on camera. I mean, these girls are 18 years old, but their moms have to be there. 1.00

00:57:55 I will say their moms were reasonable. One of the woman's mother said the following and sought six.

00:58:02 As a human being, I hate to hear that because, you know, the church is not a future,

00:58:07 but I feel like everybody needs to be accountable.

00:58:10 What's your message to people as they listen to your story, your perspective of what happened?

00:58:15 I want people to be mindful of their actions. So I also want people who

00:58:19 would potentially experience the same situations to speak out and don't let things be swept under

00:58:24 the rug, because this is a reality for us. And I feel like voices need to be heard.

00:58:30 So you heard the mom there reacting to news that the girl had withdrawn from the university saying

00:58:34 she hated to hear that, which is nice, but saying accountability is important. Yes. Okay. But that's

00:58:41 not where the media is going to go with this. I mean, they won't stop until these girls' lives 0.99

00:58:45 are absolutely ruined. I mean, truly, absolutely ruined. And the Carmelo Anthony example is a good 0.98

00:58:53 one. That case got so turned around by his very weird, dishonest band of supporters down there

00:58:59 who turned it, the fact that this black kid had killed a white kid into a racist criminal 0.99

00:59:06 prosecution because he was black. They acted like he was the one who died. So we are used to the 0.98

00:59:13 media manipulating these situations. And it's going to be really hard now because, you know,

00:59:17 there's alternative media now who are going to point out the inconvenient facts, like the

00:59:22 disparity in attention on World News Tonight, GMA and CBS to these other crimes. I'm actually

00:59:31 thrilled that you're so interested in the racial component of crimes. Okay. I look forward to your 0.91

00:59:38 consistency on that front. Let's keep going. There's news on Alina Habba. I mean, look,

00:59:52 this woman defended Trump in Tish James' civil case against him, where she tried to bankrupt him

00:59:58 for allegedly making false or fraudulent statements to banks about the size of his

01:00:03 New York apartment so he could get certain loans at a more favorable rate. I mean,

01:00:07 sophisticated investors and so on, all of them said, we're not mad. The Trump organization was

01:00:12 always good to deal with. Like, we have no beef here. But Tish James was like, well, somehow the

01:00:16 consumers of New York were hurt by this transaction. How? She was never really able to prove it.

01:00:22 Alina Habba tried that case for Trump. She was not impressive. I said this during the trial.

01:00:27 I was not impressed with Alina Habba. I never have been. To me, I'm just going to be honest,

01:00:33 She's seemed like a grifter from day one. I've seen her at a couple of events. I'm just, look,

01:00:39 it's been my impression. She glommed on to Trump and tried to make herself a star.

01:00:44 And she lost to that case, which was then reversed on appeal by an appellate lawyer.

01:00:51 So she decided to glom on to Trump and try to make herself into something. And she is accused

01:00:58 by Trump of doing something despicable, which is cozying up to some Venezuelan billionaire

01:01:08 and effectively selling a pardon, bribing, taking a bribe for a pardon. That's something she denies.

01:01:16 She absolutely denies. But you tell me how a not impressive lawyer that nobody's ever heard of 0.63

01:01:25 other than this particular lane where it was a loss, winds up getting hired as general counsel

01:01:32 for a company recently started by a Venezuelan billionaire accused of a crime, convicted of a

01:01:39 crime. It was a felony, which he got knocked down to a misdemeanor, but it was reportedly very upset

01:01:43 about having any crime on his record whatsoever. And suddenly his daughter formed this company

01:01:49 and hired who? Alina Haba as her general counsel. Why? Some Venezuelan billionaire needs a New York

01:01:58 lawyer as her general counsel for her Venezuelan adventure? I've got questions. And not only that,

01:02:08 struck a deal reportedly to pay Alina Haba $10 million a year as general counsel of that company.

01:02:16 I mean, that is such an outrageous sum. Let me tell you who gets 10 million dollars a year as a lawyer. It would be the biggest rainmakers at the biggest firms in the country. The people who land the R.J. Reynolds accounts, which fund an entire firm for years on end, could potentially get up around that number.

01:02:36 But $10 million a year is astronomical for a lawyer practicing law, including as general counsel.

01:02:45 Generally, you need to be COO, CFO, CEO, CTO to try to break in numbers like that at the most successful companies in America.

01:02:54 So a lot of people had eyebrows raised when this news broke.

01:02:58 And while it was $10 million a year, reportedly, over four years, that would have been 40, but they said the deal she signed was worth 50.

01:03:05 $50 million. And, oh, shocked, the guy got his pardon within weeks. He was pardoned.

01:03:14 Alina Habba claimed she had nothing to do with the pardon. Okay, we'll see when she gets dragged

01:03:18 before Congress and others do as well. But this happened. Trump found out about it and was

01:03:24 very angry because it was pretty clear, as it is to all of us, what she had done.

01:03:31 And he said they should fire her and she should make a donation because now we find out she got a, I think it was an $8 million signing bonus and $6 million already paid.

01:03:43 It was basically the equivalent of $14 million that had already been paid out.

01:03:47 And he said she should be fired from this post and also she should make a donation of this potentially ill-gotten gain to the Trump library or some other charity.

01:03:58 I don't think she's done the latter.

01:04:01 So she's $14 million richer, but she just got fired.

01:04:05 The company did fire her, suggesting that she had not lived up to her end of the deal.

01:04:12 She hadn't fulfilled her legal obligations to the company, something she is denying.

01:04:19 And she's reportedly now threatening to sue.

01:04:22 So that'll be fun to watch.

01:04:25 It's called Concord Partners.

01:04:27 And in a letter dated November 4th, they fired her, citing a failure to perform duties, according to a person close to the family, and documents obtained by the New York Times.

01:04:36 The person said her priorities appeared to shift away from Concord after she'd started dating Turhan Mildon, a 25-year-old Turkish investor, earlier this year.

01:04:48 So she's 40-something, and he's 25, and he's reportedly a billionaire.

01:04:54 This is a separate story, but he's a Turkish billionaire who said he was 29, but in fact is 25.

01:05:01 And they spent $10 million on their wedding.

01:05:07 So look, my opinion is this woman cashed in. 1.00

01:05:11 She's a grifter. 0.99

01:05:13 She obviously saw her association with Trump as a piggy bank, parlayed it into, in my opinion, 0.99

01:05:20 marrying some Turkish billionaire who was, what, 15 years younger than she is and then wasn't

01:05:26 satisfied with his billions and her $10 million wedding, but decided to enter into this very

01:05:33 sketchy deal with a Venezuelan billionaire. That's how it looks to me. And on top of that,

01:05:41 she's accusing Rick Grinnell of grifting off of the Trump administration, where her Turkish

01:05:48 billionaire husband came forward in some explosive Oval Office meeting reportedly and told Trump

01:05:54 he had cut Rick Grinnell some sort of a check and said six million of it was going to be

01:05:59 designated for the Kennedy Center. And then she claimed Rick Grinnell never made that

01:06:06 donation to the Kennedy Center, something he has denied vehemently and is accusing her of being a

01:06:13 liar. I have no idea what actually happened there, but I would submit she doesn't have a very good

01:06:18 track record of honesty and upstanding behavior, in my opinion. So we'll see what happens. But I

01:06:28 do believe, as she really wants us to call her Mrs. Mildon now, Mrs. Mildon, that's the last name

01:06:33 of the Turkish billionaire, I think she's in some trouble. And she will be one of the first people 0.98

01:06:38 to get subpoenaed by the new Democrat Congress. And as the kids say, I'm here for it. Not all of

01:06:45 the investigations they're going to be pursuing will be political witch hunts. That's a good one.

01:06:52 Let's find out what exactly happened there. Let's find out what exactly Kimberly Guilfoyle did 1.00

01:06:57 with the billionaires flying her to Paris on their jets and putting her up at George the

01:07:02 Sank and all that. I mean, yeah, we should know. All of that is worthy of investigation.

01:07:08 What was Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski doing? What were they doing at DHS? I don't trust that pair as far as I can throw them, especially him. And there have been a lot of allegations swirling around them. We'll see. I think all of those are fair game. Grift within the Trump family and around it are fair game.

01:07:28 They work for us. So we'll see, Alina, what exactly went on. Speaking of Trump, we've been talking this week about the president's comments on 60 Minutes, that he thought he could strike a deal with the Democrats on immigration for the landscapers and the hotel workers who are here illegally but haven't committed a second crime after the first one of coming in the country unlawfully.

01:07:53 He said it explicitly. He's looking to strike a deal. You can strike a deal on them. Yes, he said. Then backlash from the base. Then Trump tried to clarify it at a presser saying no amnesty, no amnesty, but then said, but there may be a deal for some set of illegals who are here.

01:08:11 OK, well, that is amnesty. So then Mark Wayne Mullen, who, as you know, is our DHS secretary, went on with Laura Ingram.

01:08:21 And she's great on this issue and always has been. And she pressed him on whether we're getting amnesty in some way, shape or form.

01:08:30 Here's that. It's not eight. Can you promise our viewers and the 77 million people who voted for President Trump that there is no change in his immigration?

01:08:40 policy. Zero change. The president made that very clear. We're still going after the worst,

01:08:44 the worst, and amnesty will never be on the table. But why does it flow DACA, Mr. Secretary?

01:08:50 Why is that the message for you guys of this election? I mean, DACA applies to children

01:08:58 that were brought in this country at no fault of their own. Yes, but they were brought here

01:09:02 at no fault of their own. And some of them may not even speak English or never even lived in

01:09:06 their country. I think there's there's a part that we could look to say, listen, you're not

01:09:11 going to become citizens because you wasn't born here. But is there a path for you to be legal?

01:09:16 I know that's it's a very far fetched because the president tried to do this in 2016. The

01:09:20 Democrats weren't interested in doing it. So but before we even even consider doing any of that,

01:09:25 we're going to make sure that one, our base is with us on it. They're not with it. And so if

01:09:30 they're not with it, I'm just saying this. And I'm going to tell you, the president will not

01:09:34 sign anything that isn't in the it isn't in the the right movement for this country and the

01:09:40 Republican Party. OK, this is not an impressive figure. And he basically gave up the farm like

01:09:46 they keep they just keep saying no amnesty. But but maybe for this group, that's amnesty.

01:09:53 That's amnesty. And by the way, the president wasn't even discussing children when he was on

01:09:58 60 Minutes. He was discussing landscapers and hotel maids who have been here for a long,

01:10:05 not children brought here by their parents illegally. The president was explicit about

01:10:11 that. So I don't know what they're getting ready to do, but I think all of us who don't want

01:10:17 amnesty because it leads to more illegal immigration have more than fair reason to

01:10:22 be concerned here. That interview did not help at all. Okay, finally, Thomas Markle Sr.

01:10:33 He got arrested by the FBI, as we told you a few days ago. They searched his LA storage facility

01:10:41 and they say they found additional child sexual abuse material there, including pictures of

01:10:49 Thomas Markle with young girls, like in compromising positions, like underage,

01:10:57 prepubescent girls, which is the definition of pedophile, prepubescent children, an attraction

01:11:02 to them. And amazingly, even though he was brought up on charges here, one charge, there'll be more,

01:11:09 but one charge of child sexual abuse material and having it, they released him. They released

01:11:15 him on his own recognizance, but with an ankle monitor. And he reportedly chopped it off. Like,

01:11:22 I, it's unbelievable. And yet it's totally believable. Here's what Bill Essaley, who's

01:11:30 the U.S. attorney for this district out in California, posted. Four days ago, a federal

01:11:34 judge allowed Mr. Markle to remain out of custody pending trial. He was ordered to wear a location

01:11:38 monitoring device. He allegedly cut the bracelet off at 1.45 a.m. last night. Release conditions

01:11:45 are court orders, not suggestions. We are asking the court to revoke his release and detain him

01:11:51 pending trial, and we will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law. That

01:11:56 request was granted by the judge a short time later, Judge Lindsey Griffin. Griffin said Markle

01:12:01 had tampered with his ankle monitor and said he needed to be rearrested because his living

01:12:06 arrangements had become untenable. He's now jailed without bond. He was also interestingly rejected

01:12:14 from his senior living facility. A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service, the branch of

01:12:19 federal law enforcement responsible for monitoring his whereabouts via his GPS angle monitor,

01:12:24 said it was working to establish exactly what had happened. The spokesperson said that he had been

01:12:28 rejected from his senior living facility when he was bailed, and he was released to the custody of

01:12:34 his other daughter, Samantha. On Saturday, the Daily Mail saw Mark Phillips, the partner of

01:12:39 Samantha Markle, arriving to pick up Markle Sr.'s items from the home. Phillips emerged

01:12:45 moments later with several bags full of clothes, crutches, and a stroller. When the Daily Mail

01:12:50 asked him exactly where Markle was, he snarled, that's the reporting, quote, you will never find

01:12:55 him. Okay, well, we did find him because he took off his monitor and now he's back in jail. Phillips,

01:13:02 68, then visited another care home in the Lakeland area and walked inside to collect a brochure

01:13:08 before returning to the trailer. He shares with Samantha, who is wheelchair bound. The couple had

01:13:12 attached a rope across the entrance and erected a no trespassing sign. At Markle's court hearing on

01:13:17 Friday, the judge also ordered him to undergo a mental competency exam at his first court hearing,

01:13:22 which is scheduled for November 20th. By the way, I have something to tell you about Thomas

01:13:27 Markle Jr. Deb, can you re-forward that to me so I have it in front of me? But before I get to that,

01:13:32 for what it's worth, Representative Paulina Luna, Anna Paulina Luna, who is in Florida,

01:13:38 And that is the state where Markle was living.

01:13:41 He was in Florida.

01:13:41 The cache of child sexual abuse material was in Los Angeles, where Markle spent his career and was living prior to moving to Mexico, then the Philippines, then a stint in Philadelphia, reportedly, then down to Florida.

01:13:55 Now he's in jail, we believe, in California.

01:13:58 But in any event, she's from Florida, where he has been for some time.

01:14:02 And she posted the following.

01:14:04 Thomas Markle was found with photos of himself posing with a naked underage girl and an undressed child. 1.00

01:14:12 He's a sicko. 0.99

01:14:13 The guy was mentally fit enough to keep naked photos of children. 1.00

01:14:16 He was mentally fit enough to hide the photos, mentally fit enough to travel outside the country to do it. 0.98

01:14:22 He was mentally fit enough to exploit a child.

01:14:24 Florida classifies sexual battery on a child under 12 by a person 18 or older as a capital felony under the following statute.

01:14:32 It is punishable by death or life imprisonment without parole. 0.51

01:14:36 They should be seeking the death penalty. 0.94

01:14:40 I am calling for Thomas Markle to receive the death penalty.

01:14:44 So, and there she goes again, talking about how he was found. 0.68

01:14:49 She said, I'm calling for him to receive the death penalty.

01:14:51 Agent seized items from his LA storage units, including film negatives, 0.51

01:14:55 showing him, ID'd by a longtime witness, with a nude, prepubescent girl,

01:14:59 one involving apparent genital contact, plus other images of him with children in various

01:15:05 stages of undress. He's a sick human. I did not know that. That's the first I'd heard of that 1.00

01:15:10 genital contact shown in the photos between Markle and a prepubescent girl, which is obviously deeply

01:15:17 concerning. He is 82 years old. One final note. We reported to you a week or so ago that

01:15:25 Philippine authorities were now expanding their investigation into Markle Sr. to include a look

01:15:33 at Markle Jr., the one who raised the red flag about the cache of child sexual abuse material

01:15:41 he says he found in Markle's home in the Philippines. That came directly from a Philippine

01:15:48 authority. We read you the name. We read you the statement. Well, they are now apologizing

01:15:54 to Thomas Markle Jr. via the UK Sun reporting here after wrongly naming him a person of interest

01:16:01 in their probe into Thomas Markle. Filipino police have cleared Thomas Markle Jr. 60 of any

01:16:09 wrongdoing in the ongoing child sexual abuse investigation against his father. He was said

01:16:14 to be a person of interest in a bizarre statement by Interior Minister Juanito Victor Remula last

01:16:20 week. The outspoken politician, writes the UK Sun, reported that witnesses claimed they saw

01:16:25 underage girls entering Markle Jr.'s property and ring lights through the windows, but police in

01:16:33 Cordova, Philippines, where Markle Jr. lives, have interviewed his fiance, Roseanne Gabuya,

01:16:39 and his wider circle, who have resolved the matter. On Friday, senior officials at the

01:16:45 Philippines National Police apologized to Markle Jr. for their mix-up over the phone and confirmed

01:16:50 the outlandish claims came from a nosy neighbor. A source close to the case said, quote, the matter's

01:16:55 been cleared up. Officers were very apologetic. Rose told cops her younger siblings, aged 11,

01:17:02 14, 16, and 17, are regular visitors to her and Markle Jr. at the property, as well as a young

01:17:07 three-year-old niece. Rose also told officers she often uses a ring light inside the house to film

01:17:12 her own social media content and handed them at least 10 videos of her siblings dancing at the

01:17:18 house. Good grief. What a mess. The Filipino authorities, this is why it's good that the FBI

01:17:25 is handling the charges and taking the lead in the case against Thomas Sr. I don't think we want this 0.99

01:17:30 in the hands of the Philippines. I have no faith in them. I said it the other day, and this is just 1.00

01:17:36 further evidence that there's no reason to have faith in them. So Thomas Markle Jr., not accused

01:17:43 of any wrongdoing with respect to children. That's cleared up. Okay, we're going to take a break and

01:17:49 then we're going to come back with the one and only Heather McDonald. Heather, she's brilliant 1.00

01:17:54 and you should read her on anything and everything. But Heather, among her many other gifts, keeps a

01:18:00 close eye on the art world, in particular, the music world, of which she's a massive fan,

01:18:07 classical symphonies and classical music. And since most of us have no idea what's going on

01:18:13 in that world, I'm way too pedestrian for that. I love to read her updates on exactly what's going

01:18:18 on. Well, let's just say they, like the poetry world, are among the wokest of the arts. And

01:18:26 Heather's got her finger on the pulse and a deeply disturbing story about what just happened

01:18:33 in Boston. Okay, that's next. You might already own a firearm, but what if you could start with

01:18:39 less lethal methods to avoid the financial and mental repercussions of pulling the trigger?

01:18:44 That's where Berna comes in. It's B-Y-R-N-A. Berna's less lethal launchers are equipped with

01:18:51 tear gas and also kinetic ammunition and designed to incapacitate an attacker for up to 40 minutes.

01:18:58 And Berna is excited to introduce the all-new Compact Launcher. It's sleek, slim, and it hits

01:19:04 like a sledgehammer. The same size as a smartphone, allowing women to conceal carry everywhere 0.80

01:19:09 comfortably and with confidence. It fires at 400 feet per second. That's a lot of power to stop 0.59

01:19:15 aggressors in their tracks. Their pistols are American-made and hand-assembled in Fort Wayne,

01:19:20 Indiana, with over 80% of the components in the compact launcher being sourced in the USA.

01:19:26 Burna is legal in all 50 states, requires no background checks, and can be shipped directly

01:19:31 to your door. And Burna is trusted by hundreds of police departments, too. Try before you buy.

01:19:38 Visit Burna.com to find a Burna dealer partner near you. That's B-Y-R-N-A dot com.

01:19:45 Hey, everyone. It's me, Megan Kelly. I've got some exciting news.

01:19:49 I now have my very own channel on Sirius XM.

01:19:52 It's called the Megyn Kelly Channel, and it is where you will hear the truth,

01:19:55 unfiltered, with no agenda, and no apologies.

01:19:58 Along with the Megyn Kelly Show, you're going to hear from people like

01:20:01 Mark Halperin, Link Lauren, Maureen Callahan, Emily Jashinsky, Jesse Kelly,

01:20:05 Real Clear Politics, and many more.

01:20:08 It's bold, no BS news.

01:20:10 Only on the Megyn Kelly Channel, Sirius XM 111, and on the Sirius XM app.

01:20:19 Well, I read a new piece in City Journal, which you guys should all be reading, headlined

01:20:24 Classical Music's Misguided Quest for Relevance, and it was written by Heather McDonald, which

01:20:31 anything she writes, I will read and I will learn and I'll be a better person for it.

01:20:35 It examines the firing of Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Andres Nelsons just five

01:20:45 months after he pushed to restore, quote, artistic excellence to the orchestra's strategic plan.

01:20:53 He wanted artistic excellence, you see, and that was the problem. Now, was Andres a bad conductor?

01:21:01 Did he get up there and mislead the orchestra into playing badly and in a way that horrified

01:21:07 the fans? Not at all. Here's a little sample of Andres conducting Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5

01:21:14 in October of 2025.

01:21:16 Stop 40.

01:21:44 Absolutely beautiful.

01:22:01 But the problem you see, as Heather's documented in prior pieces with a lot of these orchestras, 0.92

01:22:05 is a lot of the people you were seeing in that orchestra have committed the sin of being white, 0.81

01:22:11 which is bad in the world of classical music. 0.80

01:22:14 And a lot of the people sitting in the audience have been white, which is also very, very bad. 0.93

01:22:19 And most unforgivable of all, they are playing music written by the worst thing you can be, which is a white man. 0.77

01:22:30 And Andres apparently had no problem with that. 0.86

01:22:33 So, of course, he had to go.

01:22:36 Heather documents all of this as only she can in great detail, and she's going to walk us through it.

01:22:42 Heather, so great to have you back.

01:22:43 thank you for writing this piece and for shining a light on the arts, because as they erode and

01:22:50 are decimated from within, we're really losing something special. So tell us about Andres and

01:22:57 how this whole thing got kicked off. Well, Megan, you're absolutely right. We are losing

01:23:01 our civilization. We are losing the highest aspirations and expression of humanity by a

01:23:09 leadership class that is betraying every single day its primary duty, which is to curate this

01:23:19 civilization, pass it on, teach the young why they should be down on their knees in gratitude

01:23:24 before the geniuses that gave us both science, rationality, and beauty. And this leadership

01:23:34 class, as we saw in the Boston Symphony Orchestra's CEO and board of trustees, whether it's them

01:23:42 or people that are overseeing medical schools, would rather get approval from their peers for

01:23:49 fighting phantom, at this point, injustice than fulfill their paramount duty, which is to keep

01:23:58 civilization going. Andres Nilsen, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was hired

01:24:05 in 2014 by the BSO. He is universally respected. He's got a joint appointment with a world-leading

01:24:17 orchestra in Leipzig that loves him so much. They've hired him through 2036. And the BSO itself,

01:24:27 Before it got what is the very platonic form of the modern arts administrator, Chad Smith, in mid 2024, the BSO itself had given Andres Nilsen's a automatically renewing contract saying that his artistic leadership was peerless.

01:24:47 There was nothing to complain about, but the BSO changed leadership hands and got this guy who is indistinguishable from somebody you'd hear at the Harvard DEI office or the Cornell anti-female victimization office talking about we need to foreground lost voices, silenced and marginalized voices.

01:25:12 voices. We have to allow the audience to see themselves in classical music, which is a

01:25:19 complete misreading of what artistic experience should be about. It is not about narcissism.

01:25:30 You should not tell audiences that they go to hear the Bach St. Matthew Passion or a Beethoven

01:25:38 late piano sonata works of terrifying sublimity because they want to see themselves reflected.

01:25:46 They should be hearing music to lose themselves in the composer's soul. But we live in a world

01:25:53 of narcissism. It's all about whether it's the leadership class feeling proud of itself for

01:26:00 fighting injustice or teaching audiences to not be interested in real difference which is the

01:26:09 difference of the past you know you want to you want to experience real difference listen to the

01:26:13 french baroque like that is a different sensibility that is not ours but we can learn from it uh this

01:26:19 leadership class has no interest in actual difference but only wants to be identical to

01:26:26 everybody else. So the BSO went through a two-year strategic planning process that is

01:26:33 the height of corporate vapidity. It's all about priorities and planning. And as Chad Smith,

01:26:42 we need to do the work of diversity. He uses every cliche in the book. And in the process of that,

01:26:50 They largely cut out Andrus Nilsson's. But in the process, as you said, Megan, he wanted to restore a key phrase that had been deleted from the strategic plan, which was to make artistic excellence at the core of what the BSO does.

01:27:10 He he graciously asked that this phrase be restored. And that was like the final straw.

01:27:18 He had to go because that's too much of a diversion from the diversity imperative.

01:27:24 And Andres had played the game somewhat other than this request that they focus on artistic excellence.

01:27:31 He had done a bunch of diversity-type offerings in the selections made and the themes of some of the performances, none of which was enough because he landed on saying, okay, and I'm not rejecting any of that, but I do think the main focus of the orchestra should be artistic excellence, and that is what did him in.

01:27:51 This is also a power struggle. Well, what you have, you've got several things happening in the orchestral world that is no different than universities. It's no different than medical schools, which is the growth of the bureaucracy.

01:28:06 30, 40 years ago, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, like most orchestras, had about 100 musicians and six administrators.

01:28:15 That was enough to keep this enterprise at the absolute top of the game.

01:28:21 The BSO has been regarded for a century as one of America's great orchestras and still largely is.

01:28:27 We'll see what happens after Nelson's leaves.

01:28:30 Currently, the ratio of administrators to musicians is about one to one.

01:28:36 There's about 100 administrators now to 100 musicians.

01:28:40 And that, of course, is vastly expensive.

01:28:43 Feeding and keeping occupied all of these human resources consultants and whatnot costs a fortune, which results in ticket prices going up.

01:28:55 You know, if you want a diverse audience, how about you lower your ticket prices?

01:28:58 How about even making it free to schoolchildren? And so this has been going on and they need something to do. And so they get involved in programming decisions and decide that music is not enough, that we need to wrap music around ideas.

01:29:22 And these are, of course, transgressive ideas a lot of the time. Tanglewood, which is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra up in Litchfield, Massachusetts.

01:29:33 It's, again, been a pilgrimage for music devotees and novices to classical music for decades.

01:29:43 That's where I graduated from law school. We had our ceremony there.

01:29:46 you luck. Well, it's a gorgeous spot and a gorgeous place to hear music. I actually heard

01:29:53 Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony there, which has one of the most erotic middle movements

01:29:59 in classical music. Tchaikovsky was an absolute master at using the winds. And as you heard in

01:30:07 that excerpt from the fifth symphony, his melodies are very sinuous. And the fourth symphony, I

01:30:13 remember sitting out in the lawn outside the Tanglewood shed it was hot and humid and I had a

01:30:19 crush on the guy that I was with and here comes this second movement with this melody being passed

01:30:24 from you know a clarinet to an oboe to a flute and it was absolutely uh devastating in its seductiveness

01:30:34 um so it's a great place to hear music and and feel its power anyway so but what did they do

01:30:41 this summer at Tanglewood. One of their concluding humanities programs was all about

01:30:48 mass incarceration and systemic racism. They brought in Bryan Stevenson, who's absolutely

01:30:55 beloved on the academic circuit as a commencement speaker or as a, you know, we'll bring him in to

01:31:02 tutor a class on systemic racism, the criminal justice system. What does this have to do with

01:31:07 classical music not clear except actually it has everything to do with classical music let me amend

01:31:12 that uh today megan because you know classical music is seen simply as a jumping off point to

01:31:20 get to what really matters which is is fighting racism so so this was in one sense a battle of

01:31:29 who gets to decide what an orchestra is about the conductor somebody like nelson's who says

01:31:36 Besides wanting the restoration of the phrase artistic excellence, he also said, I want this strategic plan to say that cultivating the core repertoire, not diversity picks, and the sound of the orchestra, which is how it communicates, is our core mission versus the management.

01:32:02 and this absolutely nauseating narcissist CEO, Chad Smith, who want music simply to serve

01:32:10 a political agenda. And then the conductor kind of has to go along and put up with it. 0.68

01:32:18 This is reminding me, I'm sure you and I have discussed this story, but a friend of mine has

01:32:22 a sister who is teaching at Yale. No, not at Yale, at Smith, at Smith. And she was visiting

01:32:29 from Yale at Smith. And she had reported back to this family member who I know that she got some

01:32:39 sort of a protest as soon as she got there. She was an English literature professor. And he said,

01:32:45 let me guess, because there were too many white men on the syllabus. And she said, no,

01:32:51 Now, that there were any white men was a problem, that there was even a single, which Smith did not want.

01:32:59 The students at Smith did not want to see one single white man and his work listed on a syllabus for English lit at Smith.

01:33:07 And the same thing is happening in the music world when it comes to, I mean, some of our most beautiful offerings with these symphonies.

01:33:15 They don't want to hear music authored by people like Tchaikovsky.

01:33:21 it's offensive to them. You've documented on this show before how they, back after the 2020

01:33:27 George Floyd-a-Palooza nonsense, were trying to get rid of blind auditions, which is how they

01:33:32 generally select their orchestras because they thought they were discriminatory. How can they

01:33:37 be discriminatory on the basis of race if no one knows what the race of the auditioner is,

01:33:44 but they thought they didn't have enough people of color in? And now, of course,

01:33:47 this morphed over into what is the music saying? Does it talk about mass incarceration or doesn't

01:33:54 it? It's all narcissism. It's narcissism on the part of students. And I will be generous for a

01:34:02 very fleeting moment and then take it all back. One could argue that, well, we can't really blame

01:34:08 the students. It's for the adults to take them out of their adolescent self-involvement and

01:34:15 solipsism and if they feel like they're entitled to go on a rampage a you know french revolution

01:34:23 guillotining of of the greats before them it's because the adults have allowed them

01:34:30 to give in to their innate ignorance uh know nothing uh qualities and desire to have the

01:34:38 world revolve around them but the adults are just as narcissistic because they're seeking the

01:34:44 approval of the students. There's a codependent relationship between ignorant adolescents and 0.99

01:34:54 now preteens and the adults who were supposed to be the authorities in the room. We give them this 0.98

01:35:01 power in universities because they used to be scholars. They used to have spent decades of

01:35:08 their lives, trying to understand the mysteries of the past, trying to understand the greatest

01:35:15 of all human dramas, which is the evolution of style.

01:35:20 You know, it is an amazing thing to trace the evolution of, say, a romance, a medieval

01:35:26 romantic epic through into the 19th century realistic novel.

01:35:32 How did that happen?

01:35:34 It's absolutely compelling knowledge to understand how human beings have changed in their relationship in the world.

01:35:42 That's what they should be studying.

01:35:44 And instead, they're regurgitating the same just shallow academic rhetoric from one environment to another, whether it's music, whether it's literature, whether it's philosophy, or whether it's medicine, to be perfectly honest, because we see the same betrayal.

01:36:01 betrayal. I've heard this from a lot of my doctors who complain about this. It's a faux

01:36:06 sophistication. It's faux. It's like what they think they need to say in order to sound like

01:36:11 they're well-educated from these universities. But on the subject of the BSO, you write in your

01:36:17 piece that they had been doing the dance. Andres had been doing the dance, you know, to the extent

01:36:23 he had to. In March of 2003, the orchestra offered a three-week festival called Voices of

01:36:29 Loss, Reckoning, and Hope. It explored critical themes of discrimination, gender disparities,

01:36:35 and identity in historical and contemporary works. It included Anthony Davis's 2007 You Have

01:36:42 the Right to Remain Silent, a clarinet concerto based on a police traffic stop that Davis had

01:36:48 experienced in the late 1970s. The program notes written by composer George E. Lewis observed that

01:36:55 blacks in the U.S. and Europe learn to accept the near certainty of being accosted by public

01:37:00 authority in one form or another. The spurious motivation for many of these encounters is

01:37:05 impossible to deny, despite the strenuous efforts made in some circles to do so and so on. So he

01:37:12 goes along with all of this, but then wants academic or he wants, you know, pure excellence

01:37:15 to be the standard. And he winds up getting fired. And here is the president and CEO of the Boston

01:37:22 Symphony Orchestra, Chad Smith, talking about the future of the group on a radio show in June

01:37:28 2026. It's Hot 41. We landed at a place where we felt that the organization, that the orchestra

01:37:35 must serve Boston, must serve our communities more expansively and inclusively, that we were

01:37:42 seeing significant declines across a number of areas at the BSO. And the only way for us to move

01:37:50 forward was to think differently about what it is that we put on our stages whose voices get to be

01:37:57 heard whose stories get to be told how do we do that in a way which continues to center and anchor

01:38:04 the great canon of classical music but the decision came down to a need for alignment

01:38:12 oh alignment and inclusivity oh it just makes you can tell the voice is just so oleaginous

01:38:20 and frankly the guy is lying through his teeth because audience uh membership you know buying

01:38:27 tickets increased under nelson's uh this was never about finances they were very clear it

01:38:33 wasn't about the finance the bso is rich it is loaded with its endowment and it was never about

01:38:40 artistic excellence. There was, you know, there was never a hint in the voluminous email

01:38:45 correspondence between Nelson's, his agents, and various members of the massive management class

01:38:52 at BSO that he was anything other than a great leader. It never came up. So it's all about this.

01:39:00 In fact, there were protests when he left, Heather. Oh, huge. The orchestra members are

01:39:03 furious. It is unprecedented, unprecedented to have a conductor who is beloved of his orchestra

01:39:13 against whom there are no charges of misconduct, of sexual improprieties to be fired. It hasn't

01:39:20 happened. And so the orchestra, they hadn't been consulted on this and they started a protest of

01:39:25 wearing red flowers in their lapels in honor of the Latvian flag, which was Nelson's home

01:39:33 country. And this continued into Tanglewood this year. And the musicians would hand these

01:39:39 boutonnieres out. And management finally said, this is getting like a public relations, too much

01:39:44 of a disaster. And it cracked down and said, you may not distribute anything on the site of

01:39:50 Tanglewood. And so the local businesses who have their windows are plastered with signs in support

01:39:57 of Nelson's, they started handing out the red flowers. So yes, this produced a revolt. The

01:40:04 orchestra members have been telling members of other orchestras for years that the BSO had been

01:40:11 forced under Smith to hire not the best soloists, not the best conductors as guest conductors

01:40:21 uh in the service of diversity but that that chad smith quote you got the absolute heart of that

01:40:27 npr interview was an absolute gem of of academic fatuousness because again music is not about you

01:40:40 it's it's about the conductor try listening to a mozart piano concerto maybe number 25 number 17

01:40:50 You lose yourself in Mozart. It's not about trying to hear your own little pathetic self. 0.98

01:40:58 And this idea of who's, we need to think about, as he said, whose voices get to be heard, 0.94

01:41:04 whose stories get to be told. We are hearing the voices of Brahms and Chopin. You don't go

01:41:13 to a classical concert to hear your own voice. And here's what else you don't go to, Megan,

01:41:19 to hear more about George Floyd or any other current martyr to phantom racism. There are

01:41:29 many, many opportunities. There is no shortage of opportunities to hear oppression stories in

01:41:36 our culture. It's basically four years of academic indoctrination in that if you're going to college.

01:41:42 What there is a shortage of, given the long-term tragic recession of classical music from popular consciousness, is an opportunity to experience an art form that tragically has become alien.

01:41:57 It is a complex musical language.

01:42:00 The symphonic score is much more complicated than anything in pop music today, and it takes getting used to.

01:42:08 Your ear has to be acclimated to it.

01:42:10 there are people that have the wonderful experience of hearing a symphony orchestra for the first

01:42:15 time and it's magic and i i actually do think how can you have that sound that volume go through

01:42:23 your sternum and not be shaken up and think whoa you know what what is going on here but if it's

01:42:30 if it's difficult try it again uh but that's what there's a shortage of not of the the again

01:42:38 the voices being heard and stories getting to be told. The stories are the movement of the

01:42:45 composer's soul. That's what you should be there to hear, not your own ridiculous, limited 0.94

01:42:53 autobiography. Heather McDonald says it like only she can. God bless you for writing this piece. 0.98

01:43:02 Thank you for calling our attention to it. Much love to be continued. And we will be back with

01:43:07 all of you tomorrow with Sean and Soreb. We'll see you then. Thanks for listening to The Megan

01:43:13 Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

`witch hunt`	Both words, anywhere in the episode.
`"witch hunt"`	The exact phrase.
`witch OR hunt`	Either word.
`"alpha male" -"high value"`	The first phrase, but not the second.
`(feminist OR feminism) AND (marriage OR divorce)`	Parentheses group alternatives.
`"decline civilization"~5`	Both words within 5 words of each other.

`misogyn*`	Any word starting with "misogyn": misogyny, misogynist, misogynistic…
`feminizm~1`	Words one letter off: catches typos and transcription errors.

`person:"Andrew Tate"`	Episodes where they host, guest, or are mentioned.
`host:"Glenn Beck"`	Episodes they host.
`guest:"Jordan Peterson"`	Episodes they appear on as a guest.
`mentioned:"Andrew Tate" -host:"Andrew Tate"`	Talked about on other people's shows.
`show:"Bannon's War Room"`	Episodes from one show.

`topics:abortion`	Episodes tagged with a topic (see the Topics page).
`summary:"Andrew Tate"`	Words in the episode summary. Summaries are machine-written and can be wrong.

`"great replacement" AND episode_date:[NOW-1YEAR TO NOW]`	From the past 12 months.
`lockdown AND episode_date:[2020-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2020-12-31T23:59:59Z]`	From one year. Dates need the full time, as shown.
`"high value" AND misogyny_count:[100 TO *]`	Episodes with 100 or more sentences flagged as misogynistic. Also: hate_speech_count, toxicity_count, word_count.

The Megyn Kelly Show - November 11, 2026

Russell Brand's Friend on the TRUTH, Meghan Markle's Father Back in Jail, and Diversity Over Excellence in Culture, with Heather Mac Donald ｜ Ep. 1439

Episode Stats

Transcript