The Roseanne Barr Podcast - ＂I'm Too Old Not To Fight＂ W⧹ Sage Steele

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00:00:54.300 Greetings, Earthlings, and other life forms.

00:00:59.400 What is it?

00:01:00.400 Nephilim, Gaborim, Anunnaki, time travelers.

00:01:05.780 We should do bots now after that story broke about the right-wing influencers

00:01:08.840 getting paid by Iran and Russia.

00:01:10.440 We should welcome the bots, too.

00:01:12.200 Iran bots, Qatari bots, you know, the devil's minions, Nazis, whoever's here.

00:01:20.500 I guess God sent you, or consciousness did, you were magnetized to it.

00:01:25.380 But above all else, of all living beings, animals, the most intelligent of all beings,

00:01:31.420 because unlike humans, they don't need to bullshit themselves to enjoy the joy of living.

00:01:38.140 Welcome to the Roseanne Barr Podcast.

00:01:40.340 Oh, you see, my patience is growing thin.

00:01:47.180 Well, y'all know how I love to talk to geniuses.

00:01:51.280 In particular, I love talking to women geniuses, because there are so few and far between of them.

00:01:58.020 Most women are just blithering fucking idiots that do whatever men want them to do.

00:02:03.080 I'm so sick of it.

00:02:04.620 But anyway, we've got one today, a b-b-b-b-b-banger of a show.

00:02:12.300 She's a friend and a kindred spirit and somebody who's gone through a lot of stuff with the same network

00:02:23.240 I went through a lot of shit with and also has a great podcast and is an incredible human being.

00:02:30.160 So help me welcome Stage Steele.

00:02:33.500 Thank you.

00:02:34.340 Stage Steele.

00:02:34.900 I said Stage Steele.

00:02:35.980 Stage Steele.

00:02:36.280 I've been called a lot worse.

00:02:37.340 Stage Steele.

00:02:38.940 Hi.

00:02:39.340 Hi.

00:02:40.380 I can't believe I'm in Roseanne's studio.

00:02:44.240 This is freaking cool.

00:02:46.120 Oh, we're happy to have you here.

00:02:48.040 Thank you.

00:02:48.640 We love you.

00:02:50.020 I loved you before you loved me, though.

00:02:52.980 Yeah.

00:02:53.240 That's okay.

00:02:53.780 You hear that a lot.

00:02:54.620 But now I love you more than you love me because it's not possible for you to love me more than I love you since I'm way older than you.

00:03:04.000 Just a little.

00:03:04.280 So I understand love way more than you.

00:03:07.620 Well, we met Sage on Bertram, right?

00:03:10.080 Mm-hmm.

00:03:10.400 You want to tell people?

00:03:11.600 Oh, yeah.

00:03:12.220 We did that show with Addy.

00:03:13.860 Carolla, yeah.

00:03:14.640 For Daily Wire.

00:03:15.460 Yep.

00:03:16.320 For Daily Wire.

00:03:16.800 Do you remember how I was a late add to that?

00:03:18.720 That's what I was going to talk about.

00:03:20.120 Yeah.

00:03:20.220 No, I didn't know anything about it.

00:03:21.800 What's that?

00:03:21.940 She replaced Klandis.

00:03:23.580 That's what we call her now.

00:03:24.260 Oh, is that true?

00:03:27.160 Yeah, Candace got fired from Daily Wire.

00:03:28.920 It was going to be her role, and they put Sage in.

00:03:31.120 So you were added like weeks before?

00:03:33.120 Oh, it was like three weeks before it came out.

00:03:35.280 Yeah.

00:03:35.680 And I had never done that kind of voiceover, which is done before the edit, right?

00:03:43.780 Yeah.

00:03:44.480 Well before.

00:03:45.520 And what I learned, because I was in just the live TV world, is that they match everything to your tone, your cadence, all of it.

00:03:54.240 Yeah.

00:03:54.380 So Candace, her job was completed.

00:03:57.460 She was done, and everything was ready to go with her voice and everything in it, and then they fired her.

00:04:04.000 So they needed another black female conservative, I guess, and I don't know how many there are of us publicly.

00:04:09.200 It's just two of you.

00:04:10.120 I know there's a lot of us privately, but publicly.

00:04:12.780 So they had me come in.

00:04:13.520 But it was so hard, because I had to, we're doing it backwards, and I had to go in and try to match every single thing she did.

00:04:21.020 And if that one sentence was 4.2 seconds.

00:04:23.900 So you had to embody Candace.

00:04:25.360 Yeah.

00:04:25.980 Kind of.

00:04:26.540 Yeah.

00:04:26.740 Was that scary?

00:04:27.600 There's a lot there.

00:04:29.340 Was it?

00:04:29.820 Did that scare you?

00:04:30.920 Nope.

00:04:31.440 Nope.

00:04:31.760 Because you know what?

00:04:32.380 I don't think, I think Candace today, June 2025, is different than Candace May 2024.

00:04:39.960 Yeah.

00:04:40.440 I think so, too.

00:04:40.540 Definitely different.

00:04:41.700 And I wasn't fully understanding what exactly had happened with her at Daily Wire, and I don't know that I fully do still understand this.

00:04:49.640 So all I know is that I got the call, and love and worship Adam Carolla, so hell yeah, I'm going to say yes to that.

00:04:56.680 It was just such a process to have to recreate her voice, her tone, and as you know, like in those little segments.

00:05:06.240 You had to match the voice.

00:05:07.900 Match the voice.

00:05:09.000 I mean, and not, obviously, I can't match her voice specifically.

00:05:12.340 The timing is impossible, so the edit is within 1 18th of a second.

00:05:17.320 And it was like, do it over and go 1 18th of a second slower.

00:05:20.620 And I'm like, huh, how do I do that?

00:05:22.360 That's hard.

00:05:22.440 So it was hard.

00:05:23.940 And then they didn't do another season, did they?

00:05:26.700 No.

00:05:27.220 I guess it got shit canned.

00:05:29.560 So that might be my fault.

00:05:31.420 No, they're still trying to shop it, but it's not going to be on the Daily Wire.

00:05:34.700 That's all I know.

00:05:35.820 Well, that was a fun show.

00:05:37.500 I enjoyed it.

00:05:38.400 And they told me, the writer said, wait till second season because we've got you doing all kind of crazy stuff, which I loved.

00:05:46.180 Because I loved being a huge, bombastic character.

00:05:51.560 Because, you know, after Roseanne, that would just be so fun to be like, she was an ex-Marine and she is beating guys up in a bar.

00:06:03.800 I loved it.

00:06:05.080 It was great.

00:06:05.740 And it was, you know, we watched it, that premiere with, you know, a live audience.

00:06:11.320 And it was cool for me to watch you in that theater while everyone else is reacting to you.

00:06:18.700 It was beautiful.

00:06:19.860 I had never been part of it.

00:06:20.860 That's Hollywood.

00:06:21.640 That's not my world.

00:06:22.480 So that was my first time being part of anything like that.

00:06:25.200 But then to be sitting right near you and watching their reaction was really cool.

00:06:29.320 You probably saw me roaring at myself.

00:06:32.320 Oh, your cackles really were louder than anybody else.

00:06:36.780 And they were at times where everybody else was quiet, right?

00:06:39.300 Yeah, that's how it is.

00:06:40.260 You should have gone to see Ace Ventura with her.

00:06:42.540 We saw that six times in the theater.

00:06:44.280 She ruined the experience for everybody.

00:06:46.160 I love that movie so much.

00:06:47.540 Ace Ventura and Sleeper.

00:06:49.800 Yeah.

00:06:50.020 I urinated on myself in both those films.

00:06:52.820 What do you mean she ruined it?

00:06:54.300 Do you ever see Cape Fear when Robert De Niro's got the cigar and he's like,

00:06:57.000 I'm ruining the movie for everyone?

00:06:58.580 That was her in the crowd at Ace Ventura.

00:06:59.980 I can't stop laughing.

00:07:01.220 She laughed uncontrollably.

00:07:03.120 And I'm not kidding.

00:07:04.040 She went five times to the theater and laughed this hard every time.

00:07:07.220 And people would move from the theater around her because they couldn't hear the movie.

00:07:11.120 But it was that good.

00:07:12.140 Ace Ventura is the greatest comedy I've ever seen.

00:07:14.520 I have underrated it.

00:07:15.380 Hysterical.

00:07:15.780 He never did anything as good after Jim Carrey.

00:07:19.900 He's changed too.

00:07:20.820 He's another one of those.

00:07:22.180 But that was cool for me to see it.

00:07:24.460 And I had never been around your mom.

00:07:26.600 I'd never been around you.

00:07:28.020 So to witness that and your genuine cackles in between made us laugh harder.

00:07:32.020 It was great.

00:07:32.740 But my favorite part was in the bar after.

00:07:37.460 Like the next day, I guess, wasn't it?

00:07:39.360 Or was it that afternoon before maybe?

00:07:41.200 I don't remember.

00:07:41.640 But we sat there for a couple hours at the bar in that hotel in Illinois, wherever we were.

00:07:46.640 That was, I think, after.

00:07:48.240 Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

00:07:50.140 I think it was the next day.

00:07:51.820 That was the day I went down out of our hotel and walked down to get a drink because our hotel

00:07:57.200 was a piece of shit that didn't have alcohol before 6 p.m., which I cannot take that.

00:08:04.320 So I walked down to the W and I was sitting there having my eye opener there in the morning

00:08:11.060 and I heard this voice,

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00:08:32.380 These are two anti-pathogens used to treat parasitic infections and other similar types

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00:08:39.520 They are used quite often in the oncology world to treat cancer.

00:08:44.420 They both have as anti-pathogenic abilities.

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00:08:52.560 They're everywhere in our food, water, and our pets.

00:08:56.140 They secretly invade your body.

00:08:57.860 You can have it on your gut, energy levels, and even your brain.

00:09:01.540 And the mainstream medical system, they don't want you thinking about this because one great

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00:09:55.700 And I'm like, oh, Christ, here we go.

00:09:58.400 I got to act nice.

00:10:00.460 And up comes, oh, I can't remember her name.

00:10:04.780 She's the, I don't know her name either.

00:10:06.980 Oh, I forget everybody's name.

00:10:08.660 She's a stand-up comic.

00:10:09.920 She's got a show coming out.

00:10:10.500 Oh, she's got a big show now.

00:10:12.620 She's like Roseanne of your ilk.

00:10:15.260 Yeah, she's so brilliant.

00:10:17.400 Morgan, Leanne Morgan.

00:10:20.100 And I'm like, damn, I love you.

00:10:22.980 What are you doing here?

00:10:24.120 Well, she was doing something.

00:10:26.500 And of course, she don't drink or anything.

00:10:30.020 She's got a clean lifestyle, which is disgusting.

00:10:33.200 Annoying.

00:10:34.200 But yet, she was still funny and adorable.

00:10:37.420 And I sat there with her a couple of hours, and I just love her.

00:10:41.960 She is such a great comic, and that was a delight.

00:10:45.840 And then I staggered back home, and we went in the, I don't know what we did, but I just

00:10:52.300 remember drinking with you.

00:10:53.480 You're a fun drinking partner.

00:10:54.840 Yeah, we had a really good time.

00:10:56.240 Me and Jake were like, she's real.

00:10:58.160 She can, first of all, she can carry her liquor, and then she gets even more interesting.

00:11:04.200 You've had a really interesting life.

00:11:05.980 Okay, wait.

00:11:06.840 So my fiance's sitting over in the corner.

00:11:09.420 Is he handsome enough?

00:11:10.840 He's hot, right?

00:11:12.240 Oh my God, that guy's gorgeous.

00:11:14.760 He thinks I'm a lightweight, though.

00:11:16.420 And now you're giving away the real deep, dark secrets.

00:11:20.120 That's just when she's on a trip without you.

00:11:21.800 That I'm a lush.

00:11:22.780 Well, you have to pretend you're sweet and sober until the marriage.

00:11:27.700 You're getting married this year.

00:11:29.240 I am.

00:11:30.080 I'm getting married in September.

00:11:31.420 Uh-huh.

00:11:31.660 Congrats.

00:11:32.320 So that's only a few months where you've got to act like you're okay.

00:11:35.340 I have to behave a little bit longer.

00:11:37.160 Then you trap him.

00:11:37.760 Lock him in.

00:11:38.940 And hey, I mean, once they put a ring on it-

00:11:41.500 It's over?

00:11:41.860 That's right.

00:11:42.200 They can't get out now.

00:11:42.980 Yeah, it's over.

00:11:43.860 It's totally over.

00:11:44.960 Yeah, now the things come out.

00:11:46.300 Anyway, I got to tell you guys yesterday that, and this is like another one of our kind

00:11:50.360 of spiritual connections, but I met him just last fall.

00:11:54.820 So yes, it's quick.

00:11:55.660 Get out of my mentions.

00:11:56.760 Yes, it's fast.

00:11:57.420 But when you're old, you can do that.

00:11:58.580 Yeah.

00:11:58.820 It's not really, though.

00:11:59.600 You have a history.

00:12:00.280 You're 50 plus.

00:12:01.160 You have a history.

00:12:01.740 Well, but our history is something that we didn't know until we met, but our mothers

00:12:06.500 have been friends for 32 years.

00:12:08.660 Oh my God, that's God-given right there.

00:12:11.040 It is, yes.

00:12:12.180 So if he dumped me, his mom would be pissed.

00:12:15.200 He can't dump you ever.

00:12:16.520 So that's the thing.

00:12:16.540 I feel like I'm protected by a lot of people.

00:12:18.500 You are.

00:12:18.880 You got a hedge.

00:12:19.120 Because our moms like each other more than they like us.

00:12:21.320 Yes.

00:12:21.780 So he's kind of stuck already.

00:12:23.400 See, you've got that hedge of protection around you.

00:12:25.920 She's going to gain like 250 pounds this time next year.

00:12:29.980 He don't care.

00:12:31.100 You don't care, right?

00:12:32.360 No, he cares.

00:12:33.780 No.

00:12:34.440 Oh my God, look at the way he looks at you.

00:12:36.480 Yeah, who trapped you here?

00:12:37.780 It's so huge.

00:12:38.880 Look at that ring.

00:12:39.820 Oh my Lord.

00:12:41.300 I know.

00:12:41.900 Look at that ring, son.

00:12:43.220 It's beautiful.

00:12:43.860 I have a funny, kind of a funny story.

00:12:45.340 So we hang out at the bar, right?

00:12:46.760 Yeah.

00:12:47.080 We want to get back on track a little.

00:12:48.680 And we love Sage.

00:12:49.880 Like, she's the best.

00:12:51.160 I get her number.

00:12:51.800 Her, she tells us that she has help.

00:12:55.860 I don't want to give too much away, but she-

00:12:57.580 Help, yes.

00:12:58.240 You successfully sued Disney.

00:13:00.260 Correct.

00:13:00.660 Oh my God, you're our idol.

00:13:03.080 And you won.

00:13:04.880 Right, but real quick-

00:13:05.680 We settled, so does that mean-

00:13:06.660 Okay, we'll get back to that, yes.

00:13:07.580 I just want to say, so I got her number, and then I put in the wrong number.

00:13:12.040 Of course you did.

00:13:12.920 He's horribly dyslexic.

00:13:14.320 All my kids are dyslexic.

00:13:15.780 I didn't know that.

00:13:16.380 And she doesn't respond to me for a year.

00:13:18.600 Nuh-uh.

00:13:19.140 Yeah, and I'm texting her.

00:13:20.380 I'm like, okay, she's a fake.

00:13:21.600 Another fucking Hollywood fake.

00:13:23.280 Oh my God.

00:13:23.400 I was so mad at you.

00:13:24.540 And then Sage, another project comes up, and she calls me, and she's like, I miss you guys

00:13:28.300 and talk to you.

00:13:28.900 And I noticed right then, it was a totally different phone number.

00:13:31.900 And I'd been cursing you for like a year.

00:13:33.920 Wait, you cursed at me?

00:13:35.140 Well, you weren't responding to my text.

00:13:37.300 Okay.

00:13:37.700 I was very upset.

00:13:38.620 Wow.

00:13:39.160 Sage hates us.

00:13:40.720 I was so mad.

00:13:41.380 He said, Mom, she acted like she liked us, but she hates us.

00:13:44.340 Yep, one big fake.

00:13:45.720 It happens all the time.

00:13:46.440 I'm a terrible actress.

00:13:48.040 I apologize.

00:13:48.360 But what I left from that, that to me was the best, and I'm not saying this because

00:13:52.400 you're here.

00:13:52.900 Yeah.

00:13:53.100 I told my mom and dad right away, I'm like the best part of the Bertram thing.

00:13:57.100 Yeah.

00:13:57.240 Besides seeing Megyn Kelly, who's one of my idols.

00:13:59.460 She's a doll.

00:14:00.880 And talk about brilliant and goals.

00:14:02.140 Yeah, she's fierce as hell.

00:14:03.600 She is.

00:14:03.900 And we had the same attorney with, because she was with NBC when she got canceled, and

00:14:09.400 Brian Friedman is the attorney, and then I had him.

00:14:12.020 Chris Harrison from The Bachelor, he had Brian Friedman.

00:14:15.680 He's one that's with Justin Baldoni now, and that thing's not over.

00:14:19.240 Not over.

00:14:20.140 Yeah.

00:14:20.260 But anyway, I left and told my mom and dad, I'm like, oh my gosh, you know when you have

00:14:26.840 an impression of somebody, but then you're almost afraid to meet them, because you're

00:14:31.160 afraid you're going to be disappointed.

00:14:32.400 Isn't that what everybody says?

00:14:33.400 Don't meet your idols.

00:14:34.700 Don't meet people that you love who are famous, because they're going to disappoint you.

00:14:38.400 You were so shockingly nice.

00:14:41.800 That's a compliment.

00:14:42.620 I hope you take it that way.

00:14:43.740 Because of Hollywood people.

00:14:45.540 I don't like them.

00:14:46.720 They're not my people.

00:14:47.660 No, they're not.

00:14:48.260 And that's not who you are, though.

00:14:50.080 And I was so blown away at how genuine you were, and looked me in the eye, and were interested,

00:14:58.140 and just talking to me as a human being.

00:15:00.920 I didn't feel like I was annoying you, I guess.

00:15:03.140 No, you weren't annoying.

00:15:03.740 It was really special.

00:15:05.020 You were very fun, and very interesting, and intelligent.

00:15:08.340 I'm glad your son doesn't hate me anymore.

00:15:10.000 Yeah, we were so relieved.

00:15:11.600 I go, you fucking idiot.

00:15:13.100 You always write everyone's number down the line.

00:15:15.060 Actually, that's not true.

00:15:15.800 It's the first time I've ever, honestly, the first time I've ever done that, that I know

00:15:19.160 of.

00:15:19.220 No, it isn't.

00:15:19.820 There have been a few people that have iced us.

00:15:21.920 Maybe I've done them with one.

00:15:22.980 But it doesn't matter.

00:15:23.980 The bottom line is, we're here, and we're all friends, and I'm very happy about it.

00:15:28.540 Now I get to get really nosy about all the things I want to do.

00:15:31.140 Let's get into it.

00:15:32.100 Go.

00:15:32.240 Well, real quick, you were at ESPN SportsCenter.

00:15:34.580 You were canceled.

00:15:36.140 I was.

00:15:36.800 Yeah.

00:15:37.000 I feel like that's a badge of honor now, to be canceled.

00:15:39.580 Do you want to ask about that later, or get into it?

00:15:41.180 Yeah, because I wanted to know what made her tick to get there.

00:15:44.380 Oh.

00:15:44.680 I mean, I know you, your dad was in the military.

00:15:48.780 Yes, ma'am.

00:15:50.220 And so you grew up in the military, right?

00:15:53.120 Yeah.

00:15:53.400 So when people say, where are you from?

00:15:56.200 Like, pick a place.

00:15:57.580 All of them.

00:15:58.360 I was, I'd lived in four countries by the time I was 11.

00:16:01.820 Jeez.

00:16:02.240 So like, all over.

00:16:03.600 And I could speak a couple languages.

00:16:05.940 I mean, a little.

00:16:07.840 Uh-huh.

00:16:08.080 And now, hopefully, English is perfected, but that's all I got.

00:16:13.600 Yeah, I grew up just moving, and knowing that every two years or so, that we're going

00:16:17.980 to go on a new adventure.

00:16:19.260 And that's how my mom approached it, was because it was hard, right?

00:16:22.600 And you make friends, and then, this is way pre-internet.

00:16:25.620 I mean, I'm 52 now, so this is in the 80s, when you have friends in junior high and high

00:16:31.760 school.

00:16:32.440 Yeah.

00:16:32.700 And you don't, you can't text them, or snap them, or email them even.

00:16:37.180 Right.

00:16:37.360 It's a handwritten letter, where you licked a postage stamp, and you send a letter away

00:16:42.420 to your little best friend, and it takes a week to get there, and then two weeks later,

00:16:46.700 you might get a response, but therefore, you couldn't keep friends.

00:16:49.960 Yeah.

00:16:50.080 You know those, you remember those days.

00:16:51.460 Yeah.

00:16:51.640 And so, it was hard to, every couple years, say goodbye to friends, and have to start over,

00:16:56.620 and hope that you get invited to the birthday parties, or get picked for kickball at recess

00:17:01.000 when you're the new kid.

00:17:02.540 But the beauty of it is that, in the military, all the kids feel that.

00:17:07.060 And so, they're all very welcoming.

00:17:08.920 Our neighbors, the adults are welcoming.

00:17:11.240 Everybody would bring over a bottle of wine and some banana bread, and say, here's my phone

00:17:15.240 number if you need us.

00:17:16.760 It was genuine.

00:17:17.720 It was the best upbringing.

00:17:18.640 It was, it's a real community.

00:17:21.060 Such a community.

00:17:21.740 Yeah.

00:17:22.060 And so diverse.

00:17:23.500 Yeah.

00:17:23.860 Before we, I even knew what diversity was.

00:17:26.760 It just, people get mad.

00:17:28.920 A lot of people get mad when you say that you don't see color.

00:17:31.500 Yeah.

00:17:31.720 Obviously, we see it.

00:17:33.800 Like, don't take it literally, but that's not what you lead with.

00:17:36.400 Right.

00:17:36.820 And that's what it is in the military.

00:17:38.740 It didn't lead with white, black, Asian, a lot of interracial marriages.

00:17:42.220 Yeah.

00:17:42.480 I come from an interracial marriage as well, and it just didn't matter.

00:17:45.960 It was the most, I say, diverse, but protected.

00:17:51.360 Yeah.

00:17:51.980 And secluded, not secluded.

00:17:53.400 What's the word I'm looking for?

00:17:54.340 Protected.

00:17:55.460 Insulated.

00:17:56.140 Yeah.

00:17:56.580 I mean, I was.

00:17:57.220 Well, don't you think it's because you all have a common goal and a common viewpoint,

00:18:03.480 and you're not easily divided like the civilians are in our country?

00:18:09.060 Yeah.

00:18:09.460 And maybe the timing, you know, probably made a difference as well in the 80s.

00:18:14.800 Uh-huh.

00:18:15.620 And living in different countries.

00:18:17.720 But yeah, you're on an American base.

00:18:20.000 Right.

00:18:20.020 We went to school on an American base.

00:18:21.960 And even though people have different political opinions, I can look back now and kind of see

00:18:27.140 some of it.

00:18:27.900 There was respect, and it didn't matter.

00:18:29.680 And the goal was the same, and that was to represent our country.

00:18:32.920 Right.

00:18:33.240 As Americans.

00:18:34.240 Right.

00:18:36.140 Respectfully.

00:18:37.120 And with respect to where we were living.

00:18:39.520 I lived in Belgium.

00:18:40.400 I lived in Greece.

00:18:42.240 My Girl Scout troop would go to Paris for the day.

00:18:45.440 You know?

00:18:45.740 I would get annoyed because I'm like, oh, my God, we have to go to Paris again.

00:18:49.760 Because family would come visit from the States.

00:18:51.700 Or my third grade field trip was to the Acropolis, which was 45 minutes away from our house when

00:18:56.680 I lived in Greece.

00:18:57.900 That's amazing.

00:18:58.580 But as Americans, we knew to have respect for their culture, just like we hope today

00:19:04.540 that they have respect for ours, which is a whole different story.

00:19:07.180 Yeah, that's a whole different story.

00:19:07.540 But it was just a beautiful, innocent.

00:19:10.480 I was very naive because of it.

00:19:12.860 Because it was insulated, and people were just kind.

00:19:16.700 But I had the people say, well, what is it like?

00:19:19.300 You don't have a hometown to go to.

00:19:20.500 It's true.

00:19:21.020 I don't know where home is.

00:19:23.600 Home is where I am at that moment.

00:19:25.320 That's what home is, though.

00:19:26.940 I agree.

00:19:27.800 I don't have a hometown.

00:19:29.340 Like, to take my kids back to where I went to elementary school or where my first T-ball

00:19:36.220 game was.

00:19:36.780 Like, I don't have that.

00:19:38.000 It's impossible.

00:19:39.500 But I wouldn't change it.

00:19:42.240 I thought that was normal.

00:19:43.040 I did get back to the States in seventh grade.

00:19:44.900 And I was like, what do you mean you guys have known each other since kindergarten?

00:19:47.460 That's so weird.

00:19:48.300 Why would you want to know someone for that long?

00:19:50.820 You know?

00:19:51.340 Yeah.

00:19:51.580 So I think there's positives and negatives to both.

00:19:54.460 But I had the best upbringing.

00:19:56.560 Where did your parents meet?

00:19:58.200 I'm just nosy because they're a mixed couple.

00:20:01.980 Yeah.

00:20:02.240 And I wonder, where did that meet and what year?

00:20:06.240 Because that's an interesting thing for America.

00:20:09.840 It is, especially considering in October it'll be their 54th wedding anniversary.

00:20:14.460 Oh, my God.

00:20:15.400 That's amazing.

00:20:16.340 I know.

00:20:17.300 I know.

00:20:18.140 Wow.

00:20:18.320 You know what I say to people when I'm on stage and I ask how long they've been married

00:20:23.400 and they say things like that.

00:20:25.460 54 years, all the time, all over America.

00:20:28.180 So I always go, why?

00:20:32.060 It's a great question.

00:20:34.320 They met in 1970, right when my dad graduated from West Point.

00:20:39.340 Well, Ma, we've been traveling.

00:20:40.860 We've been in Texas for a little while now, like a few months.

00:20:43.160 And we've been relying on our friends at Home Chef.

00:20:45.960 We sell their ads.

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00:20:49.520 I just love it.

00:20:50.580 I go to the porch and there it is.

00:20:53.140 And I'm like, hey, look, more came.

00:20:55.100 Yeah.

00:20:55.460 And then, like I said, you can have fun with it.

00:20:57.040 You can say, hey, I want to cook a big meal, big family gathering.

00:20:59.520 Let's do the raw ingredients.

00:21:01.200 I think it's like the Lord has just put stuff on my porch.

00:21:05.260 You know, I forget it's from Amazon.

00:21:06.680 That's true.

00:21:07.280 If this happened a long time ago, that's what you would think.

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00:22:02.320 What was your mom doing?

00:22:03.300 She was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.

00:22:06.720 Back in the day when being a flight attendant was a big deal.

00:22:11.480 Yeah, it was.

00:22:12.380 It was fancy.

00:22:13.100 And, I mean, can you imagine these people today having to adjust to the rules of the...

00:22:18.980 Like, my mother would have to get on a scale.

00:22:21.000 They would weigh her before every flight.

00:22:23.180 We have to go back.

00:22:24.460 Sorry.

00:22:25.140 I know.

00:22:25.900 That's amazing.

00:22:26.560 No, but like their hair had to be tied back for a certain length.

00:22:30.200 Yeah.

00:22:30.360 It was fancy.

00:22:31.660 It's kind of like the military.

00:22:33.800 Actually, it was with the uniforms.

00:22:35.280 But it was a privilege to be a flight attendant.

00:22:39.600 And everybody dressed up.

00:22:41.240 Everybody...

00:22:41.640 Yeah.

00:22:41.840 When you're traveling, it was glamorous.

00:22:43.860 Yeah.

00:22:44.280 And so, anyway, that's what she was stationed...

00:22:46.240 She was based, not stationed, based in New York City.

00:22:49.320 Grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, West Springfield, Mass.

00:22:53.060 You know, blue collar, Catholic, all white town.

00:22:59.440 So, my mom's half Irish, half Italian.

00:23:00.760 You'll like this.

00:23:01.820 My grandfather's name was William Edward O'Neill.

00:23:05.540 So, that's her Irish side.

00:23:07.120 And my grandmother was Philomena Lina DiPertola.

00:23:10.980 Wow.

00:23:11.680 So, the Irish and Italian.

00:23:13.500 My mother actually is beautiful.

00:23:15.480 Looks a lot like you, just with green eyes.

00:23:18.060 White hair, kind of spiked.

00:23:20.320 She's gorgeous.

00:23:21.100 She's almost 76.

00:23:22.920 And so, super white, Irish-Italian mom.

00:23:26.040 And then my very black, beautiful dad, who also was a military brat.

00:23:30.940 And they had a birthday party for him after he graduated from West Point in 1970.

00:23:34.860 And she showed up.

00:23:36.860 And actually, on my show, The Sage Steal Show.

00:23:39.780 Thank you.

00:23:40.620 You would love this, Roseanne and Jake.

00:23:42.680 I just got to sit down with my parents.

00:23:44.540 I did an hour and a half, two hours...

00:23:46.000 Oh, how awesome.

00:23:46.740 ...with my mom and dad.

00:23:48.120 And heard things that I had never heard from my parents.

00:23:51.480 About their relationship.

00:23:52.920 A lot of tears.

00:23:54.780 It was an...

00:23:55.420 I did it so...

00:23:57.340 Long after I'm gone.

00:24:00.100 Great, great grandkids.

00:24:01.500 They can see...

00:24:02.540 Yeah, that's cool.

00:24:03.280 ...the why and how I found, you know, strength to, you know, stand up for myself later, much

00:24:10.060 later on.

00:24:10.720 But what they went through makes my step...

00:24:13.540 They went through a lot?

00:24:14.340 Yeah, they did.

00:24:15.240 And that's why I think I have good perspective that my cancellation and those struggles weren't

00:24:21.680 fun and super hurtful and changed my life.

00:24:23.960 But it's nothing compared to what so many others go through, frankly, including my parents

00:24:29.240 in some ways.

00:24:30.480 They got married in 1971.

00:24:32.280 And, you know, my mom's family...

00:24:36.500 My mom's...

00:24:37.020 Not her family.

00:24:37.560 Her parents disowned her.

00:24:39.160 Oh, God.

00:24:40.200 The Irish side, probably, though, right?

00:24:42.480 I don't...

00:24:43.100 No.

00:24:43.720 It was more my grandmother's Italian side, which is interesting.

00:24:47.020 Mm-hmm.

00:24:47.760 But you have to...

00:24:48.800 What...

00:24:49.420 First of all...

00:24:49.720 You never know what people are going to do.

00:24:51.920 You don't.

00:24:52.800 And we had an incredible conversation about this, actually, at a bar right here in your town

00:24:57.140 last night, my fiance and I did last night, where, you know, it took six or seven years

00:25:02.860 and my mom's parents came back and there was forgiveness, never forget, but forgiveness

00:25:09.220 and a lot of healing.

00:25:10.540 And it ended up being a beautiful relationship and I got to know them, too.

00:25:13.220 So it was great.

00:25:15.280 But whenever I tell the story, people are like, oh, it's so...

00:25:18.200 Yes, it's shitty.

00:25:20.060 And you have to understand where people come from.

00:25:23.620 It's not an excuse for bad behavior, for racism.

00:25:25.960 Right.

00:25:26.140 Right.

00:25:26.460 But you have to respect their viewpoint.

00:25:29.260 And if they had never been around black people...

00:25:32.240 And in their small Catholic town in Massachusetts in the 1960s and early 70s, it's foreign to

00:25:40.280 them.

00:25:40.660 And if all you saw is what was on TV...

00:25:43.700 Yeah.

00:25:44.140 ...that black people are...

00:25:46.020 I mean, the way that they were referred to as Negroes and they're inferior, and then

00:25:50.800 they only show clips of violence.

00:25:53.020 Yep.

00:25:53.620 That's what you think is real.

00:25:54.920 Well, then, sometimes it's understandable why they were afraid for their daughter.

00:26:00.840 Yeah.

00:26:01.020 And then they learned.

00:26:03.620 I think the coolest, coolest thing that I learned about my parents that changed me and

00:26:08.680 again, my perspective on all my crap later.

00:26:12.060 I didn't know this about my parents until about six years ago.

00:26:14.720 They got married.

00:26:17.240 Her mom and dad did not show up at the wedding.

00:26:20.500 That's horrible.

00:26:21.040 Her brother did, though, who was 20 at the time, and walked her down the aisle.

00:26:26.400 They got married at West Point, where my dad had graduated from.

00:26:30.100 And then we're stationed in Panama, where I was born.

00:26:32.840 Canal Zone.

00:26:33.560 Yeah.

00:26:33.720 And my dad, apparently, from the moment they got married, and I don't know for how long,

00:26:39.340 Dave, did they say for years, once a month, would pull out a pen and paper and write my

00:26:45.920 mom's parents a letter just to let them know that she's okay and that he is taking care

00:26:52.360 of their daughter.

00:26:53.320 Oh, my God.

00:26:54.000 Your dad is something else.

00:26:55.520 I'm going to send you the video clip.

00:26:57.060 What else from your dad?

00:26:58.340 Every month for years, he did that and sent it to my parents.

00:27:03.080 In the video, you'll see my mom, and she's like, I told him it's a waste of time.

00:27:06.760 I told him don't do it.

00:27:08.200 And he kind of, you could see him get tight, and he was like, I needed them to know that

00:27:12.480 despite what they thought of me, I was taking care of their daughter.

00:27:16.060 And I was like, oh, my God.

00:27:17.860 What a guy.

00:27:18.800 He didn't know if they ever read the letters, but he was doing the right thing.

00:27:23.960 And so when your family leaves you, and again, comes back, and we are all so close to this

00:27:29.860 day, and even friends back in 1971 didn't agree with an interracial marriage.

00:27:38.000 It had just become legalized a few years prior.

00:27:40.080 Yeah, right.

00:27:40.740 My mom and dad got to be-

00:27:42.000 And 65.

00:27:43.040 Right?

00:27:43.640 So this is so new.

00:27:44.560 My mom and dad got to be like this.

00:27:46.780 Their relationship was so close because they knew all they had was each other.

00:27:51.240 Them against the world.

00:27:52.100 Yes, that's why, 54 years.

00:27:54.960 That's why they're my heroes.

00:27:57.300 And that's why they've, gosh, it's just humbling to see what they went through.

00:28:02.920 And that's the other reason why I call BS on all these people who talk about, oh, my

00:28:07.040 gosh, being a black person in America today, Whoopi Goldberg, give me a break.

00:28:10.120 Like, I can't with them because Whoopi understands, too, and she's full of it, and it's disappointing.

00:28:16.080 But that's the kind of upbringing I had.

00:28:19.080 That bitch right across her face if she ever has the displeasure to run into me.

00:28:24.360 Can I be there to witness it?

00:28:26.180 Yeah, we have to set that up.

00:28:27.580 Can I hold her arms back while you do it?

00:28:31.180 She's just an ugly soul.

00:28:33.020 She's an ugly soul.

00:28:34.060 She didn't used to be, though, I feel like.

00:28:36.160 They never were.

00:28:37.800 There's conditioning happening.

00:28:38.840 I think they make her be that way on ABC.

00:28:40.880 ABC is just a racist bullshit company.

00:28:44.960 It really is horrible.

00:28:46.660 But let's go to your dad going to West Point.

00:28:51.100 Was that?

00:28:51.580 That was a big deal for a black man.

00:28:54.220 It was.

00:28:54.940 In the, what, 60s?

00:28:56.900 Yeah, he started there.

00:28:58.400 His first year was 1965.

00:29:01.160 Wow.

00:29:02.620 And he was a football player and a track athlete.

00:29:06.760 His grades were pretty good to get in.

00:29:07.540 My dad was a football player, too.

00:29:09.160 He was?

00:29:09.660 Uh-huh.

00:29:10.460 Jerry Barr, the boy built like a barrel.

00:29:12.940 He was the center.

00:29:14.840 Oh, if you're the center, you're like the captain of the offense.

00:29:18.220 Yeah, uh-huh.

00:29:19.020 And that was your guy.

00:29:20.120 He's the one that you fell in love with comedy.

00:29:22.620 Yeah, he taught me everything.

00:29:24.320 Wow.

00:29:25.120 It's crazy, huh?

00:29:26.280 Yeah.

00:29:27.100 He was a weirdo, though.

00:29:28.680 He wasn't like your dad.

00:29:30.380 So your dad was like incredibly self-disciplined is what I'm taking from it.

00:29:36.820 He was.

00:29:37.180 He was.

00:29:37.260 I'm taking from it.

00:29:39.640 He doesn't like it when I talk about this, but he, I don't know, he never makes it about

00:29:47.720 himself.

00:29:49.040 And so I do.

00:29:50.220 I try to do that for him.

00:29:51.580 Um, he played football.

00:29:53.700 And if you think about the timing in the mid-60s, he was six, six and a half.

00:29:59.200 Wow.

00:30:00.380 220 pounds, whatever it was.

00:30:03.120 That's a big man today.

00:30:04.680 Yeah.

00:30:04.820 But back then.

00:30:06.080 Yeah.

00:30:06.580 It's a big man.

00:30:07.160 Um, and he actually broke the color barrier and was the first black man to play varsity

00:30:12.880 football ever at Army.

00:30:15.100 Oh, wow.

00:30:15.680 Oh my God.

00:30:16.640 That's exciting.

00:30:17.600 But he doesn't like to talk about it because he's like, I just was a football player.

00:30:21.080 I just wanted to be a good teammate.

00:30:22.520 Yeah.

00:30:22.660 It's super cool though.

00:30:24.000 NFL Films did a beautiful piece on my parents and it's pinned forever to my ex profile.

00:30:28.920 I'll always leave it there because it's so cool.

00:30:31.020 Just tells their story.

00:30:32.100 Are you playing in the NFL?

00:30:33.520 He did not because back then you had to fulfill your military obligation if you're coming out

00:30:38.080 of a service academy.

00:30:39.540 Right.

00:30:39.860 He got drafted though by the Detroit Lions in the 17th round.

00:30:43.320 Wow.

00:30:43.780 Back when they had 17 rounds.

00:30:45.400 Didn't they have like 20?

00:30:46.440 What's that?

00:30:47.100 They had like 20 rounds.

00:30:48.400 At least 18.

00:30:49.240 Yeah.

00:30:49.420 So even though they knew he couldn't play, they still drafted him, which is super cool.

00:30:55.320 But he just says, listen, somebody had to be first and it just happened to be me.

00:31:01.820 So humble.

00:31:02.760 He is, but he was a stud, second team All-American, East West Shrine game, like just was a great

00:31:09.020 out and track too.

00:31:10.060 But one of the cooler things is that he was there at the same time as his brother.

00:31:13.900 So his family had both of their boys, their black boys at West Point in the 60s.

00:31:21.120 Oh my God, that's something else.

00:31:21.960 And he and that brother played or ran track.

00:31:25.000 So they were studs.

00:31:27.080 And again, they won't say that, but I will.

00:31:29.720 And their father, my grandfather, was a Buffalo soldier.

00:31:32.420 So you talk about proud for him to have been segregated and even, you know, fight with

00:31:41.220 white men or stand alongside his fellow troops who were white.

00:31:45.740 And then to see his boys there was super cool.

00:31:49.860 So what a great American story.

00:31:51.440 It really is.

00:31:52.200 But it's funny.

00:31:52.860 And I love his humility because we don't want to make it about race, actually.

00:31:56.840 It shouldn't.

00:31:57.200 That's not what we should lead with.

00:31:58.280 But I do think there's that balance of not forgetting history and people like it took

00:32:02.740 that long.

00:32:03.060 Well, the breakthrough that changed it all is so incredible.

00:32:07.220 Because that could only happen in America.

00:32:09.480 We're always talking about our dirty history and slavery and racism here, but we changed

00:32:15.400 it.

00:32:15.960 We did.

00:32:17.300 Yeah.

00:32:17.620 We stopped it.

00:32:18.700 That shows progress and evolution.

00:32:19.680 That's why I don't want statues taken down.

00:32:21.640 No matter what it represented at that time, it's important that we remember that we can all

00:32:27.360 change and be better.

00:32:28.440 Yeah.

00:32:28.720 And we work harder.

00:32:29.940 You mentioned the word discipline.

00:32:33.060 Every Saturday morning, my dad had room inspections, bedroom inspections for us kids.

00:32:39.800 Uh-oh.

00:32:40.300 Just like he was at West Point.

00:32:42.740 Did we bounce the quarter off the mattress kind of deal?

00:32:45.380 Might as well.

00:32:46.160 It was everything else.

00:32:47.700 But he would...

00:32:48.480 It was 0900 hours, not 9 o'clock.

00:32:50.960 It's be ready at 0900.

00:32:52.800 Like, okay, dad.

00:32:54.300 Yeah, we talked in military time because he wanted us to understand that.

00:32:58.280 And so at 0900 hours, he would come and knock on the door, knock twice, just like when

00:33:03.000 he was in school, and we'd have to salute.

00:33:06.120 Wow.

00:33:06.440 And he'd say, are you prepared for inspection?

00:33:08.480 And we're like...

00:33:09.740 It was a joke.

00:33:10.800 We weren't scared.

00:33:11.400 It was a...

00:33:12.100 He created a competition with my brothers and to treat us respect for the nice things

00:33:17.560 we had.

00:33:18.700 And hey, this is a military salary.

00:33:20.640 I'm not fancy.

00:33:22.640 My parents didn't have any money.

00:33:23.960 Yeah.

00:33:24.360 But we thought we did because we never wanted for anything.

00:33:28.560 But there was a respect for that nice comforter that I got to pick out for my bed.

00:33:33.640 You know?

00:33:34.240 How are things folded in my drawers?

00:33:36.200 And he would go around and he'd use a glove and see if there's dust on the dresser.

00:33:40.280 Oh my God, I love that.

00:33:40.960 I need to do that.

00:33:41.960 And I know.

00:33:42.920 You have time.

00:33:43.640 Your girls are young.

00:33:44.500 You can do it.

00:33:45.320 Yeah.

00:33:45.700 I have to change who I am first.

00:33:47.720 And then I'll think about it.

00:33:48.820 They'll be like hypocrite, right?

00:33:51.520 Not my dad.

00:33:52.560 My dad sat there in his underpants, which were stained.

00:33:57.440 And he never took a bath or nothing.

00:33:59.900 Shut up.

00:34:00.380 And he'd sit there in front of the TV and all he loved was sports, of course.

00:34:05.940 And he got himself a bell next to his chair there.

00:34:14.480 And he ringed this bell, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

00:34:17.980 And that meant a certain number of rings meant bring me cheese.

00:34:23.640 Cheese?

00:34:24.380 Yeah, we had it.

00:34:25.120 We was on the welfare cheese.

00:34:27.760 And so he always wanted the entire brick of cheese, not just a slice.

00:34:32.560 We have to bring him the whole brick of cheese with the wrapping paper on it.

00:34:38.740 And we did this whole, here you are, sire.

00:34:44.860 And then he just hold up the cheese and he only had eight teeth on the top and eight teeth on the bottom.

00:34:51.840 And so he'd take a big old bite out of the welfare cheese there and say thank you.

00:34:58.880 And then the next ring of the bell, you had to bring him a bowl of Cap'n Crunch.

00:35:04.720 Those are the only things he ate.

00:35:06.280 Cheese and Cap'n Crunch.

00:35:07.340 Yeah.

00:35:07.780 And then we put the cheese back in the fridge and we told our friends, daddy just takes big bites off our cheese.

00:35:17.040 And they said, no, he don't because they're all nice blonde Mormon folk.

00:35:21.300 And so I go, yeah, he does.

00:35:24.100 He just bites off the welfare cheese log.

00:35:27.380 And so they go, we got to see.

00:35:29.000 I go, yeah, because he's only got eight teeth in there, eight on top, eight on bottom.

00:35:34.040 So we charge our friends a nickel when the parents were busy.

00:35:41.320 And they come in through the kitchen door and we open the cheese door for a nickel drawer.

00:35:47.300 And they'd go, oh, my God.

00:35:50.380 They had all these like rat bites out of it.

00:35:53.940 Just one tooth here.

00:35:54.840 From his chiclet teeth.

00:35:56.420 Yeah.

00:35:56.800 Summer teeth.

00:35:57.360 So he wasn't quite as elegant as you were, dad.

00:36:02.460 That's okay.

00:36:03.460 You wouldn't be who you are today without it, right?

00:36:06.020 Thank God.

00:36:07.180 He was perfectly exactly how he was supposed to be.

00:36:10.160 With the room inspection, so whenever there was an infraction, if something wasn't done right, we'd have to drop and give him 10 push-ups.

00:36:17.380 Oh, my God.

00:36:18.400 And they had to be like real push-ups.

00:36:21.080 We're not on our knees and our, you know, butt isn't up in the air and our elbows are tight.

00:36:26.120 So my arms looked great from a very young age.

00:36:31.200 Where'd you get the idea?

00:36:33.220 Did you develop a love of sports from your dad?

00:36:36.700 It was his fault.

00:36:38.000 Yeah.

00:36:38.140 Yep.

00:36:38.800 Yep.

00:36:39.260 That was unusual for a girl.

00:36:41.840 It was back then.

00:36:43.420 But you know what?

00:36:44.220 And I was going to say this about your dad.

00:36:45.880 Isn't it amazing the influence they can have?

00:36:47.640 Yeah.

00:36:48.220 Especially for fathers and daughters.

00:36:50.040 Yes, especially.

00:36:51.200 Times two over there.

00:36:51.920 Yep.

00:36:52.380 Yeah, he knows it.

00:36:53.140 That's the best blessing in life, father and daughter.

00:36:55.960 That's the best.

00:36:56.700 And I believe her daughter is the most important relationship.

00:36:59.840 Yeah, it is.

00:37:00.340 The most important.

00:37:00.860 And I have two daughters.

00:37:02.280 Yeah, I believe it's the most important relationship.

00:37:04.060 100%.

00:37:04.220 I wanted to spend time with my dad.

00:37:07.640 Yeah.

00:37:07.900 And, you know, he was busy.

00:37:09.880 He didn't sit down much, especially on weekends because we had soccer games or swim meets or,

00:37:14.640 you know, just fun stuff.

00:37:15.760 And he'd been working all week.

00:37:17.040 But if he did sit, there would be either NBA, basketball on, Lakers, Celtics usually, or Cowboys,

00:37:25.540 Redskins.

00:37:25.920 And remember, we lived in Europe, in Belgium.

00:37:28.720 So there was one TV with like four channels, maybe two, three of them spoke English.

00:37:36.480 So there were not many options.

00:37:38.700 And on weekends, that's what was on.

00:37:40.820 So that's what we would do.

00:37:41.960 We'd sit and watch football.

00:37:42.880 And I loved it.

00:37:43.580 I saw my dad's happiness and joy in it, especially with football since he played and always wondered

00:37:49.500 if he could have made it in the NFL after being drafted.

00:37:53.980 And I also saw from like a patriotic perspective, especially with the Dallas Cowboys.

00:38:00.400 That was America's team.

00:38:01.480 Yeah, it was.

00:38:02.120 And living in Belgium, living in Greece, living in Europe, they didn't know much about American

00:38:06.280 football because that's soccer.

00:38:07.560 But they knew the Dallas Cowboys.

00:38:08.660 And they knew the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, right?

00:38:10.500 Yeah.

00:38:10.820 Oh, they were big.

00:38:11.700 The Cowboys.

00:38:12.060 And I mean, they were beautiful.

00:38:13.760 And it was Americana.

00:38:15.080 It was.

00:38:15.940 And so what I learned at a very young age is that sports brings people together.

00:38:21.460 Yeah.

00:38:21.960 And it is the one time a week, whatever it is for football, basketball, a couple times

00:38:28.980 a week for baseball, when everybody is sitting in a stadium.

00:38:31.640 You could have 80,000 people there.

00:38:33.320 And if it's a home game at Cowboy Stadium, you're all on the same team for three hours.

00:38:37.760 Yeah.

00:38:38.260 And your politics don't matter.

00:38:40.060 Your socioeconomic status doesn't matter.

00:38:42.760 Your religion, who you sleep with, none of it matters.

00:38:45.440 You're just rooting for the Cowboys and you're high-fiving people that you might never see

00:38:48.460 again.

00:38:48.880 Yeah.

00:38:49.020 Right.

00:38:49.300 And I felt that.

00:38:51.260 And I loved it.

00:38:52.540 Me too.

00:38:52.820 The team aspect, which is similar to the military, where you're in this together.

00:38:57.040 So that's where it started.

00:38:58.200 And I said when I was 11 years old that I was going to be a sportscaster and I wanted

00:39:03.180 to work at ESPN.

00:39:04.340 And you did?

00:39:05.980 I did.

00:39:06.380 How hard was that to get into for a woman?

00:39:09.540 That's when I need alcohol.

00:39:11.160 That's where.

00:39:11.480 Very hard.

00:39:14.620 But I loved the challenge.

00:39:18.020 I wouldn't change a thing.

00:39:19.300 It took 11 years once I graduated from college.

00:39:22.080 And then you start local TV, you know, like all hours of the day and night.

00:39:27.500 And there were no women doing it.

00:39:30.260 No.

00:39:30.780 And they let me know.

00:39:31.760 There were co-workers who were not happy I was there.

00:39:36.000 Some even said, I heard through a friend of a friend who'd say, you know, that one said

00:39:40.220 the only reason you're here is because you're a double whammy.

00:39:44.160 Like HR loves you.

00:39:45.380 You're a woman and a woman of color.

00:39:47.060 You're getting hired.

00:39:48.420 So I, of course, I heard for years that that was the only reason I was there.

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00:41:05.300 They're really corn tasting too.

00:41:06.980 They're corn forward as the people would say.

00:41:08.240 I'm going to eat one right now because they're good.

00:41:10.140 They're good.

00:41:10.460 Beef tallow.

00:41:11.100 This is how I remember Chips tasting when I was a kid.

00:41:13.460 And I knew that.

00:41:14.160 And you know what?

00:41:14.520 Maybe it was true at times, but you're not going to last there when you're on a TV screen.

00:41:20.980 Well, sometimes it opens a door, but it don't keep you in the room.

00:41:24.880 Right.

00:41:25.240 Because you'll get exposed on live TV really, really fast.

00:41:28.480 You did it for a long time.

00:41:30.180 I did.

00:41:30.720 I mean, 11 years, local regional TV, and then 16 years at ESPN.

00:41:36.360 Yeah.

00:41:36.940 Yeah.

00:41:37.080 And honestly, I loved every moment.

00:41:40.940 I started off in South Bend, Indiana, a medium-sized market, like a good-sized market considering

00:41:46.760 I had zero experience and did not deserve a job.

00:41:49.640 Yeah.

00:41:49.780 But that was a friend of the man that I interned for at Indiana University who made a call to

00:41:55.960 his friend who ran the station who said, give her a shot, all who you know, and how you treat

00:42:01.300 people along the way.

00:42:02.220 And I think I had good parents to remind me to always just be kind, like whatever that

00:42:05.960 means.

00:42:06.220 When I say whatever that means, I mean, like, it doesn't matter where you are.

00:42:12.460 And if you think someone can do something for you, just be nice.

00:42:16.620 It's the right thing, and it pays off for your heart, most importantly, your soul.

00:42:21.380 Right.

00:42:21.440 But also, who knows what people do with that when you're kind to them.

00:42:25.240 And so I was on TV during the day and waiting tables at night.

00:42:30.300 And they would recognize me where they're like, wait, aren't you that girl?

00:42:33.500 And I'm like, yes.

00:42:34.080 How would you like your stay?

00:42:35.300 Yes.

00:42:35.740 But I loved that time.

00:42:37.060 I was so poor.

00:42:37.960 I was so broke.

00:42:39.160 And I wasn't going to call my parents for help because they didn't have any money.

00:42:42.360 And also, I wanted to do it on my own.

00:42:44.200 So I look back at those days.

00:42:45.920 How old were you then?

00:42:47.200 Right out of college, 22, 23.

00:42:49.560 And then fast-forwarding all those years later to ESPN and hosting.

00:42:56.600 What was it like to work there?

00:42:58.000 That must have been weird.

00:43:00.700 Yeah, I think it depends on when.

00:43:03.560 Yeah, they weren't always owned by ABC or Disney, by the way.

00:43:06.020 When I was there.

00:43:06.560 They were bought.

00:43:07.600 When I was there, it was.

00:43:09.340 It was.

00:43:09.740 Yeah, I started in 07.

00:43:11.060 I don't know when that took place, that merger.

00:43:13.960 I can look it up.

00:43:14.820 But yeah, ESPN was very cool when it first started.

00:43:17.120 Which was 79.

00:43:18.960 Yeah.

00:43:19.140 So that was way before me.

00:43:20.920 But think about the 1990s.

00:43:22.660 Ooh, yeah.

00:43:23.200 And that was must-see TV.

00:43:25.500 And that was before phones and everything.

00:43:27.220 So if you wanted to see how your team did, you had to either stay up late or wake up in the morning and see it.

00:43:33.380 And then it'd be on repeat.

00:43:34.920 So a lot of us would skip classes in college and we're like, oh my gosh, did the Celtics win?

00:43:41.560 I have to stay to see what happened.

00:43:43.020 Because we didn't have any other way of knowing if you missed it on TV or whatever.

00:43:47.540 So I was there at the beginning in 2007.

00:43:51.280 I feel like it's heyday.

00:43:53.320 Yeah.

00:43:53.600 Kind of on the tail end of where the greats were.

00:43:56.980 The Dan Patrick, the Stuart Scott, of course, who was one of my best friends who helped me so much.

00:44:03.900 Keith Olbermann, before he became a psycho a-hole.

00:44:07.460 He was great, yeah.

00:44:08.640 Yeah.

00:44:08.960 Yeah, he was good on there.

00:44:10.080 He was great at that.

00:44:10.940 He's brilliant.

00:44:11.560 He was a beautiful writer.

00:44:12.760 Yeah.

00:44:12.940 So I choose to remember him that way.

00:44:15.300 Not how he is now or how he has become the last 15 years.

00:44:18.220 But they were great and they made it.

00:44:20.740 Chris Berman, who's still there.

00:44:22.240 He was one of the originals from 1979.

00:44:24.080 Boomer, he's the best.

00:44:25.120 He is.

00:44:25.380 Boomer is still there.

00:44:26.600 So I got to watch them and learn from them.

00:44:29.740 Most were pretty nice.

00:44:31.240 Most were pretty cool.

00:44:33.540 But that first day that I was ever on SportsCenter, someone was sick.

00:44:38.660 Someone called in sick and they didn't have someone to fill in.

00:44:40.920 It was that type of thing.

00:44:41.580 I was going to get on it eventually within a month.

00:44:43.560 But that day I was not ready and it was a disaster.

00:44:46.460 I was terrible.

00:44:47.440 I was awful.

00:44:48.040 I can't even look at the tape.

00:44:49.300 But I remember 30 seconds before that red light on the camera went on and I could hardly

00:44:56.260 breathe.

00:44:56.800 And I literally went back to that 11-year-old girl on the couch with my dad with this crazy

00:45:04.960 dream in 1984, a dream that girls didn't have, especially girls who looked like me.

00:45:10.720 There were a couple of women nationally, but they didn't look, they were white.

00:45:14.940 And that was just a different time.

00:45:17.200 And I tried, I had to really keep it together that first day and for many years after that

00:45:22.860 and remembering how far I'd come and how many people, really, so many people helped me along

00:45:29.940 the way and gave me a shot even when I sucked.

00:45:31.740 And I sucked for a long time.

00:45:33.340 Like I was really bad.

00:45:34.620 Well, they saw something in you that you didn't.

00:45:36.340 They saw potential.

00:45:37.580 They didn't harness it yet, but they saw it was there.

00:45:40.000 And they kept, people didn't really work with you in TV.

00:45:44.100 I don't know.

00:45:44.680 They just were like, okay, let's give another chance.

00:45:46.940 They saw I worked hard and they saw that I knew my stuff.

00:45:50.480 Yeah.

00:45:50.900 It was just the delivery.

00:45:52.280 Yeah.

00:45:52.640 And slowing down and it's still a problem.

00:45:54.160 Whatever.

00:45:54.500 It's too late at this point.

00:45:55.520 Like I can't change it, right?

00:45:56.740 It is what it is.

00:45:57.380 And what do you think you brought to sports casting that nobody brought before you?

00:46:10.160 Oh, gosh.

00:46:10.460 With your unique, you know, who you are and how you see things?

00:46:15.840 Oh, that's, I've never been asked that question before.

00:46:20.260 I, others certainly had had these qualities before me, long before me, but what drove me

00:46:27.020 was my curiosity.

00:46:27.940 Um, and genuinely wanting to know, um, what these athletes were feeling at that moment,

00:46:37.500 right before kickoff on the free throw line and game seven of the NBA finals.

00:46:41.660 Like I wanted to know what was going through their minds because I, I've never been there

00:46:45.360 and I never will be there.

00:46:46.380 And that was my job was to get those feelings, those answers out of them.

00:46:50.080 So the audience, the millions of people at home could come into their world too.

00:46:55.160 That's why we love them because they're doing things that we're not capable of.

00:46:58.880 So when I asked questions and I always asked my own questions, people didn't write my scripts.

00:47:03.740 Like it was important.

00:47:04.900 Very few people have scripts written for them at ESPN.

00:47:08.000 Um, and so I, I really wanted to know the answer.

00:47:11.560 It wasn't like a fake thing.

00:47:14.360 So she's talking about ESPN.

00:47:15.900 And she needed a drink.

00:47:16.840 And you heard me.

00:47:18.060 I texted her.

00:47:18.780 You texted her and bring me alcohol?

00:47:20.200 Hannah, can you bring me cigarettes out of my room on my grocery machine?

00:47:22.320 Thanks, Hannah.

00:47:23.520 Hannah and your one-year-old, can you please get the cigarettes?

00:47:26.140 Thank you.

00:47:27.440 Um, I think you humanized.

00:47:29.240 It's champagne, I think.

00:47:30.060 It's champagne.

00:47:30.480 Yes, darling.

00:47:31.680 Roseanne Bar Podcast.

00:47:32.860 This is the official fuel.

00:47:33.780 I think you humanized the athletes.

00:47:36.100 Yeah.

00:47:36.480 And that hadn't been done.

00:47:37.660 And I think only a woman could do that.

00:47:39.980 Oh, I agree with you on the woman part.

00:47:41.820 And also the fact that you, uh, you know, have that.

00:47:46.120 Rich.

00:47:47.880 Uh.

00:47:50.860 How will I say this?

00:47:52.420 Well, you have that rich ethnic.

00:47:55.760 Upbringing.

00:47:57.740 Culture.

00:47:58.260 I mean, my look is different.

00:48:03.080 Right?

00:48:03.760 You have that tradition of just that great strength of humanity.

00:48:12.240 And you brought that also, uh, a kind of a lifting up and making human in, in a, a black

00:48:21.160 woman way.

00:48:21.940 I can't think of the right words.

00:48:23.360 No, thank you.

00:48:24.180 I'm not very verbose.

00:48:24.980 I get that.

00:48:25.280 But I, I, I was proud of you.

00:48:28.380 Oh.

00:48:29.180 And I was like, she humanizes the whole sport.

00:48:33.680 And, uh, and I think that that was a great thing to see a woman do, especially in such

00:48:40.860 a masculine thing, you know.

00:48:44.140 But I grew up with brothers.

00:48:45.700 Yeah.

00:48:45.920 And my, I was such a tomboy.

00:48:47.920 And I, I had more guy friends than girlfriends.

00:48:51.460 Mm-hmm.

00:48:51.780 Because guys are usually easier than girls, right?

00:48:53.740 Yeah.

00:48:54.120 I do too.

00:48:54.820 Yeah.

00:48:54.940 I can stand girls.

00:48:55.060 And just in the sports world, it was, it's always difficult.

00:48:57.000 Women are the worst.

00:48:58.200 Women suck.

00:48:59.160 They're horrible.

00:49:01.260 Kidding.

00:49:01.760 Kidding.

00:49:02.300 I'm not.

00:49:03.020 They're terrible.

00:49:03.620 But, um.

00:49:03.980 Some.

00:49:06.440 Thank you, darling.

00:49:07.380 We have so many hours of footage of Hannah Crawley with the baby.

00:49:09.920 Thank you.

00:49:10.660 Thank you, babe.

00:49:11.420 You know what I was going to say that I wonder what you think about this?

00:49:13.620 What?

00:49:14.140 Um, it's funny.

00:49:15.000 Through the years, I've had so many young women come to me and say, because I kept my

00:49:21.100 hair curly and didn't straighten it, um, that that was part of it.

00:49:27.340 I had so many bosses through the years who, um, asked me to straighten my hair.

00:49:32.500 Really?

00:49:33.100 Yeah.

00:49:33.440 And I was also told one time I didn't get a job, a really, really big job that I would

00:49:37.240 have died for.

00:49:39.080 The producer who's still around, still doing very big things.

00:49:43.460 Harvey Weinstein, is it?

00:49:47.440 No.

00:49:47.880 Sounds like old Harv.

00:49:48.960 No.

00:49:49.700 Right?

00:49:50.560 Actually, it's a great point.

00:49:51.720 Oh, I wish I could say his name.

00:49:53.140 The book's going to be really good if I, right, Dave, if I ever freaking finish it.

00:49:56.720 Anyway, um.

00:49:57.740 I'll figure it out.

00:49:58.420 The producer, I'll tell you later, this producer told my agent, she's great, we love her, for

00:50:03.760 a sideline reporting job.

00:50:05.720 Oh, God.

00:50:06.180 The biggest one.

00:50:07.440 Okay.

00:50:07.620 And, and said, but her hair.

00:50:11.180 And I thought.

00:50:11.300 Was he white?

00:50:12.300 Yeah.

00:50:13.320 And I thought, my hair.

00:50:14.480 Sometimes it's black people that say that about black people.

00:50:16.940 Well, now black people.

00:50:17.820 Oh, that's a whole part of my story.

00:50:19.920 Oh, my gosh.

00:50:20.420 Did they give the job to someone else with straight hair?

00:50:22.940 Yeah, of course.

00:50:23.780 Oh, crap.

00:50:25.040 Yeah, of course.

00:50:25.480 Black woman or?

00:50:26.360 What?

00:50:26.720 Was it a black woman?

00:50:27.740 Yeah.

00:50:27.960 Straight hair.

00:50:28.480 No, a white woman.

00:50:30.040 This is in 2000.

00:50:31.940 You'll tell me.

00:50:32.460 Two or three.

00:50:33.340 Okay.

00:50:33.860 Anyway, I was, he said, but her hair.

00:50:36.240 And I'm like.

00:50:36.940 Her hair's cute.

00:50:37.420 My hair.

00:50:38.240 Yeah.

00:50:38.380 But I, at that point, I was like, oh, I'll straighten it.

00:50:40.220 I'll do, I'll do whatever.

00:50:41.520 Yeah.

00:50:41.620 Yeah.

00:50:41.680 Because this is the, the pinnacle job at that point in my career.

00:50:44.440 Yeah.

00:50:44.540 And probably in anyone's career who was doing what I was doing at the time.

00:50:48.340 And I thought, okay, can you imagine someone saying that now to an agent?

00:50:53.500 I mean, maybe they would, but they certainly wouldn't say it publicly, have the balls

00:50:56.560 to say it publicly.

00:50:57.720 So, at the end of the day, I was.

00:50:59.280 Because nowadays, think about it, what they'd say about black hair.

00:51:03.240 Well, now.

00:51:03.860 Black people would say about black hair.

00:51:06.200 What do you mean?

00:51:06.980 I mean, everything's so fucked up.

00:51:09.860 You know, you know, culture is just fucking crazy.

00:51:14.620 Yeah.

00:51:15.080 And now, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they, well, I won't say.

00:51:18.940 No, no, no.

00:51:19.340 Go.

00:51:19.520 I'll get in trouble.

00:51:20.140 No, go.

00:51:20.720 I'll go with you.

00:51:21.800 You can do it.

00:51:22.240 I won't put it in.

00:51:23.020 People, you know, that are in the power structure, you know, they just want to go with what's

00:51:30.640 popular.

00:51:31.980 They don't really, I don't think they, in Hollywood, they don't feel any pride in their

00:51:38.360 ethnicity or their people or nothing.

00:51:41.940 And they, it's just about the dollar.

00:51:44.000 Yeah.

00:51:44.520 So, they probably go, oh, she needs to be in a blonde wig.

00:51:47.960 Yeah.

00:51:49.300 I know who you're talking about.

00:51:51.080 Yeah.

00:51:51.540 Yeah.

00:51:52.140 It's interesting.

00:51:52.600 You know what I mean?

00:51:53.720 I do.

00:51:54.480 And I don't know that world as much, but it's interesting.

00:51:57.700 You should hear what they tell Jews.

00:51:59.320 Well, let me tell you this.

00:52:00.120 She, she does this every week.

00:52:01.300 She talks about how each culture, in order to gain power, especially in Hollywood, black,

00:52:05.500 Jew, woman, whatever, you kind of have to sell it your own people.

00:52:08.280 That's the sacrifice.

00:52:09.260 That's how it works here.

00:52:10.720 That's what she's.

00:52:11.220 Yeah.

00:52:11.980 No, for sure.

00:52:12.800 For sure.

00:52:13.620 You got to.

00:52:14.300 Every group does this.

00:52:15.220 You have to buy the narrative, which is.

00:52:18.620 You have to show your masters that you're one of them.

00:52:23.340 Yes.

00:52:23.660 And not one of who you really are.

00:52:24.980 Oh, well, and in the black community, oh, oh, the hate is real.

00:52:30.240 No, I know.

00:52:30.840 On me and has been for years and years.

00:52:32.920 No, I know.

00:52:33.200 And by the way, I'm one of many.

00:52:34.640 This is not, oh, woe is sage.

00:52:36.120 No, I know.

00:52:36.500 I honestly am totally fine with it.

00:52:38.620 And it's almost expected at this point.

00:52:42.840 I mean, just from a visual perspective, when you look at TV now, I mean, about the hair

00:52:47.500 thing, part of it was true and that you never, if you watch local TV, if you're watching

00:52:54.100 in Dallas, Texas or New York City, there was never a single female anchor who had curly

00:52:59.540 hair.

00:53:00.440 Even if they had curly hair, that shit was straightened, right?

00:53:03.440 And so it wasn't, I was unique in that way at that time, but it was only because I didn't

00:53:09.020 know how to straighten it.

00:53:09.880 Like, this would have taken me hours.

00:53:11.740 And I was having babies.

00:53:12.760 I was, it was a different, I didn't have time or money to straighten it.

00:53:16.160 It was like, this is what it is.

00:53:17.780 I had straightened it one time at ESPN and I had three bosses come up to me and they're

00:53:20.940 like, can you do that every day?

00:53:22.800 I'm like, no, I mean, are you going to pay for it?

00:53:24.940 Because I can't do this.

00:53:26.520 And so you go back to what God gave you, frankly, it's the decision I made.

00:53:30.920 I'm like, no, this is how God made me.

00:53:32.340 And it is what it is.

00:53:33.720 Now you look at TV and watch ESPN, watch any news or sports network.

00:53:40.900 And people are much more themselves with all kinds of hair, right?

00:53:45.060 Wait, wait, there's a girl on ESPN who shaves her head bald on purpose.

00:53:48.080 No, I like that though.

00:53:49.440 I like that.

00:53:49.880 Go do you.

00:53:50.760 Yeah.

00:53:51.260 So I feel like that.

00:53:52.500 I mean, it's awesome to have seen how the evolution of it.

00:53:55.240 Yeah.

00:53:56.020 But I don't know.

00:53:57.300 I'd like to think that I was kept around because I, I did a good job and was a good

00:54:02.140 teammate and wasn't there to fill some quota.

00:54:05.900 And I, I know that for sure.

00:54:09.040 But the industry has certainly changed.

00:54:11.020 But they always throw a few things at you anyway, even if you're great.

00:54:15.140 Oh, for sure.

00:54:15.880 They always try to belittle you every way they can.

00:54:19.040 And if you're a woman, I don't know that they do that to men.

00:54:23.100 It seems that they always try to build them up.

00:54:26.040 And I was always, I read about it.

00:54:28.580 They, they seem to always want to build men up as if they understand that men need that.

00:54:34.320 But with women, it's like she needs to be knocked down a few notches, right?

00:54:39.580 Oh, for sure.

00:54:40.340 I think so.

00:54:41.280 And I mean, just watching on TV, I just at my old network, men could get old and fat

00:54:50.440 and bald and all of it.

00:54:51.980 And it didn't matter.

00:54:52.640 It was fine.

00:54:53.200 I mean, their shirts aren't wrinkled.

00:54:55.240 They could look a hot mess.

00:54:56.620 Some of them still do.

00:54:57.860 Yeah, they do.

00:54:58.400 But for us, are you kidding me?

00:54:59.440 And it's crazy because as the show evolved through the years, SportsCenter wasn't just

00:55:03.460 done behind a desk.

00:55:05.300 It is, you are walking and talking.

00:55:07.580 You're doing highlights and four inch heels running to the other side of the set.

00:55:11.720 And top to bottom, it mattered.

00:55:13.860 So not many at the time, heavy women in that role on national TV, you could be old and fat

00:55:22.320 and ugly as a guy, but not as a woman.

00:55:24.320 And that is not immune to just my industry, my goodness.

00:55:27.560 But obviously for a visual medium, and that's what you see, the standard, there was certainly

00:55:33.260 a double standard.

00:55:34.340 I am, you know, I have two daughters and I admit now, I think I see now more how I probably

00:55:46.080 fell into some traps with that, with trying to make sure I looked the part.

00:55:50.980 Um, it's good.

00:55:53.760 I exercised my whole life and stayed healthy for them.

00:55:58.360 But what I did realize, and I'd love to know your perspective on this, when you are on air,

00:56:05.140 on stages, um, performing, acting, hosting, I mean, you're in front of a mirror before

00:56:11.380 you go on every single time.

00:56:13.440 And it's really hard to age in front of a mirror every day with the world looking at

00:56:19.920 you.

00:56:20.540 And I didn't realize how much it got into my head until more recently, where then you

00:56:25.360 get older and your body changes as women and your hormones change and everything, and you

00:56:30.520 have no control all of a sudden.

00:56:31.720 I'm like, what the hell is going on?

00:56:33.420 This is different.

00:56:34.200 Um, it's tough and it's not a forgiving world.

00:56:39.120 Now, in some ways, I guess you could say it is because now there's all the sensitivity

00:56:43.160 to that and you have big, huge, out of shape girls in bikinis and that's who's doing the

00:56:49.240 ads for all the sports.

00:56:50.200 God, that pisses me off.

00:56:51.000 To see Gross Ann on Mad Magazine.

00:56:52.800 Gross Ann.

00:56:53.560 Eating the whole sandwich on the...

00:56:55.220 Yeah.

00:56:55.820 I eat a whole cow in the Mad Magazine.

00:56:57.020 I don't know if you know this, my mother wasn't a beauty pageant winner, wasn't she?

00:57:00.980 Yeah, I, I, it wasn't hard for me to age because I was always a big, fat slob.

00:57:07.400 So it wasn't, you know, I think I got better looking as I aged.

00:57:10.480 Everyone agrees and I agree.

00:57:12.020 But I, I never, I mean, I always knew I was out of the running anyway.

00:57:16.580 Yeah.

00:57:17.260 But I, I, I knew I was breaking boundaries.

00:57:23.500 I was going to say, you were iconic in that way because really, who else came before you

00:57:28.800 who was the first mainstream person, much less superstar, to be wholly who you are.

00:57:37.640 Normal.

00:57:38.000 Who you are.

00:57:38.520 Representative of America.

00:57:39.880 Yeah.

00:57:40.620 I don't know.

00:57:41.340 Well.

00:57:41.540 That's a good question.

00:57:42.180 You know.

00:57:42.980 I mean, Lucy, she was kind of a model, wasn't she?

00:57:45.600 Yeah.

00:57:46.140 But, uh, yeah, I think I busted the model.

00:57:49.640 Yeah.

00:57:49.940 But, uh.

00:57:50.440 You broke the mold literally and figured it out.

00:57:51.820 Yeah.

00:57:52.400 Uh-huh.

00:57:52.880 No, but I, but thank goodness, honestly, because in Hollywood in particular, my world

00:57:58.200 is a lot smaller than, than yours was, you know?

00:58:00.920 Yeah.

00:58:01.180 And there was no one else like you to do that and to own it.

00:58:05.840 Yeah.

00:58:06.040 And that's, I mean, that's one of many reasons why you did, that show did so well from its

00:58:11.440 inception is because you represented normal people.

00:58:15.080 Normal people.

00:58:16.040 Yeah.

00:58:16.260 I looked like everyone else, uh, in the heartland.

00:58:20.600 Yeah.

00:58:20.740 And, uh, so I think that's why people believed the family because they looked like everybody.

00:58:27.580 But, uh.

00:58:27.880 And then, and then had issues like everybody.

00:58:30.080 Yeah.

00:58:30.200 And you put it out there in the best possible way.

00:58:32.740 Yeah.

00:58:32.840 But you know what's funny is after the success of Roseanne, then it became okay for normal

00:58:36.880 looking Americans on TV.

00:58:38.240 But if you think about it, it was a big fat dad, but the wife was still hot.

00:58:42.300 I just realized that now.

00:58:43.480 Like Kevin James and Leah Remini, they still never adjusted after you.

00:58:47.460 They went, they started to try and sleep back into that bullshit.

00:58:50.000 No, they don't do fat chicks.

00:58:50.440 They don't.

00:58:50.880 It's kind of gross.

00:58:51.640 No fat chicks.

00:58:52.480 That's why I was so irate over, uh, well, I mean, I did so much stuff for fat women, but,

00:59:00.840 uh.

00:59:02.740 I know where you're going.

00:59:03.740 Our first viral clip on this podcast.

00:59:05.620 What?

00:59:06.040 About Big Fat Lizzo?

00:59:07.480 Yeah.

00:59:08.620 Oh, gosh.

00:59:09.400 Because, uh, you know, I got mad because all these fat women that broke into things,

00:59:15.300 and it's because of me.

00:59:16.480 Yeah.

00:59:17.220 And not one of them goes, we'd like to thank Big Fat Roseanne for breaking the boundaries

00:59:21.860 for our big fat ass.

00:59:23.760 But they pretend like they did it, and it really makes me mad.

00:59:27.360 But, um, that's another thing of being a woman that's very successful and breaks a lot of

00:59:33.980 boundaries for women, and I didn't know it until I got fired, but women hate you for

00:59:41.020 it.

00:59:41.320 Oh, my gosh.

00:59:42.120 Women hate you for breaking down boundaries for women, and I didn't know that.

00:59:48.060 I thought they would be proud and happy that doors were opened and stereotypes smashed,

00:59:54.400 but, no, they want to be, they want to be the only woman.

01:00:01.060 They don't want to thank women who came before or even acknowledge them.

01:00:06.460 They want to erase them.

01:00:08.260 And, uh, so I was going to ask you, I really want to get into this part.

01:00:14.260 What took you down at ESPN?

01:00:17.240 Yeah.

01:00:17.700 I want to hear it.

01:00:19.080 First of all, I want to say you are so right with women, and that's been one of the most

01:00:24.020 disappointing things throughout my journey, because women are the ones that preach about,

01:00:32.040 we are women, hear us roar in the glass ceiling, da-da-da.

01:00:36.220 Where's the ladder?

01:00:37.440 You're not pulling people up with you, but you're going to crush men along the way and

01:00:40.560 tell men to be better.

01:00:41.360 So I have always been, um, more so lately, I'd say, open and constructively critical,

01:00:50.800 I hope, um, when, in that, with that situation and that topic, because it's so hypocritical

01:00:58.300 when we criticize men, but then we don't even take care of each other and then are ugly to

01:01:02.500 each other.

01:01:03.120 So, um.

01:01:04.220 So ugly.

01:01:05.060 Yeah.

01:01:05.500 It's not okay.

01:01:06.100 And I tell that to my daughters, no mean girls, no mean girl shit.

01:01:10.280 Like, absolutely not.

01:01:12.220 And, um, you know, they catch themselves and they've got beautiful hearts and I will remind

01:01:18.460 them.

01:01:19.300 Um, but I always tell them, and of course my daughters are 23 and 19 and I have a son in

01:01:24.800 the middle who's 21, who's in between the two psycho daughters, as I say, because they

01:01:28.780 are nuts, because girls are nuts.

01:01:30.520 But I try to remind them, like, that boy needs to come second to your friends right now, especially

01:01:36.640 when you're teenagers and when you're young.

01:01:38.200 You know, you take care of each other and you, and so if we as mothers instill that in

01:01:43.300 our daughters from a young age, I hope and pray that then when they're going off in their

01:01:48.360 careers, they remember that and they're better than what we saw and experienced.

01:01:54.400 Um, there's room for, I say this at ESPN, especially with some of these women, I'm like,

01:01:57.420 what the heck was that?

01:01:58.920 Like, why?

01:01:59.840 We're all here.

01:02:00.620 We all have signed a contract and are making good money.

01:02:02.860 There is room for all of us.

01:02:04.740 Why are we being more divisive?

01:02:07.680 And we got a column on it.

01:02:09.380 And now it's so nice.

01:02:10.720 I don't have to care because I'm not there anymore and I can say what I want.

01:02:13.600 Yeah.

01:02:13.840 What blew me up?

01:02:14.760 What, what, what ended it?

01:02:16.320 Yeah.

01:02:16.820 Um, uh, me opening my big mouth.

01:02:20.180 I finally got my Roseanne bar on and I just said what I wanted to say.

01:02:24.080 What did you say?

01:02:24.840 I was on a podcast with former Bears quarterback, Jay Cutler.

01:02:28.260 I mean, he's been retired for many years.

01:02:30.040 Uh, it was a new podcast for him and he, his publicist said, Hey, he has not had a woman

01:02:35.220 on yet.

01:02:35.580 Would you like to come on?

01:02:36.340 I was like, sure, I'll talk.

01:02:37.740 Um, and he asked me a couple of questions, mainly, um, about the bandaid on my arm because

01:02:46.220 I had literally just come from getting the COVID vaccine.

01:02:51.440 Um, and I got it because I was told by Disney and ESPN that if I didn't get a shot and was

01:02:58.140 fully vaccinated by September 30th, 2021, that I'd be fired and fascism a hundred percent.

01:03:07.220 And I fought it for the months leading up to it.

01:03:09.440 I talked to my agent, like, how can I get out of this?

01:03:11.300 And no, do a religious exemption.

01:03:12.600 No, do a medical exemption.

01:03:13.400 I'm like, okay, but that's not what this is.

01:03:15.680 I don't want to lie.

01:03:16.820 Like, I want to be honest.

01:03:17.980 I think this is wrong.

01:03:19.460 And to force anybody to do this, it's great.

01:03:22.180 It's experimental.

01:03:22.980 Just give us time for more research to have taken place.

01:03:27.020 It was a quick Google search.

01:03:29.020 I'm no scientist, but I could see easily on average, it takes six to nine years for the

01:03:34.680 FDA to approve a vaccine.

01:03:36.040 That's right.

01:03:36.340 And I'm like, this is happening in a couple of months.

01:03:38.220 Realized how political it was.

01:03:40.080 You know, Trump was in office and it was evil.

01:03:42.420 Biden's in office and it's required and it's good.

01:03:44.400 And if you don't get it, then you're evil.

01:03:45.700 So, once you started to pay attention a little, you could tell, right?

01:03:49.620 But I had this incredible job that I'd worked my whole life to get to that level at ESPN.

01:03:56.580 I had three kids.

01:03:58.380 I was very recently divorced and 100% responsible financially for everyone in my family.

01:04:04.620 So, I had to make that decision.

01:04:08.540 And to this day, Roseanne, honestly, I get, I'm still trying to forgive myself for caving

01:04:17.720 in and getting the shot.

01:04:19.960 Well, you had to.

01:04:20.720 You had children and you should forgive yourself immediately.

01:04:23.560 And I know that we talked at the bar.

01:04:25.300 Yeah, you had to.

01:04:25.800 I did have to.

01:04:26.940 You didn't have to.

01:04:27.360 I might have cried at the bar when I told the story.

01:04:29.100 Yes.

01:04:29.560 You did.

01:04:29.920 Because it was even more wrong.

01:04:31.300 But I, I didn't want to, I was so afraid of getting caught because everybody was getting

01:04:35.400 fake cards too.

01:04:36.600 Yeah.

01:04:36.920 I thought about that long and hard because I was so afraid of getting it in my body.

01:04:42.320 Yeah.

01:04:42.640 But I thought since they knew I was against it, that they might go double, triple check.

01:04:48.100 And then if I got busted, I'd, it'd be headline, Sage Steele, fake vax card, who knows what

01:04:53.700 they do to you?

01:04:54.520 This is 2021.

01:04:55.580 Yeah.

01:04:56.040 Everyone was crazy.

01:04:57.260 And so I went to the pharmacy that day that I was scheduled to be on Jay's podcast.

01:05:02.320 It was the last possible day I could get the shot to be fully vaxed.

01:05:05.860 And I sat in my car and I cried before I went in there.

01:05:09.480 And I was like, and I prayed all night, the night before.

01:05:12.160 And that day, like, if you want me to walk away from this job, God, please give me a sign

01:05:17.920 or a sign that I'm going to be okay if I get this stupid thing.

01:05:22.540 So long story short, I went in the pharmacy and the sweet woman who was administering it

01:05:28.180 looked at me and she saw my red eyes and she said, are you okay?

01:05:32.000 And I was like, no, I'm being forced to get this shot to keep my job and I don't want

01:05:37.020 to do it.

01:05:37.680 And she looked at me and she said, this is so wrong.

01:05:41.780 And I am so sorry.

01:05:43.540 And she held my hand and squeezed it.

01:05:45.800 And then she put it in my arm.

01:05:48.560 I've never been the same since here, here mentally.

01:05:52.100 Something changed in me that day.

01:05:54.380 Like an anger, I think.

01:05:56.280 I don't, I'm not an angry person, but for that situation, I was angry that they.

01:06:02.720 Because you knew it was unjust.

01:06:04.140 I knew it.

01:06:04.760 And that my body, my choice people, like I was livid, but I did what I had to do at

01:06:09.440 that moment.

01:06:09.860 And it would, I would do it differently today, but that's okay.

01:06:12.700 It led to today and I wouldn't change a thing, but I got back in that car, cried the whole

01:06:17.980 way home, went, oh my God, I have this podcast, flipped up the lid on my laptop and did the

01:06:22.980 FaceTime, Zoom, whatever it was, and started talking.

01:06:25.460 And I forgot that I had that Band-Aid on my shoulder because it had just happened.

01:06:29.040 And when Jay asked me, and he asked me before, he's like, can we talk about the COVID stuff?

01:06:32.480 I was like, sure, I don't care.

01:06:33.400 Go for it.

01:06:33.840 And then when he asked me an hour later, I was like, what's the Band-Aid?

01:06:37.580 And it all was running through my head.

01:06:39.200 And I just said, well, I think it's sick and scary for any employer to force their employee

01:06:46.560 to do anything to their body.

01:06:49.040 But I work for a global company, Disney, and I guess I'm not surprised.

01:06:54.920 And I love my job and I need my job.

01:06:57.660 But I think it's sick and I think it's scary.

01:06:59.620 And I took it.

01:07:00.660 And that's what I said.

01:07:02.020 And that was it.

01:07:02.620 So what happened?

01:07:03.700 How long later?

01:07:05.500 The podcast came out two weeks later and within a couple of hours, my agent called and he's

01:07:11.780 like, so, and I'd actually, I thought they were, I thought I might get in trouble for

01:07:15.840 something else, which I, it was the first time I talked about my divorce and I, it was

01:07:19.640 very, it was like a five second thing, but I thought they'd be like, you know, why'd you

01:07:23.940 talk about your personal life?

01:07:25.580 And I really didn't, but it was more the part of having to bear the burden financially.

01:07:31.480 For the ex-husband, for the kids.

01:07:33.020 And I was like stressing about that, you know?

01:07:37.220 And my agent was like, this is not going over well.

01:07:40.020 You're going to get a call from the number two in command, Norby Williamson.

01:07:44.500 And I was very close to him at the time.

01:07:46.360 And I'm not now.

01:07:47.660 And he has since been let go from the company after 38 years or something, 39 years.

01:07:52.760 And he called and he said, you whacked the company, you whacked Disney, and you can't

01:07:56.620 do that.

01:07:56.960 And I said, what do you mean I whacked them?

01:07:59.120 First of all, I complied.

01:08:00.600 I took your shot.

01:08:01.840 I can have an opinion.

01:08:03.440 And he said, it wasn't going over well in Burbank headquarters, Disney headquarters.

01:08:08.180 And the other thing I said that ticked them off was about Obama.

01:08:12.540 That's what I remembered.

01:08:13.680 I didn't know it was the COVID shot.

01:08:14.960 I thought it was the Obama thing.

01:08:16.240 What was the Obama thing?

01:08:17.320 The Obama thing was, Jay asked me why it was important for me to say that I'm biracial,

01:08:23.680 not black.

01:08:24.820 If someone says black, of course, yes.

01:08:28.420 If I'm asked, then I am a biracial woman.

01:08:33.120 I'm so proud to be white and black.

01:08:36.680 And I was on The View in 2014, and I was asked the same question.

01:08:42.300 And what I did in 2021 with Jay Cutler was I repeated the same story I said in 2014 to

01:08:46.480 Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg and Sherry Shepard and Jenny McCarthy.

01:08:51.320 And it just hit a little different seven years later.

01:08:54.640 What did you say?

01:08:54.860 What I said was Barbara was upset that I wasn't saying I'm black.

01:08:59.500 Obama was president at the time.

01:09:00.860 And I said, and she goes, well, what happens when you fill out a census?

01:09:05.180 And I was like, well, I haven't filled out a census in a long time.

01:09:07.740 I don't know.

01:09:08.480 She goes, but what would you check?

01:09:09.620 And I would say, I'd check black and white.

01:09:11.440 I'm 50% each.

01:09:12.840 And she goes, well, our president does black.

01:09:15.380 Check's just black.

01:09:16.320 And I said, well, congratulations to the president.

01:09:20.260 I said, but I'm pretty sure my white mom was there the day I was born.

01:09:27.600 And she did not laugh.

01:09:29.480 I thought it was funny.

01:09:30.340 That's such a good line.

01:09:31.040 As I said that, the monitor behind us put up a picture of my family with my white mom

01:09:36.560 and black dad and two biracial siblings.

01:09:40.100 But the thing that got me in trouble there was I said, I just think it's fascinating because

01:09:44.280 Barack Obama was raised by his white mom and his white grandmother and his black dad was

01:09:49.720 not around.

01:09:50.940 Yeah.

01:09:51.560 But you do you.

01:09:52.760 That's fine.

01:09:54.380 I'll do me.

01:09:55.240 And I choose to, I don't know.

01:09:59.660 Honor.

01:10:00.560 Honor.

01:10:01.160 Yeah.

01:10:01.840 All of me.

01:10:02.620 Not just half of me.

01:10:04.320 Yeah.

01:10:04.500 And I'm so proud.

01:10:05.260 And I was sensitive to it because I had seen through the years where it was all about my

01:10:08.900 dad and the famous, you know, the football player from college and the colonel.

01:10:12.320 And I'm like, what my little white mom, you know, is the most beautiful soul and the glue

01:10:18.000 that kept us together with all the moving.

01:10:20.480 And isn't it, aren't we celebrating all of us?

01:10:22.580 Yeah, right.

01:10:23.420 That's diversity.

01:10:24.260 And I feel like my family represents diversity in so many beautiful ways.

01:10:27.940 So in 2014, it was fine.

01:10:29.220 In 2021, it was not.

01:10:30.460 When I relayed that story from seven years prior.

01:10:33.600 And so then I was racist and anti-Obama and I hate my black self.

01:10:39.240 And so I got, that's when I got suspended for like 12 days, paid suspension.

01:10:44.700 They didn't want to call it a suspension because I got paid, but I'm like, it's just like in

01:10:48.440 baseball or something.

01:10:49.480 It's a paid suspension.

01:10:50.780 Took me off the air.

01:10:51.840 Had to publicly apologize for talking about those issues.

01:10:56.800 But it was interesting.

01:10:57.760 And you'll like this.

01:10:58.620 In the statement that had to go through Disney approval.

01:11:01.560 Yeah.

01:11:01.980 I wasn't allowed to say the word Disney.

01:11:04.860 I had to say the, I had to say the company, but not Disney.

01:11:09.460 Oh my God.

01:11:09.860 They wouldn't let that word in there.

01:11:11.220 I thought that was fascinating.

01:11:12.380 That is fascinating.

01:11:13.300 Yeah.

01:11:13.500 Um, so they want to separate from you, but they're going to make sure you're crushed

01:11:18.500 along the way.

01:11:19.240 Yeah.

01:11:19.720 Absolutely.

01:11:20.860 So that's, that's how it began.

01:11:22.220 And I was sidelined and then they, um, you know, the apology, but I didn't file the

01:11:27.700 lawsuit until six months later.

01:11:30.240 And the only reason I filed the lawsuit, I mean, I apologize.

01:11:33.660 They told me that I was going to go back to work, act like nothing happened.

01:11:36.700 The problem is they kept taking assignments away from me after that.

01:11:39.600 So the Rose parade, Pasadena that I did every year, the last few years prior, um, New York

01:11:45.780 city marathon, the events were disappearing and they weren't promoting the stories I was

01:11:50.640 doing, um, on a, uh, another streaming show that I had begun on the network.

01:11:55.240 All of a sudden they stopped promoting everything and they wouldn't talk to me.

01:11:58.060 And I'm like, what is going on?

01:11:59.220 And then when my coworkers went on the air and talked about abortion on an NBA show,

01:12:08.620 Roe versus Wade being overturned or the don't say gay bill in Florida on a college basketball

01:12:13.980 show.

01:12:14.320 Remember the moment of silence?

01:12:16.380 Yes.

01:12:16.800 So I'm like, wait, so you can have people who agree with you go on sports platforms and

01:12:22.940 talk about things that have nothing to do with sports.

01:12:24.380 And I was on a day off talking about my own experience and then I was suspended.

01:12:28.680 So when there's that hypocrisy and it's been happening for years, that's when, um, my friend

01:12:34.620 Chris Harrison from the bachelor called and said, you need to talk to my guy, Brian Friedman.

01:12:39.440 Yeah.

01:12:39.560 He got a raw deal, man.

01:12:41.020 No, same thing.

01:12:41.520 I just had him on my show the other day too.

01:12:43.500 Um, and exact same thing.

01:12:46.320 Yeah.

01:12:46.920 And that's when I realized, and when I talked to my attorney, well, I hadn't even hired him

01:12:50.960 yet.

01:12:51.120 When I told him the whole story, sobbing, because I'm like, first of all, you realize

01:12:56.400 you're hated by many, not all, but that's what the social media and internet tells you.

01:13:01.900 Yeah.

01:13:02.100 And he said to me, he went through all of it.

01:13:04.120 He bought with Disney before he got Megyn Kelly, everything she deserved from NBC after they

01:13:10.280 canceled her and he said, you have a decision to make.

01:13:15.280 Is this the time that you stand up for yourself and you say enough is enough because I know

01:13:20.280 you've experienced this for years or do you sit back and stay quiet?

01:13:24.740 Because this is a major undertaking, Disney, right?

01:13:28.700 Right.

01:13:29.180 And I, it's just me and I'm single and I have these three kids, one in college, two in high

01:13:34.720 school alone.

01:13:36.200 And I'm like, oh my God, I can't do this.

01:13:39.300 Yeah.

01:13:39.700 And I was a pleaser.

01:13:40.860 I was just that goody two shoes for all those years.

01:13:43.660 And I prayed about it and I talked to my parents about it.

01:13:46.320 And of course they were scared too because they just saw their daughter getting crushed.

01:13:49.960 And I said, let's go.

01:13:53.040 Good.

01:13:53.460 And I did it.

01:13:54.620 And you won.

01:13:56.620 I think settling out of court with Disney is a victory.

01:13:59.180 I do too.

01:13:59.600 It is, definitely.

01:14:00.400 I do too.

01:14:01.180 I look forward to settling out of court with Disney with my lawsuit.

01:14:05.120 When is this happening?

01:14:06.480 Now.

01:14:06.760 We can't, we're not allowed to talk about it, but I will say we can't talk about it.

01:14:10.300 Okay.

01:14:11.000 We can, we can mention this, that you are pursuing what's rightfully yours.

01:14:19.440 Yeah.

01:14:20.300 Legally.

01:14:20.940 Yeah.

01:14:21.540 They, uh.

01:14:22.100 But did you get the letter from Disney?

01:14:23.880 What?

01:14:24.900 The scorched earth letter, like we're going to destroy you and ruin your life and kill

01:14:28.640 your firstborn.

01:14:29.240 I did not get what you got.

01:14:29.540 We got that.

01:14:31.040 We've gotten that.

01:14:32.700 Goodness gracious.

01:14:33.660 It's terrifying.

01:14:34.720 I read it.

01:14:35.260 It's terrifying.

01:14:36.320 I went, oh, well, they already tried to kill me.

01:14:39.440 Yeah.

01:14:39.660 I walked to mom and I was like, what do you think?

01:14:41.720 And she's like, nah, fucking I'm too old to be a, I'm, I'm too old not to fight.

01:14:45.280 That's what you said to me.

01:14:46.060 Oh.

01:14:46.520 Yeah.

01:14:46.760 And I am.

01:14:47.400 That was the most badass thing.

01:14:47.980 That is so bad.

01:14:49.180 How many people would have said, I'm too old to fight?

01:14:51.800 Yeah.

01:14:52.280 And you said, I'm too old not to fight.

01:14:53.860 Yeah.

01:14:54.120 Hell yeah.

01:14:54.800 I've already, what are they going to take?

01:14:55.720 After all the shit I've lived through.

01:14:57.840 That is awesome.

01:14:59.400 Yeah.

01:14:59.740 I was scared.

01:15:00.560 I was like, I don't know, mom.

01:15:02.240 She's like, fuck it.

01:15:03.380 Let's do it.

01:15:04.080 Let's go.

01:15:04.980 There's right and there's wrong.

01:15:06.220 Absolutely.

01:15:06.540 And I think that, gosh, I think I would have regretted it if I had stayed quiet, even though

01:15:12.260 it would have been easier and cheaper and a lot of things, right?

01:15:16.560 Just to stay quiet.

01:15:18.160 Yeah.

01:15:18.360 But the fact that you're choosing not to.

01:15:21.540 I went to every lawyer in LA because I always wanted to fight because I knew what they did.

01:15:27.960 After they got, they told me it was only going to be one season because we were renewed and

01:15:33.940 that I had to pay for that season if I didn't sign my rights away.

01:15:39.180 And I said, well, what if you get more than one season?

01:15:42.140 They said, that'll never happen.

01:15:43.600 And they did six seasons.

01:15:45.580 I think they did seven.

01:15:47.220 Seven or whatever.

01:15:49.540 And they swore.

01:15:51.920 Well, if we, I said, well, what if you do get another season?

01:15:55.360 Oh, well, then we'll renegotiate.

01:15:57.540 And then they said, we never said that.

01:16:00.220 So I went to every lawyer in LA and they all said, well, we previously represented Disney,

01:16:07.300 so we can't represent you.

01:16:08.820 So many.

01:16:09.520 So many.

01:16:10.280 There was not one lawyer in LA.

01:16:13.020 Oh, or New York or Chicago.

01:16:16.220 And so I flew to Israel to find a lawyer and he said, yeah, you've got a case.

01:16:22.520 And I was so thankful and happy.

01:16:24.700 And then three days later, he called and said, I'm going to work for the Trump administration,

01:16:29.220 so I can't represent you.

01:16:31.620 And I never gave up looking.

01:16:33.940 It's been very difficult until I finally found some great Hispanic lawyers from Trump.

01:16:43.320 And I say Hispanic because.

01:16:47.420 They're the most fierce Americans right now.

01:16:52.040 They are fierce.

01:16:53.800 God bless them.

01:16:54.940 And.

01:16:55.920 Because a lot of them came from communist countries.

01:16:58.660 Yeah.

01:16:59.100 And they don't want to see that.

01:16:59.800 And they hate communism.

01:17:02.320 Mm-hmm.

01:17:03.100 And that's what I needed.

01:17:04.760 And so we'll see.

01:17:06.620 Is there not a statute of limitations?

01:17:09.040 There is.

01:17:10.000 There is.

01:17:10.740 Okay.

01:17:11.320 But we.

01:17:12.680 We.

01:17:14.400 Okay.

01:17:14.920 We're shooting our shot.

01:17:16.000 You're on it.

01:17:16.500 You have to.

01:17:16.900 Who knows?

01:17:17.420 But I firmly believe this is so important and so well-deserved for you to fight back,

01:17:25.520 I mean, to the nth degree.

01:17:27.340 And it's so much bigger than us.

01:17:29.620 Gina Carano.

01:17:30.520 Yeah.

01:17:30.900 Doing the exact same thing and battling with Disney.

01:17:33.100 I'm like, gosh, I wish Elon Musk had helped me with my last suit.

01:17:35.400 I know.

01:17:35.840 I do.

01:17:36.340 I would have helped financially.

01:17:37.360 I asked him to do baby.

01:17:38.080 Gina in the thread said, hello.

01:17:40.040 He's like, anyone else been fired?

01:17:41.440 And she's like, he never responded.

01:17:43.300 Interesting.

01:17:44.000 Very interesting.

01:17:44.920 Very interesting.

01:17:45.740 Yeah.

01:17:46.260 He never responds.

01:17:47.360 He's got his own.

01:17:48.220 But that's a whole other.

01:17:49.220 Yeah.

01:17:49.680 But I mean, when you're called a racist, people.

01:17:54.740 When you're a civil rights activist for 30 years.

01:17:57.840 Yeah.

01:17:58.020 For 30 years.

01:17:58.840 And then you're called a racist because.

01:18:00.380 A little weird.

01:18:00.760 They have no geopolitical intelligence about Iran, especially then.

01:18:07.480 But now it's starting to come out what the Obama administration did with their Iran deal

01:18:13.480 in Iran against women's rights.

01:18:17.360 And that's what I was tweeting about.

01:18:18.940 But anyway.

01:18:22.940 Yeah.

01:18:24.120 When you're called a racist, nobody wants to represent you because they're like.

01:18:27.900 They run from it.

01:18:28.280 We're not going to represent a racist.

01:18:30.400 Yeah.

01:18:30.900 It's a scarlet letter.

01:18:31.960 They run from it.

01:18:32.240 But can I ask you this?

01:18:33.840 Yeah.

01:18:34.120 And then we've got to wrap up.

01:18:35.440 Is it that time?

01:18:36.200 I want to talk all day.

01:18:38.020 I know.

01:18:38.740 Well, you'll come back because we have too much more to talk about.

01:18:42.420 Okay.

01:18:42.800 We have so much more to talk about.

01:18:44.480 Now that you don't ignore me anymore.

01:18:46.260 Stop.

01:18:46.960 Don't say that.

01:18:47.300 No, including the fact that ABC and all these libtards that work for the CCP and all this

01:18:55.340 stuff, they want segregation back.

01:19:02.020 Mm-hmm.

01:19:02.560 Yep.

01:19:03.120 They do.

01:19:03.920 Don't they?

01:19:04.560 They do.

01:19:05.100 It's evil.

01:19:06.100 It's evil.

01:19:07.060 That is why we have to keep fighting.

01:19:11.240 Yeah.

01:19:11.360 We have to speak up.

01:19:12.880 And in your case, with the lawsuit.

01:19:14.840 That is why, whether it's on social media, on your show, on my show, any time that we

01:19:20.520 have the opportunity, we have to.

01:19:22.100 I know that you, if I have had as many people come up to me as I have, that you have had

01:19:26.900 it times 10, times 100 probably.

01:19:29.480 And people say thank you because they're afraid.

01:19:31.980 Yeah.

01:19:32.180 They're afraid to speak up for good reason because if they see that Roseanne Barr can

01:19:35.720 get canceled, which you haven't, you've been punished but not canceled, you're still here.

01:19:39.580 Or me or anybody else who's done things really the right way for all those years, I always

01:19:45.120 say I understand why people stay silent.

01:19:47.000 Yeah.

01:19:47.140 Maybe we're the dummies and we should have just said, no.

01:19:50.220 So we have to do that for others.

01:19:52.360 Yeah.

01:19:52.660 We do.

01:19:53.140 I believe that.

01:19:53.960 Because what we stand for, I think, is American values because we believe in integration

01:20:01.800 I grew up in inner city, in Salt Lake City.

01:20:05.600 All my friends were black and, you know, I grew up in the inner city.

01:20:11.560 So I have those values of just seeing the light in everybody.

01:20:20.280 Yes.

01:20:20.800 Not just a specific people.

01:20:23.740 But to accuse someone of being a racist.

01:20:26.500 It killed me.

01:20:27.800 There's nothing.

01:20:28.400 I wept for three days.

01:20:30.200 And I kept calling ABC and Tom Warner, who owned my show, and I said, can you please put

01:20:38.400 out a statement saying that you know I am not a racist?

01:20:42.640 It killed me.

01:20:44.960 And then the next day they said, if you'll sign away your rights, we'll make that statement.

01:20:52.060 What?

01:20:52.400 Yeah.

01:20:54.300 And all I cared about was that because it was my whole life and a vow I took to God to

01:21:03.040 fight fascism and Nazism and racism.

01:21:07.260 And it's all that consumed me.

01:21:09.600 And the next day there was a ton of shit about my racist tweet and it had nothing to do with

01:21:18.440 race.

01:21:18.740 I thought she was white.

01:21:21.140 And it was about the Iran deal, which was a destruction of women and women's rights.

01:21:29.800 And it destroyed me, killed me.

01:21:36.060 I didn't think I would make it out alive of it.

01:21:40.440 And I had people in the army that said, you need to go to, what's that town called over

01:21:49.100 there in Taiwan?

01:21:51.920 They said, you need to go because they're going to try to kill you.

01:21:55.620 Because you had a number one show and you were a Trump supporter and they're coming for

01:22:00.660 you.

01:22:02.080 And Singapore, I was going to go there.

01:22:05.580 But, you know, I felt like God was talking to me and saying, all you have to do.

01:22:13.000 And I mean, I was down.

01:22:14.780 I couldn't even walk.

01:22:17.580 And I couldn't get out of bed.

01:22:21.000 I was devastated.

01:22:22.120 And then God came in, like he has a thousand times in my life, and he wrapped his wings

01:22:29.380 around me.

01:22:30.860 And he said, you will have to get louder and more fierce than you've ever been in your

01:22:40.200 life.

01:22:40.540 And that's how you have to fight.

01:22:42.660 And so I did.

01:22:44.340 I did.

01:22:45.400 I called, I got, I had so many people's numbers, and I called them all, and I'm like, I'm doubling

01:22:53.020 down.

01:22:53.560 I'm tripling down.

01:22:54.600 I won't go quietly into that.

01:22:57.100 I won't go silent into that good night.

01:23:01.100 I won't.

01:23:02.160 Because I already fought hard enough.

01:23:03.840 You can.

01:23:04.300 And if people want to think I'm a racist, that's just because they're racist.

01:23:09.500 And fuck them.

01:23:10.220 And I, let me ask you this real quick, too, and I know we have to wrap it up.

01:23:18.560 I'm wondering if the fact that Tom Warner would not say she's not a racist, you know, when

01:23:25.640 people that you know.

01:23:26.860 He called me six months later and said, I said you're not a racist at NAPTI when I resold

01:23:31.620 the Roseanne show.

01:23:33.080 That was a nice one.

01:23:33.860 Yeah, that was nice of him.

01:23:34.820 Okay.

01:23:35.140 Thanks, Tom.

01:23:35.940 Yeah.

01:23:36.600 Yeah.

01:23:37.100 Appreciate it.

01:23:37.700 But all the racist stuff, all the racist stuff about her racist tweet where she called

01:23:44.080 Valerie Jarrett, said Valerie Jarrett looked like an ape.

01:23:49.660 They would never show the picture that I captioned, which shows her looking just like that woman

01:23:57.260 in makeup.

01:23:58.900 They would never show it.

01:24:00.720 So I could never put context to it.

01:24:02.880 Of course, because context truly matters.

01:24:04.440 But when people that know you stay silent.

01:24:07.940 They all stayed silent.

01:24:09.000 I think that's the hard part.

01:24:11.260 Well, because they knew if they did stick up for me, they'd be called a racist, too.

01:24:15.840 Yeah.

01:24:16.240 So it's their fear, and I don't even blame them.

01:24:19.060 You know what?

01:24:19.640 I'm with you on that.

01:24:20.580 You understand it.

01:24:20.680 But as we get further along in the culture wars and where we are as America, fuck you.

01:24:26.160 Like, now's not the time to be silent and a pussy.

01:24:29.600 It's just not.

01:24:30.200 Maybe 10 years ago, I could understand it, and I've actually defended a lot of them.

01:24:33.720 But right now, I'm feeling the divine spirit.

01:24:36.660 Fuck you.

01:24:37.180 Like, stand up.

01:24:38.000 Stand up.

01:24:38.600 This is why bad shit's happening.

01:24:40.720 This is why bad shit's happening all over the world is because people are too afraid

01:24:43.480 to stand up.

01:24:44.060 Because they're silent.

01:24:45.580 They're choosing.

01:24:46.280 They're pussies.

01:24:47.060 They're choosing.

01:24:47.520 They're calling what it is.

01:24:48.360 Stop being a pussy.

01:24:49.020 They chose to do that to me in order to do that to all Trump supporters.

01:24:54.260 Yes.

01:24:54.960 Yes.

01:24:55.380 And when I made the connection, I'm like, fuck it.

01:24:57.640 I'm fighting.

01:24:58.500 Good.

01:24:59.200 Because those are my fans.

01:25:01.240 They're my people.

01:25:02.380 They're every reason I came to TV.

01:25:04.840 They're every color.

01:25:06.280 Mm-hmm.

01:25:06.580 And, you know, I was always so proud that I had a diverse audience.

01:25:11.040 You know, whenever I did stand up, I had every color and nation of people in my audience.

01:25:16.220 And the last few times that I've done some shows, you know, they ruined that for me.

01:25:22.940 And it's devastating.

01:25:25.420 I don't think anyone will truly comprehend what that feels like.

01:25:30.420 It's horrible.

01:25:31.660 And especially because of the way you've lived your life.

01:25:33.740 I'm going to share this with you, and then I'll shut up.

01:25:36.300 Okay.

01:25:36.740 I know it's crazy.

01:25:37.200 We never want you to shut up.

01:25:38.320 We want you to come back.

01:25:39.760 Can I?

01:25:40.380 Yes, please.

01:25:41.240 We don't want to make your flight.

01:25:42.660 Bring your gorgeous fiancé.

01:25:44.240 We've got to party.

01:25:44.760 Settle down over there.

01:25:46.540 He's engaged.

01:25:47.960 I know.

01:25:48.780 I don't have a sex drive.

01:25:50.320 I'm just saying this.

01:25:52.080 Still don't have a sex drive when you look at him?

01:25:53.880 It's gone?

01:25:54.140 No.

01:25:54.620 I have no sex drive.

01:25:56.060 Okay.

01:25:56.500 But young people, I'm glad they do.

01:25:59.000 But listen, you've got to come back, and we've got to just hang out.

01:26:03.940 I'm going to show you how to use my tractor.

01:26:05.660 We're going to cut grass.

01:26:06.600 Please.

01:26:07.060 I know.

01:26:07.300 I love it.

01:26:08.620 We've got to have some more time together.

01:26:11.420 You are just a lovely person.

01:26:14.300 Thank you so much.

01:26:14.660 And I just love you.

01:26:16.220 Thank you.

01:26:16.420 You are a sister in arms.

01:26:19.020 I just love you so much.

01:26:20.680 What are you going to say?

01:26:21.620 And then I share this little prayer.

01:26:23.260 Because this has been the coolest, best thing I learned about your mom starting that day

01:26:27.600 in Los Angeles.

01:26:29.820 I didn't understand the strength of your faith.

01:26:32.640 I didn't understand it.

01:26:33.860 And it is so beautiful.

01:26:35.500 And Dave and I were talking about this after our conversation yesterday, where you really

01:26:40.340 shared the story about when you were three years old, and God told you what was going

01:26:45.160 to happen in your life with your show.

01:26:46.540 Like, so beautiful.

01:26:47.200 I can't wait.

01:26:48.060 I can't wait for people to see that on my show, too.

01:26:51.020 This is the prayer that my dad made us memorize as kids.

01:26:54.160 Oh, great.

01:26:55.360 From his days at West Point, when he was forced to say it probably 10,000 times.

01:26:59.980 But this is what got me through everything in my life.

01:27:03.040 I love it.

01:27:03.580 And it reminds me of what you're doing right now.

01:27:05.440 What?

01:27:06.080 Help me to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.

01:27:09.720 And never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be one.

01:27:16.200 Amen.

01:27:16.860 I'm going to send this to you.

01:27:18.040 Please.

01:27:18.500 It's your mom.

01:27:19.160 Because you can apply it to everything in your life.

01:27:22.620 Say again.

01:27:24.180 Harder right.

01:27:25.120 The harder right instead of the easier wrong.

01:27:26.900 Instead of the easier wrong.

01:27:27.900 Oh, yeah.

01:27:28.580 Right?

01:27:28.940 Like, think about that.

01:27:29.760 And what you're doing right now, by fighting back, by saying, I'm too old not to fight back,

01:27:35.520 it is the harder right.

01:27:36.720 Yeah.

01:27:37.100 It would be easier to stay silent right now because, hey, you're good.

01:27:41.960 You're not hurting in life financially, whatever.

01:27:45.140 No, but I'm closer to going up there to see my God where he goes, why were you silent?

01:27:51.800 Yes.

01:27:52.540 And I know he'd ask me that.

01:27:53.820 I gave you a big fat mouth and you was always going around and now you're silent?

01:27:59.600 Yes.

01:28:00.000 Because you have, and the last part of that prayer, you have the opportunity to not settle

01:28:05.160 for a half-truth.

01:28:06.320 Like, the whole truth has to come out.

01:28:08.240 Yeah.

01:28:08.500 That's right.

01:28:08.860 And people don't know it.

01:28:09.500 I think now they're learning it in every aspect of our country and life and world with

01:28:14.040 what's, with the anti-Semitism and everything.

01:28:16.320 It's bad.

01:28:16.660 So we have to speak the truth and not settle.

01:28:18.980 So thank you for doing that, for all these years for me and for so many others.

01:28:24.440 Well, I want you to give your dad a big hug and a kiss and give your mom a big hug and

01:28:30.580 a kiss and say, I sent it to them through you because what heroes and to create such a lovely

01:28:40.220 child.

01:28:41.440 Don't make me cry again today.

01:28:43.220 I've already been crying on this whole episode a couple of times.

01:28:45.160 Thank you.

01:28:45.500 I just love you.

01:28:46.500 Thank you.

01:28:47.240 You're on a beautiful life path.

01:28:50.240 Yeah, you're a rare person.

01:28:52.520 And this guy is something else, I'll tell you.

01:28:54.400 Calm down.

01:28:54.600 Remember, he still thinks I'm a lightweight.

01:28:56.700 Let's let him, let's let him believe that.

01:28:59.160 Let's enjoy the last, last few months of him smiling, shall we?

01:29:02.660 You know how lucky she is, don't you?

01:29:03.900 How lucky are you to hook up with her?

01:29:07.300 Listen, it takes round two sometimes, right?

01:29:09.720 Yeah.

01:29:10.220 Or three.

01:29:10.600 Second marriage, my second marriage is the best.

01:29:14.060 I've been four times and I'm never doing it again.

01:29:18.840 I'm just going to get a dog.

01:29:21.020 You can't even get a dog.

01:29:21.920 I can't let you get a dog.

01:29:22.600 He won't let me get a dog.

01:29:23.380 No, Jake knows.

01:29:24.800 Don't let her do it.

01:29:26.300 Get an AI boyfriend.

01:29:28.000 They have their AI's advanced.

01:29:28.760 I don't want any boyfriends.

01:29:30.420 I don't want to listen to one more man.

01:29:32.660 No, no, listen.

01:29:33.360 You could program AI to listen to you.

01:29:35.660 I don't want to listen to any man tell me anything ever again.

01:29:38.040 Mom, you can have an AI boyfriend.

01:29:39.380 I don't want to be a lesbian because I hate women and all they do is, yeah, I don't want

01:29:43.960 to be a lesbian either.

01:29:45.260 Mom, listen to me.

01:29:45.780 You could program an AI boyfriend to just love every time you tell the same story over

01:29:50.220 and over and be like, you are the most amazing person.

01:29:52.400 You can do that.

01:29:53.080 That's why I have grandkids.

01:29:54.740 Tell me I'm beautiful.

01:29:55.860 Tell me I'm beautiful.

01:29:56.500 They love my stories, my grandkids.

01:29:59.380 They love it when I burp and laugh.

01:30:02.160 Wrap it up.

01:30:02.800 They're going to miss their flight.

01:30:03.980 She hasn't belched one time during this show.

01:30:06.380 I'm very disappointed.

01:30:08.100 There you go, baby.

01:30:09.380 Thank you so much for being here.

01:30:12.300 You're coming again.

01:30:13.420 We have much more to discuss regarding history in this country and where we're going.

01:30:19.260 I want to talk to you about that.

01:30:20.840 Love you.

01:30:22.040 Thanks for tuning in.

01:30:24.160 So you see, my patience is growing thin in this synthetic world we're living in.

01:30:37.460 Oh, you see, my patience is growing thin with this synthetic world we're living in.

01:30:54.500 You're a podcast listener, and this is a podcast ad heard only in Canada.

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01:31:04.560 Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre-produced ad like

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01:31:17.680 That's B-O-B at L-I-B-S-Y-N dot com.

The Roseanne Barr Podcast - June 26, 2025

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

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