"I'm Too Old Not To Fight" W⧹ Sage Steele | The Roseanne Barr Podcast #104
Episode Stats
Summary
Sage Steel is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, and podcaster. She's also a friend of mine who I've known for a long time, and we talk about a lot of things, including how she got her start in comedy, and how she became one of the funniest people I know.
Transcript
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What is it? Nafilam, Anunnaki, Time Travelers. We should do bots now after that story broke about
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the right-wing influencers getting paid by Iran and Russia. We should welcome the bots too.
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Iran bots, Qatari bots, you know, the devil's minions, Nazis, whoever's here. I guess God sent
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your consciousness dead. You were magnetized to it. But above all else, of all living beings,
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animals, the most intelligent of all beings. Because unlike humans, they don't need to bullshit
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themselves to enjoy the joy of living. Welcome to the Roseanne Barr podcast.
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Well, y'all know how I love to talk to geniuses. In particular, I love talking to women geniuses
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because there are so few and far between of them. Most women are just blithering fucking idiots that
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do whatever men want them to do. I'm so sick of it. But anyway, we've got one today, a b-b-b-b-b-banger
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of a show. She's a friend and a kindred spirit and somebody who's gone through a lot of stuff with
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the same network I went through a lot of shit with and also has a great podcast and is an incredible
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human being. So help me welcome stage steel. Thank you. Sage steel. I've been called a lot
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worse. Sage steel. Hi. Sage. I can't believe I'm in Roseanne's studio. This is freaking cool.
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Oh, we're happy to have you here. Thank you. We love you. I loved you before you loved me though.
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Yeah. That's okay. You hear that a lot. But now I love you more than you love me because it's not
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possible for you to love me more than I love you since I'm way older than you. Just a little. I
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understand love way more than you. Well, we met Sage on Bertram, right? You want to tell people or you?
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Oh yeah, we did that show with Adi. Carola, yeah. For Daily Wire. Yep. For Daily Wire. Do you remember how I was a late
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add to that? That's what I was going to talk about. Yeah. No, I didn't know anything about it. What's that?
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She replaced Klandis. That's what we call her now. Oh, is that true? Yeah. Candis got fired from Daily Wire. It was
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going to be her role and they put Sage in. So you were added like weeks before? Oh, it was like three weeks
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before it came out. Yeah. And I had never done that kind of voiceover, which is done before the edit, right?
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I mean, well before. And what I learned because I was in just the live TV world is that they,
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you know, they match everything to your tone, your cadence, all of it. So Candis was, her job was
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completed. She was done and everything was ready to go with her voice and everything in it. And then
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they fired her. So they needed another black female conservative, I guess. And I don't know how many
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there are of us. Publicly. I know there's a lot of us privately, but publicly. So they had me come in. But it
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was so hard because I had to, we're doing it backwards and I had to go in and try to match every single
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thing she did. And if it, if that one sentence was 4.2 seconds. So you had to like embody Candis. Yeah.
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Kind of. Yeah. Was that scary? There's a lot there. Was it? Did that scare you? Nope. Nope. Because you know what?
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I don't think, I think Candis today, June 2025 is different than Candis May 2024. Yeah. Definitely
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different. And I, I wasn't fully understanding what exactly had happened with her at Daily Wire. And I
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don't know that I fully do still understand this. All I know is that I got the call and love and worship
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Adam Carolla. So hell yeah, I'm going to say yes to that. It was just such a process to have to recreate
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her voice, her tone. That's weird. Yeah, that'd be weird. And as you know, like in those little
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segments. You had to match the voice. Match the voice. I mean, and not, obviously I can't match
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her voice specifically. No, the timing. The timing is impossible. So the edit is within, you
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know, 1 18th of a second. Yeah. And it was like, do it over and go 1 18th of a second slower.
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And I'm like, huh, how do I do that? That's hard. So it was hard. And then they didn't do
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another season, did they? No, I guess it got shit canned. That might be my fault. No,
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they're still trying to shop it, but it's not going to be on the Daily Wire. That's all
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I know. Well, that was a fun show. I enjoyed it. And they told me, the writer said, wait
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till second season because we've got you doing all kinds of crazy stuff, which I loved because
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I love being a huge bombastic character because, you know, after Roseanne, that would just be
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so fun to be like, she was a, a, an ex Marine and she is beating guys up in a bar. I loved
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it. It was great. And it was, you know, we, we watched it that premiere with, you know, a
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live audience and it was cool for me to watch you in that theater while everyone else is
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reacting to you. It was beautiful. I had never been part of it. That's Hollywood. That's not
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my world. So that was my first time being part of anything like that. But then to be sitting
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right near you and watching their reaction was really cool. You probably saw me roaring
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at myself. Oh, your cackles really were louder than anybody else. And they were at times where
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everybody else was quiet, right? That's how it is. You should have gotten to see Ace Ventura
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with her. We saw that six times in the theater. She ruined the experience for everybody. I
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love that movie so much. Ace Ventura and Sleeper. Yeah. I urinated on myself. What do you mean
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she ruined it? Do you ever see Cape Fear when Robert De Niro's got the cigar and he's like,
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I'm ruining the movie for everyone. That was her in the crowd at Ace Ventura. I can't stop
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laughing. She laughed uncontrollably. And she, I'm not kidding. She went five times to the
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theater and laughed as hard every time. And people would move from the theater around
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her because they couldn't hear the movie. But it was that good. Ace Ventura is the greatest
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comedy I've ever seen. I have underrated. Hysterical. But it was. He never did anything
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as good after. Yeah. He's changed too. He's another one of those. Yeah. But that was cool
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for me to see it. And I had never, I'd never been around your mom. You know, I'd never been
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around you. So to witness that and your genuine cackles in between made us laugh harder.
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You know, it was great. But my favorite part was in the bar after. Like the next day, I guess,
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wasn't it? Or was it that afternoon before maybe? I don't remember. But we sat there for a couple
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hours at the bar in that hotel in LA, wherever we were. That was, I think, after. Yeah, that was a lot
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of fun. I think it was the next day. That was the day I went down out of our hotel and walked down to
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get a drink because our hotel was a piece of shit that didn't have alcohol before 6 p.m.,
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which I cannot take that. So I walked down to the W and I was sitting there having my eye
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shipping. Don't wait. Cleanse your body and take back control today. And I'm like, oh Christ, here we go.
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I gotta act nice. And up comes, oh, I can't remember her name. She's the, I don't know her name.
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Oh, I forget everybody's name. She's a stand-up comic. She's got a show coming out. Oh, she's got a big show
00:10:01.440
now. She's like Roseanne of your ilk. Yeah, she's so brilliant. Morgan, Leanne Morgan. And I'm like,
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damn, I love you. What are you doing here? Well, she was doing something. And of course,
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she don't drink or anything. She's got a clean lifestyle, which is disgusting. But yet, she was
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still funny and adorable. And I sat there with her a couple of hours, and I just love her. She is such
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a great comic, and that was a delight. And then I staggered back home, and we went in the, I don't
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know what we did, but I just remember drinking with you. You're a fun drinking partner. Yeah, we had a
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really good time. Me and Jake were like, she's real. She can, first of all, she can carry her
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liquor, and then she gets even more interesting. You've had a really interesting life. Okay, wait.
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So, so my fiance is sitting over in the corner. Is he handsome enough? He's hot, right? Oh my God,
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that guy's gorgeous. He thinks I'm a lightweight though, and now you're giving away like the real
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deep, dark secrets. That's just when she's on a trip without you. That I'm a lush. Well, you have
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to pretend you're sweet and sober till the marriage. You're getting married this year. I am. I'm getting
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married in September. Congrats. So that's only a few months where you got to act like you're okay. I
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have to behave a little bit longer. Then you trap him. Exactly. And hey, I mean, once they put a ring
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on it, it's over. That's right. They can't get out now. It's over. It's totally over. Yeah, now the
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things come out. Anyway, I got to tell you guys yesterday that, and this is like another one of
00:11:40.260
our kind of spiritual connections, but I met him just last fall. So yes, it's quick. Get out of my
00:11:46.340
mentions. Yes, it's fast. But when you're old, you can do that. Yeah. It's not really though. You have
00:11:50.000
a history. You're 50 plus. You have a history. Well, but our history is something that we didn't know
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until we met, but our mothers have been friends for 32 years. Oh my God, that's God given right there.
00:12:01.040
Yes. So if he dumped me, his mom would be pissed. So that's the thing. I feel like I'm protected
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by a lot of people. You are. You got a hedge. Because our moms like each other more than they
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like us. Yes. So he's kind of stuck already. See, you've got that hedge of protection around
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you. She's going to gain like 250 pounds this time next year. He don't care. You don't care,
00:12:22.220
right? No, he cares. Oh my God, look at the way he looks at you. Yeah, who trapped you here?
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It's so huge. Look at that ring. Oh my Lord. I know. Look at that ring, son. It's beautiful. I
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have a funny, kind of a funny story. So we hang out at the bar, right? Yeah. We want to get back on
00:12:37.960
track a little. And we love Sage. Like she's the best. I get her number. She tells us that she has
00:12:44.240
help. I don't want to give too much away, but she- Help, yes. You successfully sued Disney.
00:12:50.420
Correct. Oh my God, you're our idol. And you won. Right, but real quick- We settled. So does that
00:12:56.520
mean- Okay, we'll get back to that. Yes. I just want to say, so I got her number and then I put in
00:13:00.820
the wrong number. Of course you did. He's horribly dyslexic. All my kids are dyslexic. I didn't know
00:13:06.340
that. And she doesn't respond to me for a year. Nuh-uh. Yeah. And I'm texting her. I'm like, okay,
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man, she's a fake. Another fucking Hollywood fake. Oh my God. I was so mad at you. And
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then Sage, another project comes up and she calls me and she's like, I miss you guys and
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talked to you. And I noticed right then it was a totally different phone number. And
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I'd been cursing you for like a year. Wait, you cursed at me? Well, you weren't responding
00:13:26.020
to my text. Okay. I was very upset. Wow. He goes, Sage hates us. He said, mom, she acted
00:13:32.960
like she liked us, but she hates us. Yep, one big fake. No, I'm a terrible actress. I apologize.
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But what I left from that, that to me was the best, and I'm not saying this because
00:13:42.560
you're here. I told my mom and dad right away, I'm like the best part of the Bertram
00:13:46.660
thing. Besides seeing Megyn Kelly, who's one of my idols. She's a doll. And talk about
00:13:51.600
brilliant and goals. Yeah, she's fierce as hell. She is. And we had the same attorney
00:13:55.420
with, because she was with NBC when she got canceled and Brian Friedman is the attorney
00:14:00.820
and then I had him. Chris Harrison from The Bachelor, he had Brian Friedman. He's one that's
00:14:06.440
with Justin Baldoni now and that thing's not over, not over. Yeah. But anyway, I left
00:14:12.640
and told my mom and dad, I'm like, oh my gosh, you know when you have an impression of somebody
00:14:18.160
and then, but then you're almost afraid to meet them because you're afraid you're going
00:14:21.580
to be disappointed. Isn't that what everybody says? Don't meet your idols. Don't meet people
00:14:25.440
that you love who are famous because they're going to disappoint you. You were so shockingly
00:14:30.940
nice. That's a compliment. I hope you take it that way. Because of Hollywood people.
00:14:35.420
I don't like them. They're not my people. No, they're not. And they're not, that's not
00:14:39.500
who you are though. And I was so blown away at how genuine you were and look me in the
00:14:46.660
eye and were interested and just talking to me as a human being. Like I didn't feel
00:14:51.840
like I was annoying you, I guess. No, you weren't annoying. It was really special.
00:14:55.220
You were very fun and very interesting and intelligent. I'm glad your son doesn't hate
00:14:59.480
me anymore. Yeah, we were so relieved. I go, you fucking idiot. You always write everyone's
00:15:04.520
numbered down. Actually, that's not true. It's the first time I've ever, honestly, the
00:15:07.940
first time I've ever done that that I know of. No, it isn't. There have been a few people
00:15:11.440
that have iced this. Maybe I've done one of the ones. But it doesn't matter. The bottom
00:15:14.440
line is we're here and we're all friends and I'm very happy about it. Now I get to get
00:15:19.640
really nosy about all the things I want to know. Let's get into it. Well, real quick, you
00:15:23.100
were at ESPN SportsCenter. You were canceled. I was. I feel like that's a badge of honor
00:15:28.380
now to be canceled. Do you want to ask about that later or get into it? Yeah, because I wanted
00:15:32.200
to know what made her tick to get there. Oh. I mean, I know you, your dad was in the
00:15:38.200
military. Yes, ma'am. And so you grew up in the military, right? Yeah. So when people
00:15:44.040
say where are you from, like pick a place, all of them. I was, I'd lived in four countries
00:15:50.620
by the time I was 11. Jeez. So like all over. And I could speak a couple languages. I mean,
00:15:56.660
a little. And now hopefully English is perfected, but that's all I got. Yeah. I grew up just moving
00:16:05.380
and knowing that every two years or so that we're going to go on a new adventure. And that's
00:16:09.700
how my mom approached it was because it was hard, right? And you make friends and then this
00:16:14.520
is way pre-internet. I mean, I'm 52 now. So this is in the eighties when you have friends in junior
00:16:21.220
high and high school. Yeah. And you don't, you can't text them or snap them or email them even.
00:16:27.360
Right. It's a handwritten letter where you licked a postage stamp and you send a letter away to your
00:16:32.800
little best friend and it takes a week to get there. And then two weeks later you might get a
00:16:37.360
response, but therefore you couldn't keep friends. Yeah. You know those, you remember those days. Yeah.
00:16:41.920
And so it was hard to every couple of years say goodbye to friends and have to start over and hope
00:16:47.020
that you get invited to the birthday parties or get picked for kickball at recess when you're the
00:16:51.680
new kid. But the beauty of it is that in the military, all the kids feel that. And so they're
00:16:57.780
all very welcoming. Our neighbors, the adults are welcoming. Everybody would bring over a bottle
00:17:03.020
of wine and some banana bread and say, here's my phone number if you need us. It was genuine. It was
00:17:08.040
the best upbringing. It's a real community. Such a community and so diverse. Yeah. Before we,
00:17:14.660
I even knew what diversity was. It just, people get mad. A lot of people get mad when you say
00:17:20.400
that you don't see color. Yeah. Obviously we see it. Like don't take it literally, but that's
00:17:25.480
not what you lead with. Right. And then that's what it is in the military. It didn't lead with
00:17:29.420
white, black, Asian, a lot of interracial marriages. I come from a interracial marriage
00:17:34.480
as well and it just didn't matter. It was the most, I say diverse, but protected. Yeah.
00:17:41.760
And secluded, not secluded. What's the word I'm looking for? Protected. Insulated. Insulated.
00:17:46.280
Yeah. I mean, I was. Well, don't you think it's because you all have a common goal and a common
00:17:52.520
viewpoint and you're not easily divided like the civilians are in our country? Yeah. And maybe the
00:18:00.480
timing, you know, probably made a difference as well in the, in the eighties and living in different
00:18:06.780
countries, but yeah, you're on an American base. We went to school on an American base. And even
00:18:13.880
though people have different political opinions, I can look back now and kind of see some of it.
00:18:18.040
There was respect and it didn't matter. And the goal was the same. And that was to represent our
00:18:22.380
country. Right. As Americans. Right. Respectfully. And with respect to where we were living, I lived in
00:18:30.140
Belgium. I lived in Greece. My Girl Scout troop would go to Paris for the day. You know, I would
00:18:36.400
get annoyed because I'm like, oh my God, we have to go to Paris again because family would come visit
00:18:41.240
from the States. Or my third grade field trip was to the Acropolis, which was 45 minutes away from our
00:18:48.740
But as Americans, you, like we knew to have respect for their culture, just like we hope today that they
00:18:55.280
have respect for ours, which is a whole different story. But it was just a beautiful, innocent. I was
00:19:00.920
very naive because of it, because it was insulated and people were just kind. But I had the, people
00:19:08.420
say, well, what is it like? You don't have a hometown to go to. It's true. I don't know where home is.
00:19:17.080
I agree. I don't have a hometown. Like to take my kids back to where I went to elementary school or
00:19:23.020
where my, you know, first t-ball game was. Like I don't have that. It's impossible. But
00:19:30.020
I wouldn't change it. I thought that was normal. I did get back to the States in seventh grade and
00:19:35.140
I was like, what do you mean you guys have known each other since kindergarten? That's so weird.
00:19:38.800
Why would you want to know someone for that long? You know?
00:19:41.700
So I think there's positives and negatives to both, but I had the best upbringing.
00:19:46.700
Where did your parents meet? I'm just nosy because they're, you know, a mixed couple.
00:19:52.060
Yeah. And I wonder where, where did that meet and what year? Because that was, that's an
00:19:58.380
interesting thing for America. It is, especially considering in October, it'll be their 54th
00:20:03.720
wedding anniversary. Oh my God. That's amazing. I know. I know. Um, and you know what I say
00:20:10.680
to people when I'm on stage and I ask how long they've been married and they say things like
00:20:14.860
that 54 years, all the time, all over America. So I always go, why?
00:20:22.240
It's a great question. They met in 1970, right when my dad graduated from West Point.
00:20:29.460
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Airlines. Back in the day when being a flight attendant was a big deal. Yeah, it was. It
00:22:01.900
was fancy. And I mean, can you imagine these people today having to adjust to the rules of
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like my mother would have to get on a scale. They would weigh her before every flight. We
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have to go back. Sorry. I know. That's amazing. I know. But like their hair had to be tied back
00:22:18.920
for a certain length. Yeah. It was fancy. It's kind of like the military. Actually, it was
00:22:24.680
with the uniforms. But it was a privilege to be a flight attendant. And everybody dressed
00:22:30.860
up. Everybody. Yeah. When you're traveling, it was glamorous. Yeah. And so anyway, that's
00:22:35.440
what she was stationed. She was based, not stationed, based in New York City. Grew up in
00:22:39.840
a small town in Massachusetts, West Springfield, Mass. You know, blue collar, Catholic, all white
00:22:47.940
town. So my mom's half Irish, half Italian. You'll like this. My grandfather's name was
00:22:54.240
William Edward O'Neill. So that's her Irish side. And my grandmother was Filomena Lina
00:22:59.620
de Portola. Wow. So the Irish and Italian. My mother actually is beautiful, looks a lot
00:23:06.440
like you, just with green eyes, white hair, kind of spiked. She's gorgeous. She's almost
00:23:11.620
76. And so super white Irish Italian mom. And then my very black, beautiful dad, who also
00:23:20.040
was a military brat. And they had a birthday party for him after he graduated from West
00:23:23.660
Point in 1970. And she showed up. And actually, on my show, The Sage Deal Show, thank you. You
00:23:30.960
would love this, Roseanne and Jake. I just got to sit down with my parents. I did an hour
00:23:35.460
and a half, two hours. Oh, how awesome. With my mom and dad. And heard things that I had
00:23:39.540
never heard from my parents about their relationship. A lot of tears. I did it so long after I'm
00:23:48.860
gone. Great, great grandkids. They can see the why and how I found strength to stand up
00:23:58.900
for myself much later on. But what they went through makes my step up. Did they go through
00:24:03.820
a lot? Yeah, they did. And that's why I think I have good perspective that my cancellation
00:24:09.760
and those struggles weren't fun and super hurtful and changed my life. But it's nothing compared
00:24:15.940
to what so many others go through, frankly, including my parents in some ways. They got
00:24:21.620
married in 1971. And, you know, my mom's family, my mom's not her family, her parents disowned
00:24:28.520
her. Oh, God. The Irish side, probably, though, right? I don't know. No, it was more my grandmother's
00:24:35.460
Italian side, which is interesting. But you have to, what, what, first of all... You never
00:24:40.340
know what people are going to do. You don't. And we had an incredible conversation about
00:24:45.300
this, actually, at a bar right here in your town last night. My fiance and I did last night
00:24:49.320
where, you know, it took six or seven years. And my mom's parents came back. Oh, cool.
00:24:55.760
Yeah. Forgiveness. Never forget, but forgiveness and a lot of healing. And it ended up being
00:25:01.200
a beautiful relationship. And I got to know them, too. So it was great. But whenever I
00:25:06.300
tell the story, people are like, oh, it's so shitty. Yes, it's shitty. And you have to
00:25:12.080
understand where people come from. It's not an excuse for bad behavior, for racism.
00:25:16.720
But you have to respect their viewpoint. And if they had never been around black people...
00:25:22.260
And in their small Catholic town in Massachusetts, in the 1960s and early 70s, it's foreign to
00:25:30.420
them. And if all you saw is what was on TV, that black people are... I mean, the way that
00:25:37.140
they were referred to as Negroes, and they're inferior. And then they only show clips of violence.
00:25:43.760
That's what you think is real. Well, then sometimes it's understandable why they were afraid for
00:25:50.180
their daughter. And then they learned. I think the coolest, coolest thing that I learned about
00:25:57.380
my parents that changed me and, again, my perspective on all my crap later... I didn't
00:26:02.760
know this about my parents until about six years ago. They got married. Her mom and dad did not show up
00:26:11.340
Her brother did, though, who was 20 at the time and walked her down the aisle. They got
00:26:17.060
married at West Point, where my dad had graduated from. And then we're stationed in Panama, where
00:26:24.200
And my dad, apparently, from the moment they got married, and I don't know for how long,
00:26:29.480
Dave, did they say for years, once a month, would pull out a pen and paper and write my mom's
00:26:36.420
parents a letter, just to let them know that she's okay and that he is taking care of their
00:26:48.500
Every month for years, he did that and sent it to my... And in the video, you'll see my mom,
00:26:55.020
and she's like, I told him it's a waste of time. I told him don't do it. And he kind of...
00:26:59.000
You could see him get tight, and he was like, I needed them to know that despite what they
00:27:03.260
thought of me, I was taking care of their daughter. And I was like, oh, my God.
00:27:08.940
He didn't know if they ever read the letters, but he was doing the right thing. And so when
00:27:15.200
your family leaves you, and again, comes back, and we are all so close to this day. And even
00:27:22.300
friends back in 1971 didn't agree with an interracial marriage. It had just become legalized
00:27:33.180
Right? So this is so new. My mom and dad got to be like this. Their relationship was so
00:27:39.300
close because they knew all they had was each other.
00:27:45.180
That's why they're my heroes. And that's why they've... Gosh, it's just humbling to see what
00:27:51.940
they went through. And that's the other reason why I call BS on all these people who talk
00:27:56.200
about, oh, my gosh, being a black person in America today, Whoopi Goldberg, give me a
00:27:59.940
break. Like, I can't with them because Whoopi understands, too. And she's full of it. And
00:28:05.020
it's disappointing. But that's the kind of upbringing I had.
00:28:09.260
I'll smack that bitch right across her face if she ever has the displeasure to run into
00:28:26.320
They never were. There's conditioning happening.
00:28:29.000
I think they make her be that way on ABC. ABC is just a racist bullshit company. It really
00:28:35.480
is horrible. But let's go to your dad going to West Point. That was a big deal for a black
00:28:46.320
Yeah, he started there. His first year was 1965.
00:28:52.760
And he was a football player and a track athlete. His grades were pretty good to get in.
00:28:59.820
Uh-huh. Jerry Barr, the boy built like a barrel. He was the center.
00:29:05.000
Oh, if you're the center, you're like the captain of the office.
00:29:08.600
And that was your guy. He's the one that you fell in love with comedy with with your dad.
00:29:17.240
He was a weirdo, though. He wasn't like your dad. So your dad was like incredibly self-disciplined
00:29:27.400
Because he doesn't like it when I talk about this, but he, I don't know. He never makes
00:29:37.600
it about himself. And so I do. I try to do that for him. He played football. And if you
00:29:44.300
think about the timing in the mid-60s, he was six, six and a half, 220 pounds, whatever
00:29:51.600
it was. That's a big man today. But back then, it's a big man.
00:29:58.100
And he actually broke the color barrier and was the first black man to play varsity football
00:30:07.840
But he doesn't like to talk about it because he's like, I just was a football player. I
00:30:11.320
just wanted to be a good teammate. It's super cool, though. NFL Films did a beautiful piece
00:30:15.920
on my parents, and it's pinned forever to my ex-profile. I'll always leave it there because
00:30:23.580
He did not because back then, you had to fulfill your military obligation if you're
00:30:27.900
coming out of a service academy. He got drafted, though, by the Detroit Lions in the 17th round.
00:30:39.560
Yeah, yeah. So even though they knew he couldn't play, they still drafted him, which is super
00:30:45.480
But he just says, listen, somebody had to be first, and it just happened to be me.
00:30:52.520
He is. But he was a stud, second team All-American, East-West Shrine game, like just was a great
00:30:59.180
and track too. But one of the cooler things is that he was there at the same time as his
00:31:03.720
brother. So his family had both of their boys, their black boys at West Point in the 60s.
00:31:11.280
And that brother ran track. So they were studs. And again, they won't say that, but I will.
00:31:19.940
And their father, my grandfather, was a Buffalo soldier.
00:31:24.540
You talk about proud for him to have been segregated, couldn't even fight with white men or stand
00:31:32.620
alongside his fellow troops who were white. And then to see his boys there was super cool.
00:31:41.600
It really is. But it's funny. And I love his humility. Because we don't want to make it
00:31:46.120
about race, actually. That's not what we should lead with. But I do think there's that balance
00:31:50.340
of not forgetting history. And people are like, it took that long.
00:31:53.180
Well, the breakthrough that changed it all is so incredible.
00:31:57.300
Because that could only happen in America. We're always talking about our dirty history and
00:32:07.620
That shows progress and evolution. That's why I don't want statues taken down.
00:32:11.900
No matter what it represented at that time, it's important that we remember that we can
00:32:17.340
all change and be better and work harder. You mentioned the word discipline. Every Saturday
00:32:24.000
morning, my dad had room inspections, bedroom inspections for us kids.
00:32:32.800
Did they bounce the quarter off the mattress kind of deal?
00:32:35.400
Might as well. It was everything else. But he would, it was 0900 hours, not nine o'clock.
00:32:41.120
It's be ready at 0900. Like, okay, dad. Yeah, we talked in military time because he wanted
00:32:47.120
us to understand that. And so at 0900 hours, he would come and knock on the door, knock
00:32:51.960
twice, just like when he was in school. And we'd have to salute.
00:32:56.400
And he'd say, are you prepared for inspection? And we're like, it was a joke. We weren't scared.
00:33:01.560
It was a, he created a competition with my brothers and to treat us respect for the nice
00:33:07.520
things we had. And hey, this is a military salary, not fancy. My parents didn't have any
00:33:13.640
money, but we thought we did because we never wanted for anything, but there was a respect
00:33:19.940
for that nice comforter that I got to pick out for my bed. You know, how are, how are things
00:33:25.540
folded in my drawers? And he would go around and he'd use a glove and see if there's dust on
00:33:30.100
the dresser. God, I love that. God, I need to do that.
00:33:32.120
And I know, you have time. Your girls are young. You can do it.
00:33:35.460
I'm not, yeah. I have to change who I am first and then I'll, and then I'll think of it.
00:33:41.660
Not my dad. My dad sat there in his underpants, which were stained. And he never took a bath or
00:33:50.540
And he sat there in front of the TV and all he loved was sports, of course. And he got
00:34:01.000
himself a bell next to his chair there. And he, he ringed this bell, ding, ding, ding,
00:34:07.620
ding, ding. And that meant a certain number of rings meant bring me cheese.
00:34:13.440
Cheese? Yeah, we had it. We was on the welfare cheese. And so he always wanted the entire
00:34:20.500
brick of cheese, not just a slice. We have to bring him the whole brick of cheese with
00:34:25.840
the wrapping paper on it. And we did this whole, here, here you are, sire. And then he just
00:34:36.820
hold up the cheese and he only had eight teeth on the top and eight teeth on the bottom.
00:34:41.080
And so he'd take a big old bite out of the welfare cheese there and say, thank you. And
00:34:49.400
then the next ring of the bell, you had to bring him a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. Those are
00:34:55.220
the only things he ate. Cheese and Cap'n Crunch.
00:34:57.360
Yeah. And then we put the cheese back in the fridge and we told our friends, daddy just takes
00:35:05.720
big bites off our cheese. And they said, no, he don't. Cause they're all nice blonde Mormon
00:35:10.940
folk. And so I go, yeah, he does. He just bites off the welfare cheese log. And so they go,
00:35:18.360
we got to see. I go, yeah, cause he, it's only got eight teeth in there, eight on top, eight
00:35:23.720
on bottom. So we charge our friends a nickel when, when the parents were busy. And they come
00:35:32.300
in through the kitchen door and we opened the cheese door for a nickel drawer and they'd
00:35:38.080
go, oh my God. They had all these like rat bites out of it.
00:35:52.580
That's okay. You wouldn't be who you are today without it, right? Thank God. He was perfectly
00:35:58.500
exactly how he was supposed to be. My, with the room inspection. So when, whenever there
00:36:02.620
was an infraction, if something wasn't done right, we'd have to drop and give him 10 pushups.
00:36:08.600
And they had to be like real pushups. We're not on our knees and our, you know, butt isn't
00:36:14.300
up in the air and our elbows are tight. So my arms looked great from a very young age.
00:36:21.060
Where'd you get the idea? Did you develop a love of sports from your dad?
00:36:26.300
Uh huh. It was his fault. Yeah. Yep. Yep. That was unusual for a girl. It was back
00:36:32.720
then. But you know what? And I was going to say this about your dad. Isn't it amazing
00:36:36.600
the influence they can have? Yeah. Especially for fathers and daughters. Yes. Especially.
00:36:41.360
Times two over there. Yep. Yeah. That's the most, it's the best blessing in life. The best.
00:36:46.740
And I believe her daughter's the most important relationship. Yeah, it is. And I have two daughters.
00:36:51.900
And yeah, I believe it's the most important relationship. 100%. Um, I wanted to spend time
00:36:56.860
with my dad. Yeah. And you know, he was busy. He didn't sit down much, especially on weekends
00:37:02.100
because we had soccer games or swim meets or, you know, just fun stuff. And he'd been working
00:37:06.600
all week. But if he did sit, um, there would be either NBA, basketball, Lakers, Celtics usually,
00:37:13.360
um, or Cowboys Redskins. And remember we lived in Europe and Belgium. So there was one TV with like
00:37:21.500
four channels, maybe two, three of them spoke English. So there were not many options. And on
00:37:29.420
weekends, that's what was on. So that's what we would do. We'd sit and watch football and I loved
00:37:33.620
it. I saw my dad's happiness enjoying it, especially with football since he played and always wondered if
00:37:39.800
he could have made it in the NFL after being drafted. Um, and I also saw from like a patriotic
00:37:47.960
perspective, um, especially with the Dallas Cowboys, that was America's team and living in
00:37:52.680
Belgium, living in Greece, living in Europe, they didn't know much about American football because
00:37:56.980
that's soccer, but they knew the Dallas Cowboys and they knew the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders,
00:38:00.440
right? Yeah. Oh, they were big. Yeah. And I mean, they were beautiful and it was Americana. It was.
00:38:05.620
And so what I learned at a very young age is that sports brings people together. Yeah. And it is the
00:38:14.680
one time a week, whatever it is for football, basketball, a couple of times a week for baseball,
00:38:19.840
when everybody is sitting in a stadium, you could have 80,000 people there. And if it's a home game
00:38:24.920
at Cowboy stadium, you're all on the same team for three hours and your politics don't matter.
00:38:30.540
Your socioeconomic status doesn't matter. Your religion, who you sleep with, none of it matters.
00:38:35.300
You're just rooting for the Cowboys and you're high-fiving people that you might never see
00:38:38.620
again. Yeah. Right. And I felt that and I loved it. The team aspect, which is similar to the
00:38:44.620
military where you're in this together. So that's where it started. And, and I said when I was 11
00:38:50.200
years old that I was going to be a sportscaster and I wanted to work at ESPN. And you did.
00:38:56.180
How hard was that to get into? Oh my God. For a woman. That's when I need alcohol.
00:39:00.900
That's where, um, very hard, but I loved the challenge. I wouldn't change a thing. It took
00:39:10.040
11 years once I graduated from college and then you start local TV, you know, like all hours of
00:39:16.580
the day and night. And there were no women doing it. No. And they let me know. There were coworkers
00:39:22.700
who were not happy I was there. Some even said, I heard through a friend of a friend who'd say,
00:39:29.420
you know, that one said, the only reason you're here is because you're, um, a double whammy
00:39:34.240
like HR loves you. You're a woman and a woman of color. You're getting hired. So I, of course
00:39:39.380
I heard for years that that was the only reason I was there. That was before DEI was an acronym
00:39:43.300
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corn forward as the people would say. I'm going to eat one right now. They're good. They're good. Beef
00:41:00.840
tallow. Like this is what a chip, this is how I remember chips tasting when I was a kid. And I knew
00:41:04.060
that, and you know what, maybe it was true at times, but you're not going to last there when you're on a TV
00:41:10.740
screen. Well, sometimes it opens a door, but it don't keep you in the room. Right. Because you'll
00:41:15.840
get exposed on live TV really, really fast. You did it for a long time. I did. I mean, 11 years,
00:41:22.040
local regional TV, and then 16 years at ESPN. Yeah. And honestly, I loved every moment. I started off
00:41:31.940
in South Bend, Indiana, a medium-sized market, like a good-sized market considering I had zero experience
00:41:38.400
and did not deserve a job. Yeah. But that was a, you know, a friend of the man that I interned for
00:41:44.040
at Indiana University who made a call to his friend who ran the station who said, give her a shot, you
00:41:48.540
know. Yeah. Cool. All who you know and how you treat people along the way. And I think I had good
00:41:53.260
parents to remind me to always just be kind, like whatever that means. When I say whatever that
00:41:59.780
means, I mean like it doesn't matter where you are. And if you think someone can do something for
00:42:04.760
you, just be nice. It's the right thing and it pays off for your heart, most importantly,
00:42:10.780
your soul. But also, who knows what people do with that when you're kind to them. And so I was on TV
00:42:16.980
during the day and waiting tables at night. And they would recognize me. Where they're like,
00:42:22.520
wait, aren't you that girl? And I'm like, yes. How would you like your stay? But I loved that time.
00:42:27.220
I was so poor. I was so broke. And I wasn't going to call my parents for help because they didn't have
00:42:32.080
any money. And also, I wanted to do it on my own. So I look back at those days.
00:42:36.100
How old were you then? Right out of college, 22, 23. And then fast forwarding all those years later
00:42:43.900
to ESPN. What was it like to work there? That must have been weird. Yeah, I think it depends on when.
00:42:53.700
Yeah, they weren't always owned by ABC or Disney, by the way.
00:42:56.140
When I was there. Or bought. When I was there, it was. It was. Yeah, I started in 07. I don't know
00:43:01.700
when that took place, that merger. I can look it up. But yeah, ESPN was very cool when it first
00:43:06.900
started. It was, which was 79. Yeah. So that was way before me. But think about the 1990s. And
00:43:13.420
that was my CTV. And that was before phones and everything. So if you wanted to see how your team
00:43:19.220
did, you had to either stay up late or wake up in the morning and see it. And then it'd be on repeat.
00:43:24.540
So a lot of us would skip classes in college and really, oh my gosh, did the Celtics win? I have
00:43:31.920
to stay to see what happened. Because we didn't have any other way of knowing if you missed it on
00:43:37.160
TV or whatever. So I was there at the beginning in 2007. I feel like it's heyday. Kind of on the tail
00:43:44.740
end of where the greats were, the Dan Patrick, the Stuart Scott, of course, who was one of my best
00:43:52.840
friends who helped me so much. Keith Olbermann, before he became a psycho a-hole.
00:44:00.280
He was great at that. He's brilliant. He was a beautiful writer. So I choose to remember him
00:44:04.600
that way, not how he is now or how he has become the last 15 years. But they were great. And they
00:44:10.340
made it. Chris Berman, who's still there. He was one of the originals from 1979.
00:44:15.160
Boomer is still there. So I got to watch them and learn from them. Most were pretty nice. Most
00:44:21.600
were pretty cool. But that first day that I was ever on SportsCenter, someone was sick. Someone
00:44:28.960
called in sick and they didn't have someone to fill in. It was that type of thing. I was
00:44:31.960
going to get on it eventually within a month. But that day, I was not ready. And it was a
00:44:35.900
disaster. I was terrible. I was awful. I can't even look at the tape. But I remember 30 seconds
00:44:42.140
before that red light on the camera went on. And I could hardly breathe. And I literally
00:44:47.760
went back to that 11-year-old girl on the couch with my dad, with this crazy dream in
00:44:55.640
1984, a dream that girls didn't have, especially girls who looked like me. There were a couple
00:45:01.660
of women nationally, but they didn't look... They were white. And that was just a different
00:45:06.160
time. And I tried... I had to really keep it together that first day. And for many years
00:45:12.320
after that, and remembering how far I'd come and how many people, really, so many people
00:45:19.160
helped me along the way and gave me a shot, even when I sucked. And I sucked for a long
00:45:24.780
Well, they saw something in you that you didn't...
00:45:27.720
They didn't harness it yet, but they saw it was there.
00:45:30.160
And they kept... People didn't really work with you in TV. I don't know. They just were
00:45:35.520
like, okay, let's give another chance. They saw I worked hard. And they saw that I knew
00:45:42.800
And slowing down. And it's still a problem. Whatever. It's too late at this point. Like
00:45:47.520
What do you think you brought to sports casting that nobody brought before you?
00:46:00.600
With your unique, you know, who you are and how you see things?
00:46:07.440
I've never been asked that question before. I... Others certainly had had these qualities
00:46:14.320
before me, long before me. But what drove me was my curiosity. And genuinely wanting
00:46:21.320
to know what these athletes were feeling at that moment, right before kickoff, on the
00:46:29.240
free throw line, and game seven of the NBA finals. Like I wanted to know what was going
00:46:33.460
through their minds because I've never been there and I never will be there. And that was
00:46:37.260
my job was to get those feelings, those answers out of them. So the audience, the millions of
00:46:42.040
people at home, could come into their world too. That's why we love them because they're
00:46:46.600
doing things that we're not capable of. So when I asked questions, and I always ask my own
00:46:51.960
questions, people didn't write my scripts. Like it was important. Very few people have scripts
00:46:56.560
written for them at ESPN. And so I really wanted to know the answer. It wasn't like a fake thing.
00:47:08.900
Hannah, can you bring me cigarettes out of my room on my grocery machine?
00:47:13.720
Hannah, and your one-year-old, can you please get the cigarettes? Thank you.
00:47:21.860
Roseanne Bar Podcast. This is the official fuel.
00:47:26.620
And that hadn't been done. I think only a woman could do that.
00:47:31.980
The fact that you, you know, have that rich, how will I say this?
00:47:53.700
You have that tradition of just that great strength of humanity, and you brought that
00:48:03.740
also, a kind of a lifting up and making human in a black woman way.
00:48:19.340
And I was like, she humanizes the whole sport, and I think that that was a great thing to
00:48:27.780
see a woman do, especially in such a masculine thing, you know?
00:48:36.080
And I was such a tomboy, and I had more guy friends than girlfriends, because guys are usually
00:48:45.280
And just in the sports world, it's always difficult.
00:48:57.500
We have so many hours of footage of Hannah Crawley with the baby.
00:49:01.580
You know what I was going to say that I wonder what you think about this?
00:49:05.140
Through the years, I've had so many young women come to me and say, because I kept my
00:49:11.240
hair curly and didn't straighten it, that that was part of it.
00:49:17.220
I had so many bosses through the years who asked me to straighten my hair.
00:49:23.620
And I was also told one time I didn't get a job, a really, really big job that I would
00:49:29.220
The producer who's still around, still doing very big things.
00:49:43.300
The book's going to be really good, right, Dave, if I ever freaking finish it.
00:49:50.200
This producer told my agent, she's great, we love her, for a sideline reporting job.
00:50:04.640
Sometimes it's black people that say that about black people.
00:50:10.580
Did they give the job to someone else with straight hair?
00:50:28.420
But at that point, I was like, oh, I'll straighten it.
00:50:31.540
Because this is the pinnacle job at that point in my career.
00:50:34.820
And probably in anyone's career who was doing what I was doing at the time.
00:50:38.420
And I thought, okay, can you imagine someone saying that now to an agent?
00:50:43.680
I mean, maybe they would, but they certainly wouldn't say it publicly, have the balls to
00:50:49.520
Nowadays, think about it, what they'd say about black hair.
00:51:05.260
And now, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they...
00:51:13.240
Well, certain black people, you know, that are in the power structure, you know, they just
00:51:23.380
I don't think they, in Hollywood, they don't feel any pride in their ethnicity or their
00:51:34.680
So they probably go, oh, she needs to be in a blonde wig.
00:51:44.640
And I don't know that world as much, but it's interesting.
00:51:51.380
She talks about how each culture, in order to gain power, especially in Hollywood, black
00:51:55.560
Jew, woman, whatever, you kind of have to sell it your own people.
00:52:10.380
You have to show your masters that you're one of them.
00:52:15.100
Oh, well, and in the black community, oh, the hate is real.
00:52:32.960
I mean, just from a visual perspective, when you look at TV now, I mean, about the hair
00:52:37.640
thing, part of it was true in that you never, if you watch local TV, if you're watching
00:52:44.240
in Dallas, Texas, or New York City, there was never a single female anchor who had curly
00:52:50.580
Even if they had curly hair, that shit was straightened, right?
00:52:53.180
And so it wasn't, I was unique in that way at that time, but it was only because I didn't
00:53:00.040
Like, this would have taken me hours, and I was having babies.
00:53:02.900
I was, it was a different, I didn't have time or money to straighten it.
00:53:07.920
I had straightened it one time at ESPN, and I had three bosses come up to me, they're
00:53:16.780
And so you go back to what God gave you, frankly, is the decision I made.
00:53:21.080
I'm like, no, this is how God made me, and it is what it is.
00:53:23.840
Now you look at TV, and watch ESPN, watch any news or sports network, and people are much
00:53:35.220
There's a girl on ESPN who shaves her head bald on purpose.
00:53:41.500
So I feel like, I mean, it's awesome to have seen the evolution of it.
00:53:47.500
I'd like to think that I was kept around because I did a good job and was a good teammate
00:54:01.180
But they always throw a few things at you anyway, even if you're great.
00:54:05.980
They always try to belittle you every way they can, if you're a woman.
00:54:13.240
It seems that they always try to build them up.
00:54:18.740
They seem to always want to build men up as if they understand that men need that.
00:54:24.620
But with women, it's like, she needs to be knocked down a few notches.
00:54:31.760
And I mean, just watching on TV, just at my old network, men could get old and fat and
00:54:49.580
And it's crazy because as the show evolved through the years, SportsCenter wasn't just
00:54:57.740
You're doing highlights and four-inch heels running to the other side of the set.
00:55:03.480
So not many, at the time, heavy women in that role on national TV.
00:55:10.360
You could be old and fat and ugly as a guy, but not as a woman.
00:55:14.480
And that is not immune to just my industry, my goodness.
00:55:17.720
But obviously, for a visual medium, and that's what you see, the standard, there was certainly
00:55:24.480
You know, I have two daughters, and I admit now, I think I see now more how I probably
00:55:36.240
fell into some traps with that, with trying to make sure I looked the part.
00:55:43.920
I exercised my whole life and stayed healthy for them.
00:55:48.440
But what I did realize, and I'd love to know your perspective on this, when you are
00:55:53.920
on air, on stages, performing, acting, hosting, I mean, you're in front of a mirror before
00:56:03.760
And it's really hard to age in front of a mirror every day with the world looking at
00:56:10.440
And I didn't realize how much it got into my head until more recently, where then you
00:56:15.520
get older, and your body changes as women, and your hormones change, and you have no control
00:56:29.280
Now, in some ways, I guess you could say it is, because now there's all the sensitivity
00:56:33.300
to that, and you have big, huge, out-of-shape girls in bikinis, and that's who's doing the
00:56:47.800
My mother wasn't a beauty pageant winner, when she...
00:56:52.820
It wasn't hard for me to age, because I was always a big, fat slob.
00:56:58.480
You know, I think I got better looking as I aged.
00:57:04.120
I mean, I always knew I was out of the running anyway.
00:57:13.640
I was going to say, you were iconic in that way, because really, who else came before you
00:57:18.980
who was the first mainstream person, much less superstar, to be wholly who you are?
00:57:32.680
I mean, Lucy, she was kind of a model, wasn't she?
00:57:40.620
You broke the mold literally and figured it out.
00:57:46.180
Because in Hollywood in particular, my world is a lot smaller than yours was, you know?
00:57:51.340
And there was no one else like you to do that and to own it.
00:57:56.740
I mean, that's one of many reasons why you did...
00:57:59.280
That show did so well from its inception is because you represented normal people.
00:58:10.900
And so I think that's why people believed the family, because they looked like everybody.
00:58:20.440
And you put it out there in the best possible way.
00:58:23.000
But you know what's funny is after the success of Roseanne, then it became okay for normal
00:58:28.460
But if you think about it, it was a big fat dad, but the wife was still hot.
00:58:37.620
They started to try and sleep back into that bullshit.
00:58:45.060
Well, I mean, I did so much stuff for fat women, but...
00:58:59.880
Because, you know, I got mad because all these fat women that broke into things, and it's
00:59:05.760
because of me, and not one of them goes, we'd like to thank big fat Roseanne for breaking
00:59:11.380
the boundaries for our big fat ass, but they pretend like they did it, and it really makes
00:59:16.960
me mad, but that's another thing of being a woman that's very successful and breaks a
00:59:23.720
lot of boundaries for women, and I didn't know it till I got fired, but women hate you
00:59:32.260
Women hate you for breaking down boundaries for women, and I didn't know that.
00:59:38.200
I thought they would be proud and happy that doors were opened and stereotypes smashed,
00:59:51.180
They don't want to thank women who came before or even acknowledge them.
00:59:57.700
And so I was going to ask you, I really want to get into this part.
01:00:10.980
First of all, I want to say you are so right with women, and that's been one of the most
01:00:14.160
disappointing things throughout my journey, because women are the ones that preach about,
01:00:21.520
we are women, hear us roar in the glass ceiling, da-da-da-da, where's the ladder?
01:00:27.600
You're not pulling people up with you, but you're going to crush men along the way and
01:00:32.060
So I have always been, more so lately, I'd say, open and constructively critical, I hope,
01:00:41.340
when in that, with that situation and that topic, because it's so hypocritical when we
01:00:49.200
criticize men, but then we don't even take care of each other and then are ugly to each
01:00:56.260
And I tell that to my daughters, no mean girls, no mean girl shit, like absolutely not.
01:01:02.100
And, you know, they catch themselves, and they've got beautiful hearts, and I will remind
01:01:08.620
them, but I always tell them, and of course, my daughters are 23 and 19, and I have a son
01:01:14.840
in the middle who's 21, who's in between the two psycho daughters, as I say, because they
01:01:20.700
But I try to remind them, like, that boy needs to come second to your friends right now, especially
01:01:28.360
You know, you take care of each other, and so if we as mothers instill that in our daughters
01:01:33.840
from a young age, I hope and pray that then when they're going off in their careers, they
01:01:39.580
remember that, and they're better than what we saw and experienced.
01:01:44.580
There's room for, I say this at ESPN, especially with some of these women, I'm like, what the
01:01:50.780
We all have signed a contract and are making good money.
01:01:54.360
Why are we being more divisive, and we've got to call them on it, and now it's so nice.
01:02:00.880
I don't have to care because I'm not there anymore, and I can say what I want.
01:02:10.320
I finally got my Roseanne Barr on, and I just said what I wanted to say.
01:02:15.140
I was on a podcast with former Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
01:02:19.680
It was a new podcast for him, and his publicist said, hey, he hasn't had a woman on yet.
01:02:28.420
And he asked me a couple questions, mainly about the Band-Aid on my arm, because I had
01:02:36.720
literally just come from getting the COVID vaccine.
01:02:41.580
And I got it because I was told by Disney and ESPN that if I didn't get a shot and was
01:02:48.300
fully vaccinated by September 30th, 2021, that I'd be fired.
01:02:56.820
And I fought it for the months leading up to it.
01:02:59.580
I talked to my agent, like, how can I get out of this?
01:03:07.900
I think this is wrong, and to force anybody to do this, it's experimental.
01:03:13.140
Just give us time for more research to have taken place.
01:03:19.160
I'm no scientist, but I could see easily, on average, it takes six to nine years for the
01:03:26.480
And I'm like, this is happening in a couple of months.
01:03:30.560
You know, Trump was in office, and it was evil.
01:03:32.560
Biden's in office, and it's required, and it's good.
01:03:35.840
So, once you started to pay attention a little, you could tell, right?
01:03:39.760
But I had this incredible job that I'd worked my whole life to get to that level at ESPN.
01:03:48.520
I was very recently divorced and 100% responsible financially for everyone in my family.
01:03:57.700
And to this day, Roseanne, honestly, I get, I'm still trying to forgive myself for caving
01:04:17.500
I might have cried at the bar when I told this story.
01:04:21.140
But I didn't want to, I was so afraid of getting caught.
01:04:27.080
I thought about that long and hard because I was so afraid of getting it in my body.
01:04:32.680
But I thought, since they knew I was against it, that they might go double, triple check.
01:04:38.640
And then if I got busted, it'd be headlines, Sage Steele, fake vax card.
01:04:47.600
And so, I went to the pharmacy that day that I was scheduled to be on Jay's podcast.
01:04:52.660
It was the last possible day I could get the shot to be fully vaxed.
01:04:56.060
And I sat in my car and I cried before I went in there.
01:04:59.500
And I was like, and I prayed all night the night before and that day, like, if you want
01:05:04.500
me to walk away from this job, God, please give me a sign or a sign that I'm going to
01:05:12.680
So, long story short, I went in the pharmacy and the sweet woman who was administering it
01:05:18.340
looked at me and she saw my red eyes and she said, are you okay?
01:05:21.960
And I was like, no, I'm being forced to get this shot to keep my job and I don't want
01:05:27.580
And she looked at me and she said, this is so wrong and I am so sorry.
01:05:33.720
And she held my hand and squeezed it and then she put it in my arm.
01:05:38.740
I've never been the same since here, here mentally.
01:05:46.920
I'm not an angry person, but for that situation, I was angry that they-
01:05:53.880
I knew it and the My Body, My Choice people, like I was livid, but I did what I had to
01:06:00.460
I would do it differently today, but that's okay.
01:06:02.860
It led to today and I wouldn't change a thing, but I got back in that car, cried the whole
01:06:08.120
way home, went, oh my God, I have this podcast, flipped up the lid on my laptop and did the
01:06:13.140
FaceTime, Zoom, whatever it was and started talking.
01:06:15.520
And I forgot that I had that Band-Aid on my shoulder because it had just happened.
01:06:19.200
And when Jay asked me, and he asked me before, he's like, can we talk about the COVID stuff?
01:06:24.540
And then when he asked me an hour later, I was like, what's the Band-Aid?
01:06:29.240
And I just said, well, I think it's sick and scary for any employer to force their employee
01:06:39.200
But I work for a global company, Disney, and I guess I'm not surprised.
01:06:45.100
And I love my job and I need my job, but I think it's sick and I think it's scary.
01:06:55.620
The podcast came out two weeks later and within a couple of hours, my agent called and he's
01:07:01.920
like, so, and I'd actually, I thought they were, I thought I might get in trouble for
01:07:05.980
something else, which I, it was the first time I talked about my divorce and I, it was
01:07:09.800
very, it was like a five second thing, but I thought they'd be like, you know, why did
01:07:15.720
And I really didn't, but it was more the part of having to bear the burden financially for
01:07:27.340
And my agent was like, this is not going over well.
01:07:30.140
You're going to get a call from the number two in command, Norby Williamson.
01:07:34.600
And I was very close to him at the time and I'm not now.
01:07:37.820
And he has since been let go from the company after 38 years or something, 39 years.
01:07:42.880
And he called and he said, you whacked the company, you whacked Disney and you can't do
01:07:53.600
And he said it wasn't going over well in Burbank headquarters, Disney headquarters.
01:07:58.500
And the other thing I said that ticked them off was about Obama.
01:08:07.480
The Obama thing was, Jay asked me why it was important for me to say that I'm biracial,
01:08:27.660
And I was on The View in 2014 and I was asked the same question.
01:08:32.380
And what I did in 2021 with Jay Cutler was I repeated the same story I said in 2014 to
01:08:36.620
Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg and Sherry Shepard and Jenny McCarthy.
01:08:40.680
And it just hit a little different seven years later.
01:08:45.000
What I said was Barbara was upset that I wasn't saying I'm black.
01:08:51.240
And I said, and she goes, well, what happens when you fill out a census?
01:08:55.560
And I was like, well, I haven't filled out a census in a long time.
01:09:06.420
And I said, well, congratulations to the president.
01:09:10.320
I said, but I'm pretty sure my white mom was there the day I was born.
01:09:21.100
As I said that, the monitor behind us put up a picture of my family with my white mom
01:09:29.100
And I, but the thing that got me in trouble there was I said, I just think it's fascinating
01:09:33.900
because Barack Obama was raised by his white mom and his white grandmother and his black
01:09:55.540
And I was sensitive to it because I had seen through the years where it was all about my
01:09:59.060
dad and the famous, you know, the football player from college and the colonel.
01:10:02.580
And like what my little white mom, you know, is the most beautiful soul and the glue that
01:10:14.400
And I feel like my family represents diversity in so many beautiful ways.
01:10:19.600
In 2021, it was not when I relayed that story from seven years prior.
01:10:23.280
And so then I was racist and anti-Obama and I hate my black self.
01:10:29.380
And so I got, that's when I got suspended for like 12 days, paid suspension.
01:10:35.040
They don't want to call it a suspension because I got paid, but I'm like, it's just like in
01:10:41.980
Had to publicly apologize for talking about those issues.
01:10:48.620
In the statement that had to go through Disney approval, I wasn't allowed to say the word
01:11:04.180
So they want to separate from you, but they're going to make sure you're crushed along the
01:11:12.500
And I was sidelined and then they, um, you know, the apology, but I didn't file the lawsuit
01:11:20.360
And the only reason I filed the lawsuit, I mean, I apologize.
01:11:23.820
They told me that I was going to go back to work, act like nothing happened.
01:11:26.860
The problem is they kept taking assignments away from me after that.
01:11:29.760
So the Rose Parade, Pasadena that I did every year, the last few years prior, um, New York
01:11:35.920
City Marathon, the events were disappearing and they weren't promoting the stories I was
01:11:40.800
doing, um, on a, uh, another streaming show that I had begun on the network.
01:11:45.620
All of a sudden they stopped promoting everything and they wouldn't talk to me.
01:11:49.180
And then when my coworkers went on the air and talked about abortion on an NBA show, Roe
01:11:58.980
versus Wade being overturned, or the don't say gay bill in Florida on a college basketball
01:12:06.960
So I'm like, wait, so you can have people who agree with you go on sports platforms and
01:12:13.080
talk about things that have nothing to do with sports.
01:12:14.520
And I was on a day off talking about my own experience and then I was suspended.
01:12:18.820
So when there's that hypocrisy and it's been happening for years, that's when, um, my
01:12:24.540
friend, Chris Harrison from the bachelor called and said, you need to talk to my guy, Brian
01:12:37.040
And that's when I realized, and when I talked to my attorney, well, I hadn't even hired him
01:12:41.260
When I told him the whole story, sobbing, because I'm like, first of all, you realize you're
01:12:47.720
hated by many, not all, but that's what the social media and internet tells you.
01:12:54.260
He fought with Disney before he got Megyn Kelly, everything she deserved from NBC after
01:13:03.760
Is this the time that you stand up for yourself and you say enough is enough, because I know
01:13:10.440
you've experienced this for years, or do you sit back and stay quiet?
01:13:14.900
Because this is a major undertaking, Disney, right?
01:13:19.320
And I, it's just me and I'm single and I have these three kids, one in college, two in high
01:13:31.020
I was just that goody two shoes for all those years.
01:13:33.820
And I prayed about it and I talked to my parents about it.
01:13:36.500
And of course they were scared too, because they just saw their daughter getting crushed.
01:13:46.780
I think settling out of court with Disney is a victory.
01:13:51.340
I look forward to settling out of court with Disney with my lawsuit.
01:13:56.920
We can't, we're not allowed to talk about it, but I will say we can't talk about it.
01:14:01.160
We can, we can mention this, that you are pursuing what's rightfully yours.
01:14:15.040
The scorched earth letter, like we're going to destroy you and ruin your life and kill your
01:14:26.460
I went, oh, well, they already tried to kill me.
01:14:29.820
I walked to mom and I was like, what do you think?
01:14:31.900
And she's like, nah, fucking, I'm too old to be, I'm, I'm too old not to fight.
01:14:39.300
How many people would have said, I'm too old to fight?
01:14:56.460
And I think that, gosh, I think I would have regretted it if I had stayed quiet, even though
01:15:02.420
it would have been easier and cheaper and a lot of things, right?
01:15:11.860
I went to every lawyer in LA because I always wanted to fight because I knew what they did.
01:15:18.080
After they got, they told me it was only going to be one season because we were renewed
01:15:23.600
and that I had to pay for that season if I didn't sign my rights away.
01:15:29.320
And I said, well, what if you get more than one season?
01:15:41.600
I said, well, what if you do get another season?
01:15:49.740
So I went to every lawyer in LA and they all said, well, we previously represented Disney,
01:16:00.340
There was not one lawyer in LA or New York or Chicago.
01:16:14.740
And then three days later, he called and said, I'm going to work for the Trump administration,
01:16:24.220
It's been very difficult until I finally found some great Hispanic lawyers from Trump.
01:16:46.060
Because a lot of them came from communist countries.
01:17:07.340
But I firmly believe this is so important and so well-deserved for you to fight back,
01:17:21.040
Doing the exact same thing and battling with Disney.
01:17:23.260
I'm like, gosh, I wish Elon Musk had helped me with my last suit.
01:17:39.720
But I mean, when you're called a racist, people.
01:17:44.900
When you're a civil rights activist for 30 years.
01:17:50.900
They have no geopolitical intelligence about Iran, especially then.
01:17:57.740
But now it's starting to come out what the Obama administration did with their Iran deal
01:18:08.940
But anyway, when you're called a racist, nobody wants to represent you because they're
01:18:28.760
Well, you'll come back because we have too much more to talk about.
01:18:37.620
Well, including the fact that ABC and all these libtards that work for the CCP and all
01:19:04.980
That is why, whether it's on social media, on your show, on my show, anytime that we have
01:19:12.260
I know that you, if I have had as many people come up to me as I have, that you have had
01:19:19.620
And people say thank you because they're afraid.
01:19:24.060
Because if they see that Roseanne Barr can get canceled, which you haven't, you've been
01:19:29.920
Or me or anybody else who's done things really the right way for all those years, I always
01:19:37.300
Maybe we're the dummies and we should have just said, no.
01:19:44.100
Because what we stand for, I think, is American values because we believe in integration.
01:19:55.740
All my friends were black and, you know, I grew up in the inner city.
01:20:01.520
So I have those values of just seeing the light in everybody.
01:20:21.020
And I kept calling ABC and Tom Warner, who owned my show, and I said, can you please put
01:20:28.560
out a statement saying that, you know, I am not a racist.
01:20:35.120
And then the next day they said, they said, if you'll sign away your rights, we'll make
01:20:44.400
And I, all I cared about was that because it was my whole life and a vow I took to God
01:20:59.740
And the next day, there was a ton of shit about my racist tweet.
01:21:11.220
And it was about the Iran deal, which was a destruction of women and women's rights.
01:21:26.220
I didn't think I would make it out alive of it.
01:21:30.380
And I had people in the army that said, you need to go to, uh, what's that town called in,
01:21:42.040
They said, you need to go because they're going to try to kill you.
01:21:45.760
Um, cause you had a number one show and you were Trump supporter and they're coming for
01:21:52.020
And, uh, Singapore, I was going to go there, but, um, you know, I felt like God was talking
01:22:04.580
Um, I couldn't even walk and, uh, I couldn't get out of bed.
01:22:12.740
And then God came in, like he has a thousand times in my life.
01:22:20.300
And he said, you will have to get louder and more fierce than you've ever been in your life.
01:22:36.000
I called, I got, I had so many people's numbers and I called them all.
01:22:54.440
And if people want to think I'm a racist, that's just cause they're racist and fuck them.
01:23:01.000
And, uh, I, let me ask you this real quick too.
01:23:08.640
I'm wondering if the fact that Tom Warner would not say she's not a racist.
01:23:16.940
He called me six months later and said, I said, you're not a racist at NAPTI when I resold the Roseanne show.
01:23:30.700
All the racist stuff about her racist tweet where she called Valerie Jarrett, said Valerie Jarrett looked like an ape.
01:23:37.680
Um, they would never show the picture that I captioned, which shows her looking just like that woman in makeup.
01:24:01.400
Well, cause they knew if they did stick up for me, they'd be called a racist too.
01:24:09.560
I'm with you on that, but as, as we get further along in the culture wars and where we are as America, fuck you.
01:24:16.200
Like that now's not the time to be silent and a pussy.
01:24:30.860
This is why bad shit's happening all over the world is because people are too afraid to stand up.
01:24:39.180
And they chose to do that to me in order to do that to all Trump supporters.
01:24:45.520
And when I made the connection, I'm like, fuck it, I'm fighting.
01:24:56.980
And, you know, I was always so proud that I had a diverse audience.
01:25:01.180
You know, whenever I did stand up, I had every color and nation of people in my audience.
01:25:06.100
And the last few times that I've done some shows, you know, I, I, they ruined that for me.
01:25:14.560
I don't, I don't, I don't think anyone will truly comprehend what that feels like.
01:25:21.800
And especially because of the way you've lived your life.
01:25:23.920
I'm going to share this with you and then I'll shut up.
01:25:42.220
Still don't have a sex drive when you look at him?
01:25:49.140
But listen, you've got to come back and we've got to just hang out.
01:26:13.420
Because this has been the coolest, best thing I learned about your mom starting that day in Los Angeles.
01:26:19.880
I didn't understand the strength of your faith.
01:26:25.380
And Dave and I were talking about this after our conversation yesterday where you really shared the story about when you were three years old and God told you what was going to happen in your life with your show.
01:26:39.280
I can't wait for people to see that on my show, too.
01:26:41.160
This is the prayer that my dad made us memorize as kids.
01:26:45.500
From his days at West Point when he was forced to say it probably 10,000 times.
01:26:50.080
But this is what got me through everything in my life.
01:26:53.740
And it reminds me of what you're doing right now.
01:26:56.240
Help me to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be one.
01:27:08.640
It's your mom because you can apply it to everything in your life.
01:27:19.900
And what you're doing right now by fighting back, by saying I'm too old not to fight back, it is the harder right.
01:27:27.260
It would be easier to stay silent right now because, hey, you're good.
01:27:38.520
To see my God where he goes, why were you silent?
01:27:44.260
I gave you a big fat mouth and you was always going around.
01:27:50.160
Because you have, in the last part of that prayer, you have the opportunity to not settle for a half truth.
01:27:59.660
I think now they're learning it in every aspect of our country and life and world with the anti-Semitism and everything.
01:28:09.120
So thank you for doing that, for all these years for me and for so many others.
01:28:14.600
Well, I want you to give your dad a big hug and a kiss and give your mom a big hug and a kiss and say,
01:28:22.200
I sent it to them through you because what heroes and to create such a lovely child.
01:28:33.360
I've already been crying in this whole episode a couple times.
01:28:49.300
Let's enjoy the last few months of him smiling, shall we?
01:29:04.180
I've been four times and I'm never doing it again.
01:29:25.820
I don't want to listen to any man tell me anything ever again.
01:29:29.540
And I don't want to be a lesbian because I hate women and all they do is, yeah.
01:29:35.920
You could program an AI boyfriend to just love every time you tell the same story over and over
01:30:03.580
We have much more to discuss regarding history in this country and where we're going.
01:30:14.300
So you see, my patience is growing thin in this synthetic world we're living in.
01:30:27.620
Oh, you see, my patience is growing thin with this synthetic world we're living in.