001 | For The Record, All of This Is Insane

In the first episode, Ayana explains the show’s three segments: The Docket (weekly pop culture), What They Aren’t Telling You (deeper dive on a bigger story), and Off the Record (personal thoughts). On the docket, she covers reports of a leaked Diddy sex tape and online reactions, then breaks down Jay-Z’s Roots Picnic freestyle. She also discusses Love Island Season 8 cast news, including a contestant removed after an old video surfaced of her saying the N-word, plus broader concerns about online harassment and casting. She reviews The Testaments finale, highlighting key scenes, themes, and Margaret Atwood’s cameo. In What They Aren’t Telling You, she critiques the planned UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn. Off the Record, she reacts to TikToks showing adults struggling with reading comprehension and warns about a literacy crisis. 

Send your thoughts, questions, and topic suggestions to ofrecordwithayana.com. 

IG: @offrecordwithayana 

https://offtherecordpod.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Ayana 0:00

Brr, brr, brr, brr. I'm a child, y'all already know that. So before we get started, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening and supporting me. I've wanted to do this for a very long time, and now I'm doing it. So before we get into the podcast, I wanna kind of explain the segments that are gonna be in the podcast and what you can expect from each segment. So the first segment is gonna be The Docket That is just huge pop culture moments, what's going on in the media, big stories in the media, essentially, for the week. The second segment is gonna be What They Aren't Telling You. In that segment, I'm gonna just talk about a bigger issue, a bigger story that I think isn't getting enough coverage or isn't being dissected enough in the way in which it needs to be, and that could be anything. And then the third segment is gonna be Off the Record where I get more personal. I kinda tell you what's been going on in my mind, that sort of thing. So now let's get into the docket. The docket this week is gonna be a bit insane. We have Jay-Z on the docket, Love Island Diddy's on the docket, and The Testament's

Diddy Leak

Ayana 1:03

finale So first we're gonna talk about Diddy. If you didn't know, Diddy's sex tape got leaked on the interwebs. I didn't see it 'cause I, I choose to do better things with my time and my life and my eyes. But if you did, from what the people say on the Instagram and on the Twitters, they're saying that, Daphne Joy is in it, who is 50 Cent's baby mama, and if you didn't know, 50 Cent has a long history of hating Diddy. I can't say that Diddy also hates 50 Cent. I don't know that to be true. So 50 Cent's baby mama is in it, Miss Daphne, and the peoples, were not impressed by the size of Diddy's package. I, again, did not see it with my own eyes. He's an insane person, and I think he is where he deserves to be, which is in federal prison. I think he should've gotten a bit longer, but that's neither here nor there, and I was not in charge of that.

Jay Z Roots Picnic Performance

Ayana 1:49

Next up on the docket is gonna be Jay-Z and his performance at The Roots picnic. This past weekend, Jay-Z performed at The Roots picnic in Philadelphia, and he had a lot to get off his chest. I'm gonna give you some specific quotes from his freestyle, and we're gonna just dissect them, 'cause I think they're really, they're hilarious. Let's get into this direct quote from his freestyle, and this freestyle was done before he even started his performance. So this was just off the dome, what he's been wanting to get off his head for a very long time I'll tell you who I also think the statements are about, like, because it's very clear, in my opinion, who they're about, and I've confirmed this on the internet. Or we're all confirming and alleging these statements are about certain people because we don't know for sure, 'cause Jay-Z didn't tell us, but we're assuming, and you'll assume, too. So the first, um, statement in his freestyle was, "That lady back on that stuff." I knew it was Nicki Minaj. I knew it. Okay, I'm sorry. "That lady back on that stuff." She sounds like she's in love with him. "Her Ken can't pick up they kid." Now, that I would assume is about Nicki Minaj. She's been on the Twitter for a very long time disparaging Jay-Z's name. She hates Jay-Z. I think one of her allegations is that Jay-Z owes her some money. I'm not sure how, though. Allegedly she signed a contract, he didn't pay her. Now, I've never heard of Jay-Z not paying anybody, but again, Jay-Z doesn't owe me money, so I can't speak to that. All I can speak to is she hates him, and she subs him on Twitter all the time. I mean, it's her daily thing, especially when she's off the drugs, allegedly. Again, I'm not there while she's doing whatever she's doing, but her behavior would make me think that she is not sober when she's making these tweets because they're horrendous, and they make no sense. So she's spent a lot of time talking about Jay-Z, so it doesn't surprise me that she got, some shots in this freestyle. The next, statement from the freestyle we're gonna discuss is, and I quote, "You ever heard of child prodigies? My children are some of them. Have you no shame? You really wanna get under my skin? I'll get under your skin. Ask Un." I did have to ask who Un was. Allegedly Un is someone that was stabbed or shot in the past, not by Jay-Z, but- Again, I don't know. I wasn't there holding a light. So well, let's get back to it. "Ask Un how I'm playing. Y'all thugs with y'all thumbs again. Everybody think they're the ones insane. You're no maniac. Watch how sane he acts in my presence. They shrink." Now, the people are saying that's about, Mr. West, who is known as Kanye, or I don't know what he's going by these days, 'cause he's having a hard time as well. So when I heard he's... No, he, did he, did he... I think he apologized again. It doesn't matter. Anyway, probably over a year ago now, during a manic episode when he was tweeting all the things on Twitter, he made a very disparaging statement about Jay-Z's children. Jay Z has a set of twins, a boy and a girl, Rumi and Sir. We see Rumi a lot. We hardly ever see Sir. Sir is booked and busy, okay? I believe Sir is in the back playing with his trucks. Sir does not care that his mom's Beyoncé and his dad is Jay Z. He sees them as Mom and Dad, and they do not impress him. I think Sir does not wanna be in the public eye. From what Mama Tina says, Sir is very shy. I could imagine it would be a lot at the age of fucking eight, you walking outside and people are screaming not only your name, but your mother's name. It would be very concerning and confusing. I would prefer to stay in the back as well. Either way, Sir's living his best life. And again, these are children. Why do we need to pick apart why we see them, why we don't see them? In one of Kanye's rants on Twitter that he may or may not have been manic in, he referred to Jay-Z's daughter as the R word. The word we don't use now, and the word that people used back in the day to refer to people who may have had some mental delays or mental disabilities. Jay-Z did not respond to that, but this was his response, "And for that I say good day, sir. I love that. You don't speak about my kids and you don't get a response from me. That's not how it works. And I respond on my time." Because this is what? A year post that statement from, um, Kanye, so I stan. The next, statement that I pulled from his freestyle was, "I ain't much for meetings now. Canceled the brunches. I remember the hunger pains. The price of the bricks is going up. It's gonna cost a B to say my name." Now, I think that's about Tony Buzbee. If you remember, Tony Buzbee is the attorney who brought the sexual assault lawsuit against Jay-Z and Diddy, and the victim in that lawsuit alleged that when she was 13, Diddy and Jay-Z sexually assaulted her after some party. Fast-forward, that lawsuit gets dismissed. Now Jay-Z is suing Tony Buzbee for, like, $700 million in damages because he says that his reputation took a hit. He alleges that he lost upwards of $190 million due to that lawsuit being brought because it wasn't true, and it affected him on a business level. Tony Buzbee is known for bringing a lot of frivolous lawsuits. He is known as the attorney who doesn't know what he's doing but will take your money and will make something stick, babe. And so there are a lot of allegations in Jay-Z's lawsuit against Tony Buzbee, but I think that's who that statement is about. Also, canceled the brunches, that part. He did cancel the Roc Nation brunch. There was a well-known brunch every year that was called the Roc Nation brunch that anybody and everybody wanted to be in attendance at. It is no longer a thing. I think it got canceled a few years ago, and then it just never came back. We never really got an update as to why. I think the first time it got canceled, people said, "Oh, it was because they're so busy." And granted, Jay-Z and Beyoncé are the ones who host the brunch. They are very busy, but it has not stopped them in the past from throwing said brunch. And it's not like they're the ones actually throwing it. They have people for that. But anyway, the next statement is about, I think Tory Lanez and his father, and maybe a way of standing up for Megan Thee Stallion. The statement says, "The rock's not crumbling till the leprechaun magically runs out of pranks. Your son is on the federal jail line mumbling something about having too much in his drink. You know how dumb that is?" During Tory Lanez' trial in which he was charged with shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot, there was a point at which his father stood outside of the courthouse and screamed at the literal top of his fucking lungs that Roc Nation will crumble because he believed that Roc Nation was behind all of this and was backing Megan, which is why his son was gonna be convicted and go to prison. Um, your son is in prison because he had a gun and he wasn't supposed to have one. That's, that's why your son's in prison. Also, there are allegedly recordings of your son apologizing, saying he shouldn't have done that, and those recordings are from the jail call. So he was making those calls from the jailhouse. I think we might be pointing fingers at the wrong people. I think we might need to look at your son as to why he's in prison. I don't think we should blame Roc Nation for that. That's who I think that statement is about, and I think it might be his way of, like, standing up for Megan, you know? And because they... allegedly Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Megan have a great relationship, and I guess Tory Lanez' father felt like that relationship was being utilized in sending his son to prison. And I just think that we have to start holding people accountable for their actions. I think your son shouldn't have had a gun and your son shouldn't have shot Megan. If he didn't shoot Megan he probably would be out living his life making songs nobody would listen to. Anyway, the next statement is about, I think Drake. The statement that I pulled from the freestyle was, "A rapper can't be my op. The jig is up. I'm up 10. Wrong chart, champ. Y'all looked up to Hov, I never looked up to y'all. Also, crackers got your publishing, gangster. Go talk to them. Don't talk to me about success, y'all workers." Along with that he also said, "In perpetuity is how your contract is worded." Now, there's a lot in that. We're gonna do line by line. A rapper can't be my op. He's saying that a rapper could never be someone I'm going against. There have been beefs, including Jay-Z and rap in the past, and Nas was his opp. However, Nas was a rapper, and I do think that Nas is on another level than Drake. I- take that for what you will. I'm not, I'm not arguing with the Drake stans. I'm not, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it tonight. So the jig is up, I'm up 10. In one of Drake's new albums, he refers to, like, the jig is up. If you didn't know, Jay-Z used to refer to himself as Jigga, J-I-G-G-A. So he's like, "A rapper can't be my opp. The jig is up. I'm up 10." I'm thinking he's saying, "I'm up 10 billion." And for that I say he might be telling the truth. We don't know how much this man makes. Forbes says he's worth, like, two billion, but I'm sure he doesn't share all his financial reports with Forbes. So, um, he could be having 10 billion in the bank. And for that I say let me borrow $20, Jay-Z, if you're listening to this. The next line is, "Wrong chart, champ. Y'all looked up to Hov. I never looked up to y'all." He's saying that, I don't really care about you charting, babe. I'm, I'm caring about what the people are saying how much money I have. That's the chart that I'm focused on. You're focused on the, the, the streaming charts, I'm no longer focused on those. And also y'all looked up to me, I never looked up to y'all. Meaning I am basically your OG, and you're a peon, and this is not a battle in which we're on equal footing. You are my son. Thanks for coming to the TED Talk. Now, the second statement of, "The crackers got your publishing, gangster. Go talk to them. Don't talk to me about success, y'all workers." It has been reported that the crackers in fact do have Drake's publishing. Oh. Universal owns Drake's publishing, and that is basically all the songs he's written outside of maybe his songs with Young Money. They own those. If you didn't know, he's allegedly trying to get out of that contract with Universal, and that... He's suing them. That's a whole nother lawsuit I don't care about because I think Drake's a child. And y'all are... Don't talk to me about success, y'all are workers. He's basically saying, "You think you achieved success, I'm saying you're a worker. I don't work for anybody. You motherfuckers work for me." And then that again is son'ing him. He's putting him down a notch. And then last but certainly not least is the, "In perpetuity is how your contract is worded." If you didn't know, perpetuity means forever. It's an infinite amount of time. Meaning you're in that contract forever, babe. There's no getting out. Because the people say that Drake is locked into, like, a 10, 12-year contract. I don't know that to be true. I do know it might be 10 years. I think it either might be 10 years or 10 albums. Either way, he's locked in an ironclad contract, and the people are saying that even the three albums he just released are not gonna get him out of that contract. And to that I say Sucks to suck, gangster. Anyway, I think that I'm shocked that Jay-Z said something to any of these people, let alone put it in a freestyle, but then again, I'm not. I think Jay-Z is an easy target because people believe he's not gonna s- reply or say anything. But I think that he's tired of that shit, and I, for one, I'm down with it. Now, there was a quote from this freestyle that, um, is gonna ring forever, and it is about the person who hates him more than anybody, and that is gonna be Dame Dash. If you don't know who Dame Dash is, I'm not here to explain it to you. You gotta do your Googles for that. Dame Dash hates Jay-Z. I think Jay-Z ignores Dame. I think Jay-Z lives his life and Dame lives his life to torment Jay-Z. So that statement was, another one fumbled his. Wonder how I get blamed? Teeth is falling out they mouth and somehow I'm the one who did it. It's a mystery murder, gang." So, Dame Dash did an interview and his teeth were falling out of his mouth and, um, that's very embarrassing. If you know anything about Dame Dash, he is very much You motherfuckers are peons. Y'all not on my level. I am richer than y'all. So for him to get on the interwebs and his teeth fall out during an interview, it was really embarrassing. Um, not a good look for Dame. Now, I do believe that he was well within his right to respond to these people. Like I said, I think Jay-Z's an easy target because he never replies. But in his interview with GQ earlier this year, he did say that last year was defense, this year's offense. So if this is him playing offense, you guys are fucked. Like, he has three shows in July that are coming up, and I say to that, get fucking ready, 'cause you need to lock in. People say we're getting an album. I don't know if we're getting an album. Now, in that GQ interview, He was asked about, the Drake and Kendrick beef. He said he didn't really agree with rap beef. It's really divisive. It makes the fans choose. People are like, "Well, wow, you're such a fucking hypocrite because now you're igniting beef." I don't think this freestyle was about igniting beef. I think this freestyle was more so, "You motherfuckers keep playing with me, and I think I need to pop back on the scene and remind y'all who the fuck I am." And for that I say what his wife said, "Bow down, bitches." I think people have forgotten that he's the OG, and I think this freestyle maybe have reminded them, and they probably are upset about that. But to someone didn't catch any strays in the freestyle, I say this was great. Hip-hop is back, bitches. I'm excited. I haven't been this excited since the Drake and Kendrick beef ignited.

Love Island Season 8 Cast & Drama

Ayana 15:44

Next up on the docket is gonna be Love Island season eight. So, shit's crazy. They released the cast on May 28th, which I felt was kinda late. People said they typically announce it around that time, but I don't know. And the internet went crazy researching the cast per usual. I'm only really going for everybody Black in the words of Issa Rae. So those are Anaya, Trinity, and KC. Melanie may be Black. She might be Hispanic. I don't know how she identifies, but, um, I think for sure Anaya, Trinity, and KC are Black. And to that I say welcome to the client list. It wouldn't be Love Island if someone didn't get kicked off for saying a slur. So what? 12 hours after they released the cast on May 28th, an old video of one of the contestants, Vasana, appeared on the interwebs, and it was a video of her saying the N-word. Does Love Island not have anybody who's vetting these people? Because how is it taking the randoms on the internet less than 12 hours to find a video of this person saying a slur? Did y'all not do any research on these people? Did you not scour the internet looking for things that could be, you know, not good? So of course, that video hit the streets of the internet, and the next thing we knew, Vasana's picture was off the app and she's been removed from the cast. I don't think they've started recording yet, so it turns out it worked in her favor because now they can just introduce someone in real quick. It's not awkward like it was last season where, they released the cast. The girl was in the villa. I think she was there for what? One or, one or two days. Video comes out that she was also saying the N-word. They rip her out of that villa, I mean, screaming with her luggage. Babe couldn't even unpack. They moved past her exit of the villa so quick it was like you forgot she was there. And to that I say I support. It frustrates me because I only started watching Love Island at season six USA, and I've seen some UK episodes, but from what I've seen on the internet, it was not this crazy prior to Love Island season six, and it's only gotten progressively worse from season six to season seven. This season's gonna be season eight. And the people on the internet are actually insane because now they've released the cast. Of course, people have gone through these people's social media. They are editing photos, trying to make people look bad. Like I saw one photo of one of the girls, I can't think of her name, and they edited like box braids on her, and they put her in an army fatigue and put the Israeli flag on the side of her arm. And it was like, come- why? But, but again, those are the dangers of AI. That's the danger of social media. Love Island knows the internet has made it worse because prior to releasing the cast, Love Island put out a statement and they said, "The villa runs on good vibes and so does this community. We love seeing your reactions, opinions, and debates, but everyone deserves to feel safe and respected. This is a safe space for fun, not negativity. So keep it kind, keep it positive, and remember, this is Love Island." They released the cast. Motherfuckers don't keep it positive. They don't keep it kind. They forgot it was Love Island, just that quick. Something that should be so fun to just watch and indulge in is now becoming, horrible, and these people are, like, being torn to pieces over, stupid shit. And I'm not saying the girl who got kicked off for saying the N-word got kicked off for something stupid. I'm saying, we're gonna make people not wanna go on this damn show because now you get on the show and immediately people start going through your life. And yeah, one could argue, "Well, you signed up for this show, you knew what you were getting yourself into." But on the other side, maybe y'all shouldn't be so damn crazy on the internet. That's my point of view. Like, yeah, you know what you're getting yourself into, but one would also hope that somebody wouldn't find out where your mama live, and now your mama gotta put goddamn security guard outside her damn house because people are sending hate mail to your mama, all because you joined the fucking Love Island cast. Allegedly, two of the men on the show are baby daddies. People are upset about that. I'm not interested in baby daddies. There, there's a market for baby daddies, just not the market I shop at, and it might be the market that some of these girls on the show shop at. We don't know that. They might be looking for a baby daddy. They might be looking for somebody who already has a kid 'cause they don't want kids, and they don't wanna have their own kids. I never wanna yuck anybody's yum. But to those who are, I say congratulations and good day. I've also seen people upset because one of the cast members is a cop. Feel how you feel about cops, but I, like, again, we can't make them filter the cast into who we want them to pick. Like, everybody's gonna have a job. Everybody... Like, these people, we're supposed to be wanting them to get real people, and they're getting real people, and people are pissed. One of the good things I saw was that one of the girls that was picked, her name's Beatrice, and she is a US Paralympian, and she has a prosthetic leg. I think that's super dope. I'm a little nervous though, because this show's very shallow. They typically pick people who are conventionally attractive, and so I don't know... I mean, all the girls on here are gorgeous, but I don't... Like, these aren't good people, you know? Like, these aren't the stand-up men they're bringing on this show. So I don't know if it was even good for them to cast her, not because I don't wanna see someone who has a prosthetic leg, but because is she now gonna be shunned for having a prosthetic leg? And is that gonna be a positive experience for her because she has a visible disability? Like, I, I would hope not, but again, they pick very shallow people. So we shall see. But the show started yesterday, and I'm filming this before the show starts. I don't have any opinions. Like I said, I'm only really supporting everybody that's Black. So, you know, good luck to everybody. I hope everybody stays and, quote-unquote, "finds love," but that's all I got for Love Island. Last but certainly

The Testaments Finale *Spoilers*

Ayana 21:46

not least that's on the docket is The Testaments finale. So The Testaments is the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, and it's already been renewed for season two, which I'm really excited about. It's focused more on June's daughter, June is the main character of The Handmaid's Tale, and this show, The Testaments, is about Hannah/Agnes, who is June's daughter. I say Hannah/Agnes because her mama named her Hannah. Gilead changed her name to Agnes. She goes by Agnes, but I'ma call her what her mama call her, her mama named her Hannah. So this show focuses primarily on Hannah in wife school. Yes, you heard that correct, wife school. Hannah is 14. Yes, if you don't know anything about Gilead, please do your Googles. Gilead's a horrible place. It feels like America turned into Gilead 2.0. Anyway, I thought the show was amazing. It is a lot more tempered down than The Handmaid's Tale. A lot of people couldn't get through The Handmaid's Tale because it is a rough watch sometimes. There's a lot of things that happen in the, the earlier seasons of The Handmaid's Tale that are very graphic and can be a lot for someone. I mean, even if you don't have any trauma in your life, it can be a lot. So this show is, in my opinion, tame. There's still physical violence in the sense of you see people be hung, you see people get their arm chopped off. And again, I'm not saying that's not- explicit. I'm saying in comparison to The Handmaid's Tale, it's not as explicit 'cause The Handmaid's Tale was rough. But I think the season finale, it really positioned itself to open up a lot of opportunities for the season two that kind of leave us as viewers wanting more. We don't really know how it's gonna work, but I'm excited for it. And The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments are two books actually that came out in the '80s that are written by Margaret Atwood. And Margaret Atwood actually appeared in the season finale of The Testaments as one of like the little therapist. And I love when shows drop little, um, like Easter eggs in the show because if you didn't know what Margaret Atwood looked like, you didn't know that was her. But because I knew what Margaret Atwood looked like, as soon as I saw her I sat up. I was like, "Is that Margie?" Like, "Is that homegirl?" 'Cause she's older. I hate to put her out there, but I think babe's like 90. So I mean the fact they got her on the show and she's up and walking and knows what's going on is a blessing in itself. But to kinda go through some of the funny things from the season finale. And again, if you have not seen this show, this is where the spoilers start. If you haven't finished the show, this is where the spoilers start. Hopefully you've watched it in time, but if you haven't, stop listening right now and skip ahead if you don't wanna hear any spoilers about The Testaments finale. Can we just talk about how These girls really got bold. But I'm proud of them. Agnes basically going off on Aunt Vidala being like, "You have to save Becca," and her being like, "We can only pray for Becca." And her kinda using, you know, the teachings they've shoved down their throat against Aunt Vidala was amazing. It was like y'all told us that the people who break the rules would have an consequence and that Becca only did what she was supposed to do. Becca murdered her father. Now that sounds horrific. In Becca's defense her father was a pedophile #FreeBeccaTillIt'sBackwards. But anyway, I thought that scene was really powerful that she was spinning back the scripture of like this is what you idiots told us would happen. This is what you told us was just punishment and now that Becca basically was the one who did the punishment she's in trouble? Now another reason why Becca murdered her father not only because he is a pedophile but because he inappropriately touched Agnes AKA Hannah. And Becca and Agnes are best friends. Becca held Agnes down like a real sister would and I'm trying to figure out what Becca did wrong. I mean, Becca did murder her parent and for that she has to answer to God but I mean, you know, her, her father had a lot going on. There's a scene where Becca's walking down the aisle and she drops her bouquet and then it flashes to Becca's mom being hung and her body drops so you see the dr- the bouquet falling through the air and then you see Becca's mom's body falling. I thought that was wonderfully done. Not saying I love murder. I'm just saying it was shot nicely. Like whoever thought of that and put those two things together, A+ for you. You deserve a cookie. Um, another thing that was interesting to me is that Becca and Agnes kissed in the show. A lot of people are like, "Oh my God, I ship them." Becca has confessed her love to another girl in the show about Agnes, AKA Hannah. Now, people saw the kiss and immediately jumped out of their minds with, "Oh my God, this means they're in love." Now, these girls are so different from the women in The Handmaids. The women in The Handmaids went from living in what we live in now, a functional society, to then Gilead, which is super oppressive for women. If you're a handmaid, you're basically sexually assaulted around the clock in order to produce a baby. You're literally just an incubator for children. Whereas in The Testaments, these girls who were in wife school at the age of 12 to 14 have been indoctrinated into this society. They don't know what sexual assault is. They don't know what rape is. They don't know that it's inappropriate for men to, to stare at them and, undress them with their eyes. They have no clue any of that is inappropriate, and they don't know that that's happening to them 'cause they're not even aware that's a thing. They don't know what a lesbian is. They have no clue what homosexuality is. They have no kind of foundation for any of that. I don't think that Agnes and Becca kissing was like, "Oh, I love you." I think that Becca obviously was having a really hard time because, you know, you're having to get married. You don't really wanna get married. You just murdered your father. Your mom just got killed because she took the rap for murdering your father. I think Agnes was just trying to be a good friend. I d- I personally have never kissed any of my friends on the lips, but again, these girls are confused. They got a lot going on, okay? No shade to Agnes/Hannah. But those are the funny things from the season finale. And in the next coming months, I'm gonna read The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, and I'll let you guys know how both shows differ from the books, because I've heard that they're very different from the books. And so I'm excited to see what those differences are. And I think that wraps up the docket for

UFC 250 Freedom Event

Ayana 28:30

this week. Now we can transition into the segment titled What They Aren't Telling You. In this segment today, we're gonna talk about, the UFC hosting a fucking fight at the White House. Yeah, you heard that right. UFC Freedom 250 is what the event is called, and it's taking place on June 14th, which happens to be Trump's 80th birthday. This was his idea, by the way. Of course it was his idea. This event is occurring on the South Lawn, and if you have not seen, if you just, you know, type into the Google UFC White House, you will see this huge octagon fighting ring being built. I mean, they got the fucking cranes out there. It looks insane. They are expecting 4,500 fans and maybe 50 to 100,000 people to come out and watch these fights on these massive screens they're gonna have up outside of the South Lawn. And the people fighting at the event are big-name fighters again don't watch UFC, don't know who these fighters are, don't care, will not be in attendance. However, why are we hosting a UFC fight at the White House? This isn't the fucking boys club. This is the White House. But again, Trump does what he wants to do anyway. It does not surprise me. But just imagine if Obama had done this. Imagine if Obama had like a fucking Earth, Wind Fire goddamn concert at the White House. They would've invented a new slur for him. They would've invented a new slur. The N-word would not have been enough. They would have rioted. They, I mean, oh my God, they would've burned the White House down if Obama had done this. But Trump can do whatever he wants, so they're having a fight on the 14th, and a lot of people are coming out saying "Why the fuck is this happening?" Joe Rogan, who is a huge supporter of Trump, now not so much, came out and said he doesn't like the idea of fighting outside. There's too many conditions to prep for. Again, there's no AC. They're gonna be fighting outside in the fucking elements. Also, Joe Rogan said they looked at the weather on the same date last year, and it was approximately 100 degrees in Washington, DC on, June 14th last year. So imagine being a huge UFC fighter, like you're well known, you got the belts and shit. I think they get belts. And now you're fighting in 100-degree weather. Meanwhile, these fights typically take place in very controlled environments, in a ring, in a very air-conditioned place and everything's controlled. You don't have to worry about the stage falling. I think this is the dumbest shit we could ever spend money on. Also, there have been a lot of conversations about this event because a lot of the people who are supposed to perform at this event have dropped out. There was a flyer that went out and had all of these artists' faces on it, basically saying they were gonna be performing at this event. Now, fast-forward 72 hours, all if not- The majority of these people have come out and said they are no longer performing because they were lied to. One of the things people have said is that when they were approached about performing at this event, they were told it was gonna be a nonpartisan event. They were gonna come in, be able to sing their little song, hit their little guitar, and it was gonna be the end of it. I don't know how much I believe that, but we're gonna go with what they said. Some of them also said that they were never even approached by the Trump administration. Their team was not even approached to even perform at this event, which I think is interesting because how do you put somebody on a flyer and say they're performing and they don't know? Like, do they, do they know they're supposed to be showing up on that day? The artists who were alleged to be performing at this event were people like Morris Day and The Time, Young MC, Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, and the Commodores. Um, all those people withdrew. Well, Trump's pissed because he's like, "Well, what the fuck, man? Like, you guys aren't even gonna perform here?" So now he's thinking about scrapping the whole performance thing, and he just, he's gonna get up on stage. I wasn't gonna watch his performances anyway. I'm not gonna be watching the UFC event. Now, I do understand it's, oh, it's the 250-year celebration. Okay, but America's not having a good time right now. America's actually been very bad. You know how when you were a kid and it was, like, near your birthday and you were acting up, and your parents were like, "We're gonna cancel your fucking birthday"? Like, I low-key feel like that's what we need to do to America. We're like, "We're canceling the birthday 'cause you don't know what, what the fuck you're doing. You're acting up. You're getting your ass beat, and you're, you're going to bed early, and you're not getting a snack, and we're, we're canceling the birthday." We're... I think we need to cancel the celebration. America's been bad news bears, bitch. We are mean girls, Katie. We don't deserve a birthday in America because it has not been good here. I just go back to if Obama had did anything similar. Imagine if Obama was like, "All Black people come to the White House on June 14th," or my birthday, "We're gonna have a huge celebration." They got mad at this man because of the color of his suit In his presidential portrait. They got pissed that he didn't wear the typical black or blue suit. They got mad. They called him slurs about that. You think they wouldn't have invented slurs if he had had a Black event at the White House? Just imagine, picture it, Earth, Wind Fire at White House for Obama's birthday. It would've been January 6th on steroids. Oh my God, it would've been like a all-out slaughter. And that's all I got

Off Record

Ayana 33:55

for the what they aren't telling you. Now we're gonna transition into the Off the Record segment of this podcast, and for this segment, I have a few things. Very quick, though, 'cause you've been here long enough. Um, I'm not sure if you guys have seen this guy's TikToks, but there is a man going around on TikTok, and he is going around with a note card, and there's a sentence on the note card, and he is asking people to read the sentence, and then he's asking them to tell him what the sentence means, meaning reading comprehension. So not only do you have to be able to read, you have to be able to comprehend what you just read. I'm gonna give you an example of one of the sentences that was on the note card. "The dog's unwavering loyalty exemplified an unreciprocated emotional dependency." First of all, unwavering fucked them up. I mean, at the, out of the gate they were struggling. So, there is literacy crisis, and I have seen some comments that he's going outside of bars and doing this, and maybe these people are drunk. I'm trying to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but you know who could probably still read a sentence and tell you what it was about when they were drunk? Me. I could... I thou- I might stutter. If you know me, you know when my brain works a lot faster than my mouth, I do start to stutter, but baby, I would've been able to tell you what that fucking sentence meant and I would've been able to read it. So unwavering in that sentence fucked them up. Don't even get me started on exemplified. The, I mean, babe, unwavering took them out. Exemplified, pfft, laid out the casket. Unreciprocated put the body into the casket. Dependency I mean, it was less than half that got dependency. Now, the next step is telling him what that sentence is about. That closed the casket on everybody. Nobody could tell him what that sentence was about. They could not even use fucking, like, context clues, 'cause they don't know what the words mean, babe. They don't know what unwavering means. But here's the thing These are people that are out spending money. And probably out here trying to date. How are you dating and you can't read? So I say all this to say the next time you go on a fucking date, bring a note card with a sentence on it, and if they can't tell you what that sentence means and they can't read it, leave the date. And you tell them, "I told you to leave the date." And I, it scares me. And these aren't people who are like, "Oh, they were in school during COVID." No, no, no. These are grown adults. These people were adults during COVID, so we can't even blame COVID. These, these people look 30 plus. They were not in the schoolhouse during COVID. There's a literacy crisis in this country, and until we take it seriously, the things that are happening in the political climate that we're living in are gonna continue to happen because people can't read and they can't comprehend, and it's scary. I'm not disputing the fact that people have disabilities. Another thing that was pissing me off is they wouldn't even try to sound the word out. You remember as a kid when you couldn't understand something in school or a word when you're at home and your parent was like, "Hey, sound that word out." You know how you say something real fast and you just hope the person doesn't pick up that you don't know what the fuck? That's what they were doing, and it's like, wow, we're catching this in 4K. You just skipped over unwavering. We just, yep, it's not even on, it's not even on the note card. We're just skipping over it. That's, that's scary to me, and not only is it scary, it's concerning. And off the record, we need to be making sure people know how to read. I'm not picking on them they don't know how to read, I'm concerned they don't know how to read. Reading is a fundamental skill that I think everybody should be able to do at least at a basic level. Like if you have any disabilities, I'm not talking about you. These people could have, they didn't say they did, and for that, he shouldn't have put them in the video if they did, because that's not fun. But I'm assuming all these people are where they should be. W- come on, man. What do you mean you're 32 and you, you, you don't know what unwavering means? Or not even unwavering. Unreciprocated. I feel like reciprocated is a word that's used a lot. You know, people love throwing in, the energy's not being reciprocated." You know how the girls be, so it's like, damn, you wanna... Come on, put un in front of it. Unreciprocated. If reciprocated means something and you put un in front of it, let's do, let's... What we doing? Come on, context. It killed him, bro. It had him lost in the sauce, and I was frightened. I was frightened beyond belief. And that's gonna be it for Off The Record. And that's all I got for y'all this week. I hope this week's a great week for you guys. I hope that you enjoy this podcast, and if you did, let me know.