ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from New York City,
the only city in America,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight,
the war is raging,
the pandemic is over-- again--
and Terry Crews!
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
(cheering and applause)
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to The Daily Show.
I'm Trevor Noah. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for being here in person.
Thank you for coming out. Thank you for staying in.
Thank you for coming out. Good to see you.
Take a seat, everybody. Take a seat.
Welcome to it. We've got a really great show tonight.
Our guest is a sitcom star and a former NFL player
here to discuss his new memoir
about what it means to him to be a man.
Terry Crews is joining us, everybody!
-(cheering and applause) -It's gonna be so much fun.
I'm hoping he's gonna teach me how to do...
make my chest do that thing. (grunts rhythmically)
Yeah, gonna make my chest break-dance.
We've also got traffic with Roy Wood Jr.
And the big news today:
America is no longer in a pandemic.
So, let's do this, people.
Let's jump straight into today's headlines.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
Okay. As you know,
it has been nine weeks now
since Vladimir Putin decided
the best way to improve his international standing
was to gently slide not into Ukraine's DMs
but into the entire eastern region.
And since then, the whole world
has been trying to figure out what to do.
How do you respond to a madman
who has nuclear weapons in his back pocket?
And the world tried everything. Tried sanctions.
Tried cutting off Putin from international trade.
Tried blocking his PlayStation profile
so he couldn't play Fortnite.
And now, finally, some countries have taken it to the next level
with Germany sending tanks to Ukraine.
Yeah. Which the Russians have called a major escalation.
And I'll be honest,
I agree with Russia on that. It is an escalation.
You know, whenever German tanks show up to anything,
shit's about to escalate.
German tanks never show up and people are like,
"Oh, all right. It's chilled now."
Yeah, you know what it's like? It's like when a Black woman
takes off her earrings.
There's no way things are cooling down from there.
Whatever you did wrong, you about to pay.
But Russia is also doing their own escalations
by turning off some of Europe's heat.
NEWSMAN: Overnight, a drastic move.
Russia cutting all gas deliveries
to Bulgaria and Poland, two NATO members.
This comes after Putin's ultimatum last month
demanding that "unfriendly nations
pay for gas in Russian rubles."
Poland's prime minister not backing down.
-(speaking Polish) -Saying, "We will be able to protect
"our economy, protect our households and Poles
against such a dramatic step by Russia."
NEWSWOMAN: Bulgarian officials say they are working
with state gas companies on alternative sources
while Poland says it has been working for years
to reduce its reliance on Russian gas
and there wouldn't be a shortage of gas in Polish homes.
Ooh, things are getting tense.
Yeah, Russia says, "No more gas for Poland and Bulgaria."
And in response, Poland and Bulgaria are like,
"Screw you. We don't need your gas.
We have our own."
And then just to prove the point,
Poland and Bulgaria posted selfies
of themselves surrounded by gas.
Yeah, classic breakup behavior.
But this is the thing
that's gonna suck for Russia.
Their main leverage
is that their gas provides Europe's heat.
But as the months get warmer,
their negotiating power goes down.
You know, it's the same way your gym teacher
has all power over you to make push-ups,
like, what you're gonna do during the school year.
But let him meet you over the summer vacation,
and all of a sudden, it's like, "You have no power here,
"Mr. Papadopoulos.
Why don't you do push-ups, bitch?"
He's like, "I'll see you in September."
"But I'm here now."
So, you know what? Good for Poland and Bulgaria,
because most European countries are still buying Putin's gas.
Yeah. Many of them say they can't help it,
which you have to admit is a little weird.
You know? It's like if the people of Gotham
were obsessed with the Joker's taco truck.
You know? Just like, "Look, I mean,
"this guy is definitely a supervillain,
"but have you tried his al pastor?
I mean, it is amazing."
(laughter and applause)
And here's the thing. So, this is... this is the thing.
The underlying issue is a little more complicated
than gas or no gas, right?
What happens is Russia wants to be paid
for its gas in rubles, right? The Russian currency.
Because that way, European countries
have to keep buying rubles, which keeps the currency alive.
So, I understand why Russia is so mad
at getting paid in a currency that they don't want, you know?
Like, have you ever gotten a gift
from, like, your little nephew
that's, like, a coupon for one free hug?
Yeah, I don't want that shit. I want cold, hard cash, Timmy.
Hugs are always free. Are you stupid?
Anyway, let's move on.
Timmy pisses me off, man.
For years, flight attendants in America
have complained about, well, two things.
Uh, one: idiots who press the call button
when they meant to turn on the light.
And two: the way they get paid.
Well, now, finally,
Delta Air Lines is taking care of one of those issues.
NEWSMAN: Flight attendants with Delta
will soon be getting paid a little bit more money.
The airline says it'll now start paying cabin crews
during boarding.
Up until now, flight attendants did not start getting paid
until the passengers were seated and the plane's doors close.
That was the moment that their pay started.
Delta says the change will start June 2nd
as the company faces the possibility
of its more than 20,000 flight attendants
forming their own union.
The change could increase some attendants' wages
by several thousand dollars every year.
Yeah. Believe it or not, flight attendants in America
do not get paid during the boarding process.
Which is crazy.
Just think about it. You're at work, doing work,
but your boss is like, "No, this is your free time."
(laughter)
What? "I only pay you when the doors are closed"?
That's wild.
It also sucks for flight attendants
on Spirit Airlines 'cause they don't even have doors.
What do they do?
Do they work for free?
How does that shit work? (chuckles)
(laughter and applause)
Because here's the thing, people.
The boarding process is not easy. If anything,
they should be getting paid extra for that part.
You've got to deal with passengers
who suddenly don't know how numbers work.
"Does 23 come before 24?
And what number is 'J'?"
And then, on top of that,
they have to deal with our bags that never fit.
Yeah. And, by the way, can I ask you, why do the bags never fit?
No, honest question. Why do they never--
It's called an overhead bag. Right?
But it doesn't fit into the overhead.
Why do they call it that? They shouldn't be allowed
to sell it to you and call it an overhead bag
when it won't fit in the overhead.
'Cause now I'm the idiot blocking the traffic,
and, like, everyone's looking at me.
No one's getting paid, and I'm like, "I swear!
The store said it would fit in the overhead!
It's not..." And they're like, "You're an idiot!"
"I'm not! It's an overhead bag, but...
(blubbering) Don't call it the over..."
That's what the FBI should be focusing on.
-That's the real crime. -(cheering and applause)
Sell me a bag that makes me look like an idiot.
By the way, did you notice how Delta
suddenly said it was going to change this rule
only after they learned that flight attendants
are trying to form a union?
Yeah.
Interesting timing. Hmm?
Yeah. It was like-like that Marjorie Taylor Greene--
"Oh, oh. Oh, you mean that. A union. Oh, yeah."
Yeah. Nothing scares these giant airlines more than unions.
Like, if someone yelled "bomb" in an airport
and someone else yelled "union,"
they honestly wouldn't know who to tackle first.
And I'm gonna give these flight attendants a lot of credit.
Because let me tell you something, man--
people fly all the time, you see these people working hard,
but I didn't know that they weren't getting paid
while the pla-- Y-- I didn't know that.
They're really patient people.
If I was working for free
during the whole boarding process,
I would have been way less friendly than--
Yo, I would have been in that airport like...
Hey! A'ight! Zone 1! Zone 1!
Get the hell up on the plane right now!
Hurry up! I'm trying to get paid!
Move! Move! Move! Move!
Move your dumb ass! Put your thing on the thing there, man.
And I s-- Yo, I swear, I swear,
if any of you broke-ass Zone 4 mother(bleep)s
even try to get in the line right now,
I will have the TSA waterboard your ass!
Get back, Zone 4! Sit down!
You know who you is!
(cheering and applause)
That's why I can't work in airports.
All right, finally, let's talk about COVID-19.
It's the only one of us that's seen Kamala Harris in,
like, three months.
As we all know, a little over two years ago,
a bat in China didn't cover its mouth
when it sneezed in a lab after visiting a food market,
and that started a pandemic.
And the world has never been the same.
But now Anthony Fauci,
America's most renowned infectious disease scientist
and most ready-for-retirement human,
has come out with some news that has left people shook.
Listen to this. Dr. Anthony Fauci telling PBS News
that America is out of the pandemic phase.
We are certainly, right now, in this country,
out of the pandemic phase.
Namely, we don't have...
900,000 new infections a day
and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations
and thousands of deaths.
We are at a low level right now.
We're not gonna eradicate this virus.
If we can keep that level very low
and intermittently vaccinate people--
and I don't know how often that would have to be--
but, right now, we are not in the pandemic phase
in this country.
Whoo-hoo!
-The pandemic phase is over, people! -(cheering and applause)
The pandemic phase is over! God, I'm so happy.
Oh, I'm so happy. I'm so happy.
Man. Oh, man, I've been waiting for this moment
since March of 2020.
Do the balloon drop! Yeah!
-♪ ♪ -Yeah!
-(cheering and applause) -Oh.
Oh, wait, these are...
Oh, man. They were supposed to be, like, fully inflated,
but I...
We blew them up in April 2020. We...
We thought it was only gonna be a few weeks.
But I guess, uh, things are tough.
They're just, like-- Is there still air inside these things?
There still air inside? Yeah? (inhales)
Yeah. There. Ah.
What is that, COVID? Anyway...
But, yeah, Fauci says America is no longer in a pandemic phase.
Which is cool.
But don't let these balloons fool you.
Doesn't mean we're out of the pandemic.
A lot of people actually misinterpreted this news today.
They were like, "The pandemic is over.
Time to tongue-kiss my grandmother again."
"Man!
Time to tongue-kiss my grandson again."
They're a very loving family.
But that's not what this means.
What Fauci was saying is that America
is currently not in a pandemic phase,
as in not in a pandemic right now.
But it's not over.
It could come back, or it could go away.
But it could come back.
Or go-- You don't know.
Yeah. It's a phase.
It's sort of like wide-leg jeans.
They disappeared for 20 years.
And now, suddenly,
everyone looks like they had to borrow a pair of pants
from Shaq, you know?
But as much as you want to get angry at people,
here's the thing, Dr. Fauci, how did you not know,
how do you not know by now how stupid people are, huh?
We're all stupid. You can't just say, "Pandemic phase is over."
Oh, when you say it, all we hear is, "Party time!"
I feel like that's been the major failure of this pandemic,
is that the scientists have been communicating directly
with the public without somebody to interpret
what they're saying.
That's bound to cause chaos. Right?
We don't understand scientist-speak.
It's the reason God didn't speak directly to the people.
He always went through a messenger.
You know? He was like,
"Noah, soon I will purge the land of all sin and vice
"so henceforth abundance may spring forth.
And whence there was squalor, things will change."
And Noah was like, "All right, gotcha. Hey, yo!
Grab a giraffe! Shit's about to get wet."
-Now we understand. -(applause)
All right, that's it for the headlines.
But before we go, let's check in on the traffic
with our very own Roy Wood Jr., everybody!
(cheering and applause)
-What's going on, Roy? -Uh...
Why... why-why am I here again?
What do you mean-- what do you mean, why are you here?
-For the traffic. -Because yesterday.
I did the traffic yesterday.
Why would I do it again?
Well, because there's-there's traffic every day.
-You-you think this is strange? -(stammers)
I didn't know that I had to do this every day.
I said I would do it, but I just thought it would be once a week.
I didn't know this was gonna be...?
What are you talking about? What?
Some every day, come to work everyday type shit.
-I was not prepared. -Roy, Roy, can you just tell us
-what the traffic is, please? -Look, before the traffic, man,
-this flight attendant thing... -Yes.
And the whole COVID and the Fauci--
I think we should still be wearing the masks on the planes,
because, but I just... I hate the fact
that flight attendants was getting beat up over a mask.
You're supposed to be fighting drunk passengers,
-not these people wearing a mask. -Yeah, I hear you there.
-Yeah. -And also, part of why people be challenging
flight attendants-- see, nobody thinks about this, Trevor.
It's the uniform.
The uniform does not command authority.
The flight attendant uniform-- they all of them wearing a vest
and a stupid hat. Nobody... You don't respect a vest.
Name a job in a vest you respect.
You got blackjack dealer, you got magicians.
You got crossing guard at a school,
church usher, male stripper. These are all punchable people.
These are all people you can punch in the face. Like,
you cannot dress in a vest and expect people to respect you.
The flight attendants-- if they really want something,
what they need to be fighting for is a new uniform.
They need to put on some of that black leather
like them bouncers, some leather,
and some of them-them shades, and get you an earpiece, get...
'Cause, like, when you wear an earpiece,
everybody knows that you're talking
to another person on the earpiece,
who can also come whup your ass, and make you act right.
You see the earpiece, man, oh, you got the ass whuppers
on the other end of that earpiece.
That's the thing, man.
All right, so what's happening in the, uh... in the traffic?
-What's going on? -Here's the thing about COVID, man.
-We'll get to that, man. Just relax. -(laughter)
I'm happy that some of the restrictions
-are being, you know, rolled back. -Uh-huh.
-I'm happy for that. -Yeah.
But there's a lot of stuff they got that they're still doing
that they don't really have to do no more.
Do you still need a QR code on a menu?
Do you need a little square to think,
"Ooh, I'm going to scan the menu. Bring me some paper.
"I'm an American. Bring me a sticky piece
-"of laminated-ass paper... -(applause and cheering)
...so I can figure out what the hell I want to eat."
-This bothered you? -Yes,
because you get distracted. You don't focus
when you scan your phone, and you're looking at the food.
Then PornHub notifications are popping up,
-and there's text messages, and... -Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Can you go...?
-Why do you get notifications from PornHub? -You got to...
You got to know when the new shit dropped. You don't...
I'm tired of the elbow bump. Let's get rid of that.
Why is everybody, "Hey, what's going on?" with the elbow bump?
-I agree with you there. -Didn't I tell you?
You don't think we need to get rid of some of that stuff?
No, no, no, I agree with you there. I agree... I...
The stickers, the stickers, the six-feet stickers
in the grocery store-- do we still need that?
Do you still...? Do you not know what six feet is? Do you...?
Hopscotching from sticker to sticker around the damn store!
(laughter)
Just get rid of that, too.
Tell Fauci. I know you got his number. So, let's...
I'll tell Fauci if you tell me
what the traffic is, please, man.
Why do I have to do traffic?
-What do you mean, "Why?" -Why?
-Why is it always traffic? -What do you mean?
Like, I could be doing so many other things.
-Like what? -I could be doing cooking. I could do...
We could set up a little table and a crockpot.
I could do... I could do the animals.
Let me be the animal man and bring the little...
-the cuddly animals on here. -Roy, okay.
-(applause, cheering) -We can do lifestyles.
Look, don't encourage him. He asked me.
I said, "We're going back to the studio." I said,
"What do you think about doing traffic?" And you were like,
-"I would love to do the traffic." -Yes.
Uh, I didn't know that I would have to do it every day.
I didn't know that I would have to, like, research
and, like, investigate
and figure out the traffic every day.
What do you mean? You don't have to research to do traffic.
Oh. Bet.
Traffic bad. Back to you.
(applause and cheering)
Thank you so much for that, Roy Wood, Jr.
All right, stick around. There's more Daily Show
coming up right after this.
(applause and cheering)
You should just tell the traffic.
(cheering and applause)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
If you are a Black person in America,
you have probably come face-to-face with a Karen
at some point in your life.
But what if you could harness the power of Karens
for good?
Well, maybe you can.
NARRATOR: It's the year 2022,
and Black people have had enough
of getting the cops called on them.
In a secret laboratory under 125th Street,
one scientist works tirelessly
to create a new superweapon.
One that will give white people
a taste of what Black people have to go through
on a daily basis.
It's alive. (laughing)
It's alive!
(coughs)
(thunder rumbling)
Time to call some cops.
♪ ♪
Thank you. Can I get one of these pickle dogs?
WOMAN: Of course. Oh, my gosh, please do.
Ah! What a great day for some barbecue.
That what you're gonna call this garbage?
I'm calling the police.
What? Uh, we're not doing anything wrong.
Hello. Police? Yes, I'd like to report
some white people with some nasty-ass food.
There's, uh, cilantro in the mac and cheese,
a slurry of salsa, and the chicken is just...
...wet. Not juicy. Just wet.
-And what are these? -Oh, mushroom kebabs.
They're vegan.
Bring the SWAT team. We gonna need backup.
And a stomach pump.
♪ ♪
Oh, shnookums.
Oh, yes. (kisses)
Mommy loves you so much.
Mommy loves you so much. Mmm.
Oh, you're a sweet boy. I love you so much.
Oh, my goodness.
You can't be kissing that dog on the mouth.
Hasn't that rescue been through enough?
Oh, he's not a rescue. I only buy.
You need to stop slobbering on this animal
before you make COVID-33.
Leave us alone. We're not harming anyone.
(gasps) You're assaulting me!
I'm not assaulting you. I'm just telling you to mind
-your own business. -That's the same thing to a Karen.
Hello? Police?
Yeah, some woman with puppy chow breath is coming right at me!
♪ ♪
♪ Can't stop loving you. ♪
(cheering, whooping)
(slurring): You guys always do this to me.
I'm gonna do it.
Maybe you have heard this little ditty.
Hit it.
(microphone turns off)
This is not... Aah!
Nuh-uh. I'm not letting you butcher "Sweet Caroline."
You don't even know that's what I was gonna sing.
You're white and you're drunk.
What else were you gonna sing, "WAP"?
(chuckles) I'm gonna have to report this.
For what? Singing karaoke's not a crime.
It is if it's bad enough.
Sing it.
-♪ Sweet... ♪ -Ah!
Hello, police?
These Caucasians are at it again!
♪ ♪
(stand-off music playing)
What are you doing in this expensive boutique?
What are you doing with all that jewelry in your purse
with the price tag still on 'em?
♪ ♪
-Police! -Police!
-(siren whooping) -(indistinct transmission)
This some bullshit! Gonna call the cops on you cops!
Hey. What'd they get you for?
Being a mad scientist?
I was selling bootleg DVDs.
People still buy DVDs?
You'd be surprised.
-Hmm. -(cheering and applause)
Thank you so much for that, Dulcé Sloan!
All right, when we come back, Terry Crews is joining me
on the show, so don't go away!
(cheering and applause)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is an actor
and the host of America's Got Talent.
He's here to talk about his latest book,
Tough: My Journey to True Power.
Please welcome Terry Crews.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
People! (laughs)
Oh! (laughs)
What's up?
Yeah!
(grunts)
(laughs)
Oh!
-Oh! -I'm-a show you how to do it, man.
What? You're doing it right now.
-I'm-a show you how to do it. -You're do...
-Yeah. -It looks like you got, like, six cell phones
in your po... jacket, and they're all...
they're all ringing at the same time.
They're just going off. How are you, sir?
-Dude, I am so good. So good. -It has been a long time
-since I last saw you, you know. -Yeah.
-There's been a whole pandemic between everything. -I know.
You've gone through it. You wrote another book.
-Yes, I did. -Congratulations on that.
Tough: My Journey to True Power.
So, when I... when I heard about the book,
I was like, "Tough: My Journey to True Power."
I was like, "Oh, Terry's writing...
It's, like, a weight lifting book."
-(laughs) -I figured
it was just gonna be about the muscles and everything,
and yet there's basically nothing.
-Yes. -It seems like this whole book
is about you emotionally weight lifting.
Yes, yes. I-I had to redefine
what "tough" was in my life, you know what I mean?
Um, as a kid, I mean, first of all,
I was filled with rage.
I-I'm gonna start at the beginning,
just a little bit, because, uh, my father was an alcoholic.
-Mm-hmm. -And he was addicted to alcohol.
And my mother was addicted to religion,
which created a really toxic relationship.
And, uh, at five years old,
I grew up watching my father knock my mother out
-on the regular. -Right.
Um, and it was something that changed me.
I mean, my whole thing, when I saw him do that,
I was like, "Hey, man, it's your world.
This... It's your way or the highway."
-Mm-hmm. -And I learned that that was the only way
to be a man. Um, and it was through rage.
And it was... I would rather be feared than loved.
And it got me a lot.
I mean, I lived my life
-like it was a revenge movie, okay? -Right. Right.
And a lot of people see me now, you know,
as, "Oh, yeah, you're so funny and so great"
and the whole thing. But-but this is the thing, man.
I-I was filled with rage.
-I mean, I... -And I mean, I used to snap on people.
I read that in the book, and I'm not even joke...
Like, in the first let's say quarter of the book,
first 25%, I was like,
"I'm scared to have Terry on the show."
(laughs)
Because you... Like, in the book,
you talk about this-this journey,
-you know, and you talk about young Terry. -Yeah.
You know, and I like... It's like there's multiple Terrys
in this book, in your story. You talk about young Terry,
-and you talk about your dad as old Terry, big Terry. -Yeah.
-Yes. -And, you know, you talk about the terror and the fear
but also the rage that you felt
at being unable to protect your mom,
unable to protect the house.
And-and you were scared.
But then it gets to a part of the book where one day,
you-you developed enough,
and you-you beat your father,
-like, in one of the scariest ways. -I-I got him. I got him.
And-and this was so wild,
because, you know, growing up in that kind of household
with the intense alcohol and religion, the whole thing,
I became a pleaser. I became a searcher for...
I-I wanted approval.
-And I was addicted to approval. -Oh, right.
-Yeah. -And the thing is is that if I didn't get it,
it was... it was one of those things
-that would make me very, very, you know, angry and... -Right.
But one thing that I discovered once...
By the time I became an adult and I said...
You know, I knew that I needed to get strong
because one day, I would have to kill my father.
I-I... That was the vision that I always had in my head
because he was such a terror
-in our house. -Right. Your whole family was terrified.
-Yeah. -And one day, he...
I mean, and I... As a grown man--
I was 30 years old-- and I remember we...
We called it a Christmas from... Christmas from hell.
And I-I get a little emotional thinking about it.
But, uh, I took my family home for Christmas,
and I... He told me that he was gonna behave.
And I said, "Cool." 'Cause they hadn't been around.
-Yeah. -And my kids had never been raised
-with any domestic violence. -Mm-hmm.
And me and my wife go out, and he decides
he's going to hit my mother in the mouth.
And what was crazy... I get a call.
We're on the road. We're-we're about to go to dinner.
And my mother...
My-my aunt calls me and says,
"Your mother just got hit in the mouth.
Her tooth is sideways."
Man, I turn the car around,
and I told her, "Get everybody out of the house
and just leave us alone."
And I went, and I confronted him,
and I said, "Hey, man, what are you doing?
You promised."
And he said, "Oh, man, get out of here, man."
And pow!
And I hit this man.
I don't know how long it was.
I know I beat him from downstairs
all the way up to his room.
He's bleeding.
He's-he's screaming.
And I...
All I could think about is, "This is revenge."
This is what I always wanted.
This is what you made us go through.
-Mm-hmm. -This is the revenge I al...
This is gonna fulfill every dream, every fantasy.
Everything is gonna be in this moment.
And I felt nothing.
-Nothing. -You talk about that. It's-it's a scary moment
where you-you're whaling on him,
and then you cry at the end of it,
and you felt even emptier than when that moment started.
You didn't feel powerful.
You didn't feel... You didn't get the revenge
that-that you thought you were gonna get.
-You didn't get the closure. -Dude. I-I didn't.
And I'm like, "This is supposed to be the end of the movie."
Did you know at that moment that Terry had anger issues,
or did you think that was an isolated incident?
No, no. My wife was telling me the whole time.
She's like, "You got... You are really angry."
And I'm like, "What do you mean, I'm angry?!"
You know, I-I'm getting angry at you telling me I'm angry.
-Right. -You know, and I never saw it.
You understand, it-it's something
that's so imperceptible
because you have it tied in with your manhood.
-Mm. Mm. -This is something that's tied in to you.
-It's bravado. -And you go, "Hey, man, this is what you do."
Somebody... I remember one man disrespected my wife.
I picked him up, put him on his head on the concrete.
And I'm... And my wife is like,
"No! You have to promise me
you will never, ever do this again."
And I'm like, "But I have to.
This is what I'm supposed to do."
"This is how I prove I'm a man."
"This is what I'm put on Earth to do."
-Now... -How did you... How did you change that?
That's what I want to know.
Like, people talk about the change,
but how do you change that?
How does Terry go from being the person who snaps,
the person who's angry, the person who proves himself,
to the person who says, "I'm not gonna react"?
'Cause I-I'll jump to another part in the book
that some people know about as a story,
but you-you've never told it in-in as much depth
as you has in... a-as you have in the book
is the now infamous story where you are in a Holly...
-you're at a Hollywood party. -That's right.
And one of the most powerful agents in the business is there,
and he comes up, and he grabs your crotch.
-Yeah. Yeah. -You know? And at first, you're like,
"Whoa, was that a mistake? What's going on?"
And he laughs, and he grabs your crotch again
in front of everybody, and he just laughs it off.
-Yeah. -And you didn't do anything.
And the irony of the whole thing is then people online were like,
"Man, Terry Crews, you gonna have all those muscles
"and you ain't gonna do shit? When someone grabs your dick,
you're not gonna punch a boy?" You know what I mean?
Then they're like, "Were these fake muscles?
Inflatable muscles?" People were roasting you.
But you talk about in the book
-how you didn't want to do anything. -That's right.
Tell-- Explain to me how that change comes about.
What-what shifts in your perspective?
First of all, it was 2017.
And I had already been through seven years of therapy.
Um, my wife left me in 2010.
Um, first of all, I had an addiction to pornography.
I had anger.
I had all kinds of stuff.
And she was like, "You know what? I'm done."
And this is the thing-- I was very successful.
You know what I mean? Like, I mean, I had movies and TV
and everybody knew who I was.
And-and my trick to life was "fake it till you make it."
-Mm-hmm. -Uh, but the problem is, you make it
and you're fake.
-You're still fake. -Hmm.
It was an image.
It was the Terry Crews image.
It's what everybody fell in love with.
And my wife ended up married to that image.
-Wow. -But the real me
was still messed up, broken.
And-and when she left me,
it was the highlight.
It was like, "Wait a minute."
And-and, first, I was like, "Go ahead! I'm Terry Crews!
Shoot, I'll go get me another woman."
And it was so stupid,
because I heard myself talking like this.
And I went, "Maybe it's me.
-Maybe it is me." -Hmm.
And, dude, you got to understand,
I-I got the best advice I ever received in my entire life.
A friend of mine said, "Hey, man, I can't promise you
"you're gonna get your wife and family back.
But you have to get better for you."
-Mm. -Now, my whole life, therapy,
especially in-in male culture, in Black culture,
therapy was looked at as quackery.
-Right. -I mean, they were like, "You can't cure crazy."
-You know? And that was-- that was said a lot. -(laughs) Yeah.
You know? Uh, in fact,
my father went to go see a psychologist for his alcoholism,
and the psychologist killed himself a week later.
-Damn. -And I was like, "Oh, that don't work."
-(chuckling) -Damn.
And I'm going, "What?"
And-- But this was the thing-- I'm at rock bottom.
-I have nothing. -That was your D-Day.
And that was the D-Day.
-Mm. -And I went to therapy and I discovered
this anger and where it was coming from and this-this...
you know, this need for people's approval
that would send me through the roof,
that would make me a high achiever.
You understand what I mean? Like, you will do anything...
You knew how to use it to get where you needed to go.
-Yeah. I'm at-- That's where the success comes from. -Right.
But the disapproval brought the rage.
So now Terry Crews has this rage.
He's working on it. He goes to therapy.
Sometimes I feel like what happens to people though is
they don't understand that anger is a natural part
of being a human being. And so when they come out, they go,
-"Now I have no anger. -(laughs)
-The universe is my spirit." And y... -Right. Yeah. Yeah.
So, now, how do you deal with anger?
How do you-- Like, everyone gets angry.
-Yes. -How do you now deal with it?
What did you learn as a healthy outlet for your anger?
First of all, yeah, I-I did come out like that the first year.
I was like... (stilted): "Peace and love to everyone."
-(laughing) -And it was the baddest acting I ever did.
Like, "Sit your ass down.
-Peace and love." -(applause)
-You know? (laughs) It was bad. -Yes.
-It was horrible. -Right.
But I absolutely got to understand--
Remember, now-- this is the whole thing--
you can-- you can be angry and sin not.
-It's a-- it's a biblical phrase. -Yes.
And the whole thing was righteous anger is a good thing.
And it was about accountability.
Holding people accountable is how you deal with your anger.
It's like-- There's a legal way to do everything.
My answer to everything before was like playing chess--
-just turn over the chessboard. -Right.
-I was like, "If I can't get a problem, aah!" -(chuckles)
And what I learned was, "Wait. Wait, wait, wait,
"I got to use wisdom here. I have to figure out this problem.
"Maybe going backward,
-I can go forward two steps." -Mm.
And, all of a sudden, my-my--
everything about the energy toward anyone
-that I was angry at was a thoughtful... -Yeah.
...methodical move.
And this is what I did with Adam Venit.
It was cha-- It changed everything.
'Cause I knew-- 'Cause my wife had made me promise, too.
She was like, "Don't you ever do..."
And I was like, "Yeah, I promise, I promise."
But that was the test.
And I remember taking her hand and we went into the car
and I drove home-- Now, mind you, my first mindset
was to drive back through the club and, like, Terminator.
-You know. I was going to do it. -(laughs)
But I went home-- But you got to understand this,
because the s-- the support that I had--
the whole time I was driving home, my wife said,
"I'm proud of you, Terry.
-I'm proud of you." -Mm.
'Cause she saw me throwing people around.
-Right, right. Right. -She's seen it. And she was like,
-"I'm so proud of you." -This was the first time where you
-had broken the pattern. -That support that said
I'm doing this right. I'm doing this right.
And then I went legal.
And I went to the head of-of William Morris Endeavor
and I said, "What are you gonna do
about this predator that you have running in your hallways?"
And they were like, "Well, you know, look,
he's the big man, so we can't do anything."
And I was like, "Hell nah."
I said, "Dude, you work for me," and he laughed.
He laughed in my face.
And I said, "Wow. Okay."
And, you know what, it made me more emboldened.
And I got stronger.
And I went like, "All right, you want to play this game?
"We're gonna play it.
We're gonna play it all the way out."
And what happened is--
quiet as kept-- other people joined my case.
Because you don't rob the biggest bank in-in...
-you know, in the state, right? -Mm-hmm.
-Right. -You-you always rob little banks.
And what was happening is there were little pe--
there were all these other people that came out
that said, "Hey, man, he did
-the same thing to me." -I had a similar experience.
And they joined my case, and he was like,
"Oh, white flag! I'm out of here!
I'm gonna retire."
And I didn't want any money.
I just said, "Man, you cannot molest the clients
and go back to work. That's all."
I said, "Dude, that's all I wanted.
You cannot do it. You can't go back to work."
And he's out. And he's out.
-And this was the thing... -Checkmate. -(cheering)
-So-so... -So great!
I-I remember that moment distinctly,
because you, you know-- you-you came out--
The Me Too movement was happening.
-Yes. -You know, you spoke out about your case.
People were shocked, and, you know, then a lot of men
were emboldened to say, like, "Hey, I've also had this issue."
And, yes, you know, statistically, men are miniscule
compared to women, but it was an interesting story
that-that gave a fuller complexity
-to what we're trying to get rid of in society. -Yes.
People loved you. Terry Crews on Twitter-- it was amazing.
And then-- you talk about this in the book--
a few years after that, Terry Crews on Twitter became
-one of the most hated individuals... -(laughs)
-...almost overnight. -Yes. Yes.
It was people like, "He's a coon. He's--
-He betrayed Black people. He was..." -Yes.
And it all came around Black Lives Matter.
-Yes. -That's-that's what came around, was Black Lives Matter,
and you said something. And-and I paraphrase it.
You know, because in the-- in the book, you talk it
and you lay out the tweet, was where you say, you know,
essentially, "I don't want white supremacy
"the same way I don't want Black supremacy.
-I want us to all be equal as people." -Yeah. Right.
-People were like, "Oh, really, Terry? Black supremacy?" -Yeah.
-And, I mean, they-they tore into you. -Yeah.
But, in the book, you talk about how A) you-you didn't even know
-that that was a talking point some people use. -Mm-hmm.
And, secondly, you weren't trying to say
what people thought you were trying to say.
Right. Well, that's the thing.
Black supremacy has nothing to do with white people.
When I was in Flint, Michigan,
the drug dealer was a Black supremacist.
The gang member, I was scared of,
and could not move around, was the Black supremacist.
And what I meant was, is this whole thing.
If we don't start this movement
with the idea of reconciliation,
-we are just postponing a greater war. -Mm-hmm.
And my whole thing is, I didn't hear a lot of reconciliation
-because reconciliation doesn't mean agreement. -Yes.
You know what I mean? It's one of those things.
I want to bring this up because there's a story
about the wisest man in the world. It was Solomon, and
two women came to him, and they brought a baby, and they said,
"We have this baby,
-and this baby is mine." -We both say it's ours.
-They, both say it's theirs, yeah. -And so Solomon,
the wisest man said, "Okay, what we're gonna do is
"cut the baby in half, and I'll give you a half of the baby,
and you get the other half." And one woman said,
"Yes, that's the way we do it!"
But the other woman said, "No, no, save this baby.
"No. In fact, give it to her.
-Give it to her." -And he said, "That's the mom."
That's reconciliation.
It doesn't mean you get the result you want.
It means you're saving it
because dividing it is going to kill it.
-But, see... -And when I look at America,
-Yeah? -...dividing it is going to kill it.
And the whole thing is reconcile. We have to reconcile.
We have to... With white and Black,
male and female, Republican, Democrat,
we have to find a way to reconcile,
or we're going to kill what we have.
-It's beautiful as a thought, and I agree with it. -(applause)
I think the issue...
-Yeah. -I think the issue some of people had, you know,
is reconciliation cannot take place
-before there's any type of accountability. -Mm.
In order for us to reconcile,
there has to be some sort of accountability.
People have to say, "This is what happening,
and this is what we're going to do to rectify that situation."
Just like you talked about reconciling with your wife.
-Yes. -You know? In order for you to reconcile,
you had to fix, you had to acknowledge,
you had to say, "I have a problem." -Yeah.
And I think what a lot of people thought
in that moment is, they felt like...
I understand when reading the book now.
You are saying something that,
-in my honest opinion, is almost a step ahead. -Right.
But people are going, "Yeah, but Terry, right now...
-You're right. -"we're looking for accountability first."
-You're right. -Right now, Black people in America are saying,
"Hey, can we just have an agreement
-on how America does not treat everybody equally?" -Yes.
You know, we don't want everyone to be treated equally badly.
We want everyone to be treated equally.
-You know? -No. I-I totally agree.
And it felt like, to some people, you had skipped.
-You were just like, "Guys, guys, kumbaya." -Yeah. No.
-"Let's all just be together." You know? -And I-I totally...
And listen, I totally understand that,
but this is another thing, and I agree.
And you can't have a nuanced conversation on Twitter.
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the worst mistake.
That's the big... the biggest mistake.
-That was your first mistake. -That was the first...
-That was your first mistake. -If there was any accident,
that was it. Just...
That was maybe one of my favorite parts of the book
is when you talk about... 'Cause you tweeted that.
And you can tell when someone thinks
they've got swag in a tweet. You were like,
"Let me tell you something we need to do in this world. -Yeah.
-Oh. -"White supremacy, Black supremacy,
-all come together, bam." And then you were like... -Yeah.
-No, I went and got a sandwich. -And then you went,
and you made... you made a sandwich.
I went and got a sandwich. I was like, "Ah..."
You made a sandwich, and "I killed it.
-I killed it." -And "Uh-oh." Believe you me.
I went, "Oh, no, that's not what I meant."
-Black supremacy was trending. -"That's not what's going on."
You know what I mean? Uh,
but-but you can't have that, and I totally understand that.
-Right. -Um, and I think you're right,
-and I know you're right. -Right.
And I actually...
One of my things was, it's just, when I know my people,
and I love my people, the big thing was,
Black people need to hold other Black people accountable.
-It's our... Well, see, 'cause... -Which they do.
-Which they do. -Accountability, right, and we do.
-Which we do. Which we do. -And we do,
and I'm not saying we don't.
Uh, but my thing is, as a Black man,
and as a man who had been in these kind of situations...
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. -Um, I just knew
-that it needed to be said by someone like me... -Right.
in order... because my thing is,
I just wanted... peace.
-Yeah. -And I guess, it goes back to my approval.
-Yes. Yeah. -It goes back to my need for approval.
-It went back to that. -Mm-hmm.
Um, and again, it was a mistake. It was... it was a mistake
to tweet that out at that time, and I'll be honest.
And that was the thing, funny enough,
because, you know, Martin Luther King, Jr.
-has talked about Black supremacy, you know? -Exactly.
Nelson Mandela himself was one of the people who said,
"I do not look for the oppression of white people.
"I don't look for the oppression or Black people.
-I don't want anybody to be oppressed." -That's right.
-That's right. -Right?
But the timing, I think, was the issue.
-Yeah, it was. -Do you know what I mean?
-I say what in the book. -Yeah, you were going,
-"That's not what I was trying to do." -No.
And I think, you know, this is one of those moments
-where I was like, "That's why books over tweets." -(laughter)
-It is. No, it is. That was a huge mistake. -(applause)
'Cause in the book... in the book, you laid it out...
-Yes. Yes. -You're a human being.
We all misunderstand each other.
-Yes. -Man, I, honestly... I appreciated your...
-just, like, your vulnerability... -Yup.
your ability to say, "This is where I messed up.
This is what I was trying to say." 'Cause I was reading it,
and I was going like, "Man, Terry." Yeah.
-I was like, "Why did you send the tweet?" -Yeah.
-Why did you trust Twitter? -I know. I know.
Twitter doesn't try to understand you.
-It doesn't. It doesn't. -Because, you know,
-and I was like... Yeah. -I-I... First of all,
I learned my lesson big time, first of all.
But I do feel like,
again, because of this need for approval
-that I was addicted to... -Mm-hmm.
um, it's a matter of also exercising the will
to take disapproval.
-Mm. Mm. -You understand what I mean?
Where really, sometimes standing up for the right thing,
-not everyone is going to like you. -Yeah.
And-and again, I still know who I am.
But at the same time, I mean,
I-I would never, ever tweet again, to be honest.
-It's all gonna be cat videos and promotion. -(laughter)
Uh, and I'm... Again, and I really...
I mean, even on this show right now--
and I'm going to let you know, I really do want to apologize
to anybody who was offended by these tweets
and was hurt deeply.
Because as an example, as an African-American man...
-Right. Right, right. -...a Black man here in this country,
-I did not want to give the perception... -Yeah.
-that we are supposed to gloss this over... -Yeah, I know.
and forget the death of George Floyd,
-the murder of George Floyd. -Right.
And I want to apologize to everyone right now
who was ever offended because it hurt.
And even back, I was trying to explain, it just got worse
and worse, and this is where the book came in.
Because the need is for us as a people
to actually come together
and really, really be what we need to be to this country.
-'Cause it's our country, This is our country. -Right.
We die and fought, and I'm not giving it away.
This is our inheritance.
-I love you. -(applause and cheering)
-Appreciate you, man. -Hope.
Appreciate you, for real.
(applause)
-You know... -Thank you.
No, no, no. What... what I...
What I always say to people is,
"Find a person who has tweeted.
"You will you find somebody who has messed up.
-Yeah. "And will you find someone
-who has been misinterpreted." -Yeah.
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Oh, man, thank you.
-Thank you for letting me. -Thank you for writing the book.
-Thank you. Thank you. -Terry's book,
Tough: My journey to True Power is available now.
We're gonna take a break, but we'll be right back after this.
(applause and cheering)
(cheering)
Well, that's our show for tonight, but before we go,
today is Holocaust Remembrance Day
so please consider supporting
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It's a living memorial that inspires citizens
and leaders worldwide to confront hatred,
prevent genocide and promote human dignity.
So, if you can help support their programs in any way,
then please donate at the link below.
Until tomorrow, stay safe out there and remember.
Your goth phase won't come back,
but your pandemic phase might.
Now here it is, Your Moment of Zen.
♪ ♪
NEWSMAN: Unruly Yankee fans unleashed a hail of trash
-and debris at a Cleveland, um... -(newswoman gasps)
NEWSMAN: Forgot the name of the...
No, they're not the... they're not the Indians anymore.
They're the Guardians, the Cleveland Guardians.
Kurt Sandberg with...
I almost said "The Indians." Guardians.
At the Indians-Yankees,
-or Guardians-Yankees game. -I did not.
The Indians have lost. The In...
The Guardians. Sorry, Terry.
NEWSMAN 4: Good points on the Indians,
or Guardians. Sorry. Geez, that's gonna happen all year.
You grow up your whole life saying,
"The Cleveland Indians." Now you say "The Guardians."
That's-that's-that's tough.
Sounds like a security service.
It's Friday night. The Indians are playing the opening game.
-Indians. Guardians. -It's okay.
The Indians are playing at 2:00.
The Indians. My goodness gracious.
-(whispers): Guardians. -Oh!
♪ Guardians, Guardians, Guardians. ♪
-Guardians. Guardians. -♪ Guardians. ♪
-You got it. -Or the "Gs" or whatever,
the Guards or whatever.