♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from New York City,
the only city in America, it's The Daily Show.
Tonight-- Trump pleads the Fifth,
Jordan Klepper fingers Milwaukee,
and Akin Omotoso.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah!
(applause and cheering)
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Trevor Noah.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for coming out in person.
Good to see you, everybody.
Good to see you. Take a seat. Let's do this thing.
Let's jump straight into it.
We've got a really fun show for you tonight.
Domino's is dying in Italy,
Donald Trump has taken a vow of silence,
and if you love Jordan Klepper at Trump rallies,
you're gonna want to see this one
because it is probably the wildest one yet.
So let's do this people.
Let's jump straight into today's headlines.
-♪ ♪ -(applause and cheering)
All right, before we get into the big stories,
let's catch up on a few other things going on in the world.
First up-- Domino's Pizza has announced
that it is closing the last of its restaurants Italy.
-(groaning) -And, yes, yes, they had Domino's in Italy.
-Italy has drunk people, too. -(laughter)
You know, if you ask me, them going out of business
in Italy was actually the best thing
that could have happened to them.
'Cause think about it. They came to the land of pizza.
And then they injected cheese into the crust?
(laughter)
Oh, they're lucky they didn't get the death penalty, you know?
Those Italians are just like,
"Mama, what have you done to the pita?
How can you do this?!"
Meanwhile in international news,
Cuban firefighters have successfully extinguished
the largest fire in Cuba's history,
which burned for five days
after lightning struck an oil depot
that generates power for basically the entire country.
Yeah. And honestly, I was just surprised
to learn that America knows how to make lightning now.
(laughter)
Oh, and in, uh... in tech news...
In tech news, WhatsApp,
the world's largest messaging app has announced
that it is launching a new privacy feature
that'll allow users to leave group chats
without everyone in the group knowing. Yeah.
-(applause) -Which is a much better system
than the one before. Yeah.
Yeah, because before this, you have to text everyone
in the group that you were going out
for a pack of cigarettes and then just never come back.
And I know. I know for most Americans,
WhatsApp is like Celsius.
You sort of know what it is, but you don't use it.
But for the rest of the world, this is huge news.
You got to understand.
Almost everyone in the world uses WhatsApp.
The problem is, anyone can add anyone else to a group chat.
Yeah. You don't have to have consent from them.
You may not even know these people.
This morning, I spent an hour arguing
with Adebowale and 42 other Africans
about whether coal stoves are better than wood-burning stoves.
But here's the thing. Here's the thing.
I don't own a coal stove.
I don't own a wood-burning stove, and worst of all,
I don't even know who Adebowale is!
I don't know, but I can't leave the group chat,
because every time I try, WhatsApp notifies them.
And then Adebowale's like "Hey, Trevor,
"we added you back in the chat. We saw you left, huh?
"Something must have happened.
So, as I was saying, if the wood burns, the egusi soup..."
-No! -(applause)
I'm just going to creep out.
Just going to slowly creep out, just disappear from the group.
All right, let's move on to the story
that is still rocking these here United States.
And it's about Donald "You're Making Me Crazy" Trump.
-(laughter) -America's wildest former president
is being hit with multiple criminal investigations
for no reason,
except for all the crimes he probably committed.
-(laughter, applause, cheering) -So,
to try and keep up with all the latest persecutions,
it's time for a brand-new segment we call
"America's Most Tremendously Wanted."
♪ ♪
All right, let's start in New York State,
which is currently investigating Trump's businesses
for tax fraud.
Yeah, because apparently, when he was trying to get loans
from the bank, he was all like, "I'm balling out of control."
But then, when he was reporting his taxes to the IRS,
suddenly he was like, "Hey, I ain't got no money, sir."
And as part of this investigation,
the New York attorney general has already questioned
Trump's beloved children-- and also Eric.
But today, today was the Donald's turn to go under oath,
and I'll give credit to the man.
You know, he could have bitched out,
but, no, he stood tall
and he walked into that interrogation room
and then bitched out.
Former President Donald Trump says he has invoked
his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,
refusing to answer any questions in his deposition
before New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In a statement Trump says he had no choice
because he and his family are the targets of what he called
"an unfounded, politically motivated witch hunt."
Trump was set to testify under oath
about his business practices,
but faced with those questions, he's decided not to talk.
W-Wait.
Trump decided not to talk?
Yo, I mean, now we know
something shady is going on, right?
No, 'cause when has Donald Trump ever refused to talk?
We can't get the man to stop talking.
Donald Trump not talking is like Taylor Swift taking the bus.
That's not a thing.
I didn't even know this guy was capable of not talking.
He must have been shocked.
Yeah, when he found out that not speaking was
something that was allowed, he must've been like,
"You mean this thing doesn't have to be moving 24-7?
"That's amazing.
"I could just close my mouth and keep it closed,
"and everything would be fine, so fine.
"Such a beautiful idea.
"Total silence.
"More silence than anyone in the history of silence,
"And here I go, folks.
"Silence.
"You're not hearing a thing.
"Wonderful silence.
"It's so quiet-- you can't hear anything.
Nobody's ever been this quiet."
"So quiet." (laughing): Now...
-(applause) -A lot of people...
A lot of people, a lot of people believe
that when you plead the Fifth, it means that you're guilty.
But no, look, I don't believe that, all right?
I know people do, but I don't believe that.
Right, you might just not want to incriminate yourself.
But I get it-- there are some people who truly believe
that if you plead the Fifth, you are guilty,
and one of those people is Donald J. Trump.
Taking the Fifth, I think it's disgraceful.
Fifth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Fifth Amendment.
Horrible. Horrible.
The mob takes the Fifth.
If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?
Yes, Donald, if you're innocent,
why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?
(applause)
Why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?
It's really amazing how, of all of Trump's enemies,
his worst enemy is just him from the past.
Yeah, that-that guy's relentless.
Present-day Trump is probably like,
"Why won't this guy just shut up?
"It's so easy. Just watch. Quiet.
Totally silent. Not a sound."
So when anyone else pleads the Fifth,
Trump says it proves that they're a criminal,
but now, now that Trump is in the hot seat,
suddenly he sees it in a different way. You know.
And maybe, maybe it's because his lawyers explained it to him
in a way that he would understand.
They're like, "See, sir, it's like signing an NDA,
but with yourself, you know."
"Oh, so I'm the porn star?"
-But it turns... -(laughter)
It turns out New York's investigation
might be the least of Trump's worries
because, you remember this, two days ago,
all right, the FBI raided Trump's house
to look for classified documents
that he illegally took from the White House.
And remember, remember this,
we do not know what those documents are.
All right? They could be anything.
They could be nuclear codes.
They could be battle plans,
or-or Ivanka's job description.
Yeah, that was so top secret,
even she didn't know what it was.
Or even worse, he could have taken
the introductions to the White House TV remote.
Yeah. Now Joe Biden has no idea how to change the channel.
He's like, "Come on, man.
"I-I just want to watch Happy Days.
"Come on, man.
Change the channel, please."
(laughter)
-(Trevor laughs) -(applause)
And I... I-I know,
I know some of you are wondering right now,
some of you are thinking, "Trevor, is a former president
"keeping documents that they have already had
in their possession, is that, that serious of a crime?"
You know? I mean, Trump didn't look at the documents
when he was president,
so you think he's looking at them now?
And look, I kind of agree with you.
I'll be honest. I didn't think it was that serious of a matter.
But my opinion doesn't count.
The reason this is the way it is
is because there was once an American president
who believed that this crime was so serious,
he increased the penalty
from one year to five years in prison.
Now who was that president?
(laughter)
Donald "Just-Look-At-Him-Now" Trump.
NEWSWOMAN: Trump's removal of documents
might violate a 2018 act that he himself signed into law
increasing the penalty for improper handling of documents
to five years in prison.
Trump signed the law after he spent years
accusing Hillary Clinton
of illegally storing classified documents
on a private email server.
♪ Looks like he did it again, ah. ♪
(applause and laughter)
Oh, I love this.
(applause continues)
How can you not?
After spending years saying, "Lock her up,"
Donald Trump signed a law that might get him locked up instead.
This guy's basically a real-life Wile E. Coyote.
Yeah, he leaves traps for all his enemies,
but somehow he's the one
who keeps on getting smooshed on the road.
It's just him every single time.
So thanks to Trump, this crime is a big deal.
Which is why the red hat brigade
has come out in full force to defend him,
and they're throwing everything at the wall, everything.
"Oh, the Biden administration is just out to get Trump."
"Oh, the judge who approved the raid is anti-Trump."
"Yeah, uh, the mishandling the classified documents
isn't a big deal, unless you're Hillary Clinton."
But today, today's really interesting.
They seem to be coalescing around a new talking point.
And it's that the FBI wasn't at Mar-a-Lago
to take evidence.
They were there to plant evidence.
NEWSWOMAN: Donald Trump, writing on Truth Social today...
Quite honestly, I'm concerned that
they may have planted something.
You know, at this point, who knows?
We know they doctor evidence. We know they plant evidence.
Do I know that the boxes of material they took
from Mar-a-Lago-- that they won't
put things in those boxes to entrap him?
-How do we know? -His lawyers said they brought in backpacks.
What wa-what was in those backpacks? Was--
Did they bring those in to fill them up
or did they have something in there?
Yeah, what was in those backpacks?
Trump world-- everyone's doing this.
They're trying to get of-- ahead of everything. Right?
They're trying to get ahead of everyone hearing
what the FBI found in this house by basically suggesting
that whatever it is, they put it there themselves. Yeah.
"The FBI is gonna say they found all these secret documents
"and a bunch of pictures of Brad Pitt with my face glued on it
"so it looks like my face is kissing Brad Pitt's face.
But that's all planted, folks. It's not real."
This is a classic move. We've seen this before, right?
Yeah. At some point, every kid has tried to pull this move
with their parents when they're about to get busted. It's like,
"Before you search my room for weed, you should just know
"that there have been, like, a lot of burglars
"breaking into people's houses and putting half-smoked joints
"inside old sneakers, so if you find something,
that's probably them."
What is amazing to me is how totally united
every single conservative has been
in defending Trump,
when we still have no idea
what the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago.
No one-- no conservative been like, "Well, wait, let's-let's
wait and see." Actually, I think Senator Scott said that.
The rest of them-- they're just like, "Aah! No."
I do know this: I haven't seen one person on Fox
who's even open to the idea that Trump
may have done something wrong, not even one.
It feels like if someone at Fox even suggested
that Trump might be wrong,
a trap door would open.
Yeah, they'd just fall into a pit of pronouns.
"Aah! Aah!
"They, them, he, me? Aah!
I don't get it. I don't get it."
So...
in 48 hours, conservatives have decided
the FBI is corrupt, Trump is being framed,
and the only crime he could be guilty of
is looking so damn good in that suit.
As for the rest of us, we're just gonna have to
wait and see how the story unfolds.
All right, that's it for today's headlines.
But let's move on to something that everybody loves.
It's time to check in on today's lotto numbers
with our very own Dulcé Sloan, everybody!
-(cheering, applause) -Yeah!
-Yay! -So excited, Dulcé!
It's me.
-Hello. Hello. -(cheering, applause continuing)
So good to have you back. I'm excited for today.
-So, uh-- -(cheering, applause stops)
-Dulcé, uh, are you, uh, -Hello.
are you excited to do the lotto for the people?
I plead the Fifth, Trevor. (laughs)
But let's get started, okay?
You lotto, I lotto, hey, hey.
K!
What-- The letter K?
No, Dulcé, that's not how the lotto works. Come on, we--
-Dulcé, why? -Oh, no, we're not doing numbers,
we're doing letters today.
Because you know what else doesn't work?
Your lotto.
I mean, what are we giving out?
Every time I do this, nobody wins.
Yeah, but most people don't win the lot--
The lotto's not about winning, it's just about the numbers
and then you sit home, you're like, "I would have picked
those numbers," and then you try and guess the numbers.
That's all it is. You didn't win the billion,
I didn't win the billion, but we had fun with the billion.
But at some point, somebody was gonna win.
In this lotto, nobody wins.
Name one person that's won your lotto.
-Okay, that's not the point of lotto-- That is the point!
E.
You see?
Today, I'm not picking numbers.
Because you didn't give anybody a paper with numbers.
Does anybody in here have a slip of some sort?
-They can go "Me! Me!" -AUDIENCE: No!
So why, why would I pick numbers?
I'm picking a name.
You know why? 'Cause everybody has a name, right?
(cheering and applause)
-I... -Listen, listen, I mean,
what's your name, Trevor?
-Trevor. -Right!
See? You got the "E." You're still in it.
Okay, listen, by the way,
Domino's Pizza closing in Italy...
(clicks tongue) that's so embarrassing.
Do you know how bad something has to be to close in Rome?
The Colosseum is still open,
and it's in ruins.
It's not getting renovated or nothing.
House Hunters is not coming.
Them funny-looking twin boys
that look like they murder people,
they not coming.
(laughter, applause)
But the Colosseum? Still open.
-That's true. Domino's is gone. -Jesus-- Listen,
Jesus headlined there 2,000 years ago
and they're still lining up to get in.
But Domino's? They were like, "Uh-uh!
This shit's got to close!"
But I-I get it.
'Cause you-- Can you imagine
being a beautiful Italian tomato...
...and you end up in a Domino's pizza?
Girl, ew!
"I."
No, what is...
Wh-What?
(applause)
I don't know why you're...
"S."
By the way, WhatsApp letting you sneak out of group chats?
Mm-mm.
I want you to know I'm leaving.
I need you to know.
You know why I'm leaving?
'Cause this chat is dry.
I'm talking "40 days in the desert
sucking on sweaters" dry!
"Chalk in your eyeballs" dry!
The only reason people leave group chats
is 'cause it's boring.
Y'all in there talking about socks.
I don't even like shoes. I'm gone!
But you know what?
You know what we need to bring back
to really let people know we left this chat?
That AOL door slam. Y'all remember the AOL door slam?
-(scattered cheers) -You left that chat
and it was like, "Bam!"
I want that sound for everything.
When you unfollow somebody, bam.
You unfriend somebody, bam.
Or when you block somebody, I want Mutombo to pop up
and be like, "Not in my phone."
(laughter, applause)
(cheering)
"H"!
Oh, wait, wait, is that...
-"A"! -Oh, wow! Keisha!
Congratulations, Keisha, you won the lotto!
(cheering and applause)
Dulcé Sloan, everybody!
Congratulations, Keisha!
When we-- when we come back, Jordan Klepper
is gonna be back on the campaign trail, so don't go away!
This was fun. This was fun. I like this.
-Congratulations, Keisha. -(cheering and applause)
(cheering, applause)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Even if Donald Trump survives all the legal troubles,
he's not going to live forever.
So the question is,
what does the future hold for this movement?
Well, Jordan Klepper went back on the road
to a Trump rally to find out.
♪ ♪
(heart beating)
KLEPPER: It's primary election season
when Republicans pick the direction of the GOP
heading into the midterms.
And to see what ideas and candidates
the MAGA crowd are most excited about,
I went to a good old cheese-and-brat-fueled
Trump rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
We got Abe, Ronnie.
You guys going to rob some banks and go surfing later?
That wasn't the plan.
-There's a war going on. Okay? -Sure.
-In Russia, Ukraine. -No.
There's a war going on for our minds.
It's going to be a great rally today, okay.
Beautiful people.
That's... pretty spot on.
Who would Donald Trump try to impersonate?
-Weightlifters. (grunting) -Yeah.
You know that one?
-Yeah. Mussolini? -Mussolin... No. Well...
-You've never tried to impersonate him? -Never, never.
KLEPPER: President Trump was in town to lend his support
to incumbent senator and treason buddy Ron Johnson.
Trump was also throwing his weight
behind candidate for governor Tim Michels,
a local businessman who's proudly not a politician.
-Michels for governor. -Is it important to find an outsider
to... to support your ideas?
That's what it takes instead of having somebody
that's been in there for years and years and years, and...
Make a change.
Ron Johnson's also running in Wisconsin for his third term.
-You voting for him? -Yes. Definitely.
-It's important to keep the steady... -Yes.
-...steady Washingtonian vibe in there, right? -Right. Yes.
'Cause without that,
-you just have a bunch of change that's happening. -Yes.
I like Ron Johnson. We're trying to get election integrity.
You wouldn't bring fake electors in and shove that
-on somebody to try to affect an election? -Right.
-You wouldn't vote for somebody like that? -Right.
-Ron Johnson did that. -We want people
that believe in the Constitution.
He did try to bring fake electors to Mike Pence.
Okay.
KLEPPER: The MAGA crowd is celebrating
their SCOTUS ruling, turning back the clock on women's rights
half a century, but is that far enough?
When you think about the future of the GOP,
what decade from the past does it look like?
-I would say fifties. Fifties, you know? -Fifties?
-1850s. -19...
-1950s. -1950s.
-Okay, so 1950s? -Yup.
-Not slavery, 1850s, -Yeah.
-but pre-civil rights 1960s. -Yep.
-That's, like, the sweet spot. -It's a happy medium.
-It's a happy medium. Things are separate but equal. -Yeah.
KLEPPER: I had hoped this crowd would want
to keep discussing real issues and not get distracted
by conspiracies, but people had some thoughts.
I'm not gonna be a conspiracist or anything like that,
but I just watched a movie last week with Robin Williams in it.
It was called...
-Man of the Year. -Man of the Year.
And guess what? They had election fraud back then.
-The machines-- they're switching -Yeah.
to doing it electronically, and they were counting wrong.
-Is this a documentary? -No, it's just a movie.
Are there any lessons we can take from Mork & Mindy?
No.
Who do you guys see as the current legitimate president?
Uh, I don't think we currently have one.
If we do, maybe, hopefully, Trump's running
behind the scenes, keeping the military on our side.
The recent attack that took out
the leader of Al Qaeda-- who ordered that attack?
I don't know. I didn't read a whole lot of that.
I try to stay out of the media as much as possible,
'cause it's all a bunch of theatrics anyways, so...
Yeah, and you're not somebody who gives in to theatrics.
-Right. -Right.
There's a huge push for normalizing pedophilia.
How do they normalize it--
are they making pedophiles look cool?
Well, if you go online, there's a whole
-list of pedophile symbols. Yes. -Really?
They're-- they're, like, circular symbols, there's tri--
and there's a lot of triangles, there's colors.
Lot of them are pizza-- pizza related.
Like Ping-Pong Pizza, for example, in D.C.
-That's a pedophile pizza? -Yes.
What-- If I order a pizza, what images should I be,
-uh, on the lookout for? -Triangle.
-A triangle would mean-- -With a circle.
-Pedophile made that pizza. -Yep.
KLEPPER: From PizzaGate to Robin Williams-gate,
this rally had everything, because they're followers
of this guy.
Well, nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately.
What don't we know about 9/11?
I think it was all planned.
I think that it came down on their explosives.
-It's an inside job. -Yes, I think so.
-But I think Bush knew it was happening. -Really?
Is Biden just wasting time there?
Biden doesn't know what he's doing.
He recently just killed the head of Al Qaeda.
-I don't believe it. -W-- Do you think
that's just a-a made-up news story?
Just like, uh, bin Laden with Obama.
Clarify who's still alive. Bin Laden--
-JFK Jr. is. -JFK Jr. is still alive.
-JFK Jr. is still alive? -Yeah. -Yes.
-So-so-- -I think JFK Jr. is gonna try
and expose globalists because they killed his father.
I thought he was a magazine magnate who lived in New York.
Yeah, I don't think so.
What do you think of the state of education in America--
could we be doing better?
-We absolutely could be doing better. -Ah. Yeah.
These kids could grow up
and they could go on to believe crazy things.
-Yeah, they did. -Absolutely.
Everything's coded.
And I've been learning gematria, so...
What's gematria?
Can I pull my phone out for a second?
-Sure. -Okay, so it's called the gematria and it's a calculator.
KLEPPER: Gematria is a mystic numerological key
and an app which allows believers to type in words
and get back meaningful numbers.
You type it in the calculator, you get these numbers.
And so Michael Jackson's last concert was This Is It--
comes to 113.
You know what that means?
Do you? I-I don't know what that means.
So, 113 means "not true."
So, Michael Jackson, that wasn't his last concert?
-And he's alive. -Michael Jackson's alive.
People are talking. Is bin Laden still alive?
-Tim, um... -Do... What's...
Are you doing math right now?
No, I'm trying to remember his real name.
-Tim... -Osama.
-Osama bin Laden. -Yeah, Tim...
-Tim? -Someone. Uh, forgot his-his last name.
-He's... -Tim is not the most Saudi name.
-And he wasn't Saudi. He was from the CIA. -He wasn't?
How does MAGA and Trump fit into all this?
Well, Trump, 88.
-Help me out with that. -J. Kennedy, 88.
So they're the same person?
I don't know.
That's what gematria says.
Type-type this--
"America is in a bad place."
146.
What's 146 mean?
-"Let's go, Brandon," 146. -That's it. Right?
-That-that means... -"Let's go, Brandon" is 146.
"Let's go, Brandon" is 146.
-And so is "America is in a bad place"? -Yes.
Yes. Let's go, Brandon.
D-- But do we want to connect those two?
-Well, we are connecting it. -(chuckles)
That is connected.
It-it does feel connected.
-It do-- Does it feel good? -I think...
-Do you have goosebumps yet? -I-I'm getting goosebumps
-right now. -I have goosebumps, too.
KLEPPER: So the Wisconsin MAGAites
were turning the conspiracy talk up to letter "K,"
which is 11.
But all that talk made me hungry.
Hello!
Good!
I'd like to get a... slice of pizza.
Just a... just a slice of pizza.
No... no symbolism in that.
Just a regular old slice of pizza.
Do you have any, like, in a s-- like, square slices?
You get rid of that triangular corner, that'd be great.
See ya at the midterms.
I got goosebumps already.
I can assure you,
this is my lunch.
It has nothing to do with pedophilia.
(cheering and applause)
Thank you so much again, Jordan Klepper.
All right, stay tuned, because when we come back,
Akin Omotoso will be joining me on the show.
-You don't want to miss it. -(cheering and applause)
(cheering)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is director Akin Omotoso.
He's here to talk about his new film that tells the story
of the Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family
and how their determination helped launch the career
of three NBA champions.
Rise is streaming right now on Disney+ and will be available
on Hulu and ESPN+ beginning August 18.
-(blows whistle) -(indistinct chatter)
Feeling good today. (chuckles)
(players snickering)
Hey. Show them who we are.
Who wants this more, huh?
Please welcome Akin Omotoso.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering, applause)
(indistinct chatter)
Oh, man.
-Akin Omotoso. -Trevor Noah.
-Welcome to The Daily Show. -Thank you,
-thank you. -we say it like we're enemies
but we actually are very, very old friends.
Can I tell you what a pleasure it was for me to discover this.
-So, I mean, everybody in the world loves Giannis. -Yes.
You know, I remember the first time I went to Greece,
people in the streets just chanting his name, loving...
The NBA is blowing up in Europe because of him.
You know, all around Africa, you know,
-the NBA is getting bigger because of him. -Yeah, yeah.
And then I heard that Disney was going to be making a movie.
I was like, this is gonna be phenomenal.
I was like, who's gonna direct it?
I was like, where do you get somebody who understands Nigeria
but understands being an immigrant around the world
but understands the world of basketball.
You can't find a person who knows all of this.
(laughs)
And then I found out it was you, Akin Omotoso, a Nigerian
who lived in South Africa, then moved to Los Angeles,
who loves basketball.
Perfect fit, congratulations.
-(applause) -Thank you.
(laughs) Thank you.
-Congratulations. -Thank you.
I mean, let's just start at the beginning.
You-You've directed, you know, many movies,
you-you-you've told many stories.
But what made you think, "This is a story I have to tell"?
-Well, I've always been a big basketball fan. -Right.
So anyone who knows me knows, basketball-- I'm the guy.
And then I became really obsessed
-with African players in the NBA. -Yeah.
So every time there's the draft, I would check, well,
who's-- what are the names that resemble the ones
-that we recognize, right? -(Trevor laughs)
-And what's their story to get to the draft? -Yeah.
So, when, when Giannis was drafted,
and I read his story in 2013, he hasn't bounced a ball.
This is before being a two-time MVP and all this stuff.
I read his story and I said,
"If ever I make a basketball movie,
it's this gentleman's story I want to tell."
It really is a story worth telling
because people see him now, you know, and he's a star--
the Greek Freak-- and it seems obvious.
But, man, when you watch the movie,
you realize what a journey he was on.
You went to those locations
and you made the story in the real place.
You could've done it anywhere, you could have faked it.
Why did you go to the actual land where it happened?
-For me, that authenticity was important. -Uh-huh.
Like, you had to... you know, in the movie,
the basketball court where they're on,
that's the basketball court he started playing on.
-I love that. -When he's sleeping in the gym,
that's the gym he slept in.
You know, when they're selling,
that's where they... that's where they sold.
So that-that authenticity, for me, was just important.
You know, you talk about him sleeping in a gym.
You talk... You know, we saw the clip with the shoes.
People really don't understand
how hard Giannis and his family worked to get here.
And what was interesting was in the making of the movie,
you know, we saw, for instance, with the Williams sisters,
they were heavily involved in the telling of the story
'cause they wanted their story to be told accurately.
Giannis said the same thing.
He said, "I do not want this to be about me,
"'cause this is about what the family did
to get me here."
So, how did you gain his trust?
How did he say, "No, you know what, you are the right guy
and you get it?"
What was that connection like?
So, the thing is like, firstly,
what a generous gift, the family.
Like, as you see him with the family,
-Mm-hmm. -that's how it was.
Like, he wanted to make sure that his...
the sacrifices of his mom and dad came through.
-It's a love letter to his parents, you know. -Right.
Um, he has that beautiful speech in his MVP speech
where it says, "You know, when you're a little kid,
"you don't see the future,
but your parents see the future for you."
And they had parents that saw the future for them.
So, every meeting with them is a family meeting.
It's Giannis, it's Veronica,
it's Thanasis, Kostas and Alex,
producer Bernie Goldmann and the folks from Disney,
we all gather around to discuss the film,
like it's a family affair, you know.
Um, and they were so generous. I mean, his mom
gave us access, Yetide, who plays his mom so beautifully,
-Yes. -she had Veronika's number, we could call on them.
You know, it was-- it was a real family affair.
And I think that they were so open to us
having access and getting the story right.
And for me, I wanted to get it right.
There was no-- Like, I was very happy to, like,
"Giannis, is this how it went down?" And he--
And they were so generous like that, so it was great.
Let's talk about Giannis himself.
You know, I like that you said he gave a motivational speech,
you know, when he was the MVP.
It seems like this is how he sees the world.
Every press conference I've seen of his,
he says something inspirational. You know,
people go like, "Oh, you-you had a great game.
What does this mean for the future?" He's like,
"The game has passed. I'm only looking
-"to what I'm gonna do next. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, you're only as good as your last game." But he seems
like he lives this. In-in dissecting his story,
did you find where the magic came from?
What is it that managed, you know, where a family
managed to create three NBA champions?
How-- Like, how is that possible?
Well, I think, like I said, you know, the first time
you hear the story, you go, "This is amazing.
-This is an amazing story. How is this possible?" -Right.
And then you meet them and they're so authentic.
And I think it's that humility and the understanding-- I mean,
the other day, um, he-- they were asking about
the Greek team. "How is the team gonna adjust to you?"
-And he's like, "No, I adjust to the team." -Wow.
Uh, you know, and so that's the mantra, and I think
that's-that's the thing that everybody responds to.
You know, you're a director. You-You're capturing the story.
You want to us feel the pain that Giannis and his people felt
but you also want us to, you know, sort of, like,
not villainize the Greek people he grew up with.
How do you-how do you find that balance in storytelling?
Well, I think, like everyone who travels somewhere
-and comes into another place... -Mm-hmm.
you-you're coming to a place with expectations.
So, for me, Giannis' story of Charles and Veronica
leaving Nigeria, coming to Greece--
similar to my grandparents
who left Barbados and went to London
or my father and my-- and my late mom-- rest her soul--
who moved to South Africa.
-It's within our story. -Mm-hmm.
And so, for me, apart from the warmth of the Adetokunbos
and how they approached those things,
I tapped into my grandparents
and my grandparents, you know,
as immigrants in Barba-- from Bar-Barbados to London.
-Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. -That house was full of laughter.
That house was full of-of joy.
These are people who are not allowing the circumstances
-to dictate who they are as people. -I love that.
Some piece of paper says, "I'm not a Greek," whatever that is.
-But that's not my problem. You know what I mean? -Uh-huh.
That-that piece of paper is something else.
I can be a human being,
and I can transcend all these things.
And I think that's the story of the Adetokunbos.
They didn't allow their circumstance
to dictate for them.
And I think, for someone like myself
who has all these multiple heritages,
that's what-- that's what I identified with
when I first read this story.
I was like, "This is my story.
-This is..." You know what I mean? -I love that. Yeah.
-Don't let the circumstance determine you. -(applause)
-Akin, great having you on the show. -Likewise.
Congratulations.
-I know we're gonna see you again... -Thank you.
...for the next movie.
We're gonna take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Akin Omotoso, everybody!
Make sure to catch the movie.
-Thank you, my dude. So good. -Thank you.
(cheering and applause)
Well, that's our show for tonight.
But before we go,
I just wanted to remind you
about a fantastic organization, Jhpiego.
They deal with helping women deliver health care,
right, all around the world,
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So if you'd like to help them guarantee healthier futures
for women and their families,
then please donate at the link below.
Until next time, stay safe out there.
And remember--
pleading the Fifth doesn't make you a criminal.
It's doing the crime that does.
Now here it is, Your Moment of Zen.
The Democrats are weaponizing the FBI, and it has to stop.
The FBI is not here to weaponize against another president.
It never has happened before.
Um, they should go after things that are clearly a violation,
meaning the Hunter laptop,
which they don't even have to investigate because...
the laptop is right there. All the evidence is there.
Hillary. All of that is not investigated.
President Trump is investigated because they're scared
that he's running and he will win again.