You're listening to Giraffe King's Network.

This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stugats podcast.

Organizationally, some things are going to slip through the cracks. Were you guys aware that a tribute video was made for Mike Ryan? That it's not just so bad that I'm reading an awful announcing article, but there's also a tribute video that I was told that Kugler made to celebrate Mike Ryan's time as our executive producer. Kugs, let's see what you got.

Coogler, you lied to me.

You said you were going to make something that said goodbye to Whittingham, so I wouldn't have to sit there and endure what it is that we just had to endure.

We have one of those, too, if you want that. Do we really? Do we? Great.

Do we? You're just informing me of this? 30 seconds here. Okay, that would have been the funnier joke to just play something. Hey, let's say goodbye now, finally, a little late, formally, to our longtime executive producer, the one we cherish most, Chris Whittingham. We don't have it right now.

No, no. You're 30 seconds.

I'd like one of these. Can I retire and come back in two days.

Retire and just move to a different seat. We will get to that sound in a second. But Stugatz, can we enjoy for a moment what is happening in basketball? Because I don't know if you I saw this, but the Timberwolves, last week was a crazy week in sports that we didn't even see because we were swallowed by the Super Bowl. But the Timberwolves went to the Clippers. The Clippers had been the hottest team in basketball, 1 by 21. I had the Clippers. And then spent a lot of time saying, the Clippers are sorry, laughing and singing and calling them Old as Hell. I've lived long enough now to see James Harden, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard facing a team of Minnesota players that I would have laughed at for trading for Gobert They come in and swamp the Clippers and make them look old and laugh on the sidelines while telling them they're old. They've got the team of players younger than the other Los Angeles team that has the oldest player in the league, and LeBron's being left behind.

It's so odd because the T-Wolves are 38 and 16, the one seed in the West. They are really, really good, and I can't get myself to take them seriously. I just can't. I can't see them winning an NBA Championship.

I believe that a lot of people listening to this are going to think to themselves that the Lakers and Warriors can turn some thing on, and they will judge against Minnesota and OKC and everyone else at the top of that conference, maybe even Denver, even though they've won the Championship. You can't do it against the best because I've seen LeBron and Curry be better than you when they're at their best. But I think the guard has changed. I expect these teams, I expect the younger teams to show me something in the playoffs, but I do fear the Clippers. If I have to play the Clippers- You don't feel LeBron anymore. I don't feel LeBron anymore.

Because he made it to the Western Conference finals.

I'll tell you what, I fear the Clippers more than I do the Warriors. A lot of people would disagree with me on that because over the last week, everyone is... Because you've seen for 10 years, the Warriors be great, you expect them to be able to summon something, even though the last time they tried, they could not.

The last time you saw that was Clay Thompson actually being Clay Thompson. Now he's just a shell of a shell of himself.

But every once in a while, he can give you the game. He's given it to you a couple of times recently, even as he's given you the public vulnerability that athletes never do, which is I'm okay with a reduced role. I'm okay looking in the mirror and having Draymond yell at me, quit crying. He got no choice, though, Dan. But Draymond Green is asking Clay Thompson to toughen up and have... Stugatz, this part to me is super interesting, okay? We just got done with the Super Bowl. Look how hard it is to kill the real champions. You think, you doubt, you doubt. They're falling apart. The tight ends dating a pop star. It's crazy around them. I doubt, I doubt, I doubt. Oh, they win again. Why? Because they're better than everybody. Again and again. The warriors have been that for twice as long. Twice as long. Borrowed Kevin Durant, spit him out. They've dominated that sport when LeBron wanted to be dominating the sport. They had the team. They built the architecture to fight him. And now it goes down. And Clay's wimpering. And Draymond's like, Not yet, Clay. Not yet. I want to fight.

I'm going to go out here punching my teammates, choking Gobert, And Clay's like, I got a reduced role. And Draymond's like, No, I want to fight the league, and I'm the furnace. Did you see that locker room video of Clay's wimpering, getting in his feelings? And Draymond's like, Were you toughen up? I was ejected for a finals game, and I came back and scored 32 in a game seven.

Clay responded with 26 points.

I'm saying he's the furnace. Clay's not the furnace. Clay gets to benefit. Clay could have been treated for Kevin Love and scored 30 points in Minnesota and never won a championship. The leader of that team is Draymond, whether you like it or not.

Yeah. I mean, Draymond tried to make the LeBron James trade go through. I think Clay Thompson would have went to LA.

I just think it's crazy.

He's running the team.

I think it's crazy that Draymond Green is the leader of that team. Almost fundamentally crazy. He's got to go to therapy to cool down the furnace because the whole thing runs on him being strong.

But they've said it throughout the years, and I'm surprised you were surprised, only from this standpoint, because Steve Kerr, Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, they have all said he's the guy that gets us going. He is the guy.

He's the leader. But Stugatz, I'm talking about how that has been playing with fire for 10 years. Sometimes it gets ejected for game five of the final. Stugatz, he's made his broadcasting career now and says he's the new media, and he's not wrong. He's going to do a simulcast with Barkley while he's playing. That's the top of both games. Draymond Green will give you 12, 6, and 6, and a bunch of defense, and a mouth, and a furnace, and winning, and a heart, and will crush people the way no one active will crush people to their face and in private. Then you're all wondering, why is Gober allowed to be dragged across the court like that? The league gets real worried. Oh, no, Draymon is out of control while it fuels the best thing we've seen in the last 10 years. Because that thing has been as good or better than LeBron. That thing won Andre Iguedala, a Finals MVP for merely holding LeBron to 35 points a game.

That thing has been the best thing in the sport for the last decade.

But this is the part I'm fascinated by because we love the story lines. And will it be the Clippers? Can they handle Westbrook? They got four knucklehead. Can OKC actually survive and be young because they're great? Or is the dying dinosaur dynasty got one more? Draymon is going to kick in the nuts on the way out. That's the story.

And you think the young teams are coming for the Warriors? That's done. No more Warriors, no more LeBron.

It's over. I think in both sports-Be careful. I think in football and basketball, we've lived the changes of the guard. We're already having the braided Mahomes conversation. In this sport, yauning indifference about Denver. Who's really coming to get the Warriors and the Lakers? Who's really coming to finish LeBron and Steph because competitive champions go down the hardest. For everything LeBron has done in his career, among the craziest, is he still this good at this age? The warriors don't want him. He shouldn't be in any Championship conversations. It's asinine.

Jokuj is going for his third MVP, and nobody's talking about the Nuggets, but there are so many teams that the Golden State Warriors have to jump. If everything is right in Golden State, it feels like they can.

We've seen it happen before. No, you believe in nights like last night when they beat Utah by 30 on the road or the last week of what they give you. I think they're a 500 team. I don't think they could turn anything on. I don't think what the Lakers can turn on in the in-season tournament is something they're going to be able to do again. I Are people expecting that?

I mean, the Lakers did it a year ago. I mean, the heat did it a year ago.

The Lakers-I mean, Dan, they got to the Western Conference finals, did they not?

Lebron turned it on at the end there.

I mean, Denver, I feel like Denver ran rough shots through the entire postseason last year. Nobody thought any... I mean, maybe you thought you were doing the same analysis on Denver that you now do on Minnesota and OKC, which is I haven't seen them do it, therefore, I don't believe they'll do it.

That's fair. The last five games, to to be fair to Golden State, they have won against your Brooklyn Nets, one of the best teams in the NBA. The Sixers, the Pacers, the Suns, and Utah. I mean, they've won seven of 10. I'm not going to write them off yet. Lebron, I'm okay with. I'm not going to write Steph Curry off.

I've written them off, and now we have stalled sufficiently so that we can give Wittingham the long-overdue tribute that he deserved a long time ago. The best executive producer we've ever had, however brief it was, Chris Wittingham. Goodbye to you belatedly. Andy It's a very brief run.

Cup of coffee.

You know what? If someone takes a foul ball to the penis, we should just say he took a foul ball to the penis.

A cup of coffee, but what a legacy. Hit him in the penis, cesarean section. Witty's taking a shit in the bathroom. Matt D.

K'chuck.

Shittingham.

I forgot about that one. So us to do a show in a bat tub.

Shittingham? Shitty.

Shitty Witty.

I can't believe it didn't make the cut in the tribute. Pardon the pun. That him explaining C-sections to you. How the pain of a C-section is- He was right.

Modern medicine has made child was so easy. Women are just complainers. They'll never stop complaining.

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Don Levatard.

Well, my point about Jimbo Fisher is that nick Saban, he's been trying to cancel me for saying that Mrs.

Met has cake.

Bobby Biden would have said, Mrs.

Met, she is snatched. Stugats.

I never pay for a player. Now, I would pay for Ms. Med to give me a lap dance.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

I morphed Nerkich into Jerkich over the course of that segment? It happens.

Valentine's Day, Dano.

Vegas Super Bowl Week, Radio Road.

Can you guys explain something to me? I would like the group to explain this because perhaps you have felt the aging process in some of the ways that I have. Because I don't know if Tony or even Jessica, loud talking at the airport, drunker than Greg Cody, Jessica, has felt this the way that I'm about to express it. In my 20s, I could do Vegas and recover in a day. It would take me a day, and it would be a hard day, but I'd be okay. I feel like this entire company is still feeling Vegas on Wednesday of this week. And, Jessica, you are a vibrant young person. I think that you are somebody who could conquer Vegas, drink hard, and then come back here and be here on Wednesday, okay?

She likes to be sleeping by 8:00.

That's why Lehman is taking me out to lunch for Valentine's Day. He said, I know you like to go to bed early. You got to go on a work Thursday. We'll do lunch. I said, You get me Lehman.

How broken are you?

I felt better after I went into the break room and everyone said they felt like shit, too. At least it's not just me. I thought I was just being a big old baby. But Kirstin, she's feeling it. Louis, he's feeling it. Everyone's feeling it, Dano.

Dan, I've never felt better.

The company has taken a beating, I believe. Is anyone with Tony Billy? What are you shrugging about?

Just because, of course.

I've never felt better in my entire life.

It feels good. Roy, how are you feeling?

Well, I got lucky yesterday because yesterday was supposed to be the first recording session for Montgomery & Company for the season, except Renee got sick. So I was working from home.

So you were lucky.

You were lucky. I slept. You never say take the day off.

You were working. You were working. You were lucky, you.

What are you doing? You're always working from home.

You were working hard from home.

That's what you meant. Don't ruin it for everybody else.

So you got a hangover sleep day that no one else around here got? I wonder if if Renee didn't get sick.

It's her fault.

It's her fault. But you got lucky, and she got sick.

I got lucky, and she got sick. So hopefully- Hopefully, it takes another week for her to recover. Yeah, hopefully. We can only be so lucky.

We're too.

Maybe you don't ever want her to recover.

Whoa.

How dare you?

That's extreme.

He could pretend to work from home.

Just start airing re-air, see if anybody notices for the next three weeks and just Take your Tuesdays. That's a good point.

We're a billing beast. You should tell people that you're working hard on your days off to earn your money, not that you are sleeping at home to get the hangover off you.

Well, normally I do, but it's Vegas.

But I thought it was me and my age. You guys are telling me it is not. It's the way that everybody was working and that everybody's... I mean, look, we don't need to relive the whole thing. We've done enough of that this week. But people don't have any earthly idea how hard it was to get that spaceship in the air, correct? No idea.

No idea.

It was partially the fact that we were working 20 of 24 hours and also had enough money to eat one meal outside of the catered meal. So I was pretty hungry the whole week.

They I guess it's expensive. Yeah, very expensive.

It was a business trip, Dan. You weren't going there with your friends. I eat 6,000 calories a day. No, I know, but it was a business trip. We were working, and many of us were working 16, 17-hour days. Normally, when I go there and I play cards, I drink, I do cocaine, I go to strip clubs, I have the whole day to recover.

I did it this time around. I did all of that. But I do want to take the opportunity, no bid here, to commend the God bless football crew of Billy and Stukatz.

Oh, my God, they crushed it.

I don't think I've ever seen someone tackle as many hours of content because they multiplied by, God knows how many X amount on God bless football. Then they did our main show, which is a beast in its own right. I do wanted to take the opportunity to commend them.

It really is.

Mike Fuentes and Juju, I could speak for Billy on this, did a fantastic job. Billy had me so organized and ready to go. It was fantastic.

We had a lot of fun. It didn't stop you from trying to subvert him.

I had no fun. No, of course. As an opposite of Roy, I had no fun on the trip, just so everybody knows. I did not enjoy that time because you got in trouble for saying you enjoyed your Tuesday. I did not enjoy it.

Well, Billy, you had a thankless job, but you successfully wrangled the stugats in a way that makes him happy about what he made and happy to have enjoyed being the star of Radio Row. You did that thanklessly in the shadows.

I got to say, one of the things I've enjoyed the last two years is Billy is becoming a star at Radio Row. I mean, dog loves to see him. Josh Allen, he met his nemesis. He went face to face with him. Billy was the story for a couple of days on Radio Row.

Did Ruso get your name wrong? He did. What do he call you?

Mcgill. Oh.

He thinks you're our zoo guy?

No, I think he thinks that I'm a sandwich at McDonald's. Gills. Or Irish.

He called him Mr. Gill and Mr. Mcgill. Yeah, it's really weird.

I just rolled with it. Dr. Mcgillicuddy. Yeah.

What were the God... Classic doggy. You told me that there wasn't anything particularly memorable from the Josh Allen video, but you did tell me that You had one video with somebody that you liked from God bless football. Do you remember what that was?

I'm trying to remember.

I can't recall. You had one moment on God bless football that was more memorable than all the others.

There was a moment where Billy went face to face with Josh Allen. There was a moment where Bubba Watson needed to hug Chris Cody not once but twice, because Cody was upset about the skills challenge.

Bubba Watson is now a friend of God bless football. He wants to come on and talk football all the time. You made some legitimate friends. You guys have a community of legitimate friends. You had this moment with Lil Dicky, too, where you guys were deciding-We played Moreno, Montana with Lil Dicky. Who were you going to... You were going to play it with Montana? With Moreno. Okay, you were going to play it with Moreno based on the M&M? He was advertising M&Ms.

He was promoting M&Ms. We're going to open up a bag, and if there were more blue ones than Moreno, it settles it. Moreno wins. If there were more red ones, then Montana wins. We never got the opportunity.

You were going to do what you meant. Instead, you did it with Lil Dicky?

Well, Lil Dicky is a big sports fan. We didn't know how much Lil Dicky actually likes sports, and he was there, and he was-I didn't know who he was. Well, that's another thing.

He listened to his rap, he drops an Olden Polynes references.

I think he name dropped me in one of these.

Well, he started breaking down the Philadelphia Eagles's coaching staff hires, and we're like, Okay, calm down, Lil Dicky. We don't care about this.

You should have introduced yourself to Lil Dicky. He did absolutely mention you as a Lyric.

Against Cornheiser. I think I was the embarrassment in the Lyric.

But what was this? I think you caught a stray.

This is us, I I think playing Moreno, Montana with Lil Dicky. Look, there's Dan Moreno right there.

Oh, wow. See, now, that's cool. Now you're excited. Look at you.

Do you think Dan Moreno knows you? No way. Really? If you want, just get up, go and say, Hey, what's up, Dan Moreno? I can't.

I have too much.

It's too good.

What do you mean? Go say hi to Golik.

No, he doesn't care about Golik. He cares about Dan Moreno. That's right. Yeah.

Look at you. You're star struck a little bit. You're Lil Dicky, man. It's Moreno.

Yeah. That's Ace Ventura's pride and joy, Dan Moreno.

That's exactly right. We like to play a game called Moreno, Montana. Yes. Oh, okay. That's basically the whole game.

You got to pick one.

I can't tell you that I grew up watching these guys to give it the proper eye test.

I can just tell you, I don't know, statistically, you got to go Montana, right?

He's one more.

Dan Marino is right there. I know. Well, he can't hear me.

That's true.

You see what he did? He did the rings thing.

Stugant, what a phony baloney you are. You're saying, Say hello to Moreno, your little Dicky, and you have no idea who you're talking to. No.

Jess told me right before.

Just go up to Moreno and tell him you're Lil Dicky. That'll mean something to him. I don't know who you are.

That's what I do. I'm a banger of radio.

I did it to Wu-Tang. Who am I to say?

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Don Lebitard.

Kiss me where you bruise me. Taste me on that fleshy part.

Really? Yeah. Really?

The Taste me on that fleshy part.

Taste me, not touch me.

Taste me on that fleshy part.

Wow. Wow, Bruce. Stugatz.

Bruce is a dick. I'm talking about the clitoris.

I'm talking about the clitoris, yes, I am. Now we're out here ripping, and I'm going to try to find it if I can.

Okay. One wonderful rendition.

This is the Dan Leventhal Show with the Stugats.

Video, please get ready for me some sound from Brandon Marshall. I think it's I am athlete, the I Am Athlet podcast, because I'm surprised this hasn't been something that's talked about more, but maybe it's because there's some credibility issues with Brandon Marshall. This seems like it would be a no big story if it were true, or at least a big pop culture story. Justin Tinsley is a senior sports and culture reporter for ESPN's Anscape. He's the author of It Was All A Dream, Biggie in the World That Made Him. We welcome him back for his hip hop wisdom. Kanye West has returned with number one album on the Apple charts. He would appear to be uncancelable. Here is Brandon Marshall telling you something that I had not heard. I've not heard a second source confirm this. It sounds like it's just a rumor, But here's what he says happened to Kanye West around Taylor Swift's skybox at the Super Bowl.

Kanye West pulls up to Vegas. Kanye West buys a ticket right in front of Katie Perry's booth. So anytime they were going to be showing Katie Perry, Kanye's face was going to be there. Did you say in front of Taylor's booth or in front of Katie Perry's booth? Oh, my bad. In front of Taylor Swift's booth. He had a mask on with his logo on a mask, right? Typical Kanye Okay. Taylor Swift gets pissed off. Chic Boom Boom makes a call or two. Everybody's involved. He gets kicked out the stadium. Oh, this is hot. But Kanye, this is hot. This is hot tea, hot tea, hot tea, hot tea, got kicked out the stadium. He was trying to leverage her celebrity. Because he knows they're not going to cut to him. So he's like, I'm going to strategically position myself. So every time they cut over here to her. So now you got to go back to the beef, him cutting her off. It's like, Beyoncé should have wanted it then years after. Just that whole relationship. But that's what he tried to do. He tried to sit in front of Taylor Swift.

Somebody would have reported this if it were true, right? Somebody else, a second person would have reported this if it were in any way true?

I mean, I guess, but I'm not going to question Brandon Marshall.

Justin, are you?

I have to because I feel if you're involving Kanye West, if you're involving Taylor Swift, and you're involving Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, and there's no secondary backup source or confirmation from that story, I don't know how accurate it is. Now, could it have actually happened? Sure. I don't put anything past anybody, especially when it involves Kanye West. But there's video online. I saw it on Twitter the other day of Kanye West in a suite with Anderson pack. And the Internet did his research, and I actually zoomed in as well. It's late in the third quarter when this picture was taken. So if Kanye was actually kicked out, unfortunately for him, he got kicked out right when the game started getting really good. But I haven't heard this confirmed by any other source. I just feel like if this actually happened, TMZ would have been all over it. It would have been the first story on a lot of podcasts and radio shows across the country. I just haven't heard this from anybody else other than Brandon Marshall.

If you were Kanye West at this circumstance and you wanted to get more publicity this way, why not just confirm it to bleep with the media? Because who cares?

Yeah, I mean, of course. This is a guy who... Kanye West, he's been a focal point in the spotlight for over 20 years, over 20 years at this point. We just recently passed the 20th anniversary of his debut album, The College Dropout. It feels like we've been talking about him ever since, and he understands what a moment looks like. And so he knows if he has an album coming out, and it's been reported about the struggles about getting on streaming and him trying to find other arenas to perform in, we know about these struggles. If he has a chance to promote that album and promote Kanye in that moment, I don't see why he wouldn't do it. So that's why I question this reporting from Brandon Marshall.

So this is interesting, Justin, because if you reported it without a second source, I believe it. And I believe Brandon Marshall. It seems unfair to Brandon Marshall.

Yeah. Again, it may be correct, but I just feel like if this actually happened, if Taylor Swift got Kanye West, again, like he said in his own video, knowing their history, if Taylor Swift got Kanye West kicked out of the Super Bowl, that would be That would be major- It wouldn't happen quietly.

Right. Kanye would have said something because him getting kicked out by Taylor, or allegedly by Taylor, plays into his hands if that's the attempt to siphon off the Fame.

All right. But let's talk stop Let's stop talking about the stupidity of this, Justin, and let's talk about the larger overall problem, which is Kanye West's commentary and behavior has been super questionable and actually cancelable for a long time now, where where you can wonder about his mental health, and yet he's got the number one album on the Apple charts. He's not actually cancelable, is he?

No, because he's always going to have that legion of fans behind him who will support him in whatever he does. Kanye is never wrong. Kanye is ahead of the curve. Kanye is this genius. So he's going to have that segment of society, which honestly, Dan, honestly, Stu, that's a large segment of the musical fandom in this country. Kanye operates a huge space in that, and nothing is going to change. Now, granted, yes, things will change in his career. Obviously, we saw how those comments impacted him in terms of business, and honestly, in terms of music as well. But that doesn't mean that he still won't have a large following behind him. It's very, honestly, to make this comparison, it's very Trump-like in a sense.

Isn't a bigger indicator of him actually being canceled or not? Because I don't actually think that's a real discussion. Ben Shapiro had a number one overall track when it came to streaming. I think the bigger example of him not being canceled is him actually getting time on the Super Bowl.

He bought ad time- He got a 30-second video, selfie video.

The NFL networks have taken stands before and not allowed advertisers. There have been plenty of people willing to pay for the time, and that's a decision that the NFL and CBS granted.

Yeah. I mean, look, unfortunately, we know how time influences discussions. Now, had Kanye done what he He had done what he did last year in terms of the anti-Semitic comments he made on multiple programs, if he did that two weeks before the Super Bowl, then no, that wouldn't have happened. But I think, unfortunately, in many ways, enough time has passed that There's been so many other big stories that have dominated pop culture since then. It's like, okay, maybe we can let this guy come back in. And of course, if you're going to pay for it, we know how Super Bowl commercials go. At the end of the day, money talks.

Hold on, money talks. Hold on a second. Let's think about what we're examining here, that Kanye West, who has been a raving anti-Semite with comments that are- It should be noted in fairness, he has since apologized.

In terms of his commentary on Jews, the most recent thing that we have is an apology. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Okay, but when he's talking about time here, though, the amount of the time past, okay, the comments at any other point in our history would have gotten an artist actually canceled. A Super Bowl ad, which is a 30-second selfie video in the back seat of a car that alerts people to merch on his website. He's claiming on Instagram that he sold 284,000 orders for $19.3 million in under 24 hours. So not only is he not canceled, he's strong enough to have a Super Bowl commercial and turn it into a merch commercial during the Super Bowl. So it's not just not canceled. It's the strength of riches. Do you buy these numbers? Because Because a Super Bowl ad is more than that. That would cost him money if that's all he sold in 24 hours.

That thing with Kanye, you got to take a lot of things that are half truth. He's going to say what makes him look good in that moment. Honestly, saying that, Oh, this is my Super Bowl commercial. It costs X amount of dollars. This is my new album, whatever the case may be, he's going to make a business decision for Kanye. And again, that segment of that population that will follow him everywhere he everywhere he goes and believes everything he says, they're only going to hype this up even more. Now, do I believe it? I don't actually believe it. He may be looking at something gross when it's really a net pay. But I feel like if he made that much money in that short a span of time, the same way with the allegedly getting kicked out the Super Bowl, I feel like that would be much more of a bigger story. And it just feels like he's the only one promoting this news. And there's nothing really to back it up or to challenge him on it.

What were What were your main takeaways from Usher Halftime show as a pop culture phenomenon?

I thought it had everything it needed to be in the discussion of some of the best Super Bowl's of halftime. Now, to be fair, I don't think anybody's going to top Prince in 2007. I mean, the man literally did Purple Rain during a downpour. It doesn't get much more epic than that. But in terms of Usher, this guy, we know he's an incredible performer. What he did on that Super Bowl stage was basically a preview of what his residency looked like. So we knew he had the performance down. We knew he could sing, but he was actually singing without background vocals. And that was a very physical performance that he did. And obviously, the catalog backed it up. So I won't say it's the greatest of all time, but I guarantee you within the next five years, we're going to be talking about that as one of the best Super Bowl performances of all time.

Tony's making a face at you.

It was okay, Justin. It wasn't the greatest thing of all time. He was a little bit breathy, ran a breath. His dance was okay. The roller skates, get out of here.

That was average. Get out of here. That was what the residency was. That's Vegas, baby.

Trust me, I was there in a Minn Code. I knew exactly what Vegas is.

There we go. All right. You know Frank Lucas?

No such a no.

Here's the most important question from the Super Bowl. Did Kyle hand, know the rules for overtime?

Oh, my God. Studio don't get me started on this. No, I don't think he did. Thank you. I mean, his players actually said it. His players looked up at the jumbo, trying to go, Oh, They found out the rules the same time Ice Spice did. That's unacceptable if you are in the Super Bowl. You had two weeks to plan for a moment like that, and your players, arguably the best team in the country, in the league all year, they don't know the rules to overtime in the Super Bowl, and you're playing Patrick Mahomes. I'm not saying the guy should lose his job. He should not lose his job. He should, man. But until he reverses this, this is a stain on your career that you're not going to be able to get over it unless you actually win one. That is unforgivable. And I'm not even a 49er fan.

Stugat says, No one is out here more aggressively with the take that Kyle Shanaher cannot skate on this. No, you can't be forgiven for something like that.

Thank you. It's the Super Bowl, baby. The Super Bowl.

Follow-up question to that. You're the York family. You own the 49ers. Bill Belichick calls you. What do you do?

Oh, Come on.

No, I don't think so.

You took it too far. You're not all in.

No, I don't think you fired the guy.

You've gone too far. You've done to blame him all off. This is what Billy said you yesterday. This is the thing. You give Stugatz a little bit. Stugats, good take. And he's like, I need more. I need more. Fire him. Keep going. I was right there with you, baby. Set fire to him in a public square. Yes, yes. If you keep agreeing with him, he will keep taking it out further and further.

Let me know when you get to the Belichick portion of it. It will take a couple of days. I get there quicker than anyone, but let me know when get there, Justin, and we'll call me back, okay? I absolutely will. We'll have you on again.

The Super Bowl was a lot of pop culture events meeting in the middle. One of the news stories that has resulted from that is Beyoncé did this big unveiling in the album plans, and she's going country with this next album, is that country radio stations are emailing people back who are requesting Beyoncé songs, that they're a country music station and they will not be playing Beyoncé, even though the songs are country songs. What do you make of that?

This is going to be a prominent discussion in pop culture for probably the next year. I understand what's going on here. Similar to Act One, which was renaissance, and that brought attention on the contributions that Black artists have made to house music, it's going to be the same here with country music, because that is a long, rich, complex, and at times very depressing history in terms for Black artists. So I think the album is going to be fine. It's going to be another Beyoncé Spectacle, Big Moment, Great Album. It will go up for Album of the Year, which will also be another conversation we'll be hearing about for the next year, because guess who drops her album in March? Beyoncé. Guess who drops her album in April? Taylor Swift. So This cycle is just going to repeat itself. But there are going to be discussions about Black history in country music, Black artists in country music. What does the future look like? And Beyoncé is going to be an entry point for a lot of that.

We've been We're talking about reckonings coming to men with power and money, Dana White and Vince McMahon in sports. Russell Simmons was sued on Tuesday by a former executive at Def Jam, who alleges that Simmons raped her in his apartment back in the '90s and ruined her career. He's had similar lawsuits against him thrown out over the years due to the statute of limitations. Is there going to be a reckoning here, or is Russell Simmons going to skate like he's always skated?

Dan, I hope so. I I really hope so. Yes, we know about Russell Simmons' history in terms of what he meant for basically constructing and building hip hop during its infant stages. We get that. But that cannot overshadow the actions and the history that this guy has been involved with in terms of some very graphic and ugly sexual assault, rape situations. I got to tell you a personal story, Dan, and this topic really means a lot to me for a a lot of reasons, but one in particular is when I was working on my book, the biggie book that you had mentioned earlier, It Was All A Dream, I interviewed Drew Dixon. And for people who don't know who Drew Dixon is, Drew Dixon is a former music industry executive, a very brilliant woman. And unfortunately, she is a survivor from Russell Simmons raping her in the mid '90s. And she told me a story about how she was very close to Biggie Smalls, and that was one of her very good friends. And I asked her, I was like, Well, did you tell Biggie about what happened in this situation? And she was like, No, I couldn't because I didn't want to be responsible for him going up to Russell, potentially ruining his career.

But I also didn't want him to let me down if he didn't do anything and still stood beside him. And I think that's another part of this conversation about Russell Simmons and obviously about sexual violence, sexual assault, rape as a whole. Yes, the actual act is horrific, but the burden that it leaves on victims and survivors, that's what really needs to be talked about. And so every time I see Russell Simmons, I saw him last year. He was doing a lot of hip hop related events with Eric Adams, and Eric Adams was calling himself the Hip hop Mayor, and then being seen beside Russell Simmons. He was on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I do hope you talk about somebody that needs to be just removed from the conversation. Russell Simmons needs to be removed from the hip hop conversation because there are just too many stories. There are just too many lives that have been ruined by these actions that is just reprehensible. And you can't talk about success without talking about the evil that comes with it as well.

Justin, thank you for being on with us. Appreciate the time, sir.

Thank you for having me, fellows.

All right. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get to with him my Wu-Tang mistake.

How convenient.

I was hoping to tell us straight it, and I was hoping to get his opinion.

You got what a coincidence.

We could have him back on when he gets around on Belichick.

No, I got to go.