This week we were keeping tabs on a very long primary day with races all over the country, Jill Biden's book tour, the "Summer House" reunion taking over our feeds, and a battle for the soul of “60 Minutes.” Symone and Eugene cover all of it, and then kick off Pride Month by welcoming internet and TV sensation Kalen Allen to the groupchat. The trio get into Hollywood’s beliefs about the market for queer stories – we may never get a Black “Heated Rivalry,” for example – and Kalen’s beliefs about the responsibilities of public figures. "I look at my life, I look at Eugene, I'm like – we are our ancestors' wildest dreams. We are the dreams that died with them,” says Kalen. “It is heavy, however I take every bit of the weight.”

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Even though President Trump continues to see spiraling poll numbers, the wallets belonging to his inner circle continue to get fatter. But it’s not just the money. Trump and his staff are also consolidating power by taking an axe to voting rights, specifically in southern states and marginalized neighborhoods. Symone and Eugene try to wrap their minds around the financial corruption within the White House before debating whether the NAACP’s call for Black athletes, families, and boosters to boycott colleges in southern states is the appropriate method to fight back. Then, W. Kamau Bell joins the groupchat to eulogize the comedy roast following Kevin Hart's controversial Netflix special, to explain how cancelled celebrities keep popping back up, and to call out the rich celebrities who have left their communities behind. “I think that there's a lot made about cancel culture," he says, "when, in fact, most of cancel culture is just the First Amendment working correctly.”

Further reading:

The New Yorker – The Number How much is Trump pocketing off the Presidency?

Forbes Magazine – Donald Trump’s Net Worth

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s official. CBS has closed the doors of the Ed Sullivan Theater to “The Late Show” and Stephen Colbert. The show’s expiration is a sign of the times, when media executives capitulate to federal power in order to get mergers approved and paychecks delivered. Eugene and Dr. Symone Sanders Townsend (yes, Dr. Sanders Townsend) lament the twilight of comedy on TV and ask what moguls like Byron Allen will do with the airtime going up for grabs. And then the conversation turns to the cruel face of the Trump administration’s immigration detention campaign. Before they go, our hosts congregate with another Dr. – Dr. Michael Eric Dyson – who has a bone to pick with Kendrick Lamar. They also talk about the shadow of white supremacy, and the ways the Black community’s contributions to American society continue to be simultaneously disrespected and appropriated.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.