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DONKEY: Journalist Claims Chris Brown Is ‘Still Actively Abusing Women’ · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's time for Donkey of the Day. There's a bunch
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of donkeys out here in the street. Call Donkey of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Day. It really caught me off guard. Once I
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  Speaker 1: saw the competition, I was like, damn. You are a donkey.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Why is it so low? It's high. Exactly. On the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Breakfast Club. Okay, Chalamet, who are you giving Donkey of
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the Day to today?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Donkey of the Day for Wednesday, September 23rd. It
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: goes to a journalist by the name of David Dennis Jr.
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  Speaker 2: He's a Cedar writer, a senior writer at Anscape. I've
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  Speaker 2: seen him on Around the Horn on ESPN quite a
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  Speaker 2: few times over the years. And brother, this is nothing personal. OK,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: but donkey of the day does not discriminate. And it's
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: a teachable moment. Now, if you haven't heard. Last week,
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  Speaker 2: David Dennis Jr. posted a video on his personal Instagram
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  Speaker 2: page discussing why Chris Brown's fan base continues to give
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  Speaker 2: the singer unwavering support despite his past littered with legal issues.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Let's listen.
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  Speaker 3: When I think about Chris Brown fans, you ask them, hey,
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  Speaker 3: why do you like Chris Brown? And they say things like, well,
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  Speaker 3: he only brutally assaulted Rihanna once. two decades ago when
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  Speaker 3: he apologized for it. And they kind of don't really
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  Speaker 3: acknowledge the fact that, yeah, he's still actively abusing women
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  Speaker 3: to this day and kind of never stopped. And when
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  Speaker 3: you kind of make these excuses, you sound worse. So
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  Speaker 3: I just think that if you love Chris Brown, love
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  Speaker 3: him for who he is, because that's a real sign
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  Speaker 3: of love. Love him while he's abusing and just be
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  Speaker 3: honest with yourself. Say that man backflips so good.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care that he abuses women.
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  Speaker 3: I love his music more than I care about how
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  Speaker 3: he abuses women.
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  Speaker 1: Just say it. OK, let's unpack this. All right.
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  Speaker 2: David Dennis Jr. This pisses me off so bad. OK,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: this is the problem with the current media era that
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: we're in. To everyone listening to my voice, your feelings
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  Speaker 2: are not facts. OK, there is a legitimate journalistic ethics problem.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: with the way David Dennis Jr. reported this. You can't
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  Speaker 2: declare something as an established fact if it's not an
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  Speaker 2: established fact, okay? And before I continue, I would like
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  Speaker 2: to say this is not a defense of Chris Brown, okay?
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  Speaker 2: Chris Brown does not need Charlemagne Tha God to defend him.
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  Speaker 2: He's got Team Breezy for that, okay? Look, David, you
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  Speaker 2: bought up Chris Brown's past. You know, what he did
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  Speaker 2: to Rihanna in 2009, that's documented. He pleaded guilty to
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  Speaker 2: felony assault.
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  Speaker 1: That's a fact.
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  Speaker 2: Has he faced other serious accusations involving women since then? Yes,
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  Speaker 2: but those are accusations. If you want to discuss those accusations,
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  Speaker 2: fair game.
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  Speaker 1: But David Dennis Jr.
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  Speaker 2: you're supposed to be a journalist, and journalists don't get
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  Speaker 2: to turn allegations into facts just because you may believe
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  Speaker 2: the allegations, okay? Play the line that really grinds my gears.
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  Speaker 2: Do we have that line?
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  Speaker 3: They kind of don't really acknowledge the fact that, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he's still actively abusing women to this day and kind
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  Speaker 3: of never stopped.
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  Speaker 2: Still actively abusing women to this day and kind of
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  Speaker 2: never stopped?
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  Speaker 1: Actively? To this day? Never stopped?
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  Speaker 2: Those aren't vague words, okay? That's not Chris Brown has
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  Speaker 2: faced allegations. That's not Chris Brown has a troubling history.
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  Speaker 1: That's not.
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  Speaker 2: multiple women have accused chris brown of misconduct you said
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  Speaker 2: this man is actively abusing women right now and basically
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  Speaker 2: has been doing it continuously for 17 years provide evidence
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  Speaker 2: okay you gotta show proof all right you can talk
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  Speaker 2: about a person's allegations but you can't say he's actively
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  Speaker 2: abusing women to this day and kind of never stopped
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  Speaker 2: my god now chris brown replied And it's proof that
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  Speaker 2: when a dog barks at the moon, it's nothing. But
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  Speaker 2: if the moon was to bark back at the dog,
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  Speaker 2: it would be news because I wouldn't even have known
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  Speaker 2: about this story if Chris Brown hadn't replied. OK, now
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  Speaker 2: Chris jumped in the comments and basically said, where's the
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  Speaker 2: proof that I'm currently abusing women?
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  Speaker 1: Show me the charges. Show me the convictions.
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  Speaker 2: Show me what the hell you're talking about.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I want. Now, I know. No, I know what
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  Speaker 1: some of y'all OK might say. All right.
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  Speaker 2: Y'all might say, well, Chris, you don't need a criminal
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  Speaker 2: conviction for abuse to have happened.
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  Speaker 1: And plenty of abuse never results in a conviction.
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  Speaker 2: And you'll bring up the fact that Carrucci had a
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  Speaker 2: rescraining order against Chris Brown.
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  Speaker 1: All of that is.
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  Speaker 4: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: But guess what? That's not the point. OK, none of
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  Speaker 1: that can be collapsed into.
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  Speaker 2: He's actively abusing women to this day.
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  Speaker 1: OK, the claim David made is the problem.
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  Speaker 2: Now, instead of David answering Chris's question, David responded with
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  Speaker 2: you've never laid a finger on or harmed any women
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  Speaker 2: in the past 17 years. Not once, not a single time.
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  Speaker 2: Question mark. Every accusation and restraining order is false? David,
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  Speaker 2: you are really trying to raise my cortisol levels this morning, okay?
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  Speaker 2: I am not the highest grade of weed in the dispensary,
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  Speaker 2: nor am I the strongest Avenger, but I know that's
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  Speaker 2: not how journalism works, okay?
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  Speaker 1: I despise.
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  Speaker 2: How Dennis tried to put the burden on Chris to
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  Speaker 2: prove the claim false. No, Dennis, you made the claim.
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  Speaker 2: So you need to provide evidence for the claim you published. OK,
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  Speaker 2: you made the statement. You don't get to make a
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  Speaker 2: definitive accusation. And then when somebody asks you to prove it,
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  Speaker 2: turn around and make them prove you wrong.
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  Speaker 1: What if I said. David Dennis Jr.
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  Speaker 2: Goes around sniffing random men's butts in public every Thursday.
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  Speaker 1: Okay? What? And David replied to me, what? Where's your proof?
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  Speaker 2: Then I say, well, David, are you saying you've never
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  Speaker 2: sniffed a man's butt?
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  Speaker 1: Question mark. Every Thursday? Question mark. Not once? Question mark.
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  Speaker 1: Just want to be clear.
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  Speaker 2: That's not how it would work. Since I made the
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  Speaker 2: claim that David Dennis Jr. sniffed butts, the burden is
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  Speaker 2: on me to prove my claims to be true. And this,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, is where social media has ruined journalism forever.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody wants to go viral. Everybody wants the clip that's
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: going to make people stop scrolling. But when you are
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  Speaker 2: a journalist, you need precision. OK, words matter. Alleged is
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  Speaker 2: a word for a reason.
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  Speaker 1: Accused.
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  Speaker 2: Is a word for a reason. Convicted is a word
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  Speaker 2: for a reason. Restraining order means something specific. And actively
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  Speaker 2: abusing women to this day, that means something specific too.
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  Speaker 2: You can't throw all those things in a blender and
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  Speaker 2: serve them as the same smoothie, especially when you're a journalist. David,
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  Speaker 2: you're not some random person arguing in the shade room
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  Speaker 2: comments or some random YouTuber just ranting.
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  Speaker 1: You're a professional journalist.
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  Speaker 2: And that's probably why Chris Brown responded, because he understands.
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  Speaker 1: That your words carry a different responsibility.
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  Speaker 2: If there are documented incidents that support your statement, present them.
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  Speaker 2: If not, you got to shut the F up forever.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, you didn't even need to do that
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  Speaker 2: to get your point across. OK, we all know Chris
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  Speaker 2: Brown's actual documented history.
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  Speaker 1: It gives you plenty to talk about.
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  Speaker 2: You can criticize Chris Brown without exaggerating anything. You can
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  Speaker 2: report to other accusations that have been made against him.
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  Speaker 2: But you've got to explain what happened with those cases. OK,
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  Speaker 2: tell people what is documented and then let them decide
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  Speaker 2: what they think about Chris Brown.
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  Speaker 5: By the way.
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  Speaker 2: You can tell by the sold out arenas around the
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  Speaker 2: world that his fans have already made up their mind.
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  Speaker 2: But to me, this is bigger than Chris Brown. This
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  Speaker 2: is about journalism. OK, and just journalism.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Just the era we live in as a whole.
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  Speaker 2: We live in a time where people decide allegations are
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  Speaker 2: automatically facts whenever we don't like the person being accused.
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  Speaker 1: That bothers me.
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  Speaker 2: OK, principles aren't principles if they only apply to people
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  Speaker 2: you like.
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  Speaker 1: You can believe.
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  Speaker 2: Every allegation against Chris Brown you want. But an accusation
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  Speaker 2: isn't a conviction. An allegation isn't automatically a fact simply
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  Speaker 2: because it fits what you already believe about somebody. And David,
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  Speaker 2: you're a journalist. You should know better. Please give David
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  Speaker 2: Dennis Jr. the sweet sounds and the hammer tones.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, now you are the donkey of the day. You
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  Speaker 5: are the donkey of the day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeehaw. Can't stand it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm telling you, we live in an era where people
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  Speaker 2: decide allegations are automatically facts whenever we don't like the
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  Speaker 2: person being accused.
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  Speaker 1: That's not how this should work.
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  Speaker 4: I can't stand that. And I think Wale had a tweet,
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  Speaker 4: he tweeted like a year ago, the demise of journalism, like,
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  Speaker 4: and how... He can't stand to where like seeing how
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  Speaker 4: downhill it went because it's spiraling because social media messes up.
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  Speaker 1: There's more headlines.
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  Speaker 6: Like we said before, you know, the nasty, the headlines,
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  Speaker 6: the worst, the headlines, the more clicks you get, the
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  Speaker 6: more engagement you get. And for a lot of people,
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  Speaker 6: when they do this stuff on TikTok or YouTube or
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  Speaker 6: Instagram or threads or. X, they get paid for it.
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  Speaker 1: So the more engagement, the more you get paid. And
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  Speaker 1: if they see it working, they keep doing it. Even
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  Speaker 1: if it is a lie.
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  Speaker 4: Even if it's made up.
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  Speaker 1: What happens if he is a butt sniffer? And on Thursday,
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  Speaker 1: that's what he does. Shut up. Thank you for that
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  Speaker 1: donkey today, Charlemagne. Okay. That was just an example. All right.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just saying. I just said what if. Now, when
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  Speaker 1: we come back. No, it's not a what if. The
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  Speaker 1: man doesn't sniff butts that we know of. Cut.
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  Speaker 2: Stop. Shut up.
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  Speaker 1: Don't even do this to me right now. Calm down.
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  Speaker 6: When we come back, Morgan DeBorn will be joining us.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: She is the founder of Afrotech and CEO of Blavity Incorporated.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk to her next. So don't move.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Donkey of the Day is sponsored by renowned personal injury
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: attorney Michael DeBorn Lamisoff. Don't be a donkey when you
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: need a fighter on your side. If you're ever injured,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: go to MichaelDeBorn.com. That's MichaelDeBorn.com. And when you mess with
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the bull, you get the horns.