Latest / Color Commentary / Ep 23 | The BAFTAs: Sinners, History, and the N-Word
Transcript
- Charles Cole: Welcome to Color Commentary, a podcast where the story shaping our world is told in black and white first, and then we dig into their deeper meaning in full color. Each week I'll be bringing you the news like this. First, we'll start with what I call the black and white section, a clear, straight-shooting rundown of the facts, inter-tradition of the greats like Ed Bradley, Walter Cronkite, and the classic voices of journalism. Then we'll shift into color commentary. Where I'll add my own personal opinions and insights. I might riff I like to riff a lot So sometimes it'll just be me sometimes we'll have guests sometimes we'll have my incredible producer Tommy Hoppin is you never know, know But let's figure it out together exactly what we want this show to be and we do that with your feedback Help us shape the journey. So let's get into it This week, you know and in all full transparency somewhat reluctantly, but it's the topic of the day. ⁓ People are interested in my perspective on it, obviously, but we're gonna talk about what happened at the Baptist. Is Britain's biggest night in film? And, you know, I need us to hold two things in our head at the same time, because, you know, what happened Sunday night was both a historic moment of black excellence and, you know, one of the most uncomfortable moments that's happened at an awards show, probably since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. So we gotta talk about it. I'm also not very happy that both of those stories are with us as black men. Stop is getting more depressing for me as we continue Tommy. ⁓ But before I give you my take, I just wanna make sure that you actually understand what happened and why, because the internet has been loud, very, very loud. So let's start with the actual facts. The 79th BAPTA Film Awards took place on Sunday, February 22nd at the Royal Festival Hall in London, hosted by Alan Cumming. Ryan Coogler made history at the ceremony, becoming the first black person to ever win Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTAs for his film Sinners in the award's 79 year history. Sinners entered the night with a record 13 nominations and took home three awards, including Best Supporting actress, Woonmi Musako, you are out here killing it. She's pregnant, she's glowing, this is a beautiful thing. I'm very happy for that sister. ⁓ Michael B. Jordan and D.L. Roy Lindo, stars of the movie centers, took the stage to present the Best Visual Effects Award. ⁓ It was the first, the very first award of the night. And while they were on stage, a man in the audience, John Davidson. was her shouting the N word. Now, point of clarification and point of order, and a point of privilege, so to speak, a privilege born out of tragedy and trauma. I don't say N word. Just like I'm debating if that's even gonna be in the title. I'm a black man that grew up in a certain place. I just say nigga, cause I can say nigga. Like that is the thing, right? N word has become this demarcation for people that can't say it or want to say it or want to have that expression because every time somebody that's not black says N word, you think of the word. It's a weird wraparound. ⁓ So it's just very interesting. It's also, this is very important. I look at black people that say N word ⁓ weird too. I just do. Not that say nigga. Like you can tell who's comfortable saying it who's not. And if you're not comfortable saying it, you shouldn't say it. But I have an interesting relationship with ⁓ N-word. Again, not nigga, N-word. ⁓ And if you do, if you are watching and you got questions about it and want that show, I think you should leave a comment and ask it for it. ⁓ I don't wanna take us fully off course. But back to ⁓ the black and white section. Davison is a... Tourette Syndrome campaigner from Scotland and the real life subject of the BAFTA nominated film, I Swear, on which he also served as executive producer. So here is what this night has allowed for. It has allowed for a level of education that I didn't know I would be given today ⁓ and research that I would myself be doing. I... knew about Tourette's as a whole and, you know, kind of from a distance. But this has allowed me to kind of dive in a little bit more. So I want everybody here to leave a little bit more educated. But before I go on educating and copping pleas for this person who said it and whatever, listen, Davidson, the guy's gonna be fine. He's gonna be fine. I'm gonna start. by just acknowledging that it was two black men on stage ⁓ and heard an antiquated term shouted at them by somebody that does not look like them. And it was not handled well. I don't wanna start with the humanization of the other guy, which we will do, because everybody here is a human. I want the people to kind of try to empathize with you are, on this amazing run with this amazing movie, both young up and coming superstar, Michael B. Jordan and old season thespian who's never gotten his fair shake and fair do, Daryl Roy Lindo. And you trying to take in this moment, they've asked you to kick off these awards. And then you hear, you hear yourself being called a nigger, not a nigger, a nigger, hard R, hard E R. Let's start there. You're sitting in that first. You're sitting in that. You got that? Okay, now I will break down exactly what Tourette syndrome is and the specific condition that Davidson has, okay? So, Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. It is not a psychiatric condition. and it is not caused by upbringing, environment, or character. A small percentage of people with Tourette's roughly 10 % experience a specific symptom called coprolalia. So coprolalia is the involuntary, uncontrollable outbursts of obscene or socially offensive words and phrases. The person experiencing it has no control over it. So it's not a choice or a reflection of their beliefs. ⁓ or an expression of intent. It's a neurological firing. So the way that they would be explaining this is, because I know what my counter argument would be was that word has to be in your lexicon for it to come up. It has to be somewhere in your heart for you to say it. What is being described here is that we all know social mores. We all know ⁓ social... norms and by happenstance, by knowing those social norms, you know the opposite, the things that are not socially acceptable. So this condition causes you to go to the other end of that spectrum. All right? Davidson has been public about his condition for decades. And in 2018, he received an honor from Queen Elizabeth II for his work raising awareness of Tourette's. He told CNN before the ceremony that he was already worried about his tics given the crowd and the environment. BAFTA announced to the general audience before the ceremony that Davidson would be present and that they might hear involuntary language or sounds. However, none of the presenters, including Michael B. Jordan or Del Ray Lindo, were individually notified ahead of time. Davidson experienced multiple outbursts throughout the early portion of the show and voluntarily left the auditorium approximately 25 minutes to watch the remainder from a private screen. Jordan Lindo paused briefly on stage, then continued presenting with full composure. ⁓ My wonderful producer pointed out that in the midst of the pause, you could see Michael B. Jordan was kind of somewhat bewildered, looked over to his elder and friend and often seen partner who kind of gave him a reassuring look, kind of reminded him, we are in a business, we are distinguished gentlemen. We're gonna proceed. So, ⁓ the BBC broadcast aired on a two hour tape delay and originally did not edit out the slur before it went to air. The BBC later apologized and removed it from their iPlayer version. At the post ceremony Warner Brothers after party, Daryl Ray Lindo told Vanity Fair that he and Jordan did what we had to do and that he wished someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterwards, which... from contest clues means nobody said anything to them from the organization. BAFTA issued a full apology the next day, taking full responsibility for putting guests in a difficult situation and apologizing unreservedly to Jordan and Lindo, thanking them for their incredible dignity and professionalism. The NAACP and journalist Jermell Hill were among those who publicly centered Jordan and Lindo in the aftermath, pushing back on discourse that focused primarily on defending Davidson. That is the news. Now let's talk about it. You are listening to Color Commentary with Dr. So as always, I have a few thoughts on this story. So let's start with what got buried, right? Let's start with what is not being talked about today. And that's Ryan Cooler became the first black person to win best original screenplay in 79 years of the Baptist. And not for nothing, when the Will Smith Chris Rock slap happened, it also overshadowed other things that happened like, Will Smith winning the Oscar and that the full Oscars was produced ⁓ by Will Packer, a black man, for the first time. ⁓ When these things kinda happen, like, so there's like this double hit. There's like the black person that has to experience the racism and then because of that covering of the racist act, it is, they are also, Their accomplishment is also minimalized because it is now not the story anymore. It's kind of a double whammy. And then here's the other thing, because I'm not very sensitive in some of these ways. Like it really sucks that these happen. Nobody put hands on me. Nobody put hands on these people, but that has to be a shot to you in the moment. And especially when you're just not expecting it in that space. So just again. I'm gonna be letting a lot of things sit today. I'm gonna let a lot of things sit today. So. Let's pick this back up. Coogler became the first black person to win the best original screenplay in 79 years at the BAFTA. I'm gonna say it one more time, a third time for effect. Coogler became the first black person to win best original screenplay in 79 years at the BAFTAs. And Wumi Mosaka took home best supporting actress. I don't know how she's gonna do at the Oscars, okay? This is huge. And it was supposed to be a celebration of these filmmakers ⁓ doing their job, doing their art at the highest level in the world. And I wanted to make sure I said that first. I want to make sure that I say that loudly because like these news cycles will eat this shit alive and refuse to let that happen. There are a lot more ads that you can sell ⁓ going deeper into this conversation. So now let's talk about what actually happened versus what didn't happen. Like, I don't know John Davison as a person. I don't know his character. I don't know the man. not, can't come in here and say who is racist and who is not. Cause I don't know this guy. You know, I don't. ⁓ And I just wanted to say that because I see so many people either attacking him and calling him whatever or doing the opposite and forgetting about the people that got offended and just being like, I know him. He's a great guy and things like that. I don't want to say it's inconsequential, but Tommy is inconsequential. ⁓ What I can tell you about this new term that I learned, and again, I'm not going to, I just learned this topic as I was studying for this episode and to get there. So I'm not gonna be inauthentic and like go in my chest poked out. I will say that there is data and evidence behind that. like I said, there's a lot of people in the world that's afflicted with this. don't know what that must feel like. don't know, listen, we're all human. I have seen a mountain or a cliff and your brain has been like, what happens if I get too close? What happens if I fall off of it? It's just something that the brain does. to, know, one, kind of protects you, but you know, your brain is processing things, right? Like, so I don't know what it must feel like to, at any given moment of your life, just worry that you're gonna say the worst possible thing ever. Not even outside in public on camera. I mean like to your family, like to your mother. You know what I'm saying? I don't know what that is and I can attest to somebody's humanity in that way. Again, I don't need to cop please for the man's character because I don't know it. But this does sound like a devastating condition to have. And to be fair, He was worried about going. He did say on CNN he's very worried about attending. But that's why he does the movies and the things that he does. So I wanna make sure, and we'll get back there in a little bit, because I'm not here to go hard on John Davison's head, okay? ⁓ It's an involuntary neurological event and the brain fires and the words come out and Davidson had no more control over that than someone with a seizure has over their body hitting the floor. I was a social worker for five years. I worked with a lot of young people that had tics, ⁓ not necessarily, I don't know if any of them had this specific condition, but you know, I've been a social worker with kids that hit their moms or have these behaviors that they just can't control or their sensories. or their senses are overloaded, ⁓ it could be rough. I've seen that firsthand. So, you I'm not gonna come in here and not be professional about that. that's, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not gonna come in and just say what I think the audience wants to hear or dog pal, because you don't, you trust me because I don't do that, because I am honest with you. ⁓ And so, We gotta talk a little bit about Tourette's and Caprilelia, but we're gonna call it the other big C, not cancer, moving forward. And then a Tourette's Action Charity in the UK was clear that these outbursts are not a reflection of his belief, his intentions, or his character. ⁓ I'll take it at face value. That's not the debate that I'm really interested in having right now. Now I wanna contextualize the people that probably should get the smoke and have been since, and that's Bafta. But after new Davidson would be in that room and they told the general audience, they did not tell the entire presenters. And look, I don't think that's malicious. I just think that there's a lot going on. It is what it is. It didn't happen, but you got to stand up and say that you got to, got to, you got to do that. And, you know, you didn't, you didn't walk up. Not only did you not walk up to Michael B Jordan and Derrick Lindo and all the presenters beforehand and kind of be like, Hey, just so you know, Here are some things that could happen tonight, which is forgivable. What's a little less forgivable, which you got to get ribbed a little more for is after it happened, no one from Bafta came to talk to them. Now that's just Bush League. That's just Bush League. And Del Rey Lindo is a very composed gentleman of a man. And I can say this from insider knowledge. I have been in space with the great Del Rey Lindo. Best friends in the world, Mylon Drake, knows him very well, so much to the point where he is ⁓ effectively my nephew's ⁓ godfather. And Lindo has shown up for both Mylon and myself. We host things for young black males. We used to do it pretty frequently, spend our own money, spend the organization's money, but we would put these things on for young black males. And Derral Lindo made time. you know, to come out, spend time with them, speak with them. And he didn't just do like, I'm a big actor, give you this speech. Like, no, he like says some things because we asked him to, but he rolled up his sleeves and was on staff with us working that day. So I can definitely attest ⁓ to the level of man that Mr. Lindo is. ⁓ He's an honorable guy and he's an old school guy and he does have manners. He is a gentleman. And for somebody like that to say at the end of this, which is pretty damning because he is so nice and accommodating. He said, I wish somebody from BAFTA spoke to us. ⁓ That sentence should be in a case study somewhere. Like this is something that will go down in how you train for these types of things when you are the Oscars or the Grammys or the BAFTAs. And that's how you owe the institution accountable. You know, he did that. by stating that I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He did it very calm in his demeanor. didn't yell, didn't go off. It was effective. It was effective. But you should expect that from the man who was also part of this. Now, Tommy, I'm talking to you. Let me say that. You should expect this from someone, a Delroy Lindo's character. People, this is the man that we are discussing. We are discussing a gentleman. We are discussing somebody who has full command over who they are. and he knows who he is and whose he is. And if you don't understand that statement, find you an elderly black woman in a Baptist church setting and have her explain it to you. Pointing out a double standard here, Adrian. Take hip hop. We've talked about this on the show before. You have African American rappers saying N-word this and N-word that, but a Caucasian can't. So say it. Say what? Say the word you want to say. I'm not saying that I want to say it. I'm just saying that I can't. Sure you can. Say it. it right now. I will say it with you. This is hypocritical. You know we can. Sure you can. This is America. Both of you. Say it. All right. I think we can move on. Why move on when you want to say it? greatest moments ever. I love that video. I would have shown some more. I really do. ⁓ That's who Del Rey Lindo is, man. He's somebody who is very confident and comfortable with who he is. Like we don't need to play these games. We don't need to have this type of... Listen, there's a larger conversation here. And the larger conversation, here's my hot take. I told you this episode's gonna go off the rails. I think that there are more people that are upset with the guy that said it who are not black ⁓ because some of them wish that they could have been the one that said it. It's just what I think. I have had so many experiences, whether I'm in college, whether I'm giving a talk, whether I'm in this room or that room. And I've had this conversation with people, many white people, but you know, it's been some other races in there too. I had it with an Asian person before, but it's that conversation. Why can't we say it? Like how bad, why do you want to say it so bad? Why? Hey man, listen, to anybody out there that's listening, that's not black, and you want to say nigga, you want to know, and you probably say it at home, you probably say it in your mirror, you probably in your car, you rap it again. I'm not. I'm not the nigga police. And it probably is pain in a lot of people, because I can say I'm from there. can, yes. Yes. But they're jealous because you want to know what it feels like to be able to say it outside of your car with other people there. Yeah. Just admit it. Just admit it, man. I mean, I think that's what a piece of this is. But. In my rant, I had to close out the initial point. It was the Baftist that made the biggest mistake. Nobody is super mad at Davidson. I mean, honestly, I don't think, I mean, I think he's embarrassed. I think he's, you know, I don't know if he feels worse. I actually don't know how Delroy and Michael B. Jordan feel. How would I feel? Maybe that's what I should do. We should talk about what high I would feel. I'm not Delroy Lindo. ⁓ we sitting in this moment. We are about to have a moment, Tommy. I'm sorry, what was that in the back? Fuck this award. What did you say? You said he has Tourette's? Okay, all right, got you, okay. But no, no, no. For everybody listening that did not hear it, I just got called a nigger on ⁓ the BBC at the Baptist. First award, baby. Cause we can all be uncomfortable, but maybe something can grow from that discomfort. Maybe it actually opens up a conversation or maybe it allows people to check themselves on why they just feel like they want to say it so bad. Listen, there's a lot of things I can't be, but you can say whatever you want. No, I cannot say bomb on a plane or fire in a movie theater. Okay. You know what though? I also don't have a strong desire to do it. I don't care to do it. Like it's just really interesting, this term. And maybe that's the psychological thing. It's a term that they created, not us, ⁓ that was used, kept us in control, has a very ugly, nasty history to it and a nasty connotation. know, Chappelle has tackled this in certain ways. you know, I love his joke where he couldn't say ⁓ the gay slur on his show, which was. Okay. And he was like, that's fine. Got it. And then he walked back and he said, well, you let me say nigger all day. And they said, well, he said, he said, so why can't I say the other one? He said, they said, well, Dave, because you're not gay. And he said, ⁓ okay. He says, you know, I'm not a nigger either. He's very awkward. And also that's my kind of humor. That's my kind of humor. So listen, I don't think that these are reflections of that man's ⁓ character. If all that is to be true, and I take it at his value, sure. Like I said, but I also don't feel the need to contort myself or do mental gymnastics to absolve this man. I think that man's gonna be fine. ⁓ He knows why he was there. We know why he was there. Like he's there to talk about this thing that plagues a lot of people. So I do think that the BAFTA has to, they gotta take this on the chin. You didn't come and say nothing to the people. You didn't let these people know early on. You know what I'm saying? Like you didn't have a precautionary. Nobody just came up and apologized. It probably could have all like, hey, that's our fault. We didn't let you know. I'm sorry about that. think somebody like Darrell Lindow would have appreciated and moved on. He strikes me as somebody like that. Again, I'm not his friend, I'm not his BFF. I have been in the man's presence. ⁓ I can vouch for that. And listen, man, BBC has a two hour tape delay. Usually it's like what five second, three second, 10 second delay, something like that. Tommy's, ⁓ I'm not sure, but you know, that's a big delay. It's a huge delay and they chose to let it play. I don't know if I'm mad that they let it play. I probably would have been more mad if they didn't. I'm like, yo, let the world see that in the big year of 2026, big year of our Lord, that that's something that's still happening. Yeah, I think that's really interesting. It's not like somebody had to outburst and use antiquated language like bedwink or something like that. I bet you that would have got a lot of attention. I do bet that there's a few other terms that could have gotten used and they would not have, it would not have been a second thought. If you look at the current state of the world, I can think of a few terms that absolutely are not getting said over the airwaves. And I think sometimes we need these reminders. I think black people sometimes we need these reminders. And somewhat to the movie that I talked about last week with Tyler Perry's movie, and a lot of people make fun of that movie, and a lot of people actually like that movie. I'm one of the people that actually enjoyed that movie. Yes, I enjoyed the Tyler Perry movie. Will it begin the BAFTA? No, it will not begin a BAFTA or an Oscar. But I thought it was a fun movie. was ignorant in parts, but I think that was part of the fun. But I pointed out, like a lot of people were like, why do you need to have these conversations? That movie talked about generations of young black people that are growing up in a world that they see as different, where they want to let their friends say this word. They don't see the value of HBCUs. They don't understand. They think that we're truly in these post-racial times. And we have what is called nigga moments. And those are moments when you are walking in your racial bliss and you are just living your life. because you think these things have, we have moved on, we've evolved from them, and then you get a reminder. And sometimes that reminder is put there by God to protect you. because ignorance is bliss, but it can also get you killed and seriously hurt. It can cost you your career. can do a lot of different things. So sometimes these snafus need to happen just so you know and a lot of these other people know. that this shit is not all the way over. I have talked about this before. I've been pulled over double digit number of times. I only got a ticket like once or twice. One time I was nervous. The police got behind me and was following me and I tried to get out the road and then the legal U-turns I was trying to get away from them got me a ticket. Got it. And then you get your speeding tickets. But I have gotten pulled over in one instance and I was handcuffed in front of the house of a girl I was dating in college. And we had just started dating and they cuffed me. First off, had me get out the car. They said I fit the description of somebody who robbed a store. I heard the description come over the radio. Nothing like me, by the way. I mean, it was like a four or five inch difference in height. It was absurd. ⁓ Guns were pulled on me and then they had to make it mean something. I felt, I felt the tip of a gun on the back of my neck when they had me. Open my trunk illegally by the way. and check it. And while they were checking it, they had me sit down on a curb with my hands tied behind my back. And then there was a time I was coming from a book signing and I was passing through Indiana and I got pulled over and then they brought out the dogs to sniff to see if I was transporting illegal drugs because I had California plates and the officer said that I smelled too good. And since Tommy has told me that we actually can, I can pull a video up. I taped it. Do you hear me? I taped it. You can hear this man who has a gun tuned on me. His hands are shaking. He is so nervous. I am talking to him calmly. I am telling him that I am Dr. Cole. There's a book, a box of books of my book in the back. I'm showing him. I'm like, hey, hey, hey. This is me. The other police officer that came with the canine instantly got wind of the situation. He did the round twice, but I heard him tell the other cop, do not waste our resources on this. Let that man go. This is right after I got to my destination. I'm gonna introduce this man, this man's audio. that I recorded and you might say, why did you record it? Because people, every time I talk about this stuff and what I experienced, people think that I'm lying or something has happened. And a lot of people in the world have never experienced these things, so they cannot believe you. I will let past me take it from here and we will listen to this, the full audio from this man. You know, I'm still calm and cordial because you know. I've been pulled over a lot before. The first week I had my license, I got pulled over. ⁓ So it is just something that's been happening. I'm calm. But I'm asking him, like, yo, I need you can you let me know what happened? Did I starve you? Let me know. ⁓ This man was afraid. I could tell he was nervous. ⁓ And this is what he said. Okay, so I'll explain it to you. Yeah, please do. Just because you seem curious, I'll take the time. Like I said, we're down here in Alabama, it's place happening. Right. We do get lot of drug traffic from your area, okay, with those zip codes in that area, in that part of California. Okay. Okay, there's no assumption. other than that, I smelled cologne, which, it smells good, it's a good smell. But a lot of times, my experience, when you walk up to the vehicle, people will spray cologne to inhibit another smell. So I didn't know for sure, and so I don't know you, it's not a personal buy, just, hey, we've got a canine, we'll have him run around the car real quick, if not, it's not, there's a lot of traffic, and absolutely looking for a lot of drugs, okay? So you just heard past me, and a lot of people are, You know, I was saying, you know, hey, how did Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan like kept their cool? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like in that moment, you know, even me and my producer were talking about earlier, like when Michael B. Jordan kind of looked and Delroy with his, you know, experience of being a black man was just like, we have to remain calm in this moment. This is not. just something germane to Delroy Lindo. You saw me right now with a gun trained on me and this man telling me that because of my cologne, he wants to have drug dogs go around my car. And I have to be calm because his gun is trained on me. I am not exaggerating when I say his hands were trembling like this. This is for those that are watching, my hands are absolutely shaking, not like subtle. is shaking like I have advanced stages of Parkinson's. So I have to talk to this man. I have to calmly talk to, I have to keep him calm. just for these dogs to show up, this dog to show up and the other cop have to somewhat scold him ⁓ in front of me, kind of within earshot. And I think that the other cop was very aware that I could hear him and just said, do, do be better. Do, do not waste our resources on this. So when I hear this thing, I understand where Jamil Hill or these other people are coming from where like we did this again, where an infraction was caused to these two brothers and instantly everybody needed to make the cat that did the infraction, whether it was an accident or not, whether he was afraid or not in my case. The onus, the onus is put on that black man in that moment to deal with that situation so everybody can go home safely. The onus is put on Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan to handle that in a way that allows the Baftists to continue because in that moment they actually have power to shut this whole shit down. So in a topic that I might not have really wanted to talk about, and I'm not giving you any declarative ⁓ next steps or this is what you should do, this is what you should think, I am just sharing another instance side by side where two black men in different parts of the world in different scenarios are dealing with an exact same thing. And there's something that we have been taught. that made his way to Oakland, California to me, and London to Delroy Lindo, that in these moments and in these situations, you have to be in control. The powerless person has to be the one in lockstep control so that this whole shit can continue to function. in 2026. And I'm not bitching about it. I'm not crying about it. I'm not, it just is. It's not something that I get to stop and like. be feeling bad about. You just gotta, sometimes you just gotta know how the world works. Sometimes you do. This is as close you about to get to black men and National Geographic in our natural habitat to kind of see these reactions. But you gotta ask yourself, how the two men worlds apart know to respond and react the same if racism isn't a thing anymore? And look, maybe there's somebody from a different race and... Male, female, whatever, like, ⁓ that ain't special. We gotta do this with this and do this with that. Hey, man, God bless. Have at it. But the next time you're in that conversation, somebody tell you how to get pulled over. Somebody tells you, nah, man, I've been called some weird shit at work. Or nah, somebody tells you, man, they grabbed my hair. They want to feel and touch my hair because of the texture. or a prospective presidential candidate who I have met before. And I think he would probably win if he ran a good campaign, can go to Atlanta and tell the room full of black people, Gavin Newsom, that I'm just like y'all. I had low SAT scores, I can barely read. I'm paraphrasing. People say wow shit to you all the time. It just happens. So I'm finishing this up. It ain't really about Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo and it sucks that that happened. I'm glad that they are still seeing so much success and sucks that this is par for the course, but it's par for the course. And I'm sure that they all know this. Or I'm not talking about the guy with Tourette's. There's a whole organization that came out in his defense and has his back and he's gonna be okay. I'm not even talking about the Baftas who fumbled the ball and decided to censor out a ton of other things and not these two distinguished gentlemen being called nigger in front of the world. I'm just gonna leave you with, if we are truly in a post-racial society, as some many people think, if we're truly in that place. How the two men that don't know each other did not grow up together, had very, very different mothers and fathers of varying degrees of income, poor, rich, whatever. Something in that universal code, that DNA, that my black ass has to always be sure in those situations when the gun is trained on you, both literally and... And figuratively. that we have to be the ones that are calm. And you just know it and you teach your kids that because it might save their lives or it might save your acting career at the BAFTAs and everything in between. We still have a very, very long way to go. And I am so grateful for where we are. I'm so grateful for what I've been able to accomplish. and the people that have helped me out along the way of all colors, black, white, and everything else in between. ⁓ And I'm also aware. that I deal in reality. And this is very much still a reality. February 24th, 2026, the date of taping this. You all get it a few days later. Okay? Well. With that being said, thank you so much for listening to Color Commentary. We'd to hear from you. So drop us an email at colorcommentarypod at gmail.com. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe to the show, leave us a five star rating, share it on social media and join us every Thursday for more Color Commentary with Dr. Cole. And please like, subscribe, share. And not for nothing. I love the audio parts of this. So wherever you get podcasts, whether it be Apple podcast, Spotify, or any of the other ones, we're all there. We put a lot of time into the audio. So please check it out. Take me to work with you. but find a way to leave a comment and let me know what you like for us to talk about. Until then, take care of take care of each other. God bless, I'm out. Peace.