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Macklemore and an AI Actress · The Wes Carroll Morning Show

0:01
Speaker 1: The news, opinions, commentary, and interviews you need to start
0:05
Speaker 1: your day. You're listening to the Wes Carroll Morning Show.
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Speaker 1: Wednesday morning, 16th day of September.
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Speaker 2: I'm Wes. Thanks for joining me. A few things we
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Speaker 2: got to get to today. And I think first and foremost,
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Speaker 2: I want to talk a little bit about.
0:29
Speaker 1: The....
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Speaker 2: Ed Sheeran, Macklemore tour. And, you know, this has been
0:36
Speaker 2: on the radar for a little while now. Uh, really
0:41
Speaker 2: anybody who's not familiar with Macklemore, uh, one hit wonder rapper. Um,
0:48
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's a fair assessment. He's had
0:51
Speaker 2: other stuff, I guess he released, but there's one song
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Speaker 2: everybody kind of knows him for, and you may not
0:56
Speaker 2: even know him for that. So, um, It was a
1:00
Speaker 2: song called Thrift Store or Thrift Shop or something. I
1:02
Speaker 2: don't even know the name of the song. Thrift Shop,
1:05
Speaker 2: I think. And then he, you know, it was rapping
1:11
Speaker 2: or singing. I don't even know. I guess he was
1:14
Speaker 2: rapping it. It was after my music programming days. Although I'm,
1:19
Speaker 2: you know, I keep a finger on the pulse to
1:22
Speaker 2: some degree. I did for a while. I was still,
1:24
Speaker 2: I still had a finger on the pulse then. And
1:27
Speaker 2: I know, of course, who Ed Sheeran is, and a
1:30
Speaker 2: lot of people are very disappointed in Ed Sheeran for
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Speaker 2: how all of these things are playing out with this tour.
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Speaker 2: And there's a few aspects of all of this I
1:38
Speaker 2: kind of want to touch on. So Macklemore years ago,
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Speaker 2: and let's go back to that point where sometimes he
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Speaker 2: would dress and go on stage. in sort of an offensive,
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Speaker 2: but stereotypically Jewish, like the hair, a big nose, I
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Speaker 2: guess a yarmulke. I don't know. He would run around
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Speaker 2: on stage and dance around pretending that he was a
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Speaker 2: stereotyped Jewish person. Needless to say, that should be something
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Speaker 2: to offend Jewish people. It should be something to offend
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Speaker 2: everyone because... You know, we've gone through these phases of
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Speaker 2: what's appropriate, what's not appropriate, blackface not appropriate. This is
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Speaker 2: a version of that. That's what he was doing. I
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Speaker 2: don't know why it was tolerated, but there's a lot
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Speaker 2: of things I don't understand. That Drewski comedian guy dresses
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Speaker 2: up sometimes like Charlie Kirk's widow and is in whiteface
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Speaker 2: pretending to do that. And, you know, I don't know.
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Speaker 2: I don't understand. There's a lot of things I just
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Speaker 2: don't get when it comes to It's okay for this
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Speaker 2: person to do it, but not for this person to
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Speaker 2: do it. It's okay with this group. It's not okay
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Speaker 2: with that group. I don't know. I mean, I know
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Speaker 2: roughly when all of a sudden it seems like anti-Semitism
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Speaker 2: made this big surge in America and it was largely
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Speaker 2: coming from the left and it's largely appealing to this,
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Speaker 2: I would say fringe. It's growing more and more from
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Speaker 2: fringe into a little bit closer to more mainstream on
3:12
Speaker 2: the left, but they're trying to keep People on the
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Speaker 2: fringe happy when it comes to potential votes, especially with
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Speaker 2: the midterms coming up. But this whole notion of free Palestine,
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Speaker 2: gays for Palestine, all of these things, that's where Macklemore
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Speaker 2: has been trying to tap into. And I've said here before,
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Speaker 2: there's some Christians that are in Gaza. There are Palestinian Christians.
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Speaker 2: They certainly have.
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Speaker 2: Have our prayers. They have mine. And I've got friends
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Speaker 2: that have connections to Palestinian Christians in that area. So
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Speaker 2: certainly that's not what we're, that wouldn't even be the concern.
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Speaker 2: You know, when you start talking about all this, we're
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Speaker 2: talking about the people who want death to Israel and
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Speaker 2: death to the Jewish people in Israel. That's the concern.
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Speaker 2: And it should be the concern. But I don't think
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Speaker 2: that Macklemore is focusing on the Christian Palestinians. Like, that's
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Speaker 2: not who I think his focus is. I think we're
4:24
Speaker 2: looking at someone who is struggling career-wise and has been
4:30
Speaker 2: for quite some time. And I think if it can
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Speaker 2: get you some attention, if it can get you some
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Speaker 2: very cheap applause and cheers on a concert tour, that's
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Speaker 2: what he's going to do. And that's what he's been doing.
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Speaker 2: Was he trying to get kicked off this tour? I
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Speaker 2: don't know. I know Ed Sheeran is a ticket that's
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Speaker 2: still going to draw an audience. You have the opportunity
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Speaker 2: to go perform your music and maybe attract some new fans.
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Speaker 2: This is what he decides to do with it, and
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Speaker 2: I suppose he thinks there's nothing left. I don't know.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know what's in his head. But
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Speaker 2: when I see this kind of behavior, it's kind of
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Speaker 2: hard not to think that it's a wasted opportunity to
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Speaker 2: bring in some new fans if you have some new
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Speaker 2: music to produce that's of some quality. So touring, he's
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Speaker 2: been doing the Free Palestine Act. I think that's a
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Speaker 2: very cheap, very low-hanging fruit way to get some people
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Speaker 2: to cheer in a crowd. And at some point, he
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Speaker 2: started to draw attention of Obviously, some Jewish Americans who
5:37
Speaker 2: were like, hey, what are we doing here? And then
5:40
Speaker 2: one of the people whose attention he got was Bob Kraft,
5:42
Speaker 2: owner of the New England Patriots and also the owner
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Speaker 2: of his own NFL stadium. And he's a very connected
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Speaker 2: guy with other owners of stadiums and teams. And he
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Speaker 2: finally just said, look, if this tour is going to
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Speaker 2: have this guy that dresses in this Jewish garb and
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Speaker 2: says free Palestine and all this on stage, this show
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Speaker 2: is not going to happen in my stadium. So we'll
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Speaker 2: just cancel it and you guys can move on. And finally,
6:13
Speaker 2: other stadiums all did the same thing. Macklemore ended up
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Speaker 2: being dropped from the tour. He's really milking the extra
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Speaker 2: attention he's getting for it. And I think maybe that
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Speaker 2: was kind of the intention all along. It's a little
6:26
Speaker 2: bit of the backlash ends up kind of being a
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Speaker 2: way to push him more into the ether, more into
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Speaker 2: the spotlight, which is probably what he wants. How many
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Speaker 2: times can you do that one song? I don't know.
6:40
Speaker 2: I mean, can you get out there and sing about
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Speaker 2: going to the thrift shop? Ed Sheeran, in his defense,
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Speaker 2: and a lot of people saying, how can he allow
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Speaker 2: this to take place on his tour? His point is, hey,
6:52
Speaker 2: there's a promoter that's put this tour together. I don't
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Speaker 2: say who's on the show. It's not my decision. The
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Speaker 2: promoter is the one who hired him. And the other
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Speaker 2: acts that have now said, well, if they're not going
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Speaker 2: to let Macklemore be on the tour, and we support
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Speaker 2: Palestine too, so we're going to all drop off. So
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Speaker 2: it's put Ed Sheeran in this very... awkward situation. And
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Speaker 2: some say good because, uh, they believe that he did
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Speaker 2: maybe have some say as to who would be performing.
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Speaker 2: He insists, no, it's not his call. Uh, but when
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Speaker 2: you're the headliner, that's where the attention's going to go.
7:28
Speaker 2: And I don't know the legal setup there for this
7:32
Speaker 2: particular tour. I know I can just speak from experience.
7:37
Speaker 2: I have been promoter on shows before, and I can
7:39
Speaker 2: just tell you when you, when you book a show and,
7:43
Speaker 2: you book your, your main act and then you book,
7:46
Speaker 2: and I haven't booked tours, but you book your main
7:49
Speaker 2: act and then you book your opening act or acts.
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Speaker 2: And there's not even necessarily always communication. There might be
7:55
Speaker 2: something in the rider of your main act that says,
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Speaker 2: I need to know who the opening acts are. And
8:01
Speaker 2: if that's the case, then, you know, they may be
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Speaker 2: able to say, well, we're not going to book this,
8:07
Speaker 2: but you know, this is a tour that was booked
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Speaker 2: by some promoter and that's what happened. And they've been,
8:12
Speaker 2: you know, I guess having decent audiences at these shows.
8:16
Speaker 2: So this is how this has gone down. Now you
8:20
Speaker 2: have to step back a little bit and say with
8:22
Speaker 2: all the acts that are backing out of it, it
8:25
Speaker 2: is still very disturbing that we've come to a point
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Speaker 2: where it's, we're, we're in this, it's okay to say
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Speaker 2: disparaging things or dress up certain ways to make fun
8:36
Speaker 2: of Jewish people. And all I can say is, you know,
8:41
Speaker 2: it's time to, for the Jewish vote to pack up
8:45
Speaker 2: their things and leave the Democrat party who has left
8:49
Speaker 2: them behind for the fringe far, far on the left.
8:53
Speaker 2: And it's time for them to vote independent if you want,
8:56
Speaker 2: vote Republican if you want, move over just right of center.
9:00
Speaker 2: If that's where you feel like you're more comfortable, you
9:01
Speaker 2: can still be left of center and you can still
9:04
Speaker 2: support candidates that don't support this shenanigans. That's, that's all.
9:10
Speaker 2: Another quick Hollywood-related story, and there's a few different takes
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Speaker 2: on this, but it's certainly gotten the attention of Hollywood.
9:23
Speaker 2: We just come out of the Emmys. The Emmys were
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Speaker 2: the other night. And again, the tree fell in the forest.
9:29
Speaker 2: I don't know how many people heard the tree fall, but.
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Speaker 2: So there were some.
9:38
Speaker 2: Just on the heels of that, I guess, right around
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Speaker 2: the same time, there is this actress, if you will,
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Speaker 2: Tilly Norwood is the name of this Johnny Five actress.
9:55
Speaker 2: Not from the movie. No, no, Johnny Five, as in
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Speaker 2: this is an AI actress. actress who uh i i
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Speaker 2: still says and acknowledges the fact that in interviews she
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Speaker 2: um comfortable with the pronoun as a robot or whatever
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Speaker 2: she is an ai bot um She understands and in
10:18
Speaker 2: interviews says that she knows that she's not a real person. So,
10:22
Speaker 2: you know, it's a little different than Johnny Five. At
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Speaker 2: this point, we don't know. We don't know at what
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Speaker 2: point Tilly Norwood could become something more. But anyway, so
10:36
Speaker 2: this is a singer and actress, and it's something that
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Speaker 2: has caused a number of people in the Hollywood community
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Speaker 2: to say, all right, this is the beginning of the
10:47
Speaker 2: end for Hollywood. And it very well could be. And
10:52
Speaker 2: part of why this has gotten so much attention is
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Speaker 2: now that this Tilly Norwood is becoming a name on
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Speaker 2: the heels of a press junket that involved CNN, NBC,
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Speaker 2: and CBS doing interviews with Tilly Norwood. And of course,
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Speaker 2: a lot of people in Hollywood are going, this is
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Speaker 2: really bad. This is not a direction that we need
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Speaker 2: this to go, and this is truly the beginning of
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Speaker 2: the end. So, a few things that I feel like
11:25
Speaker 2: we can say about this. Now, I know that Sean Astin,
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Speaker 2: who is the SAG-AFTRA president, had certainly some negative things
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Speaker 2: to say about this AI thing. And as the president
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Speaker 2: of the Screen Actors Guild, I understand completely... uh, that
11:45
Speaker 2: stance because he has to represent, uh, this, uh, uh,
11:50
Speaker 2: the Screen Actors Guild and everybody in it and their
11:53
Speaker 2: interests moving forward. So I get that. Uh, there's been a,
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Speaker 2: Emily Blunt is another, uh, performer and actor who has said, uh,
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Speaker 2: this is, uh, really bad. Um, And I'm paraphrasing this.
12:09
Speaker 2: I didn't really do deep dives into it. I know
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Speaker 2: that there was a response by the AI about the
12:14
Speaker 2: Emily Blunt comments. And that's the only reason I really
12:18
Speaker 2: know that there were some comments that were made. So
12:21
Speaker 2: let's think about this for a second. Because if this
12:26
Speaker 2: AI performer can make movies, produce music, sing... And really
12:37
Speaker 2: do everything probably in one take. Just being honest, just
12:42
Speaker 2: being blunt. It's not like you have to, no, no,
12:44
Speaker 2: Emily Blunt, not being Emily Blunt. Uh, but if you
12:46
Speaker 2: can get the job done more efficiently and not have
12:50
Speaker 2: to actually be on set, have a computerized set, all
12:54
Speaker 2: of these things. Yes. It's terrible for the entertainment industry.
12:59
Speaker 2: That is very bad for them. Um, The situation that's
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Speaker 2: being created with this press junket, and look, I don't,
13:10
Speaker 2: there's two sides to this. One, giving this AI actress
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Speaker 2: this kind of screen time is certainly a bad thing.
13:23
Speaker 2: If you're talking about, you're doing this like you're interviewing
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Speaker 2: Julia Roberts or you're interviewing Jennifer Aniston or whatever, A-list star.
13:32
Speaker 2: If that's what you're doing, or Emily Blunt, if that's
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Speaker 2: what you're doing and you're giving them time that would
13:38
Speaker 2: have gone to another performer, this is bad. If the
13:42
Speaker 2: purpose of these interviews is truly to say, this is
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Speaker 2: where we are and this is a problem, then I
13:52
Speaker 2: think there's some credence to doing the interviews. I just
13:54
Speaker 2: don't know that that's what they were doing. I don't
13:56
Speaker 2: know that that was the purpose because they also interviewed
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Speaker 2: the woman who created Tilly Norwood. as part of all
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Speaker 2: of this. And Norwood, in the interview, basically spoke about
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Speaker 2: how that was her creator. And Eileen Vander Velden is
14:14
Speaker 2: her name. And this, Vander Velden says, I'm not trying
14:20
Speaker 2: to replace human actors. And Particle Six Production is the
14:25
Speaker 2: company name that she owns. And she says they're working
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Speaker 2: together on a variety of other AI-generated Hollywood figures. So
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Speaker 2: the interviewers, because there were a few of them, the
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Speaker 2: interviewers were acknowledging that this is not a real person
14:47
Speaker 2: and this is a different kind of interview and all
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Speaker 2: of these things. I guess my question would be is
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Speaker 2: if you were a performer in Hollywood and you understood
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Speaker 2: that this is kind of where things are coming. And maybe...
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Speaker 2: this AI actress and the others that the company is
15:03
Speaker 2: getting ready to make that particle six is getting ready
15:06
Speaker 2: to make. I think I would take a minute, take
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Speaker 2: some advice that maybe could be gleaned from this whole
15:15
Speaker 2: situation with Macklemore. And maybe you could just kind of say,
15:19
Speaker 2: maybe I should just do my job. Maybe the focus
15:22
Speaker 2: shouldn't be me running my mouth. And that's one of
15:25
Speaker 2: the things that can be said about Ed Sheeran, circling
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Speaker 2: back to him, is that he hasn't really said anything
15:31
Speaker 2: specifically about the Palestinians or the Jewish people in Israel.
15:35
Speaker 2: So there's not really like he's just kind of stayed
15:39
Speaker 2: out of it. And of course, he's taking flack for
15:41
Speaker 2: doing that because you have to step up and speak
15:45
Speaker 2: your opinions in your mind. And nobody's allowed to just
15:48
Speaker 2: have an opinion to themselves. They have to be vocal
15:51
Speaker 2: about it. And maybe in other circumstances he has, I
15:54
Speaker 2: don't know. A lot of times I see a celebrity
15:57
Speaker 2: or an athlete start running their mouth about something to
16:00
Speaker 2: do with politics and I just tune them out. There's
16:03
Speaker 2: been a handful of them that come out and say
16:04
Speaker 2: something that's actually interesting and different. And I go, well,
16:07
Speaker 2: I'll hear what they got to say. But anytime it's just,
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Speaker 2: you know, generic free Palestine, low hanging fruit. Okay. That's
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Speaker 2: your opinion. That's your career choice. And I'm just thinking
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Speaker 2: that if some of the actors and performers and singers
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Speaker 2: that realize that we're a heartbeat away, and it really
16:28
Speaker 2: feels like we're a heartbeat away from them being replaced.
16:31
Speaker 2: It's not going to happen in the next year, but
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Speaker 2: it very easily could. We could be looking at a
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Speaker 2: situation where there is no next generation of actors to
16:41
Speaker 2: come along. There may be some who've just gotten their
16:44
Speaker 2: foot in the door, and that may be kind of
16:46
Speaker 2: the last of them. It's happening with careers. It's happening
16:50
Speaker 2: with art departments and movies. It's happening with a lot
16:55
Speaker 2: of the behind-the-scenes creatives. It's happened in a number of industries.
16:59
Speaker 2: It's happened in radio. It's happened in television in a
17:02
Speaker 2: lot of ways when it comes to downsizing things and
17:08
Speaker 2: utilizing the fact that, oh, we don't have to have
17:10
Speaker 2: a person in a studio anymore. We can just pipe
17:14
Speaker 2: in something from somewhere else. So I would think... If
17:19
Speaker 2: I was a performer and I was tempted to stand
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Speaker 2: on stage and scream free Palestine, I might think twice
17:24
Speaker 2: about it. I might just think, you know what? Maybe
17:27
Speaker 2: people don't want to hear my opinions and nobody knows
17:32
Speaker 2: the politics of Tilly Norwood. At least not yet. Today's
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Speaker 2: More West Carroll Morning Show right after the break. We've
21:15
Speaker 2: got a couple stories today about names. First up, apparently
21:21
Speaker 2: recycling old names is a thing. Classic vintage names. According
21:26
Speaker 2: to a new report from baby monitoring company Nanit, some
21:30
Speaker 2: of the trendiest names include Jack, Henry, Charlotte, Charlie, Leo, Olivia. Noah, Luca, James,
21:41
Speaker 2: and Cooper. That's the top 10 names for 2026, according
21:46
Speaker 2: to Nanit. And they say that it's a reflection of
21:50
Speaker 2: a growing preference for timeless choices that have stood the
21:55
Speaker 2: test of time. It's kind of interesting there that we're
21:59
Speaker 2: having that resurgence of some of these old kind of
22:02
Speaker 2: classic names. Now, with that said, there's also another trend
22:06
Speaker 2: that that is going on, and it is not about
22:10
Speaker 2: those names, at least not directly. There's something that people
22:14
Speaker 2: are referring to as name-maxing. According to Nameberry, they say
22:20
Speaker 2: it's the art. What is Nameberry?
22:23
Speaker 1: It's the art.
22:24
Speaker 2: I thought it was going to be in the story.
22:25
Speaker 2: I thought when I read it before, I thought maybe
22:28
Speaker 2: it explained who Nameberry was. But anyway, Nameberry, shortstop for
22:34
Speaker 2: the Dodgers back in the 70s. I don't know. I
22:36
Speaker 2: don't know who Nameberry is. Art of smashing two names
22:39
Speaker 2: together to create one custom-made baby name. So if you
22:42
Speaker 2: take Leo and Giovanni, and then you get Leovani. Or
22:47
Speaker 2: Lily and Juliet, you get Lilliet, right? So it's sort
22:51
Speaker 2: of like taking, they would take celebrities and they would,
22:54
Speaker 2: you know, Bennifer, Ben and Jennifer. And, you know, you
22:58
Speaker 2: get Bennifer. It's kind of like that. Except, you know,
23:01
Speaker 2: people are giving this name to children and this is
23:04
Speaker 2: their name. I guess for life or until they decide
23:08
Speaker 2: to do something else about it. I don't know. Uh,
23:11
Speaker 2: how will this be used for, uh, the people that
23:13
Speaker 2: they're making up with AI? I guess that could be
23:16
Speaker 2: a question.
23:16
Speaker 1: Couldn't it?
23:17
Speaker 2: Uh, pumpkin spice season have as officially gotten started and, uh,
23:22
Speaker 2: and it's feels like we just had it. And then
23:25
Speaker 2: all of a sudden people are ready to kind of
23:27
Speaker 2: blow past Halloween and start looking ahead to Christmas and,
23:32
Speaker 2: A new survey finds 34% of consumers have already started
23:36
Speaker 2: or plan to start their next holiday shopping before November
23:41
Speaker 2: this year. One in 10 say that they've already begun
23:44
Speaker 2: Christmas shopping before September even arrived. 25% say they started
23:49
Speaker 2: holiday shopping early so that they could spread the cost
23:53
Speaker 2: over several paychecks. That's a strategy especially popular with parents.
23:58
Speaker 2: Another 10% say they got a head start. To stay
24:02
Speaker 2: ahead of rising prices and potential tariff-related increases, younger shoppers
24:06
Speaker 2: are leading that trend. 14% of Gen Z, 11% of
24:08
Speaker 2: millennials shopping early for that reason, compared to 8% of
24:13
Speaker 2: Gen X and just 4% of boomers. So, yeah, I mean,
24:20
Speaker 2: getting an early start on it is never a bad idea, right?
24:24
Speaker 2: Unless the price of everything is just really high. I mean,
24:27
Speaker 2: if you can wait until there's some sales going on,
24:30
Speaker 2: then maybe that would be a time when you should wait.
24:33
Speaker 2: But in general, I feel like just getting in there
24:37
Speaker 2: and getting things done, not necessarily a bad thing, right?
24:43
Speaker 2: There's a world champion squirrel cook-off, and it returned to,
24:50
Speaker 2: where else? Springdale, Arkansas over the weekend, and it drew
24:53
Speaker 2: thousands of wild game enthusiasts and competitive cooks to the Ozarks.
24:57
Speaker 2: 28 cooking teams representing 15 states competed in the main event.
25:03
Speaker 2: Visitors also participated in unique challenges ranging from the world's
25:07
Speaker 2: hottest squirrel eating contest to a live squirrel skinning competition.
25:20
Speaker 2: It didn't sound as bad in my head as it
25:22
Speaker 2: did when I said it out loud. And they even
25:24
Speaker 2: enjoyed custom squirrel-flavored ice cream for dessert for non-squirrel eaters.
25:28
Speaker 2: There was a national championship arm wrestling event and free
25:31
Speaker 2: fishing rods. That sounds funnier saying it out loud than
25:38
Speaker 2: it did when I read it. According to a new
25:42
Speaker 2: survey from LendingTree, only 54% of people plan to spend
25:45
Speaker 2: money on NFL football this year, a drop from 65%.
25:50
Speaker 2: Last year, while the NFL is as popular as ever,
25:53
Speaker 2: it's also getting more expensive with prices of game tickets
25:56
Speaker 2: and merchandise on the rise. Survey also found that fans
25:59
Speaker 2: were cutting back on fantasy football participation, expected to drop
26:04
Speaker 2: from 44% last season down to 36% this season. I
26:09
Speaker 2: never got into fantasy football. It just means that you
26:12
Speaker 2: can't just cheer for your team, your team, whoever your
26:16
Speaker 2: team is, and stick with them. There's something wrong with
26:20
Speaker 2: the game. If you can't do that, there's just something wrong.
26:24
Speaker 2: That'll do it for this Wednesday edition of the show.
26:26
Speaker 2: Thanks to our sponsors and patrons. Thank you for listening.
26:29
Speaker 2: I'll catch you back here tomorrow morning.
26:32
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