[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Amazon is suspending reviews of its new Lord of the Rings series on Rotten Tomatoes it says the 72-hour hold is to make sure the reviews for rings of Power are legit and prevent internet trolls from bringing down their score Amazon says reviews are being dragged down by fans who are upset about the show's diverse cast which includes black actors playing elves and dwarves these viewers say it's unrealistic for tolkien's creatures to be non-white yeah I'm not
gonna lie this is a tough one this is a tough one I mean on the one hand everyone wants diversity in the shows that we create but on the other hand you gotta admit it's a bit unrealistic to say that there were black people in this white guy's imagination you know I mean I mean I thought with a show magical creatures cost spells and fight Undead armies for control of a piece of jewelry that can turn them into Gods but if those creatures have a tan it's just not believable anymore it really isn't
first this is this is so hypocritical you're gonna get mad about seeing a black dwarf in Lord of the Rings but you're fine with seeing a Kevin Hart movie be consistent [Applause] he's so tiny by the way I don't understand why people are this angry it's not like all the characters turned black all right there's one black dwarf a couple of black elves it's not like the NBA calm down well yes you know it's the same way people were losing their [ __ ] because of the one black guy in House of dragons
you know people losing them oh well it only takes one to lower the property values you know the house of dragon used to be worth 400 000 now I don't know anymore and I know what people are saying people are saying that the books are supposed to be based on medieval Europe so having black characters isn't realistic but guys nobody's watching Lord of the Rings for realism okay they're watching it because they didn't have sex in high school that's the only reason it is not realistic [Applause] I w
on't say this though I will say this apart from the racism thing I kind of agree I don't think it makes sense to have black characters in Lord of the Rings yeah I said it the whole series is about seeing danger and then running towards it thank you that's some white people [ __ ] like [Applause] the reason the reason there were no black people in Middle Earth is because they saw the Giant Eye talking out of a volcano and they were like oh hell no we are moving to Africa because this [ __ ] here
ah no no we do not need to be here we're going to Africa we're totally safe I um I wanted to share this little story with you I um I got into a little bit of trouble with the uh French government I know the French government um so what happened was let's start at the beginning uh France won the World Cup and so and so on the show I uh we we celebrated that and I had this joke where I said um I said Africa won the World Cup and I was shocked at how angry uh a lot of French people got like genuine
a lot of French people were angry and they were like oh Trevor how can you say this why we say these things you know this is horrible and I was like okay I get it like not Everyone likes every joke that you tell and I I get that but this was interesting I got a letter from the Ambassador the ambassador of France and and I'll I'll read it to you it was it was about that joke and he says um I'll try to read it to how I hope he wrote it which was um he says sir I watched with great attention your
July 17th show when you spoke of the victory of the French team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia final which took place last Sunday I heard your words about an African victory nothing could be less true now first of all I think it could have been less I could have said there was Scandinavian that's I would have been less true that would have been less true says as many of the players have already stated themselves their parents may have come from another country but the great majority of them a
ll but two out of 23 were born in France they were educated in France they learned to play soccer in France they are French citizens they're proud of their country France the rich and various backgrounds of these players is a reflection of France's diversity France is indeed now that line there was interesting the rich and various backgrounds of these players is a reflection of France's diversity now I'm not trying to be an [ __ ] but I think it's more reflection of France's colonialism uh becau
se it's not like it's just like random play like they all have something in common all of those players if you trace their lineage you're like how did you guys become French like how did your how did your family start speaking French oh okay all right I'm gonna say here um he says uh France is indeed a Cosmopolitan country but every citizen is part of the French identity and together they belong to the nation of France unlike in the United States of America France does not refer to its citizens
based on their race religion or origin to us there is no hyphenated identity roots are an identity roots are an individual Reality by calling them an African team it seems you are denying their frenchness this even ingest legitimizes the ideology which claims whiteness as the only definition of being French so now here's the thing right first things first I understand what he's saying because I I read up on this afterwards right I take criticism I listen to what somebody says to me you know I I
genuinely believe you should and what what it turns out is in France a lot of like Nazis in in that country use the fact that these players of African descent to [ __ ] on their frenchness you know so they go you're not French you're from Africa go back to where you came from you're not French they use that as as you know as a line of attack now my thing is my opinion is coming from South Africa coming from Africa and even watching the World Cup in the United States of America black people all o
ver the world were celebrating the africanness of the French players right not in a negative way but rather in a positive way going look at these Africans who can become French you know what I mean it's a celebration of that achievement and so this is what I find I find weird in in these arguments is that people go they're not African they're French then I'm like why can't they be both all right why why is that Duality only afforded to a select group of people why can they not be African so what
what what they're arguing here is in order to be French you have to erase everything that is African because what do they what do they mean when they say that our culture our this our this is like so so you cannot be French and African at the same time which which I vehemently disagree with I go you've seen those players I love them Paul Pogba ngolo kante I've watched all of them like I love those players and I love how African they are and how French they are don't take their frenchness away b
ut I also don't think you need to take the africanness away you know and that's that is what I love about America America is not a perfect country but what I love about this place is that people can still celebrate their identity in their americanness you can go to a Saint Patrick's Day Parade in America celebrating that you are Irish you can go to a Puerto Rican Day Parade in America still celebrating the fact that you're Puerto Rican and American at the same time you can celebrate June teens a
s a black person and be like yo I'm African-American which is the duality of the Two Worlds but here they're going no you are only French here's why it vexes me to be honest this is what I find interesting is like when I read stories from Africa and when I watch what politicians say especially in France about African migrants when they are unemployed when they May commit a crime or when they are considered unsavory it's the African immigrants when their children go on to provide a World Cup vict
ory for France we should only refer to them as France and we even saw it with that African man who climbed the building to rescue the baby do you remember that we watched them Clan the building he rescued the child and then they gave him French citizenship they said you are now French so now I'm going so is he now no longer African is that what you're saying so when he was on the ground he was African and then he climbed up and as soon as he rescued the baby now he's French so if he dropped the
baby the African dropped the baby like I don't believe that you need and here's like I say again with respect I understand what the Ambassador is saying I'm not joining the attack and I know don't get me wrong I know there's the there's like you know we live in a world where like Nuance is something that is in short supply and so you will find you know in America for instance the ultright saying that's what we've been saying they're not French and we're saying it's like but if Trevor says it it'
s not racist but if we say this race is like yeah yeah I'll say yeah you know why because I believe context is everything there are certain things you can say to somebody that like when I say to my friends what's going on my [ __ ] and if a white person came and said the same thing yeah there's a big difference when I'm saying they're African I'm not saying it as a way to exclude them from their frenchness but I'm rather using it to include them in my africanneness I'm saying I see you my French
brother of African descent do you know what I'm saying that's what I'm trying to say when somebody else says it the other way you can use the same line in different ways people like so it's different yeah yeah it's different it can be different it's like somebody saying oh so if you play with your naked child that's a problem but if I do it I'm a pedophile yeah yeah there's a big difference there's a huge difference so I will continue to praise them for being African because I believe that they
are of Africa their parents are from Africa and they can be French at the same time and if French people are saying they cannot be both then I think they have a problem and not me [Applause] that's right the UK's new prime minister is former Finance Minister Rishi sunak and he's Indian he's Hindu and he's only 42 years old which means he will probably serve well into his 42 and a half [Applause] let's not forget another important first he's also the first Prime Minister who's an absolute snack
yeah oh look at you Rishi thinking oh is he don't forget who came before don't forget we're moving on up [Applause] of course of course not everyone in the UK is happy about Rishi sunak taking the top spot and making history and it's not because of his policies or because of his personality no there are some people who have a problem with um something else as as this caller to a British radio show so eloquently explained is the real problem here Jerry that Rishi sunak is a brown man and you don'
t trust him at the top of this country well could you imagine him going to the Scottish nationalists and being the prime minister of the Scottish nationalists could you imagine me becoming the prime minister of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia no these things matter I'm sorry you don't like it but this is predominantly we're talking about England right 85 of English people yes are white English people and they want to see a prime minister that reflects them yeah yeah this guy has a good point can you im
agine if White English people wanted to rule countries where no one looked like them what that would never happen can you imagine that world what would that world be like [Applause] man you know what's so funny to me it's funny how racists always say oh colonization was fine it was business until they feel like they're being colonized then all of a sudden it's like something needs to be done something needs to be done don't even be colonized the guy is British what's wrong with you you know if y
ou ask me British racists are looking at this whole thing all wrong this could be a good thing for you people after 400 years you'll finally get to legitimately blame a brown person for your country's problems you live in your dreams wake up I mean there is a part of me there's a part of me that feels a little bad for England's racists they voted for brexit specific to keep Britain White and that vote started a seven year chain of dominoes has now led directly to an Indian prime minister [Applau
se] oh man yeah they're probably like oh this is certainly a rich irony at my expense in it yeah and here's the thing keep in mind this caller even says that he is Tori so this is the same party as Rishi sunec right which means they probably agree on all the same policies he just doesn't like that he's not white which I don't understand I truly don't understand what are you scared of what is this what is this caller scared of does he think sunak is going to walk up to the podium on his first day
in office and be like it is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to give back to the country I owe so much to and to show my gratitude I just want to say I'm selling the entire country to India Revenge that you Boston this is the plan all time Happy Diwali mother [ __ ] it's not gonna happen you racist [Applause] you know every time one of these like internet outrage things happens about which character is being played by whom and people get angry I would get it if people had good faith
arguments but you can tell that people are just using these moments to disguise a discriminatory ideal and like and like you know a racism that they hold or something you know it's like it's your thing you know people are going to act like oh no The Little Mermaid I'm here because I'm a little mermaid a purist I uh and come up with all these [ __ ] answers they'd be like you know you look at the history of The Little Mermaid I'm sorry the history of the little you mean the imagination of The Li
ttle Mermaid oh yeah I mean if you look at it yeah if you if you were a fan you would have known that Disney had long created black mermaids like they did this they spin off all their movies they've had tons of them they're like a black mermaid she did sign language used to be a cartoon when we were kids people don't care about it they're like it's never it's never happens it's just look here's the thing it's not about racist realism I'm sorry what and then it's ironic that they try and use repr
esentation as the argument the other way around you know so they will say it's it's not about representation you shouldn't who cares who plays the role all that matters is the best person gets the job and it's like have you heard Halle Bailey sing have you heard her sing you you're gonna be the best person like who do you think they got for you think Disney is just out there in the street like you come let's go you think they play games like that it is the best person for the job you angry about
who the best person was that's what you're angry about and it's like no but but the little mermaid she means so much and I I don't deny that I don't deny that it must have been amazing for any red-haired little girl to see The Little Mermaid it must have been amazing it's a beautiful experience but the movie's still there it's not God you can't not watch it it hasn't been burned it is still there you can still watch it and you can enjoy it I do all the time it's not going anywhere it's like you
get so angry but what about the little girls with red hair who want who want what see themselves in what a Disney cartoon like like are you being serious right now you you have the princess and brave she was redhead remember her all right you have um you have Anna from from Frozen right you have um a little kid from up remember like pulls off the helmets and like the hair does a thing it's the cutest thing ah remember that red hair there's tons tons of other characters there are more redhead Di
sney like stars like women who are stars in the in the franchise then black women but now you're going to make it seem like it's and it's not like one should be against the other there's no need you have The Little Mermaid it's fun now you've got Harry playing the real version of it that's that's fun don't make it about realism though it's because it's under the sea there's a crab there's a crab that is gonna talk and you're worried about this element people are like well I just I just think it
should be all the thing and then and then I love when people go oh yeah so if you don't care then how would you feel if the Black Panther was played by a white guy I'm like well the difference here is the Black Panther Blackness is Central to the character's identity like literally literally you know what I mean it's like literally that is the whole point of the thing and by the way if you're going to bring a white guy who's going to be like vibrini and bring him I want to see that guy bring jus
t for fun just bring that guy just for the fun of it let's see what happens well there are many people who haven't seen themselves on screen you're going to get angry you're going to get angry because now somebody who's in a wheelchair is playing this role you're going to get angry because somebody who's black is now playing that role you're gonna be it's the original is still there there are many parts that are still out there it's not like there is nothing left it's like there's one movie in t
he world and there's one story and this is the only way you can tell it there are many calm down or at the very least the very least you should get them to meet with Ursula and then she'd take their voices away it's black [Applause] until somebody kisses you yeah don't they'll come back you ready people are so angry they didn't go touch grass man [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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