00:00:16.830 --> 00:00:20.010
Scared as shit. The first
screening is hard to swallow ever.

00:00:20.430 --> 00:00:23.410
This is the first time it's ever played
for an audience, right? I know. Yeah.

00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:24.710
It's scary.

00:00:27.170 --> 00:00:30.890
I feel like I have these moments.
This is like, what the fuck? Moments?

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.570
It's like, what the fuck am
I doing? I don't belong here.

00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:39.210
When I opened up a
revolver, I had that when,

00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:42.970
see, when I've done anything
really. I'm like, what the fuck?

00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:44.890
I'm not really a cook. This is crazy.

00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.850
Then I'm scream. I'm like, I'm not really.

00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:55.330
A filmmaker. Maybe no
shadow. That'll be horrible.

00:00:56.800 --> 00:00:59.290
There's going to be really
tense music playing over.

00:01:06.550 --> 00:01:11.170
How do you feel? It's
not the Oscar committee,

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.890
it's just some random.

00:01:19.220 --> 00:01:20.170
You don't feel me anymore.

00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:27.330
It's the moment 2019. So months before
the whole world lost this money,

00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:33.530
we started episode three with a review
of our show pitch as we got ready for our

00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:37.610
HBO meeting. Then we got into the more
recent political history of Detroit,

00:01:37.610 --> 00:01:39.250
talking to Mayor Dennis Archer,

00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:44.370
a smooth operator who made sure to remind
me that he was not a hockey player.

00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:48.850
I was mayor brother. I played back.
In our more serious conversations,

00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:52.650
he told us that Detroit had
been struggling with its
finances since before the

00:01:52.650 --> 00:01:54.170
race uprising in the late sixties.

00:01:56.430 --> 00:01:58.970
The interview took place during
the pandemic and there were some,

00:02:00.990 --> 00:02:03.930
how do we say this? Protocol
concerns regarding that.

00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:07.130
If you sort of keep the distance
as opposed to being real close.

00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:10.930
We touched on the tumultuous leadership
of Mayor Kirkpatrick and the subsequent

00:02:10.930 --> 00:02:13.320
political infighting after
his removal from office.

00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:16.130
I will call this through adjourn
if you don't. I do it baby.

00:02:16.670 --> 00:02:19.930
My brother had some concerns about
my personal hygiene in the editing.

00:02:21.820 --> 00:02:22.040
You.

00:02:22.040 --> 00:02:26.010
Show got a mixed reception at our first
official screening where we were asked

00:02:26.010 --> 00:02:26.850
some tough questions.

00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:29.850
What I would love to see in
this is an analysis on gender.

00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:32.040
And I found myself stuttering in response.

00:02:32.430 --> 00:02:33.890
To we I.

00:02:34.190 --> 00:02:36.930
The episode drew to a close with our
interview with the current mayor.

00:02:37.100 --> 00:02:40.650
We covered topics such as his being the
first white mayor in the half century.

00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.930
I thought if people could
get to see my heart,

00:02:44.660 --> 00:02:47.490
maybe we could get past these
historic racial divisions.

00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:51.650
And his partnerships with Wall Street
executives to support his mayoral agenda.

00:02:52.430 --> 00:02:57.210
And it all ended on a sour
note. HBO said a big fat.

00:03:06.660 --> 00:03:09.890
Hello. Hey, I forgot my room key. Oh.

00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.070
Yeah,

00:03:16.470 --> 00:03:21.070
the grilling about the
gender shit was like, yeah.

00:03:22.910 --> 00:03:23.740
Yeah.

00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:26.600
I do think though, that

00:03:34.450 --> 00:03:37.940
what Nate was saying, which I realized
too, is like, yeah, this is my story.

00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:40.260
That's what it is. It's not like.

00:03:41.380 --> 00:03:42.940
A complete analysis of.

00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:44.140
Intersectional.

00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:45.000
Politics.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:45.830
It is not that.

00:03:46.050 --> 00:03:47.400
Yeah.

00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.500
And also probably take out the
OnlyFans shot. Didn't get a laugh.

00:03:53.230 --> 00:03:58.140
Maybe get last in other places.
Don't buckle so quickly.

00:03:58.330 --> 00:03:59.050
Thea.

00:03:59.050 --> 00:03:59.880
What do you think?

00:04:04.130 --> 00:04:09.010
I don't know. What do I think about
the film or how people felt about it or

00:04:10.490 --> 00:04:11.320
I feel drained?

00:04:12.290 --> 00:04:16.810
I think you need to
place the audience again.

00:04:17.140 --> 00:04:21.290
Where are we? I guess we're in Detroit.

00:04:22.790 --> 00:04:27.570
But place them. We'll do
where? Do what? Place them?

00:04:28.210 --> 00:04:32.290
Where do you want to in revolving? Okay,

00:04:33.190 --> 00:04:34.210
so you do it.

00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:39.080
We're back at your restaurant.
This is your return.

00:04:40.710 --> 00:04:41.570
Is it still open?

00:04:42.350 --> 00:04:46.450
No, it's closed. But this is
What year is this? 2020. Yeah,

00:04:46.510 --> 00:04:50.850
so this is when we're filming in Detroit
in 2020. So we come back to Revolver to

00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.010
sort of, actually we came to
talk to Peter, but Peter said no.

00:04:56.630 --> 00:05:00.810
So we just did an interview with me
just describing how I started with.

00:05:21.190 --> 00:05:25.960
You. Going to explain who these
filmmakers are. This is the proto.

00:05:28.270 --> 00:05:29.000
The proto.

00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.370
Theo. I going to put on my essentials.

00:05:33.830 --> 00:05:36.490
All right. Yeah. Ben, I'll
just film you during this.

00:05:41.030 --> 00:05:45.890
So Ben was filming me
I think from 20 20 14

00:05:45.890 --> 00:05:47.960
through the 29 15, 20 16,

00:05:49.310 --> 00:05:54.170
and he was working on a
documentary about my little life.

00:05:54.840 --> 00:05:56.050
What are you doing now? Today.

00:05:57.050 --> 00:05:59.730
I am getting ready for my day.

00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:01.690
Where are you picking up All
the different stuff from.

00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:06.810
I'm going to Eastern Market
for the vegetables and for the

00:06:08.320 --> 00:06:09.930
meat, goat meat. Alright.

00:06:12.840 --> 00:06:14.370
What was the plan for all this footage?

00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:20.130
I guess I knew in the future that I
would meet you and that we would turn it

00:06:20.130 --> 00:06:23.610
into a documentary, actually.
Yeah, this is Ben's project.

00:06:23.750 --> 00:06:28.610
It wasn't concerned with
me at the time. So Lagos is

00:06:31.330 --> 00:06:35.570
this restaurant concept that I
started and basically is authentic

00:06:35.810 --> 00:06:39.960
Nigerian food. The first Lagos dinner.
I've never cooked professionally before.

00:06:40.630 --> 00:06:42.690
And I mean I'll cook for friends and shit.

00:06:42.900 --> 00:06:45.770
And the idea for Lagos was I was going
to have another friend of mine be the

00:06:45.770 --> 00:06:50.130
cook, and he's busy, man. He's a
chemist and he's going back to,

00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:55.090
was going to grad school. So dad
didn't work out and I was like,

00:06:55.090 --> 00:06:55.960
I'm just going to do it myself.

00:06:56.190 --> 00:06:57.930
So how did that first dinner go?

00:06:58.880 --> 00:07:03.810
That first dinner was just an unmitigated
disaster called my aunt that day.

00:07:03.850 --> 00:07:07.690
I was like, auntie, just remind me
one more time how this goes again.

00:07:08.350 --> 00:07:09.650
France cook it. Well,

00:07:09.950 --> 00:07:14.770
you need to keep staring it or else the
bottom of the pot will burn and the rice

00:07:14.770 --> 00:07:15.470
will burn too.

00:07:15.470 --> 00:07:17.010
That's not how you make jollof rice.

00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:19.690
Yeah. Theo, how do you
make jollof rice white man,

00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:25.970
get up. I guess I was nervous, but yeah,

00:07:26.190 --> 00:07:30.330
the rice has to steam so you can't
keep stir it. You just, well,

00:07:30.410 --> 00:07:33.210
lemme not give you a whole recipe,
but that's not how you make job.

00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:38.370
That was wrong. And I was like, oh
my God, what the fuck am I doing?

00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:40.930
I've never cooked for a hundred people.

00:07:52.590 --> 00:07:54.650
So far. Great. So good.

00:07:59.910 --> 00:08:02.850
If they serve us every
day, it would be genocide.

00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:07.170
They kill us by overfeeding us and
I would be glad to do it that way.

00:08:08.030 --> 00:08:11.330
To survive that way. So
how did that dinner go?

00:08:12.440 --> 00:08:16.370
Well, this dinner was amazing. It was
like my redemption, it was so good,

00:08:18.470 --> 00:08:19.450
but I had to go back to work.

00:08:19.650 --> 00:08:23.330
I had to go back to work with Peter
and things were tense between us.

00:08:23.460 --> 00:08:25.530
There was this confrontational

00:08:27.430 --> 00:08:31.970
energy just swirling and it was

00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.550
a real deflation from the high of the

00:08:42.160 --> 00:08:42.990
successful dinner.

00:09:01.170 --> 00:09:04.370
Peter and I had this argument. Something
had happened and the energy was off.

00:09:04.490 --> 00:09:08.680
I don't know, but it was a series of
things leading up to that day. Anyway,

00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:12.650
so I remember just it was tense
and by tense. It was just quiet.

00:09:13.150 --> 00:09:14.370
We weren't really talking.

00:09:14.990 --> 00:09:19.490
We were just serving and then going back
to our station and then at the end of

00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:22.970
the night we were cleaning up
in quiet, which was unusual.

00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:26.610
Normally we would just debrief and talk
about the funny shit that happened.

00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:30.770
So anyway, Peter was leaving and he
was walking out and I was just like,

00:09:30.770 --> 00:09:34.970
this motherfucker going to walk out with
my money because I think he collected

00:09:34.970 --> 00:09:37.730
the cash. So I'm like, yo,
what's up with the money?

00:09:38.790 --> 00:09:41.650
And then this dude said
to me, so I'm like, oh,

00:09:42.030 --> 00:09:44.920
you remember that I have your money,

00:09:45.150 --> 00:09:48.450
but you don't remember to do the
things that I asked for. I'm like,

00:09:48.450 --> 00:09:52.570
what the fuck are you
saying? This shit is my

00:09:54.130 --> 00:09:56.610
money in his defense,

00:09:56.610 --> 00:10:00.800
because his space sometimes he wasn't
walking out with the money to prove a

00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:03.680
point. He forgot to give
me my money. Anyway,

00:10:03.680 --> 00:10:08.570
he gave me the money and I just
remembered feeling super uncomfortable and

00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:13.730
I'm like, am I working for
this dude or are we partners?

00:10:14.470 --> 00:10:17.410
So I just said, we should
have a conversation.

00:10:18.510 --> 00:10:20.890
And I said, some shit like

00:10:22.430 --> 00:10:25.370
this isn't working right.
And Peter was like,

00:10:26.250 --> 00:10:27.450
I feel the same way too.

00:10:30.150 --> 00:10:33.010
And I am feeling relief.

00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:38.130
I don't have to be in a space that isn't
mine, it's just mine and name alone.

00:10:38.300 --> 00:10:43.250
My name wasn't on the documents
because I was undocumented and

00:10:43.250 --> 00:10:46.970
we had gone to the bank one time,
but at the bank they had asked me,

00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:50.040
are you a US citizen? And I
said, no. They were like, well,

00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:51.610
you can't join the account.

00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:54.800
I remember my mom would be
calling and she'd be like,

00:10:54.970 --> 00:10:58.850
I hope you signed a contract with
this man. I'm like, yes mommy. I did.

00:10:59.210 --> 00:11:01.850
I didn't do shit. But what am I
going to tell her? I'm like, mommy,

00:11:02.130 --> 00:11:04.930
I'm undocumented. You know all this
shit. So why are you telling me.

00:11:13.950 --> 00:11:18.210
On my way to meet Tunde and Jeff Seal back

00:11:18.870 --> 00:11:19.800
TV executive,

00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:23.930
trying to get some help with this whole

00:11:25.610 --> 00:11:29.450
distribution thing. I.

00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:35.850
Sell, we can buy free. We
just want to show Yeah,

00:11:36.390 --> 00:11:39.090
an audience. Yeah. I don't
even want sound silly.

00:11:39.090 --> 00:11:43.800
At all. It sounds like
logical. Still not nervous.

00:11:44.670 --> 00:11:47.210
Not really nervous of steel.

00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.680
Tell me the camera. Let me ask
you questions. I'm the start now.

00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:56.680
What did Jeff Seal Sback say
was the state of distribution or

00:11:56.680 --> 00:11:57.800
the state of the industry.

00:11:58.550 --> 00:12:03.410
Like everybody else? He said they only
do true crime and celebrity shit now.

00:12:03.880 --> 00:12:05.250
There's no space for us, huh?

00:12:05.870 --> 00:12:10.170
Unless I killed you for narrative change.

00:12:11.590 --> 00:12:12.570
That's great. Back.

00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:17.490
Here. Alright. Yeah, good to
see you. Yeah, checking it out.

00:12:17.750 --> 00:12:21.970
I'm just checking it out. Do you remember
me? Yeah. You were first over here.

00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:27.650
Yeah, I'm back. Yeah.
Good. How is business?

00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:32.490
It's good. Yeah, it's good.
But my brother's getting tired.

00:12:32.950 --> 00:12:37.090
Oh is he? Maybe you can take
this. Very soon after we opened,

00:12:37.170 --> 00:12:39.450
I just realized that this
place couldn't hold my dreams.

00:12:41.210 --> 00:12:45.680
I realized that Peter had an idea
of what this place was going to be

00:12:46.150 --> 00:12:50.050
and I was trying to change it, but
it wasn't working. So I'm like,

00:12:50.070 --> 00:12:53.490
let me just start my own
shit that I can control.

00:12:57.300 --> 00:12:58.570
How did things end with Peter?

00:13:00.790 --> 00:13:03.930
We decided that I should leave the
restaurant and he would keep it and

00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:10.180
yeah, I sort of left with
nothing, but I was happy.

00:13:10.670 --> 00:13:14.270
I was happy to just do my own thing and
no longer be in a place where I felt

00:13:16.650 --> 00:13:17.480
it wasn't mine.

00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:23.230
So I decided to go on
the road and travel and

00:13:23.260 --> 00:13:25.350
cook and see America.

00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:39.750
What is it to a partner?

00:13:41.790 --> 00:13:42.270
I think it's cool.

00:13:42.270 --> 00:13:45.300
I think it was somewhere like Martin
who's just asking me what I need and he's

00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:49.230
helping me get what I need done. Done.

00:13:49.610 --> 00:13:54.590
And that's always a great
partnership situation.

00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:02.070
Sorry, was that a good answer?

00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:06.350
This tour stop in
Buffalo was one of those.

00:14:06.350 --> 00:14:09.710
There were moments of
difficulty and strange

00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.430
encounters. Yeah, strange encounters.

00:14:14.800 --> 00:14:19.790
And to a certain degree I
was incapacitated in certain

00:14:19.790 --> 00:14:24.270
places. I couldn't had to behave to be.

00:14:24.650 --> 00:14:24.990
At first.

00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:27.590
One. It was going to be
six dishes. So it's eight

00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:31.950
value for your money. Alright.

00:14:32.450 --> 00:14:33.870
So all this stuff we have is over here.

00:14:33.890 --> 00:14:37.870
So you're saying that I can come
back here to cook as long as

00:14:38.900 --> 00:14:42.630
it's more of there's better communication.

00:14:42.970 --> 00:14:46.030
That's what you're saying on
camera? No, not on camera.

00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:47.710
There's cameras everywhere.

00:14:50.810 --> 00:14:54.330
Off the record And go. Just saying

00:14:56.110 --> 00:15:00.690
you need to be more open.
I will be more open.

00:15:00.890 --> 00:15:02.570
I mean no.

00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.850
This whole last couple of days could
have been so much easier and so much more

00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:13.410
enjoyable if you just.

00:15:13.950 --> 00:15:15.010
It wasn't enjoyable. No, no, no.

00:15:15.110 --> 00:15:16.690
Not enjoyable. Okay, good.
Could've been much easier.

00:15:16.780 --> 00:15:17.130
Great.

00:15:17.130 --> 00:15:19.250
Alright. If you would've
been enjoyed myself.

00:15:19.310 --> 00:15:20.570
If you just would've
been more open-minded.

00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:32.210
Place. It's not. No, it's
not. Is it his place?

00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:36.090
Kyle can say whatever he
wants. Kyle's family. Family.

00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:38.630
Okay.

00:15:38.630 --> 00:15:43.250
So it's analogous to exactly what
just happened right now where you

00:15:44.350 --> 00:15:47.530
reveal onto the last
minute. But the difference.

00:15:47.530 --> 00:15:52.330
Is is that this is my
restaurant. You're a guest.

00:15:56.850 --> 00:15:59.050
I know that's a huge
difference. I understand.

00:16:02.780 --> 00:16:05.930
Got to dig it. I dig it.

00:16:08.270 --> 00:16:09.100
And you're black.

00:16:12.430 --> 00:16:17.210
How do you feel about that
exchange? It sounds crazy. What.

00:16:17.210 --> 00:16:17.770
Do you mean? It sounds.

00:16:17.770 --> 00:16:21.650
Crazy. Him saying that
because you're black,

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.010
that rules are different.

00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:30.930
Yeah, that is crazy. Yeah.

00:16:33.150 --> 00:16:34.930
You know what I want to say
Theo? Just say it for me.

00:16:35.790 --> 00:16:38.090
You don't think he's racist or
you don't want to call him racist?

00:16:41.410 --> 00:16:45.770
I mean, yes to both. I also think
that question is not relevant.

00:16:47.130 --> 00:16:51.770
I think the power dynamics are evident and

00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:55.130
I just see myself just doing a
little shocking and driving just to,

00:16:57.110 --> 00:17:00.330
oh my God, just to make little
money to pay for my supper.

00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.810
It's so cringe. Sorry, say that again.

00:17:04.030 --> 00:17:04.790
So all I need.

00:17:04.790 --> 00:17:05.810
But in an American accent.

00:17:06.310 --> 00:17:09.480
So what I need you to tell me is
that now I'm going to New York,

00:17:09.710 --> 00:17:10.810
now I'm going to dc.

00:17:11.310 --> 00:17:14.650
So now I'm going to dc,

00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:17.770
then I'm going to Philly
and now I'm going to jump.

00:17:19.130 --> 00:17:20.930
I need to get in the New York Times.

00:17:20.980 --> 00:17:23.690
So I was just sending everybody
emails from the New York Times,

00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:26.210
just sending emails and
then I was like, fuck it,

00:17:26.830 --> 00:17:29.770
I'm going to send an email
to the guy, the food editor.

00:17:30.870 --> 00:17:35.720
And I sent him an email and he just
replied in five minutes. He was like,

00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.890
alright, I'll bite, but

00:17:40.390 --> 00:17:44.690
why are you emailing me just right
now? And then I was like, to be fair,

00:17:44.950 --> 00:17:49.770
I'm just a one man team and I have
emailed every person on your staff.

00:17:50.390 --> 00:17:54.610
And he was like, always
start with the boss. He said,

00:17:54.840 --> 00:17:58.720
that would be my dream to be in the times.

00:17:59.310 --> 00:18:03.330
I'm so lucky. First of all, I'm
lucky, so handsome. But then secondly,

00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:07.610
but I'm lucky because people
like my what I'm cooking.

00:18:08.030 --> 00:18:09.610
How did you become so.

00:18:09.930 --> 00:18:14.930
Handsome? Okay, I'm fine. I'm not a model,

00:18:15.070 --> 00:18:19.890
but I'm okay. I was just nervous again
and seeing all kinds of things. Yeah.

00:18:20.320 --> 00:18:22.290
This is what gives the goat head

00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:25.820
it's heat.

00:18:25.820 --> 00:18:28.530
Would you have the food
again? Oh God, yeah.

00:18:29.030 --> 00:18:33.960
I'm ready to book my ticket
to Nigeria, which I would do.

00:18:40.020 --> 00:18:43.760
Why are you coming out naked? I don't
want to put that out on me. Why.

00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:51.000
Pause in your face?

00:18:51.290 --> 00:18:52.120
Don't do that.

00:18:53.580 --> 00:18:56.960
Do you ever still have fear about
telling people your status? No.

00:18:58.230 --> 00:18:59.840
I don't have any fear about telling you.

00:19:00.420 --> 00:19:01.250
My status.

00:19:02.070 --> 00:19:04.080
When did that change?
When did you come out?

00:19:04.290 --> 00:19:08.680
These officers were looking for me.
I have no idea why until this day.

00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:12.520
And I was just like, I was worried,
is this immigration? Is this,

00:19:12.710 --> 00:19:16.600
what the fuck is this? And then
my fear turned into sort of,

00:19:19.820 --> 00:19:20.940
I became indignant.

00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:25.780
I just wrote this essay
and I posted it on this

00:19:27.530 --> 00:19:30.460
blog and I just told everybody.

00:19:31.560 --> 00:19:34.060
And after that I just started
telling everybody that I was.

00:19:44.570 --> 00:19:45.590
How do you get down?

00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:14.070
He would like to shadow me on my next

00:20:14.860 --> 00:20:15.690
city,

00:20:20.410 --> 00:20:22.840
which is great. It's great news.

00:20:23.420 --> 00:20:26.920
And I'm excited even though
I don't sound excited at all.

00:20:29.210 --> 00:20:33.840
But I am. Ben,

00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:36.600
do you think it's okay if I
spent the rest of the day alone?

00:20:37.300 --> 00:20:38.130
Yep.

00:20:39.830 --> 00:20:41.880
Cool. I just feel weird today.

00:20:45.670 --> 00:20:46.500
Yeah.

00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:47.810
The

00:20:52.270 --> 00:20:53.100
not been the same.

00:21:10.360 --> 00:21:15.090
Hard to swallow, hard to
swallow, hard to swallow.

00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:19.810
Swallow, swallow.

00:21:26.070 --> 00:21:29.050
So it's a little tippy in your ear.

00:21:30.790 --> 00:21:34.610
I'm nervous every time it gets me.

00:21:36.670 --> 00:21:40.930
You're be fine. Just yourself.
I know. I'll be fine.

00:21:42.270 --> 00:21:45.690
You'll give me intellectual help. I need
emotional help. I know I'll be fine.

00:21:46.150 --> 00:21:50.970
What's emotional help? I don't know.
Saying you'll be fine. I think it's,

00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:52.450
it's like physical touch.

00:21:57.630 --> 00:21:59.410
Are you touching like a robot?

00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:13.480
My name is. I'm famous Cook.

00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:25.650
When I was part of that focus
group, I was quite taken.

00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:30.210
It was humorous. I loved how
you guys broke the fourth wall.

00:22:30.830 --> 00:22:33.530
And so I run up to them
and I was like, wow,

00:22:33.530 --> 00:22:38.170
where is this going to be
distributed? And they said, well,

00:22:39.140 --> 00:22:42.290
Karen, a couple of years
ago, HBO, Netflix, Hulu,

00:22:42.290 --> 00:22:44.570
they were all interested in Bipoc stories.

00:22:45.390 --> 00:22:48.530
And now several years later, they're not.

00:22:49.050 --> 00:22:53.450
Everything's got to be true crime or
celebrities. It's great to make the work,

00:22:53.550 --> 00:22:56.370
but if you cannot sell it and
if you cannot distribute it,

00:22:56.370 --> 00:22:58.210
then we're all fucked. Right?

00:22:58.420 --> 00:23:01.570
Screenings were our distribution
strategy at this point in the game.

00:23:01.950 --> 00:23:04.290
We couldn't generate any
interest from broadcasters.

00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:06.890
So with our consulting
producer, Karen's help.

00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:11.090
We focused on private or test screenings
as they're called in the business.

00:23:12.030 --> 00:23:15.050
The hope was if we got
influencers or other taste makers,

00:23:15.110 --> 00:23:17.530
we could build a grassroots audience.

00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:22.090
Karen pitched the idea to
TOA, the opportunity agenda.

00:23:22.360 --> 00:23:27.010
What we focus on is disrupting
narratives that lead to

00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:28.690
a whole white supremacy.

00:23:29.450 --> 00:23:33.570
TOA sponsored this first screening in
New York and a subsequent one in Los

00:23:33.570 --> 00:23:34.930
Angeles a few months later.

00:23:35.190 --> 00:23:36.370
How did you two meet each other?

00:23:37.830 --> 00:23:40.850
Is my one question then today,

00:23:42.360 --> 00:23:44.480
some of the footage is from 10 years ago.

00:23:47.740 --> 00:23:50.170
Do you feel as if, looking back on that,

00:23:50.190 --> 00:23:52.970
do you feel as if where you are
now is where you expect it to be?

00:23:53.830 --> 00:23:58.330
And if you were to give your
younger self advice about

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.210
utilizing your art practice to
create change, looking back,

00:24:03.760 --> 00:24:05.480
what advice would you
give your younger self?

00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:10.730
All right, back to 2015. You just
met the New York Times food guy.

00:24:11.800 --> 00:24:12.150
Yeah,

00:24:12.150 --> 00:24:17.130
so actually we planned
myself and the editor for the

00:24:17.130 --> 00:24:21.210
Times we planned to meet in Los Angeles
because I was going to do a dinner there

00:24:21.790 --> 00:24:26.690
at this celebrity chef's
restaurant in early January

00:24:26.870 --> 00:24:28.730
of 2015. So he was going to meet me,

00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:30.210
he was going to fly out
there with his crew.

00:24:30.230 --> 00:24:34.970
We were going to film everything
and I was getting ready for my

00:24:35.230 --> 00:24:36.060
big break.

00:24:47.530 --> 00:24:51.770
I am on a Greyhound bus on my way from
New Orleans to Los Angeles for this

00:24:52.270 --> 00:24:54.610
dinner to meet with the New York Times.

00:24:55.570 --> 00:25:00.170
I was taking the bus because I was
undocumented at the time and I thought I

00:25:00.170 --> 00:25:04.170
couldn't fly. I was trying to
evade immigration authorities.

00:25:05.190 --> 00:25:10.010
The bus route was basically
along the US Mexico border and

00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:12.480
somewhere in New Mexico,

00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:18.850
the place called Las Cruces.
We hit at checkpoints,

00:25:19.110 --> 00:25:21.930
an immigration border checkpoint.

00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:27.090
This is a ATE automated operator
with a free call from William,

00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.370
a HAE at El Paso Processing Center.

00:25:31.760 --> 00:25:34.240
This call is subject to
recording and monitoring.

00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:38.850
Press one or star to accept
the call. To deny this call,

00:25:38.980 --> 00:25:39.810
press two.

00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:26.450
From this. Okay,

00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:34.770
we were about to cook.
This is Shay, my brother,

00:26:36.030 --> 00:26:39.730
in whom I'm much pleased.
No, absolutely man.

00:26:40.600 --> 00:26:44.250
What we're going to do is we have eight
dishes that we're preparing because we

00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:46.290
have a lot of shit to do.
And so yeah, that's it.

00:26:46.290 --> 00:26:47.810
So we're going to take off our clothes,

00:26:47.820 --> 00:26:51.650
we're going to strip naked and we're
going to start cooking. Yeah, for Leggos.

00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:55.530
L-A-G-O-O-S. Let's.

00:26:55.530 --> 00:26:56.080
Do it.

00:26:56.080 --> 00:27:00.690
Come on. Oh, here's L. That's a Crip.

00:27:01.270 --> 00:27:02.100
Do that shit right here.

00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:07.650
L-L-A-G-O.

00:27:08.970 --> 00:27:13.410
Dyslexic. One OS.

00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:18.690
Got it. Boom. Dear America.
Dear America, love Hyundai.

00:27:19.030 --> 00:27:19.850
You fell in the.

00:27:19.850 --> 00:27:20.400
Middle.

00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.930
Yeah, America love today. Yeah, America.

00:27:25.090 --> 00:27:27.930
I think you're sexy. I think you're cool.

00:27:30.370 --> 00:27:34.930
I would consider a commitment,
but I'm promiscuous and

00:27:36.890 --> 00:27:38.050
I dunno. I think you should hang out.

00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:39.930
Is your salutation,

00:27:50.070 --> 00:27:51.240
the team, the team.