The Gag of the Century
44:46 Share

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors.

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden.

Here's an HIV pill dilemma for you. Picture the scene. There's a rooftop sunset with fairy lights and you're vibing with friends. You remember you've got to take your HIV pill. Important, yes, but the fun moment is gone. Did you know there's a long-acting treatment option available? So catch the sunset and keep the party going. Visit pillfreehiv.com today to learn more. Brought to you by Veve Healthcare.

Hello, ladies. Hi. Bonjour. I don't know why I said bonjour. Not bonjour. Enchanté. I'm Sam Sanders. I'm Saeed Jones. I'm Zach Stafford. And you're listening to Vibe Check. Vibe Check.

Zach is the Lady Marmalade of this ensemble. I think I'm just feeling a lot of ways because this week we're talking about Rihanna, who I love, but it's complicated. And then we're going to talk about the NFL and the Brett Favre scandal, which isn't as complicated as Rihanna performing at the Super Bowl. So I'm just kind of up and down, I guess. This is a bit like a journey into a dark night of the soul.

Also, it is a journey into an entire episode of the three of us kind of talking about the NFL. The gag of the century. We are sports journalists now. Yes, we are. Well, before we get into our journalism tease, how are we feeling today, Saeed?

I'm feeling good. I got to tell you, actually, as I was, you know, getting ready to sit down and record and looking over my notes, I checked Twitter and I saw video footage out of NBC Washington of crowds of students beginning their walkout of Northern Virginia schools in protest of Governor Youngkin's proposed restrictions on transgender student rights.

And the image I'm seeing is video footage of Colgan high school students, and they're waving an LGBT trans flag. And that made my heart sing. You know, I mean, young people, as we often talk about, they're really burdened with so much. We have brought them into a world, into a political system that's stacked against them. And so to think about teenagers, school-age kids, organizing a walkout across the school district...

And, you know, in defense of their own rights and the rights of their classmates, I love that. That made me feel good. Yeah. It is really inspiring to see. I mean, we always say that, like, children are the future. And I think it's really reductive. And it's not fair to put that on young people when they didn't create the issues. But when they do get past that burden and step up and step out and really show up for...

themselves and everyone else, but really here it's like for themselves and their fellow students. I just get so hopeful about the future, even if the world is literally on fire, at least we're going to go down trying. Yeah. And that's the thing is like children in the future. I'm like, well, they're the present and they can't vote. You know, like there are a lot of powers that they don't get to exercise, you know, so direct action, they can do that. I love that. Yeah. And I'm happy to see these kids back at school and able to walk out of a school. Okay. It was a really dark time when I,

All of America's children couldn't be in school for a long time. We've seen the studies about what they've lost in that time away from campus. I know young people in my life who just lost a lot of the like fun school stuff that you and I took for granted, missing prom, missing homecoming. And so while this is a different event- Right.

Seeing these children walk out, I'm also glad that they're able to be together in person. I love that. Because for a while they couldn't. That's a great point. For a while they couldn't. Amen. Sam. My vibe this week, I'm feeling really excited. I had a conversation with one of the stars of the new queer rom-com, Bros, Guy Branum. He was one of the producers and the stars of the film.

And there's so much discourse around the discourse around the state of gay cinema. But talking with Guy, he was just this really very thoughtful, smart queer person who gets the context and the history. And he had this deep conversation that was able to be critical of the work itself.

And he was referencing all kinds of stuff, including like Virginia Woolf. He was just fun and smart. And it made me feel uplifted about the state of the discourse. Because for a while, it felt like all that we could do with all the queer content this year, be it Fire Islander Bros, was just pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. And I think that's part of it. But Guy in this chat also gave me some things to look forward to. So I'm excited about that.

I'm going to wait until y'all see Bros so we can talk about it together because I have thoughts about the film. But I'll say this, Guy Branum, he's a real one. And that chat was fun. And so we'll get to hear that conversation into it this week? This week. Yeah. So this Thursday. There we go.

On my other show, Into It from Vulture, you can hear me chat with Guy Branum, not just about his movie bros, but also about like the state of the rom-com and the state of like queer cinema. It was really interesting. He's just whip smart. I love him. I love that. I'm so excited to hear that because I'm very interested in bros. I'm going to go opening night. I'm going to be the gay that shows up and shows out. And I'm also very personally motivated because in the movie, Billy Eichner runs an LGBTQ museum or the LGBTQ museum. And I sit on the

board of the American LGBTQ Museum that that's based off of just to do a little plug. So you have some notes. You have some feedback. And also, Billy's character is a podcaster as well. Yes, and a podcaster too. So I was like, girl, just say my name next time, you know. Just say my name.

Where's your producer credit? Zach said, if you wanted me to star in your rom-com, you should have asked. Listen. Come on. I mean, Woodwatch. I know. But the point I'm trying to make is, I'm in New York because I was hosting a fundraiser for the museum that they talk about. And I don't know how it's treated in the movie. I haven't seen it. I hear it's been treated very well, which I'm excited about. But it was nice to be, to your point, Sam, in New York.

in a fundraising space, which I haven't been in person in forever with community members and friends like, you know, our friend Kimberly Drew showed up because it was at a gallery and she's just a dear friend and someone that holds us down. This writer, Jet Tumor, that Saeed connected me to performed a

We love Jet. Jet was amazing. Alot Vayed Manan, the poet who I saw in Toronto, whose show was amazing, was there. It was just so many people showed up. Alex Newell sang Whitney Houston. So it was just this amazing. What song did Alex sing? Oh my God. It was Greatest Love of All. Mind you, I'm wearing my Whitney Houston t-shirt right now. You are wearing Whitney Houston right now. I love it.

You got to be really confident, brave, and bold to do a Whitney Houston cover and that cover. It was just all incredible. The point being, queer people are amazing. Queer people of color are amazing. Come to our events. Give money to that gay-ass museum. Give money to Universal so Billy Eichner and other gay people can get movies made and then give money to charity. As we said this week, who could have guessed that Vibecheck would have an NFL-themed

But that's right, baby. Four quarters, two halves, three us, us, us.

is and one before we get to all of that down in second whatever they said before we get into all of that we did of course want to thank all of you for the love for the love you know it's been really fun i've been out on book tour and doing other interviews and events and people come up to me and they want to talk about the poetry and i love that and then they're also like and vibe check and i i love that thank you so thank you for the fan mail the tweets the

the DMs, the emails. We love hearing what you think and your recommendations. You make us better. Keep them coming at vibecheckatstitcher.com and you can tweet us with the hashtag vibecheck. Here we go. I'm doing my stretches. Let's jump in, shall we? Let's do it. Let's go. All right. So to kick off

things off. Children, it has been five years since Madame Rihanna has graced the stage. A long year if you consider yourself a sailor in that particular navy. But where were you when you saw the tweet, the Instagram post announcing that Rihanna will be the next Super Bowl halftime performer? What were y'all doing? How do you feel? Uh,

I was flying back from Texas on Sunday, and I want to say I first saw it in our group chat. And then I was like, let me confirm. And I saw the image on Rihanna's Instagram of her tattooed fingernailed hand holding a football. And it was just like...

the best way to announce it. What better way to announce I'm going to the halftime show than to just like hold the football. - Just holding the ball, not even her face, not even her- - Not even her face. - I mean, I feel like her hand tattoos are pretty recognizable right now. - Exactly. - It's just crazy 'cause yeah, five years since the last time she did an onstage performance, her last album "Anti" of course came out.

And I want to say this. It's not just that her last album came out at the top of 2016. I believe it was January 2016. So it's like almost seven years ago. Yeah. And so what's crazy is like since that album, a lot has changed. And it's about time we have Rihanna back. But since that album, she's gone on to become a mogul, a

She got that fancy beauty. That's what I was going to say. I was like, gosh, so since 2016, you have transitioned to a new era in your career, Sam. You've now launched, well, two great new audio projects. Zach, you launched a Broadway musical, won a Tony along the way. I've published two books. Two books. And then she's become a billionaire. So that's what she did with her time off. So not music, but makeup and lingerie. I agree.

I, Saeed, you know, I love that you brought that to attention and I know it was supposed to be motivating, but girl, I just looked at my bank account and I'm not a billionaire like Rihanna. So I'm sitting way behind in the same time period. I like, I love everything I've done. I love everything that we have all done. But girl, none of us can buy an island yet and Rihanna can and I live for her for that.

So let me lay out this conversation because what I texted both of you, you know, immediately was like, I have not watched the Super Bowl and halftime show in two years. I really don't like the NFL, but obviously I'm going to watch it this time. So here are our four quarters of this episode. We're going to talk about Rihanna and the halftime show and the love. We're very excited to like guess what song she might perform. Then we're going to talk about Rihanna's criticism of

the NFL for a long time. She said she wouldn't do that. And then we'll talk about Brett Favre and the reach of the NFL in particular. So we're going to get to all of the colors, my friends. And to this point, everyone, because I know our listeners would not identify as football fans, most likely, you can leave this podcast today and call that annoying straight man in your life,

a bro in your life and say, I too know something about football. So we're going to help prepare you for this football season today. So let's get into the fun part because I think it's fair to say complicated feelings about football, masculinity, the NFL, all of that kind of stuff. But Rihanna, I love, I love. And so I want us to place bets. We can revisit this conversation in

January or February when we have the answer but I wanted to ask you both what song let's set aside the idea of a new single I hope she blesses us with one but

But what song do you think Rihanna would open with? What do you first see her- Please don't stop the music. Okay. Dang it. I was going to say that. Yes, please don't stop the music. That's a good one. I could also see her doing something like if it was like, you know how Gaga like descended from the Raptors? If she decides to do something like that, I could actually hear the very first notes we hear are like shine bright like a diamond. And it's like, you know, Rihanna coming down.

fireworks. Like that to me feels like a very dramatic visual. It depends on the tone she's going for. Oh, I like that. I wonder what's going to happen with the choreo because like Rihanna's gotten better at it, but she's never really known for her dancing. She likes the dirty wine. Let me tell you something. If Dua Lipa could learn to dance in the time that the album came out last, Rihanna too could learn to dance. I'm just saying like, I'm not expecting like Beyonce level choreography. I,

I mean, I think Rihanna also agrees. I mean, like, you know, Beyonce's Beyonce. But to that point, do you think she's going to do a lot of dance hall music? Well, that's what I was thinking. To do the NFL halftime show is like to literally dance with the devil, right? It's like the going for the middle America, the most conservative and USA, USA, don't you dare even kneel during the Star Spangled Banner. So I think, you know, if I had a dream come true, it would be like maybe opening with

work and then it's just like a full and I think people said the new album might be a lot of dance hall what if she just like transformed the football field into like a dance hall for 14 minutes just full on you know what I mean like but like based on prior performances I don't think that that's what we're gonna get

So when you see stars that have had as many hits as Rihanna, the pressure on the halftime show is just to get through the hits. I think about the halftime show from last year where it was like Dr. Dre and Eminem and 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige. All they wanted them to do was do 45 seconds of each hit and then move on. And so I wonder how Rihanna will respond to that pressure because she has –

well over 10 number one hits already. - And they travel so many genres and- - Yeah, if they want her to get through all of those, it's just gonna be her running through them, right? And so my question, what I'm looking for is like,

how much time will she have to really like get into the pocket and like get into the groove on just one song or will there be pressure to go through all the hits? I also want to say that like as big of a stage and a platform as Super Bowl Halftime Show is, it is not a great performance venue. It's almost the worst venue to do a live performance. It's echoey, it's cavernous. It's hard to fill that space. Half the crowd is distracted. It's a really hard thing to do

So I'm happy for Rihanna. I love it. But I don't think it's going to be her best show. It's going to be a great show, but I'd rather see her in concert than be on the front line of the halftime show to see her there. Yeah. So this is where it gets gnarly, right? Because you're right. It's not just the staging, the acoustics. It's literally the politics, the scale of the Super Bowl halftime performance that makes it

Kind of difficult, I would say, just to be authentic, to be true, to kind of who you are in your music. And just as a reminder, in 2019, Rihanna spoke publicly about turning down a previous invitation to perform at the Super Bowl. And she invoked Colin Kaepernick's protest and said, quote,

I couldn't dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn't be a sellout. I couldn't be an enabler. There's things within that organization, she's referring to the NFL, that I do not agree with at all. And I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way. So that's 2019. Yeah.

Ooh, what changed in three years? That's what I'm really interested and excited about how she's going to engage with the politics of the Super Bowl because she's always been so critical of not just the Super Bowl, but the world at large and her political thoughts on it. And we know now that it's become incredibly common, whether you are J-Lo, Eminem,

Beyonce, you have to make a statement or try to make a statement in some way. And Rihanna is really well poised to talk about a lot. She can talk about immigration. She can talk about the queen dying. Barbados did recently push out the monarchy and British empire out of their country. She can talk about, she uses as a stage to be like, oh my God, you still haven't changed anything. Let me show you what you need to do. And she also could speak to like domestic violence, which has been a part of

a conversation she's had with the NFL before about her own experiences and how they deal with it. So there's a lot she can do. Yeah. And that's the thing that I'm really concerned about. Not concerned about, but I have questions about because it's like, obviously Rihanna got over her beef with the NFL, but I think people forget how deep the beef was. Like it wasn't just the Colin Kaepernick stuff. Right. It goes back years before that. It goes back. So in 2014, I,

the NFL was set to use her song called Run This Town in an NFL ad. But that same year on the same time, a big NFL player got caught up in a domestic abuse scandal.

And NFL leadership said, we don't think we should have this ad run with the Rihanna song because it will make folks think of abuse and think about that player's scandal. They pulled the ad, didn't use the song. Rihanna was furious. She tweeted about it and she called out the NFL. So there's been more than one instance of a major beef with the NFL. And what I wonder in all of this is like,

who had to apologize to who to get over all of that? And how big was a check to whoever to get over all of that? If you had asked me to place a wager on who'd be most likely to do a halftime show at the Super Bowl, I would have had Rihanna at the bottom of the list because the beef goes back so far. And I think that may be the secret sauce here that we're going to see when the Super Bowl happens next year, early next year, is that I see no way that Rihanna just ignores her long history pushing against them, shaming,

shading Roc Nation and Jay-Z, all of these people all together. And also she's so powerful. She got the NFL to change all their social media to say National Fenty League. So she's like thinking of this holistically. And I have faith in Rihanna that she has a plan. You can call me wrong in February if I'm wrong, but I do think there's going to be some attempts to do some structural change because she's too rich to be paid off that easily. Yeah, well, we have to talk about the Jay-Z of it

And of course, you know, Beyonce has done the Super Bowl halftime show twice. Last time she appeared, I mean, part of, I think, the pushback that you were alluding to were performers try to, within the context of the Super Bowl, you know, kind of assert themselves and their politics. In that case, it was the dance uniforms invoking the aesthetics of the Black Panthers. I think Rihanna, like other performers, will...

some kind of gesture. Here's what I think. I think both during the performance and hopefully also behind the scenes, the NFL, Jay-Z, all the powers that be that worked to persuade her to do this had to make a lot of overtures. And I'm sure that involves money. Yeah.

I'm sure that involves money. The thing is with these institutions, and this is the thing with Jay-Z, because Jay-Z's whole thing, right, when he came in during the height of the protest, which galvanized around Colin Kaepernick, I think his argument was he was going to come in and talk to these white men and push for change and everything like that. But that's not what happened. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, the NFL is the symbol of patriarchy itself.

And patriarchy is so good at co-opting, placating, appropriating, you know, direct challenges. And so I think Rihanna could get on there and the first image we see is a picture of the queen and then it burns up and then Rihanna is, you know, I mean, it could be something really direct and pointed. And I think even in the context of the NFL and the Super Bowl, it's kind of lessened. It's turned into... It's not change. Yeah. It's not change. And it's not change. It's still performative. I'm thinking about...

The last halftime show Eminem took a knee in the halftime show. Nobody noticed. I think what happened with Jay-Z and the way that he began to play ball with the NFL after the protests began, after the Black Lives Matter movement, it looked like it might be structural change, but in actuality, it was just a check being cut to a very rich black man.

What ended up happening is the NFL said, we're not going to change a lot of this stuff. We're not going to reinstate Colin Kaepernick. We're not going to change the number of black coaches or owners in the league, but we're going to give this really rich guy a lot of money and have him pay his black friends to come perform for us. That's what it was. And so I,

I don't see any real structural change that has occurred from the time Jay-Z got involved with Roc Nation and the NFL to now. What's actually changed besides blacker halftime shows? Yeah, that's the only thing that's gotten blacker. There are no more black NFL coaches. No more black coaches. No more black quarterbacks. No more black referees. I don't think anything has gotten blacker besides the people that perform. And what's so fun about that halftime performance is the NFL doesn't even pay for that.

You pay for that yourself. So, yeah, these are fees that you bring in. They get a cut of it, but like, they're not even economically like paying for Beyonce to do that huge stage. Beyonce paid for that and then had to share some revenue splits there. So it's just like, they're not actually letting people have a real slice of the pie or even changing the pie recipe or anything. They're just like, come in, do your dance, and we're going to go back to football. And I've even heard that the NFL, in some instances, has asked halftime show performers to,

to give a portion of all their revenue from concerts after the halftime show to the NFL. Yep. It's wild. It's wild deals. Wild deals. Wild. Well, you know, I do think Rihanna is very savvy and she's proven to be actually incredibly adept at

at kind of distinguishing herself from her peers, even executives who are also kind of mentors. We'll see. I often think of a quote from Bell Hooks where she basically said, are you here to destroy the throne or do you just basically want to kick the white people out of the throne so you can sit in it? And that's the predicament of black capitalism. It's still capitalism. So it's going to be a great performance, but will it be radical? We'll have to see. Okay.

It would be radical if they actually let one of these halftime performers, even Rihanna, get through an entire song.

They cut these songs to death. Let her do We Found Love, the extended mix. Can we hear a whole verse? Come on. Can we give advice to Rihanna like she listens and give her a song that she should perform at the Super Bowl? I mean, I want her to do S&M uncensored and ruin CPS's life. It's like, oh, you thought y'all were mad about Janet.

Similar vein, I would like to see her do Needed Me in a similar like very sexy, very kind of like sober. But then I don't want her to sing SOS even though I think she's going to be pushed to do it. I like that song, but I feel like that was so long ago. I don't need to see you do SOS on the stage. I want her to do Rude Boy and I want her to do...

I want all of the Rude Boy dancers to be NFL stars. That's what I want. That's what I want. Well, you know, a lot will unfold. And also, I mean, I just want an album. I want an album to come with a halftime performance. Well, it's time for us to take a quick break, but stay tuned. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden.

All right, we are back. You're listening to Vibe Check, special NFL edition. Look at us, Queens. Look at us. NFL. We can do it. Whoever would have guessed we would be here. My father is so proud if he listens to this. We're going to keep talking now about the NFL, but we're not going to talk about Rihanna. We're going to talk about Brett Favre.

former star quarterback in the NFL who is now locked up in scandal. I'm sure y'all have heard about this by now. According to Vox, former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre received about a million dollars in federal welfare money for talks he apparently did not give. He also directed $5 million toward construction of a volleyball stadium at the college his daughter attended.

All of these funds in question, which were misused by Favre and others in Mississippi, they were TANF funds. TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, as in Brett Favre was taking money that was meant to help feed and care for the impoverished.

It's trash.

It's just, I mean, it is. And I think I can say that and be happy for Rihanna that she has a big stage. I think it shows that it is a structural institution that has been able to weather so much. I can't even keep count. You, every year, we see countless, I can't say countless because we can count them if we chose to count them, but we see so many

NFL players being accused of domestic assault, marital abuse, all this stuff, dealing with so many health issues. We see black men exploited on the field constantly since the beginning of time. We see Colin Kaepernick and the racism that occurs. We just see so much happen within this institution

and nothing seems to hit it. And even now, Brett Favre, as he's dealing with this, has probably just as many people hoping he gets out scotch-free as they do that they hope they build hell on top of him for this. So it's just, it's really sick, I think, in many ways. As we were kind of talking about with Rihanna, the thing is,

The NFL Super Bowl halftime show is the biggest stage in America. The biggest stage in America. If not the world. If not the world. There is no peer. If you are a performer, there is no parallel to the audience exposure you can get as the top performer. It's like 100 million people. Yeah, there's nothing like it. And I would say similarly, I...

I think it's hard to think of another cultural institution aside from the U.S. military itself that is more perfectly aligned with American patriarchy. Like, that's what the NFL is. And so when you are, as in the case of a recent inductee to the NFL Hall of Fame, Brett Favre, aligned with that institution, what it makes possible for you... I mean, look at Herschel Walker. There is only one reason Herschel...

Herschel Walker is within striking distance of becoming a U.S. Senator. That man probably wouldn't qualify for a high school diploma right now. Y'all know it. Y'all know it. Have you heard him talk? Listen. But because of his success as an NFL player, just like Brett Favre,

he is able to, like, doors open in a way. And, like, another example of something I saw that was wild to just kind of show how all of this works, once you're inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, according to his bylaws, you cannot be removed. That includes O.J. Simpson. Yes. So that includes O.J. Simpson, still there, George Preston Marshall, a former racist owner of the Washington football team, Lawrence Taylor, who in 2011 pled guilty to soliciting an underage girl. And I just think...

that's like a perfect metaphor that's once you're aligned with that institution baby no wonder these people are awful because everything we tell them is you can do whatever you want for as long as you want and to just speak to the extent to which the NFL is Teflon they haven't had to talk about Brett Favre at all and they have not

Imagine if there was a former star as big as Brett Favre in any other kind of league doing what Brett Favre did. Imagine if there was a black NBA alum who was involved in stealing welfare funds for him and his friends.

The NBA would have to speak about it. They'd have to say something about it. It would be the first question in every post-game press conference. It would be everywhere. Exactly. I draw a line to this, even though it's not the NFL, but it's a similar institution. But when we look at the Manti Teo story, which everyone's talking about today because of the prominence of that series on Netflix about what happened.

to him at Notre Dame, you know, that's college football. And still, like, Notre Dame, because he, you know, he was a man of color from Hawaii, they had to, like, put out statements. It really ruined his career in many ways. And it had everything to do with, like, the person in question was trans. There were people of color involved. It just, you see how that just pummels them and erases them so that you keep the institutions themselves secure and safe. And with Brett Favre, they're like, well, that's Brett Favre. He's his own institution. We're not going to talk about that.

we're never going to look at it and we're going to green Bay Packers are going to continue to sell merch this year and nothing's going to stain it. And it's just wild. Yeah.

Well, and then like on top of all of this, on top of all these former players having scandals, on top of the racism that we see in the league, there's also the whole thing of like everyone knows at this point that players in the NFL are very likely to have their lives and their bodies ruined by traumatic brain injury. It is common practice and commonplace in that sport for these men going through that league to have their bodies and brains really screwed up.

And the NFL has never had to answer that either. They've never had to answer that. I think they started a commission a few years ago to look into making NFL play safer, but nothing has actually changed. Nothing's changed. And again, to go back to, as we said with Jay-Z, again, which was, I think Jay-Z was brought in, I mean, one, there's his own opportunism, let's be clear, but also designed to kind of placate the reality

increasing frustration with racism within the NFL. And as we said, I mean, you know, Colin Kaepernick and the issues with like black owners and coaches, like nothing substantive has changed, but

We're going big picture. And I'm so mad at Brett Favre. I'm like, uh-uh, we're not done with you yet. Because I want to zero in on this $8 million he ultimately gets. Because here's the thing. So let's go back to 2019 where we're getting a lot of these text messages. At that point, he and his goons, who are also under investigation for all of this –

He had already been warned that he was at risk of violating federal law. So he'd already been told by people like Governor Phil Bryant, who's able to text. I can't just text a state governor when I want something. You know what I mean? But he's texting. And so he'd already gotten $5 million for this stadium, but was asking for $3 million more.

And there are two things about this that I think are extraordinary. One, that literally in a text, the governor says, we're going to get there, but we have to, quote, follow the law, quote, I am too old for federal prison.

that a governor texts that to him and it doesn't stop him. But then also the fact that it's Brett Favre that one, first of all, several years before this, he had already gotten in trouble for text messages. In this case, texting unsolicited pictures of his penis to a news broadcaster. I'm like, wouldn't you learn? Don't you know? Also the last person to text the dick pic to was a journalist, baby. God damn. So, so,

Yes, what a wonderful point. On the heels of getting in trouble for texting a journalist inappropriately, you decide to start texting a governor. That says so much about his – he doesn't understand consequences. He doesn't understand that the law also applies to him. Because NFL stars think they're invincible. But here's what I really want to get into before we close this segment.

How in the world does welfare money become so easily distributed to wealthy people? And the answer is it wasn't always like that. So to get to the bottom of how these TANF funds could end up in Brett Favre's bank account, you have to look back at mid-'90s Clinton-era welfare reform. So before Clinton did welfare reform in the 90s, there was no TANF.

Welfare was a straight entitlement. If you qualified because of your income or how many kids you had, you just got the welfare. But in welfare reform under Clinton, as a compromise with Republicans, they said, all right, a lot of these welfare funds become state block grants, and the states can decide how to give this money out, and they can also decide what criteria poor folks have to meet to get the money, which meant states like Mississippi began having poor people apply for the fund.

And they had to show that they were working or show that they were on drugs or show this or show that. And it also meant that these states had wide discretion as to how they spent the money.

So there would have not even been the possibility for Mississippi to misuse $8 million in welfare funds unless Bill Clinton had given them permission to do so. That is wild to me. That is wild. It's so wild. I'm so glad you bring up that history for this because when we talk about that history and then put it in conversation with the context of today, it's really depressing. Mississippi is the—

most impoverished state in the United States of America. And the least likely to give poor people actual TANF funds. The rates are crazy. It's like 3-5%. It's less than 5% of people that qualify can even access them. So that's people that qualify, 5% of those people can even access them. But Brett Favre has the money in his bank account after making $140 million in his NFL career just off contracts.

not taking into account his merchandising deals that continue to give him kickbacks today. Yes. And we should talk about how this is not just one party doing this. This welfare reform was passed under a Democratic president, and both parties have done a very good job in the last two to three decades of demonizing poor people and making them work harder and harder to justify their assistance from the government.

And this is what you end up with in that kind of climate. Yeah, as I've been thinking about this scandal, and mind you, Mississippi Today broke the news about this scandal, I believe, in mid-September. That's around the same time that people in the city of Jackson, Mississippi were having to go without drinkable water. And so all of this is

been swirling around in my head. I mean, Phil Bryant is a native son of his own state of Mississippi, and Phil Bryant is now the governor of Mississippi. Brett Favre, of course, went to the University of Southern Mississippi that his daughter was competing at at the time. And so it made me think of another native son, the writer Kiese Lehman, who

A wonderful essayist and black writer. And so I just had to take it to some of Kiesa's writing as someone who was raised in Mississippi and deeply understands the politics of all of this. And he has an essay titled The Worst of White Folks. And this is just a bit of it.

The worst of white folks, I understood, wasn't some gang of rabid white people in crisp pillowcases and shaved heads. The worst of white folks was a pathetic, powerful it. It conveniently forgot that it came to this country on a boat, then reacted violently when anything or anyone suggested its share.

The worst of fight folks wanted our mamas and grandmamas to work themselves sick for a tiny sliver of an American pie it needed to believe it had made from scratch. And I think that's the whole thing. I mean, like you just think about this system.

So Mississippi is able to say to poor people, you have to apply for the funds that were meant for you and we're still not going to give it to you. And in the same system, they say someone as rich and powerful as Brett Favre doesn't need to apply for anything. Just text the governor and you'll get it. It is wild. It's shameful and good. I get mad about it. I get mad about it.

And I'm so glad you brought up Casey Levin because he's like, I think, the most important writer writing about these issues in this state and in this place right now. And it also makes me think about the writer Kathy Cohen from the University of Chicago. She's a queer theorist. She's kind of one of the mothers of queer theory. She's a black queer woman. And she wrote an essay called Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens, The Radical Potential of Queer Politics.

But in the piece, if you want to know the origins of queer theory, it's very much based in economic analysis of we have to take care of these people who are our most vulnerable and make sure that we're including them and not exploiting them in our pursuits of equality or equity for this to actually work. And that's what we're seeing here is people taking advantage of systems to allow, you know, people in sports to have better facilities while also putting people down, people of color without access. You can't do both and win.

And I think these writers are kind of pointing to that truth right here. To wrap our special NFL episode, talking about Rihanna, talking about Brett Favre, talking about all of this. For me, the big takeaway is that the NFL is still too big to fail.

Nothing can take this organization down. And even the harshest critics of the NFL like Rihanna over time come into the fold. And just to close on a stat that is mind boggling to me that kind of underscores how strong the NFL is.

All of TV has been struggling to make the transition from traditional broadcast to streaming, and everyone has struggled. The NFL is trying now, and they're not struggling. They just had an NFL game broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, and there were big questions as to whether or not NFL fans would do it. Would they download the app? Would they go to the platform? Guess how many people went to Amazon Prime Video to watch this game? I haven't.

I mean, millions and millions, I'm sure. 13 million people. Wow. 13 million people went to Amazon Prime Video to see this NFL game without too much prompting.

This is what's crazy about the NFL. That's like twice as many people who watched the last Emmys broadcast. Exactly. Exactly. Wow. And so we're sitting here talking about all these problems the NFL has, but I really don't think the NFL is worried at all. Not with those numbers. Nope. So that said, all of those things are true, but we still love Rihanna. To close this on a happy note, Rihanna, it's okay. Do whatever you want to do. You do that halftime show. You dance for us. You sing for us. We love you. We really, really do. All right. All right.

We are going to take a break. But when we come back, no more NFL discussion. Just recommendations to keep your vibe right. Just vibes. Sometimes vibes are all we got. That's all we got.

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands. I

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden.

So we are back. And before we end the show, we like to do this little thing each week where we talk about what's keeping our vibes right or vibes in a weird space, which is kind of mine, maybe. I don't know. I'm very nervous to share my pick of the week. Vibe ennui. Vibe ennui. Oh my God, the French today. The French. So Sam, what's keeping your vibe right or wrong this week? Yeah, you know, I've been thinking a lot about rom-coms. I will say a lovely movie that presented itself as a,

teenage high school revenge film but was actually a rom-com in my opinion is this Netflix film Do Revenge. I love it. It is a starring vehicle for Maya Hawke, the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. And I wanted to not support her because nepotism, but she's got the goods. She's great in Stranger Things. Great. And what's great about this movie is it's a send-up of all the 90s teen movies that we grew up with.

And it's about these two women exacting revenge on their enemies in their school. But it's also about the romance that can exist in deep friendships and how a friendship itself is a certain kind of relationship that itself has a love and a song and a dance and a romance to it.

It's a beautiful movie. It tells that story well. It's fun to look at. The soundtrack is great. I really, really liked it. Shout out to the music supervisor for that film, Robert Lowry. He just does the work. Every song hits. I love this film. Go check it out. It's delightful.

I love that. Thank you for that. Yeah. Saeed, what's keeping your vibe right? Well, first I have to give a shout out to Sam. Last week, you mentioned the song Envy by OGI. And I've been listening to it on repeat. Isn't it good? So good. My friend Teddy started listening to it and is obsessed with her. Teddy was even being like, I love her. We're obsessed with it. For this week, I will say, and it's actually my boyfriend and my friend Teddy both love the great British Bake Off.

And so often I watch it with them because they love it. I'm a little like, I'm not a cook. I'm not into baking. I'm not into, you know, but every now and then I get in and we like binge and watch a bunch of episodes. And so there's a new season. And so over the weekend, we watched the first episode of this new season of The Great British Bake Off. And baby, there is a new baker this season named, I think Sandro. He is so fine. He's fine.

Yeah. Someone in my mentions said, I call him Cake Drake. Cake Drake. And then someone else said, no, no, no. He's what Drake thinks he looks like. He is so hot. He's actually a very good baker from what I've seen so far. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's fine. There's more because he's a boxer.

who also works as a nanny. It's incredible. Wait, that man beats eggs, beats men, and takes care of babies. Yeah, it's good to be in the tent, baby. Is he gay or straight? I think he's straight. I feel like he might have mentioned a girl. That's okay. It happens to some people. I don't know. We'll see. His Instagram handle is Sandro Bakes.

Highly recommend. Highly recommend. Okay, I'm following you. I'm looking at my phone right now. This is a perfect example. I was like, you know, Great British Bake Off is kind of cozy and it makes you feel good anyway, but to have a little thirst thrown in. We need it. We need it, babies. I don't watch the show, but now you're going to make me watch the show. I'm going to now dive in, so thank you for that because that sounds amazing.

Delicious, actually. Let me know what you think. What about you, though? So my vibe, just go on this quick journey with me. I was going to bring Dahmer to the conversation. I was like, the Dahmer show. No, leave him at home. Please do not. I was hooked. As some know, I used to work as a crime reporter. I'm very interested in crime stories. And this is about Jeffrey Dahmer, the very famous serial killer who specifically targeted queer men of color in Milwaukee, some parts of Chicago, the Midwest. You know, very scary stuff.

And the show was really good. And it's very intense. And it's like Ryan Murphy really woke up and said, I'm coming to work today. And I wrote the show with Ian Brennan. And it's very interesting. Janet Mock directs some episodes. I like it. It does a good job of showing the racial politics of what was going on at the time.

What is really amazing about it is that it's a star vehicle for the one and only Niecy Nash Betts, who has another show that just came out, The Rookie, which has her wife, who we love, as her love interest in that show, too. So my vibe of the week is Niecy Nash has continued not just glow up, because I think she's always existed, but just her happiness and joy in the world is just...

everywhere and everything she does. Nisi, I love. I was able to interview her on my last show a while back. She was great in Claws. She's been great. But I couldn't get into Dahmer because I watched like 15 minutes and then when I realized we're about to get to the scene where Dahmer tortures and kills a black man, I was just like, I can't watch it. I can't watch it. It's,

It's pretty rough. Like, I will say, do not watch. It's traumatizing. I think there's certain things that they could have just left on the editing floor because they could get a little pornographic with the violence. Yeah, absolutely not. It's pretty bad. Well, before we wrap, on a high note, I do want to say, if you love Niecy Nash, and we do, go back and watch her HBO sitcom, Getting On.

Oh, that was good. It's an American adaptation of, I think, a British show. She plays a nurse in a hospice care hospital, and it's just pitch perfect. Three seasons of excellence getting on a great show. All right, so you heard what we're into this week. What are you feeling or what are you not feeling this week? Let us know your vibe by checking in with us at vibecheckatstitcher.com.

Thank you.

And last but not least, thank you to Jared O'Connell and Amelda Skinder for all of their help. And of course, we want to hear from you. Don't forget, you can email us at vibecheckatstisher.com and keep in touch with us on Twitter at TheFerocity, at Zach Stafford, and at Sam Sanders. Use the hashtag vibecheckpod. And also, don't forget to follow us on TikTok if that's your vibe, at vibecheckpod. Stay tuned for another episode next Wednesday. Stay safe out there.

Bye. Bye. Stitcher. David taught himself how to make bread. Good bread. He wanted to get even better. So he asked Chet GPT on Expedia if there's such a thing as a bread vacation. Chet GPT said, sure. Do you want to go to Normandy, Morocco, Ireland, or Tuscany?

And that's how David became a master pizzaiolo. You were made to learn new things. We were made to give you trip ideas with ChatGPT right in our app. Expedia. Made to travel.