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Kiki, Hoja, and Mohanad pore over Whoopi Goldberg’s recent comments about the Holocaust alongside writer, producer, and host of the Andy’s Girls podcast, Sarah Galli. They discuss Whoopi’s two-week suspension from The View, unpack her complicated history with Jewish culture, and explore why anti-Semitism and Jewish identity are so often misunderstood. Plus, they break down Joe Rogan’s history of racist language and ask why he isn’t facing similar consequences. As Kiki says, this is probably one of the cringiest starts to Black History Month ever!

Please note, I’m Sorry contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Follow Sarah Galli on Instagram @damegalli. Listen to her podcast Andy’s Girls here: https://www.sarahgalli.com/andysgirls.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Hoja Lopez, Mohanad Elshieky, Kiki Monique, Sarah Galli

Kiki Monique  00:08

I’m Kiki Monique. And this is I’M SORRY, a podcast about apologies. And this week, I went to the movie theater three times.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Wow. Okay.

Kiki Monique 

Sort of my way of saying that I’m getting back to life, which I’m very excited about.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Wow. And this is Mohanad Elshieky. And this week, I saw that Queen Elizabeth said that she’s giving the Queen title to someone else. And I’m just gonna say, hey, I still don’t believe it, you’re not alive. Stop lying to us, Queen Elizabeth.

Hoja Lopez 

And my name is Hoja Lopez. And this week, I hung out with my dogs to a degree where I feel like I need to get away from them. They’ve been touching me every single moment of the day, every single day. So I need to get out of my house because I might turn into a dog. I think that’s how that works.

Mohanad Elshieky 

That’s exactly how it works. That’s how they get you. That’s why we have dogs to start with every dog was a human being first.

Kiki Monique 

My Instagram got a kind of wild this week. And so I feel like we had to talk about it with the Whoopi Goldberg thing. And so we’re gonna talk about it. One of the comments that we got a lot of was like, you know, when you talk about this, like, let’s make sure you have a Jewish Voice on there. So I reached out to my friend, Sara Galli, most people know her as Dane Galli on Instagram. But I reached out to her and she’s gonna join us today to talk about, you know, the Whoopi Goldberg, the Joe Rogan of it all. And look, there’s gonna be a lot to unpack and we’re gonna get there’s going to be some ups and downs stay with us the whole time, because this is just one of those topics that I think you know, people really need to hear the entire conversation before making judgments. And I think this will be a good one. Sarah, I’m so glad you’re joining us. I will say that this is probably one of the crunchiest starts to Black History Month that I’ve ever experienced. And we invited you here specifically, you know, to talk about the Whoopi Goldberg of it all. And the reason it feels cringy is because I was like, we need to invite one of our Jewish friends to come on the show. Which is like, it makes me even feel cringy saying it. It’s like, oh, we have to find but we do we need a voice in this room to talk about this. Because I think a huge part of this problem that we’re going to get into, is that not enough Jewish voices are getting to talk about things, which is why people are miseducated, misinformed. And this is how we ended up where we are.

Sarah Galli 

Yeah, I mean, first off, I have had a three-day spiral thinking about representing the Jewish experience, identity, religion, community culture, because it’s a lot number one, and number two, I’m a reformed Jew. So there are different forms of Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform and the Reform is like sometimes considered like the ugly stepchild in the sense that like, we’re like a little JV, we like to keep things kind of sassy, we’re like, more relaxed, like, they do their thing with this stuff. And we’re just here for the we’re just here for the laughs in a good time. So like the idea we already have, some of us already have a little bit of a complex about honestly, almost having to, like, quantify the level of Judaism that we are, so that was a fun precursor for the last three days of me being like, okay, what is the Torah, like, remind me what I did at my Bar Mitzvah, I remember my Haftorah was really good. And I remember the Bema. And, you know, my rabbi said, I call it off stage, which is not the accurate term, but he was like, just pretend it’s a one woman show cuz I was spiraling at 12. So I think of that moment now. But yeah, it’s kind of been an it’s been a wild, wild experience to see the dialogue online, so much of it led by non-Jews, which you know, love to see it, love to see it.

Kiki Monique  04:30

Yeah. And I mean, you know, if anyone hasn’t heard, you’ve been living under a rock, and maybe you haven’t heard what happened. Essentially Whoopi Goldberg is one of the hosts of the view. They were talking about a book that was being banned, I think, in the Tennessee School District Mouse, I believe is the name. And, you know, Whoopi starts saying, basically, that the Holocaust isn’t about race. I mean, that was her comment and that it was about man’s inhumanity against you know, other men, it’s about evil. And, you know, the host, you know, really tried to correct her. You know, she went on a Stephen Colbert later that, you know, actually it was like it was later that night. So it felt later, but she really recorded it right after the show. So that’s part of like the weirdness, right? Because she does the view in the morning. And then she does Colbert right afterwards. So it seems like she doubled down. But really, she was just, you know, trying to clarify, you know, look, as a Black woman in society, I have always seen race as a skin color thing. And that is my understanding of race. And so I misspoke, because, you know, she later than finally, realize she made the mistake, the Holocaust was about the race, because that is what the Nazis said it was about right, you know, and like, we can’t deny that like, that is the truth. They believe that the Jewish people were of a different race. But this felt like it could have been a real teachable moment. And I feel like we failed in that. I don’t know how you feel. I mean, do you feel we failed in this teachable moment that we could have had.

Sarah Galli  06:06

um, I don’t know that it was necessarily a failure. I think that it’s just been overall confusing. I mean, they did have I watched Whoopi’s actual clip from the view. And I thought a portion of the Colbert interview, but to be honest, was actually incredibly upsetting. And the timing of all of this led into an environment in which teaching wasn’t necessarily felt, because Whoopi herself, sort of realized, or was told about her error, following the Colbert interview. So what we experienced was, would be his remarks on the view, Whoopi apologizing, and then we’ll be doubling down. So the idea of leading from a place of teaching was really kind of harnessed. And it became a little discombobulated, because people were accepting of her apology, and then to see her, just by the nature of TV production, try to expand on that idea and really teach the audience something that was in fact, factually incorrect, was really tough. And, you know, you hear about what she said, and then when you watch the actual clip on the view, it’s incredibly awkward, because people are trying to guide her a little bit, you know, and then there’s like, the music playing underneath, because they’re like. Run away from this.

Sarah Galli 

But she really does try to educate her panel of something that she’s wrong about. And so when it comes from a place a teachable moments, the person has to be willing to understand that they were wrong. And the environment of like, canceled culture, which is a phrase I hate to use, it becomes really difficult because you feel so immediately defensive, because people are like, you should be fired, you’re antisemitic, whatever. It’s just it creates a really, it would lead someone, understandably so honestly, to feel incredibly defensive, because you feel like your entire identity is shaped by a mistake. But I don’t buy into the idea that it’s not still a teachable moment, they had the head of the anti-defamation league on I also watched his interview with Don Lemon, and he had a lot of stuff. And they took their sweet time talking about it the next day. I mean, I think that maybe people kind of understand something that they didn’t prior.

Mohanad Elshieky  08:26

Yeah, it’s also interesting, because I did not know that because I do not watch the view. I only hear about the view when someone fucks up and Meghan McCain is not there anymore. So yeah, it’s been less. But I did not know that literally, none of the hosts on the show was Jewish. And I just like maybe you need one. So you can like have a variation of, you know, opinions on the subject.

Kiki Monique 

I think it was like a surprise to a lot of people because even Joy Behar said it out loud. She was like a lot of people think I’m Jewish, and I think a lot of people in that moment were like, oh.

Hoja Lopez 

I mean, there is something about because then you’re talking about, you know, archetypes and different things that we assign to being Jewish or Jewishness, which is something that we do with you know, people who are Black or people who are Hispanic. So there’s these parallels that literally start rising up as they’re talking about it in terms of like, kind of like racial markers or something that you like assigned to a specific person to decide whether or not they’re a specific race. So you can see there’s some parallels there but yeah, Whoopi trying to teach as somebody who is ignorant is painful. I don’t know of another word to describe it as.

Mohanad Elshieky

But it’s also very interesting because it happened also at the same time where the […] was being banned from being teaching schools which I feel like Whoopi’s thing like highlighted the fact that we need books like this because I have the first page […] in front of me right now. And it says this is a Hitler quote in the first pages, which just says, The Jews are undoubtably a race, but they are not human. That’s the first page, that literally of Whoopi just read that I’ll be like, okay, good. You know, you’re wrong now, because that’s the whole basis of like, being a Nazi, basically.

Kiki Monique  10:23

One of the best lines I read, I think it was in an Atlantic article, it said, it’s not necessary for race to be real, for racism to be real, it’s only necessary that people believe race to be real. And when people act on fictions, those actions have repercussions, even if the underlying belief is false. Because I think people understand Judaism is a religion and like, and they’re stuck with that now, I was lucky enough to grow up in a really good school system where, you know, one of the teachers created a class that was specifically to teach about the Holocaust, and Jewish background and all of it. And I think it even became a required curriculum, because if I remember correctly, one of the most racist students in my school was in that class. And I can’t imagine he would have taken it as an elective, had it not been. So I think it was even required. And so I think I had a lot more understanding, but the way we’re just sort of like pulling all of this knowledge out of school now, of course, people are going to be confused about like, you know, why people see it as a race, why people see it as religion.

Sarah Galli 

Well, I think it’s also a question of identity. Because if you talk about Judaism as only being a religion, we’re losing actually the element of anti semitism that especially stings, which is like, you are different. It’s not because of who or what you believe from a religious perspective. It’s because we identify you as people who run the media, who run the banks, who are trying to take over the world who are globalists, like, we can’t expect ourselves to only be a religion, because the expectation of everyone who hates us is not that. So it’s like, if you asked me about my experience, as a Jew, I don’t think about the religious aspect first, I think about the way that I was raised the culture of being Jewish, the community of being a progressive Jew, the political ideology attached to the experience of being Jewish, like the religious part of like, oh, and God stuff is way, way, way down the list. And it’s a difficult thing to explain to people who only think about it as a religion, or as Whoopi tried to teach us think about it as the idea of like, white people versus white people. And that’s the end of the story. It is in fact a very complicated identity to describe to people who are not Jewish, and also people sometimes who are.

Sarah Galli  12:49

And it becomes incredibly difficult when even the conversation around the global rise in anti semitism is rebutted or silenced by people who don’t believe that the reality is happening. And I think that’s where the importance of actually listening to people who are Jewish, trying to describe an environment of anti semitism that’s like, on the rise, like I feel it in New York City, I’ve had antisemitic experiences in person in New York City recently. So it’s like, there is a little bit of a moment of people got really upset because Whoopi was suspended for two weeks, and they feel like she is being held to a standard that other people aren’t, and there’s a conversation on the ladder. But when it comes to the former, I was like, I actually think that this is appropriate. And then we kind of move on, you know, like it’s, I’m not someone who believes that Whoopi Goldberg is antisemitic. I’m someone who believes that she says, dumb bad stuff, sometimes, as do a lot of people, it just so happens that this is specific to Jews, so I kind of have some, you know, specific thoughts.

Hoja Lopez 

I thought the suspension was merited too, like, if anything, it’s sort of a gift of like, hey, you need time to think about this before you continue to answer questions about it before you continue to present yourself in a specific way. So I thought the suspension was, it didn’t necessarily feel like a punishment, which is what we keep talking about on this podcast of like, who deserves what or to what extent do they deserve something, and this felt like an opportunity for her to just, I think what we should all do when we make a big fuckup, that hurts a lot of people based on our platform, which is to take time away. And just take a moment

Mohanad Elshieky  14:33

Because I feel like a lot of people that are pointing out that you know, like why are we not doing the same to Joe Rogan? Why are we not doing the same way so and so and? And it’s just like, the more I think about I’m just like, well, because most of these people that are not suspended their whole brand is based on that just being ignorant. And giving them time off is not really going to teach them anything. It’s just gonna make them worse. So I don’t think the same standards really, really apply because I mean, as I say, I’ve only watched the view that much but I don’t think they come every you know every episode on the table and like try and just like, say extremely dumb shit that just like provokes people maybe..

Kiki Monique 

I hate like comparing, obviously, because like that is like one of the things that drives me crazy. It’s like when something happens, it’s like, but what about when it’s like just stop it like let’s focus on like what’s happening right now, but I’m just curious that you say you’re a longtime viewer watcher. Were there ever times where Meghan McCain said something where you were just like, this feels like a fireable offense. You know, I know there were times where I was fuming. Now granted, I listen to sound bites, and I’m trying to get better about like seeing everything in context.

Sarah Galli  16:10

The thing with Meghan McCain is, I have loved the view forever, I did have to take a pause after the split screen between Rosie O’Donnell and Elizabeth Hasselbeck where they were like screaming about the troops because it was so toxic and so dark that I was like, oh, this feels I feel worse. But the thing with Meghan McCain is I love the view and had to really stop watching during the Meghan McCain era, as I decided to become sort of almost less informed during the Trump era, because reading the news was like, so deeply awful and disconcerting. And with Megan, it’s just a little bit of a cringe moment, because Megan has become a symbol of like, fighting anti semitism, which to me, it makes me so uncomfortable when she says something about the Jewish experience that I agree with, because I so vehemently disagree with so many things that she has said before that get wrapped into another thing when it comes to like, has Megan been held accountable in the same way? I mean, I so deeply disagree with her political ideology, which hopefully is a separate conversation from anti semitism, but is often looped in and grouped into the same group. I don’t know enough from watching Megan specific content because it’s like trigger warning Megan’s there, and she’s talking about being a daughter for like, an hour. It’s a lot for me so I can’t unfortunately, answer that without saying, it’s, it’s a tough ride to like, have to slowly awkwardly nod when she’s like, as a fighter of anti semitism. Because, yeah, it is what it is.

Mohanad Elshieky  18:05

We were talking about that when we were discussing, Ben Shapiro, because like, you know, he also I mean, obviously thinks anti semitism is bad, good take. But other than that, everything he says, is extremely bad. And I’m just like, okay, well, I don’t know what to what to do with this, because this is a good opinion that you have, but it’s probably the only good opinion.

Sarah Galli 

It’s like the dark underbelly of this is the political aspect of it, there is the idea that anti semitism is often used as a weapon to target another person’s political ideology or political stance or whatever else. And it’s like, there’s the idea that for some aspects of like, the Republican base, or like anti semitism is bad because of political stuff that we’re hopefully not going to get into on this episode. But like, because we don’t believe in this thing we’re going to say that, you know, hating Jews is terrible, but like, who’s marching in Charlottesville saying, you know, the Jews are trying to take over, it gets really complicated because as a Jewish person who’s progressive, but doesn’t identify with a political party, it becomes incredibly difficult when I’m like, ooh, who’s saying this stuff and using language that makes my little like, Hebrew alarms go off, you know, it becomes really difficult because you feel like you don’t have an experience. It’s very well known to Jews. It’s like you don’t feel like you have a place in this world. It’s like where’s the place where I feel like a hatred against the Jewish people is going to be called out and addressed as hatred against the Jewish people and nothing more like no but no like, and also let’s compare this to something else because as a Jew, I feel diminished. Like, there are other conversation that should take place, but so often people are like, okay, but this isn’t equal to this other thing. I’m like, wait a second. Global anti semitism is on the rise. I’ve experienced direct and targeted anti semitism online, I’ve experienced it as a stranger in the world walking around New York City. So like, we need to take some time to talk about this. Because if our friends don’t believe that this is important to discuss, then who do we really have?

Hoja Lopez  20:15

Yeah. And I think the Whoopi thing also, I mean, we talked about it, discuss it, but speaks to the larger idea of like, the critical race theory thing, which is like, again, we kind of don’t want to necessarily be educated, or there’s a segment of people who don’t want to be educated on the way that they themselves are being or like, fucking up, you know, and we discussed this briefly on like, the Baptist Convention, and like, there are certain like, segments that when they’re the ones that are perpetrating the racism, or the, you know, the anti semitism, of course, they don’t necessarily want to be educated on those things, and being, you know, pointed out as the people who are sourcing some of those, like horrible things, my question would be, like, I guess I see Whoopi, as somebody who could have been anybody, because there are plenty of people who are as educated as Whoopi, who are as maybe even visible, who hold similar beliefs or just don’t know, just have no idea. So to a certain degree, it’s almost like, it’s good that she exposes that part of it, because then we can go in and say, okay, these are some flaws. And it’s not flaws that just Whoopi has, it’s a generalized misunderstanding of antisemitism in general.

Mohanad Elshieky

I think also, a lot of it is just like, you know, like, we’ll be like other people, like, understand, like, you know, like, the Holocaust was bad. But that is the extent of it. They don’t know much about it, they’re just like, this is the take, I should have and that’s it. And I feel like a lot of it is also like trying like to reinvent the wheel, which is, you know, have a new take on it. Or like, there’s like so much many books that you could read so much research by, like Jewish people, interviews with, like Holocaust survivors, and all of that, that you can just read, and just like, you know, use that language that they’ve been using, instead of just being like, no, no, no, I have a different take that I am gonna introduce. I’m just like, no need for that. It’s been done. Just use that and educate people. And that’s it.

Kiki Monique  22:16

Welcome to history. There’s a reason history books is there.

Sarah Galli

And speaking of history, there’s the idea that the Holocaust ended. So this is all done now. Like the Holocaust was this thing that happened and then it ended, and we were like, wow, this is really bad. Never again, do this specific thing with like Auschwitz and the other places like, let’s not repeat this specific thing. But the idea behind it the idea of anti semitism that began well, well, well, before the Holocaust ever did and remains a being in this world. There’s the idea that people think, well, it doesn’t exist to the level that it did before, or the Holocaust was like this specific experiences, specific atrocity moment in time. And so for, it’s a hard thing to try to encapsulate but the idea that this is like a chapter in the history book, and now we’re on a new page, and the unfortunate reality is, a lot of the ideas that led to this horrible atrocity still remain the idea of Jews as an inferior race, the idea of Jews as people who are trying to get something from you, they’re trying to take something away from you that, unfortunately, is still incredibly prevalent, you know?

Mohanad Elshieky 

I think like, yeah, because like, in the context of, I’m not talking the West generally, but like, in the US, I feel like the US is like, really good, like rebranding the stuff and just being like, this thing ended. But for example, like, even like when we talk about slavery, like, oh, slavery ended, and now we’re good, and like, well, I mean, you created the prison system. So we’re still have it by like, under a different name. And the same thing with anti semitism. We’re just like, you know, have different names for it. And just like, and honestly, like, I feel like the US managed to find ways to make it acceptable, because it’s just like, you have a lot of these people who are like, I’m just asking questions. And I’m just like, are you asking questions? Are you really asking questions? Because it doesn’t seem like it.

Hoja Lopez  24:11

Yeah. It seems like you’re trying to start a conspiracy theory. Very, very specific.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Exactly. I’m asking questions. I already have the answers to these questions. I just want you to say yes to that. And that’s it.

Hoja Lopez 

Is this true, but I think I was reading in Vox that like Whoopi Goldberg does identify as a Black and Jewish woman. So there is, I know. And she says she previously identified as black and Jewish. So I was like, what is going on here? And that’s just previous to this specific situation.

Kiki Monique 

My entire life I’ve thought Whoopi Goldberg was Jewish, like, I don’t know, at what point it like I was told to me or I don’t know how it came into my head. But literally, I think until all of this came out, I thought Whoopi Goldberg was Jewish. So I know like that sort of like when you make a mistake, right things that maybe people have been saying and they just haven’t been heard start coming up, you know. So we have, okay Whoopi Goldberg says it’s a family name, but we don’t really know where this family name comes from. Some people accuse her of just appropriating this name because she came to Hollywood and to have a more Jewish sounding name, she would get in the door. Then there’s a story of like, you know, she made some Jewish American princess fried chicken recipe for something and sort of that came out. You know, I always of course, you know, remember when she was dating Ted Danson and there was a whole Black face thing. All of her history comes out, right? But like, we expect nothing else. And obviously, she’s made some mistakes. But I think with Whoopi, she’s made those mistakes, but hasn’t made them again, like this is a new mistake. It’s not a great mistake. But it’s a new mistake. I don’t see her in this repetitive behavior. But I don’t know. Am I mistaken? Like, Sarah, do you disagree?

Sarah Galli  26:03

I don’t know how many times she’s spoken about the Jewish experience. So I can’t be like, well, she knew what the Holocaust was before. But now she changed her mind. I don’t know. Unfortunately, like, I hate to say it, but like, maybe she hasn’t been given the opportunity until now to tell us what she has always felt. I’m not gonna give her the benefit of saying she changed her mind. I just think that maybe it didn’t come up in this way on the view. But she has felt this that’s the whole thing with being misinformed is that like, I don’t know, if she changed her mind or change the direction or has always felt this I err on the side of the ladder that she’s probably always been misinformed, and has connected it to the almost Americanized idea of race, because she was so forthright, rebutting what everyone said and saying, You are wrong. This is like, literally what this, the idea that she said at one point, this is man’s inhumanity to man. And it’s like, let’s break that down. Because I as a Jew, feel very much like your gaslighting, for lack of a better term, the experience of being a member of the Jewish experience who people tried to exterminate. So like, the idea of her not being this is like the problem with not being specific, or unfortunately being very specific. Because Whoopi was in fact, incredibly specific on the view and then on Colbert with how she felt, I just think she didn’t have the opportunity to have this kind of discussion until now. Or we’re all just too young to know if she had previously.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, no, she was doubling down so much. I was like, is what we’re trying to get a podcast on Spotify.

Kiki Monique  28:01

Okay, again, I’m not trying to like compare contrast, but only because it came out today. And I’m just curious, your thoughts like, you know, Joe Rogan, obviously, you know, in the last week has been under fire for like, all of these things from his past that have come up, knows, notably, I’m not even talking about the COVID stuff. And most notably, it’s about the endward stuff, the Planet of the Apes stuff, really, you know, in those sort of just terrible things that were coming in his mouth, and people who are, you know, siding with him saying, you know, you have to understand the context. And I’m kind of like, well, I don’t know, I don’t know, if there’s like, again, I think that I talked to people who were outside this country who are like, I don’t even live there. And I know saying the N word, just you don’t like say it. I don’t care what context you’re using it. But anyway, so it comes out today, that, you know, Spotify condemns what he says, but they’re not gonna do anything. They’re not gonna like, there’s no suspension, like, they’re just gonna, like, let him go on. I’m just curious. Like, it’s just interesting. Like, when you see things handled, and you say, like, oh, there’s no white privilege. I’m like there isn’t though because I don’t know this guy kind of also did some really terrible things. And they’re saying, like, Hey, that was like, in the past and like, we condemn it, but like, we’re gonna like, let him move on versus, you know, again, appropriately handled Whoopi, but like, it just feels like I don’t know. How do you feel?

Sarah Galli

I mean, I kind of the idea of this I don’t know why cuz I like literally do not watch The Bachelor, Bachelorette. But when I hear about Joe Rogan, attempting to say like, it wasn’t this bad a couple years ago, or something or like now it’s a bad thing to say I keep thinking about that extra segment with Chris Harrison and Rachel Lindsay, where a white man is explaining to a Black woman why going to a completely racist event and talking about it as being a bad thing. Like it wasn’t like it was in, you know, we’re talking about it like it’s 2021, not like 2018, as if this thing that happened in 2018 would be any less racist. It just so happens that more people are probably becoming better informed and better aware of their own White privilege, or, I mean, like, I don’t know, it seems really terrible. And also, I’m sure that there’s a financial aspect to this, because Joe Rogan is like, bringing in mega bucks to Spotify. And now they are trying to figure out the pushback of what it is that they paid for, like, there is a really bad awful part of this where it’s like, is this what you’re paying him for? Because he seems to be pretty consistent. And being the guy that says the things that nobody else is going to say. But what happens when you start to understand that there is a reason nobody else is saying that stuff? You know, like, we’re paying him to be like, the counter to culture, but it’s like, what is the symbol of that counter? When we’re getting all of these examples? And you’re on the DL, removing over 100 episodes of his show, like, yeah, what is it that that symbolizes? Now to the Spotify brand? I don’t have an answer to it.

Mohanad Elshieky 

I think the worst part is, it’s not that he’s bringing them money, he has lost them more money than they have put into him now, because the stocks like, you know, went down, and people like, you know, a lot of people like deleted Spotify, and all of that. So you’re literally keeping this man who’s losing you money. And the statement that they’ve released today, not only did they say they’re not gonna, you know, they’re not going to do anything about it as the language that they use. They said, we’re not gonna silence Joe Rogan. And I wish people would stop saying that he’s being silenced. Because like, I hear nothing but news about him. How is he being silenced when literally, that’s all I see. I’ve muted Joe Rogan, like the name on Twitter, and I still see all the clips, so I cannot run away from it. Exactly. It’s too much. And like, the whole thing about the context, I watched the whole episode with the context, I’m like, wow, this made it actually even worse. Was that the point? Like this is bad.

Hoja Lopez  32:19

And there is something that I was reading when I was thinking about these comparisons to which is like, in 2019, or 2020, I was reading that his podcast was downloaded 200 million times every month. And that in context, again, was double the amount of people who watched the Super Bowl every year. And to me, like the gravitas of that responsibility, merits two-week suspension, maybe, like, put him on ice for a second and figure out how you’re going to responsibly talk to 200 million men.

Kiki Monique 

Yeah, like, I mean, I feel like that deserves some reflection time as well. Like why, like, if we’re giving some reflection time, I think Joe Rogan could like use some reflection time. Like, why was he you know, like, you know, we see videos of him from March 2020, you know, really talking about vaccines in a very positive light, saying, you know, they are lifesaving, they’re changing these wackos. And then we see him now and it’s like, I want to reflect on you know, what did change like, did your ideology really change? Or did you realize that leaning into this sort of thinking made you way more money like I want you to reflect on that because I’m you know the answer just take some two weeks and reflect.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Even the apology is for money. Everything he does is a money move. It’s insane. I just literally cannot believe that someone watched Fear Factor and was like, yes, I want to know what this man thinks about. I’ve watched it too, but I’ve never was like, I need to hear his hot takes this man seems to know a lot.

Kiki Monique 

Okay, so overall, do you accept what Whoopi’s apology?

Sarah Galli  34:03

Yeah, I know. It was directed specifically to me in my apartment here in the Upper East Side, although I haven’t received that letter yet. From like all of the Jews, it is that we’re supposed to agree on at our next you know, all staff. Yeah 100% I do. Do I think that it’s she’s also really genuinely pissed about the pushback that she’s gone. And she’s probably still going to be a place of defensiveness? Yes. But like, I’m not responsible for that. You know, I’m appreciative for what the view did after that’s what matters to me. Is that like, and do I feel like a little, you know, spicy about it still. Yeah, probably a little bit, but I’ll get over it. I like the view.

Kiki Monique 

Now, I know, you know, when they talked about, you know, when the CEO of the anti-defamation league came on, he talked about like, you know, maybe you should have a Jewish host, but I feel like the replacement they’re trying to make is in the Meghan McCain role, like okay, how would you feel if the replace It was Jewish, but like a Meghan McCain type.

Sarah Galli

I mean, I have a lot of feelings about Ivanka Trump and like you don’t want to get me started, but it is entirely possible to be representative. It is a very difficult idea when we talk about racism through the lens of like a political opinion or anti semitism being spoken about because you’re pushing your own political ideology. So like, if there was an Ivanka type joining the view, I would have a lot of issue with that. But I also have to shout out Joy Behar, who I have known for a while is not Jewish, but as a pizza bagel, my dad sided family his Italian mom’s side is Jewish Austro Hungarian like I do look at her. Like literally Jewish, but this is the whole thing with the Jewish what sometimes we let you borrow it. Would it be great if there was a Hebrew panelists? Yes. Is this going to inspire ABC News to be like, let’s now only get a Jewish person to join 100% No, I can guarantee you that if they have a top five they’re looking at. They’re all looking at Meghan Junior’s there is no you know, you know, […] shout out to my aunt. There’s like, […] I don’t think you’re in contention for this. Like, maybe next time, you know, I don’t know if it will happen, but I would love it if it did.

Kiki Monique  36:28

Well, thank you so much, Sarah. I think as soon as I’m back in New York, we obviously are going to have bagel Friday. People can find you at @DameGalli on Instagram. I know that and obviously you have your podcast and these girls so follow Sarah at @DameGalli. Thank you so much.

Sarah Galli 

Thank you for having me. Shalom, which means Hello, Goodbye, and peace.

Hoja Lopez 

Oh, beautiful.

Sarah Galli 

That’s your word of the day, guys. That’s your word. Thanks so much for having me.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Well, okay, now is we get to my favorite segment every week, which is sorry, not sorry, where we either apologize to someone, or demand an apology. And as always, I’m gonna start with Hoja and to see who’s she’s apologizing to this week.

Hoja Lopez 

Thank you so much for bringing this up. I do need to apologize this week. I need to apologize directly and profusely to my grandmother. My grandmother, her name is Carmen Dagger, which aka is the coolest name I think anybody has ever had. Yeah. But I definitely called her with what I can only envision is a false memory. Do you guys have this, I have a fake memory that is not real about basically me like tripping her up. And like, I don’t know if it was a dream, I don’t know. But I just have this memory of me being a kid. And like tripping her up and she fell on her face. And I remember she was like bleeding and all this stuff. And you guys, I brought it up to her like this week. And I was just like, hey, do you remember this? And she said, Absolutely. That never happened. And so there was just this moment where I was like, grandma, I’ve been carrying this guilt with me for 15 years because I thought I tripped up and you hit yourself on your face. No, never happened. So I’m just bringing. I just wanted to share that you guys maybe everything you know is fake.

Kiki Monique  38:28

You don’t think she just forgot?

Hoja Lopez 

I mean, she is 87, maybe the apology is still needed. But I’m off the hook. You know?

Mohanad Elshieky 

I truly spend so much time just you know, just wondering if I am really if anyone exists. Kiki, do you have any apologies to about real things that happened?

Kiki Monique

I don’t even know who I would address this apology to, I guess the ether? I don’t know. But I want to apologize for ever saying that I thought I could be on like shows like survivor or big brother, or like any reality show where you’re trapped with people because I mean for the longest time I was convinced that like I would absolutely kill it at the shows and maybe like 10 years ago I could have but like, I don’t know about you but in the last I mean two years. I have become more agoraphobic. I just want to stay inside my house and like social distancing is now like that is implemented in my life permanently I think like I don’t know if I can ever get past it. I used to watch Big Brother a lot and I haven’t watched in a while and I started rewatching this new season. And Todd Bridges who played Willis on different strokes is on it and I’ve been watching a lot of the live feed which is where you really like learn their personalities. And he just talks so much and I just keep thinking like, if I was sitting there, and Todd bridges, like, at first I’d be like, Oh my God, it’s cool. I got Willis from Different Strokes. But then like, once the novelty wore off, and he just like was asking me questions at 5AM like, all sorts of questions like he was really like, grilling Todrick about like how to make a musical. And he’s just like, what do you mean like there’s different types of musicals. He’s like, no, but like what’s, how do you make a musical and he said, I don’t know and I was like, I would just scream and you can’t get out. Anyways, so just apologize I don’t I know that I could not in this state that I’m currently am I couldn’t do either of those reality shows.

Hoja Lopez  40:40

You’re apologizing for the audacity.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, I mean, I never do them like I know that I can’t and I don’t want to get I’m just like, Yeah, I’m barely surviving here. So I’m not gonna put myself into any uncomfortable situations. Mine is an apology from people who I know live in the West Coast who have been posting nonstop about their weather. Like it just was like a personal attack really like on like everything I believe in my values. I am here in the cold just suffering every day, my nose is dry. And people are just like, yeah, I went to the beach. Okay, you know what? It makes me real to climate change. So maybe one day we’ll have no beach just old dries off. But yeah, that’s why I’m demanding an apology from and I honestly think you know, if you want to apologize to me and you live in the West Coast, aside from Kiki, obviously, you haven’t been posting really anything that was just like weather. Maybe I missed it. I’ll check

Kiki Monique 

It’s coming.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Okay, maybe this will change your mind. I was gonna say that I demand apology. If you want to say that. You’re sorry. I would accept it more if it was in the note that you write when you send a Venmo. I’ll read it then. Other than that, I’m just gonna ignore it.

Hoja Lopez  42:11

The money should be the amount of degrees it is where you are. So the higher the degrees the more money.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Dollars and not cents. I like money if you know, but yeah, that’s what I’m at this week.

CREDITS

I’M SORRY is a Lemonada Media Original. The show is produced by Alex McOwen, supervising producer is Kryssy Pease. Our executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Our mix is by Kat Yore and theme music was composed by Xander Singh. If you like this show, please rate and review. And please don’t cancel us. You can find out more about our show at @LemonadaMedia on all social platforms, or follow us on Instagram at @imsorry_podcast. We’ll be back next week and until then be nice, play fair and always say I’m sorry. Thanks for listening!