Transcript of Donald Trump BOOED At NBA Finals + Adam Silver's Response | Hour 2 New

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This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stuckaz Podcast.

It is the start of the day. Karl-Anthony Towns has not yet scored in the fourth quarter of the Finals.

And he's your MVP, please.

Happy 87th birthday to Dick Vitale.

Happy birthday to him. I don't care.

Good luck. We mentioned that Adam Pally was going to be on with us. The Mindy Project, Happy Endings, the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He also does is a podcast, Staying Alive, with Adam Paley and Jon Gabrus. It's about health and wellness, which is not something I associate with him. I don't associate health and wellness with Adam Paley because he lives hard. He has famously lived hard. Have you slept, Adam? Are you in bad shape? Because you're a Knicks fan, and I imagine you went into last night with a certain feeling, and now you sort of feel the opposite of whatever that feeling was. How are you? Good to see you.

It's good to see you too, Dan. I'm okay, I'm okay. I kind of felt yesterday, I think a lot of New Yorkers felt that it was a bit of a trap going in. Like, you know, things were not leading up in our direction. You had the chaos of the president, you had the fact that our team was staying in the hotel and not their own houses. It was just a trap game to me. And I haven't lost any confidence. I haven't, uh, there's some things I'd like to see go better, but, um, I feel like we're in a good position.

How did you feel about Trump being at the game?

Um, pass.

Really?

Uh, no, no, no, I just don't want any, any, any smoke. I mean, I think people probably know my, my political, um, leaning.

They got him!

That was quick.

He knew it. He said I didn't drive. Dan, of course, had to press and wouldn't let it just slide, and now he's out. See, you happy?

He can't pass on that question. You can't, you can't. You gotta have it.

Oh, I could do— oh, Dan, I'm sorry. I could do anything I want.

Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Damn, you figured that out.

I think we forgot about that. I mean, I could literally leave with a push of a button right now. Is that what, um, that happened? So yeah, I'd I'd, I'd like to pass because I think everyone knows how I feel about it, and I do blame the loss on the chaos. And Karl-Anthony Towns hasn't scored in the fourth quarter.

Uh, who is the Knick that, uh, you get most frustrated with? Is it Karl-Anthony Towns, or is it somebody else?

It's not Karl. I think Karl gets— Karl's an amazing player. I mean, like, I feel like we— any other era, any other like person and he's, he's an all-time Knick. I get frustrated with Bridges like, and not because of the picks. It's just the inconsistency is wild. And like, you know, like what happened? What happened to him last night between the two games? Like, you know what I mean? Like that, that, that, that can make you frustrated.

Are there any celebrities at the game last night that you've seen? You're like, I'm a much bigger fan than them. I deserve to be there.

That's a great question. Thank you. Um, actually I didn't recognize many celebrities last night and I think even the celebs were kind of priced out of the game. Um, when you look at like who was on the front row, it was mostly like, well, like it was mostly like the dads that are, go to my kids' school, private schools in New York. It's like hedge fund dudes and jewelry salesmen. You know, it's like I didn't really recognize a lot of the people in the crowd. I mean, obviously you had like Turturro and Stiller and Timmy in the, in the, uh, uh, what was that movie with the Minions? Timmy looked like Despicable Me 3 last night.

Oh, he looked like he was just like Vector.

He had the Vector fit on. Um, but yeah, like I, those guys I saw, but I, I was kind of bummed that there weren't more New York celebs that you would normally see at the game because obviously it was like bought up by like uber rich people. And unfortunately celebrities aren't uber rich anymore.

It's funny because there were 2 tickets on celebrity row that were sold for $1 million. And the— to his point, the people who got it were Gibson Dunn Crutcher LLP and the private equity firm Veritas Capital. What says sports more than Gibson Dunn Crutcher LLP?

No, exactly. You know, the The one thing that is good about those tickets, I will say, just to defend my Knicks again, is that those were auctioned for charity for the Garden of Dreams. So I'll give those $1 million tickets a slide.

Anti-charity, Dan?

Good job, Dan.

Uh, but Dan is anti-charity. He's told me that many times, actually. He said that, that, uh, he's also anti-taxes, anti-charity. Dan doesn't like to pay anybody anything. That's truth. Um, He doesn't tip. He's— he— I had a long conversation with him about his philosophy on valets. He's like, well, their job is getting the car. Why do I have to give them extra money when they bring them? Like, Dan, it's—

it's—

anyway, uh, what was the question?

Um, Gibson Dunn Crutcher LLP. You're not gonna— I'm not anti-charity. I'm anti-Gibson Dunn Crutcher LLP giving a million dollars to charity.

No, I— again, like, I, I agree. I think that it kind of sucked the vibe last night, and I think we'll have a return to it. I think, you know, I miss the watch parties. I love the chaos of it. And like, I think, you know, last night was just set up. It was just like too much. And we'll see what happens in the next game. I don't think we can play the same way that we did in the second half for a full, full game. I would be really surprised.

Adam, this is a potential halftime show, in my opinion. Who do you think would win a two-round boxing match between Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet?

Uh, are we talking— um, great, great question. I thought about this a lot. Thank you. Um, now are we talking— what's the age? Is Spike his age now?

Yes. And it's Timmy now? Yes.

And still, if that matters, I mean, Spike is over 70.

It doesn't matter.

Yeah, as is, you have to— yeah, but as is, you have to go Timmy. I mean, he's 27 versus a 70-year-old. I think, I think if Spike was you know, Mookie age, I think we'd have way more of a fight. But Timmy's long. Timmy's long, lanky, a little lanky. So I think he's a longer reach, maybe.

Yep.

And also, Timmy grew up on like 40th Street in Hell's Kitchen. Like, like, I think, I think people don't give Timmy enough— like, he didn't just become a Kardashian. The dude was like dancing on the subway, you know? Like, my guy's from the city.

I want to show you these fights here in the streets of New York after last night's game.

Why?

Why? Well, because this is just getting—

why do you have to see this?

This is just getting started. This is going to get a lot worse over the next few games.

Kind of show we do here, Adam.

No, it's not going to get worse. This is all frustration. I— first of all, this all seems staged to me.

This all seems—

hold on, a cop's about to come in with an uppercut.

This is not staged in any way.

This seems AI. This is AI. This looks like Miami fans. Cops are watching.

Nothing.

The cops.

This looks like an AI thing. They took a bunch of Miami Heat fans and they put Knicks jerseys on them. I don't, I don't believe anything I see here. This is not my fans.

You know how I know it's not AI? Because one guy's hitting another guy with a bus stop sign, and I don't think any artificial intelligence could figure out that a New Yorker would get the bus stop sign and use that as a weapon.

That's how I know it's AI, because the first thing a New Yorker would use is the barricade.

Summer always hits different once the big game starts stacking up. Now you've got Finals games on every other night. Baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, "We've got the game on, come through." I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, and nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, This is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink when it's hot outside, and perfect for long nights hanging with friends watching games. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. Go to millerlite.com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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Don Lebatard! Surely every time you're watching this, you recognize that your wife is laughing that she married— she married Larry David.

I do, yeah. One of the great characters in the history of television, in my humble opinion. And to my credit, my personality—

In my humble opinion followed by to my credit.

To my credit.

It's amazing.

My personality does predate Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Stewgatz!

Oh wow, okay.

I'm not gonna say Larry David patterned himself after me.

All right, put it on the poll please, Jude. You did, Greg Cody, copyright being an asshole long before Larry David.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stewgatz.

Put it on the poll at @LebatardShow. In a New York riot, is the first thing a rioter will use as a weapon the barricade? Uh, Mike Ryan has been wanting to ask you a question for 11 years.

Yeah, Adam, I'm a huge fan because I was introduced to you by your appearance on The Late Late Show when you had an opportunity to fill in as guest host, and there was a blizzard, and it was the most captivating TV I had ever seen in my entire life. And I'm curious I'm curious to get inside your mind a little bit because that was a huge opportunity. I imagine part of you was gunning for that job and the blizzard comes and ruins everything. What was the driving force behind the weirdness behind that show? Was that just you coping because your dream had been cast aside by the weather?

That's a great question. Thank you so much. I thought about this a lot. Um, I, uh, I know, I unfortunately, I, that, that show that, you know, they, they let me host The Late Late Show and they gave me a crack at it. And, and I only, similarly to anything I do in my career and in my job is like, I only know one way to do it kind of, which is the way I would do it. And so I, I tried a little to like conform to what a talk show would be, but even with like the blizzard, it was going to be that way even if there wasn't a blizzard, you know, because that's the way that I, I work and that's what I find funny. So it's, it's like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other because I truly don't know how to put anything out into the world that's not just like who I am.

That interview with Martellus Bennett is probably one of the greatest sports interviews ever made. Did, did you find your counterpoint in one, in another person there? Did you even know what you were getting into with Martellus?

Yeah, I knew Martellus better. I mean, I'm a football fan, you know, I like sports. And so I knew that he was, he's, he's really good on camera. And I knew that he, uh, had a sense of humor. Um, I, I think I pushed him a little too far when I asked, I think I asked him like second question, like how big of a dick is Jay Cutler? And I think that that like threw him off. Probably because the answer is like huge.

I imagine you're perpetually frustrated by sports coverage because of how irreverent you are and you don't see a lot of it in situations like that. There's genuflecting before the Martellus Bennetts of the world.

True, true. I mean, and I think that, I think that like sometimes sports could serve. I mean, obviously we have to, we have to do the dance, you know, because there's, um, integrity on the line and money on the line. And like, you know, you, you want— you have to do the dance. But I think sometimes— I mean, look at what happens when the players ask the players questions, right? Like, sometimes, like, did you see that media day thing yesterday where Karl-Anthony Towns was asked a question by like a rookie point guard on like the, the Bullets or something? Or the Bullets— the, the Wizards. And, uh, you're fine. And And he answered like, he was like super honest and was basically like, you know, Jimmy, like, F Jimmy Butler, you know, and like, I'm gonna win a championship and Jimmy Butler's not. Like, no one got that answer out of him except the other player asking the brunt, like, the question. I think sports could be served a little bit by people being like, you know, everyone says Jay Cutler is a huge, you know, not, not great to to be around. Is that true?

Like, you know, and, and, uh, I mean, I, I'm, I'm bagging on Jay Cutler, um, you know, because he is awful, but I think that, that it could go for anybody. It go for anybody.

Adam, you had the opportunity to star in two different projects that are kind of foundational things. One is The Mandalorian, which is a Star Wars thing, and you had one of the great scenes, you and Sudeikis. The other one was Mel Brooks' History of the World Part II. Which one of those things was more of a pinch-me moment for you?

Oh, uh, they were equal. I mean, I think, I think, um, the being on this, uh, being in— I have the— I'm almost staring at my Scout Trooper. No, my, uh, Grogu that, uh, they sent me, um, after I keep him kind of in my window, but I dressed him up. Um, and he's wearing a dog collar and a yarmulke. Um, but, uh, I, I think Star Wars was, was, I just, you know, I mean, I mean, I mean, I, you're a huge Star Wars head, right?

I am.

Like, I've listened to your pod and stuff. Like, you're like an enormous dork. Well, and, um, that started, and then that is a compliment. You're a huge nerd.

Yeah.

Okay. It's an enormous compliment. I couldn't I never invest my time in something so fake, and I think that that's amazing that you do that.

Definitely turning it to not a compliment.

No, these are all compliments. I know, especially— and you just give this huge NBA, uh, uh, career and stuff, and yet you still have time to pour into something that has no meaning. Anyway, uh, it's incredible. I'm really— it's impressive. Um, but yeah, Star Wars was cool, and, and, and also that was directed— that And that episode was directed by Taika Waititi, who's like one of my best friends in the business and the funniest guy. So it really just felt like we were, me and Seikis were hanging out on a, like, it didn't feel real until we saw it. You know?

Is that how you pronounce his name? You're friends with him?

Yeah.

I'm asking. Cause it seems like you, you know, but I've always heard— Waititi? Yeah. Or is that just a—

Yeah, that's how I, I mean, you want to try it?

Nah, I think it's a TT, but Titty works.

Okay. Tee-dee, titty.

Tatas. You told Ike Barinholtz on his podcast that you would do basically anything to have the Knicks win a championship, including but not limited to drinking your own urine.

Well, yeah, that's pulled out of context, obviously. But yeah, I would. I mean, the question was like, what would you do for a Knicks championship. And, and, and, and I think, yeah, I mean, I think I could get a cup down, a shot maybe. I don't know if I could do like a Camelback, but I could, I could get down a little to it to secure a W.

You'd want it chilled, right? You don't want it warm.

Oh, I actually think you want a room temp.

Really?

Okay. Or body temp, whatever.

Put it on the poll. If, uh, you drink your own urine, do you want it to be warm or, uh, cold?

On the rocks. You know, sometimes, you know, sometimes it's like a chilled whiskey sometimes is gross.

Warm or on the rock?

Yeah, the cube.

An old-fashioned. Uh, what was taken out of context? What did I take out of context? You're saying I took something out of context? I didn't take anything out of context.

Where's your producer? He's yelling at me. Danny's yelling at me. Is anyone gonna step in?

What did I take out of context?

You said I'm being bullied. I'm being bullied live on air by the host.

You said that you would drink your own urine for the Knicks to win a championship. That's how badly you want them to win a championship. Let Let me circle back around on the Trump question you wouldn't answer. I give you one or the other, but you can only choose one or the other. The Knicks win the championship or Donald Trump is no longer president.

Um, I am having a heart attack. I think I'm having— I have to go to the hospital.

He's the host of Staying Alive with Adam Pally and John Gabrus from Smartless Media. Why do you do that podcast? What made you decide to choose health and wellness as a topic in the comedy space? Not a lot of people are doing that one.

Uh, you know, I'm, I think I, I've lived, I've lived a hard life, as you said. I, I, I, not a hard life, but like, you know, I like to get after it and I have kids now and a family and I don't, I think like a lot of us, like, I don't really want to die before, like too soon. I'd like to hold that off a little bit. And so my interests have changed to kind of like things that I can do to prolong my life. Uh, and I've found out that a lot of people have, feel that way. So it's, it was a natural way to start talking to, to friends of mine.

And you do it with one of your best friends, if not your best friend. What have you learned while doing it?

Uh, I've learned that I am not healthy, that I was never healthy, that I don't know how to exercise or eat. And, uh, and then I've also learned from working with my best friend that, that, um, that's okay. And I think a lot of people don't, and it's just about effort. Like if you can just make one good choice a day, you, that will compound and soon it'll be two good choices and soon it'll be three good choices. And then pretty soon most of the choices you make make during the day will be good.

You should know, Adam, that Mike Ryan, back when we were at ESPN, was dying to get you to come in and host the show with us. And for whatever reason, ESPN never allowed it to happen. So your career has since—

That's so shocking.

Your career has since blown up. But the invitation is open if you want to come down here at any point. I know you're in Miami sometimes, so.

Oh, I love Miami. I would love to do that. Thank you so much.

Good talking to you.

No, you heard Zazie. No, no, I don't think— I think he's sincere.

You thought that was a no? You thought that was a polite celebrity? You thought that—

that— no, I was dead serious, and I will call you.

Well, there you go. Uh, thank you, Adam. Good talking to you. Staying Alive podcast, uh, you should check it out because he's doing different things in the space. Why, Tony, are you staring at Zazz?

He thinks that I am the one who has to leave my seat for Adam.

Adam can come in, hang out with the boys.

Zazz got to go.

It's a Greg Cody Tuesday, obviously Greg Cody's got to stay.

Yeah.

Uh, thank you, Adam.

Good talking to you.

Thank you, guys. Later. Dan Lebatard.

Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay, 38 for 45.

Stugatz. Shred 'em! This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. So this is happening around Giannis now, and I've been around the Heat organization long enough here in town to understand that some of the things that are happening that aren't being spoken about are interesting. So you've got Ira Winderman and Ethan Skolnick are both saying that the Heat usually will privately shut down trade rumors to reporters when they know they won't get the guy. That hasn't happened this time. And Bill Simmons says, I feel like there's going to be a big trade soon. He says Giannis is my guess. It'll probably be after Game 4, before Game 5. Don't usually teams avoid doing that sort of stuff? That form during the finals?

That was when they had a real commissioner, David Stern's America.

There was an embargo on any sort of transaction being consummated during the NBA Finals. They didn't want to take any of the attention away from the crown jewel of our season. However, Adam Silver is a much more lenient kind of commissioner. So who knows, maybe Giannis gets traded to the Spurs in the middle of those Finals.

You think there's a single team that is worried what Adam Silver is going to think if they make the trade right now?

Is a nothing.

No, but if you're the Heat, let's say he's going to the Heat. If you're the Heat, why would you want to be overshadowed by the Finals? Why not wait a week and a half and get the entire spotlight to yourself?

Oh, I don't think the Heat care about that.

I think the Heat—

if the team on the other end says we're ready to make a deal, let's do it. Why not? We want all the spotlight. Like, they, they want to— they just want to get the deal done.

Yeah, but if they think they're going to lose that deal in a week and a half, yes, they don't risk it.

Oh, let me play for you some sound of Adam Silver last night talking about Donald Trump. I want to get the thoughts of the group on this because this is a respect for the office that's not being shown by the person who's in the office. And so I'm getting a little tired of people respecting the office when it's being desecrated by the person who's in the office. But here's Adam Silver, uh, being, uh, public relations schmarming.

I found out because, uh, Jim Dolan invited him to get to the game, and he said yes, and he's welcome to be here. I think that what makes sports so special, especially when there's so much that divides people, is it's something that we have in common, and we should look for those things that we have in common and build off that. And I'll also say about President Trump, you know, I've been with the league for a long time. I ran NBA Entertainment years ago. He did an I Love Kids game spot with us. He was a fixture at NBA at Madison Square Garden. You guys remember— well, all of you— when you played here, not Draymond, But back in the old days, he had courtside seats. He was here all the time. He was at drafts. So he's a genuine Knicks fan. And so, yes, there's some inconvenience to the fans here. But one, looking around this arena, it's packed. So people listen. They came early. They got through whatever extra security, which is necessary. So as I said, I think we should be using sports to create more of a sense of community with people.

I mean, he's just— he's the most milquetoast commissioner in the history of sports.

But what's he supposed to do, right? He's not going to intentionally be polarizing. He has to be conciliatory. He has to say exactly what he said just for public relations purposes.

I think he was fine up until the part, you know, where he says, look, sports is supposed to connect and it's supposed to bring people together. I thought that was all right out of the playbook. When he starts reading the bona fides of Donald Trump as a Knicks fan, I'm like, okay, you don't have to like He's a genuine fan.

You think Trump can name more than one Nick?

I know he knows Jalen Brunson. Genuine fan. Yeah, but the thing is, so I had two friends. I had my cousin and one of my best friends was at the game last night.

There's the gay one.

They both took the subway in. The subway takes you to Penn Station. They were instructed to leave Penn Station in order to get in. They had to walk from basically 34th Street all the way down at, uh, 6th Avenue right by Macy's, Herald Square, then down a block, and that's where the line to get into Madison Square Garden started 2.5 hours before game time.

There were horror stories about people— we had to go walk here, and then they told us to go here, and they told us to go here, and then they told us we have no idea where you're supposed to go.

It was, it was not a great situation, and like I said, this was hours before game time. Having said that, my expectation was when we were gonna start start at 8:30 PM, the broadcast. I thought that lower bowl was going to be half empty. It was packed. Everybody got the message and they got in there one way or another because everyone knew it's going to be a zoo.

Dan always points out who Adam Silver actually works for, so he has to be political in that sense. I also thought he did a little bit extra. But another thing that was hanging over this was these finals were airing on ABC. We all know what's going on between this administration and that network. I thought the network went out of its way to not really show Donald Trump. What happened on the broadcast during the national anthem was muted compared to some of the videos that we saw totally inside the arena. So I do think that ABC was trying to not make additional waves here, and Adam Silver as a broadcast partner, I think, respected that some too.

I want to ask you guys some questions though about the time that we're in and go, you know, rewind 5 years to the pandemic when the NBA wasn't sitting this out polite. And you guys are saying that he has to do this. I'm like, not if you're a real leader. Not really. You don't have to do that. You don't. You guys are saying he has to do the public relations. No, you don't. He's the leader of the league. And maybe if you're afraid of your owners and your partners, but David Stern wasn't afraid of his owners and his partners. He was not.

But then, as you pointed out, he's not the leader. He is the employee of 30 men who get together and—

and someone—

so Stern Yeah, but no, Stern was the leader.

I know, different, different types. And we don't know how Stern would have reacted in these times. We don't have that evidence because there's a lot of stuff that—

again, Donald Sterling was an NBA owner who was despicable both publicly and privately, and David Stern covered for him the entirety of the time. So every, every time we do this, and I'm guilty of it a lot, I always say Stern wouldn't have done this and Stern wouldn't let that happen. But there's some stuff that Stern did with this regard, like to things that should be universally morally objectionable that he didn't have a problem with, or, or if he did, he put his feelings secondary to whatever the business move was. What Adam Silver did there last night, as we could all sit here and be like, I can't believe you did this, whatever, the end of the day, that is a business move. And it's a business move not just based on the entirety of the league and their operations, but again, of the 30 individuals who he must report to. Here's a dirty secret, folks. Not too many billionaires have a problem with that dude in office right now. Quite the opposite. They're all trying to figure out how they can cozy up to make their business lives even more flourishing.

Well, to Dan's point though, it is entirely accurate to say that during the pandemic, Donald Trump was openly outspoken against NBA players who were rallying against police-involved shootings, who were— and, and he was against the Black Lives Matter shirts on the court, and he was against all that stuff. And he said at the time that the activism of the NBA players is going to result in the deterioration of support for the NBA. And so the idea that 5 years later he's coming off as a big NBA fan is a little bit weird.

So I want to just examine a couple of things that you said here, because he works for the owners, but he also kind of works for the players. And the divide here is such that Mike Ryan is saying something as a possible fact that I'm like, wait a minute, that's not palatable to me. The networks and the commissioner, if that is indeed so what you're saying, conspiring so that my broadcast mutes what is the real feeling in that arena in the name of sanitizing the whole thing for my consumption in a way that's different from accurate is not what I want. I don't want a conspiring between television partners and leagues to give me a distortion of the truth that is less honest than, uh, what it is that you got if you were in the arena? Because if what you're saying is true, you're telling me— and I don't know that that's true— you're telling me that what ABC and the league presented to us was nicer than what was actually happening in the arena. And what I prefer is the truth.

Dan, this ties into our conversation yesterday about, you know, Paramount Skydance and the purchasing of things and the idea that as Power is consolidated, and when I say power, I mean the power of broadcast is consolidated because these people are trying to appeal to a government that has made it very clear it's pay for play. You do something for me, I do something for you. You do something that hurts me or could— or makes my life uncomfortable, I make your life uncomfortable. And it is corrupt and it's wrong and it is anti-American, anti- antitrust, all that stuff. But we allowed this as a society because people were worried about, oh, there might be a boy playing with girls in a high school game. That's what people decided the election was going to be about. I'm sorry to say, America, you reap what you sow.

Yeah, I don't think you should hold the corporations to a higher standard than the office itself. But what Amin said is absolutely right. It's pay for play, and you have a a very vengeful president at the time. But I, I'd say for us, we got to hold people accountable when they blow— when the wind blows them into another direction. After January 6th, I believe Coca-Cola issued a statement demonizing what had happened, and then you cut to a few years later and they're helping install a Diet Coke machine inside the Oval Office. That's how capitalism works. Yeah, yeah, appease the power in place, and this president loves the power. And I think you and everyone else just needs to keep record of it and speak with your vote, speak with your dollars.

Yeah, Mike, you're right, because at the end of the day, it's not an echo chamber.

I don't— I wonder, like, right now June is Pride Month. You got all these brands say, oh, happy Pride Month. In February it's Black History Month. You go, I have— do I really think McDonald's gives a shit about Black History Month? No, they don't, right? In the same way that when George Floyd happened and everyone posted a black square, did I think that all these corporations actually felt bad? And like, no, they're just like, let me lick my finger. Oh, the wind's blowing this way. Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, that's awful. And then the moment they got the vibe that like the winds are shifting, right? So January 6th, oh, that's awful. But as the vibe shifted, and we know the vibe shifted because the man won another election, the man won another election, at that point it's like Well, this is out of the way. Think about your guy Jeff Bezos, right? He bought the Washington Post. Democracy dies in darkness. That's what they had on their thing. They were so anti-Trump, and he was like, hey, I'm not going to do anything editorial. I'm just here to finance, to make sure the free press exists.

The moment the dude won the election, he was like, I tried. They're not— they don't care, ladies and gentlemen. They care about what makes their lives easier in that moment.

I will say, as a consumer who's not a Trump fan, I was satisfied by what ABC did. I thought they aired 7 or 10 seconds of pretty loud booing while showing Trump. I thought that was sufficient without laboring it out. The alternative is, if that broadcast is on Fox, I don't think we get even that.

Okay, well, let's play then. You show me, and let me hear the sound from the ABC broadcast last night, and we will compare it to press box sound. Here is the sound from the broadcast. Rush, right? And the right side. So there is something strategic about doing it during the anthem when people are less likely to boo. But let's hear now from the press box and see if it's the same.

Okay, so there is a logical non-political explanation to this, which is because the broadcast is trying to highlight the guy singing the national anthem. We're going to make sure his mic is clear and we're going to mute everything else in the background. It's the same reason why when Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson and, uh, Legg say they couldn't hear the whistle. They didn't even know that a foul had been called, but their voices sounded so clear. It's because they've muted out how loud the audience is.

Yeah, I, I think that's probably what happened there, but it is strategic to show them during the national anthem. The national championship game did the very same thing. I did not see the national championship game broadcast. I was there, but in, in the stadium, they only showed him once after the national anthem, and you would have a smattering there, and that was a crowd that was far more favorable to the president being there. But also, I think as a director, knowing everything that I had to navigate and knowing what my audience is, even though my motivations would be, no, let's show them there and make sure that there's crowd shots— I mean, she was probably trying to avoid that too, uh, so we can get that reaction. But people watching at home don't want to see him. Even if they support him, they don't want to see him.

I disagree there. I think it was a major storyline going into watching the game is what the reaction to the president's gonna be.

I appreciate you disagreeing. Seen the numbers. People just want to watch the game, and showing that guy on screen elicits an emotion. Could be positive, could be negative, could certainly be polarizing within people's homes. And there is probably a directive like, let's try to limit our exposure here and keep our audience happy.

And, and part of what you say is why I think ABC played it right. Maybe that's unpopular. I think airing 7, 10 seconds of loud booing was sufficient. I thought it was spot on.

Let's talk about leadership for a second though, because, uh, it has been fairly startling to see Adam Silver replace David Stern, who did not work for the owners. This obviously, uh, John Skipper says he has never been cursed out the way that he was cursed out by David Stern when he was the head of ESPN and a partner David Stern, because when you're in that position of power, you can, if you choose to use it, bully both partners and owners. You can. You're allowed. But if all you want is to keep the job and keep the peace, if that's all you want, not really leadership.

But then it is leadership in other areas, like I I—

again, it's leadership that Dan disagrees with, but it is a way of leading.

Well, I just don't think it's how he actually feels. I don't think that if you ask him for his honest opinions on what he thinks about the president being there, that that's what he would say.

Dan, you don't do everything that you feel because you run a company and you have to act in the best interests of the company oftentimes. And I think that's also leadership. Sometimes it's not just sacrificing other people, it's sacrificing your own convictions and beliefs for the greater good.

But best for the company here is a little hard when the owners are white and the players are Black and they're all part of the same company.

Yes, I don't even think it's a little hard. I think it's a lot hard.

I would say actually not as hard as you would imagine because again, while the players might also have their own personal feelings about certain things, they kind of care about getting paid a little bit more than that. And sometimes it's like, hey, I don't like it, but this is the way the world is that— again, I gotta go back to this because David Stern himself has said there were times where we did things that were contrary to my personal belief, but I felt like this was the best decision in the moment.

Donald Trump said something that helped the league. He was asked specifically about the ticket pricing on Air Force One. He was asked, isn't that a little too expensive for a ticket? You know what he said? He's like, well, that's the way that life is, and you can watch it semi-kind of free on TV. That's great if I'm the NBA. We keep ticket revenues up and you just put over our broadcast partnership. Thank you.

The other thing is, if I'm a player, I can be as outspoken as I want to be or not. I don't need my commissioner to be my mouthpiece. I don't need Adam Silver to speak for me. If I want to come out strong against Trump, I'm going to do it.

Guys, I've been waiting this whole time. I'm— oh, here it is! It's happening! I've been keeping track of this all day long. When is Stephen A. Smith gonna address Donald Trump? Didn't look like they did. Guys, they just come back from break right now. They're showing the Trump clip right now.

Block A, hour 2.

Oh my God, guys, we've only got 50-some-odd seconds left in our show, but I'm gonna try and do the Stephen A. Smith thing right now as I'm looking at the screen.

We've got another hour after these 50.

What? He's standing in front of an American flag.

Ah, uh, he likes that the president had something to say about it, right?

Loves it.

I don't know what's happened to our business, man.

I think I'm gonna go with him.

All right, you guys are all gonna just go leave to go watch First Take? You're all gonna just leave me here?

It's sickening. That's, that's disrespectful. I'll pull it up on YouTube.

You're all, you're all just gonna leave? You're gonna go leave to go watch First Take, Stephen A. Smith in front of an American flag.