Juicy J — and by extension, Three 6 Mafia — have been involved in a number of disputes with other artists in recent months, suing everyone from Travis Scott to Trippie Redd to Suicideboys for sampling their work without permission. Now, they may have a new target: Fast food chain Arby’s, which Juicy claims sampled a Three 6 Mafia beat in one of its TV commercials. Juicy tweeted “I Just found out Arby’s used a three 6 sample in their commercial with out clearing it” early today before deleting the tweet.
Twitter
While it’s not completely certain which commercial Juicy may be referring to, the Boxden hip-hop forum does have a post from 2017 that posits “Whoever does Arby’s commercial is a Three 6 Mafia fan.” The poster provided links to the 2017 ad for Arby’s Triple Thick Brown Sugar Bacon and a YouTube upload of Three 6 member Koopsta Knicca’s “Now I’m Hi Part 2” from his 1999 album Da Devil’s Playground Underground Solo. They certainly seem similar.
If the Mafia’s past actions are any indication, they may very well be taking legal action soon. The group has been adamant about protecting their copyrights, even going so far as issuing a bar in Lansing, Michigan 500 DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices because someone downloaded the Three 6 Mafia discography using the bar’s WiFi during a party. The Arby’s commercial is no longer airing — if it is the one Juicy found out about today — but if Arby’s did indeed sell a few sandwiches using DJ Paul’s production, it’s guaranteed that the Memphis rap pioneers will want a slice of the profits.
Today, three months to the day that news first broke about Tory Lanez’s arrest for carrying a firearm in a vehicle, Tory will be arraigned for not just having the gun but also using it on fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Tory stands accused of two felonies — assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle — and will appear in court to enter a plea after originally only being charged with the latter. Apparently, an investigation into the widely publicized incident returned enough evidence to charge him with assault.
When the news that Tory had been charged broke on this past Friday, many of Megan Thee Stallion’s supporters took it as a confirmation that Megan’s accusation — that Tory had shot her in both feet, forcing her to have surgery to remove the bullets — was true and celebrated what looked to be a rare instance of the legal system forcing accountability for a man’s violent actions against a Black woman. The moment was incredibly poignant for many due to its timing, just weeks after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that there would be no murder charges filed against the three police officers involved in the death of local EMT Breonna Taylor.
However, justice, in this case, has yet to be done — in fact, we’re not even sure what justice for Megan Thee Stallion should look like. As 2020 threw the debate over criminal justice reform into stark relief, Megan and Tory’s violent clash highlights the complexities of the discussion while standing at the intersection of multiple movements including the impulses to “protect Black women,” to “defund the police,” to pursue “restorative justice,” and to “cancel” celebrities accused of wrongdoing. What happens next and how will it affect the discourse? No one can know for certain, but here’s some food for thought.
While reactions to Meg and Tory’s saga on social media are decidedly mixed, one thing is for certain: We need to get better at talking about why we need to hold entertainers accountable for their rotten behavior and how that would even work in the modern world. Perhaps inspired by movements to #MuteRKelly, September and early October saw drastic declines in Tory Lanez’s streaming numbers, as well as Tory’s lowest first-week debut ever for Daystar, his album inspired by the incident. Tory certainly saw consequences for his actions, but it doesn’t seem that those have prompted any feelings of remorse from him; instead, he reportedly embarked on a smear campaign designed to undermine Megan’s story.
And while denying him sales and thus royalties from those sales might deplete whatever war chest he’d have to combat the charges against him — and all indications certainly point to a lengthy courtroom battle — do we really want to see another Black man sent to the very prisons we’ve spent the better part of the last five years protesting against? While it’s true that many progressive journalists, including ones at this very publication, have argued that supporting violent artists only gives them more finances to fight legal charges stemming from their actions, trying to cut their support seems to have only made their more hardcore fans more vocal and entrenched, digging in against the perceived encroachment of “cancel culture.”
That persecution complex only seemed to give Tory more ammo to incite his base (a little like a certain public figure with a cult of personality who tries to spin all his missteps into victories for the benefit of his increasingly delusional supporters) — 17 songs worth, in fact. It’s a tiny base, all things considered, but it’s enough to still provide him another top 10 Billboard debut, albeit one in a slow week that saw few other noteworthy releases. Despite authorities finding enough evidence to charge him with the exact crime that Meg accused him of, Tory seems unfazed, arguing on social media that the “truth” will come out — which isn’t to say that the facts will.
If history can be any indication, there’s plenty to draw on to show that even when held accountable for their actions by legal means, abusive stars will always find their supporters and apologists. When Tory was compared to Chris Brown, Brown’s fans rose up to defend him on Twitter, even when the parallel is pretty reasonable to draw. NBA Youngboy, who dragged his girlfriend down the hallon tape just recently celebrated his own No. 1 debut with Top despite a haphazard rollout that saw him get dragged for its uncreative cover art. And XXXTentacion, perhaps the most notorious of them all, basically got a traveling festival in his honor, courtesy of a cadre of Rolling Loud regulars who ensure his music gets turned up but the allegations against him get downplayed whenever possible.
“Canceling” may work in the short term, but as in the case of Chris Brown, it takes less than two years to get back to business as usual, even with a conviction. The ongoing plights of incarcerated entertainers like Bobby Shmurda and the efforts of Meek Mill to reform the prison industry render a 22-year sentence for Tory untenable. Tory apparently can’t be counted on to see the error of his ways unassisted, as he vacillates from deflection to gaslighting, playing the victim all along in his efforts to come out as the “good guy” in all this. “Protecting Black women,” as Megan implored from the SNL stage last week, presents a complex, tangled problem with few solutions as easy as repeating a catchy slogan.
Unfortunately, justice may not look like what many of us want it to look like. It may be needed counseling for offenders like Tory Lanez, rather than prison sentences or (more likely) probation. It may mean curbing our curiosity when abusive entertainers release new material, knowing that we can only ever hope to turn down the volume rather than muting them entirely. It might just mean fending off the tribalistic impulse to paint either side in broad brush strokes because of a few opportunistic trolls — and letting the trolls talk amongst themselves without response, even when it feels like they need correcting.
Because if anything, 2020 has taught us that some folks just won’t learn the lesson, even when it’s staring them in the face. It’s taught us that more often than not, Malcolm X was right — at least when it comes to the so-called “justice system.” Punishment can only work retroactively — after the harm has been committed. Truly protecting Black women — or anyone, really — will mean a commitment to holding ourselves accountable as men, along with our brothers, cousins, fathers, friends, neighbors, nephews, sons, and favorite entertainers. It means reminding each other that we have to do better at mentoring a generation that respects the personhood of every person, regardless of gender, orientation, race, and all the other dumb ways we find to hate each other. It means making hard choices instead of the easy ones. Protection is prevention, getting better now, so there won’t be a “next time.”
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
“In the weeks leading up to the election, Black women are expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidates. We have gone from being unable to vote legally to a highly courted voting bloc — all in little more than a century.
Despite this and despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life.
I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man. After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him. We were not in a relationship. Truthfully, I was shocked that I ended up in that place.
My initial silence about what happened was out of fear for myself and my friends. Even as a victim, I have been met with skepticism and judgment. The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted.
After a lot of self-reflection on that incident, I’ve realized that violence against women is not always connected to being in a relationship. Instead, it happens because too many men treat all women as objects, which helps them to justify inflicting abuse against us when we choose to exercise our own free will.”
She goes on to express her hopes for Kamala Harris’ vice presidential candidacy, concluding the op-ed:
“Walking the path paved by such legends as Shirley Chisholm, Loretta Lynch, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters and the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate, Carol Moseley Braun, my hope is that Kamala Harris’s candidacy for vice president will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer ‘making history’ for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago.
But that will take time, and Black women are not naïve. We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”
She says plenty more between those two points, so read the full op-ed here.
While Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween is receiving unusually decent reviews for a Sandler Netflix film (51 percent on Rotten Tomatoes is 51 more percentage points than The Ridiculous 6), it’s also fun to remember one of the movies that originally made Sandler a movie star. Happy Gilmore came out 24 years ago, and it remains one of the most rewatchable and most quotable comedies of all time, not to mention one of the better sports movies ever.
Of course, the most iconic scene from that movie is the fight on the golf course between Adam Sandler’s character and then host of The Price is Right, Bob Barker, who also elicited from Sandler the most famous line from that movie, “The price is wrong, b*tch.” According to Sandler, it didn’t actually take a lot of cajoling to convince Barker to appear in the movie. Barker had only one condition, he told Sandler, according to the That Scene with Dan Patrick podcast. Barker insisted that he win the fight. Barker took boxing seriously, on account of the fact that his next-door neighbor was Chuck Norris, who helped train Barker. “I trained with Chuck,” Barker told Sandler. “We trained every night. He helps me with my punches and my kicks, but I have to win this fight.” To accommodate that, Sandler actually rewrote the script — because Sandler had won the fight in the original script.
What Sandler revealed that came as something of a surprise, however, is that despite him being absolutely perfect for the role, Bob Barker was not his first choice for that scene. “Well, [Tim] Herlihy initially wrote Ed McMahon,” Sandler told Dan Patrick, referring to the longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson and spokesperson for the Publisher’s Clearing House.
“I remember being so young and cocky then,” Sandler continues, “that we would literally say when we sent it to Ed McMahon, we thought, ‘Of course he’s going to do it. It would be good for him. It’d be good for his career to be in a movie with me and get in a fistfight.’” McMahon, however, didn’t even pass on the role. He never even responded.
One other interesting note from that scene: the iconic line, “The price is wrong, b*tch,” actually came from Judd Apatow, the writer/director of Knocked Up, Funny People, and 40-Year-Old Virgin. At the time, he was Sandler’s Los Angeles roommate. “Judd came up to Vancouver and did a couple of months of jamming with us,” Sandler told Patrick, saying that the line came out of those sessions. That more than makes up for the two-and-a-half hour slog that was Funny People.
The famed “Imagine” video, the one with overly-sincere and quickly-mocked performances from Jimmy Fallon, Mark Ruffalo, and Natalie Portman, seems like it came out four years ago. But nope, Gal Gadot shared the “celebs are at it again” clip in mid-March, and shockingly, the John Lennon cover did not cure COVID-19. In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the Wonder Wonder 1984 explained why she asked her famous friends to sing “Imagine” with her, and the subsequent backlash.
“Sometimes, you know, you try and do a good deed and it’s just not the right good deed. I had nothing but good intentions and it came from the best place, and I just wanted to send light and love to the world,” Gadot said. “I started with a few friends, and then I spoke to Kristen [Wiig]. Kristen is like the mayor of Hollywood. Everyone loves her, and she brought a bunch of people to the game. But yeah, I started it, and I can only say that I meant to do something good and pure, and it didn’t transcend.” I believe Gadot meant well with the video (maybe if she picked a better, less-covered John Lennon song?), but it’s a case of a famous and rich person not reading the room — the backlash to her being cast as Cleopatra in director Patty Jenkins’ historical epic isn’t helping, either.
As for Wonder Woman 1984, Gadot loves the opening scene featuring a younger version of her character, which “always get [me] teary — like good, excited tears,” she said. “One of the biggest things that I believe is that you can only dream about becoming someone or something after you’ve seen it visually. And for boys — lucky them — they got to experience, since the beginning of the movies, that they were the protagonist, they were the strong ones, they saved the day. But we didn’t get this representation. And I think it’s so important… to show them the potential of what they can be.”
As you are probably aware by now, Donald Trump busted out his dance moves to the Village People’s “YMCA” during his Florida (superspreader) rally. He joyously shook it despite a rising death toll (215,000+) and number of official U.S. COVID cases (7.83 million) and also despite the Village People asking him to please stop using their music for his campaign (President Roid Rage didn’t seem to notice that request).
The irony of Trump’s chosen tunes was not lost on those spectating from home, nor was it avoided by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who had a live reaction to hearing that Trump was also playing “Macho Man.” There were two key facial expressions that the Coop made during this segment. The one above ^^^ that shows him attempting to process the situation and also not laugh. Then there’s the sheer incredulity of it all. While tweeting the below clip, Nikki NuVogue wrote, “Anderson Cooper is every gay man in America right now when he hears Macho Man playing at a Trump Rally. The irony of a gay anthem playing at a Trump Rally is lost on the crowd.”
Anderson Cooper is every gay man in America right now when he hears Macho Man playing at a Trump Rally. The irony of a gay anthem playing at a Trump Rally is lost on the crowd. #machoman#TrumpRallyFlorida # pic.twitter.com/A3LyiVrSNi
The whole Village People thing may or may not be why Joe Scarborough employed the word “macho” while hashing out how Trump’s rally was a largely maskless one, and that includes White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows while he spoke to reporters. As Scarborough described the situation, though, this is all “part of a macho death cult.”
Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) on @MarkMeadows talking to reporters without a mask while remaining 10 feet away: “reckless with the lives of people around him,” “part of a macho death cult” pic.twitter.com/I7gTrECKCN
Snoop Dogg is one of the highest-profile Los Angeles Lakers fans, so naturally, he is elated that the team won this year’s NBA championship. He was so happy, in fact, that he got a big tattoo to celebrate.
The ink covers his entire right forearm, and Snoop shared a video on Instagram showing off and explaining the tattoo, in which he says, “As you see, the tat is done. ‘KB’ on the bottom, Kobe Bryant. Larry O’Brien championship trophy with the Lakers [logo] going through the ball. Gates of Heaven up top, and it don’t stop. Laker Nation. Thank y’all Lakers, and thank you Mr. Cartoon in a real motherf*ckin’ way. We the west and we the best, f*ck out of here.”
Snoop had more thank-you’s in the caption as well, where he shouted out LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Dwight Howard, Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Markieff Morris, Rajon Rondo, and “the bench mob.”
Musicians often aren’t too keen about Donald Trump playing their music at his rallies or other events. Artists like Axl Rose and Pharrell have insisted that Trump stop using their songs or even taken legal action against the president. Trump again got musical at a rally in Florida yesterday, this time dancing to the Village People classic “YMCA,” which many people found ironic.
After “Village People” and “YMCA” started trending on Twitter, one user summarized the situation well, writing, “The song’s lyrics appear to extol the virtues of the #YMCA. However, in gay culture from which the Village People stemmed, the song is understood as celebrating YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising & hookup spot, particularly for younger gay men. And once more for the particularly delusional or hard of thinking: Trump’s support base is the Christian Right – who hate gay people. You’re welcome.”
The song’s lyrics appear to extol the virtues of the #YMCA. However, in gay culture from which the Village People stemmed, the song is understood as celebrating YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising & hookup spot, particularly for younger gay men.pic.twitter.com/oYsZMwwTe7
Another user shared a clip of news coverage of the rally and noted, “Watch as Anderson Cooper stares off into the middle distance upon realizing that Trump is using gay anthem ‘YMCA’ to amp up his radically homophobic base at a mask free rally after testing positive for COVID-19 less than 2 weeks ago. Enjoy Macho Man!”
Watch as Anderson Cooper stares off into the middle distance upon realizing that Trump is using gay anthem “YMCA” to amp up his radically homophobic base at a mask free rally after testing positive for COVID-19 less than 2 weeks ago. Enjoy Macho Man! pic.twitter.com/F0XY3GhWbV
After Trump played “Macho Man” at an India rally earlier this year, Village People spoke out about the POTUS using their music, saying in a Facebook post that while they weren’t trying to block their songs from being played at his events, they be no means support him or his use of their music:
“TO OUR FANS:
We have received numerous requests demanding that we prevent or ban President Donald Trump’s use of our songs, particularly ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and ‘Macho Man.’
With the latest use of ‘Macho Man’ in India, we are being inundated and can no longer remain silent.
Since our music is not being used for a specific endorsement, the President’s use is ‘perfect[ly]’ legal.
He has remained respectful in his use of our songs and has not crossed the line; if he or any other candidate were to use any of our songs in a manner that would suggest our endorsement, or in a promotional advertisement, that would cross the line.
Like millions of Village People fans worldwide, the President and his supporters have shown a genuine like for our music.
Our music is all-inclusive and certainly everyone is entitled to do the YMCA dance, regardless of their political affiliation. Having said that, we certainly don’t endorse his use as we’d prefer our music be kept out of politics.”
One user re-shared that story and noted, “Doesn’t it seem that The Village People are sort of punking Trump with his desire to play their music at his Covid Spreaders. Sure, play our music they said. [laughing emoji]”
Doesn’t it seem that The Village People are sort of punking Trump with his desire to play their music at his Covid Spreaders. Sure, play our music they said. https://t.co/STjbcHgS4t
Check out some more reactions below, including some criticism’s of Trump’s dancing abilities.
And when his new exit song, The Village People’s “YMCA,” blaring over the loudspeakers, the president did what has become his trademark dance, pumping his fists somewhat in time to the beat as the crowd roared.
The village people are the only group that hasnt given Trump a cease and desist order to stop playing their music because its seriously funny to watch homophobes dance to a gay anthem.
Trump man There’s a need to feel down I said, Trump man Find yourself on the ground I said, Trump man Cause you’re soon out of town There’s a need to be unhappy
The Simpsons has shed viewers over the years (an inevitably when you’ve been on for 30-plus seasons), but there’s one episode that even lapsed fans regularly tune in for: “Treehouse of Horror.” This year’s installment, “Treehouse of Horror XXXI” (written by 100 Things the Simpsons Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die co-author Julia Prescott!), includes parodies of Pixar movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Russian Doll, as well as a topical opening. In it, Homer is deciding who to vote for in the presidential election. “I know who I want for all the judges and propositions, but president? That’s a stumper. Can I write in Judge Judy?” Homer asks before Lisa reminds him of “all that’s happened in the last four years.” Trump’s name is never mentioned, but what follows is a scroll of 50 of the worst things he’s done since 2016.
Made it okay to shoot hibernating bears
Put children in cages
Called Mexicans rapists
Imitated disabled reporter
Looks lousy in a tennis outfit
Can’t get wife to hold hand
Called third world countries sh*tholes
Called Tim Cook ‘Tim Apple’
Said Jewish people who vote Democrat are disloyal
Showed top secret documents at Mar-A-Lago restaurant
Called white supremacists ‘fine people’
Leaked classified information to Russian ambassador
Asked the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens
Called for China to investigate the Bidens
Walked into the dressing room at Miss Teen USA pageant
You can see the full list here, or better yet, watch the episode this Sunday.
There are three things you should know about Walton Goggins.
The first is that he’s had a pretty incredible career, from his dramatic roles on The Shield and Justified, to his comedic work on Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, to his film work with directors like Quentin Tarantino. His latest project, John Bronco, a goofball 40-minute mockumentary — billed as “the unbelievable story of the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of the legendary pitchman for the Ford Bronco” — that premieres on Hulu this week, from director Jake Syzmanski (who also directed the delightful HBO mockumentary 7 Days in Hell), in which Goggins plays a legendary fictional pitchman and cowboy named John Bronco across multiple decades, is unlike any of those. In a good way.
The second is that he is very appreciative of all of this. And grateful. He’s someone who loves his work, and loves that he gets to do it, and loves to talk to people about it, both as far as what it means to him and how it affects the people who enjoy it. He does not take any of it for granted, which makes it even more fun to see him bounce from role to role and genre to genre, because you know he’s having just as much fun doing it as you and I are having while we watch him do it.
The third thing is that Walton Goggins is a very lovely and patient man who will humor you while you ask him a series of silly questions about running through the house with a pickle in your mouth and how successful Boyd Crowder from Justified would have been as a Dairy Queen franchise owner, and will give you thoughtful answers about everything that make you look at each project a little differently.
It was a pleasure to speak with him. I hope you enjoy reading the slightly edited and condensed version of our chat half as much I enjoyed the phone call it came from.
The thing I like about John Bronco is, just in theory, “Walton Goggins playing a legendary pitchman and cowboy over a multi-decade period in a screwball satire from the minds behind 7 Days In Hell” is basically a perfect idea for a project. And yet, I did not consider it as an option before, and I don’t understand how it happened. So let’s start there. How did you end up getting involved with John Bronco?
Imagine [the production company] reached out, along with the director, Jake Szymanski, about getting involved and playing John. And we had a conversation, and I read it, and I loved it. It was so well-written, and I’m such a fan of Jake’s. And Mark, who works over at Imagine, is such a talented guy, that I just wanted to get involved. And like anything that I say yes to these days, it all centers on the story and the people executing that story. And I thought the story was really important and really funny, but also touching. And I’d never really seen anything like this, really. I called a couple of my friends actually, and I asked their advice, and they said, “Run, don’t walk, man. Just do it.” And I’m glad that I did. I had such a great time, really.
So, it wasn’t just like, “I would like to do a role where I get to try a lot of different mustache looks?”
[laughs] Well, I mean, yeah. I called in two really good friends to help pull that off. But I think honestly it was, look… I’m not a conventionally sexy guy really, at all. I mean, I think there are different things that make people attractive, for sure. There are different things that make people attractive to me, and looks more often than not have nothing to really do with that. But I don’t think that I would ever be offered to play a sex symbol, and this was an opportunity to do that. And so, it was different for me in that way, and I loved it.
That brings up a good point. Over the course of your career, and this is one of the reasons I really like your work, you’ve played this huge range of roles. You’ve done charismatic villain types in Justified and The Shield, and you did various deranged lunatics in the Danny McBride universe, you’re doing a CBS sitcom lead, and now you’re doing just something completely silly in the John Bronco project. When you go into the process of choosing a role, do you have a big picture plan like, “I want to do a drama here, I want to try something fun here,” or is it really just a project by project basis?
Well, first of all, that’s a very nice thing to say, and I really appreciate you saying that, or at least being vulnerable in saying that. That’s very kind. Yeah, I don’t know. I read, and I have a lot of friends that are actors and are friends that are writers, people kind of in this world, or I read interviews and hear other actors that try to have a plan. I don’t really have a plan. I don’t know what the plan is. I think that more often than not, the only thing that I look for is, like, could I be a benefit to the storyteller on whatever level? Do I have a take on this that I think would help the storyteller tell their story?
I mean, even with The Unicorn, it was just a perfect experience for where I was in my life. And I didn’t want to do another drama, a six-year experience or seven-year experience on a drama, if you’re lucky to get that many seasons, if you’re lucky to have your story go that long. I wanted to experience something that was honest and lighthearted, but also serious when it needs to get serious in a way, and in a network format because I’d never done that before. And it scared the shit out of me, and it still scares the shit out of me.
It’s got to keep it very new and refreshing.
That’s exactly right. Why are you scared of this? Really? If you really believe you could do something with it, even if it fails, then do you need to do it, man? Even just being out in the world. I like to get lost in the world, and that scares the shit out of me, really, to just decide to spend a month in Namibia. But you just do it.
That’s a great perspective and a great philosophy to have in life in general, just to do cool stuff and run with it.
Right. A really good friend of mine told me something a long time ago. He said, “Have more yeses in life than you have nos.” And for him, literally, most of the time before people get the invitation out of their mouth, he says, “Yes, absolutely. Yes. Yep. I’m going to do that. Yep. Okay. You want to go to dinner? Okay, yes. You want to go here? Yes. You want to do this show? Yes.” And, I don’t know, how much fucking time do we have left on this planet? I don’t know. I mean, it is short and so just live it to the fullest, man.
So, with that in mind, is there any kind of project or role that you haven’t had a chance to try yet that you’d like to? You’ve done so many things in so many different formats. Is there something that just either hasn’t been offered to you yet or something that you haven’t got a chance to try or like, I don’t know, like a full-on musical, or something like that?
A musical? No. A musician’s biography? Yes, I would like to try that, and I’m talking to a few people about one in particular right now that I’m not at liberty to discuss. But you know the other thing that I’ve never done? I’ve never done a horror movie.
Here we go.
I’ve never done a straight-up horror movie, kind of in that genre. I would love to do a straight down the middle, creative interpretation of a fucking classic, man. I would love that. I really would.
You do a lot of… not necessarily villains, because there’s more to them than that, but let’s say, antagonists. So if you did a horror movie, would you want to play a bad guy, like a chainsaw-wielding menace, or would you want to pl-
No! I want to play the guy getting chased!
I love it.
I don’t feel like I’m… I’m not Brad Pitt. I’m never going to be Brad Pitt. I’m not a number of the people around me, but I do know what I am. And I feel like the things that I would like to do that I may or may not have been given an opportunity to do on that level, I still get to experience. And that has value for me personally, and I’m very grateful for those opportunities.
Well, yes, you’re not going to be offered the roles that Brad Pitt gets, but I’ll also tell you this: Brad Pitt could not play Baby Billy Freeman.
You know what? You said it. All right.
It’s true.
Man, I love my life. I love my life, and I love the opportunities that I’ve been given. And I love the experiences that I’ve had so far in my life. I swear to God, I’m one of the luckiest fucking people on this planet, and I know it. That’s the thing, to have it and to not be grateful while you’re in it is an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And [Michael] Chiklis taught me that when we were doing The Shield. He said, “Never, ever, ever be cavalier with success, ever, because it can end just as easily as it came.” And that’s the truth, and I learned that on season one of The Shield, and I’ve never stopped thinking about that every day I go to work.
We’re having such a good conversation. I hate to steer it back to my stupid list of questions.
No, please, go ahead.
In John Bronco, that’s you singing the John Bronco song, right?
Yeah. It just made sense for our story in a way that Jake wanted to do it for me to sing it. And I tried to talk him out of it, just like, “Man, I can’t. That’s not my thing.” I am not a triple threat. But he said, “No, man. Just give it a try, just go for it.”
Let me respectfully disagree with you on not being a triple threat. This is now at least the third project that I can think of where you’ve performed some incredibly catchy song. There’s this one, there was “Busted by Lee Russell” in Vice Principals, and definitely “Misbehavin’” in The Righteous Gemstones. In fact, let me ask you this. “Misbehavin’”… I still have that song in my head. You’re the one who sang it. Have you managed to get it out of your head yet?
Never. No, no. And my son still requests it, like in the car sometimes. He’ll have it on, because it was on iTunes, and we downloaded it like everybody did that wanted to listen to it. And so, no, I can’t get it out of my head.
Have you, at any point, caught your son running through the house with a pickle in his mouth?
God, how do I answer that? No. No, because he likes pickles so much that he eats them while he’s sitting at the table. So by the time he gets up and runs away, he’s eaten all the pickles.
It’s such a perfect line because I had not ever considered running through the house with a pickle in your mouth to be some sort of misbehaving activity. But I mean, you could testify as a dad, if you saw your kid doing that, you’d be like, “Knock that off. Get that pickle out of your mouth.”
“Stop running through the house with a pickle in your mouth, Augustus. Stop it.”
Exactly.
“No running by the pool with a pickle in your mouth. No running through the house with a pickle in your mouth. Stop it.”
Just curious, talking about this very catchy song, of all the roles you’ve played, is there one you get recognized for more than the others when you’re out?
I’m answering you honestly: No. That’s what’s so lovely about my experience for me is that it’s usually kind of multiple things, or one person will say one thing and a block later someone will say something else. And then you get people that are African-American or white or Asian, young, old, middle-aged like me, in cars at stop signs. And people say, “Oh, shit! Hey, man!” And it’s just lovely. I love it. I love having conversations with people that have seen anything that I’ve been part of that were affected by it.
I know I only have you for a little bit here, so is it okay if I finish by asking you a very specific question about Justified that’s been banging around my head for like five years now?
[laughs] Yes. Yeah.
Okay, good, because I’m going to go crazy if I don’t. In season four of Justified, before things all start going sideways, Boyd develops this plan to get out of crime and go legit. And his plan involves opening a Dairy Queen franchise. Do you think Boyd Crowder would have been a successful Dairy Queen franchise owner?
I think he would have been a very successful Dairy Queen franchise owner, very successful. And that episode in particular, it’s very … All of this shit is very personal to me. I’m a poor kid from Georgia. We’re divided on a lot of things in this country. The one thing that a lot of us aren’t divided on is poverty. And for me, Boyd Crowder was what I wanted to say about rural America and my version of it. And that for him, there was a glass ceiling, and he couldn’t break it. And all he ever wanted was that, was the ability to escape a life that he came from, and to be somebody, and to be respected in a different way, and not through fear and intimidation.
With my story, I participated in kind of all of it. And I said, “We got to say this, man.” Because there was a dude in my hometown whose dad had four Dairy Queen franchises, and he made it. He was a success. And so, to answer your question, as fastidious as Boyd Crowder was, and as great of a compartmentalizer as he was… yeah, I think you would have seen Dairy Queens popping up in places that you never anticipated.
I’m very glad you said that because I’ve always had a theory that Boyd Crowder would have become the South’s greatest ice cream tycoon.
Absolutely. He would sell more Blizzards than anyone in any state in America.
John Bronco premieres on Hulu on Wednesday, October 15.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
(@bjaninemorison) 
