(audience applauding)
Hi, Lonnie.
Hi, Ms. Drew. (chuckling)
How are you?
I'm doing fine how about you?
I mean, it's the morning, I don't really like mornings
but I'm happy to be alive.
I'm grateful to be here.
That's literally, how old are you?
I'm 13 years old.
That's exactly where you're supposed to be.
(laughing)
I hated mornings too.
I think until I was 30 in my late thirties, actually.
And you know, you learn a lot along the way,
and it sounds like, Lonnie,
that you learned a lot from David working on this film.
Will you tell me about that?
Well, first I want to say you'd think it would be hard
for someone who's not only an actor and a director
of a movie, especially on their first director debut.
(snapping) Mr. David.
Because of how many things they have to control.
But Mr. David never bumped a transition.
I mean, he made it look like a walk in the park
throughout the whole entire set of the movie.
And honestly, it was such,
it was such a pleasure to work with him.
I feel so grateful.
I have to say Lonnie, I was looking into
your anti-bullying campaign, Fix Your Heart.
And I was wondering if you would talk about it
because I am so swept away with it.
And I would love to hear you explain why you started this.
Sure, well, Fix Your Heart is an anti-bullying campaign
that I created with my mom after being told
online and offline that I needed to fix my gap
that I had in my teeth.
And I said, braces can fix this,
but can you fix your heart though?
So we created Fix Your Heart TV,
where I bring on people to talk about their experiences
and hopefully change other people's perspectives
to be kinder people.
And we created a clothing line because I love fashion,
and part of the proceeds goes back to Fix Your Heart TV
and other inspired charities that I believe in.
Do you mean this?
Because I'm holding it because I got a box.
Oh, you have one.
Yeah, I got a box of swag
and I want to wear it so proudly.
I have to tell you, I'm not kidding, I love the message
of this so much and I want to share it with my kids.
And I just love your Fix Your Heart TV.
You interview people about being kind
and David you know, is it, would it be okay
if you quickly interviewed Lonnie and I both right now
for Fix Your Heart TV, would you be up for that?
Yes, absolutely.
I've got some prepared questions here.
Okay, perfect.
When you realize you've hurt someone by your actions,
how do you fix your heart?
Well, the whole purpose and the whole definition
of Fix Your Heart is to have the accountability
to correct your own actions and be better to others,
and maybe sometimes just yourself.
I mean, how do I fix my own heart?
Have the accountability to say sorry, a hundred percent.
I feel like that is probably where
I hold myself the most accountable.
I wish I had half, a quarter, 1% of the concern for myself
that I do for others,
which is probably a good start and maybe enough sometimes.
But if I ever do things that I think don't feel right,
I really hold myself accountable.
Lonnie, would you like to extend
the same questions to David, if you don't mind?
Oh, a hundred percent.
Let's go.
Well now you have both been in the business
before the time of social media, unlike me,
and social media has given canceling people a whole culture.
Making mistakes are inevitable though,
because we are human, of course.
So Ms. Drew, do you worry about making a mistake
and being canceled?
Yeah, I never want to say things
or do things that hurts anybody,
because it's the last thing on earth I want to do.
I don't want to affect other people negatively.
David, what do you think?
Gosh, it's a really great question.
I mean, first and foremost, I do try to live by
treat each others as you would like to be treated.
And so, to have compassion, to have kindness,
to have empathy is the way to lead, to understand.
And for me personally, as a black person especially,
I know what it feels like to be willfully misunderstood,
mistreated, marginalized.
And so I absolutely refuse to do that to another person.
I think, love, the definition of love
is to put others before yourself.
And if you're doing that, I think there's a real chance
that you won't go hurting anyone.
Certainly not knowingly, anyway.
I love hearing that and Lonnie,
I want to thank you for coming on this show
and allowing our show to jump into
Fix Your Heart TV with David,
because when I saw it and was pouring through it
I just fell in love with your mission.
Thank you, thank you for having
Fix Your Heart TV on your show.
It really means a lot to me.
Thank you.
And most importantly, to speak about your beautiful
feature directorial debut
and this gorgeous story that you're telling
in The Water Man, David Oyelowo and Lonnie Chavis.
Thank you for bringing The Water Man,
which is in theaters right now,
to all of us, and asking the questions that you asked.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us, Drew.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, I appreciate it so much, thank you.
(upbeat music)