Hey, Van.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Hello.
So a lot has happened since the last time we spoke in 2020.
Are you feeling better about covering the news this year?
Hey, look.
I feel more hopeful, more optimistic.
There's always bad news.
That's just-- that's what the nature of news is.
But I think that people are missing out on the fact
that I see more positive consciousness around race,
gender, the environment, the climate.
That's out there, and it's getting bigger every day.
And also, politics is still kind of crazy.
But on the technology side, there's
all these new things that are coming down the pike--
crypto stuff, people trying to go to Mars.
If you combine all the positive economic innovation
with all of the positive social awareness,
you could have a much better future.
And so I'm excited about it.
I'm happy about it.
Nobody's going to steal my joy.
Yeah.
Well, that's a good attitude.
That's a--
[APPLAUSE]
You have to focus on the positive.
You've got to.
Absolutely.
And tomorrow marks one year since George Floyd's murder.
And you were on the show right after.
What do you say about that?
Yeah.
I feel good about the verdict.
I also feel that we need to change the laws.
The whole country was hanging by a thread for one jury.
That was scary.
Everybody-- we were afraid to hope that the jury would
do the right thing.
So obviously, we need to change the laws.
I know that Congresswoman Karen Bass, Tim Scott, and others
in Congress are trying to change the laws so that we
have just better policing.
I think everybody just wants the police to obey the law.
The ones who do wrong should be punished.
That shouldn't be too much to ask.
And I think we can get there.
Yeah.
It really was interesting how we were all--
the right thing should have been really easy.
We all shouldn't have been on edge like that.
But so many times, it's gone the other way.
So--
Absolutely.
--that's why I think it was such a relief when
the right verdict came in.
You were emotional when the election was called for Biden,
and your comments went viral.
And it wasn't the first time that that happened.
I think it's a beautiful thing.
And you credit your mom with encouraging your emotions.
Mm-hmm.
Well, yeah.
Look, I shed some tears on TV.
And I always tell people, you all
should be glad when I don't cry on television.
With all the bad stuff that goes on, when I don't cry,
I think I'm doing a good job.
But my mom--
I wasn't raised to be one of these tough guys.
My mom said, cry as much as you need to-- always as much
as you have to, but cry as much as you need to.
And that was a big moment of relief.
I had worked--
I've worked with both sides.
I've worked with the Trump administration, Obama
administration, and others.
But I just--
I felt a big relief.
My text messages while we were waiting to go on air
started blowing up-- my Muslim friends, my Latino and Latina
friends.
Just, people felt this wave of relief.
And you've got to stay human.
You know that.
If you're on TV, and you're just reading
the talking points that somebody gave you, why are you there?
And I felt it, and it came out.
But I promise I will not cry on this show,
no matter what you do.
Well, you can cry.
I agree with you.
I think there's something--
I don't know why people should ever-- especially,
it's, for some reason, not OK for men to cry, period,
and then much less on TV.
And I think if you're emotional, and if it's
real and raw and honest, there is nothing wrong
with showing that.
I think people need to be more honest with their emotions
and how they're feeling.
[APPLAUSE]
It's--
[INAUDIBLE] I agree.
I feel the same way.
Yeah.
And I'm raising sons.
My dad-- he was a tough guy, military guy.
I don't think he ever hugged me or told me he loved me
until I was a grown man.
And I don't think that's right.
With my boys, I kiss them, hug them.
They're teenagers now.
They don't like it as much.
But I just feel that when you lock this stuff up inside,
it curdles.
And then it starts to smell bad.
And everybody else can tell.
I just think that we should be moving toward a world
where people can just be themselves
and people can just let their hearts be open.
And when I can no longer be human on TV,
I don't want to be on TV.
Yeah.
I think we hopefully will go in that direction,
because we've gone so far in the other direction with criticism
and judgment, and everybody's got to be and think exactly
alike, and if you don't think like me, then you're my enemy.
And we've got to go to the other side of compassion and empathy
and kindness and allowing people to be exactly who they are.
We have to be heading in that direction, or we're in trouble.
We really are.
Hey, [INAUDIBLE].
Your sons must be so proud of you.
Are they going to go into politics or journalism?
Or, what are they into?
Well, they're more into sports.
And I like to think that they're proud of me.
But then it turns out not so much.
So for instance, I got a chance to take them
to see [INAUDIBLE] an event.
Beyoncé was there.
Jay-Z was there.
They got their pictures made, et cetera.
So I'm feeling like, hey, I'm the man.
I'm the man.
I take them home to see their mom.
The little guy goes up to Jana and says,
I feel really good about this night.
Having a dad that's a D-list celebrity
means you can meet real stars.
[LAUGHS] Wow.
Wow.
So I was like, you can't-- yo, no matter what you do,
your kids are never going to be impressed.
Yeah.
But I'm impressed with them.
They're good guys--
Well, they need to know--
[INAUDIBLE]
--that a D-list celebrity could not get them to Beyoncé
and Jay-Z. That's--
Well, thank you.
Yeah.
You're good for my self-esteem.
Yeah.
They're not.
Yeah.
Well, you show them this clip.
All right, Van.
We have to take a break.
We'll be back.
Tell everybody about the documentary.
Oh, good.
So it's called The First Step.
And only one really beautiful thing
happened during the Trump administration,
and we filmed it.
It was when everybody came together
to pass criminal-justice reform.
And the film is--
it's about impossible things.
It's a documentary.
It's very honest.
It's very raw.
It's impossible to pass legislation, most of the time,
to help people in prison.
It's impossible to get grassroots Trump
supporters and grassroots progressives
to work together on something.
But we did it.
And it's really hard to film that stuff and to show it
in an honest way.
And so it's uplifting.
It's beautiful.
It's raw.
It has the people who didn't like
the bill on both sides, people who did like the bill
on both sides.
It's got a lot of heart to it.
And it's going to be at Tribeca and AFI in June.
And I hope people like it.
It's called The First Step.
Yeah, I think a lot of people do like it.
A lot of people, also, I think, when they watch it,
will be taken aback about seeing you so friendly with Trump
and his team.
And what do you say about that?
Well, look.
That's what it takes.
Unfortunately, if you really care about the people
at the bottom--
the people who are in prison, the people
who are growing up with nothing in Appalachia,
in the hood, Native American reservations--
neither political party does much for those people
most of the time.
And for me, I put those communities and those people
above politics.
I will work with or against anybody to help them.
And the great thing about it was,
I disagree with the Trump administration on 99 things,
but we found that one thing, and we got something done.
And as a result, everybody from Bernie Sanders
to Joe Biden to Donald Trump, for the first time in my life,
all ran for office saying, we need
to improve the criminal-justice system.
So not only did we free tens of thousands of people,
we also made the political system more responsive.
And I'll take the heat for doing that every single time.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
So Kim Kardashian is studying law.
She's in your documentary and became an apprentice
with your organization.
How's she doing with her studies?
Listen, she's doing amazing.
I think she has used her platform
to help people behind bars.
Her dad was a lawyer, and she always wanted to be a lawyer.
And so she decided, once she got a taste of what
she could do using her platform, using her brain,
she hasn't let up.
So I think she's going to be an unbelievable attorney.
And she's already, I think, one of the best advocates that we
have in criminal justice.
Yeah, it's fantastic what you're doing.
The First Step is premiering at Tribeca Film Festival in June.
And everybody should be involved with this because we
do have to change that system.
Van, thanks so much for spending time with us.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more awesome videos,
like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things,
like ball-peen hammer, and also some videos of Ellen
and other celebrities, if you're into that sort of thing.
[SHOUTS]
[SCREAMS] [BLEEP] God [BLEEP]!