Latest news with #TheAssignment
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hasbro's CEO warns that toy prices could start to rise in the fall because of tariffs
America's toy prices could rise later this year, particularly if higher tariffs take effect, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told CNN's Audie Cornish, host of 'The Assignment' podcast. Cocks said on this week's episode of 'The Assignment' that America's current 30% minimum tariffs on China and apparent agreement to place 20% tariffs on Vietnam's goods are 'pretty significant,' but not unexpected. China and Vietnam are Hasbro's main international suppliers. 'We've been around for a while,' Cocks said. 'We take a long-term view of things, and so our general reaction is: Be agile, but don't overreact.' Hasbro, founded in 1923, produces well-known toys and games, including Play-Doh, Transformers, Candy Land and Dungeons & Dragons. Although Hasbro has not yet raised prices because of tariffs, Cocks said an increase could be coming. 'I would expect if prices are going to be raised across the industry, the consumer will probably start to see them in the August through October timeframe, just based on the production timelines associated with toys,' he said. Cocks said toys typically take three to five months to hit store shelves after a retailer places orders for them. About half of Hasbro's products are made in the United States, with the rest manufactured abroad, Cocks said. Over the past few years, Hasbro has shifted production to reduce reliance on China, increasing output in the US, Vietnam, Turkey and India. The company has also increased domestic production of board games in Massachusetts. Trump has urged companies to manufacture in the US to avoid tariffs, a shift Cocks said is realistic for Hasbro. He pointed to 'Magic: The Gathering,' a billion-dollar card game, that is already made in North Carolina and Texas. He said there may be room to expand some domestic production further. For instance, Play-Doh — made from wheat — is similar to edible dough and could be a candidate for US-based manufacturing. Still, Cocks said relocating more manufacturing to the United States remains challenging. Labor is a significant cost, and unlike other industries, toys often require fine detailing by hand. That makes automation harder. 'If you took the same toy and manufactured it in the US, labor would make up 80 to 90% of the cost,' he said. For consumers, that means a doll sold for $10 now could cost up to $18 to maintain profit margins. Cocks also pushed back on claims from officials like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that foreign countries absorb tariff costs. 'It's always a business working with another business that absorbs things,' he said. He said foreign suppliers have thin margins – about 2 to 3% – so they can't afford to absorb 10% tariffs, he said. Ultimately, Hasbro will pay more to import its products. Cocks said Hasbro is better positioned than many in the toy industry to handle the pressure from new tariffs. Its games division is performing strongly and relies less on overseas manufacturing. He added that Hasbro's licensing business, which has grown 60% over the past three years, is especially valuable because it brings in 'pure profit.' 'It just gives us a lot more cushion,' Cocks said. 'I feel more for my toy industry CEO peers than I do necessarily for my day-to-day challenges.' Inicia sesión para acceder a tu cartera de valores
CNN
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Why Does Dating Feel So Hard Right Now? - The Assignment with Audie Cornish - Podcast on CNN Audio
Audie Cornish 00:00:01 Reality show romance is supposed to be my escape from the news, and yet I can't stop thinking about this one moment from the Netflix show Love is Blind, where the personal did in fact become political. The show is basically speed dating on steroids, ending with a high stakes alter I do, or this case. Love is Blind Soundbite 00:00:27 Ben, I love you so much. But I've always wanted a partner to be on the same wavelength. And so today I can't. Audie Cornish 00:00:41 So in this scene, a contestant, Sara Carton left her fiancé of 3 weeks Ben Mezzenga, at the altar because, as she put it, she just couldn't get past their political differences, which, as a crossover cultural moment, went about as well as you would expect in the political manosphere. This is conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk Soundbite 00:01:03 Her views very well could change if she had a man to lead her. Stay away from liberal women, got that? That should be a shirt, stay away from liberal women. Soundbite 00:01:13 I've never been more unimpressed with an individual. It's not over a difference of BLM views, it's that he refused to have one that was in lockstep with her. And that's the hallmark of that side. Audie Cornish 00:01:23 'And not wanting to deal with anyone on this or that side is very much a thing. Researchers with the dating app OkCupid wrote that political alignment isn't just a side note in dating, it's a filter. More than 1.2 million daters, for example, in the US have added the I'm pro-choice badge to their profiles on the site. In the DC area, that same bio might read, laid off by DOGE, according to the news site Axios. Or on the flip side, display a photo with the potential love match posing next to President Trump. But isn't love supposed to conquer all? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:02:01 Look, I'm a romantic and I believe that love is the most powerful force on Earth. Love, love can do a lot. But love is not, it's not a feeling that's independent of ethics and morals. Audie Cornish 00:02:15 'Today's guest, Dr. Orna Guralnik, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst known for her work on the docu-series Couples Therapy. We're going to talk to her about the politics of love. I'm Audie Cornish and this is The Assignment. Audie Cornish 00:02:34 'Couples therapy is a docu-series, it's not a rose dispensing pageant show or a gonzo booze-fueled matchmaking experiment. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:02:43 What I hear from viewers is that they start off with this kind of attitude of, you know, oh, I'm going to see someone in trouble and it's going to make me feel better about myself and I'm gonna judge. Audie Cornish 00:02:57 Real couples volunteer to get weeks of free relationship therapy from psychoanalyst Orna Guralnik. In return, their experience is filmed in high, depth detail. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:03:11 And as people get to know the participants better they gradually kind of the attitude of judgment evaporates and instead it gets replaced by a certain kind of compassion and deep empathy and Audie Cornish 00:03:27 finding a lot of commonalities. As new episodes of the show's latest season begin to drop, I wanted to talk to Guralnik because she's been out there saying political movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter forced difficult conversations that now surface in relationships in unexpected ways. On the show, even Gen Zers and polycules and LGBTQ couples kicking traditional gender roles to the curb struggle despite being armed with therapy speak. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:03:58 'I mean, I have to tell you that there's probably no couple, no individual patient that I know that is not really preoccupied with these questions nowadays of like a major fight, a major cultural fight now, both here in the United States, but beyond the United states between, in a way, two ethics or methods of living, right? There's like a serious cultural moment here between. Let's say a more liberal progressive ethic of becoming aware of these systemic differences, taking care of the vulnerable, considering like our government, the role of the government is to protect the most vulnerable versus this ethic of, I don't know, to be cynical, survival of the richest. Or let's, let's pull back from all of this progressive rhetoric and try to hold on to some kind of old school values that really support a very particular portion of the population, and in extreme cases, disappears the other. And this is not only happening here, it's happening in Israel-Palestine, it's happened in other places in the world, it's happen around migration. I mean, this is like a major clash. Audie Cornish 00:05:25 But how does it surface at the kitchen table? I mean, one of the things that's remarkable when you're watching a couple that is in therapy, you almost always find it is the fight about washing the dishes, the fight about walking the dog, they're always about something else. Like, yeah, how are you actually seeing it on the couch? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:05:41 'It's, I totally see it on the couch in the sense that these are ethics that guide how people relate to each other. So if you take this like big story ethical question of is the government slash the family, the father, the caretaker, is their job to protect the vulnerable or is their job to push people to move as fast forward in the race? That will influence literally how people talk at the kitchen table. Meaning if someone is bringing vulnerability to the other, is that something to attend to with an open heart and try to see where the commonalities are, where the, where person needs support, or is that something to fight about with as much force as possible? If someone hurts you, do you listen for where that comes from, like what happened, or do you retaliate? These big cultural questions that we're negotiating among, you know, between like Dems and Republicans or between Israelis and like pro-Palestinians or... Zionists, I mean, they really translate into how do we relate one person to another? Are we going to try to understand differences and find some kind of common ground in which vulnerability is dealt with compassion? Or are we going use brute force to make the other person surrender or disappear? It really goes all the way there from the big picture to the most minute conversation. And I see it. Does that make sense to you what I'm saying? Audie Cornish 00:07:46 It does, it does, because then I start to think about how people have opted out, meaning those people who go on dating sites and are like, I don't want to date a liberal, I don't wanna date a Republican, I do not want to do this, I want to be in a relationship where the work will be X. And I've thought about it a lot, because I'm in an interracial relationship, and I can assume that when it was against the law in so many states to be such relationship. Those kinds of conversations happened in so many families where you were basically saying like, there's a moral component to the existence of this relationship or these children and what to do with those family members who do or do not embrace it. Now it feels strange to be having that kind of conversation. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:08:36 All over again. Audie Cornish 00:08:37 Yes, but with like multiple topics like so many different things could be the moral thing That you take a stand on no matter what and I remember seeing it surface in love is blind You know like netflix reality show where you've already suspended disbelief being on the show, you know where you Couples talk without seeing each other and then all of a sudden weeks later They're supposed to say I do or not and then with some of them the thing that tripped them up was They're politics, did you believe in vaccination? It just seemed crazy to me to see it surface... Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:09:11 But it's not crazy. Audie Cornish 00:09:13 Yeah, say more. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:09:14 It's not crazy because it does boil down to, as you're saying, very key morals and ethical values that guide how you're going to relate to another person. Audie Cornish 00:09:26 But love was supposed to conquer all Dr. Guralnik! Like, love was supposed be this thing that like...I don't know. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:09:35 People have, look, I'm a romantic and I believe that love is the most powerful force on earth. Love can do a lot. But love is not, it's not a feeling that's independent of ethics and morals. I mean, loving has an ethical component to it. And how do you understand that ethical component? If you love someone else, does your love manifest in you doing your best to try to understand who they are. Or do you understand love as you are going to enforce your way of living on that other person supposedly to protect them, right? These are very different ideas of what love is. Audie Cornish 00:10:17 You were writing in the New York Times that you see like patterns in couples who are in conflict. And you mentioned this one concept splitting, like kind of categorizing people as good, bad. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:10:29 Yeah, yes. Audie Cornish 00:10:30 And can you talk about how that works? Because I do think in couples in general, or throuples or whoever people partner these days, storylines can emerge as they say, and you can sometimes be the villain and you are the hero in your own story. But what makes the splitting concept different? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:10:47 When you're in the mind's instead of splitting, you try to preserve all the good to yourself. You try to think of yourself or the person you trust as all good. And then everything that threatens that, every aspect of yourself, or of the other person that doesn't go with this pure good, is projected outward and it's all bad. So you imagine yourself in a very simplistic way. You have only like high quality behaviors. You're not greedy, you're not envious. You have no anger. You're just like a good person. And the person outside of you is the one that has all those like negative qualities and they're all bad. It's a very simple way of cutting the world, cutting yourself and cutting the word. And when you're in that state of mind where you split a lot, the world can become very dangerous to you. Because if all the bad is outside and it's not like a nuanced, both good and bad, when you imagine people are bad, they're really bad. You don't remember that they're also the same person that yesterday helped you cross the road. It's a very all good, all scary world that you live in, in the mindset of splitting. On the other hand, if you're not in that mindset, if you were in a more integrated mindset, then you can see nuances, then you can see that, oh, that qualities that I dislike in the other person, well, I recognize them in myself sometimes, too. And I can understand the humanity of both of us. Audie Cornish 00:12:25 I remember watching one of the seasons of the show where there was a couple where one was a Palestinian background. And that came up as a topic. Couples Therapy Soundbite 00:12:32 I mean, to address the elephant in the room, our dynamic as an Israeli Jew with a Palestinian in the midst of the political made me a little bit anxious, but I feel love in this space. I feel like there's a real shared experience here that is happening. Yeah, a communion. Do you want to say more though about that elephant, like in terms of your concerns? I'm scared that... Other Palestinians might criticize me for placing myself in this position. Yeah, for agreeing to this. However, sometimes I think when we look at things from the collective level, things that we do to bar people from seeing each other like a literal separation wall further perpetuates the conflict because I have no opportunity to even see that my enemies are just... Not your enemies. Yeah, they're just people. And we're also trying to live who come from so much trauma as well. One way to think about it is that we are relating under the radar of how we're supposed to relate, which is as enemies. Audie Cornish 00:13:39 'And I remember thinking, oh, that's really interesting that, like, Dr. Guralnik had to say, like well, wait a second, how is my presence affecting you? How are you thinking about it? And just for people's understanding of your background, as far as I understand, you spent some time both in Georgia and then as a child moved to Israel for several years, which I think was at age seven, which now that I have a seven-year-old. It's a very influential moment that time. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:14:09 Yes. Audie Cornish 00:14:10 Can you talk about some of the formative experiences? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:14:14 Yeah, when I moved to Israel, I mean, it was a long time ago, it was in the 70s. First of all, I moved and very soon after we moved, the Yom Kippur war broke out. You know, my dad was called into the war, he disappeared for months, I was like in bunkers. It was like a crazy time, like a very intense way to be introduced to the state of Israel. And then growing up, It was during a time where Israel went through a few different ideological political changes. When I moved to Israel, it was a pretty socialist country. And as I was growing up, it kind of went through transformation into a much more kind of very similar to the United States, a much capitalist kind of society that was also deeply going through many complicated phases of the conflict with the Arab world. And late in the 70s, there was already like the we moved from like speaking of splitting, never believing that the war would ever end to suddenly like a peace accord with Egypt. I mean, I witnessed growing up like many intense socio and political transformations in this country. Audie Cornish 00:15:31 And specific milestones for Israel itself, and inflection points. And I didn't realize this, but like later on, you ended up keeping in touch with this particular, I guess, the patient, the right word. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:15:47 She's a participant. Audie Cornish 00:15:48 Participant in the show. And I read this conversation, it was in The Guardian, and I watched you in real time deal with the conflicts you're describing. Someone looking at your fundamental identity and saying, you and the people around you, your collective, your system, fundamental damage to me and my system. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:16:09 Absolutely. Audie Cornish 00:16:10 What was that like? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:16:14 What was that like? I mean, the relationship with her is one of the most important relationships of my contemporary life right now, but it really, it's not just Christine. It's about the basic question, you know, I'm a couples therapist, I'm citizen, I am a mother. I mean these are basic questions about what do I believe ethical relationships between human beings should be. Do I believe in overpowering another person? Do I belief in over powering another people? Do I believed in occupation? Or do I believe in the ability to find some kind of mutual dignity, humanity, and resolving these kind of domination relationships? And you can imagine that I believe in the latter, but it's challenged. It's challenged when Sometimes it gets to the point where you're like, wait a minute. Is it me or you, or is there a way for both of us to exist? You know, river to sea, is it just the Palestinians? Is it just Jews or is there a way to coexist. Audie Cornish 00:17:24 There were moments in the conversation where you actually had to say, can you make room for this? Or I have to swallow the frog, which I hadn't heard in a while. Or you would what I'm feeling is anger or I am I feel rage that you can't like you had to do the things that I often see you asking the couples to do. Yes. And I think we think that, oh, if you're a therapist, this is going to be easy, or like, I don't know, that somehow you have the tools, and so it's an easier way. But it's still, I could feel you working. It was work to get to a place where you could sit across from someone who, you know, you just had such fundamental differences. And looking at this conflict and you are allowing yourselves to be proxies for both communities, which is even scarier in this environment. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:18:17 Yes, very scary. Scary in this environment. Yes, agree. Yeah, this environment is not conducive to that. Which is a big problem. Audie Cornish 00:18:26 What did you learn from going through that experience and still going through experience? And I mean that in a very literal way. What did learn about trying to suppress those or trying to hold that bay, those feelings that can overtake a conversation? What did your learn about even the idea of changing a mind, you know? I pretty much, it's cable news. I feel like I sit through discussions all day where people claim in a way they're. Trying to change each other's minds, but they clearly conduct the conversation in a way where you never would if you were actually trying to do that. I know. So for you, like you must have had an internal moment of like, maybe I'm not so good at this, or actually this is harder than I thought, even for my patients, like what kind of, yeah. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:19:12 Yeah, many moments like that. There's one thing which is that I learned at various points in the conversation where I'm getting stuck, where, for example, Christine is saying something that I suddenly feel like I can't work with because I'm coming up against a certain kind of limit in myself. At least for me, the commitment is when I'm meeting those kind of hard moments where you can't dislodge something. I do have a certain kind of commitment in myself to spend some time there and see what I can do, what I can with myself. You're talking about the feeling. It's not just a feeling, it's a thought too. It's a though of like, oh no, that cannot be true or that's too much or you've gone too far or this is too offensive. It's a feeling, but it's also a thought. There's a whole kind of complex that goes along there that means like no more, we can't talk anymore. This is where we reach the limit of our understanding. This is exactly where you need to sit and breathe and both listen to yourself with compassion, but also know that you're getting stuck and also ask the other person to talk to you again. So I would ask Christine, can you say what you're saying in a different way that doesn't make me feel so attacked or doesn't... Audie Cornish 00:20:31 Right. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:20:32 Like help me go through this process of hardening, so that I can understand better, and maybe you will understand better. I mean, with Christine and I, I mean she's a very special person, despite the fact that she's fiercely political and fiercely protective of her people, she's also a deeply empathic, respectful person. So we could offer that to each other, even in... Audie Cornish 00:20:53 Yeah, you guys really were the best case scenario of two people trying to have this discussion, which was very hard. But I think it just struck me that like, yeah, all of a sudden you're you're on the couch. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:21:09 Yes. and I'm often on the couch. I mean, when I work with patients, I may not talk about it, but I'm often on the couch with my patients, meaning I meet certain moments in myself in which I have a hard time empathizing or hard time understanding or I don't agree with something and I have to walk myself through a process. Audie Cornish 00:21:29 More of my conversation with couples therapist Orna Guralnik, stay with us. Audie Cornish 00:21:38 'You will have what people are describing as a kind of romance recession. You have a generation of people who are less likely to be in a long-term relationship, less likely to seek one. And then if I think about their slang, my favorite is catching feelings,. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:21:57 Right. Audie Cornish 00:21:57 Which is to move from your beneficial sexual arrangement in the threat of you having emotions during that. It always drives me crazy because catching sounds like you caught a disease. Like you catch an STI, you don't catch feelings. But I think it says something about this generation and where they are. Do you think we're in a romance recession? Or what are the ways you might see what this generation is going through that feels different? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:22:26 Oh yeah, there's definitely a big seismic change in the younger generation. It's not just a romance recession. They're also having less sex. They are less rushing to get involved with each other. They're more kind of wary. But I think there's a real thing going on and I think it has to do with a bunch of things. Both, you know, people's lives are, this is true for us too, but it's true for younger people their profoundly mediated by technology nowadays, right? Like they have much less direct access to each other and they're much more living through social media, YouTube, there's a way in which experience is less immediate, it's more mediated and more insular in that way. So that's one factor. Also the fact that Um, people are living in very different realities because of technology. I mean, it's the last decade has been so fragmented in terms of society and like, what can you trust? Like whether you can trust the reality, we're not sharing the same reality, whether you could trust the government that it's going to protect you. Whether there there's a way in which people have become a lot more fearful and suspicious. And that, of course, affects their willingness to love and their willingness to be vulnerable and open themselves up to each other. So all of this creates a very different environment, let's say, than the environment I grew up in when I was younger and starting to get involved in romance. It's a complicated time for people. And I think people are wary. Audie Cornish 00:24:14 Are they right to be? Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:24:15 'This is going back to the beginning of our conversation. How can you separate your romantic relationships from the political context you're living in? If you're in a political context in which you can't trust that your government is there to protect you, it's like living in a family in which the parents are not worrying about the wellbeing of their kids. You grow to be paranoid and self-protective. It's harder to extend vulnerability and care and love to each other. So are they right to be? Yes, it's tricky out there. Audie Cornish 00:24:54 I have to admit, this is the part of the interview where I'm supposed to be like, so what should we do now to change and improve this situation? But really I feel like I need to write a letter to all those like feminist websites that were like, you were right. The hetero ladies are upset for a reason. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:25:09 Agree. Audie Cornish 00:25:09 I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that, but I want to, what I do want to figure out is you've learned a lot in the last couple of years. I've learned a lot doing this job. I don't know how to talk to people who come up to me and say, how can we be talking to each other differently? They ask me in a political context, but there are people who ask you that in a relational, in a romantic context, now that our worlds have collided. Dr. Orna Guralnik 00:25:33 'I think it has to do with kind of a two-part thing. Like, one, don't be so certain about your reality. Your reality is created by, or mediated by, a very particular kind of environment that we're living in, technologically, news-wise. We're all really in the grip of very manipulative systems that are making us see only a slice of the world, all of us. Be a little bit less convinced of your reality. Step one, like hold your reality lightly and open yourself up to listen with a lot of care and empathy to the person that you're disagreeing with. You're having a hard time understanding someone else. Try to ask them, what matters to you? What in this matters to? What are you afraid of? What do you care about? I mean, I have really, quite profound conversations with people that I fiercely disagree with, sometimes people who really threaten my existence. And I find those conversations the most meaningful, right? If I can get them to talk to me about what matters to them, right, if we're not trying to convince each other or not trying to impose my reality, but we're trying to actually understand each other. Audie Cornish 00:27:04 'That was Orna Guralnik, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst known for her work on the docu-series Couples Therapy. New episodes of the show drop on Showtime on May 23rd. This episode of The Assignment, a production of CNN Audio, was produced by Grace Walker and Kyra Dahring. Our senior producer is Matt Martinez, our technical director is Dan Dzula, and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. We also had support from Dan Bloom, Madeleine Thompson, Haley Thomas, Alex Manassari, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nicole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. I'm Audie Cornish and if you enjoyed this show, please go ahead, hit the follow button, definitely share. We love getting new listeners and I want to thank you for being with us this week.
CNN
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
CNN Audio Launches New Narrative Podcast Series 'The Account from CNN'
April 30th, 2025 First Installment 'Persuadable with Donie O'Sullivan' Now Available Episode 1: Listen Here NEW YORK, NY – April 30, 2025 – CNN Audio announced today the launch of their latest podcast offering, The Account from CNN . The Account is CNN's new home for powerful, narrative-driven audio storytelling. The series will be made up of multi-episode seasons featuring in-depth reporting from the network's unparalleled roster of global journalists as they immerse listeners in dynamic news stories. 'We are launching The Account as a home for audio-first storytelling built specifically for listeners, not just adapted for them,' said CNN Audio Executive Producer Steve Lickteig. 'This narrative style gives our journalists the space to comprehensively capture their reporting from multiple angles and points of view, and each series within the feed will showcase a story uniquely suited to our reporters' expertise—stories best experienced through the depth and intimacy of podcasting.' The series' first season, Persuadable, follows CNN Senior Correspondent Donie O'Sullivan as he investigates how and why some individuals are susceptible to modern conspiracy theories. O'Sullivan has been covering this beat for more than a decade, but now he's digging into the factors that can lead people directly into webs of misinformation. In this deeply personal project, O'Sullivan empathetically reflects on his own mental health journey as he considers what people may be seeking out in fringe beliefs. Through conversations with cult survivors, psychologists, and the families of those embedded in these communities, O'Sullivan leaves listeners with practical takeaways for navigating this slippery world and breaking free from the grip of conspiracy. 'We are living in what has been described as the 'golden age' of conspiracy theories, but we often focus too much on the things people believe rather than why they believe them,' said O'Sullivan. 'In Persuadable , we wanted to show how anyone is capable of holding irrational beliefs so that when our loved ones find themselves deep in conspiracy theory rabbit holes, we have the tools to help. That started with an open conversation about my own mental health struggles.' The first episode of Persuadable is available now wherever you listen to podcasts. The second episode will debut on Wednesday, May 7, with the final episode to follow on Wednesday, May 14. Details on future seasons of The Account will be released in the coming weeks. CNN Audio is the exclusive producer of audio content and podcasts for CNN Worldwide including All There Is with Anderson Cooper , Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta , The Assignment with Audie Cornish , Terms of Service with Clare Duffy , CNN 5 Things , CNN 5 Good Things , CNN One Thing , Chance Encounters , and more. Listen to all CNN Audio content at . ### About CNN Worldwide CNN Worldwide is the most honored brand in cable news, reaching more individuals through television, streamingand online than any other cable news organization in the United States. Globally, people across the world can watch CNN International, which is widely distributed in over 200 countries and territories. CNN Digital is the #1 online news destination, with more unique visitors than any other news source. Max, Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming platform, features CNN Max, a 24/7 streaming news offering available to subscribers alongside expanded access to News content and CNN Originals. CNN's award-winning portfolio includes non-scripted programming from CNN Original Series and CNN Films for broadcast, streaming and distribution across multiple platforms. CNN programming can be found on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español channels, via CNN Max and the CNN Originals hub on discovery+ and via pay TV subscription on CNN apps and cable operator platforms. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world's most extensively utilized news service partnering with over 1,000 local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. About Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world's most differentiated and complete portfolio of branded content across television, film, streaming and gaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, Max, discovery+, CNN, DC, TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit . CNN Audio Press Contacts Alex Manasseri Mark Duffy Donie O'Sullivan Press Contacts Bridget Leininger Amaya Starkey
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicago mayor fires back at border czar's ‘reprehensible' threats to prosecute him over ICE raids
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson shared how he really felt about border czar Tom Homan threatening to prosecute him if he gets in the way of ICE deportation raids in an interview on Thursday. During CNN's podcast, "The Assignment With Audie Cornish," the Democratic mayor told host Audie Cornish that he would not allow local police to enforce ICE deportation orders and ripped Homan for threatening to prosecute him if Johnson doesn't cooperate. "Well, what I find it to be is reprehensible, to be perfectly frank with you. You know, the city of Chicago has shown up for this country time and time again," the mayor declared. Tom Homan Tells Migrant Terror Groups Trump Will 'Wipe You Off The Face Of The Earth' Days prior to President Donald Trump's inauguration, Homan told a group of Chicago Republicans, "We're going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois. If your Chicago mayor doesn't want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us—if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien–I will prosecute him." During the CNN interview, Cornish pressed Johnson about this threat, asking him if he believes his "migrant-friendly policies" have put him in the crosshairs of Homan and the Trump administration. Read On The Fox News App The mayor defended his policies, saying they simply prevent local law enforcement from behaving like ICE agents, but maintained that the city is open to cooperating with the federal government in other areas. "So for 40 years, the city of Chicago has had a welcoming city policy. And what that policy just simply states is that our local law enforcement will not dub as federal agents," he said. "Essentially, we're not going to stand in the way and impede cooperation with the federal agencies because we do cooperate with them on a regular basis." Chicago Removes Largest Homeless Encampment, Relocates Tent Residents Into Apartments And Shelters: Report Johnson continued, "We're just not going to have our local law enforcement behave as ICE agents, because what it does is simply breaks down the trust between community members and law enforcement, local law enforcement, and there's enough for them to do already." Throughout his time as mayor, Johnson has reaffirmed his city's sanctuary status and expressed opposition to working with federal law enforcement to clean up illegal immigration. In preparation for the incoming Trump administration's crackdown, his office released guidelines in January for how locals should respond if ICE enters city property. "Contact your agency or department's designated attorney or general counsel for further guidance. Contact the highest ranking official or designated supervisor onsite and do not take any action until that person arrives," the guidelines advised. They added that people should demand copies of warrants, not to consent to ICE entering "any private or 'sensitive' locations," but not to interfere with any search, even if refused. There are further recommendations, including taking notes and keeping contemporaneous written records. Chicago Faith Leaders Brace For Mass Deportations, Cease Hosting In-person Spanish Services: Report More recently, the mayor defended his sanctuary city policies during a House Oversight Committee hearing, saying that they keep the city safer. "Any actions that amplify fears of deportations makes Chicago more dangerous," Johnson said to lawmakers. "Those fears cause witnesses and victims to avoid cooperating with police. The cooperation of all people, regardless of their immigration status, is essential to achieving the city's goals of reducing crime and pursuing justice for victims." During the podcast, Johnson told Cornish, "And what we're simply asking from the federal government is to recognize the beauty and the value that cities across America bring. My responsibility in this moment is to show up for the people of Chicago, even when the federal government dismisses working people." He pushed back against Trump's and Homan's criticism of Chicago's sanctuary policies once more, stating, "if the federal government and the Trump administration, in particular, wants to have animus in disdain towards the people of Chicago and the things at work, of course, we're going to resist that." Johnson added that his government is "not impeding" feds looking to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and reiterated Chicago law enforcement will cooperate with them so long as they show up with "a criminal, valid warrant."Original article source: Chicago mayor fires back at border czar's 'reprehensible' threats to prosecute him over ICE raids
CNN
06-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Where Did #MeToo Go? - The Assignment with Audie Cornish - Podcast on CNN Audio
Audie Cornish 00:00:00 'This past weekend, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo posted a surprising 17-minute video online. Andrew Cuomo 00:00:07 And that is why I announced my candidacy today for mayor of New York City. Audie Cornish 00:00:12 Now, in any other case, this would not be like that big a deal. He's a moderate Democrat with major name recognition, eyeing the seat of a scandal plagued incumbent in Mayor Eric Adams. But the announcement was an eyebrow raiser because, I mean, like, let's hop back in the Wayback Machine and crank it to, let's say, August 10th, 2021. Andrew Cuomo 00:00:38 Thank you for the honor of serving you. It has been the honor of my lifetime. God bless you. John King, CNN Archive Tape 00:00:48 'Simply blockbuster news. The 63-year-old Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announcing he will resign 14 days from today. That in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment, a report produced by the state attorney general, in which 11 separate women said the governor had behaved inappropriately around them. This is a seismic moment in national politics, in democratic politics and in the cultural conversation, the national conversation about mistreatment of women in the workplace. Audie Cornish 00:01:20 'Democrats for the last few years had been leading the charge for public officials accused of sexual impropriety to leave the job. Cuomo had been among the highest profile to face the consequences of reported abuse and harassment. But here we are post-"Me Too," and Cuomo says he's learned his lesson. Andrew Cuomo 00:01:40 Did I make mistakes? Some painfully? Definitely. And I believe I learned from them and that I am a better person for it. Audie Cornish 00:01:49 Now what exactly he's learned? He didn't say. To the activist who helped turn the MeToo moment into a movement that he's even running is frustrating. Tarana Burke 00:02:01 The kind of world. And so many of us say that we want to live in. We will not get there when we keep making these same kinds of mistakes. When we discount violence against women as a serious enough offense, right? That that it always gets dismissed. Audie Cornish 00:02:18 'The so-called "canceled" men from Hollywood, media and politics have been welcomed back to the public sphere, and the "believe all women" approach is no more. So what was the point? What really has changed? Today, I'm talking with two women who have an answer. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson and the mother of Me Too, Tarana Burke. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is The Assignment. Gretchen Carlson is what you might call a Me Too success story. She sued former Fox News head Roger Ailes in 2016 for sexual harassment. She won a $20 million settlement and got an apology from Fox, that is. But at the time, it didn't feel much like a victory. Gretchen Carlson 00:03:10 Well, I thought I was just going to be sitting home crying my eyes out for the rest of my life. You know, my career that I had killed myself for, to get to the top of television was stripped from me for no good reason. I mean, I hadn't done anything wrong and I was doing a great job. Audie Cornish 00:03:26 Her ordeal became one of the main storylines in the Me Too movement. Her story was turned into TV and movies. She's been played on screen by Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman. But her career as a TV anchor was more or less over. Carlson has since founded a group called Lift Our Voices to lobby for laws that prevent employers from going after survivors who speak publicly about harassment in the workplace. This is not where she thought she would be after she took on Ailes and Fox. Gretchen Carlson 00:03:58 Because I've reinvented myself so many times and this last time around has been the most significant. Audie Cornish 00:04:04 Yeah. Gretchen Carlson 00:04:04 You know, it's just it's really going to turn into my legacy as an advocate, more important than any person I've ever interviewed as a journalist. And that is so gratifying. Audie Cornish 00:04:15 'It landed in this moment where what became the mainstream Me Too movement enters the consciousness, meaning you have like allegations against Harvey Weinstein, you have allegations against candidate Donald Trump, and that intersects with Twitter, its activism, and that comes around to folks like Tarana Burke, right, who had been working in the space of sexual violence for a long time. So it was a strange kind of perfect storm --. Gretchen Carlson 00:04:48 Exactly. Audie Cornish 00:04:49 '-- for the broader culture to talk about it all at once. Gretchen Carlson 00:04:51 Exactly. I always call it a perfect storm, Audie. That's the best way to describe it. And then just the other thing I'd add is that the American public got pissed off because they were like, wait a minute, we're still treating people like this in the workplace. And the reason that they thought we had come much farther along than we actually had was because all of these cases were going to secrecy. And that's what I really found out after I came forward. I mean, I realized there was an epidemic, still, of sexual misconduct in the workplace, but there was an epidemic as well, of silencing these people. And the thousands of people who reached out to me they all said the same eerie thing, which was, thank you for being the voice for the voiceless. And I was like, what the hell is going on here? Audie Cornish 00:05:36 Well, the public all of a sudden knew what an NDA was, right? Gretchen Carlson 00:05:39 And what what forced arbitration was. And people still don't understand what that is. But that's what my two laws are about that that passed. And so that really became the genesis of my advocacy work. Audie Cornish 00:05:52 'Two federal laws passed, which, by the way, passing anything. Just add someone covering politics, like passing anything right now is so hard. That would ban arbitration and NDAs and workplace sexual abuse harassment cases. The reason why I bring this up is because these are victories, right? Like on paper, that is a legislative victory. What happened over the years started to feel like cultural rollbacks, right. So you have some of the men who are allegedly taken down or "canceled" -- that was the biggest thing being "canceled" -- very much back in the public eye. And then in entertainment, that might mean, like a Louis C.K., for example. Right. And I'm picking him because he's someone who actually kind of apologized publicly for harming the women who were harassed by him. And in politics, of course, you have the Brett Kavanaugh hearings that were a turning point where Christine Blasey Ford surfaced these allegations from their high school years in hearings. You have Donald Trump, who was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll by a Manhattan federal jury. This was not disqualifying to these men, and they were not, in the end, hounded from the public space. And in fact, I've heard the term "me too martyr." And I'm wondering, from your point of view why you think this all took a turn? Gretchen Carlson 00:07:16 'Yeah, it's a problem. And we saw that really in the last election cycle with these far right wing, misogynist men who skyrocketed to the top of social media and started galvanizing our young men across America to start celebrating being a misogynist again. And I have -- Audie Cornish 00:07:36 But do you think that's because young men we're hearing again, 2016, 2017, 2018, they're hearing. The problem is with men and young boys and rape culture. The problem is with men and young boys being told X. The problem is, and after a while, they start to gravitate toward someone who says they're not a problem. Gretchen Carlson 00:07:52 Yeah, no, I mean, well, and it also fits into the power structure in our country. Like, who wants to give up any power? You know, men, I mean, not to harp on them because they're a huge part of this equation. And I always say I'm an extending the olive branch to them to join our fight because we need them. But when you look at the power dynamic in our patriarchal culture, and suddenly women are having more power and people of color are having more power, and then you have this whole revolution of of men being brought down by Me Too. If if anyone comes out and says, hey, I'll be your savior for you, and you know, you don't have to follow those rules anymore and you can get your power back. That's, I think, how this whole thing fit together is that. Yeah. You know, and a lot of, a lot of young men in our culture had been struggling as of late trying to find jobs. Trying to keep jobs. And so I think it was, again, this kind of perfect storm in the opposite direction, where there was a rallying cry for, especially white men, to fall in line. And, and a lot of them decided to support Donald Trump. Audie Cornish 00:09:01 'Criticism of Me Too, has always been around the idea that it went, quote unquote, "too far," that it created a spectrum of abuse that was so wide everything was sort of caught in it. Um, and then you saw organizations like the Time's Up organization in Hollywood that fell apart for its own organizational reasons. Do you think you and your organization Lift Our Voices -- Do you think you're doing well because you're picking legal fights? Right, like you're doing something that's discreet, achievable. Like is there something -- Do you think in some ways the Me Too conversation got too vague, too hard for people to get their arms around? Gretchen Carlson 00:09:43 Yeah. I mean, look on purpose and lift our voices. We are laser focused on one thing, and that is getting rid of silencing mechanisms that keep all this stuff secret. Forced arbitration and NDAs. That's it. Time's Up really started taking on way too many other causes, and it's very easy to fall into that trap. But I have found that the strategy of being incredibly disciplined and laser focused on our mission is the silver bullet to equity in the workplace, because if you're a company that believes in silencing your people about these issues, you probably also don't pay your people fairly, and you probably also don't promote them adequately. So we believe that getting rid of all of this changes the entire dynamic for all American workers. And in staying so disciplined and laser focused, I believe that that is why we have had success. Audie Cornish 00:10:39 Now, you've got to go forward in an era where company after corporation has gone out and said DEI? I don't know her. Like, they are just rolling it back, right? The Trump administration has put out all kinds of executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion policies. I think in some places this conversation about sexual harassment was like under those umbrellas. Do you feel an environment change, a vibe shift, even in the work you do? Right. Where like, I don't even know if some of these human resources people are still hired. Gretchen Carlson 00:11:17 What I would say about the work that we do at Lift Our Voices is that we don't believe it's DEI. The truth of the matter is that our issues also affect white men in very high numbers. Audie Cornish 00:11:28 But that's a good pitch right there. But before, you might have been like, this is part of making it a more welcoming workplace for women. This is how companies might have thought of it. But I hear you moving with the moment and saying, talking about the things they care about now. Bottom line: Uh, men. Yeah. Like. It's a very different vibe. Gretchen Carlson 00:11:51 'Yeah. I mean, look, I've always talked about it. The. Here are the facts: The number one group of people that are affected by silencing mechanisms more than anyone else in American workplaces are black women making minimum wage. Okay? True. But not far behind: white men. So we approach this as a workers rights issue. This is -- Men every single day are signing contracts that are putting them into forced arbitration and NDAs at almost the same rate as African American women, who is the, you know, the biggest group affected by this. Audie Cornish 00:12:25 'This, right? And again, around issues of conduct not like company trade secret-- Gretchen Carlson 00:12:29 Exactly. No, we're in favor. Audie Cornish 00:12:30 '--which is what they were intended for. Gretchen Carlson 00:12:32 'Yeah, that was the intent originally. We are in -- Of course, companies should be able to protect their trade secrets. If I work for Pepsi. I shouldn't be able to walk across the street to Coke and give away the secret formula. We understand that. We're not fighting against that. What's happened over time, Audie, is that these NDAs have become so incredibly expansive that on your first day of work-- By the way, one third of all Americans sign these on their first day of work. One third. And you have no idea what you're signing. You think it's for trade secrets, but it's for every single thing that happens to you from that moment forward. You can't talk about it. It's why at Fox that nobody could warn anyone else about what was going on. I mean, we all sort of lived in our own little bubble because we were made to believe that it was just us, right? And that's a way in which you keep the bad culture at bay, right, because the more people you allow to come together and actually coalesce and say, "Hey, me too," that's how you start these movements. And so I understand why companies have wanted to cover up their dirty laundry. But these these these clauses have exploded-- Audie Cornish 00:13:40 'But this isn't the moment you fear that they'll back away-- Gretchen Carlson 00:13:42 Maybe. Audie Cornish 00:13:44 '--because of this new administration? Gretchen Carlson 00:13:45 Maybe. But they can't back away from my laws, so they're still going to have to abide by the laws, which brings us full circle as to why I believe that that was such a crucial thing to start with. So, as I've said before, the train's left the station. Get on board. Join our fight because we're not going away. Audie Cornish 00:14:08 The 'me too' movement, among many other things, was, I think, about creating a world where no, um, woman, victim of harassment would have to say, nobody ever believed me. Nobody would believe me. Do you think we're closer to that vision? Gretchen Carlson 00:14:27 'So, you know, these kinds of cultural shifts -- I don't have to tell you this. They take a long time. And this movement has been ultra successful in a very short period of time. And any movement has, they have. We've had roadblocks in every other movement. We've had pushback. We've had letdowns. Um, I just have to continue to to speak loud and clear, that I'm optimistic that we're going to continue to move this forward, like, why are we going to just give in? We can't. We can't give in. And we've seen a market change this time around from this Trump administration versus the last one. I mean, the last one, we had women's marches and we had people, you know, screaming from the top of mountaintops. That's not happening this time. And I'm here to say that we have, we have to be continuing to have a rallying cry, even if it's more covered up. Maybe we're not going to actually go and do marches in DC, but we still have to galvanize people to not give up this fight. Audie Cornish 00:15:30 'Gretchen Carlson is the co-founder of Lift Our Voices and the author of the book "Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back." After a quick break, the woman who coined the phrase "me too." Stay with us. I think of the phrase me too is a bit of a relic of peak Twitter hashtag activism. It exploded into the public consciousness in 2017, when celebrities started using the hashtag in solidarity with victims who had gone public with allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. But the phrase itself dates to 2006. That's when Tarana Burke used it on her MySpace page as a way to support women speaking out about experiencing abuse. Tarana Burke, welcome to The Assignment. Tarana Burke 00:16:23 Thank you. Audie, thank you for having me. Audie Cornish 00:16:25 'When you think back to that moment when the 'me too' movement explodes into the public consciousness -- into the media's consciousness -- and people start to come around to you, right, as someone who had been a long time activist, did it feel like a moment? Or did it feel like a movement? Tarana Burke 00:16:43 So there's two ways to answer, I guess, because it's always felt like a movement to me. It felt like a moment that was giving birth to an opportunity for the movement. Audie Cornish 00:16:54 Ooh, say that again. "A moment giving birth to an opportunity.". Tarana Burke 00:16:57 'Yeah. It felt that's what it felt like. And it was a convergence of two worlds that don't always mix well. Um, but quite quickly, I realized that this was a moment that was really giving birth to a big opportunity for a movement that was already moving. And not just 'me too,' but the movement to end sexual violence, right, it's a has a long history and there's there's like every movement, there are ebbs and flows and ups and downs. And what has happened since "me too" has gone viral probably couldn't have happened in 20 years without that moment. So that's kind of -- I realized that pretty quickly. Audie Cornish 00:17:36 It was such a big moment, and there were so many high profile men in media and entertainment in particular, also in politics, who were quote unquote "canceled." And I say quote unquote, because it's like a mixed bag of things that happened to them. Tarana Burke 00:17:51 Correct. Audie Cornish 00:17:51 And it didn't necessarily happen in courtrooms. Tarana Burke 00:17:54 Yeah. Audie Cornish 00:17:54 And then a conversation about what was fair to them and what was unfair to those men. Can you talk about how that may have fed into or affected what would become the backlash? Tarana Burke 00:18:08 'Oh, absolutely. I think -- I know -- in this country in particular, even though this was a global phenomenon and it happened the same way around the world, we were not used to seeing men -- powerful men, definitely -- being held to account for anything. Audie Cornish 00:18:23 Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:18:23 'Right. It was not a-- Audie Cornish 00:18:25 Or having to answer for anything, so to speak, right? Tarana Burke 00:18:27 'Not at all. Just the idea that you would accuse and be called out. Just that. Forget anything beyond it. Anything legal or [indecipherable]. Just that one act was such an affront for so many people. And I say people, not just men, right? Culturally, we are so steeped in patriarchy. And it's why when a woman -- and I'm being gendered for a moment -- but when so many women were simply opening their mouths to say, "This hurt. You hurt me. I've been harmed," all people could hear was a man's life being ruined. We should have heard people saving their own lives. People making an attempt to bring some healing into their own lives-- Audie Cornish 00:19:17 Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:19:17 '--by freeing themselves of this burden. I do think that in the fervor after that moment, and I try to explain it to people like, you gotta give people some time, right? There has not been in the history of this country, a time where, again, women collectively have been able to raise their voices and say, yes, this is what we've been dealing with. Now you see it. We have this, this, this sort of vehicle to help explain what we've been trying to tell you in all kinds, millions of different ways. Right. Like we've been screaming at the top our lungs for years. We've just found a frequency that you can hear us on. And so now that you can hear it and you understand it, there's going to be a lot of catharsis. There's going to be a lot of yelling and screaming and demanding and, you know, and so --. Audie Cornish 00:20:03 It gets messy. Tarana Burke 00:20:04 It gets a little messy because, you know, people have space for the guy, jumped out the bushes and violently raped the woman. They have space for the drunk husband who beat up his wife. They don't have space for the girl who was in the bar at 2:00 in the morning and got pissy drunk, went home with the guy. Audie Cornish 00:20:24 But you know, that's when you hear more dialogue about the gray area. The dialogue about consent. Also defensive mechanisms around well, actually what position what position are we putting young men in? I feel like you picked the perfect example for that. Tarana Burke 00:20:39 100%, because I spend a lot of time on college campuses. Audie Cornish 00:20:43 Ooh. Tarana Burke 00:20:43 'I saw the danger of what was happening while we had these young, really just wide-eyed, feminist, young women who were like, we're on this campus and how can we get these toxic men to hear us that they're sexist and misogynist? And I'm like, okay, let's take a step back. We are all raised in the same country. We're all socialized pretty much with the same pop culture, the same set of dynamics around gender and sexuality. And so if this 18-year-old boy is dropped on a college campus, having maybe had consent ed. in the sixth grade and again in the 12th grade --. Audie Cornish 00:21:26 If at all. I mean. Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:21:27 'If at all. If at all. Yes. What you are witnessing is probably is its toxic behavior. Like that description is probably accurate. But do you think screaming at him that he's toxic is going to make him un toxic? It's not because he has been socialized just like you to be that person, and we haven't had a collective moment to stop and talk about what the responsibility is. What is it that we owe each other? What do we owe our communities? What do we owe our children? There has to be a reeducation and a re-socialization in this country. Audie Cornish 00:22:02 'But did activists push away men, push away the public by basically saying, you're the problem? And I bring this up because when you think about the "manosphere" online, right -- the in that sort of informal collective of helping young men understand the world -- what they say to them is, you're fine. There's actually nothing wrong, right, you know what I mean? Tarana Burke 00:22:23 So they have some place to run to, to say,. Audie Cornish 00:22:25 Like, it's the place to go because I don't know why you would stick around that environment you described either. Tarana Burke 00:22:29 'Yeah. I think that we did not understand the challenge ahead of us. And I think our biggest mistake, meaning us in, in our work in me too, was not engaging men as survivors. Right. And now I'm not going to speak to what other activists did wrong [or] right. You know, I always talk about survivors. It's not a womens' movement. This is a survivors' movement. But if you only embrace men as harm-doers, you don't leave any space for anything else. Right? And so it puts them against the wall. If you know, there's this sort of message that if, if, you know, men would just stop raping, this would all be over. And that's actually not true. Audie Cornish 00:23:08 I wish I could say I had never heard that sentence. I have. Tarana Burke 00:23:10 No, it's and I always I'm always trying to like, say please. That's not true. It diminishes the men who have experienced sexual violence at the hands of women, which is so many, so, so many. It diminishes folks who are on the gender spectrum. Right? It just, it just is a wrong statement, really. The other part about it that's a challenge is that we cannot win this battle without everybody, right? Audie Cornish 00:23:37 Yeah, but now you're not in that position. I mean, in terms of things that have shifted. You've got, frankly, a lot of the men, let's say, in entertainment who are canceled. They are back in the public space. Right? They are very much. Their finances are still good. They may not have the same cultural relevancy that they appreciated, but they found in a whole new audience. Tarana Burke 00:24:00 Oh, yeah. Audie Cornish 00:24:01 You have political figures using the term "me too martyr" to talk about a man who has been kind of falsely accused. Tarana Burke 00:24:10 'Wow. I haven't actually heard that one. That's -- Audie Cornish 00:24:11 'Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. No, it came up during some of the potential cabinet nominees, like, for instance, Matt Gaetz from Florida --. Tarana Burke 00:24:19 Ah, of course. 00:24:19 '-- who was actually reckoning with an investigation into right his interactions with underage girls and didn't end up going forward. So in that case, it really did hurt him. But I don't think any more I'm not sure it means and I'm not sure it's disqualifying. Tarana Burke 00:24:40 Oh, I think we are sure that it's not disqualifying in any way. Audie Cornish 00:24:43 Well, yeah, to be in a public space. Tarana Burke 00:24:45 'Yeah, it is not. I think that you have some cases that are egregious and people are like, well, sure, that person because you know, like when in the case of Diddy, you know, before that video came out of him, right. Physically abusing Cassie, people were, she is is she a gold digger? Da-da-da. Audie Cornish 00:25:06 Yeah, and "he said, she said." That's usually the term, right, before you have, in that case, Diddy's hotel surveillance video. Tarana Burke 00:25:12 'Right. And so then we, we we-- Once we decide that that person actually might have been this bad actor, then they become a boogeyman and not just a part of society. And this is the larger societal problem, right? They're just one offs. They're just these boogeymen that just happen to be bad actors as opposed to saying, no, this is part and parcel of what everyday people are dealing with in their lives. This is happening in small towns and in communities across the city, across the world. Audie Cornish 00:25:41 'Every time one of these guys comes back to the public space, or even there is a high stakes change in the legal system, Harvey Weinstein's a good example. He had his case overturned, and people probably come to you like, beep-beep-beep, what do you think? What does this mean for me too? And what has that been like? Tarana Burke 00:26:04 Annoying, in a word. I get it. You know, people want to try to understand and make meaning of these moments. But part of the reason why it's frustrating is because this movement really has never been about perpetrators. It has always been about survivors. Audie Cornish 00:26:26 'Uh, I'm chastising myself in my head because I do think, legacy-wise, I now look back, say Me Too movement. In my mind, I just see boxes and faces of men, who are accused. I don't see the survivors. Tarana Burke 00:26:38 And it's I mean, I think it's most people, right? If Weinstein and Matt Lauer and R. Kelly and all of that is the first thing that jumps in your mind, it's because that's what the media has done. What I see when I think of it, I can see myself scrolling Twitter and all of those hashtags, one after another after another. "Me too. Me too. Me too." I think about the numbers when we got the demographics back, and it said 12 million people had interacted with this hashtag across social media in 24 hours. Every hashtag is a human being. And we lose sight of that all the time because we spend so much time talking about these, the people who caused harm, the people who were accused of causing harm, and what happened to their material lives. And we never think about the material lives of survivors, and they are just millions more of us. Audie Cornish 00:27:27 Do you feel like there's more to do in terms of making survivors feel supported or not judged when they come forward? Tarana Burke 00:27:35 For sure. For sure. We have to. Audie Cornish 00:27:37 Oh, I was hoping you would say that's one legacy of 'me too,' that it's better now. Tarana Burke 00:27:41 Now. No, I think that it's I think the legacy of 'me too' around survivors coming forward is definitely that people feel more comfortable coming forward. I think we have more language and we have a shift in attitude with people. Where[as] before there was so much speculation and, you know, and there's still that, but there's much less now. And to give credit to this generation, these younger generations, the Zs and the As and the, you know, the young folks. Audie Cornish 00:28:09 Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:28:10 They have an analysis around this that is so sharp. Audie Cornish 00:28:14 Well, they grew up with it. Tarana Burke 00:28:15 They grew up with it. Audie Cornish 00:28:15 If you think about being 10 years old, 12 years old, 13 years old with this stuff coming up, I mean, it's pretty wild. Tarana Burke 00:28:21 Yeah, So I'm I worry less about that. I think that that will be a longstanding part of our legacy, that we shifted how people understand and think and talk about the material lives of survivors. Audie Cornish 00:28:32 Is there any strategizing going on meaning going forward? Are people starting to come together and be like, how should we talk about this under this new administration, under this new cultural regime? Tarana Burke 00:28:45 'Yeah. Well, you know, this is our second go-around. So I think a lot of us, particularly in this work, learned a lot of big lessons in the first era of this administration. What's a little bit nervewracking for me is thinking about what's going to happen culturally or what's happening culturally. You know, watching this administration come in, watching the open arms for people who have been accused of sexual harm or who have been-- Audie Cornish 00:29:14 Andrew Cuomo's running for mayor, right, in New York. Tarana Burke 00:29:18 'Oh, don't get me started. That's a rant for me. I was literally about to go live, and I never do that on Instagram the other night. I was like, and I hope this stays in because I need to say this. We will never be able to move forward. And when I say move forward, I mean collectively towards liberation. This is not about women or men or even sexual violence, but the kind of world, as so many of us say, that we want to live in. We will not get there when we when we keep making these same kinds of mistakes, when we discount violence against women as a serious enough offense, right. That that-- It always gets dismissed. So what happens is somebody like Andrew Cuomo decides he's going to run for mayor and people are like, oh yeah, he's great. He knows how to govern. He can beat such and such and blah blah blah. And then somebody will say, but wait a minute, what about? And, there like, well, yeah, that was terrible, or maybe that happened, but. And that "but" is what's going to kill us. That "but" is what sets us back. Right there. You can't tell me that there are not other qualified people who don't have a history of abuse of power. And I'm saying that because you you actually stepped down. You actually stepped down from the governor's seat of New York. Audie Cornish 00:30:37 Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:30:37 This is the kind of thing that hurts my heart because I'm like, it is like we are going in circles. Out of one side of their mouth. People will say they care about this issue. They want to see an end to violence. But to my point about what we see in an administration, this is cultural. Audie Cornish 00:30:54 'When I think about Democrats, that's where the 'me too'-- Tarana Burke 00:30:58 You gonna keep getting me in trouble. Audie Cornish 00:31:00 When I think about Democrats, that's where the 'me too' movement truly confuses me. Right, and let's take that example of New York. We were talking about Andrew Cuomo. I remember Senator Gillibrand being the one to come out and kind of lead the charge, saying Al Franken should resign. And then after he resigned, the last couple of years, it's been like Al Franken was actually a pretty good guy. And he didn't really hurt someone. Maybe he just groped them. Maybe not. We should have looked into that more. Like it's it's actually on the left that there has been this, did things go too far and did it cost progressive politics too much in this way or that way? Tarana Burke 00:31:40 'One, I think they're not progressive politics. I think they're left politics. Two, my, my, my grandma used to use a phrase "mealy-mouthed." You ever heard that? "Mealy-mouthed?" Audie Cornish 00:31:50 Oh, yeah. Tarana Burke 00:31:52 'Mhmm. We got too many mealy-mouthed folks. They say one thing, they mean another. They say one thing, they do another. And so I am, I probably should just leave it at that, but I, I said this during the Kavanaugh hearing. This was political football. They were using Christine Blasey Ford. It's like political football. You can't I don't care what your party is. This is not a political issue to me. It's a human issue. And so you cannot care about it when it's convenient, right? I remember I tweeted, I was so angry when around the Cuomo thing, around some of the stuff I saw, I was like, these people are Dems before fems. Audie Cornish 00:32:34 Dems before fems. Tarana Burke 00:32:35 I had to delete it. My people got to me really fast. They were like, take that down. But I just it's frustrating. I don't care what your party affiliation is, we have to hold the line. Audie Cornish 00:32:46 Yeah. Tarana Burke 00:32:47 'Right? there has to be an understanding of what's right, and what's necessary to move this issue forward. And then we have to stay there. And I and I'm just gonna say this and end. It's so many missed opportunities from people who are on the left or progressive or whatever you want to call it. There are these missed opportunities. When the bad actors are on that side, there's an opportunity for those who know better, who claim to know better, to say, okay. This happens on a spectrum. Let's handle it like that. Why don't you encourage these -- the person who's been accused -- to come forward and say, this is what happened. I'm going to let this investigation, you know, like? Audie Cornish 00:33:33 Model it, basically. Tarana Burke 00:33:36 Model it. Model what moral authority looks like. This moral authority that they always want to claim. You need to model it for people. Stop texting me asking me for $3. Go find a person who knows what they're doing, and model what it looks like to be a moral authority. That's what we need from our leadership right now across the board. And that's why we. Until we get to that point, we going to keep coming back around to the same things. Audie Cornish 00:34:07 Tarana Burke, founder of the 'me too' movement. Her memoir is called "Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement." This episode of The Assignment, a production of CNN audio, was produced by Sofia Sanchez and Madeleine Thompson. Special thanks to Grace Walker. Our senior producer is Matt Martinez. Steve Lickteig is executive producer of CNN audio and our technical director is Dan Dzula. We had support from Dan Bloom, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. As always, thank you so much for listening. Please hit your 'subscribe' button, and share this show with a friend.
