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Isaiah Washington On The Truth About Tyree Nichols Death & New Movie 'Corsicana' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Feb 20, 2023
Bass Reeves, a Deputy United States Marshal, is on an exhilarating mission to catch his former partner-in-crime Sam Tanner. With the help of an experienced Union Sharpshooter by their side and with time ticking away, they must travel through unknown territory in pursuit of Jack Donner's dangerous gang! Will Bass succeed before all hope fades when they reach Corsicana - the oil rich Texas town?
Actor and Director Isaiah Washington stopped by Sway In The Morning to talk about how he came to be the director of this story and starring as Bass Reeves. He also dug deep into the make up of American culture steeped in racism and competitive nature.
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Exclusive interviews from Sway Calloway and the Sway In The Morning/ SwaysUniverse.com team with some of today's biggest celebrities, like Kevin Hart, Kanye West, Eminem, Usher, Jessica Alba, Steve Aoki, Torey Lanez, Julia Stiles and so much more.
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0:00
yeah big round of applause for that
0:02
that sounds good Corsicana sounds great
0:07
that's the new movie which is directed
0:12
written executive produced
0:14
and starred in by our good friend
0:18
who hasn't been here in 10 years I can't
0:21
believe it when he said 2014. we all
0:23
look at each other like where did the
0:24
time go yo because we all look the same
0:27
thank God
0:34
I think of his uh his legacy from um
0:37
clockers to ghost ships
0:39
to Romeo Must Die come on man this way
0:44
we've been we've been out here for a
0:45
minute so we're out here for a second
0:46
man I want to welcome him back to the
0:48
show my good friend I say that with
0:50
Pastor Isaiah Washington is here thank
0:53
you
0:54
now I'd say a Tracy G is in New York
0:58
along with uh Fortune DB oh oh okay yeah
1:01
okay get to see him over there man all
1:03
right JC okay yo it's been nine years
1:05
how you doing nine years since we last
1:08
saw you yes sir what have you been doing
1:11
in nine years I've been crawling on the
1:13
ground man I mean you know they always
1:15
say you move in silence and get quiet
1:17
when you're ready to you know drop the
1:19
big one yeah I'll try to find a bit it's
1:21
really manifesting I just knew that
1:23
there's something there was something
1:24
more out there for me to to do
1:28
uh just like I asked about my career
1:30
it's like I don't know what I want to do
1:32
God back in 1986 but if you show me the
1:35
way I make sure I would do the best at
1:37
it and that's how I got into acting
1:39
after she see seeing she's got to have
1:41
it which inspired me
1:44
so cut two this time I figured like if
1:46
I'm gonna come back out for a movie
1:49
I have to divest myself from being a
1:52
pollutant
1:53
intuitive violence I have to you know
1:56
God ancestors to show me what it is that
1:59
I need to do that's going to be
2:00
empowering that's going to be engaging
2:02
that's going to uh give us value
2:05
collectively
2:07
and in you know I'm never going to solve
2:09
all the world's problems with racism and
2:11
bigotry and bias yeah but what nearly
2:13
Fuller Jr said is that if you want to
2:15
address Prejudice and racism and bias
2:17
you have to create something that's
2:20
going to create content that's going to
2:22
do just that with a frequency that's
2:24
high enough that's going to do just that
2:26
I did not plan to direct this movie yeah
2:29
I was just so obsessed that I didn't
2:31
know anything about bass Reeves three
2:33
and a half almost three years ago in
2:35
August when I was approached that I just
2:38
had to play batteries I was prepared to
2:39
just do a one-man show Once I discovered
2:41
him but when I got to Corsicana
2:44
there was a director that's the name of
2:46
the movie by the way it's out now that
2:48
hired me oh it's everywhere Prime on all
2:50
platforms
2:51
um thank you no problem yeah uh Prime
2:55
videos doing very well voodoo
2:57
YouTube uh man ubiquity
3:02
um XBox Apple it's in demand DirecTV's
3:06
it's worldwide well Nationwide now but I
3:09
wasn't there to direct I was there to
3:11
have a conversation about the script
3:12
that the little bit that they gave me
3:14
it's like there's not enough
3:16
Master using this story
3:18
and he was never shot so for my research
3:22
you're going to hurt yourself if you go
3:25
with subjugating this real person yeah
3:27
and I tried to give them the analogies
3:28
that's like John Wick was very it's very
3:31
popular but you can't have a character
3:33
named Muhammad Ali
3:35
in a John Wick movie yeah yeah people
3:38
are old enough to know who Muhammad Ali
3:41
Muhammad Muhammad Ali was and that's how
3:43
I looked at best reason once my eyes was
3:45
open to them they listened and
3:48
everything that you see about bastards
3:49
pretty much as I insisted and wrote it
3:52
in there even with the the character
3:54
California I wrote that character
3:56
because I wanted to say they said if you
3:58
make a movie you have to have something
3:59
to say yeah and I wanted to address this
4:02
idea
4:03
that
4:04
all white people are bad yeah
4:07
how's that true house way
4:14
I'll swear yeah how's that true yeah and
4:16
I created California which is really
4:18
initially an area for abolitionists that
4:20
were running from
4:22
uh happen to be in slavers out of Texas
4:25
where I grew up so I thought it would be
4:27
interesting to create this character in
4:29
California wrote them in and and I took
4:32
creative license where he was the one
4:34
responsible after I would not tell a
4:37
movie but after bass reads
4:39
pretty much beat down his his master or
4:42
the son of his master everybody knows
4:44
you're gonna be lynched for that right
4:45
but the thing what people don't know
4:47
about Bad series is
4:48
he was on guard for that Colonel which
4:51
is like a brother he grew up in a big
4:53
house Colonel Reeves yeah which is his
4:55
is the the son of his uh Master yeah
4:59
doing uh the Civil War in 1861. he was
5:02
an armed guard because the sun was
5:03
really not that good at doing anything
5:05
so bass was there to protect him and
5:08
they got in a card game and he started
5:10
talking noise because like brothers do
5:12
he would beat him up but he forgot where
5:14
he was because bass Reeves and his
5:16
mother they lived in a big house he
5:18
never picked any cotton yeah
5:20
he would hunt and the thing that I want
5:22
to show in my own series is the thing
5:24
that broke his heart and woke him up to
5:26
being this LeBron James in this
5:27
environment
5:28
because he was such a great Marksman and
5:31
outshot everybody in every Turkish shoot
5:33
is when he was tracking slaves himself
5:36
and then when they came back and he saw
5:38
what happened uh-huh to a runaway slave
5:43
that changed bass reads uh for those who
5:46
don't know was the first black Deputy
5:47
U.S Marshal west of the Mississippi
5:49
River we're talking in the Years
5:53
1806 about around what years well he was
5:56
born in 1838 died in 1910 but his career
6:00
pretty much started his 32-year career
6:02
never shot never wounded uh
6:05
1875 to 1907.
6:08
the thanks that he got for helping
6:10
cleaning up the Indian Territory and
6:12
helping it become a thriving state of
6:15
Oklahoma as they made laws that he would
6:18
never be able to arrest another white
6:19
person they made a law so that because
6:22
bass reads in the end arrested over
6:24
third three three thousand uh uh felons
6:27
and he actually ended up killing about
6:29
14 of them and 91 of those arrests were
6:32
Caucasians and they were Caucasians yeah
6:35
so in fact in 1906 seven somebody in
6:39
fact checked me 1905 or 1907 just became
6:42
a state he was the first
6:44
uh black law man to arrest the white man
6:48
for lynching a black man
6:50
that had never happened now and this is
6:53
happening at a time in the country I
6:55
mean we see what the country is like now
6:57
hello
6:58
when it comes to policing and and well
7:01
this is this is this is why uh you know
7:06
it's interesting that they're doing a
7:07
story Robert Smalls who created our
7:08
public school system after pretending to
7:10
be a Confederate officer and fleeing
7:12
slavery himself and becoming a
7:15
congressman in doing the the uh
7:18
Reconstruction Era which was toppled
7:20
because of their power you know it's
7:21
really interesting and I would digress
7:23
is that the thing for me about watching
7:25
the Super Bowl
7:26
and and thinking of my mom she never
7:28
lived to think that there would be black
7:31
quarterbacks yeah and for her to see
7:33
that two black quarterbacks were running
7:36
and gunning like we're used to seeing at
7:37
the Collegiate level putting scores up
7:40
30 points on the board yeah that's
7:42
amazing yeah there is this idea of the
7:45
great who was great Tom Brady I grew up
7:48
with you know
7:49
Manny and Rich Bradshaw and Joe Montana
7:53
yeah but the idea of the Great White
7:55
Hope quarterback that's over that's over
7:57
right that's over yeah that's what
8:00
people are not talking about which
8:02
brings me back to Bass Reeves because if
8:04
it wasn't for his work
8:06
that he could not create some kind of
8:09
Safe Haven
8:11
for all of the new colleges after the
8:14
Civil War
8:15
that funneled
8:17
millions of players over the years to
8:20
the NFL a 91 billion dollar industry
8:23
you know
8:25
how University was created in 1867 yeah
8:28
so it could say that we thus he made it
8:31
safe for others to do business because
8:34
that's all that's all racism is really
8:36
about economics so when did you when did
8:38
it become systemic racism
8:40
I've always said that a group of people
8:44
realize that they can't compete
8:47
they're going to lie cheat steal and
8:49
kill
8:50
to survive I train in a very high Elite
8:53
level with law enforcement former law
8:55
enforcement form of Special Forces
8:58
and I talk to these guys
9:00
because I want to know how they thought
9:02
and what they're thinking and why they
9:04
think what they think Hmm and ultimately
9:07
these less melanated Spirits feel that
9:10
they don't look at murder of another
9:12
ethnicity when they're under duress or
9:14
under Fire
9:16
they fear for their lives and that's
9:18
their code and what they mean is if I
9:22
let this person that I think is stronger
9:25
than me
9:26
kill me then they're going to kill my
9:27
legacy and my family yeah they don't
9:29
look at killing other ethnicities as
9:32
murder they look at it as survival
9:35
whereas we're melanated people we're
9:37
more generous
9:39
we're more like hey come we'll share
9:42
come over here we'll help you put the
9:44
handcuffs on us the shackles on and then
9:46
enslave you that's our generosity we
9:49
don't have a DNA where we see every
9:52
other ethnicity as a threat
9:55
but there are a mindset and a DNA that
9:58
rightfully so if you look at history
10:00
even if you take all melanated people
10:03
off the planet there would be with Tony
10:04
Morrison says balkanization there's
10:07
spirits that need to entertain
10:08
themselves through murder and entertain
10:10
themselves and we have a history that we
10:12
know Gladiators was created and all this
10:14
stuff yeah what people football what
10:17
people want to see another person
10:18
compete and best them and even kill them
10:20
all right they want to see the thing
10:22
that's they had a Arenas are full of
10:26
people sitting in stands watching murder
10:28
watching murder yeah
10:30
but when you you have to understand
10:34
you're dealing with a mindset
10:36
that doesn't even think
10:39
about murder
10:43
all right it's they're destroying you
10:46
for them to survive when I was doing my
10:49
speaking engagements on my book it's
10:51
kind of like you know
10:52
uh the DNA has memory right
10:56
and the genetics the genetics it's not
10:59
all people but some people and and and
11:02
some of them don't have to just look
11:04
less Melody they look like us and be
11:06
murderers that DNA like you know uh
11:09
Kelly has some Choctaw in it well they
11:12
would sympathize it to the Confederates
11:13
so I don't know if I really trust Kelly
11:14
because Kelly still got some DNA here
11:16
that was enslaving people
11:23
so I was like when she told me she was
11:25
Choctaw
11:27
whoa whoa wait a minute nah but but
11:29
that's that's the whole idea of
11:31
epigenetics that that energy that passes
11:35
down generation to generation yeah but
11:37
you have to understand when a group of
11:39
people know they're outnumbered yeah no
11:41
they can't compete you have to
11:43
understand that they're going to do
11:44
whatever it takes by any means necessary
11:46
we say it but we don't mean it yeah they
11:50
say it and they have the power to do
11:51
something about it because they are
11:53
outnumbered and they're not interested
11:55
in being having any holistic equal
11:58
competitors to do anything for their
12:01
legacies and their children's children's
12:03
children children
12:04
so once I got into the mindset of that I
12:07
have to go whoa
12:08
okay that's not going to change yeah so
12:11
we I need to find something an
12:14
opportunity to create something that
12:18
allowed us to see each other working
12:20
together in a different form of hegemon
12:22
right and we're making money together
12:26
don't have to like each other don't have
12:28
to trust each other but post
12:31
Oklahoma in the Indian Territory there
12:33
was no institutionalized races because
12:36
of the Trail of Tears in this no man's
12:38
land you got to see when you say the
12:40
Trail of Tears you got to give a little
12:42
context for those who may not know oh
12:44
okay uh the Trail of Tears will put
12:46
about if no mistake of the year with
12:47
Andrew President Andrew Jackson when he
12:49
lost the war with the Seminoles in
12:51
Florida he decided that we're going to
12:52
take the mississippians the alabamians
12:54
which were all Native people we're going
12:57
to displace them and send them into No
13:01
Man's Land which is became
13:03
the Indian Territory or Oklahoma which
13:05
is a people Oklahoma territory that they
13:08
designated like a mandate this is where
13:10
y'all going but we're taking your land
13:11
yeah right
13:13
well those people felt some kind of way
13:15
about that because most of the Seminoles
13:17
were mostly a mix of Africans
13:20
uh
13:21
free slaves runaway slaves that built
13:23
their communities kept their culture and
13:25
kept their parents who was minding their
13:26
business Maroons all came out of that so
13:30
we're not we don't we don't want no more
13:31
of that we don't want no no pushback no
13:33
talk back we want you land we want your
13:35
minerals and this is what you're going
13:36
to do at gunpoint we're going to put you
13:38
on a Trail of Tears and if you survive
13:39
great if not that's that's good yeah so
13:42
bass Reeves uh howdy where was bass
13:46
Reeves
13:47
um in parallel to the Trail of Tears to
13:50
Frederick Douglass to all these people
13:51
who were around at that time was he he
13:53
was still he was still considered a
13:55
slave uh born in Arkansas right and and
13:58
moved around in Texas uh as a child but
14:02
he was a valuable slave he was like
14:03
LeBron James because he could shoot so
14:04
well so he was treated he was treated
14:06
differently because he could shoot
14:07
literally yeah right so he was an armed
14:11
guard for his master before the Civil
14:13
War he was completely operating in a
14:16
different world because he you know the
14:19
thing that that is the most powerful
14:20
symbols in the world if his first is a
14:23
woman and then a melanated woman yeah
14:24
then after that's the firearm
14:27
and then after that
14:29
money whatever power whatever yeah but
14:33
if you master a firearm with a certain
14:34
mindset if you're really good at
14:37
mastering a firearm which he did like
14:39
Tiger Woods mastered the golf club
14:40
you're gonna get respect because it's
14:43
that difficult to master
14:44
and he had mastered it eight years old
14:46
like they could they get into a gunfight
14:48
there's a story in the book
14:51
um they couldn't get this guy out he was
14:53
out shooting them
14:55
so the sheriff or whatever said get to
14:57
ask me he's out here battery somebody
15:00
like Paul Revere when he got him bad guy
15:03
with his Winchester rifle
15:06
shot the guy at eight no no he was young
15:08
he was a young young in his career at
15:10
the time
15:11
but he probably could have done it at
15:12
eight as well
15:14
um
15:15
shot to God like one shot walked up to
15:19
him and sent a book Black uh guns
15:21
Superstar
15:23
the man said I've killed 11 people
15:27
and I want you to have this gun built I
15:29
want you to have this because I never
15:31
thought anybody without shooting me and
15:35
let alone kill me
15:36
and gave his gun
15:39
this criminal to Bass Reeves
15:41
see that's like the Super Bowl yeah
15:43
we've never seen that before and I think
15:46
we'll we'll have a less animus once
15:50
people look at our differences and look
15:53
how we did work together but something
15:55
happened because we still got a lot of
15:56
these names and we got grandmothers and
15:59
Grand aunts that are very very fair so
16:01
somebody was loving somebody yeah and we
16:03
know a lot of people were raping people
16:05
but what we don't know is that there was
16:06
a lot of relationships that would was
16:09
consensual because they were around each
16:12
other yeah I mean actually this because
16:13
this story is so powerful right but
16:16
these aren't the type of stories we see
16:18
a lot especially a black man empowered
16:20
from our past you're not gonna get it
16:21
out of Hollywood okay so I was gonna ask
16:23
you did you approach anybody in
16:24
Hollywood man nobody's touching me man
16:26
I'm still not touching you man I'm
16:28
radioactive because I tell the truth
16:30
they don't want the truth happening here
16:32
I'm the last thing what are you I've
16:34
been I've been on the ground for 10
16:35
years for a reason dude I'm a media
16:37
black if I say something they take it
16:38
out of context looking for something but
16:41
it's it's all stemming from the Gray's
16:43
Anatomy I'm a runaway slave from Disney
16:46
I'm bastards in real life faith when
16:48
they try to kill you you're supposed to
16:50
stay dead you're not supposed to be
16:52
sitting up here talking to swag wow and
16:55
without without a manager without an
16:57
agent without a publicist yeah
16:59
I I put up a tweet and I put up on my
17:02
and I said
17:04
they probably sitting up there going
17:07
who the is helping him wow because you
17:11
keep you keep going you keep going and
17:15
not only that I'm competing I've had
17:18
this movie in the theaters with wakanda
17:20
forever nobody knew about it because
17:22
they're not going to tell you about it
17:24
in Cinemark AMC Theaters over 78
17:27
theaters across the country and local
17:29
theaters that are tired of dealing with
17:31
Studios that will put their movie in the
17:34
theater for two weeks
17:36
they can't eat
17:37
and then pull it and put it on Netflix
17:40
now I'm already on Amazon and all of the
17:42
platforms that Black Adam and wakanda
17:45
I'm not getting boycotted I don't have a
17:47
hashtag you just have a hashtag
17:48
Corsicana movie there's no hashtag going
17:50
oh this is a lie this is this this is
17:53
not accurate
17:55
because everybody wants the truth and
17:58
people that are less melanated they want
18:00
these stories and tell them the slay
18:02
stories because they're tired of being
18:03
hit in the head with a rock because some
18:05
young black person is saying oh this is
18:08
what you did to me and don't have all
18:10
the information and they're getting
18:11
their butts whipped yeah so it's twofold
18:13
and most of my fans are in their 60s and
18:17
70s right and they have brown
18:19
grandbabies
18:21
because their son-in-law looks like me
18:24
so they want peace because they didn't
18:28
want Cops feel in some kind of way they
18:30
want them to have respect I'm glad you
18:32
brought up cops because if you were
18:34
given like no one everything that you
18:35
know now and it's like amazing history
18:37
that you would be you know being able to
18:39
find out if you were put into a room
18:41
with the five offices that kill Tyree
18:43
Nichols black officers then what would
18:45
you say to them what would be your
18:47
message to those men I I would say to
18:50
them that they probably got the wake-up
18:51
call just like Bad series got a wake-up
18:53
call by thinking he was a part of a
18:56
mindset part of a structure part of a
18:58
team that was toxic when bass freeze saw
19:01
what happened to the slaves that he
19:03
tracked the thinking he was doing a
19:05
great job
19:06
and saw what happened to him it changed
19:08
him unfortunately these guys
19:11
got caught up in their power
19:13
and they lost perspective
19:16
and this is the most the worst kind of
19:18
workup call is because you're melanated
19:20
as well right but yet you're you're
19:22
behaving in such a way and if you look
19:25
at it and correct me if I'm wrong there
19:27
was a less melanated person that told
19:30
them to go do it it's almost like like
19:32
sick and boy
19:34
and that's exactly what happened why did
19:37
it take us so long to find out about
19:38
officer himself
19:40
yeah it's just like anybody we anybody
19:43
who raised a pit bull we know what a pit
19:45
bull is capable of
19:47
so that's how it is is that
19:49
what frequency LED them to think that
19:53
this guy who tased him first and stepped
19:57
back yeah and watched the rest of the
19:59
pit bulls kill him literally do what
20:03
they did and why did they cover it up
20:05
well it goes back to our American
20:08
history
20:09
if I can't best you then I'm gonna hire
20:12
athletes to run up and down the Gridiron
20:15
and make money for me I'm going to hire
20:17
someone to go do that hit for me it's
20:20
the same thing
20:21
in in a flash point
20:24
it's all about power you do what I tell
20:28
you to do when you do it how I tell you
20:31
to do it and if you don't there's going
20:33
to be a penalty for it
20:34
and that's why I've been thriving is
20:37
because that kind of tyranny yes it's
20:40
not just on a political line that
20:44
frequency is touching everybody
20:46
everybody feels like they're being lied
20:48
to everybody's feeling like information
20:50
is not complete so I've come into this
20:54
space pretty much like Melvin Van
20:55
Peebles with sweet badass song and
20:59
saying that if you want to be
21:00
entertained you saw my movie it's people
21:02
say oh God it's so violent it's so
21:05
violent yeah but you it's your
21:06
imagination that you have to work with
21:08
because I I with the French wave
21:10
Francois trufo rafifi you don't see it
21:13
it's all implied so you have to deal
21:15
with your whatever's going on in
21:17
yourself
21:19
what's going on in your head which is
21:21
what I told my DP every day it's like
21:23
you really don't see it he says man come
21:26
on let's shoot this let's shoot I said
21:28
no every day I said deprive the audience
21:31
of the violence I don't want to add
21:33
another pollutant we got a enough
21:35
pollution out here in violence we don't
21:38
need I've been a part of it yeah in the
21:40
movies we don't need that I don't it's
21:42
now that I'm in power and you don't hear
21:45
one n i g g e r word in it in the whole
21:48
movie and you still know there was
21:50
sexual sexual attention but there was
21:53
racial tension yeah right I don't want
21:54
to say the rape was sexual but it I even
21:56
took I even took care of that yeah right
21:59
it's like I'm not going to do now that
22:02
I'm in charge
22:03
and I didn't expect to be yeah I knew
22:06
enough about filmmaking to know that if
22:07
I ever had to direct it I'm not going to
22:09
go that route I'm gonna be a board
22:10
responsible right Isaiah Washington is
22:12
here we're talking about the movie
22:14
Corsicana is out right now I got a
22:16
chance to watch it I was very impressed
22:18
with his horse riding skills I didn't
22:20
know if he was going to fall off but he
22:23
did his thing he's from Texas That's
22:25
cold blooded because they've been at
22:27
like five dollars that I was gonna fall
22:30
I said oh that's so cold they finally
22:33
admitted but you know it got got kind of
22:35
crazy because at the end of the day
22:37
I you know certain people ain't used to
22:39
us being in control yeah that's what I
22:42
liked it they they say they all about it
22:44
but then when they have to take a
22:46
direction or order you found that on the
22:48
set oh I don't even want to get you that
22:50
okay oh yeah yeah oh yeah you're the
22:53
boss but still people have problems they
22:55
want to tell you how to be the boss and
22:57
tell you how to tell them to do their
23:00
jobs yeah but I cut through all of that
23:03
I cut this up because I've been the only
23:05
African-American on a set of 40 people
23:07
yeah so I know how to handle myself I am
23:09
consummate professional and
23:12
about what you said there's no issues
23:14
you heard about me no crazy nothing but
23:16
you heard about me in 15 years I'm a
23:18
professional so I understand how to deal
23:20
with personalities that may not be
23:22
comfortable
23:23
with who has power and that's really
23:25
what it's about but I had to cut through
23:27
that and we did it successfully and my
23:30
producers supported me in that and saw
23:32
that I'm being professional and all the
23:34
money people they like this dude is
23:35
getting this thing done this [ __ ] was
23:37
listing yeah he just saved this ship and
23:40
not only added more value because you
23:42
know Corsicana is the first oil boom
23:45
town that ultimately became Exxon Mobil
23:48
that's why I said yes to it because I
23:50
grew up in Texas and I didn't know
23:52
anything about that story yeah and I
23:53
said well we need to you know you have
23:55
some inaccuracies about bass reads and I
23:58
went there to have a conversation I did
24:00
something I'd never done I never read
24:01
the script I took 50 of her money and I
24:04
was sitting there smoking cigars running
24:05
with refugees escaping the hurricane
24:07
from Louisiana having a conversation and
24:10
if it didn't go well I was going to fly
24:12
myself give her money back and fly
24:13
myself back home right
24:16
but
24:17
this thing I know they're asking me is
24:20
like so the director quit another girl
24:22
could come in one to fire the producer
24:24
and the investor and me I told her about
24:27
that she put him on the plane it was all
24:29
kinds of shenanigans going on man this
24:31
story meant it was meant to be talking
24:33
yeah Shenanigans and then they came to
24:35
me and I'm still you know playing with
24:37
my rifle in my room I'm still trying to
24:40
be bad speeds right yeah I don't even
24:41
know what's going on and they said are
24:43
you leaving
24:43
I was like what are you talking about
24:46
well the diamond the the the the Joker
24:48
just quit and he said that when he
24:50
leaves you leave him and I said what are
24:51
you talking about I said I didn't have a
24:53
conversation with him to decide whether
24:54
or not
24:55
what's going on yeah
24:57
and then at that point I saw a crew
24:59
member coming out crying and that got me
25:01
and I said if I leave that means 40
25:04
people gonna lose their job they're
25:05
going to lose their jobs yeah that
25:06
counted on yeah and that's going to be
25:09
on my name at the end of the day somehow
25:11
that's gonna be my fault yeah
25:13
so I walked in put my cigar out and said
25:16
you know what I'm directing this thing
25:18
because I knew about bass freeze yeah 27
25:20
days of research got the book no this is
25:23
the next story I want to do Ida B Wells
25:26
Ida B well that's the next movie I want
25:29
to direct y'all y'all help me and win
25:30
with this one that I will give you this
25:32
one for real for all right let me see
25:34
that book Tracy jump in with me yeah
25:36
yeah Isaiah I know we have limited time
25:37
but I'm hoping to get your perspective
25:40
first of all this is a very Illuminating
25:41
conversation especially being had in
25:44
February for sure
25:46
um I'm wondering if you can relate to um
25:49
something that Idris Elba recently said
25:52
um in an interview of Esquire and pretty
25:54
much that he doesn't he no longer wants
25:57
the label of a black actor I'm
25:59
paraphrasing here but he feels like it
26:01
puts him in a box he doesn't feel like
26:04
you know your occupation should be
26:05
defined by your job we say black actors
26:08
but we don't say black Architects and
26:10
that we have an obsession with race and
26:12
it can hold us us back that's his
26:14
personal stance it's not something he
26:15
feels like everyone should fall in line
26:17
with but given the conversation we've
26:19
been having with you I can't help it I
26:21
really would love your perspective even
26:23
when you you succeed there's still a
26:25
ceiling that is going to catch up with
26:27
you yeah and it could be about race it
26:30
could be about gender it could be about
26:32
just what you say that's taken out of
26:34
context and I do think that what he said
26:36
is taking it out of context of course
26:37
Sakana is out right now yes sir this is
26:40
a movie today but it'll be a series
26:42
tomorrow man I I'm looking I'm tracking
26:45
this you know
26:47
I would throw a this was a Manna From
26:49
Heaven this was a gift from the
26:50
ancestors to have me play bass freeze
26:52
and and be at the leadership of this
26:54
movie but my brother in New York Lee
26:56
Davis and I have a script that we were
26:59
uh mentored by RT Burton who wrote the
27:01
book Black Gun civil star that's also
27:03
being utilized by David ollo I'm waiting
27:06
on him I texted him and said it's your
27:08
turn bro bring it because you got to get
27:10
it right because we gotta do we gotta
27:12
get we got to make bass Reeves
27:14
a common name in the world okay so you
27:18
got to get it right and I know he will
27:20
um
27:22
But ultimately I'm talking to some
27:24
really serious people uh now that I'm on
27:27
a streaming platform because streaming
27:28
is king I don't have to go to network
27:30
television to do anything now I've
27:31
proven myself that content buyers will
27:34
buy something that I've created that's
27:36
power that's power yeah they're not
27:38
going to write about that in deadline
27:40
you know they're going you know they're
27:42
not gonna tell you that on shade room
27:43
you know what I mean they might yeah
27:45
they might but but but but when they
27:47
when they allow everyone else to see my
27:51
power by that time it's too late I don't
27:53
really need the support because I
27:55
already have it
27:56
my I need your support now so I can
27:59
share that power yeah and it's not about
28:02
dropping Blackness or dropping whiteness
28:04
is about power and that is the
28:08
fundamental thing that everybody is
28:10
frightened of us yeah to have that's
28:13
power hey Isaiah Washington it's been 10
28:17
years
28:22
I hope I did all right you did excellent
28:25
man you spoke your truth I hope I don't
28:27
get hit man did I say something that's
28:28
going to end up shade room I don't know
28:30
man
28:31
I sat next to the owner's shave room on
28:34
my way to Donna she was amazing I hope I
28:36
answered your question I didn't yes yeah
28:39
yeah you did great yeah
28:40
um Isaiah Washington make sure y'all
28:42
follow him on social the real Isaiah
28:44
Washington right uh the real Isaiah
28:47
Washington because I don't own my name
28:48
somebody bought it okay so I'm the real
28:50
Isaiah Washington on IG uh I'm at I
28:54
capital I Washington on um Twitter
28:58
um and I'm verified on Facebook and I'm
29:02
actually verified on true social I was
29:04
invited to come on through social I know
29:06
I know you're like oh no that's not my
29:08
reaction I'm looking at you I wonder
29:10
what bass Reeves would think of that
29:12
Isaiah thank you for coming by Brother
29:14
absolutely I'm proud of you man keep
29:16
going man hey man absolutely bro your
29:18
corner bro oh I appreciate that
29:19
absolutely I'm not trying to heal the
29:21
world and make anybody cool about y'all
29:23
but I do think that if everybody knew
29:25
our American history yeah then everybody
29:29
would start going oh they saw that yeah
29:32
we did have to all work together or die
29:34
together there you go I appreciate you
29:36
bro Isaiah Washington thank you for your
29:38
true coming up next we have Justin Cox
29:41
Brittany Renner who's hosting an event
29:43
today love and lust that's tonight
29:45
around Valentine's Day Hey listen we're
29:48
gonna tell you Valentine's stories I I'm
29:50
not a personal celebrator of it but
29:52
Heather is it's my 27th anniversary
29:54
today oh wow yeah what you gonna do man
29:58
I'm I'm trying to get back home to
29:59
figure it out
30:01
don't have her sitting watching the
30:02
movie oh no that ain't gonna happen
30:09
today brother enjoy your lunch okay all
30:12
right Isaiah Washington this way in the
30:13
morning shave four or five
#Arts & Entertainment