CNN anchor Chris Wallace and podcaster Kara Swisher shared a light moment as they agreed they would be better off leaving a certain slang phrase alone in their everyday lives.
Wallace opened this week’s edition of CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday morning by teasing a segment that included the news that Snoop Dogg has been hired as part of NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games:
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again and welcome. It’s time to get together with some smart people to break down the week’s big stories. Today we’re asking, does Donald Trump have a case for presidential immunity as the appeals court prepares to hear arguments that could change the entire election?
Then, President Biden’s new campaign strategy appears to be less Bidenomics, more Hitler references. So is the president running away from his record?
And fo’ shizzle, our panel gives its yay or nay on the country’s newest Olympic reporter, Snoop Dogg.
The gang is all here, so sit back, relax, and let’s talk about it.
The tease even included a “Fo’ Shizzle” graphic.
Journalists Jonah Goldberg, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Reihan Salam, and Swisher joined Wallace for the show’s weekly “Yea or Nay” segment, which included a mention of Mickey Mouse “porn” and Wallace asking Swisher how he had done using Snoop’s vernacular:
WALLACE: Next, Disney’s iconic character like you have never seen him before. Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain after Disney’s copyright expired on January 1st, 95 years after the first appearance of “Steamboat Willie.” That means the loveable rodent’s image could be used by anybody in almost any way. And already at least two horror films featuring a mean Mickey are in the works, with one called “Mickey’s Mousetrap.” Last year the same thing happened to another beloved character with the release of a film called, I’m not kidding here, “Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey.”
So Reihan, are you yay or nay on the idea of the copyrights for these beloved characters expiring?
SALAM: I am a big yay on this, and partly because as a conservative I believe in what the founding generation laid down. They wanted copyright terms to be about 14 years, a heck of a lot shorter than they are right now. And I think that that actually can be a spur to creativity.
WALLACE: Kara?
SWISHER: Love it.
WALLACE: Disney says it is going to do everything it can to protect its trademark. You are OK with Mickey as a serial killer?
SWISHER: I loved “Blood and Honey.” Yes, sure. Why not?
WALLACE: You saw it?
SWISHER: I sure did. Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But what about Mickey porn?
SWISHER: Oh, well. That’s humanity. I don’t know what to say. I think that creativity people will do interesting things and people will do terrible things. If they violate Disney’s I.P. they should —
WALLACE: I could say, Lulu, that the fact that you said Mickey porn, shows you went there.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I went there.
WALLACE: I’m not sure anybody has.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I’m sure they have.
WALLACE: Finally, a surprising hip-hop twist to the upcoming Summer Olympics. NBC has hired rapper and actor Snoop Dogg to help with its coverage of the Paris games as a special correspondent. An NBC executive explained, quote, “We don’t know what the heck is going to happen but he will add his unique perspective.” So Jonah, yay or nay on Snoop Dogg joining the ranks of Olympic reporters like Howard Cosell and Bob Costas?
GOLDBERG: Let me caveat this by saying rarely have I been torn about something I cared about so little. But —
WALLACE: But you’re in cable TV.
GOLDBERG: I say nay.
SWISHER: What!
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What!
GOLDBERG: I don’t know why we have to inject — I don’t know why we have to inject sort of, you know, performative celebrities into every aspect of life. I just don’t see the point of it, but I don’t really care.
WALLACE: In ten seconds.
SWISHER: Fo’ shizzle, like you just said. Ratings, baby.
WALLACE: Did I say it OK?
SWISHER: I’m not sure.
(LAUGHTER)
SWISHER: I think neither of us should say it again!
WALLACE: That was the only time!
SWISHER: Yes.
Watch above via CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show.
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