Clock It with Symone & Eugene

This week Symone and Eugene cover the Obama Presidential Center, UFC 250, the fact that tomatoes are up 32%, and, most importantly, Juneteenth. “Rights on paper are not the same as rights in practice,” says Symone, “and we are literally living that right now. Freedom requires government action. Freedom requires enforcement. Freedom requires people willing to defend the promise.” And when Symone and Eugene look at pop stars and Black athletes they find out who's willing, and unwilling, to defend their values. Ariana Grande, Jane Fonda, Tessa Thompson and Ayo Edebiri beg the question: Is your fave speaking up? Because silence is an answer.

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Graham Platner’s redemption arc starts now, after he wins the Democratic senatorial nomination for Maine. And while the rest of the United States is celebrating Pride, a handful of southern (plus Utah) Republican lawmakers have made it a point to rebrand June to disassociate with the LGBTQ+ community. The NBA Finals continue to heat up, in the same week 2026 World Cup kicks off. This should be a time for soccer fans across the globe to bow down at the altar of soccer, but politics – as it so often does – has gotten in the way. The African referee of 2025 was not allowed to enter the U.S. despite being handpicked by FIFA to officiate games, Iraq’s star player was detained and questioned for hours by Border Patrol agents, and the Iranian soccer team is not being allowed to sleep in the country despite being scheduled to play three matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. It’s times like these -- when the world is full of chaos -- that we look to the stars, which is why we asked Neil deGrasse Tyson to join the groupchat. He blew our minds with facts about UFOs, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Earth’s real shape, reminding us that "the universe is under no obligation to make sense.”

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This week we were keeping tabs on a very long primary day with races all over the country, Jill Biden's book tour, the "Summer House" reunion taking over our feeds, and a battle for the soul of “60 Minutes.” Symone and Eugene cover all of it, and then kick off Pride Month by welcoming internet and TV sensation Kalen Allen to the groupchat. The trio get into Hollywood’s beliefs about the market for queer stories – we may never get a Black “Heated Rivalry,” for example – and Kalen’s beliefs about the responsibilities of public figures. "I look at my life, I look at Eugene, I'm like – we are our ancestors' wildest dreams. We are the dreams that died with them,” says Kalen. “It is heavy, however I take every bit of the weight.”

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Even though President Trump continues to see spiraling poll numbers, the wallets belonging to his inner circle continue to get fatter. But it’s not just the money. Trump and his staff are also consolidating power by taking an axe to voting rights, specifically in southern states and marginalized neighborhoods. Symone and Eugene try to wrap their minds around the financial corruption within the White House before debating whether the NAACP’s call for Black athletes, families, and boosters to boycott colleges in southern states is the appropriate method to fight back. Then, W. Kamau Bell joins the groupchat to eulogize the comedy roast following Kevin Hart's controversial Netflix special, to explain how cancelled celebrities keep popping back up, and to call out the rich celebrities who have left their communities behind. “I think that there's a lot made about cancel culture," he says, "when, in fact, most of cancel culture is just the First Amendment working correctly.”

Further reading: 

The New Yorker – The Number How much is Trump pocketing off the Presidency?

Forbes Magazine – Donald Trump’s Net Worth

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It’s official. CBS has closed the doors of the Ed Sullivan Theater to “The Late Show” and Stephen Colbert. The show’s expiration is a sign of the times, when media executives capitulate to federal power in order to get mergers approved and paychecks delivered. Eugene and Dr. Symone Sanders Townsend (yes, Dr. Sanders Townsend) lament the twilight of comedy on TV and ask what moguls like Byron Allen will do with the airtime going up for grabs. And then the conversation turns to the cruel face of the Trump administration’s immigration detention campaign. Before they go, our hosts congregate with another Dr. – Dr. Michael Eric Dyson – who has a bone to pick with Kendrick Lamar. They also talk about the shadow of white supremacy, and the ways the Black community’s contributions to American society continue to be simultaneously disrespected and appropriated.

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