- 6 months ago
A conversation with Ayo Edebiti exploring Black representation in animated comedy and the recognition of Black contributions to film.
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00:00hello afro punk fam and welcome to the final segment of hot takes with ashley marie preston
00:20i hope y'all are having an amazing weekend there has been some lit music creative work
00:26art just everything that makes afro punk so unique and we're so happy to share this moment of joy with
00:33you all during such a complicated time but i want to introduce a very special guest that we have
00:39today io adebri is a fast rising writer performer who has been profiled by timeout new york vulture
00:46and force and is the new voice of missy on big mouth on netflix by the way one of my favorite
00:53shows so like i'm really excited about this io is also upcoming as hattie in season two of the apple
00:59series dickinson and stella in the indie feature film hello goodbye and everything in between
01:04her writing credits include mulligan big mouth and sunnyside i will also co-host the podcast
01:11iconography for forever dog give a warm afro punk welcome to io adebri thank you so much for joining
01:20us how are you this morning thanks for having me i'm good i sort of leave my body anytime anybody
01:26like lists my credits i feel like isn't it awkward it's so awkward right it feels really strange
01:36yeah it feels really weird i'm just like i mean i guess i did yeah all right sure i was there i was
01:42there like the security footage the security footage shows that i was there and also like i just made
01:48the assumption that it's morning because it's morning here in la but where are you at right now
01:53i'm in vancouver and it's very much morning it's very much it's very much morning we got folks in
01:59brazil all over the globe right now it's like i'm just like oh yeah so um what's it like in vancouver
02:06right now like i know that yeah um where he oh go well i was gonna say like are y'all locked down
02:14or is everything open or like what's going on there it's kind of like in the middle which is
02:19interesting because la is like very much locked down um unless you're like going to parties um
02:27at like tiktokers mansions which i'm not personally um but for me at least la felt very much locked down
02:35and here it's like middle of the road um when i came i had to like quarantine in a hotel room for
02:41like two weeks and everybody who like does who like who comes here has to do that like regardless
02:47of if you're getting covet tested like during that process like you just have to stay in a room and
02:53they lock the door and you can't leave but the the upside of that is that like now going onto the
02:59street i feel like moderately safe and like outdoor dining is like open which is also interesting
03:06because i feel like i was one of the people in la that was like be very careful don't go out
03:11and i'm like who wants to get a drink on a patio that sounds cool
03:17it's you know it's taken so much adjustment i've personally been quarantining since march 13th i've
03:25only left my house seven times and it's always been for production um but beyond that like and of
03:33course like you said we get tested they make us go through all of these things so yes what a time to
03:39be alive um so vancouver i know you're there right now working and you're originally from boston
03:46massachusetts correct yeah uh-huh what was it like growing up there because i know that when i think
03:53of boston massachusetts i immediately think of like yeah like that it's kind of bad yeah and i know
04:01also being the black kid uh who our family was the black family in the suburb what was that like
04:10growing up black in boston massachusetts i mean boston definitely has like a black community um and it just
04:18i think like looks a little bit different it's like hard to know that i think every time you think
04:23of boston it's like hey your mother you know and it's like and it's like okay i mean that's like
04:30definitely a part of it um there definitely is a black community in boston like black neighborhoods
04:35and uh both of my parents are immigrants and so uh that kind of was like my experience as meeting
04:42other black people was like a lot of them did have like an immigrant parent or like were immigrants
04:47but there are like also communities and like neighborhoods that where people are more have
04:53more like legacy and like history in the city um i liked it there were parts that i liked um but there
05:02were also things like you know you get older and you look back and you're like oh okay this is a little
05:09bit this one i didn't love this experience i didn't love and i i don't know like how much of that was
05:15like boston and how much of that is also just like getting older and i feel like now kids have so much
05:23more access i know i'm saying kids and i look like 14 and a half years old but like they do just have
05:30more access to like things on the internet like resources for discussing race and discussing
05:37you know their feelings and how they want to process those feelings and i absolutely did not
05:45have that like language we have more information and language and i think it's one of those things
05:52where once you've been socialized into a specific setting or space you don't know anything else like
05:59i'm originally from louisville kentucky and right you know what's going on in kentucky right now but
06:04i remember growing up and hearing like you know mitch mcconnell's name the things like oh yeah mitch
06:09mcconnell and it's like and then growing up it's like oh that was not that wasn't like a vibe you
06:14know like right yeah mitch mcconnell is probably the direct opposite of a vibe
06:20so you were talking about growing up you know uh immigrant parents like what was that like did you
06:28ever find yourself having unique experiences um navigating both of those um like did you
06:36did you have dual culture in your household or was it something that was just like everywhere you went
06:41i mean i feel like i kind of had like like tri-culture is that that's a word now that's a
06:47phrase now um because my mom's from barbados and my dad's from nigeria and so they both were doing
06:55that thing but also i think for my dad it was really important that i did feel like rooted in
07:02something american or in like black american experiences because to him like he didn't
07:07really he kept sometimes it's like you know i didn't know i was black until i came here and
07:11everybody was like you're black you know he was like i told people i'm adult you know that was my
07:16tribe and my mom is yoruba i'm like that's how you how i identified and now i'm like in this thing and
07:22you're a part of this thing so um i think that was important to my parents as well um i like i don't
07:31speak edo well or almost at all and so i think definitely growing up was like balancing or trying
07:42to balance all of those things it is like hard also i think maybe kids who are immigrants can like
07:52relate to this or just people who feel like they've had to like code switch or maybe this is
07:56something that black people can relate to on a whole but like i had experiences where i thought
08:02this was like normal this is what my life should be this is what it is and then you show up in an
08:07environment they're like isn't that your your black experience or your immigrant experience and
08:11you're like i mean like no and you bring up such an amazing point too because like even it wasn't
08:22until like i'll admit like you know um amidst the woke awakening or the woke culture movement i really
08:31never thought about the fact that the black diaspora is so like vast and wide so earlier i was talking
08:39about brazil and south america central america all these like different places where blackness has
08:44its own definition and we don't view blackness as the same so when you talk to friends like it's like
08:51no like i'm nigerian i'm kenyan i am this like i'm that they're not um i feel like in america because
08:58of the egregious uh history with slavery um there's kind of been this grouping of blackness or there's
09:07it's become a monolithic thing and it really shouldn't be so i kind of want to talk to you
09:11about that as well growing up black in addition to being in an immigrant family um i remember i don't
09:18know if you're anything like me i remember being the quirky black kid me and my sister so i was
09:25interested in like pogs and you know uh anime sometimes and i was i like the power rangers and
09:32like all this different stuff and people were like i i will never forget the first time somebody said
09:37why are you acting white and i remember thinking like acting white what is that even like so being
09:45someone who had interest in animation and all of these things that maybe fall outside of what black
09:51girls do or can be can you talk about what that journey was like i mean sure i i i played the oboe
09:59and like was doing improv when i was like 13 you know so i definitely was like weird um but i did
10:06feel lucky to have friends i also went to a school that was like very academically geared and like
10:12truly like very that's like the nice way of putting it but it was just like for like it was like a school
10:17for dorks like you took a test to get in and it was like a school for nerds and uh we were like
10:23learning latin and you know friends who were like in like math club and you know but um i felt lucky
10:31to like have friends who were black and and did have interests outside of this thing out of i guess not
10:36outside of anything but but had other weird interests and so it that was like i while i was in that space
10:45i guess i didn't really feel too strange but definitely had moments where when i was outside
10:53of that space then people would be like why are you talking this way why are you hating this way even
10:58sometimes i'll like post videos you know of like my stand-up and people will comment like you know
11:04she's very insecure and she sounds white and i can tell that just by how she speaks and it's like
11:09i don't know i think i'm fine like i know i have kind of a weird voice but i think i'm doing okay
11:14like i don't i feel very secure i feel okay uh did you ever did you ever have any of those
11:21microaggressions from non-black people because we know that sometimes we get that pressure to present
11:26or perform blackness in a specific way from our own community but was there ever any microaggressions
11:32from non-black folks oh a hundred percent and some of them you know are the ones that you're like
11:38taught are super positive i remember having like internships and people you know give you the
11:42you're very well spoken or wow you really know a lot about this thing don't you and it's like yeah
11:49i do because i took the time to learn about it just like everybody else you know i don't need a word
11:55for that um those definitely definitely have those experiences and some i i was thinking about this the
12:02other day i was in maybe like middle school i think and um i was still at catholic school and um you
12:12know like christmas was coming around and a girl was very sweet um very very sweet girl but she was
12:20she came up to me and she was like sobbing because she was like i just feel so bad because like you
12:26won't be able to celebrate christmas because your family celebrates kwanzaa i was like what and she was
12:34like sobbing like she felt so sad for me that my family couldn't celebrate um christmas and that we
12:42had to get each other handmade gifts and uh she bought me a paint set um she like she bought me a
12:47present because she was like i just wanted you to know like you can always have christmas and i
12:55remember my mom came to pick me up and my mom was like wait what is that and i was like bottling with the
13:00paint set i was like let's go let's go let's go i'm not talking about it i'm taking my gift i'll
13:04explain in the car that is so hilarious and i think that it's if it speaks to that sounds like a sketch
13:14that sounds like you should find a way to incorporate that maybe yeah i'm what i'm saying is i am pro
13:20microaggressions if somebody gives you a gift at the end of it that's the message that we need yeah
13:25um and so let's also talk about speaking of painting and you know like i'm i'm assuming that
13:37maybe she saw that you were a creative type and you like that sort of thing when did you
13:44see yourself represented or better question who was that person that you looked at in media and you
13:52thought to yourself that's what i want to do oh man um or was there a person were there people
13:59yeah it is interesting to like now be somebody who's working in an animation in an animation space
14:05a lot um especially because it's like not really something that i initially saw for myself um
14:14and looking back now a lot of the characters that i clung to like
14:22were animated characters i really really loved like susie carmichael from rugrats and number five
14:29from codenamed kids next door like basically anything kree summer did uh i also really loved
14:34like the show hillmore uh which was on abc or something or like disney for like one and a half seasons
14:43and um was like this stupid like this kid detective who did like basically like black exploitation and
14:51like noir but for like disney um so those were characters that i i really did cling to and i loved
14:59watching that that stuff and um because uh yeah i think those were characters that i really clung to
15:06it which is interesting to look back on now um but yeah there weren't a ton of for like i think what i
15:14loved and i remember even in high school i made a list of people who like i admire
15:18um in like comedy and whose voices i admired and stuff and um it just felt like
15:26like the things that formed my brain a lot of them i didn't really think there were that many
15:33black women in that space even if they were even if they like were behind the scenes and stuff but
15:37um it felt like for a while and even still this happens it's like we were the butt of the joke
15:46in those spaces and like in an animation space a lot of times like it it wasn't as much that
15:52especially in like kids animation like they were we were allowed to be full-fledged characters and
15:59weird and and do voices and all that stuff so i think did you ever feel that like animation was somehow
16:06a digital avatar that perhaps you know almost quite literally that was a way of um i don't know providing
16:16safety yeah and and solace and i mean i i think that idea of because it is an animation and it's like
16:24you talk about this when you're writing you can do anything you really can and i i think there is
16:30something that's like freeing about that both as a creator and also as somebody who's like consuming
16:39things and you know i think i had like a really big imagination as a kid and was always playing these
16:44like very elaborate games you know um even when we were playing like power rangers you know you'd
16:49like find the power ranger that was yours and then do all these like scenarios and games and whatever
16:54after that make up all these ridiculous storylines yeah you're like yes i know and like i'm peak
17:00millennial peak millennial like i yes a hundred percent a hundred percent and so like being able to
17:08i think like have that that space to just play and be free in a space that already feels like so
17:16limitless i think yeah that's so it makes it only makes sense that you would go from using animation
17:25as a space to explore um safely and without bounds or you know in a limit is in a limitless capacity
17:34to then merge it with comedy because you know like i've seen some like animation you know there's
17:41different types right like there's yeah but i think that comedy what makes comedy special i think for me
17:50at least um is the storytelling aspect so how did you use your skills in animation to also tell stories
18:02in a comedic way like what did that um process look like oh okay interesting i mean i mean okay
18:11i could have acted in a very backward way yeah no no i feel like i'm gonna answer it in kind of a
18:16backwards way well i i mean i started doing comedy like first that's kind of like what like i i did first
18:23and do or whatever and that i think at first like when i started comedy like or when i started doing
18:31stand-up i think you know you have this like notion of how you're supposed to tell stories and
18:36also there are parts of it where it's like me as a black woman i go okay i know who like our black
18:42female stand-ups that i admire and like how they tell jokes and stuff so how can i you know whatever
18:47do that and do maybe more like joke jokes and all that stuff and then doing it more and seeing more
18:53stand-up and a combination of those things really like your own voice starts like coming through and
19:03i think for me telling jokes in a way that's like storytelling it felt more true to me i i also um
19:13i like studied playwriting and uh so i feel like telling things like stories and work that that's just
19:22kind of how i like that's how my brain kind of works um and then in regards to like its connection
19:30with animation i mean it is like what you said right there's like different types of shows and
19:34like different um types of yeah like right like ways that that's going to get written and ways it's
19:41going to get explored um and also like different rooms and stuff i've like been lucky enough to be in
19:47like a few and hope to be in more and work on my own stuff in animation too but i think
19:56as far as like its connection i mean that's like the beauty of it is like to me even like the ways
20:04that we tell stories are so different you know and uh as individuals as cultures um like the ways that
20:14we tell them are can be so different and so like when you just have cool artists who can express
20:19that i feel like i'm saying like mumbo jumbo no you're not no you're not i'm following and i
20:24actually am like super adhd so again i'm following it's clear and succinct yeah okay but like i don't
20:32know because i because then my brain goes to we both we both are sort of adhd brain and
20:36yeah like textbook yeah which is why animation is a fun space i think because also you can be like
20:47okay there's a scene going on and then in the background there's going to be like six different
20:50visual jokes and then maybe like a few word jokes and we're going to be like threading different
20:56things through um i think that's part of that safety you were talking about also too like that
21:02exploration that non-judgmental space yeah you know i constantly i would say at least
21:11three times a week i have those moments that i sit back and i'm like this adulting thing i don't
21:17know that i quite consented to this like i don't know that i signed up for this that i asked to be
21:25you know like i think i'm always looking for ways to keep that inner child or that like
21:30yeah you know that flexible part of me that doesn't lose my ability to access imagination you know and
21:36so i can i can definitely yeah it's hard to access sometimes it's it's really it's very hard to access
21:49sometimes and even like when you access it and then you're like okay now i gotta do something with it
21:54i don't know about that and that can like kill the drive to do that too let me ask you how do you
22:01think animation is participating in the current uh conversation that's taking place in the social
22:09ecology we know that there used to be a time where we used to separate every space right so
22:15it was like this is entertainment this is um you know spiritual this space is spiritual this space is
22:22but now with like black lives matter and the conversation that we're having around race and
22:27gender and lgbtq equality and immigration and all of these different things have you seen a shift in
22:35the animation or comedy space around how these things are talked about yeah i mean 100 i think
22:41the it also is coming alongside shifts like in culture and in like just how rooms are working creatively
22:54like where it is like yes this is creative yes this is like art but also this is a workplace this is
23:01so you know we have we have to have um structure we have to have an hr department we have to you know
23:10like have things like like that and it's also interesting that i feel like my career is like
23:15coming up as this is also coming up so i i have been fortunate enough to not experience like a lot of
23:22the brunt of the bad things maybe like little tiny pieces but really not so anyway that was like a side
23:29thought but um to answer your question like those shifts in culture also coming alongside shifts in
23:35animation and how people are viewing animation and that in an american space like in japan you know
23:41what i mean like people have viewed animation as a serious medium and there's like the dramatic movies
23:48and shows that are really moving that i think attest to that but now i think in america like more so we're
23:55happy people are taking animation seriously and um ex and even though people have been experimenting and doing
24:03like things it for a while i think people are starting to shine a spotlight on it you know like
24:08drag horsemen and uh midnight gospel is like a really cool show um that was on netflix that like talks
24:15about like life and death and all that other stuff so i think things like that are happening alongside
24:21and that's all building towards that yeah that move that ends that whatever the end looks like um
24:31um but then you also have the piece too where i think in some of these spaces the conversation has
24:37always existed like i think we can all think about a cartoon or a show that we watched as a kid
24:43and then we watch it as an adult and we're like wait a minute that was political af like there was
24:49totally like there was like a totally underlying message there a hundred percent um which is which is
24:57really fun i always think those are so funny whenever i see like something on twitter that's
25:01like a screen cap of like dexter and it's like you know the people are the power and sister sister had
25:08like a striking episode like stuff like that there's always little bits of gems there's also like weird
25:14ones where it's like okay everybody who was working on like rock was modern life was like maybe a pervert
25:19but whatever or red and stampy how was red and stampy ever a kid's show
25:26a lot of the old nick ones are like okay i don't i don't want to ask any questions i'm
25:32i'm just gonna leave it alone that's even like popeye like some of the older like people don't know
25:38betty boop oh betty boop was in these streets uh um and so and also it's really interesting too
25:50to see i think what i find interesting is like um when we started to see more black animation because
25:59when i was growing up all of the uh cartoons that i saw there were white families like you know like um
26:06you know like the simpsons or you know like you know i think like life with louie or you know
26:13some of these like bobby's world and all of these little things and then you see like the cleveland
26:19show and then you see like you know some of these other um you see like these like rare gems and so
26:28how do you think those are are registering in the animation space and do you have like any kind
26:35of take on that um my take is that i think it is positive because i think with like entertainment
26:45in general i feel like a lot of the times the change happens in front of the camera before it
26:49happens behind and like obviously it's like it's animation but i think like it does happen like in
26:56front before it happens like totally behind and so i think it's all like just a good herald of
27:03positive change and of people listening and you know like now there are more examples that like
27:10you know are happening and also more shows that are just like they have black creative teams and they
27:17have like people of color who are storyboard artists and like you know craig of the creek i think is a
27:26is a really cool show that's on cartoon network right now and it's like about a black boy and his black
27:32family and it was created by two white guys but then they were like okay we're hiring black people
27:38we're hiring people of color and not just to do the writing like to also do the animating um and like
27:45we're making them as much of a part of this conversation as as they should be because we need them
27:53like we just saw a major yeah sorry no i was just gonna say like that is the thing that i often say
28:01to myself whenever i'm feeling like i don't know disheartened or like you know i'm a little tired
28:08i'm just like no like people need me people need us even if they don't want us to think so or want us to
28:17forget that like people need our voices and they're going to continue to hear them like they
28:25need us because we're fun and we're smart and we're cool and and well no one can tell our stories better
28:31than we can and i think that this is going to bring up a next subject which is like i think like really
28:38awesome that as you talk about the importance of representation as you talk about the importance of
28:43equity and writing rooms and like creative opportunities there was a big movement that
28:48just happened with um with white creators and voice actors and actresses who were like you know what
28:56maybe it is a problem that we're participating in digital blackface by being white and playing these
29:04like black or ethnic characters and which led to you actually playing the role of missy on the netflix
29:10original animated series uh big mouth and so uh jenny slate was the one who was actually playing
29:16that role and she was one of the ones who quit in solidarity with black lives matter to open up
29:23those spaces can you kind of talk about what that experience felt like like watching that take place
29:29and then being the beneficiary of that opportunity um yeah so it's it's interesting um i was working at
29:38big mouth at the time as a writer also so like i knew that this was happening before and like i was
29:44like yeah this is this is good this is like right and i'm glad that also jenny i mean like i i don't
29:51know it might to her credit like she was like investigating and interrogating these things like
29:56kind of on her own and she wasn't really like involving i think too many
30:01black people like in a laborious way um which i just was like okay i think this is good and i and
30:10also just i know that there were like people who were following after but i do really think she just
30:14like led the charge and very much was like okay i want to do this because it's like the right thing to
30:21do and now i'm leaving like i don't need anybody to like ask me any more questions or like feel bad for me
30:27like this is like the right thing to do bye bye and and you know there are people who like before
30:34up as recently as this year were like no we're not changing anything and people who after you
30:40know their roles are finished but now we're like i want to apologize after making like a lot of money
30:46it's like okay then what's the point like why why are you apologizing it doesn't actually mean anything
30:53so i i don't know i i do think it was a good thing that that that jenny stepped down i think
30:57she did it in the right way and um yeah well it was interesting because oh yeah go ahead go ahead
31:05no you go ahead please well i was shocked because i didn't know i didn't it never dawned on me and then
31:12when you started to look around and see that there were all of these other like big names yeah
31:17were stepping away from these roles and i was like wait that was a white person playing that role
31:24especially when you hear like the extras like when you hear all of the like
31:29the sass and the kind of you know like the things that like the black girl
31:34and i'm like oh and so like you know that was when twitter you know again coined the phrase like
31:41digital blackface because we were also having that conversation around the gifts and the memes like
31:47how yeah you know i even recently had a friend on facebook that i kind of had to like slide in
31:54their inbox and be like i love you right yeah but you cannot you need to just a little use black
32:03women like mimi leaks and all these like every post like you're using black women as these like
32:09caricatures to kind of get in touch with your inner and it's like that's yeah there's no
32:16small or big or whatever size black woman who lives inside you like your name is ryan and you're
32:22from idaho and like if you feel i don't know i just i just felt it in my spirit i just thought
32:35but it's like if you feel sassy today then you feel sassy today like otherwise like
32:38stay out um yeah it is it's it's interesting it's weird i i think the weirdest thing that like
32:47you know has happened though is like every now and again there will be somebody who will like
32:52comment on my instagram and not even on like the press announcement post like on a picture that's like
32:58of me and a friend you know and we'll be like why did you personally fire jenny slate don't you hate
33:04the fact that you're being hired just because you're black and it's like no i didn't fire her
33:10i didn't fire her i don't have that power she left on her own accord and like i didn't get hired just
33:17because i'm black i got hired because i'm you know i'm talented and i worked hard and there was a long
33:22audition process and this is like what happened but i think you know people have brought that thing
33:28of like well you know should every then black person be played by a black person and every asian
33:33person be played by an asian person and every bubble button oh what about animals and all purple
33:37people whatever and it's and it's like you know we're in a moment right now and i think that we
33:43just like need to be with it who knows what we're gonna feel culturally in a year let alone like a day
33:51you know but i and just like the thing about it to me that's more important is like it's about equity
33:58and like about history of something that's still being perpetuated today that we're still feeling
34:05and it's like there aren't that many you know black voice actors or voice actors of color really and
34:10like that's just in that space you know in other spaces it's like what is the actual equitable thing
34:16here like somebody i don't know what you know that's that's just how i feel but i was having
34:24that conversation with george lee last night actually we were talking about and the thing that i've been
34:29trying to get across to people is that anti-blackness has gone uninterrupted and unchecked since this
34:35nation's inception and that's the thing that i don't think people understand because i've heard people
34:39say things like can we just stop it i've never uh owned a slave and you've never been a slave so
34:46can we just and it's like but what you don't understand is that these the ways in which we
34:51have evolved and shifted in culture the ways in which we oppress and enforce white supremacy
34:57also evolves and shifts so it gets more creative as to how it you know um it robs us or impedes our
35:06ability to grow and thrive and take advantage of opportunities and so well that's also as that
35:12evolves and gets like trickier then it gets harder sometimes to like check it and to like have the
35:18words to be like no no i know this is wrong i know that what's happening is is wrong i'm gonna find a
35:25way to explain it to you i'm just very frustrated right now well the part and that's intentional right
35:31like the frustration that you experience is because of gaslighting and we were talking about that last
35:36night and so for those of you who are watching who didn't catch the hot take session that we had
35:40last night with george lee gaslighting is it's psychological manipulation it's a way to violently
35:49um make you question your own reality and experiences by constantly denying your truth um and so it's kind of
36:02like it's actually based off of like a play from the 1800s called gaslight and it was like this man
36:08who basically was over his wife and instead of just like ended it for her he was like you know what i'm
36:14just gonna like do things so he would do things like um make the lights the the lamps the gas lamps
36:20in the place like flicker it'd be like weird things until they drove her like up a wall and so gaslight is
36:27the perfect word to describe the experiences that many black folks have when we know what oppression
36:33feels like we see um it's like death by a thousand paper cuts or like whatever but like that quote is
36:40like it's this way of um being hostile and then doing it in a way in which you can still maintain
36:49you know this uh i guess like sainthood um like even the fact of you know how do you feel about
36:57like getting her fired you know this like that's hostility like so basically yes
37:06yeah it's i i remember like seeing on twitter when all the protests were happening i mean even that thing
37:13where it's like oh everybody was really on board when it was like two weeks and then it's like oh there's
37:18more no no no no no i posted my little square i finished i posted my square um and you know
37:28somebody was like people like to think of like whiteness and by proxy that like anti-blackness as
37:38violence but it's not just violence it's often like exhaustion like and just
37:46you being made to feel very tired and very disheartened and downtrodden and and frustrated
37:54to the point of being like you know what no i'm tired and i just want to do i just i'll just go back
38:00and i'll deal with whatever i was dealing with um and so i it's like black fatigue that's the word
38:07like for a minute black fatigue and i think that that's yeah yeah but i'm just like how do you
38:13manage that how do you personally manage black fatigue well i'm tired i'll tell you that much i'm
38:19very tired um but i and i think uh like community honestly is the only way that i really uh can manage it
38:31and uh having friends who understand what i'm going through and you know i do my best to also understand
38:40what they're going through just like being there for them providing spaces to vent when we need to vent
38:46and relief when we you know need that and we need comforting um and if it's none of those things
38:54and it's just like hey man i just want you to send me the most burnt meme that you have in your phone
38:59just the worst film has been you've got in your phone like and we do that back and forth sometimes
39:04that's community too you know um i feel like that's really important and for me some of that is like
39:14other black creatives and other people who are in this industry and under and who can understand
39:18things on a really specific level and vice versa and also then it's like my family who is like loud
39:26and we'll hop on a zoom call and everybody's screaming and i can't understand what anybody's
39:30saying because there's like 30 nigerian people on a zoom call but you know like that is also that is
39:36also i think how i try to manage it a little bit well it's affirming you know like when we think about
39:42we're talking about gaslighting and like how do we counter those things um that's how we surround
39:48ourselves around people that affirm our experiences that share our truths um and i i think that's
39:56important to name and essentially oh there's so many group chats i have where it's like this thing
40:02happened to me am i crazy and you just have your friends be like no you're not crazy you're not crazy
40:07not crazy and the humor like the comedy even for those of us who aren't in comedy spaces like
40:14with our friends and our support system we are like i'm just like and then they said this and you
40:20know and then like you can just like it's that saying like if you don't laugh you'll cry like it's
40:25one of those things where i'm and sometimes we need to do both right and i think that that's another
40:31thing that i want to talk about too because with black women there's this expectation right for us
40:38to perform resilience for everyone right like we're not allowed to um have that emotion or we're not
40:47allowed to uh put down our you know lifting or take off our lifting gloves our heavy lifting gloves like
40:54we just have to push through and so what i've been trying to um really open up in a lot of the
41:02dialogue that we're having around liberation is first understanding that liberation is not a
41:07destination but it's now in the moment it's those moments that we take time to access joy because joy
41:15is an act of resistance and when you think about what oppression is meant to do it's meant to shatter you
41:21from the inside out so it is you know we combat that by um pouring ourselves into our talents and our
41:31gifts and our skills and those conversations with the zoom calls with 30 windows which by the way
41:37how did the brady bunch know about zoom like way back in the day they saw it
41:45somebody was like you know what hear me out brady bunch but real technology for the
41:51future so leading into that what do you do for self-care what does self-care look like for io and
42:02every oh it really changes day to day sometimes it is like the absolute like refusal to take care of
42:08myself sometimes i'm like i'm gonna lie in bed today and just watch like 30 episodes of the same british
42:15detective series that i've already seen you know i want to see a alcoholic white man on the moors who's
42:22like struggling with his inner demons that's what i want to see today sometimes it's that um sometimes
42:27it is just like seeing people and hanging out with them if i you know now that's like happening in
42:33vancouver with also like the same three people um but like sometimes it's that or checking in or
42:41you know calling people sometimes it's intaking whether it means like i want to watch a movie
42:47or read a book and sometimes it's like abstaining from any of that and like chucking twitter and my
42:54phone out a window pretty much chucking not checking chucking throwing um just fully tossing it um
43:02yeah i feel like definitely this quarantine has changed my perception of what self-care means also because
43:11i was and still like with myself so much i think like previously in a in a world long long before
43:22a lot of you know i spent like a lot of time going out and being with people and you know working and
43:29doing shows and seeing friends and then i was just like many people like in my house all of a sudden
43:36and right before quarantine happened i um i moved uh to like live alone and so then i was like only
43:44with myself and i was like feels like this is not self-care feels like spending more time with
43:51myself is making me feel a little a little nuts um so i think then quarantine brain that's we it's
43:59quarantine brain like that's the way like yeah i've got like three brain cells left and they just sort
44:06of like orbit around each other and every maybe like six hours they like hit and a little you know
44:13like synapse forms a connection and like i have a thought and then they immediately repel and then i
44:20can't think for another five days um but you ever find yourself getting on the call or interview or
44:26something and then all of a sudden you get off and then you're like i hope i may like you start
44:31questioning like it's going to happen when this is done i'm going to hang up and be like well
44:38here's let's hope that was okay i don't know i don't know if i said any complete sentences but
44:45you know maybe i tried well it's really interesting because you uh co-produced an animated series with
44:51Tina Fey called Mulligan and it's about society after the aliens come and so do you feel that there's
44:58going to be a parallel shift in culture post-covid or post the you know the quarantine slash zoom era
45:05like what do you think it's going to look like when we try to go back to normal or whatever that means
45:11i don't i think there's definitely going to be an adjustment period because even for myself like
45:15even socializing with like three people my anxiety has gone through so many different
45:22waves um so i feel like there will be both hesitance and then like you know people are
45:28out in the streets marching they they are marching to not wear masks so there might be like a lot there
45:36might be a baby boom there might just be sort of like a baby boom and um who knows who those people
45:43are gonna end up being i don't know if i'm gonna love them or their parents but um i think there might
45:49be like an anti-mask mask or baby boom that's my that's my big prediction i actually did believe
45:56the baby boom part especially since it's been really interesting watching people navigate dating
46:02in the global era because like i was reading something that was talking about um tinder and all
46:09these like sites that are like picking up membership now because people they're craving that connection but
46:17also you know for those of us who aren't going to the tiktok mansion party that you mentioned like
46:22that's you know you know they want to feel connected so once they give the clear or the go-ahead it's
46:30yeah no they're there it's it's it's bunk time it's bunk time usa yeah absolutely um and i thought
46:37with the no masking movement too like it's almost like i think that that's that's natural selection
46:43there's something about it really is and i'm sorry to go to you who are watching yeah because like at
46:51what point you know and this is a lot of people that i know like personal friends so please don't
46:58feel attacked that i'm talking about this well to you who are watching but i have friends you know
47:03people who i deem you know intellectuals and like these people that i oh my god and they're out here
47:11risking it all and i'm just kind of like this is what darwin was talking about like i didn't
47:16understand it when it came up on my pop quiz but i understand now you see it yeah you're a tactile
47:22learner you're a tactile you need to see it you need to see for your individual experiential learner or
47:28whatever yeah it's um you know horniness is a powerful thing it can drive people to madness it's
47:34you know it's driven people to war and now it's gonna drive people to not wear masks and have
47:39accidental babies i guess that's sort of that's my big theory um i know i i saw like a good article
47:47that was like it's kind of like how we do have to adapt to these things and we do have to like figure
47:54out we there does have to be some normalcy in in what is clearly abnormal but it's like you know how
48:03how do you go about that what do you what do you do and can you get some on covet is it ethical to get
48:09some that's what is what i'm asking well it's so interesting because i think it's one of those
48:18things too where um it just um i don't know that i've ever been as present in my body as i have been
48:30during covet like the things that we do that are mindless like yeah oh like touching a handle or you
48:37know doing this or cleaning off groceries and it's like the truth is before covet there was a lot of
48:44stuff that i just did not do all i do is touch my face all i do is touch my face i touch touch touch
48:53everything outside i'm touching the subway and then i'm like picking picking picking rubbing something this
48:59whole time i've been like touching little parts of my face like that's that's all that's all i do
49:05so that's been a very interesting like yeah but it's been an amazing time for toilet paper hand
49:12sanitizer and zoom though if you're looking to get into stock investing in stocks toilet paper hand sanitizer
49:21zoom for real i and if anybody has lysol wipes if anybody knows where i can get some it'd just be
49:30so nice to have some again i miss lysol wipes i do i feel like that's gone every time i go to the
49:38store that's gone i know this is this is this is not a con this is not a but actually it is about
49:44oppression it is about my personal oppression because i can't find lysol wipes in the right of the store
49:48i feel like it's very on topic for this conversation
49:55i am animated because i would like to find lysol wipes see i sort of like tied it
50:00try to tie it together for you well this has been such um an eye-opening conversation and a real treat
50:07especially since you know with everything going on i think that um for those of us again who are
50:15consuming content content content is a way for us to it's a vehicle of escapism but not in a bad way
50:23in a good way it's a way to transcend reality and to be able to uh disappear ourselves in a spaces that
50:32feel safe and in a in a way that um that gives us that kind of nostalgic wholesome vibe that we used to
50:42get before people were uh in 2020 before 2020 like literally right after new year's when the ball
50:50dropped it was just like yeah it's like yeah this was this was hell year for sure
50:57this is like i never went to college i didn't do the sorority thing but if i can imagine what hell
51:02week feels like like it's this it's this year a hundred percent yeah i watched the new borat movie
51:12the other day and it was just like what did you what did i think um i will say one thing that i
51:20thought was that um it just was like it reminded me how much stuff happened and like before maybe like
51:29twitter or something you know you could have a joke and it could last like a whole year you know what
51:33i mean like you could have like a political thing happen and that would be the joke for the year or
51:38maybe for the person's career and and so much happens every single day that it's just like you can't
51:45even keep track of it like i was just reminded of stuff from like january and i was like huh yeah i
51:50guess so i guess that is really crazy that that happened and we all just had to forget
51:56because the global pandemic happened whoops in the middle of an election in the middle of a race war
52:07like it's it's thank you so much um where can folks find you on social media to follow all the
52:15amazing projects you're doing um my name is iowa debris it's at uh a-y-o-e-d-e-b-i-r-i and that's
52:24sort of like where you just just type that in i guess that's where everything is
52:31yeah instagram twitter that's that's kind of like those are my two main joints
52:37i have tiktok but i don't really use it i don't know yeah well now instagram you know like it only
52:42took zuckerberg five seconds to be like oh let me go ahead and tap into that like
52:47you know and so now they have reels on instagram and so he's so cool he's such a good guy he's really
52:53cool he rules i think he's so nice be sure to stop through and show io a debris some love and if you
53:04want to also um show your affection you can tip her in um sanitation wipes or like the disinfectant
53:12wipes okay looking out for me that that's real thank you honestly yes we're in a bartering system
53:19this is a bartering like we're about to move from currency to bartering like that even if you just
53:24know where to get some if you just know where to get some i'll take that i'll make the trip of my own
53:29you don't have to buy anything just tell me you know a guy that knows a girl that knows a guy that
53:33knows a person like that that's what i'm talking about that's what i need thank you so much thank you
53:40all for joining us and watching and we hope you enjoy the rest of planet afro punk weekend thank
53:46you for tuning in to hot tapes with ashley marie preston and io a debris
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