Culturally Inappropriate with A.C. Lee
Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Unafraid to say what needs to be said.
Culturally Inappropriate with A.C. Lee is where sharp wit meets grown-man perspective. A mature rebrand of Big Baby’s Podcast, this show dives headfirst into the intersections of sports, politics, hip-hop, and culture—without watering down the truth.
From the barbershop to the boardroom, A.C. Lee blends humor, intellect, and raw honesty to tackle the conversations others avoid. Each episode brings bold takes, cultural critique, and unapologetic storytelling shaped by Southern roots, Cartersville pride, and Atlanta energy.
If you’re tired of safe conversations and cookie-cutter commentary, you’ve found your spot. This isn’t about being politically correct—it’s about being culturally inappropriate.
Culturally Inappropriate with A.C. Lee
Free Speech Under Fire
The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel following government pressure has exposed a disturbing fault line in American democracy where free speech becomes negotiable when corporate interests and regulatory power collide. This critical moment deserves our full attention as it reveals how easily constitutional protections can be selectively abandoned.
When the FCC director threatens a major network over a comedian's commentary, we've crossed a threshold that should concern citizens across the political spectrum. Jimmy Kimmel's indefinite suspension didn't come from audience backlash but from direct government intervention—setting a dangerous precedent that undermines the fundamental separation between government power and media independence.
What makes this situation particularly troubling is how media consolidation has created vulnerability. As fewer corporations control more outlets, their dependence on regulatory approvals for mergers and acquisitions creates leverage points where government officials can effectively demand content changes. This isn't the free market at work—it's market manipulation through regulatory threat.
The hypocrisy becomes even more apparent when the same voices celebrating Kimmel's silencing position themselves as constitutional defenders, particularly of the Second Amendment. As I ask in this episode: "What good is having a gun if you don't have a voice?" We cannot claim to value constitutional rights while selectively ignoring the First Amendment protections that make all other rights possible.
True democracy requires both good journalism and social commentary that challenges power. From Pablo Torre's investigative reporting on NBA ownership irregularities to late-night hosts who speak truth through humor, these voices serve as essential checks on power. When we allow them to be silenced through government pressure, we surrender a crucial democratic safeguard.
Listen now to understand how the silencing of Jimmy Kimmel represents a larger threat to free expression in America, and why protecting speech—especially speech we might disagree with—remains essential to preserving our democratic values.
All right, man, we're here. This is culturally inappropriate. Hey, welcome to culturally inappropriate. With AC Lee, I'm here. I don't want to call this the first or the second episode of culturally inappropriate, because it's really. It's kind of a one off. It's me getting back in the groove, getting back in the rhythm. It's me. I think I'm going to end up putting this out the way I'm feeling right now, but I'm here to talk to you all because you know I do the village vets on monday live on facebook about 8 pm every monday. Tune in live on facebook youtube. Uh, adam christ, christopher on Facebook. Go to this YouTube page Culturally Inappropriate Village Vets YouTube page.
Speaker 1:We stream live on Instagram, live for the first hour. Check us out on the Village Vets Instagram. You can catch us on Kik, village Vets Pod. You can catch us on what's that other streaming platform that they use? Dang bro, I don't even remember it. I know that's's bad, but to be honest with you, man, I'm not a streamer. I'm not a streamer in the least bit.
Speaker 1:I use the streaming platforms to try to, to, to reach a new audience, but we're not streamers over here, man. We, we are conversationalists. We are conversationalists. We are, are, are, are podcasters, not just podcasters, man, we, we. This is a place where you can come laugh, you can come learn. Hopefully you're learning more than you're laughing, or hopefully the laugh and takes you to the learning. But that that's what this platform is all about. It's about taking the things that are going on in our lives and applying them to, hopefully, your lives, hoping you understand some things that you may not understand, breaking things down in a language that, um, it's palatable for you, because I mean, sometimes these people on the news just be saying whatever and I'm just like yeah, dog, whatever, but no, anyways, man, I'm here to talk about what's been going on, probably the biggest story of the week, and that's Jimmy Kimmel being suspended indefinitely for utilizing his free speech, and I want to attack this conversation on many different levels.
Speaker 1:I want to talk about what Jimmy Kimmel said. I want to talk about Jimmy Kimmel's history. I want to talk about the government crackdown on free speech, because government-sanctioned free speech in council culture is extremely. I want to talk about and ask the question how do you stand on the Second Amendment while blatantly ignoring the First Amendment? While they may be great for the bottom line of these companies that haven't figured out how to monetize their platforms in a way that maintains their margins and how problematic that is for us as consumers and how it kind of plays into what I think this administration is trying to do.
Speaker 1:I may talk about how a lot of you all are pimping Charlie Kirk and calling him a friend. I think that's pretty disgusting. Not that I'm against people talking about him, but I'm always weird about how we speak on the deceased after their demise. Because, yes, you a, I think you have a a responsibility to cover it, discuss it, give your feedback, especially if you have a personal relationship with said individual. But at the same time I noticed this on so many platforms that people will lean into deceased people. They They'll read air interviews, they'll do this and that, and it's just kind of weird for me. I understand it because it's so, it's successful, it works. You want to pay your respects, but at the same time, is it truly paying respect or is it just a cash grab? I may talk some constitution while we're up there in social contract and we're going to weave in some Steve Smith of ESPN, stephen A Smith For those of you who are fans Steve Smith to me, because I'm not a fan, it may be seen as disrespectful, but I'm not calling him out of his name and some of the pushback on Pablo Torre. So let's just talk about we're going to start here.
Speaker 1:Actually, let's talk about journalism. Now we're in a day and age where journalism itself is not the most sought after thing. It's not as entertaining as Stephen A Smith and Shannon Sharp or Ryan Clark or Dan Orlovsky yelling back and forth. It's not as entertaining as Pierce Morgan bringing up various professionals to discuss a topic where we know they're going to argue and debate. It's not the same as having a Fox show with the one liberal to get his head kicked in, and there's no difference than what they're doing on CNN and MSNBC. That is entertaining but it's not the most informative and we as consumers need to know the difference between news and entertainment.
Speaker 1:You know it takes me back to listening to the Dame Dash interview earlier this week and how Dame Dash's OG came up there and was telling the Breakfast Club hey, man, y'all are doing good stuff, y'all are educating the people. And Dame was saying how they have a responsibility because of their platform, to properly inform people. And you should not ignorantly misinform your listenership, because you can paint a picture about someone, create a public perception around someone that isn't backed in facts. I'm not saying the Breakfast Club is doing that with Dame Dash. I'm not there, I don't listen to the Breakfast Club enough and I don't personally know what's going on in Dame Dash's life. But anyways, say that to say we have to be responsible I don't listen to the Breakfast Club enough and I don't personally know what's going on in Dame Dash's life but anyways, say that to say we have to be responsible.
Speaker 1:But journalism is important. You know, good investigative journalism is important Because investigative journalism it oftentimes uncovers corruption and secrets that need to be brought to light, brought to the public. And I say that because Pablo Torres has been getting a lot of pushback from the basketball player community the best, even some owners, to include Mark Cuban about how what he's doing is wrong. They're questioning his reporting without having, uh, reporting to counter it. They are. The players are coming out and say why are you doing this? This is lame, why are you snitching? Well, here's the thing a good journalist doesn't owe the entity that they are covering anything, anything but reporting honestly. And one of the ways that we keep corruption managed to some degree is having whistleblowers and investigative journalists who will reach out, dig, source things, fact check things to give us this information. Source things, fact check things to give us this information.
Speaker 1:So for many people you may think why is Pablo Torre exposing what the Clippers have done with Steve uh, with Kawhi Leonard and Steve Ballmer? And I'd say I don't know why you did the story, I don't really care why you did it, but I'm happy you did it, and not because I want anything bad to happen to Kawhi, anything bad to happen to the Clippers, anything bad to happen to Steve Ballmer. These people hardly exist in my life outside of entertainment. But I support true journalists reporting facts and providing that information and, more importantly, I support whether it's journalists, whether it's entertainers, whether it's you, whether it's me, whether it's that person on Facebook who I cannot stand Having the right To express themselves, especially when their expression does not contradict the values of their workplace. Because I want to be very clear that when you are in a workplace, you don't have freedom of speech to keep your job. You just have freedom of speech not to be locked up, and that needs to be understood.
Speaker 1:That brings us to Jimmy Kimmel. Now ABC, for whatever reason, can intervene if Jimmy Kimmel is using their airwaves irresponsibly. Vein, if Jimmy Kimmel is using their airwaves irresponsibly, but in the instance that got Jimmy Kimmel in this hot water, in my opinion he was not using his platform and ABC's airwaves irresponsibly. He was making a point to actually educate and inform, to let people know that. Hey, it's kind of odd how this Charlie Kirk murder was covered and, to his credit, he gave his condolences to the family.
Speaker 1:And I have, on this platform multiple times, anytime this conversation has came up, and say hey, condolences to the family, condolences to its loved ones. And I don't think it's fair that you all have to deal with this internet stuff while you are mourning the loss of someone you care about. I think that's disgusting. So we're going to shift away from mr kirk because, again, I don't want to be offensive, I don't want to be disrespectful to him and his family, but I do want to take the situation and talk about it because I think it's very important for America, because when we see the president of the FCC or the secretary of the FCC, the head of the FCC, whatever his role is, but, director, excuse me come out and say that you're going to learn or we're going to make you learn. I'm not quoting him directly, but it gets the point across. Abc, you take action or we'll take action that affects you. And so what happened happened? Jimmy kimmel just said hey, man, it looks like you guys are trying to frame this shooter for your political gain, when you should have just waited for the facts to come out and talk about how sad and unfortunate it is.
Speaker 1:Everything doesn't have to be a political victory, and I think in the politicization, politics, in this overly politicized environment, I cannot say politicization or how the hell you're supposed to say that word. Sorry, guys, but anyways, we don't have to politicize everything. Hey, you don't have to get on Facebook and give your thoughts about everything that happens in politics. You don't have to talk to people every day about your politics. I'm somebody very comfortable talking about politics and I am skeptical about talking politics with many people because, to be perfectly honest, a lot of people don't understand how politics work, what's the point of having politics, what political science truly is.
Speaker 1:A lot of people don't understand the constitution, but they have strong opinions on it. A lot of people haven't understand the Constitution, but they have strong opinions on it. A lot of people haven't studied the Constitution but have strong opinions on it. A lot of people haven't read, studied and then had to regurgitate that information and have it evaluated by somebody who is considered an expert on the Constitution. I'm not saying you have to do all of these things to have a thorough understanding of the Constitution, because we can all still study, but when you have not studied it, you're not having intelligent conversations, nonpartisan conversations with people. You should probably say less, probably say less.
Speaker 1:So for me personally, somebody who is solid in my political ideology, I'm not tied to a party, I'm not tied to a special interest, I'm not even tied to a specific cause. I kind of vote with my head and my heart. It just, you know, I weigh both options. I look at where my head is leaning past and then I see where my heart is at and then we make an informed decision there. But again, what's in my head comes from what I read, what I, what I try to understand, this, that and the third.
Speaker 1:So when we have something like this, where we have the government coming in and essentially silencing someone saying, hey, if y'all don't fix this, that merger that y'all want and need, we might not approve it. That's not the Democratic Republic that we were built on. That is not what the bill of rights, in my estimation and my understanding of it, is about. The government is not supposed to intervene when it comes to speech. The government is not supposed to punish people for their speech, and the government should not pressure companies because of their speech. Sinclair, whether you were pressured by the government or you were taking a stance to no longer distribute the show to your subsidiary markets, it is not OK for you to take a political stance Against somebody just because you didn't like what they said, especially if you're not being consistent across the board, because I didn't hear Fox and Rupert Murdoch getting any pushback when they're in their guy brought up. Oh, we should just involuntarily kill the homeless who don't want to get in line, bro. What Is that? What America's becoming A get down or lay down country?
Speaker 1:I thought America was a country where people of different races, creeds, backgrounds, so on and so forth have the opportunity to have their voice heard, no matter whether or not we agree with the voice that is speaking, whether or not we agree with the message that is being spoken to us, whether or not we agree with the message that is being spoken to us whether or not we agree with the policies that are carried out based upon a message that we may not agree with. We accept that because that is the game. The game is the game. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Well, that's what this administration is doing. Actually, they're hating the player and hating the game, and what they're doing is they're changing the game and they're putting their players in to ensure that they win.
Speaker 1:Now, if we're talking about power, oh, that's great. We're talking about power, oh, that's great. But when we're talking about the voices of the people, that's not okay. People on the right talk about let the market dictate. We want the market to dictate. Would the market dictate that Jimmy Kimmel should not be on air? Did the market dictate that Stephen Colbert get canceled? Did the market dictate that the president is personally going to go after Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I doubt it. I don't know, I doubt it. Maybe you have to scale back on Jimmy Kimmel's show. Maybe you have to scale back on Stephen Colbert's show. Maybe you have to scale back on Jimmy Fallon's show. Maybe you have to scale back on Seth Meyers' show. Maybe Again, I don't see the books but to go after these guys. Go after these guys, go after these networks, simply because you're not ideologically aligned, because they're talking bad about the president. Late night TV is that always been that? They attack power.
Speaker 1:And getting back to what Pablo Torre is doing, in good journalism, we need people to attack power, because absolute power corrupts absolutely. And I understand there are some of us who are just apathetic. They're like you know what? Who cares? It doesn't matter, because the rich and powerful are going to do whatever the rich and powerful want to do. But that's why we have rules, that's why we have a government, that's why we have law enforcement, that's why we have a constitution, that's why we have people, that's why we have media, that's why we have journalism in order to create checks and balances. That's why we have journalism in order to create checks and balances.
Speaker 1:See, I took civics growing up and I took civics growing up and I loved it so much that I said you know what? I'm going to take AP government. That's my AP exam, if anybody cared. And after taking AP government, I said you know what? I want to continue studying this. I'm going to go to college and major in political science because I love this system. Hell, I love this country. I love the constitution. I really do.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of the best documents ever written, even the things I don't like about it. I understand who black people were when this was written, but the way that the document was written it's damn near foolproof. Until you have an administration and a president who does not understand the constitution, with a billionaire and wants to do whatever he wants to do. See steve ballmer. He didn't want to, uh, abide by the salary cap. I don't think Steve Ballmer is the only owner who does it. I think it's more common than it's not common. But you need people like Pablo Torre to go after Steve Ballmer to inform the people.
Speaker 1:Whether it's people with the Clippers, people with the NBA, the masses, you know it doesn't matter, but you need somebody to expose what's going on behind closed doors, to try to stop people from doing things that are not in line with the rules. That's why we need Jimmy Kimmel's, that's why we need Stephen Colbert's, that's why we need Jimmy Fallon's, that's why we need Seth Meyers. That's why we need Bill Maher. That's why you need me. We need people who are going to look at things, see things and call them out and inform the people who may not be paying attention or may not know enough to understand when they're being mistreated and robbed of their American rights. We need this, gotta have it, because if we don't, the absolutely powerful will be absolutely powerful and will be absolutely corrupt. And you know what? We fall in on the short end of the stick. See where I'm going here. Right, and let's pivot this to ABC.
Speaker 1:Have a backbone, have a freaking backbone. Or is it because you're a mega corporation? All you care about is your bottom line? Now I understand when we're talking business, it's all about the bottom line, but many of the actors inside of a business are there for a paycheck and really they're there because they're talented and they're passionate about something. Back to Pablo Torre and Kawhi Leonard, those people who worked for that sleazebag company that Steve Ballmer and Kawhi was in bed with. They were truly passionate about making the world a more green space, but not the leadership. They only cared about a bottom line, a dollar.
Speaker 1:And don't get me wrong, money's important. It's very important. It makes the world go round. We need money because things cost, but when we allow money to lead us, we're only going to end up at the money and the negative effects of following the money is you forget about the people? Ai is great, modernization great, yes. New technology great. But what happens to the people when we're taking jobs from people for AI? I just saw an AI singer like signed a two, three million dollar contract. Bro what? This is just the beginning. How are we going to allow computers to do art? It's one thing to do gonna allow computers to do art, it's one thing. To do labor, but to do art.
Speaker 1:And I'm not saying we should move to the Stone Ages. But at what point is too much too much? Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. America's been a nice fat pig show pig pig for years. Well, now we've eaten so much we're turning into a hulk. I don't want to see my country get slaughtered. I don't want to see my people get slaughtered.
Speaker 1:And I'm not talking about physically slaughtered. I'm talking about the wealth gap increasing. We have rich and poor, the elimination of the middle class, the elimination of the layers in the middle class, the elimination of the layers in American society. It's not about just the haves and the have-nots. We got to have the haves, the have-nots, to have a little bit, to have, some to have, none to have, and then lost and get it back. But everybody's got to have something, and those up top, that top 1%, shouldn't have damn near all of it. What you going to do with it? Golly, I sound like a socialist. Golly, I sound like a socialist.
Speaker 1:But I'm not asking for the government to make everything even for everybody, same opportunities, no, but I'm asking for a government to look out for their people, because the government is here to look out for people. The government is not supposed to run like a business and, in turn, the government is actually supposed to run like a business and, in turn, the government is actually supposed to regulate businesses to make sure that they run. They run well, they are protected and they are supported in the ways because it supports the country. But, more importantly, the government needs to protect the people and this is why I've been telling y'all we don't need billionaire presidents Shit, we barely need millionaire presidents. We don't need millionaire media members. Yes, some people deserve to get paid what they make, but when you're trying to talk to the common person, relate with the common person and give them the news and information that they need. We need some common people, yeah, because, see, the companies are going to protect their bottom line.
Speaker 1:They don't have souls. Once you become a part of that entity and you become highly paid and you're advancing and you're successful. A lot of times we sell our souls and then we become the machine and not the machine operator. We're being operated by something bigger than us and that's the bottom line, not like Stone Cold said so, but the actual bottom line, the dollars and cents. And they say if it doesn't make dollars it doesn't make sense. But if I ain't got no dollars, ew, it don't make no sense either. If I ain't got no sense, I can't get no dollars. And if I don't have a chance because the machine has my soul, that's a problem. It's a problem for the problem, for the soul of America.
Speaker 1:And when you have these large companies merging now, you have only a few people in charge. It eliminates competition. It gives us a fixed number of voices to hear. We already don't have enough mainstream voices to listen to, but we also have too many unheard voices that aren't being properly vetted, filtered and prepared for what they're doing, that aren't being properly vetted, filtered and prepared for what they're doing.
Speaker 1:I don't come in on here and speak about things I don't study. I'm pretty well educated. So I think that's enough for me. I tell y'all that, so listen to me. If you want to, don't, you don't have to.
Speaker 1:But what stops this administration from continuing to do what they do? We You've got. I'm sorry. You have President suing multiple, multiple news and media outlets Because he doesn't like the way he's being covered Not that he's being covered falsely, but now you're forcing these companies to spend all of this money on legal fees To try to get a lawsuit thrown out.
Speaker 1:You're using your secret. You're using your secret docket. That's not the secret docket, but you're using the Supreme Court to get stuff through quickly. Yes, no, until we bring it back, just so that you can push your policies that aren't even going through Congress. And you already packed the court Shout out to Mitch McConnell for that so that you can get what you want.
Speaker 1:And the legislator? They're just saying hey, he's, he's, his executive orders are doing what, what we want. So why not stand up for our jobs? Because he became a part of the machine, became a part of the machine. He became a part of the machine and that machine now is seeking absolute power. And if we continue to allow this machine to get bigger and bigger and grow.
Speaker 1:We've got our robot on our hands. I mean we're going to iRobot on our hands. I mean we're going to have iRobot on our hands in a few years anyway Not a few years, but in the future anyways Fighting the robots because we keep feeding them information. All of these AI machines is tracking where we go, what we think, what we do. I mean we got people on here having sex and chat GPT. I heard that in my DMs earlier today. I read that in my DMs. Shout out to you who posted on their story. We've got people using chat GPT as a therapist instead of going to therapy. We've got humans forming bonds and relationships with machines and not forming bonds and relationships with people. Drinking is down. That's great and it's safe, but that also tells me social interactions are down. Guys from 18 to their early 30s are having less sex. It tells me social interaction is down. That's not good. We're people. We're not machines. We thrive off of human interaction. We are our best selves with human interaction.
Speaker 1:Just think about this we had a better social environment when we didn't have social media, when you couldn't just say some wild stuff and hide behind your keyboard, hide behind your phone. People had to talk, you had to get punched in the face, you had to get laughed at, you had to get embarrassed, you had to be cool, you had to know what you're talking about, because there were checks and balances. But when there's no checks, there's no balance. But if there's too many checks checks I'm talking about too many checks, our balance, cuz that weight. But in checks, boom all the way down here and we up here, just in there, searching, looking like what is going on here.
Speaker 1:Well, checks are holding us down, the money's holding us down, the billionaires are holding us down and they create this idea that, hey, if you work hard, you come up with a great idea, you get people to invest in it. You bust your ass, you too can get this check. So we're on this rat race, chasing the checks, chasing the checks, and we become unbalanced. We don't work together, we work against each other. We want to be the people who we don't work together. We work against each other. We want to be the people who we don't like, or we like these people who, in all accounts I'm sorry, I don't know if there is a billion, I don't know if there is like a true billionaire who's a great human being at heart. It is hard to end up with that much money and that much net worth yours personally without knowingly marginalizing people.
Speaker 1:Capitalism at its core is an oppressive economic structure. I'm not saying we should get rid of capitalism. No, I like capitalism. It breeds innovation. But when we have only a few corporations, megacorporations, machines, at the top of every industry, it's not really capitalist. It looks like it's capitalism. It looks like you have an opportunity, but the second you get some. You get some motion economies of scale. They're either going to buy you out or they're going to suppress you. They're going to step on you, and that's not free market. It's not. It's not free market. It's not. It's not letting the market dictate.
Speaker 1:I've listened to some conservative pundits who are praising what's happened to Jimmy Kimmel. Is that letting the market dictate? Is that freedom of speech? Is that small government? Not, to me Sounds like big government. Honestly, what this administration is doing is nothing like the true conservative movement that I grew up watching. I'm a moderate. Some people think I lean right, others think I lean left. I'm pretty moderate. But what's going on right now? Really, on both sides, it's just not great for the American people. We've got to meet up in the middle somewhere.
Speaker 1:But the last thing I got here is let's talk about the Constitution a little bit, because I find it odd that so many people who are supporting the silencing of Jimmy Kimmel, the party that is supporting the silencing of Jimmy Kimmel, the people, the Project 2025 people who took part in this, even the ones who went after Stephen Colbert Same thing Merger, you know, got to get the merger done, get this guy out. How can these same people say they're not taking my guns? What good is having a gun if you don't have a voice? Now, let's think about this. Using a gun is supposed to be the last option. Try to talk things out. Maybe you separate Some people fight, then we get to shooting right. Think about war. Something happens. Try to negotiate. Negotiations don't work. Maybe a little airstrike here, a little drone strike there, then it's all-out war.
Speaker 1:But if we're just jumping to all out war without talking, do you really value life? Do you value people who are different than you? Do you want to live in a world where everybody is like you or similar to you? So I ask you you're a constitutionalist, you're a small government. How do you like the two but not the one. Why would you rather have a gun than have a mouth To speak, to learn, to engage, to debate? No, we don't want to debate. If you don't fall in line with me, it's get down or lay down. If you don't do what I say, do I'm going to take your one and give you the two. Pow, you're dead. And unfortunately, that's where the American dream Is headed, six feet under.
