Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘She Was Very Disingenuous’: 5 Times ‘The Breakfast Club’ Callers Clashed With Charlamagne As He Defended Harris

Screenshot/YouTube/Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM

Callers on the popular hip-hop radio show “The Breakfast Club” frequently criticized Vice President Kamala Harris during her brief 2024 presidential campaign, prompting host Charlamagne Tha God to defend her.

Harris did not conduct a sit-down interview for over a month after launching her campaign and largely avoided interviews before engaging in a friendly media blitz as well as other interviews throughout October. Following her campaign launch, and particularly after she partook in unscripted events, such as her debate with President-elect Donald Trump and interviews, listeners of “The Breakfast Club,” often called into the show to scrutinize her, but Charlamagne, who has been more critical of Democrats since Harris’ Nov. 5 election loss, typically pushed back against their critiques.

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Charlamagne in May declined to endorse President Joe Biden, but asserted he “absolutely would endorse” Harris shortly after the president dropped out and endorsed her on July 21. A caller confronted Charlamagne on Aug. 21 for supporting Harris despite her track record as vice president.

“How you guys falling for Kamala so bad? I mean, you guys are falling head over heels for this lady. She a VP almost four years, she’s done absolutely nothing,” the caller said. “And she copy and pasting Trump’s ‘no tax on tips,’ and everybody’s just falling for it. I mean, it is ridiculous. What’s goin’ on with y’all? … I mean, Charlamagne, you too, man — you just as guilty, man. I mean, not you, [DJ] Envy, so much, ’cause you somewhat 50/50, I can see it. But Charla, man.”

“Actually, I’ve been supporting the vice president since 2020 … I did a couple of campaign stops with her in 2020. I like her message of rebuilding the middle class,” Charlamagne responded. “Don’t you want the opportunity to own a small business? Don’t you want the opportunity to own a home? Don’t you want to see more money in working-class people’s pockets? And I like the fact that she’s put her money where her mouth is in regards to mental health, $285 million to increase the amount of mental health professionals in schools … she has some policies that I can get behind.”

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After Harris’ debate against Trump on Sept. 10, a black immigrant caller from New York named Al took issue with Harris’ stance on immigration during the next day’s broadcast.

“Let me start off by saying I love you guys, man. I listen to you guys every morning. And I’m also a black man, I’m also an immigrant. But there are certain things that you guys are saying that Kamala wasn’t supporting or she wasn’t answering these questions, man,” Al said. “I watched the same debate. When they spoke about immigrants, she’s half the reason that all these immigrants are in the state of New York or any state for that.”

“Listen, I don’t know why we put the blame on one person as if the border hasn’t been an issue for years under every administration. That’s why they were able to create a bipartisan bill that Donald Trump didn’t want to push through, because he knew it would give the Democrats a win,” Charlamagne responded. “So I don’t understand why we act like one person caused the border to be a problem.”

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Harris subsequently sat down for an interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Oct. 16. The next day, a caller argued that the vice president performed poorly, but Charlamagne once again came to her defense.

“I watched last night’s interview with Bret Baier with Kamala Harris and … she stuttered, she blamed Trump,” the caller said. “She didn’t really have any answers to all of the questions that Bret Baier was asking her.”

“Well, I have to say, I disagree with you. I thought the interview with Bret Baier was fantastic, you know what I mean? I thought she answered every question,” Charlamagne retorted. “You know, you just don’t want to agree with her answers, but she answered every question.”

The caller interrupted Charlamagne, asserting Harris “evaded” and that “she was very disingenuous with all of her answers.”

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On Oct. 18, another caller named Tank accused Harris of not answering questions “directly” during the Fox News interview, but Charlamagne argued that Trump, not Harris, was the one who dodges questions.

“So after seeing that Fox interview with Kamala Harris, I guess my question is for the whole ‘Breakfast Club’ … How can anybody support her anymore after she kind of dances around every question, never answers anything directly? And then, like, us American people, we just want to know, like, what she has to offer policy-wise, specifics and breakdowns and details,” Tank said. “And instead of dancing around these questions, why not hit us with these specifics so she might be able to persuade the Americans to vote for her? And I’m just not seeing that.”

“You know, it’s interesting when people say that because she lays out her opportunity economy plan every chance she gets, and then when she does that, she gets mocked for it, right? And then, you know, you say she dances around questions, even though I hear her dance — even though I hear her answer questions directly,” Charlamagne told Tank. “But Trump literally told you verbatim that he does this thing called ‘the weave’ where he’ll start one place and then talk, talk, talk, talk, take you somewhere else, and never come back to what he was talking about unless he wants to. He literally said that to you on my man Andrew Schulz’s podcast, but nobody ever brings that up and says he don’t answer questions directly. Why is that?”

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Moreover, an undecided voter named Jason called into the show on Election Day, claiming he “wasn’t hearing anything about policies” from Harris during her campaign.

Charlamagne dismissed the claim, asserting Jason must not have been “listening” to Harris, but the caller asserted he was listening “very hard.”

The radio host asserted “there’s no way” Jason was listening if he hadn’t heard her policy platform.

“That conversation on Election Day morning — you still ain’t heard no policy? You ain’t listenin’, my brother, respectfully,” Charlamagne added after Jason appeared to no longer be on the line.