During a fawning segment on Monday’s CBS Mornings in which the co-hosts all but worshipped at her altar, singer-songwriter and author Jannelle Monáe claimed Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) is akin to the villain(s) in a story from her dystopian novel because he’s been trying to “eras[e]” Black and LGBT people, because of his “law in Texas” that bans “talking about the LGBTQIA+ communities in books” and “bans Critical Race Theory.”
Showing her detachment from reality, she was likely referring to Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), but since both are boogeymen of the far-left, we’ll roll with Abbott for this post.
Having been built up by co-host Gayle King wondering whether there’s “anything” she “cannot do” and fill-in co-host Vladimir Duthiers boasting he “love[s]” this new book of short stories on “themes of race, gender, and sexuality,” Monáe said she was a character in one of them because it came from “a nightmare that I had before” she wrote one of her albums:
This book is inspired from the same soil and I had a nightmare that I was kidnapped at a movie theater. I wanted to eat popcorn and sit down and an usher was trying to help me with like, “hey, come backstage. Come through this secret way, because they’re kidnapping people.” I didn’t listen. And I was one of them that they caught and they swiped all of my memories clean and made me into somebody different[.]
She further explained this particular story “deal[t] with them literally taking people’s identities, erasing our pasts, erasing the people that we once were, and making us into something that they can control.”
To the approval of King and co-host Nate Burleson, Duthiers then wanted to know if current events inspired it: “But you know, sci-fi is often an allegory for the world that we’re living in today. what you just described, somebody might describe as reality.”
Monáe stated it was indeed “pretty meta, especially when we’re thinking about, you know, Greg Abbott, who put into law in Texas, a law that bans us talking about the LGBTQIA+ communities in books, bans critical race theory.”
As Duthiers nodded, she claimed without evidence that, when it comes to those two groups, “there’s a lot of erasure happening in our very country, and I hope this book can serve as a warning sign of what that will look like and feel like if we don’t fight against those abuse of power.”
Of course, the laws in states like Texas aim to and do nothing of the sort. This is unless Monáe meant teaching sex education to preschoolers and teaching white kindergartners that, by existing, they’re oppressors toward their black classmates.
King agreed with Monáe’s fake news, complimenting her for having “stories” that “feature Black and queer protagonists in a futuristic world.”
Monáe responded that she chose them “because we’re cool” and that much of society has believed for “so many centuries...that there’s something wrong with us, like, soon as we come out, we’re considered a dirty computer.”
The softballs continued with Burleson asking what she “learn[ed] about” herself while “writing these stories.”
And as an example of how in love they were with her, this was how long it took for the interview to formally end before a quick toss to local affiliates for the weather (click “expand”):
KING: Can I just tell you one critic says: “This book confirms Monáe’s incredible power of imagination and creativity. Whatever medium she’s working in —
BURLESON: Yes.
KING: — the ability and talent of her co-writers in bringing her vision alive on the page.”
DUTHIERS: Co-signing that.
MONÁE: It’s so you.
DUTHIERS: Janelle Monáe.
BURLESON: One of the most versatile talents on the business.
MONÁE: Thank you, guys. Oh my goodness, you guys, look —
DUTHIERS: Thank you so much.
MONÁE: — I am just trying I’m just trying to do the Lord’s work.
DUTHIERS: You’re doing it.
BURLESON: Amen.
DUTHIERS: You’re doing it.
BURLESON: Amen.
KING: And looking good doing it.
DUTHIERS: That’s right. Janelle Monáe, thank you very much.
KING: So good to see you.
DUTHIERS: So good to meet you.
BURLESON: Thank you. Thank you.
DUTHIERS: The Memory Librarian goes on sale —
MONÁE: Yes. Pick it up.
DUTHIERS: — tomorrow. Knives Out 2 also, Janelle.
MONÁE: Yes.
DUTHIERS: You’ve got that coming up.
MONÁE: That’s this year, the end of the year.
DUTHIERS: That’s going to be huge.
MONÁE: Yes.
DUTHIERS: Time now for a check of your local weather.
KING: Doing the Lord’s work.
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To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 18, click here.
