Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-xLg5ork4g
The jogan Experience what kind of blowback oh man you know like uh oh so much you know you know I think that um you know look when we I I had Shia La buff on uh you know um after these allegations uh came out of him and um you know um being physically and uh emotionally abusive to uh to his to his girlfriend at the time and you know what was crazy was I I never wanted to have any actors on that was kind of like my rule just because and not because there's just so many podcasts where actors are talking to actors and they're they're talking about and I'm actually interested in that [ __ ] but like I you know like nobody needs to hear me talk about that but um Shia at the time uh you know he he was a guy that you know when we did Fury together you know that was such a wild experience and you know he you know he was this guy who came in he like pulled his tooth out because he thought his character shouldn't have a tooth you know he like cut his his his face you know he didn't shower for eight months and at first when I met him I was like this guy's just [ __ ] he's just loud you know he's just he's he's he's he's wearing his process on his sleeve showing everybody how hard he's working but what I found you know after the eight months of working with him was somebody who and I you know and this is it's just my own in he he is every bit this thing is every bit as vital to him as it was with me I found a real partner I found a real kindred spirit I found that he was so [ __ ] he was he was willing to risk it all for for for for for this for the work and I I I I walked away with like an enormous amount of respect for him and love for him I also saw a guy who grew up as a child star um a guy who was um felt like he needed a lead out for his artart felt that he needed to live wildly out on the street in real life in order to sort of maintain that danger in his work and uh I'm coming from a guy you know me at this point where I did all that when I I didn't have the umbrella of being you know a big movie star and I didn't I didn't have that but now I'm a guy who's absolutely a committed husband and father that that is my life like that like my life is my family and and and what I found is the the the well the
things that I can tap into and my emotional sort of accessibility of being a dedicated father and and and and husband is is so much greater than when I was sort of this wild animal and uh and uh I care about people way more than I care about myself my ego is dead in that in that sense so I really wanted to be there for him and and and the first thing I remember seeing him and seeing this like raw nerve and this unbelievable talent I I I I would say I think he's the best actor I've ever worked with and I really wanted to protect him and I think more than anything else I really wanted to show him what a real friend was like I just remember like saying that to myself I want to show you what a real friend is like I feel like you've never really had a real friend and my friends the guys that I grew up with um they've been my best friends my whole life they they you know they you know couldn't do anything without him I just like I value that so much right so we had him on the podcast um real early on and before this stuff came out and it was right at a time when he had gotten in trouble down in um in in in Georgia and he went to rehab and he wrote this movie sort of about his own life called honey boy that got nominated for an Oscar and and he wrote it and he he started he played his dad it was a very was a movie about his life and I kind of had him on sort of celebrating you know where he was at because for a long time he had taken a lot of [ __ ] from this industry and uh here he was sort of on top of the world and I remember at the time you know my my agents at the time were calling me being like you you think I could just get a phone call with Shia like maybe we could like bring him you know just he was like you know and then these these uh these Char you know this this woman said he did these things to him and he was just he was just done you know canceled and and um and I'll say man when when I heard those I decid when I heard that that he had done those things you know for me there really is a red line with people that I need to look at with myself and through all the [ __ ] that I've seen all the [ __ ] that I've done man I I just I I can't be down with you if you put your hands on a woman if you put your hands
on a woman or a child dude I just like yeah I I can't man I can't I I can't I can't get over that I can't and I heard this you know about my friend and you know I was really broken brhe hearted about it and time went by I mean like two years and you know I know how much you know acting is not only important to him but like sort of necessary for his survival and I would reach out on text you know checking on him and and and that but we hadn't made contact and then I heard that he was having a baby um and uh he was married and um I reached out to him and um I said hey man maybe it's time for you and me to have another talk and I made a decision with my team and with him we're I needed again you go back to the intentionality and and I I really looked at this this role that you have of being a friend and and being a friend is not about turning your back on somebody when they're when they do something that you find [ __ ] deplorable or when you find disgusting your job as a friend is to make sure they don't do it again and your job now as this guy's being a father is to to step in there and say hey man where are you at like what are you doing what what kind of work are you doing where are you like that's what being a friend is and everybody in my life is like worst idea in the world you cannot do that you cannot do that um and then you know he came on man and and and we spoke and uh you know I I it was weird because I I found so many of the same themes and so many of the same the the the heart of what I found in that elap Community I found in in Shia the level of disgust the level of work the level of commitment the level of Shame the level of uh time spent this fluency with with with with his victim and I wasn't I had no interest in exonerating him or saying or saving him in any way I wanted to check on him and I wanted to see how he was doing and I I I felt that that was an honest thing and you know just the fact that I had him on I got you know an enormous amount of of backlash you know an enormous amount of uh for the for really the first time kind of as like a public
person just like kind of hatred um and the fact that I had given somebody who could have you know who who may have done these things that this woman says you know that that really hurt people and I felt [ __ ] terrible about that man like I like did you wish you hadn't done it no uh no because after talking to him and then going around and talking to women who have been victims himself talking to you know this one one woman specifically who we were going to have on but her she had health issues and couldn't but you know what what I've found is so many people have reached out who said like I was in that place like I like I was in that place where he was I was in that place where I was whether I was abusive or not abusive I was getting there and and the drugs and the alcohol were getting the better of me and I mean really what you you know he's he was two years sober at the time that I had him on and um and I I I thought really what it was was like a real meditation and shame you know and I thought that you know what this woman said to me was you know with all there's so many places and platforms for women to go to there shelters there's places to go to to talk about the abuse to to to be there to help people after the fact but who is talking to these [ __ ] up young men who are committing the abuse who is talking to them and saying dude don't do that like I've been there there is another way this is not the answer stop go get help change your behavior work put in the work I just you know I I I I I ultimately felt you know that that that what he said could have a real positive effect and and I I believe looking back on it now again man it's like you know what are you GNA do you you can weigh the the the the comments of people have told you you know you're the worst guy on Earth for doing it or you can weigh the comments of the people say hey man I that thing saved my life or you know what I mean I I can't look at it that way I I I look at the intentionality behind what the show was and what why why I why I decided to have him on and then why I decided to air it and I stand
by it