Charlamagne Tha God Wants to 'Keep the Fascists Out of Office'

Charlamagne Tha God isn't shy about sharing his opinions.

That much was clear when he forged a name for himself as "Hip-Hop's Howard Stern" on 105.1 FM's The Breakfast Club, and it's remained true as he's seamlessly transitioned to the late-night TV sphere as the host of Comedy Central's Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God.

Formerly known as Tha God's Honest Truth, the weekly program is now in its second season. It features the sort of incisive commentary and authenticity that followers of Charlamagne have come to expect, along with appearances from many other recognizable faces, such as CNN anchor Don Lemon, author Malcolm Gladwell and EGOT-holder Whoopi Goldberg.

During the show's inaugural season in 2021, notable guests included Ed Sheeran and Soulja Boy.

In his own recent interview with Newsweek, Charlamagne spoke with disarming candor about a range of subjects—among them, the perennially controversial Kanye West ("Bro, you a Nazi") and his own journey with anxiety and depression.

He also chatted with us about the rise of fascism in the U.S. and what makes Hell of a Week unique in the still mostly homogenous realm of late-night television.

"I think right now, my voice stands out more than ever in the late-night space because I am a Black man," Charlamagne told Newsweek via Zoom. "I can't speak for all Black people because Black people are not monolithic. But I know that you're probably going to hear things from me and my panelists that you won't hear everywhere else, just because our worldviews are different."

For his thoughts on the late-night and political landscapes, read Charlamagne Tha God's conversation with Newsweek below. This interview has been edited and condensed for the sake of length and clarity.

The late-night space is pretty crowded. Could you tell me what makes your show different and what sets you apart?

I think the answer to that question—and I say this in the most humblest way possible—is me as a host, just because I think that's the engine that drives all these late-night shows. Everybody's name is a show: whether it's Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor [Noah], even though he's leaving.

It's like the host is what makes the show, and I think right now, being that people like Samantha Bee are no longer hosting shows, that Desus and Mero aren't and Trevor is leaving, the late-night space lacks diversity. It's just a bunch of older white men in that space.

What's the process like for you in terms of figuring out who to invite on the show? Who have some of your favorite guests been and why?

For me, especially when we're doing the panel, I just like having people on that I know are going to bring great conversation. Like if you notice, a lot of the people that I've had on are people you've probably seen on Breakfast Club in some way, shape or form, but it's just because I know that these people have great conversation.

Of course, somebody like my co-host for my Brilliant Idiots podcast, Andrew Schulz, or somebody like my good sister, Angela Rye, or the homie, Tezlyn Figaro, or somebody who I've been following for a long time who I've developed a relationship with—Marianne Williamson.

So for me, it's just literally about people who I know are gonna have a great conversation. People that I know who are—I don't want to say "go against the grain" because it sounds like they're doing it on purpose—but just people who I know...see things a little bit differently.

Because everybody nowadays is on the same algorithm, especially with social media. People literally wake up and they let social media tell them what to think and feel about things. That's why you see people reposting the same meme or reposting the same messaging.

We all become bots and don't even realize it. And it's like: "Have you taken a step back and really thought about this in your way, as opposed to what everybody else is saying?"

Is there anybody out there who you admire right now and think is doing a great job? Are there any other show hosts or people who you think are introducing important conversations—aside from, of course, yourself?

I mean, for me, it's really just Bill Maher. I think that when you turn on Bill Maher, you can still get a level of objectivity. You kind of really don't know which way the conversation is gonna go on [Real Time with Bill Maher], and I like that. I like turning on television and letting my worldview be challenged; I like letting my thoughts be challenged.

It's good to hear you say that, because I feel like there's so much tribalism going on that people are willing to shut down and not hear out other well-formulated arguments.

I've been using that word all week long because there was an article that came out in the Huffington Post, and it was about Killer Mike. The headline was like, "This Rapper Is More Politically Dangerous than Kanye West." And I'm like: First of all, this headline is dangerous, because it compares somebody who just may have a different political ideology than you to somebody who's literally out here spewing anti-Black, antisemitic hate speech. That's a total false equivalency.

So, you're telling me because Killer Mike met with Brian Kemp—had a picture taken with him—and because Killer Mike had something positive to say about Brian Kemp on my show, Hell of a Week...He says [Kemp] had an effective week. That's it: one week. Now all of a sudden, it's like an endorsement of Brian Kemp.

And so I was just like, "Yo, this tribalism on both sides is gonna ruin us." This tribalism on both sides is making people like me just kind of disconnect from the whole political process, like I don't want to be a part of it.

I'm gonna go cast my vote, but I don't care to tell you who I'm voting for. I don't even care to have the conversation with you, because we can't even have a real conversation without it seeming like we're arguing because of this tribalism that exists. And I'm not caping for either one of the parties that hard.

Do you have any hope moving forward? What do you think is the answer to this tribalism problem?

I think everybody just has to open their eyes and ask themselves: What kind of country do they want to live in? You know, I think that you have to fight the fascists in a real way. If you think that fascism isn't alive and well in this country, then you're simply not paying attention.

I remember saying this, in 2016 or 2017, I actually said it in an interview with Trevor Noah. And I remember Trevor telling me I might have been jumping out the window a little bit; it isn't a Breakfast Club interview. He was like, "I don't really know. I don't know if we would go that far by using the 'f-word': fascist."

But now, everybody sees it, you know? So I think that we all have to fight the fascists on a local level—and a federal level—and that's literally it for me. If we want to protect democracy then we got to keep the fascists out of office.

And it's interesting because when you listen to Republicans talk—because I watch a lot of Fox News—to me, they do a better job of creating a sense of urgency around elections. They do a better job of creating a sense of urgency around the threats to our democracy; it's just that they're blaming Democrats for it.

And Democrats just don't do a good job of speaking to the moment and letting people know what the sense of urgency is, as far as the threats to our democracy are concerned.

And it's weird that they're not even able to do that when we live in a country where literal rights are being stripped away. Women's rights have been stripped away in regard to Roe v. Wade being abolished, and it's like they still can't speak to the urgency of the moment. It's kind of strange.

Tell me a little bit about Hell of a Week and some of the lessons you learned from last year's episodes. Where are you hoping to go moving forward?

It's the show that I feel like I've always wanted to do. It's a great format. I feel like I thrive in community conversations, meaning sitting at a table with two or three other people and having conversations.

Last year, even though we did well, I approached it from the perspective of: "This is what I want to talk about every week." So I kind of was creating my own algorithm.

We were really early on a lot of conversations last year, like the first episode was called "Decrackerfication," which was literally what I think America should do in regards to ridding itself of white supremacy. It was based off the denazification that happened in Germany.

We had a whole episode about critical race theory last year. We had a whole episode about the FBI and...why J. Edgar Hoover's name was still on this building. It's probably because his ideology is still inside of the building.

So it was a lot of conversations that people are having now.

You talk about a possible corrupt Department of Justice and how come the Department of Justice isn't pressing charges against [former President Donald] Trump for this, or going after the people who were behind the insurrection on January 6. It's a lot of different conversations people are having now that we were really early on last year.

The difference now is that we're really talking about the things of the week, as opposed to me just grabbing these big broad topics and unpacking them and introducing them to the world.

Because the reality is, we're still doing television, and if you turn on the TV and you don't even know what the hell I'm talking about, you're probably gonna be like, "Ah, I like Charlamagne but I'm not that interested," or "Ah, the game is on," or "Ah, let me go turn to something else." So, that's really the difference: It's just more timely.

I know that you brought up CRT, and we've talked about tribalism. Are there any other kind of burgeoning, pressing issues that you're anticipating being a trailblazer on and introducing to the public sphere?

I think for me, it's always about pointing out the things people may not be paying attention to. It's not even about being first or being the only one to talk about something, and it's not even like something I'm actually looking for.

It's just that sometimes, I just feel like people miss things, and I just want to point out what I think people are missing. That's it. So it's not even about being first and being a trailblazer. It's just like: "Okay, what's that thing that people aren't seeing right now?"

Do you have a tip on an entertainment story that Newsweek should be covering? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.