Writer and trans activist Janet Mock went on New York-based syndicated radio program and self-proclaimed “world’s most dangerous morning show” The Breakfast Club last week, supposedly to talk about her new memoir Surpassing Certainty. Instead, Mock sat through a conversation about the state of her genitals, but Mock says she did it because “my ultimate goal was to be accessible—to not judge, to call in rather than call out, and, above all, to exercise patience as the (straight cis male) hosts processed my existence,” something she rarely does anymore, but was willing to do to reach the show’s largely black and Latinx audience.
That’s from a piece Mock wrote for Allure that was published yesterday—not in direct response to her interview on the show, for which she gives credit to co-host Angela Yee for “her preparation and effort to steer the conversation away from the particulars of my body and instead toward my work.” The essay was prompted by a later Breakfast Club interview with comedian Lil Duvall, in which Mock’s book was used as a prop as part of a comedic bit about the murder of trans women. Here’s how she explains what happened:
In the clip (an extended version can be seen here on TMZ), DJ Envy poses a hypothetical question to his guest about dating and sleeping with a woman who discloses that she’s trans after four months of courtship.
“This might sound messed up and I don’t care,” Duval says. “She dying. I can’t deal with that.”
“That’s a hate crime,” Charlamagne says. “You can’t do that.”
“You manipulated me to believe in this thing,” Duval says, before continuing, “If one did that to me, and they didn’t tell me, I’mma be so mad I’d probably going to want to kill them.”