BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 17: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Charlamagne tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy, winners of the Best Pop Culture Podcast award for 'The Breakfast Club,' attend the 2020 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards at the iHeartRadio Theater on January 17, 2020 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy officially addressed Angela Yee’s comments claiming she worked as the “only woman” on Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club.
The male radio hosts responded after Yee opened up about her experience as a woman on the nationally syndicated morning show. Yee recently made her exit from the show in December, leaving behind her fellow co-hosts.
The 47-year-old now has her own radio show, Way Up With Angela Yee. But stopped by the Tamron Hall Show to reflect on her 12 years at The Breakfast Club and her decision to leave.
Hall expressed to Yee that although The Breakfast Club was “disruptive” in the group’s opinions, it felt like the world was always “riding,” or very hypercritical of Yee in comparison to her male co-hosts.
“Yeah, and you know, I was the only woman who worked there too — when it came to producers, camera people, and it wasn’t an easy room for me to be in… So I feel like I did need more backup, because even things that I felt as a woman — you know if somebody can’t understand your point of view, because they’re not coming from where you come from. And so that was hard for me too, to be the only woman there with nobody to check somebody. It’s just me. And there were times I did do that behind the scenes because we should be able to do that… I’m not always going to agree…”
Yee continued by reiterating that the experience, however, was hard because there would be no one there to back up her opinions.
Yee’s former cohost DJ Envy was quick to respond to her comments in The Shade Room’s Instagram comment section, calling her experience simply “not true.”
Rapper Lil Mama, a frequent guest on the radio show, also blasted Yee’s experience in a TSR Instagram comment, implying the host was implicit in putting down “women of color.”
The last person connected to Yee to clap back in the comment section, was model Erica Mena. The reality star, formally tied romantically to DJ Envy, hopped into TSR’s comment section and blasted Yee for being complicit while DJ Envy cheated on his wife with her. Mena also accused Yee of speaking ill about her child while on air.
A day after Angela Yee’s Tamron Hall Show appearance aired, DJ Envy further explained his reaction to Yee’s comments to The Michigan Chronicle, admitting that he believes “she misspoke.”
“I mean she was — it was her, Charlamagne, and myself so she was the only woman on air. But behind the scenes there were so many different — I mean, our boss, the actual person who pays our bills… is Thea Mitchem. There’s a bunch of women there, I think she misspoke… But there’s a lot of women who work on that show.”
Envy went on to explain that he is still extremely happy for Yee now having her own radio show, and believes that her comments may have just been taken out of context by social media.
Angela Yee took to Twitter on Saturday to further clarify her original comments on the Tamron Hall Show. Yee explained who she was referring to when she said she was the only woman “in the room” and did acknowledge that there are woman executives, interns, etc., who work on the radio show as well.
“Usually I don’t comment or go back and forth with people but there’s too much spinning. “In the room” referred to the people in the studio: the producer, board op, videographer and hosts. Yes they are men. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t amazing women who are execs, salespeople, interns, and in other departments. I’ve said this on many occasions: that it can be hard when your viewpoint is different based on your experience. I didn’t anticipate that this would cause such a firestorm. Everyone texting me “are you ok” (which I appreciate!) and I know I don’t normally take the time to overexplain because it drags things out even more but that’s all.”
Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy formally responded to Angela Yee’s comments Monday morning on The Breakfast Club.
CAP!
DJ Envy yelled, then went on.
I will say this, what she said wasn’t true. I can’t tell her how she can feel about being on the show — cause on the show, she’s correct. it’s me Charlamagne and herself so she was the only woman in the room. But when it came to producers there’s so many different women that worked up here, that continue to work up here…
DJ Envy revealed that he spoke to Yee on the phone and explained to her that her comments were taken out of context. Additionally, Envy claimed he would never want to diminish women’s contributions to the radio show.
Charlamagne responded by saying he had “nothing” to add to the matter.
