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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tyrese Gibson Looks to Aid Watts Community
Aired August 17, 2001 - 08:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: He is a singer, an actor and a model. Tyrese is a one-man media machine. And he's now raising money for his new foundation to help kids in Watts.
Now listen to how he is going to do it. There he is.
And he's right here, too, in Atlanta to perform this weekend at the 10th annual For Sisters Only benefit. But he is starting his own foundation. He is a busy, busy man.
And the last time we saw you, it wasn't on MTV; it wasn't in a music video, really. It was this clip. You remember this day? "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?")
REGIS PHILBIN, HOST: And The Cars, then Train. Let's see who got it right in the fastest time. Tyrese!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LIN: All right, Tyrese collecting the Oscar.
TYRESE GIBSON, ACTOR/SINGER/MODEL: Yes.
LIN: What was that about? This was for your foundation, right?
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: How much money did you win?
GIBSON: I raised $32,000 for the foundation.
LIN: Not bad.
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: Not bad.
Tell me more about this foundation.
GIBSON: It's an ongoing effort to raise money to build the first ever 2000 Watts Boys & Girls Youth Center of Watts. I was born and raised there. And we have an event every year, which is coming up on September 2 called Watts Day. And the whole community of Watts, with a bunch of celebrity friends that I have, come out, have a good time. And you know, we are going to be -- because the album is called "2000 Watts." It's a lot of tie-ins to the foundation.
LIN: Yes, Watts, California in Southern California.
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: I'm from Southern California. I've covered stories in Watts.
Give me the portrait of that community, because I was explaining to people here, it is one of the poorest of the poor areas that I've ever been in.
GIBSON: It's not that at all. It's
(CROSSTALK)
LIN: Economically -- not spiritually, but economically.
GIBSON: Well, I got it.
But it's definitely been -- it's a difference in the community compared to a lot of the images that were put out there by the community back in the day, you know, ever since...
LIN: The Watts riots is how most of the nation knows that community.
GIBSON: Yes. Exactly. It's been a lot of buildings, new constructions there, a lot of businesses, a lot of children -- places they can now go out and have fun. It's a lot of positive things going on in Watts. And I'm just here to bring as many positive images back to the community as I can.
LIN: Well, you were born and raised there.
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: And I am going to go out on a limb here. I'm going to say an unlikely story, frankly, because most of the kids in Watts grow up without a lot of advantages, without a decent education or even much decent housing.
For you, what about that experience brought you to where you are today?
GIBSON: Well, I believe in making use of the struggle. I'm inspired by what I -- what I didn't have. And I think all of us, hopefully, have a big heart. I know have a big heart, but I wasn't able to express how big my heart was because I didn't have the money or the resources to get ahold of things that I wanted to do for people.
Now that I'm an entertainer and I'm able to call upon friends and people in high places to get things for the kids out there in Watts, I do it. And so I'm just trying to do my part and doing God's work so I can go to sleep a little bit easier at night.
LIN: Sleep is easier -- discovered at 14 and now a success at 22, doing so many things. And you have other pioneers to follow in the African-American community. You have Magic Johnson, who built theaters in South Central Los Angeles.
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: Michael Jordan doing a lot of work in building businesses in the inner city.
Do you think that is helping change the face of inner city, of what is happening there, who is happening there...
GIBSON: Yes.
LIN: ... and the chances for these kids to grow up?
GIBSON: Yes. Like you said earlier, though, the city of Watts is really known for the Watts riots. I felt like it's my responsibility as the positive voice of the community to bring all these positive images back to the city that the world see as a negative place. They see as a bad, filthy, dirty place.
It's not dirty. And there's millions and millions of positive people that exist in the midst of a bad situation. And the only people that end up in the press are the people who are bringing negative energy to the community because they're doing the shooting and the killing. And I'm not one of those killers. I'm just somebody who was a singer out of the community of Watts. I have an album out, a movie, modeling. And they all said it couldn't be done. I'm just happy to prove them wrong.
LIN: And we know you "Like Them Girls.:
GIBSON: That's right.
LIN: The new CD.
All right, raising money for the foundation, thanks so much, Tyrese. Good to meet you.
GIBSON: Same to you.
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