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NFL Hiring Cycle Ends with Flores Not Getting Employed; Mitch Landrieu is Interviewed about Infrastructure; 2022 Oscar Nominations. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 08, 2022 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAACP: And so you have billionaire owners refusing to augment the process to insure equity on the sidelines as they are exploiting the players on the field with our tax dollars. And so that was a part of the conversation yesterday. And the league and Commissioner Goodell, he is the commissioner of the league, but you have those team owners, those who are operating fiefdoms, and we have to partner with the league to make sure we have a better path forward to ensure equity and opportunity on the sidelines in the head coaching ranks.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Do you -- and, look, I mean the NFL has had practices in the past. The Rooney Rule among them. It gives this appearance of, you know, interviewing minorities, but not actually hiring them. And I wonder, when you do see these hires, if -- if it's real change or do you think it's just a couple small data points to sort of move this controversy along and you're not going to see real change?

JOHNSON: Well, you hit it on point. We cannot settle for data points or interviews. We have to work towards outcomes. And as the fans, and as the players, and as taxpayers, because, again, many of the stadiums are publicly financed. There should be equity and inclusion in the head coaching ranks. There is no reason why it isn't.

Head coaches who are African Americans are as talented, and in many cases more talented than their counterparts. And so as we provide opportunities, it must be inclusive of African American head coaches.

KEILAR: All right, Derrick, really appreciate you being with us. I think we're just at the beginning of this conversation. And we thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Is it the curse of Mr. Big? I don't know. Is that what it is? Peloton about to announce some massive layoff and some big changes at the top.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And just days after announcing his retirement, did Tom Brady just leave the door open for a comeback?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:43]

BERMAN: Time for "5 Things to Know for Your New Day."

High states diplomatic efforts underway on two continents to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron meeting with Ukraine's president after a face to face with Vladimir Putin. And President Biden and Germany's chancellor pledged a united front in response to any invasion. President Biden vowed to pull the plug on a natural gas pipeline. The German chancellor refused to commit.

KEILAR: And a top science adviser to President Joe Biden, Eric Lander, has resigned after damning reports of his workplace behavior became public. Lander admitted in his resignation letter that things he said crossed the line at times and to being disrespectful and demeaning to both men and women.

BERMAN: So, Peloton's chief executive John Foley is stepping down to become executive chair. He is being replaced by former chief financial officer of Spotify and Netflix, Barry McCarthy. Peloton is also cutting nearly 3,000 jobs as part of cost cutting measures amid falling demand for at home fitness.

KEILAR: The Supreme Court is allowing an electoral redistricting map drawn by Alabama Republicans to stay in place. A lower court ruling had ordered a new map, but in a 5-4 decision on Monday, the nation's highest court acted to maintain the status quo until the issue is considered at a later date. The GOP map has been criticized for racial bias against black voters.

BERMAN: And just days after announcing his retirement, Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback football player of all time, left the door open for a possible return to the NFL. Here's what he said on the "Let's Go" podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY: You know, I'm just going to take things as they come. You know, I think that's the best way to put it. And I don't think anything never -- you know, you never say never. And, you know, at the same time, I know that I'm very -- I feel very good about my decision. So, I don't know how I'll feel six months from now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Never say never.

KEILAR: Never say never. What does that mean, Tom?

BERMAN: It means there's a chance. It means he's saying there's a chance.

I will note, in order for him to come back during the season, what it would mean is, you know, a team loses its quarterback, it needs a quarterback, I don't -- it's hard to imagine Tom Brady stepping into that situation unless it's with a team -- unless it's with the Bucs, unless, you know, maybe the Patriots, you know, God willing, or something like that, but then there would be -- have -- you know, it's just -- it's hard to see the situation where he would do it, but not ruling it out.

KEILAR: So Berman's in the bargaining phase of grief, FYI. I just want to be clear.

All right, those are the "5 Things to Know for Your New Day." You can have more on these stories all day on CNN and cnn.com. Don't forget to download the "5 Things" podcast every morning. You can just go to cnn.com/5things and you can also find it wherever you get your podcasts.

BERMAN: Never say never.

KEILAR: Maybe.

BERMAN: All right, this just in, President Biden set to announce that Australia electric vehicle charging company Tritium, if I'm saying that right, will break ground on its first U.S. manufacturing facility, and that's going to happen in Tennessee. The president wants half the vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030.

Joining me now is senior adviser and infrastructure coordinator for the Biden administration, Mitch Landrieu.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us. Talk to me about this announcement --

MITCH LANDRIEU, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER AND INFRASTRUCTURE COORDINATOR: Hey, John, wait, wait, I can't --

BERMAN: Go ahead.

LANDRIEU: I can't because now I'm startled that Brady is coming back.

[08:40:02]

And now I don't know what to do. I can't concentrate on what you want to talk to me about.

BERMAN: Look, what could be stronger for infrastructure than Tom Brady playing football?

LANDRIEU: No question. No question. I think that would be awesome for the country. Welcome back.

BERMAN: Right. It projects strength.

LANDRIEU: Yes.

BERMAN: This deal with this manufacturer in Tennessee, how does the infrastructure law play into that? LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, the infrastructure law is a once in a

generation opportunity to rebuild the country. And we're not just talking about roads and bridges and airports and lead pipes. We're actually talking about manufacturing.

And, of course, as we electrify the economy, and we talk about electric vehicles coming, somebody has to make the electrical vehicle charging stations. And we want those made here in America.

So this particular announcement is really groundbreaking. It's going to be in Tennessee. They're going to build 30,000 electrical vehicle charging stations. On Thursday Secretary Buttigieg and Secretary Granholm are going to announce $5 billion to begin the process of putting 500,000 charging stations across America. But we want those charging stations made in America. We want them -- we want them with America products. And today is the start of actually manufacturing those here at home.

BERMAN: I did notice that none of the Republican delegation from Tennessee voted for the infrastructure bill. Neither the two Republican senators or I think the seven Republican representatives.

How does that play in to this?

LANDRIEU: Well, that's all right. You know, somebody once said they vote no but they want the dough. And President Biden has been clear that this is for all of America, urban and rural. And as we talk about electrical vehicle charging stations, we want to make sure that everybody has access to them no matter where they live, far away or short. And this is the first step in that direction.

It also is a down payment on the president's industrial policy to make sure that we become a manufacturing hub again. We've created 367,000 jobs in manufacturing, and the president has spent a lot of time talking about and investing resources to make sure the things are made in America so that we can compete, we can bring prices down, we can rule the supply chain once again. And this is a great announcement and a step in that direction.

BERMAN: You know, a lot of the stuff here, obviously, takes time, right? You don't just snap your fingers and have this plant producing the EV charging stations here.

LANDRIEU: Right.

BERMAN: And there's a lot of need now. We saw that bridge collapse in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.

LANDRIEU: No question.

BERMAN: So, where do you think we're going to see the most immediate, visible impact?

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, as you know, just in the last 90 days, we have pushed $85 billion out of the door. Whether it's for clean water, whether it's for roads and bridges, whether it's for abandoned mines, which we announced yesterday, $785 million to clean up coal country. All of those things are out of the ground. Ninety percent of this is going to get built by the governors. So they have the money and we're ready to go as we speak.

You have mentioned, though, and this is a level center, we're building things and, of course, I'm in Washington, so I have to say this, it takes a lot longer to build something than it is to tear it down. And so we're going to -- we're going to hurry, but we're not going to go fast. You can see the immediate impacts as we start.

This week -- or last week, as a matter of fact, a number of different private companies have seen what the United States government is doing, so they're starting to double down on their private sector investments because this is a combination of both private and public work. So you want to see it -- you want to see it happening as we speak. But it will take time. There's no question about it.

BERMAN: You were, obviously, mayor of New Orleans when there was a lot of building, rebuilding that was going on there.

LANDRIEU: Yes.

BERMAN: I'm just curious, what used to bug you the most? What would be the most frustrating thing for you in that position in terms of getting the federal help you needed?

LANDRIEU: I am -- I am maybe the most impatient person in the world. And it's painful because nothing goes as fast as you want. But being able to talk to one person on the federal level, which is what -- what I'm supposed to be helping with, coordinating all of the agencies so that the governors and the mayors have a one stop shop to go to.

As you know, I sent a letter on behalf of the president to the governors asking them to appoint an infrastructure coordinator. We've done the same thing with the majors so that we can have alignment and making sure that we're all on the same page.

This is not easy. This country, as you know, has not been doing this well for the past 50 years. So we're building the plane as we try to fly it. And that is going to be frustrating for everybody. It takes time.

And then, finally, building the things. As you noticed, that bridge collapse in Pittsburgh was just awful. I was standing there with the president looking at it. The thing that was just so awful, even worse than the collapse itself, was the day earlier they had a -- they had a snowstorm. And it made school late two hour. Had that not happened, there would have been kids and buses on that bridge, which points out the need for us to double down on the work that we're doing, put our shoulder to the wheel and get this done sooner rather than later. But it is going to take time and it is going to take patience, not a lot of which I have, or the president.

BERMAN: If Brady does come back, do you think you can convince Drew -- do you think he can get Drew Brees back in the field? LANDRIEU: Well, you remember, during this season, all of our

quarterbacks were hurt and we needed to call somebody off the sideline. So I'm having this vision of Brady coming back helping when the Saints whoop the Atlanta Falcons. And I don't know what else to say after that.

BERMAN: Mayor Mitch Landrieu, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

LANDRIEU: See you, John.

[08:45:00]

BERMAN: So the Oscar nominations are in. And already some surprises. We will tell you what they are, next.

KEILAR: And former "SNL" star Leslie Jones calling out NBC, saying they pressured her to give up her colorful and pretty hilarious Olympics commentary. We have an update, though, on the feud.

Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, breaking news. The Oscar nominations announced just minutes ago.

Let's bring in CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas and host of the "Run Tell This" podcast, Mara Schiavocampo.

Chloe, let's start with best picture.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Let's go right there. Is that where you want to go? All right, let's start with the ultimate category.

Well, OK, so "West Side Story" is something that was a dark horse here in this category. I just did not think that "West Side Story," Steven Spielberg's musical foray, even though he was nominated for best director this year, it didn't do very well at the box office. But, you know, he is a fan -- you know, an Academy Award -- they love Steven Spielberg.

I also want to talk about "King Richard." "Coda," it's a movie that I actually just finished this morning. It's a movie about a young girl who is the only hearing child in her family, everyone else is deaf. It's an incredible movie. It did really, really great at the film festivals.

MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO, HOST, "RUN TELL THIS" PODCAST: You know what I think is really interesting is that typically you have these big box office smashes that get viewers really excited, they get people excited about the Oscars.

[08:50:01] The best performing movie of the last year was "Spider-man" but nobody really expected that to get a best picture nomination. So, you're left with a lot of movies that didn't have the impact of say a "Titanic" or a "Spider-man."

So, I think one of the biggest contenders is "Power of the Dog." Now, this is a movie from Netflix. So this would be the first Oscar for best picture from any streaming service. It has been killing it in early awards shows. It killed it at the Golden Globes. So, I think we may see the first win for a streaming service.

MELAS: It is so good. It's a dark western. It gives me --

BERMAN: Yes, really uplifting. It puts a -- it leaves a giant smile on your face after you see it.

MELAS: Benedict Cumberbatch is really good. And, fun fact, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who also both star in the movie, they're actually together and they have two children together in real life.

BERMAN: Tons of laughs.

MELAS: I do want to point something out. This is a big deal this morning for Will Smith. Will Smith nominated for best actor for his role as the father of Venus and Serena Williams, as Richard Williams, in "King Richard." This is his first nomination for an Oscar in over a decade. He's been nominated twice before, once for "Ali," playing Mohammed Ali, once for "The Pursuit of Happiness." This could be his first time. This could be his year to win an Oscar.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes. And also fun fact, in 2002, when he went up for "Ali," he also went up against Denzel Washington, who has been nominated in this category for "McBeth."

MELAS: Oh, I didn't know that.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: But Denzel took it for "Training Day."

BERMAN: Oh, that was so good.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: So it will be interesting to see if this is -- it was so good.

BERMAN: I'm going to go see "Training Day." That's what's going to happen from the Oscar nominations today is I'm going to go see "Training Day" again.

KEILAR: That's not the takeaway today. That's not what --

MELAS: We have a whole list of things you've got to get through.

KEILAR: OK. All right. I'll just, real quick, back to best picture, I'm all about "Dune." That thing surprised the heck out of me.

MELAS: Oh, so you're a sci-fi girl?

KEILAR: I -- no, I'm not. That's the point. And I loved it. I loved it. OK, that was --

MELAS: Timothee Chalamet is so good.

KEILAR: The whole thing was great.

OK, so we went through actor. Let's look at actress in a leading role here, shall we.

MELAS: Oh, OK. I was so excited, but shocked, that Kristen Stewart nominated for her role as Princess Diana in "Spencer." I have heard mixed reviews of people, what they thought of her in the film. I thought that she was spot on. She looked like Diana. She sounded like her. It tells the story of a really tough weekend for Diana while she is going through this tumultuous divorce with Prince Charles. I thought it was phenomenal. I was hooked watching that.

Also, I was surprised to see Jessica Chastain nominated for "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."

KEILAR: You were?

MELAS: She was so great in that movie. And I was also so happy for Nicole Kidman in "Being the Ricardos." Again, mixed reviews there. But I think that many people thought she was a shoo-in this year to be nominated.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes. And in terms of Kristen Stewart, you know, she was the frontrunner. People assumed that she was going to get nominated and that she was actually one of the top picks to win, and then her momentum kind of slowed down leading up to these nominations. And so Nicole Kidman, who had a late campaign, late December release for this film, really came in with some momentum at the last moment.

MELAS: Yes. I also just want to also point out someone that I'm really happy for is Arianna DeBose for her role as supporting actress in "West Side Story." It's a really big moment for her this morning. Again, "West Side Story," if you've seen it and you love it, they have a, you know, very devoted fan base. And, again, big morning for Steven Spielberg despite the lackluster performance at the box office, nominated for best picture and himself nominated for best director, like I mentioned before.

BERMAN: Mara, I just -- step back here for a second, if we can. You know, people haven't been going to the movie theaters as much, needless to say, right?

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes.

BERMAN: So there's that one thing. Already, even before the pandemic, the movies that were being nominated for Academy Awards weren't exactly the mass market pictures here.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes.

BERMAN: So is this obscure within obscure or is this year -- is there more high profile stuff? SCHIAVOCAMPO: You know, everything is topsy-turvy because, as you

noted, audiences have not gone back to the theaters at levels they were at pre-pandemic. A lot of the films that we're seeing nominated were streaming only. And so the movie experience has changed. When you're watching something on your couch and maybe your kids interrupt you ten times, you have to pause it all the time, that is a different experience than going out to the movie and sitting down for a theatrical release. And so that has changed viewership of these movies. And, as you noted, the Academy tends to reward what they see as kind of the more artistic representation of film as opposed to box office hits.

BERMAN: Here are the --

MELAS: Well, the box office hit this year was "Spider-man: No Way Home," making over a $1 billion at the box office. I loved the movie and some people thought is it going to make its way into the top ten? And it didn't. And so, you know, you just don't see those types of movies, although that is what everybody was out seeing.

BERMAN: Any giant snubs?

MELAS: You know, I think that I'm going to have to look a little closer. As of right now, I was waiting for Kristen Stewart and possibly Will Smith to be daggers to my heart, but thankfully they are not. I think that things are looking really good. "Licorice Pizza" is a movie, though, that's going to get me back into theaters because it's the only place you can find it.

And, of course, "Encanto" nominated for animated movie. You know, let's not talk about "Bruno."

KEILAR: Oh, yes.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: But the song, they did got a nomination for a song, but it wasn't Bruno. How is this possible?

BERMAN: Because it was, they didn't put it up, right? They didn't put it up?

MELAS: And, we must say, Queen Beyonce, Queen Bey, her first Oscar nomination ever this morning with a song that she co-wrote for "King Richard."

[08:55:05]

So exciting for her. Jay-z -- actually, Jay-z got snubbed. He had a song that could have potentially been in that category and this power couple, they were potentially going to go head to head in that category. So there's your snub.

BERMAN: It's going around. It's going around this week.

MELAS: Jay-z's your snub.

BERMAN: All right, Mara, Chloe, thank you very much for that. KEILAR: What are you going to -- you have to watch one of these.

BERMAN: I will see one of these films. That's my -- that's my commitment.

KEILAR: Which one will you see?

MELAS: You loved "Power of the Dog," OK.

KEILAR: Which one are you --

BERMAN: "Sider" -- I saw "Power of the Dog." I told you. I'm --

KEILAR: You can't say "Spider-man," it's not on here.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: "Spider-man" wasn't nominated.

BERMAN: Yes, I'm going to go see "Spider-man."

KEILAR: I commit to seeing "King Richard."

BERMAN: All right, making history, Team USA figure skating star Nathan Chen breaks a world record, setting him on a path for gold.

Now, more than ten years ago I had a few words for him to tell him how to get to this point.

KEILAR: It worked.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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