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First of All with Victor Blackwell

ICE Cracker Hits Up; Videos Capture Fed Ramp-Up Of Immigration Crackdown; Noem: Asked Military To Head To Chicago After New ICE Protest. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 04, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:57]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, first of all, listen, this is a 10th time for time for a lot of vulnerable people in this country. A lot of people are finding little confidence, little comfort in what the federal government is saying and doing right now. This morning we're going to talk about how the White House is openly relishing the chance to fire federal employees, cut government programs they don't like during the government shutdown.

But as you probably know, not all federal workers are off the job. In fact, this week, it seems that federal immigration agents are ramping up their work, particularly in the Chicago area. Let me show you what's going on.

First, this is a video of a Black Hawk helicopter flying over an apartment building on Chicago's south side. The Department of Homeland Security says 37 undocumented immigrants were arrested in this nighttime raid. But neighbors say innocent Americans, including children, were caught up and pulled out of their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just treated us like we were nothing. It was scary because I've never had a gun put in my face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They was terrified. The kids was crying. People were screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I've seen the little girl come around the corner because they was bringing the kids out, too, had them zip tied to each other. That's all. I kept asking, where's the morality? Where's the human?

One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, them kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. This next clip shows the arrest of a local lawmaker in Chicago. This is alderperson Jesse Fuentes handcuffed in a hospital emergency room. This was during a confrontation with two men. Now, Fuentes says that they were ICE agents, but neither man was wearing identification. One was wearing a mask. Fuentes was ultimately released.

Let me take you to Broadview. This is near Chicago. At least 18 people were arrested during protests outside the ICE facility there.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was there Friday. She was watching from a roof with a camera crew. And now she claims the military is headed to Chicago ASAP.

Kat Abughazaleh is with us now. She's a former journalist, current candidate for Congress in Illinois. She's been at the protest in Broadview. Kat, thanks for being with me.

I first want to play what we heard from the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about what is coming. She says today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We're not just going to be rolling out of Chicago here, but we're sending in the Department of War. At the request that I made to Secretary Hagsett. They're going to be rolling in here within the next 24 hours. They'll be coming to Chicago, too. I put a request in today for them to come to Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Troops headed to Chicago. What's your reaction to that announcement?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH, ATTENDING PROTESTS AT ICE FACILITY: Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth should stay out of our city. There's a reason that Trump already backed down to sending the National Guard here, and that's because in Chicago, we know our rights. That's something Tom Holman doesn't like. He literally said he doesn't like Chicago because we know our rights.

Republicans have tried to paint Chicago as a war zone, but the only war zone is anywhere ICE is. The Broadview ICE facility. We are -- we have been tear gassed, pepper balled, had vehicles ram through us as peaceful protesters, as civilians. Or an apartment building where ICE repelled from Black Hawk helicopters to arrest families in the middle of the night. Some people just drawn out naked, their homes ransacked.

The threat here is Trump and his administration. It's ICE, it's DHS, and it's the troops that are going to be sent here. And I encourage anyone in the military, if they are deployed to Chicago to disobey orders. This is an unlawful order and not what you signed up for.

BLACKWELL: And so you say that the ICE agents are the aggressors here, that this is one-sided. DHS says that the people they've arrested have been violent, some of them armed. They say that ICE agents have been injured. How do you reconcile your claim with what they're saying and the injured agents? [08:05:11]

ABUGHAZALEH: Well, ICE lies. That's kind of their thing. I have been there for over a month, every Friday morning, and we have never come armed with weapons. We have signs and chants and songs. ICE has military grade weapons. They dress up as if they are about to invade a country.

ICE put a stationary gun on the roof. It is one-sided violence and one-sided escalation. And there's nothing that ICE likes to do more than lie. I encourage journalists and the press at large to question ICE when they're giving claims. The Broadview protests have been described as clashes with ice. It's not a clash if there's only one aggressor. And once again, that aggressor is the masked men who don't identify what agency they're with, who we don't know what they're allowed to do, harming unarmed people.

BLACKWELL: After your claims you spoke to reporters outside that Broadview facility. The DHS spokesperson had something to say about you specifically and described your account as, "Dishonest, desperate, and demonizing law enforcement to try to get five minutes on MSNBC and some fundraising cash." What's your response?

ABUGHAZALEH: There are probably a lot less painful ways that any candidate could get attention. I'm out there because it's the right thing to do. And I'm not there as a candidate. I'm there as a person. I would be doing this whether or not I'm running for office. Because what is happening in the Broadview processing facility, it's ICE committing crimes against humanity.

People are denied beds and hot meals, and toiletries for days or weeks at a time, despite only supposed to. They're only supposed to be there for 12 hours or less. I have been assaulted by ICE multiple times. That video where I was thrown to the ground the Friday before last, that was actually the third time that ICE has picked me up and thrown me.

We have been tear-gassed and pepper ball. They were shooting rubber bullets with snipers at us. I honestly think if anyone's trying to get attention here, it's Kristi Noem, who went to Broadview yesterday and had a bunch of drones and ICE agents filming her as she tried to paint herself as competent. Which no matter how many drones she puts out, just isn't going to happen. No one's going to believe.

BLACKWELL: All right, Kat Abughazaleh, I thank you so much for your time and your account this morning.

There is a major update in a story we first told you about in June. The case of journalist Mario Guevara. Remember, he was arrested. He was covering anti-Trump protester protest at the time in Atlanta. Guevara is now back in El Salvador. He was deported after spending months in federal custody.

This is a big deal. His arrest happened as he was working as a journalist. Guevara has a following of hundreds of thousands of people across his social media accounts, particularly members of Georgia's Latino community because of the Spanish language, working and documenting immigration raids for MG News.

Now, back in June, I spoke with Mario's son, Oscar. Oscar, also a photojournalist for his father's site and has become its face in his absence. His dad has been a lifeline really, as he's recovering from brain surgery. And when the news of his deportation came out, I reached back out, and Oscar told me that they'd been expecting this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR GUEVARA SAENZ, MARIO GUEVARA'S SON AND MG NEWS PROTOJOURNALIST: They were trying to shut him up, I think. I mean, that they were trying to stop him from documenting all these injustices that they're committing against the immigrant community, and not just Hispanics. Against the whole world, against the whole. Against the whole immigrant community.

And I guess the only way to do that is to get him out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Oscar also told me that he plans to travel to El Salvador this weekend to see his father. Oscar expects Mario's work with MG News will continue from there. Guevara first entered the U.S. in 2004 on a tourist visa, applied for asylum in 2005. He had fled his native El Salvador after receiving death threats over his reporting there. The ACLU said in a statement that Mario's treatment should terrify any person in this country that cares about a free press.

All right, the topic of ICE and the agents is also now looming over conversations about the Super Bowl. We'll get into why the selection of Bad Bunny to perform at halftime is setting off right wing influencers online. But first, though no end in sight to the coming to the government shutdown, millions of Americans in limbo, and people of color bear the brunt.

Congresswoman Nikema Williams is here to share her take on this and how it may all end up. That's next.

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[08:15:06]

BLACKWELL: So don't expect the government shutdown to end soon. There will be no Senate votes this weekend. The House is no longer set to be in session at all next week, and Democrats are sticking with their view that this is the chance to fight for Obamacare health subsidies to remain in place.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has signaled that thousands of government layoffs could begin soon, and they're doing so via memes online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this an opportunity to fire more workers or an unfortunate consequence? KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY: Ms. Look, the President likes

to have a little fun every now and then, and I think both things can be true at the same time. The Democrats have given the administration this opportunity, and we don't like laying people off. Nobody takes joy in that around here. And if you think that, then I think that's very sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams is here. She's also the former chair of the Democratic Party in Georgia. Thanks for coming in.

Let me start here with this announcement from the speaker of the House Mike Johnson, where he has canceled the votes for next week and says that --

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D) GEORGIA): And canceled them last week.

BLACKWELL: And canceled them last week. Canceled them next week and says that there will be no votes until Democrats vote for the clean CR in the Senate. What's your reaction to that?

WILLIAMS: So what we're seeing now is a Republican Party who is not willing to do the work on behalf of the American people. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has not called a vote in the House since September 19th. September 19th. We're in October now.

I spent last night with Mayor Dickens here in Atlanta, trying to get resources for federal workers here in Atlanta, like our TSA workers. Atlanta has the world's busiest airport. Do you know what happens when you're forcing hourly workers to come to work without pay, all because they want to be able to have health care? They want to keep their families alive throughout this.

So Mayor Dickens and I worked on getting comped parking at the airport, food vouchers, so that when they come in for their shifts, that's one thing that we can take off their plates because they're paid every two weeks, unlike most federal workers who are paid monthly. But those aren't things that you're hearing about from my Republican colleagues who've been on vacation since the shutdown started, and when they knew it was even approaching.

So we've got work to do. I've been ready and waiting to do it, but they're nowhere in sight.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the layoffs and Senator John Fetterman, Democrat, who's voting with the Republicans to keep the government opened this clean. CR says this is the reason that he's not voting for a shutdown, because his fear of these massive layoffs. What do you say to that? That if you didn't want the layoffs, the help that you're going to get for these TSA workers and CDC also in your district, why vote against the CR?

WILLIAMS: So what we've seen is these layoffs have started since January 20th. People in Atlanta, at the CDC, at the EPA, at the Veteran Affairs Administration, at the airport, they've been faced with these layoffs and this threat of what is going to happen.

Since January 20th, we've seen massive layoffs. We've seen rollbacks in their doge cuts. And so what we know is this is happening anyway. What I have heard consistently across the board is don't give up on fighting for our health care.

And so in Fulton County alone, a married couple making roughly $85,000 a year today is paying $602 for their health care premiums. If we don't act, if we don't bring Democrats and Republicans to the table to change this and to come to an agreement that will increase to $2200 a month.

I don't know about you, Victor, but $1,600 additional a month on my health care premium, that would be a disaster for my household budget.

BLACKWELL: You're hearing from your constituents. Don't give up. And let me ask you, the last time there was a shutdown, this was 2018, 2019 went for more than a month. And near the end of it, there were federal workers who were in food lines and they were going to pawn shops, pawning their jewelry, pawning their electronics to buy food, pay the mortgage, pay the bills. I'm not saying that the onus to end this shutdown is on Democrats. I got a Republican next half. I'm going to ask him the same thing.

But are you willing to let it get to this point to where federal workers will be in food lines to eat in order to save these subsidies?

WILLIAMS: Victor, it doesn't have to be this way.

BLACKWELL: But if it does --

WILLIAMS: Republicans control the House.

BLACKWELL: But if it does.

WILLIAMS: The Senate and the presidency.

BLACKWELL: If it does, should the requisite number of Senate Democrats hold out, even if it gets to that point to save these subsidies.

WILLIAMS: I will be in D.C. on Monday, ready to negotiate in good faith on behalf of the American people. I cannot say the same for my Republican colleagues who have not been in D.C. since September 19th.

BLACKWELL: Should it get to that point if Democrats, and again, I'm going to ask a Republican the same thing. So I'm not saying the onus is on you, but if it gets to the point where people have to go and ask for free food because they can't feed their children, should those requisite number of Democrats in the Senate still hold out?

[08:20:00]

WILLIAMS: Victor, it is already happening. We have seen the effects of the Trump administration and their callousness and disregard for the American people. I have people in my district today who are already wondering what they're going to do because of the cuts that have been enacted since January 20th. What I am hearing across the board is, please continue to stand up to this administration that is holding the American people as hostages in their takeover and their lack of compassion for what is happening in this country.

BLACKWELL: And when you speak of --

WILLIAMS: Please stand up and fight for us. That is what I'm hearing.

BLACKWELL: When you speak about lack of passion, I want to show this video, the Grim Reaper video that the president sent out, depicting the OMB director, Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper carrying this scythe, the president playing a cowbell, coming for federal jobs. And there's one part of this video, let's show the screenshot, that is particularly relevant to you and your district.

It says here, if we can drop that banner, "You won't be able to fly." And it has federal workers as zombies staggering past the unemployment office. And you've got the busiest airport in the world in your district, Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson. What's your reaction to this approach?

WILLIAMS: That's not leadership, Victor. We're hearing this from the President of the United States. That is what he thinks of the American people. That is what he thinks of the safety of the world's busiest airport. And we need leaders in this country to come together to stand up to this president, who clearly does not care about the American people.

We have an obligation as leaders to stand up for the people who need us. And those are the people who are defending our airport every day, defending our country. My brother-in-law is a veteran, just retired. My father gets his benefits at the VA Hospital right here in Atlanta. And he's concerned about what that means for long term for his health care, that he goes in every week.

So we have an obligation to stand up for the people even when our president is not willing. And that's why I'm flying back to Washington on Monday, ready and willing to do the work. I need my Republican colleagues to join me.

BLACKWELL: Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams, thank you so much for being with me.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, who is to blame, and what's the way out of the shutdown? Two strategists on opposite sides of the aisle are here to debate. Next.

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[08:21:41]

BLACKWELL: Moments ago, we heard from Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams. She says the Democrats are ready and willing to negotiate and end this shutdown if Republicans address their concerns in good faith. Here with me now, Leo Smith, the former director of Minority engagement for the GOP in Georgia, and Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson. Welcome to you both.

Leo, let me start with you. Because this is largely about messaging, the White House Republicans believe that immigration is their trump card, so to speak. Can we, at least in this discussion, acknowledge that their claim that Democrats are fighting for federal funding for health care for undocumented immigrants is not true because the law does not allow it?

LEO SMITH, FORMER MINORITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR, GEORGIA GOP: Well, the law doesn't allow it because the quote, unquote, "Big Beautiful Bill" that was passed that stopped that sort of allowance from happening for illegal immigrants to get health care.

BLACKWELL: That has not been the case before July, when that was passed.

SMITH: Yes, but the Dems have proposed that consideration for undocumented get health care and emergency room situations be restored into the bill.

BLACKWELL: Okay. But undocumented people in this country have not been eligible for federal assistance and federal health care long before the passage of the legislation in July. So it's just not true that the Republicans in office now that President Trump can take credit for that's just not true.

SMITH: No, it isn't. That isn't true. But it is true that in the counteroffer to the clean resolutions that the Republicans presented, and that counteroffer, there is allowance for illegal immigrants to get health care.

BLACKWELL: Tharon, let me get you in on here.

THARON JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: So the law that you're referring to, Victor, you're right, was in 1986, and it was amended to say that if people are here, undocumented immigrants, that they will have eligibility to get emergency services at hospitals, but it's a very temporary service that they get. So Democrats are not saying that, you know, we only want undocumented immigrants to get health care. What we're saying is what you heard from the congresswoman.

People in this country should not go broke because they get sick. And the thing is the Republicans shut down the government because they refuse to make healthcare more affordable for Americans. And so this whole undocumented immigrant play is just false, as you mentioned. And my good friend Leo is doing his best to try to explain what's happened, but Trump is trying to take credit for a law that's been on the books since 1986. But you're right, Victor, no undocumented immigrant in this country are eligible for the federal health care programs that we allow for our citizens.

BLACKWELL: And we'll also say that in 1986, Ronald Reagan was president.

JOHNSON: That's right.

BLACKWELL: So this is --

JOHNSON: Who, by the way, had the most federal government shutdowns to any other president.

BLACKWELL: So let me also play this for you, Tharon. Just six months ago, Chuck Schumer warned against what could happen if there were a federal government shutdown. And this is how he defended his vote for the CR back then. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D) MINORITY LEADER): Once you shut down the government is totally up to DOGE and Trump, and Musk how long we're in shutdown. We could have been in shutdown down for months. And why did Musk and Trump want to shut down? Because they wanted this power to achieve their goal of dramatically shrinking, destroying, hurting innocent people in the government.

Why they want that? Very simple. They want to slash the government to mithereens so that they can give their billionaire friends a tax cut. We're against that. Cutting the government, shutting the government down would have made it much easier for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So that's what he said six months ago. I mean, take Musk out because he's no longer a government service. And Republicans got the extension of the tax cuts. Why is March Schumer wrong and September October Schumer right on the other side of the question.

JOHNSON: Because what Leader Schumer said is that it was much different circumstances. So the president came in January 20, and what we've seen since that day is that their attempt to fire as many federal employees as possible. He also referenced DOGE, what the leader was saying, if we don't vote for this resolution now, we knew exactly what they were trying to do back in January.

Now fast forward to October. We're now in the fourth day of a shutdown. So you got to get Leader Schumer some credit.

BLACKWELL: But that risk still exists today.

JOHNSON: That risk still exists. So here's what --

BLACKWELL: That's what Fetterman says, which is not. He's voting with Republicans.

JOHNSON: So what's changed now is that we've seen the direct result of what the Republicans basically have set out to do. They're cutting Veteran affairs services. They're cutting federal education services. You just heard, talked about the world's busiest airport. TSA folks are being laid off.

What Schumer is saying now is that we need to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies to not allow 24 million Americans in this country right now, many of whom are not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare, many of whom don't have the ability to get healthcare services from their employers. We're willing to put that on the table to stop the Republicans for continuing to shut down.

BLACKWELL: And let me ask you, Leo, the same question I asked the congresswoman we watched in the 2018, 2019 shutdown that there were federal workers who sat in food lines because they couldn't feed their children. They pawned their engagement rings. They pawned their electronics to pay the mortgage.

Should Republicans refuse to negotiate with Democrats even if it gets to that point?

SMITH: Well, I mean, the important thing here is that 2018 debate was about Dreamers. Right. And so the important thing here is should we have more time to discuss these very important issues? And what the clean resolution does is buys you more time. So this is really a moral high ground kind of issue, and it's going to get pretty ugly if people are waiting in lines, if people are losing their jobs.

BLACKWELL: And you say the Republicans have the moral high ground on that question.

SMITH: Well, Republicans right now don't have a lot of moral high ground about a lot of things. So I'm not saying that the Republicans are making a moral argument, but they will make that argument if people are losing their jobs because the Democrats have attached a rider to their counter.

In other words, someone says, I need to go to the airport, it's important that I get there, but I'm bringing my friend. And the person says, well, I can only take you. Do you want to go or you're going to bring your friend?

BLACKWELL: Well, I've also --

SMITH: You got to, like, make the main thing the main thing.

BLACKWELL: We have -- we should also point out that Republicans and Democrats have been on both sides of the shutdown question at each time. But I only got 5 seconds left. Should they hold out if federal employees can't feed themselves, should they still refuse to negotiate?

SMITH: I think they will negotiate. I think the president has shown willingness to negotiate on some issues. I don't think the illegal immigrant support in Medicare, which is debated. Right. I don't think that should -- it's going to be something that he'll yield on.

BLACKWELL: Leo Smith, Tharon Johnson, thank you both.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, from commander-in-chief to commander of beats. Images of Barack Obama making his DJ debut crossed my algorithm this week. They're really convincing. But looks can be deceiving. There's even a station that reported that he left the crowd in awe as a DJ, you'll see it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently over the weekend, Obama debuted as a DJ. Look at these visuals.

BLACKWELL: Have you seen these images appearing to show former President Obama DJing? More than 5 million people have. Hundreds of thousands of people have shared them. There are thousands of comments. The images are going viral on Instagram and TikTok.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama, like the former president, the black dude, he done made his debut as a DJ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently we are facing a governmental shutdown and he wants to go be a DJ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got Obama playing house music in Arizona, bro. This is unreal.

BLACKWELL: Unreal. Yes, we thought so too. But then after a quick Google search, we found this story published by Houston station KIAH, about the DJ set. Departing from his usual book tours or political engagements, the 44th President surprised the audience as he launched his debut DJ set, leaving the crowd in awe.

Wait, did we miss it? Did President Obama really make his DJing debut in Arizona? Well, we sent those three images to CNN's Photo Desk, and their analysis was that all three images are AI generated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And yes, it's AI, but I feel like if I thought it was real, I'd be a lot happier.

BLACKWELL: To get to the bottom of this, I talked to Alexander Peet. He's the photographer, videographer, and content creator who posted the images.

ALEXANDER PEET, PHOTOGRAPHER: There was this DJ, Dylan Francis, who was performing and I took the pictures of him and I uploaded the pictures on Gemini. I was just curious, messing around with this. Once I swapped his face with Obama.

[08:40:03]

Obama seems like someone you think would do something like this. It sounds pretty believable. So just -- as just for fun, I swapped his face with Obama and the results was unprecedented. I mean, the whole generation took only under 20 seconds. And I thought to myself, you know, this would be a fun publicity stuff to post in my Instagram. And I hesitate posting it for, you know, ethical reasons, you know,

because I don't want to give off that presentation. You know, I use like AI modifications might work, but I was like, you know, give it a try. You know, I think people would assume that's a joke or a meme. Instagram label it as AI and also label as AI info on the top as well.

In the post, you see right there, AI info. I think it started turning into more of a lesson, the case study about media literacy and how important that's going to be, you know, in the coming years.

BLACKWELL: You say this is a lesson in media literacy. Why isn't this just plain old misinformation?

PEET: It's really important to think about the subcontext and the context behind image as well. Like I said, this is more like a more for me purposes, you know, guerrilla marketing, that sort of thing.

BLACKWELL: A lot of people were duped by it.

PEET: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Do you regret it or are you pleased with the result?

PEET: I wouldn't say I would regret it just because, you know, it's been, you know, it's been kind of fun experiments, you know, being able to experience all this firsthand and see from my end too. But I think also, you know, going forward, I have a personal responsibility, you know, to kind of embrace what I'm truly about as a creative, you know, helping with human made arts and you know, helping brands, business and people tell their stories.

BLACKWELL: We also reached out to KIAH about that story that said that Obama left the crowd in awe. Well, they didn't get back to us. They have since removed the story from their website.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Coming up, right wing influencers are upset about Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl. And now the Secretary of Homeland Security says she has a message for him and for his fans. We'll speak about all that with a journalist who's interviewed Benito multiple times.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:46:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So Bad Bunny, are you excited?

BAD BUNNY, MUSICIAN: About the Super Bowl? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. For hosting SNL this week?

BAD BUNNY: Yes, that too. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And tonight, Bad Bunny will make his fifth appearance on Saturday Night Live. It'll be his second time as host. This is for the season 51 premiere, and it's just days after the NFL announced he'll perform at the super bowl halftime show on February 8th. And that decision has upset some right wing voices.

Among the complaints? His recent comments calling out ICE and performing in Spanish. Former race car driver Danica Patrick posted on social media that no songs in English should not be allowed at one of America's highest rated television events of the year. Journalist Suzy Exposito is with us. She was the first Latina to write a cover story for Rolling Stone back in 2020, which was an interview with Bad Bunny. And she dropped a new interview with him just last month. Suzy, thanks for being with me.

This latest interview was after his residency in Puerto Rico and you asked him why he decided not tour in the lower 48 mainland U.S. and he says there was this issue of like effing ICE could be outside my concert. And it's something that we were talking about and very concerned about.

He's now accepted the offer to perform at the super bowl. And listen to what the DHS secretary said about ICE and the big game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We'll be all over that place and I can't. We're going to enforce the law. So I think people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless there are law abiding Americans who love this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Were you surprised by his decision to accept the offer to perform at the Super Bowl?

SUZY EXPOSITO, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST: You know, I actually wasn't that surprised. I think that he's reached a level in his career where he is on par with past artists who have performed the halftime show. I think about how powerful Kendrick Lamar's performance was, the fact that, you know, Bad Bunny actually appeared in the halftime show during J. Lo and Shakira's performance in Miami in 2020.

And I just, I think that he's made it. You know, he's not just a Puerto Rican superstar. He's a global superstar at this point. But I imagine that, you know, he may have had to take some time to think over this decision. He did say, you know, when I asked him about that, he was thinking about the possibility of playing 10, 20 stadiums in the United States and where his fans could be targeted.

I should note that agents were seen outside of his concert in Puerto Rico, his concerts outside the Coliseum in San Juan, where they are also doing raids. But his answer to me was like a two-parter and he just wanted people to come and experience Puerto Rico for his residency shows instead of him constantly going to the States.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned and I want to dig into this a little bit, dissect this for me, there's this vitriol and kind of the ICE comments aside, there's this otherness that some on the right are assigning to Bad Bunny that we didn't see this degree of disgust when it was the J. Lo and Shakira show in 2020.

And so you're former Latin music editor for Rolling Stone. Why? Is it just the language difference or is it something more here?

EXPOSITO: You know, I think it's two things. I do think the language difference is a huge part.

[08:50:00]

You know, Shakira and J. Lo, they came up in a time when if you wanted to be a superstar, you could not just do it in Spanish. I mean, J. Lo grew up speaking English. She grew up in the Bronx, famously. But Shakira, you know, she, to make her crossover moment, she had to move to Miami and learn English and write songs in English. And, you know, Ricky Martin had to also start writing songs in English. So same with Enrique Iglesias. And now we're living in a different time.

The United States is actually has the second largest Spanish speaking population in the world. We're behind Mexico. And I think that bilingualism is something that's actually really common around the world. And I think that it's time that the U.S. steps up and catches up with the rest of the world on that.

So I think maybe I can understand some people would find that a little, like, alienating.

BLACKWELL: Well, listen, it's a big country and plenty of people do speak and understand Spanish. You know, in researching this, I found that after last year, Kendrick Lamar's performance, 133 million people watched. Wired reported that the FCC received dozens of complaints that there weren't enough white people on stage. And plenty of fans watched Lady Gaga and Aerosmith and NSYNC. I doubt there were as many complaints about where are the black people for the Aerosmith performance. Suzy Exposito, thank you so much for being with me.

All right. Xania Monet. Have you heard that name? Her music is reaching the Billboard charts. And now Xania Monet has a record deal. But Xania is also not a real person. The story behind the AI artist, that's next.

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[08:56:11]

BLACKWELL: Xania Monet is getting a lot of attention in the music industry. Xania recently ranked pretty high on the Billboard charts, including number one in R and B digital song sales. Xania Monet is now has a multimillion dollar record deal.

Xania is also not a real person. The artist you're seeing and hearing about, it's generated by artificial intelligence. We're told. Xania's creator is a woman named Telisha Nikki Jones, who will reveal herself soon. But for Art is Life this week, we did get in touch with the man who says he's the AI artist's manager.

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ROMEO MURPHY, XANIA MONET'S MANAGER: My name is Romeo Murphy from Chicago, Illinois and I am the manager for Xania Monet.

AI and tech are shaping the future of music and the world in general. So instead of following, we decided to be at the forefront of the innovation.

She's from Mississippi. She's been a poet for years. She put it out in song because she wanted to put her poetry out. The rest is just history.

AI is an avatar she creates. And then what we did is she put her voice into a AI platform called Suno. And when she put her voice in, then she put a template and plugins on it and put her real lyrics. Society has a norm for singers and your voice has to be a certain type, your look has to be a certain type. And we wanted to also involve the technology of AI and create the avatar and just allow people to connect to the true essence of the lyrics in the word.

The majority of the songs are experienced that she's lived, and the ones that aren't real life experiences are from her village, her friends, her family that they've talked about and that she put on pad. And now the world is relating to them.

AI doesn't replace the artist. That's not our goal at all. It doesn't diminish the creativity and doesn't take away from the human experience. It's a new frontier. And like anything would change. Some people are receptive and some people are apprehensive.

I use an example of Michael Jackson, Prince. They both have music catalogs that are expanding decades. To this day, youth are still listening to those songs, and they're no longer with us, and they're connected to their music. So it is the music, because they don't have the history of the contact or the concert live feel, but they still love those songs.

Music has to evolve as well. We just have to keep the integrity and be intentional about the realness of it and push the music to the world.

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BLACKWELL: All right, now we reached out via email to Hallwood Media about the reported record deal, but have not heard back. And Romel tells us there are in fact plans for Xania to go on tour at some point, but they're still working out how that will work.

Tomorrow night, a new CNN original series, "New Orleans Soul of the City" premieres. The first episode looks at the roots of one of America's most celebrated cuisines.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the many dishes we have in Louisiana cuisine, the one that singularly defines who we are is gumbo. What is gumbo? Where does it come from? The word gumbo comes from an African word, kin gumbo, which means okra.

[09:00:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Senegal we have this dish called Soup Kandia (ph). So as you can see --

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