This is going to be voted down, like, for sure.
And, like, before I give them the satisfaction
of voting this thing down, I'm pulling this effing
deal from them. And that's what I did. I went
up to the microphone and I said, screw this.
This was supposed to be fun. This was supposed
to be an opportunity to give back. Don't listen
to me. Half of you guys are sponsored by this
corrupt money. Half of you guys don't even live
here permanently. Half of you guys are out of...
From out of the country. According to who? According
to you? Yeah, yeah, of course. Your kids are
an experiment. They have no business. Oh, wow.
I mean, when I. When I watched that video, it
just, it brings back so much emotion. I mean,
I was standing there and the heart of that was
you. And I just, there's even more to the video
that we're not showing here, but it was intense.
That was intense. Will you explain to us, give
us a little background? How did this happen?
What led into it? What's this all about? where
did you come from how did you even how did you
get here how did you come into your success oh
my financial success yeah oh as you know i'm
a serial entrepreneur i'm a tech technologist
anti -vaxxer serial entrepreneur reluctant anti
-vaxxer activist serial tech entrepreneur um
but um my my big hit i had a bunch of exists
but my big one what has to do with some innovations
that i made in the electronic toll collection
arena like easy pass sun pass fast pass called
you the toll king the total king i'm the total
king so if you ever rent a car to this day and
you can pay for your tolls electronically with
a device in the windshield or whatever that's
that's my patent my innovation i developed some
software i wrote the code myself from my attic
and um from nothing and by the time i sold it
16 years later we had four million cars driving
around using this service that people grew to
love and so um you're super smart guy thanks
thanks honey yeah the smartest i know what what
happened okay so uh this is um this is at city
hall at in miami the city of miami and i have
to back up a little bit to give a little context
so i'm a native miami and i was born and raised
here in miami and I've had a very successful
tech career in New York. A bunch of years back,
we moved back to Miami. I've been asking you
to move to Miami for a long time. I finally realized
my dream to move back to the place where I was
born. Sold our company. You didn't have to sell
me on it, though. The weather, I was like...
You loved it. The moment we arrived, you're like,
why didn't we do this years ago? But our kids
were at the perfect age. It was great. sold the
company and I'm a product of the Miami public
school system. I remember stories of you never
having brand new shoes. Having shoes that talk
to you, that used to flap when you walked. I
mean, you know, I just, I feel like these are
important points because you came from literally
nothing. My shoes were so beat up that they developed
holes in the soles. And when I would walk, I'd
be careful I didn't walk in a puddle because
my socks would get soaking wet. And sometimes
when I would walk too fast, the top would open
up over the top of my toes. Why are we both getting
emotional over this? You're going to mess up
my makeup. the top of my shoes would open up
and i would say please i hope nobody just saw
that it was just so embarrassing and i i you
know my hair is curly and we couldn't afford
uh to get haircuts and my my hair when it grows
long like resembles like a chia pet you know
it grows out like this instead of down i i wish
i had the kind of hair that had gravity to it
you know you had a real jufro I had a real jufro.
But you were super cute, though. I don't think
so. Nerdy, nerdy glasses, thick Coke bottles.
I couldn't see shit. If I would have seen you
at that age, I would have been in love with you
at that age. I know you say that. You're very
kind. And nonetheless, I did pretty well for
myself. And we moved back to Miami, and I wanted
to make a grand gesture. And as you know, we
started at a school, and the... Middle school,
high school, which then was the elementary, middle
school. Just to back up a little, I remember
you saying you were working at a pizza place
since you were 16. Frankie's Pizza on Bird Road.
Yeah, the pizza was amazing, by the way. I mean,
first time I tried it, I was like, wow, this
is real pizza. It was delicious. But, you know,
you were very passionate about wanting to come
back to where you were born and just giving back
to the city that grew you, even though it was
a hard life. You were blessed to be alive and
you were blessed to be so successful. Is that
right? It's exactly right. I'm very grateful
even for the rough times. It's actually helped
develop the person that I am today. So you're
absolutely right. And we talked about that a
lot. And you supported me. I did. You did. One
of the first grand gestures we did is we gave
a lot of money to the Lotus House. Huge, multi
-million dollar grant to... sponsor their culinary
kitchen to help develop women who are in abusive
relationships so they can learn some hospitality
skills they can go out and get jobs and our focus
on women and children we just really really nice
things in fact i think one of the one uh uh pre
pre -cancellation attempts we were considered
miami's most philanthropic power couple yeah
yeah we enjoy this stuff a lot a lot it gives
us a lot of um uh satisfaction to bring things
to other people, especially that's kind of sustainable.
That's right. And so... It's that old saying,
you can teach, you can give somebody fish or
you could teach them how to fish. So we fell
in love with that program because they were teaching
these women how to cook so they could get their
own jobs and not be dependent on the government.
And it really checked the box for one of our
giving criteria. Everything we do in that way
provides a skill set so they can elevate themselves
and never look back. So we started a school.
One of the campuses was right across the street
from a public park. And I'm being very kind by
calling it a public park. It's really a beat
up grassy field. Dirt and rocks and divots. Lots
of syringes. Injuries. Yeah, on the grass before
we started cleaning it up. Forested gates. Homeless
people. Yes. In fact, we... We came up with the
name for a new kind of porn called homeless porn.
Oh, my God. Don't remind me of that. Because
we have cameras on the school. We have cameras
everywhere. And the things our nighttime security
would see and have to call the police. Yeah.
Unimaginable. Yes. So we slash I had this. Great
idea to turn this park into something really
special. And after school hours, then it'd be
open to the community. They could use it. And
then one thing led to another. Because I'd lived
in the Northeast for so many years, I used to
play tennis underneath these inflatable domes
in the middle of the wintertime. Makes the field
a lot more accessible, right? 24 hours if we
wanted, if the city wanted. So I approached the
commissioner who was in charge of... district
where the school was located with this idea of
we'd like to make a donation to the city of Miami
where we the sentinels will pay for the construction
of this domed sports facility which would have
inside of it many tennis courts and basketball
courts a weight room running track all kinds
of all kinds of design was gorgeous oh my god
Literally, like three and a half acres, I think.
Huge. Now, let me get this straight. What? Did
the city agree to sell you the land? Were you
taking over the land? Give me a little more context.
Literally, it was a $10 million donation for
the right to build this and donate the improvements
thereupon to the city of Miami. So, wait a minute.
You are going to write a check. Write a check.
To improve the city land. Yes. Just for the right
to use it and exclusively only? And the public
can use it. Yes. And right now, you can use it.
At the moment, now? Yes. I mean, it's a park.
Yeah, sure. But you're using it now, right? We
use it for phys ed. So. Non -exclusively. The
only difference is, does the public use it now,
right now? I don't ever see them there. They
don't because it's just dirt and grass. But will
the public be able to truly use it after this
donation? I mean, I had this vision where just
people were using it all the time. It was a super
popular hotspot where we would have underprivileged
youth basketball, midnight basketball leagues.
You know, that's what I really wanted. It would
have been so incredible and it would have become
a staple. in miami and it would have brought
together so many neighborhoods that neighborhood
is not you know is on the rise but you know still
has some work to do this was going to be like
a literally an eight story tall uh inflatable
dome inflatable dome that airplanes flying overhead
would see it and would be like what is that and
it would be the talk of the town everybody would
would have used it they would come from from
afar to use it and You might be wondering, well,
are they going to have to pay to use this? Of
course, but we don't even set the price. This
is a public property. The city of Miami would
be setting the price, and I'm sure the price
would be very nominal to use the facility. As
an example, are there other parks that you have
to pay to rent? That's standard. So it's really
no different. It's no different, yeah. So anyway,
it took... So our lobbyist, rather, we hired
somebody to work directly with this commissioner
to bring it to life. And it's complicated. I'm
sure the city of Miami is no different from any
other major city. It's really complicated to
make these things happen. I mean, you spent years
on this. It took me four and a half years, actually.
Four and a half years. This is not an overnight
thing. This was not a... hey, let's do this.
This was hard work to get a lot of people to
buy in. A lot of people had to buy in. A lot.
And it had to go to multiple commission hearings.
The leadership of our district changed to another,
a new commissioner. So as I understand this,
Ken Russell was the commissioner who originally
championed this. Yes. Happens to be a Democrat.
Yes. Because this political... Stuff got a little
hairy after a while. Politics came into play.
It got a little crazy because in the beginning,
when it was a Democrat leading this, he was super
supportive. I remember him taking us on a tour
to other neighborhoods, showing us what's been
done before and that something like this would
be the first time and maybe even set. A potential
model for other philanthropists, other successful
people who live in Miami that want to give back
could potentially recreate this model. That's
what I was thinking. Not necessarily sports facilities,
but where somebody did really well and is grateful
to Miami would write out a check and, you know,
create something for the community that's actually
beneficial to everybody. OK, so let's fast forward.
Okay, you've got this fantastic idea. I loved
it. I fell in love with it What seems to be like
a giving opportunity? What seems to feel like
like how could anyone turn this down? I mean,
it's the the land never becomes ours And in fact,
there was a little sneaky clause in there that
after we built this thing At any point in time,
they could take it away from us. At any point
in time, with the right number of votes, they
could retract. After we write the check, after
we build this, if circumstances are aligned,
they could revoke the whole thing from us if
they wanted to. And I remember at that point
how naive you and I were. I didn't like it. I
would say you were more naive in that one because
that rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning.
But you were like, Layla. Why would any government
official take something away from us that we
poured our heart and soul into? And I just thought,
I don't know, but just something doesn't feel
right, right? And I feel like it was God that
retracted that whole thing because we could have
set ourselves up for them to take it away anyway.
And so we might have saved ourselves years of
heartache. Exactly, yeah. Right? Because at the
end of the day, fortunately, they were voting
before we spent the money. Thank God. But we
did spend four and a half years and we did spend
some money in getting it going. But they showed
us what they were capable of. That's right. And
so the trust between us and the government was
completely severed. Is that right? Did you feel
that? Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I mean, at least for
now, you know, I'm a hopeful kind of guy that,
you know, maybe in the coming years or decades,
my taste towards the city of Miami. And I can't
extend it to the Miami -Dade County. I'm just
talking about the city of Miami. I sort of have
a super bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, and you
gave a very heartfelt speech. You were pissed.
And along the way, we've been defamed and trolled
and attacked and villainized, trying to do a
good thing. You know, this really is a scary
place to speak, Commissioner King, and to be.
Nobody here will even look me in the eye. Most
people will say, screw this. A little more background.
The new commissioner who replaced the old commissioner
is now the champion of the project. And he actually
brought it over the finish line after four and
a half years. Contract signed. We were starting
to do work on it. Designs, engineering, architects,
and so on. And then all of a sudden, out of the
blue, literally out of the blue, he gets arrested
along with the lobbyist who we had retained to
help bring this project to happen for allegedly
taking campaign contributions to prioritize this
project to the detriment of other people's considerations
for what this property might be. And who are
these other people? These campaign contributions
were our campaign contributions. Yes, but I mean,
who are these other people that supposedly were
interested in the property? So there's another
school that's a few blocks away that... Apparently,
many years ago, they had their site set on using,
relocating because they were running out of space
and relocating and moving their school to this
field, this property and building a grand new
school along with commercial residential tower
sponsored by who knows what developers in Miami.
So basically taking a public park, converting
it into a development space. Where a chartered
school, right, which has a limited amount of
seats that it's not open to the public, wants
to take over that land essentially for free.
Essentially, that's what all of a sudden it became
like the highest priority. And it would no longer
be green space, even though we're truly lacking
green space in that area. Yeah, but to be fair,
I don't want to make it like our idea was better
than their idea. So what happened was the commissioner
got swept up in this scandal. I believe he was
fired by the governor. There was a new election
in November of 2023. Two district seats came
up for election, so two new replacements. First
order of business of one of the new commissioners
is, hey, let's retract that deal that the city
has with the Senators. Okay? That was January
of 2024. And we're like, what the fuck? What
the hell is going on here? And so what we did
is we started meeting with the commissioners
face -to -face, because they didn't really know
who we were, to explain to them what our project
was. We did not want them to pull the plug on
this and by the way to pull the plug would require
as per our agreement four out of five of the
votes would have to be in favor of retracting
it from us and So and this was that scenario
was like this is never gonna happen. We're giving
money to the city This is just the likelihood
of this happening. It's just so incredibly remote
So I was hanging my head on that But now it looks
like this actually might come to pass. Well,
the first hearing went great Well, it went great
because the opposition didn't show up. Exactly.
So we were ready. We knew the hearing was happening.
We showed up in force. God bless the parents
of our school and members of the community. Showed
up in force to make sure this wasn't a rubber
stamp vote and retraction. And the commissioners,
if they had voted on it that day. we would have
won. So instead of voting on it, they deferred
it. So they deferred it to the next month. The
next month, wow, the opposition showed up big
time. And that's where that video of that lady
is from. That's from that day at City Hall. They
showed up in force, with funded, with pink shirts,
angry on fire at us, calling us the nastiest
names. And the speculation on our end was, What
developer was funding this because they were
afraid to lose that land that they themselves
were trying to get to use? Somebody was behind
this. This was a very orchestrated campaign of
vitriol against the senators. And we'll find
out one day. We're going to figure it out. We
always figure it out. So they showed up in force.
And again, the commissioners... decided to defer
it once again. But this time the media also showed
up. The media showed up as well. So we started
to get all over the news. Well, back in September
when the whole scandal was exposed, they started
to link that the Senators' money, the campaign
contributions, were behind this whole thing.
And I won't mention who, but one of the major
local media outlets was very incorrect in their
coverage of this and accused us of... funneling
money to the commissioners. And they refused
to call it a donation. They would not call it
a donation. Even though the agreement actually
says donation agreement to the city, they would
not call it a donation. I remember saying to
one of the ladies. Reporters? Yeah, why are you
calling it an investment? Investment means we
will own this. It's a donation. Like, you know,
it's... You know, when you hear that propaganda
can be, you know... Skewed. Skewed. Yes. That
really upset me. Because had they said contribution
or donation that the settlers would never own
the land, that would have really changed public
perspective. That's right. So the media was purposely
and strategically trying to make us look like
bad people. Terrible. Yeah. And so... They would
not say the word donation. I wrote to them. I
like beseeched them. And they wouldn't. They
would not. I'm like getting upset right now.
I can feel it. Yeah. Yeah. Because they were
trying to paint a picture. That's right. And
what was that picture? That we are dirty. Really
dirty. And what do you have there? Let me pull
out. What? I got some. Instagram comments. Oh,
great. Wonderful. That, you know, I know I started
to read them and they just really, like, irked
my soul. So at first I was replying and then
I had to stop. Like, I can actually read one
of my replies, which was, no one accused us of
bribe. We were never officially accused of anything.
Is that right? We're actually, technically, we're
witnesses for the prosecution. Right, so. There's
no accusation against us. Nope, not once. Okay.
And I say that. No one accused us of a bribe.
Ask yourself this question. Why would we bribe
anyone to donate money? This is to give away
our hard -earned money, $10 million of it. It
almost sounds ludicrous to bribe someone to give
away our money for something that we were going
to build that wasn't only for our community,
for the public. The public would have truly enjoyed
this project because there isn't anything else
out there like this. This has been the hottest
destination in Miami. And that's something that
you and I love doing. We love doing things that
no one else has done. I like to bring community
together, as you know. Yes, and we have fun.
I mean, we throw so many parties just for our
community. We built a farm for our community.
This is who we are. That's the mission of health.
We're all about health and wellness. Checks that
box people can come in actually exercise instead
of going out. Yeah partying on a Saturday night
24 hours a day. It was gonna be open. Yeah We
paid where we would pay for all the operating
costs and all the security and everything to
People to run the place. Yeah on our dime. Yeah
and rain or shine You could use the facility.
I love it Okay, so and then somebody posts prosecutors
allege you and your husband funneled money through
a lobbyist to interest controlled by former commissioner
alex so yes you are being accused of bribing
a public official i know don't act crazy i know
so that's one of the words what word did they
word smith to make it look like we were accused
of something that we funneled money funneled
money yeah so i scrubbed the arrest affidavits
because it's the source of all the information
that everybody's relying upon, and nowhere does
it allege anything of the sort. That really rubbed
me the wrong way. This thing is living out there,
and I'm thinking, this thing is living out there
in the world that the sentinels funneled money,
and people are reading that and drawing conclusions
about us. I have old friends, please tell me
it's not true, David, that instantly got a different
opinion of me. Pretty sensitive guy, as you know.
He used to call you Sensitive Dave. That was
my nickname, for better or for worse, in college,
Sensitive Dave. I take that as a compliment.
I called you Sensitive Dave when we were first
married. I take it as a compliment. Not as sensitive
anymore. It means I feel emotions. But you're
not as sensitive anymore. You're a lot tougher.
I don't know if Miami made you tougher. Maybe
this whole experience. You're not as tougher.
You're not as sensitive. I'm thinking this is
living out there. People think that I, this is
really more on me than you. Because I was like,
screw these guys. Yeah, and it was my baby. This
was my product. It was your baby. Yeah, for four
and a half years I worked on this thing. And
all of a sudden, and I did get swept up in your
controversy. Yeah, well, you know, we could rewind
just a little bit because we know the media is
super leftist. We took a stance against. vaccines
well i did but you supported me thank you honey
i appreciate that and they really tried to like
just crush us to pieces and there's a dotted
line to this because this was they were opportunistic
we're gonna get them now for good we're gonna
give them a knockout shot so they tried to cancel
us then yeah failed didn't really work and this
particular uh news network okay who couldn't
take us down the first time, looked at it as
an opportunity to take us down. They went for
it. They went for it. They went for it. So they
fabricated this word funneled. To the point of
fabrication. Yeah. And it just rubbed me the
wrong way. And I wrote to them, please change
this. They refused. Another media publication,
I'm not going to name either of them. Easily,
just at the request. Because they were copying
the first publication's reporting. Yeah. And
I wrote to them, no, this is not the case. Look
into this. And they changed it within an hour.
But this other one refused to change it. Super
leftist one. And it's week after week, month
after month of this sitting out there that the
sentinels funneled money. So here we are. They
deferred in January. They deferred in February.
Oh, yeah, you want to do... Let me read a few
more. I was trying to avoid that. Let's keep
going with this. Go ahead. I want you to tell
me how you feel, you know? Okay, sure. All right.
Thank goodness. Bat shit crooked fucks. Oh, God.
Let me keep going. Typical Miami slime. Now,
I remember you wanting to be that Miami golden
boy child, the guy that had nothing, grew up
with nothing, came back to Miami to just take
care of your city. How did it feel when you read,
or I don't know if you've seen this before, but
typical Miami slime. What do you feel when I
even read that now? I mean, I could feel it.
It's disappointing. I know. I'm even getting
emotional because it's like... That wasn't the
plan. I saw you put your heart and soul into
this. That wasn't the plan. That wasn't the plan.
I saw you. I watched you. I just wanted to do
something nice. That's all. You worked your butt
off. Yeah. And you were so excited at the idea
and the vision to create something that kids
would be able to enjoy year -round. And it's
not like we... You know, philanthropy is... It's
been in our DNA even since before we sold the
company. I remember we did so many amazing things
in Brooklyn and New York. Yeah, Harlem. Buying
brand new shoes and coats for kids who had never
had brand new shoes and coats because you never
had brand new shoes. I wore hand -me -downs.
You did. And so this was kind of part of our
DNA. I'm going to read a few more. Thank you.
Garbage. I have yet to meet a wealthy person
that didn't account for every penny and where
it went. Okay. I mean, some of these I won't
even read because they're just too graphic. Hope
y 'all get prison time for bribing a public official
and attempting to fraudulently acquire public
land. Yeah, I mean... Again, were we ever going
to acquire this land? This poor person is drawing
a conclusion based upon extraordinarily faulty
reporting. And that's the bottom line. That's
the bottom line. Propaganda. Yeah. That's why
when the media is in control and you don't have
an opportunity to say your piece, and this is
why actually we're doing this show, because we
want to give people that other side, their ability
to share these heartfelt stories. and understand
that everybody deserves a voice. And when you
just hear one side, it creates this, paints this
picture that in this case, and in many cases,
for many people that experience this, it's just
plain wrong. You know, obviously they commented
on my looks, which I think is just... First of
all... Insane. First of all, I think you're beautiful.
thank you yeah and they took photographs of you
and me in the courtroom and elsewhere you looking
like uh evil alien yeah right remember yeah and
um and then people commented about like all kinds
of you know modifications you made your face
i mean look at you i mean this is stunningly
naturally beautiful thank you no they would take
the worst photo possible yeah yeah and just say
horrible things i mean like children in a playground
Let's start name -calling. Here you go. What
a crock of shit. High -net -worth families are
really starting to appear more like sewer people.
These two are 100 % scum. This was not the script
that I envisioned when we moved back to Miami,
really. Everything went cockeyed. This is not
how I... I mean, as we sit here now, I'm sure
there's a relatively large percentage of the
community of Miami who continues to think these
things about us. Read a few of them. These people
are so corrupt that their lies don't make anything...
How is it that people who write this stuff, their
English and grammar are so poor? You're a grammar
snob. My grammar is not nearly as great as yours.
If they're going to blast people, at least make
it grammatically correct. These people is so
corrupt that their lies don't make anything and
they don't care. Plop. I'm not exactly sure what
that means. Just the scum we clearly do not need
to add in Miami. There's enough. Somebody's calling
us enough already maggots. i mean it's just it's
horrible there's an old cartoon i think new york
magazine it's a picture of a dog in front of
a computer and it says on the internet nobody
knows you're a dog you know people can be like
the worst part of themselves on the internet
so let's let's fast forward yeah what was the
end result okay so um there was going to be a
hearing in march it might have been deferred
might not we were actually ironically at a meditation
retreat Far away. In Portugal. In Portugal. Many
hours ahead. And it was supposed to be no devices.
Put our devices in the safe. Put them away so
we could really focus. March 8th, I believe it
was, there was going to be a hearing. And I needed
to mobilize everybody. I needed to have a show
of force. I just done it in February. It was
deferred. I have to do it equally or bigger show
of force in March. And you did an amazing job,
by the way. I did, but I was completely consumed
in my phone the whole time. You wanted to give
a good fight. Had to. I'm not rolling over for
anybody, as you know. You did a great job. Thank
you. I did the best. I'm like, I'm not going
out without a fight. But in the end, we were
like, we're not giving these people our money.
We're not even going to let them vote against
us. We pulled out. Yeah, so we show up. Why are
we begging the city to give them our money? What
is wrong with us? So at the hearing, we still
held out hope. that this is going to go forward.
But we saw the school board had shown up, the
superintendent of the school showed up. She was
given unlimited air time to speak from the head
commissioner. And they're all chummy, chummy.
Nobody would even look at us. And I'm like, this
is not going to be, this is going to be voted
down, like, for sure. And, like, before I give
them the satisfaction of voting this thing down,
when it's my turn to speak, I'm pulling this.
F 'n deal from them. And that's what I did. I
went up to the microphone and I said, screw you.
Well, you whispered in my ear that that's what
you wanted to do and should we do it? Yeah, we
talked about it. We talked about it a little
bit before. If it doesn't look like it's going
the right way, like why should we continue? Because
it doesn't feel good. That's right. And then
you reached over and you were like, I think it's
time. This is not worth it. It's not feeling.
I'm not having any more enjoyment out of this.
This was supposed to be fun. This was supposed
to be an opportunity to give back. Oh, whipping
boy, we're getting our asses kicked here. So
I was like, I support you, honey. Whatever you
do, I'm right behind you. That's right. So pulled
the plug, emerged out of City Hall. All the camera
crews awaiting us. It was really weird. We've
never been in that situation before. And that
was the end of that deal. That was it. There
were a couple good interviews online. Maybe Alex
can dig those up, and we can post 30 seconds
of them. Sure. There were a couple good articles,
too. All right, so fast forward. You pull out.
You get blasted even more. Well, that day, somehow,
this major media publication also got their hands
on the transcripts of the depositions we had
given all the way back in September. And in it,
they fabricated yet another mistruth that said
that we were granted immunity in exchange for
testifying. They took out a little piece, and
they totally changed the context, not explaining
that everybody gets that. Everybody automatically
gets immunity when you're called to testify in
front of the prosecutor. Yet again, the media
manipulating a piece to paint a picture that
they wanted the public to see. So now, not only
do we funnel money, but we're granted immunity
in order to evade prosecution. We look guilty
as shit. We look fucking criminal, you know?
Really bad. And so... That was March. And God,
it just really fires me up. I just want to know,
share with me your feelings. Like, go back there.
How did you feel? Like, what was going on in
your mind? And what did you do to deal with it?
How did you bring yourself back to a calm place?
How did you finally get to a point where you're
like, you know what? Fuck it. Putting it behind
me. It's over. I'm done. Like, map it out for
me. Well, you know, I did. I did. I was like,
all right, it's over. It's over. But it's emotionally.
Share your feelings first so I can understand.
Yeah. So it was very complicated because I felt
a lot of emotion. I felt anger for sure. I felt
sadness for sure because I lost a deal that I
had been working on that was really meaningful
to me and for people. You had this vision of
like, you know, meditating, you know, athletes
that knew how to like. Yeah. you know bring themselves
to a calm place and and not um not be an athlete
that has anger or frustration or noise but they
can like be like zen therefore be a better athlete
that was your big yeah for the for purpose of
the school and for the larger community just
a really great place as an alternative to whatever
they're doing they go and you know play and be
together and have fun together in the spirit
of athletic competition so that's So you're feeling
deflated. I felt sad. And you know what? I felt
a lot of embarrassment. And I felt a lot of shame.
It's the weirdest feeling when, for me anyway,
I can only speak for me, I would go somewhere
and I felt like everybody in this room knows
who I am and everybody in this room thinks I'm
like maybe a criminal, like a bad guy. Yeah.
You let other people's, you know, perspective
on you harm. It was more meaningful to you than
me. I was like, screw them. For sure. I was like,
they want to believe this garbage? They're not
people that need to be in our circle. Maybe because
you are already an expert of cancel culture twice
over. You had a lot more experience than me.
It was my first rodeo. Even though you were the
anti -vaxxer tech entrepreneur. I was the reluctant.
activist thank you very much yes yeah but this
one this one was like really this is all me and
i really felt like everywhere i went people like
knew and were thinking thoughts about me that
were very very unkind to say the least yeah and
um and i'm not wired that way i'm a think look
i'm not perfect i'm just want to make that clear
I'm a pretty good guy, and I try to do really
good things for my family and for those around
me. You're an awesome dad. Great husband. I try
my best. Really good friend. And so I went from
most people before all this controversy actually
shared probably this opinion about me. I went
from that to he's a freaking criminal dude, you
know? He's a bad guy. He's willing to bribe people
and do funny business. Wow. And I felt really
ashamed. And I started to not go out very much.
Started to stay home more. Probably started drinking
a little bit more than I should have. Yeah. I
remember having a conversation with you. Like,
whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on here? I had
to pull you back a little. It was hard. Yeah.
It was really hard. It was very hard for me.
And I remember I'd lie in bed. I'm thinking,
what is going on here? This is just surreal.
How did I get into the situation? And I felt,
this is a stretch of a metaphor, but some women
who were victims of rape feel like, what did
they do? Maybe they dressed a little too provocatively
or whatever and brought it on themselves. And
I was thinking, what did I do? What's my contribution
here that I got here? What did I do wrong? It
took me months and months and months, literally
a long time for me to realize I didn't do anything
wrong. I'd do anything wrong. I keep telling
you that. But it's one thing for you to tell
me that. It's another thing to really own it.
You've got to realize it yourself. Yeah. I didn't
own that. It took me a long time. And we were
getting to the end of the school year. I think
what changed everything for me was it's a process.
It's a process to pull yourself out of this and
find your grounding. Yeah, because I remember
there was that moment that you did because you
were like, you were just, there was a moment
of a lull where you were in it. And I couldn't
get you out. I was depressed. I couldn't say
anything. Yeah, yeah. You know, whatever I said
didn't matter. You know, the funny thing is,
right before all the shit hit the fan, is we
had celebrated in late July our 10 -year anniversary.
Yeah. Okay? And then I was like, wow, life is
perfect. Perfect. And then somebody I got pink
-eyed at the... Wedding. My mom. Who gave the
gift of sharing it to 10 other people. Yes. Which
in a couple of emergency room visits was a really
bad strain of pink eye. Worst pink eye. And eventually
I got it. You all thought I was like a superhuman.
I hadn't gotten it. Eventually got me too. So
this was like about a 10 week period of pink
eye after everything's like perfect in the world.
And then boom, this happened. And so this wasn't
like things started to unravel in my life in
a way. Starting with... with the with the pink
guy and it took me i'm probably like eight months
or more before i was able to get my head back
on straight and the way it started to come together
was um first of all some practical things like
we hired the best defamation attorneys in the
world yeah and who um did a very um analytical
legal communication to the offending parties
prepared to sue this. We're going to sue the
shit out of them. I just want to make it clear.
We still reserve that right to sue them and we
still have not decided. We have a lot of evidence
that they strategically in a calculated way tried
to take us down. That's right. There actually
are damages that we're seeing with certain financial
relationships that are either being pulled or
are going south as a direct result of this i
remember the phone call of us our insurance being
cancelled yeah because of our reputation yeah
so it's like nothing it was even we weren't even
accused of anything how is it that you can already
how can these companies already inflict damage
and say you're not good enough to be our customer
because of your reputation when we weren't accused
of we're a risk factor now all of a sudden because
of faulty reporting intentionally faulty reporting
we're a risk factor that like is let's just stay
away from them yeah we have some messes up our
relationships so what happened how did you get
out of it what did you do so so i think the best
thing that happened was school ended and we uh
we did a rv um we rented an rv in the midwest
just uh just us and Whose idea was that? That's
been a great idea for years and years and years.
It was on your bucket list. Yes. We rented an
RV. Where did we start off? In Austin, Texas,
was it? Texas, yeah. Texas, somewhere. And it
was a beautifully intimate. Anybody who's ever
rented an RV, it doesn't get more intimate than
that. You can't escape each other. Everybody's
triggers are bubbling up. And it really set things
into perspective. But all this stuff is really
meaningless. What's really the most important
is my family, my family unit, the love and the
connection that I have with everybody around
me. For better or for worse, even when people
are triggered and all that, that's the goal.
That's really, really meaningful to me. And just
to let it go. Just to let it go. Let the attorneys
handle it the way they can. Fine, the deal didn't
happen. Like you said earlier, probably the best
thing that we didn't actually start spending
money on this. Yeah, 10 million other things
we can do with $10 million, right? Which we will.
Which we will. Exactly. That's right. I think
we bought some property after that. That we actually
own. What's that? We bought some property with
that money that we would actually own. Well,
I want to do more philanthropy. Yeah, but I know
we did spend it on some real estate. Yeah. So
I think I was able to sort of practically let
it go because there are people working on our
behalf to make these people shut the hell up.
Stop beating us up. I felt like a whipping post.
And I felt like I didn't have a voice. And like
you said, this show gives people a voice. I had
no social media of my own. No media publication
is going to write anything friendly about us
or do any kind of friendly thing. I felt completely
silenced and very, very alone. I felt really
alone. It was very isolating. I was also... You
felt alone even though I was with you? Yeah,
I felt alone. don't take this the wrong way because
I know it's not about you. I was a little angry
with you because I felt like the only reason
why we're in this situation, this is my logical,
the only reason why we're in this situation in
the first place is because the media is really
pissed off about the controversy that you started
with the vaccine. And if she hadn't done that,
then we wouldn't be in this situation at all.
And that's really unfair. And really, at the
end of the day, Pharma controls the media. So
it's really there is somebody at the top that
was like, take these people down for making a
stance against the vaccine. And then it just.
Yeah. And I'm sorry. You know, I'm sorry. Yeah.
But it did. I did. It did strain us a little
bit more because I probably pulled back. And
I really went I really I really went into my
head. You know, I lost my heart and it took me.
So that summer trip was. really great we had
we had a few conversations i'm like where did
you go like come back like yeah when you do that
that means they won and at the end of the day
if something is that hard it's not meant to happen
and so for us we just needed to learn from it
what did we need to learn from that and move
on because the further we we make this a big
deal or we hurt each other or go so inward that
it impacts our kids or our relationship, then
we've lost. I got really snappy with you, with
the kids, and this is not like me. That's not
who I am. But you were meditating during that
time, so were you just having a hard time bringing
it back together? Because you would wake up every
morning, you would do your breath work, you would
pray, you would... be in silence, you would do
it at night? Was it just, was it not bringing
you back? I could bring it back, but then, you
know, you get obsessed about it, you know? You
just think about it all the time, all the time.
It's a constant reminder. A lot of obsessive
thinking about it. And so, yeah, I wrote... Keeps
you in a suffering state. I did. We learned that.
Yeah, I do. I relied on the tools that I've learned
just to bring it back. Bring it back. Find that
peace. As many times a day if I needed to. I'd
go to sleep and meditate. Whatever it took. Whatever
it took. Knowing that it's a process, that I
need to figure this out like a puzzle. I think
I realized that in one way, this lady, we're
all connected. We are... energetically i'm not
that distant from her and um i don't i don't
fault her i don't i'm not i'm not angry with
her um we're we're just humans are very messy
and we're imperfect but at the end of the day
um we're very connected with each other and that
group of people uh super angry tried to hurt
us and I just I think I found my compassion for
that for those people because it's they were
they were taught they were manipulated they were
manipulated they were maybe even used in a way
I don't know the full story of how and why they
got so angry with us So going back to that summer,
we spent a beautiful time together in an RV where
it was just us, and you started to just reevaluate
your priorities. Is that what happened? You just
started to reconnect with the simple things.
I mean, I remember cooking dinner on that little
stovetop. Oh, my God. It was really just laughing
together. That's a great way to put it. To do
a $10 million donation with a very complex city
organization that takes multiple years is really
complex. I think you're absolutely right. It
brought it back to the beauty is in the simplicity
of things. Just waking up and taking the dog
outside for a walk. Hey, I'm in a new RV park
that I wasn't at yesterday. And going to see
some national monuments and beautiful... mountains
and going river rafting and just like and just
being with my family i mean laughing or crying
or being angry or all all of that stuff is really
that's the that's the gold that's really important
to me and that stayed with me to the to this
day so i i emerged from that summer intact and
strong and i found my my footing again. I felt
really grounded, really connected to you, more
in love with you than ever. And that is maybe
the lesson in all of this. It's in the simple
things. And sometimes when we try to force things
to happen that aren't meant to be, we're assigning
so much value to it, so much importance to it.
And maybe there's some ego in there. possibly
definitely i'm not saying in a bad way i mean
you know you wanted to you know like a king wanting
to give back to his people like it was an honorable
gesture but i feel like you you almost your identity
got tied into that i think so a little bit and
that's when you know i mean it was a good opportunity
to then reflect and say hey you know it's just
We're sitting here in an RV right now, and we're
just loving on each other. We're just walking
in the forest. What was the springs that we saw?
The Old Faithful? Yeah, that was cool. Sitting
there, waiting for it to get this majestic view.
I mean, just so basic, but so beautiful. Right?
Yeah. And if these other opportunities come along,
I mean, we have a lot of projects, and many of
them are not. simple they're they're complex
but i i don't think i assign the same value to
them now they're they're really about fun and
for me anyway the things that that i'm wired
for is fun bringing community together in the
spirit of joy and connection and love and if
we can make some money at it too even better
because then i could scale it and bring that
experience to even more people that's that's
what i really like so david you were super vulnerable
today i appreciate that appreciate how candid
you are And I'm sure there are other people watching
this show that are in a similar situation. What
advice would you give to them? Well, it was kind
of a surprise. It was like being hit by a two
-by -four. Didn't see it coming. And our world,
my world, was turned upside down. And I think
that if anything, it's just you must operate
from a... foundation of peace. You have to get
there. Somehow you need to find that peace. And
there's lots of ways to find that, whether it's
through medicine or some advisor of yours, whether
it's an analyst. When you say medicine, are you
talking about plant -based medicine, plant -based
mushrooms, ketamine? What do you mean by that?
Sure, sure. That kind of stuff. Yeah. Under doctor's
care, I had some ketamine treatments, which I
found extremely helpful to me. I heard it kills
your ego and you just become nothing but everything
all together, right? Yeah, it puts everything
in perspective. And then you realize instantly
a 60 ,000 -foot view, like none of these issues
are meaningful at all. And we're all really just
one. Yeah, we are. We're all really just one.
And we're making a big deal out of a whole bunch
of nothingness. And just carry on. That's a really
good place to be from. And so whatever it is,
however you get there, medicine, meditation,
some advisors, your priest, your rabbi, your
therapist, whatever it is, you need to find that
peace because that's where you want to start
to make your decisions from. And it's going to
be a process. The gurus in India also experience
disruptive things in their lives as well, but
they've got their disruption down to just a few
seconds and not that intense. With normal human
beings like us, it's the duration is much longer
and the intensity is much deeper. So the idea
is to shorten that. I'm really proud of myself
that this whole experience, as crazy as it was,
the whole lifespan from being knocked on the
side of my head to finding my peace again was
probably about eight months. And I think I'm
a better person as a result. Sure. Yeah. And
I think I can handle a lot more. I can handle
this stuff now. Much better. From an observer,
I feel like it strengthened your soul and made
you stronger. I needed it somehow. Sometimes
we need a good kick in the butt. I love the format
of this show. This is great. I feel like I got
a big burden lifted off my shoulders here. Well,
if there's anyone listening to this show at the
moment and you have a similar story or a different
story, but you've been canceled, it could have
to do with... Being accused sexually, it could
have to do with anything really. As you were
found to be innocent and you went through the
gamut, you went through all the emotions, but
you were able to recover in the end. Or maybe
even you have a relative who didn't recover in
the end and they're no longer here with us because
they took their lives and you want to share that
story. We encourage you to send us an email,
reach out to us because we would like to... have
more people on our show that can also share their
story especially if they feel like they haven't
been heard and they have something big that they
want to say and they have things that they want
to get off their heart so please join us at erase
.com and click on the link to send us an email
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you for watching