For anyone looking for a good laugh this Sunday where the only football on TV is the flag-grabbing variety, Bomani Jones’ interview with Jake Paul aired this weekend.
When an interview gets challenging, there are usually one or two ways to reach the audience. The tension is either so uncomfortable that it makes the viewer’s skin crawl, or it’s high comedy. Jones and Paul’s interaction was very much an example of the latter.
The show aired on Friday, but the clip went viral a day earlier. Jones asks him what happens if Paul loses the fight. Paul’s response: “I don’t even know who the hell you are.”
His appearance at Game theory is Paul’s second on HBO in less than 12 months. Back in April, Real sport did a segment on him and his brother. It chronicles the rise, fall and rise to fame of the Paul brothers. Although debauchery, destruction and irreverence are their main success online, Jake’s brother Logan has done a lot of damage to their brand showing the dead body from the Japanese “Suicide Forest”.
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The Real sport the piece portrays boxing as a redemption story for the Pauls, even as boxing experts disrespect Jake’s boxing abilities. When Paul’s publicist gave him another HBO interview, he agreed. After all, he is fighting for promotion. He will finally face Tommy Fury — Tyson Fury’s half-brother and reality TV star — on February 26 in Saudi Arabia. However, Jones was only slightly interested. He wanted to get into the business venture that Paul had announced late last summer.
Game theory the article about Paul is mostly about his entry into sports gambling. He launched his own sports betting app — Betr — with a micro-betting specialist. Joey Levy, Paul’s partner, created the micro-betting app while studying at Columbia. It was sold to Boom Fantasy 2017 as part of a $2 million deal. The two teamed up to launch a new micro-betting app, Betr.
The problem is that microbetting is one of the most addictive forms of sports gambling because it allows people to bet play-by-play, as opposed to simple game totals. Also, Paul’s main audience is young people, many of whom have been following him for years and have recently become old enough to bet.
Jones has a degree in economics, so he knows a scammer when he sees one. That’s why Paul was upset in the viral clip because just before that moment Jones took him to task because young people are susceptible to the pitfalls of his new job.
This part is by far the funniest of the entire interview. When Jones popped the question, Paul accused him of trying to be a “hero” and then tried to play a game of “gotcha.” Paul claimed that Jones was trying to get a fast one on him, making him out to be the bad guy. And maybe Jones’ guests in the past weren’t smart enough to accept that.
Jones responded appropriately by bursting into laughter. He then repeats his question as Paul mutters, “It’s a fake laugh.”
The viral clip begins shortly after this. That’s why when you first saw the viral clip, you might have wondered why Paul would be so quick to answer a question that was surely asked of him many times in the version. The answer, of course, is that he was angry.
Paul didn’t expect to be rightfully challenged for his business practices, and then he ended up in a battle of words with a person far better than the people he usually goes up against.
Sounds about how his boxing career would go if he ever faced a real fighter.