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The Kid Mero is setting the record straight on his divide with Desus Nice and how things actually fell apart back when the brand was strong.
On the latest episode of his podcast 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & The Kid Mero, the media personality and former Complex show host discussed the conclusion of Desus & Mero. Appearing on the podcast was guest Joe Budden.
"I'ma keep it a buck: at first I was upset," Mero said around the 45:30 mark above. "It's the business, there's no friends in the business, you know what I'm saying? We was in a situation where I got four kids, two mortgages. ... You know where I live, Joe. The taxes are crazy. I got real life situations going on."
The 40-year-old continued, "So I'm like, 'Yo, if we get an offer from DraftKings for 1.5 [million], before they got logos on the NBA court, and you're like, 'Nah, bro this ain't it.' And I'm like, 'Nah fam, I'm gambling illegally right now. This shit is legal in Jersey, I just moved here. ... This is going places, bro. We need to do this.' And they're like, 'Nah?' I'm like, 'Fuck outta here!' To me that's like, the beginning of like, 'Alright, this shit is corroding.' We're on different wavelengths."
The God-Level Knowledge Darts co-author went on about how he and his Desus & Mero co-host slowly started to go their separate ways, with Anthony asking him to "paint the perfect picture" so listeners have "real perspective" on the split.
"So the situation was, we were in two different places in life, right?" Mero said. "I was very much so aiming for ownership. Being a production company. ... Like, owning your IP, because that's life or death in media. ... If you know that, you go into it with a certain approach, like, 'Yo, I need longevity, I need ownership.' We developed this shit out the mud so, this is us, we own this, we're not selling this to nobody. The key word here is 'licensing.' I'll license the shit to you for a term, two years, whatever, a one-and-one, but selling your IP, bro, selling your name?"
"That's your soul," Anthony responded.
Budden remarked earlier that Desus seemed to be getting prepared for Hollywood, but Mero felt the opposite. "You know what's crazy? No. Like, the next level of Hollywood is the three of us—Desus, Victor [Lopez], myself—sitting down with Judd Apatow and saying, 'Yo, we're gonna do a movie.' And then the movie gets written and Desus is like, 'I ain't really feeling this shit.' When I know in the business mind, it's like, yo, when you do a movie with this guy, you're not just doing a movie with this guy. This dude is like a kingmaker in terms of in the film industry. If you get in there, you make a banger with him, you solidified. That's what makes you get up to the next level."
Asked if a conversation happened between Desus and Mero without the input of other parties, Mero said they'd already spoken by the time that would've happened. "A conversation happened a couple times and it was just very, 'Aight, no doubt.'"
After about 20 minutes on the topic, Melo told Mero at the 1:02:20 mark, "You needed this though, champ. You needed this. And I'm glad, honestly. … You been keeping that, you been holding on to that, and really not finding the right outlet to get it out, right? … For a long time people wanted to hear your story, right—don't nobody know why. And the question was always, why this split?"
Whereas Desus has continued with guest hosting gigs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show, 7 PM in Brooklyn marks Mero's third podcast in the last couple years, following Formula 1 live program Fast & Loose and Victory Light.
On the iconic, prolific duo's abrupt end, Mero claimed on the Basic! podcast that it was a strategic move both parties knew about, later saying it was "just natural progression" on New York radio show WFAN. At the time, reports circulated that Showtime employees had a rift with Victor Lopez, who was a manager to both Mero and Desus.
On the possibility of reconciliation as co-hosts, Mero was hesitant on the matter during an interview on Blackbird Spyplane last September. “I don’t know, man. I feel like—maybe? Never say never,” he said at the time. He shared the same sentiment on 7PM in Brooklyn.
