It’s now been about two months since the confirmation of Desus & Mero’s end, as well as the simultaneous revelation that Desus Nice and the Kid Mero would be “pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward.”
In a new interview with Blackbird Spyplane, Mero was asked right off the top about the split, resulting in a smattering of redacted commentary on the situation. On the unreacted side, Mero still kept it candid despite being, in his words, in “Media-Training Mero” mode.
“OK, super high-road and super-clean, but honest: When we signed to Showtime, we signed individual deals,” Mero said when asked to provide something printable regarding how it all went down. “It was always, We’re gonna do our own things at some point. The way it ended seemed mad abrupt and weird, but that’s the way T.V. is. People pull the plug on T.V. shit all the time.”
From there, Mero highlighted the general suckiness of the industry at large and the importance of telling off any powers that be who want to offer “notes” on one’s work. He also said “creative disagreements” were not at the heart of the split, although a disagreement with Showtime regarding taking the show back to its roots proved pivotal.
“That was the beginning of the end,” Mero said. “It was giving me mad anxiety, but I’m a first-generation immigrant kid, like, You never quit your job before you have a new one.” Desus, on the other hand, is said to have responded to this development by saying “Fuck it,” thus also bringing on the end of their shared podcast.
Asked point blank whether he can “see a future” where he and Desus are cool with each other again, Mero expressed some cautious optimism.
“I don’t know, man. I feel like—maybe? Never say never,” Mero said, adding that—for now, at least—he and Desus are on different paths.
To read the full interview, as well as to subscribe to Blackbird Spyplane, hit this link.
Previously, Mero called the split a “strategy” that “we all agreed on.” Speaking with the Basic! podcast in August, he noted that he and Desus had been in discussions about the pursuit of solo endeavors for more than a year before the show was formally ended.
Signs of an impending split were apparent before any official announcements, however, as covered in this extensive breakdown of Desus and Mero’s years-long partnership.
