Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is.
I'm recusing myself from this conversation because I think it's bulls**t, Pablo, that you are trying to capitalize off a dead gorilla.
We would never do that. Right after this ad. I've been waiting so long to do this episode with you guys. Mm-hmm. And I love, as always, that you don't have any idea what... I hate it, as always. I'm terrified. I hate it, as always. You have folders in front of you. I see them. I have what has been alleged to be a shit-eating grin on my face. That is how much I'm enjoying having... I don't know.
Are we going to like it as much as you like it? I can't totally be sure. Great. I do know that Desus Nice, Katie Nolan, you are both my friends. For now. For now. And also animal people. What's going on? Yeah, uh-huh. We do like dogs. You have dogs? Yeah. Is this about something that happened a couple months ago in Prospect Park? Because the dog came at me.
It's about something that we got at our tip line. Here, Pablo Torre finds out. Fans, whistleblowers, they will dial 513-85-Pablo. Was that in Area Codes with Ludacris? Oh, good. That's how I reference everything. I don't know if Ludacris has hoes in Cincinnati, Ohio. No, I think Famously doesn't mention it. But this is the area code we were randomly assigned by Google. But Cosmically recurs.
Interesting.
Because this was earlier this year. We got a tip. Hi, my name is Jeff McCurry. I'd like to see if you would like to show the world the secret videos that the Sydney Zoo has tried to keep quiet for 10 years. These videos are very graphic. They absolutely are real. Everybody that's seen them is just speechless. Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you.
We have several months to the 10th anniversary, and I thought I'd reach out to you and see if you're interested in breaking this story. Thank you.
Was Harambe Cincinnati?
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Chapter 2: What events led to Harambe's tragic death at the Cincinnati Zoo?
We knew nothing about primates. Donald Trump, according to CNN, said that a Cincinnati zoo probably had no choice but to kill a gorilla. It was a very tough call.
It was amazing because there were moments with the gorilla, the way he held that child. It was almost like a mother holding a baby. It looked so beautiful and calm.
What? Donald Trump said that?
Yeah.
Appeared beautiful and calm? Yeah. I don't like the way that feels. He's also really big with the gorillas. The gorillas would have voted for him ten times.
Yeah.
But this, all of this, the news cycle that was Harambe, I really don't want to dwell on this too much. Which usually means he does. There is also this headline. Elon Musk dropped rap song eulogizing Harambe the gorilla. You remember this? No, I don't. And please don't remind me of it. Wow, they weren't kidding. Drake has showed no growth on Iceman. What is this?
You said let's not dwell, so let's not dwell. For the last four months, we have been, unfortunately, dwelling. Yeah. We've been trying to figure out, in fairness, like, is Jeff the whistleblower? Is he full of shit? Because what he has told us of this scoop, of these videos that he's promising, is, quote, This may ruin Harambe's reputation, but it may change the world's feelings about zoos.
End quote. So is this going to demonize Harambe? What, are they going to show that he reached across and brought the child into the... What could the tapes possibly show? They show Harambe's final words, with or without gang violence. Right, unless it's a video of Harambe just looking in the camera and being like, fuck this kid and grabbing the kid.
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Chapter 3: How did Harambe become a symbol in internet culture?
Yeah, when you say we're not noticing, I had seen it. It is like a... What is Jeff wearing? Now, it's almost like on an Adidas tee where it would have the stripes down the top of the shoulder. Let's get our drag race on. Oh, it's his whole... Oh, my God. Sorry, it's a Harambe jersey. He plays for the Harambes.
It's a Mitchell & Ness throwback from 1986 where Harambe paid for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Does it actually say on the front? It says Fred Nats. This is the Fredericksburg Nationals, a single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Okay. And they had a Harambee night. Great. And it got delayed because of COVID. But they still did it. Well, you have to do it. You got to go through with it.
Limited edition merch. What am I going to do with all these Harambee jerseys? It was the five-year anniversary back then, and the proceeds were going to go to the Dutch Guerrilla Foundation. This was going to be this whole game-worn auction thing. And it all got derailed because of... A global pandemic. A global pandemic. That'll happen.
But I think we should let Jeff explain what his sort of motive was when it comes to his friend. This is my way of honoring Harambe, wearing and displaying him as much as I can. So when your podcast gets out there and anybody that sees it, they'll, you know, they'll have to look at Harambe also too, not just me. It's odd to say, but I was friends with a gorilla. Worst T-Pain song ever. Yeah.
I was friends with a gorilla. He eating. Speaking of someone who knows how to auto-tune. He grabbing that kid. I'm friends with a gorilla. But then, on Christmas Eve 1985, when Jeff was 24 years old, he was hit by a drunk driver. He broke every bone in his body. He was in a coma for almost two weeks. But...
this sort of like silver lining is he got a disability payout, meaning he essentially retired at 24. And in his late 30s, he sees an ad in the school paper for a photographer position. The photo editor says, You got a camera? I'm like, yeah. He hands me two rolls of film. He says, you're our new sports photographer. And what he says is that he got invited into these worlds, dugouts, courtside.
It's how he learned how to build trust with his subjects. My point is that this is actually something of a sports story. Being a photographer in general, people invite you into the world. But being a sports photographer, you get invited into worlds where nobody else is allowed. While all this is happening, Jeff is still in extreme pain. Right? He's taking 120 pain pills a month.
It's this combo of Oxy and Tylenol. They don't even allow this stuff anymore. But then Jeff McCurry... And Katie Nolan, you will now, I think, realize why you are also here for this episode. Oh, Jesus Christ. You know him? One time, I walked in the doctor, and she looked at me. She goes, wait a minute, Jeff. You're a fucking zombie. And then it dawned on me 10 years after.
It's like, wait a minute, you idiot. You're having trouble sleeping. You never smoked weed because it helped you. It made you tired. Try that. And so I tried it, and it just changed my life completely. And I had a doctor that I saw regularly, and I went in, saw him one day, and he's like, Jeff, what happened? You're so much better. And this was before legalization was very common and everything.
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Chapter 4: What insights do experts provide about gorilla behavior?
The split does not seem to be helping Higgins, however, who may want to consider defining himself as a donkey rather than a jackass. But I do have to say, I admire his honesty.
Dude, this is a different dog mirror than I was even thinking of. This is sick. I'm obsessed with this. That was on CBS News. Yeah, no, I want to watch only stuff like that. Barry Weiss is never reaching this level. No chance. The dog's splitting it ten ways, helping out the cat. There's graphics involved.
There's deep dives.
Maybe don't go by jackass, go by donkey.
Perfect. Also, we can euthanize mirrors because, I mean, Eric Adams dodged the bullet.
That is truly. I can't believe that next dog got into the job knowing how the last one left office. I'll do a better job. Yeah. This is where Jeff moves. He moves to, yeah. Rabbit's hash.
Rabbit hash.
Rabbit hash. Rabbit hash. Which is funny because my mom's always complaining that the rabbits are eating her weed. She has to put like specific, like a cage around her weed plant so that the rabbits don't eat it. And rabbit hash sounds like just the worst weed you've ever smoked.
Yeah. Oh, dry.
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Chapter 5: What was the impact of Harambe's death on public perception of zoos?
So I bought a house from a friend down there and filled it up with marijuana plants and was growing and thinking, okay, I'm going to, you know, do this and... make some money off of it.
But before I made money off of it, regrettably, a friend of mine's brother-in-law, who we had let go to the place because it had a creek on the property and he would fish there, and he got pissed off at my friend's wife on Thanksgiving. And so he called Crime Stoppers twice and told them exactly where I was. And that's how I got arrested.
The federal government alleges in its 2005 indictment here that we obtained that, quote, you did knowingly and intentionally manufacture and possess with intent to distribute approximately 350 plants of marijuana. 450, actually, wasn't it? Check the stats.
Check the stats. My average is much higher than that.
Scoreboard. Fact-checking-wise, Jeff is, it turns out, correct. They found, apparently, 100 extra plants at the address next door. This all coming, by the way, from this count that was dismissed as part of his plea deal. All you got to know for right now is that Jeff goes off to federal prison, and we are going to turn our attention to Brownsville, Texas. We have the winner of our contest.
It's the Naming the Baby with the Gladys Porter Zoo, and it's the baby gorilla. Tell us about it.
Well, every morning I like to get up and run on my treadmill, and I listen to music. And I was listening to a particular reggae song, and the performer kept singing this word, harambe, harambe. And halfway through the song, she explained what it was, and it means to pull together, to help each other, sharing and caring and come together.
Wow, so hence the name. And we've got the baby gorilla right there.
Dan, that's the child you just named.
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Chapter 6: How did Jeff McCurry become involved with Harambe's story?
I'll be your friend. And so that's kind of how it started. And so Harambe and I started hanging out. Whenever I would go, I'd stop by and remembering my prison experience, I remembered... how great it was to get a visitor. If I could cheer you up for a few minutes in your day, make it better, you know, I'd go and hang out with him. And he seemed to bond with me.
He, you know, would come up to me as close as he could and, you know, pose for me and do all kinds of things for me, you know. He said, remember my prison experience? I thought he was going to bring, like, a cup of soup and a deodorant to remember me. Like, yo, go get out with my OG.
I do want to acknowledge the proud tradition in American culture and Hollywood entertainment of, like, guerrilla psychological analysis. So King Kong, Gorillas in the Mist, Congo, Mighty Joe Young. We have often sort of, like, thought and talked about, like, what are these gorillas up to? And what Jeff says is that Harambe was really smart.
But it also made his life, I think, more hard knowing, you know, the situation he was stuck in. He was quiet. He didn't like to be yelled at, for sure. Anybody would yell at him. He'd walk away, you know, he'd go and hide, you know, go into his caves, like, you know, I don't have to put up with this s**t.
Harambe, by the way, as the subject in Jeff's sort of photographic line of sight, the same camera that he'd use to photograph athletes. Harambe could pose. Yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, look at the arch. I don't know what I'm allowed to say, but... I thought you said he was a silverback gorilla, not a bad bitch.
Damn. Because damn. Damn, damn, damn. All right? The camera is on.
Yeah, this angle.
The back. The back is the shoulders.
It's the shoulders and the arms that make me feel safe. Yeah. It's just me. Yeah, Tyra's sending him to the next round. Yes. Sturdy. Sturdy. A sturdy, remarkable gorilla. Oh, Harambe. Pop that thigh. That's what Myrtle does when she wants you to scratch the inside of her thigh. That's her favorite. She'll just pop it out like that.
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