James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, Extols Some Odd Virtues of Ronald Reagan in New Animated Video

“Sir,” says James Brown to a reporter who had just made the mis­take of call­ing him James, “I’m going to call you by your last name as long as you call me by mine. One thing I fought for was respect, Okay? I did­n’t have that all the time.”

So begins the lat­est ani­mat­ed fea­ture from Blank on Blank, a non­prof­it project that brings for­got­ten inter­views back to life. In this episode, ABC radio jour­nal­ist Roc­ci Fisch takes us back to a lit­tle inter­view he and a few oth­er reporters had with Brown before a con­cert in 1984. The loca­tion was Wash­ing­ton D.C., so per­haps it should come as no sur­prise when the brief inter­view veers into pol­i­tics. At one point Fisch asks Brown what he thinks of the man who was pres­i­dent then, Ronald Rea­gan.

“I think he’s the most intelligent…I think he’s the most well-coor­di­nat­ed pres­i­dent we’ve ever had in his­to­ry,” says Brown.

“You think he’s going to win again?” says Fisch.

“I’m not here to endorse. I just know he’s the most well-orga­nized pres­i­dent we’ve ever had in his­to­ry. His act­ing abil­i­ty taught him the whole struc­ture of the coun­try.”

“Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, you mean?”

“Huh?”

“Com­mu­ni­ca­tion?”

“He knows what every­body wants. You see, every Amer­i­can, every Amer­i­can man is still a cow­boy. See you’ve got to remem­ber that.”

Relat­ed con­tent:

James Brown Brings Down the House at the Paris Olympia, 1971

Ani­ma­tions Revive Lost Inter­views with David Fos­ter Wal­lace, Jim Mor­ri­son & Dave Brubeck