a told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. right now on msnbc, new court documents reveal alleged tactics former trump university employees say they were encouraged to use to lure vulnerable students by playing to their emotions. what else these documents allege about how that university was run. plus, bernie sanders' new reason for staying in the race even if he loses california. the senator now says even if clinton gets enough votes to win the nomination, she still hasn't won enough, quote, real delegates. so what is a real delegate? and a new scare in the fight

to contain the zika virus. doctors in new jersey have just delivered what's believed to be the first baby born in the continental u.s. with a zika-related birth defect. good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall coming to you live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. we begin with those new court documents involving the class action lawsuits filed against donald trump by dissatisfied trump university students. they show former workers called the school a, quote, lie and a scheme in testimony. they portrayed the school as an aggressive business that relied on high-pressure sales tactics that exploited vulnerable students willing to play tens of thousands of dollars. trump university salespeople were instructed to prey on people's emotions and suggest that the potential customers rely heavily on credit card debt or retirement funds to pay for the classes. among the instructions from the salespeople, quote, let them know you've found an answer to their problems.

another said in testimony we teach the technique of using opm, other people's money. the documents were ordered released by the federal judge in california overseeing two class action lawsuits brought by former students, which opened in 2005 and closed in 2011. the judge acted on a request from "the washington post" and donald trump has been blasting that judge, taking aim at him again at his news conference yesterday while addressing the lawsuits. >> but i have a judge who's very, very unfair. he knows he's unfair. and i'll win the trump university case. i could settle that case. i could have settled it. i just choose not to. in fact when i ran, they said why didn't you settle up that case. i don't want to settle the case. because you know what? because i'm a man of principle. and most of the people that took those courses have letters saying they thought it was great, essentially. >> msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber is here.

you've been combing through some of these allegations here. let's start with what i read there. these are employees that are painting a picture of what they say they were encouraged to do. are they saying they were encouraged by donald trump or people directing these issues from him? >> a great question, tamron. most of them are saying, if anything, donald trump was more mia, but of course he's responsible for the company he runs and the name he puts on it. here's one, brand newly disclosed from the trump litigation. this is an employee who worked there. he says i believe trump university was a fraudulent scheme. it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money. from the very beginning trump u. speakers told students to raise their credit card limit and use their increed credit limits to purchase that next level of a trump university seminar. there were basically tiered levels. for a few thousand dollars you

could have a shorter seminar and up to $30,000 you could have a deluxe package. those are high-pressure sales techniques and that was in the book itself. the question is whether it was fraud and showing it is more difficult. here's the trump numbers according to the lawsuit. they say they had 10,000 written evaluations from students across the country. 97% of students who provided written evaluations rated trump u. programs 4.85 or higher on a 1 to 5 scale. that's the trump u. side of it. it really comes down to whether there was a little exaggeration or whether trump wasn't necessarily there all the time, it comes down to a question of whether this was essentially a scam enterprise where people were sold one thing and got another. >> let me play a sound bite from a former trump university student. he was on with lawrence o'donnell as a plaintiff in one of the class action lawsuits. let's play what he said.

>> i learned absolutely nothing and i spent pretty close to $36,000, including my son's expenses. so basically they -- these loose-leaf binders contained powerpoint presentations that are totally worthless. like go around town and look for signs that say "for sale by owner." the first seminar that i went to or workshop or retreat, whatever they decide to call it, i knew right away that i had been scammed because they tried to upsell me to take another program for $9,000, $4,000, $20,000, you name it. >> so, ari, as you pointed out in this testimony they are not saying these were actions directed by donald trump. however, his face, his image on pamphlets and videos, he has defended trump university in the past. so whether or not these were direct marching orders, he, businessman who backed this

trump university with his name, is tied all up in this? >> there's no question he is legally on the hook. indeed part of the fact that he wasn't there goes to the claims of fraud, the idea that he had left people or the sales technique of, hey, this is a trump operation, you're going to learn directly from me. or my quote, hand picked people. we saw in a deposition in which he took in january under oath, he admitted to various pieces of information that suggests most of them were not his hand-picked people. again, there are two questions here. one is, does that constitute fraud? we'll only find out after the election when this trial is held legally. the other is what kind of business does donald trump run and do voters look at that as they decide whether that is a record that they want to give him a promotion from businessman to commander in chief. that's something the voters will decide. there are definitely some things here that we're seeing new in the revelations that may give some people pause. >> and it's not just this lawsuit that we're discussing here. you have new york state attorney

general eric schneiderman who filed a civil lawsuit against trump university back in 2013. he also endorsed hillary clinton, which obviously trump allies will bring that up. but when you look at this judge that donald trump has chosen to attack, trump called him a mexican. he was actually born in indiana. and he has alleged, including yesterday, that the judge has some type of vendetta against him and that's why these documents are now out there. >> yeah, i'll tell you, look, there are parts of this you've heard me say that we have to wait and see what happens in court. there are two sides to it. there are no two sides to this part of the story. donald trump's statements and racial profiling, racial impugning of this judge are totally inappropriate and unusual in the justice system. if a normal defendant did this, i can tell you they would likely be sanctioned in court. the situation here is more difficult because he's running for president and i don't think the judge doesn't necessarily want to go down that road and

obviously schedule the trial after november. so if anything, the judge has gone out of his way to make sure this case is resolved as a legal matter, not a political matter. given that olive branch, donald trump has responded in ways that any other member of the bar would likely be sanctioned for. so just totally over the line. >> all right, ari, thank you very much. and to the candidate donald trump, he's in california. he'll hold a rally in sacramento this evening ahead of the state's primary next tuesday. mean tile, a new national poll out this morning shows the clinton-trump race continues to be tight with secretary clinton leading now by four points. when adding in the candidates from the libertarian and green parties, clinton leads trump by just two points. that is within the margin of error. let's bring in michael medved and april ryan. thank you both for joining. michael, let's start with these documents that have been released. when you hear former employees of trump university say that

they were told essentially to use other people's money, to encourage individuals to max out their credit cards, when you think about it and you go back to the allegation from marco rubio who now endorses donald trump, calling him the con man, will this type of information have an impact? >> well, it certainly should. i mean one of the things people have been looking for is of course trump called ted cruz lyin' ted and there's little marco and crooked hillary. we now know he is most vulnerable as fraudulent donnie. and that really should be the name that sticks. i mean these documents are shocking. he owned 93% of this company. he made $40 million out of poor people like the people you played. and this also explains to me, tamron, one of the mysteries of yesterday. here was this relatively minor matter of paying the $6 million or it now turns out to be $5.4 million to the veterans

organizations. why was he so angry at the press about asking about this? because this goes to the essential weakness, the essential vulnerability of his campaign. this whole thing about being this great and generous and knowing businessman, who knows how to make money and create jobs. it's all a fraud. it's a house of cards. he won't release his tax returns. and this is a tremendous vulnerability for his campaign. >> april, politico had an article up yesterday talking to a number of hedge fund types who made their own assessments of donald trump's fortune or lack thereof. what i thought was interesting, none of them wanted their names mentioned in the article, even though they said that they had done business with him and that they knew he was not worth as much as he claims. but they feared retaliation. you saw the intimidation or the attempt to intimidate the media yesterday from donald trump. >> well, tamron, donald trump has been known to be a bully. in washington, there is

retaliation and don't believe that there is not, there is retaliation. you know, we've seen a lot of the politicos, they like to, i guess, get us or get to us some kind of way after we write a story that nine times out of ten is truthful and they don't like what's in it but it's telling the truth. with donald trump, what we're seeing is someone that he has a temper tantrum in public at a podium with a press that tells a story that he may not like but it's a story nonetheless to inform the masses. that's what we do as news people. but when you have people that support him or have worked with him and are fearful, you wonder what that kind of retaliation would be. we see the retaliation publicly when we are told that he's bullying us or he's bullying us from a podium when it's supposed to be a standard news conference. to call someone sleaze, slime, whatever he was calling, that's deep. that's really deep. >> back to what michael was point out, here this was supposed to be as it was billed,

this news conference to say where the money was spent and why it was delayed, it was also a chance for donald trump to talk about veterans affairs and foreign affairs as well but the headline became the attacks on the media. this morning hollywood reporter columnist michael wolf who just interviewed donald trump at his beverly hills home basically said that donald trump's constituency is the media. here's what he said. >> i'm going to tell you, donald trump loves the media. i don't know what he's talking about here. >> he says some of them are dishonest. >> he was -- well, he certainly wasn't saying anyone was dishonest to me. quite the opposite. he was lavishing praise on everybody. as a matter of fact, he didn't want to talk about politicians, he wanted to talk about the media. as a matter of fact, i think you can kind of say the media is donald trump's party. >> so yesterday attacking the media. you get a chance to have that headline as opposed to, again, the delay, giving the money to

the veterans organizations, and the potential bombshells in this document that was released on these lawsuits, michael. >> yes. what's really very peculiar here is, of course, people have broken this down. during the primary campaign, trump got more than double the media coverage of all of the other republicans combined. this is like an abusive relationship, an abusive spousal relationship. in other words, the meetdia ado him because he's good for ratings. at the same time, the more he hits them and attacks them -- what struck me yesterday and it was really media malpractice in my view he kept using terms like these are the most dishonest, disgusting people, you're a sleaze. why didn't people shoot back and say, okay, mr. trump, can you indicate what is one detail of coverage that you believe was dishonest, because we would like to be corrected. where have we actually reported this dishonestly.

and this goes to, i think, one of his other tremendous vulnerabilities. you remember, tamron, part of the basis for his campaign is i'm running independent of money, i'm funding it myself, i'm not going to take any money. right now he has a goldman sachs guy named steven manuken, who is in charge of raising $1 billion for him. he's dropped that entire thing. and yet that didn't even come up. and it's pot of this fraudulent nature of this scam campaign which to me as a loyal republican and someone who wants to see someone other than hillary clinton as president of the united states, this is really, really disturbing. >> but april, with all of the things that michael laid out that some of the most conservative in his party believe about donald trump, bill kristol gets the epic yawn for giving, i guess, the alternative to donald trump for his party. >> well, let me say this to you, and this kind of plays into your question. yesterday what we saw -- we saw a man who was not presidential.

he had the opportunity to explain, to give us his points and to be presidential. we had a glimpse of what it would be if donald trump were president of the united states. we saw that white house press briefing room. we saw several of the white house correspondents actually sitting on the front row. he called them out names. he was supposed to be giving information and instead he chided the press. he tried to take it off of him and his issue. the issue is as the press it's not about us. he can call us anything that he wants, but the bottom line is we are the first line of questioning of an american president. also of presidential candidates. and if you don't answer us, we will find the answer some way and it's best that you answer the question instead of chiding us and talking bus. >> april, michael, thank you for your time. let's turn now to the democratic race. bernie sanders has a new message for democratic voters in california. the senator telling supporters not to believe media headlines

that will declare hillary clinton the presumptive democratic nominee after next week's primaries. he argues that no candidate will have enough real delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. >> on tuesday night on the 7th, you're going to hear from media saying the nominating process is over, secretary clinton has won. that is factually incorrect. the truth is that unless i am very, very mistaken, no candidate, not hillary clinton, not bernie sanders, will have received the number of pledged delegates, i.e. the real delegates that people vote for. neither candidate will have received the requisite number of pledged delegates that he or she needs to become the democratic nominee. >> senator sanders also made the case that the superdelegates should vote for him because he

polls better against trump than clinton. this comes as clinton campaigns in new jersey today before a five-day swing through california starting tomorrow with what her campaign calls a, quote, major foreign policy speech. kristen welker is in new jersey today with the clinton campaign. have we heard back from the campaign regarding senator sanders saying i don't acknowledge anything other than what he defines as real delegates? >> reporter: they're not surprised, tamron, i can tell you that, and they're bracing for him to make that argument even if she wins california and that's really the focus right now. the challenge for senator sanders and that argument is that barack obama won the nomination back in 2008 with both pledged and superdelegates. so you'd have to go back that far and say, wait a minute, what does that mean about that nomination. so this is a line that we will likely continue to hear from senator sanders. bottom line, though, tamron, the focus is on california and it's going to be real tough for him to get enough pledged delegates to overtake secretary clinton.

he'd have to win the vast majority of votes of the states voting next tuesday. but secretary clinton doesn't want to lose california because if she does, she would essential low, a lot of people feel, wor limping into the convention and wouldn't be on solid ground so she's got a real challenge on her hands. that's why she's here in new jersey, not taking any state for granted. then she does head out to the golden state for a five-day campaign swing. but her focus today also going to be on the general election, taking on donald trump. the clinton campaign believes this latest controversy with trump university may be giving them one of their best lines of attack to take on donald trump. it fits into their narrative as they try to paint him as a billionaire businessman who has been somewhat fraud lent and who is only concerned about himself and making money. tamron. >> kristen welker live for us in new jersey. thank you, kristen. north korea's state-run newspaper is backing donald trump for president. coming up, why kim jong-un's

regime is praising trump as, quote, a wise politician. plus what's believed to be the first baby with a birth defect related to the zika virus in the continental u.s. has just been born in new jersey. what this new development now means for health officials as they try to contain that virus. and nearly 40 years after the ground-breaking mini series "roots" first made waves, a remake is airing this week and it's drawing in a new generation. the "roots" reboot as it's been coined coincides with the release of a new 40th anniversary dvd of the original mini series. and we are very lucky to have two members of that legendary cast in our studio and they will

join us live. we'll be right back. dad, you can just drop me off right here.

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developing now, a baby born in new jersey at a hospital has been diagnosed with microcephaly, the disease commonly linked to zika which stunts the infant's growth and causes severe brain damage. the baby's mom was visiting the u.s. from the honduras and hospital officials say she contracted zika prior to coming to the states. this birth is believed to be the first of its kind in the continental u.s. nbc's natalie morales has more. >> reporter: this morning, a team of doctors at new jersey's hackensack medical center providing intensive care to a baby girl born overnight with microcephaly, the medical condition commonly linked to the

zika virus. the 31-year-old mother who has not been identified was visiting the u.s. from honduras. she reportedly contracted zika early in her pregnancy after she was bitten by an infected mosquito. but it wasn't until last friday that an ultrasound found the microcephaly in her unborn child. >> i think all pregnant women should be aware that this is a travel-related case of zika and this did not occur in the u.s. >> reporter: this coming on the heels of new guidelines released by the world health organization. the w.h.o. advising people who recently traveled to zika-infected countries to wait eight weeks before trying to conceive, even if neither partner has symptoms. that's twice the length of time previously recommended. >> the guidance is to delay or consider delaying pregnancy certainly recognizing that this is maybe tough for some populations indeed. >> reporter: major league baseball player fran kiss co --

francisco rodriguez contracted the zika virus in his homeland. he was ill for two weeks. he says it took him two months to fully recover. >> now, despite calls from 150 medical professionals to postpone or move the summer olympics game in brazil, the world health organization says that doing so would not, quote, significantly alter the international spread of the zika virus. joining me now, the medical director of child advocacy and protection at case medical center, dr. lolita mcdavid. let me get your thoughts on the fact that this is believed to be the first baby born in the continental u.s. showing signs of birth defect related to the zika virus. >> well, actually there was a baby in hawaii, but you're right on continental this is the first one. remember, this is a virus that's caused by a mosquito, so if you're not pregnant, it's probably not a problem. it's a fairly mild illness.

people have a rash, they have fever, they may have joint pains, they may have what's called con junctivitis or pink eye. that baseball player does not seem to be the way zika progresses. >> we've had the conversation extend from women should protect themselves, avoid as best you can being bitten by a mosquito to the conversation of it being passed along through sex and that is factoring in, i think, to some of the fears that people have at this point of how this could spread and what we could be facing. are those reasonable concerns? >> so what we know is it can exist in semen with men. we don't know if it can exist in vaginal fluid with women. we don't know if it's passed in saliva. we don't know if women who are infected can give it to men. but the main way of getting it is being bitten by the mosquito. so what you want to do is if you're in countries where it's known, you want to protect yourself.

you want to cover up, you want to use repellent. i was recently on a caribbean cruise. we stopped at four different islands where there's zika. i had on long sleeves, i had on pants, i did the repellent, because number one, you get sick from being bitten by the mosquito. yes, it can be transmitted sexually from male to female but there's a lot we don't know about the transmittal of this virus. >> you're a highly respected medical professional. do you believe there's enough investment and enough research being done right now to help protect us in the future? >> well, you know, it's not that we haven't seen a lot of cases and we really don't know how many cases are out there because most people who have it, they have a mild case of the illness. they may have a rash, they may not feel good for a few days and then they're okay so they don't know they have it. we don't know how long it exists in the bloodstream. we've known about this virus

since 1947. it was discovered in uganda and it's been known in tropical africa and in southeast asia. but coming to the western hemisphere, this is a new thing. but we have other viruses here that we're also concerned about that are spread by a mosquito. west nile, dengue, those are things that you also have to be concerned about. >> all right, dr. lolita mcdavid, thank you for your time and insight as always. thank you. well, the parents of the boy who fell into the gorilla enclosure at the cincinnati zoo are now, according to police, under investigation. this as a petition for the parents to face formal charges, now 500,000 people have signed. the woman who started that petition will join me next. plus, millions are tuning in this week for the revival of "roots" decades after the original broke tv records and made history. now the legendary original mini

series is being re-released to coincide with the anniversary. john amos and leslie uggams will join me live to talk about the reboot and of course the dvd that you can purchase in june. we'll be right back. owen! hey kevin. hey, fancy seeing you here. uh, i live right over there actually. you've been to my place. no, i wasn't...oh look, you dropped something. it's your resume with a 20 dollar bill taped to it. that's weird. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer.

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after a long day, jen stops working, but her aleve doesn't. hey mom! because aleve can last 4 hours longer than tylenol 8 hour. what will you do with your aleve hours? cincinnati police are now investigating lthe actions of te parents of the 3-year-old boy who fell into that gorilla enclosure at a zoo resulting in the death of the gorilla harambe. the local prosecutor says he will look into whether criminal charges should be filed, but authorities are not investigating get zoo or its operations. social media, critical of the parents using the #justice for harambe and a change.org pe fission calls for formal charges. it's already reached 400,000 signatures and growing. joining me now is sheila hurt, who started the online campaign.

sheila, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> of course. what moved you to start this petition? what were you most concerned about? >> i was just angered by the death of harambe. i felt that the parent was not watching her child properly and i wanted justice. >> what made you feel that she was not watching her child properly? did you see something in a police report that indicated that? >> well, one of the witnesses stated the child had told the mother that he wanted to go into the enclosure and she said -- told him no, you're not going. but she turned her eye away from him and he went in anyways, so she knew that he was wanting to go in and he could have possibly went in, and he did. but she did not watch him. so i feel that it was her fault.

>> and you base that on one of the witnesses that you read in a newspaper article? >> and she was on cnn yesterday in an interview. >> there are -- i'm not a parent, but obviously you've seen some of the reaction from parents who say, as you pointed out, you can take your eye off of a child for one second and something happens. you have had parents who were loving parents even leave their child in a car and the stories go on and on and on. so i'll ask you what some believe, that people like yourself have jumped to a conclusion based on no fact, but based on a culture of social media of blaming before acquiring information. what do you say to those people? >> well, i'm a parent myself. i raised two boys that are now 28 and 30, and i have never, ever once taken my eye off of my

children to let them get into harm's way. and i have three grandchildren and i take them to outings all the time and i never leave -- take my eye off of them either. so i just feel that it is neglect on the mother's part. >> so you do realize, sheila, again i'm not a parent, but i think parents watching this would probably then label you the most exceptional parent in the world in that you've never taken your eye off of your own children or your grandchildren in 20-plus years. that would make you very exceptional. even the best parents have admitted that they have turned the blink of an eye and a 3-year-old or 4-year-old has darted out. so do you believe that a parent is negligent if they take an eye off of their child? >> if he gets harmed from it, yes, i do. >> are you prepared to wait for the police report on this or the

police to investigate exactly what happened? >> yes. and whatever decision they make, i will have to stand by, but that's up to their decision and the hamilton county prosecutor's office to make a decision what they do. but i feel that if the mother was properly watching her child and not allowed him to go in there, she should have taken him immediately out of the gorilla enclosure once it was let known that he wanted to go in there. this would not have happened. and harambe would still be alive today. >> what about the zoo, do you believe that they should be investigated? there are a number of people who noted that you have this enclosure. when many of the people who go to the zoo are tiny folks, like we saw with a little boy, that maybe it's time to review -- i know that 36 years nothing like this has ever happened, but it only takes once for there to be

a closer look at perhaps the enclosure. do you believe that the zoo should be investigated as well? >> that's hard to say, but i do think that in light of what happened that maybe they should make changes. i seen a picture on facebook yesterday of a child looking in at a gorilla where they had a glass enclosure, so maybe now maybe they should put glass up instead of what they currently have. >> well, animal rights activists don't like the glass up thing. that's part of the backlash in how these animals are treated. the family, as you well know, have thanked people for their support and also thanked god for the safety of their child and have expressed great sorrow, as you can imagine, for what happened. but we'll see. we were curious to see what was behind 500,000 people signing this petition. but the official investigation continues. thank you, sheila, for your

time. greatly appreciate it. >> okay. thank you for your time and i'd like to thank ana lisa for helping write the petition and i would like to thank the 500,000 supporters who have also signed. have a great day. a wise politician, that's what north korea's state-run news agency is saying about donald trump. coming up, why kim jong-un's regime is praising the republican presidential candidate and what it had to say about hillary clinton. ♪ ♪ staying in rhythm... it's how i try to live... how i stay active. so i need nutrition... that won't weigh me down. for the nutrition you want without the calories you don't... try boost® 100 calories. each delicious snack size drink gives you... 25 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. and it's available in two new flavors, vanilla caramel and double chocolate fudge. i'm not about to swim in the slow lane. stay strong. stay active with boost®.

donald trump getting praise from an unlikely source, north korean state media labeling him a, quote, wise politician. it also calls trump a far-sighted candidate, praising his offer to meet with north korean leader kim jong-un as well as his threat to remove u.s. forces from south korea. the editorial urges americans to vote for trump instead of hillary clinton, whom it calls dull. joining me now is heather

hobart, the director at the north american foundation, also served in the state department during the clinton administration. heather, thank you so much for your time. >> good to be here. >> so we're making the point this is state-run television and also appeared on a website run by the state, the regime of kim jong-un. what's the motivation here? >> to bother the south koreans who are very frightened at the idea that trump would win and follow through on his threats to pull u.s. troops out of the region. to also scare the japanese, who were very unnerved over also trump saying that he would encourage japan and south korea to get their own nuclear weapons, which of course makes it much harder to get rid of nuclear weapons in north korea. and it also shows you, tamron, that somebody in north korea is a good student of the american media cycle and how do you get yourself in the story? you mention donald trump. so now we're all talking about north korea and we're not talking about their failed nuclear tests or how they

mistreat their citizens. >> and usually that is how they get in the news, the threat of a nuclear test. with that said here, have we said kim jong-un attempt to enter american politics in this way before? is this a first for him? >> well, it's actually -- you know, i cannot think of a time that any foreign leader has endorsed a candidate in an american presidential election in my adult lifetime, and viewers may remember some. but this is unusual for any country, much less kim jong-un. and actually just a couple of weeks ago, a couple of north korea's ambassadors actually said that kim jong-un wouldn't meet with trump, so this is not just new for him but new in the last couple weeks for him. >> all right, heather, thank you very much. it's cerinly something that's caught a lot of attention today. to your point that puts north korea into the middle of the conversation. thank you again, heather. nearly 40 years after the ground-breaking mini series "roots" first made waves, a

reairing this week drawing millions of viewers and it coincides with a special appear verse, the re-release of the original production. two legendary actors from the original "roots," john amos and leslie uggams will join us live to talk about the reboot of "roots" and how they have this incredible place in american history. we'll be right back. s. and surprise! those seats sometimes cost a ridiculous number of miles, making it really hard to book the flight you want. luckily, there's a better way... with the capital one venture card. with venture, you'll earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. and when you're ready to travel, just book the flight you want, on any airline, then use your miles to cover the cost. now you're getting somewhere. what's in your wallet?

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you know, that reminds me of how geico's been the fastest-growing auto insurer for over 10 years straight. over ten years? mhm, geico's the company your friends and neighbors trust. and deservedly so. indeed. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. well, this week millions of people are watching the highly anticipated remake of "roots." nearly 40 years after the original premiere. the new series introduces a new generation to the landmark saga. the original made us face america's greatest sin and launched a national conversation about the brutal history of slavery. but the debate this time around is a lot different. rapper snoop dogg even went so far as to call for a boycott of the reboot. >> i don't understand america. they want to just keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago. guess what, we're taking the

same abuse. think about that part. >> well, levar burton, who starred in the original mini series and his co-executive producer of the remake responded to snoop dogg's comments on twitter saying, snoop dogg, i'm hoping that roots series can spark meaningful conversation. would love to share my thoughts and feelings maybe over a beer. the original eight-part series broke records in 1977 with more than 100 million americans watching the finale. it remains the third-most watched episode of all time. the original series will be released on blu-ray for the first time ever june 7th. circle your calendar. joining me, oh, such a great pleasure in studio. two legendary actors from the original series, john amos and of course leslie uggams. thank you so much for joining me. >> happy to be here. >> thank you for having us. >> june 7, i can't wait to gather my nieces who are 16 and 10 to watch. they have not seen the original

but they are watching the reboot. what are your thoughts, miss uggams, when you hear someone like snoop dogg express concern about the focus on the past and how the media portrays our story? >> well, remember, ours is 40 years ago. it was a lot different then. it showed history that we had not seen because it's not in the history books. and so when our show came on, america stopped because white and black america had not really seen this kind of portrayal of what we went through. and so people were riveted to their television. it only had three stations at the time. there was no cable. so, you know, you didn't have a whole lot of choices. you can't dvr, anything like that. and so it was a great, great lesson for people, because they didn't know. and it was history that they were not aware of.

so i think back then, it was very, very meaningful. >> so, mr. amos, what do you think of the debate now? did it surprise you to hear some people wonder if this wonder ifs necessary, not because the original was so perfect but they are tired of hearing the story of slavery? does that surprise you? >> well, it does surprise me they would take that reaction. i think it's good that it's being shown. if nothing else, another generation that has not seen or been exposed to that part of the country's history. i think it's good another generation of younger people are being exposed to the history of what developed this nation. >> when you look back at, of course, your original time in your life, did you know the power of not just that performance but of what you were bringing into our homes? >> i don't think any of us really knew the impact of the

show. for me it was particularly gratifying because i was one of several students to integrate part of the new jersey school system and that part of our history had obviously been dele deleted. something that brought attention to that part of our country's history was gratifying. >> ms. uggams, the strong african woman, both your legacy as an actress but then this character and what she meant to young black women and that survival and that spirit on that screen, did you understand the impact that kizzie would have on us? >> i didn't understand it at the time but the rewarding thing about it kizzie showed through any adversity that she had gone through she was determined to pass on that strength to her son and that strength came from her father and what i loved is he

said you have to keep telling the story. you tell your kids the story and they pass it on to their kids. i think it's very important that parents tell the story of what their family background is all about. let them know that sometimes everything ain't okay. you have your good times and bad times. that's how we keep our history going by telling the story and that's what was so wolf about her. she got it from her pear, tell the story. >> i love the "good times" reference you just put in. >> slipped that in. >> we have a history, though, leslie might remember when there was a leslie uggams show that provided me with my opportunity to become a network television writer. >> really? >> i got my first job writing as a comedy writer or sketch writers on the leslie uggams show.

>> when you look at that and the landscape world, certainly what she did with kerry washington, how do you view today's television landscape knowing you are both land breaking and we came home to images of you. >> i came home to watch her on the ed sullivan show. i mean, she's a ground breaker. >> absolutely. but you both are. >> thank you. thank you. >> you know, it was -- i was starting on television, it was like everybody, the black girl is on. >> i still get that. >> you know? people are on the telephone, quick, watch her. she's on. there wasn't a lot of us -- >> 2016 i started working in chicago i'll never forget the first time i was on air, went to get something to eat, and there's a black woman working. you came on tv in fox in chicago

and we turned our whole family, we have a black girl on fox. and that was just ten years ago and here fast forward to msnbc i still get people who tweet often, tamron hall, african-american girl on msnbc in the day. we don't see a wide representation even now. you paved the way and i thank god to be in your presence. >> thank you so much. >> well, you're doing great, honey. >> we're trying. we're trying. thank you so much. and black don't crack. we'll be right back. >> special effects. >> this is all real. we'll be right back. which control this joystick. no, i'm actually over at the ge booth. we're creating the operating system for industry. it's called predix. it's gonna change the way the world works. ok, i'm telling my brain to tell the drone to get you a copy of my resume. umm, maybe keep your hands on the controller. look out!! ohhhhhhhhhh... you know what, i'm just gonna email it to you. yeah that's probably safer.

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