Hey, what's up, guys? It's Andy here. I know we don't usually hit podcasts in the middle of the weekend, but I got something important that I want to talk to you about that's been bothering me. I talk to a lot of you younger guys, and some of you older guys, too, often about being a good leader, about taking responsibility, and admitting when you're wrong, correcting the problem. This is one of those scenarios where I have to be the one to admit that I was wrong, take responsibility, and correct the problem. For those of you that listen regularly, you know that our show, we keep it real. And I'm going to keep it real with you guys right now. I fucked up. I said some things on the show on Thursday that after thinking about it and after having it pointed out to me, that I feel very regretful for saying. Embarrassed that I said it. It doesn't Reflect who I am or what I feel in my heart. I'd just like to take a moment to address those comments and address the context of those comments and apologize. A lot of you guys probably We want to know that when we started our first business, Supplement Superstores in Springfield, Missouri, we didn't have any money.

There was no social media, and so we had to get real creative about how we were going to get business. And since we didn't have any money and we didn't have any social media, we spent a lot of time on the ground, knocking on doors, and quite honestly, got told to buzz off and kick rocks way more than we were welcomed in. But one place that we were welcomed in was the police stations. And I spent a lot of time in those police stations back then, making friends, shaking hands. And those people welcomed us. They took us in. They supported us. And quite honestly, we wouldn't have the business that we have today without the relationship of the police that we have had. And this is why for the last 25 years, we have been such strong advocates of the police. It's why we do what we do with our charities. It's why we raise money for backstoppers. It's why we try to take care of the local police any way that we can, whether that be standing up for them when times are hard, like George Floyd or Michael Brown, whether that be bringing them drinks or snacks when they're out handling one of the most dangerous cities in the world here in St.

Louis. We've just always tried to be there, and they've always been there for us, too. They've always helped us. They've always been good to us. I said some things on Thursday's show that are really just not sitting well with me. If you guys know and you follow me, I've never come on and addressed anything. I let controversy play itself out. I'm used to it. It's what we do here. We talk about controversial things, and people think what they want to think. But this is different because these are people that I actually care about. These are people that I care what they think. We like to say, Oh, we don't care what people think. Well, there is certain people that you should care what you think. Those are the people that have always been there for you. We were discussing a situation on the show on Thursday with Tyreek Hill. A lot of you guys probably heard it, and a lot of you guys have probably seen it. We all agreed that both Tyreek and the police were at fault. Then we started to talk about the dynamic between police officers and citizens and how de-escalation is extremely important.

Then we started talking about the dynamic between men and men and men and women. While I was talking about this, I started to recall a situation that I had happened to me about a decade ago where I was driving down the highway. I had my cruise control on. I was pulled over by two female cops. We had a small disagreement. I wouldn't even say it was an argument about whether or not I was speeding. I ended up face down on the side of the highway in a suit being berated by these two female officers. A male officer pulled up to the scene. We rectified the situation. He apologized, they apologized, I apologized for my part, and we left. But that stuck with me, and it bothered me. As I was talking about this situation the other day, I started to think about that situation, and it got me super fired up. I said some things that I shouldn't have said, especially the way that I said them. What I said was that every single police officer that's a woman that I've had an interaction with was negative, and that women shouldn't be police officers. That's not I was speaking out of emotion.

I was thinking about that situation. That's not what I believe. I know that there's tons and tons and tons of amazing, badass female officers out there that every day put themselves in danger to serve our communities. And yeah, of course, there's some bad ones, just like we always talk about with everything. Of course, there's some women that shouldn't be cops. Of course, there's some men that shouldn't be cops. Of course, there should be some standards for who is a cop so that we can create a great relationship between the citizens and the police officers. But I didn't do that. While I was trying to get to that point, my emotions took over. I said that if it weren't for a badge in a gun, this woman would be punched in the face and it would end her life. It was the wrong thing to say. It was a terrible thing to say. I was trying to make the point that women escalate situations sometimes because they are armed, and men do the same. It was an unfair comment to me to single out women, and it came from a place of frustration and anger that I had for many years back.

And guys, I fucked up. I shouldn't have said it like that. That's not what I meant to say. It's not what I feel in my heart. I want to take a minute to let you guys know that I love you guys. I appreciate you guys. I appreciate the fact of what you do every day. I respect what you do every day. I come on here often and for years, standing up for the police arguing for better salaries, better benefits, arguing for major reform, for our tax dollars to be poured into our police force so that they can make three, four times as much money. And then also we could solve the recruiting problem, et cetera, et cetera. There's no bigger advocate for the police. And after hearing from a number of you guys about this and the frustration and the disappointment and the pain that it caused, it's just been rubbing me the wrong way, and I feel the need to come on here and apologize to you guys. It's embarrassing to me. I'm embarrassed of myself. I'm embarrassed of embarrassed that I embarrassed my friends and my family and my business partners, and especially my employees who work extra hard to do the best job they can.

They have nothing to do with what I say. It's just embarrassing and it's disappointing, and it hurts my heart that I've let so many of you guys down. I think you all know that I wouldn't come on here and apologize if I didn't truly believe that I was wrong. I think that's part of being a man. I think that's part of being a good human. To any of you guys that I upset or offended with the harshness of my words, I truly apologize. It doesn't reflect what I actually feel. I believe that my body of work over the last 25 years should speak for something about that. But maybe it doesn't. If it doesn't, I can deal with that, too. But I just wanted to come on here and offer a sincere apology, especially to those of you that I know in person, especially to those of you that I've been friends with for Years and years and years. I've always tried to do my best to support you, and I know you guys have done your best to support me and the people that we're involved with here, the companies and all these things.

Guys, I'm just sorry. I spoke out of my ass. I let my emotions get the best of me. I think you guys who listen to the show, you all know that part of the show is saying the things that other people won't say. But when I say something that I truly feel I said wrong or I do something that I truly feel that I did wrong, I think it's important that you guys know that I will take accountability and responsibility for it, and I will do better. I appreciate you guys I love you guys. I'm super embarrassed, and I hope there's some grace there for me. But if there's not, I understand that as well. I will still be here for you. We will still be supporting you. We will still be doing all the things that we do. If you don't feel like you want to do that back, that's okay. I fucked up. I'm trying to do the right thing now, and I promise you, I'll do a better job in the future of being more articulate and more careful with how I say things and take the response, the potential response of how I say things into consideration, especially when it comes to people that I know.

This wasn't a personal attack towards anybody in St. Louis, locally. I sit in here every day, and I watch these videos of these cops escalating situations and bad things. Sometimes I forget that I'm looking at a small little piece of the pie versus the overall body of work. I forget that about our country. I forget that about police. I forget that about everything because what I do here is to bring attention to things that are wrong in the world. Sometimes Everything appears wrong all the time because of that. This has been a good reminder for me that that's not the case. To any of you guys that may feel differently or may... I mean, bro, I fucked up. I'm a human just like you guys. I say things that I don't mean sometimes. I say things wrong sometimes. And this was one of those times. If I've hurt your feelings or I've hurt you, I apologize. Just for clarification, the reason we took that part out of the show wasn't because I was getting heat. I get heat every day for everything I say. It was because I didn't want people to think that it was okay to speak like that or act like that to other officers, especially the young men that listen to the show.

I think that's the part that bothers me the most, is that I let those young men down. I set a poor example, and that really, really fucking bothers me. I apologize, guys. I know I fucked up. I hope that you guys will at least understand some of the context of what I'm explaining and potentially accept my apology. But I'll I'm going to continue doing me. I'm going to continue doing what we do. I'm going to continue supporting the causes that we believe in and support, and that includes all of you guys at the police and first responders. So thank you for everything that you do. I'm sorry I disappointed you guys. And for those of you guys who are young men, young leaders, young women, young leaders, listen, dude, we're going to fuck up. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to say things. We're going to do things. And don't ever be afraid to own up to what you've done, to apologize and try to make it right. You're going to win more than you lose that way. I'm sorry for setting a bad example to you guys as well. I'll do a lot better moving forward.

I appreciate you love you guys, and I'll see you next week.