The late Michael K. Williams' nephew joins Red Table Talk to discuss Fentanyl dangers
It’s still unbelievable to realize the iconic Michael K. Williams is no longer around. Even worse is knowing how much more of a legacy he seemed to still need to fulfill. The unforgettable ‘The Wire’ actor’s nephew Dominic Dupont linked with the Emmy-nominated ‘Red Table Talk’ ladies to dish on losing his uncle to fentanyl.
Check out the key episode highlights and keep scrolling to watch the emotional conversation.
Gammy would be dead if fentanyl was on the streets while she was using (1:31-1:56)
“While you were using, if you knew this was on the street at the time and people were dying, do you think that would have helped you stop?” - Jada
“No, absolutely not.” - Gammy
“Really?” - Jada
“I'm so glad that it wasn't 'cause I've OD'd before.” - Gammy
“Right.” - Jada
“I would definitely be dead. There's no question in my mind about that.” - Gammy
Dominic is ‘still processing’ what he saw the day he found his ‘Uncle Mike’ was dead (3:11-4:30)
“I think a lot of what happened--what I saw on September 6th, I'm still processing. Michael was an amazing human being.” - Dominic
“What was going on the day that you found your uncle?” - Jada
“I was shopping with my wife. Mike had some work to do the next day and I had reached out to him the night before, and I was concerned that I had not heard from him. We made the decision, you know, go to his house, and I went upstairs, opened up his door and it was quiet. Michael always played music. That wasn't the case. I stuck my head in. I said, ‘Uncle Mike, are you in here?’ And I observed him deceased, immediately called 911. They said, ‘Listen, do you want to start some compressions?’ And I said, ‘I'm telling you he's deceased. He's gone.’” - Dominic
“He's gone, yeah.” - Gammy
“He's cold. I spoke to Michael's publicist, and she said, ‘Dominic, you know, this is gonna be on the news in, like, another hour, I'm telling you.’ And I looked out his window, and I saw all the reporters, and thought about the responsibility. And my responsibility, my accountability to get the word out about how this doesn't have to be you or your loved one.” - Dominic
Michael was doing well, working on book and didn’t show signs of addiction (4:31-4:44)
“Had he shown any signs before then of a relapse?” - Gammy
“Mike was doing well. He was working on a book. It did not appear to me that Mike was sliding back into addiction.” -Dominic
Michael would have never knowingly taken fentanyl (5:26-6:04)
“In the four and a half years that I had been home, Mike didn't appear to be overwhelmed or dealing with any major issues but Michael also worked really hard not to have the things that he was going through weigh on other people.” - Dominic
“That's right, yep.” - Jada
“And he was an actor, right?I mean, you can fool people. You can convince people that you're okay. But what I would say is this. I'm positive that he would not have knowingly taken fentanyl.” - Dominic
“Oh, absolutely not. I agree with you on that.”- Gammy
“I know that. I know that like I know my first name.” - Dominic
Michael warned Dominic to not do drugs when he was a young boy (7:14-8:15)
“Now, I know Michael had a long, long history struggling with substance abuse.” - Gammy
“Yeah, from a young age, he struggled. And I'll never forget– I was about six or seven years old. This is right before his first rehab and he came to my house early in the morning, and there was a little argument that ensued because his substance abuse. You know, family is a little fed up, and Michael looked me right in my eyes, and he said, ‘Dominic, look at me. Don't you ever, ever, ever use drugs.’ And then he put his hands on my face. I could feel his breath, and he said, ‘Do you hear me? Ever, ever, ever.’"
“Wow.” - Willow
“And that stayed with you.” - Jada
“And that stayed.” - Gammy
“That's so beautiful.” - Willow
“Wow.” - Gammy
“And when I was in prison and it felt like insanity was creeping in on me, I would hear that conversation.” - Dominic
Kate recounts the tragic night she lost her friends; was unconscious for 17 hours (10:15-13:03)
“I mean, after a comedy show, honestly, occasionally, that's a kind of normal night, right? It's not like it was a crazy night of partying. I always liked to do it for fun, but I was always a baby about it honestly. Like, I'm the one that does, like, the quarter of what everyone does, which is why I lived…And then I went to the bathroom, and what's wild is, on the way out of the bathroom, I couldn't even button my pants. I was already that disoriented.” - Kate
“Right.” - Jada
“And I said, ‘Something's not right about this. I don't feel well.’" - Kate
“So you knew something was wrong.” - Willow
“Right away. I felt nauseous.” - Kate
“Yeah.” - Willow
“I sat down, and that's the last thing I remember, and I passed out in this chair, and Rico was sitting across from me in the room– sorry, it's hard for me to talk about.” - Kate
“It's okay. Take your time.” - Jada
“But anyway, then I passed out on the chair, like, sideways, and when I passed out, my leg stayed in this chair. My head hit the floor. That was, like, 6:00 a.m. It was the morning morning, and I woke up, and it was dark, and it was like 11:00 at night or something.” - Kate
“Whoa.” - Willow
“And first thing I thought, I swear to God, is ‘Oh, my God, why is it dark? My doors are open.’ All I saw was Rico.” - Kate
“Wow, so all those hours had passed?” - Gammy
“Yeah, I was just so confused. I couldn't feel my legs. But I thought, like, they were asleep. I went to stand, and that's when I really realized. And I started to get scared. I started to say, ‘Hey Rico, Rico.’ I just thought he fell asleep. He even still had the guitar. He was holding a guitar in his hands. It never crossed my mind he was dead 'cause he didn't look dead. I couldn't see Fu and Natalie because my head was on the floor and they were up on a couch around the corner, and so I called my uncle. I still thought Rico was okay, until I threw a shoe at the door next to him and he didn't wake up. I started to panic. And then two minutes later, my uncle walked in, and immediately he walked over, and he touched him, and he was cold, and he called 911.” - Kate
Kate was accused of murdering her friends (14:36-15:15)
“…My whole career, people hated on me, but the trolls and all the haters, it never got to me but it did with this. It's different to be called a murderer and stuff people would say to me. Like, that's my friend.” - Kate
Kate clears up a misconception of the drug; you dont know it’s fentanyl when you buy it (17:06-17:39)
“The thing about this that I really think is important, I think there is this misconception. They think people are trying to buy fentanyl and it's not that.” - Kate
“It's not that.” - Gammy
“It's a poisoned drug.” - Kate
“So you want people to know that you don't know when you buy cocaine that it can have fentanyl in it.” - Jada
“Right, exactly.” - Kate
“So it's not like you were like, hey, let's go out and get some fentanyl.” - Jada
“No.” - Kate
“Do you know what I mean? It's like, ‘hey, we've done lines of cocaine before,’ and it's not like you overdid it. And you didn't know that it was even fentanyl.” - Jada
“And you don't know it's in there--yeah.” - Kate
Despina Prodromidis shares the tragic story of how she lost her 15-year-old daughter Olivia to fentanyl (Starts at 18:47)
Olivia was killed by ‘grains of sand worth of fentanyl’ (23:56-24:28)
“It never made the media. A little girl dropped dead, and nobody thinks this is important. When she died, it's almost like they looked at her like she was a drug addict, like her life meant nothing. And I don't use the word overdose. Overdose implies that you knowingly and carelessly took too much of something.” - Despina
“Right.” - Jada
“Olivia took one pill, and it took her off the face of the planet forever.”
“Right.” - Jada
“She didn't overdose. It was grains of sand worth of fentanyl that killed her. She was poisoned to death.” - Despina
Olivia’s father Bruce Green virtually joins the table (24:36)
Dr. Melissa Clarke virtually joins the table to explain what is fentanyl; it’s odorless and tasteless (27:28)
