And congratulations on, what is it?

Season three now?

-Season four. -Season four of The Good Place.

-Mm-hmm. -That's starting... That started tonight.

-Yes, it's the final season. -Yeah.

-Congratulations. -(cheering and applause)

I-I love the premise of the show,

because it's basically, like, a...

Well, it's like the afterlife.

-Mm-hmm. -And then some people are in hell,

some people are in heaven, but then some people

have been mixed up on where they should be.

Where do you think you would be?

The Good Place or...

-No, I'm saying, like... -I'm an actress.

(chuckles): I would go straight to hell where I belong.

(laughter)

Who makes money this way?

Yeah. (blows raspberry)

-You think you'd be in hell? -Yeah. Where are you going?

-Will I see you there? -Uh...

I think I'll get into heaven 'cause of my mom.

I think my mom has prayed enough

that they'll be like, "Yeah, she's got a plus-one.

Come on in. Come on in."

-That's probably what it'll be for me. -We'll see. Yeah.

(laughs): But... I like how you're, like,

-you're waiting for me. "Oh, Trevor!" -Okay, Trev. Yeah.

Um, the show... the show has been really popular.

It's just, like, got-got an interesting vibe about it.

Like, what the story is. But you have become

really popular on the show not just because

of your character but because of the backstory.

-Because this is your first acting gig. -Mm-hmm.

-You were a teacher. -Mm-hmm.

No, I was a teacher, then a TV host,

-so I used to do what you do. -Okay.

Um, for less money.

-Yes. -(laughs): Uh, and I then moved to America.

Didn't know what I was gonna do. Thought I'd just be

-a writer. -Oh, so you were getting paid in pounds.

-Yeah. -So maybe it's more money, but carry on.

Well, it is kind of the same now 'cause of the economy.

-(laughs): But yeah. -Well, that's Brexit, not my fault.

-Yes. -I know.

Um, so, I, uh, yeah. I moved here to be a writer,

and I-I got, uh, an agent based off a script that I wrote,

and that same agent was also representing people

-at The Good Place. -Right.

And he said, "We need a Pakistani, overly tall,

annoying Englishwoman. Off you go."

And I went to the audition, and I got it.

Yeah, but you-you've really connected on the show.

You-you have a vibe about you.

One thing I've heard a lot of people say--

not just from the show, but in real life-- is they go like,

-"Jameela is one of the funniest..." -I'm a bitch?

No, they go, "Jameela's one of the fu..."

I don't read comments on YouTube.

I'm talking about real life.

-People go, "Jameela's..." -No, they just say I'm a slut.

They go, "Jameela is one of the funniest people

"you will ever meet, but she is also one of the most,

"like, what people would say 'woke' people

-you will ever meet at the same time." -Right.

Right? Like, how did that journey begin?

How do you go... Like, we all grow up

-in the world that we grow up in. Right? -Yeah.

I always say to people, like, I think wokeness is learned.

I don't think anyone just wakes up, and they're just, like,

-"This is how the world works." -Yeah.

It's been a journey for you. Where did it begin?

Uh, I was probably around 19 years old.

That's when I started activism. And, uh...

Started in activism, rather. And it's just been an on--

Like, it's just an ongoing journey.

It's an upwards-- like, it's an uphill struggle, I guess.

Like, you know, it's something that you're constantly learning,

and no one is perfectly woke.

No one knows all of the answers.

Everything is constantly updating around us in humanity,

-and we need to update alongside it. -Right.

And so I'm just-- I call myself a feminist-in-progress,

because I consider myself never fully formed.

And I think that that helps me know

-that I always have more to do, more to learn -Oh, wow.

and I can always be and do better.

-So, you know... -(cheering and applause)

You may-- you may refer to yourself

as a feminist-in-in-progress, but a lot of people see you

as a face of what they would call

the body positivity movement.

But you don't see yourself that way.

No. That movement is not for me.

That movement was designed for women

who are discriminated against, like, in-in front of doctors

and in our society because of their size.

That-that is a--

It's a must-have movement for those people.

I am slender, so I'm not discriminated against

because of my size. I actually believe

in body liberation and body neutrality.

Like, I-I believe in just not thinking about your body,

and I have the luxury of being able to do that,

because I'm not being constantly persecuted for my size.

So, I am someone who used to have an eating disorder.

I still have bod-body dysmorphia,

and I just manage to get more things done in my day

when I'm not thinking about my figure.

I can't stand in front of a mirror and say,

"Oh, I love my thighs. I love my cellulite."

I can just not think about them

and think about my bank account and orgasms, you know?

(cheering and applause)

Did you say "think about my bank account and orgasms"?

-Yeah. -WOMAN: Yeah!

And, like, world peace and, like...

No, no. It's just--

I just think there's a business opportunity here,

where you-you sell people mirrors

that don't show them themselves-- just show you,

-like, a bank balance going up -Yeah.

and-and then, like, their last orgasm.

-Let's do it, man. -We can just do it. We can make--

-We just sell it as an app. -Yeah. There you go.

-You can make a lot of money. -Yeah.

It-it is-- it is interesting that you say

-"feminist-in-progress," because it does feel -Mm-hmm.

like we're in a world now where everyone wants to be heard--

-rightfully so-- but then the conversations around it -Mm-hmm.

can become so visceral and, you know, like,

no one wants to listen in and around these conversations.

You've been very quick to-to just take it.

If someone says, "Hey, Jameela, you didn't include these people

in your conversation" or "You've excluded these people

in this conversation," you just go, like,

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'll include them, and then I move on."

Does it ever get tiring to do that?

Or, like-like, how did you decide to take that approach?

No. Like, I only have the freedom that I have now

because other people before me fought for women of color

to be given opportunities that I'm now able to benefit from.

So, no, I never tire of being corrected if I'm wrong.

You know, I-I have more to learn,

and I-- and I'm grateful that people don't patronize me

-and they think that I can take the criticism. -Right.

And I can. And I think that the thing

that we are sometimes searching for in our society

is moral purity, and you're just never gonna find that.

All you can find is progress and not perfection.

And so that's what we should all be striving towards.

You know, if we-- if we completely cut people down

every time that they show their ignorance or they make a mistake

or they have a mistake from ten years ago,

then people are gonna feel like there's no value

in learning or progressing whatsoever

because you're punished forever

for the sin that you no longer stand by.

So, you know, if you haven't done irrevocable harm,

I think you should be allowed the opportunity

to learn and grown and do better.

And, so, you know, ten years ago, I was...

-(applause and cheering) -Thanks. But...

Eight years ago, seven years ago,

ten years ago, I was problematic in my thinking,

and there were loads of things that I didn't know

-and didn't understand... -Right.

...and thought I was right about.

And had I been counseled at that time,

I would never have gone on to become someone

who now spends all of their life fighting for women's rights

and the rights of people who are marginalized,

and who is now being able to, you know, get Instagram

and Facebook to change their global policies

-to protect young people. -That-that's a huge thing...

So thank God I didn't get counselled, 'cause I'm...

-Right. That's a huge thing. -I got better.

-(applause) -Tell-Tell... But tell us more about that.

No, this is... this is really... This is a really powerful, uh,

you know, movement that you spearheaded,

and that was, you got the social media companies

to change how they viewed what advertising,

uh, people were able to see under the age of 18.

Because you-you've been very vocal

against, like, people who advertise, like,

-those tummy teas, and the, uh... -Don't know what you mean.

The tummy teas and the...

Like, all those, like, super diet fads

-for people who, like... -They're laxatives.

They're all laxatives. You just shit fire.

-That's it. -Is that what they are? -(laughter)

Mm-hmm. And then, you don't shit again

for several days afterwards.

-And then you need more, and it's just bad. -Oh.

-Sexy, but it's bad. -But I've seen it.

But the people have, like, a flat tummy when they do it.

-Yeah. -They'll, like, have the tea, and they go like,

"Look at my tummy," and then, like, they have the tea.

Yeah, their photoshopped, surgically-enhanced tummy.

(bleep) off. Sorry.

-(laughter) -But... I thought the tea...

(applause and cheering)

So anyway... No, but they're...

Unfortunately, there are a lot of impressionable young people

who don't know that the tea is a scam.

-They don't know that a lot of these ideas are scams. -Yes.

You went out to the social media companies,

and you said, "It's your job to do something."

What are they doing?

Uh, so they have made it impossible

for minors... anyone under the 18... age of 18

to see cosmetic surgery procedures being sold,

or any kind of diet or detox products.

It just will not come up on your feed.

And, uh, if you're over 18,

and you don't want to see these things,

and you see that people are selling, like, false claims--

-like, "Lose 300 pounds in five minutes..." -Yes.

"if you just drink this, like..."

-I don't know. Banana. -Right. That's like...

-Yeah. Like that. -That would be, like,

-a piranha drink. It was, like, "Drink these piranhas." -Yeah.

-You know, you drink piranhas. Yeah. -Yeah, you drink piranhas.

-You know that. -And they eat you, and you lose everything.

-Yes. -And, so, yeah, exactly. And so, you can report those,

and they get taken down.

So Instagram and Facebook, also--

these two, like, huge corporations--

are most importantly, making a stand against...

Because we've, like, hyper-normalized this culture

-of celebrities and influencers... -Yes.

...just being able to sell, like,

everything other than heroin injected into your eyes,

freely on the Internet to their really young followers.

And so, what we needed was the powers that be

to say, "No, we do not accept this."