2-18-26 Morning Rush - Ryan Reynolds New Texts Unsealed Show Efforts To Cancel Baldoni & Olympics Updates & JD Vance Takes Jabs At AOC
The Rush Hour With Dave Neal
Dave Neal
4.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's a packed morning on Rush Hour.
-
🚨 The drama escalates in the Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni saga as Ryan Reynolds appears to throw Baldoni under the bus — are we heading toward a full-blown trial?
-
🏅 Olympic controversy heats up as Eileen Gu continues to face backlash after choosing to compete for China instead of the United States — and the internet is not letting it go.
-
⚖️ New details emerge about ongoing deportations — what's really happening behind the scenes, who's profiting, and what everyday Americans can do to avoid being complicit.
Fast headlines, sharp analysis, and the context the mainstream won't give you — let's get into it.
Sponsored by Wayfair. Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for WAY less. Shop all things home at Wayfair.com
Go to rushhourwithdave.com for tickets to my upcoming Asheville NC, Stamford CT and Boston shows!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the rush hour, your daily dose of pop culture for your rush hour ride. |
| 0:07.7 | Buckle up and enjoy the drive with your host, stand-up comedian Dave Neal. |
| 0:13.6 | Good morning, everybody. Happy hump day to you on this Wednesday, February 18th, 2026. |
| 0:19.5 | I got all your news for your rush hour ride to work. Lots to jump |
| 0:23.1 | into right now. We've got an update on the Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni's story as |
| 0:28.2 | Blake Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, has chimed in. No, not publicly. We're just seeing some of the |
| 0:33.5 | text messages unsealed where he was speaking with the agents at the talent agency he shared |
| 0:38.9 | with Justin Baldoni, the one of course that they had Baldoni removed from. I'll continue to share |
| 0:43.9 | some of the sinister actions that were going on behind the stories as they're now being revealed. |
| 0:48.7 | Then we have an Olympics update as American athlete, excuse me, I should say Chinese athlete, Eileen Gou, she's born and |
| 0:56.6 | raised in the United States, went to college here, decided to compete for China. We're going to get |
| 1:00.9 | into the money that she's apparently receiving as some of this information was accidentally made |
| 1:06.0 | public. She's receiving quite a bag from China. I'll compete for China for 50 million bucks. |
| 1:11.5 | We'll get into that story. Plus, we've got more on the deportations. |
| 1:15.4 | A very sad and tragic update to one of the deportations going on involving a two-month-old |
| 1:20.7 | was kicked out of this country when he needs medical help. And we'll share what can be done to help him. |
| 1:26.4 | And again, this is about humanity. And it's |
| 1:28.8 | tough to cover some of these stories, especially, I don't know, early on in the day, but I'm not here |
| 1:33.8 | to avoid them because they're complicated. We're living in the middle of a dogfight. And we're on |
| 1:39.0 | the right side of history. You and I, we are on the right side of history as we continue to use |
| 1:43.3 | our voice and our attention |
| 1:44.9 | to bring, you know, these matters to light and get, make sure that enough people know what's |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Neal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Neal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.