MS NOW’s Join host Jacob Soboroff rewound the clock on Saturday to advertise a brief documentary known as Reclaim the Flag that was launched a 12 months in the past that featured a number of LGBTQ celebrities—a few of whom had been undoubtedly extra well-known than others—speaking about their views of the flag. Soboroff sat down with producer Alexis Bittar to debate the movie and play a number of soundbites that included claims to the flag as having “blood on it” and being a “violent image of prejudice and hate” and beliefs that individuals who fly the flag would kill them if that they had the chance.
Soboroff kicked off the phase by declaring, “It’s each nation’s best and most visible and most acknowledged image. It’s its flag. America’s flag with the celebs and stripes has been a logo of freedom and unity and love of nation since 1777. However over time, our love for this nation has been examined, particularly for individuals who really feel their very own identification would not appear to like them again.”
Jacob Soboroff promotes a virtually one-year previous documentary againt LGBTQ folks and the flag “However over time, our love for this nation has been examined, particularly for individuals who really feel their very own identification would not appear to like them again.”
After some clips, together with of actress… pic.twitter.com/KbxyQnTHN1
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 11, 2026
He then hyped “The brief documentary Reclaim the Flag, produced by Oscar winner Bruce Cohen and directed by jewellery designer and filmmaker Alexis Bittar, explores this by means of the lens of the LGBTQ group. It options well-known members of the group dissecting their very own relationship with our nation’s flag.”
The primary montage confirmed actress Lena Waithe and actor Jim Parsons:
WAITHE: Relying on how america feels about you’ll rely on how you are feeling concerning the flag. [jump cut] In the event you really feel like your folks have been killed, wronged, been capable of be seen as lower than human below the flag, you are going to be triggered by it, however but nonetheless be born below it.
PARSONS: I believe that it is a very radical concept in right this moment’s local weather to think about going off, for lots of people to die, for the unity of this nation. How are we united? How are we united? What are we united about?
WAITHE: The American flag has blood on it. And it is drenched in it. I believe that we are able to settle for that or act as if it is not true, and we will not change what we do not face.
Soboroff then returned so as to add, “This movie would not finish with a transparent decision, and that’s the level. Some cautiously take into consideration embracing the flag for the primary time ever, or for the primary time shortly, and others acknowledge the irony of being an American whereas additionally being marginalized by elements of their very own nation, and all appear to argue that one thing has bought to provide with the intention to take the flag again as a logo of inclusivity.”
Not each clip Soboroff confirmed was as outrageous as Waithe and Parsons, however he was clearly excited to point out those that had been. Later, throughout his sit-down with Bittar, he launched one other clip, “You understand, what’s loopy is that, appropriate me if I am unsuitable, however Trump’s identify would not really come up within the movie, proper?… however he does—I imply, he actually looms over it, I believe. And the second that we stay in could be very palpable. I need to play one other portion of the affiliation that so many individuals within the LGBTQ group have with this flag and, and the way it pertains to the image of unity. Let’s watch this.
Later, Soboroff claims Trump “actually looms over it, I believe. And the second that we stay in could be very palpable. I need to play one other portion of, of the affiliation that so many individuals within the LGBTQ group have with this flag and, and the way it pertains to the image of unity.… pic.twitter.com/9cKgBs05iZ
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 11, 2026
The clip bundle featured extra flag bashing:
MARC JACOBS [fashion designer]: Why, after I see an American flag, do I consider, like, MAGA and right-wing? And why do I really feel prefer it’s a violent image of prejudice and hatred.
CHRIS KLEMENS [comedian]: I see somebody hanging an American flag and I am like, ‘You’d hit me with a automobile should you had the chance.’
MATT BERNSTEIN [content creator/make-up artist]: If I am, you recognize, if I am on Grindr, proper? And I see an American flag emoji in somebody’s bio. I believe that could be a Republican.
HUNTER CRENSHW [reality TV personality]: It is a destructive factor to be, to see. And I and, you recognize, I’ve undoubtedly had my justifiable share of speaking [bleep] about it. However on the finish of the day, there’s one thing again right here that also has a reverence.
Soboroff reacted by questioning, “I noticed that you simply mentioned across the time that you simply had been making this movie and sitting with the folks which are in it that some persons are even nervous to speak concerning the nation. Why do you assume that’s?”
Bittar hinted that Trump had one thing to do with it, “We shot this in April of final 12 months, and it was at a time when the federal government was actually coming down on schools, on establishments, about speaking about America. So, I believe everybody feels this sort of ominous menace of not eager to be on the file or wanting consideration to them, saying something that is controversial about America. So it was tough, really, getting 50 folks. We forged it in three weeks, so we needed to get 50 folks in three weeks to go on air and speak about it.”
Because it seems, not one of the folks within the movie ever confronted any repercussions from the federal government. In a correctly functioning media, Soboroff would have questioned if that undermined all of the America-bashing, however that isn’t what MS NOW exists for.
Here’s a transcript for the July 11 present:
MS NOW Join with Jacob Soboroff
7/11/2026
12:46 PM ET
JACOB SOBOROFF: It’s each nation’s best and most visible and most acknowledged image. It’s its flag. America’s flag with the celebs and stripes has been a logo of freedom and unity and love of nation since 1777. However over time, our love for this nation has been examined, particularly for individuals who really feel their very own identification would not appear to like them again.
The brief documentary Reclaim the Flag, produced by Oscar winner Bruce Cohen and directed by jewellery designer and filmmaker Alexis Bittar, explores this by means of the lens of the LGBTQ group. It options well-known members of the group dissecting their very own relationship with our nation’s flag.
LENA WAITHE: Relying on how america feels about you’ll rely on how you are feeling concerning the flag. [jump cut] In the event you really feel like your folks have been killed, wronged, been capable of be seen as lower than human below the flag, you are going to be triggered by it, however but nonetheless be born below it.
JIM PARSONS: I believe that it is a very radical concept in right this moment’s local weather to think about going off, for lots of people to die, for the unity of this nation. How are we united? How are we united? What are we united about?
WAITHE: The American flag has blood on it. And it is drenched in it. I believe that we are able to settle for that or act as if it is not true, and we will not change what we do not face.
SOBOROFF: This movie would not finish with a transparent decision, and that’s the level. Some cautiously take into consideration embracing the flag for the primary time ever, or for the primary time shortly, and others acknowledge the irony of being an American whereas additionally being marginalized by elements of their very own nation, and all appear to argue that one thing has bought to provide with the intention to take the flag again as a logo of inclusivity.
…
SOBOROFF: You understand, what’s loopy is that, appropriate me if I am unsuitable, however Trump’s identify would not really come up within the movie, proper?
ALEXIS BITTAR: Yeah.
SOBOROFF: Yeah. And, however he does—I imply, he actually looms over it, I believe. And the second that we stay in could be very palpable. I need to play one other portion of the affiliation that so many individuals within the LGBTQ group have with this flag and, and the way it pertains to the image of unity. Let’s watch this.
MARC JACOBS: Why, after I see an American flag, do I consider, like, MAGA and right-wing? And why do I really feel prefer it’s a violent image of prejudice and hatred.
CHRIS KLEMENS: I see somebody hanging an American flag and I am like, “You’d hit me with a automobile should you had the chance.”
MATT BERNSTEIN: If I am, you recognize, if I am on Grindr, proper? And I see an American flag emoji in somebody’s bio. I believe that could be a Republican.
HUNTER CRENSHW: It is a destructive factor to be, to see. And I and, you recognize, I’ve undoubtedly had my justifiable share of speaking [bleep] about it. However on the finish of the day, there’s one thing again right here that also has a reverence.
SOBOROFF: I noticed that you simply mentioned across the time that you simply had been making this movie and sitting with the folks which are in it that some persons are even nervous to speak concerning the nation. Why do you assume that’s?
BITTAR: We shot this in April of final 12 months, and it was at a time when the federal government was actually coming down on schools, on establishments, about speaking about America. So, I believe everybody feels this sort of ominous menace of not eager to be on the file or wanting consideration to them, saying something that is controversial about America. So it was tough, really, getting 50 folks. We forged it in three weeks, so we needed to get 50 folks—
SOBOROFF: Wow.
BITTAR: —in three weeks to go on air and speak about it.
