Karrueche Tran and Jason Kennedy were breaking down a rough week in Washington on the latest Pop Exchange Show. Katie Zachariah had reportedly lasted five days as White House press secretary and left on a Friday, after her first briefing drew heavy criticism. This brought up embarrassing media moments. Karrueche, who is dating Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, admitted she had been in a similar spot herself.
“One of my most embarrassing moments. Publicly,” Karrueche said on the Pop Exchange Show. “And it made me go to hosting and media training classes… I didn’t know how to interview people. I was asking the same questions over and over.”
Karrueche’s own moment came at the 2014 BET Awards, where she hosted the red carpet livestream. Kennedy brought up a photo of Karrueche from that night and told her she looked composed. However, Karrueche’s answer was rather honest.
“Looking and being are two different things,” Karrueche said.
A live red carpet runs on speed, and a host gets a few seconds with each guest, and what keeps those seconds from going flat is preparation. That was the hole in Karrueche’s 2014 night. Some of the stars who stepped up to her were people she couldn’t place, because she hadn’t studied who would be there.
Producers did try to pass her quick notes on new movies and albums, but on a crowded carpet those cues often landed too late to use. With nothing to build on, she kept reaching for the same few questions.
“They would try to write down if they have a movie coming out or an album or something, but it just wasn’t fast enough sometimes because you know how it is on red carpets,” Karrueche explained.
The BET Awards fall during summer, so Karrueche recalled guests had to push through a long line of outlets before they got to her. By then, many were worn out and had already told the same story several times.
Karrueche has since stood on that side of the microphone, so she knows how little energy a guest can have left at the end of that line. The livestream made it worse, and the viewers saw it as it happened, and she felt embarrassed.
“So I just didn’t do a good job,” Karrueche admitted. “And because it was livestreamed, people were watching, and people had stuff to say.”
Next, Karrueche signed up for hosting and media training classes, which fits a pattern in her career. Her acting career began with a small part in Fright Night Files. From there, she did background work and took acting classes. Roles didn’t come easily, and there were stretches when she thought about quitting.
In 2021, Karrueche won a Daytime Emmy for lead actress in The Bay, and reports describe her as the first woman of Asian Pacific descent to win in that category. Back then, on The Tamron Hall Show, Karrueche called herself a “relationship girl.” She also said that she feels social media mostly chases gossip, drama, and who someone is dating, and she would rather the focus stay on her career.
Five years later, things have changed, and she is dating Sanders and has revisited several happy and humorous highlights of their relationship on the podcast.
So the Zachariah story gave Karrueche a reason to recall more than a decade-old night. Her experience at the 2014 BET Awards made her more aware of the preparation required for hosting and interviewing, ultimately giving her a reason to seek the training she felt she needed.