Jess Hilarious is revisiting the messy Breakfast Club moment that had listeners choosing sides, and this time, she is leading with accountability. During a recent appearance on Kandi Burruss’s “Speak On It,” Jess opened up about the tension that started after she returned from maternity leave and found Loren LoRosa still working on the nationally syndicated morning show.
Jess Hilarious Says Her Anger Toward Loren LoRosa Was “Misplaced”
Jess did not soften the part that made the situation go viral. Looking back, she said her issue with Loren was not rooted in what she actually knew at the time, but in how the situation felt when she walked back into work.
“The only thing I would change is going online because I didn’t know enough about Loren LoRosa at the time,” Jess told Burruss.
“I will definitely say my anger was misplaced. I was mad at her, I couldn’t stand her for a while … I felt betrayed.”
That quote changes the frame. Last year, the public conversation centered on whether Jess was being replaced, whether Loren was being positioned for a bigger role, and why the tension spilled onto Instagram Live. Now, Jess is saying the feelings were real, but the target was wrong.
Why Jess Hilarious Thought Loren LoRosa Was Taking Her Spot
Jess explained that Loren was originally someone she supported as a maternity leave fill-in. According to Jess, Loren’s experience made sense for the show. Loren had a journalism background, while Jess saw her own role as more comedic and commentary-based.
“I love what she do,” Jess said of LoRosa. “She’s a journalist. I’m not, I’m a comedian. I do commentary on headlines and things like that, I’m there for the comic relief. She actually is serious about her job, she comes from TMZ and all that. So I was like, ‘Yeah, I want her to sit in my spot for maternity leave.’ But when I came back, I promise nobody has said anything, and she was still there.”
That is where the confusion turned into suspicion. Jess did not say Loren personally took anything from her. Instead, she said the lack of communication made her feel like something had shifted without her being told.
Loren LoRosa’s Role At The Breakfast Club Had Already Been Growing
Loren’s résumé was not new to the room. The Black Effect Podcast Network describes Loren LoRosa as an entertainment news correspondent, producer, actress, and lifestyle vlogger who spent eight years as a nationally syndicated senior news producer and reporter with TMZ on FOX. The same bio also notes her guest-hosting work with The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1.
In 2025, iHeartMedia and The Black Effect Podcast Network announced The Latest with Loren LoRosa, a daily pop culture podcast. That announcement identified Loren as the senior news producer at The Breakfast Club and said she had worked with TMZ, FOX, and BET.
So, by the time Jess returned from maternity leave, Loren was not just a random voice filling dead air. She had her own news lane, her own media background, and a growing presence tied to the same media ecosystem. That context helps explain why Jess saw the situation as bigger than a simple temporary seat.
Jess Says She Felt Betrayed By How The Situation Was Handled
Jess also admitted she felt like Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy were trying to “push” her out of the show and replace her with Loren. She now says they did not fully know what was happening either, but at the time, she believed information was being kept from her.
“They didn’t really know what was going on either,” she said. “But I just felt like they were keeping things from me. And so I went online and I did the thing. I did the ‘Jess Hilarious’ thing, right? And then I go to work like my badge going to work the next day. I didn’t even get to try the badge cuz Charlamagne was right there at the elevator like, ‘Nah, come on. Bring your goofy ass in here.’ He gave me a hug and then he was like, ‘We going to have this conversation,’ and then we did it on air.”
That moment shows why the situation kept moving. Jess brought a private workplace fear to the internet, then had to bring that same energy back into the building. Once Charlamagne met her at the elevator, the drama moved from social media back to the studio.
The Breakfast Club Background Behind The Workplace Drama
Jess officially joined The Breakfast Club as co-host in 2024. iHeartMedia announced on January 29, 2024, that Jess would join DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God on the nationally syndicated show effective February 5, 2024. The company also said the show aired weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET and was syndicated nationally by Premiere Networks.
That seat mattered because The Breakfast Club was not just another podcast couch. In May 2026, iHeartMedia and Netflix announced that The Breakfast Club would stream live daily on Netflix beginning June 1, with Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy, and Jess Hilarious listed as part of the current lineup.
That makes the workplace tension even more notable. Jess was not reacting to a small side project. She was reacting to uncertainty around a highly visible seat on one of the most recognizable hip-hop and pop culture morning shows in the country.
Jess Says The Conversation Should Have Happened Offline
Jess said she would not change the feelings she had, but she would change where she expressed them.
“It would be the same way. It just wouldn’t be online,” she said, explaining that instead, “It would be with them, all of them in the room,” because “it was nobody’s business.”
She also said the internet made the tension louder because people in the comments were “validating” how she already felt. That part tracks with how fast workplace conflict can turn into a public trial once fans start assigning heroes and villains from the outside.
Jess Says She And Loren LoRosa Are In A Better Place Now
For Jess, the biggest shift seems to be that she no longer sees Loren as the person she should have been upset with. After the fallout, she said the relationships inside the show have improved.
“I love all of them,” Jess added. “Two brothers and now a new sister.”
Jess also credited Angie Martinez and former Breakfast Club co-host Angela Yee with helping both sides work through the tension. She said they supported both women and helped guide the conversation forward. Jess also credited Martinez with inspiring the idea to parody Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy is Mine” with “The Job is Mine,” a joke that turned the tension into content without pretending the original issue never happened.
The story now lands differently than it did when the drama first broke. Jess is still saying she felt blindsided. However, she is also making it clear that Loren was not the real problem. The issue was communication, timing, and a workplace change that became public before everyone involved had the same information.
