Kuci: Get The Funk Out

The former Cleveland Browns defensive lineman and Juilliard-trained opera tenor joins Janeane to discuss his extraordinary journey, the award-winning short film The Platform, and the courage to begin again when life takes an unexpected turn. From the NFL to the Opera Stage: Ta’u Pupu’a and Mark Harris on Reinvention, Resilience, and Finding Your Voice What happens when the future you’ve worked your entire life to achieve suddenly disappears? For Ta’u Pupu’a, a devastating injury ended his professional football career before it truly began. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1995, the former NFL defensive lineman faced an unexpected crossroads that would ultimately lead him from the gridiron to the world’s opera stages. In this episode of Get the Funk Out, I sit down with Ta’u and filmmaker Mark Harris to explore the extraordinary story behind The Platform, an award-winning 10-minute narrative short inspired by Ta’u’s life and directed by Mark. Born in Tonga and raised in a working-class family in Utah, Ta’