- Hi, I want to start today's show off with something I've,
I don't think I've literally ever done,
and that is a genuine non jokey apology.
Last week, for a number of reasons, it was a nightmare.
That's why you didn't get a Wednesday and Thursday show.
Some things were avoidable.
Some things were not.
I'm actively fixing the situation
so it doesn't happen again.
Yeah, I just wanted to say, sorry,
because while I know some people
kind of just tune in whenever,
I know a lot of people like to come here every single day.
They love being a part of this,
and I appreciate you, and I don't want to waste your time.
So yeah, in general, I appreciate you.
Unless, you're someone who shamed me
in which case, walk down some stairs blindfolded.
But that said, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show.
It is July 26th, 2021,
and let's try something a little bit different today.
If you want me to punch you in the throat,
hit that like button, and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today
is one of the biggest stories from over the weekend.
It's this video.
You might've seen it on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, wherever.
Right? And it involves a man in Wisconsin
who posted a video to Facebook
that appears to show a Caledonia police officer
throwing a small baggie into the backseat of a car
the police had pulled over.
- [Passenger] Aye bro, what's that?
- [Officer] What's what?
- [Passenger] What you just threw in here.
- [Officer] What's what where?
- [Passenger] I got you on camera, bro.
- [Officer] I got you on camera. We're all good.
- [Passenger] Hey buddy, you just threw that in here!
- [Officer] Yeah.
- But the guy filming who goes online by the name
GlockBoy Savoo, writing in the post caption
that the officer did this, quote,
"Just to get a reason to search the car",
and said that the cop didn't know he was recording him.
Right, and just like you would expect,
it goes massively viral.
Many outraged, chiming in,
calling the Caledonia Police Department dirty for
seemingly planting evidence.
All that outrage eventually prompting the department
to announce an investigation on Saturday.
What we saw was within hours they provided an update,
claiming that the officers didn't actually
plant any evidence or do anything illegal.
With the department releasing a lengthy statement
with a summary of the events,
along with two body cam clips from the incident.
As far as the reason that the driver was pulled over,
they said that he was going 63 in a 45 mile an hour zone.
Also, saying the two passengers in the back
were spotted without seatbelts, and were asked to
identify themselves and step out of the car.
Then, during the search,
out of one of the passengers pockets
an officer pulled out an empty corner tear
from a plastic baggie,
with police claiming that the corner tear
didn't contain any illegal substances.
Though, they said that this type of packaging
is a common method for holding illegal drugs.
So, we see them briefly question the man about this,
and then the piece of plastic gets handed off to
different officers who also determined that it was
empty before the one in the video
discarded it into the back of the car.
And actually in the body cam footage,
we also see the officer explaining that to the
front seat passenger who was filming.
- [Passenger] Hey buddy, you just threw that in here.
- [Officer] Yeah, 'cause it was in his pocket,
and I don't want to hold on to it.
It's on their body cam that they took it off of him, so...
- [Passenger] You just threw that in here bro.
I got you on camera, man.
- [Officer] I'm telling you where it came from, so.
- [Passenger] I got you on camera, bro.
- [Officer] It's an empty baggie at the moment too, so.
- And so with that the department went on to say
that while it would discourage officers from
discarding items into a citizen's car,
the footage proves that this evidence was not planted,
with them also noting that
no arrests were made in this incident,
and that the driver was only issued a citation for speeding.
With the police also adding that
since four officers were present at the scene,
they have more than six hours of footage to review,
but they promised to release the footage in full
in the near future.
You know, with this story,
I am incredibly thankful that people requested it.
Both when they just saw the first video,
as well when they saw the other body cam footage,
because I mean, this is a story that matters for
several reasons.
One, it highlights one of the biggest issues with
misinformation, is that there is no way to get ahead of it.
The initial video and accusations
getting tens of millions of views,
compared to kind of the trickle and light views
that the full story got.
Two, it highlights one of the other reasons
that police need body cams
while they're performing their job.
Yes, a lot of the time we have talked about
body cam footage on this show
it's about self-incrimination,
but it could also show them not being a dirty cop.
So actually, the question I wanna pass off to you is
what was your personal experience with this story?
Had you heard about it at all before I covered it?
If so, was it just the first clip and accusation,
or did you see the full story?
Or did you hear about it,
but not watch the police body cam footage?
I would really love to know.
Whatever you say with this specific story,
like, I'm not going to attack you.
Yes, I do believe that we all need to try to be better when
spreading information, and more importantly misinformation,
but I also think that many people are victims
to the social media landscape that we have right now.
Then, in easily one of the most requested stories,
let's talk about this Activision Blizzard situation.
All right, so if you haven't seen,
the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing
has lobbed a massive gender discrimination lawsuit against
video game developer Blizzard,
accusing it of creating a culture of
constant sexual harassment.
And some of the details in this lawsuit, right?
If you go through it,
which follows two years of investigations,
are incredibly disturbing, right?
It starts with things, for example,
where the lawsuit claims that Blizzard's workplace is
steeped in frat boy culture.
That female employees have been subjected to
numerous sexual comments, advances, groping,
unwanted physical touching, and other forms of harassment.
And there, it goes on to cite specific instances,
noting that female employees said that random male employees
would comment on their breasts, hit on them,
even make derogatory comments about rape.
Also, tragically, a female employee committed suicide
on a company trip after having a sexual relationship
with a male supervisor.
And according to the suit,
she also faced harassment at a holiday party
when male coworkers began passing around a
nude photo of her.
These allegations go straight to the top.
Allegedly, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack
not only knew about this behavior, but also enabled it.
Also, on top of that,
an unnamed former chief technology officer
was allegedly seen groping inebriated female employees
at company events.
The suit also specifically naming Alex Afrasiabi,
World of Warcraft Senior Creative Director, saying
that he was permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment
with little to no repercussion.
So much so, that he was frequently compared to Bill Cosby.
Female employees also saying that they faced
retaliation for speaking up,
including being deprived of work,
unwillingly transferred to other departments,
and even being laid off at higher rates than male employees.
Right, and like I said, this is just some of it.
There is even more, but in response to all of this
Blizzard itself called California's lawsuit irresponsible,
and from unaccountable state bureaucrats that are
driving many of the state's best businesses
out of California.
Blizzard also defending its workplace,
saying that over the past several years,
and continuing since the initial investigation started,
we've made significant changes to address company culture
and reflect more diversity within our leadership teams.
But also since the lawsuit came out,
multiple former employees have come out publicly
to corroborate many of the details within it.
So that's why over the weekend we saw Blizzard executives
kind of changing the tune of their response.
Brack actually calling the lawsuit extremely troubling
in an email to employees, and promising to meet with them.
However, in response more in line
with Blizzard's official statement,
we saw a company executive, Fran Townsend,
calling the lawsuit meritless, saying that it presents a
distorted and untrue picture of the company.
But as employees, like
World of Warcraft Senior System Designer, Jeff Hamilton,
have argued Blizzard's corporate response is
wholly unacceptable with Hamilton saying,
it is evil to usurp a victim's story into a
rhetorical bludgeon, and it is abhorrent
to reply to these accusations with anything other than a
well-thought-out plan to correct these abuses.
With Hamilton adding, I don't know what to do.
I don't have all the answers.
I can tell you almost no work is being done on
World of Warcraft right now while this obscenity plays out,
and that benefits nobody.
Not the players, not the developers, not the shareholders.
And that last note is probably the most meaningful,
because unfortunately, the only thing that really
moves things these days, money.
But, that said, as the lawsuit unfolds,
it'll be very interesting to see
how much the official response from Blizzard changes,
if at all, and what other details come to light.
Especially, now that we're seeing a coalition of
800 Blizzard employees publishing an open letter today,
absolutely condemning corporate for its response.
But as we wait, I would really love to know,
based off of what we've seen now,
what are your thoughts and reactions so far?
But from that, I want to take away a second to
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Then, we have Lil Nas X in the news,
and you know, the last time we covered this,
it was because he pulled off this whole PR stunt.
I'm a big fan of smart marketing.
And he did this whole social media stunt for the release
of his new song, Industry Baby, that released on Friday.
And there were tens of millions of views
of the music video on YouTube,
and it hit the number one spot on Spotify at one point.
But, in addition to smart marketing,
I think there are two other important aspects to this story.
One, with the music video largely being set in prison,
featuring many black men,
we saw Lil Nas X tweeting,
on a serious note I know the pain that incarceration brings
to a family and the disproportionate impact that cash bail
has on the black community.
That's why I teamed up with the Bail Project
to create the Bail X Fund.
And just with the donate option next to the music video,
they've raised tens of thousands of dollars so far,
but also, two, following the release of this music video,
we saw headlines like,
Lil Nas X responds to criticism of his
Industry Baby music video, y'all hate gay people.
To which we saw Lil Nas X reply,
y'all know exactly what you're doing with this caption.
Criticism is this song is not good,
not someone saying you are the reason
people are getting AIDS.
Right, because if you take a second to
look through the so-called criticism, I mean,
it is blatant homophobia.
With a number of people, including blue check marks,
like Tariq Nasheed, essentially saying that
he's making black men look weak.
Right, you have Lil Nas X and a bunch of black men
naked, twerking.
Meanwhile, Jack Harlow,
white guy gets to hook up with a female guard.
To which, Lil Nas X responded,
let me explain, Lil Nas equals gay, so he with boy.
Jack Harlow equals straight, so he with girl. Go it?
Right, I think it's pretty basic and simple.
If you see this and you're offended,
but you also see like Nicki Minaj, Cardi B,
Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Wayne type,
and they do something similar,
and you're also offended there.
Okay, I get it.
Maybe you're a little more prudish,
conservative on this issue.
But if you see one of those artists doing a similar thing
and you're un-bothered, but then you watch Lil Nas X do it,
and the only difference is that you have a male artist
with male bodies and male attraction.
I'm not saying like,
if you're not attracted to it, there's an issue.
But if you're pearl clutching and attacking,
and offended that this is a thing that's out there,
and it happened, you're just homophobic.
Like at this point, just own it.
You're not fooling anybody.
And understand, I don't care if that's gonna
piss some of you off, because it's just true.
You're out here saving everybody time,
and exposing yourself for free.
You know, the final note that I'll hit on,
whether it be with men, women, whoever,
femininity being viewed as a weakness,
I think is so incredibly stupid.
You know what weak is?
Weakness is looking at a man who is more feminine
than you approve of,
and being offended and scared and outraged.
How fucking soft are you?
You know they can't legally make you suck a dick, right?
Like it's not something you can catch from the gay agenda,
you fucking schmuck.
And then, I mean, big news.
Let's talk about why you don't have friends.
And no, this is not an individual attack, right?
I haven't been watching you from the bushes yet.
(suspenseful music)
Rather, this is a new study that was released by the
Survey Center on American life,
that found that basically, we're lonely and have no friends.
Or rather, in a less attack-ey way,
despite renewed interest in the topic of friendship,
and popular culture in the news media,
science suggests that the role of friends in
American social life is experiencing a pronounced decline.
With a small finding that out of just over 2000 respondents,
only 13% of US adults said that they had
more than 10 close friends,
which is actually a very massive drop
compared to a 1990 Gallup Poll,
which reported that 1/3 of US adults
said they had more than 10 close friends.
Knowing this, personally, as someone that is milleni-olds.
I'm a millennial, at 35 years old.
I think the idea of having 10 close friends is insane.
Like, even when you see those big friend groups,
like 10 girls or 10 guys, they're not all equal friends.
There's like, individual close friendships
in that general friend group, but also,
and I think this is more applicable to the
people watching this show,
the poll also found that fewer Americans
said that they have a best friend.
In 1993, you had every four people said, yes,
I have a best friend, but today only 59%.
And interestingly, the people,
the demographic affected the most were young women.
With the, during the pandemic,
nearly six in 10 of them having lost touch
with at least a few friends.
And in fact, 16% indicating that they're
no longer in regular contact with most of their friends,
but also the poll highlighted the country's
political divide right now,
saying the 20% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans
have ended friendships over political disagreements.
With 22% of the people who've ended a friendship,
citing former president Trump, specifically.
But to end on a silver lining, right?
Not all doom and gloom,
about half of us adults have reported
making at least one new friend over the last year.
But also, what I'll say here is
I think it's good to reevaluate your friend groups.
I'm a big believer in you become the average
of the company you keep,
and there's a lot of company out there
that you should not be keeping, right?
I mean, think about it. Who's actually rooting for you?
Hugging you during your losses?
And who's just waiting for their turn to talk?
Main point, quality, not quantity.
Also, in news that kind of touches on that
previous mention of there being a partisan divide
in this country, we had Tucker Carlson in the news.
Tucker, if you don't know, a very polarizing figure.
One of the, or the biggest host on Fox News.
Well, a lot of the headlines recently have been about Tucker
continuing to promote vaccine hesitancy,
and vaccine misinformation.
He was in the news for a whole different reason
over the weekend, because that is when a guy by the name of
Dan Bailey.
Depending on who you are, you see this as Dan Bailey
disgustingly accosting, or calmly confronting Tucker Carlson
in a bait shop.
- Right, I don't care, man.
Dude, you are the worst human being known to mankind.
I want you to know that.
What you have done, to this state--
- I'm not gonna debate.
- To the United States, to everything else in this world.
I don't care that your daughter's here.
What you have done to people's families.
What you have done to everybody else--
- Settle down, son.
- Son? Call me son...
- Right, that video already getting
tens of millions of views.
Apparently, it happened at Dan Bailey's Outdoor Company,
but the store and the guy,
it just happens to be a coincidence.
And like I said, the reactions to this video
could not be more different.
We had so many people so happy that someone said this to
Tucker Carlson's face,
with many of their reasoning seeming to be connected,
or kind of related to what Dan Bailey said
post this video.
Posting on Instagram, it's not every day you get to
tell someone they are the worst person in the world,
and really mean it.
What an asshole.
This man has killed more people with vaccine misinformation.
He has supported extreme racism.
He is a fascist and does more to rip this country apart
than anyone that calls themselves an American.
But on the other side of this,
you had many who were disgusted by it.
A Fox News spokesperson telling Mediaite,
ambushing Tucker Carlson while he is in a store
with his family is totally inexcusable.
No public figure should be accosted,
regardless of their political persuasion or beliefs,
simply due to the intolerance of another point of view.
Former felon, Dinesh D'Souza, saying that
Dan Bailey should be arrested for this.
Meghan McCain saying, if you think accosting a public figure
while they're shopping for fishing gear
with their family on vacation is somehow
accomplishing something,
or changing anyone's hearts or minds, you're a hypocrite,
and have totally lost the plot.
But also, with those criticisms,
we saw a lot of people claiming that it was, kind of, just
pearl clutching, or just, hypocrisy.
A number of people, just, responding with headlines,
highlighting things like Tucker Carlson urges viewers to
accost mask wearing strangers.
Telling his viewers to call 911 if they see kids in masks.
And also, specifically regarding Fox News
saying this isn't okay.
A number of people pointing to the likes of
Jesse Watters at Fox News,
essentially making a career out of ambush interviews.
People like Ben Rhodes responding,
a Fox News camera crew once staked out the
stoop of my apartment building in DC,
and screamed questions at me with a camera
as I walked home with my dry cleaning.
Fox thinks they should be able to spread deadly dis-info,
and ambush people with impunity.
And Vivian Schiller tweeting, this is total BS.
Jesse Watters waited outside my house,
followed me when I left my driveway,
and accosted me with a camera and microphone
when I parked my car on a personal errand.
The hypocrisy here is stunning.
But yeah, ultimately, with this story,
I want to pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts here?
Was Tucker Carlson disgustingly accosted,
or calmly confronted?
Or was this harassment?
Or was it simply someone using their first amendment rights?
Also, do you think Fox News and Company are hypocrites here?
Yes? No? Why? Why not?
I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below.
But ultimately, with this story,
or honestly, anything else that stood out to you today,
I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below,
because yes, this is a news show,
but it's also a conversation.
And how I'll close this today, is like always.
Thanks for watching.
Like and subscribe and all the good stuff.
My name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.