- Wow y'all today, let's just genuinely jump into it.
Let's talk about the massive news
and the massive allegations
against Barstool Sports founder, Dave Portnoy,
as well as this almost immediate video response.
Right? So earlier today,
INSIDER reporter Julia Black,
published this article titled, "Young women,"
"say they met Barstool Sports, founder, Dave Portnoy
for sex, and it turned violent and humiliating."
Black, saying that it took her eight months
to write this article.
And in it, she details the alleged experiences
of multiple women,
starting with a woman referred to only as Madison.
And there Madison, claim to have DMed Portnoy on Instagram
when she was 20, he was 43,
saying the things then moved over to Snapchat
where Portnoy allegedly began showing her graphic videos
of women he'd slept with.
With Insider reporting and messages they reviewed,
Portnoy, pressed her to tell him about her sexual fantasies,
with her responding about a rape fantasy,
right? Having no control,
to which Portnoy, replied,
"you and I are going to get along so well."
Eventually Madison claimed,
Portnoy, even flew her out first-class to his home.
Saying that when she got there,
she found him to be very rude.
He just reminded me of a boring, grumpy old man,
but still later that night, she said, things escalated.
They began making out,
saying that as things got more sexual,
he started filming her without her permission.
And from there saying that the experience got so rough,
it felt like she was getting raped,
later telling a friend that he choked her so hard,
she couldn't breathe also
that she screamed in pain throughout the encounter.
And those details specifically reminded people
of another controversy Portnoy was in earlier this year.
Some saying it sounded similar.
With that involving a leaked video
that showed him aggressively choking a woman
with a collar and a leash, spitting on her.
Very notably with that specific controversy,
both Portnoy and the woman,
claimed that the encounter was consensual,
but also it ends down there being a lot of backlash,
even causing the share price of Barstool's parent company
to take a big hit at that time.
Right and so the people making those comparisons.
It's important to know that these latest allegations
do not appear to be as consensual
because in addition to Madison,
and there was another woman who told the Insider
that Portnoy choked and filmed her during sex,
without her permission,
with both women describing the encounters
as frightening and humiliating,
taking a massive toll on their mental health.
In fact, a third woman who was 19 at the time,
claiming that a sexual encounter she had with Portnoy,
was so damaging that she became suicidal afterward,
allegedly going over to this house
after being pressured by her friends
and later describing the sex as aggressive
saying that he choked her also saying
that he kicked her out right after.
Saying she felt overwhelmed
that photos of her at his house
began spreading locally or verbally.
Her mom also found out and went to the police,
but she refused to press charges,
saying that she doesn't feel to like the encountered
with sexual assault and that she didn't want him
to drag her name through the mud,
still adding that she felt very preyed on
and deeply disturbed by the situation.
With all of these women saying they've been afraid
to speak out for fear of retaliation by both Portnoy
and his rabid fan base. With all this, I will say,
if you want the most detailed version of this,
I'll link down to the original article though,
I think it might be behind a paywall,
at least as of recording right now.
Well that brings us to the second part of this story.
And that soon after this article dropped
you had Portnoy, himself dropping
a 12 minute video response, describing this as a hippie,
as though much more serious than the ones
that he's previously been hit with.
They will essentially paints him as this monster,
the sexual deviant also accusing Black,
of going after every woman he's ever been remotely
associated with to try and create a false narrative
that she had already decided on before writing
also, saying that his lawyers told him not to even admit
knowing these accusers but,
because of small details in their claims,
he says that he's figured out who they are.
And he knows what really happened.
As far as the allegations for Madison, you had him saying,
- At no point on. At no point,
was it not 100% consensual.
At no point, did she ask me to stop.
At no point,
did either of us think something unseemly happened.
There was no weirdness after,
it was totally fine, normal interaction.
sexual is 100% consensual.
My lawyer is like, don't don't
make these blanket statements.
I'm telling you now, her version of events
is not true on our hook up.
- Oh, there you hear people pushing back,
saying that Madison never claimed to Insider,
that she asked him to start
with most of her allegations being that he just went ahead
and did things without her permission.
And with this, because it was an aspect of the story.
You had Portnoy, claiming that after they hooked up
and talk more, they realized
that they were like oil and vinegar
and didn't see the world the same way.
So she actually slept on the couch
since they didn't really get along,
with Portnoy, saying that she left,
they never talked again and adding,
- If what she's telling us,
she didn't enjoy the experience is true.
I had no idea and that's horrible.
And I never want to feel that way.
But if there was a hidden camera in that room
and it wasn't he said, she said,
and someone saw the interaction,
there would be absolutely nothing there.
I promise you from the I've never lied.
- He also addressed the third allegation saying
that he was never contacted by authorities
after the mom reached out to the police.
- Because I have never done anything that's remotely,
you know, not consensual. I haven't.
So this story, total news to me,
the mother's saying there's parties and then tuck it.
If you put like a police car,
you'll see girls getting dropped off all the time.
Totally false. I never had people at my house.
Rarely. I hate people at my house.
- Well, he did say he felt bad.
If their interactions did actually make her depressed,
he also shared a ledger DMs
that they exchange where she seemed to be speaking
very positively about having sex
or wanting to have sex with him.
Borderline adding that she even asked them to meet up
after they had sex saying,
- At a bar, by the way is where she want to meet me
the first time, so all this under age, that's 21 Plus.
That's where she said, say,
"Hey, I'm going to this bar. Meet me here."
To me that's pretty black and white.
They're saying she was so depressed by me, suicidal almost,
but she was continually hitting me up to hang out.
And it was the mother who found the Dms,
maybe she's (mumbles)
I don't know. It's just, I'm telling you the truth.
- That Portnoy then taking aim at the reporter again.
- This reporter, had an agenda from day one,
from the second she picked up paper.
Its like they're asking the internet,
tell us bad stories about Dave Porter.
Well guess what? A lot of (beep) people hate me.
I guarantee this. They'll never be able to prove anything.
Nothing because nothing's ever happened.
But I can't stop it.
He said, she said so, yeah, it's (beep) scary and it sucks.
And it's sad that that's the world we live in.
This isn't a court of law where
it's innocent till proven guilty,
no charges ever have been filed.
Probably won't unless I'm provoking right now,
but there's no point, there's no way to do it
because I've never anything.
- And finally, there's him to take a shot at the reporter,
not really wanting to get his side of things.
- Eight months, 24 hours to respond.
That's what the report said.
Give me a (beep) break.
- With Portnoy, also taking aim at business Insider
on Twitter, "tweeting business Insider
senior politics, reporter Grace Panetta,
heads up that insider is currently offering a huge discount
on annual premium subscription.
So you can currently pay just $4 a month
to read incredible journalism
like Julia Black's investigation into Dave Portnoy."
With Portnoy, responding, and I'm the predator.
Yeah in general, that's where we are right now.
Of course, this is breaking news today.
We're still seeing the ripple effects.
The people sounding off on all sides.
Also a potential lead to where this story may develop,
you saw Insider's cat 10 bars.
You of course, among other things,
as the reporter who broke that big dirty Dom
and David Dobrik's story.
So we think of this, this story is essential.
Dave Portnoy has exhibited a pattern
of pursuing barely legal teenage women
and having rough, potentially traumatic sex with them
and adding his BFFs podcast with Tik TOK star, Josh Richards
gives him unfettered access to teen girls.
So there, if you go through the Twitter comments,
or there are a number of reactions, but also people saying,
well, you said barely legal, but it's still legal.
Then people pushing back against that saying, no,
it's about the power dynamic.
He's this like, multi-millionaire older guy.
They're young, impressionable.
So, like I said, everyone's sounding off right now.
And so I'm gonna pass you the microphone.
What are your thoughts regarding the story as is right now?
What camp are you landing in? Why, why not?
I'd love to hear from you and those comments down below.
Then we should talk about future 2024
democratic presidential candidate, Dwayne, The Rock Johnson
in the news though, not for political reasons.
Rather now, after the tragic incident on the set
of Rust, Dwayne, The Rock Johnson has pledged
to not use real guns on films
made by his production company, Seven Bucks Production.
Right? We've talked about it in the past.
Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene
that involved pointing a gun at the camera, that gun misfire
the accident left cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, dead,
injured director, Joel Sousa,
with Baldwin, allegedly told that the gun was safe to use.
And now there's been this much larger conversation
about safety and guns on set.
The rock, telling variety last night
that he was absolutely heartbroken when he saw the news.
And he knew that the industry needed to see this
as a wake-up call.
- We are gonna switch over the rubber guns
and we're just gonna, we're gonna take care of them post,
we're not gonna worry about the dollars.
We won't worry about what it will cost.
- And it's gonna be interesting to see if other actors,
other sets other studios in general adopt this policy.
And I say that because in addition
to a lot of people talking about,
Hey, should we ban guns on set?
There's actually a California state legislature,
who plans to propose legislation banning their use
as well as earlier this week,
we saw a group of over 200 cinematographers
signing a letter calling for a ban on functional guns on set
and saying of Hutchins death.
It was senseless, negligent and avoidable.
So essentially there are three possibilities.
Is either, nothing changes,
change comes from inside the industry or
legislation forces change.
And that all comes as we've now gotten updates
regarding the accusations on the set of Rust.
This is including from Baldwin himself who denied reports,
that there were unsafe work conditions onset
before the fatal accident,
re-posting a lengthy statement
posted by Terese Magpale Davis,
a costume designer, working on the film,
the highlights of that statement being,
I'm so sick of this narrative.
I worked on this movie,
this story being spun of us being overworked
and surrounded by unsafe chaotic conditions is bull shit.
She also have seemingly addressed accusations
against the sets, armor Hannah Gutierrez, Reed,
and assistant director, Dave Halls.
And with both of them identified as the people on set,
who dealt with the guns and face claims that they had acted
with a disregard for safety on previous productions.
Regarding the armor, Hannah Davis
said that while she was not the most experienced
her qualifications were typical
for a production like this,
saying they had several safety meetings sometimes
more than one in a day and AD Dave, Halls,
never seemed flippant about safety
and saying that well, she is angry and furious
of the mistake that was made.
She won't "jump on the bandwagon
and pretend he was uncaring
about our safety the whole way through."
Well, you also have outlets like Fox news, reporting
that Baldwin, also implied his stance on the matter
by re-tweeting an article that was critical of Halls,
but Baldwin locked his account to private.
Also now seen Hanna's attorney speaking out
on the today show, to discuss what happened.
Notably, when they were asked about
how a live round ended up in a weapon used on the set.
They said that was the big question
they were looking to answer.
claiming that Hannah loaded the gun with rounds
from a box of dummy rounds and added.
- Now we don't know, however,
whether that live around came from that box,
we're assuming it did.
We're assuming somebody put the live round in that box,
which if you, if you think about that,
the person who put the live around
in the box of dummy rounds had to have the purpose
of sabotaging this set.
- As a massive accusations of sabotage with them.
Also adding that there were disgruntled workers on set.
And regarding that you had host Savannah Guthrie,
having this back and forth?
- I just wanna be as crystal clear Is that,
are you saying that potentially those that were unhappy,
these disgruntled crew members who had walked off the set
that their potential suspects in your mind
of intentionally placing a live round
to prove a point in your words?
- Well, I think Savannah,
that you can't rule anybody out at this point.
- And ultimately that is where we are now.
We've done updates more people speaking with still
so many questions.
And then let's talk about a big update regarding
the totally normal and in no way insane Tory lanes
and Megan, the stallion case.
In case you've forgotten Tory lanes,
is accused of shooting Meg, in the feet, back in July
with him currently facing felony charges of assault
with a semi-automatic firearm
and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle.
And with all of that, there was some expectation
this is probably gonna hit some sort of plea deal.
This is somehow going to go away,
but rolling stone is now reporting
that they failed to reach a plea deal.
Apparently there were meaningful discussions
with the prosecutors, but since no deal was reached,
he's said to face live testimony next month.
And so it's gonna be interesting
to see what comes out of that hearing and testimony
and if this is gonna move to a trial,
especially since there is a lot at stake for Lance,
he is facing over 22 years in prison, potentially.
But from that,
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And then we just talk about the news that
and the reaction to a Georgia, judge overseeing
the trial of the three white men accused of chasing
and murdering on Arbery,
agreeing to see the nearly all white jury,
in a nationally watched case centered around race.
As we've talked about many times before,
you had Arbery, a 25 year old, black man killed
in February of 2020 after Gregory McMichael
and his son, Travis saw him jogging in their neighborhood,
They armed themselves,
they pursued him in their pickup truck,
a cell phone video taken by William Rotty Brian,
who was a neighbor that joined the pursuit,
showing the two MCMichaels cornering Arbery
and Travis shooting him at close range with a shotgun.
The men claiming that they followed Arbery
because they believed that he was a burglar
and Travis McMichael shot the young man
in self-defense after the jogger attacked him.
Well, none of the men were immediately charged
and all three remained free for two months
until the video of Arbery's death leaked out
and went viral in may of 2020.
They now face trial this fall.
Unlike so many other elements of this case,
the jury selection process for this trial
has been contentious, heated and drawn out.
And ultimately following the weeks long process,
11 white people in just one black juror
were seated on the panel.
And then it's because the defense struck
11 of the 12 black people
from the final pool of drawers in Glenn county, which,
notably is a quarter black.
And we thank you had prosecutors challenging the removal
of eight of the black finals alleging racial discrimination
and arguing that it was impossible
to select a totally impartial jury in a case
that garnered so much national attention.
And then, I mean, what's really notable
is after reviewing each of the jurors,
judge Timothy Wamsley actually agreed
that "there appears to be intentional discrimination
by the attorneys for the three white defendants."
but also saying that he can't do anything about it
saying that his ability to intervene was limited
because the defense provided other reasons
to strike the potential blind jurors other than race.
So what that means is it does appear
that this jury will stay as is,
and the trial is expected to start on Friday.
And then let's talk about how this morning,
The Biden administration, announced
two new sweeping vaccination rules
that will apply to over 100 million workers.
And the first mandate being
the largest covering more than 84 million people at all.
Companies that have more than 100 employees,
under that rule, those businesses will have
until January 4th to either ensure
that their workers are fully vaccinated
or submit to weekly testing.
They're also reportedly being several different ways
that this policy aims to encourage workers,
to choose vaccination over testing.
First of all, companies are required
to provide paid time off,
not only for employees to get vaccinated,
but also for any side effects they may experience.
Additionally employees who are not fully vaccinated
by December 5th will be required to wear a mask.
And beyond that, employers are not required to provide
or pay for the testing for those
who refuse to get vaccinated,
meaning that the workers who opt for the testing alternative
may be on their own to tests and pay for them
or risk losing their job.
Though, Some employers may still be required
to offer testing under other laws or agreements with unions.
And then the second new rule that rolled down today,
is even more strict.
That policy which applies
to around 17 million healthcare workers at facilities
receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding,
will require all employees to be fully vaccinated
by the same January 4th deadline,
but without the testing alternative.
And so let's be clear,
this is a dramatic show of executive power from Biden.
And it comes as many big companies
that failed to impose vaccine requirements for their workers
in the months since Biden, announced this proposal,
and because while we've seen a lot of companies
popping up in the news, because they're like, okay, Hey,
we have this rule.
We have this mandate.
You also have many, many companies that have not including
one of the biggest companies in the country, Walmart.
I mean, you have people noting.
They are literally the nation's largest employer
and they still haven't issued a company wide requirement.
But notably they are far from the only place.
In fact, a recent poll found
that only about 13% of the 1088 companies surveyed,
said that they were requiring employees
to be vaccinated regardless of location.
So the question for this story largely becomes, okay,
well what happens from here?
On one side, even before the details
of the rules were released, we saw two dozen state attorneys
and Republican led states writing a letter to Biden,
threatening legal challenges.
Though, notably efforts to challenge vaccine mandates so far
have broadly failed, in addition to being rejected
by federal judges, the Supreme court has shut down
numerous challenges to these rules at the state level.
And did so again, just last week.
The number of people on this side,
also arguing the non-legal argument
that workers will just leave their jobs
in an already tight labor market.
No, on the other side of this,
we've seen people pushing back against those claims saying,
we really haven't seen that,
essentially pointing to a numerous situations
where people have talked really big
that a lot of people would walk out or quit,
but a lot ended up just getting vaccinated.
Regarding that last argument saying, Hey,
from pretty much every situation we've seen,
the mandates have been profoundly effective
at boosting vaccination rates.
And in fact, only a tiny fraction
of workers have quit instead of complying.
And also saying of the legality argument, right,
is this legal or is it not?
pointing to numerous moments in history
where vaccinations have been required, have been mandated.
With this story, I want to pass the question up to you.
Where do you land on this?
Are you happy and or relieved to see the mandates?
Are you furious or just not happy with them? Why, why not?
I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below.
And then we should really talk about how
the analyst who served as the primary researcher
for the infamous Steele dossier,
which of course alleged ties
between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign
and Russia was arrested today and charged
with five counts of lying to the FBI.
When the analyst Igor Danchenko,
was a key source for the dossier written
by British intelligence, operative, Christopher Steele,
which contained many claims that were never proven
or have since been refuted.
As you might remember,
the dossier became one of the most controversial parts
of the FBI's inquiry into Trump and Russia with
the justice department's Inspector General,
faulting law enforcement for their handling of the documents
and specifically their use of the dossier
to obtain surveillance Warrants
targeting former Trump campaign aid Carter page.
And according to an indictment unsealed today,
DanChenko lied during the FBI led interviews
that sought to corroborate the claims
that he made in the Steele dossier and those lies
"played a role in the FBI's investigative decisions
and in sworn representations that the FBI made."
With the indictment specifically outlining
two instances where Danchenko misled the FBI.
First, by denying that he communicated
with a public relations executive and democratic operative,
who we actually used a a source.
And second, by falsely claiming
that he had a phone conversation
with someone who described a well-developed conspiracy
of cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia, when,
in reality, no phone call took place.
And so as far as what happens next,
you have Danchenko expected to appear in court later today,
but notably, this indictment
is a part of a broader special counsel
investigation led by John Durham,
who was appointed during the Trump administration
to look into any possible wrongdoing
in the FBI's Russia probe.
And so far that inquiry has resulted in three and diamonds.
And with this latest one,
it's very notable because as Axios points out,
Trump, allies have long claimed
that The Durham investigation,
which has been ongoing since April of 2019,
would result in charges against top Obama era
intelligence officials and validate allegations
that the Russia investigation was a political witch hunt.
And noting in August of 2020, former FBI lawyer,
Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty
to altering email evidence used
to obtain the surveillance warrant against page.
In September Clinton links, lawyer, Michael Sussmann.
How is that your last year last name is Suss?
Michael Sussmann, was indicted for lying
to the FBI about not representing any client
when he presented them with allegations
about a secret Trump organization back channel
to a Russian bank. We have an hour we're gonna have to wait
and see what comes from this most recent
indictment and arrest.
And ultimately that is where this story
and today's show ends.
Of course, with that, I'd love to know your thoughts,
whether it be this last story, the first one,
anything in between, let me know what you're thinking
and those comments down below.
But of course, as always, my name's Philip De Franco,
you've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you next time.