- Sup you beautiful bastards,
hope you've had a fantastic Thursday
welcome back to the Phillip DeFranco Show.
Buckle up, hit that like button,
otherwise I will punch you in the throat,
and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we're gonna talk about today
it is the internet's favorite game show
White Guy Talks About A Racism Debate.
So if you haven't seen,
there's this debate around Robert Downey Jr..
The way this all started is
Downey went on Joe Rogan's podcast on January 15th.
And there, Rogan asks him some questions about his role
in the 2008 movie "Tropic Thunder."
Oh and "Tropic Thunder," if you don't know,
its a satirical action comedy about four actors
who are filming a Vietnam War movie.
In the film, Downey plays Kirk Lazarus,
the method actor who got pigment alteration surgery
to darken his skin so he could play a black character
for the movie.
Now even in 2008 that caused some controversy,
drew some criticisms,
but overall the film was well received by critics
and in fact, Downey was even nominated for an Oscar,
a Golden Globe as well as other awards.
And among other things you have Rogan
asking Downey if he thinks "Tropic Thunder"
could be made today, obviously as far as
the social conversation, we're in a much different place.
- Do you think that you could do "Tropic Thunder" today,
would that be possible?
- Oh you could do it.
- Also Downey talks about Ben Stiller
who co-wrote, directed and starred in the movie
calling him, telling him about the role,
and about that he says this.
- I thought, "yeah I'll do that,
and I'll do it after 'Iron Man'",
and then I started thinking "this is a terrible idea."
- (Joe laughs) - "Wait a minute."
And then I though, "well hold on dude, get real here.
"Where is your heart."
And my heart is,
A,
I get to
I get to be black for a summer,
in my mind. - (Joe laughs)
- So there's something in it for me.
- (laughs loudly) - (laughs quietly)
- (Joe claps) - The other thing is
I get to hold up to nature,
the insane, self-involved hypocrisy
of artists and what they think they're allowed to do,
on occasion, just my opinion.
- Then he then goes on to praise Stiller,
how he directed and executed the movie,
also talking about reactions.
- He knew exactly what the vision for this was,
he executed it.
It was impossible to not have it be an offensive
nightmare of a movie.
And 90% of my black friends are like,
"dude that was great."
- (both laugh)
- What about the other 10%?
- Um, you know, I can't disagree with them,
but I know where my heart was.
- Then after that we see Rogan bring up
whether or not the movie could be made today,
and Downey responds.
- But again, I mean you know,
there's a morality clause here,
on this planet, and its a big price to pay.
And I think having a moral psychology is job one.
So, sometimes you've just gotta go, "yeah, you know,
"I F-ed up."
Again, not in my defense, but
"Tropic Thunder" was about
how
wrong that is.
- [Joe] Yes! - So,
I take exception.
- Now following this, the podcast in general
but definitely this clip, it went viral.
You had a lot of people responding,
some criticizing Downey, saying Downey justified
this blackface racism by saying
90% of his ignorant black friends
in Hollywood praised this stupidity.
Another quoting Downey saying that he got to be,
quote, "black for the summer" and writing,
"they really think we are fucking Halloween costumes
shaking my head."
But also on the other side
you have people defending the role,
with responses like "the joke of it was
that it was a method actor
crawling so far up their own butt
that they can't see blackface is a horrible mistake."
And people arguing that it was the character
that did blackface,
not Robert Downey Jr..
People saying this portrayal shouldn't be lumped in
with other blackface roles.
This, because it was a different thing,
that the role wasn't doing blackface to mock
or injure black people,
if anything it was to mock the character.
Though, you still had others saying
that's still not an excuse to do blackface.
Also, part of the reason we're talking about this
is one of the responses really blew up,
and that was because it was from former "Fox News" anchor,
and NBC host, Megyn Kelley.
Who, if you don't know, had her own controversy
two Halloweens ago after some comments she made
about doing blackface during her talk show on NBC.
- But what is racist because truly, you do get in trouble
if you are a white person who puts on
blackface for Halloween, - Yes
or a black person who puts on
white face for Halloween. - Yes
Like, back when I was a kid that was okay
as long as you were - to me the bar is--
- dressing up as like a character.
- After that Kelley got a ton of backlash,
she made a formal apology on her show
but still, three days after making those remarks,
NBC canceled her show.
And in fact her contract with them
was terminated in January of 2019.
So yesterday responding to the Robert Downey Jr.
story we say her tweet
"Downey wears blackface for Universal
without regret because it quote,
'sparked a necessary convo,'
Universal, 'yay Robert.'
Me, never worn blackface, but had one of those,
quote, 'necessary convos' R-E how standard seems to
have changed over time, NBCUniversal 'F-U, canceled."
and that sparked a ton of reaction.
Some saying that she was right,
that it was unfair,
some arguing that she was targeted
because she was a conservative.
Others arguing though that the comparison
was apples to oranges,
that Downey was in a parody,
a satire where Downey was playing an actor,
playing an actor who wore blackface.
Whereas Kelley was a journalist
speaking as herself on a talk show
and that her comments were not satirical.
But ultimately, that's the story as it is now.
Of course, I'd love to know your opinion.
As far as my opinion, one, I'll say
Megyn Kelley's comparison is not valid.
Understand, I'm not saying I get to choose
how people react to it,
obviously I'm not the person or the group
that would be offended by this depiction.
But I do think that context matters
and agree with Robert Downey Jr.
that the movie and that character had highlighted
how wrong blackface is and how ridiculous actors can be.
But, with that said, I would love to know
your thoughts on this.
One, regarding the depiction
and Robert Downey Jr.'s statements about it,
as well as Megyn Kelley's comparison and seeming anger?
Annoyance? I don't know how angry you could be
when you had a really underperforming show
and then you were let go but you still got
your full $69 million.
But also money's not everything, I get that,
I would love to know your thoughts.
But from that, I want to share some stuff
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And the first bit of awesome is after today's show
if you're still craving some more news we made a bonus video
about facial recognition fears, the debate around colleges
of is it an invasion of privacy,
or is it a necessary security measure?
Yeah, definitely check that out, link down below
or just go to YouTube dot com slash rogue rocket.
Then we had John Mulaney and Stephen Colbert
talking about anxiety, a thing
that I think more people need to talk about.
We had Adam Savage testing the Boston Dynamics Spot robot,
we got the "oh my god that looks trippy"
trailer for "Vivarium", we had Will Smith giving us
the bad boys go to therapy, which, I will say,
the new Bad Boys, I actually enjoyed it.
I mean, its definitely a don't think too hard popcorn movie,
but its great at that. We had Bobby Burke
reviewing every home renovation from Queer eye,
and if you want to see the full versions
of everything I just shared,
the secret link of the day, really anything at all,
links as always are in the description down below.
Then let's talk about this news, about guns in Vigrinia.
So in Virginia the state senate just passed a red flag law
which has sparked a lot of controversy along party lines.
And for those that don't know,
a red flag law allows law enforcement to
temporarily confiscate guns from someone deemed a threat.
And this bill specifically requires an attorney
or law-enforcement officer to apply an
emergency substantial risk order.
An order that would, quote:
"prohibit a person who poses a substantial risk of injury
"to himself or others from purchasing,
"possessing or transporting a firearm.
"If that order is issued, a judge or a magistrate
"can issue a search warrant allowing for firearms to be
"temporarily removed from that person,"
and the vote that made it through the senate was tight.
It was a partisan vote with 21 votes for it
and 19 votes against it.
As far as the Democrats, they support the bill
because they believe it will lead to less mass shootings
and other forms of gun violence in general,
with one Democrat, senator Janet Howell tweeting,
"This will open the door to ensure law-enforcement
is able to do their job before a crime is committed."
With senator George Barker, who introduced the bill,
calling the bill "a positive direction
that will protect lives and reduce violence in Virginia."
And along with their support it would appear
that it comes with support in general from Americans.
According to an August 2019 study from APM Research Lab
the public in general is in favor
of this kind of legislation,
with 77% supporting family initiated orders,
and 70% supporting police initiated orders.
And according to this research in fact a majority
of both Republicans and Democrats support it.
And though, by a smaller margin,
so do a majority of gun owners.
But still what we saw here were
Virginia center Republicans strongly opposing this,
saying that they believed it was a heavy infringement
on people's rights to bear arms,
with Republican senator Amanda Chase saying,
"each legislator that votes in favor of this bill
"in my opinion is a traitor to Virginia,
a traitor to the Second Amendment
and a traitor to our constitutional freedoms."
with the NRA also calling it "an unnecessary attack
on Second Amendment rights."
Now some things to note here, one,
this legislation is just one of many gun control laws
Virginia is working on passing right now,
three have already made their way through the senate
and those include one that "allow localities
"to ban guns at public events"
another limiting residents to purchasing
just "one handgun a month," and, one mandating
background checks on private firearms transfers.
Also two this senate vote came just a few days after
a major pro-guns rights rally happened
in Richmond, Virginia's capitol city.
There, according to reports,
about 22 thousand people attended the rally,
which remained largely peaceful.
Although we did see Virginia governor Ralph Northam
declare a state of emergency ahead of the event.
Also gun were not allowed at the rally,
largely over fears that there could be a repeat
of what happened in Charlottesville in 2017.
And though you had some reporting
that some extremist groups were present,
there was no reported violence.
But you know, the rally I think was very interesting,
you heard many pro-gun activists speaking out
against the gun control legislation.
And one clip in particular that blew up
was that you had Richard Vaughan,
sheriff of Grayson county in Virginia, say this:
- "If the bills go through as proposed
"they will not be enforced, they're unconstitutional,
"we swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States,
"and the Constitution of Virginia,
"and that's what we'll do."
So obviously these laws remain controversial,
and as far as what happens from here
the bill still has to go to Virginia's house of delegates,
which does have a democrat majority
but not by a wide margin.
But if it does pass there it will go to the desk
of Democratic Governor Ralph Northam.
And of course with this story
I pass the question off to you,
what are your thoughts regarding red-flag laws?
Do you think that its beneficial or its detrimental?
Why? Why not? Any and all thoughts,
I'd love to see in those comments down below.
And then let's talk about Brexit because it is happening.
Three and a half years after the United kingdom asked voters
whether or not they wanted to leave the European Union,
the United Kingdom has finally
passed the withdrawal agreement.
And during this whole process we've seen not one,
but two prime ministers resign, we've seen protests,
elections, the UK consistently having to push back
the date on when the country would leave.
But then last night the final vote on Brexit happened
and yeah, here we are.
You know like we talked about last time
the House of Commons, they approved the agreement,
and it went to the House of Lords.
There, there was a debate, they added several amendments,
things like a revision on protecting
the rights of refugee children, basically ensuring
those kids can be reunited with their parents,
if their parents are in the UK post-Brexit.
Then, we saw the House of Commons say,
"no" to those amendments yesterday,
which was easy because they have an 80 seat majority.
And so the Lords, who are not elected,
they do not have a conservative majority,
realized that there was really nothing they could do.
So instead of stalling, they passed the bill as-is,
this ahead of the January 31st deadline.
Now as far as what happens next
the second hoops to jump through here
is that the withdrawal agreement needs
to be approved by the EU's parliament.
That will happen next Wednesday, January 29th.
But this is really largely viewed as a formality
because its expected to easily pass.
And with that, the United Kingdom will officially end its
40 year relationship with the European Union.
Well kind of, well yes, no, yes.
Why I'm saying "yes, no" is that the next 11 months
will be a transition period for the UK.
During that time,
it will continue to follow most of the EU's rules, but,
won't actually have any decision-making power in the EU.
Also during this time the UK and the EU will continue
to hash out details of what's going to happen
after that transition period.
For example, this includes things like
ambitious free-trade deals, agriculture, security.
And as far as those negotiations,
those are expected to start either
some time next month or in early March.
But here, like how Brexit saw multiple extensions,
a lot of EU officials believe that this transition period
will also need to be extended.
Saying that 11 months just isn't long enough
to work out any of the details, however here,
Johnson has refused to agree to any extensions.
And so what that means is
a no-deal Brexit is still a possibility.
Now at the same time, you know we mentioned trade deals,
Johnson has been extremely vocal about getting
a free-trade deal with the United States.
While in Davos at the world Economic Forum
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin also indicated
the US desire for a trade deal, saying,
"it's an absolute priority of president Trump
"and we expect to complete that within this year."
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross saying
that a trade deal shouldn't be too hard,
because the US and UK have similar economies.
But, at the same time, the United States and the UK
are also currently in a disagreement
over a so-called tech tax.
And that's because the UK is currently planning
to introduce a digital services tax
on tech companies like Facebook and Google,
with Mnuchin threatening to retaliate
by potentially slapping a tariff on UK car exports.
But also, this is still very early on,
there's a long way to go with the negotiations here
and I mean that on both fronts.
But ultimately, that is where we are
this is going to be very interesting to watch
over the next 11 months and of course,
I pass the question off to everyone
what they think about this,
but also specifically, to you beautiful bastards in the UK,
anywhere in the EU, what are you thoughts
about this now finally getting over this hurdle.
And that is where I'm going to end today's show.
Thank you for watching another Phillip DeFranco show,
also if you're looking for more to watch,
maybe you missed yesterday's show,
it definitely seemed like we got hit,
you can click or tap right there to watch that.
Or maybe check out the new Rogue Rocket video
you can click or tap right there.
But that said of course as always
my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in,
I love your faces and I'll see you next time.