- Sup you beautiful bastards?
Hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show
and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is,
oh man, this story that just blew up.
And maybe you've already seen the initial viral video.
It shows this young boy crying.
He's begging his father not to call the police
on a black man who says that he was visiting a friend
at a San Francisco apartment building.
And if you haven't yet, let's walk through it.
You have Wesly Michel, a 35 year old software engineer
posting this video on Facebook
which shows the encounter he had
with the father and son on July 4th.
And in the video, you see this man with his son,
who was later identified as Christopher Cukor or Cucker.
That's a dangerous last name.
I'm just gonna call him Chris.
And in it, it appears that Chris doesn't want
to allow Wesly into the building.
He's essentially saying prove it that your friend's here.
- [Wesly] I remember,
I remember-- - Can you please call
your friend on the call box
and have them come down and get you?
- [Wesly] They don't have to do that.
And you can just walk away.
- I'm gonna call the police here.
- [Wesly] Oh yes, yes, yes.
Call the police. - Daddy, don't, don't, don't!
- All right, so we immediately saw Chris' son
telling his father not to call the police.
You see Wesly in the video essentially saying
this is a familiar interaction with me at my old building,
that I used to get the police called on me.
You then have Wesley essentially warning Chris
that he's gonna be the next Barbecue Becky.
Right, which is just one of the past viral examples
of black people getting the police called on them
while they were just doing everyday activities
like swimming or barbecuing.
- [Wesly] I'm recording you right now
and you're gonna be the next person with this.
- You don't need to threaten me.
You just need to
get out of the building. - I'm not threatening you.
- You are.
- [Wesly] I'm not threatening you.
- I'm gonna be the next person what?
- [Wesly] You're just gonna be the next person on TV.
- But you see Chris continue.
The video also gets more uncomfortable
because as Chris continues on the phone,
you hear the son just pleading him to stop.
Even saying that he agrees with Wesly,
this man he's never met before.
- Yeah, there's a trespasser in my building.
- Dad, don't! - He's refusing to leave.
- Please go. - Listen to your son.
- [Chris' Son] Daddy, don't.
It's the better.
I agree with him, Daddy.
- You see Chris describing Wesly on the phone.
- He appears to be African-American.
- [Wesly] Appears to be African-American.
- [Chris's Son] Dad.
- I don't know, 30s.
- 35, software engineer. - He's wearing a
pink polo and Yankees cap.
- All good, all good. - Daddy.
- We then appear to see Wesly's friend, Cathy, show up.
To which Chris' son's like, told ya.
- [Cathy] Hello!
- [Wesly] Hi Cathy!
- [Cathy] Hi y'all!
- [Chris' Son] Told you.
- [Wesly] I love you, baby!
- [Chris' Son] Let's go now!
- And then Chris informs the authorities that oh,
he actually is the guest of someone that lives there.
- He's actually here with-- - Yeah, he's actually here.
Yeah, go ahead.
I'm recording you.
- He refused to identify himself.
- [Wesly] Go and defend yourself, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- And what followed the posting of this video,
well, is exactly what Wesly said was gonna happen.
Chris ended up being the next person on TV
with a lot of people online calling him a racist.
Now since all of this went viral,
there have been updates to the story.
Chris was officially identified.
Also it turns out he's an employee at YouTube.
So if this video didn't pop up on your homepage,
your recommended, it's probably just a coincidence.
You know, in the days that followed he was identified,
social media users have been calling
on the company to fire him.
We've also now seen Chris respond to the backlash
in a Medium post titled One Conversation, Two Histories:
My perspective on an incident in a San Francisco doorway.
And in it he defends himself,
but he also apologizes to Wesly for the incident, saying,
"I noticed Wesly caught the door
"and entered the building without using the call box.
"I did what came naturally and asked where he was going.
"I want to be clear on this point,
"this is something I do regularly,
"regardless of who the other person is."
Chris goes on to say that when
the incident turned confrontational,
he realized he couldn't resolve it himself
and so he decided to call police.
And then going on to explain that his own personal history
with trespassers is what prompted him to make that call,
not Wesly's race.
Writing, "My father was murdered outside his home
"by a trespasser who he confronted alone.
"For my child's safety, my safety, and that of the building,
"I felt it was necessary to get help in this situation.
"Furthermore, I've encountered trespassers in my building
"and we've been robbed several times.
"This is not uncommon in San Francisco
"and the bad actors are all different colors."
And then going on to say, "I now realize that Wesly
"was reacting based on his unique experiences as well.
"Unfortunately there is a terrible pattern
"of people calling the authorities regarding people of color
"for no other reason than their race.
"The last thing I ever intended was to echo that history
"and I'm sorry my actions caused Wesly
"to feel unfairly targeted due to his race."
Now as far as Wesly's reaction to that,
he was actually on CNN Tuesday night.
And there, while he said that he was understanding
of the trauma stemming from Chris' father's death,
he also said that Chris should not
let it cloud his view of others.
And adding, "Personally, I am African-American
"and I have been stopped and harassed
"at stores and different locations
"and I have police officers asking me
"if I belong there or even in my apartment complex.
"People randomly telling me
"that I don't belong at that location.
"But don't let those experiences shape
"or define the way I see other people."
And going on to say that it's those experiences
that should be used as an opportunity for learning,
adding, "My responsibility is not to make
"everyone around me feel comfortable.
"It is very important that people understand that."
"I should be able to walk around freely
"and not feel that I should constantly prove
"that I am not a threat to the people around me."
Also posing the question if Chris
really would have acted the same if he were white.
And adding, "It is important for people to understand
"when you call a police officer on an African-American,
"it is completely different than someone
"calling a police officer on someone else.
"To me, that's a death threat.
"I can literally die from that altercation,
"and I would just simply be another hashtag
"in the news or on Twitter.
"It is important that people understand that."
And so ultimately that is where we are
with this story right now.
If you look online, there are still people
calling for YouTube to fire Chris.
But also at the same time,
you do have people defending Chris.
Saying he lives in this building,
he's never seen this guy before, the guy doesn't live there.
But now with all of that said, everyone having spoke,
I pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts around this story?
What's your opinion on this?
Let me know in those comments down below.
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And the first bit of awesome today
is just kind of a shout out slash reminder.
If you're a member of DeFrancoElite.com
or you become a member of DeFrancoElite.com today,
we're having one of our exclusive live stream
Q and A's at 4:00 p.m. Pacific today.
So, if you get there in time, great.
You can be a part of it.
Or, after, you can just kinda watch it.
Then we had How To Drink giving us a Six Demon Bag
from Big Trouble in Little China.
We have Legal Eagle giving us the most
important Supreme Court cases of 2019.
We had Daisy Ridley reacting to her internet presence.
We had the season two trailer for Light as a Feather.
We had two of the Stranger Things cast
taking a friendship test, which side note,
I haven't gone out to look at reviews.
Did anyone else like season three the most
out of all the seasons of Stranger Things?
It felt like it just flowed fantastically.
Then, very awesomely, we had Nintendo
announcing the Nintendo Switch Lite,
which is like the regular Nintendo Switch
except it doesn't switch.
It's $100 less, it doesn't connect to your TV.
The Joy-Cons are essentially built in.
You have people praising it
for having an actual proper D-Pad.
But honestly, I'd be shocked
if this didn't sell incredibly well.
I very rarely actually plug this thing into my TV.
Then awesomely and horrifyingly,
Ctrl Shift Face gave us a deepfake
of Jim Carrey starring in The Shining.
And while wow, it is so amazing, I am reminded that,
oh man, we're not gonna what the hell's real soon.
And then our Phil.Chrono.GG partner game
of the day today is fantastically Guacamelee 2.
Including the three enemigos character pack.
It is the overwhelmingly positively
reviewed Metroidvania game.
It's got a lot of awesome moments and characters and,
best of all, if you grab it using our link
before 9:00 a.m. tomorrow and or while supplies last,
instead of the regular about $20,
you can get it for just $9.19.
It is 54% off.
And if you wanna 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 in quickie internet news,
and I'm really just covering
so people stop sending it to me.
All right, two times in the past few weeks
we've talked about kind of the online antics
of internet meme girl, Belle Delphine.
She pranked her fans into thinking she was making porn.
She then decided to sell GamerGirl Bath Water,
which is water that she allegedly sat in.
And then, over the past few days, the news broke,
and I'm saying news because it's not a real thing,
but it broke that one person sent to hospital
after drinking internet personality's bath water.
And I mean, props to the memer for including a photo
of an ambulance with Florida in the background
because you're like, I mean, it could have happened.
But no, as of recording this video, this appears to be fake.
But also the news spread that Delphine was selling her pee,
but turns out that's not real either.
There's a screenshot and also there's a mimicked website
that looks similar to her store, but it's a different URL.
Delphine also made a statement today
addressing the fake accusations.
Also saying, regarding the fake website,
while she finds it really funny, it's sadly not real either.
Although I really can't take the stance
of I can't believe people believe this.
Like the premise and actually real stuff
was already weird enough that kind of opened
everyone's minds to anything is possible.
But no, it's not true
and now you can stop sending me those stories.
Then in entertainment news that had people kind of,
I guess, excited and also annoyed,
we got the news that all the seasons of Friends
in 2020 will be leaving Netflix
and going to something called HBO Max.
Which yes, for those keeping track at home,
that means that HBO has now three digital apps.
And I know while some people are gonna find that confusing,
I think HBO needs to lean in.
More apps, more names.
You have HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO Max,
HBO Max Plus, HBO Max Ultra Plus.
HBO 360, HBO Before, HBO Sword and Shield,
that's my personal favorite.
But before we get to all that goodness,
for those wondering what is HBO Max.
It is Warner Media's direct to consumer play, right?
Meant to compete with the Hulu and Netflixes of the world.
Along with Friends, it's said to include HBO properties
as well as Warner Bros, TNT, CNN,
DC Entertainment, Cartoon Network, and more.
Also interestingly enough, the more includes Rooster Teeth.
Now as far as what this means for Netflix,
is this the death of Netflix?
I don't really believe so.
I think Netflix has seen this attack coming
from all angles for a long time now,
which is why they focus so heavily on new originals.
I mean they've been having to deal
with Disney Plus launching soon, right?
Losing a lot of properties there.
But ultimately on the business side,
I'm very interested to see what happens here.
Like I think that competition
breeds a very good environment.
Right, competition, if the system works properly,
forces everyone to be on their A game,
for people to innovate.
Or, unfortunately, in some sectors if not properly managed,
they consolidate and give you a shitty product
because where else are you gonna go?
But on the consumer end of things,
they are now so many digital offerings
that it feels like cord cutters
are probably getting closer and closer
to paying what you used to pay with cable.
Granted it's not completely like a cable package,
but it feels like this chaotic,
somewhat disconnected a la carte cable package.
Granted, as of right now we don't know
the official price of HBO Max.
There were previous reports that claimed
that the service was gonna be like 16 or $17.
But given the fact that HBO Now,
which gives you everything for HBO is $15 a month,
it'd be kind of crazy that if just for an extra
dollar or two you get everything.
I mean it would seemingly guarantee success,
but I don't know how the numbers would work there.
I don't know, but what I will say
is it's gonna be very interesting
to watch this space for the next 10 years.
And then let's talk about this really interesting
story coming out of North Carolina.
And I'm really interested in your thoughts here.
And ultimately, this is a story
about the extent of responsibility.
So on Monday, Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 474,
better known as death by distribution.
And under this bill, anyone illegally selling
a controlled substance that is linked
or causes someone's death could face the same type of felony
charge and punishment as second degree murder.
And basically under the new law,
an illegal seller or a drug dealer
could be found guilty if the substance they sold, quote,
"was the proximate cause of the victim's death."
And they could face one of two charges.
Either aggravated death by distribution
or death by distribution.
And the only difference here being that
the charge becomes aggravated if the suspect
has a similar or previous conviction,
and they would be charged with a Class B2 felony.
And according to North Carolina's court system,
not only is Class B2 the same class as second degree murder,
it could also land you in prison for over 40 years.
And as far as the death by distribution charge,
that falls under a Class C felony,
meaning anyone found guilty would be facing
the same punishment as someone guilty
of first degree kidnapping or assault,
and they could face up to 19 years in prison.
Now in the past we've talked about opioid addiction.
I mean deaths from overdoses
are a huge problem in the United States.
And this problem is one of the reasons
that the sponsors of the bill,
Representative Dean Arp, says that the act is necessary,
arguing that the law is similar to a drunk driver
being punished if they kill someone.
Saying, "You didn't do it with malice,
"but you did kill somebody
"so you still have to be held accountable."
And also telling local reporters,
"For people who peddle poison for profit and kill kids,
"the hand of justice cannot be soft."
We've also seen district attorneys
around the state support the bill
and the punishment such as Billy West who said, quote,
"It's a violent crime and the bill
"treats it like a violent crime."
And Trey Robinson,
who told member of the House Judiciary committee,
"We have a hole in our law that is preventing us
"from going after people who are actually
"selling this stuff as a commercial enterprise."
But on the other side of this,
you have people arguing that this could actually cause harm.
Some argue that this would hurt
the already existing Good Samaritan law.
Right, that's the law that prevents people
from being criminally prosecuted if they call 911
or other law enforcement for help during a drug overdose.
Representative Sydney Batch
is one of the lawmakers concerned
and she's previously said,
"I'm concerned people are not going to call
"when their friend, a family member,
"or someone else overdoses."
But, that said, she still did vote
for the bill to pass back in June.
This notably after a line was added that specifically states
death by distribution will not, quote,
"restrict or interfere with the rights
"and immunities provided under the Good Samaritan law.
Although, even with that Good Samaritan line addition,
there are people concerned.
People like North Carolina Harm Reduction
Coallition's Virgil Hayes saying,
"We're very concerned with the way and manner
"in which this bill impacts the Good Samaritan law."
And adding, "Research by the CDC shows that any law
"that threatens or increases fear
"that bystanders will be incarcerated or criminalized
"decreases the likelihood of bystanders
"contacting 911 at the scene of an overdose."
Right, so there's the argument
that if there's just the fear, right?
You see the headline, I could be charged with murder,
that person witnessing the overdose that could save a life
might be scared to contact the authorities
because they don't know about the Good Samaritan law
or have doubts if it would apply to them.
We've also seen some parents whose children have died
from overdoses speaking out against the bill,
saying that the law targets the wrong group as criminals,
with one mother telling local papers,
"We don't care about the subsistence dealer.
"We don't care about 16-year-olds sharing needles.
"We care about the people that have established a chain
"of commerce and are bringing this stuff into our counties.
"That's who we're trying to get."
And right now, even though the law has been signed,
it doesn't go into effect til December.
And so some people in North Carolina
are still protesting this act
with another protest planned for Wednesday night.
You know, the story really stood out to me
and I was really interested to know your thoughts here.
Obviously we wanna crack down on drug dealer, right?
I have no sympathy in my heart
for some scumbag drug dealer selling fentanyl to kids.
Right, but how do we create a system that, yes,
demonizes and goes after the organizations, the networks,
without further endangering the user of the drug.
A person that I often now,
and it's taken me a while to get to this point,
sees the victim of this situation.
Because even though this law tries to save victims
by protecting anyone who reports an overdose,
it could still result in less people calling in ODs.
Right, if someone just sees the headline,
New North Carolina law allows drug dealers
to be charged with murder,
and you gave your friend the drugs,
you may be scared to call in the OD,
not realizing that you'd actually still be protected.
Right, because not everyone reads
the entirety of every article of every bill.
Like everyone in their life will make mistakes,
especially when they're younger.
Right, when you're talking about opioids,
when you're talking about fentanyl,
all it takes is one mistake.
And I'm personally glad that my drug mistake was whippets.
Most idiotic thing I've ever done in my life.
Like I was huffing paint stupid, but I was young and stupid.
Right, and I'm lucky that addiction
to inhalants isn't common.
It can still happen.
Don't twist this into something else.
Also do not do whippets.
But, you know, then I think, what if it had been an opioid?
What if I was like, yeah, fentanyl sounds dope?
You're talking about a drug that the CDC
says is 50 times stronger than heroine.
And then you get hooked and that's your life
and that's also why I think that the money
that we normally throw at the war of drugs
should be about preventative measures,
it should be about battling addiction.
And so with this situation, you know,
there's the question of what is the right answer?
And so I pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts on this?
Do you think that this law is the right move or no,
it creates a more unsafe environment for the end user?
Any and all thoughts, I'd love to hear
from you in those comments down below.
And that's where we're gonna end today's show.
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But with 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 tomorrow.