- Ssup you beautiful bastards.
Welcome back to the "Philip DeFranco Show"
buckle up, hit that like button
and let's just jump into it.
Hey, of course, the first thing we have to talk about today
is what happened with Will Smith, Jada Pink--
- [Will] My wife's name out your (beep) mouth.
- You know who and Chris Rock.
And so unless you've been living under a rock
for the past 24 hours, you have seen the slap.
- Oh, oh, Will Smith.
(people laughing)
- Oh, wow, wow.
Will Smith just smacked (beep) outta me.
- Which initially for a lot of people
that were watching the US Broadcast
that ended up getting censored.
A lot of people were like, "Okay, wait, was that a bit?"
But on the uncensored broadcast
that were immediately uploaded to social media,
we saw this back and forth happen.
- Keep my wife's name out your (beep) mouth.
- Wow dude. - Yes.
- It was a G.I. Jane joke.
- Keep my wife's name out your (beep) mouth.
- I'm going to, okay.
Okay.
That was a greatest night in the history of television.
- Right, and so what Will was referring to
is just moments before this,
Chris Rock made a joke about Jada's hair
that she has a shaved head.
He makes a G.I. Jane shaved head joke,
but as you may not have known before this,
and maybe I don't know if Chris Rock knew about this,
she actually has a shaved head
because she has an autoimmune disorder
and that can cause hair loss and balding
and so she decided just to shave it off.
And then to make this just
one of the weirdest nights of television,
minutes after this whole thing happened,
he ended up winning the best actor award,
and we see him get the usual applause.
He's hugged by the presenters on stage
and in his speech which I imagine had to be impromptu.
He was talking about his movie,
but also talking about what had just happened.
- Richard Williams, was a fierce defender of his family.
I'm being called on in my life
to love people
and to protect people.
I know to do what we do,
you gotta be able to take abuse,
you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you.
I wanna be a vessel for love.
I wanna apologize to the Academy,
I wanna apologize to all my fellow nominees,
I look like crazy father,
just like they said about Richard William,
but love will make you do crazy things.
- Now for their part
The Academy initially released a statement saying
it does not condone violence
and just announced today
that they will be launching a formal review of the incident.
Also regarding the slap, right?
Because a lot of people were like, "Isn't that just assault?
How is he able to just still be there?"
With the LAPD putting out a statement,
saying that like everyone else
they were aware of the situation,
but adding that the individual involved declined
to file a police report
which would end up sounding like the end of the situation.
Later in the night we had Will Smith being filmed
getting jiggy with it,
P Diddy later giving a statement saying,
"Hey, it's all squashed, right, they're brothers."
Though notably today
you had TMZ putting out a different report
saying according to a close source,
Chris Rock hasn't spoken to Will Smith,
also saying he didn't know Jada had alopecia, right.
So essentially saying, he just thought,
she shaved her head, reminded him of G.I. Jane, quick joke.
But, regardless of what the reality is
between the three people at the center of this story,
the internet was just for the last 12 to eight hours,
it's been hot take after hot take, right.
The likes of comedian Tiffany Haddish
who was there, sticking up for Will telling people,
"When I saw a black man stand up for his wife,
that meant so much to me.
As a woman who has been unprotected,
for someone to say, "Keep my wife's name outta your mouth,
leave my wife alone."
That's what your husband is supposed to do, right?
Protect you."
Even calling it, "The most beautiful thing."
Right and she was not
the only one going down this avenue of thinking.
With some writing,
"Personally, I'm tired of black women being disrespected
on mainstream media and everyone thinking it's okay.
That's why some of you
can't comprehend Will Smith's reaction
because you're so used to turning a blind eye
when black women are disrespected in public spaces."
Also separate from the black woman angle,
you had some defending Will because of alopecia
including representative Ayana Presley
who tweeted and deleted the statement,
"Alopecia nation stand up, thank you Will Smith.
Shout out to all the husbands
who defend their wives living alopecia
in the face of daily ignorance and insults."
Though after taking down that post
she clarified does not condone violence,
but still you saw a lot of people condoning the slap saying,
"Hey violence meets violence."
Arguing that Chris Rock punching down
and taking name at someone that's suffering
from an autoimmune disease that actually equals violence,
but also on the other side of this
you had people saying,
"No, Will Smith is 100% in the wrong here."
With one of the more extreme and polarizing reactions
coming from director Judd Apatow
saying and now deleted tweets that,
"Will could have killed Chris."
Saying, "It was pure out of control rage and violence."
With the string of tweets getting reshared.
He was hit with a massive amount of backlash.
People saying that he was playing into the villainization
of black men,
but still with the majority of less extreme reactions to it
people saying, "No, this is just outright assault,
Will Smith is 100% in the wrong here."
People saying things like,
"Insane that Will Smith can assault someone in an award show
and just sit back down in the front row
and win an award and everyone is laughing
and applauding him like Hollywood is honestly so (beep)."
Some bringing it back to Will's speech
and his mentions of love saying,
the violence he displayed was not love
that this is actually abusive language.
Then of course, he had tons of people in the middle
essentially saying there are no winners
and only losers in this situation.
Saying things like, "Assault is wrong.
Alopecia is a painful experience
that many black women go through
and should not be joked about."
Arguing, "The concept of being the protector
can be a form of toxic masculinity.
Black women are rarely protected
and deserve to be protected."
"Violence isn't okay.
Assault is never the answer.
Also, this is the second time
that Chris has made fun of Jada on the Oscar stage
and tonight he went after her alopecia.
Punching down at someone's autoimmune disease is wrong.
Doing so on purpose is cruel.
They both need a breather."
Right and over the next 24 hours
and really in into the rest of the week,
we're gonna see a million different takes
and different angles.
For example, you had people like Max Burns saying,
"This is actually kind of connected to Scientology."
Writing, "Will Smith almost certainly
went through the Scientology courses
that teach you to unapologetically use slaps
and physical force to let a fellow Scientologist know
they've done something wrong, saying,
"It's remarkably common within the cults,"
but then writing, "Remember the Smiths funded
and managed an entire Scientology school
called the New Village Leadership Academy in California
to continue pushing this violent,
insane ideology out to young people."
And adding, "To those who would argue
New Village Leadership Academy is not Scientologists
and the Smiths just decided
to spend one plus million dollars opening
the school for other reasons,
you find me a non-Scientology academy
that includes L.Ron Hubbard's Dianetics as coursework,
and saying to be clear,
"Tom cruise does the exact same thing
though he uses verbal abuse in public
instead of actually hitting a non-Scientologist.
It's called using the tone scale to promote compliance
and it's a foundational part of Scientology."
Also you have people questioning Will Smith's head space.
One in general saying, "Is he okay right now?"
Not only because of the slap
and his words during the acceptance speech,
but also when Chris Rock made the joke,
it looked like he actually initially laughed
though seemingly then looking at Jada's face
and then taking action
which I think could be seen as weird though,
I'm granted, I'm only about halfway through the book.
But in Will Smith's book, he is very vocal
and transparent about his fears of being seen as a coward,
noting in the part I just got to this morning
that he wished he could be a guy like Tupac.
And after two years of,
I mean, just go on social media of just non-stop,
haha, your wife fucked your son's friend jokes,
probably worrying about seeming like a coward
not being worthy of how he acted.
That's not me justifying what he did
but it possibly explains part of his thinking around it.
Because I agree with guys like Charlamagne
who have said that
this slap was probably only a little bit about Chris Rock
and probably part of something much bigger
that just happened to land on Chris's face.
Though if one of his goals was to get Jada's name
out of peoples mouths and for people to forget
and just move past the August having sex with her thing
that is a 1000% not the case
if you look at pretty much any of the memes,
but, with all that said,
I have to pass the question off to you.
Where do you land on this story?
Which of the cams that we've talked about,
do you land in and why?
I'd love to know, and arguably your reaction
and not just my audience, but the reaction in general,
that's really what's gonna matter with this story,
because yes, laws are laws,
but we as a society based off of something that happened
and our reaction to it,
decide what is okay and what is not.
And for me, this is gonna be a very interesting week
especially just listening to and watching podcasts,
especially from comedians
because I've seen some comedians with alopecia going like,
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel right now."
And for comedians in general, if you do this long enough
you are going to miss fire with a joke,
you're gonna punch down,
there's gonna be an adverse reaction.
So, you're essentially putting yourself in a place of,
what happened here, am I okay with that happening to me?
Because already you have comedians like Tim Dillon tweeting,
"Words, aren't violence, they're words.
Everyone needs to calm down and have a frozen yogurt."
And Kathy Griffin saying, "Comedians have to worry about
who wants to be the next Will Smith
in comedy clubs and theaters."
I don't know, it's gonna be very interesting to see
how all these chips fall,
but that's why,
definitely let me know your thoughts on this.
But from that I wanna take a quick second
to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Beam.
Many of you know,
I'm on this new mission to improve my overall health
and few things matter more than good sleep.
And that is where Beam comes in.
Sleep affects everything from mood to weight,
your hormonal balance performance and energy,
which is why improving your sleep
is the fastest way to up your wellness game.
And Beam's Dream Powder
is a delicious bedtime cup of hot cocoa
with five powerful, natural, sleep promoting ingredients
such as nano CBD, reishi, mushroom extract,
magnesium, L-Theanine and melatonin.
And since sleep is a building block to our health
I've been drinking it 30 minutes before bedtime
and it's no joke it's helped me wind down
from hectic and sometimes stressful days,
fall asleep faster and stay asleep.
So try Beam's Dream Powder subscription today
which includes a free mug and further plus a discount.
So head to beamorganics.com/defranco
use code DEFRANCO to get 35% off
plus free shipping on your first subscription
and 20% off every month after that.
This offer is only available through my exclusive link,
plus they're also offering you 15% off
a one time purchase with code DeFranco.
And then I'm so excited I get to announce
this racism in America is over.
(people applauding)
Yes.
(air whooshing)
Scratch that one because if you think it's over
you must have your eyes and ears shut all the time
and two, because of this story
at a Rapid City, South Dakota,
where the owner of the Grand Gateway Hotel is under fire.
And so the way this story starts
with a shooting between two teenagers at the hotel,
both of whom were Native Americans,
which prompted Connie,
the woman at the center of this story,
to write on Facebook that she cannot quote,
"Allow any Native American on property
or in Cheers Sports Bar."
Right?
The hotel's bar and casino.
And as far as why she says she can't tell
who is a bad native or a good native.
Which is notable for two reasons
one, 'cause the racism
and two, 'cause it also seems like bad business, right?
Morality and decency aside,
at least 11% of Rapid City's residents identify
as American Indian or Alaska Native.
But, back to the racism part,
of course has outraged many community members.
With Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier
calling it racist and discriminatory
and asking for an apology.
The city's mayor, Steve Allender
also speaking out saying neither the shooting
nor the hotel's response reflect the city's values.
We also saw revolt from inside the hotel itself
with the entire bar staff, some other workers
and even the manager who is himself indigenous,
quitting in protests.
And to top it all off, you had hundreds of protestors
and indigenous activists demonstrating outside
of federal courthouses.
A lawsuit was being filed against the hotel.
With one banner reading
we will not tolerate racist policies and practices.
And as far as the lawsuit, it seeks damages claiming
that the hotel refused to rent room
to at least two indigenous women earlier in the week.
This all leading to Saturday
where leaders from Sioux Tribes all over the region convened
to discuss what to do.
With Kevin Killer,
President of one of the Sioux tribes saying,
"We're tired of this bullshit,"
and adding, "I get profiled almost every single day,
I know that, you just have to take a stand
at a certain point."
With five tribal leaders, then signing a notice of trespass,
arguing that the hotel violated article one of a treaty
made with the Sioux in 1868,
which means the hotel and its subsidiaries
and by extension Connie's ignorant ass
need to vacate the premises or be held liable.
With the Great Sioux Nation saying
it is willing to take measures to end racism in the area,
including boycotting Rapid City,
pressuring the city council to revoke business licenses,
filing hate crime charges against the owner of the hotel
and more.
But yeah, ultimately that is where we are
and I guess the main point of this story is one,
don't be stupid, stupid,
and two, not a great idea when you're going,
I can't tell who's one of the good ones, right.
That's an appropriate statement when you're talking about,
oh, which M&Ms do I want,
not when you're talking about races of people.
And then of course we need
to talk about major updates in Russia's war on Ukraine
as we come out of the weekend.
Starting off on the ground today,
we saw reports of large explosions in the capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian authorities saying
that Russian forces are continuing their efforts
to capture highways in important towns,
east and northwest of Kyiv.
And as part of this, they said that Ukraine
will close all its humanitarian corridors today
for safety reasons as Russia persists in
its shelling and bombing.
But also on the other side of this
you have Ukrainian officials
also claiming that counter offensives,
including those around the capital are making gains,
saying that Russian forces have been pushed out
of several towns, right?
And this comes with the spokesman
for Ukraine's Defense Ministry
said during a media briefing today that there is no evidence
that Russia is going to drop its effort to surround Kyiv
and as fighting continues on multiple fronts.
But this also happening at the same time
where you have intelligence from both Ukraine's military
and the Pentagon indicating
that the Kremlin may be shifting its efforts
to control the eastern Donbas region
that is partially controlled by Russian separatists,
and yesterday the head of Ukrainian intelligence
accused Russia trying to split the country into two
in order to create a North and South Korea in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Mariupol
which is located between the separatist region in Crimea,
Ukrainian forces are still fighting to prevent a takeover.
But the city's mayor saying,
"Ukrainians are still holding onto power."
And accusing the Russian military of committing genocide.
But, he also admitted that Russian forces are closing in
and said that the city needs a complete evacuation, right?
And those remarks come as defense analysts say
that Mariupol could fall to Russia in just a matter of days
with the UK Defense Ministry saying today
that Russia has gained most ground near Mariupol.
Even president Zelensky saying during an interview
with independent Russian journalists yesterday
that he had offered soldiers defending the city
the option to retreat but, they declined
because they didn't want to the abandon remaining civilians,
the dead and the wounded.
Zelensky also adding that Ukraine
was ready to make a compromise with Russia
on the Donbas region.
With that being just one
of several very significant potential pledges
that Zelensky indicated Ukraine could make
under a peace deal during that rare interview
which of course was censored in Russia.
This including that Ukraine could declare its neutrality
which would be a major diplomatic opening
over some context here, neutrality is a foreign policy
under which a country basically says it will remain neutral
or nonaligned in future wars
though, it still maintains the ability
to protect itself if attacked.
One of the most classic examples of this is Switzerland
though, of course there are others.
And while neutrality in practice varies
and it's unclear exactly how this would look in Ukraine,
experts largely agree would involve some kind of promise
in which Russia agrees to respect Ukraine's territory.
But, such an agreement
will also likely end Ukraine's attempts to join NATO.
Right and while Zelensky has basically
already given up on his NATO dreams,
a formal declaration of neutrality
would be absolutely massive because many experts believe
that Ukrainian neutrality is necessary to end this war.
But, Zelensky also said the question must be put
to a national referendum after Russian forces
have already withdrawn
and again, reiterated
that Ukraine will need certain security assurances
as part of any deal.
And all this coming as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators
are set to meet in Turkey today for more in-person talks.
And while you do have Zelensky expressing some optimism
Russians foreign minister minimize expectations
before the talks even began.
You have to wait to see what happens there.
But of course, there're other major pieces of news
that I wanna hit on here.
Like the US announcing
that it will send six Navy attack planes
and 240 troops to Germany.
This as Zelensky ramped up
his criticisms of Western nations,
calling on them to send more weapons
and impose even more sanctions.
We also saw the UN finding
in a new study published yesterday
that 1,119 civilians have been killed,
1,790 have been injured since the war began.
But, the agency has said
that the real numbers are likely considerably higher,
but, continued fighting has made confirmation difficult.
Similarly, Ukraine's prosecutor general has also said
her office is investigating 3085 war crimes committed
by Russian forces.
Meanwhile in Russia, we saw the notable news
that a Russian court is now ruled that people in the country
can use Facebook and Instagram
as long as they don't violate the country's laws
on the platform,
which is a kind of weird move
because the Kremlin designated Meta,
Facebook and Instagram's parent company
as an extremist organization which is a move maybe they made
because they saw the ban wasn't having the intended effect,
especially, as we saw protests continuing over the weekend
with other demonstrations taking place all over the world
at Zelenky's request.
But ultimately where I wanna end this coverage today is
to talk about president Biden making a remark on Saturday
that has stirred up a lot of trouble
because while delivering
a high stake speech in Warsaw, Poland,
we saw Biden say this of Putin.
- For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.
- Those words, which White House officials
have told reporters were unscripted
is very notable for a few reasons.
First, because they appear to push US, Russia relations
even further towards collapse.
And second, if taken literally at face value
they would signal a major reversal of the US policy
of not pushing for regime change.
And so with this you had the Biden administration
doing a ton of damage control,
trying to walk back the statement
with Secretary of State Anthony Lincoln saying,
"We do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia
or anywhere else for that matter.
In this case as in any case
it's up to the people of the country in question,
it's up to the Russian people."
That was also echoed by the US Ambassador to NATO,
who said in an interview, "The US does not have a policy
of regime change in Russia, full stop."
But still Biden's ad-lib was widely slammed
by many as being incendiary
and playing into Russia's hands.
This including criticisms from top Senate, Republicans
and French President Emmanuel Macron who said,
"I wouldn't use this kind of words,"
Adding that,
"If allies wanna cease fire we mustn't escalate,
neither with words nor with actions."
Though with this we've seen arguments being made
that Biden just matching the energy of a man
whose falsely calling for the denazification of Ukraine
while bombing Holocaust memorials.
Also, others making the completely different,
what about is in point that if Trump was president
he'd be saying crazy things the entire time
but, Trump's not president.
I think Donald Trump is a horrible psychopath
who wants the end of democracy in this country,
but that's a non-point, Biden is partisan,
his words and his remarks have weight.
So, whether you agree
or disagree with him saying those words, that's the truth.
Though notably here Biden did finally address
the backlash today saying that he stood by his remarks
and rejecting criticism that he misspoke.
Arguing that he was just expressing his personal outrage
about Putin being in power
and not a policy change, adding it's ridiculous.
"Nobody believes I was talking about taking down Putin,
nobody believes that."
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
As always thank you for watching
these daily dives in the news.
My name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.