- What's up you beautiful bastards?
This is Sean Evans.
I hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday,
you're watching the Philip DeFranco Show,
let's just jump right into it.
- Another Wednesday, another potential PDS host that
had to be fired, uh, Sean Evans.
How many jobs do you need?
That said, despite the unfortunate firing that you
just witnessed if you'd like to watch my brand new podcast
I did with Sean Evans you can check it out right now
over at YouTube.com/aconvowith, actually just uploaded it
before this video and it was a great time,
it's the second time Sean's been on.
I think it's always fun to interview with the
person that's usually doing the interview.
And I was happy we got to catch up since
he's doing Hot Ones, he's doing Hot Ones
the Game Show and so much more now.
But with that said, onto the show, buckle up,
hit that like button and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we're gonna talk about today
is this controversy, confusion, allegations,
all involving a situation that some people
have been referring to as Fyre Festival 2.0.
And that thing, that festival is called Lovers and Friends
which is scheduled to happen on May ninth in Los Angeles.
The reported headliners include Lauryn Hill,
Usher, Ludacris, Lil Jon, TLC.
Right, so kind of a nostalgic lineup,
especially for R&B and hiphop fans from the 90s and 2000s.
Also some of the other artists listed on the poster,
you got Nelly, Sean Paul, T-Pain, Megan Thee Stallion,
Ja Rule which I think was a red flag for a lot of people,
also Lil' Kim, Trina, Mase, Twista and more.
Notably with this we also Snoop Dogg promoting this show,
sharing the lineup on his Instagram telling fans
check out the upcoming presale and that is set to happen
tomorrow with tickets starting at 145 dollars and a
Super VIP package going up to 450 dollars.
And reportedly this is being put on by Golden Boys which is
behind huge festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach.
Now, when this was announced you saw a
ton of excitement for it, people excited by the artists,
already planning their trips and while you did have some
artists on the lineup like Usher and Lauryn Hill sharing
posts about it kind of confirming their involvement there
also appear to be some massive red flags as well.
Many pointing out that Megan Thee Stallion was already
booked for a festival in Washington, DC that same day.
You also had T-Pain set to be performing at a Miami festival
on May ninth as well and also on the website
for Dignity Health Sports Park which is
the venue for this festival Lovers and Friends
is not listed as an upcoming event.
And never a good sign, you also had other artists
seemingly denying that they were
part of Lovers and Friends Fest.
Lil' Kim sharing the lineup on her Instagram story
saying this is so fake, I am not a part of this.
Though, she has now since deleted that.
Someone on Trina's management team on Twitter appeared
to say that she was never contacted by a booking agent for
this and had to reach out to the festival via email.
Other artists were also commenting
on posts sharing the lineup.
Mase also seeming to say that he is not part of it,
writing best wishes on this show but
please take my name off this flyer.
Twista also saying ain't no deposit
hit my account for this show.
And you see a lot of people reading that that meant
he was not part and it caused a lot of confusion online.
All right, you got some acts sharing the event,
others denying involvement, some just not saying anything.
So all of this resulted to people just jumping
onto calling Lovers and Friends Fest fake,
saying that it seemed too good to be true the
whole time and thus the Fyre Festival comparison.
But as time has gone on it does seem like some of the
mix ups have gotten sorted out.
You had Twista later commented saying that he was
locked and loaded to play the hits.
With the other festival that had Megan Thee Stallion booked
Tweeting Meg is playing both, private jets are a thing.
But also some confusion there,
that Tweet has now been deleted as well.
We also saw Snoop Dogg addressing the situation
in a video on Instagram specifically addressing Lil' Kim.
- Lil' Kim, get at me on the DM so we can
get at you about this money.
We was talking to some of your peoples or we thought
we was talking to some of your peoples.
Get at me on the DM so we can try to get you this money,
see if you with this thing or not.
But as far as everybody else on this show, 100% confirmed.
- So I guess the main point of this
story is this all Lil' Kim's fault.
No, but I think the actual main takeaway
from this situation has yet to realized.
One, what is this going to do for the sales
because it is very possible this could be an
incredibly bad thing or an incredibly good thing.
It could be bad because when there's a lot of confusion,
there's a lot of doubt, that may result in lower
ticket sales but you also have to consider that today
compared to yesterday way more people are aware
that this festival is even a thing.
It's essentially free promotion, asterisk,
if people are kept in the loop,
they stayed up-to-date over the previous confusion and then
saw the resolution to the situation and that's kind of just
one among a few other things but with that said,
I would love to know your thoughts around this.
In general and more specifically,
do you think this will help or hurt sales?
And then back in the news we have George Zimmerman.
And Zimmerman is you don't remember,
he was the man that shot and killed 17 year old
Trayvon Martin in Florida back in 2012.
Now Zimmerman was arrested, he was charged with
second-degree murder and this case blew up,
igniting a massive debate all over the country.
Right, one one side you had people saying that Martin was an
unarmed black teenage and Zimmerman
had racially profiled him.
On the other side of this you had Zimmerman and others
saying that it wasn't about race,
arguing that Zimmerman was part of his
community's neighborhood watch,
that he saw someone that he thought was suspicious and in
court Zimmerman claimed that he acted in self-defense and he
was ultimately acquitted of all charges in 2013.
And since then we've seen a number of stories
of Zimmerman popping back in the news,
things like him auctioning off the gun that he actually used
to kill Trayvon Martin among other things.
Also, more recently we talked about this back in December,
he is suing Trayvon Martin's family and others
for 100 million dollars and in fact the
reason we're talking about him again
today is because of another lawsuit.
He is now reportedly suing Pete Buttigeig and
Elizabeth Warren for 265 million dollars claiming that they
quote, "defamed Zimmerman for political gain in misguided"
"and malicious attempts to bolster their standings amongst"
"African-American voters, all at Zimmerman's expense".
And specifically that lawsuit which was filed yesterday
argues that the two 2020 candidates defamed
Zimmerman in Tweets they posted on February fifth.
There we saw Buttigeig Tweet,
"Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today."
"How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us by"
"white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear?",
hashtag, black lives matter.
Warren also Tweeting that day,
"My heart goes out to @SybrinaFutton and Trayvon's"
"family and friends, he should still be with us today."
"We need to end gun violence and racism and we need to"
"build a world where all of our children"
"especially young black boys, can grow up safe and free.".
And so Zimmerman says that those
Tweets defamed him for a few reasons.
Arguing that those Tweets falsely represented
Trayvon's death as being a result of gun violence
which quote, "is generally understood in the public arena"
"to refer to the reckless and indiscriminate use of"
"illegally owned firearms that causes"
"the death of a random innocent victim.",
and saying that with Zimmerman he acted in
self-defense and that he had a registered legal weapon.
It also claims that the Tweets defamed Zimmerman because
they implied that he acted out of racism or white supremacy,
specifically here saying that Buttigieg's use
of white supremacy in his Tweet quote,
"defamed Zimmerman by claiming without any basis"
"whatsoever that the Hispanic minority advocate and Obama"
"supporter Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin"
"in cold blood due to his white supremacy.".
And he also made essentially the same argument for
Warren's use of the word racism with the lawsuit also
going on to say that Warren and Buttigeig's Tweets
implied that Zimmerman was directly responsible for
white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice,
fear and racism among other defamatory innuendos and
statements as explained above.
But ultimately that's where this story ends for now because
right now Buttigeig's and Warren's camps have not responded.
As of right now we're gonna have to wait
to see what happens from here but of course
I'd love to know your thoughts around this.
When you see this are you in the camp of
you're disgusted by Zimmerman or are in the camp of
you're happy that Buttigeig and Warren are being sued
or maybe you land somewhere in the middle,
why, why not, I'd love to know.
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And the first bit of awesome today is we have
Justin Bieber on Carpool Karaoke.
Then Pixar gave us outer space,
Bon Appétit gave us Andy learning how to cook Thai food and
a robotics expert breaking down
robot scenes from film and TV,
ABC Earth gave us top five tiger moments and if you want
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And then in news that really didn't matter but a lot
of people had a lot feelings on it,
let's talk about Tyler Ninja Blevins.
In the past 24 hours kind of in the crosshairs and this
because one of the most recognized professional
gamers Tweeted, "The phrase, it's just a game"
"is such a weak mindset."
"You are okay with what happened, losing,"
"imperfection of a craft."
"When you stop getting angry"
"after losing, you've lost twice."
"There's always something to learn,"
"and always room for improvement, never settle.".
And following that, a number of people kind of joking
about how intense this thing seemed to be.
Fellow creator KSI Tweeting, "You're gonna be a scary dad.".
Lil Nas X Tweeting and saying,
"Me playing Papas Pizzeria on Coolmath.".
Though it also appeared that some people did have a genuine
problem with it saying that he was essentially telling young
kids to keep playing until you win or you're a failure.
Another creator by the name of Ohnwrecker Tweeting,
"I disagree completely, you don't have to a sore/salty"
"loser and get all toxic to learn from a loss."
"I feel strongly losing helps you get better,"
"especially in competitive games."
"Anyone doing anything competitive should find value"
"in a loss but don't need anger to benefit.".
And adding, "Suggesting that anyone that actually"
"manages their emotions after facing a loss,"
"losing twice, is really weak."
"It feels like you're stretching to justify"
"your own internal challenges?"
"I don't know where this is coming"
"from but everyone reacts differently.".
But there was also obviously, I mean,
if you just look at the Tweet there are known people
that support it or at the very least they liked the
general idea, thought that he could have worded it better.
As far as my opinion on this I don't
really think it's that deep.
I think in general that's because a number of people
don't see eye-to-eye here regarding what anger looks like.
When you talk about anger and you talk about a gamer
you're probably thinking about someone
destroying a keyboard or a controller,
so the way that I personally take it right,
he's obviously talking about it's
just a game because he is a gamer.
For him it's someone minimizing this thing that
he's invested his entire life and his focus and his being
into and so he takes it incredibly serious and he uses anger
to fuel him which if you watched me over the past decade
that's actually a think that I've noted several times,
I feel like I am where I am today
in large part thanks to my anger.
But that's because I've taken the energy right,
that negative energy it is a powerful fuel and I converted
it into something positive, a drive to do better,
to fix mistakes, things like that, right.
So to bring it back to the world of gaming if gaming
is the thing that you want to be your future,
it's the thing you take the most serious in the world
you would hopefully convert that energy into more
practice time or researching strats rather than
I don't know, saying I fucked your mother,
of course and old COD classic.
But I also think it's important to note that
what works for him is not for everyone else.
To go back to that other creator,
I think it is not a loss if you're not always
kind of all up in your feelings when you lose and I agree
that losing is a very important part of the process,
that's where you learn the most.
Right, so I guess if I can have a final thought on this,
otherwise kind of nothing story
that blew up and turned into something.
And I'll try and say this in a way that's less stupid,
empty, inspirational, Instagram, influencer person
sort of thing, embrace the losses that you
have in life and milk them for every bit of value they have.
If it's anger, convert it into positive motivation.
You don't make your building higher
by blowing up other people's and or knowledge.
What did you do that resulted in your failure?
What did others do that locked up their win?
How can you advance moving forward?
And also understand you get
to choose where this is applicable.
If gaming is not that serious for you, doesn't need to be.
If it's for something else like a sport, okay great.
Different people, different things,
different motivations, who gives a damn.
That's where we're ending this story on,
hopefully it's a positive.
And then let's talk about China where glorious leader is
doing a fantastic job and there's nothing to see here.
(upbeat music)
No, but what we're gonna be talking about today is China,
the Coronavirus and more specifically the
suppression of information or just opinion.
And so the story actually begins a couple of weeks ago.
Back on February third the Wall Street Journal published
an Op Ad titled China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia.
And that article which is largely about
the Chinese governments response to the
Coronavirus outbreak begins with this.
The mighty Chinese juggernaut has been humbled this week,
apparently by a species-hopping bat virus.
While Chinese authorities struggle to control the
epidemic and restart their economy,
a world has grown accustomed to contemplating China's
inexorable rise was reminded that nothing,
not even Beijing's power, can be taken for granted.
The article then goes on to call China's initial response
less than impressive, insulting Wuhan's response by
calling it secretive and self-serving.
And saying that while the national government
responded vigorously it's response has also been
seemingly ineffective at stopping the virus.
It then goes on to say that the performance
to date has shaken confidence in the
Chinese Communist Party at home and abroad.
Towards the end of the article it actually says
that China's power, impressive as it is, remains brittle.
It's rather unsurprisingly that article
did not go over very well in China.
No one's ever said hey,
China seems really open to criticism.
So part of the response we saw from China is that
China's foreign ministry revoked the press credentials
of three Wall Street Journal reporters and now have five
days to leave the country and notably here those reporters
that China's kicking out didn't even write the piece.
It wasn't just that they did not write it,
they actually had nothing to do
with it that article whatsoever.
As far as the specific reasons as to why
China was offended by this, I mean,
a lot of this even just starts at the title.
Right, China is the real sick man of Asia.
Right here you got a Foreign Ministry spokesperson
saying the Chinese people do not welcome media that publish
racist statements and maliciously attacks China.
Which I should note because I wasn't even aware
of this until I started doing this story, sick man of Asia
actually carries a lot of historical meaning in China.
It was used back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
to describe internal conflict within the Chinese government.
That led to a weakened government and because of that
China was then forced to sign a number of
unequal treaties with imperial powers such as Japan.
Right, so the Communist Party is arguing
that the headline harkens back to that.
And to kind of drive the point home on just
how hated this phrase is in China,
there's actually this Bruce Lee movie called Fist of Fury,
it talks a lot about Japanese Imperialsm in China and in
one scene Bruce Lee actually smashes and rips up
a sign carrying the phrase sick man of Asia.
And also, regarding the racism note it's not
just the government hitting on this,
you also have a number of Chinese people
doubling down on these claims of racism.
Those people saying that the term sick man
also makes them sound disease-ridden and unclean.
I mean, just looking at the comments under
the article on the Wall Street Journal.
A few people saying things like this article
will further encourage racism and discriminatory
behavior towards all Chinese and possibly all
east Asians in the United States or outside the country.
Another saying content is not necessarily
all wrong but definitely a bit salty, but I get it.
However, I must say that the title is
quite misleading, if not utterly offensive.
Now, following all of this we've seen William Lewis
the Wall Street Journal's publisher releasing a statement.
With Lewis saying, "We are deeply disappointed with today's"
"announcement from China Ministry of Foreign Affairs"
"to expel three Wall Street Journal news reporters."
"This opinion piece was published independently"
"from WSJ newsroom and none of the journalists"
"being expelled had any involvement with it."
Lewis then continuing by saying that the Journal
enforces a complete separation between its news and opinion
departments and noting that the opinion department
regularly publishes pieces that people
both agree and disagree with but also adding,
"However, this has clearly caused upset and concern"
"amongst Chinese people, which we regret.".
With Lewis then finishing up by asking China's Foreign
Ministry to reinstate Visas for those three reporters.
Also, Walter Russell Mead the columnist who
wrote the article said of his Twitter,
"A word to my new Chinese followers:"
"at American newspapers, writers typically do NOT"
"write or approve the headlines."
"Argue with the writer about the article content,"
"with the editors about the headlines.".
Also, it should be noted that there's another
part to this story that I want to touch on.
It's kind of connected, kind of not.
Yesterday we saw the U.S. State Department
label five meter state run media
outlets as government operatives.
Those five outlets being Xin Hua, CGTN,
China Radio, China Daily and the People's Daily.
And while speaking with the reporters and unnamed
State Department official told them quote,
"There is no dispute that all five of these entities"
"are part of the Chinese party-state"
"propaganda news apparatus and they"
"take their orders directly from the top."
"We all know these guys have been state-controlled forever,"
"but that control has gotten stronger over time,"
"and it's far more aggressive.".
As of now, employees of those agencies will be
required by the State Department to register
as consular staff, though the United States noted
that it will not curtail the reporting activities.
Now ultimately, that's where we are right now.
As far as what happens next, right,
will those three be reinstated?
I could be wrong but I personally doubt it,
I think China is kind of maybe happy
that they have a reason to kick those three out.
Notably, as the Wall Street Journal itself pointed out,
All three have reported on the Chinese Communist Party's
mass surveillance and detention of Uighur Muslims.
Right, so they were likely already not fans.
I mean hell, back in 2018 a Buzzfeed reporter
had her Visa revoked after publishing a number
of stories on the Uighur Muslims and internment camps.
Yeah, ultimately that's where we are right now.
I mean, to me this largely appears like a piece
that is critical of the Chinese government
being undone by its title which turns out is
offensive to Chinese people, which I believe the Chinese
government was more than happy to grab onto to do things
that otherwise they may not have been able to do.
Especially since the actual content in the article
was more about Beijing being weak, right,
questioning their power, questioning their actions
regarding the Coronavirus and somehow that
results in the expulsion of three reporters
not connected to that article but connected
to articles about Uighur Muslims.
Yeah, that's where I'll leave that one today and of course
I pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts there?
And that is where I'm going to end today's show.
And remember, of you like this video hit that like button,
if you're new here, subscribe, also if you're looking
for more to watch you can check out that
brand new podcast I did with Sean Evans or maybe you
just missed the last Philip DeFranco show,
you want to catch up, you can click or tap right there
to watch either of those right now.
But with that said of course as always,
my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in,
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.
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