- The truth about iDubbz, Creator Clash 2,
and the fight he offered me;
breaking down the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster dumpster fire
hearings today;
the real reason eggs are so dang expensive right now;
my response to the M&M's controversy;
more horrible news out of California we have to talk about.
We've got all of that and so much more
on today's brand new "Philip DeFranco Show".
So buckle up, hit that like button,
and let's just jump into it.
This announcement today has me more excited
than I've been in a while.
iDubbz and Anisa's Creator Clash
just announced Creator Clash 2.
They showed the full card,
it's happening in April, and it's amazing.
And this is how I want all the creator boxing events:
all creators.
Like, it was interesting at first,
but I'm not buying Jake Paul pay-per views.
And the events that KSI are doing, I think,
are actually much more interesting,
though I really would like to see him fight someone
where it was like it seems somewhat evenly matched.
Like when he and Logan fought,
it feels like he's just been kind of doing cake walks
and I mean that with no disrespect.
I couldn't do that.
But Creator Clash is set up like the old school ones.
It's a bunch of creators and you have literally no idea
who's gonna do what.
And there are a number of friends of this show
actually on this card.
Right, so here's the full setup,
and let's talk about some of the individual ones.
Dad versus Starkilla.
That's gonna be interesting.
AB seems allergic to the idea
of trying to take on an easy fight.
Myth versus Hundar, Mika versus Alanah Pearce.
Alanah, if you win, I'll get you a thousand nuggets.
Only three people know that reference.
Arin Hanson versus Jarvis Johnson,
Leonhart versus Crank Gameplays,
Marisha Ray going from D&D to you versus me.
Harley in there looking jacked.
I wonder if he's gonna lie about his weight this time.
And there's more,
but the main event is Alex Wasabi versus iDubbz,
which I say you this with no disrespect
'cause this event is supposed to be about good vibes,
but my money is on iDubbz.
The fact that he was able
to stand toe to toe with Doctor Mike
after really only taking up the sport somewhat recently.
With that size difference,
I think he's gonna show off here,
and I'm willing to put money on that.
Also, with this announcement,
I have gotten a number of people saying,
"Phil, why are you not on this card?"
which I would say two things here.
The first being, I've been very clear
about the only two people that I would be willing to box,
Ethan Klein or Belle Delphine,
because I feel like I have an equal chance
against both of them.
And two, despite making this very clear, publicly,
Ian actually did offer me a fight.
I don't wanna blow up his spot,
so I'm texting him right now
to see if he's okay with me publicly mentioning this.
But he asked if I would be willing
to fight Logan Paul's dad,
which is easily the weirdest thing
I've been asked in 10 years
and is the epitome of a lose-lose.
That is a person that will either kill me in the ring
or, if I somehow won, kill me after.
Because let me be clear, I may have lost weight,
but that hasn't turned into strength yet.
I'm not even a month into weight training.
I got like these baby muscles.
And I may be the least coordinated person on the planet.
So no to that fight
and 99% of the fights that would be offered.
My superpower in life is knowing where I'm not good
and/or I'm outmatched.
But that said, I cannot wait for Creator Clash 2.
And for those that are looking forward to this,
which fight are you looking most forward to?
And then, there's not much
that Democrats and Republicans can actually agree on,
but one thing they did agree on today
is "Fuck, Ticketmaster,"
and that's how you really know you messed up.
'Cause you could ask Congress like, "What color is the sky?"
And Democrats would say, "Well, it looks blue."
And Marjorie Taylor Greene would say,
"It's deep state lizard people green,
and it was made that way by Jewish space lasers!"
You know what centrist would call
equally reasonable answers.
But this Ticketmaster news did get a lot of attention today,
because today there was a senate hearing
into Live Nation and Ticketmaster
following the absolute disaster
that was the pre-sale for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
Right, you might remember we talked about this,
site was crashing, bots were grabbing seats,
ticket prices were surging,
sales were getting delayed, getting canceled.
Anything and everything that could go wrong did.
And with this, Ticketmaster has largely blamed bot attacks
coupled with unprecedented demand.
Also, at one point, seemingly suggesting
it was because Taylor had gone too long without touring.
We had tons of people rejecting this explanation,
saying Ticketmaster needs to take more blame here.
This including Senator Richard Blumenthal
who said during today's hearing...
- May I suggest, respectfully,
that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror
and say, "I'm the problem. It's me."
- Richard, why?
I'm gonna pull a muscle roll in my eyes this hard.
Although, in his defense though,
the whole hearing was full of senators
speaking Taylor Swift lyrics into their statements.
And this may have actually been the least cringey one.
- To be honest, I had hoped, as of a few months ago,
to get the gavel back.
But once again,
she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers.
- You can't have too much consolidation.
Something that, unfortunately for this country,
as a ode to Taylor Swift I will say,
we know all too well.
- A lot of people seem to think that somehow a solution.
I think it's a nightmare dressed like a daydream.
- But going back to what's going on here,
a lot of this whole thing
is dealing with entertainment promoter, Live Nation,
Ticketmaster's parent company.
Right, because the two companies merged back in 2010
and now leaders think that deal needs to be reexamined.
With that also being something
SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger touched on
while speaking at the hearing today.
- Number one, a lack of robust competition in our industry
meaningfully stunts innovation,
and consumers are who suffer.
Number two, venues fear losing Live Nation concerts
if they don't use Ticketmaster.
And number three,
the only way to restore competition in this industry
is to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
- And some reports are saying that today's hearing
could actually give the Justice Department
a huge chunk of political support
for an antitrust suit against Live Nation.
But as far as what else was said during today's hearing,
you had Live Nation CFO Joe Berchtold
directly addressing the Taylor Swift issues,
predictably placing blame on the bots.
- We knew bots would attack that on sale
and planned that accordingly.
We were then hit with three times the amount of bot traffic
that we'd ever experienced.
The attack requires to slow down and even pause our sales.
This is what led to a terrible consumer experience,
which we deeply regret.
We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Ms. Swift.
We need to do better, and we will do better.
- And adding that in hindsight,
there were a number of things
that they could have done better.
To which one of my writers, Maddie,
who was in those Taylor Swift trenches,
responded, "No fucking shit, you think?"
But regarding their bot defense,
you had Jerry Mickelson, the CEO of Jam Productions,
dismissing Ticketmaster there,
saying, "You can't blame bots
for what happened to Taylor Swift.
There's more to that story that you're not hearing,"
and then explaining how Ticketmaster actually benefits
from its own technical failures.
- The process, when it's slowed down,
increases the money that Ticketmaster makes
because they make money on fees.
And as the ticket prices go up
due to dynamically priced tickets,
Ticketmaster makes more to that.
So it was to their advantage to slow the process down.
- Right, saying that it creates a frenzy
that allows prices to skyrocket,
which is what happened during the Taylor Swift sale.
Senator Marsha Blackburn,
also not buying the whole bot argument,
pointing to the many companies and other massive industries
who also deal with bots and saying...
- You know what, they get bot attacks every single day
by the thousands.
By the thousands.
And they have figured it out, but you guys haven't?
This is unbelievable.
- Also, Senator Amy Klobuchar taking aim at other problems,
including a lack of transparency in ticket prices
and also slamming how unaffordable live events have become.
- Now I don't think it's very easy
for high school kids to make their money
at Baker Square pie shop on the weekends
and buy tickets to these major concerts.
- With a hearing going on for roughly three hours.
So obviously I'm not gonna share everything,
but I will link you to the full thing down below.
Warning, there are moments of cringe.
With that, I would love to know your thoughts
regarding Ticketmaster in this whole mess.
And then, and possibly the most important news today,
M&M's had to release... (laughing)
M&M's had to release an official statement--
this is not a joke, they actually did this--
writing, "America, let's talk.
In the last year,
we've made some changes to our beloved spokescandies.
We weren't sure if anyone would even notice.
And we definitely didn't think it would break the internet.
But now we get it-- even a candy's shoes can be polarizing.
Which was the last thing M&M's wanted
since we're all about bringing people together.
Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause
from the spokescandies.
In their place, we are proud to introduce
a spokesperson America can agree on,
the beloved Maya Rudolph.
We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun
to create a world where everyone feels they belong."
Now if you're like,
"Phil, I'm behind
on my candies related political news coverage,
what's going on?"
Well, a lot of it kind of kicked off
back when they made the Green M&M
not have those big boots anymore.
Like, I don't know if you remember this,
there was a time where for some reason
the Green M&M was, like, on a stripper pole
and, like, unzipping her green shell,
'cause you know, "melt in your mouth and not in your hand,"
was not a good enough innuendo for them.
And actually in response to all of that,
we saw a number of people,
including Fox News's Tucker Carlson,
essentially like, "Why'd you make the candies less sexy?"
And then around two weeks ago,
M&M's revealed new packaging,
like this one here, showing three lady M&M's,
they're upside down.
It says, "Supporting women flipping the status quo".
And initially, I didn't even know
if this was like a real change they were doing,
and that's because there were like several other images
of packaging going around that were actually fake,
things like packaging that read "Them&M's"
And while people like myself
just kind of didn't care they were doing this change,
it's like, "Whatever. You're a candy company.
It feels kind of like you're just kind of grabbing for cash,
but whatever."
But again, this move seemed to break
a number of people's brains,
including Tucker Carlson, again.
- Woke M&M's have returned.
The Green M&M got her boots back,
but, apparently, is now a lesbian maybe.
And there's also a plus-sized obese Purple M&M.
So we're gonna cover that, of course.
(Phil laughing)
- Of course.
Also, I don't know, is the M&M obese or just a peanut M&M?
It's times like this
that you can't really ignore or convince yourself
that we don't live in the dumbest of times.
But I will say, from a marketing standpoint,
I am interested.
Right, some are taking this news at face value.
They're saying, "Hey, look, this is M&M"s realizing,
'Hey, we should stay away from social issues
and just be kind of funny.'"
But then you have others saying,
"Hey, look at the timing here.
This could be a marketing misdirect
for some big Super Bowl ad,
an ad that might make fun of people
who are up in arms around these changes."
Now, as far as what the truth is, I don't know.
But I also don't think I actually care
because the core of this story is a candy company saying,
"Hey, should we put social issues in our marketing?
Will that make us more money?"
And then, yeah, it is funny to see people's brains explode
with something that's so stupid.
Yeah, ultimately the time will tell
what the reality of this whole situation is.
And then if you haven't noticed,
cologne and perfume bottles are expensive.
Like, who's spending 200 plus dollars
to get bored to the scent a week later?
Well, that is where Scentbird comes in.
Scentbird is a monthly subscription
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I'm Italian, this is how I do it.
(Philip laughing)
I know what you're thinking.
Yeah, one more.
Right, it's a great date night scent.
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Check out the links below.
And then this is how people
are flexing on Instagram right now
because, y'all, eggs is expensive!
I went to Gelson's last week.
I wanted to make breakfast for the kids,
forgot I didn't have eggs.
I got an 18 count of eggs. That is it.
Got to the register and they said,
"That will be 13.79, please."
I thought it was on an Erewhon for a second,
or is it Ere-wan?
I don't know. Hate that place, it's so pretentious.
It's like, "Hey, is Whole Foods too affordable for you?"
But also even outside the bubble that is LA,
eggs are fucking expensive right now,
with it being common to see prices as high as $4.25 a dozen,
which is over 130% higher than a year ago.
Right, and as far as why according to the USDA,
the cause of this is because of the avian flu outbreak
that killed tens of millions of hens.
However, a farm advocacy group, Farm Action,
says that's not the whole story.
This isn't just the avian flu.
And in a letter to the chair
of the Federal Trade Commission,
Farm Action urged the FTC to investigate these egg prices,
claiming that the egg producers
are using the avian flu outbreak as an excuse
to fix and gouge prices and boost their profits.
And pointing to the record sales of Cal-Maine Foods,
the leading producer in the industry,
which controls 20% of the retail egg market,
and Reuters reporting that Cal-Maine
reported their gross profits were up by, get ready for it,
600% from the same quarter last year,
and that's in a filing with the SEC.
So Farm Action is claiming,
quote, "Cal-Maine's willingness
to increase its prices and profit margins
to such unprecedented levels suggests foul play."
Which I'm hoping there were some dads on that team
writing that, they were like, "That's a good one."
But Cal-Maine and others are calling hogwash
on Farm Action's accusations,
with Cal-Maine saying that their profits
are due to the fewer eggs nationwide driving up prices,
not deliberate price gouging.
And their VP and CFO saying the U.S. egg market
is, quote, "intensely competitive and highly volatile
even under normal circumstances."
You know, with that,
there is a Forbes report seeming to back that up,
saying that the cost of eggs in this crisis
is not caused by corporate greed,
instead saying, "The true drivers are, one, the avian flu;
two, the built-in delays
in restoring supply/demand equilibrium
to a multi-disrupted industry;
and three, perhaps, over a longer term,
the gradual adoption of more humane egg production methods
with somewhat higher costs."
The Farm Action is standing firm with their accusations
saying in their letter to the FTC,
"In the end, what Cal-Maine Foods
and the other large egg producers did last year--
and seem to be intent on doing again this year--
is extort billions of dollars
from the pockets of ordinary Americans
through what amounts to a tax on a staple we all need: eggs.
And saying, "They did so
without any legitimate business justification.
They did so because there is no reasonable substitute
for a carton of eggs.
They did so because they had the power
and weren't afraid to use it."
While the FTC has yet to comment on the situation,
citing their policy about letters from third parties,
there may actually be hope on the horizon
with an expert telling CNBC that wholesale eggs
are down to $3.40 a dozen,
which, hey, isn't much cheaper
and it'll still take some time
to see the prices change on the shelves,
but at least it's something.
So for now, we have to wait to see what happens.
And of course I'll ask you,
what are your thoughts regarding the situation?
And then, is the NYPD spying on New Yorkers?
That's a question that many were asking
after an officer was seen holding a phone,
recording video of people leaving Drake's concert
at the Apollo on Saturday.
With the journalist at the event filming the officer,
posting it to Twitter, and boom, big reaction.
People asking, "Why would they be doing this?"
Wondering if the same thing happens
outside of a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden.
People sounding off saying, "This doesn't look like safety.
It looks like unjustified surveillance.
And as with no crime taking place here,
what is the NYPD doing with the footage?"
You also had the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
condemning the NYPD and releasing a statement
saying that "The NYPD's use of video recording device
on hip hop fans at a historic institution
of black performance in Harlem is highly concerning."
And saying, "This is yet another example
of the NYPD's racist use of surveillance technology
following the department's long legacy
of targeting rap concerts."
In closing, "We're deeply concerned
facial recognition technology may have been involved
and demand the department destroy any footage it took."
And saying, "The NYPD surveilling rap concerts,
it dates back to the '90s."
But in response to this,
the NYPD has since denied
that anything nefarious was happening
and releasing a statement claiming the officer
was just part of a social media team
and was gathering video for a post about local events,
and saying, "The video will not be utilized
for any other reason."
New York Mayor Eric Adams also defending the police
saying, "That was a safe event, it was a large event,
Drake back at the Apollo, and we want that."
And adding, "We want our police and community involved,
and those who are naysayers find reason to complain
about everything, no matter what you do.
And then it's been eight months
since Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO
and the standoff with Turkey is still going on.
Right, Turkey initially blocking
their membership bid into the alliance
due to the nations giving members of the PKK asylum.
But the three nations cut a deal
where they agreed to work out their differences.
And for the most part,
Finland has done everything it's needed to join.
Turkey's objection to them
is really just by association to Sweden.
And with those two,
I mean, it's been one thing after another.
Turkey wanted Sweden to extradite journalists,
but Sweden refused.
Then two weeks ago,
Swedish protestors hung an effigy of Erdogan,
and last weekend, they burned a Quran
in front of the Turkish embassy.
So now Turkey says that because of that,
they will not admit Sweden.
And to be clear, this is strange
because it's Erdogan trying to intervene
in Sweden's domestic affairs in a pretty cynical way.
But this now has Finland openly saying
it may have to join NATO without Sweden.
Now in actuality though,
is this dispute truly about the PKK
or the burning of the Quran?
Well there, there are disagreements here,
because it's generally believed
that Erdogan's just pulling an election stunt
and delaying admitting Sweden until after his May elections.
And it's also believed that he's trying to leverage the U.S.
into being a better ally to Turkey.
But the U.S. is leveraged back
by more or less threatening to not give Turkey
the 70 F-16s they ordered
until they admit Sweden and Finland into NATO.
But a lot of this is conjecture
and no one can truly know what's going on
in the mind of Erdogan.
And then, y'all,
there were two more mass shootings in California
since we covered the Monterey Park attack yesterday.
The first shooting happened in Half Moon Bay,
a small coastal town about 30 miles out of San Francisco,
where a gunman killed seven
and critically injured an eighth at two different locations.
As far as what we officially know, according to authorities,
police were dispatched to the first location around 2:20 PM
and found four people shot to death
and a fifth victim also suffering gunshot wounds.
But shortly after, three more people found dead
at another location nearby.
And then about two hours later,
police located the suspect in his car in the parking lot
of a San Mateo County Sheriff's office substation
with a semi-automatic handgun in the vehicle
that officials later confirmed he had purchased legally.
With Sheriff Christina Corpus
saying the man was taken into custody without incident
and is fully cooperating.
And as far as what we know about the shooter,
he has been identified
as a Half Moon Bay resident of Asian descent,
police initially saying he was 67 years old,
but in remarks today Corpus said he was 66.
And while right now the motive is unknown,
the sheriff told reporters yesterday
that both of the locations that he targeted were nurseries,
and it's since been reported
that specifically they were mushroom farms.
And Corpus saying during a press conference this morning,
"All evidence we have points to this being an instance
of workplace violence.
The Mountain Mushroom Farm, the first location,
is where the subject was employed."
Though adding, "So far, the only known connection
between the victims and the suspect
is that they may have been coworkers."
And as recording,
it remains unclear why he targeted the second location.
Though regarding that,
a mushroom farm called Concord Farm has told reporters
that it was the site of the second shooting,
which a law enforcement official also confirmed
to the Washington Post.
And in a statement to the media,
a spokesperson said the farm
had no past knowledge of the alleged gunman
or his possible motives.
And as far as the victims,
as recording, little has been released about them.
Though Corpus, today, did say they were all adults
and a mixture of Asian and Hispanics descent,
some of whom were migrants.
Authorities also previously saying,
because people both live and work on the farms,
children were among those who witnessed the shooting.
But then, this morning,
one official walked that back,
saying that while children were in the vicinity,
they don't have information about specific witnesses.
But regardless, this shooting,
especially on the heels of the Monterey Park attack,
has further devastated the Asian American community
at a time when many are still celebrating
the Lunar New Year.
Meanwhile, also just Californians, in general,
are reeling from all of these attacks.
Because as I mentioned earlier,
this wasn't the only mass shooting just yesterday.
Right, just hours after the violence in Half Moon Bay,
seven people were injured and one other was killed
during a shooting at a gas station in Oakland,
with currently very little having been reported
about the whole incident,
but police say that the shooting
was between several individuals.
And also, with this,
right, the fact that all these shootings
have taken place in California is very significant
because California is known for its strict gun laws.
In fact, the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety
ranks California number one in the country
for gun law strength.
And so with this, you have many top leaders from California
arguing this proves the need for more federal regulations.
This including Governor Gavin Newsom
who told CBS News in an interview,
"The Second Amendment's become a suicide pact.
We'll continue to find whatever loopholes we can
and continue to lead the national conversation
on gun safety reform.
And the data bears out. It works. it saves lives.
California's 37% lower than the death rate
of the rest of the nation,
and yet, with all that evidence,
no one on the other side seems to give a damn.
I can't get anything done in Congress."
And to that point, after the Monterey Park shooting,
we saw California Senator Dianne Feinstein,
along with some other Democratic colleagues
introducing two gun control bills.
With President Biden,
also putting his support behind the measures,
urging Congress to pass them.
But also, I really don't see that happening,
not only because Republicans control the house,
but also this is something
that Biden was unsuccessfully pushing for
even when the Democrats held the house.
And honestly, I really don't see this changing anytime soon
because you do have to have some sort of federal law.
Right, liberal states can keep implementing gun control laws
as much as they want,
but when you have other states not doing a thing
or even trying to roll back the current laws,
and that even goes as far as the Supreme Court,
which we recently saw ruling against gun control efforts
in New York.
But there is some good news here.
It's now being reported
that the government does have a surplus
of thoughts and prayers
to protect those in future incidents.
And that brings us to the end of today's show.
And when you leave a comment
on one of the news stories that mattered most to you,
I just wanna say thank you for liking, watching,
being subscribed to these daily dives into the news.
If you missed it,
you should click to watch yesterday's show here
or check out today's brand new bonus video.
But, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love your faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.