- Sup, you beautiful bastards?
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show,
and to start off with something awesome,
if you're not subscribed already
definitely hit that button because over the month of August
I'll be giving $10,000 split out
across 10 random beautiful bastards
who are subscribed to this channel.
But with that said, buckle up, hit that like button,
and let's just jump into the news.
You know, first up today, remember this?
- Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth?
- With that Shakespearean statement of course
being Will Smith's follow up to slapping Chris Rock
on live television for making fun of his wife,
and then Will Smith just minutes later
winning the Best Actor award,
and all that sent the internet into a frenzy.
Will issued an apology, resigned from the Academy.
The Academy hit him with a 10-year ban
from attending the show.
But for the most part, that's where it ended.
Will Smith kind of disappeared for several months.
Chris Rock kind of talked about it a little bit,
but he was like, I'll talk it more on it later.
And now the reason that we're talking about this
is that Will Smith has returned to the spotlight
to address a few questions.
And so of course I watched the whole thing
so you don't have to.
Among other things,
he claimed that he has reached out to Chris Rock,
but Chris has said that he's not ready to talk it out yet,
but adding:
- I apologize to you.
My behavior was unacceptable,
and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk.
There is no part of me that thinks
that was the right way to behave in that moment.
- Also regarding his wife,
'cause a lot of people have put blame on her,
Will said that Jada had no influence
on his choice to slap Chris,
that that was something that he did on his own.
That was not her doing.
Also, later apologizing to his family
for dragging them into this,
as well as Chris's family,
saying he didn't realize how many people he hurt
with his actions,
saying that after all of this
he's been doing a lot of work and thinking
to try and improve himself
so he can put joy into the world.
Since that video's been uploaded,
it's been viewed millions and millions of times.
Some mixed reactions.
As far as the negative stuff, you had people thinking
the whole thing seemed too staged to be authentic.
Some going as far to call him out
for having a bottle of JUST Water next to him,
which is his son Jayden's company,
with a number of people there accusing will
of using the apology video as an opportunity to promote it.
As well as Variety putting out a piece
saying the video botched his image rehab,
saying there might as well have been a gun
pointed at him off screen,
considering the production comes across
as forced as a hostage video.
But of course at the same time,
there are many, many people
who were supportive of Will Smith,
with there really being kind of a range of support.
Some just happy he was addressing the situation,
apologizing to Chris directly,
all the way to a number of fans saying
you don't have anything to apologize for.
But for me, as far as the reactions from everyone else,
I think it kind of doesn't matter.
The only person it really matters to should be Chris Rock.
Like I'm a fan of Will Smith,
and when he slapped Chris Rock,
I was like, "What the fuck is that?"
That's insane.
But he didn't slap me.
Like he doesn't, that's not my apology to accept.
Which of course is why there's been so much focus
on Chris Rock.
Like what does he have to say?
And for the most part, we kind of just get snippets
of things that he says from shows, right?
For example, he did a show in Atlanta
where reportedly he referenced the whole slap ordeal,
saying, "Everybody is trying to be a fucking victim,"
but adding, "If everyone claims to be a victim,
then nobody will hear the real victims.
Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith,
I went to work the next day.
I got kids."
With Chris reportedly later adding,
"Anyone who says words hurt
has never been punched in the face."
And so now we're gonna have to wait
to see what happens,
but here's what I'll say.
Here's how I wanna close this story.
I think that Will Smith was in the wrong
for slapping Chris Rock.
But I also think some of you people
who are angry at Will Smith need to calm the fuck down.
Some of y'all are out here acting
like he slapped your mama and planned 9/11.
But at the same time, Will Smith is not the victim here.
He's a grown ass man who, on live television,
assaulted another person,
and he's just dealing with the consequences
which by the way, not that fucking much.
I got a feeling that
if you or I slap some motherfucker on live television,
we're going to jail,
which is why now with this,
we're months separated from when this happened,
maybe tempers are down.
What are your thoughts on this situation
and everything we've seen since?
And then we've gotta talk about what's being called
a pretty massive advancement for medicine
with conjoined twins who shared a brain
being successfully separated this weekend.
And that officially makes Bernardo and Arthur Lima
the oldest craniopagus twins,
which is fancy medical talk for attached at the head,
to be successfully operated on.
The procedure was carried out by Dr. Jeelani
and his Gemini Untwined charity
which help poor families pay for procedures like this.
Part of the reason the operation is considered
a jump for medicine is because
the team of doctors involved used 3D imaging
and VR to practice the surgery ahead of time,
which is something they found to be absolutely invaluable,
because there had actually been past attempts
to separate the twins that left considerable scar tissue,
and many thought that it was impossible.
And I really don't wanna undersell
what a massive feat this is.
For this series of operations,
the boys underwent seven surgeries totalling over 33 hours,
with the last surgery alone taking over 27 hours
and involving a team of over 100,
with Jeelani himself only taking
four 15-minute breaks for food and water,
though to reiterate, so many people were involved,
with Dr. J praising the operating team
in Rio de Janeiro, saying,
"This is a remarkable achievement by the team in Rio
and a fantastic example of why the work
of Gemini Untwined is so valuable.
Not only have we provided a new future
for the boys and their families,
we have equipped the local team with the capabilities
and confidence to undertake such complex work
successfully again in the future."
And also urging the public to donate to Gemini Untwined
which relies on public donations to fund these procedures.
And so if you wanna help out there,
I'm gonna link to Gemini Untwined down below.
And then we need to take a look
at this massive wave of backlash
against Taylor Swift right now over her carbon footprint.
Let me explain.
So this stems from a report released by Yard
looking at the CO2 emissions released
by private jets of celebrities.
It seems like there was an intense focus
on this topic because of Kylie Jenner.
People were like, she was in the air for mere minutes.
She's taken her jet on, like, grocery runs.
She is the absolute worst, but it turns out she's not.
Right, among the things released in this report,
it notes that air travel is always
the least environmentally friendly way
to get from Point A to Point B.
A private jet being even worse
because they result in more emissions per passenger.
And so using data from the Celebrity Jet's Twitter account,
which exploded in popularity
after a team began tracking Elon Musk's jet use,
they looked at which stars had the highest emissions,
and Kylie Jenner wasn't even in the top 10.
Instead you had the likes of Oprah, Kim Kardashian,
Jay-Z, Floyd Mayweather,
but at the number one spot, you had Taylor Swift,
with Yard saying that her jet has taken
a total of 170 flights since January,
which is just 43 flights short
from having one flight per day.
Because keep in mind,
there have only been 213 days so far this year,
with the jet spending a total of nearly 23,000 minutes
in the air, roughly 16 days of flight,
which makes her jet's flight emissions for the year
come to 8293.54 tons, which is over 1000 times more
than the average person's total annual emissions.
And while her average flight time was 80 minutes,
her shortest was just over half an hour.
Though with this, I do wanna note that Yard's report
did come up with this disclaimer saying Yard is aware
that this list is not conclusive to the biggest offenders,
but the biggest defenders according to the data
as presented on the Celebrity Jet's Twitter page,
and adding,
Yard is also aware that
this data is based on these celebrities' planes,
and whilst there is no way to determine
if these celebrities were on all the recorded flights,
the purpose of this study is to highlight
the damaging impact of private jet usage.
But none of that stopped Taylor
from getting absolutely slammed online
with people calling her a climate criminal,
with people saying things like
"As a huge Taylor Swift fan,
I was so disappointed to find out she is responsible
for the highest amount of celeb private jet CO2 emissions.
170 plus flights in six months?
Fucking seriously?"
And, "This planet is shared by us all.
Celebs and rich people should not be able
to destroy it for the rest of us
while using it for their own whims.
Time to start holding people accountable."
But at the same time you had those defending her,
the general jist being, this is kind of just a distraction
and saying the real climate blame is on major corporations
responsible for the majority share of global emissions.
Now that said, as far as Taylor's response,
a spokesperson for Taylor gave a statement
to the Hollywood Reporter saying,
"Taylor's jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals.
To attribute most or all of these trips to her
is blatantly incorrect."
Though that response elicited a ton of eyerolls online,
with people saying things like,
"You've really gotta hand it to Taylor Swift's publicist
because, 'She generously rents out her jet
for her poorer friends who can't afford
their own personal jets to use'
is the funniest possible way
to put a humanitarian spin on her carbon emissions."
And with all this, personally,
I'll say I'm a little bit torn.
I mean, one, "Sometimes I loan out my jet,"
is such a fantastic excuse
but with this story, I can't help but feel like
we're kind of just using Taylor Swift as like a scapegoat.
Like are the carbon emissions from her jet and
the jets of these other celebrities egregious?
Yes, but personally I'll always be more mad
that there's always this focus on individual responsibility
and stuff like that.
When 100 companies are responsible for
71% of carbon emissions.
And understand, I think you can be mad about both.
I just, I feel like this is kind of an example
of why I would rather be just rich rather than famous.
Like it's easy for everyone to be like,
fuck Taylor Swift.
But how many of those same people know the 100
companies that are responsible for 71% of carbon emissions?
Also those numbers may have changed.
That's from a 2017 report.
Now now, that's the story some might take away.
Now I pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts here?
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And then in huge international news,
we should talk about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
and an airplane.
But in this story, it's not about carbon emissions
but rather a potential World War Three.
Fun!
So Pelosi is on an Asian tour
with other congressmen visiting US partners and allies
in the region including Japan, South Korea,
Malaysia and Singapore.
Which, I mean, it's a story about US officials
going around to talk to allies.
Don't fucking care.
But Pelosi is now expected to visit Taiwan tomorrow,
which would be the first time
a Speaker of the House has done so in 25 years.
And for China,
they have a massive fucking problem with this.
All right, so here's the TLDR.
Mainland China claims that Taiwan is a breakaway territory
and doesn't like when foreign dignitaries visit it
because it gives Taiwan legitimacy
as an independent country.
And while officially
the US doesn't recognize Taiwan as a country,
it also supports it in many, many ways.
And so, because of that,
when American officials visit Taiwan,
those visits aren't normally announced publicly
to prevent China from saber rattling
and making a whole big deal out of it.
Now leading up to Pelosi's potential visit
we can see why the US plans these visits secretly, right?
One Chinese journalist working
for the propaganda paper Global Times
put out a now deleted tweet saying,
"If US fighter jets escort Pelosi's plane into Taiwan,
it is an invasion.
The PLA has the right to forcibly dispel Pelosi's plane
and the US fighter jets, including firing warning shots
and making tactical movement of obstruction.
If ineffective, then shoot them down."
Now that guy is a clown
and says ridiculous things all the time,
but very notably he and the paper that he works for
are backed by the government and often are used
as a way to test crazy ideas for the Chinese public.
Also in more official statements,
China's foreign ministry spokesperson warned
that her visit would be a gross interference
in China's internal affairs
and lead to very serious developments and consequences.
And adding,
"We would like to tell the United States once again
that China is standing by.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army
will never sit idly by,
and China will take resolute responses
and strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty
and territorial integrity."
Now, this is not the first time
that China has threatened some kind of military force
to ensure that Taiwan comes under mainland control,
but the rhetoric has increased a lot lately,
and its Eastern Theater Command even posted a video today
showing military exercises in the region.
And here's the weird thing with covering the story.
It's actually unclear officially
if Pelosi actually planned to visit.
Taiwanese papers quoted unnamed sources were first
to claim it was on the books.
And today you have Politico reporting
that she's "scheduled to travel there this week
according to a congressional official
and a Taiwanese official
familiar with the itinerary."
And public word has been weird,
like last week Biden said
that the military thought
such a visit was not a good idea right now,
but then you're in this situation
that's really a catch-22, right?
Because while the us doesn't wanna needlessly poke China
for no reason, it also doesn't wanna look weak
amid China's rhetoric,
which has now led many to go,
well she kind of has to go now.
And so more recently we've seen statements like that
of National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby
saying, "It is not uncommon for congressional leaders
to travel to Taiwan.
We shouldn't be as a country intimidated
by the rhetoric or those potential actions.
This is an important trip for the Speaker to be on,
and we're going to do whatever we can to support her."
So we'll likely never know if this was always planned.
I mean, the next 24 hours are gonna be tense in the region,
'cause you know it's all saber rattling
until it's more than that.
And I mentioned that
because when the foreign ministry spokesperson
was asked to specify, you know, what would China do here?
He just said,
"If she dares to go,
then let us wait and see."
Which one, bro, that's my line.
And two, yeah, we're gonna have to do just that.
We're gonna have to wait and see.
And then we should talk about the tragic flooding
in Kentucky.
In a press conference this morning,
Governor Andy Beshear said that the death toll
has now risen to 30 people, including some children,
but that number is expected to grow,
with him saying that officials
"know about additional bodies"
and that hundreds of people are still unaccounted for.
And beyond that, he said that there is still
severe storm potential in all of the impacted areas,
noting that because the ground is already so saturated,
continued rain could cause more flooding
and high winds also threaten to topple trees and poles.
And all that not only poses further risks
for already devastated areas,
but it also seriously complicates
ongoing search and rescue efforts, right?
Rescue workers have already been hampered by the lack
of access to areas that have been isolated
from floodwaters washing away bridges,
inundating whole communities,
and tearing houses from their foundations.
And to make matters worse,
Beshear also warned that when the rain stops,
it will be very hot,
and that's expected to seriously complicate matters
for the rescue crew,
thousands of displaced people
who haven't found stable shelter
and the 12,000 Kentucky residents
without power as of recording this video.
And so right now you've got search and rescue teams
working to reach those who are stuck
and identify people who have been reported missing,
while at the same time,
other officials are focused on finding
and providing emergency housing
and resources for those in need.
You know, as always with these stories,
I'll link to the resources in the description down below
on how you could help those affected and in need.
But I also wanna highlight the story
of a true hero in our official BAMF of the Day.
All right, so this part of the story starts
when a woman by the name of Missy Crovetti
shares now-viral photos on Facebook.
They're of her 98-year-old grandma
sitting stranded in high flood waters inside her home,
asking if anyone in the area can help.
And shortly after posting that,
a witness near the house filmed a man
that he described as a hero
swimming over to the house in question
and rescuing three people inside,
with Crovetti confirming those three were
her grandmother, her uncle, and her brother.
And the thing is, we don't know who this guy is.
Both Crovetti and the man who filmed the video
said they don't know the guy,
and news outlets right now have no reported his name,
but still I wanna say to whoever you are,
anonymous man, anonymous BAMF,
you are the BAMF of the Day.
In the face of disaster,
you, out of the kindness of your own heart,
were like, "Not today, Nature!"
And as, unfortunately, this disaster rages on in Kentucky,
this is a small shining light.
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
As always, thank you for watching,
being a part of that conversation down below,
or just being subscribed for these daily dives
into the news,
which if you're looking for more news,
I got you covered right here.
But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.