- Sup, you beautiful bastards.
Welcome back to the "Philip DeFranco Show."
Buckle up, hit that like button
and let's just jump into it.
Y'all, first up today,
we have to talk about if Will Smith was hoping
that this whole him slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars thing
would be over because of his new apology.
He is sadly mistaken.
But, that is where we'll start today,
with Will Smith or his PR people apologizing
on his Instagram yesterday,
writing, "Violence in all of its forms
is poisonous and destructive.
My behavior at last night's Academy Awards
was unacceptable and inexcusable.
Jokes at my expense are part of the job,
but a joke about Jada's medical condition
was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.
I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris.
I was out of line and I was wrong.
I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative
of the man I want to be."
And then he's also apologizing to the Academy,
the King Richard Family and the Williams family.
With that apology the Williams family,
may be also connected to Richard Williams, right?
The man that Will Smith played in the movie.
Having spoke about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock saying,
"We don't know all the details of what happened,
but we don't condone anyone hitting anyone else
unless it's in self-defense."
Which is notable because in Will Smith's acceptance speech,
he appeared to try to relate his actions on that stage
to what Richard did himself.
Also, today with Jada posting on Instagram,
that this is a season for healing
and that she is here for it.
And as far as Chris,
he has not issued a public comment on the situation yet,
but oh, if he was in need of some new standup material,
does he have it now?
And not only does he have that,
even though if you go online and people seem split 50-50,
most comedians, other than Tiffany Haddish,
have Chris Rock's back right now.
Because like I said if Will Smith's goal for people to-
- Keep my wife's name out of your (beeps) mouth.
- [Phillip] What he actually appears to have done
is give the comedy community a green light.
With some comedians like Tom Segura,
just throwing fucking haymakers right out the gate,
tweeting, "Fuck Will Smith's candy ass
smacking a dude four inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter.
He's just in his feelings because his bald-headed bitch
been fucking around on him for years and he takes it.
We all know who he wishes he could slap.
#CuckWill."
With other comedians like Chris DiStefano,
making kind of impromptu videos from their car saying.
- I am 100% on Chris Rock's side.
I mean, really?
You're gonna slap a guy over a fricking "G.I. Jane" joke.
I don't care what happened in your life before this.
So he's been making fun of Will Smith
and Jada Pinkett Smith's relationship for a long time.
It's like, yeah, 'cause it's toxic.
You can obviously see it's toxic.
I mean, she publicly said she cheats on you all the time
and Will Smith's obviously in the closet, gay,
which is fine.
Just come out, be free, be open, be gay, be happy.
- [Phillip] With someone like James Gordon
coming to Chris Rock's defense in a more calm way.
- Seriously though, I applauded Chris Rock for recovering,
keeping the show moving.
It was...
(crowd applause)
An incredibly dignified response.
I'll say this, Will Smith can't take a joke.
Chris Rock can take a punch.
- [Phillip] With comedians like George Wallace
laying it out simple, saying, "As Rock got hit, I got hit.
We comedians, we felt the pain.'
It was like Joe Rogan speaking out suggesting
that Will's fame or stature should not have allowed him
to get away with that slap.
Also talking about what this means
for other comedians moving forward.
- Someone as so enormously famous and successful,
like Will Smith that they literally still allowed him
to not just win the Academy Award,
but also go up and accept it and give a speech
after he assaulted a small comedian on stage.
- [Man] They should have ejected him from the show.
- A 100%.
A 100%.
I agree with that.
You can't just go smack a man in the face,
in front of the world and then go about business as usual.
First of all, it sets a terrible precedent.
- [Man] Yes.
- In so many different ways,
sets a terrible precedent for comedy clubs.
- [Man] Yes.
- Like are people gonna decide
that they're gonna go on stage and smack the comedian.
- Oh, I hope not.
- [Phillip] Traditionally, Rogan and others
calling Chris Rock's joke mild.
Which is also, I think why you had people
like comedian, Andrew Scholes begin no holds barred.
Or you thought Rock's joke was bad.
Just watch this.
Three minute roast of Will and Jada
at the top of his podcast today.
Also wearing armor, I guess
in case Will Smith was near the studio.
- If you didn't see the Oscars
Chris Rock got himself in a hairy situation.
He shined a light on female alopecia,
while Jada's head shined a light on everything else.
Chris was making fun of Jada's baldy,
but seriously, how is Will supposed to get turned on
if she has a woman's haircut.
Now, I'm not saying that he's gay.
- [Crowd] Wow.
- He likes women,
specifically ones that swim for Penn.
Last night, Will Smith looked like he was
from the streets of Philadelphia
and Jada looked like she was from the movie.
(crowd laughs)
Now, after all that drama
Will Smith still took home an Oscar.
I'm talking about the award,
not a Mexican guy to (beep) his wife
while he watched in the corner.
(crowd laughing)
(indistinct chatter)
- Wow.
- Now to clarify,
Will won the Oscar for Best Actor.
People were saying it was for the Lifetime Achievement Award
and no, that's not it.
That Oscar goes to the plumber
that unclogged Jada's shower drain.
Will, let this be a lesson to you.
If you wanna keep your wife's name out
of other people's mouths,
make sure to keep your hands off comedians.
- [Phillip] With Scholes also making a point
that I've seen other comedians make,
where it very much feels like this is the comedy community
versus Hollywood community.
With them noting that even though the crowd
was kind of in shock,
that this was a thing that was actually happening,
they very much appeared to be on Will Smith's side.
- Keep this in mind.
All the people in that crowd have been made fun of
by Chris Rock for the last decade.
These are people who live
in their own little Hollywood, bubbles.
Nobody ever gives them pushback.
Nobody ever teases them.
Nobody ever says nothing to these people.
They don't have a sense of humor.
You go see these shows and they're like groaning
about all these jokes and then applauding
when the joke is virtuous, right?
- Yeah.
- They have to go to these events
because they want the public applause.
- Yeah.
- They want the public validation,
but they know that they're gonna get caught
in the crosshairs from a Chris Rock joke
and it drives them crazy.
And they were happy.
- [Phillip] With the likes of Jim Carrey also taking aim
at the audience reaction in Hollywood.
- I was sickened by the standing ovation.
I felt like Hollywood is just spineless, on mass.
- [Phillip] Also saying, Will Smith
should have been arrested.
And of Chris rock not filing charges he said...
- He doesn't want the hassle.
I'd announced this morning that I was suing Will
for $200 million 'cause that video
is gonna be there forever.
It's gonna be ubiquitous.
You know that insult is gonna last a very long time.
- [Phillip] But with all that said,
in the meantime, we have people making jokes
about Will Smith smacking the taste at a Chris Rock's mouth
Will also appears to have slapped
some dollars into Chris Rock's wallet.
Not only because I imagine this made me
and many more people wanna see, "Oh my God,
what is Chris Rock's next special going to be?"
According to reports,
the price for tickets to Chris Rock's next shows
jumped from a minimum of $46 to $341.
With ticket marketplace, Tick Pick writing,
"We sold more tickets to see Chris rock overnight
than we did in the past month combined."
'Cause yeah, we wanna know what you were thinking
and what you stopped yourself from saying on that stage.
As more and more people have noted.
Well, yes, Chris rock was frazzled.
There is a moment where you see himself hold back
from just going in on the two.
Also, as far as the academy awards,
taking this situation very seriously.
They probably didn't mind that this year
they got better ratings.
I wonder why?
Averaging 15.4 million viewers,
I'd love to see the numbers for the last hour
after the slap.
But that average is huge.
It's a 56% increase
from the roughly 10 million people watching last year,
though it is worth noting that these are early figures.
So the number is probably higher.
You know, there's a dumb part of me wondering, you know,
you have the academy awards publicly saying,
"You know, we're taking this very seriously."
But behind the scenes, do they go,
"Maybe we create more situations where this is like
a real Housewives reunion."?
Because their ratings have sucked
for a little while now, right?
When we talked about a 56% increase this year,
but I mean comparing that to 2020,
where there were 23.6 million viewers,
like in 2017, 33 million, these are garbage numbers.
This was still the second least-watched Oscars
since they began tracking viewers.
But more people might tune in from the get-go
if at any point you could hear Stone Cold's music play.
But ultimately that is where we are
at this situation right now.
And with it, I wanna pass the question off to you.
One, what are your thoughts on the situation in general?
Has that changed at all?
And also two, what do you think about the comedians
now going in on Will and Jada?
Are you loving it?
Are you disgusted by it?
Are you somewhere in between?
Let me know what you're thinking and why?
And then you probably wouldn't be hearing
about yesterday's debate
over Nebraska's school funding bill today,
if GOP state, Senator Bruce Bostelman,
didn't pick out one peculiar issue to talk about.
And Bruce, what was it again?
- It's called something called furries.
- [Phillip] That's right.
And Bruce, what did you say those were.
- If you don't know what furries are,
it's where school children dress up as animals,
cats or dogs, during the school day.
They meow and they bark and they interact with their school,
with the teachers and that, in this fashion.
And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes
in the schools for these children to use.
How is this sanitary?
- [Philip] So let me be clear immediately,
that is not what furries are
and nobody Is shitting in school litter boxes.
So just so we're all on the same page.
Furries are just people who identify
or are interested in anthropomorphize animals.
And some, though not most of them, dress in such costumes.
So despite common media portrayals
of it as a sexual fetish involving bestiality
and hey, some do engage with it that way.
That is not the focus for a majority.
With some comparing it to other fandoms and video games
or comics that have erotic subcultures,
but are primarily non-sexual.
And most furry activity consists of digital art,
fiction, music, and even convention, similar to a Comic-Con.
But clearly, Bruce didn't know any of that
when he continued his speech saying...
- I even heard from one person here recently
said that a student identified as a cat
and wanted a litter box
and the school didn't provide the litter box.
So the student went ahead and defecated on the floor.
- With him finishing by
asking the school administrative, state senators,
and board of education, "What is going on?"
And well, Bruce, I have the answer for you,
you are a shit peddler of misinformation.
Well, it turns out this is just a rumor
that came from a parent's post last month
in a Facebook group called Protect Nebraska Children,
asking about the litter boxes
and also saying at the same time,
he wasn't trying to propagate a rumor.
I just wanna know if it's true and I'm praying it's not.
And despite a school secretary actually replying saying,
"This is in fact not true,
this bullshit spread like bullshit does on the internet."
Also leading to statements from several school districts,
denying the claim and calling it ridiculous.
Plus this led to Bruce
as well as the Democratic State Senator
reaching out to school districts on Monday.
And being personally told that, "No, this is not a thing."
Which then led Bruce to backtrack on his earlier speech
saying, "It was just something
I felt that if this really was happening,
we needed to address it and address it quickly."
So, you know, rather than just research it,
let me just regurgitate bullshit on a public platform.
But the BS probably won't end here, right?
You have similar rumors spreading and other states as well,
like in Michigan where the co-chair
of the State Republican Party shared a Facebook post,
claiming a school got a litter box
where students identify as cats,
which was easily debunked by the superintendent
or in Iowa,
the following month where the superintendent
had to do the same damn thing.
And unfortunately, I don't see this ending anytime soon
because weird lies spread way faster than boring truth.
And I don't wanna say that no one's ever going
to make some ridiculous requests,
like the stuff that's in these rumors
because people are people and all it takes is one,
but these are just weird, lazy lies
that end up just harassing a community of people
just minding their own business
and having an interest that is different than yours.
I personally don't understand it,
but it ends up villainizing this whole community
where the majority of it are just people enjoying stuff
at like conventions and online.
They're not hurting anybody.
They just have this target on their back
because it's so outside the realm
of what most people consider normal.
And they say that as someone, trust me,
that would speak out against someone saying,
"Hey, we need litter boxes in schools
so I can shit in them."
You fucking dumb misinformation, peddling donkeys.
But from that, I wanna take a quick second
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And then, you know, there's been this question of the air,
of are we going to need a fourth COVID shot
for this new sub-variant of COVID, that's been spreading?
And well, as of this morning,
the FDA approved the second booster of Pfizer and Moderna
in people 50 and up.
With the agency also approving second boosters
for those with compromised immune systems,
12 plus for Pfizer and 18 plus for Moderna.
And the CDC is expected to quickly sign off on this,
though many believe it's just going to say that these groups
can get a fourth shot
rather than explicitly recommending it, right?
Well, because there's still a lot of debate among experts
on the benefits of additional doses
with much of that debate centered around uncertainties
about the future of the pandemic.
But with that said, in general,
there does tend to be a broader agreement
among medical professionals that older populations
and the immunocompromised may benefit
from an additional shot.
However, whether a second booster will be approved
for younger non-immunocompromised populations
is more up in the air.
But with this latest decision from the FDA,
you have the agency saying that it made the approval
because of uncertainty over whether
an even more contagious version of Omicron
will cause another wave of infection in the US,
which is something we've already seen in Europe and China.
Though, notably, while this Omicron subvariant
is now making up a majority of new cases here in the US
cases, in general, are still on the decline here overall.
Then let's talk about major news around Trump
in the 2020 election.
With yesterday District Judge David Carter,
finding that Trump more likely than not
committed federal crimes in his efforts
to obstruct the certification of the votes.
With that finding announced as part of a legal battle
between the house committee investigating the insurrection
and conservative lawyer, John Eastman,
who is heavily involved in helping Trump's efforts
to turn over the election.
By following the election, Eastman helped organize, quote,
"Legal strategies and advised Trump's team
on how it could subvert the will of the people."
This including one infamous memo that members
from both sides of the aisle have painted
as essentially a blueprint for a coup.
And if this sounds familiar it's because we talked
about the case earlier this month,
when the committee made a very significant filing
in the case, in order to force Eastman to give lawmakers
more than 100 emails that he had refused to turn over.
With a panel in that filing saying it had evidence
of possible crimes committed by Trump and Eastman,
including obstruction of Congress's official proceedings
and criminal conspiracy to defraud the American people.
And in his ruling yesterday,
not only did Judge Carter order Eastman to turn over
almost all the documents in question,
he also appeared to back the committee's findings
about the campaign to overturn the election.
Writing, "The illegality of the plan was obvious.
President Trump vigorously campaigned for the vice president
to single-handedly determine the results
of the 2020 election."
With him also saying that Trump
and Eastman's actions amounted
to a coup in search of a legal theory
that spurred violent attacks on the seat
of our nation's government.
Also leading to the deaths
of several law enforcement officers
and deepened public distrust in our political process.
Now, notably, this ruling does not charge Trump, Eastman,
or anyone else involved in a crime,
nor does it have any kind of practical legal impact
on those involved,
but legal experts say that it is highly significant
because as the New York Times explains,
"Judge Carter's decision was perhaps
the investigation's biggest development to date.
Suggesting its investigators have built a strong
enough case to convince a federal judge
of Mr. Trump's culpability in laying out a roadmap
for a potential criminal referral."
Because while the panel cannot bring criminal charges,
it can make a referral to the justice department.
With this Vanity Fair describing it,
"The January 6th panel politely requests
that Merrick Garland do his fucking job."
Or less direct as a Bloomberg Opinion writer said,
"Merrick Garland has more than enough to investigate Trump."
And that said, while a Trump spokesperson responded
by calling the ruling, "Absurd and baseless,"
just this morning we saw another piece of major news
that could ramp up pressure even more.
With the Washington Post and CBS reporting
that White House records from January 6th
that returned over to the house committee
show a massive seven-hour and 37-minute gap
in Trump's phone logs.
According to the documents obtained by the outlets,
there was absolutely zero notation of any calls made to,
or by Trump from 11:17 AM to 6:54 PM,
which includes the time the capital was stormed
by the violent mob.
Meanwhile, the calls that were documented
show that Trump was active on the phone
before and after the attack
with the records documenting conversations
with at least eight people in the morning
and 11 in the evening with the post noting
that the seven-hour gap also stands in stark contrast
to the extensive public reporting about phone conversations
he had with allies during the attack.
And adding that according to two sources
familiar with The Probe,
"The house panel is now investigating
whether Trump communicated that day through back channels,
phones of aids or personal disposable phones
known as burner phones," as well as,
"Scrutinizing whether it received the full logs
from that day."
And continuing, "One lawmaker on the panel
said that the committee is investigating a possible coverup
of the official White House record from that day."
So that could be absolutely massive.
And in response to this,
we saw a Trump spokesman saying,
"Trump didn't have anything to do with the records
and assumed all his phone calls were recorded."
With Trump himself also responding, saying,
"I have no idea what a burner phone is
to the best of my knowledge,
I have never even heard of the term."
Burner phone?
Never heard of her.
And then finally,
let's talk about Russia's now 37-day war in Ukraine,
obviously fighting is still occurring
throughout the country.
Although that may be changing in some parts.
There are reports that Russia is shifting
its priorities in the war,
and instead of trying to take Kyiv
and other key cities in the north
after facing serious setbacks
it's instead focusing on consolidating its hold
in the south and east.
Especially when it comes to fully taking Mariupol.
We talked about this a bit yesterday,
but it seems that Ukrainian forces are still fighting
for the city, which is the last bit of land
that would secure Russian control of the coast of Azov.
And that would be a big deal because that would allow Russia
to fully begin efforts, to reopen canals into Crimea,
which has been in really rough shape
since effectively being cut off
from basic necessities since being taken by Russia in 2014.
Either way, the decision to back off in the north
likely made Russia's decision to say
as a sign of good faith,
that it would heavily reduce attacks
near Kyiv amid ongoing negotiations.
Though, to be clear,
this is the rhetoric coming out right now.
And there are definitely still reports
of shelling going on in the area,
which is probably why we saw US Secretary of State
Anthony Lincoln, saying, "There is what Russia says
and there's what Russia does.
We're focused on the latter.
And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization
of Ukraine and its people and that continues as we speak."
Negotiations also had another possible hiccup
after it was reported that some negotiators
were seemingly poisoned, including Roman Abramovich,
the former owner of the Chelsea football club
with their symptoms allegedly, including red eyes,
painful tearing that won't stop and peeling skin
on their faces and hands.
With the alleged poisoning being blamed
on Russian hardliners who are trying to sabotage
the peace talks, but we really don't know right now.
However, all of that doesn't seem to have derailed the talks
as of yet because the two sides have continued to meet
and even made some headway
on how Ukrainian neutrality could look.
In fact, according to one of Ukraine's negotiators,
they said, "We will not host foreign military bases
on our territory,
as well as deploy military contingents on our territory,
and we will not enter into military-political alliances."
However, they still understandably
want security guarantees beyond just Russia's word
and offered that certain NATO members
could provide those guarantees.
Ukraine is also intent on having president Zelensky
and Putin meet to discuss Crimea
and the separatist regions and Donbas.
With some reports showing that Russia indicated
this is a real possibility,
but others also had a different tone.
Or there are reports out there claiming
that when Putin was given a note from Zelensky
about a meeting and some of the negotiation terms,
he said, "Tell him I will thrash them."
So, you know, that sounds like
a promising start to negotiations.
but even if all those hurdles are overcome,
there's still one last one to deal with, a referendum.
Zelensky has made it clear that a peace deal
is not possible until Ukraine votes on it.
and many Ukrainians may not want peace
after being bombed for over a month,
or if it includes losing Crimea or Donbas.
Also stepping back a bit,
the world at large continues to apply pressure
on Russia over its war.
Yesterday, for example, we saw Japan say
it would ban the export of luxury goods to Russia.
This including things like vehicles, liquor,
cosmetics, clothing, and a few other items.
You also had Heineken and Carlsberg saying
they were pulling out of Russia.
So there are still efforts across the globe to restrict
what goods Russians can get.
Also on the diplomatic front,
it was just announced that dozens of Russian diplomats
would be expelled from EU countries
over concerns about espionage.
We also saw today's negotiations,
possibly having positive effects on the markets.
Oil prices dropped and the S&P saw a pretty dramatic spike.
And while that's a positive, it's just slightly positive
in a world of just horrible, horrible news
on this situation.
Because the most important thing to remember
is that when we talk about all these different aspects
of the war, at the end of the day,
the main thing that's happening
is Ukrainians are unnecessarily dying
in a truly pointless war,
millions displaced, lives and families ruined.
And ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
And y'all as always,
thank you for watching, liking, subscribing,
being a part of these daily dives in the news.
You beautiful bastards.
My name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.