- What's up you beautiful bastards?
Welcome back to the "Philip DeFranco Show."
Quick reminder, this is the week,
of after shows today is no different.
In fact, today I give you a little sneak peek
of the brand new set for the PDS.
I'm calling it the lazy one
because it's my work-from-home office.
But, hey, buckle up,
hit that Like button
and let's just jump into it,
because y'all know the first thing that we're gonna
talk about today is Johnny Depp-Amber Heard
and the defamation trial.
And rather than just talk about what's been happening
with this trial over the last 24 hours,
because I really think just covering that
would do a disservice.
We're on 18 days now.
There's so much information coming out.
I think like you have to dedicate an entire channel
or like your entire job to just covering this,
which is something that a number of people have done.
Personally, if I'm trying to consume something on this,
I've mentioned in the past,
I just watch Emily D. Baker.
But rather on today's show,
I wanna talk about the conversation
and debate happening about
the public consumption of this trial,
where we're starting to see a lot of criticism
regarding the way this has turned into a meme machine
though there's also been pushback there,
so let's try and talk it out. So to start,
there is literally no way to overstate the public interest
in this trial because based on social media interactions,
America is reportedly more interested in this case
than things like Abortion Rights and the War in Ukraine.
With stories popping up about scalpers,
apparently even trying to sell black market
access to the courtroom.
So that's led to a lot of people questioning
why people are so excited even reveling in a case,
that deals with domestic abuse allegations.
Well because a lot of the content that's out there,
it's not like the stuff that Emily D. Baker,
or a number of people are doing.
A lot of the content is jokes,
making fun of it specifically of Heard,
with places like "Rolling Stone"
noting that one audio of Heard alleging that Depp hit her
is very popular online with people spoofing it,
putting cats and wigs over it,
people in the comments eating it up.
And while there are a lot of different types
of content if you look online it's not surprising
that a lot of these jabs
are specifically aimed at Amber Heard.
Because just a quick Twitter search shows you
that way more people appear to be on Depp's side right now.
But as the trial has continued on,
we have more people going,
"Is it okay to joke about this?"
With people arguing that it doesn't matter
who you side with in the situation,
you still shouldn't turn this case into click bait comedy.
With a piece in "The Guardian" saying,
"Regardless of whether an individual
believes Heard's testimony,
they should believe that nothing good can come
from minimizing and mocking descriptions of abuse.
The trial has made it clearer than ever that a culture
of toxic fandom has poisoned our brains."
And the thing is,
it's not completely black and white.
There are those that believe Johnny Depp,
they don't believe Amber Heard,
but they're still afraid of what consequences
could be from all of this.
With a number of them hitting on a note
that "USA Today" hit on saying,
"The loudest voices on the internet may not believe Heard,
but millions of women have had experiences
like the ones she describes.
When people mock her,
experts say they're inadvertently laughing
at every person who has said they are a victim of abuse."
And understand, this is not me trying to tell you
who to believe or not believe.
This person's in the right,
this is the person that's wrong.
This is solely about the constant mockery
and entertainment aspect of this trial.
Well, this has been a rampant thing
since pretty much the beginning.
I feel like a lot of attention on this debate,
started because of SNL.
They parodied the trial with a judge in that skit
even saying this trial is for fun,
and that resulted in a ton of headlines
and just did not sit in right with a lot of people.
With people saying things like,
"Domestic violence is not a joke.
Rape is not a joke.
Abusers using the legal system to continue to terrorize
their victims is not a joke.
Abusers using accusations of defamation
to silence their victims is not a joke.
In 20 years people are going to look back at this trial
and all of the media coverage and be disgusted."
As well as, "You're free to have absolutely no opinion
on the Depp-Heard trial,
but thinking it's for fun is for someone
with a diseased heart and brain."
With that we've seen instances pop up
where you have big creators like Pokimane
even deleting a tweet after facing backlash
for posting a meme about the trial.
People saying it's out of line and insensitive.
And so that's why with this story,
I do wanna pass the question off to you but first,
I want you to separate your opinion
of what you think is reality
in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial.
Or whether you think she's telling the truth
or she's in the minority of accusers telling a lie.
What is your opinion of this being turned into entertainment
and memes and parodies and jokes?
Do you think it's all fair?
It's all good.
This is just what entertainment has evolved into,
or do you think, "No, a line is being crossed here.
That this is scary and it sets a bad precedent
for those who have been abused and may scare
those from speaking out."
And really, any and all thoughts you have on this,
I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below.
And then let's talk about this strange,
oh my God! So strange.
Will they, won't they,
story of Twitter and Elon Musk,
because what the fuck?
Let me off this roller coaster.
So we have gone from Elon Musk just trolling on Twitter
to him buying 9% of the company,
seemingly he's gonna get on the board.
Then he says, "No, don't want that.
I'm gonna take over the whole fucking thing."
You've got Twitter freaking out,
all these headlines popping up,
of Twitter may.
"They might swallow a poison pill to keep Elon Musk away."
But wait, no,
the deal is gonna go through.
Elon Musk is gonna buy this fucking company.
He's gonna be the temporary or interim CEO,
but then Elon says, "Hey, wait.
Actually the deal's on temporary hold.
I have an issue with the bots on the website."
And now Twitter's like, "You put a ring on it.
We are enforcing this merger agreement."
Or to put it another way in case Elon Musk is watching,
I know you primarily communicate via memes.
- Call an ambulance!
Call an ambulance!
But not for me.
- As far as is this going to kill the deal,
is that even possible?
What happens from here?
I don't know.
The CEO of Twitter put out a big threat on Monday
talking about all the efforts they do
to take down spam accounts,
that they remove 1/2 a million accounts a day,
that they lock millions of accounts a week.
And still at the end of that they think
that the number of spam accounts is less than 5%.
But even with that,
let's say you don't believe the CEO of Twitter.
You're not sure that he is actually right,
as Brian Quinn an associate law professor
of Boston College argues,
"Not only has Twitter disclosed the uncertainty
of its estimates for years,
the company gave him the opportunity to engage
in due diligence and kick the tires and look around.
Musk did not take up that offer."
Or because as the "Associated Press" has noted,
"Twitter has disclosed its bot estimates
to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for years,
while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low."
But still from the outside looking in,
there's really no way to know what the fuck
is gonna happen from here.
When you have this much money at play,
a guy like Elon Musk that really doesn't fucking care
about the rules because usually it just results in fines
that he can just throw money at. Then the deal could die,
and then all of a sudden Elon Musk should be on the hook
for a billion dollars but then that could go
to just lawsuit after lawsuit,
drag out.
This could also just be a way to negotiate Twitter
to a smaller price which Elon Musk even said,
"If I did buy it,
I need to buy it at a lower price now."
But on top of all the bot stuff Twitter's stock
has tanked 25% over the past couple of weeks far below
the $54 per share he initially offered,
and even further below the $77 high.
Not to mention that Tesla is also fallen over 30%
since the beginning of April,
but yeah, main point,
this is just a big gigantic mess that's playing out
in front of everybody.
But from that I wanna take a second to thank
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And then do y'all remember a couple of months ago
when the China Eastern Airline plane crashed
killing all 132 people on board?
With flight trackers showing that it just out of nowhere,
plummeted from 30,000 feet,
hitting the earth around 90 seconds later.
Well, that mystery just got a hell of a lot more mysterious
because of a stunning revelation that comes out of sources
who spoke to the "Wall Street Journal."
Initially Chinese authorities said
they were investigating the crash
but since the plane was a Boeing 737-800,
US officials claimed the right to access the black box too,
which they did.
And now they're suggesting that the crash
may have been intentional.
With one person familiar with the preliminary assessment
saying, "The plane did what it was told to do
by someone in the cockpit."
And others agreeing that the evidence suggests inputs
from the controls pushed the plane into a dive.
With that same person saying Chinese investigators
have not flagged any mechanical
or flight control problems with the plane,
which does make sense.
I know there were a lot of comparisons
to what happened with the 737 Maxes,
but the 737-800 is different.
Although both models are part
of Boeing's next gen narrow body jets,
a 737-800 is older,
used all over the world,
and belongs to a family of aircraft with one
of the best safety records in commercial flight.
And so now the journal sources say that American officials
are turning their attention towards the pilot's actions,
as well as the possibility that someone else on the plane
could have broken into the cockpit and forced it down.
Though, I do wanna stress with this,
it is important not to rush to conclusions here.
Because another source told the Journal
that US officials don't have access to all
of the same information that Chinese ones do.
And noting, this is only a preliminary assessment.
So more evidence could either bolster
or undermine its findings.
Now as for what China Eastern has said,
it claims that no evidence has emerged that could determine
if the aircraft had any problems,
and adding that the pilot's family health
and financial conditions were good.
Also calling the cockpit break in idea implausible
and saying no emergency code was sent before the crash.
But also China itself has disclosed very little
about its investigation.
Only saying officials are still probing the incident,
but not commenting on any potential causes.
And so now we have to wait for the official findings
which could shine a new light on all of this
using restored data from the flight data recorder
and cockpit voice recorder.
And then,
yesterday was the busiest primary election day
of the season with major elections taking place,
in Pennsylvania, North Carolina,
Kentucky, Oregon and Idaho.
Starting off with the closest race of the Republican primary
for Senator in Pennsylvania.
The two main contenders for that seat were Mehmet Oz,
better known as Dr. Oz and David McCormick,
a former hedge fund CEO.
With many established Republicans being wary of Oz
fearing that he lacks conservative credentials,
but he did manage to secure the endorsement
of former President Donald Trump.
But currently that race is too close to call.
We're likely to see a recount.
There was also the race in North Carolina
between Representative Madison Cawthorn
and State Senator Chuck Edwards
for the State's 11th Congressional District.
And while it's rare for an incumbent
to be elected out of office and it's even more rare
for them to have an actual challenge in the primary,
somehow Madison Cawthorn pulled it off,
and by pulled it off, I mean he lost.
- [Man] You're done, you're done.
- But this guy just made so many unforced errors,
because, like Madison Cawthorn,
he could be in controversies
and like we've seen with many other politicians
it could be beneficial,
but he really seemed to shit where he eats.
When he said that members of Congress have offered him drugs
and to join in on orgies,
because that led to among other things,
Republicans getting angry,
many of them openly supporting Edwards in the race,
also somehow around the same time,
photos and videos of him doing things like humping
a friend's head while he was naked.
However, while Cawthorn was in many Republicans bad graces,
he did still get Trump's endorsement,
who asked voters to give Cawthorn a second chance.
But very notably Trump's request from his base
did not end up being enough with Cawthorn losing
the race by about 2% of the vote.
With him conceding to Edwards last night tweeting out,
"Congratulations to Chuck Edwards on securing
the nomination tonight.
It's time for the NC-11 GOP to rally behind
the Republican ticket to defeat the Democrats'
nominee this November."
Which while it is literally the least he could do,
I at least gotta give a shred of props to Madison Cawthorn,
for actually doing the thing his messiah would not do.
And that is immediately concede,
but still, the guy makes it so hard
not to revel in his failure.
But with all that said,
you have Cawthorn's defeat and Oz's close race.
It's led many to wonder whether Trump's endorsement
still holds any weight,
or if it's counterproductive.
And this isn't some abstract thing.
Many pundits think that Trump only endorsing people
who backed his election fraud claims
might end up hurting them in the midterm.
And so if we pull out, we get a wider view,
we look across all races,
Trump endorsed 26 candidates,
with a vast majority of those either running unopposed
or in extremely safe seats.
And of the actually contested seats,
Trump's success was mixed with losses in Idaho,
North Carolina, and possibly Pennsylvania
depending on whether Oz wins or not.
But in many of those same states,
Trump's picks won.
This controversial choice for Pennsylvania governor
secured the primary
and another contested North Carolina primary
went to his candidate.
And if you look at it before last night,
I don't think J.D Vance gets the nomination without Trump.
But of course the real test is gonna happen
in November where it remains to be seen
if they can capture votes from independents,
and even more centrist Republicans and Democrats.
All of which are groups that generally don't buy into Trump
and his preferred candidates claims about a stolen election.
But that said,
remember the primary wasn't just about Republicans,
with Democrats also going to the polls.
And for them the big question was,
how well would progressive contenders end up doing?
And leading up to the races there was a major discrepancy
in how much money was being sent
to more mainstream Democratic candidates
versus their more progressive opponents,
leading many to believe that it was a done deal.
However, it's also been a mixed bag there.
Where national seats progressives came up short,
losing major races in two North Carolina Districts
and a Kentucky District,
though, that makes sense.
You don't normally think of Kentucky and North Carolina
as bastions of progressive politics,
which is why in states where progressive politics
are more mainstream they did have more successes,
scoring victories in Pennsylvania's 12th,
and Oregon's 5th Congressional Districts.
But of course with this,
remember this isn't where it ends.
We still have to see how Dr. Oz's races go.
Not to mention the many more primaries coming up
along the next few months.
So remember, no matter what party you are,
whether it be the big election for President,
whether it be the midterms,
whether it be the primaries,
you should be voting.
It's very easy to feel small and hopeless
but we have seen what one election can do.
And obviously you can use that to reference
a number of elections,
the world is going to be different for people
in the United States for the next few generations
because of the 2016 elections.
And specifically with primaries,
without those you can't even begin to attempt
to get candidates who support the same shit
as you do to get 'em to office.
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
As always thank you for watching,
liking and being a part of the conversation down below.
If you wanna check out the new after show,
click or tap right there.
But as always,
my name's Philip DeFranco,
you've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.