The Daily Zeitgeist - Trendless Shrimp 4/17: Red Lobster, US Murder Rate, Frank Sinatra, Carcinogenic U.S. Snacks

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

In this edition of Trendless Shrimp, Jack and Miles discuss Red Lobster being in hot water (fiscally speaking), murders in major US cities going way down, Martin Scorsese's upcoming Frank Sinatra biopic, America's favorite carcinogenic "foods" and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Jess Costavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. sports and culture listen to naked sports on the black effect podcast network iheart radio apps or wherever you get your podcasts the black effect podcast network is sponsored by diet coke hello the internet and welcome to this episode of trendless shrimp it's the summer of trendless shrimp trendless shrimp bowl ultimate trendless shrimp um various offers that put red lobster out of business yeah for 500 alex my name is jack and that over there well that is miles oh hey on the trending episode yeah man i don't know i'm excited thanks to see you great thank you no i appreciate that not excited Red Lobster may have to file for bankruptcy because we are too greedy.

I was going to say, are you doing the slip and fall thing again in there? You hit way too many Red Lobsters on that slip and fall scam that you did. That's right. Hey, man. I slipped on your endless shrimp. Oh, my God. Shrimp slip and slide god the next offer that they were gonna make shrimp and slide so red lobster

is considering filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to restructure its mounting debt which would obviously be devastating for america's generic seafood and mountain dew based cocktail industry. True.

Very true. But, uh, it's not shocking considering the company reported an $11 million operating loss last year, uh, which their CFO partly blamed on us, uh,

specifically how hard we went on their endless shrimp deal yeah they should have known they've been doing this like as long as i can remember oh yeah like i still remember seeing red lobster ads that were like all you can eat shrimp for a limited time lobster say less to to me at that time i would get so fucking waved and go and be like watch me like so many people like oh endless shrimp you know how expensive shrimp can be when you want to eat it endless and you're doing for our 20 let's go watch me eat a pacific ocean's worth of shrimp here yeah in front of holy shit um just mouth glistening with butter but i just love a cfo being like it's that it was the endless shrimp it's like aren't you the cfo yeah like yo it's not are

did your models not suggest that some people would come in there literally eat you out of business i mean i'm sure that like this this feels very private equity ish uh i'm getting pe vibes off the whole thing with them like you know we're operating at 11 operating loss we're gonna have to restructure debt like i feel like there's a private equity company involved somewhere that like came in got that like bought a big chunk of the company and then is like renting the company back to them or whatever um but you know when in doubt blame the american people i think is always what works in these united states they said apparently uh the 20 dollar all you can eat shrimp deal was meant to increase traffic in the restaurants so yeah i get i get that um but it soon went viral on youtube and and TikTok, if you've heard of these two places, with

people trying to show off how much shrimp they could eat for $20. And they ended up giving away just way more shrimp than they had expected. So I hope you're all happy. This is why we can't have nice things no and uh you you're you're spot on with the private equity part i think it was sold like eight years ago hey when in doubt just be like that's what private equity do why did ancient beloved corporation like ancient by corporation corporate standards but like this company that's been around and successful and beloved with everybody i know

uh for a long time why is that going out of business yeah ah when in doubt yep just like pf changs too also now it turns out people just don't like toys man kids don't like toys anymore uh so that's why that's going out of business uh you guys fucked it up not us the thing was apparently prior to the pandemic like the private equity owned red lobster was was wobbling bad wibbly wobbly yeah yeah so like they've been doing this forever uh but they're gonna blame it on us and like their deals being too good yeah instead of you know the gradual husking out of a business for and and breaking it up for parts so you can walk away with all the money yeah yeah we've seen this a hundred times and companies will just report it credulously because they don't want to like get

into the financials because that's just boring. But they'll just be like, yeah, it turns out it was endless shrimp. Probably not. Probably private equity. We live in a bad country and a bad system. This version of capitalism doesn't work. There may be versions that work. This one certainly does not.

All right, all right, give me a second. Let me go back in the lab. I'll come up with another version that y'all might dig. Give me a second, give me a second. I don't think I'm into capitalism. This one's bad. The one that isn't completely allergic to socialism and just trusts every corporation to do what they say they will,

that worked out at various points on a couple things. This one, really, really bad. Doesn't even work at the things it claims it's supposed to work at. It's supposed to be like capitalism's strong suit. Putting the L in capitalism. That's right. But we got some good news, Miles. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got some good news

that even the Wall Street Journal was willing to report. Oh! Did they slip and fall and hit their head? We're seeing a massive and hit their head. We're seeing a massive drop in murders this year, which is kind of what we were expecting to see, like hoping definitely to see based on our theory of the case that we've talked about on this show, that the cause of the murders rising was not police having hurt feelings about uh black lives matter protests uh but was actually all the small institutions and programs and uh you know public schools that were in place and literally disappeared overnight during the pandemic wait they're saying they're copying to it now no no no no no not though not the wall street journal oh but it's just like there's no other way to frame like so yeah all right so here's what

happened that during the pandemic when everything was closed and all those programs were closed crime and murder went up when those programs came back crime and murder go way down. Nothing changed. The one thing that didn't go away during the pandemic, the police were still there. People made a point about how they're defunding the police. They funded the police slightly. They funded them fine. Yeah.

They've been funded real good real good they were funded funded up real nice real sloppy slap them up fund them up boys so it's just that didn't change during during the pandemic and yet the murder rate went way up and then now coming way back down and the police were not they never got defunded never went away uh haven't been refunded significantly in a way that would make this pattern make any sense as part of a police related trend uh but the wall street so first of all just in with regards to the trend nationwide homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end. New York, so far, homicides are down 15% through early April, falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels that they were at before the pandemic era jump. So it is significant, as was the ride, right?

uh so it is significant uh as was the ride right yeah but i just want to read this part from the wall street journal thing because so it doesn't like it it seems like there's no explanation where this makes sense as a police related trend um and it seems like they're going to acknowledge that uh but this is the quote researchers and authorities attributed the upward spike to several factors including crime prevention programs, courts and prisons being unable to operate normally when COVID was spreading, young people not in school due to shutdowns, and law enforcement pulling back after social unrest

following the high-profile police killings of George Floyd and other black people. So it's like fourth on the list. But it's like, all right, well, that's better than I've ever seen someone like the Wall Street Journal do, is like putting it fourth. Usually they'll just be like right well that's better than i've ever seen someone like the wall street journal do is like putting it forth usually they'll just be like and that's why right but then follow up graph the police went to sleep said dean dabney a criminology professor at georgia state university in atlanta the prosecution the courts went to sleep and the

jails and prisons let people out so you had an ideal situation for criminals. So it was just that the good guy cops had hurt feelings and also sleepiness. I was. Oh, you came so close to actually just doing a little bit of analysis and figuring it out. I was hoping the Wall Street Journal would give us a. Oh, my God, he admitted it! moment. But no, we were denied. We were denied.

Denied? But hey, at least they gave the three possible reasons before going with their bullshit reason and fleshing that out with a quote from a bullshit source. Yeah. I hadn't heard sleepiness. Too much sleepy time sleepy they were so sleepy um all right let's take a quick break i mean sleep is the cousin of death

as yeah and that's why i never sleep me or donald trump that's why we're both just railing headbutting the microphone and headbutting microphone. Yeah. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high-control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted,

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We're back. And a Martin Scorsese project to come that I'm a little bit more excited about than his Fox Nation show. Is that what the name of their streaming thing is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to make another movie about Jesus, kind of into Jesus. But then he's going to direct a biopic about Frank Sinatra. Oh, wait, he's for real making a Jesus movie?

Yeah, he's making another Jesus movie. Jesus. And all I can say to that is fucking Jesus. We don't need more of this shit jesus christ wait biopic about frank so dicaprio as sinatra yeah they're saying dicaprio as sinatra which seems like we're just gonna continue to ignore the size of leonardo dicaprio's head at this point this is like i'm like he's using hgh man he's we're going very bonds levels check that hat size but it's gonna be dicaprio as sinatra jen lawrence as his first wife oh we're familiar yeah jen okay yeah jen you don't know jen all right no i don't not like that bro yeah j Jen's a friend. No, J-Law.

They're bringing it back together from Don't Look Up. Oh, yes. Who can forget that one? I forgot to watch it. Yeah. We'll leave it at that. But

this is getting people's attention. Rononan farrow was trending on twitter because people are like he should play sinatra uh not leonardo dicaprio which i might be on board with a lot not leonardo dicaprio but uh what ronan farrow is not an actor um no no as far as i know right he's not an actor but people you know just any excuse to be like that is definitely yeah frank sinatra's father um and yeah yeah i mean ronan farrow was uh recently on rupaul's Drag Race and was like, I think I might need a paternity test, and everyone laughed.

And I don't blame him. Growing up to realize you're not Woody Allen's biological child has to be one of the all-time great celebrity bullet dodges. But I'm starting to develop a loose theory here,

Miles, that he has to have, like him saying, I should probably get a paternity test. Like, he hasn't gotten a paternity test? Like, everybody has access to those DNA servers, you know, the 23andMe, like all that

shit. Like, what? You would need someone with that fan like you can't i don't think you could do it one way right unless his yeah maybe not yeah i mean it could just be i mean i i mean it would be wild like so many sinatra people have done 23 and me is like watch i could do it and it'll probably be a hit yeah no that's what like that's how they caught the uh california whatever serial that serial killer, Golden State Killer, is because so many people in his extended... You can just kind of assume that you know...

Sure, sure. You'll take it, and there are enough people in your extended family who have done it. Or... You'll kind of know where you're situated. So you think he may have did a swing and a miss, and he's like, ah, it turns out it ain't my dad. My theory is that, yeah.

So everybody always just does his picture next to sinatra's and yeah they look similar but have you seen mia farrow like his mom yeah it has perfect bone structure bones for days bone just beautiful bone structure he could just take after her i just i i do wonder it feels like i and brow area that really sells it for me. Yeah. I definitely see it. My conspiracy theory, if I may, is that he has done a paternity test. He is Frank Sinatra's child, but the estate is telling him to be mum about it, and then he'll get his piece.

Oh. uh i i my my only other theory would be that he's just such a savvy media creature that like he's just like no i'm gonna hold this in my back pocket until it's time to yeah drop that shit you know until it's time to like write my book about finding out that i'm frank sinatra's son oh got it yeah right right you gotta hold oh right keep the powder dry as it were like sinatra is one of those characters that uh would be interesting to see like a warts and all biopic yeah i feel like um because isn't there there's like a lot of intrigue around him like being mobbed up and all that other shit, too. Oh, yeah. Fully mobbed up. He's supposedly the singer character.

And the godfather was Sinatra at one point when he was in Vegas. He was a huge deal in Las Vegas at a time when every part of Las Vegas was mob run. And that was a time when he, I'm pretty sure, got beat up pretty badly. Right. That's like being big in Miami in the late 70s and 80s. And you didn't know anybody in the cocaine trafficking business at all? You never encountered those people? Okay.

Okay. Yeah. All right. So anyways, it'll be an interesting film. I'm looking forward to it. Scorsese. The guy is not lost his fastball in in old age another another food story there are thousands of everyday snacks that are facing a ban in multiple states because

their ingredients are linked to cancer and like it's all the good stuff folks the first three that they list are like yeah no those are the ones that as i was eating them or drinking them i was like yeah this is probably they fell out of your mouth as you were reading the article no you were eating your bowl of of lucky charms but you subbed out milk for blue gatorade that's right yeah and you had a chase down my spoonful of lucky charms with blue gatorade and then to counterbalance it you gotta have some flaming hot cheetos i just had flaming hot i thought they were called sour cream and cheddar but they're called cheddar and sour cream i'm having a bit of a

berenstain bears moment here what you had them reversed on the bag it says cheddar and sour cream conversationally i've been calling them sour cream and cheddar for the longest time and miles we've all been laughing at you about it you knew it i asked what the fuck you were laughing at the other day when i was eating him you said nothing man eat up your sour cream and cheddar chips sour cream and cheddar i had flaming hot ones though because i saw them at the at the store and i was like you know flaming hot sour cream and cheddar neither of those things are flaming hot i know i know but yeah like there's something about the flaming hot cheetos when it's like on your fingers there's like a a texture to it that feels different carcinogenic yeah carcinogenic like it's like is there like what what's in this can cause dna mutate obviously like this is a very like clickbaity article that's talking about sort

of the things that are linked to it but obviously in the daily mail we've talked about like how skittles are like are not available in in the normal form in europe because they're like oh yeah that food die hell no yeah we're not fucking giving that to people where america's like with arms wide open we fucking we're like yeah baby get it that proper color so obviously this will just lead to you know the these companies being like all right fine we i guess we have to kick the cheap food dye that's carcinogenic habit that we have yeah it seems like it's a lot of food dyes uh just to like anytime i'm drinking gatorade i'm like that color is unnatural like this can't you know why why does this appear to glow in the dark why do i continue to glow in the dark yeah

and then the lucky charms marshmallows are not marshmallow like they're unnatural yeah this makes i mean obviously like the fda needs to look worse but like come on y'all y'all want help on it but also this is like a broader story like if you really want to talk about why the fda is unable to contend with this you can talk about the massive lobbying efforts that occur to basically like man why don't y'all like shut the fuck up about it and ignore what those euro trash motherfuckers are saying about our beloved lucky charms yeah exactly but yeah here we are here we are yeah like all the all the cereals that you suspected were giving you cancer like fruit loops tricks like all those are on the list a lot of movie theater candies swedish fish sarapesh kids m&ms um nerds uh

pop tarts remember we go to the movies we call it salad bar and we empty all of those into a big tub that for meant for the popcorn and you just enjoy them all at once wait you're telling me funfetti is uh look bro with the jet lag i told you man one wrong email could fucking send me right now so don't fucking tell me fun i need the fun fat bro not fun fatty man they say it's fun in the thing yeah um yes in the thing don't ruin it for me yeah anyways people are also on tiktok freaking out after discovering that drumstick like the the ice cream cone drumsticks yeah yeah don't melt which i i've never i don't know like what accident led to someone discovering this like were they pinned under a boulder while the thing was just out of arm's reach how you have one of those out long enough without

eating it to ride this shit out but yeah the drumstick frozen treats don't melt it's like those videos where they put a you know mcdonald's hamburger and fries in a thing next oh yeah a guy found it in his jacket pocket kind of thing yeah exactly 20 years later yeah and it's just like smells exactly the same has the same consistency yeah it's uh I mean I think the other thing too people point out is like it's not ice cream it's dairy flavored dessert like you know like you look on the side of a fucking thing some say ice cream and some say frozen dairy dessert and that typically tells you about how much actual milk is in there.

But also, yeah, I just don't like the idea of someone realizing that those are meant to be eaten. Don't fucking, don't awaken my consciousness around all the chemicals that I consume, please. Sometimes it's literally the only thing I have left at the end of the day. Yeah. These are good things. I'm glad we're learning this so that my children decades after europe yeah yeah like yeah these things have all been illegal for a while in your in various european countries it's good because like we were we were talking about before we

started recording like my kids eat so much better than i do i'm i'm glad that like because we have so much more knowledge you know too yeah i mean but they'll they'll eat like, cause you have so much more knowledge, you know, too. Yeah. I mean, but they'll, they'll eat like shit when they have the opportunity. And I'm glad that they won't have the option of eating some of these things like I did. Right. But there's still such a huge part of me that is just response to these

stories by being like, well, you think you're better than me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Truly. I'm the dude. You know what I mean well that's just

like your opinion man the scientific research you think you're better than me delish.com okay fuck you wanna come over there and flip your fucking desk bro trying to scare me off eating lucky charms by the handful

I haven't had cereal in a minute though so yeah i guess that's less of a shock but the gatorade the gatorade love a loose gatorade every time you know go to the gas station dude get get a gato gato like it's really the the blue color that looks like miniature golf adventure golf lake water or barbicide yeah barbicide flavor they should just have it be barbicide yeah and is barbicide

cool to drink then probably right yeah at this point oh I bet in Europe you guys don't even drink barbicide fuck you alright those are some of the things that are trending on this don't even drink barbicide. Fuck you. All right. Those are some of the things that are trending

on this Wednesday, April 17th. We are back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourself.

Get the vaccine. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. Bye. I'm Jess Casavetto,

executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, dancing for the devil, the seven M Tik TOK cult. And I'm Cleo gray, former member of seven M films and Shekinah church. And we're the host of the new podcast. Forgive me for, I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories

behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.