The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 02.06 Youtuber Charged With Murder After It Was Exposed He Faked a Livestream For An Alibi & Today's News

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got PewDiePie in the news, but it's for good reasons this time. I'm tired of this Grammys drama. A YouTuber's fake livestream may be the key piece of evidence in a murder case. What really happened with the Chinese spy balloon? I'm gonna break all that down for you today in today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. But first, big news. I just launched a surprise drop over at BeautifulBastard.com. Stock's only gonna be guaranteed for around the next 12 hours,

Starting point is 00:00:19 but I'm gonna try and keep this live for seven days. So while you can, snag yourself some go-easy-on-yourself gear. The ridiculous but heavily requested nothing of value shirts and premium hoodies, some let me ask my wife goodness, and so much more goodness available only for a limited time over at beautifulbastard.com. So grab what you want while you can. With that said, buckle up and let's just jump into it. Starting with the massive news about a YouTuber at the center of a murder case. Back in December, 32-year-old Natalie McNally, a woman that was 15 weeks pregnant, was stabbed to death inside of her home in Northern Ireland. And right off the

Starting point is 00:00:47 bat, police aimed their sights on Stephen McCullough. He's a part-time assistant editor for the Belfast Telegraph, and more importantly to this story, he's a YouTube streamer with over 30,000 subscribers. So we see him arrested in the wake of this murder, but then he's ruled out as a suspect because, as he explains, he was live streaming the night that it happened. So that's it, right? Hands are clean. Done deal with him. Except, no, not at all, because as it turns out, that live stream was prerecorded days earlier, even though he had tried to make it appear live to his audience.

Starting point is 00:01:11 What are we doing tonight? Well, because this streaming software is kind of up the left it means I can't check the live chat. I could use my phone to dip in every now and again and check it, but I've decided that I kind of hate live streams where people just sit and read comments and go, oh my god, yes, ask me questions, bear. And so now, McCullough's new alibi is that he was just home, drinking alone, and he fell asleep. But some other evidence says no, that's not the case. Like, the detectives claim that they can track his movements

Starting point is 00:01:41 from the murder scene back to his home using CCTV footage from a bus and the account of a taxi driver, with McCullough allegedly shown wearing a yellow glove under a black glove while handing change to the driver, which looks really bad for him since the print of a yellow cleaning glove was found in some blood at the scene. He also allegedly kept in contact with the McNally family during the weeks that followed, even leaving his phone in their residence and recording 40 minutes of audio to discreetly see if they suspected him of committing the murder, all of which really putting this specific moment from his so-called live stream in a new light. That's why I like sticking to just doing crimes in a video game. Keeps things simple, mate.

Starting point is 00:02:12 And that's without mentioning this maybe intentional, maybe not intentional flub. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And so now McCullough's been charged with murder and people are outraged not just at him and the specific case, but also violence against women in general. With the National Women's Council organizing a rally where hundreds of locals showed up. So we're obviously going to keep our eyes on this. I'll keep you up to date, but just wild news.

Starting point is 00:02:35 And then, for my own mental health, I want to have just one story that was just positive. That's it. There's a lot of bad today ranging from kind of inconsequential to just absolutely horrific. Which is why I want, even if it's just a quickie to mention PewDiePie Felix Lefort is previously the biggest youtuber in the world still one of the most massive in the world and in recent years He's been kind of undergoing an evolution focusing more on his own life his relationships rather than just content content content over the weekend He announced that he and his wife Marzia are having a baby and so one obviously congratulations to them. Good luck But also two I appreciated this story because it allowed me to view something that I think we have from a different viewpoint.

Starting point is 00:03:08 Because even though I'm not an every video avid viewer of PewDiePie, he's been one of the few constants in my life. Every now and then I go on a bit of a binge. You see the changes in a person. It gives me a different appreciation and insight into something that happens often. Like, I'll bump into someone that's watched a show for a really long time. Something that'll come up is like, it feels like we've kind of grown up together because even though we get new people join in The family every single day. I mean there are a lot of people who have been watching me the 15-16 However many years we've been doing this over that time period we've been different people like a lot of people came on board when I Was whoa cringy edgelord fuckface to Franco all the way to now of a husband dad

Starting point is 00:03:42 Don't just say fucking stupid bullshit for the shock value and actually try to understand where people are coming from. DeFranco. And I think being on that ride with someone and seeing those evolutions, it can make you more kind of like understanding of people. Maybe even give them some more grace to grow. And I kind of feel that with Felix. Like, you know, there was Let's Play Felix. There's Drama Felix or rather Gloria Borger. Borger? It's been a while.

Starting point is 00:04:01 And now there's talk about Aristotle and move to Japan to get away and gonna be a dad PewDiePie. So all that to say I understand why this ended up becoming such a such a big story that it was on CNN. Even though the fact that CNN covered it did throw me off for a second. Yeah, main things once again, good luck, congrats, and for everyone else, we're going back into the suck. And then the Grammys, which I found out is an award show that still happens, happened again last night. There's a lot of like love and praise and also a lot of anger, but the bulk of it centering around Beyonce and in connection, Harry Styles. Because as you might have seen this morning, there are a lot of conflicting headlines. You have stuff like

Starting point is 00:04:34 Beyonce is the queen of the Grammy. She just set the record for the most Grammy wins ever. Then you see headlines and people shouting that Beyonce was snubbed and screwed over by the Grammys. So the big question is, well, how the hell can both of those things be true? Well, it's worth noting that there are roughly 1 trillion categories at the Grammys. And for the most part, when it comes to music, the most prestigious, competitive, and coveted ones are actually a select few. Song, record, and album of the year. And out of the 32 Grammys that Beyonce has, only one is for one of those top categories.

Starting point is 00:05:01 Which goes all the way back to single ladies winning song of the year. And then the vast majority of her wins coming from genre categories like R&B. And so it's been long said by fans that it's absolutely wild that she's never won album or record of the year. Especially when you compare her to other artists like Taylor Swift, who out of 12 Grammy wins has won album of the year three times. But people this year said, hey, time for the curse to break. Renaissance gonna get that top award, going into the night is kind of the favorite. While she did pick up some Grammys, she was shut out of the top awards yet again, with Harry's House by Harry Styles getting Album

Starting point is 00:05:27 of the Year over her. And during Harry's speech, you can even hear someone in the audience shouting Beyonce's name. I've been so, so inspired by every artist in this category with me. And online, you had people tweeting things like, Beyonce represents every black woman that is constantly applauded for their work, but when it comes to promotion time, their white colleague colleague gets it instead with tons of people accusing the Grammys of racial bias and of Snubbing black women because every time she's lost album of the year It's gone to a white person with more saying Renaissance not winning album of the year as another example of how black women can consistently deliver Excellence reinvent the wheel and shake culture and still not be recognized to the extent that she deserves number of people online also getting angry At Harry for saying that quote this doesn't happen to people like me during his speech.

Starting point is 00:06:06 There he saw many people defending Harry, saying he was trying to refer to his very normal upbringing in a normal, totally non-Hollywood adjacent town. But for me, it comes down to, in 2023 it feels weird to bring up and quote Kanye West. But you know, he very much was of the mindset of, fuck the Grammys. Same as hell, even Eminem back in the day.

Starting point is 00:06:22 Noting that a bunch of these award shows are bullshit. The dangling carrots in front of a bunch of entertainers who, of course, yes, want public acceptance. And because these award shows are so long-standing and established, you feel like, yes, they matter. They honestly matter so fucking little compared to all the fans. That's the only validation that truly matters, and all this random bullshit that's happening, it just puts fandoms against one another for no reason. Because guess what? If you think Harry Styles' album was better than Beyoncé's, it was. And if you think Beyoncé's album was better than Beyonce's, it was. And if you think Beyonce's album was better than Harry Styles, it was. Perception is reality. I don't even know who's voting in most of these award shows, so it's part

Starting point is 00:06:51 of the reason why I don't care. And then, for any of you focused on getting your business off the ground, creating a place to share your homemade goods, new favorite hobby, current obsession, or even a personal blog to get all those thoughts out of your head, I've got a great solution for you. Our fantastic partner and sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, I've been partnering with Squarespace for years now, and I have to say, it is just so easy. There's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever. And creating a beautiful website with Squarespace as an all-in-one platform has never been so simple. It's incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Plus, with their mobile-optimized websites, your content automatically adjusts what looks great on any device. And with Squarespace,

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Starting point is 00:07:35 make sure you enter an offer code phil to get 10% off your first purchase. And then a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Southern Turkey and Northern Syria last night. We're talking the largest in the area since 1939. And on top of that, as is often the case with earthquakes, there have been major aftershocks ever since. In total, at least 2,600 people have died, with about two-thirds of those occurring in Turkey. And sadly, that death toll is very much expected to rise as more and more bodies are being found within rubble.

Starting point is 00:07:58 And on the note of rising death tolls, even as we were getting this show out, the WHO is now expecting the death toll to rise into the 20,000 range, which would make this one of the deadliest quakes ever in the region. And it's a lot of rubble. The quakes have managed to topple over 4,200 buildings, including some historic ones. Right, and the fact that so many buildings fell here,

Starting point is 00:08:13 it really underlines how strong this quake was. Because unlike some places in the world where you see damage like this, Turkey is no stranger to earthquakes. They have building codes that are supposed to help with earthquake resilience. It's also important to note that the relative strength of an earthquake

Starting point is 00:08:24 can differ dramatically depending on a ton of factors, such as how shallow the quake was. It's also important to note that the relative strength of an earthquake can differ dramatically depending on a ton of factors, such as how shallow the quake was. Like with this earthquake, it was just about 15 miles deep, which is actually a very shallow earthquake, which is a key thing here because it makes it feel that much stronger on the surface. And to make matters even worse,

Starting point is 00:08:35 some of the regions that are already struggling with aftershocks are also struggling with severe weather warnings. So on top of the devastation we're already seeing, there's an expectation for there to be freezing temperatures and extreme winds, both of which are expected to hinder rescue efforts. Which on the note of those efforts, a ton of countries have promised to send rescue workers and aid packages. Turkey graciously accepting those offers, although they notably declined an offer from Elon Musk to send Starlink to the area.

Starting point is 00:08:55 With an unnamed official saying they already had enough satellite capabilities. However, the rescue efforts that we're seeing in Syria are likely to be far more complicated. The region there that was hit already has 4.1 million people who depend on humanitarian aid due to the ongoing civil war. Making matters even more complicated, many nations that have promised aid to Turkey, such as Russia and the US, have been actively involved over the last decade supporting one side of the civil war over the other. So actually getting aid to where people need it might be hard. And keep in mind, due to the nature of this whole situation, there is likely going to be a ton of updates between when I record this and when you see it, and then even a day after. But if you can and want to help rescue efforts, I'm going to link to organizations down below that are on the ground helping.

Starting point is 00:09:28 And then, who could have imagined that one of the biggest international scandals of the year would involve a balloon? The Great Chinese Spy Balloon of 2023. This dominated headlines over the weekend, and it may actually matter more than you realize. So let's break it down from what you may have heard to what you might not realize. We now know that the Chinese balloon first entered U.S. airspace over Alaska on Saturday, January 28th. The military's North American Aerospace Defense Commander NORAD closely then tracks the balloon, which then travels into Canadian airspace by January 30th. But then the balloon surprises U.S. officials by traveling back into the U.S. over Idaho on Tuesday, January 31st.

Starting point is 00:10:00 At this point, President Biden is alerted and asks for options of how to respond, including by shooting it down. Also ordering that steps be taken to ensure that it doesn't collect sensitive information or communications from sites on the ground. But then, when things start to get really messy, is the next day, when the balloon makes its way over Montana. Because not only does it fly near the Malmstrom Air Force Base, which houses several nuclear missile silos, but it also gets spotted and recorded by civilians who have no idea what the hell this is. So the Billings Logan International Airport temporarily shuts down, it grounds flights for a few hours. It's also at this point that top military officials gather to discuss how to handle it, though they ultimately advise against shooting down the balloon, which is the size of three buses, saying it could scatter debris that could harm civilians and

Starting point is 00:10:33 infrastructure. So Biden instructs them to figure out how to shoot it down once it's over U.S. waters and can be taken down in a way that's safe and allows the U.S. to recover its parts to study. It's not until Thursday, February 2nd, that the Pentagon officially tells the public that it's been tracking what it believes to be a surveillance balloon flying over the US for the last few days, with a senior defense official telling Pentagon reporters that the US has very high confidence that the balloon was intentionally flying over sensitive sites to collect information. Though they are saying that the government has assessed that the balloon has limited additive value in terms of collecting intelligence that China couldn't get

Starting point is 00:10:59 from other means. Or things like spy satellites, but adding that officials are still taking actions to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information. The Pentagon press secretary also adding that the balloon was traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. And while you had government officials explaining why it's best not to just shoot it down, it could pose a threat to civilians, we still saw tons of Republicans condemning this approach. Many calling on Biden to just shoot the fucker down, including Trump. You also had some of the biggest idiots in Congress, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar really, god I wish

Starting point is 00:11:28 this was a joke, encouraging Americans to just try and shoot down the balloon themselves. Though there you actually had police in multiple states where the balloon was flying over just saying please fuck please don't please do not shoot at the balloon it's not gonna hit it it's tens of thousands of feet up there and what you're shooting is gonna come down. But that takes us to Friday, February 3rd, where we saw China publicly addressing the balloon for the first time. The Chinese foreign ministry claiming that this was just a weather balloon

Starting point is 00:11:49 that had strayed beyond its intended course into the US due to the influence of westerly winds and its limited control capacity. And adding China regrets that the airship strayed into the United States by mistake, which is very notable because I don't know the last time that China apologized for anything. But we saw US officials rejecting that characterization,

Starting point is 00:12:04 insisting that this aircraft was a spy balloon, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling it a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law. And this is an absolutely key thing here, on Friday Blinken announced last minute that he was gonna be canceling his first official trip to China,

Starting point is 00:12:16 with him actually set to leave that night. Which I mean, that is a huge deal and a major snub to China, who then tried to downplay the decision, claiming the US and China had never announced the visit and accusing politicians and the media of having hyped the situation to smear China. But the reason this is such a key thing is like this whole meeting that they were going to have, the hope and intent of it was to calm things down. So if something like this happened, that it wouldn't like escalate things. But with all that said, going back to

Starting point is 00:12:39 the balloon, as far as what happened to it on Saturday, the most American thing happened to it. We shot it up. After traveling over North and South Carolina and prompting some flights to be paused, the balloon finally left the coast and the military sent two F-22 fighter jets after it, with one of them successfully firing an air-to-air missile downing the balloon, which at the time was flying between 60,000 and 65,000 feet. And with this, we saw many Americans cheering this move and applauding Biden's successful takedown. Though China, of course, was super fucking pissed. With the Chinese foreign ministry issuing a statement arguing that it was actually the U.S., not China, that was in the wrong for shooting down a spy balloon that was in its airspace.

Starting point is 00:13:10 And saying that what America did here was clearly an excessive reaction. And even seeming to imply that they could retaliate militarily, saying that it retains the right to respond further. And then, at the same time, you had lots of Republicans complaining that Biden didn't shoot the balloon down earlier. Despite, once again, the risk to civilians. Calling it embarrassing, claiming it showed weakness. But regardless of opinions here, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said that they will investigate the situation,

Starting point is 00:13:31 the Biden administration's response, and how to prevent this from happening again. Also, with this news, one of the big questions is, you know, is this the first time this has happened? Has it happened in the past? And actually, with that, you had a senior defense official saying the Chinese balloon suspected of surveillance activities

Starting point is 00:13:42 had entered the U.S. airspace at least three times during the Trump administration and once during Biden's, but also saying this time was different because a balloon was in the U.S. for so damn long and traveled over so much of the country, including key military sites. Though also, notably here, you had numerous Trump officials denying ever being briefed on that matter. Trump himself claiming to Fox News, this never happened, it would have never happened. Though of course, when it comes to Trump and what he says is true or not, you can't always count on that is the nicest way I can respond. But also, there's been a conversation of, you know, are there often surveillance infractions like this and defense leaders don't kind of update the top officials every single time something happens? Especially

Starting point is 00:14:15 because this isn't something that's just limited to the U.S., right? That same senior defense official who spoke about the U.S. incursions also told reporters, over the past several years, Chinese balloons have previously been spotted over countries across five continents, including East Asia, South Asia, and Europe. And I mean, literally, while this whole thing was going down, US authorities confirmed there was another suspected Chinese surveillance balloon hanging over Latin America, with the Washington Post reporting that officials say

Starting point is 00:14:35 there's likely a third operating elsewhere. And in fact, just today, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed to CNN that the balloon was indeed Chinese, but claimed that it was just a balloon used for flight tests that seriously deviated from its planned courses and entered the skies over Latin America by mistake because of weather and China's limited ability to control it.

Starting point is 00:14:51 But as far as what happens next year, U.S. officials hope to learn more about the balloon as they recover debris to study it. I mean, just as I was recording today, we saw it being reported now that a top official said that the balloon weighed in excess of a couple of thousand pounds and potentially carried explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon. But ultimately, that's where we are.

Starting point is 00:15:05 We'll obviously pay attention to this to see what else we learn. You know, for many, there is a question in the air of, you know, is China being honest? Did they accidentally not keep their big old balls to themselves? Or were they trying to spy? Or were they intentionally trying to sabotage

Starting point is 00:15:18 diplomatic relations ahead of their meeting? Because remember, this would have been the first time a US Secretary of State visited the country in years. A visit that was set to happen as tensions between the US and China have continued to rise, and the Biden administration moving to crack down on China and expand military presence in the region. So yeah, with all of that, what are your thoughts? Let me know in those comments. And that is where we're going to end today's show.

Starting point is 00:15:35 Hopefully we made the news a little more consumable for you today. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 02.06 Youtuber Charged With Murder After It Was Exposed He Faked a Livestream For An Alibi & Today's News

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