The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 02.09 Dhar Man ACCUSED BY EMPLOYEES, What Happens Next Will Shock You & Today's News

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Go to https://nordvpn.com/phil to get a huge discount on a 2-year plan + an additional gift of anywhere from 4 additional months up to a year of free NordVPN service! The Not So Secretive Beautiful Bastard Drop Is Live: https://BeautifulBastard.com Catch Up on Yesterday’s Show Here: https://youtu.be/Yu0QtvHBaqE Check Out Sunday’s Show: https://youtu.be/OUNmospHr8w – 00:00 - Dhar Mann Actors Protest Bleak Pay, Refusal to Hold Meetings 05:08 - NFL Players Sue League for Wrongfully Denying Disability Benefits 06:44 - Hermès Wins MetaBirkins Lawsuit; Jurors Not Convinced NFTs Are Art 08:17 - Sponsored by Nord 09:13 - Reporter Arrested While Covering News Conference in Ohio 10:51 - State Dept Says Chinese Balloon Had Tools to Collect Comms, Was Part of Military Fleet 12:52 - Brazil Works to Remove Tens of Thousands of Illegal Miners From Indigenous Land – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Dhar Mann Actors Protest Low Pay, Refusal to Hold Meetings: https://www.distractify.com/p/what-happened-to-dhar-mann-actors NFL Players Sue League for Wrongfully Denying Disability Benefits: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-nfl-players-sue-over-disability-claims-accuse-league-of-systematic-bias/ Hermès Wins MetaBirkins Lawsuit; Jurors Not Convinced NFTs Are Art: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hermes-wins-metabirkins-suit-over-birkin-bag-nfts-1235320819/ Reporter Arrested While Covering News Conference in Ohio: https://roguerocket.com/2023/02/09/reporter-arrested-news-conference/ State Dept Says Chinese Balloon Had Tools to Collect Comms, Was Part of Military Fleet: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/1155786971/chinese-spy-balloon-fbi Brazil Works to Remove Tens of Thousands of Illegal Miners From Indigenous Land: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/brazil-pushes-illegal-miners-out-of-indigenous-territory —————————— Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Brian Espinoza, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle ———————————— #DeFranco #DharMann #MoistCr1TiKaL ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest YouTubers in the world's employees are protesting him. There's more to talk about with the Chinese spy balloon. Reporters are getting arrested. People are getting sued. I couldn't be troubled taking a shower this morning. We're gonna talk about all of that and so much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. So buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. One of the biggest YouTubers, and really, I mean, he's established on so many platforms in a massive, massive way, is being protested by his own actors right now.

So if you're not familiar, this is Darman. He's an entrepreneur and the head of Darman Studios. On YouTube alone, his main channel's got 18 million subscribers. The videos get millions and millions of views each. And those videos mostly tell scripted stories with moral lessons or inspirational themes. You'll often see other creators reacting to the videos

because many of them are like just over the top and hammy and in your face. But now, many of the actors are protesting with one Colin Borden explaining on TikTok. One of the main issues is that not a single actor that works at Darmann Studios can afford rent. And saying that a lot of the actors across the board feel this way. They feel mistreated, but it took a while to get this big movement going. Trouble is there is a culture at the studio of if you talk, you're out. So they all decided to just join together. They sent a letter to Dhar Mann addressing some of their issues,

saying they want to sit down and have a conversation about this. And it said that a meeting was eventually set up with HR, but it kept getting pushed back over and over again. And when it finally happened, Dhar Mann wasn't actually present. So the actors then walked out of the meeting saying that's not what they wanted. Dhar Mann signs our contracts. We want him here. Schedule one with him.

But saying that they were eventually told that meeting just would not happen. So that's why we're here right now, because all we wanted to do was sit down and have a conversation with our boss. That didn't happen. We were told explicitly that there will not be any meetings. Another actor, Dylan Harris,

also sharing similar claims, saying that he was actually quite afraid to post his video. Or saying that acting is his dream job and that he feels lucky to be paid to act in any capacity, but there are issues at the studio. Garman has not been scaling his actor's pay as he has become a multi-multi-multi-millionaire. The money that he gives us, albeit isn't a lot, but it was enough for me to be afraid to stand up to him.

It's better than door dashing every day, which is what I had been doing. And he's aware of that. And with all this, saying that he thinks Dhar Mann should practice what he preaches in his videos. Also in the comments of another video saying that the studio has a big brother culture.

We've also seen footage of the protest popping up online with actors holding posters saying why they're outside the studio protesting. I protested the man never talks to anyone. He silently fires people and he doesn't pay anyone what they're outside the studio protesting. I protested the man never talks to anyone. He silently fires people. And he doesn't pay anyone what they're worth. We try everything that is done in the dark to be brought to the light.

Because we can't be taken advantage like this. And there are other videos as well, including one where an actor says someone was fired over medical conditions. You also had other creators speaking out, like Ethan Klein actually providing some insight here, saying his brother-in-law is a teacher who does one-on-one instruction programs

and one of his students was in Dhar Mann videos. And saying that his brother-in-law is a teacher who does one-on-one instruction programs and one of his students was in Dhar Mann videos saying that his brother-in-law was shocked at how little the student was making. He has to drive super far He pays for his own transportation. He pays a minimum wage There's no like support for him being like an underage He's under 18, but he basically almost loses money going there and coming back paying for his transportation He pays him like less than a100 for a day's rate. And later they're saying the day is going to be 10 to 12 hours long. So easy to exploit these workers.

And it sounds like that's exactly what he's doing. And, you know, it really just underlies a need for some kind of regulation or unions for child actors and actors like and Dhar Mann's. I guess it should be said SAG does have a digital contract for like for content on YouTube and stuff but I think it's barely ever used. Right there referring to the Screen Actors Guild a major union for actors and they do actually have new media contracts and policies though we would have no way of knowing if Dhar Mann productions or actors are eligible or in what capacity since there are a lot of rules and guidelines about what or who does and doesn't qualify but also this is kind of just

something worth noting if anyone watching this is in the space and wants to look into it you also had other creators like moist critical responding to the situation this is a guy that could easily afford to pay his actors well and i would have expected him to do that because i always got the impression that he was just like a genuinely good guy who just wanted to tell basic positive messages but according to all the actors he's a wolf in sheep's clothing which is extremely sad and now with all that said as far as his part darman has responded to all of this in a community post saying for background we did arrange an in-person hour-long meeting with actor representatives and two of our most senior leaders including including our head of production, in hopes of understanding concerns prior to any protests.

And saying during that meeting, the actor representatives refused to communicate any concerns and instead walked out. Also claiming that the actors are paid well with extras making $18 per hour and speaking role actors making between $33 to $44 per hour. And saying actors by nature work for many different production companies. We offer project-based opportunities that vary from a few hours long to a few days. But yeah, ultimately, that's where we are with this story. It was heavily requested, so I wanted to make sure we covered it. And so now I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here?

And then, the NFL are a bunch of penny-pinching, disability-discriminating assholes. Or rather, that's what this new lawsuit alleges, though not in no specific words. We've known for a long time how football batters the bodies and brains of the young men who play the sport for America's entertainment. So you'd think that the least that the league could do for them once they retire is to help them get the medical care that they need for their injuries, right? Well, according to a lawsuit filed by 10 former players against the NFL's benefits plan, as well as the plan's board of trustees and commissioner, Roger Goodell,

they've been wrongfully denied disability benefits. They allege that the plan routinely steers players to financially biased doctors, some of whom collect hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from the plan itself, and they fail to find players are disabled at exceedingly high rates. And then when they appeal the denied claims, allegedly the board overly relies on

the opinions of those same doctors and inaccurate case summaries from its law firm. And so when that doesn't work, they go to the federal courts, but they say that the plan's lawyers show a disturbing pattern of illogical and inconsistent interpretations of their own rules in an effort to justify denying disability claims. And a key thing, these are not just allegations. Judges have ruled in six separate lawsuits of the plan wrongly denied claims, as well as three cases in which judges identified problems in how the plan reviewed claims. So now the plaintiffs are seeking class action status on behalf of thousands of players who have dealt with the plan. And one of the attorneys leading the suit also worked on the 2012 class action case against the NFL for failing to

protect players from concussions. With a settlement there, which is still ongoing, having paid out over a billion dollars to retirees suffering from dementia and other brain diseases linked to repetitive head trauma. You know, something to keep in mind as we all watch the Super Bowl this weekend. It feels like that's a constant in our society or maybe even just our world. We pay a lot of attention and focus on and care about people when they're right in front of us, doing the thing that brings us joy or in other instances keeps us safe. But then when they're done, they're often treated like out of sight out of mind. And then, what is art? That's a question a jury is being asked

with a recent lawsuit regarding the iconic Birkin bags and NFTs. So Hermes won their lawsuit against artist Mason Rothschild yesterday. They sued him for the creation of meta Birkins NFTs with images of Birkins decorated in wild ways. Like some had mammoth tusks, one was green and shaggy like the Grinch, another had Van Gogh's Starry Night on it.

For those that don't know, Birkin bags, they're rich people shit. They're handmade, highly coveted. They cost tens of thousands of dollars. You also can't go into a store and just buy one direct. You gotta jump through a bunch of rich people hoop shit. We're talking about bags where a recent one

sold at auction for over $200,000. So the lawsuit they filed claimed that meta Birkins were diluting their trademark and that customers might be misled into buying the NFT rather than the real bag. But you had Rothschild's team arguing, no, the NFTs are art, so they're protected by the First Amendment. They're saying that Birkin is a symbol of wealth and status, making it easy for artists to use as a metaphor for consumerism. And on another front, Rothschild's team argued whether

customers with the means to purchase a Birkin bag would actually be misled by Rothschild's NFTs. The key thing here being that Rothschild's was selling the meta Birkins for around $450 each and reportedly reached about $1.1 million in sales. And Hermes' legal team also claimed that Rothschild publicized the cease and desist letter that the company sent in in an effort to drive more interest in the NFTs. With the jury ultimately finding that the artists did infringe on the trademark and awarded them $133,000 in damages. And arguably an even bigger thing here is they also found that the NFTs are not protected under the First Amendment. Which is why Rothschild and his lawyer called this a serious loss and saying what happened today was wrong, saying this was a big win for big business

and a major loss for artists. And all of this happening as trademark rights are about to be tested again soon in the case between Jack Daniels and VIP Products, where they're the brand that made dog toys with a similar design to the whiskey bottles. And then, don't you hate when you're like searching for anything on the internet, like a gift for someone,

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and you'll get a huge discount on a two-year plan plus an additional gift of anywhere from four additional months up to a year of free NordVPN service. That's NordVPN.com slash fill. It's all risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. And then, so this is a reporter in Ohio, Evan Lambert, who was just covering a news conference about a train derailment that led to a controlled release of toxic fumes. The conference was supposed to start at 3 p.m. but was delayed until 5. And that's when Lambert was scheduled for a live shot for News Nation, the cable channel he works for. So Lambert

does the live shot. He does it in the back of the room, out of the way of the podium, and he reported quickly, also wrapping up when he noticed that Governor Mike DeWine was speaking. But that did not stop the police from coming up to him. And according to News Nation, police told Lambert that he was out of line for talking while the governor was speaking. With Lambert not only then being led out of the room after a discussion, but then placed on the ground and arrested. With the police then charging him with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, he actually had to spend time in jail. Though there, while Lambert was meant to stay the night to be arraigned the following morning, the county jail reportedly fielded countless calls asking why Lambert

couldn't be released that night. And if the goal of the cops here was to get this guy to stop talking, they have failed because when he was released from jail, he didn't interview broadcast moments after he walked out of the building. No journalist expects to be arrested when you're doing your job. And what's interesting is that while a lot of people aren't happy about Lambert's arrest, among those is the governor, with DeWine quick to comment to other reporters following the incident, saying that he's always allowed the press to speak with viewers live during his speeches. If someone was stopped from doing that or told they could not do that, that was wrong. It was nothing that I authorized and certainly it would be something that I would not want to see happen. And Lambert's co-workers royally pissed with his boss saying in

an interview, I'm infuriated. I'm outraged. I don't believe this should happen anywhere in America. It shocks me that law enforcement is that disdainful of the right of the press to report on the activities, comments and policies of public officials, especially in a crisis. With News Nation also mentioning that Lambert's reporting was done quietly despite the officer's claims. So as far as the charges against Lambert, they're still there, with the local sheriff telling CNN, I see no reason why the charges would be dropped, but that's in the prosecutor's office hands at this point. And then, China's definitely lying. And to be specific, because that statement could really apply to just any number of things. But what I'm

talking about here is the pretty fucking wild new information we have on the infamous Chinese balloon. Which of course, it was something we put a ton of videos out on, but TLDR is a big-ass balloon that belonged to China floating across the U.S. But U.S. officials saying it was a surveillance balloon and that it violated U.S. sovereignty and international law. China, though, insisted, hey, this is just a civilian weather balloon. The U.S. is overreacting. Why'd you use military force against our definitely not a spy balloon balloon? But, you know, because it's China, we know it's bullshit. With today's State Department officials confirming that the balloon was capable of gathering electronic communications and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons that

have flown over more than 40 countries and five continents. Department officials saying that American U-2 surveillance planes were able to capture images of the balloon while it was still in the air, and those images determined that the balloon's equipment was clearly for intelligence surveillance and in consistence with the equipment on board weather balloons. And specifically, they said that the balloon had multiple antennas that were likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications, as well as solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors. The agency also saying these kinds of activities are often undertaken at the direction of the People's

Liberation Army, and adding that the government is confident that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with China's military and is an approved vendor of the PLA. This, according to an official procurement portal for the army. Also notably, adding that the company advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least U.S. airspace and airspace of other countries. Now, as far as how China has responded to this, they are still continuing to lie. In a news conference on Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said she was not aware of the balloons being part of a fleet, as the U.S. believes. And even saying, I think this may be part of the U.S.'s information warfare against China. But, as with the declassification of this most recent information, U.S. officials have made it clear that they intend to keep providing more intel to the public,

with the State Department saying today that it'll look into broader efforts to expose and address Chinese surveillance that poses, quote, a threat to our national security and to our allies and partners. And this is one of the very few unifying topics in America right now. And that may be best exemplified with the House voting today 419 to 0 to approve a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of the balloon, declaring the situation a brazen violation of United States sovereignty. And then the Brazilian government is fighting to stop a genocide right now, and at the heart of all this is one extremely valuable mineral, gold. Where the country's attention is focused on the largest indigenous reserve in the Amazon rainforest, home to the Yanomami people. There's less than 30,000 of them left, and almost as many of the group killing them off,

with some 20,000 gold miners illegally encroaching on their land. Because of some background here, the miners began invading this territory back in the 1970s and 80s with the encouragement of the military dictatorship. But then, in the 90s, tens of thousands of miners were removed from the land and a supposedly protected area was created that exists to this day. But, with the 2018 election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, minors again launched an all-out assault on Yanomami land, with them feeling emboldened by the president's aggressive rhetoric and weakened environmental protection. So all this time, they've been polluting the water, ravaging the forest, and even shooting

at the indigenous people with automatic weapons. With photos spreading of dozens of emaciated Yanomami children flown to hospitals for malnutrition and malaria shocking many Brazilians. I mean, you saw at least 570 kids reportedly dying of curable diseases during Bolsonaro's administration, many of these from drinking water poisoned by mercury, which is linked to gold mining. And although the mining there is technically illegal, miners have been able to elude the authorities, which isn't hard to do when the government supports the activity anyway. With The Guardian discovering a 75-mile road to chaos carved out of the jungle last year to smuggle excavators in, bringing heavy machinery never before seen on the reserve and taking the mining operation to a whole nother

level. But all that said, when left-wing president Lula took office last month, he hit the brakes hard, saying more than a humanitarian crisis. What I saw in Roraima was genocide, a premeditated crime against the Yanomami committed by a government insensitive to suffering. And adding, I came here to say we are going to treat our indigenous people as human beings. And with all of this, he has created a new ministry for indigenous peoples, declared a medical emergency, and began airdropping food and medical supplies in the reserve. And now this week, the government launched an operation to remove all of the illegal miners from the area, with special forces environmental operatives swooping in by the dozen. And so far, they've torched houses, a plane,

a helicopter, a bulldozer, also seizing boats and weapons. But it's not all over, because with the sheer number of miners hiding all over the place, it could take months to get them out. And that is where today's show ends. As always, thank you for watching and being a part of these daily dives into the news. My name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you next time.