The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 04.22 Watcher TV Scandal Exposes A Growing Problem, Scared of Swifties, & Mike Johnson Did The Unthinkable

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

Step into Spring with Vessi at http://www.vessi.com/pds for an automatic 15% off your first purchase at checkout + free shipping to CA, US, AU, JP, TW, KR, SGP. ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Watcher Will Allow Fans to Watch For Free After Paywall Scandal 5:29 - Paste Magazine Conceals Critic’s Identity Over Swiftie Threat Fears 9:30 - Sponsored by Vessi 10:26 - US Studios Unknowingly Outsourced Animation Work to North Korea 13:06 - Congress Passes Spy Program Renewal, TikTok Ban and Foreign Aid Bills 17:50 - Comment Commentary ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino  ———————————— #DeFranco #Watcher #TaylorSwift ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Hope you've had a fantastic Monday evening, Tuesday morning. You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news, and we got a lot to talk about today, so let's just jump into it. And the first thing we got to talk about today, it was the most requested story on the text line over the weekend, and that is the Watcher scandal, especially because we now have some huge updates. So for those of you who do not know, Stephen Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej are the people behind Watcher. And if you didn't know their names or they look familiar, you know,

they got their start on BuzzFeed Video before moving on to this project. And notably with that, they have a very solid following on YouTube. But over the weekend, they put out a video called Goodbye YouTube, where they announced that they were leaving the platform to create their own streaming service.

Everyone has different missions they're marching towards on YouTube. Ours was to make a television show. And, you know, over time, you start to realize like, hey, maybe television shows aren't meant for YouTube. Perhaps we should find a different place that's better suited to the content that we're making and can support the dollar amounts

that we're putting into each of these episodes. Right, and they know that Watcher's grown a lot. It employs 25 people. There are a lot of costs in making every episode and relying on advertising doesn't feel sustainable. And so they say that having their own independent streaming service, it's just going to give them more freedom. The service said to be ad free, cost $6 per month or $60 annually. And as far as on YouTube, they said, you know, when new seasons of shows pop up, we'll post the first episode here.

But if you want to see the full season, you got to go pay. Also have trailers, stuff like that. So with that, they did not get the reaction I think they were expecting, with fans quick to denounce this and share their disproval. Saying things like, putting all your videos behind a paywall is the nail in the coffin for an internet career. As well as gonna be honest, I've been watching Ryan and Shane since the beginning of BuzzFeed days. I've watched them weekly for years now, but I can't justify paying for another streaming platform just for watcher shows. Think you're gonna lose a lot of your audience, to be honest. As well as respectfully, get over yourself. I don't think your audience of broke college students is going to pay for another subscription service just to watch content they've been getting for free for years.

Horrible moves. Some also saying they felt like the crew is dismissive of how affordable $6 a month is for everyday people. You know, I'll say I went into this situation blind. I'm unfamiliar with them. That is not meant as a dig. The Internet is fucking massive. You could have 10 million subscribers. There's billions of people who don't know who you are.

When I saw this, I was just wondering like, why didn't they launch a Patreon or a fourth wall? And actually, as it turned out, Watcher TV is an addition to their already existing Patreon, which is tiers that range from $5 to $100 a month. And they have over 13,000 patrons with it appearing to be the plan for that to still exist, but to be more about their podcast, as well as giving subscribers a discount for then Watcher TV, the new service. Right. So at the very least, like this is all kind of messy. You had everyday viewers as well as giving subscribers a discount for then Watcher TV, the new service. Right, so at the very least, like, this is all kind of messy. You had everyday viewers as well as big creators going after them. Commentators like Moist Critical calling this a greedy move. And this is others accuse them of pretending to be poor. And also saying if they can't make a profit with their

revenue streams, then they have to be doing something wrong, right? And if that's true, launching a subservice nobody wants won't fix anything. Also in the midst of this, there was a petition to remove Steven as the group's CEO and to keep Watcher free. And a lot of this seemingly resulting in Shane's wife, Sarah Rubin, defending their choice, writing, I get people don't like to pay for things that were once free, but paying people fairly and making a survivable living while making cool things is hard, even with ads. I think what the fellows are cooking up will be well worth it, to be honest. And in the tags of that post, noting that not everyone has Mr. Beast's money to play with. You know, some agreed with, whereas others felt like she was trying to guilt trip the fans. But then we got

a massive update today from the guys over at Watcher. We messed up. Right first, apologizing for the announcement and the way that it landed and thanking fans for supporting them over the years and adding that their concerns and complaints were valid. One of the biggest things is that the content will not be fully paywall. If you want to watch our shows early and ad free, you can catch them on the Watcher platform a month earlier. After that, you'll be able to watch our shows early and ad-free, you can catch them on the Watcher platform a month earlier. After that, you'll be able to watch our shows on YouTube for free. For those that have already subscribed to the platform, we are so grateful for your support.

But if this change has you rethinking your membership, we will issue a full refund. But I'm going on to say, you know, they made this choice because they were having a hard time staying relevant to advertisers and they didn't want to put themselves in a position where they'd have to do layoffs or fully shut down. Going even further, saying they think that would have happened if they remained just on YouTube. And while that video, as of recording, is brand new, so far the responses already appear pretty positive. Thanking them for changing core,

saying this sounds like a much better and fairer plan for fans. You know, with this, I gotta say two things. One, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts. Whether you're someone that watches a lot of content on YouTube, or specifically if you're a fan of Watcher. But also too, I gotta say with the way things have played out, it makes me feel even better for not chiming in over the weekend. Because once again, outside of this story, I have no idea who these guys are. And it felt like a lot of people were very quick to paint them as these greedy monsters. Which hey, once again, I don't know them. But to me, this just seemed like a misstep. Like I think it's very possible that they looked at their content and their situation and then they look to formerly CollegeHumor, now Dropout TV, and

they were like, that's kind of a one-to-one, right? They switched to a paid subscription model. It's really worked out for them, at least seemingly. Though that also doesn't keep in mind the full backstory of Dropout TV and how all of that went down. I will also say that Dropout TV is very unique in the quality and the amount of content they put out. And actually, just in the last last two weeks became a paid subscriber for their content. And it's like so worth it right now. And personally, based on the limited amount I know about these guys, I'm glad that it's going to seemingly work out from here, at least with a decent chunk of their audience. Yeah. The final thing I'll say here is, is I do hope that this initial positive reaction that that ends up being the main reaction, because it really does seem like these creators have listened to the community and the reaction and gone, oh, shit, that was a misstep. Here's how we're going to

fix it. Instead of what you often see, which is like a doubling down and a fuck you, I'm the victim mentality. And then on the other side, right, this is a two way street seeing fans that aren't just going, you're only doing this because we got angry. They shared their opinion and anger and it was hurt. Yeah. Hopefully everyone can move on and everything's happy and three guys don't have to sit on a couch again and say, I'm sorry, which has happened a weird number of times. And then I genuinely do not understand what's going on with Taylor Swift

that makes it so that a meaningful enough number of people just can't be normal about her or situations around her. And the latest example of this are the reactions and reviews connected to Taylor Swift releasing her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Right, because while you have some outlets like Vogue acting like she is the only artist that exists, putting out articles titled Taylor Swift's alleged Kim Kardashian takedown confirms it.

This is the year of the diss track. As if all the shit in the music industry that's been happening over the past several months just hasn't been happening officially until now. But then also we get to witness the pure insanity on display when an outlet or a person goes, I didn't like it. With most notably there right now being Paste Magazine publishing a negative review of the album with them adding on Twitter, there is no byline on this review due to how in 2019 when Paste reviewed Lover, the writer was sent threats of violence from readers who disagreed with the work. We care more about the safety of our staff than a name attached to an article. So they concealed the reviewer's identity to protect them from death threats.

So instead of saying by insert name, it just says Paste Staff. With the reviewer giving the album a rating of 3.6 and the headline, reading Taylor Swift strikes out, looking on the tortured poets department. So, you know, we've seen that spark a ton of responses with people saying things like, Pace Magazine hiding the identity of the author

of a negative Taylor Swift review, like they're in witness protection is a good summary of where we're at with obsessive fandom. Others adding good for them for protecting their writer, but it's absolutely pathetic that this is necessary. And stans are killing critic culture, and for what? What do you mean the lives of critics are in danger over an album review?

You know, what else we ended up seeing was the outlet's point here, like the reason they did this, it was proved right. Because we saw a number of Swifties still decide to go on the attack, with tons of them thinking they found the person who wrote the piece, slamming them in their mentions. And this, even though that writer maintains they still decide to go on the attack, with tons of them thinking they found the person who wrote the piece, slamming them in their mentions.

And this, even though that writer maintains they had nothing to do with the review. They've also gone after journalists whose names were attached to critical reviews, with that including Pitchfork, which put up its review last night, giving the standard version a 6.6 out of 10 and the longer anthology version a 6. And I mean, pretty much immediately, with people tagging the writer, telling her she's going to start coughing blood, some Swifties begging the writer to take her account off private,

one telling her to open up her DMs along with a photo they had with a gun in it. Right, and it's important to note there's a range of things. There's people like just batshit crazy that are like, I'm gonna hurt you, but then also people kind of making weird jokes. But even there, it's often jokes

about killing a music critic for writing criticism that's just not funny. Or the line between a joke and an actual threat to someone's safety, it's just too thin. Which is also why we saw a piece from Consequences Sound defending critics, noting that it's really worse for an artist's legacy if journalists feel forced to only write positively about them, because then everything just rings hollow and the actual good

stuff's just placed on the same pedestal. And also suggesting here that Taylor and other artists who fans get out of control online, they should say something. With the piece adding that you rarely find examples of artists who hold their fans accountable. But until the artists themselves step up and say something, music critics will continue to unfairly weather a storm of toxic stan culture. You know, notably, this is all playing out as, of course, regular everyday people are having different reactions to the album. Some loving and praising, others hating or bored about the supposed Kim Kardashian diss track. We've also seen others taking issue with a line in the song, I Hate It Here, which says, My friends used to play a game where we would pick a decade

we wished we could live in instead of this. I'd say the 1830s, but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid. With a lot of people calling that tone deaf, saying she's minimizing one of the most horrific times in history for marginalized people. Right in this, as others have defended the lyrics, saying as the verse closes, she says,

everyone would look down because it wasn't fun now. Seems like it was never even fun back then. Nostalgia is a mind trick. If I'd been there, I'd hate it. It was freezing in the palace. But even with that disagreement and that debate right there, like people should be able to have their opinions and debate these things and argue them out without worrying about like getting bombarded or harassed or death threats. It's pure insanity. We're talking about consuming art. This is so subjective. Everyone has different tastes and preferences and different bars. You know, I'm just left knowing

I'm never gonna fully understand what it is to be like excited to hate on something because a specific artist released it or excited to just do tricks on it because a specific artist released it. Liking or hating someone shouldn't be your whole fucking personality, especially because when it is,

it leads to weirdo and at times dangerous behavior. But that's the story and situation. And of course, now I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then for all you errand runners, hikers and vacationers out there, don't let the weather control what you do. Your shoe game doesn't have to suffer because of the weather. Thanks to the fantastic partner of my show, Vessi, they've got you covered and they have you covered in style. Be it my weekender sneakers or my Stormburst high tops that I've been wearing on many muddy hikes this year, I don't have to worry about weather or the terrain that I'm going to be on. Because you know, Vessies are ideal for any occasion that might find you around water, coastal walks, exploring around the city,

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like their super sleek Astoria backpack with minimal but thoughtful design and 100% waterproof. So what are you waiting for? Just go to Vessi.com slash PDS to get 15% off your first order. That's Vessi.com slash pds and then in big entertainment news u.s animation studios may have actually been unknowingly outsourcing work to north korea that is at least according to files discovered by a man by the name of nick roy who for almost a

decade has made a hobby of scanning the north korean internet and writing about it on his blog right and to be clear one of the reasons this is notable is because strict u.s sanctions actually prohibit american companies from doing business with North Korea. And so in addition to the other reasons this is notable, of course, this calls into question how effective the sanctions actually are. You know, at least when it comes to these types of technical and creative services that can be all done virtually and online. And so as far as the specifics, you have Roy saying he discovered a misconfigured server on a North Korean IP address containing thousands of these mysterious files. With him then sharing those files with his friend Martin Williams, who's a North Korea expert at a Washington-based think tank called the Stimson Center, with Williams and his colleagues then analyzing the files to identify some of the

shows and projects that the North Koreans were working on. And notably, it appeared to include some of the best-known animated shows on the biggest streaming services. For example, there were drawings for an upcoming season of the Amazon Prime show, Invincible, which you know is one of the most popular and highly regarded animated series out there today, as well as sketches and videos that resemble work for Iyanu, Child of Wonder, which is a highly anticipated adaptation of the graphic novel series coming out on Max. And so as of recording this video, Skybound Entertainment, which produces Invincible for Amazon, they seem to be one of the only companies that have commented on this whole thing. They're issuing a statement on X, calling the Stimson Center's findings unconfirmed and saying they

do not work with North Korean companies and have no knowledge of any North Korean companies working on their animation. But they also said that they're taking the allegations seriously and have initiated an internal review to, quote, verify and rectify any potential issues. Which is also why I want to say with all that, it is important to know that these companies aren't actually being accused of actual wrongdoing. In fact, the researchers say that it's almost certainly true that they had no knowledge that North Korean companies were working for them. And that currently there is nothing suggesting that the companies violated any sanctions or laws. And that's because the contracting arrangement was likely several steps downstream from the major producers, with Williams telling Wired that it's

possible that a front company in China was used to help disguise the activity and involvement of North Koreans. You know, to that point, this specific case, it's kind of just a window into what is increasingly becoming an important way for North Korea to get around sanctions and raise money. Like in 2022, for example, the FBI warned companies that freelance IT workers from North Korea were infiltrating businesses to earn money that they could funnel back home. With them not only working through front companies, but also through individuals posing as other nationalities to get hired at U.S. companies. With the FBI also highlighting that graphic animation is one of the sectors

that North Koreans were particularly active in. Which is why with all this, you have experts offering various recommendations to deal with the problem, with those ranging from video interviews to background checks to fingerprint logins. But also at this time, it's unclear how much of an incentive there is for companies to implement these measures, because for these companies who are just going to look at this as a business situation, you know, they see they're saving money and they can just say they don't know anything about it. But it'll be very interesting to see if anything else comes out of the situation, including from Skybound Entertainment, who said that they're looking into it. And then

we got to talk about the big news coming from Capitol Hill this weekend, because they were busy and Speaker Mike Johnson got stuff passed. I did not think he was going to get passed, especially because he did all this while facing a threat of a vote that could oust him from the speakership. Right. And so we'll start with a potential TikTok ban. Saturday, the House passed a bill that will ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, divests from it within a year. And that over alleged fears that ByteDance has shared or will share data on American citizens

with the Chinese government. Of course, TikTok has denied the accusation, saying that it would refuse if authorities ask. Though there, critics counter that it wouldn't have a choice under China's security laws. So that measure passed 360 to just 58. With, of course, many users of the platform not happy hearing this news, but also TikTok itself not happy. But the company is saying

that it'll fight any ban or forced sale in the courts. Also arguing this legislation is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok. You know, we've seen that legal argument actually hold some weight. With a district judge blocking Montana's TikTok ban last year, citing the First Amendment there. But of course, that's not where things ended on Saturday, because the House also passed a cluster of bills that would send $95 billion in foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, with the bulk of that $61 billion going to Ukraine, which of course, as we've talked about, is desperately needed there as the country's military has been running low on war material since last fall. And again, the fact that these even went up for a vote, that is a huge move by House

Speaker Mike Johnson. Not only because it provoked a virtual revolt from the far-right members of his party, right, who oppose aid to Ukraine and wanted provisions for the southern border, but also because Johnson himself in the past has voted against the aid to the country as a rank-and-file member of the House, with him even letting a previous version of the aid bill linger for months while he was Speaker. But apparently, he ended up changing his mind, and those close to him cited several different influences. The first being that pro-Ukraine Republicans like Mike Pompeo impressed the need for aid on him in private, and President Zelensky even directly lobbied him. Also, more recently, the CIA director reportedly briefed Johnson on

the battlefield situation in Ukraine and the global consequences of inaction. And then, reportedly, Iran's attack against Israel really stiffened his conviction that the aid needed to get passed, with sources telling CNN that he became increasingly convinced the fate of Western democracy was on his shoulders. So what we ended up seeing is that he got the most contentious bill, right? The aid to Ukraine through with 311 to 112 votes. But then Israel aid getting past 366 to 58. And then finally Taiwan aid finding the least resistance passing 385 to 34. And so now all those bills have been packaged together and thrown to the Senate for a single vote. And that could actually happen as soon as Tuesday. And so, you know, if the bipartisan support that each measure got in the House is any indication,

the package deal should get through with it then just needing to be signed by Biden, who already said that he would. And so while that seems like a pretty sure thing, as far as Johnson's speakership, that's anything but because you have Marjorie Taylor Greene right now threatening to call a snap vote to remove Johnson as speaker if he doesn't resign, you know, two other Republicans, Paul Gosar and Thomas Massey, have co-sponsored the motion. So with how the House is split right now, Johnson would almost certainly have to rely on some Democrats to rescue him from his own party. And it's not really clear right now if he could count on them or not. And all this is even some center right Republicans, though, glad this bill finally passed or angry that it took so long. With Representative Patrick McHenry speaking for many when he told CNN, we have walked through broken glass to get a result, all of which could have been done before Christmas,

but we're bringing it out until nearly summer. But with all that, I will say, as someone who hasn't said many positive things about Speaker Johnson, this was kind of amazing. And granted, it is because the bar has been dropped so low. But to see a politician actually change their mind because of the reality of the situation on the ground in Ukraine, putting his job on the line, his potential future on the line,

and actually putting the country before party, like, isn't that what we want from our leaders, even if we're not going to agree with them a majority of the time? But also of note here, he is not the only politician taking some heat right now. We've seen Biden getting backlash from many on the left by steadfastly supporting Israel, including from the progressive Democrats who voted against the $26 billion allocated towards the country because of their opposition to the war in Gaza, which also on the note of uniting unlikely allies against Biden, Biden signed a bill Saturday that renewed the FISA spy program, right? And specifically reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

for the next two years instead of the usual four, which you know is one concession that lawmakers made to make sure that it passed the Senate 60 to 34. Because this 15-year-old program, it's controversial and some Republicans wanted to allow Trump to shut it down two years from now if he's elected. But several other amendments seeking to add privacy safeguards failed to pass while lawmakers debated the bill. Also, just in case you need a recap, program allows the federal government to collect internet and cell phone data on foreigners living abroad without a warrant. But in the process, data from American citizens who they're in contact with also gets swept up. So critics argue, even if it's followed how it's supposed to be followed, which is not always guaranteed, it is a violation of

people's privacy. But that, of course, the supporters argue that it is a key intelligence gathering tool. But either way, while of course the court of public opinion can and will always continue, the debate legally speaking is over. But hey, with all this, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts. I know there was a lot here. We have the TikTok ban, all the aid, the FISA bill. What are your thoughts? What are you feeling? Why? Let me know. And then finally today we have common commentary where we dive into those comments and see what y'all had to say and also just have a little me in Utah. Starting with, I hope you had a fantastic week. I had an accidentally fun Sunday. I decided I wanted to have a chill one, ride bikes with a buddy at Venice Beach. It just so happened there was this thing called Sick La Vie where they like shut down miles of

road and just let people with bikes ride. So it was like amazing timing. It was a very chill, fun time. I also saw the movie Abigail, which if you have not seen the trailer, do not. It ruins what could have been a good reveal. I will say the third act still kept things interesting and I think it's a recommend. Yeah, just a fun, chill weekend, which I need because the next two months, two, three months of my life are going to be a bit insane. I'll explain after that happens. But let's jump into the comments, because understandably, there was a lot of conversation around that testimony in the house, with Mommy J saying, if you believe do you want to be cursed by God is a legitimate question to ask someone in a hearing you don't deserve to hold public office. Others adding, in a normal country, that'd be unimaginable,

saying Christianity had nothing to do with the situation either, it was completely inappropriate. And many agreeing with Pici who said, the separation of church and state is just a joke at this point. Also, as far as the other conversations happening in those comments,

a lot of people felt like the pile on on Greg Doyle was going too far. McCheese saying, with Greg Doyle, let's not forget the adage, never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. And others adding, and or awkwardness. So Candled Apple saying though even if not intended stupidity like this can cause harm. Just because the intention might not be there doesn't change the results. But that

as you also had others going yeah he was in the wrong but I mean look to his apology. With Sam B saying the reporter saying I'm devastated to realize I'm part of the problem and going on to say there is a distinction between that type of interaction with men versus women I think proved he got the point. That apology seemed pretty good to me. There will never be 100% perfect apologies, but if the person realizes the issue, admits the problem, and vows to do better, I don't know what else you can ask for. We can't keep bashing every person's apology without giving them the opportunity to grow from that moment. I hope that reporter doesn't take the further bashing to heart and just tries to focus on the productive side of the conversation and do better work when it comes to

female athletes. So there we saw people like Defeat saying the real issue is him issuing an apology. Really was not needed at all. If the player herself said she was offended, then I understand. A discussion can be had. But like he said, he's an awkward goof and sometimes things come out awkward. Need to stop bending backwards for the cancel culture mobs. And finally here we had Brittany saying as a licensed therapist, when somebody very publicly apologizes more than once and clearly recognizes they are part of the problem, I see that as genuine recognition and remorse of how their actions hurt others. And going on to say, a speaker's intention and a listener's perception are two completely separate things. And we all have at least one experience in our lives where our good intention is misinterpreted as malice.

We also need to keep in mind that people can struggle with an array of other things like social anxiety, autism, or any neurodivergent diagnosis for that matter, which can make social understanding and interaction challenging. Additionally, as a neurodivergent female myself, I don't think Greg Doyle deserves the scrutiny he has faced following his two public apologies and explanations. We all need to spend more time listening to others instead of simply assuming that our interpretation is the only correct one. But y'all, that is where today's show is gonna end. And of course, do not worry, because you're not gonna have to miss my annoying face for too long, because my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love your faces faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.