The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 05.27 The New Harry Potter Kids Problem, Macron Face Shove Scandal is Crazy to Deny, & Today’s News
Episode Date: May 27, 2025Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today! https://BeautifulBastard.com Get 50% OFF a Mystery shirt while supplies... last! Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here: https://youtu.be/IcxfASUeovs?feature=shared&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1 – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Harry Potter Casting Leads to Controversy, Especially for Hermione Actress 3:39 - French President Responds to Viral Video of Wife Slapping His Face 6:40 - Car Drives Through Liverpool FC Parade, Injuring Dozens 10:36 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 11:49 - Russia Launches Largest-Ever Missile and Drone Attack Against Ukraine 16:11 - Trump to Cut All Federal Contracts with Harvard University —————————— 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, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter: https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #HarryPotter #EmmanuelMacron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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They just announced the new Hermione, Ron,
and Harry Potter kids, and there's already
a huge controversy, concern, and race debates.
Russia just launched its largest drone and missile attack
yet, hours after Trump called Putin crazy
and Germany Greenlit strikes inside Russia.
Trump's now taking his war on Harvard to new heights.
Did the French president really just get slapped up
by his wife in a car tour through a massive
Liverpool victory parade, injuring nearly 50
and igniting a firestorm over motive, race,
and misinformation.
We're talking about all that and much more
on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show,
you daily dive into the news, starting with this.
The new Harry Potter cast just got announced
and immediately we're seeing controversy and concern.
Because if you didn't know, HBO is doing
a Harry Potter TV series based on the books.
And this morning we got the announcement that Dominic
McLaughlin will play Harry,
Arabella Stanton will play Hermione,
and Alistair Stout will be Ron.
With all three being pretty fresh faces to the industry.
And just immediately you had people kind of feeling
a bit of excitement and nerves for these kids.
Because these roles, they're expected to be huge,
life-changing opportunities.
I mean, over 30,000 actors auditioned for them.
But immediately most of the public responses have been
things like, these poor kids are about to need therapy
for the rest of their lives.
And I don't intend on watching the show,
but let these kids be free of any hate and harassment.
They don't need any of it.
And I hope they are protected
from the evil side of the internet.
Right, and that seemingly because in addition
to everything we've seen with child actors in general,
when it comes to a franchise as big as Harry Potter,
there's gonna be a huge spotlight.
And we've already seen what happened to the previous cast.
Right, you've had Daniel Radcliffe,
the original Harry, opening up about this,
saying that one of the hardest parts of growing up
in the spotlight was trying to work out who you are
while constantly coming up against a perception
of yourself that everybody else already has.
But then previously saying the panic of the movie
is coming to an end contributed to him abusing alcohol.
But with all this, you definitely had people
especially worried for the girl playing Hermione.
Or with some saying, I hope the actress who plays Hermione
never experiences what Emma Watson had to go through.
Because Emma Watson has dealt with just a truckload
of bullshit, including things like on her 18th birthday,
you had paparazzi lying down on the pavement
outside of her party to take upskirt photos.
And that's in addition to things like photos
of her doing a wardrobe fitting were stolen in a hack
and she had to deal with people threatening
to leak nude images of her.
And sometimes people forget this,
but when deep fake porn was like first
starting to become a thing,
she was one of the most impacted celebrities.
Though there, it's really just the technology that's changed.
If you hop on Twitter right now and you search her,
most of the images that you're gonna find
are AI sexual images.
And so people saying that the amount of hypersexualization
that Emma's experienced as the result of her role
that she started playing as a child,
it's just fucking insane.
And then in addition to all that,
you have people worried about this new Hermione
because there's already been speculation about her race.
And this might remind you of backlash from around 10 years ago when it was announced that a worried about this new Hermione because there's already been speculation about her race. And this might remind you of backlash
from around 10 years ago when it was announced
that a black actress was playing Hermione
in the stage adaptation of the Cursed Child.
Right there you saw immediate backlash
though you had JK Rowling defending the casting
and saying, Canon, brown eyes, frizzy hair,
and very clever.
White skin was never specified.
Rowling loves black Hermione.
And even though based on the photo that we have of her,
it looks like Arabella Stanton fits that Canon,
it's not hard to find people either speculating or mad about what her race might be or with people saying things like why did they brown?
Hermione nobody wants this shit. This better not be some woke reboot. Wait, when was Hermione Latina?
And again, all of this is speculation, right?
We have some online saying you have a black Hermione others saying she's not black and it's not like the casting announcement came with
Her 23 and me result and so with all that, looking at the coverage,
you had outlets like Forbes saying,
not that anyone should speculate on people's race,
but this is the modern internet.
And unfortunately, Arabella Stanton is instantly being put
under a microscope for looking mildly not white, maybe?
With the matting, we already see speculation
based on her name.
Arabella might be Greek, Stanton is English.
But again, this is why these kids are going to need
to be protected from what is no doubt
going to be an awful internet discourse. And that sentiment is something we have seen echoed by others online
You know ultimately we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out
This is this is largely adding fuel to an already existing fire because it's already been
Controversy and discourse over the fact that the actor playing Snape in the TV reboot is black
You know with that while we wait to see how this continues to play out in the meantime
I'd love to know your thoughts on the casting and the controversy or really anything here
But then next up the did French President Emmanuel Macron
just get smacked up by his wife on camera?
That is what many are asking
because they had just landed in Vietnam
and were about to get off the plane
when video caught her pushing his face.
In the video, you don't see Brigitte fully,
just her hands and Macron then sort of pauses
and then waves it off once he sees the camera.
With the two then later walking off the plane
with Macron walking out first and his wife following.
And we've seen a huge reaction of this,
some people using it to make jokes and memes about Macron.
Though then you had others arguing that it's serious,
writing, people will get lots of jokes off about Macron
getting slapped by his wife, but real talk,
if you're in a relationship
where someone puts hands on you, leave.
It's not normal and there's no excuse for it.
People who love and respect you don't hit you.
And imagine for one moment if Macron pushed his wife
in the face like this.
Imagine.
Domestic abuse against men is common and widely ignored.
All violence is unacceptable.
Right, and then you had some noting that Macron's wife
is over 20 years older than him and they met when he was 15
and she was a teacher at his school,
apparently growing close there
while she oversaw a theater workshop.
And then later you had them marrying when he was 29
and she was 54 and so you had some say,
and if I say she's probably been abusing him like this
and she groomed and prayed on him as a child
when she was his teacher, then what?
And with all this, this video has especially gone viral
in more right-wing circles where it's being used then
to further spread conspiracies and rumors
that Brigitte is trans.
Or something that a number of people have spread
for a long time, though notably there it's important to note
she did previously file a complaint against two people
who spread that claim on YouTube
and she won money in damages you then also in the
Situation at the Guardian noting it was likewise going viral among far-right French accounts
And it was promoted by Russian state media with him pointing to a Russian foreign ministry
Spokesperson who shared the footage and equated the push to a right hook and this whole situation got so much attention it prompted
Macron to address the controversy and he says that it's essentially being blown out of proportion because he had Macron telling reporters that they
Were just bickering and joking around,
which is something they often do and adding.
I'm surprised by it.
It turns into some kind of global catastrophe
where people are even coming up with theories to explain it.
It's nonsense.
But then also suggesting that this is just the latest case
of people trying to take clips of him out of context
to spread conspiracies.
And that because earlier this month,
when he met with the German chancellor
and British prime minister,
people saw a tissue on the table and started claiming
that it was actually a bag of cocaine.
Within his office, putting out a statement
condemning the rumors and saying,
"'When European unity becomes inconvenient,
"'disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue
"'look like drugs.
"'This fake news is being spread by France's enemies
"'both abroad and at home.
"'We must remain vigilant against manipulation.'"
And then because of that cocaine rumor
was at least partially traced to pro-Russian accounts,
a source from Macron's office told CNN
that those same accounts were simply ready to pounce on
and spin narratives around this latest video
of Macron and his wife.
But with that, if we just focus on this latest video
and situation, I really would love to know your thoughts.
Cause you know, I try to be open and willing
to hear all possibilities with a situation,
but I don't know, looking at that video,
that seemed a little more aggressive
than some playing around.
Like maybe it was I'm a little tipsy playing around
and accidentally went a little too aggressive.
And even then, I'm not saying that's what actually happened.
It's just to act like it's crazy
to raise an eyebrow to this video is ludicrous.
Especially, because yeah, I agree with the sentiment
that if the roles were reversed
and you saw Emmanuel Macron do that to Brigitte,
there would be a wildly different reaction to it.
But hey, that's a story, then a little bit of my opinion,
and I'll pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts?
But then, shifting gears from that,
UK's now scrambling for answers
after a 53-year-old man drove his car
through a crowd in Liverpool yesterday,
injuring nearly 50 people.
Though with that, multiple sources
have given conflicting numbers.
So whatever the final number is,
it feels miraculous that I only have to say injured.
Because it currently looks like no one was killed,
and the 11 people remaining in the hospital
are in stable condition.
And while the police are still trying to work through
the whys of this situation, here's what we know.
Thousands of people were out in the streets
to take part in Liverpool FC's Premier League victory parade
and at some point, an ambulance had to get through the crowd
to treat someone and a barrier was lifted to let them through.
With then, the 53 year old following the ambulance
to get past the roadblock before plowing through the crowd.
Right, and with this situation, there is footage
that is very easy to find
that I unfortunately can't show on YouTube
because it's YouTube.
But you have many saying the footage makes it unclear
whether it was an intentional attack or not.
Or was I'm saying it looks like the guy got into the crowd
and people started hitting the car
and then he drives off into the crowd
and it's unclear if he got into there on accident,
meant to be there or what.
But whatever the case may be with that,
firsthand accounts make it clear
that it is a miracle that no one died.
Right, you had one guy telling the BBC, one guy told me on the BBC,
I saw a gentleman on the bonnet and the rest was just chaos.
With him then going on to add,
my partner went under the wheel
and the car went over her leg.
And it could have been a whole hell of a lot worse for him
is his baby's stroller was thrown
like 15 feet down the road.
Now with that said, going back to the 53-year-old driver,
he's facing a ton of charges right now,
including attempted murder, dangerous driving offenses,
and driving while unfit through drugs.
But with those last two seeming to be analogous
to reckless driving and a DUI.
Now with that as part of the investigation,
you have investigators scouring CCTV footage
to track the driver's movements,
to try and get a better idea of what led up to this.
They're also urging the public to not speculate
about a motive, and they highlighted that they're not
treating this as a terror attack.
Although officially an actual motive is yet to be revealed.
So as we wait for more there, as you can imagine, you have a lot of people reacting to the news. You've got the King of
England saying it is truly devastating to see what should have been a joyous celebration for
so many could end in such distressing circumstances. Saying our prayers and deepest sympathy are with
all those who have been affected. You also had Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying, scenes of
joy turned to utter horror and devastation and my thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country
are with all of those that are affected.
And in a tweet, he wrote,
the scenes in Liverpool are appalling.
My thoughts are with all those injured or affected.
I want to thank the police and emergency services
for their swift and ongoing response
to this shocking incident.
And you also had Liverpool FC coming out
to address the attack.
On behalf of all of us here at Liverpool Football Club,
I would like to extend our heartfelt thoughts
to all those who've been affected
by this appalling incident on Water Street yesterday evening.
This weekend was one of celebration, emotion, and joy
spread across the city and our entire fan base.
And it ended in unimaginable scenes of distress
with this appalling incident.
With CEO Billy Hogan then going on to thank first responders
and then he ended with.
I would also like to thank our supporters
who witnessed this event
and helped each other where they could.
We continue to work with the emergency services
and the local authorities
to support their ongoing investigation.
And once again, we would ask
if anyone has any further information about the incident,
please contact Merseyside police."
Right, and then in addition to all that, we saw this situation being used to fuel a culture war in the UK.
Right, like when this attack was first reported, you started seeing things quickly,
like in before they inevitably claimed that there was no clear motive,
with a meme clearly showing they think it was a Muslim man,
with then another writing,
this is the worst attack in England, Liverpool, was the car driver from a specific community.
Though that then led to others pushing back and saying,
fucking hell, man, people have potentially died
in Liverpool today and the worst cunts in the world
are absolutely licking their lips
hoping the guy in the car is Muslim.
What a fucking grim world we live in.
Which then on the note of race,
once it was revealed that the driver was actually a white guy,
it appeared that they moved the goalpost.
But with many of those same people saying
they were outraged that the media highlighted
that he was white, saying things like,
it's insane that the media are relentlessly spouting
the fact that the Liverpool attacker
is white within one hour.
But when it's a Muslim attacker,
police wait days.
Britain is full of Islamic apologists.
But for now, as we wait for more information,
I will just end this with saying,
I'm so glad that it appears that no one
was killed in this tragedy.
Because in looking at the footage,
hearing the firsthand accounts,
it feels shocking that there's not a death count here.
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But then in getting back to the news, we've gotta talk about the Trump administration
taking steps to end all federal contracts with Harvard.
Because that's what was outlined in a letter
from the General Services Administration.
Within sources also telling the New York Times
that the directive was delivered
to federal agencies this morning.
And specifically, the letter instructs all federal agencies
to review all their contracts with Harvard
in order to terminate them or reallocate them to other entities.
And even that is an addition to them encouraging agencies
to seek alternative vendors or future services
where you had previously considered Harvard.
And as for the reasoning here,
you had the GSA claiming that Harvard, quote,
continues to engage in race discrimination,
including in its admissions process
and in other areas of student life.
And claiming that the university, quote,
has shown no indication
of reforming their admissions process
following the 2023
Supreme court decision that overturned affirmative action
and prevented schools from using race
as a factor in admissions.
So very notably there,
the letter provided no statistical evidence for that claim.
And it only cited the fact that Harvard now offers
what it described as a remedial math course,
which the administration says is proof
that the school is employing discriminatory factors
instead of merit and admission decisions.
In that seemingly in reference to the fact
that Harvard recently started offering
a new introductory math course
that aims to cover pandemic related learning gaps.
But then also beyond that, you had the GSA
alleging that troubling revelations have come to light
regarding Harvard and its affiliates
potential discriminatory hiring practices
and possible violations of Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Claiming that the university is suspected
of engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment
and hiring, promotion, compensation,
and other personnel related actions.
And then saying that the Harvard Law Review has engaged
in what it called pervasive and explicit racial discrimination
in the publication's article selection
and editor appointment process.
Though again, it's important to note here
that those accusations appear to be in reference
to two separate investigations
that the Trump administration has launched
against Harvard that are still ongoing.
Right, and then in addition to that,
finally you had the GSA claiming that it had become aware
of quote, recent events at Harvard University
involving anti-Semitic action that suggests the institution
has a disturbing lack of concern for the safety
and wellbeing of Jewish students.
With him specifically noting there
that a pro-Palestine protester who was accused
of assaulting a Jewish student
had been given a $65,000 fellowship
by the Harvard Law Review.
And that as a second demonstrator who faced similar charges
was chosen by the Harvard Divinity School
to be the class marshal.
Though then also significantly here,
it's been reported that a judge dismissed those charges
against both of the students and instead ordered them
to attend anger management courses
and perform community service.
And then with all that, as far as the practical impact
that this could have on Harvard,
you had Trump administration officials
telling numerous outlets that the review will include
around 30 contracts worth around $100 million.
Though that, as contracts with Harvard affiliated hospitals
will not be included.
But as far as Harvard, this comes as part of Trump's
broader crackdown on the university,
which has become kind of the primary target
in its war on universities.
Right, because this isn't coming out of nowhere.
We've talked about it before.
The administration has frozen a total of around $3.2 billion
in grants and contracts with Harvard,
which in turn has filed a series of lawsuits against them.
You also had last week,
the Department of Homeland Security revoking Harvard's ability
to enroll international students who make up nearly a third
of the school's student body.
Though there, that move was quickly challenged by Harvard
and temporarily blocked by a judge.
But then, just yesterday,
you had Trump making a Memorial Day post
on Truth Social, where he wrote,
"'I am considering taking $3 billion of grant money away
from a very anti-Semitic Harvard
and giving it to trade schools all across our land.'"
Though there, I'll say it's unclear
if he's talking about pulling an additional $3 billion
or redistributing the 3 billion he's already pulled.
And depending on where else you go for your news,
it's been described as both very confidently.
So, you know, we'll see.
Now with all that said, you know,
as far as how Harvard has responded to this latest thing
as of recording, they have not made a public comment.
But I will say in an interview aired this morning with NPR,
you had Harvard president, Alan Garber,
reiterating many of his past comments
about the ongoing battle,
especially as it pertains to allegations of antisemitism.
Or with Garber, who notably is Jewish,
once again acknowledging that the school has problems
that it needs to address, but arguing that he doesn't
understand how the Trump administration's actions
are actually going to combat antisemitism.
What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these,
that don't even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems.
Why cut off research funding?
Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country,
because after all, the research funding is
not a gift.
It is work that they want done.
They are paying to have that work conducted.
Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard.
And it is hard to see the link between that and, say, anti-Semitism.
But ultimately, that's where we are right now
on just Trump's continued war on Harvard.
But then next step from that,
unfortunately in end of the war in Ukraine,
it just seems to be getting further and further away.
But also at the very least Donald Trump appears to be
maybe finally realizing that Vladimir Putin
isn't actually his friend, maybe.
Right, because you see between Friday and Sunday,
Russia launched around 900 drones in Ukraine
killing at least 12 people.
And you had Zelensky responding by saying
there was no military sense to Russia's aerial attacks
and that they were an obvious political choice
to continue the war and destroy lives.
With him then also notably calling out the US,
writing on Telegram,
"'The world may go on vacation,
"'but the war continues despite weekends and weekdays.
"'This cannot be ignored.
"'America's silence and the silence of others in the world
"'only encourages Putin.'"
But then with that, you soon had Trump speaking to reporters claiming that he wasn't happy
with Putin and even saying he'd be considering new sanctions against Russia.
He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known
him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities
and killing people and I don't like it at all.
And then with that, he actually kept on criticizing Putin hours later,
writing on social media that he has gone absolutely crazy
and was shooting missiles and drones into Ukraine cities
for no reason whatsoever.
Though also because he's Trump,
he couldn't help also get in a shot at Zelensky
as well as Joe Biden for good measure.
Saying Zelensky is doing his country no favors
by talking the way he does,
everything out of his mouth causes problems.
This is a war that would have never started
if I were president.
This is Zelensky's, Putin's, and Biden's war, not Trump's.
So there's also the same war that on the campaign trail,
he said he'd end in 24 hours.
But whatever the case may be,
Trump's words obviously meant nothing to Putin
because Russia then launched its largest ever drone
and missile attack of the war just a few hours later.
In fact, they actually broke their record
for the third time this month.
And this also after Russia killed at least 209 civilians
across Ukraine last month,
which made it the deadliest month since September.
With Russian forces now also seizing villages
along the country's northeastern border
to create a buffer zone there ordered by Putin.
And notably all this happening
even as we've had the first face-to-face negotiations
between Russia and Ukraine in nearly three years.
Talks that have actually resulted
in the largest prisoner swap since the invasion began.
Though other than that, they've really yielded nothing.
Right after a call with Trump last week,
Putin set a memorandum, could soon be drafted
as a first step to working on a peace deal.
Then the Kremlin said yesterday
that even this initial document,
which is essentially an agreement to just keep talking,
hadn't even been finalized by the Russian side,
let alone sent to Ukraine.
Plus you also had Russia shooting down Trump's suggestion
that the Vatican host future peace talks,
with the Russian foreign minister saying
it would be inelegant for the Catholic Church
to mediate discussions between two principally orthodox
Christian countries.
And so now you've got people like the new German chancellor
Friedrich Merz saying,
after the last three weeks,
no one can seriously accuse us of not having exhausted
all available diplomatic means.
If even an offer to meet at the Vatican
does not get Putin's approval,
then we must be prepared for this war to last longer
than we all wish or can imagine.
And notably with that, you also had him saying
that Germany as well as the UK, France and the US
are all lifting range restrictions
on weapons delivered to Ukraine.
Saying, Russia attacks civilian targets
completely ruthlessly, bombing cities,
kindergartens, hospitals and old people's homes.
Ukraine doesn't do that.
This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example,
by attacking military positions in Russia with very few exceptions. It doesn't do that. This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by attacking military positions in Russia
with very few exceptions.
It didn't do that until recently.
It can now do that.
Now with that, I'll say, you may remember
that US gave Ukraine permission to use long range missiles
against certain targets inside Russia way back in November,
as did the UK and France.
But Mertz, he's suggesting that the number
of eligible targets has increased.
And very importantly, in doing so,
he's signaling an absolutely massive shift
from his predecessor.
And that's a huge deal because Germany
is the second biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine
after the US.
And so now with this announcement,
there's speculation that it may soon be ready
to supply Ukraine with its Taurus cruise missile system,
which has an advanced navigation system
and 310 mile range, allowing it to accurately strike
far deeper inside Russia than other missiles
currently in Ukraine's arsenal.
And that's including those provided by the US.
And so in response, of course,
you had a Kremlin spokesperson describing the decision
as dangerous and adding,
"'If these decisions have indeed been made,
"'they are completely at odds with our aspirations
"'for a political settlement.'"
You know, really, as I always say,
words are words, actions are actions,
and the actions seem to show that Russia
is uninterested in a political settlement.
But hey, for now, we're gonna have to wait
to see how this plays out, and in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts. But hey, for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out,
and in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts.
But then, my friends, is the end of your Tuesday evening,
Wednesday morning dive into the news.
But I can already tell there's a lot we're gonna have to talk about tomorrow,
so I'll leave you how I always leave you.
Thanks for watching, I love your faces,
and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.