The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.10 RIDICULOUS! Harden CNN Controversy, Blippi, Ellen & Bell SLAMMED & Turkey Syria Worsens

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. And a quick note before we get started, this upcoming Monday there won't be a Philip DeFranco Show. I have a surgery coming up, which I'll say do not worry. I'm going to be fine. I just want to give you a heads up so you didn't think I abandoned you like your father who didn't abandon you.

Starting point is 00:00:14 He's really out there getting milk and or cigarettes. But with that said, buckle up. If you really like these long videos, let us know by hitting that like button and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is a social topic and a story we've seen this week that's been very divisive. Right, and it started off with this whole Ellen DeGeneres, George Bush situation.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Right, in case you've missed it and you're like, why are those two people in the same sentence? On Sunday, we saw former president George W. Bush and Ellen DeGeneres sitting next to each other at an NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. They appear to be joking and laughing with one another and this generated a lot of controversy online.

Starting point is 00:00:44 Largely because you had a number of people pointing out Bush's association, that's the lightest word I could use, with the Iraq war and its policies on LGBTQ rights. So you had people saying things like, "'Ellen hanging out with her buddy, G.W. Bush, "'the war criminal and guy who called for a ban "'on same-sex marriages, really, really low standards there,

Starting point is 00:00:58 "'Ellen, and pretty pathetic.'" Others saying, "'As Ellen is a gleeful participant "'in the George W. Bush rehabilitation project, "'I'd just like to point out George W. Bush's 2004 re-election relied upon pushing state ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage and pushing for a constitutional amendment banning it. And those are just two examples, but the backlash was strong enough that on Tuesday we actually saw Ellen respond on her talk show. And essentially she says that she and her wife Portia were invited to the game by the daughter of the owner of the Cowboys. She said she didn't know Bush was gonna be sitting next to her or even at that game, but notably here she says that's not the point. People were upset. They thought, why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?

Starting point is 00:01:32 Didn't even notice I'm holding the brand new iPhone 11. And, um... But a lot of people were mad and they did what people do when they're mad. They tweet and, uh... But here's one tweet that I loved. This person says, Here's the thing. I loved. This person says, Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again. Here's the thing, I'm friends with George Bush. In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs that I have. We're all different and I think that we've forgotten that that's okay that we're all different. But just because I don't agree with someone on everything doesn't

Starting point is 00:01:58 mean that I'm not going to be friends with them. When I say be kind to one another, I don't mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean, be kind to everyone. Doesn't matter. Now following this, you still had a number of people angry, saying things like, Ellen, this isn't just a simple difference of opinion. George Bush, his administration, and his colleagues actively discriminated and worked against the LGBT community,

Starting point is 00:02:17 of which you are a member. But we also saw a number of responses from other celebrities jumping into the argument. Notably yesterday, you had Kristen Bell posting a photo of Bush and Ellen on Instagram with Bell saying, "'She's my queen.'" Blake Shelton saying on Twitter, "'Amen, Ellen, thank you for saying this.'"

Starting point is 00:02:29 You also had Reese Witherspoon thanking Ellen, "'Calling her message an important reminder.'" But not all celebrities were on this boat. You had others like Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon pushing back. Ruffalo saying, "'Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice "'for the crimes of the Iraq War,

Starting point is 00:02:42 "'including American-led torture, Iraqi deaths, "'and displacement, and the deep scars, including American led torture, Iraqi deaths and displacement and the deep scars, emotional and otherwise. Inflicted on our military that served his folly, we can't even begin to talk about kindness." With Sarandon sharing a quote from an Out.com opinion piece, reading, "'But missing the point entirely,

Starting point is 00:02:56 "'Degeneres framed the issue as simply a matter "'of her hanging out with someone with different opinions, "'not a man repeatedly accused of being a war criminal.'" You also had Niall DeMarco, who's a deaf actor, saying, "'Hi, my annual hearing test came in. "'I went from profoundly deaf "'to being able to hear bullshit.'" But the story doesn't end there, because soon after this,

Starting point is 00:03:11 we saw even more backlash, this time, towards the celebrities supporting Elle. Some replying to Witherspoon with comments like, "'The privilege reeks.' "'There are thousands of people in the Middle East "'who don't get to be friends with people "'with different views because they're dead, thanks to Bush.'" And calling the monologue, pure class privilege.

Starting point is 00:03:24 And Witherspoon seemingly saw so much backlash that she later deleted the tweet. We also saw an interesting situation with Jameela Jamil. Jamil had actually shared Ellen's message on Tuesday saying on Twitter, I've never seen someone in the public eye handle something like this in this way and use it to make what is actually

Starting point is 00:03:37 an incredibly necessary point in our society. It was just very strong and interesting. But following backlash against her tweet, she deleted that post the next morning and followed it up with, "'Oof, learning today about the full extent of Bush's heinous presidency. We weren't taught much about him at school.

Starting point is 00:03:49 We just heard he was stupid. We were dealing with our own epic nightmare of a prime minister back then. What a monstrous leader. I now understand the rage." And just to clarify here, she is British, not American, but also, you had many people pushing back on her excuse because they pointed out that Jameel was 23

Starting point is 00:04:02 when Bush left office. To which she responded in part, "'Are you experts on all world leaders from back then? "'Radiculing learning and growth is weird.'" And later saying, "'Progress, not perfection.'" And also, one of the last things I'll add to this before I get to your opinions,

Starting point is 00:04:12 it appears at least according to Business Insider, Ellen DeGeneres is trying to block a video slamming her controversial friendship with George W. Bush, but it's gone viral. And according to the report, it is a video of Ellen DeGeneres superimposed of Iraq war imagery. And the original actually ended up being removed,

Starting point is 00:04:26 but of course the internet is the internet. The Streisand effect is a real thing. And so that resulted in other people uploading it elsewhere and more people becoming aware of it. But ultimately that is where we are with the story today. And I really would love to know your thoughts on this whole situation. And then let's talk about Blippi.

Starting point is 00:04:40 If you're a parent, your kid's ever kind of been on YouTube Kids, you've probably seen Blippi. And there's this whole controversy about his past that really isn't the focus today. It's interesting, Google it. But this character, this person, whatever you want to call it, they have 5.7 million subscribers.

Starting point is 00:04:52 I mean, some of their videos have hundreds of millions of views. And they put out kind of fun, childlike, educational content. And right now, Blippi is going on tour, but there's a controversy because it appears that some parents went through the fine print of this event and they found out

Starting point is 00:05:06 that the person that they thought that they were buying tickets to see might not be there. Blippi in the videos is played by Steven John, right? The creator. And according to the website's FAQ, where it asks, "'Will Steven John be in the live show?' It responds, "'Blippi was always envisioned as a character. "'Steven John is the creator of Blippi and acts as the writer

Starting point is 00:05:22 "'and creative force behind the Blippi character. "'Now that Blippi has evolved as a character, "'he is excited that a dynamic stage performer "'has been cast as Blippi and acts as the writer and creative force behind the Blippi character. Now that Blippi has evolved as a character, he is excited that a dynamic stage performer has been cast as Blippi to entertain and thrill audiences across all of the tour markets. And reportedly in Billboard, before all of this kind of blew up, John said, I won't be on the road,

Starting point is 00:05:35 but I am obviously extremely involved with the whole process. Then he hits that line again, Blippi is a character and I'm the creative force behind it. And I'd really love to know your thoughts on this topic, because I really am of two minds on it. I personally do view Blippi as a character. Obviously he's not like an animated character

Starting point is 00:05:48 where like you go to Disneyland and you're not like, that's the real Mickey Mouse, the one and only. But kind of more in the same vein at a Blue's Clues Live, according to this three star review, the guy Steve didn't even resemble Steve at all. Also on that note ending, the kids seemed pretty okay with it, but I would have expected a little more. But then on the other side of this,

Starting point is 00:06:05 I do kind of get the frustration. When I go to the Blippi Live website, the whole first page shows Blippi animated. But when I scroll down before I get to the upcoming shows, I do see the text. They mention a dynamic stage performer there. You know, I do wonder if the kids will care. Also, if you're a parent and you're just learning

Starting point is 00:06:19 about this, you should definitely try to get a refund before the event happens. Right, if you're having the same reaction as a number of parents who said that they're now canceling and getting refunds. But the question I wanna pass along with this is, you know, do you think that this is sketchy, it's somewhat shady, or no, do you think that everything's fine,

Starting point is 00:06:32 it's on the up and up? Then I just wanted to touch on the China situation again. You know, previously this week, we talked about the Blizzard and the NBA situation. Yesterday, we talked about further Blizzard fallout. But this morning, I saw something that really bothered me with the NBA. You know, in our previous coverage of the NBA, we talked about Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeting out that pro Hong Kong tweet.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Typically deleted it. We saw a number of apologies from the NBA, also including James Harden from the Houston Rockets, which we played that clip. We apologize. You know, we love China. We love playing there. I know for both of us individually, we go there, you know, once China we love you know playing there uh I know for both of us individually we go there you know once or twice a year uh they show us the most important love so you know we appreciate them as a fan base and uh we love everything you know they're about and and you

Starting point is 00:07:16 know we appreciate their support that they give us individually and as an organization so uh you know we love you you know we love. Also saying we love everything about them. But you know, that statement was met with a lot of criticism because it seemed like not only the NBA, but you had a player bending the knee to China. And you know, you had NBA commissioner Adam Silver kind of writing this line, apologizing for upsetting fans in China,

Starting point is 00:07:36 but also saying that players and people associated with the NBA should feel free to speak their mind. And then this morning, what I see is a video of a journalist trying to get an answer from James Harden, who of course already spoke on this topic. Answer a question and we see this happen. The NBA has always been a league that prides itself on its player and its coaches being able to speak out openly about political and societal affairs. I just wonder after the events of this week and the fallout we've seen, whether you would both feel differently about speaking out in that way in the future.

Starting point is 00:08:09 It's a legitimate question. This is an event that's happened this week during the NBA. This particular question has not been answered. James. And according to Tim McMMahon from ESPN, this is a team PR rep saying basketball questions only, not an NBA official. I'm confident in saying she's doing what James Harden and Russell Westbrook wanted.

Starting point is 00:08:32 Harden is the only player to really comment so far. We apologize, we love China, and was heavily criticized. Also, the whole we're only taking basketball questions, this is a basketball question. Or okay, if you want it to specifically be about on the court basketball, James, do you think that it'll be harder to pull off your step back three pointer if you're doing it as you continue to kiss China's ass?

Starting point is 00:08:50 And here's the thing, unless he comes out with something else, he has made it clear, he is cool with China for the check. Just own it, what we saw today was a journalist asking a legitimate question, getting shut down on a topic that you've already commented on. Yeah, that's all I'm gonna say on this.

Starting point is 00:09:02 It's a really sad thing to see, and I think an incredibly concerning thing to see as we've discussed earlier this week regarding China's money affecting freedoms. Although a quick note before exporting today's show, NBA chief spokesperson, Michael Bass, said a team representative inappropriately interjected to prevent CNN's Christina McFarlane

Starting point is 00:09:17 from receiving an answer to her question. We've apologized to Ms. McFarlane as this was inconsistent with how the NBA conducts media events. But that still leaves the question of, has James Harden had a change of heart? Was it the team representative that decided to push away this question or were they told to?

Starting point is 00:09:29 Right, which was alleged, but you know, there was that. Also, just lastly on the topic of China, a shout out oddly enough to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. On last night's episode of South Park, they literally said, fuck the Chinese government. One, I appreciate them using their platform and their position to say something meaningful. And two, who could have ever predicted

Starting point is 00:09:46 that the guys that starred in basketball would be putting out incredibly important social commentary for our time? We're living in the best and worst of timelines. And then once again, let's talk about the situation with Syria and Turkey. And we covered this in part on the show earlier this week, but for some quick background,

Starting point is 00:10:01 on Sunday, the White House released a statement announcing that Turkey would be going ahead with a long planned military operation in Syria and that the United States Armed Forces would not support or be involved in the operation. Also saying that US forces have defeated the ISIS territorial caliphate and will no longer be in the immediate area.

Starting point is 00:10:15 And that decision appeared to follow a call between Donald Trump and Turkey's president, Erdogan. And Erdogan has said that this military operation is necessary to secure their border with Syria and clear groups Turkey believes are terrorists. And that operation would target the Kurdish groups that largely control that region of Northern Syria. military operation is necessary to secure their border with Syria and clear groups Turkey believes are terrorists. And that operation would target the Kurdish groups that largely control that region of Northern Syria,

Starting point is 00:10:28 specifically the People's Protection Unit or YPG, which makes up most of the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF. And Turkey claims that those groups are allied with a separatist movement called the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which has been responsible for violent attacks in Turkey. Okay, so there are a lot of acronyms here. Maybe there's some confusion, but this is a really big deal

Starting point is 00:10:44 because while Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist group, the United States does not. In fact, US forces in Syria have recruited and trained the SDF for years to fight alongside them. And in fact, the SDF has done the majority of fighting on the ground against ISIS fighters in the region, also keeping and guarding tens of thousands of captured ISIS fighters and their family members

Starting point is 00:11:01 in makeshift camps in Northern Syria. And so for a while now, the United States has discouraged Turkey and Erdogan from launching a military operation against these Kurdish forces who have been fighting ISIS with them. But now it's being argued that what we're seeing is the United States has basically given Turkey

Starting point is 00:11:13 the green light to launch a military offensive against their own key allies. And so with this, Trump got a ton of backlash, this including even some of his main supporters like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell. They argued among other things, it's a really bad message that the United States was abandoning allies.

Starting point is 00:11:25 Many arguing that if Kurdish forces were busy fighting a military attack from Turkey, they wouldn't be able to fight ISIS or guard the ISIS camp. So that's why you've had experts saying not only would this allow ISIS and other terrorist networks to possibly regroup, but also make it easy for them to break the captured ISIS fighters out of the camps that until then had been guarded by the SDF.

Starting point is 00:11:40 But even with bipartisan backlash, the Trump administration did not change its mind. So yesterday, Turkey officially launched the military offensive and began carrying out ground and air attacks. The operation reportedly started with war planes carrying out airstrikes, bombing, and shelling the territory.

Starting point is 00:11:52 Then a few hours later, Turkish troops and military forces crossed the border into Northern Syria, officially starting the ground offensive. Following this, pictures and videos began circulating, appearing to show civilians fleeing amid smoke from the sites of the bombings. And according to the New York Times, the attacks on the first day alone were big,

Starting point is 00:12:05 with strikes hitting in or near at least five towns along more than 150 miles of the border. And with those attacks continuing for the second day today, things are already getting really bad, really fast. Turkey's Defense Ministry claimed that it has hit 181 of what they call terrorist targets. And today, Turkey's Defense Ministry also said that 174 militants had been killed,

Starting point is 00:12:22 but that has not been independently verified. And we've also seen others reporting lower numbers with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that at least 23 SDF fighters were killed as of recording. Now as far as civilians, the Kurdish Red Crescent reported that at least 11 civilians have been killed so far, including two children.

Starting point is 00:12:35 The Syrian Observatory also saying that more than 60,000 Syrians had fled since just yesterday. And the fact that so many are fleeing is also a massive note here. Syria is already facing a massive refugee crisis, and in fact, like we talked about on Monday, part of Erdogan's plan for Syria was to carve out a so-called safe zone at the border

Starting point is 00:12:50 where he would return Syrian refugees. But now, many are saying that this military operation is just creating more refugees. Which on that note, we've seen a lot of world leaders coming out to condemn the attacks. In a statement, the European Union's foreign affairs chief said, the EU calls upon Turkey to cease

Starting point is 00:13:02 the unilateral military action. Renewed armed hostilities in the Northeast will further undermine the stability of the whole region, exacerbate civilian suffering, and provoke further displacement. A spokesperson for the UN Secretary General also saying in a statement, civilians and civilian infrastructure should be protected.

Starting point is 00:13:16 The Secretary General believes that there's no military solution to the Syrian conflict. Also notably, we've seen a number of Middle Eastern leaders criticizing this move. In a statement, Saudi Arabia's foreign Ministry condemned what they called the aggression launched by the Turkish army, also adding, "'The seriousness of this aggression on northeastern Syria "'has negative repercussions on the security and stability

Starting point is 00:13:32 "'of the region, especially undermining "'the international efforts in combating ISIS organization.'" Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu also taking to Twitter, writing, "'Israel strongly condemns the Turkish invasion "'of the Kurdish areas in Syria "'and warns against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies.

Starting point is 00:13:46 Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people. According to NBC, as far as Iran and Russia, they reportedly said that the United States was partly to blame for the situation in Syria that has led to Turkey's action. And somewhat to that point, it also appears that a lot of US leaders

Starting point is 00:13:59 think the United States is to blame for the situation as well. This, like we noted before, including some of Trump's main Republican allies. Yesterday, we saw Republican representative Liz Cheney directly blaming Trump in a tweet saying, "'News from Syria is sickening. "'Turkish troops preparing to invade Syria from the north.

Starting point is 00:14:12 "'Russian-backed forces from the south. "'ISIS fighters attacking Raqqa. "'Impossible to understand why Donald Trump "'is leaving America's allies to be slaughtered "'and enabling the return of ISIS.'" Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has also been very vocal on Twitter yesterday writing, "'Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly

Starting point is 00:14:26 "'abandoned by the Trump administration. "'This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS.'" And also tweeting today, "'Mr. President, your decision regarding Syria "'is having grave consequences to our national security "'and that of our allies and partners.'" We also saw Republican Senator Marco Rubio speaking out, adding that Congress could take action

Starting point is 00:14:40 against Trump's decision, saying that the Kurds actually fought on the ground, they had people dying. To just abandon them like that so the Turks can come in and slaughter them is not just immoral, it taints our reputation all over the world. It's a terrible mistake. We'll have to think of what options there are.

Starting point is 00:14:54 I'm sure the Senate will potentially take some vote to disagree with that decision. But with all of this happening, Trump has also continued to defend his move. In a statement to the media yesterday, Trump said, the United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea. And then going on to say that Turkey is committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities,

Starting point is 00:15:11 including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place and we will hold them to this commitment. During a press conference later yesterday, Trump also reiterated something he said in a tweet on Monday, which is that he would crack down on Turkey economically if they did something he didn't like in Syria. But with this, Trump also got a lot of backlash for other comments he made during that press conference. When asked about the US alliance with the Kurds, Trump said, And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the Second World War,

Starting point is 00:15:35 they didn't help us with Normandy, as an example. They mentioned names of different battles. They were there, but they're there to help us with their land, and that's a different thing. Also, when asked if he was concerned about ISIS fighters fleeing Kurdish custody, he said, "- Well, they're gonna be escaping to Europe. That's where they wanna go.

Starting point is 00:15:51 They wanna go back to their homes." He also later tried to downplay the fact that ISIS members could escape by tweeting, "'In case the Kurds or Turkey lose control, the United States has already taken the two ISIS militants tied to beheadings in Syria, known as the Beatles, out of that country and into a secure location controlled by the US. They are the worst of the worst.'" But as the Beatles, out of that country and into a secure location controlled by the US.

Starting point is 00:16:05 They are the worst of the worst. But as others have pointed out, that is just two out of several thousand. So that's the story. And I mean, as far as my opinion, I find myself agreeing with the Lindsey Graham's, Mitch McConnell's and Marco Rubio's of the world. So it's been an interesting Thursday for me.

Starting point is 00:16:18 And I do see this as an abandonment of allies. The idea that this move is of no consequence because wait, let me just double check. They didn't fight with us in World War II. That's insane. They literally helped us fight ISIS and largely they were the ones that were losing people. Also notably another country that didn't help us

Starting point is 00:16:34 in World War II, because apparently that is where the bar is, Turkey. But interestingly enough, there is also a difference. As some others have noted, Donald Trump has a history with Turkey. As noted by NBC, the Trump family has a quote, "'multitude of continuing business entities and interests "'all separated from the president, at least on paper,

Starting point is 00:16:48 "'by the trust that now controls them.'" But the president is the beneficiary of that trust, and two of his children have roles in it. Also, interestingly enough, I have people pointing out that long before he was president, Trump and his family had extensive business ties in and with Turkey. Most significantly is probably Trump Towers Istanbul.

Starting point is 00:17:02 In fact, in 2015, Trump even said he had a conflict of interest in Turkey, saying in an interview, "'I have a little conflict of interest "'because I have a major, major Towers Istanbul. In fact, in 2015, Trump even said he had a conflict of interest in Turkey saying in an interview, "'I have a little conflict of interest "'because I have a major, major building in Istanbul. "'It's a tremendously successful job. "'It's called Trump Towers, two towers instead of one, "'not the usual one, it's two.'" And regarding this, Richard Painter,

Starting point is 00:17:15 the chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration used an analogy for this conflict of interest saying, "'Can you imagine if the Roosevelt family "'had business interests in Germany in the 1930s "'before World War II? It creates points of vulnerability and that's where we are. Yeah, that's the story, some of my thoughts on it. And of course, whether you agree or disagree,

Starting point is 00:17:32 I'd love to hear your thoughts in those comments down below. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked this video, hit that like button. If you're new here, be sure you subscribe, tap that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, you can click or tap this goodness to watch some more.

Starting point is 00:17:42 But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you next time. Bum, bum, bum, bum. Welcome to Atlanta. It's a great wallet though.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.10 RIDICULOUS! Harden CNN Controversy, Blippi, Ellen & Bell SLAMMED & Turkey Syria Worsens

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