The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.9 Why People Are Freaking Out About Dolan Twins, Ecuador, Mei, Hong Kong & Robert Downey Jr

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you have a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today are some updates around the massive Blizzard story that we covered yesterday. To oversimplify if you didn't see,

Starting point is 00:00:11 Blizzard announced that Cheng Wei, who was a professional Hearthstone player, would have his prize money rescinded and he was banned from professional play for a year because he said, liberate Hong Kong during the broadcast. Also, they fired the two casters who were also there but didn't say anything. Right, so this was seen by many

Starting point is 00:00:26 as Blizzard bending a knee to China. Right, essentially making the choice to take money from a communist country, cracking down, I mean, among other things, cracking down on free speech over some of their own mission statements, like think globally, every voice matters, and just their general user base. So, you know, part of what we're seeing

Starting point is 00:00:41 are people calling for a boycott of all Blizzard games. Even had people like Mark Kern, who was the team lead for World of Warcraft, tweeting, this hurts, but until Blizzard reverses their decision, I am giving up playing Classic WoW, which I helped make and helped convince Blizzard to relaunch. Adding that he's watched China slowly take over

Starting point is 00:00:55 as a dominant investing force in gaming and movies over the years, saying Chinese game companies have grown huge, not just because of market size, but because the government subsidizes them. And adding, I've seen firsthand the corruption of Chinese gaming companies, and I was removed from a company I founded after Blizzard

Starting point is 00:01:08 for refusing to take a $2 million kickback bribe to take an investment from China. This is the first time I've ever spoken publicly about it. Then going on to say the Chinese company tried to ruin his career with planted press stories. Also saying that he's taking a huge risk by saying this because China monitors all social media and knows that this means

Starting point is 00:01:21 he'll probably never get an investment from China again. But adding, enough is enough. I stand with Hong Kong and I oppose Blizzard's obvious and laughably transparent fear of China. And then later sharing a screenshot of him actually canceling his subscription, which is something that we've been seeing more and more people do.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Another thing we've seen are fans taking a character from a Blizzard property, Overwatch, Mei, and they've been turning her into a protest symbol. Or you have Mei with a mask that says, fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong, Democracy Now'." You see the mask again, this seemingly in reference to the face mask ban. In the Blizzard subreddit,

Starting point is 00:01:49 along with making a new logo for Blizzard, you have people sharing May in Hong Kong wear. Also reportedly, in Tuesday's collegiate Hearthstone Championship, American university players held up a free Hong Kong boycott Blizzard sign. While a lot of this has been heavily focused on Blizzard, and yesterday, of course, we even talked about the NBA,

Starting point is 00:02:04 this has also raised the question of where else does China potentially have their fingers? With many specifically eyeing Chinese tech conglomerate, Tencent. They reportedly own 5% of Activision Blizzard. And according to reports, just in the PC gaming space, Tencent owns 100% of Riot Games, 40% of Epic Games, a little over 11% of Bluehole, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds.

Starting point is 00:02:21 They've also invested in Discord. You also, you might remember, where you had some people up in arms after they invested $150 million into Reddit. But also at the same time, understand that I'm not saying that we should expect the exact same thing from any of these companies. Just given the news recently of more people than ever

Starting point is 00:02:34 wondering where China's money is involved with US companies. Which actually on that note, I mentioned Epic Games, of course the developer behind Fortnite. They reportedly told The Verge, Epic supports everyone's right to express their views on politics and human rights. We wouldn't ban or punish a Fortnite player or content creator for speaking on these topics.

Starting point is 00:02:50 And while I always want to try and take someone at face value, I look at that and I go, well, you're making that statement now when you're not the focal point of the story. And back to Mark Kern regarding this specific topic, he tweeted that Tencent owns 40% of Epic. And while Tim, the CEO of Epic, is taking a great pro speech stance here,

Starting point is 00:03:04 and he believes him, what's to prevent Tencent from removing him like what happened to me for not playing ball? You know, ultimately, I think we're gonna have to wait to see and if I was to guess, I feel like more companies are going to be tested soon. But of course, all that said, I'd love to know your thoughts around this.

Starting point is 00:03:17 And then let's cover some quickies and an update to the Martin Scorsese MCU debate and backlash, which we covered earlier in the week, right? And that essentially simplified was famed director Martin Scorsese, MCU, debate and backlash, which we covered earlier in the week, right? And that essentially simplified was famed director, Martin Scorsese saying that the MCU, right? Those Marvel movies, if they're not cinema, they're more like theme parks. Stir up a debate as well as reactions and comments

Starting point is 00:03:34 from people that are actually in the MCU. And as I said last time, I'm not gonna bash Scorsese for this, right? I think his work speaks for itself. I can't comment on that. You know, I and a number of people have disagreed. My personal example of why I think it's cinema is I look to Robert Downey Jr. His performance in the Iron Man movies, as well as just across the MCU, that arc, I thought it was just fantastic.

Starting point is 00:03:52 You know, it hit me on a truly emotional level. So I think I and many others were interested in what Robert Downey Jr. had to say about this. And it's something that I ended up actually commenting on while on the Howard Stern show. According to Scorsese, it's not cinema. I got to take a look at that, you know? Why did he say that? Because it's his opinion. But it is cinema, isn't it?

Starting point is 00:04:09 I mean, it plays in theaters. Were you insulted when he said that it's not cinema, that somehow Iron Man isn't cinema? It is cinema to me. Well, I mean, look, it'd be like saying Howard Stern isn't radio. It makes no sense to say it. But was he jealous of the success? Of course not. mean he's martin scorsese and in this clip from howard stern which i'll link down below uh he ends on this this note that i think is very important

Starting point is 00:04:33 to hear out i listen to the show i agree with most all of your opinions varied though they may be occasionally you'll go on some on some you know tributary trail of thought that i go like god that's not how i see it but i go but i love that you see it that way and i personally think that's such an incredibly healthy way to view this situation and just things in general and also i will say happily echoes like kind of the number one comment i get from people love the show don't always agree with your opinion but i love seeing kind of where someone else could be coming from and you know i don't think we all have to agree i think we would all benefit if we can kind of take a beat, try to appreciate and understand

Starting point is 00:05:06 maybe where someone's coming from. And then yes, outside of differing opinions, you can criticize things like saying that you don't like something, even though you didn't actually take the time to watch something. I personally found that interesting. Then we had the massive creators that are the Dolan twins,

Starting point is 00:05:19 Ethan and Grayson Dolan in the news. The newest video and the articles around it have just really been spreading and blowing up. And it was really kind of the latest chapter of one of last year's biggest stories, creator burnout. And the reason that this video stuck out to me, which if you're not a fan of theirs, you can kind of oversimplify it as,

Starting point is 00:05:34 it's just an hour long video where they're announcing they're not doing weekly videos anymore, is that it gives us unique insight into what is happening in young creators' minds. Like this online homegrown entertainment ecosystem, what does that do to people? You know, they talk about, they've been doing these weekly videos for five years,

Starting point is 00:05:49 which means they've been doing this since they were 14. Easily some of the most formative years for a young person. They talk about the disconnect between who they are as a real person, the emotions that they're feeling, and then what they're putting out there into the world with each video. Feeling like they're forced to create out of fear of becoming irrelevant.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Also feeling guilty for not providing something for the people that support them. Even to the point that they said, you know, that they really haven't had the time to process their father's recent death. And here's the thing, while I definitely do understand the part of my audience that will never sympathize with stories like this.

Starting point is 00:06:16 And I remember busting my ass at a minimum wage job while going to school, feeling like as much effort I was putting forward, I was still falling backwards. Right, I'm supposed to sympathize with someone that can't speak without there being an echo in their house? You know, and they're their own boss, right? They have no one to blame but themselves. But the twins even say that.

Starting point is 00:06:32 But on the other side of this, as a person who has been creating on this platform for over a decade, I greatly sympathize. I've seen a lot of friends burn out, people just plunging into massive depression that you think are the happiest, most successful people on the planet. They're also not open with it with the public

Starting point is 00:06:47 because they feel incredibly guilty and like no one will sympathize. But really to paraphrase and kind of repeat something that Shane Dawson says in the video, to creators, if something is wearing you down, slowly breaking you, making you sad, pull back. One, if you force content, it's going to suck and people will notice.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And two, if people stop watching you because you're not posting enough, you are eventually going to lose those people anyway. You've just expedited the you because you're not posting enough You were eventually going to lose those people anyway You've just expedited the process and you're the only person that really knows what you can handle I mean even that kind of thinking is why I pulled back on Friday Philip DeFranco shows and decided to put my energy into Something else that's all really touch on there and regarding the Dolan's I don't really know them But I wish them well and the last thing we're gonna talk about today is the massive news out of Ecuador where there have just been Huge protests for almost a week now. And these protests started last Thursday

Starting point is 00:07:25 after President Lennon Moreno announced that he was ending fuel subsidies that have been in place for 40 years. Moreno claimed that the subsidies had cost the government about $1.4 billion a year, which is about 5% of the budget. And so he scrapped them as part of a broader plan to cut spending under a loan agreement

Starting point is 00:07:38 with the International Monetary Fund to lower debt and stimulate the economy. Under that deal, the IMF would give Ecuador a $4.2 billion loan as long as Moreno imposed measures to cut back on government spending. But cutting fuel subsidies means rising fuel prices, and rising fuel prices have a long history of sparking protests, right?

Starting point is 00:07:53 I mean, just think of the Yellow Vest Movement that we talked about in France, which started over a gas tax increase. And you know, that price increase really pissed off a lot of transportation workers, young people, and indigenous groups in Ecuador who have already been struggling over the last few years. Right, this as Ecuador has sunk into debt

Starting point is 00:08:06 and tried to fight its way out of an economic recession. And so what we see following Moreno's announcement on Thursday is taxi drivers, bus drivers, and members of Ecuador's transportation union launching a strike, blocking roads and highways all over the country. They were also quickly joined by students and indigenous groups.

Starting point is 00:08:20 And actually even after the transportation union called off the strike on Saturday, the protests which are now led by indigenous groups kept on going. Also following what we saw on Thursday, Moreno declared a 60 day state of emergency, allowing him to suspend certain civil liberties of protesters.

Starting point is 00:08:33 And so what we've seen happen is the protests have become increasingly violent. Protesters continued marching and barricading roads by reportedly setting fires, right, burning tires and military vehicles. They've also reportedly thrown petrol bombs and stones at security forces who have responded by using tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators.

Starting point is 00:08:48 The demonstrators have also attacked dozens of rose plantations and several oil production facilities, prompting oil field operations to be suspended all over the country. And with large parts of the country brought to a standstill, the Minister of Production, Commerce and Investment told reporters that Ecuador has actually lost $1.4 billion over just six days of protests.

Starting point is 00:09:04 Something else we've seen, dozens of people, including police, have been injured and one man died after being hit by a car. Authorities have also arrested hundreds of people, although there are conflicting reports here. Some outlets saying 570 people, while others say the number is now closer to 700. And one of the big key things here

Starting point is 00:09:18 is it does not seem like things are dying down. Over the last few days, demonstrators in the capital city, Quito, have reportedly stormed and vandalized multiple government buildings, all while continuing to clash with police on the streets, destroying property and looting businesses. And in fact, things got so intense on Monday that Moreno announced that he was literally going to move his government from Quito to a coastal city 150 miles away. Right, something that I do not believe has ever been done before. Many have described this move as unprecedented.

Starting point is 00:09:40 Moreno has also called for a dialogue with the indigenous groups who have said that they are not behind the violence in the capital. Moreno, for his part, seems to believe them, even insisting that their protests have been infiltrated by bad actors backed by former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, who is working with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to launch a coup. And a big thing to note here regarding relationships. Moreno has frequently clashed with Maduro and Moreno used to actually be vice president to Correa, who served before he took office and was once his mentor. But Correa has been living in exile in Belgium since being charged of kidnapping a political opponent while president. Moreno has also blamed Correa for the economic problems that got Ecuador here in the first place. And during a televised statement on Monday, Moreno said these protests were an attempted coup against him, saying,

Starting point is 00:10:18 What has happened these days is not a social protest against a decision by my government. The looting, vandalism, and violence show that there is an organized action to destabilize my government." Now Correa has denied that he is behind any coup attempt, telling Reuters, they are such liars. "'They say I am so powerful that with an iPhone from Brussels, I could lead the protest. People couldn't take it anymore.

Starting point is 00:10:36 That's the reality.'" Also slamming Moreno on Twitter saying, "'Moreno is finished as happens with every traitor sooner or later.'" And adding that he has no legitimacy to govern. As far as what Maduro was saying, we've seen him supporting the protesters with the Washington Post quoting him saying,

Starting point is 00:10:48 "'I express my solidarity with the people of Ecuador. No more IMF packages, no more misery.'" Also at the same time, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many countries, including the United States, recognizes the rightful leader of Venezuela, supported Moreno's claim, writing on Twitter, "'While President Lenin Moreno works to maintain

Starting point is 00:11:04 and strengthen the Republic and institutions of Ecuador, "'a group financed by Maduro's accomplices in America "'taking advantage of the most vulnerable "'seeks to end the country's stability. "'Solidarity with Ecuador.'" But ultimately, that is where we are with this right now. It is gonna be interesting to see what happens moving forward.

Starting point is 00:11:17 Right now, Moreno has said that he will not resign, but others have noted that in the past, indigenous-led protests have brought down three presidents. But also at the same time, it appears that the military is backing Moreno Yeah, ultimately we're gonna have to wait and see and with that of course, I'd love to know your thoughts But also especially if you have family there, maybe you're watching from around the area What are your thoughts around all of this? And that's where I'm going to end today's show And hey, if you liked this video, I love if you took a second to hit that like button

Starting point is 00:11:40 Also, if you're new here, you want more of these daily dives into the news Be sure to tap that subscribe button, hit that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're not 100% filled in, you can click or tap right there to watch something else. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in.

Starting point is 00:11:54 I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.9 Why People Are Freaking Out About Dolan Twins, Ecuador, Mei, Hong Kong & Robert Downey Jr

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