The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.11 The Truth About MrBeast vs Musk & Lil Nas X Scandals, George Carlin AI, & South Africa vs Israel PDS

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

Go to www.babbel.com/defranco to get 55% off! Catch up on our shows from this week! Monday: https://youtu.be/5LoGtxG41SU?si=RYQGuPnrKWJ8pK3Z Tuesday: https://youtu.be/z-s-WUMybZw?si=VNRjZzkqlXrlMFv6 Wednesday: https://youtu.be/Uw6eR5RDTWg?si=GlQXkSj-8CW_GeIJ –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Lil Nas X Denies He Mocked Christians in New Song Promo 02:50 - Elon Musk Tries to Recruit MrBeast and Other Creators to X, Promising Bigger Paychecks 04:28 - AI-Generated ‘George Carlin’ Comedy Special Blasted by Comedian’s Daughter 06:53 - Sponsored by Babbel 08:02 -  Trump’s Political Opponents Face Swatting and Death Threats  10:03 -  South Africa Accuses Israel of Genocide Click Here for the Full ICJ Hearing Today: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k11/k11gf661b3  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxx Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #LilNasX #MrBeast ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. This is your fourth new show of the year. Actually, the final of our first week back. So a quick thank you and love yo face to everyone that's hopped back on the news train in 2024. We got a lot of news to talk about today. We've got Lil Nas X getting blasted for this Jesus scandal.

Mr. Beast could be the key to beating YouTube. We've got Trump bomb threats. And South Africa presented their chilling genocide case against Israel today. There's even more, so buckle up, hit that like button to start 2024 off right, and let's just jump into it. Starting with Jesus Christ is at the center of today's big internet controversy. Also Lil Nas X. Well, specifically Lil Nas X because of Jesus. Which I also got to say, Lil Nas X Trojan horse the fuck out of so many people. The man busted onto the scene with

Old Town Road doing his little honky tonk with Billy Ray Cyrus. It became the biggest out of so many people. The man busted onto the scene with Old Town Road, doing his little honky-tonk with Billy Ray Cyrus. It became the biggest song of the year, and then he just went on to make some of the most explicitly gay music for the next five. Then going further, releasing Satan Sneakers with Blood, put out a music video where he gave Satan a lap dance. But for a second, some people were like, uh-oh, Lil Nas X is going to switch up this year. Because on his Instagram, he seemingly out of nowhere just posted this image of Jesus, announcing his new single, J. Christ, and writing that the song is dedicated to the man who had the greatest comeback of all time. And so with this, we immediately saw backlash. With a number of people saying he's rage baiting Christians for some sort of relevance.

So Lil Nas X hit back, saying the crazy thing is nowhere in the picture is a mockery of Jesus. Jesus' image is used throughout history and people's art all over the world. I'm not making fun of shit. The problem is y'all judge everything at face value. I've never released a visual without an underlying meaning and y'all know that. But since I'm a troll, y'all discount my art as just pissing people off.

With that, you know, a ton of fans have sided with. With them arguing that plenty of artists have used Christian imagery in their work. Though, I don't know if the other post that Lil Nas X has posted since this has changed minds. Posting a TikTok of him speed eating the blood and body of Christ as Christ. A pic of him dressed as an angel holding guns. And a video of him going from the blood and body of Christ as Christ, a pic of him dressed as an angel holding guns,

and a video of him going from the crucifixion to a transformer, like as a Jesus transformer crossover event. That was among other things like clips from his music video. In one, he's got lookalikes of famous people walking up to heaven. In another, he's just Moses. And so in addition to the fighting that one would expect, right, one side saying this is disgusting, he's needlessly attacking so many people who follow a faith, Others challenging him saying that he would not do this with Islam. And

then on the other side of people saying, you know, it's fair game. Arguing things like if you're tired of Lil Nas X taking aim at Christianity, then think about this. Christianity ain't tired of aiming at women, children, and gays. So are we going to stand on business or not? Others arguing he might mock your religion, but that it's no different than you telling gay people that they'll burn in hell. And others arguing as a gay teenager in the Bible belt, hearing all the homophobic shit people spewed at him means he gets to fire back. But ultimately, we won't know until tomorrow how all of this is going to pay off or fail, because that's when the music video releases. But before that, I got to ask you some questions here. One, do you think this marketing campaign

is going to be effective? Do you think tomorrow is going to be a boom or a bust? And then two, what are your thoughts about what he is doing? Whether you consider it smart marketing and trolling and an engagement economy, or do you find it to be just disgusting and blasphemous? Any and all thoughts, I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. And then, can X beat YouTube at video? Right now, sounds like the most ridiculous question you could ask. But what if you could steal and use YouTube's own golden boy against them?

Mr. Beast. Because Elon wants him some Jimmy. And this is not a new thing. Shortly after he took over, Elon was talking a big game. Telling Jimmy, X would actually be able to offer higher compensation for creators than YouTube. But Jimmy is like an insane person when it comes to online stuff. Probably one of the most knowledgeable people about the space. And he responded saying, I'd be shocked if you crack that code.

And while X has rolled out an ad revenue model, the money is very much not YouTube money. But someone telling MrBeast to upload to X, Elon Musk saying yeah. But then Jimmy responding, my videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X, it wouldn't fund a fraction of it. I'm down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranky. And while some saw that and they were like, oh, Jimmy just dunked on Elon. Not really. All Jimmy did was speak facts. I mean, other big names in the space have also sounded off on this. Creators KSI and Logan Paul, for example. They said that Logan made $1,500 from X, despite that being from hundreds of millions of impressions, which, hey, money is great. But while the numbers shift, if you release a long form video on YouTube,

depending on the niche or what kind of ads you're getting, that could be like $3,000 to $40,000. I might even be undercutting some of the people in the really specialized niches. And on TikTok, if you're a part of their creator beta, you get a million views, it fluctuates a lot, but that could be $1,000. But that's not to say that X, like their ad system right now, that's where it will always be. And at least in some way, Elon is trying to recruit talent. For example, last year,

Tucker Carlson announced his show on the platform. Just this week, we saw Don Lemon getting a show on X, as well as other shows hosted by former US representative, Tulsi Gabbard and sports commentator, Jim Rohn. Elon also just announcing a pay hike for creators on X in the coming year. But right now it remains to be seen what those moves are actually gonna do for the platform. It's very early days, but

we'll see. And then AI just brought George Carlin back from the dead, which as a fan is a sentence that disturbs me, which also I got to remember, not everyone is my age. If you're unfamiliar, George Carlin is regarded as one of the most influential standup comedians of all time. I think rightly so. You know, he passed away back in 2008. But there's this AI comedy podcast out there called Dudezy. And they put out an hour-long imitation stand-up special of George Carlin called I'm Glad I'm Dead. With his Dudezy AI opening the show by saying, I just want to let you know very clearly that what you're about to hear is not George Carlin.

It's my impersonation of George Carlin. That I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would. And it then goes into the special, which uses a voice that sounds like George Carlin. And as far as the visuals, it uses B-roll instead of an AI approximation of his face and body. Also with this, if you're like, what the fuck is Dudezy? Like, who are these randoms? It's actually hosted by Will Sasso and Chad Klutgen. And they let the Dudezy AI go through their work and personal messages to run the podcast. But you know, with all this, you have a lot of people disturbed.

With even George Carlin's own daughter tweeting, My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain, and imagination. No machine will ever replace his genius. Here's an idea. How about we give some actual living human comedians a listen to? But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials you can find anywhere. Others also slamming it, saying if Carlin was alive, he probably would have hated this. Saying things like, I genuinely don't understand how someone can claim to understand Carlin's comedy so well that they can replicate him with AI,

but also not understand that George Carlin would have fucking despised them for being so creatively bankrupt and making us all culturally stupider. And for me personally, I agree with both that comment and Carlin's daughter. One, I think Carlin would have hated this. And two, especially if you're not familiar, I highly recommend going back and watching George Carlin specials. And then also three, I gotta add, like, I didn't know who the Chad guy was before, but I was kind of surprised that this came from Will Sasso. Like it feels weird that another comedian, whether his spotlight has faded or not, would do this,

especially because it appears to be like against the wishes of the family. Like this just kind of seems like disgusting hack shit to me. But you know, this is a Philip DeFranco show. Are you of this same mindset or no? Do you see like what they're doing as like being on the bleeding edge of art? Commentary and tech, like I'm trying to have an open mind on it.

My gut says, fuck this bullshit. But whether you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear from you. And then we've got more news we need to talk about, but I gotta take a second to pay some bills. Because I want you to fast forward to the end of 2024. Have you thought about fun, helpful goals, like learning a new language? And with that, like what can you actually do right now to make that happen? Well, thanks to the sponsor of today's show, Babbel, they'll set you up for success. Because Babbel's known for helping you speak a new language in three weeks.

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but only for you at babbel.com slash defranco. That is 55% off at babbel.com slash defranco. Spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash defranco. Rules and restrictions may apply. And then the weirdest and most mysterious thing keeps happening. Any Trump opponent, and that they're trying to or could hold Trump accountable,

they for some weird reason keep getting threatened and swatted. With the most recent being this morning, when we got the news about Judge Arthur Engeron. He's overseeing the fraud trial against Trump in New York. He was swatted at his home after someone called in a fake bomb threat.

And the timing here is also a key thing, because it comes the same day that closing arguments are set to take place in the case against Trump. And just a day after the judge rejected Trump's attempt to deliver his own closing arguments. Right, and that because Trump and his lawyers failed to agree to certain conditions that the judge had outlined

in order for that to happen. So with that, we saw Trump take to truth socially yesterday, targeting Judge Engrang, saying he was a Trump-hating judge, who was trying to screw him, calling the trial rigged and unfair. But also, this is just the latest in several similar incidents in recent weeks. I mean, just last week, we had Tanya Chutkin.

She's the judge overseeing the January 6th case against Trump. She got swatted at her home. You've also got sources saying that special counsel Jack Smith, where he's overseeing the prosecution of both federal cases against Trump, he was a target of an attempted swatting on Christmas.

So there luckily police were called off because law enforcement officials already protecting Smith were able to tell them that it was a false alarm. And they're like, it's not real, we're prepared for this. And a few weeks ago, Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows was also swatted one day after she removed Trump from the ballot in her state. And that is the FBI also recently confirmed it was investigating violent threats against the Colorado Supreme Court

justices who ruled in favor of removing Trump from the ballot there as well. And so far, we've only talked about the people involved in Trump's ongoing legal battles. You also have people like Rusty Bowers, for example, the former speaker at the Arizona State House. He played a key role in fighting Trump's efforts to undo democracy in his state. He returned home the day after Christmas, found it surrounded by cops. Someone had said there was a pipe bomb and a murdered woman inside. And last week, there was a swatting at the home of Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for Georgia's Secretary of State's office.

But unfortunately, none of this is surprising. I mean, all the people that we're talking about today are people that Trump has repeatedly targeted both online and publicly during speeches. The rhetoric escalating. And all of this as he now calls the people he incited, who attacked our Capitol on January 6th, people who attacked Capitol Police officers who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power,

hostages because they're being held accountable by the law. There's no reason to believe that what he is saying, what he is inciting or anything in the situation is going to calm down before election day. And then we've got big and controversial news playing out internationally right now. You see in South Africa presenting their genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, the UN's top court, the International Court of Justice. And I also want to note this. It's very important. What we're talking about today is not the end of the story. You see in South Africa presenting their arguments today. Israel has

denied the allegations. U.S. Secretary of State has described the allegations as meritless. Though also notably while he's trying to push for Israel to scale back their intensity. And Israel in this court will present their side tomorrow. But with all that said, it brings us to Adila Hassim. She's a lawyer representing South Africa. She laid out the country's case in explicit detail, going step by step down the U.N.'s 1948 Genocide Convention Treaty, which defines genocide as an act committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. That also including not just direct killing and maiming, but also forcing conditions where life isn't sustainable, preventing births, and forcing children to assimilate into different

groups. And I'll largely just be hitting her highlights. So if you want to watch the full thing, I'm linking to it in the description. First and foremost, the lawyers for South Africa clearly condemned Hamas and its actions, saying, When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer.

So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart.0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. South Africa unequivocally condemned the targeting of civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and the taking of hostages on the 7th of October, 2023. Now, regarding the bombing of Gaza, Hassim said that this has been clear, calculated, and extensive.

The level of Israel's killing is so extensive that nowhere is safe in Gaza. As I stand before you today, 23,210 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the sustained attacks over the last three months. At least 70% of whom are believed to be women and children. In the first three weeks alone, following 7 October, Israel deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times it has deployed 2,000-pound bombs in southern areas of Palestine designated as safe. These bombs have also decimated the north, including refugee camps. 2,000-pound bombs are some of the biggest and most destructive bombs available.

But Haseem then also saying it's not just the bombing of Gazans. Israel's conduct has been deliberately calculated to cause widespread hunger, dehydration and starvation. Israel's campaign has pushed Gazans to the brink of famine. An unprecedented 93 percent of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger. She also went on to describe the alleged mass kidnappings of Gazans. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, including children, are arrested, blindfolded, forced to undress and loaded onto trucks taken to unknown locations. Hasim then goes on to argue that even Israel's first evacuation order on October 13, which required the evacuation over a million people, she says was genocidal.

Entire hospitals were required to evacuate even newborn babies in intensive care. The order required them to evacuate the north to the south within 24 hours. The order itself was genocidal. It required immediate movement, taking only what could be carried while no humanitarian assistance was permitted and fuel, water and food and other necessities of life had deliberately been cut off. It was clearly calculated to bring about the destruction of the population. Asim also goes on to claim that Israel is intentionally forcing the collapse of

the health care systems in Palestine. Israel is blocking the delivery of life-saving aid, including essential medical kits for delivering babies in circumstances where an estimated 180 women are giving birth in Gaza each day, of these 180 women, the WHO warns that 15% are likely to experience pregnancy or birth-related complications and need additional medical care. That care is simply not available. Now with all this, again, I want to stress that Israel is going to respond in UN court tomorrow. With the AP reporting as a sign of how seriously they regard the case, Israeli leaders have taken the rare step of engaging with the court to defend their international reputation, noting that Israel often boycotts international tribunals or UN investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But with all this, you know, we have gotten a glimpse of the country's rebuttal so far. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman saying on Twitter, today we were witness to one of the

greatest shows of hypocrisy in history compounded by a series of false and baseless claims. Calling the South African lawyers Hamas's representatives in the court and saying they ignored the fact that Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques, and churches with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip. And Prime Minister Netanyahu saying today we saw an upside down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide. Saying Israel is fighting murderous terrorists who carried out crimes against humanity. With all that said, I do want to note that a lot of what we're seeing play out over these next 48 hours, a lot of it has to do with pressure and public conversation. Because at the very top,

there are two ways things could go. They lose, it's done, it's dead. But even if they win, there's a lot of buts. The first, which Reuters and the New York Times hit on, is that we are likely years away from a final ruling. We did have a former UN chairman on a commission involving Israel's previous military operations in Gaza telling the New York Times, all that South Africa has to do to win a provisional measures order is convince the court that its charge of genocide is plausible. But even then, if the court does side with South Africa, you have the AP reporting, although the court's findings are considered binding, it was unclear whether Israel would heed any order to halt the fighting.

And noting, if it doesn't, it could face UN sanctions, although those may be blocked by a US veto. And again, there's reason to believe that a veto would come in. Because even before they presented their case today, John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, he had already denounced South Africa's case, calling it meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever. You know, as we wait to see what happens next, both the reactions and the fallouts to what we saw today, as well as Israel's presentation tomorrow, I gotta ask you, what are your thoughts on what we're seeing right now? And that is where today's show is going to end. But to end things on a personal note, I want to say thank you again to everyone that's been coming back this 2024. This week,

we've been slowly overcoming YouTube penalizing us essentially for taking three weeks off, God forbid. So we've been slowly slipping back into more and more of y'all's recommended bars on YouTube. And you'll also be seeing the show grow and evolve, especially over these first few months. It's like yesterday, today, stuff like that. That'll be coming back. I just wanted this first week to be just as easy as possible with a number of changes that you might've seen if you got a keen eye. But thanks for being part of this. If you missed one of the other three shows from this week, I highly recommend it. I'll include clips here where I can, and I'll link in the description down below. But hey, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo

faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday.