The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.21 Ariana Grande "Wicked" Body Scandal is Troubling, Matt Gaetz Withdraws AG Nomination, & Today's News

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Honestly I’m a bit surprised by this… Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my code DEFRANCO to get 40% off your purchase! Go to https://shopbeam.com/defranco  for up to 50% off sitewide for a limited time only.  Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/ – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Op-Eds in Elle & USA Today Defend Ariana Grande From Body Speculation 03:33 - Jussie Smollett Conviction Overturned 05:38 - Matt Gaetz Withdraws From AG Consideration 10:57 - Sponsored by Cozy Earth 12:05 - Putin Says Russia Fired Medium Range Missile, Not ICBM 14:00 - Speaker Johnson Institutes Transgender Bathroom Ban For House 18:01 - Sponsored by Beam 19:07 - Exeter Finance Promised Loans for Families in Need, But Bled Them Dry for Years 25:07 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 25:40 - Comment Commentary  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer for Exeter: Star Pralle ———————————— 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 #ArianaGrande #MattGaetz ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. It is Thursday. There is a lot to talk about today. So buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. Y'all, first up today,

let's talk about Ariana Grande's body, or I guess let's talk about Ariana Grande's body because we shouldn't be talking about Ariana Grande's body. And that, because you know, she's been absolutely everywhere for the past few weeks, promoting the Wicked movie. And in just this past know, she's been absolutely everywhere for the past few weeks promoting the Wicked movie. And in just this past week, there's been an insane amount of viral posts

really dissecting her body, right? The way it looks in certain photos and videos, people speculating about her weight, with many saying, oh, I think she has an eating disorder. Some seemingly coming from a place of concern for her, word she's not healthy. Though other posts definitely seeming more intent on shaming her or calling her out to just prove a point.

People also bring her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo into it and dissecting her body and weight as well. And all of that then leading to a ton of discourse. People pushing back saying, have we not learned our lesson when it comes to commenting on a celebrity's body and health when we obviously don't know what they're dealing with or what's going on.

And some adding centering so much of the conversation during a giant dream project of Ariana Grande's around her body is going to do harm whether she's struggling or not. So I'm also saying that it's one thing to personally think someone's struggling, but I feel like commenting on that constantly is not particularly helpful

and is not always coming from a place of concern. On one hand, I get how pointing out behaviors you recognize from having an ED might be useful for people going through it. But on the other hand, she is a person and I doubt this is productive for her to see and is probably spiraling her deeper. But then all of that prompting major outlets to publish articles in defense of Ariana and her right to just exist in a body without people deciding to get to talk

about it all the time. Elle, for example, putting out a piece titled Ariana Grande's weight should not be up for discussion. And that saying so much of the wider commentary around the wicked press tour has been levied at her appearance. What an indictment this is on our cultural criticism of women's bodies. When will we learn? With that piece, then going on to add that since 2017, she survived a terrorist attack at one of her concerts, dealt with the death of a former partner, and has had to reprocess her experience at Nickelodeon as allegations of severe misconduct have resurfaced. And then with all that explaining, there's a very real chance that this considerable emotional toll weighed heavily on Grande, in turn, impacting her health and appearance. There's also a very real chance

that the trauma Grande has experienced has nothing to do with her outwardly appearance and that she's merely grown up. USA Today also putting out a similar piece saying that the cruel body comments around Wicked need to stop both for Ariana and Cynthia, and arguing there that even well-intentioned comments on someone's looks can do more harm than good.

With them then also speaking to the regional medical director at the Eating Recovery Center who explained, "'These comments about how your body is acceptable "'or unacceptable, it reinforces again "'that you are not worth more than your body.'" And adding there that these comments don't just affect the person they're about,

but instead they can impact every single person that lives in a body. Right, which is just kind of a different way to say that old adage that's used in a number of different situations, where it's like, Ariana might not see your comment, but all the other people in your life will. And notably all of this is coming after Ariana herself

has even pushed back against criticisms about her body. But they're saying in a TikTok last year. I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people's bodies, no matter what. And then more recently, she was featured on a remix of Charlie XCX's song, Sympathy is a Knife and sang the lyrics, It's a knife when you're so pretty,

they think it must be fake. It's a knife when they dissect your body on the front page It's a knife when they won't believe you why should you explain? Right, so she's made it clear that she doesn't like being the subject of all this discourse You know with all this I would love to know your thoughts on the situation as a whole Especially regarding the takes from experts at the fact that no matter the intent sometimes saying something is just dangerous because you know There has been some pushback to those takes online from people who fear that saying nothing, it just normalizes dangerous behaviors or appearances.

But then you have people countering that saying, well, pointing fingers, that's dangerous as well. But yeah, where do you land on this and why? Then let's talk about this huge Jussie Smollett news, or I'm sorry, Juicy Smoollet. God, Dave Chappelle's too powerful. The man told a joke about Jussie Smollett that was so funny, it changed his name

to most of the public. Though the news today actually relates to why Chappelle made that joke about Jussie Smollett, and that is Jussie Smollett's conviction has now been overturned, with his decision coming from the Illinois Supreme Court. But also before we get to why it was made, let's play some catch up.

Because it's been a minute and it happened before COVID, and you know, I feel like we memory hold a lot of stuff. So if you don't quite remember back in 2019, Smollett said that he was assaulted in Chicago by two men who yelled racist and homophobic slurs and even tossed a noose around his neck, leading to a massive media frenzy. But then we saw prosecutors accusing him

of staging the attack himself, claiming that he hired and paid the two men and told them what to say, though Smollett has denied that this was a hoax and maintains that he was the victim of a hate crime. So he ended up facing charges for staging a hoax, but then the prosecution eventually dropped the charges in exchange for him forfeiting his bond

and performing community service, which was something that did not land well with the public. And so then a special prosecutor revived the case and he ended up being convicted of disorderly conduct for falsely reporting to the police. With him then getting sentenced to five months in jail back in 2022, though he was let out just a few days later after he was released on appeal.

But now what we're seeing is that the state Supreme Court has decided that the second prosecution violated Smollett's rights. With the justice writing, "'We hold that a second prosecution "'under these circumstances is a due process violation, "'and we therefore reverse the defendant's conviction.'" With the judge adding that even though the case

generated public interest, and not everyone was happy with the solution, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied. And with that, as the Associated Press explained, this ruling does not address Smollett's claim of innocence.

And that is actually something that the special prosecutor touched on in a statement shared with the outlet, saying the Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime. Or the jury's unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett

was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct. And it seems there is still an opportunity for a civil case to go forward. Though understandably for his part, Smollett's lawyers have celebrated this decision. But then, y'all, we gotta talk about this Matt Gaetz controversy and news, which some online have dubbed Pizza Gaetz.

And that because Matt Gaetz has now withdrawn his name from consideration for Attorney General, with him announcing the move in a statement on X this morning, saying, I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many. And adding, while the momentum was strong,

it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump-Vance transition. Going on to say, there is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. With him then going on to say that he remains fully committed to ensuring the success of Trump's presidency and is honored to have been tapped to run the DOJ. Which many see as a clear admission that Gates was just essentially told that he didn't have enough support from Senate Republicans to have his

nomination approved. Which is also something that seems to have been confirmed by sources close to both Trump and Gates and openly stated by at least one Republican Senator. Right, and this decision comes after a whirlwind last few days for Gates, because while he was meeting with senators yesterday, the House Ethics Committee was discussing whether or not to release its report

into allegations against Gates of sexual misconduct, drug use, and accepting improper gifts, with many Republicans arguing that it would be against the House rules to release the report because the Ethics Committee can only investigate sitting members, but Gaetz resigned immediately after Trump tapped him for AG.

And while the panel, which is evenly split among Democrats and Republicans, was unable to reach an agreement to release the report, we've still gotten some insight into what those findings might contain. Earlier this week, for example, some pretty bombshell revelations came from the lawyer who represents two women who testified against Gaetz, with that attorney, Joel Leppard,

confirming that both his clients told the House panel that Gates paid them for sex on multiple occasions. And also one of those women told lawmakers she personally saw him having sex with a minor. She testified in July of 2017 at this house party. She was walking out to the pool area and she looked to her right and she saw Representative Gates

having sex with her friend who was 17. With Leppard going on to say that his client testified that her understanding was that Gates didn't know that the girl was a minor when he had sex with her friend who was 17. With Leppard going on to say that his client testified that her understanding was that Gates didn't know that the girl was a minor when he had sex with her. Well, she said he initially broke things off when he learned that she was underage. He restarted a sexual relationship with the girl

when she turned 18. So, you know, right there, we're looking at allegations of having sex with a minor and paying for sex in violation of Florida prostitution law. But also that's not it. Because Leppard also said that his clients attended multiple drug fueled sex parties where Gates paid them for sex

But there were other occasions as well. Well, not all of them were parties So some of them were events such as the the attended election events like hotels They went with him to New York for a taping on Fox News but Approximately perhaps 10 times 10 to 15 times Their testimony is that Representative Gates took them across state lines for the purpose of having sex and paid them for that. That's correct. Right, and that ends up being notable because if those claims are true,

that would be a violation of federal sex trafficking laws. Now with this, Gates, for his part, has denied the allegations, which his spokesperson called baseless. But that also wasn't the only intel we got on what the Ethics Committee had heard. Because it was also reported yesterday that sources familiar with the investigation said that the ethics panel had obtained records showing that Gates paid more than $10,000 to two women

who testified before the members. With one source adding that the two women testified that some of those payments were for sex. And those claims have also been bolstered by documents obtained by the New York Times, which also appeared to confirm that those two women had received payments from Gates. And then on top of all that, today,

right before Gates announced that he was withdrawing his bid for AG, you had CNN reporting that the woman who claimed she had sex with Gates as a minor told the House Ethics Committee she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017, according to sources familiar with her testimony.

With the outlet reporting that the woman who was 17 at the time testified that the previously unreported second encounter included another adult woman. Though this is multiple sources said that the other woman denied participating in the encounter. But all that messiness and the moving parts aside, right? There's a big question now of, well, what happens next?

First of all, who is Trump gonna tap to lead the DOJ now that Gates is out? Also, there's a big question now with Gates' withdrawal and all this kind of stuff that has happened. Does it change Trump and the people around him's mindset of who they're going to nominate? With for example, the Associated Press explaining that this is a major setback to Trump's efforts

to install loyalists because it shows he's already facing resistance from his own party. Also, there's the question of, well, what is Gates gonna do next? Because he made the very unusual move of resigning from Congress immediately after Trump announced his nomination, which as we talked about in the past was very unusual

because people in office usually don't leave their current positions until they're confirmed. You know, in case what happened here happens. While some have speculated whether he might reconsider his resignation, others have noted that the resignation letter he submitted to the House said that he didn't intend to return for the next session of Congress.

So while his intentions may have changed, it's unclear right now if that letter is binding or if it can complicate an attempt to return. And then also, if he returned, he would be considered a sitting member of Congress again, meaning that he would be under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee again, who could then potentially justify

releasing its report on him. But yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens with this whole mess soon enough. And I think I'm just going to start every morning by tweeting, dang, that's crazy. Because it genuinely feels like it's going to be applicable to every single day from here on out. Just to switch gears into my mindset around everything right now, am I alone in that I've kind of just woken up every morning and like before I see the news and then when I see the news, I just go, yeah, sure, fuck it.

Why not? Why is that not the news? Of course it is. I just feel over everything. Like there is a part of me that is genuinely shocked this Gates thing has been shut down. Because based off of the specific numbers and everything that we've been seeing,

it feels like the closest thing to a guardrail that's in place is a singular rubber band. Anyway, who do you think that he's gonna nominate next for AG? I've seen a lot of people joke Judge Judy, but I genuinely think there's a non-zero chance it's Janine Pirro. Yeah, actually, you know what?

That's so stupid, it's happening. I'm calling the shot before the pitch. Then taking a quick break from the news, it's that time of year where I want to share what I love and the awesome discounts being offered to make it easier for y'all to love them too. Right, like getting 40% off the best sheets I've ever owned. For real, 40% off our fantastic sponsor, Cozier.

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reportedly firing an ICBM at Ukraine. Because ICBM is short for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, and they're best known for being the type of missile to carry a nuclear payload. And if this news was true, it would be the first time one's been used in any armed conflict. But here's the thing, it's not.

With us now seeing, for example, the US National Security Council releasing a statement saying that it was actually an experimental medium range ballistic missile. With that then later being confirmed by Putin himself, who announced that Russia had combat tested the brand new hypersonic missile system, quote,

in response to the aggressive actions of NATO countries against Russia. And with that warning that the Kremlin could strike the military installations of any country whose weapons were used against Russia and on top of That while the new missile was not technically an ICBM It reportedly appears to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead Of course this time it wasn't but according to experts that fact is much more significant than whether it was

Intercontinental or medium-range is another clear sign of how the situation is just continuing to escalate after the events of the past week, right? You know in the past few days after getting permission from the US and the United Kingdom, the Ukrainian military has used longer range American and British missiles to strike deeper into Russia. And that, of course, coming after the news that thousands of North Korean troops were entering the fray, with Putin also lowering the threshold for Russia's use of nuclear weapons.

And then yesterday, something we didn't get to talk about is Biden making the controversial move of agreeing to supply Ukraine with anti-personnel mines. And then, of course, it was less than a day before Russia tested this new missile, which, notably, was just one of nine missiles fired at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. With that attack being launched from a part of Russia several hundred miles away bordering the Caspian Sea, and Ukraine saying it shot down six missiles and the others hit without significant consequences. And all of this playing out as one recent analysis found that Russia increased its drone attacks by

44% since Trump's reelection. And that notably coming before Russia launched its biggest aerial attack in months at the beginning of the week. And so it's gonna be very interesting to see what happens from now to January 20th. Because obviously once Trump takes office, the situation changes dramatically, with many expecting the biggest moves to play out

from now till then. But of course, for now we'll have to wait to see. But then let's talk about how House Speaker Mike Johnson has now instituted a transgender bathroom ban in the US.S. House. With yesterday, the Republican leader announcing that trans individuals would not be allowed to use the restrooms at the Capitol or in the House offices that correspond to their gender identity. And Johnson saying this rule extends to all single-sex facilities in the House side of the Capitol complex, including changing rooms and locker rooms. With men going on to know that each member of Congress has a private restroom in their

office and that there are unisex bathrooms available throughout the Capitol. With them arguing, women deserve women's only spaces. And as far as why we're seeing this, it's because Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware, just became the first openly trans person ever elected to Congress. And earlier this week, while McBride was doing her orientation at the Capitol, Republican Representative Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to ban trans women from using the ladies' bathrooms in the complex. With Mace then also posting a video that trans women from using the ladies' bathrooms in the complex. With Mace then also posting a video that went viral on X where she can be seen posting a handwritten sign

that says biological over the placard for the women's bathrooms. And while Mace's bill did not mention McBride by name, she did explicitly say it's 100% because of McBride and adding that the representative elect doesn't get a say in shaping the bathroom policy. And this also is during a news conference the other day, Johnson refused to say whether he thinks McBride

is a woman or a man, and then later telling reporters, "'Let me be unequivocally clear. "'A man is a man and a woman is a woman "'and a man cannot become a woman. "'But I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity "'and so we can do and believe all those things "'at the same time.'"

And with this, Mace, for her part, has argued that this proposal is necessary to protect women, saying, "'This is about women and our right to privacy, "'our right to safety. "'I'm not going to allow biological men "'into women's private spaces. "'It's the height of hypocrisy.'"

And according to reports, those proposed restrictions quickly gained the support of other Republican women in the chamber, with many also applauding Johnson for taking action on this front. But then on the other side, you also had a lot of people furious about this decision, calling it discrimination.

Others also saying, despite the claims made by Mace and other Republicans about keeping women safe, this move will actually have the opposite effect. And this, including the likes of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly slammed the effort. 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

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An investigator? Who would that be? In order because she wants to suspect and point fingers at who she thinks is trans is disgusting. It is disgusting. And frankly, all it does is allow these Republicans to go around and bully any woman who isn't wearing a skirt because they think she might not look woman enough. What are they doing? They're doing this so that Nancy Mace can make a buck and send a text and fundraise off an email. They're not doing this to protect people. They're endangering women.

They're endangering girls of all kinds. And everybody should reject it. It's gross. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And to her point about how this rule would be enforced without massive violations of personal privacy that likely would constitute sexual harassment, that does remain a major question.

And actually when the Washington Post posed that question to the Speaker's office, it declined to elaborate. And when reporters asked Mace for specific details, she literally just said, the House Sergeant at Arms can enforce it. Now with all this, as far as how McBride has responded to everything, many have actually praised her handling of the situation,

saying that she handled the situation with grace, with her posting a statement on X saying, I'm not here to fight about bathrooms. I'm here to fight about Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them. This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn't distracted me over the last several days,

as I've remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January. Though likely this whole situation is nowhere near over with Mace thanking Johnson in a post on X and adding, we want to ban men from women's spaces in every federal building, school, public bathroom, everywhere. And already she's introduced a bathroom ban bill that would apply to buildings owned by the federal or DC governments with reports saying that the legislation appears to extend to the district's libraries, recreation centers, and potentially DC public schools. Which again, brings up the serious questions

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So go now to try it for yourself. But then we gotta talk about how one of the largest auto lenders in the country is deliberately targeting people who are struggling and then pretending to offer a compassionate solution only to then squeeze every dollar they can out of those people. Because one of those people was Jessica Patterson, a struggling mother of three. And Jessica's credit history was riddled with unpaid bills. But even people with bad credit, they need cars. So in the spring of 2017, she was sitting at a table in a CarMax location in Kansas City with $200 in her pocket.

She just moved her family out of a domestic violence shelter and her job paid her $12 an hour and things felt kind of shaky. But there was hope, right? The CarMax employee told her that Exeter Finance, one of the largest auto lenders in the country, they would loan her the full $15,000 for a no-frills 2015 Kia Rio with low mileage.

You see, Exeter specializes in subprime lending, which means that they give high interest loans to people with a history of defaulting on debt or not paying their bills. So in Jessica's case, that meant that she got a six-year loan with a 25.17% interest rate, making her monthly payment just over $402 per month, which made her car payment cost a full quarter of her take-home pay every month, which also notably is twice as much as consumer finance experts recommend. But there really weren't any other options and Jessica needed to get her kids to school, so she took that loan.

So she spent seven months struggling to make it work. She took her kids to free church dinners twice a week. She got donations from the local food bank to save on the grocery bill. Hell, you know, she even skipped Christmas gifts in order to make that car payment, but it didn't matter. All of it still wasn't enough. From January of 2018, she got a letter

from Exeter Finance saying that she had gone into default and they threatened to seize the key. And when she called them looking for a solution, the answer from Exeter came easily, right? They offered to extend her loan. The company would move two missed payments to the end of her payment schedule, adding two months to the loan. And hey, there wasn't even any extension fee. But what she didn't know is that while they may not have charged her a fee, that extension wasn't free. Over her two month reprieve, interest continued to build. And the next five payments that Jessica made, it went exclusively towards that, Meaning that she wasn't even paying down

the original loan balance at all. So while she was able, yes, to keep her car, that pause in payments added $2,000 in new interest charges, which notably according to ProPublica, Exeter did not clearly disclose. Right, ProPublica used her loan statements and they did the math. They found that over three years, Jessica had paid $17,097.

And if you remember, that was for a $15,000 car. And 80% of that money had gone to just the interest. I mean, Jessica was still left with more than 11 grand in debt. And so upon realizing just how fucked this whole situation was, Jessica's new husband advised her to just let Exeter take the car.

And that is exactly what they did. In the fall of 2021, the car was repossessed and auctioned off for $13,800. And one of the big things here is that Jessica is not alone. When Exeter customers are left with a massive bill at the end of their loan schedule, thanks to the extension process, the company will often repossess the car and send the bill to a debt collector. I mean, in one case, an Exeter customer who had taken 12 extensions over seven

years ended up paying more than $800 over the amount outlined in his initial loan contract, and the company said he still owed more than $9,000. And when he couldn't pay, Exeter repossessed his car, and to this day, a collections agency is pursuing him for thousands of dollars. Now with this, I'll say many lenders offer extensions in the case of serious emergencies, or like when the borrower loses their job, or like when the pandemic hit.

But at Exeter Finance, they hand out extensions like candy. And it really helps them with the whole, hey, we're here to help sort of branding they've got going on. But this is ProPublica reported, they've spoken to dozens of customers who said that Exeter did not tell them about the additional interest costs. And the outlet's saying that Exeter didn't provide any specific information about their extension. Specifically, they didn't

note that the borrower's next payments would first go to the interest built up from the extension delaying payment on the principal loan. Now with that, the company says, hey, they've updated those disclosures, though they didn't provide any details to ProPublica about those changes. And notices sent out this year did reportedly say that the extension would increase their interest charges, but they didn't include the actual dollar amount. Instead, they just directed the borrower to call to learn more. And this with the company claiming that when those people call, customers are clearly told that the interest will continue to accrue and they're given the true cost so that the customers can make an informed decision about the extension. But with that, ProPublica says that none of the customers they spoke to actually had that

experience. In fact, upwards of 20 of them even said they weren't given a dollar amount of what their extensions would actually cost before they agreed to them. The Republica even explicitly asked Exeter why they didn't disclose that dollar amount, to which they replied, customers who request an extension are given the option before accepting the extension to immediately speak with an agent who can provide the cost of the interest that will accrue during the extension period. Some customers choose to not be transferred to an agent to receive the explanation. But then it also doesn't just stop with disclosure issues, right? Former employees say that they were offered bonuses to keep loans out of delinquency. And one of the big ways that they did this was by offering, yes, you guessed it, extensions. With one former

employee saying, the object was for the agent to keep the customer in the car no matter what. That's the end game. Because as long as that customer stays in that car, guess what? They are getting that interest and the interest brings them more money. Now with this, it's worth noting that Exeter has denied the incentive accusation, but ProPublica found that the company has made loan delinquency a key part of its business strategy. And regulatory records show that with extensions, many customers pay the equivalent of a full loan or more only to see their car repossessed. And in many cases, Exeter makes more money on loans that do default than on ones that are paid on time. And this is ProPublica's analysis found

that nearly a quarter of Exeter loans between 2020 and 2021 ended with the borrower stopping repayment early. That's more than 65,000 loans. And with all this, it's worth noting that Exeter's brand of shady business, it is not unique. In fact, we saw the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau taking action against the country's largest subprime lender,

Santander Consumer USA, back in 2018 for similar practices. And that notably also included offering loan extensions without clearly disclosing the financial impacts. However, as of right now, the CFPB has not set its sight on Exeter, but ProPublica reports that the number of complaints about the lender to the Bureau, it has tripled over the past five years.

And this as Exeter has captured the attention of regulators in three states. In 2019, the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Delaware settled lawsuits against Exeter, alleging that the lender had violated consumer protection laws. So there, the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Delaware settled lawsuits against Exeter, alleging that the lender had violated consumer protection laws. Though there, the company says that those settlements had nothing to do with their extension practices

and contain no admission of any wrongdoing. Also the Georgia attorney general confirmed that it is investigating Exeter, though we don't have any more information about that as of right now. This notably is experts have said that Exeter's extension practice undermines the truth in lending law,

meant to eliminate financial surprises for consumers. But the consumer protection director at the Consumer Federation of America saying, "'If you can manipulate the payment schedule "'in such a way that makes the original disclosures "'meaningless, that's a huge problem.'" But hey, that is the situation. And of course, I'd love to know your thoughts,

just in general, but also if you've had a loan like this, whether it be with Exeter or not. But then finally today, I wanna end on two things. Congratulations, and I wanna talk about yesterday. First, congratulations to Denise, the latest SeatGeek prize winner who just won $500 in a weekly SeatGeek giveaway towards her choice of SeatGeek tickets.

So congratulations, Denise, I hope you love it. And for everyone else, SeatGeek and the Daily Dip are still giving away up to $1,000 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already. And it's simple, you just add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. And when $1,000 prizes are available to Daily Dip subscribers who add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary.

And when $1,000 prizes are available to Daily Dip subscribers who add code PDS Newsletter, doubling entries and winnings. So yeah, do it, it's a win-win. Then, as promised, let's talk about yesterday with a little comment commentary. Right, because there were a lot of comments and they kind of focused on two stories.

The first being about the Texas Education Board backing a controversial Bible-infused curriculum. Right, and we talked about what that would look like K to five and who was supporting it and who was against it. And in the comments, not many people were a fan. Folks saying stuff like, if you want your child to have a religious education, send them to a religious school. If you want them to read the holy book of your choosing,

read it to them. And going on to say, it's insane how those who boast about America being a free country wanna shove their religion into everything. And while most of the replies to that comment were very supportive, you also had some pushing back. People like Emdad arguing can also be said on the replies to that comment were very supportive, you also had some pushing back. People like EmDead arguing,

"'Can also be said on the contrary "'about LGBTQ plus acceptance'." And adding, "'I know I'll be flamed on this, "'but it's true and you can't deny it.'" With it being a fair share of back and forth there, some replying, "'There are few, very few examples "'that go to the level of what's being shown here "'for LGBTQ plus.'"

So that's a mighty big stretch you got going there, sir. Meanwhile, you had other top popular comments like that from Josh who said, "'I'm a Texas teacher "'and I am so wildly annoyed that my state keeps trying to put Christianity in our curriculum. I'm a Christian myself, but not all of my students are. I've taught students who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, atheist, and a couple other besides. And at no point in teaching the class did any of our faiths matter. In my mind, what matters is the content of the curriculum, and it is my job to teach it and their job to learn it. Faith is personal. It shouldn't

be my job to teach it. And another comment claiming, my wife is a Texas teacher who is in school that is piloting the Blue Bonnet curriculum this year. And saying with that, she hates it, but in her older elementary classroom, her students are smart enough to question what is in the text and she's able to guide them to some of the truth the curriculum tries to hide in its history lessons. And then going on to say the curriculum has zero room for any teacher input. No room for remediation for students who are behind. No room for enrichment for the kids who are ahead. It is 100% of the instructional minutes in the day just trying to get through the mountain of texts

that they are forcing them to cover. And others saying, as a Texan, I'm appalled that there is support for a curriculum that will intentionally make Texan children less educated. So there was that, and then, understandably, a lot of the comments were about the Lake and Riley situation. Because their murderer was just found guilty on all charges,

and he'll be in prison for the rest of his life. You know, a big thing with that story is we talked about kind of the two levels of this. There was one, the focus on the murder itself and the victim in this situation, as well as the kind of more politicized world that we saw where there was such a big focus on this person being an illegal immigrant.

So with that, we saw some top comments like, being an immigrant does not make someone a murderer. Not even being an illegal immigrant makes someone a murderer. Murder makes someone a murderer. It is absurd, this has to be clarified. And while there's a lot of support behind that comment, there are also people kind of pushing on different parts of it. People saying things like, I don't think being a part of a group automatically attributes you to do certain actions. However, illegal immigrants should not be here to commit any actions to begin

with. I say this as a legal immigrant, as well as I think the people that are focusing on the illegal immigrant part are just saying that if it wasn't so easy for illegal immigrants to come into the country, that young woman would likely still be alive. Regardless, it's a shame. We also saw a number of comments specifically talking about the politicians in this situation. Some quoting that moment yesterday,

"'As a mom, I can't stop thinking about this. "'This could have been my daughter.'" With that, Joe said, "'I wish these politicians cared about all the victims "'of school shootings as much as they do "'about this one tragic murder.'" With some co-signing that, saying things like, "'She would win an Emmy for that acting as well as seriously,

where were these people during Sandy Hook or Uvalde or any of the many other school shootings that this country has experienced. And others chiming in saying politicizing the murder of a young woman is gross, period. I know damn well that none of those politicians thought about her for a second longer than they needed to. But seemingly the mass general reaction being the comment,

"'Glad to see Lake and Riley's family get justice, "'but horrified to see the situation used as justification to use the military to round up people in our own country. Too many of my neighbors, quote, fit the description and do not deserve the harassment that is inevitably coming. You know, with all that said, whether it be reactions to those reactions or your reactions to anything we covered in today's show,

I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. Now this of course is the last show of the week, but I might be hopping live here and there over at twitch.tv slash Defranco live. So if you're not following me there yet, definitely do it. But otherwise I'm going to generally try to disconnect from the world and come right back here with a brand new Philip DeFranco show for you on Monday. I love your faces and I'll see you then.