The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.11 Matt Rife Fights Child, Alex Jones Returns After 5-Year Ban, More Penn Harvard Scandal Fallout, &

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Click here https://www.seed.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO25 to get 25% off your 1st month’s supply of Seed’s DS-01®️ Daily Synbiotic + Free shipping! Go to https://BeautifulBastard.com for up to 90% OFF and $10 Mystery Items. –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Matt Rife Accused of Beefing With Six-Year-Old 02:43 - Alex Jones Reinstated on Twitter 05:15 - Smile Direct Club Shuts Down After Last Ditch Rescue Attempt Fails 08:12 - Sponsored by Seed 09:08 - F.D.A. Approves Sickle Cell Treatments, Including One That Uses CRISPR 10:38 - Harvard President Faces Calls after Penn President Leaves Post 14:23 - Your Thoughts on Thursday’s Show UK Greenlights World’s First Gene-Editing Treatment: https://youtu.be/o2inMNL17JY?si=n4_ui43ixiHerjyA&t=1095  ——————————   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 #MattRife #AlexJones ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards! Today we're talking about Matt Rife fighting a six-year-old. Though luckily, just with words for now. Elon Musk just reinstated Alex Jones on Twitter and everyone's got an opinion. We've got the continued fallout from that disastrous anti-Semitism hearing. The Smile Direct Club disaster has their customers doing anything but smiling. But then we actually also have some good news today. We're going to talk about all that on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news. So buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. Starting with...

Matt Rife is beefing with a six-year-old? That's the question I was asking myself this morning when I came back from my two days away from the internet. And that, for some reason, was the first headline I saw. And I was just like, why? How? Like, did Matt lose a spelling bee? But as it turns out, you know, he had the previous controversy. You know, he made a domestic violence joke in his Netflix special. A lot of the women who watched him not liking that.

And his response to the backlash was, if I offended you, here's a special needs helmet. He also then went on Jordan Peterson. But then this part ended up being connected to influencer Bunny Hedaya. Because she let her six-year-old son respond to one of Rife's jokes where he mocked girls who were into astrology. Nothing to do with the stars, man. Just because Jupiter has a ring and you don't, doesn't mean. It has more also, and you're mean to girls. With Bunny then saying,

even though she doesn't post a lot about her son, her followers know that he loves space, and a lot of people tagged her in the Matt Rife clip. So that video was actually posted to TikTok and Instagram like weeks ago. Then Bunny posted a new TikTok over the weekend. Well, she said she thought the original video was kind of this light-hearted little whatever, it's my kid being quippy, saying Matt Rife wasn't even tagged, it was stitched to Netflix. And apparently, Matt Rife did not like this video. With Bunny saying that Rife commented on posting a screenshot of the alleged comment, reading, Jupiter also has a ring. Oh, and Santa Claus isn't real. Your mom buys you presents with the money she makes on OnlyFans. Good luck. But that comment does not

appear to be there now. So the first thing she calls out is his claim that she makes money on OnlyFans. I don't even show my body. For you to assume that every single woman online makes money by showing their bodies, which like, if that's what you do, girl, do you. Like, love it. I have never made a single dollar from a man. Audience is female, female, female, female. And a little bit of the gays and nays.

You can't accept the fact that people may like women for their personalities. No, you, we know you don't have one. And in response, you have people criticizing Reif, saying things like he just digs himself deeper. What kind of man beefs with a literal child? As well as Matt Reif is behaving more like a six-year-old than an actual six-year-old. Also with this, you had some bringing up that this is not the first time he's ever gone after a child. People pointing back to a joke that he made about a birthmark Mason Ramsey had, or the viral yodeling kid. Though also, at the same time, you had some people defending Matt Rife, like if you go to his Instagram. Others calling Bunny, posting a video of her kid like

this, kind of weird. You also have others saying they don't like Bunny or Matt, saying the whole thing feels like a weird cringe fest. You got a child getting bullied, the other person saying I'm richer than you. But yeah, with all that said, what are your thoughts on this weirdness? And then Alex Jones is back on Twitter. Something that just last year seemed unthinkable. Not just for what he did to those Sandy Hook parents, but also because of Elon Musk's opinion on it. With him tweeting about Alex Jones

being banned on the platform last year saying, my firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics, or fame. And while his ex-wife called the first part of that tweet a lie,

it appears, at the very least, the second part of that tweet definitely was. Because over the weekend, he ran a poll asking, reinstate Alex Jones on this platform? And as far as his complete 180 on this? Writing, I vehemently disagree with what he said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech, or are we not?

That is what it comes down to in the end. If the people vote him back on, this will be bad for X financially, but principles matter more than money. And ultimately, the results came in, 70% in favor, and so Jones got his account back, with Musk even welcoming him back by throwing a little party, holding a spaces event with Jones, Andrew Tate, Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump's former national security advisor, Mike Flynn, and a whole slew of others. And according to Twitter's metrics, over 10 million people have listened to the conversation, though it's also hard to tell

how accurate or inflated that number is. But that said, there were a few standout moments. You had Ramaswamy forgetting to mute his mic and taking a big ol' piss. You also had Tate praising Elon. Elon is a hero, absolutely. And the risks you are taking, Elon, I don't think many people at home actually understand the gravity of the risks you are taking. Alex Jones also addressing his comments on Sandy Hook and also claiming that moving forward, I plan to be extremely careful. And that doesn't mean that I'm letting the censors dampen what I say or what I do. I just realize anything I say or do, they're going to try to twist.

And so I'm really going to try to not let Elon's gamble down or any of the people that supported me gamble down. But as far as what it's actually going to look like, you know, that remains to be seen. We'll have to wait to see how it plays out. But in the meantime, as far as reactions, of course, obviously, there are plenty of people that are happy about this move and Alex Jones' return. We also have plenty of people calling Musk a hypocritical asshole, saying that he's a coward,

that he's scared of this far-right audience, that he's a crude over the last few years. And people arguing Elon is lifting up conspiracy theorists and criminals, giving them his platform while admitting it will be bad for business. Free speech does not apply to social media and companies. Elon is choosing to ignore the terms of service he holds others to in favor of right-wing propaganda under the guise of freedom. Sandy Hook happened. Elon is a hypocrite. Alex Jones is a trash human

being. Twitter slash X is failing because of Elon. Another saying, defamation is not free speech, which is why judges in different states have come to the same conclusion. Alex Jones violated his victim's First Amendment rights and he owes them $1.5 billion. With all that said, and I want to pass the question off to you, what are your thoughts here? What's your opinion on Elon Musk bringing Alex Jones back?

And then, what the actual hell is going on with Smile Direct Club? That is what people have been shouting from their rooftops because Smile Direct Club is shutting down and its customers are pissed. And for those that don't know, the company sold teeth aligners,ers as a cheaper, faster alternative to braces. It was founded back in 2014, and the way that it would work, customers would make a mold of

their teeth using an at-home kit sent by the company, or they'd go and have their teeth scanned at a retail location. The mold of the scans would then be reviewed by orthodontists and dentists within the Smile Direct Club network, and customers would then pay around $1,800 for the aligners. And all in all, the treatment would take between four and six months to complete with online check-ins with dentists throughout. And all of this while also promising a lifetime smile guarantee in the form of free touch-ups after your treatment. So very interesting, sounds great on paper, but it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for them. But their services have been criticized for years by dental professionals. They've had to spend a lot of time and money

battling lawsuits, accusing them of false advertising and violating FDA regulations. In fact, there, earlier this year, they had to settle a lawsuit with the D.C. Attorney General's office because they had a non-disclosure provision in their return policy that the AG said blocked harmed customers from filing complaints with regulators and law enforcement. And this on top of, you know, the little thing. The company has never actually been profitable. In fact, they had $900 million in debt this September when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But then their last-ditch rescue plan failing, and now they've announced they're shutting down. So what that also means is that their lifetime smile guarantee, that's done. Any outstanding shipments, those have been canceled,

and anyone who wants to continue treatment should reach out to a local dentist. And all of this is there's currently no information about refunds. So the company is saying there will be more information to come once the bankruptcy process determines next steps and additional measures customers can take. But then also, here's the really fun thing. If you started a payment plan with the company, you are expected to finish your payments until the full amount is paid, despite the company essentially no longer existing. As you currently have people essentially donating to the we can't run a fucking business fund because there are reportedly customers who started their payment plans but haven't even received their aligners yet. One of those poor souls telling the BBC, it's not right that I'm expected to pay such a large

sum of money even though I didn't receive any treatment or merchandise from them. And beyond like the money question, many customers are mad about the lack of communication from the company. With one such broken tooth, Tina telling the BBC that she only found out that the company was shutting down from TikTok. And understand, this wasn't a unique situation. I had to find out through TikTok that I no longer can get my retainers. The teeth that I paid for and adjusted through plastic that literally hurt so much i can't keep them i've been using smile direct club to straighten my teeth they're almost all the way strained i needed an extension so i had my scan today i drove 30 minutes to the place there's no one here and i'm like oh my god that's crazy because i just seen a tic tac last night

that said smile direct club shut down overnight but i'm like that oh my God, that's crazy because I just seen a TikTok last night that said Smile Direct Club shut down overnight. But I'm like, that's not possible because I just talked to them like a couple days ago and I had an appointment today. That's not possible. It's just, you know, misinformation on TikTok. There's no one here. So I called the Smile Direct Club support line and it says, unfortunately, they have shut down. But for now, you know, we'll keep our eyes on this. We'll see if more information comes out, hopefully.

In the meantime, especially if you're someone who has experience with Smile Direct Club, I'd love to hear from you in those comments. And then, as most of you know, I found Seeds DS01 over a year ago, which has had a huge impact on my gut health this year. So thank you to the science team at Seed for developing this product

and being a fantastic partner and sponsor of the show. You know, Seeds DS01 is a two-in-one prebiotic and probiotic that combines 24 select bacterial strings and a new class of non-fermenting prebiotic compounds. With clinical and scientific studies showing it to support benefits for gastrointestinal function, gut barrier integrity, cardiovascular health, and more. And believe me, I've felt the difference firsthand. Plus, probiotics and prebiotics are a science. It's important that they're developed, manufactured, and vetted with scientific rigor and precision, and Seed is the only one I trust. With the holidays upon us and all that yummy food that Thank you. So y'all just go to seed.com slash DeFranco and use code DeFranco25 at checkout to get 25% off your first order of Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic Plus Free Shipping. And then, I can't believe it happened again, but we actually have some good news today.

The FDA just announced that they are following the UK's lead in approving gene editing therapies for sickle cell disease. The two treatments are Casgevi, which we actually just talked about last week, and Lifgenia. I'm not going to rehash the whole deep dive we did, I'll link to it. But the broad strokes is that Casgevi uses CRISPR-Cas9 to cut out bad genes and replace them with better ones. It all sounds very science fiction-y, but it actually works. And Livgenia is new-new. I mean, the UK hasn't even approved that yet. And while it also relies on gene editing, instead of using CRISPR, it uses what's called lentiviral vectors, which is really just a fancy way of saying that it uses a family of viruses that are able to insert and modify bits of DNA,

specifically chosen by scientists. And in both cases, they help the body change the shape of a patient's blood cells. That said, though, there is one main limitation. They're only approved for people above the age of 12. But still, you got the FDA excited about the possibilities. With the director of the Office of Therapeutic Products there saying, sickle cell disease is a rare, debilitating, and life-threatening blood disorder with significant unmet needs. And we're excited to advance the field, especially for individuals whose lives have been severely disrupted by the disease by approving two cell-based gene therapies today. And adding, gene therapy holds the promise of delivering more targeted and effective treatments, especially for individuals with rare diseases where the current treatment options are limited.

And again, I have to repeat this. Part of the reason this is so amazing, these are still incredibly new technologies, meaning that gene editing technology is as bad as it will ever be. With this, we are just seeing like the scratching of the surface of how meaningful life can be changed for so many people. We just need to, in the meantime, not kill ourselves in other ways and let something good fucking happen for once. Because it really looks, at least in this avenue,

that things will only get better from here. And then, y'all, the other shoe is dropping right now regarding this whole Harvard, Penn, MIT situation. Which one, if you didn't see my previous video on this, how dare you have a life outside of my videos. But two, don't worry, this is why God made my annoying ass. I'll give you a top level TLDR. And then I'll tell you the new stuff because it's big. Because there was this viral clip where they were accused of evading questions, specifically about whether calls for genocide against Jews violated their school's respective codes of conduct. With all three essentially responding that it depends on

the context and if the rhetoric amounts to a threat or bullying, and arguing with that that they have to weigh actions against protections for free speech. As we had some defending them, others going after them, calling for them to resign. And actually, over the weekend, we saw Penn's president, Elizabeth McGill, resigning, notably just one day before the school's board of trustees was set to meet. Possibly she saw the writing on the wall. And that move announced by the board's president, Scott Bott, who said McGill voluntarily tendered her resignation and added, the world should know that Liz McGill is a very good person and a talented leader who is beloved by her team. She is not the slightest bit anti-Semitic. Working with her was one of the

great pleasures of my life. And then going on to say that McGill will actually remain in the role until an interim president is appointed. And then after that, she'll still stay on as a faculty member for Penn's law school. But then interestingly, just less than an hour later, Bach also announced that he was resigning. Also with all this, it definitely needs to be noted that, you know, obviously there's a lot of attention on this situation, but McGill's resignation also comes amid mounting concerns about her leadership.

In fact, reportedly this was in her first or only brush with accusations of antisemitism. Back in October, McGill received backlash over a Palestinian literary conference that was supposed to be on the school's campus, an event that reportedly aimed to celebrate Palestinian culture,

but it was also criticized by people who claimed that some of the invitees had a history of antisemitic remarks and behavior. Though you also had others denying those claims, arguing that the people who pushed them were just trying to crack down on Palestinian speech. And ultimately, McGill allowed the event to take place, though her response actually drew backlash from both sides. But all of that taking us to her resignation, and according to the New York Times, this makes her the first university president to step down in connection with the uproars that have engulfed campuses since the Hamas attack and Israel's subsequent invasion of

Gaza. And now that there's blood in the water, it's just ramped up the pressure for the presidents of Harvard and MIT to also step down or get fired. Though notably there, MIT's president Sally Kornbluth appears to have the backing of her school's board of trustees, with having expressed their quote, full and unreserved support for her. She's also notably the only one of the three who didn't backtrack on her comments and apologize in some manner. And all this is Harvard's president, Claudine Gay. She has so far not indicated that she's going to resign. Though this also before a meeting of the board that could decide her fate. And while she too has faced a ton of calls for resignation or termination, there's also a huge group of people who have rallied to her defense,

Harvard faculty. And that in the form of a petition that urges in the strongest possible terms to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard's commitment to academic freedom. And according to Harvard student newspaper, that petition has over 650 signatures as of this morning. You know, right now you've got a lot of people paying attention to the situation for a lot of reasons. You know, some just to see what happens, but then also people wondering what kind of precedent all this sets. With some arguing that McGill's resignation, whatever we see come from this, it could undermine the rights of both students and professors while giving power to lawmakers and donors. With the likes of Keith Whittington, a professor of politics at Princeton University, telling the Washington Post that this

could have catastrophic consequences for academic freedom in the U.S. Arguing a lot of politics at Princeton University, telling the Washington Post that this could have catastrophic consequences for academic freedom in the U.S., arguing a lot of people are going to learn the lesson from this that we ought to crack down. We're just going to see universities lean further into the idea that, when there's any doubt, we ought to try to punish people for their speech. You have some saying we're already seeing that. With Axios reporting that the Board of Advisors at Penn's Wharton Business School, they actually recently proposed a sweeping policy that would discipline students or staff who, quote, engage in hate speech, whether veiled or explicit. Just yesterday, you had a Penn professor of law and philosophy writing

an op-ed in the Post encouraging the restriction of free speech to protect students and calling on university presidents to, quote, rethink the role that open expression and academic freedom play in the educational mission. And with that, we're also seeing increased pressure from lawmakers. Or you have the likes of New York's Democratic governor sending a letter to state college and university presidents this weekend vowing to take, quote, aggressive action, like pulling funding, if schools, quote, fail to clearly and unequivocally denounce anti-Semitism and calls for genocide of the Jewish people. But for now, you know, we're going to be keeping a close eye on the situation. We'll talk about new developments because this is still a developing situation. I do not think in any way we have seen the end of the fallout. What are your

thoughts on the resignation, the further calls for resignation and termination, and everything else we're seeing? And then, before we talk about yesterday, today, I got a quick little announcement for just you most dedicated at the end of today's video, and or Greg, who accidentally left the video playing. As of this morning, I am clearing out the beautiful bastard warehouse. Long story short, we started getting hit with some storage fees. I am not happy about the price. I figured if anyone's going to fuck me, it should be some faceless corporation. It should be you. So I launched the broke bastard belated birthday bash. Right now, a number of things are already selling out, but you can snag a mystery shirt,

which normally sells for $30 to $40, or just 10 hats for $8, $90 bag for $30, tie-dye fleece that was selling for $75. I'm just going to take a loss. You can get a $12. Keep going, bullet journal, normally $25. It is $3. Candles, keychains, more.

Take it. I'm taking this thing to zero, and we already got a new plan for January. Grab it while you can over at beautifulbastard.com. Link in the description. But enough of me selling you. Yesterday, today. And there, we saw a lot of back and forth regarding the Panera controversy.

People saying the most common criticism I see about the Panera story is, well, they're called charged. That should indicate the caffeine content. But honestly, they're also flavored with other ingredients. And even I thought to myself when they came out, oh, like charges and flavor shots. Not, oh, cool, I can OD on caffeine with this lemonade. And the conversation around the flavor specifically

was all over the place. Noting that Monster Energy and Red Bull have a specific chemically taste, which sets off alarm bells for them as energy drinks. But this, it just tastes like lemonade. Also, a lot of y'all were chiming in on that sentencing story, where that jerk who threw a burrito bowl at someone's face,

they now have to work in fast food. Like that was actually part of the punishment handed down by the judge. With some of the most popular comments reading, I have to say I agree with the judge's sentencing. Working in retail for many years, I've seen my fair share of customers like this woman. It's the perfect karma for entitled people being forced to spend a day providing the service they so demand. Others adding, if she gets fired, she should spend the remainder of the sentence in jail.

Also funny slash depressing enough, Get High Fructose saying, It's worth noting that the judge in the second story recognizes that the conditions faced by retail fast food workers are somewhat equal to jail time. To which Cubone responded, She may sue the court for cruel and unusual punishment after her first shift. Though I also found myself agreeing with Sagi, saying I feel bad for whoever has to work with her. And I will say, I'm very interested to see your thoughts on the updates today. Because regarding, you know, the three university presidents.

Regarding the situation it was on Thursday. You had people like Ether Imperial saying, Honestly, with regards to university president's statements, I see that as a group of intelligent people who are well aware they are dealing with someone looking for talking points to use and twist the truth to serve their narrative. Their answers are quote, safe and measured.

The kind of answers to give to someone not concerned about the truth. And even 1937 writing, I always find congressional hearings and other panels so frustrating because sometimes it's so evident that certain congresspeople are only looking to get certain phrases out of the interviewees. As I'm saying, Stephanie trapped the president into no win scenario, saying she's asking for a yes or no answer, where if they say yes, they violate the

first amendment and saying no sounds terrible. But that is where my Monday dive into the news is going to end for you today. As always, thank you for being a part of these daily dives into the news, trying to make sense of this crazy world. Also reminder, things are selling out right now. Go to beautifulbastard.com, get in on this just ridiculous sale. With that said, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.