The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.16 What Tom Cruise's Leaked Freakout EXPOSED, AOC OnlyFans Backlash, Shaming Controversy, & More

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

WATCH the latest DeFranco Does Video: https://youtu.be/N_LZs5YxyYg Shoutout to Keeps! Go to https://www.keeps.com/defranco to get 50% off your first order of hair loss treatment.  WATCH My John Green Podcast:https://youtu.be/L8SOhkpjtGA  -- WATCH Full “A Convo With” Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/ACW  LISTEN On The Podcast Platform Of Your Choice: http://LinksHole.com WATCH the ACW Clips channel!: https://youtube.com/ACWClips -- 00:00 - Tom Cruise's On Set COVID Rant 05:47 - Ex-Officer Charged In Election Fraud Attack 09:20 - Sponsor 10:11 - EMT OnlyFans Story Sparks Backlash at NY Post 14:23 - Georgia Runoff and New Stimulus Hope -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com ✭ Lemme Touch Your Hair: http://BeautifulBastard.com ✭ Paid Subscription: http://DeFrancoElite.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Tom Cruise Rant Goes Viral: https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/16/tom-cruise-rant/ Former Houston Cop Arrested: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/15/steven-hotze-texas-election-fraud-Houston-police-arrested/ EMT Speaks Out After New York Post Hit Piece: https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/16/emt-nyp/ Voting in Georgia Runoffs Underway: https://www.axios.com/georgia-senate-runoff-turnout-db6ed79e-1185-46b0-ac2f-36f8d9a4ae42.html Congress Nearing Stimulus Deal: https://roguerocket.com/2020/12/16/stimulus-checks-deal/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright Produced by: Amanda Morones Art Director: Brian Borst  Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Cory Ray, Neena Pesqueda, Brian Espinoza Production Team: Zack Taylor, Luke Manning  ———————————— #DeFranco #TomCruise #Stimulus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Hope you've had a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, otherwise it will punch you in the throat and let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today is Tom Cruise, why he has been trending

over the last 24 hours and why you have people calling him both a hero and a villain. So if you missed it, The Sun obtained audio of Tom Cruise yelling at crew members on the set of Mission Impossible 7, which is something that would normally universally be received by the public as a dick move. But the reason we're seeing such a split reaction

is because reportedly Tom Cruise was losing it on crew members for not following COVID-19 guidelines. And this audio has been verified by numerous other outlets. And for some context here, the film Mission Impossible 7 initially stopped production back in February while it was filming in Italy, then picking back up in September, and it's been filming in Italy, Norway,

and is currently in the UK. And since they resumed production back in September, the film has actually had to shut down for a week after people on set tested positive for COVID-19, according to Variety. And with all of this happening, reportedly Tom Cruise has been taking COVID-19 very seriously with the sun,

saying that he wants to ensure there are no more delays, he's been wearing a mask himself, also trying to keep a constant eye out for people breaking rules. With him also reportedly shelling out half a million pounds so that they can have this old cruise ship that cast and crew can isolate themselves on. Well, we don't know right now

exactly when this audio was taken. It was released yesterday, and apparently crews went on this ramp because two crew members were standing close together looking at a computer screen, which violates the set's social distancing practices. And if you wanna listen to the fully released audio, I'll link to it down below.

I'm gonna go through some of the highlights. The audio starts with him essentially furious because what happens on this set has a much larger ripple effect in the entire industry. We are the gold standard. You're back here in Hollywood making movies right now because they're us. Because they believe in us and what we're doing.

I'm on the phone with every studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they're looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs. You tell it to the people that are losing their own because our industry is shut down. It's not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.

That's what I sleep with every night. The future of the industry. We are not shutting this movie down. With crews multiple times in this released audio threatening to fire any and all crew that does not follow the guidelines. If I see it again, you're gone. And so are you.

So you're gonna cost him his job. And I see it on the set, you're gone. And you're gone. Right, and so following the release of this audio, on one end you had people saying, this isn't okay with the most powerful person on the set yelling at people, presumably far lower on the totem pole, being fairly hostile about the whole thing.

Which is why you had people like NPR's Ayesha Harris saying, Tom Cruise didn't need to yell like that. I understand that we are in a pandemic and the stakes both physically and professionally are high, but that outburst is not okay. You can translate the urgency of your message without going full on bail." And of course, in reference to the viral onset tirade,

Christian Bale went on around a decade ago, with Marlo Stern putting out a piece in the Daily Beast saying, stop praising Tom Cruise for berating his crew and adding, "'The Hollywood superstar and leading Scientologist was merely punching down and putting on a show.'" Also in that piece, going further in depth about Scientology and his power dynamics in it,

saying that with all the context, it just makes the whole rant look ugly and defending him in any way is unjustifiable. Also at the same time, you had many people, some of whom may not even like Cruz and also criticize his relationship with Scientology and other aspects about him, still finding this rant to be something worth admiring.

Because even though Cruz's delivery here was kind of a 17 out of 10, and a lot of the criticisms seem to be he should have had it at more of like a four or a five, what Cruz was saying and the stakes behind it was something that resonated with a lot of people, which is why you had people like the likes of NPR's Linda Holmes saying,

"'I don't like rich people yelling at people "'who are less powerful than they are, "'and I'm not wild about him in general, "'but if you're going to yell at people, "'make it about something worthwhile. Also adding, his message is effective at being both self-interested, I don't want us to shut this movie down,

and community-minded, people are counting on us. And weirdly, I think finding that balance in public messaging has been hard. Vanity Fair's Joanna Robinson saying, "'Tom Cruise is right and he should say it.'" Others adding, "'Now he just needs to come back to America "'and yell at every single anti-masker.

Others going even further saying, I wish more people in charge would react like this to people who violate protocols or not wearing masks. If only more people saw the bigger picture that Tom is highlighting here. And as far as my reaction to this, while I agree with that one quote, I do not like when people in positions of power

are berating someone in a lesser position. And I would personally try not to handle it that way. I would probably just replace someone on set. I feel like actions sometimes outweigh words. But if I told you that when I heard this audio it wasn't cathartic, I'd be lying. Or you see people completely disregarding guidelines, any safety recommendations,

then angry stuff's getting shut down. Meanwhile, 3000 people are dying in a day from this thing just in the United States. And I mean, for people in the entertainment industry specifically, they've taken a massive hit. Estimates for exactly how many people in the industry have been impacted vary with the LA Times saying that in California alone,

284,000 creative jobs were lost in this pandemic, including the likes of entertainment, digital media and art, as well as fashion. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees saying that around 120,000 Hollywood jobs held by members of their union have been lost. It's also why I have some people in the business supporting crews here saying,

"'Anyone lucky enough to be working right now "'who can't follow safety guidelines' "'is spitting in the face of all the colleagues "'who have been unemployed since March, "'had to sell their homes, "'move back in with their parents, et cetera.'" And while filming is resuming here, we've seen headline after headline

about productions being shut down. And all of it just makes everything more expensive, harder to do, insurance goes up, less people are gonna be hired on sets, there's no trust. That leads to more people being unemployed for longer times. But where I wanna end this story is I do wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts about this Tom Cruise audio and rant?

With the camps and reactions I've talked about, where do you land on this and why? And then let's talk about this Tom Cruise audio and rant. With the camps and reactions I've talked about, where do you land on this and why? And then let's talk about this story and unique journey we're gonna take together involving a former Houston police captain being arrested yesterday. Okay, so this begins back in October when that ex-cop, Mark Aguirre,

and two other unidentified people reportedly stalked a man for four days. This reportedly on the suspicion that the man that they were stalking was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in his vehicle and home. Right, and so just to pause for a second, the crazy in this story just begins with Aguirre believing that this guy was hoarding three quarters

of a million ballots. Among the other absolutely ridiculous conspiracy theories that Aguirre reportedly believed was that this man was using Hispanic children to sign these ballots. This because those children's fingerprints wouldn't appear in any database. Also believing that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

had given this man $9.37 billion for ballot harvesting. With reportedly Aguirre then reaching out to three different Texas law enforcement agencies with what I guess you would call them concerns. But notably he was rejected by all three. So then it appears that he decided to take matters into his own hands. And so early in the morning on October 19th,

this man that Aguirre had been stalking said he noticed a black SUV pull into his lane while driving, noting that the SUV almost hit him. Then a few seconds later, the SUV allegedly slammed into the back of the man's truck. When the man pulled over to check on the driver, he was greeted by the wrong end of Aguirre's gun. From there, prosecutors say that Aguirre demanded

that the man get down on the ground, and while pushing his knee into the man's back, two other unidentified co-conspirators arrived on the scene and searched the man's truck before driving away with it, with it later being found abandoned a few blocks away, but notably, no balance were ever discovered in this man's truck or home, with the Harris County District Attorney's Office

describing this man as just an innocent and ordinary air conditioner repairman. But all of that then led to yesterday with the Houston police arresting Aguirre and charging him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which notably is a second degree felony. And if convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

However, that is not where this story ends because it turns out that Aguirre was hired by the group Liberty Center for God and Country, which paid him over a quarter of a million dollars to investigate election fraud claims. And if you're unfamiliar with Liberty Center for God and Country, you might actually be familiar with them or more specifically their CEO, Steve Hotze, though you might not know him by name.

In addition to being an active GOP donor, also intensely against same-sex marriage, you might've seen him pop up in the news, like in 2017, when he was a key figure in an unsuccessful piece of legislation aimed at keeping transgender people from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. On top of that, this summer, he left a voicemail

for Governor Greg Abbott's chief of staff, telling him to allow the National Guard to shoot and kill people rioting during George Floyd protests. Otzi was also part of a group of Republicans who unsuccessfully sued to have nearly 127,000 Harris County ballots thrown out just before election day. He also tried and failed to stop Abbott

from extending early voting during the coronavirus pandemic. And there, Aguirre at the time actually provided an affidavit with that lawsuit, claiming that he was involved in an investigation into a quote, wide ranging and fraudulent ballot harvesting scheme in Harris County. Though with all of this,

Liberty Center for God and Country has not been implicated alongside Aguirre. This seemingly because among other things, Aguirre was just one of 20 investigators that they hired to look into election fraud claims in Texas. And as the attorney for Hotze claimed, Hotze did not direct or lead any of the investigations. Also, as far as who those two other co-conspirators are,

attorneys are actually still trying to figure that out. This because Aguirre has claimed that he doesn't know who they are. But yeah, that is where we are with this story. And you know, it's a completely normal thing and not representative of how dangerous things can get when people get very, very desperate and also believe lots of lies.

Yeah. And then let's talk about a story that involves OnlyFans, which has actually been the center of a lot of news this year. This time, the site popping up due to overwhelming backlash due to a New York Post story. A story with the headline, NYC medic helped make ends meet

with racy OnlyFans sidekick. And in this, they profile a 23 year old paramedic named Lauren, who said that she created an OnlyFans last year because quote, the bottom line, "'I don't get paid a lot. I'm just trying to make ends meet. With Lauren also adding, I truly don't think this has anything to do with being a paramedic.

At the end of the day, it doesn't affect how I treat people. What I do in my free time is my business. It has no effect on how I care for my patients. I know what I'm working, I'm a paramedic. I think I'm pretty good at my job. But despite Lauren saying, hey, you know, my OnlyFans account doesn't have anything to do with my job, the entire article's focus seemed to be on just that.

In fact, the authors of the piece noting what company Lauren worked for, also noting what her pay was. Then going on to say that after Lauren first spoke with the post, she deleted at least seven OnlyFans posts. Following that, on November 27th, she locked her Twitter and Instagram accounts and omitted the reference to OnlyFans

in her Twitter profile. And as of Friday, all her OnlyFans posts were deleted. When the post followed up asking why she deleted all of this Lauren reportedly told them that her company had asked to meet with her adding, "'I know my company would deem this inappropriate "'so I took it down in the hopes that I won't lose my job "'in the middle of a pandemic

"'and three weeks before Christmas.'" Now with this story, one of the first questions that I think popped in a lot of people's heads is, okay, if you were worried about getting fired specifically because of this profile piece, why would you do it? Especially for the New York Post and a piece that seemed to try to get her fired.

With the post even noting on the company's website, "'The descriptions of all jobs forbid inappropriate conduct on and off duty.'" And noting, the requirements include, "'Adheres to standards of personal ethics on and off duty, which reflect credit upon the profession.'" And actually regarding that, we later learn from Lauren herself,

in a very long post writing, "'Let me be very clear, I did not want the New York Post to run this article, much less use my name. Adding that when Dean Balsamini, one of the article's authors, first interviewed her, he did not tell me what this was about until after I disclosed most of my background.

He did not include in his article that I started crying on the phone when he finally did tell me what he was inquiring about. He did not include that he played this friendly guy reporter who just wanted to get my side of the story since you know, they were gonna run it anyway with or without my input. And the rest of the post going on to describe who she is,

how she became an EMT and essentially giving her background because she now had this spotlight cast onto her. And near the end noting, the New York Post gave me a voice. So here I am showing myself to the world. I'm here to tell you that my first responder brothers and sisters are suffering. We need your help. We've been exhausted for months, reusing months old PPE,

being refused hazard pay and watching our fellow healthcare workers die in front of our eyes and our ambulances." And so with this piece, you had a lot of people furious for a lot of different reasons. Some comparing the post coverage of Lauren to doxing, noting how in-depth they went to show where she worked and how much she made.

While also at the same time in this article, giving anonymity to a veteran paramedic who criticized her for late gas, pulling off her clothes. Some condemning the pose for pushing a slut shaming narrative instead of pushing the more factual this heroic EMT is risking her life during a pandemic and still can't afford to make ends meet story. We even saw representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

speaking out saying on Twitter, leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is medics in the United States need two jobs to survive. Also adding sex work is work. Also, as far as what's happening with Lauren, we've seen people start a GoFundMe for her since we don't know if she is going to lose her job or a source of income that she previously had

before this article. And as of recording this video, that GoFundMe has raised over $70,000. And as far as my reaction to this, not a shocker, if you've watched me for a long time, I've said it, for the longest time, sex work is work. And also, to anyone that's been turning to an OnlyFans or doing what they have to do to survive right now,

in no way feel shame. It should also not put you at risk to lose your job that is in no way connected. And if anything, the bigger concern should be that maybe people who are not comfortable doing something like this are having to turn to this because especially someone in a key, pivotal, important role, having issues meeting ends meet.

And if that continues, nothing about what we're doing is sustainable. And that's in addition to what it says about our fake bullshit morality as a culture. If you're not hurting anybody and it's not affecting your job performance, then I don't care what you do in your personal time. That's it, that's the end of the story here.

And the last thing that we'll talk about today are two political stories. The first being at the runoff elections in Georgia that will decide who controls the Senate, the Republicans or the Democrats, that is now well underway and we are seeing an absolutely massive turnout. Early voting kicked off Monday

and according to the Georgia Secretary of State's office in the first day and a half of voting, 482,000 people have already cast their ballots. Right, so that is already a third of the number we saw in the last statewide general election runoff in 2018. And as far as the breakdown thus far, it looks like 65% of the ballots cast so far were sent by mail and reportedly,

and this is a key thing here, another 900,000 have been requested, but not yet returned. And if you're in Georgia, some key things to know here, early voting will continue until January 1st. You also have until the 1st to request an absentee ballot, but big note here, that ballot must also be returned no later than January 5th at 7 p.m. And then of course, if you miss all of that,

election day is on the 5th. Yeah, that's where we are right now. And it will be interesting to see who turns out for this election, who wins, because it very much will affect greatly what happens over the next, at least two years. And essentially, and maybe it's a slight oversimplification, but I don't think so.

These elections will decide if Joe Biden can actually get most of his legislation through. Because while yes, Mitch McConnell did finally recognize Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, it's not like he's gonna magically change overnight. He's still Mitch McConnell. His favorite hobbies include killing things that Democrats want.

Though I will say, and I do this at risk of kind of like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, ing, it appears that a bipartisan stimulus bill may have a chance of passing. And while as of recording, a finalized bill has not yet been released. Top lawmakers told reporters just this morning that leadership had agreed to include another round

of stimulus checks, which is absolutely massive, especially because the bipartisan bill that has been the basis of the most recent wave of negotiations did not include more checks. A fact that they got a ton of backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. I mean, just yesterday, for example, we saw AOC sharing a statement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus

that implied that many of its members would vote against the bill if stimulus checks were not included. With her explicitly writing, "'I will not vote for a COVID package "'that does not include survival payments "'and unemployment relief for the American people.' "'It's a red line.

"'It's also common sense. "'Sick and tired of Mitch McConnell and the GOP "'playing games with people's lives for corporate handouts. "'It ends here. Meanwhile, in the Senate, we saw both Bernie Sanders and Republican Josh Hawley threatening to hold up the must pass bill to fund the government if the chamber did not agree to send out direct payments.

Hell, I mean, even President Trump pushed for the checks to be a part of the package. Now, as far as how much money the government will give directly to Americans, leaders have not yet announced an official number to the public. But while speaking to reporters this morning, Senator John Thune, the second ranking Republican in the chamber said that lawmakers were considering checks

between 600 and $700 per person and double that for family and kids. But I'm also adding that the extra $300 a week in federal joblessness aid was expected to be in the bill. And to that point, as far as what else is in the current draft, reportedly it is largely still very similar to the original bipartisan proposal, which if sure that means among other things,

it'll still allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to small businesses as well as tens of billions earmarked for education, transportation, and other essential needs. But very notably here, officials have also reportedly said that the new plan does not include two key provisions that have been floated in the original. The liability protections that prevent businesses from coronavirus related lawsuits that the GOP pushed for

and the nearly $160 billion in funding for state and local governments that the Democrats wanted. These have been some of the biggest sticking points for the two parties and seemingly because both sides would not budge, it appears that they are basically agreeing that if we can't get what we want, neither can you

and that is a compromise. But until people vote yay or nay and legislation actually passes, it's all words. But the hope is that something actually passes here because people are absolutely still suffering. And if something isn't done, I essentially think of it as like, this isn't a magic wand.

It's not gonna instantly make everything better. But as many experts and economists have noted, what we're trying to do is make a difference between someone just falling straight on their face and almost dying versus trying to slow down the plummet, add something that absorbs some of that shock so it is easier for Americans to lift themselves back up. Because what we're going through right now,

this shared trauma that has unfortunately hit the middle class and lower the hardest, will end, but it's not happening today and we still got to get to point B. But for now, we wait and see if these people will do their damn job. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. As always, thanks for being a part of my daily dive

into the news. If you're new here, definitely join the family. Hit that subscribe button. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, maybe you missed yesterday's Philip D'America show. I highly recommend that. Or if you want to watch something more personal, I have that new DeFranco Does video this week.

You can click or tap right there, or it's in the top description. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco Does video this week. You can click or tap right there or it's in the top description. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.