The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.26 This Euphoria Zendaya Controversy Exposed a Big Problem, Justice Stephen Breyer Retires, & More

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

Get Honey for free today https://www.joinhoney.com/defranco Honey finds coupons with one click. Thanks to Honey for sponsoring! News You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/ivkhpFyIeZk TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - D.A.R.E. Condemns Euphoria 04:05 - Amazon Backs GOP Bill to Legalize Marijuana in Effort to Ramp Up Lobbying 06:13 - Sponsor 07:06 - Fashion Nova to Pay $4.2 Million for Allegedly Blocking Negative Reviews 09:31 - House Proposes Tech Bill as Commerce Department Warns of “Alarming” Chip Shortage 12:10 - Justice Stephen Breyer to Retire – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ D.A.R.E. Condemns Euphoria: https://roguerocket.com/2022/01/26/dare-condemns-euphoria/ Amazon Backs GOP Bill to Legalize Marijuana in Effort to Ramp Up Lobbying:  https://roguerocket.com/2022/01/26/amazon-gop-bill-legalize-marijuana/  Fashion Nova to Pay $4.2 Million for Allegedly Blocking Negative Reviews:  https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/25/22901435/ftc-fines-fashion-nova-allegedly-blocking-negative-customer-reviews https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2022/01/fashion-nova-will-pay-42-million-part-settlement-ftc-allegations House Proposes Tech Bill as Commerce Department Warns of “Alarming” Chip Shortage: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-house-leaders-set-unveil-chips-china-competition-bill-2022-01-25/ Justice Stephen Breyer to Retire: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/26/us/stephen-breyer-retirement ——————————     Executive Producer: Amanda Morones Produced by: Cory Ray  Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Ben Wheeler Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #Zendaya #Euphoria ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey all, the first thing that we're gonna talk about today is this controversy around Zendaya and the HBO show Euphoria, which it's just like, it's a perfect depiction of what my high school experience was. He said sarcastically. No, my high school experience was playing PlayStation and watching WWE in my room and talking to no one ever. Not surprising, I know.

But that said, the controversy and the situation at hand is you have people wondering, has the show gone too far? Our Euphoria second season just started a few weeks ago on HBO. It was popular in its first season, but it's now gotten even more popular, hitting a series high in ratings this week, also having insane engagement online.

But while it's experiencing all this success, at the same time, it's facing backlash and resistance from groups like Drug Abuse Resistance Education, better known as DARE, the group telling TMZ that the show glamorizes drug use. And you know, it's no secret that drug use is a heavy part of the show, particularly when it comes to Zendaya's character, Rue. And in fact, it's showing teenage characters doing things is a heavy part of the show, particularly when it comes to Zendaya's character Rue.

And in fact, it's showing teenage characters doing things like this is part of the reason why it generates so much conversation. But Dare is afraid that it could have serious consequences. Saying rather than further each parent's desire to keep their children safe from the potentially horrific consequences of drug abuse and other high risk behavior,

Euphoria chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today's world. It is unfortunate that HBO, social media, television program reviewers, and paid advertising have chosen to refer to the show as groundbreaking

rather than recognizing the potential negative consequences on school-aged children who today face unparalleled risks and mental health challenges. With Dare adding that it would be open to HBO meeting with Dare members, including high school age members of their youth advocacy board, to discuss drug depiction on Euphoria. Now regarding drug use and other dark subjects on the show, it is something that both critics and the people who make this show have spoken about a lot. The creator of the show, Sam Levinson, has been very open about how this show is connected to his own struggles with addiction when he was young.

Previously saying during the ATX television festival, The hardest thing about portraying a drug addict is there are a lot of cautionary tales. There are a lot of after-school specials. But what I really wanted to get to the core of is the pain and the shame about what you're doing and your inability to get clean despite the havoc and destruction you're wreaking around you. And even adding that those involved do need to be mindful of the fact that it is possible to glamorize drug use just by the sheer nature of it being on screen. But explaining, we have to be authentic about it. If we're pulling our punches and we're not showing the relief that drugs can bring, it starts to lose its impact. Drugs are not the solution, but they can feel like at times and that's what makes them so destructive.

You know, while critics may push back on the show for other things, they do generally praise Rue's storyline with NPR saying, "...it shows depictions which bring a warning," and adding, "...the characters are shown facing often debilitating consequences they pay for the awful decisions they make." And in fact, for her part, Zendaya, even before the season started, warned her audience, saying, "...I know I've said this before, but I do want to reiterate to everyone that Euphoria is for mature audiences. This season, maybe more so than last, is deeply emotional and deals with subject matter that can be triggering and difficult to watch. Please only watch if you feel comfortable. But still, even with that, Dara is far from the only group to caution against this show, with the Parents Television and Media Council

releasing a statement ahead of the second season warning of Euphoria's quote, imminent threat the health and well-being of children you know so with all that i mean as far as my opinion i find myself agreeing with sam levinson well the depiction of high school in general on that show is just like a bizarro world of what my experience was i don't think i'm the only one like if you go on tiktok there's just meme after meme of like what it's like to go to euphoria high when you come from somewhere else but i do agree that you need to be honest when you're showing drug depiction, right? There is relief from drugs, but it can also lead to addiction.

It can also lead to you just ruining your and the lives of others around you. Because in my opinion, if you do pull your punches, you go after school special regarding drug use, you just lose any kind of validity. Like, do you remember how much they villainized marijuana? Like just the crazy shit that they used to say that it caused and not just when I was a kid,

like even before they said crazier shit. All that did for me is by the time that I was like, okay, I'm going to try it, it made me distrust every other warning they gave about actually scary drugs. It was like, oh my God, if they're lying about marijuana, what else are they lying about? By doing that, they lost trust.

And I think that's something that translates to almost every field, including entertainment. These days it feels like trust is the rarest resource in the world. It's connected to respect. And if you don't respect your audience, you give them no reason to respect you and the stories you're telling.

But ultimately, that's the story broken down than some of my opinion. And hey, whether you agree or disagree with me, I wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Or what do you think about the depictions? What do you think about dares, complain, even though Euphoria is an R-rated show?

Really, any and all thoughts, I'd love to hear from you. you and then could Amazon be the reason that marijuana finally gets legalized nationally That is what an increasing number of people are wondering due to the company's most recent efforts and updates We're starting to see right this past summer the incredibly influential e-commerce giant came out in favor of legalizing weed Amazon arguing the move would remove hiring barriers which disproportionately impact people of color and in turn could increase the company's application pool and boost employee retention. And since that announcement, Amazon's been ramping up its efforts to lobby for democratic legislation in support of its goal.

But the reason we're talking about this now is the company just endorsed a Republican marijuana bill for the first time ever. The legislation called the States Reform Act was authorized by Representative Nancy Mace and would remove cannabis as a schedule one substance, allow states to create their own laws, impose an excise tax, and regulate the drug

in a similar fashion to alcohol. And while Mace's bill is fundamentally very similar to others put forth by Democrats, by proposing it herself, the Republican hopes to rally other members of her party around the idea that legalization is pro-business, pro-states rights, and anti-big government. And in fact, the measure has already received support

from the highly influential conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which is funded by the Koch brothers, some of the biggest donors for Republican issues. With all this, Mace and Amazon have painted the company's endorsement as a game changer for garnering more support, both from other large corporations and politicians on both sides of the aisle.

With Mace specifically telling reporters that she believes that Amazon's decision will push other companies to do the same. And if more corporations like Amazon back this effort, Republicans might be more persuaded to jump on board. And that's something that Amazon's vice president of public policy hit on during an interview with the Washington Post, where he said the company was,

"'Particularly excited by Congresswoman Mace's bill, "'saying that it shows that there's bipartisan support "'for this issue.' With him also emphasizing as part of its decision "'to back her bill, Amazon will use its powerful influence "'in Washington to try and drum up bipartisan support.' And adding, "'We are talking to members of both parties, "'including Republicans, about why we think

"'this is the right thing to do, "'especially from the standpoint of a major employer "'and what this means for our business and our employees and broadening the employee base. And ultimately with this story, and it's not going to be a shocker given what I said in the Euphoria story with my marijuana tangent, I think this could be fantastic. I don't care if it's a Republican, a Democrat, a fucking alien from space putting forth a bill. I think this could be a game changer and it's something that's needed. The fact that marijuana is the same scheduled drug as heroin is the dumbest fucking shit ever. You've just got labels and laws based on something

that really has no footing in reality or rational thought. Hey, that's the situation with the updates now, and we'll have to wait to see what happens next. But from that, I want to take a second to thank the sponsor of today's show, Honey. If you've ever been shopping online, you can't quite find a coupon code that works. I mean, coupon codes seem great in theory,

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All you gotta do is go to joinhoney.com slash Defranco. That is joinhoney.com slash Defranco and start saving on your online shopping today. And then, have you ever been shopping online or you're on a website, you're scrolling through the reviews and you're thinking to yourself, this seems a little bit too good to be true.

I'm only seeing good reviews. I wonder if they're fake or they're only including the good ones. Maybe they're suppressing the bad ones. Well, if you're a company that's doing that, or hey, for legal reasons, let's say, you are being perceived as having done that, you should be worried

because of what we just saw go down with Fashion Nova and the FTC. For those unfamiliar, Fashion Nova, a very big clothing brand, you might recognize some of its big celebrity partnerships. Cardi B had a selection with them, reportedly did a million dollars in a single day. Meg Thee Stallion has her own Fashion Nova line as well.

In 2018, it was reportedly the most Googled fashion brand. But the reason they're in the news today is that the Federal Trade Commission, right, the FTC, released a statement yesterday saying that Fashion Nova is paying a $4.2 million fine to settle allegations that it blocked negative reviews. And on top of being required to pay the hefty fine, the FTC said that the company will also be prohibited

from suppressing customer reviews of its products. But the FTC saying that Fashion Nova misrepresented that the product reviews on its website reflected the views of all purchasers who submitted reviews, when in fact it suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five. And noting the case is the FTC's first involving a company's efforts

to conceal negative customer reviews. The FTC claiming that Fashion Nova used a third party interface to automatically post four and five star reviews on the website and hold lesser reviews for the company's approval. But reportedly not just for approval, for roughly four years,

Fashion Nova allegedly never approved or posted hundreds of thousands of those bad reviews. So with this, you had the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection releasing a statement saying, "'Deceptive review practices cheat consumers undercut "'honest businesses and pollute online commerce. "'Fashion Nova is being held accountable for these practices

"'and other firms should take note.'" But like we've seen with a lot of other big settlements, Fashion Nova here is denying any wrongdoing. With a spokesperson telling The Verge that the allegations against Fashion Nova are inaccurate and deceptive, and adding that the company immediately and voluntarily addressed the website review issues when it became aware of them in 2019, and adding Fashion Nova is highly confident that it would have won in court and only agreed to settle the case to avoid the distraction and legal fees that it would incur in litigation. Which, I mean, it's up to you whether you want to take that at face value or look at it skeptically. If I was running a business, it wouldn't be worth $4.2 million to me to not show, hey, look, this was a negative review that I approved.

That seems easy. It also makes you wonder, you know, are they worried that something else is gonna be found? Yeah, I guess the main point of this story is if you have feelings about a purchase you made through Fashion Nova, whether good or bad, they should show up now. Also a story that people should be aware of,

whether you're a consumer or an e-commerce platform. Be careful. Whether it be a company or a person, people don't like being lied to by them. They don't like feeling manipulated by them. And now that we've seen this massive fine, they might point some people your way. And then have you been trying to buy like a car,

a medical device, maybe even just a PS5 and it feels like this is a nightmare, right? It feels like there's no, or very limited inventory. Like it's just not in stock. The prices are astronomical. Well, a lot of that is connected to this incredibly serious computer chip shortage. And it doesn't appear like the problem's

gonna get fixed anytime soon. The US Commerce Department just published a new report emphasizing the severity of this chip shortage, which is for some manufacturers that rely on semiconductors to either slow or suspend production. That has resulted in dented economic growth in the US and skyrocketing prices for products that rely on the chips, which in turn has contributed to the historic levels

of inflation we're seeing now. For example, one of the big factors that helped drive inflation, no pun, actually yes, pun intended, to a 40 year high at the end of last year was surging car prices. With the price of a used car growing by 37% just in 2021 alone. But the automotive industry is far from the only one

that's been seriously impacted. In fact, the New Commerce Department report specifically draws from 150 responses from nearly every major semiconductor producer and from companies in multiple consuming industries. And it paints a grim picture with the agency finding that those producers median ship inventory levels have absolutely nosedive from around 40 days supply in 2019

to less than a five day supply in 2021. And so as a result, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that any disruptions to productions could entirely destabilize supply chain. Saying a COVID outbreak, a storm, a natural disaster, political instability, problem with equipment, really anything that disrupts a chip making facility

anywhere in the world, we will feel the ramifications here in the United States of America. A COVID outbreak in Malaysia has the potential to shut down a manufacturing facility in America, right? Everything's connected. But arguably one of the most significant takeaways from this report is what's causing these shortages with the agency finding that it's not just pandemic

related supply chain disruptions that have caused chip shortages and skyrocketing prices over the last two years. Increased demand has also played a massive role. In fact, according to the report, demand for semiconductors increased 17% from just 2019 to 2021, but that spike was not met with an equal increase in supply.

And so as far as what can be done to address this issue, we have officials in the Biden administration urging Congress to pass the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a bill that would provide $250 billion to boost scientific research and manufacturing, increase competitiveness against China, and provide $52 billion in emergency subsidies to support ship producers.

But notably here, that bill's actually been held up by the House, not the Senate. I know it feels like bizarro world, is it opposite day? And so the issue is that this measure is stalled in the House because Democrats there wanted to include broader goals that include climate change and economic inequality. But now possibly in response to this new report

and Raimondo's demands, just yesterday we saw the House introducing its own version of the legislation. But notably because it's a new version of the legislation, right, if the House does approve it, it doesn't go straight to Biden, then it has to go to the Senate, the thing has to become the same thing. But hey, there is a possibility

that Congress will do a thing. And honestly, that feels like as positive as we can get on this story right now. And then it's now been widely reported that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is stepping down. Now whether Breyer is making this position because he got bullied by progressives and Gen Z to step down from a Supreme Court position,

or he just doesn't personally want a repeat of the RBG situation, right? A liberal justice passing away during a Republican presidency in Senate. We don't know. But the biggest thing here is that this move will give President Biden his first and possibly only opportunity

to appoint a justice to the high court. Now, notably here, because Breyer is a liberal justice, the appointment of a new judge will not change the court's six to three conservative majority. But as places like Axios have noted, it will mark one of the longest lasting pieces of Biden's legacy and could energize Democrats ahead of the midterms.

Right, and the timing is key here. Democrats control the Senate by very slim margins, the slimmest. But thanks to changes to Senate rules in 2013 and 2017, a nominee can be confirmed with a simple majority. Which, side note, it's wild that we can do that for a position that has just, you can be there for life and not voting rights legislation.

I mean that, okay. Let's make that make some fucking sense, please. But what this means is that all 50 Democrats would need to be on the same page, and then Vice President Harris would need to break the tie. Unless, unexpectedly, we did see Republican support for a Democratic nominee. So that means we get to play Democrats' favorite game,

Will Manchin and Cinema Fuck the Democratic Agenda Again? America's favorite game show every day here on the PDS, 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 Eastern. But in all seriousness, Democrats had a hard deadline here, the midterms. If they don't push this through now and they lose even one seat in November, they're fucked. Republicans would have the power in the Senate

making it harder, if not entirely impossible, for Biden to get his nominee approved. But as far as what happens from here, Biden's expected to formally announce Breyer's retirement tomorrow, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to confirm a replacement with all deliberate speed. And as far as who the nominee might be

and when that will be announced, right now that remains unclear. But we do know that when Biden was campaigning to be president in 2020, he did promise to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court if presented a vacancy. And so for now we wait to see if he's gonna stand by his word here

or if it's gonna be another forgiving student loan situation. Either way, we'll be here to watch the process play out. So get some popcorn, I guess. And after this, we'll make some s'mores while we slowly watch the country slip into an autocracy because 4% of Democrats in the Senate cannot get on the same page.

I'm kidding. Maybe. But ultimately that is where that story and today's show ends. Thanks for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow for another daily dose of DeFranco news.