The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.28 Why People Are Freaking Out About James Charles, Duke's Controversy, Face Tattoos & More

Episode Date: January 29, 2019

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Monday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is a story that really hits on internet-y things more and more, bleeding out into the real world. We had James Charles in the news. If you didn't see, over the weekend, popular makeup YouTuber and entrepreneur James Charles was the special guest at the opening of a Morphe store in the UK. And this was of massive note because reportedly over 8,000 fans went to Birmingham Bullring shopping center to see him on Saturday As you can see from this amazing and for me personally horrifying video all three floors of the mall were packed with people waiting for him Some reportedly had been lining up since early in the morning Extra security had to be brought to the mall to handle the crowd size

Which is why he saw them kind of hand in hand trying to act as human barriers. But the story isn't just, wow, look at how popular this popular person is. This situation had real world consequences. Because of the large crowd and street closures surrounding the mall, his appearance ended up causing a massive traffic jam in Birmingham. According to reports, the area near the mall

was in gridlock for four hours. One driver saying it took him three and a half hours to travel just under a mile, which is also why it wasn't surprising we Saw reports that shoppers just abandoned their cars overnight to avoid driving in the traffic also according to the Birmingham City Council They said they had not been notified of James Charles event at the mall and therefore did not make proper traffic plans adding how they Known about it and how many people would be attending they would have better prepared for it as far as James Charles's initial reaction To hearing about the traffic he he tweeted out, oops.

But this note of Birmingham just not being ready really hits on something I find interesting. And that is this massive divide on who is known and who is not known. Right, if you're a parent and you've ever watched YouTube with your kid, you probably know who Blippi is, who Ryan ToysReview is. Right, they just have immense, just dominating numbers.

But when you ask certain generations, they have no idea who they are. And if they look at their numbers, they might assume that they were faking them. And when we look to the situation with James Charles, we see the same situation, but kind of different. James Charles is easily one of the largest creators on the platform right now.

Just numbers that are hard to rival. And I mean that both with reach and sales. But in the midst of all this Birmingham chaos, we saw people tweeting things like, "'Who is James Charles and why has he taking over the whole of Bullring? James Charles opening the new Morphe store, having a clue who he is, but I have never seen anything like it. We had the Daily Mail putting out what to me reads as a ridiculous headline. Who to?

Virtually unknown US vlogger and his 8,000 screaming fans bring Birmingham city center to a shock standstill. My reaction to that is virtually unknown to you. Like if we just look at one point of numbers, his YouTube channel, his worst video in the past month pulled 3.5 million views, with his most successful surpassing 13 million views. And so I think this situation highlights one of those generational divides.

And what I will say is there was a moment in this situation that I really liked from James Charles. I think when you have an incredibly young creator like he is, he's 19 years old, it would be very easy to respond to people saying, who the hell is James Charles with shut up old man. There was this moment where you had James O'Brien, who was a radio personality talking on the radio, completely surprised and confused as to what transpired, who is James Charles, and James Charles actually called in and just educated him. Just let him know who and what it was all about and that was that. What a lovely moment. That is the absolute power of radio.

James Charles there, the YouTube sensation about whom I had heard precisely nothing before this morning but who is now among my closest personal friends. Yeah, ultimately that's a situation and if anything this is actually really, like the chaos of all of this has really helped James Charles even more. But I guess main point more and more we're seeing the internet bleed out into the real world because I mean the internet into the real world because I mean The internet is the real world now. Yeah, that's a story I mean, I guess the the question I want to pass off to you

Who are people you love? That your family is like who or what is the thing that you just said? I know that's the case with me for some of you Although I've seen more and more families watching together, which is actually kind of awesome But yeah also I asked this question because it's very awesome and also humbling that there are things and people out there that are just thriving and massive and I have no idea who they are. And if anything it kind of excites me because that means that there's something awesome out there still for me to find and or

something to to mock like the old old man that I am and becoming more and more every day. Then in a quickie that I really hope is fake, there is a singer or someone who self identifies as a singer by the name of Kelsey Carter in the news today. And that is because it looks like she decided to share her new face tattoo of Harry Styles, the alleged tattoo artist. And I'm saying alleged because I want this to be so fake.

I want these pictures to be the premise of one of those completely unoriginal videos at this point where it's like we fake something and the media ran with it. Right, one of those things, but the alleged tattoo artist is Romeo Lacoste. He's put tattoos on a lot of famous people Yeah, this is the part of the video I think in the past where I would I would I would make a lot of jokes But if this is real, I just genuinely feel bad for this person

I know face tattoos have become more and more accepted. But this is this is This one's uh, it, it's a special choice. Man, I hope this is fake, but I guess where I'll end this story is, here is the attention you ordered, ma'am. And then, let's talk about this controversy surrounding Duke University involving a professor and international students from China.

And so the way this story starts is an email was sent to a group of biostatistics master's students by an assistant professor and director of graduate studies at Duke. On January 25th, the professor Megan Neely sent the email titled Something to Think About. And in this email, she writes that two faculty members came to her office asking if she had pictures of a small group of students who were speaking Chinese, quote, in their words very loudly. The email reads, and this text was bold and underlined, they were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a

conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand. As far as the reason she said these faculty members asked for the students' names, it was because they wanted to write down the names so they could remember them if the students ever interviewed for an internship or asked to work on a master's project. She then continues writing,

"'To international students, please, please, please "'keep these unintended consequences in mind "'when you choose to speak Chinese in the building. "'I have no idea how hard it has been "'and still is for you to come to the US and have to learn in a non-native language. As such, I have the utmost respect for what you are doing. That being said, I encourage you to commit to using English 100% of the time when you are in HACC or any other professional setting. Also, after this email is already out there, it's being shared a bunch another email services involving the same professor. This one from February of 2018 and it has the same kind of message.

This time the subject line reads to speak English or to not speak English. Although this time it didn't mention a specific other foreign language, but in part the email read, I don't like being the language police but I have gotten these comments enough times in the past few weeks that I feel I should share them with you. The most recent report is from the chair of the department. Beyond the obvious opportunity to practice and perfect your English, speaking in your native language in the department may give faculty the impression that you are not trying to improve your English skills

and that you are not taking this opportunity seriously. And so following the release and sharing of these emails, there was outrage, there was a petition started on Saturday by a group of international students at Duke, and this urging the university to investigate what happened leading up to Professor Neely's email, including the actions of other faculty members. And as far as how much this has spread,

according to the South China Morning Post, the news of the email spread on China's Twitter-like social platform Weibo, and they said that by Sunday, the hashtag Duke University banned speaking Chinese had been viewed more than 6.7 million times. And obviously this wasn't limited to just Weibo. If you look to Twitter, you have people calling this discriminatory and utterly shameful.

People saying this looks like threatening your students' job prospects because they won't speak English. But also at the same time you had others coming to Neely's defense saying her email was well-intentioned. According to the BBC, three of Neely's students who asked to not be named expressed support for her. One Chinese student saying Dr. Neely is a great instructor and definitely not a racist, not even close. Another Chinese student saying Neely was always willing to help students of all nationalities. But also adding that they hoped the university would investigate the two unnamed faculty members mentioned in her email instead He also had a third student of Asian descent saying Megan is truly the best instructor and mentor I ever had She made a mistake with her email

But we still know what was her intention and how much she cares about us when some people talk loudly in foreign language other people In the lounge are definitely disturbed and adding some of my Chinese friends also told me they are worried that if they support Megan in the public, they might be regarded as people who betrayed their country by other Chinese students in the United States. And as far as a further response from the school, on Sunday following complaints from students, the Dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, Mary E. Klotman, issued a letter

to the biostatistics students on the school's website where she addresses the email, saying, "'I understand that many of you felt hurt "'and angered by this message. "'To be clear, there is absolutely no restriction "'or limitation on the language you use "'to converse and communicate with each other. "'Your career opportunities and recommendations

"'will not in any way be influenced "'by the language you use outside the classroom.'" And also adding that she had asked the university's Office of Institutional Equity to conduct a thorough review of the Master's Biostatistics program and for them to recommend ways to improve the learning environment

for students from all backgrounds. Also following the letter, Professor Neely herself issued a follow-up email to students where she apologized. The email which was signed by both Megan Neely and Elizabeth DeLong, who is the department chair, read, I deeply regret the hurt my email has caused. It was not my intention. Moving forward, it is my sincerest wish that every student in the Master of Biostatistics program is successful in all of their endeavors. Also in addition to this, a spokesperson for Duke University said that Professor Neely has to step down from her role as an advisor to students,

but she will continue to serve as an assistant professor of biostatistics at the school. And so with this story, I really wanted to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts? Do you feel like the professor who sent these emails was in the wrong, or no, she was actually looking out for the students?

Are people arguing that she has students defending her? If anything, she was trying to warn her students about other faculty. But also on the other side, you had people finding her still in the wrong for sending out this email rather than reporting it. And since this show allows us to bring in a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds,

I wanted to know what you thought. Then, in fantastic news for pretty much everyone except the people on my team who had been working on a story about the government shutdown and air traffic controllers. The government shutdown, which had reached 35 days, is over. President Trump announced that he agreed to sign a bill temporarily reopening the government, which if you aren't up to speed,

I mean, this was the longest shutdown in US history. And specifically here, we saw President Trump and the Democrats not agreeing on funding for the border wall. We had seen Donald Trump wanting $5.7 billion to build a physical barrier, threatening to veto anything that came his way that did not have it. All the while, 800,000 federal workers had gone unpaid

and various federal agencies had to stop or slow operations. And if you didn't see our video where we spoke to some of the people and the families affected, I mean, one, this was affecting them massively, and two, it has long lasting effects. But main point, it was signed, everything goes back to normal and not really. Unfortunately this bill was just a temporary fix,

funding government agencies only until February 15th. And you might ask, well if you're going to fund the government, why would you only fund it for three weeks? Well, President Trump has been under immense pressure, both from the public and from Democrats and Republicans alike to reopen the government first and negotiate for the wall afterward. Although that's not to say everyone,

I mean, you had outspoken conservatives like Ann Coulter and Tommy Lahren definitely letting their displeasure be known. But I mean, the pressure really can't be understated. It mounted as federal employees missed their second paycheck in a row. Federal agencies had come to a standstill. Regarding the air traffic controllers

I briefly mentioned at the beginning, I mean, they started calling in sick, we started seeing flight delays, it wasn't just a security issue with TSA anymore. But also I've noticed during Trump's announcement, he addressed those employees directly, stating, I want to thank all of the incredible federal workers and their amazing families who have shown such extraordinary devotion in the face of this recent hardship. You are fantastic people. You are incredible patriots. Many of you have suffered far greater than anyone

but your families would know or understand. And not only did you not complain, but in many cases, you encouraged me to keep going because you care so much about our country and about its border security. I will make sure that all employees receive their back pay very quickly or as soon as possible. But once again, for the other side of that, I definitely, if you haven't seen it yet,

I recommend watching the interviews with the people and families affected. But, of course, the big question with this situation is, well, what happens within the next three weeks? Well, I mean we saw Donald Trump talking about putting partisanship aside, people working together, but I really see no future where the Democrats agree to funding the wall. Because we still very much have the same situation. Donald Trump wants the funding for the wall.

And Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked last Friday if she would still object to funding the wall, she said, "'Have I not been clear funding the wall, she said, Have I not been clear on the wall? I've been very clear. And so as far as what happens when those three weeks are up, there is still no deal. Donald Trump also commented on that in his announcement. If we don't get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15th again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency." And throughout this shutdown this is something that we've heard Trump repeatedly making the

case that this is a national crisis at the border and specifically one that may require him to use presidential emergency powers to build the wall. And on this note we saw senators like Lindsey Graham tweet if White House and Congress fail to reach a deal then President Donald Trump must act through Emergency powers to build wall slash barrier on the other hand you had others such as Senator Marco Rubio calling use of emergency powers a Quote terrible idea stating Sunday that it's just not a good precedent to set in terms of action It doesn't mean that I don't want border security I do I just think that's the wrong way to achieve it. Others such as Representative Adam Smith of Washington

questioning the legality of using emergency powers, stating, I think the president would be wide open to a court challenge saying, where's the emergency? However, Elizabeth Goitin of the Brennan Center for Justice asserts that, quote, there aren't a lot of legal limits on his ability to do that, frankly, even if there isn't a real emergency happening.

So ultimately, that's where we are. In my opinion, it's kind of just the long wait for Donald there isn't a real emergency happening. So ultimately that's where we are, in my opinion, it's kind of just the long wait for Donald Trump to declare a national emergency. The Democrats seem locked, we've seen some movement from Senate Republicans, but nowhere near enough. And looking at the quotes from the Democrats, it feels like they think they have somewhat of at least

the public perception advantage right now. I mean, when you looked at polls, you saw people in general blaming Donald Trump more than the Democrats for the shutdown, which is most likely why you had Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi feeling confident in their statements about not giving in Schumer saying the president thought he could crack Democrats and he didn't and I hope it's a lesson for him Pelosi saying our unity is our power and that is what maybe the president underestimated And as far as any of the conservative criticism against Trump I mentioned Tommy Lahren saying I'm happy federal workers will be paid but Donald Trump just allowed Nancy to walk all over him

It's President Trump not President Pelosi act like it hashtag build the wall and Ann Coulter going right for the throat saying good news For George Herbert Walker Bush as of today He is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as president of the United States We saw Donald Trump tweet. I wish people would read or listen to my words on the border wall This was in no way a concession It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it's off to the races." Although the situation did get to a point where President Trump even took a swipe at Fox News, tweeting,

"...never thought I'd say this, but I think John Roberts Fox and Jillian H. Turner Fox News have even less understanding of the wall negotiations than the folks at Fake News, CNN, and NBC." But ultimately that is where we are. It feels very much like a waiting game. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, if you like this video, you like these daily dives into the news, let us know. Hit that like button. Also if you're new here, hit that subscribe button. Maybe ring that bell to turn on notifications. Also if you're not 100% filled in, you can catch up on the last Philip DeFranco show, the last morning deep dive. But with that said, of course, as always, my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow. Actually two times. Bye.