The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.31 Disturbing YouTube Murder Video Exposes A Growing Problem, Elmo, TikTok vs UMG, & Today's News

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Transform your style statement at  http://www.vessi.com/defranco  for their best deals of the year! Free shipping to CA, US, AU, JP, TW, KR, SGP. The New https://BeautifulBastard.com Drop is almost sold out so get your sizes ASAP! –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Man Arrested For Father’s Death After Posting Disturbing Video 02:43 - UMG to Pull Music From TikTok 04:58 - Sponsored by Vessi  05:53 - Why The Internet Is Trauma Dumping on Elmo  07:23 - Republicans Move Forward With Impeachment Articles Against Mayorkas 10:23 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Show ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #BillieEilish #Elmo ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards? It's Wednesday, you're watching the Philip DeFranco Show, and here's what's happening in the world. Universal Music Group and TikTok are having a very messy public fight that could change the future of online video creation. This wild Elmo trauma dumping situation really exposed the existential dread and despair in the world right now. House Republicans are fighting to impeach Mayorkas over the border. And this horrifying murder that had an accompanying YouTube video. It has sparked a lot of concern going into the 2024 election. We're going to talk about all of that, but let's start with this. This is one of the most horrifying stories I've seen in a while. A 32-year-old Pennsylvania man just allegedly killed and decapitated his father,

with him then making and uploading a 14-minute video, which was up for hours, where he showed his father's head and went on a rant. A rant in which he rambled about woke left mobs and illegal immigrants and what he called the traitorous Biden regime. Saying if you're a federal employee, like his father was, that you need to resign from the side of the traitors. And saying the hunting, capturing, and killing of America's federal employees will not stop until Americans' demands are met. And there's a lot more, but aside from the murder stuff, like a lot of the talking points sound like things you hear on Fox News these days. He's talking about woke and gender ideology propaganda in schools. And while you might hope that this is like some sort of prank, according to the local news outlet Levittown Now, this guy was arrested last night before 10 p.m. and they found his father's body. And other reports noting that he was arrested while in

possession of a gun at a National Guard base and is now being held without bond while charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and other charges. And while I know with this story, some people are going to respond to this going like, oh, typical MAGA, that is too simple of a way to look at this situation. This guy, the more you look into it, the more you realize just a deranged individual. Hell, at one point in a post, he says, you know, Donald Trump, if you don't fix this, you're going to spend your life in jail. I'm going to sue you.

There's a lot of religious stuff in there. Talk about him being a messiah. And at least to some degree, it exposes the fucking horrors that can happen when you have a person like this in such a polarizing environment. And in no way does that excuse the fucking monstrous thing that he did. In my eyes, this is a monster. But it highlights, one, the fucking massive mental health crisis we have in this country. And to tie it with just the crazy tensions and polarizing everything that we have in the world right now. Even former FBI director Andrew McCabe chimed in saying this is another example of the fact that the kind of overheated, deeply politicized extreme rhetoric that you hear sometimes in this country from politically elected officials and leaders actually has an impact on

these marginalized people with extremist views who might be driven to embark in acts of violence. This kind of language has an effect on the most vulnerable, most potentially dangerous part of our population. And I think it's something that most security officials are really concerned about. But ultimately that is where we are for now. We're gonna wait to see what more information comes out.

But in the meantime, like with every story today, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. And then, the future of TikTok is being dramatically threatened right now. right? Because Universal Music Group just warned that they're pulling their music off the platform. And there's no underselling how big of a deal this is. I mean, UMG's artists include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, the names just keep all these faces that you're seeing. Some of these and so many more. We're

talking about an insane amount of music. It is a third of the global market. UMG says that they're doing this for three reasons. Artist compensation, AI protections, and the safety of the app's users. Though very likely, like so many things, it comes down to that shmoney. But more specifically, they said in a letter, right, their contract with TikTok ends today. Claiming, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal. Far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth. And specifically, regarding said shmoney, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters

at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay. Saying, to give an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, claiming TikTok accounts were only about 1% of our total revenue. Personally, if I were to guess, I think YouTube's a big part of this problem for TikTok,

especially because in the last year or two, they've made major strides with music groups regarding licensing use and payouts, both for short and long form. Also, in addition to that, like regarding AI, they claim that TikTok is promoting and encouraging tools for AI music creation, saying that's akin to letting AI replace musicians. And finally, saying TikTok hasn't done enough to address the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying, and harassment on the platform, and claiming that when they asked TikTok to handle all these issues, they responded with indifference and then by intimidation by

removing some of the label's developing artists. So unless something changes after today, it appears that UMG's music won't be on the app. But for its part, TikTok has slammed UMG for their decision, accusing them of greed, saying they walked away from a platform that, quote, serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent. And adding, TikTok has been able to reach artist-first agreements with every other label and publisher. And continuing, Universal's self-serving actions are not in the best interest of artists, songwriters, and fans. And it is genuinely going to be interesting to see who blinks first here. Because there's no doubt that TikTok has so much power regarding what is popular in the music industry. And that's something that, to different degrees, parts of the music industry have embraced.

But, as a granddaddy of YouTube, I'll tell you, usually, and this is not a one-to-one situation, there's only a certain amount of time the argument, hey, we're giving you so much promotion instead of just straight-up money, that that argument can fly. You know, YouTube went through those growing pains, the lawsuits. It's part of the reason the copyright ID system and the licensing deals that we see today exist. But that said, I still don't know how this is going to end because that's not a full one-to-one comparison and TikTok's promotional value is immeasurable. But ultimately, we're going to

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and dark colorways that they offer. Plus they fit your foot like a sock. So what are you waiting for? Be kind to your feet and get a new pair of sneakers. Just go to Vessi.com slash DeFranco Thank you. numbers of trauma dumping tweets that have been sent Elmo's way over the past 36 hours. Because on Monday, the official account for Elmo, Sesame Street character, he asked the internet, Elmo's just checking in. How's everybody doing? And the internet collectively responded, not fucking good, you little red Muppet. Unleashing a torrential flood of replies, just dumping an entire generation of existential misery on a Muppet. People saying things like, every morning, I can't wait to go back to sleep. Every Monday, I cannot wait for Friday to come. Others telling Elmo, I lost my

job. I had to sell my home. Planted about health insurance premiums, electric bills, food prices. Some saying, Elmo, do you even have a mortgage? And seemingly the only person having a good time right now is Chance the Rapper, who tweeted, honestly, I'm in a really good place right now. And after all that trauma dumping, my favorite part of this is Elmo essentially responded, dang, that's wild. Anyway, hope you're well. Writing, wow, Elmo is glad he asked. Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends. Elmo loves you. And also, notably, the official Sesame Street account actually jumped in recommending mental health resources. But finally, what I want to say with this is I know that some people were

genuinely unloading, some kind of doing it for the meme. But if there is a lesson that could be learned is, yeah, yeah, check in on your friends. There are a lot of different reasons that people are stressed the fuck out of their minds right now. While there will always be stresses and pain in this world, it's not fair for us to unload it just on one person. Elmo's not the giver. Sometimes we just need to be heard, or at least it feels like we were heard from someone

around us. Because while there will always be some number of negatives in your life, the thing that makes it the worst is feeling alone with it. And somehow in an ever more connected world, we are lonelier than ever. And then in U.S. political news, let's check in on House Democrats. The sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a baseless political stunt. Political stunt. It's a complete political stunt. And a hit job.

I think another saying, and that's just shoveling the same old shit and calling it sugar. But so that is how Democrats are describing the Republican effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Because just last night, Republicans in the House Homeland Security Committee, they voted to approve two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. The first article accuses him of willful and systemic refusal to comply with immigration laws. And a bulk of those allegations there, focusing on detentions and Republicans claiming that he violated federal laws that require migrants and asylum seekers who entered the U.S. to be detained. And then the

second article of impeachment alleges that he breached public trust. And that by making false statements about the border, obstructing oversight of his department, and generally failing to enforce immigration law. And all of this makes for a totally unprecedented and massively historical effort. With all that, you have Democrats saying that these allegations are just bullshit. And that because as of right now, Republicans have actually produced zero evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, or the things you need to prove

when you're trying to impeach somebody. And so you have many, including constitutional experts, arguing that the Republicans are just trying to impeach Mayorkas over a policy dispute, whereas impeachments are meant to protect Americans from corrupt leaders who threaten democracy. That's actually something we've even heard conservative voices argue.

Republicans haven't even heard any testimony from fact witnesses or in-person testimony from Mayorkas. and they basically refuse to even give him the chance. When you had Marjorie Taylor Greene, who chairs the committee, inviting him to testify, you know, he said he had a conflict that day, he asked to reschedule, but she just ignored that and moved forward with the hearing anyway. And this is the Democrats' note that a big reason for the issues that the Republicans have flagged, they stem from the U.S. lacking adequate resources to deal with the situation at the border. One, because America truly has never had the ability to detain every migrant who enters the country illegally

until they can be deported. But even the Trump administration being forced to release some migrants that should have been detained for that reason. And all this is you have a ton of Democrats pointing out the Republicans have actually repeatedly blocked their efforts to bolster resources for border security. With representative Eric Swalwell arguing.

Any shortcomings that Mayorkas may have, frankly, are your fault. He's asking for authorities to do more, to have more border agents, to have more resources. And so his limitations are caused by you. You put them in place. You won't let them do it. And this is something that they're literally doing now because bipartisan lawmakers have been hammering out a bill to secure the border. But that effort is being blocked by the same far-right Republicans who are also trying to impeach Mayorkas for failing to improve border security. And all this is Mayorkas has literally been helping negotiate this bill to secure the border. But it's not like

this is just some liberal wish list. He's been working side by side with the Republicans who have played a major role in shaping this deal to get backing from their party. And this is you have Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that the Republican senators who back the bill are traitors to our country. And unfortunately, this appears to be like the state of things, commitment to the bit of political theater rather than actually trying to pass legislation and doing so through reality denial and gaslighting. But for now, we'll have to wait to watch if history happens. Because if the House does vote in favor of these articles, it'll be the first time in 150 years that a cabinet secretary has been impeached. And even still, it'll only be the second time it's ever happened. And then the final

section today, we're gonna do what we always do. Announcements and talking about yesterday's show. The announcement is that as of next week over at beautifulbastard.com, the new graphic tee hoodies

and crew drops will begin again. With the first three, it feels right for how I'm feeling and starting this year. Being all about wearing my feeling, which includes the yeah, no, I'm fine

hanging by a thread line. Yeah, I can't take it anymore. Puppy tee. And the more hopeful embrace change flower gear It'll be going live on Monday If you want to be the first to get it join the email list or text me at 813-213-4423 Then finally, let's talk about yesterday

There's a lot of people talking about that crazy dog napping story people sharing their experiences saying my dog was stolen from our backyard When I was about 10, it was a beautiful black Labrador We happen to be on vacation at Disneyland when it happened our house sitter said he was napping on the couch when he suddenly heard a truck revving up and peeling out of our drive. He ran to see our fence gate had been cut into and our dog gone. We lived way out in the desert too, so these guys had to have been watching for a while to be willing to drive that far for our dog, saying it was absolutely heartbreaking and these people are absolutely vile and deserve the worst. Others sharing that their dad's dog was taken from an off-the-leash dog park, saying that luckily he had one of those dog tags and was able to track the dog's location. Then also,

in addition to that, there was a lot of talk about that deep dive we did into groundwater, which I always appreciate when those stories get attention, because I know it's not like the most sexy topic, but it's very important. So we saw people like G. Wallace, too, saying, my partner works for the Department of Environmental Protection, EPA, and you have no idea how horrible our water system is here in America. She's told everyone we know that you should never drink your water unless you install an RO system with remineralization. Our water is so polluted and so nasty, but no one knows about it unless they're in the business. Meanwhile, Canman97 saying, small farmer here, I'd like to say that the argument that raising the price on water will affect grocery prices, therefore it's

bad, is such an insanely short-sighted view. Yes, it's true, but what happens when we just keep using the water up and then have none? Imagine what grocery prices will be then. We can subsidize farms below a certain acreage to help balance the monopoly that some of these farms have that give them an advantage on being able to shoulder the extra water costs. It's also a more efficient way of conserving water with money compared to using taxes.

Less steps. But that is where today's show is gonna end. And as always, remember, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.