The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.19 George Zimmerman Sues Buttigieg & Warren, Ninja's "Weak Mindset", Megan Thee Stallion, &

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

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What's up, you beautiful bastards? This is Sean Evans. I hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday. You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show. Let's just jump right into it. Another Wednesday, another potential PDS host that had to be fired. Ah, Sean Evans. How many jobs do you need? That said, despite the unfortunate firing that you just witnessed, if you'd like to watch my brand new podcast I did with Sean Evans, you can check it out right now over at youtube.com slash a convo with. Actually just uploaded it before this video and it was a great time. It's the second time Sean's been on.

I think it's always fun to interview the person that's usually doing the interview. And I was happy we got to catch up since he's doing Hot Ones. He's doing Hot Ones, the game show and so much more now. But with that said, onto the show, buckle up, hit that like button and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today

is this controversy, confusion, allegations, all involving a situation that some people have been referring to as Fyre Festival 2.0. And that thing, that festival, is called Lovers and Friends, which is scheduled to happen on May 9th in Los Angeles. The reported headliners include Lauryn Hill, Usher, Ludacris, Lil Jon, TLC.

Right, so kind of a nostalgic lineup, especially for R&B and hip hop fans from the 90s and 2000s. Also some of the other artists listed on the poster, you got Nelly, Sean Paul, T-Pain, Megan Thee Stallion, Ja Rule, which I think was a red flag for a lot of people. Also Lil' Kim, Trina, Mase, Twista, and more. Notably with this, we also saw Snoop Dogg promoting the show, sharing the lineup on his Instagram,

telling fans to check out the upcoming presale. And that is set to happen tomorrow, with tickets starting at $145 and a Super VIP package going up to $450. And reportedly this is being put on by Golden Voice, which is behind huge festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach. Now, when this was announced,

you saw a ton of excitement for it. People excited by the artists already planning their trip. And while you did have some artists on the lineup, like Usher and Lauryn Hill sharing posts about it, kind of confirming their involvement, there also appear to be some massive red flags as well. Many pointing out that Megan Thee Stallion was already booked for a festival in Washington, D.C.

that same day. Y'all said T-Pain set to be performing at a Miami festival on May 9th as well. Also, on the website for Dignity Health Sports Park, which is the venue for this festival, Lovers and Friends is not listed as an upcoming event. And never a good sign, you also had other artists seemingly denying that they were part

of Lovers and Friends Fest. Lil' Kim sharing the lineup on her Instagram story saying, this is so fake, I am not a part of this.'" Though she has now since deleted that. Someone on Trina's management team on Twitter appeared to say that she was never contacted by a booking agent for this and had to reach out to the festival via email.

Other artists were also commenting on posts sharing the lineup, with Mase also seeming to say that he is not part of it, writing, "'Best wishes on this show, but please take my name off this flyer.'" Twista also saying, "'Ain't no deposit hit my account for this show.'" Right, so you had a lot of people reading that that meant he was not part of it. It caused a lot of confusion online. Right you had some acts sharing the event, others denying

involvement, some just not saying anything. So all of this results into people just jumping onto calling Lovers and Friends Fest fake. Saying that it seemed too good to be true the whole time and thus the Fyre Festival comparison. But as time has gone on it does seem like some of the mix-ups have gotten sorted out. You twist to later commenting that he was locked and loaded to play the hits. With the other festival that had Megan Thee Stallion book tweeting, Meg is playing both,

private jets are a thing, but also some confusion there. That tweet has now been deleted as well. We also saw Snoop Dogg addressing the situation in a video on Instagram, specifically addressing Lil' Kim. Lil' Kim, get at me on the DM so we can get at you about this money. We was talking to some of your peoples, or we thought we was talking to some of your peoples. Get at me on the DM so we can get at you about this money. We was talking to some of your peoples, or we thought we was talking to some of your peoples.

Get at me on the DM so we can try to get you this money, see if you're with this thing or not. But as far as everybody else on the show, 100% confirmed. So I guess the main point of this story is this is all Lil' Kim's fault. No, but I think the actual main takeaway from this situation has yet to be realized. One, what is this going to do for the sales? Because it is very possible this could be an incredibly bad thing or an incredibly good thing. It could be bad because when there's a lot of confusion,

there's a lot of doubt that may result in lower ticket sales. But you also have to consider that today compared to yesterday, way more people are aware that this festival is even a thing. It's essentially free promotion, asterisk. If people were kept in the loop, they stayed up to date over the previous confusion

and then saw the resolution to the situation. That's kind of just one among a few other things, but with that said, I would love to know your thoughts around this. In general and more specifically, do you think this will help or hurt sales? And then back in the news, we have George Zimmerman. And Zimmerman, if you don't remember,

he was the man that shot and killed 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Florida back in 2012. Zimmerman was arrested, he was charged with second degree murder, and this case blew up, igniting a massive debate all over the country. Right on one side you had people saying that Martin was an unarmed black teenager

and Zimmerman had racially profiled him. On the other side of this, you had Zimmerman and others saying that it wasn't about race, arguing that Zimmerman was part of his community's neighborhood watch, that he saw someone that he thought was suspicious. And in court, Zimmerman claimed

that he acted in self-defense and he. And in court, Zimmerman claimed that he acted in self-defense and he was ultimately acquitted of all charges in 2013. And since then, we've seen a number of stories of Zimmerman popping back in the news. Things like him auctioning off the gun that he actually used to kill Trayvon Martin, among other things.

Also more recently, we talked about this back in December, he is suing Trayvon Martin's family and others for $100 million. And in fact, the reason we're talking about him again today is because of another lawsuit. He is now reportedly suing Peteayvon Martin's family and others for $100 million. And in fact, the reason we're talking about him again today is because of another lawsuit. He is now reportedly suing Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren for $265 million, claiming that they quote,

"'Defamed Zimmerman for political gain "'in misguided and malicious attempts "'to bolster their standings "'amongst African American voters, "'all at Zimmerman's expense.'" And specifically, that lawsuit, which was filed yesterday, argues that the two 2020 candidates defamed Zimmerman in tweets they posted on February 5th.

There we saw a Buttigieg tweet, "'Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today. "'How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us "'by white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear? "'Hashtag Black Lives Matter.'" Warren also tweeting that day, "'My heart goes out to Sabrina Fulton "'and Trayvon's family and friends.

"'He should still be with us today. "'We need to end gun violence and racism. "'And we need to build a world where all of our children, especially young black boys, can grow up safe and free." And so Zimmerman says that those tweets defamed him for a few reasons, arguing that those tweets falsely represented Trayvon's death as being a result of gun violence, which quote, is generally understood in the public arena to refer to the reckless and indiscriminate use of illegally owned firearms that causes the death of a random innocent victim, and saying that with Zimmerman he acted in self-defense and that he had a registered legal weapon. The lawsuit also claims that the tweets defamed Zimmerman because they implied that he acted out of racism

or white supremacy. Specifically here, saying that Buttigieg's use of white supremacy in his tweet, quote, "'Defamed Zimmerman by claiming without any basis whatsoever "'that the Hispanic minority advocate and Obama supporter "'Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin in cold blood "'due to his white supremacy.'" And he also made essentially the same argument

for Warren's use of the word racism, with a lawsuit also going on to say that Warren and Buttigieg's tweets implied that Zimmerman was directly responsible for white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, fear, and racism among other defamatory innuendos and statements as explained above. But ultimately that's where this story ends for now

because right now Buttigieg's and Warren's camps have not responded. Right now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens from here, but of course I'd love to know your thoughts around this. You see this, are you in the camp of you're disgusted by Zimmerman, or are you in the camp of you're happy

that Buttigieg and Warren are being sued, or maybe you land somewhere in the middle, why, why not? I'd love to know. And then, in news that really didn't matter, but a lot of people had a lot of feelings on it, let's talk about Tyler Ninja Blevins, in the past 24 hours, kind of in the crosshairs. This because one of the most recognized professional gamers

in the world tweeted, the phrase, it's just a game is such a weak mindset. You are okay with what happened, losing, imperfection of a craft. When you stop getting angry after losing, you've lost twice. There's always something to learn and always room for improvement.

Never settle. And following that, a number of people kind of joking about how intense this thing seemed to be. Oh, creator K tweeting, you're going to be a scary dad. Lil Nas X quote tweeting and saying, me playing Papa's Pizzeria on Cool Math. Though it also appeared that some people did have a genuine problem with it, saying that he was essentially telling young kids to keep playing until you win or you're a failure. Another creator by the name of Omrecker tweeting, I disagree completely. You don't have to be a sore slash salty loser and get

all toxic to learn from a loss. I feel strongly losing helps you get better, especially in competitive games. Anyone doing anything competitive should find value in a loss, but don't need anger to benefit." And adding, suggesting that anyone that actually manages their emotions after facing a loss is quote, losing twice, is really weak. It feels like you're stretching

to justify your own internal challenges. I don't know where this is coming from, but everyone reacts differently. But there was also obviously, I mean, you just look at the tweet, there were a number of people that supported it, or at the very least, they liked the general idea, thought that he could have worded it better.

As far as my opinion on this, I don't really think it's that deep. I think in general that's because a number of people don't see eye to eye here regarding what anger looks like. Right, when you talk about anger and you talk about a gamer, you're probably thinking about someone destroying a keyboard or a controller. So the way that I personally take it, right,

he's obviously talking about it's just a game because he is a gamer. For him, it's someone minimizing this thing that he's invested his entire life and his focus and his being into. And so he takes it incredibly serious and he uses anger to fuel him, which if you've watched me over the past decade,

that's actually a thing that I've noted several times. I feel like I am where I am today, in large part thanks to my anger. But that's because I've taken the energy, right? That negative energy. It is a powerful fuel. And I've converted it into something positive, a drive to do better, to fix mistakes, things like that. Right, so to bring it back to the world of gaming, if gaming is the thing that

you want to be your future, it's the thing you take the most serious in the world, you'd hopefully convert that energy into more practice time or researching strats rather than, I don't know, saying I fucked your mother. Of course, an old COod classic. But I also think it's important to note that what works for him is not for everyone else. To go back to that other creator, I think it is not a loss if you're not always kind of all up in your feelings when you lose. And I agree that losing is a very important part

of the process, that's where you learn the most. Right, so I guess if I can have a final thought on this otherwise kind of nothing story that blew up and turned into something. I'll try and say this in a way that's less stupid, empty, inspirational Instagram influencer person sort of thing. Embrace the losses that you have in life

and milk them for every bit of value they have. If it's anger, convert it into positive motivation. You don't make your building higher by blowing up other people's. And or knowledge. What did you do that resulted in your failure? What did others do that locked up their win? How can you advance moving forward?

And also understand you get to choose where this is applicable. If gaming's not that serious for you, doesn't need to be. If it's for something else like a sport, okay, great. Different people, different things, different motivations. Who gives a damn? That's where we're ending this story on. Hopefully it's a positive.

And then let's talk about China, where glorious leader is doing a fantastic job and there's nothing to see here. No, but what we're going to be talking about today is China, the coronavirus, and more specifically the suppression of information or just opinion. And so the story actually begins a couple of weeks ago back on February 3rd, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled China is the real sick man of Asia. And that article, which is largely about the Chinese government's response to the coronavirus outbreak begins with this. The mighty Chinese juggernaut has been humbled this week,

apparently by a species hopping bat virus. While Chinese authorities struggle to control the epidemic and restart their economy, a world that has grown accustomed to contemplating China's inexorable rise was reminded that nothing, not even Beijing's power can be taken for granted. The article then goes on to call China's initial response

less than impressive, insulting Wuhan's response by calling it secretive and self-serving, and saying that while the national government responded vigorously, its response has also been seemingly ineffective at stopping the virus. It then goes on to say that the performance to date has shaken confidence in the Chinese Communist Party at home and abroad.

Toward the end of the article, it actually says that China's power, impressive as it is, remains brittle. So rather unsurprisingly, that article did not go over very well in China. No one's ever said, hey, China seems really open to criticism. So part of the response we saw from China is that China's foreign ministry revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters. They now have five days to leave the country, and notably here, those reporters that China's kicking out didn't even write the piece. It wasn't just that they did not write it, they actually had nothing to do with that article whatsoever.

As far as the specific reasons as to why China was offended by this, I mean, a lot of it even just starts at the title, right? "'China is the real sick man of Asia.'" Right in here, you had a foreign ministry spokesperson saying, "'The Chinese people do not welcome media "'that publish racist statements "'and maliciously attacks China.'"

Which I should note, because I wasn't even aware of this until I started doing this story, "'Sick man of Asia' Asia actually carries a lot of historical meaning in China. It was used back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe internal conflict within the Chinese government. That led to a weakened government and because of that, China was then forced to sign a number of unequal treaties

with Imperial powers such as Japan. And so the communist party is arguing that the headline hearkens back to that. And to kind of drive the point home on just how hated this phrase is in China, there's actually this Bruce Lee movie called Fist of Fury. It talks a lot about Japanese imperialism in China. And in one scene, Bruce Lee actually smashes and rips up a sign carrying the phrase sick man of Asia. Also, regarding the racism note, it's not just the government hitting on this. You also had a number of Chinese people doubling down on these claims of racism. Those people saying that

the term sick man also makes them sound disease-ridden and unclean. I mean, just looking at the comments under the article on the Wall Street Journal, if people saying things like this article will further encourage racism and discriminatory behavior towards all Chinese and possibly all East Asians in the United States or outside the country. Another saying, content is not necessarily all wrong, but definitely a bit salty, but I get it. However, I must say that the title is quite misleading, if not utterly offensive. Now, following all of this, we've seen William Lewis, the Wall Street Journal's publisher, releasing a statement with Lewis saying, we are deeply disappointed with today's announcement from China's Ministry of

Foreign Affairs to expel three Wall Street Journal news reporters. This opinion piece was published independently from the Wall Street Journal newsroom and none of the journalists being expelled had any involvement with it. Lewis then continuing by saying that the journal enforces a complete separation between its news and opinion department, and noting that the opinion department regularly publishes pieces that people both agree and disagree with, but also adding, however, this has clearly caused upset and concern

amongst Chinese people, which we regret. With Liu is then finishing up by asking China's foreign ministry to reinstate visas for those three reporters. Also, Walter Russell Mead, the columnist who wrote the article said on his Twitter, a word to my new Chinese followers, at American newspapers writers typically do not write or approve the headlines. Argue with the writer about the article said on his Twitter, "'A word to my new Chinese followers. "'At American newspapers, writers typically do not write

"'or approve the headlines. "'Argue with the writer about the article content "'with the editors about the headlines.'" Also, it should be noted that there's another part to this story that I wanna touch on. It's kind of connected, kind of not. Yesterday, we saw the US State Department label five major Chinese state-run media outlets

as government operatives. Those five outlets being Xinhua, CGTN, China Radio, China Daily, and The People's Daily. And while speaking with reporters, an unnamed State Department official told them, quote, "'There is no dispute that all five of these entities "'are part of the Chinese Party "'State Propaganda News apparatus,

"'and they take their orders directly from the top. "'We all know these guys have been State-controlled forever, "'but that control has gotten stronger over time, "'and it's far more aggressive. "'And so now employees of those agencies "'will be required by the State Department "'to register as consular staff.'" Though, the United States noted

that it will not curtail their reporting activities. Now ultimately, that's where we are right now. As far as what happens next, right, will those three be reinstated? I could be wrong, but I personally doubt it. I think China is kind of maybe happy that they have a reason to kick those three out. Notably, as the Wall Street Journal itself pointed out,

all three have reported on the Chinese Communist Party's mass surveillance and detention of Uighur Muslims. Right, so they were likely already not fans. I mean, hell, back in 2018, a BuzzFeed reporter had her visa revoked after publishing a number of stories on the Uighur Muslims in internment camps. Yeah, ultimately that's where we are right now.

I mean, to me, this largely appears like a piece that is critical of the Chinese government being undone by its title, which it turns out is offensive to Chinese people, which I believe the Chinese government was more than happy to grab onto, to do things that otherwise they may not have been able to do. Especially since the actual content in the article is more about Beijing being weak, right? Questioning their power, questioning

their actions regarding the coronavirus. Somehow that results in the expulsion of three reporters not connected to that article, but connected to articles about weaker Muslims. But yeah, that's where I'll leave that one today. And of course, a past question off to you. What are your thoughts there? And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, if you liked this video, hit that like button. If you're new here, subscribe. Also, if you're looking for more to watch,

you can check out that brand new podcast I did with Sean Evans, or maybe you just missed the last Philip DeFranco show, you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch either of those right now. 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. I hope you liked this video. Subscribe if you like it.