The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.21 Wow! Explicit K-POP Video Scandal, Secret Livestream Spy Cams Discovered In Hotels, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Thursday Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it And the first thing we need to talk about today is the kpop world and it's not you know that happy fluffy news like Oh my god, BTS broke a new record on YouTube. This is more in line and actually connected to the troubling kpop news We talked about last week. Today another kpop star has found themselves in serious legal trouble and that star in question is 30 year old singer-songwriter Jong Joon Young who is best known for his part in an extremely popular Korean variety show. And his troubles began on March 11th when the South Korean broadcaster SBS revealed that Seoul police discovered that between 2015 and 2016 he illegally shared sexually explicit videos of women taken without their knowledge or consent in a group chat.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Something that he had actually been accused of doing by an ex-girlfriend back in 2016, but there she ultimately rescinded her accusations. And so what we saw was that police wouldn't officially open a separate investigation into Jong until March 14. But that brings up the question, why now? Why were police even looking into his messages? Well, actually they weren't. Jong's alleged crimes were discovered on accident by police as part of their investigation into fellow K-pop star Seungri, who we covered last week. And if you missed that, you want to catch up on that, I'll link to it down below. But all you really need to know for now is that back in 2015, Soong-ri was part of a group chat that indicated he was organizing a sex for business scheme where he would essentially offer sexual encounters

Starting point is 00:01:11 with women to help persuade potential investors. Police have been investigating that and a growing list of other crimes. There's also accusations of a lot of corruption, but also to be clear, because there has been some confusion, Jeong's sex video messages and Soong-ri's sexual bribery messages

Starting point is 00:01:23 weren't actually in the same group chat. Also, since the initial reports about this, more details have come out. Reportedly, upwards of 10 women were filmed having sex with Jeong without their knowledge or consent, and it appears that Jeong was the ringleader in this whole group chat, which has sparked an investigation into a possible spy cam porn scheme.

Starting point is 00:01:36 Other members of the chat include Seungri, as well as Lee Jeonghyun of CNBLUE, Choi Jonghoon of FT Island, and Yang Joonhyung of Highlight. Now, unlike Seungri's crimes, which sparked off massive investigations into multiple categories of crimes, this investigation reportedly won't require

Starting point is 00:01:50 a ton of resources. And that's because just a couple of days after the SBS report came out, Jong largely admitted to the crimes in an official statement he released via his music label, saying, in regards to what is being said in relation to me, I admit to all my crimes. I filmed women without their consent

Starting point is 00:02:03 and shared it in a social media chat room and while I did so I didn't feel a great sense of guilt. More than anyone else I apologize to the women who have experienced great suffering due to my actions, to the many people who must feel anger even more so than disappointment, and to the many people who made me into a public figure and cherished me. I will sincerely take part without any falsehoods in the investigations that will begin on the morning of March 14, and I will accept punishment for my actions." And in that statement, he also announced that he would be withdrawing from all programs he was meant to appear on, and seemingly retire from entertainment.

Starting point is 00:02:31 Then, the next thing we see, police request an arrest warrant. Jang and police appear before a prosecutor. Jang apologizes once again. What followed was Jang was taken into police custody, he was arrested, and he left the courthouse in handcuffs. And along with this story, I mean, the investigations into the Korean entertainment industry has put on display this kind of open secret in Korea, that many stars have gotten away with blatant crimes and with the possible help from authorities. But at least right now, for now,

Starting point is 00:02:53 it seems that South Korea plans on taking this far more seriously. President Moon Jae-in has called for a thorough investigation into allegations that police and tax officials turned a blind eye to illegal activities like the one Soong-ri was accused of doing. Also, one of the spinoffs of the investigations into Seungri

Starting point is 00:03:06 is whether or not local police took bribes to ignore the drug and sex crimes as nightclubs are accused of doing. And there, so far, you have one police officer that has been accused of accepting bribes from Seungri. And if note, the corruption investigations have even led to the arrests of other K-pop stars. Today, Choi Jong-hoon, the leader of FT Island

Starting point is 00:03:21 and a member of Jang's group chat, was arrested for attempting to bribe police back in 2016 to cover up a drunk driving incident. And all of these crimes have also had consequences for people in the industry. First off, Korean music labels have largely seen shares fall in the past two weeks, affecting people who likely weren't involved in any crime. Many of the labels like YG Entertainment, which represents Seungri, have tried to apologize that they didn't have more control over their artists. They are also among the worst hit, with their shares falling about 20% in the past month. And in addition to that, they're also facing a lawsuit by civic groups and shareholders for a quote,

Starting point is 00:03:49 "'Lack of ethics and morality.'" We've also seen women in the industry being hit with fallout from these controversies. For example, you have people like Lee Seungri, also known as Nancy from Momoland. She's actually had to change her name online to Ego Roo. And that was because of the simple and unfortunate coincidence that her post,

Starting point is 00:04:03 her name was being mixed in with negative posts against Seungri. But this situation has also highlighted something that's affected women outside of the simple and unfortunate coincidence that her post, her name, was being mixed in with negative posts against Seungri. But this situation has also highlighted something that's affected women outside of the industry as well. For years, you've had women in Korea protesting that people were filming them in secret, which is a major problem in the country. It's why last year we saw tens of thousands of women taking to the streets in Korea to protest this problem. And you know, there was even a story about this in the past 24 hours. Reportedly, four men were arrested in Korea for setting up hidden cameras in random hotel rooms and live streaming it.

Starting point is 00:04:28 According to the report, there were around 1,600 victims. They're cited around 4,000 active viewers at any given time. But for now, that is where we're gonna end this story. That's the main story. Some of the other things that we're seeing in Korea right now. And of course, I wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around this?

Starting point is 00:04:43 What does this make you feel? And then I wanted to give you guys an update around the horror story that we talked about yesterday involving Fantastic Adventures. That was a YouTube family channel that belonged to an Arizona woman by the name of Michelle Hackney. She was arrested on seven counts of child abuse, five counts of unlawful imprisonment, five counts of child neglect, and two counts of child molestation. This because she allegedly forced her seven adopted children to make YouTube sketch videos. And according to the reports on this, she was pulling kids out of school, forcing them to make these YouTube videos, punishing them if they messed up. And punished isn't even the right word because the allegations involve just straight up abuse. Allegations like she pepper sprayed the kids from head to toe, she'd lock them in closets, there's ice baths, she would touch them inappropriately. Just horrible. And we talked about her arrest and that the channel had been demonetized. But yesterday when we talked about this, we compared it to other situations where there were charges, there were accusations,

Starting point is 00:05:29 there was no conviction yet. But the update is YouTube has removed the channel. They've deleted it. When you go to the page, it says this account has been terminated for violating YouTube's community guidelines. As of right now, since you have allegations, you have charges, it's unclear what YouTube community guidelines they are saying were breached. But seemingly here, YouTube had a change of heart, or they found content that could technically violate the rules and give them justification. Personally, I will say I am happy that this channel has been removed. Given the specifics that authorities said they found when they went there, given the fact that one of Hackney's adult sons, who was arrested, said there was abuse, they just didn't know if they should report to police, and they never did. It appeared that there was a lot of validity to these abuse claims and really if you think about it,

Starting point is 00:06:08 the videos that were still on the site, it was just, it was videos of kids being abused to do those things. But yeah, there was that update. And the last thing we're gonna talk about today is a massive update regarding New Zealand. As I'm sure you remember, last Friday New Zealand suffered a horrible tragedy when 50 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch. Since the attack, we've seen people in New Zealand and out rally together to support the victims, the families. Earlier this week, we saw Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Starting point is 00:06:32 vow to never say the shooter's name. And now, six days after the shooting, she has announced a national ban on the weapons that were used in the attack. And here she is announcing it in a recent press conference. Today I'm announcing that New Zealand will ban all military-style semi-automatic weapons. We will also ban all assault rifles.

Starting point is 00:06:53 We will ban all high-capacity magazines. We will ban all parts with the ability to convert semi-automatic or any other type of firearm into a military-style semi-automatic or any other type of firearm into a military-style semi-automatic weapon. We will ban parts that cause a firearm to generate semi-automatic, automatic or close-to-automatic gunfire. In short, every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country. According to authorities, there are between 1.2 to 1.5 million guns circulating in New Zealand,

Starting point is 00:07:29 and Ardern has said the government is working on a large-scale buyback plan for citizens who have the weapons affected by the ban, saying that the plan is for the guns to be surrendered to police, eventually destroyed, and once the buyback is complete, the owners would receive fair and reasonable compensation, although she didn't really elaborate on that,

Starting point is 00:07:43 but she did estimate that the buyback plan could cost between 100 to 200 million dollars. Police Minister Stuart Nash also said that the bill would include narrow exemptions for police and defense forces, and exemptions for other quote, legitimate business uses like professional pest control, saying some guns serve legitimate purposes

Starting point is 00:07:58 in our farming communities. More specifically, the bill will reportedly make exemptions for.22 caliber semi-automatic rimfire weapons with magazines holding no more than 10 rounds and semi-automatic and pump action shotguns with non-detachable tubular magazines holding no more than five rounds. And connecting it to the previous reference, both of those guns are commonly used by farmers and hunters. And Nash also said that immediate action would be taken to prevent people from stockpiling weapons ahead of the change of the law, as well as action to encourage gun owners to surrender their weapons.

Starting point is 00:08:22 And as far as what comes next, the gun reform proposal will be introduced to parliament in the first week of April, and for it to go into effect, lawmakers will need to vote on amending the existing legislation, which is the Arms Act of 1983. According to reports, Ardern is expected to face minimal resistance in parliament,

Starting point is 00:08:36 and she even expects the law to take effect by April 11th. Also, New Zealand Governor General Patsy Reddy has also signed an order to reclassify some semi-automatic weapons as military style. So as a result of that, many people who legally own certain firearms will no longer be able to have them on their existing licensed conditions. And as far as people turning their weapons over, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said that gun drops would be set up at police stations so citizens could safely hand in guns, adding, I can't emphasize enough that in the current environment, it is important you do not take your now unlawful firearm anywhere without notifying police. It is absolutely vital that we manage the safe and organized transport of all firearms into

Starting point is 00:09:09 police custody. And as far as what happens after what Ardern calls a reasonable period for returns has passed, anyone with these specific weapons could face fines of up to $4,000 and or three years in prison. However, on that note, the draft legislation actually being proposed right now has even stiffer measures. And as far as the reaction to this, for the most part Ardern's announcement has been met with tons of support. According to local reports, almost 70,000 New Zealanders signed petitions calling for gun control reform. The decision has also been welcomed by New Zealand's Police Association, and very interestingly, the lobbying group Federated Farmers even issued a statement saying, This will not be popular among some of our members,

Starting point is 00:09:42 but after a week of intense debate and careful consideration by our elected representatives and staff, saying, Even opposition leader Simon Bridges said his national party supported the proposed changes, saying, and Christchurch last week has changed us as a nation. National has been clear since this devastating attack that we support changes to our regime and that we will work constructively with the government. We agree that the public doesn't need access to military-style semi-automatic weapons. National supports them being banned along with assault rifles. Adding, we also support the government's proposals

Starting point is 00:10:17 to limit the access to other high-powered semi-automatic weapons and ammunition. We remain committed to ensuring the safety of New Zealanders and fighting extremism in all forms National will work constructively with the government to ensure we get this right But I also do want to note that the country's Council of licensed firearms owners said in a Facebook post to members that it will consider These implications and make a statement very soon also adding that they are working incredibly hard to understand and manage this set of circumstances And also of note here is after this just horrible tragedy and the actions that we're seeing now,

Starting point is 00:10:45 where we're having a lot of people comparing and contrasting. People comparing New Zealand to what happened in Australia after the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre. There, after Australia implemented their ban, the country destroyed more than a million weapons and there were additional gun buybacks and amnesties that have been conducted since. And meanwhile, people have been pointing out

Starting point is 00:10:59 that what's happening in New Zealand stands in stark contrast to what happens in the United States. Which is why we saw people like Bernie Sanders tweeting, But meanwhile on the other side of that you had people like NRA spokesperson Dana Lash citing the Second Amendment and saying, Assault weapon words are important and certain laws come into play depending on which words are used so define this secondly the United States Isn't New Zealand while they do not have an inalienable right to bear arms and to self-defense We do you know that's where we are with this story now Those are some of the takes and I pass the question off to you What do you think about this move in New Zealand in the aftermath of this horrible tragedy there?

Starting point is 00:11:38 Let me know what you think about this story what you're feeling about this story also where where are you from? I know we have a bunch of different people in our audience from all different places, and a lot of people have different relationships with weapons. Yeah, let me know in those comments down below. And that's where we're going to end today's show. And of course, if you liked this video, hit that like button, don't deny yourself.

Starting point is 00:11:57 If you're new here, you want more of this, be sure to subscribe. Also, if you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show or this morning's Extra Morning News Deep Dive and you wanna catch up on either, you can click or tap right there to watch those. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.

Starting point is 00:12:09 You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.21 Wow! Explicit K-POP Video Scandal, Secret Livestream Spy Cams Discovered In Hotels, & More

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