The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.24 Viral Cinnamon Toast Crunch Saga Goes Very Very Wrong, Cody Ko, Liza Koshy, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to another daily episode of I'm about to ruin your day like and subscribe You couldn't just let me have one nice thing. You couldn't let me have one nice thing internet So let's start off today by talking about cinnamon toast crunch because this story has just been everywhere for about 24 hours And it went to a place I did not expect so the way the story goes you have a man by the name of Jensen Carpenter tweets out this photo which appears to clearly show Cinnamon Toast Crunch and shrimp tails that apparently he found inside the box.

Starting point is 00:00:30 With him tweeting at Cinnamon Toast Crunch saying, "'Why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? "'This is not a bit.'" This was obviously very strange, and so the company initially gave him the typical, "'We are so sorry, we will look into this reply.'" We see a little back and forth, and then the company follows up by saying,

Starting point is 00:00:43 "'After further investigation with our team that closely examined the image, it appears to be an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended. We assure you that there's no possibility of cross-contamination with shrimp.'" To which Karp responds,

Starting point is 00:00:57 "'Okay, well, after further examination with my eyes, these are cinnamon-coated shrimp tails, you weirdos. I wasn't all that mad until you now tried to gaslight me. With it appearing like they essentially want him to send the tails, but he's now kind of sketched out by them because they basically called him a liar. His other posts also show that he found a ton of other disgusting things in the box.

Starting point is 00:01:14 Also saying that his wife checked the other cereal bag in their family pack, only to learn that it was taped up. Which, side note, part of the other reason this kind of blew up is it turns out that he's married to Danielle Fischel AKA Topanga from Boy Meets World. Also, Karp now saying that he's gonna get the tails tested at a lab to get to the bottom of this. And that is where I thought this story that this morning

Starting point is 00:01:33 in my newsletter I described as the kind of stupid and weird I needed more of in my life ended, but apparently no, right? One, reportedly you have the brand denying that this could have happened at their facility. And two, we've also now seen a number of people speaking out about Karp. And when I say he's speaking out, I mean,

Starting point is 00:01:48 they're saying things that both make you question if this instance is real, but it also makes you question him as a person. Actor, writer, Rory Uphold tweeting, "'This is the most abusive person I have ever been with "'and I am crying as I type this.'" Writer Melissa Stetton tweeting, "'What you may not know about the man

Starting point is 00:02:03 "'behind the viral posts." What, like he's a manipulative, gaslighting narcissist ex-boyfriend who once told me he was surprised I hadn't killed myself because my life was so worthless? Later adding, getting lots of texts from girls still in therapy over his terror. Writer Stephanie Mickus quote tweeting that, writing,

Starting point is 00:02:17 "'Haha, my quickly deleted sub tweet yesterday said, "'Oh no, I can't follow the latest viral saga "'because I was blocked in 2014 "'because I was not gracious enough "'after a surprise threesome But not before I was told to quote be careful or I would never work in this town again Writer and actor Eliza Skinner also replying to Melissa saying you don't even have to have dated him to have paid a therapist a ton Of money because of his shit and later adding on the one hand

Starting point is 00:02:39 He is a huge liar But on the other hand getting attention for work Some other rat did is very on brand for him. As well as people like Brandon Bird who tweeted, "'Just FYI, the Shrimp Tales guy "'is both a marketing professional "'and someone who's lied to my face without flinching.'" And this is in part why I'll just, I'll never be truly happy

Starting point is 00:02:55 because the moment you look past surface level on the internet, it just always goes bad. We did reach out to Carp via email for response to all those tweets. He has not responded. But if there is a way that I can close this story, I would argue that even if the shrimp was really in that cinnamon toast,

Starting point is 00:03:12 I'm still buying Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It is an S tier cereal with S tier leftover milk. Granted, I may have that opinion because the only other cereal I had growing up was Captain Crunch, which essentially, unless you got it really soggy, was like eating tasty razor blade. Bonus scrimps or not, I'm still buying that cereal

Starting point is 00:03:30 because guess what? I don't pour bowls of cereal in the dark. I think it's a good general rule to have, whether it be your mouth or whatever, to look at the thing that's gonna go in your body before it goes in your body. Also, if you're getting riled up about any of this, it's just jokes, you dumb donkey.

Starting point is 00:03:45 I'm just trying to bring back some stupid fun in this story that was supposed to make me happy and then got horrible. I hate and love you internet. Then in business slash crypto news, we're seeing the further mainstreamification of Bitcoin. And this time, because as of this morning, Elon Musk said that people can now use Bitcoin

Starting point is 00:04:00 to buy Teslas. Though Musk, who of course is the company's CEO, said that currently only US customers can do this. With the company planning to open up Bitcoin trading capability internationally later this year. Musk also adding that Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency. Which is very big and meaningful news though,

Starting point is 00:04:18 not too shocking considering that last month they invested $1.5 billion into the cryptocurrency. You know, this is a story that stands out because they're gonna be two main ways that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general keeps going more and more mainstream. You get more and more established investment firms, established companies taking cryptocurrency seriously,

Starting point is 00:04:36 as well as newer companies that can figure out how to get the millions and millions of people who have not or cannot invest in Bitcoin into the space. People that are aware of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but it seems too complicated. People who just don't have the money. Very understandable, very relatable. How do you get them involved

Starting point is 00:04:53 so they're also not missing out on this? And that is in part why we're seeing companies like Lolly pop into the news, which one, kind of for transparency sake, but also it's kind of part of the story. I'm an investor in Lolly. News came out today that Lolly raised $5 million. And among the investors, you had the likes of Casey Neistat,

Starting point is 00:05:10 Cody Ko, Noel Miller, Serena Williams, and yes, Philip DeFranco, you know. Equally famous and impactful Serena Williams and Philip DeFranco. But you know, I actually threw my money into this. It's something that I believe in. And honestly, if you are not using Lolli right now, I highly recommend it.

Starting point is 00:05:27 Whether you're already established in the crypto space or, and especially if this is your first time dipping your toe, it can be right now or after show, go to lollifill.com, L-O-L-L-I fill.com. Sign up, install the extension, and then just live your life. Make the purchases that you would normally make and get Bitcoin rewards of up to 30%.

Starting point is 00:05:45 The average reward is 7% back. Last week, I bought a pair of Adidas, or I'm sorry, Adidas shoes. Got about $18 back because I had the Lolly extension. What's kind of funny is if I had made that purchase last year, the shoes would have essentially been free because the price of Bitcoin went up. And of course, when your rewards become available,

Starting point is 00:05:59 you can either send it to another wallet or you can just send it to your bank. In my eyes, if you don't get this, you're just losing money. Which by the way, after your first qualified purchase, we both get $10. Hopefully enough of you beautiful bastards sign up that they realize I'm one of the most valuable investors

Starting point is 00:06:14 and then they'll give me some money that I can do giveaways with in future pushes. Then let's talk about some good that stemmed from some horrible. So the horrible aspect of the story is that two elderly Asian people were brutally attacked by a man in San Francisco last Wednesday The first was 83 year old now Pham and according to a GoFundMe page for him

Starting point is 00:06:30 He was left with cuts and bruises on his head from a fall and nose fracture and potential fractures in his neck and reportedly after Attacking Pham the suspect fled and assaulted 76 year old Xiao Shen Shei who reportedly fought back with a wooden board According to authorities the attacks were unprovoked and the man responsible was detained by a security guard before he was arrested. He's also since been charged with two counts of assault, likely to produce great bodily injury, two counts of battery with serious bodily injury, and two counts of elder abuse.

Starting point is 00:06:55 As far as what happened with Shen, according to a GoFundMe page created by her grandson, she was left with two serious black eyes, one that was bleeding uncontrollably. That page saying that her wrist swelled up and she's struggling with PTSD, even afraid to leave her own home. With that campaign originally created

Starting point is 00:07:10 to cover medical expenses, therapy, and other bills. But we've also seen see that campaign get updated and reportedly the victim is improving both physically and mentally. With the page adding, she said, "'We must not submit to racism "'and we must fight to the death if necessary.'" Also adding, she stated multiple times to donate

Starting point is 00:07:25 all the funds generated in this GoFundMe back to the Asian American community to combat racism. And adding, she insists on making this decision, saying this issue is bigger than her. "'This is my grandma, grandpa, and our family's decision. We hope everyone can understand our decision.'" That is a huge selfless act because I mean, as of recording this video,

Starting point is 00:07:42 that page has raised over $946,000, which is why Xiao Shen She is our Banff of the day. I mean, that's next level selflessness. And then let's talk about potential big changes to voting. And this, because as many people learned in the last five years of voting, it turns out matters both nationally and at a super local level.

Starting point is 00:08:02 So that's why there's been so much focus on the For the People Act, which is a bill that was recently passed in the House and it aims to expand voting rights. And this bill includes things like expanding automatic voter registration and allowing same day and online registration for federal elections,

Starting point is 00:08:16 allowing pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds so once they turn 18, they're already registered and they're ready. It would also require states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting to eliminate partisan gerrymandering, requiring two weeks of early voting for federal elections,

Starting point is 00:08:30 making election day a holiday, restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions and much more. And understand this is not a story that just exists in a bubble. One of the reasons there's so much focus on this, right? Making it easier to vote, more accessible for people to vote is that according to the Brennan Center for Justice,

Starting point is 00:08:45 there are currently 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states that have already been pre-filed, introduced or carried over. Right, some of which that we've talked about on this show in recent weeks. And in addition to the fight that we're going to see over this in the Senate,

Starting point is 00:08:59 we're also seeing people speaking out. For example, yesterday we saw When We All Vote releasing a letter addressed to the American people, asking them to urge the Senate to support the legislation, with Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett leading the letter, with many celebrities signing on as well. This, including co-chairs of the organization, like Liza Koshy, Lin-Manuel Miranda,

Starting point is 00:09:17 Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks. The letter calling this the most significant piece of legislation to strengthen our democracy since the Civil Rights Movement. Also addressing those many bills that can hinder voting access and saying these barriers, particularly impact black, brown, and young people. Some of these undemocratic measures have already become law

Starting point is 00:09:33 with others surely to follow. Saying of those who want to restrict voting, they're hoping to choose their voters rather than the other way around. And in addition to saying that the Senate needs to pass the For the People Act, they added, "'If that means eliminating or instituting "'meaningful reform to the filibuster,

Starting point is 00:09:47 "'a relic of Jim Crow and an arcane chamber rule, "'increasingly abused to create gridlock "'and forestall progress, the Senate should act. "'We cannot continue to allow the will "'of the majority of Americans to be overshadowed "'by an oppositional few fixated on maintaining power.'" And ultimately, calling on people to call on their senators and organize so that the bill can be passed.

Starting point is 00:10:06 And I mean, as far as what happens next, it's in the Senate's hands. This morning you also had Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeting, instead of the Republican party trying to win back voters they lost in this election, they're trying to disenfranchise voters. Though on the other side of this,

Starting point is 00:10:17 we saw Mitch McConnell this morning saying that this is not necessary. This because he said, quote, "'States are not engaging "'in trying to suppress voters whatsoever,' claiming this is clearly an an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system, but even more immediately, it would create an implementation nightmare that would drown state and local officials who run elections. This proposal needs all the scrutiny it can get, and I'm glad we're all here to give it that scrutiny. Which, some experts have said, was his way of putting the filibuster conversation and debate back in the spotlight.

Starting point is 00:10:44 And, I mean, ultimately, as far as my opinion, I think voting needs to be as accessible as possible. Right, for example, I give my employees paid time off, but I also think that election day should be a federal holiday. There's a whole hell of a lot of people in this country with completely different availability, schedules, job situations, et cetera.

Starting point is 00:11:00 Having two weeks of early voting, I think just makes sense. I also support anything that could try and crack down on partisan gerrymanderingering because partisan gerrymandering is how you get minority rule. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican or whatever, it's disgusting. And finally, I think just kind of anything that provides ease of access and registration

Starting point is 00:11:16 and allowing one to have their voice heard via their vote. I'm in support of. You know, a lot of the voting restrictions we're seeing individual states try and push through, it's based off of a false narrative. There was this wide ranging state swinging levels of fraud everywhere. No, hey, that's a story and situation as it is now.

Starting point is 00:11:33 My opinion, and now of course, I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Then let's talk about a bunch of important international news. Starting with yesterday, we saw Israel holding its fourth election in two years, which unsurprisingly was extremely close.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Right, as I'm filming this, about 97% of the vote has been counted and they show inconclusive results. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right wing bloc, which is made up of a ton of parties, is just shy of the 61 seat majority in the legislature that it needs to make government. Netanyahu's own party also did very well,

Starting point is 00:12:02 crushing all the other parties by double digit numbers. But at the same time, it was actually a worse performance than they did last March, in the party's lowest turnout since 2015. Yet, even with that, his coalition only has 59 seats right now, while the opposition is also in striking distance of making a government.

Starting point is 00:12:16 With it all depending on how five possible scenarios play out. One, no majority government is formed, which would lead to a fifth round of elections since 2019, also leaving Netanyahu as interim prime minister. Two, the centrist party and their coalition could attempt to form a government with a center-right party that has made up of former members of Netanyahu's own party.

Starting point is 00:12:34 But that appears to be unlikely because those lawmakers vowed to never work with any government backed by Arab parties, which this coalition would have to do. Three, the breakaway party could join Netanyahu's government, but due to a long list of reasons, that's quite unlikely right now. Four, the leader of the right wing, Yamina party,

Starting point is 00:12:48 which was on the fence and only recently declared that it would join Netanyahu's block to put him at 59 seats. While unlikely, they could double cross Netanyahu, join the opposition, maybe they get a member of their party as prime minister. And lastly, number five, and this is seen as kind of the most likely scenario. Netanyahu coalition manages to convince the Ra'am party,

Starting point is 00:13:05 which is the pro-Arab party, to join its ranks. Now, at first glance, that seems unlikely, as Netanyahu and many of the parties in this coalition have been criticized as an increasingly apartheid-like government, which obviously puts them all in an awkward position working with one another. But the parties have all worked together in the past

Starting point is 00:13:20 on some legislation in return for legislation that helps the Arab population. But as far as what is actually gonna happen, I mean, we don't know, and the election is so incredibly close. In fact, we won't know the final counts until the Central Elections Committee presents the formal results on March 31st.

Starting point is 00:13:33 And from there, we will hopefully see what the hell happens this time. Then let's talk about Myanmar. And this, because the peaceful protests in Myanmar against the military junta who took power in a coup back in February have continued since they first began en masse one month ago. In total, hundreds of thousands of people

Starting point is 00:13:48 have taken to the streets to demand the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as for the military to step down. As far as what is happening on the ground, I mean, about three weeks ago, the military began using more and more force to disperse protesters. And this, including the liberal use of live ammunition,

Starting point is 00:14:02 which has led to at least 275 people being killed so far. This, including tragically the youngest person killed so far yesterday, being a seven-year-old who was shot in her father's arms. Reportedly, soldiers entered this home, demanding to know if everyone in the household was present. The father said yes, the soldiers accused him of lying, and apparently tried to shoot him,

Starting point is 00:14:20 but missed and hit the young girl instead. And while there have been constant protests and civil disobedience campaigns since the coup, they have varied in sizes, but it appears that the young girl instead. And while there have been constant protests and civil disobedience campaigns since the coup, they have varied in sizes, but it appears that this young girl's death has launched another surge of protests and demonstrators calling for another silent strike. Right, rather than taking to the streets with this one,

Starting point is 00:14:35 it's when all businesses shut down, people stay in their homes as a form of civil disobedience to shut down the economy. Also kind of touching on that, this week we saw the United States and the European Union announcing that they have enacted further sanctions against the Burmese military and individuals who were connected to the economy. Also, kind of touching on that, this week we saw the United States and the European Union announcing that they have enacted further sanctions against the Burmese military

Starting point is 00:14:47 and individuals who are connected to the coup. But as of right now, it appears that the military seems confident that they can maintain power. And they even released hundreds of prisoners this morning who were detained for protesting. But also, I mean, that release, it's still unlikely to calm down the protesters

Starting point is 00:15:00 who were just as vocal as ever that the military needs to give power back to a democratically elected government. Then, oh, it's like old times. North Korea is back in the newness because on Sunday, North Korea launched multiple short range missiles as a challenge to the decision between South Korea and the United States

Starting point is 00:15:14 to go forward with joint military exercises. So what we saw is that just before the exercises, Kim Jong-un's sister warned the Biden administration that if it, quote, wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink. And as far as the U.S. side to this, the U.S. response to this,

Starting point is 00:15:29 the Biden administration has largely ignored the provocation, at least publicly, and this could be for two reasons. One, these were short-range missiles which don't violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, and according to Biden, it's business as usual. And when asked further if the test would affect diplomacy, he just laughed at the question as if we really have any diplomacy right now.

Starting point is 00:15:45 And second, officials pointed out that the Biden administration is still deciding how to move forward with US North Korean relations. With one of the biggest concerns for the Biden administration is looking like they're doing nothing about North Korea if the country were to set off a nuclear test, which of course is something they have not done since 2017.

Starting point is 00:16:00 But there are concerns that could happen again soon with arms control organizations claiming that North Korea has been amassing plutonium. And so on that happy note, we're gonna have to kind of just wait to see how the Biden administration is going to handle North Korea. While it's unclear exactly what President Biden will do,

Starting point is 00:16:14 many top former officials have said that it will likely involve conversations with our partners. It's likely different from Trump's strategy, which heavily emphasized direct talks with Kim Jong-un, as well as possibly being different than former President Barack Obama, who refused to engage unless North Korea changed his behavior.

Starting point is 00:16:27 Also, I mean, with North Korea, one of the biggest things is gonna be their relationship with China, not even just now, but moving forward. It's gonna be some sort of mess, we just don't know which kind. But ultimately with this story, and actually anything else that stood out to you today,

Starting point is 00:16:41 I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below, because this is the end of the video. As always, thank you for being a part of my daily Philip DeFranco show. Subscribe and hitting that like button, all the good stuff. If you're looking for more to watch right now,

Starting point is 00:16:51 I got you covered with that brand new podcast with Mike Birbiglia or maybe some more news right here. And if you like options, I got those links in the top description as well. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in.

Starting point is 00:17:03 I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.24 Viral Cinnamon Toast Crunch Saga Goes Very Very Wrong, Cody Ko, Liza Koshy, & More

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