The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.22 Teen Slam Caught on Cam, Ukraine's Comedian President, PewDiePie Youtube Ban, & Sri Lanka

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Monday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. A quick note before we get started Obviously, this is the first episode back after our week-long hiatus. If you're a long-time viewer, you know that this week That means that over the course of the week We're gonna try and play a little bit of catch-up over stories that we missed as well as trying to stay current with new Developing stories. Also making this week extra fun If you're wondering why I look more tired after a week-long Relaxing vacation. On the last day before flying cross-country with my two very young children,

Starting point is 00:00:27 I either got food poisoning or some sort of stomach bug. So I'm not 100%, but we are gonna rock this week out together as best as possible. But with that said, I've missed you, and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is news you may be familiar with. It is around a video that went viral over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:00:42 And a note, this video may be disturbing for some viewers, so if you do wanna skip ahead, I will leave a time code for you here. But that viral video appears to show two Florida sheriffs deputies pepper spraying a teenager, tackling him to the ground, slamming his head against the concrete, and punching him. The incident reportedly happened Thursday afternoon

Starting point is 00:00:56 near J.P. Terrabella High School in Coral Springs, Florida. We saw a lot of people on social media over the weekend sharing clips of this incident with the hashtag justiceforluca. One of the posts that was shared on Twitter ended up receiving over 8 million views. That one reportedly shared on Twitter by activist in Church of God in Christ, Bishop Talbert Swan.

Starting point is 00:01:11 In the post, Swan wrote that the teen identified only as Luca, quote, picked up a cell phone that fell out of the pocket of a black boy who was being arrested, and adding, in response, Broward Sheriff officers, Christopher Krikowicz and Greg Lacerra, pepper sprayed, brutally beat, and arrested him. In another angle of the incident incident one deputy has seen pepper spraying Luca in the face before slamming him to the ground and as far as the other side of this story in an arrest report

Starting point is 00:01:30 Officer Christopher Krikowicz said that he and his partner Lacerra responded to a call from McDonald's in Taramac at 3 p.m on Thursday saying they were called to the scene by employees who reported a large group of teenagers gathering for a fight outside the restaurant Krikowicz also adding the McDonald's is a popular after-school gathering place for students from the school nearby, which is also known for frequent fights. And in fact, there was actually a fight at that same location the day prior. According to the arrest report, the two officers arrived and ordered

Starting point is 00:01:52 the crowd of teens to disperse. During this time, they say they identified one of the perpetrators from Wednesday's flight who had been warned not to trespass in the area again and took him into custody. Krikovich writing, while I was dealing with the male on the ground, I observed his phone slide to the right of me

Starting point is 00:02:04 and then behind me. I observed a male wearing a red tank top reach down and attempt dealing with the male on the ground, I observed his phone slide to the right of me and then behind me. I observed a male wearing a red tank top reach down and attempt to grab the male student's phone. He went on to say that Lucera ordered the teen to stay back, but he quote, took an aggressive stance toward the officer and quote, bladed his body and began clenching his fist. Krikovich continuing, Lucera then pepper sprayed the teen in the face and forced him to the ground.

Starting point is 00:02:20 And the affidavit went on to say that the officers feared for their safety during these arrests because they were surrounded by around 200 students. Krikovich saying that he was worried someone would try to grab one of his weapons off his belt or vest after he pushed the boy to the ground. Krikovich writing, As far as the public response to this, this video sparked massive outrage, with many calling this just another instance of police brutality against an unarmed black teen. You had people like Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr calling the incident

Starting point is 00:02:55 demoralizing. You had people like NBA star LeBron James saying, to think that could be my son's. Additionally, more local, more political, we saw Broward County Mayor Mark Bogan releasing a statement calling the incident outrageous and unacceptable, also suggesting that the deputy who initially made contact with the teen be fired and potentially prosecuted. As far as what's happening now, on Friday we saw Broward County Sheriff Gregory Toney saying in a statement that the department would conduct what he called

Starting point is 00:03:16 a thorough investigation into the matter, adding that Deputy Christopher Krikovich has been placed on restrictive administrative duty. Although regarding the status of Lucera, that is unclear at this time. Regarding next steps, in a pre-scheduled meeting with black leaders on Saturday, Tony said that he was taking the investigation

Starting point is 00:03:29 into the incident seriously, but he also emphasized the importance of following the appropriate procedure, saying there's been a large cry of just go out and fire them and get rid of them and all these other things. Folks, they don't work that way. You all understand that. There has to be an investigative process

Starting point is 00:03:41 and due process elements, and so it's going to be done the right way. So as far as what an investigation gives us in this situation, what happens through the procedures, we're gonna have to wait to see, and as far as what is next for the teenager in this video. The police report has indicated that the teen in this video did not suffer any serious injuries.

Starting point is 00:03:55 However, the 15-year-old did appear in court on Friday morning, where he was formally charged with assault, resisting arrest, and trespassing. But yeah, with this story, I wanted to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts? Do you think that the police are 100% outright wrong here? Or do you see the police report and the video in question

Starting point is 00:04:08 and you go, well, I understand where the police were coming from, the actions they took, or are you waiting for more information to come out? I'd love to know what you're thinking. Then we should briefly mention a few pieces of industry news that happened while I was gone. Starting with, of course, we've on and off chronicled the battle between T-Series and PewDiePie

Starting point is 00:04:22 for the number one spot on YouTube. One of the last places we left off, T-Series and PewDiePie for the number one spot on YouTube. One of the last places we left off, T-Series had become the number one most subscribed channel on YouTube. PewDiePie, AKA Felix, made a video called Congratulations, which sounded initially like a hey congratulations, but also was a diss track. Funny enough, that video ended up knocking him back

Starting point is 00:04:37 into the number one most subscribed spot. But while I was gone, the law got involved. Reportedly, the Indian High Court blocked two diss tracks that Felix made against T-Series. T-Series reportedly filed a complaint. That complaint was upheld by a court justice who said the tracks were quote, "'Abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature.'"

Starting point is 00:04:54 And to that I would say congratulations to India for making VPNs more popular in your country. And you know, on that note, I think really, if anything, the censorship of these videos, if it accomplishes anything, is that it gets more press coverage and it makes it more likely that people are gonna go out, seek out these videos, find these videos. More likely than not, more people are gonna find out about the accusations that are kind of jokingly mentioned in congratulations. While there are also other bits of industry news, one that really caught my eye was around Susan Wojcicki.

Starting point is 00:05:18 It's been a really interesting week and it makes me wonder if we're about to see something new. And the reason I say that is in the past week, we saw the New York Times put out a profile on the CEO of YouTube. And in that same week, it appeared that she made the time and made good on her promise to talk to Shane Dawson, who of course is one of the most notable creators on the platform right now. Shane, and in no way is he alone in this,

Starting point is 00:05:35 a lot of people have done so, but he tweeted out critically of the trending tab on YouTube. That then led to a back and forth between he and Susan. And on Twitter, we saw that not only did she meet Shane Dawson, but she also met with James Charles. Both saying they had conversations around the issues, ideas, answering questions.

Starting point is 00:05:49 As of right now it is unclear if this is gonna be for videos. I personally hope so because if you're kinda just talking to one another off camera, I think that's solid. But obviously one of the perceived benefits of talking to some of your largest creators on the platform is hopefully that they use their audience that they have on your platform to spread what you're trying to explain.

Starting point is 00:06:05 So hopefully we see that in video form. Hopefully if there are videos, you know, there is some kind of putting feet to fire. But really, the more and more I see top YouTube executives actually utilize the community that they have on the platform, I think it's great. But we'll have to wait to see how this develops. Then let's talk about the wild international update

Starting point is 00:06:22 about a story that you are definitely 100% aware of because you're a beautiful bastard who obviously watches all of our videos. The results for the presidential election in Ukraine is here. If you're not familiar, a quick TLDR. Last time we talked about Ukraine, they had just finished the first part of the presidential election, which was sort of their version of a primary. During that process, voters decided on the top two presidential candidates out of a field of 38 people. And the two final candidates we got were the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, who received about 16% of the vote,

Starting point is 00:06:47 and a comedian with no political experience named Volodymyr Zelensky, who is most famous for starring in a TV show where he actually plays a teacher who unintentionally becomes the president of Ukraine. And in that first vote, he received 30% of the vote, almost double of what Poroshenko got. And what came next is that the president and the comedian

Starting point is 00:07:02 were given three more weeks to campaign before going head to head in a second and final election. During those three weeks, since apparently the situation wasn't weird enough, Zelensky ended up challenging Poroshenko to a drug test. It was one of his preconditions to do a debate in a stadium with the incumbent president. So on April 5th, both men gave blood, hair, and urine samples. Then they had that debate in a stadium reportedly filled with 22,000 people. And all of that brings us to yesterday when the man who plays the president on a TV show was actually elected the real president of Ukraine by a landslide.

Starting point is 00:07:33 With almost all the votes counted, Zelenskyy received more than 73% of the vote. Declaring victory last night and saying in a speech, to all Ukrainians, no matter where you are, I promise that I will never let you down. Though I am still not president, I can say as a Ukrainian citizen to all the countries of the former Soviet Union,

Starting point is 00:07:48 look at us, everything is possible. As far as Poroshenko, it appears that he is readily conceded, saying next month I will leave the post of the head of state. That's how the majority of Ukrainians decided and I accept this decision. Poroshenko also applauding the election process itself

Starting point is 00:08:01 in a tweet writing, we succeeded to ensure free, fair, democratic, and competitive elections. "'No doubt that Ukraine has put a new high standard "'for the democratic electoral campaign. "'I will accept the will of Ukrainian people.'" And as far as what happens next, I mean, well, Poroshenko's concession seems to signal

Starting point is 00:08:15 that there will be a smooth transition of power when Zelensky assumes office next month. As far as what this means for Ukraine, in many ways, Sunday's election was sort of a referendum for how Ukrainians see the political establishment. And it comes five years after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution overthrew the Ukrainian government and Russia annexed Crimea, which was part of Ukraine. From this election, it is clear that Ukrainians are unhappy with the current state of affairs and how the government is handling them. So Zelensky was extremely popular because he was viewed as a fresh new leader who doesn't have ties to Ukraine's political elite.

Starting point is 00:08:41 He campaigned on promises to crack down on corruption and uproot the political elites that have a ton of political influence. Although regarding this, despite his promise to crack down on corruption, crack down on elites, Zelensky has been criticized for his close ties to a wealthy oligarch, an oligarch by the name of Igor Kolomoisky. Some saying Zelensky is just the surrogate for Kolomoisky, who is a well-known rival of Poroshenko.

Starting point is 00:08:59 Zelensky's TV show where he plays the president is broadcasted on Kolomoisky's TV channel. Zelensky even announcing his candidacy on that channel. But around that both men have denied the two having connections to Zelensky's campaign. Zelensky also saying that he will not be influenced by Kolomoisky while in office. He's also promised to end the war in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russian separatists who have killed more than 13,000 people since 2014. But also on that note, Zelensky hasn't specifically said how he will achieve those goals. Also in addition to not having public outline policies and plans, many people are also worried that Zelensky hasn't specifically said how he will achieve those goals. Also, in addition to not having public outline policies and plans, many people are also worried

Starting point is 00:09:27 that Zelensky is unqualified to deal with Russia. And that was one of Poroshenko's main criticisms during the campaign, that Zelensky was unprepared for a confrontation with Russia. Although Zelensky, for his part, has said that he will have open dialogue with Russia and has promised not to give away any Ukrainian-owned territory in negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

Starting point is 00:09:42 But still, many experts and politicians are worried that he will make Ukraine more susceptible to Russian influence. Russia has reportedly been very careful not to show outright support for Zelensky, because if they did, they would likely take his popularity. But it has been fairly evident that Putin has wanted Poroshenko out, and Poroshenko actually addressed

Starting point is 00:09:56 the Russia question in a tweet last night, writing, "'You may just look at the celebrations in the Kremlin "'on the occasion of the elections. "'They believe that with a new, inexperienced "'Ukrainian president, Ukraine could be quickly returned to Russia's orbit of influence. Now as far as what will actually happen with Ukraine, we're gonna have to wait to see.

Starting point is 00:10:10 But you know what, Zelensky's win, it represents part of a much broader global trend. Political outsiders winning elections against unpopular establishment candidates. But ultimately that's where we are right now as far as if this will be beneficial or detrimental to Ukraine or just the region in general, it will be very interesting to see.

Starting point is 00:10:25 And with that said, I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on Zelensky specifically or someone like Zelensky being voted into office? Are you in the camp that it is just outright ridiculous or no, you think it speaks to people just wanting change that much? Do you feel like it's never been more evident that the political election process

Starting point is 00:10:40 is just a very weird popularity contest? Are you concerned that there are not public outline plans and they're just kind of these ideas of where we wanna move forward? Any and all thoughts on this, I'd love to hear from you. Unfortunately, the last thing we're gonna be talking about today is this just devastating news coming out of Sri Lanka.

Starting point is 00:10:54 As of recording this video, 290 people are dead and more than 500 others were injured after a series of bombings in the country yesterday. Reportedly, there were at least eight attacks, four of which were in hotels in Colombo, the country's capital. There was also one at a housing complex in Colombo and there were at least eight attacks, four of which were in hotels in Colombo, the country's capital. There was also one at a housing complex in Colombo, and there were three in churches

Starting point is 00:11:08 that were targeted during Easter Sunday mass. And the churches that were attacked were spread out, one in the capital city, and the other two being in Batacaloa and Agambo. And for reference before moving forward, Christianity is actually a relatively small religion in Sri Lanka, and only about 1.5 of its 21 million residents practice it.

Starting point is 00:11:22 As of right now, authorities haven't said how many casualties and fatalities occurred at each specific location, and information is now just starting to come out about the victim, most of whom are reportedly local to Sri Lanka, however, at least 39 foreigners were killed. As far as who did this, police believe that all the bombings were carried out by suicide bombers,

Starting point is 00:11:37 and they're saying they also believe that a local extremist group called National Tawid Jamaat, or NJT, that they are behind the attacks, but as of right now, no group has actually claimed responsibility yet. In addition to finding 87 detonators in a bus station in Colombo, there have also been 24 people arrested

Starting point is 00:11:51 in connection to these events. And we're also seeing that a team from Interpol is being sent to Sri Lanka tomorrow to investigate these attacks. As of right now, there are still a lot of questions surrounding these attacks, and these questions mainly surround the warnings that police allegedly received

Starting point is 00:12:02 in the two weeks leading up to them. We had a spokesperson from the Sri Lankan government saying that they received received several warnings specifically citing potential church bombings being conducted by NJT. That information reportedly even included the names of suspects. According to reports, those warnings were passed on to relevant areas of the police department and security forces, but not the Prime Minister or his cabinet. And around this, authorities say they didn't take any action against the group, but it is unclear if they took any other separate precautions. And around that, Rajita Sinaratna, a government spokesperson, said they would be looking into the government's failure to respond, adding, "'We saw the warnings and we saw the details given.

Starting point is 00:12:31 "'We are very, very sorry. "'As a government, we have to say we have to apologize "'to the families and the institutions about this incident.'" We also had authorities saying that the warnings leading up to this series of bombings indicated attacks on a much smaller scale, with Srelinka's defense secretary telling BBC, "'They never indicated it was going to be an attack

Starting point is 00:12:46 of this magnitude. They were talking about isolated one or two incidents, not like this. Noting that NJT is a small and newer group, primarily known for having anti-Buddhism beliefs. Buddhism being the most popular religion in Sri Lanka, NJT has been linked to vandalism and destruction of Buddhist statues in the country,

Starting point is 00:13:00 but they haven't had a reputation for carrying out attacks on this level. And because of this, some officials, including Saratna, believe that a larger international network must also be behind it. Also, the government has taken several steps to prevent any potential follow-up attacks. A curfew has been imposed in Colombo from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Starting point is 00:13:15 This curfew was applied yesterday, it's still in place today. Right now, it is unknown how much longer it will last. The government has also shut down several social media apps. A notice on the government's news site specifically says that Facebook and Instagram will be blocked, but several users have also reported not being able to use messaging apps like WhatsApp and Viber as well.

Starting point is 00:13:30 In their statement, they say this is because false news reports were spreading through social media. Also saying that users will have access to these sites again when investigations into the explosions are completed. Along with this, Viber tweeted out encouraging users to only believe information from sources that they knew were reliable. But you have people in Sri Lanka saying

Starting point is 00:13:44 the social media block is causing problems. As this is a time when many people need to communicate with friends and family and update people on their safety, all of a sudden they don't have that avenue. So as of right now, that's where we are. Of course, remember, this is still a developing situation. One of the main things here is hopefully we do find out more information of who is responsible so they can be held accountable. With a story like this, it is just so horrible. It's hard to find a place to end or move on somewhere else. There are people not on this planet today, people and families maimed because of this cowardly

Starting point is 00:14:13 and senseless attack. I'm glad to see so many people from so many different backgrounds obviously denounce this horror so that it's not an us versus them or the fact that the only us versus them are people who have no faith or have faith, but not the extremists. Obviously, I think there is a need and a time to talk about the social media ban,

Starting point is 00:14:30 talk about the advanced warnings and potential inaction or lack of communication. But for right now, to those affected by this, you are in my thoughts. If you're watching right now, you're looking for a way to try and help, I'll link to the Red Cross in Sri Lanka down below. And the note that we're gonna end on today,

Starting point is 00:14:43 we have ended other shows on because because unfortunately there is never an end to the horror that we see in this world. Love who you have while you have them, because you never know. And also, and I know that it can be hard in these emotionally trying times, but don't let these extremists divide us. The only us versus them should be extremists

Starting point is 00:14:59 and everybody else of all different backgrounds. But that is where I'm gonna end today's show. Thanks for watching. Thanks for giving me a part of the day in your life. Kind of on a personal note, having recently taken more and more of just kind of a break away from social media, more and more the internet, I realize how appealing it is

Starting point is 00:15:16 to kind of disconnect from what is happening in the world around you and to be somewhat ignorant. You know, something I've realized is just removing yourself completely ends up turning you into this this bystander of life So I just want to say I really do appreciate those of you that include me and the way that you consume news from The world. Yeah 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

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.22 Teen Slam Caught on Cam, Ukraine's Comedian President, PewDiePie Youtube Ban, & Sri Lanka

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