The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.24 Disgusting YouTuber Pranks Homeless, What Tucker Carlson OUT at Fox News Really Means & Today's News

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're gonna get angry about this. I just want you to be aware, because this is so needlessly disgusting. But I guess it shouldn't be surprising, in my experience, that 90% of prank content creators are kind of the worst, unfunniest human beings in the world. For many of them, there's like not a joke, it's just them harassing someone,

Starting point is 00:00:14 or fake harassing someone. And the most recent of these lames to get the internet's attention was this guy, who some, definitely not me, because I'm not a bully, have called D-Bag McGillicuddy. And he starts off his video by talking about the homeless problem. He then, in a belittling way, introduces a man who appears to be homeless.

Starting point is 00:00:27 He then orders the food, and it plays out like this. What's up, dude, bro? Yeah, man, I got you a Sprite, a large fry, a Baconator, man. I was homeless myself, so I want to make sure you get on the right path. You know, you're always able to, you know, get back on your feet. You know, so I want you to enjoy this. This is really good. All right, take care, have a nice day.

Starting point is 00:00:59 The general response to this video blowing up was fuck this guy. People calling him disgusting, saying he deserves no grace. People hoping karma's real. Celebrities like Lamar Jackson even chiming in and blasting this guy. Some also saying that this looks staged, or this guy's kind of going for the gold in the outrage Olympics. So there are people saying, even if it is staged, it just highlights that this guy still sucks. He's a horrible human being. But really all I can say with this guy is, yes, one, he is easily our douchebag of the day. But two, none of this is surprising. I think he's

Starting point is 00:01:23 kind of just the latest example of the nothing matters But two, none of this is surprising. I think he's kind of just the latest example of the nothing matters, harass people in public, as long as I get some attention, creator. Or the kind of person that doesn't care about what kind of attention they're getting, as long as they're getting some attention. So here it is. Congratulations on this being the most you'll ever matter,

Starting point is 00:01:37 which is pretty fucking sad. You are a rim to be dunked on in a dumpster fire that set an example of what not to be. And then Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are out. To Tucker Carlson, you had Fox News releasing a statement saying, the two of them had agreed to part ways and saying, we thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor. But the timing of things, very key here.

Starting point is 00:01:55 One, at least public facing, Tucker Carlson did not make it appear like anything like this was about to happen. With him on his last show on April 21st saying, see you Monday. So on Fox News, it doesn't even look like he's going to get to say an official goodbye to his audience. And two, a very key thing, this is happening about a week after that massive defamation lawsuit. Fox News agreeing to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems. With all that connected to the network and the host promotion of former President Donald Trump's false 2020 election claims. While Fox News itself has said very little on the matter, some sources told the LA Times the decision to oust Carlson came from Rupert Murdoch himself. And as far as what's next for Carlson, I mean,

Starting point is 00:02:28 who knows? Is he going to start his own kind of Alex Jones platform? Is he going to partner with a rumble? Is he going to partner with an OAN? Is he going to try and get the Republican nomination? Is he just going to be Trump's VP? Because honestly, anything and everything is possible, because even without Fox News, Tucker Carlson is still massive in the conservative space. He's arguably one of the most influential people on that side, aside from Donald Trump himself. And then as far as Don Lemon, according to Lemon, he just got fired. Posting on Twitter and whatever the hell this font is, I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN.

Starting point is 00:02:57 I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They're the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best. To which CNN Communications responded, Bitch, what are you talking about?

Starting point is 00:03:18 Tweeting, Don Lemon's statement about this morning's events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management, but instead released a statement on Twitter. But then you also had comments from the CEO of CNN who said in a memo that Lemon and the network parted ways, but that Lemon will quote, "'forever be a part of the CNN family.'" So a few different takes just floating out there

Starting point is 00:03:34 about how all this actually went down. Though notably with that, it is worth noting that the timing here is important, especially as Lemon had been embroiled in some sexism controversies, first receiving flack for comments that he made about Nikki Haley, and then Variety later reporting

Starting point is 00:03:45 on an alleged pattern of Lemon mistreating female staffers. So that's where we are on both of these right now. It's one of the biggest cable news shakeups we've seen in a while. But the one thing we do know for sure because of everyone that's involved in this, we're gonna know a lot more probably very soon. And then we're now seeing even more fallout

Starting point is 00:03:59 from the situation with Bud Light and trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which if you didn't see, all started when Dylan posted a video to her channel drinking a Bud Light and specifically promoting a March Madness campaign the company was doing involving a $15,000 giveaway. And Bud Light giving Dylan a customized can

Starting point is 00:04:11 with a drawing of her face on it. And oh my God, the amount of anti-trans backlash we saw was massive, but it was also unhinged. Like you would have thought that Bud Light was forcing people to have sex reassignment surgery the way that people were reacting to this. They just sponsored her for a video. But boom, almost instantly you had Kid Rock shooting up cans of Bud Light. You had people

Starting point is 00:04:27 steamrolling bottles, restaurants pulling the beer. There was also just a larger boycott of the brand in general. But also there were even reportedly threats made to multiple Anheuser-Busch facilities. And again, all of this happened not because this was a national campaign or something, or they were actually printing Dylan's face on the cans for the general consumption. As a spokesperson explained in a statement, Bud Light partners with hundreds of influencers to connect with a variety of demographics, and Dylan was just one of them. And in some of those small partnerships, they included special gifts like the can they gave Dylan, and even officially stating this is not something the general public could purchase.

Starting point is 00:04:55 But that conservative rage was real, the boycott seemingly scaring Bud Light, and they issued a statement saying, we never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. And the CEO saying his time serving for the country taught him about accountability, freedom, hard work, and respect, and he's committed to protecting the company's history and heritage. Closing, moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation. And that statement amazingly pissed off everybody. The conservatives who were boycotting Bud Light saying this doesn't go far enough to explicitly condemn Dylan. But then you had people on the other side pissed off because

Starting point is 00:05:22 it looked like Bud Light was distancing themselves from Dylan. Just leaving her out to fend for herself and they, you know, pull back, right? Because of that, this situation has just continued and continued. With all of that bringing us to today's news of two marketing executives taking a leave of absence now. First being Alyssa Heinerscheid, the marketing VP of Bud Light, and the second being Daniel Blake, who per the Wall Street Journal, oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands. And a spokeswoman telling the outlet, given the circumstances, Alyssa has decided to take a leave of absence, which we support. Danielssa has decided to take a leave of absence which we support Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence so there you had the Wall Street Journal claiming that sources familiar with the matter say the

Starting point is 00:05:50 decision to go on leave was not voluntary regarding Heiner Scheid's departure in particular you had tons of people pointing to comments she made on a podcast back in March notably that podcast came out before the Dylan Mulvaney controversy and there she talked about her desire to revive Bud Light's brand to attract younger drinkers saying Bud Light had a fratty reputation that needed to be updated. So with this latest update of these two stepping away, you have conservative culture warriors rejoicing, but then on the left you have people saying, is it our turn to boycott Bud Light? Which is why where I'm gonna leave you with this story is a question, what are your thoughts on everything that's transpired so far?

Starting point is 00:06:17 Let me know in those comments. And then, Twitter is as weird, all over the place, and chaotic as ever post Elon Musk acquisition. Because last week, Musk finally carried through his plan to take away legacy checkmarks for verified users, leaving only people who paid for Twitter blue with blue checkmarks. That is until he didn't do it, but then only did it for some people, but then even then took it back. It is later learning that Elon Musk was saying that he was paying for the likes of William Shatner, LeBron James, and Stephen King to keep their checkmarks. But then also over the weekend, a ton of other big names got their checkmarks back. With there being this belief

Starting point is 00:06:45 that if you had over a million followers, you would all of a sudden automatically get your check mark back. But it's places like Forbes, if noted, that's not totally consistent with who has blue checks, which then resulted in a lot of celebrities going, ew, no, guys, just so we're all on the same page, I did not buy the check mark.

Starting point is 00:06:57 Or you had everyone from Lil Nas X saying, on my soul, I didn't pay for Twitter blue. You will feel my wrath, Tesla man. All the way to the likes of online creators like Valkyrie, Hasan Piker, and Ethan Klein, with him going as far as to say that it's defamation for Twitter to claim he paid for Twitter Blue. You will feel my wrath, Tesla man. All the way to the likes of online creators like Valkyrie, Hasan Piker, and Ethan Klein, with him going as far as to say that it's defamation for Twitter to claim he paid for Twitter Blue. Also, I will say again, esteemed colleagues, members of the jury, I have been well documented on the record to have been a subscriber of Twitter Blue before a meme steal in space Karen bought the company, before he made the blue check

Starting point is 00:07:21 mark a symbol that you're a part of his fan club. And he tricks so many of his fanboys into this mindset of like, if you're not willing to give Elon Musk $8, you don't care about free speech. But the main thing I'll say is what a weird marketing strategy. Let's make everyone more aware that you can buy a blue check mark by giving them to celebrities and the celebrities going, ew, how did I get this on my shoe? And then Musk getting combative with those people. I mean, it's entertaining for me, but it just doesn't seem like a winning strategy. And then listen, life isn't simple, but you know, I'm trying to do everything in my power to make it as simple and easy as I can, wherever I can, even when it comes to things like my shoes. And I'm telling you, thanks to the fantastic sponsor

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Starting point is 00:08:22 where it's needed most around the world. Not to mention funding programs that help shape the next generation of water protectors. So go check out the Vessi boardwalk and other styles at vessi.com slash PDS and use code PDS to get 15% off your entire order. Get your style and size now. And then strong majorities of Americans oppose banning medication abortion,

Starting point is 00:08:38 but the courts might be ignoring them soon despite recent headlines that you've seen. So according to a new poll from Marist in partnership with several media organizations, nearly two in every three respondents said that they disagree with banning abortion by medication. And a very key takeaway, that includes a majority of Republicans, 55%. And also significant, 61% said they don't think that federal judges should be able to overturn the FDA's approval of a prescription drug. With a poll also finding a continued decline in trust in the Supreme Court with just 37% saying they have good or a great

Starting point is 00:09:03 amount of confidence in the court, marking the lowest level of confidence since mayors first began asking the question five years ago when nearly 60% said they had a good or great deal of confidence in the high court. And notably, all this comes after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked a lower court decision to ban the abortion pill, at least for now, which I also got to give you some context here. But this whole battle centers around a case filed by abortion opponents in Amarillo, Texas, where you had a Trump nominee with long-held anti-abortion views being the only sitting judge. And in their suit, the group argued that the FDA had improperly approved

Starting point is 00:09:28 the drug Mifepristone, that being the first pill that's taken in a two-drug medication abortion process. This, despite the fact the drug was authorized by the FDA more than 23 years ago and has been approved in dozens of other countries. And since its approval in the US, medication abortion now makes up

Starting point is 00:09:40 more than half of all abortions done in America, and more than 5 million Americans have used Mifepristone to end their pregnancies. But to no one's surprise, this specific Texas judge ruled in favor of that argument, banning Mifepristone nationwide and marking the first time ever that the court has ordered the FDA to suspend a medication that it approved. But we saw the decision quickly appealed, and in a two-to-one decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that the pill could stay available on the market while the legal process plays out in court, with the judges there indicating in their order

Starting point is 00:10:05 that the anti-abortion groups couldn't challenge the FDA's approval of the drug because the statute of limitations for doing so was so long past. But they did also impose a number of restrictions on access. Specifically, rolling back rules the FDA had implemented in recent years that allowed patients to get abortion pills

Starting point is 00:10:17 in the mail and by telehealth, as well as reverting the use of the drug to just seven weeks into pregnancy, reversing a 2016 decision that had extended it to 10 weeks. But now, with the Supreme Court's ruling, it reinstates all the FDA's authorizations for the time being, which means that now the whole matter is being passed back to the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court, which has scheduled oral arguments in the case for May 17th. Though whatever happens there, that's not going to be the end of the road because it's all but guaranteed that whatever

Starting point is 00:10:37 decision the judges make here, that's going to get appealed to the Supreme Court, especially because there's also another abortion pill case playing out in a federal court in Washington State, where notably you have an Obama appointed judge ruling that the FDA can't do anything to limit abortion pills in 17 states and DC. And while that ruling is not national in scope, those 17 states represent the majority where abortion is still legal. And you have experts saying it would be impossible for the FDA to have one set of rules for some states but not others. But whatever ends up getting decided, this is going to impact not just access to abortion. But I mean this could also totally upend the FDA's regulatory process for all drugs and set legal precedent for court intervention. And then we're seeing an absolute mad dash out of Sudan right now. Since the fighting between the military and paramilitary

Starting point is 00:11:11 forces known as the RSF erupted over a week ago, at least 450 people have died, as well as nearly 4,000 injured, though both of those numbers are likely a significant undercount. And all that, despite numerous agreed-upon ceasefires, have consistently broke down. So over the weekend, you saw foreign governments with nationals in the country landing aircraft and organizing convoys to pull them out, with over 100 U.S. special forces swooping into Khartoum via helicopter, then evacuating just as many American diplomats and their families, as well as Germany and France reportedly getting 700 people out.

Starting point is 00:11:36 And those, followed by evacuations for pretty much everybody. The British, Chinese, Italians, Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Saudis, Lebanese, and Indonesians. You also had some 700 United Nations, NGO, and embassy staff reportedly escaping in a convoy to Port Sudan yesterday. And that, notably being the main extraction point for many foreign nationals who aren't affiliated with their governments. Right, because the airport in the capital Khartoum is closed, and we've heard reports of gunmen just prowling the streets,

Starting point is 00:11:56 robbing people with shops and homes being looted. And that in addition to the constant gunfire, airstrikes, and artillery shelling, it's extremely hard and dangerous to get out of the city, much less the country, and even the port is some 500 miles away from the capital, which is likely why the U.S. Navy said that it may deploy assets to the port to assist Americans who make it there after previously warning

Starting point is 00:12:12 that it could not coordinate evacuations for private individuals. And now a State Department spokesperson saying it's in touch with several hundred such people and adding, We have been clear-eyed about how American citizens should not travel to Sudan for months now. Though Biden has promised the US

Starting point is 00:12:27 would help the 16,000 Americans thought to be stuck in Sudan to whatever extent possible, which could entail using intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to advise safe routes out of the country. But also while foreign nationals enjoy access to that kind of support, millions of Sudanese locals are just stuck there.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Many of them hiding indoors for the past 10 days, rationing food, water, electricity, and medical supplies since most hospitals in Khartoum have shut down, as well as there's been a near total collapse of internet and cell service, which is why we've seen many of them now looking at Westerners hopping on planes and boats with outrage. With one resident who fled after a mortar crash into her house tweeting, to the Western negotiators, you put us in this mess, and now you're swooping in to take your kinfolk, the ones that matter, and leaving us behind to these two murdering psychopaths. But also, some have managed to leave with thousands packing whatever they can into trucks and hightailing it across the border. And then in addition to all of that, the spillover of refugees

Starting point is 00:13:10 now threatens to overwhelm Sudan's already impoverished and unstable neighbors, like Ethiopia, which is still recovering from two years of civil war in its Tigray region, or South Sudan, where civil strife has ravaged the country ever since it split off in 2011. And that conflict back then, notably sending a torrent of refugees and asylum seekers into Sudan, making up most of the estimated 1.1 million people living there today, many of whom are now running back down south where they came from, pinballing between these two countries that are just ripping themselves apart. And then there's Chad, which is a country that just had a coup two years ago and may have another one if Russia gets its way, or because of that leaked U.S. intel describing an effort by the Russian mercenary Wagner Group back in

Starting point is 00:13:41 February trying to recruit rebels and topple Chad's government. And this is an estimated 10 to 20,000 people fleeing Sudan's Darfur region have arrived in Chad, adding to the 400,000 Sudanese refugees already there. But then also speaking of Wagner, sources now tell CNN that the group has supplied Sudan's RSF paramilitary with surface-to-air missiles. And satellite images also showing increased activity at Wagner bases in neighboring Libya, where a Russian-backed warlord controls swaths of land. Though in response, you had Wagner's leader denying supporting the RSF. Though also there on Friday, he offered to act as a mediator in the conflict. But also Wagner had close ties with Sudan's military for years before its recent internal split, splitting it for gold mining concessions and arms deals. And as

Starting point is 00:14:15 recently as February, Russia's foreign minister reportedly discussed plans with Sudanese leaders to complete a naval base at Port Sudan on the Red Sea by the end of this year, which is also just one of the reasons why Sudan is such a strategically crucial outpost. Also sharing the Nile waters with Egypt, which has been struggling to keep Ethiopia from building a mega dam on the river. While South Sudan uses a pipeline that runs through the North to export oil to China.

Starting point is 00:14:33 So that's why with all of this chaos, there's fear that as international forces maneuver to protect their strategic interests, we could see this conflict turn into a big proxy war. And then, a Christian cult known as the Good News International Church in Kenya has reached its logical endpoint. They reportedly believe that if they starve themselves to death, they would go to heaven, they would meet Jesus. And now, police have uncovered at least 73

Starting point is 00:14:52 bodies from mass graves in a forest, though that number has also been going up all day and may continue to rise. The Kenyan Red Cross saying 112 people have been reported missing to a tracing and counseling desk it set up at a local hospital. And all of this coming just over a week after the cult's leader, Paul McKenzie, was arrested on a tip suggesting his followers had died. To which I will say, it's always when these people that take religion and they do extra horrific things with it that I hope that there is an afterlife. Because there's really no suffering on this earth that can negate what this man has done here. And then, you've got a scandal enveloping the highest ranks of the UK's Conservative Party right now. With the latest casualty being Deputy Prime Minister

Starting point is 00:15:24 Dominic Raab, who stepped down Friday. And that after an independent investigation found that he bullied civil servants and abused his staff during stints as Justice, Foreign, and Brexit Secretary. Though he denied any such claims, but still saying that he resigned because he was duty-bound to do so. So now he's being replaced as Deputy PM by Oliver Dowden and Justice Secretary by Alex Chalk.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's busy with his own controversy, because last week a parliamentary watchdog unveiled a probe into whether he properly disclosed his wife's interest in a company. That, key thing, stands to benefit from a massive boost to free childcare in his budget. And this after Sunak fired the Tory party chairman back in January for failing to come clean about a multi-million dollar tax dispute. And before that, cabinet member Gavin Williamson quit back in November over his own bullying allegations. And all this hitting the conservatives' especially hearts, and Sunak entered office on the promise that he would restore the party's order and integrity. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. As always, thank you for

Starting point is 00:16:10 watching, liking, and being subscribed for more of these daily dives into the news, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.24 Disgusting YouTuber Pranks Homeless, What Tucker Carlson OUT at Fox News Really Means & Today's News

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