The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.4 What Elon Musk Buying Twitter Really Means!

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase! News You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/ij-Z0szC0g0 TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - Louis C.K. Grammy Win Sparks Backlash 03:34 - Elon Musk Buys 9% Share in Twitter 06:09 - San Diego Woman Pleads Guilty to Faking Cancer Diagnosis to Avoid Prison Sentence 07:50 - Sponsor 08:37 - Amazon Warehouse Workers in Staten Island Make Historic Vote to Unionize – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Louis C.K. Grammy Win Sparks Backlash: https://roguerocket.com/2022/04/04/louis-ck-grammy-backlash/ Elon Musk Buys 9% Share in Twitter: https://roguerocket.com/2022/04/04/gelon-musk-buys-stake-in-twitter/ San Diego Woman Pleads Guilty to Faking Cancer Diagnosis to Avoid Prison Sentence: https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/woman-pleads-guilty-to-faking-cancer-diagnosis-to-avoid-prison-sentence/ Amazon Warehouse Workers in Staten Island Make Historic Vote to Unionize: https://roguerocket.com/2022/04/04/amazon-labor-union-created/ —————————— Executive Producer: Amanda Morones Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Ben Wheeler, Chris Tolve Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #LouisCK #ElonMusk ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So unfortunately, I have to start today's show off with bad news for you. Right before uploading today's show, I had to remove several minutes of a whole story because it was just too horrific. And unfortunately, the way that YouTubes work, they would have killed that video instead of getting to 850,000 to 1 point whatever million, it would have gone to like maybe 300, 400,000. But I'm not going to let YouTube and their system dictate what news gets out to you because I still want to get important news out to you.

But it is their platform, so I have to play by their rules, which is why tomorrow morning, in addition to the Tuesday Philip DeFranco show, tomorrow morning I will be uploading that story and video. So this way I can let as many people as possible know to come back in the morning to see that. But with that said, I still got a great show for you today, so buckle up, hit that like button to help support some common sense news coverage, and let's just jump into it. Hey y'all, first up today, another award show, another scandal though. This one not involving Will, keep my wife's name out of your mouth, Smith, but rather Louis C.K. and James Charles.

Initially, it sounds like an odd pairing, but it'll make sense. So starting with Louis, as you might remember, back in 2017, he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, later admitting that the allegations were true. He then kind of disappeared from the public for a while, though he ended up testing new material,

ultimately releasing new specials in 2020 and then 2021. With all that leading to last night, where his special, Sincerely Louis C.K., won Best Comedy Album at the Grammys. And so with that, you saw a range of reactions getting thrown out onto the internet. Over here, you had people disgusted and outraged at you, of someone that admitted to sexual misconduct

being rewarded just a few years after, people arguing that this is yet another example, that cancel culture doesn't actually exist for famous people, and actually those who accuse powerful people of those kind of wrongdoings often face more consequences. With people tweeting things like, I wonder if the careers of the women comedians

Louis C.K. forced to watch him masturbate, who were allegedly threatened by C.K.'s manager, have recovered from the stigma of coming forward. Louis C.K.'s own career seems to have bounced back very well. Though regarding the conversation around cancel culture, we saw people like associate editor for Reason, Liz Wolfe tweeting, Louis C.K. winning a Grammy after more than four years

of being mostly sidelined does not in any way prove "'that cancel culture isn't real. "'It proves that his offenses "'weren't broadly considered egregious enough "'to permanently disqualify him from a career.'" And then going on to write in a thread, and of course they weren't. Masturbating in front of women,

women who said yes but meant no, is not a particularly trauma-inducing thing. Those women aren't survivors. Having someone masturbate near you isn't tough to survive, which is what that term implies. And those tweets kind of hit at the core of a number of defenses that people have for Louis C.K. Or that you can believe that Louis C.K. was in the wrong,

but also not at a level that he should permanently not be able to make money or create. And while you had that argument happening, you had people saying, hey, this is an example of a double standard. People bring up the Will Smith of it all, right? Because after he slapped Chris Rock, you had a ton of comedians saying that they now fear

for their safety that someone might slap them on stage. With comedian Jen Kirkman tweeting, "'Remember when male comedians this week were like, "'Chris Rock got slapped? "'Comedy is in danger. "'They never gave a fuck about those of us in comedy "'who were always in danger. "'There's silence tonight on Louis C.K.

"'winning a Grammy for an album "'where he jokes about his assaults.'" And then for those that are like, "'Okay, well how does James Charles "'fit into this situation, right? "'Louis C.K. is over the age of 18.'" Well, yeah, that's why you had people outraged that James Charles has seemingly been able to rehab his image

that he's still going to the Grammys. With him having been in the past accused of sexual misconduct, of sexting underage fans and grooming. With people tweeting, getting a lot of support for saying things like, how is James Charles everywhere other than prison? But to finish this story with Louis C.K., you know, I was really wondering,

what do people think about this? So I put out a poll. Well, just from a small section of the internet, the results were interesting. So the question, how do you feel about Louis C.K. winning a Grammy last night? The response was 29% don't like it with 15% really not liking it.

10% liked it with 5% really liking it. And finally 62% saying they don't care that he got a Grammy. Looking through the comments, if I was to condense and try to paraphrase, it appeared that a lot of the thinking for this majority was, hey, say what you want about cancel culture or just, you know, being held responsible for your actions.

At the end of the day, we get to decide on an individual level. Though some of the pushback from the 29% seem to be, well, it sends a horrible message, and so it could actually impact others. But hey, that was also just a poll of under 40,000 participants. So now I'll pass the question off to you.

What are your thoughts here? Then, in massive business and social media news that people are freaking out about right now, we should talk about Elon Musk buying 9.2% of Twitter. At about $3 billion worth, for comparison's sake, Jack Dorsey, who was one of the founders of Twitter, was previously the CEO, only has a 2% stake in Twitter. At about $3 billion worth for comparison's sake, Jack Dorsey, who was one of the founders of Twitter, was previously the CEO, only has a 2% stake in Twitter. Unsurprisingly, this news sent Twitter shares skyrocketing.

As I'm recording, it's up 30%. One of the big things that people are talking about right now is Elon Musk's timing. Right, the SEC report made public today lists the date Musk made the purchase as March 14th. Very notably here, the SEC requires anyone who buys more than 5% of the company's common shares to disclose the purchase in 10 days.

But, according to CNBC, Musk didn't make that filing for 21 days, which is significant for two reasons. First, because it shows that he's kicking off this massive decision by kind of giving the SEC a middle finger, though those fines are pretty much gonna be nothing for Elon Musk. Historically, they're around $100,000. And second, because on March 25th, after he was already supposed to have disclosed his new stake, he tweeted at a poll saying, "'Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?' Also adding,

"'The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.'" With a result showing 70% said no, and around 30% said yes. And later writing in another tweet, "'Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.

What should be done?' And adding, "'Is a new platform needed?' And so now following the news breaking that Elon Musk bought so much of the company, there are people in two camps. One, you have people saying, oh, he's only to try to take control over this company or at the very least get his will done.

But on the other hand, you have some arguing this is just a smart business move. That with the tweets, he was planting seeds, then the news broke, oh my God, Elon Musk bought so much stock, something must be about to happen. It then sends his shares through the roof, with people noting, yes,

this is a massive shareholder position, but it's also unclear if he's going to ask or be invited to join Twitter's board. Also, the securities document Musk signed indicates that he intended for the investment to be passive, so he doesn't plan to take control of the company. But things can change, things can be a faint, and this is Elon Musk we're talking about.

Like, it wouldn't be surprising if he bought the company just for the meme of it all. But where I will end this is that in this uncertainty, I mean, this could be a massive and significant move because as places like Bloomberg have noted, Twitter is particularly vulnerable to outside pressure because unlike Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Snap, the company's founders don't have special voting control

over its future. And adding, the company has just recovered from activist pressure by Elliott management that started in 2020, which led Dorsey, who was serving his second stint as CEO of Twitter, to set a succession plan. And as we wait to see, is this a small part of a much larger move to drastically change Twitter,

or it's just an investment in smart business moves to drive the stock price up, everyone's having big reactions. We've seen a lot of people, including prominent conservatives, cheering this move as a win for free speech, many calling on Musk to bring back people who were banned on Twitter, including Trump. But also on the other side, you have people expressing

concern over what this might mean for the platform, especially if Musk tries to expand his role. And on the note of reactions, I'll ask you yours. What do you think here? And then in news, it starts with a question. When you were in school, or if you still are, did you ever fake being sick to get out of going to school? Personally, yes, of course.

But this woman in California took it to a whole nother level from school to prison. Back in 2019, Ashley Lynn Chavez pled guilty to embezzling more than $160,000 from a former employer. And while she was permitted to live in the public until her sentencing, she was more than likely going to face prison time. However, on the eve of her sentencing, she reportedly pulled a doctor's note out,

like a kid trying to skip class, with the note reading that a doctor had found cancerous cells in her uterus, but the whole thing was 100% forged. But still, according to the Justice Department, her attorney believed that it was genuine and it was submitted to court. The next day, Chavez was sentenced to a year in prison,

but because of this note, the judge overseeing her case allowed her to stay out of custody for another three months while she received treatment. And over time Chavez began submitting more notes to try to get her sentence pushed back even more. Those notes reading a mix of things that her cancer had progressed to stage two, that she was in too vulnerable of a state

to be exposed to COVID. And eventually the doctors, or rather the doctors, they began recommending that she serve her sentence at home with one note saying, "'A year in prison could be a death sentence "'for my patient. "'I highly recommend the chance to allow home confinement "'or anything else that you deem appropriate

"'rather than a year in prison.'" But ultimately all of it came crashing down when the government finally did its job and investigated these claims. And finding that while one of the doctors whose signatures she forged had actually seen her as a patient, they never diagnosed her with any form of cancer.

Meanwhile, the second doctor claimed he hadn't even seen her and had no idea how or why his identity had been stolen and his signature repeatedly forged. And so, I think I'm using the right terminology here, because she was such a dumb fuck, in her effort to not go to prison for one year, she is now facing up to 10 more years in prison, where they're set to be sentenced in June

after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. Which is why, Ashley, I wanna leave you with two things. One, don't be stupid, stupid. And two, you are our douchebag of the day. But from that, I wanna take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, I've been partnering with Squarespace for years now, and I have to say,

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And then over the weekend, there is a big possibility that you saw this clip. You want to thank Jeff Bezos for going to space. Cause when he was up there, we were signing people up. Yeah, we were signing Jeff Bezos. What that space because when he was up there, we were starting to keep going. Yeah, we were starting to keep going. And what that man Chris Smalls is talking about is an absolutely historic union vote. It is a David versus Goliath story.

And depending on what happens from here, this could have massive implications. And because of all that, I wanna get into the details. So with the center of this, on Friday, you had the JFK 8 warehouse in Staten Island voting to unionize, creating what's been called the Amazon Labor Union or ALU. Over 2,600 voting in favor, 2,100 plus against,

at a facility compromising of 8,325 workers. And this made them the first Amazon warehouse ever to do so in the United States, making this one of the biggest victories for labor in decades. And to make it all even more impressive, the ALU pulled this off independently without the legal or financial backing

of any more established union. But even the simple fact that they stood up against this giant and they won, that's crazy. Right, because Amazon has successfully and aggressively stamped out any and all efforts to organize its workers for the past two decades. With similar efforts finding little success in places like Chicago, Sacramento, and Minnesota.

And for a while, Staten Island was no exception, right? You had the company desperately trying to convince its workers to vote against unionizing, doing things like plastering banners around the warehouse, proclaiming vote no, creating a website that says about the ALU, they think they can do a better job speaking for you than you can do for yourself.

And even holding captive audience meetings where workers are forced to listen to anti-union propaganda. With audio last month from one in Staten Island capturing two managers giving a slide presentation and being derided by the workers. With another worker accusing a manager of union busting, then being asked to leave for being disruptive. And so after all that work, Friday's union victory sparked

an explosion of righteous celebration from the workers themselves. People on social media like Daniel Denveer tweeting, "'Amazon Labor Union not only beat Bezos, "'they cleansed my timeline of the slap.'" Now with this, as far as Amazon, they responded on their blog saying it's disappointed because it believes a direct relationship

with its employees is best, which led to people like this guy, Rafael on TikTok, translating that statement for the people. We're disappointed with the outcome of the election because we believe having our workers divided is best for our fat stacks. Now, as far as the ALU, they're demanding pay raises appropriate

to the high cost of living, actual paid sick days, job security, so we can't be fired at will, a shuttle service for workers from all five boroughs and more, and adding that they want to be, quote, "'treated as human beings' and not mere replaceable appendages to the robots and algorithms that run the warehouses. And over the weekend, preemptively slamming any attempt

by Amazon to delay their right to collective bargaining, requesting negotiations by early May, as well as the immediate halting of any changes to employment policies in the meantime. And as I mentioned in all of this, Chris Smalls has emerged as a leader for this movement. Because this whole thing has been going on for years now. Chris was a former rapper and Amazon employee.

He's now the interim president of the ALU. Having worked for Amazon since 2015 and transferring to the Staten Island warehouse in 2018. With the ALU story then beginning in March of 2020, when one of the workers tested positive for COVID, leading Smalls to organize a strike and protest over unsafe working conditions. With Amazon then firing him that day,

ironically claiming that he violated social distancing rules. But even after being fired, he refused to give up, continuing to organize the warehouse and piss off the company. Leaving Amazon's general counsel, David Zapolsky, to write in a leaked email, "'He's not smart or articulate, "'and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him,

"'we will be in a much stronger PR position "'than simply explaining for the umpteenth time "'how we're trying to protect workers.'" With the email going on to add, "'Make him the most interesting part of the story and if possible make him the face of the entire union slash organizing movement. And that, my friends, completely fucking backfired. One, you have people saying that not smart or articulate comment felt very racist, but it also led Smalls in that moment to know he was going to continue taking on this retail behemoth. Recently recalling

when I read that memo that motivated me to start an organization. And so with zero background in union activism, he and the ALU co-founder, Derek Palmer, began waiting at a bus stop near the warehouse, talking to workers on their way home, making s'mores at a bonfire, inviting them to cookouts. With Smalls later recalling, we had over 20 barbecues giving out food every single week,

every single day, whether it was pizza, chicken, pasta, home cooked. And ultimately after the first attempt at a petition failed, Smalls finally met the 30% threshold needed to trigger a union vote in February. With that leading to later in the month, Amazon intensifying its pressure against the fledgling union,

police even arresting Smalls and two other organizers for allegedly trespassing while they were delivering lunches to warehouse workers during their break. Why are you arresting them? Hold it out, look, throw me against the car. Why are you arresting them? Throw me against the car. Trespassing. They said you were- We're workers car. Why are you arresting them? Throw me against the car. Trespassing.

They said you were- We're workers here. Why are you arresting us? And so with all of that said, it's going to be very interesting to see, does this begin to spread? For example, there's another smaller warehouse on Staten Island that also has a union vote

set to begin on April 25th. Then there's also this warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, where the workers voted about two to one not to unionize last year, but the NLRB ordered a do-over election after ruling that Amazon improperly interfered in the tally. With that vote wrapping up last week, 993 no votes, 875 yes votes,

but there's still reportedly more than 400 contested ballots. So it could go either way, but I mean, it could swing in the favor of the union once the NLRB holds a hearing on it in a few weeks. Yeah, ultimately time will tell, was this a drop in the bucket or a first step to something much bigger? But that's it for today's show.

Click here for more news and I'll see you tomorrow.