The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.20 Lying Coward Diddy Apologizes After Video Exposes Him As Violent Monster, President of Iran Dead, &

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - Diddy Apologizes For Surveillance Footage, LA DA Says It Can’t Prosecute 05:21 - “Zombie” Mortgages Are Coming for Your Home 09:19 - OpenAI to Pull ChatGPT Voice That Sounds Similar to Scarlett Johansson 10:56 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 11:54 - VA Governor Continues Veto Spree With Bills Protecting Birth Control Access & More  13:24 - Iran’s President and Foreign Minister Die in Helicopter Crash  16:24 - ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu & Others ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #Diddy #ScarlettJohansson ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. We got a lot of news to talk about today. We're breaking down the disturbing truth about Diddy, the video that exposed him as an abusive monster and all the fallout. The president of Iran was killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend, and the impacts could be huge. The ICC is requesting arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders. And we've got to talk about these zombie mortgages, because they may be about to screw you or someone you know. And then there's even more that we've got to talk about today, So let's just jump into it. Starting with, P. Diddy deserves to be hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat. With a juice to the gills, big headed Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds being the one swinging. Right, that is what I felt when I saw that

surveillance footage that came out over the weekend. Which if you didn't see, or you just need a reminder, on Friday, CNN obtained and published surveillance footage showing Diddy assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, at a Los Angeles hotel in March of 2016. While the video doesn't have audio, you can see Cassie walking down the hallway into an elevator bank, Diddy then running down the hall in a towel, at which point I cannot show you what happens next here in this video, but it is very easy to find and I will describe it. Because once at the elevators, Diddy grabs Cassie by the neck, throws her down to the ground, and then kicks her before attempting to drag her down the hall. And it looks absolutely vicious. Also later in the video, Cassie is seen using a hotel phone before he pushes her into a corner. At another

point, he throws an object down the hall with reports saying that it was thrown in Cassie's direction. You know, with all this, you had Cassie's lawyers telling CNN this footage has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Because as should be noted, the events in this video match some of the claims in a lawsuit that Cassie filed against Diddy that was settled back in November. That lawsuit claiming that around March of 2016, Diddy became intoxicated and punched Cassie in the face, giving her a black eye. So when he finally fell asleep, she tried to leave, but he woke up and followed her down the hall, yelling at her before grabbing her and throwing glass vases at her. They're taking a cab to her apartment, but

according to the suit, upon realizing that her running away would cause Mr. Combs to be even angrier with her and completely stuck in his vicious cycle of abuse, Ms. Ventura returned to the hotel with the intention of apologizing for running away from her abuser. When she returned, hotel security staff urged her to get back into a cab and go to her apartment, suggesting that they had seen the security footage. That lawsuit also alleged that she was raped a few years later and was subjected to various forms of abuse throughout their relationship. Also saying that Diddy actually paid the hotel $50,000

for the security footage from the hallway. Though Diddy's lawyers denied the allegations and the suit at the time, claiming, "'A decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, "'is in no way an admission of wrongdoing.'" Of course, fast forward to Sunday after this evidence was released and Diddy admitted to what we saw play out in the video,

apologizing in an Instagram caption by writing, I'm truly sorry. And then saying, it's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Sometimes you got to do that. I was up. I mean, I hit rock bottom, but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. Disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now. With Diddy going on to say he's since gone to therapy and rehab and that while he is sorry, he's not asking for forgiveness. But also notably with that, one of Cassie's lawyers slammed his apology, giving a statement to multiple news outlets saying that his statement is more about

himself than anyone he's hurt. And adding, when Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday. That he was only compelled to apologize once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words. You know, a lot of the reaction we've seen online is echoing that. Even in his own Instagram comments, you have tons of people saying he's only sorry that he got caught. But as far as if any legal consequences are actually going to come from all this, well, probably not. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office releasing a statement saying that they found the video to be

extremely disturbing and difficult to watch, but if a conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately, we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted. Saying that as of Friday, law enforcement had not presented a case related to the attack in the video. Right, notably, this is coming as Diddy is facing multiple lawsuits with allegations of sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and more. And it understandably has many people wondering how many of the things alleged are true. Because he denied wrongdoing here until the video came out. Saying he was innocent of all the awful things being alleged. These are people trying to look for a payday.

But now we have this video. And a lot of the discussion has been about the video. With many saying it's just so sad that it takes people seeing a horrifying video to take these claims seriously. People saying things like not all women are lucky to have a video where you clearly see the assault happening, but all women deserve to be believed whenever they decide to speak. And having to relive trauma is so painful. I can't imagine what it must be like for someone to relive this so publicly. Believe women and consider what survivors must be going through. And just a lot of people expressing sympathy for Cassie and hoping that this is the final nail in the coffin for Diddy.

Of course, this playing out as some people are still defending this monster. Which on that note, to the people defending Diddy with their fucking full chest out, or even the people going like, hey guys, who are we to judge? Fuck you. Are you kidding me? One, who am I to judge someone that doesn't beat the shit out of someone that they're with? Which by the way, pretty fucking low bar underneath the ground. Honestly, where did he should probably be right now rather than just strolling around in Miami? You're trash. You're a waste of space. You're

fucking stupid. Like I've seen people out there literally saying, oh, people just want to kick Diddy while he's down, not fucking even seeing the irony there. And overall with Diddy, I just see a coward that's trying to hide behind God because he knows that what he did is truly unforgivable. And I say that not only because of what we saw happen in that video, but because of all the other things that were likely not caught on video. But that is a story, some of my personal opinion. And of course, whether you agree or you disagree with me, I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then we've got to talk about zombie mortgages because while zombies, they're not scary because they're just in movies. Zombie mortgages are fucking terrifying because they can actually come back from the dead to take your home. And the scarier

thing is that some of you may think this is not relevant to you, but you should think again, because neither did the people in this story. And to properly explain this, we got to take a trip down memory lane to the fall of 2008. What in the world is happening on Wall Street? 21%. Because we're now down 43%. Traders here working the phone say a lot of their customers are freaked out. The NASDAQ, everything and more has been completely wiped out.

It was the worst day on Wall Street since the crash of 1987. The housing bubble, it finally popped, threatening millions of Americans with foreclosure. Because of course, mortgage lenders, they went nuts for years. They were throwing cash at anyone who would take it, even people of Americans with foreclosure. Because, of course, mortgage lenders, they went nuts for years. They were throwing cash at anyone who would take it, even people with shit credit and no savings. And one of the ways they preyed on the least credit-worthy borrowers was to bypass the normal requirement for a down payment altogether.

And doing this by concocting something called an 80-20 loan, where one loan covers 80% of the home's value and the other loan covers the remaining 20%. But starting in 2007, the adjustable rates in those loans, they kicked in, spiking monthly interest payments way beyond what any subprime borrower could afford. So people defaulted, banks collapsed, and the American economy went belly up. But to save some people from foreclosure, the federal government created a loan modification program. And so people who enrolled got the interest rate on their first loan, the 80% one, lowered back down. And they were told that second loan, right, the 20% one, that was forgiven, written off or just rolled into the first one. You know, after not hearing anything about it for some 15 years, they figured, hey, it's really gone. But in fact, what they didn't realize is that it had only gone dormant with debt collectors or other investors buying up that old debt for

pennies on the dollar, you know, just quietly sitting on it until home prices rose, which notably they have been over the past few years, with them then launching a surprise attack on the homeowner with an exorbitant bill in their mailbox. Retroactively packing on interest payments and late fees they had no idea they were even supposed to pay all these years. Inflating the debt two or three times its original value, which is exactly what happened to one homeowner who told ABC. They said, you are no longer liable for this debt. We will update your credit. Just a few months later, that same loan showed up again. She owed $139,000. I get a notice of default and hundreds of realtors calling me about my house saying, do I want to sell it?

It's pre-foreclosure. Which is why these second loans are called zombie mortgages. It's like a horror story, right? They're coming back to haunt you from the dead. Now foreclosures, they're hard to track. So quantifying the scale on this is difficult. With that, NPR looked at several states where the data is available and the numbers are scary. In New York, for example, foreclosures, they're hard to track. So quantifying the scale on this is difficult. With that, NPR looked at several states where the data is available and the numbers are scary. In New York, for example, foreclosures have been initiated on at least 10,000 zombie mortgages in just the past two years, with another 500 showing up in Maryland.

You know, the debt collectors, they're making money hand over fist doing this because they're paying nothing, maybe several thousand dollars for several hundred thousand dollar properties, which is why many of the victims have told reporters it feels essentially like highway robbery. I mean, you have people who have lived in these homes

for up to 20 years, who have raised families in them, made memories in them, planned futures in them. I'm on the brink of losing my home over a simple piece of paper. Had they have sent me a paper every month stating, this is still here, hey, you owe this, I would have paid it. It's horrible thinking I could be out there homeless.

The very big thing is that all of this is completely legal. Though that's not to say that you can't get a lawyer and fight back. Depending on the details, you may be able to claim that the debt collectors violated certain regulations by not notifying you about the interest payments. Which is why if you have or had a second mortgage, listen to this foreclosure prevention advocate who spoke to Fox News. You have to check your title report. If you have a second that you think is paid off, you need to make sure it was reconveyed. If you think it was not even just paid off, if you think it was just wiped out, it may still be there. You need to check your title. People don't check their credit reports as often as they should. They certainly

never check their title reports. And that's the only place it's going to show up until you get a letter saying, hey, please give us an outrageous amount of money before we come take your house. The zombie mortgage business was primarily for about 10 years ago, it was nothing but bottom feeders. Now it's publicly traded companies are about 10 years ago. It was nothing but bottom feeders. Now it's publicly traded companies are getting involved with this. And all they do is deliver misery. Which is why ultimately like the only long-term solution here is the legal solution for state attorneys, general, federal regulators, and most of all politicians to get involved.

Because otherwise for a lot of people, this is just a horror movie with no end. And then it is killed off sky. Remember this voice? Hello. I'm really excited about teaming up with you and I'm all set to dive in. So how can I make your life easier? It's one of ChatGPT's AI voices. A lot of people saying it sounded like a virtual Scarlett Johansson, just like you heard her in the movie Her, with many after hearing it also saying the voice sounded very flirty, kind of almost erotic. And that voice, you might not have known, was called Skye. And its similarity to

Scarlett Johansson is perhaps most apparent in a blog post that actually came back in September, back when OpenAI started rolling out new voice and image capabilities. Once in a tranquil woodland, there was a fluffy mama cat named Lila. One sunny day, she cuddled with her playful kitten, Milo, under the shade of an old oak tree. You know, people really started making that comparison

after the GPT-4.0 release last week. With The Verge even putting out a headline titled Chat GPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson and her. Even though an open AI engineer told the outlet that the voice wasn't designed to sound like Scarlett Johansson at all, people still heard it. And it also didn't help that after the launch last week, Sam Altman, the company CEO, simply tweeted, her. With basically every response interpreting that as a reference to the movie. But then, last night, the company actually released a statement saying that it's pausing the use of the Sky voice. And saying in a blog post,

And with that, saying that it worked with casting groups and producers to figure out what kind of actors they wanted to work with, what kind of voices they wanted to hear. Hundreds of people then submitted their voices and five were chosen. And possibly the pause on Sky being connected to the fact that Scarlett Johansson is not scared to get legal. In fact, last year, we saw her take legal action against an AI app that used her likeness without consent in that. And then we got more big news that we have to talk about, but I want to take a second to say I love hearing that a lot of you out there, you're taking steps to regain control of your life by going to pdsdebt.com slash DeFranco and getting somewhere when paying off your debt. You know,

nobody likes the stress of mounting debt, the pressure and the feeling of helplessness. And if you're feeling this way and you're ready to do something about it, today's sponsor, PDS Debt, has a program that rolls all of your payments into one low monthly payment. And I'm talking about one low monthly payment based on what you can afford. You know, PDS Debt is a top rated company on Google with an A plus rating on the BBB. They offer options that allow you to pay We'll be right back. head over to pdsdebt.com slash defranco. You'll receive a full breakdown on how to save on interest each month and the quickest way to take care of your debt. Just go to pdsdebt.com slash defranco and get your quick and easy debt assessment today. Because you're not alone, and it's time to regain control of your life

and live for you, not your debt. And then, Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, he is using his veto stamp right now the same way that I used myself when I first discovered pornography. Which is to say an amount that the person doing the thing used myself when I first discovered pornography, which is to say an amount that the person doing the thing probably thinks is a regular normal amount, but what others might describe as aggressively excessive. Because just in the last year alone, Youngkin has vetoed over 201 bills, which just to give you context, like a comparison,

the previous record holder vetoed 120 pieces of legislation over four years, right? And this totally unparalleled effort, it comes as Youngkin is working to thwart the Democratic majority that took control of the state legislature in 2022. Notably here, many of the bills that Youngkin has vetoed concern culture war issues that could play into the upcoming presidential and congressional contest. And Democrats saying this waterfall of vetoes,

it just solidifies his record as a hard right politician. Most recently, we saw Youngkin striking down bills that would have protected access to contraception and closed tax loopholes for Confederate heritage groups, with Youngkin arguing that the first proposal was overly broad and violated religious and parental freedoms. Regarding the prevention of tax breaks on a handful of Confederate heritage groups, Youngkin claimed that the organizations named in the bill were being unfairly singled out, and that notably, as he even admitted that the property tax exemption was ripe for reform delineated by inconsistencies and discrepancies. But also, you know, these are just the most recent. He's also struck down a number of other major

measures this year, including a wide range of proposed gun laws, or things that would have banned ghost guns or prohibited firearms from hospitals providing psychiatric services. And so with all this, it's going to be very interesting to see how all this plays out in Virginia come November, especially because many saw the Republicans' upsets in the legislature last election as a response to Youngkin's increasingly hard right shift. And then we've got to talk about how world politics got a major shakeup this week, and after the president and foreign minister of Iran died in a helicopter crash. Both of them were visiting East Azerbaijan, which despite the name is part of Iran and in the western part of the country. Notably, the area is extremely mountainous, and during their flight,

they ran into very thick fog. You know, helicopters and fog, not the best combination, especially when you combine that with hilly or mountainous terrain. And while it's currently unclear what the failure was, you had state media saying that there was a technical failure. Regardless, the flight crashed and killed everyone on board. Now, initially, there was some hope that there might have been some survivors, but you know, it took rescue workers hours to get to the super remote crash site. And by then, essentially, all hope was lost. With footage from a Turkish broadcaster allegedly from the site showing that it was a Bell 212 that crashed. And that's actually very notable because those are made by the US and Canada, and they were likely bought decades ago before sanctions. And those sanctions, they may

have led to trouble getting spare parts, leading to speculation that maybe that played a role in the crash. Although it should be said that despite Twitter conspiracy theories, it doesn't look like this was some secret plot by the CIA or the Mossad to kill Raisi, especially as Iran state media is not even making claims like that. But I mean, that said, President Ibrahim Raisi's death, it's a massive deal, both domestically and internationally, beyond just normal day-to-day politics. I mean, at home, there'll be new elections soon and the presidency will be temporarily filled by the VP. But there, Raisi was seen as one of the last old guard of Iranian leaders from during the revolution. You know, he was also widely considered one of the very few people who could really take over the supreme

leader position when Khomeini dies. Right, that short list is even shorter now, with Khomeini's son believed to be one of the most likely successors now, which is extremely ironic because it'll turn the republic into a hereditary monarchy wrapped in Islamic iconography,

which is something the republic was established to get rid of. But that, of course, further down the road, and as far as the now, you know, there will be a funeral procession for Aisi. And while that will be widely attended, it's also very likely that this death will be celebrated. Which, you know, might seem odd when you consider that he won the presidential vote with like 60 plus percent of the vote. However, a very key thing there is that pretty much all of his opponents were barred from running on top of a record low turnout.

Additionally, I mean, we're talking about a guy that was infamous in Iran for having blood on his hands because shortly after the revolution, he was in charge of killing political prisoners. With that leading to thousands of deaths. And he apparently never really broke that habit, considering how heavy-handed his government's been with the past two years of protests. And then with this, you know, there's an international shakeup. The death of Raisi, as well as the foreign minister, I mean, it comes as tensions are extremely high in the region. You have Iran and Israel exchanging blows, both directly and not to mention all the proxy groups Iran supports that attack Israel. And those, you know, they include the two major concerns that Israel has right now, Hamas and Hezbollah.

And as a matter of fact, Iran is pretty much the only power in the region that supports those groups directly with funds and guns. But then finally, with this, of course, there is the big question now, that is, what's next? We need to see which way Iran wants to go with a new leader, and whether that'll be a continued hardline shift on Islamic revolutionary politics, or a return to a slightly more moderate leader like ex-president Rouhani. Although there, you have most experts saying that Israel shouldn't expect much of a change. Though also, because Raisi was considered one of the few people capable of legitimately carrying on the mantle of supreme leader without much pushback, there's currently a growing question of just how long the Islamic Republic would last after Khomeini's death. So

yeah, you know, just a little tiny possible game-changing news today. And then big international news. Israel and Hamas have actually found themselves kind of on the same side for once after leaders from both sides became the target of potential arrest warrants by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. And in particular, he wants to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as well as three Hamas leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity. While this can sound like a major deal, it's also very likely that not much is going to come from it, at least for some time, if ever, at least for the leaders of Israel. And we'll also get to that in a second. You know, first off, a three judge panel still needs to approve the

warrant, which is notably something that the United States is heavily pushing back against, with President Biden calling it outrageous and saying we will always stand with Israel against threats to its security. Which also, you know, it shouldn't come as a shock, as the U.S. has long been opposed to the ICC and is in party to it. Which also means that even if an arrest warrant was made, the U.S. wouldn't enforce it. Meanwhile, Israel has also condemned the move, with the foreign minister calling it a historic disgrace that will be remembered forever,

and that the country would work to ensure that any potential warrants are never enforced on Israeli leaders. And this, as Hamas has also condemned the ICC, saying that it, quote, equates the victim with the executioner. You know, with this, one of the questions is, what exactly is the ICC pointing to in order to justify these warrants? And there, you know, for Hamas, Chief Prosecutor Kareem Khan pointed to the October 7th attacks, saying that these acts demand accountability. As for Netanyahu and Galant, Khan said, the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, are acute, visible, and widely known. They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering, and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women. However, with all this, even if a warrant is never executed, this could still serve as a big blow for both sides. For Hamas, it would make traveling even harder, not to mention that they'd be in big trouble if Fatah, which controls the

West Bank, is given control of all of Palestine again. And that's because Palestine accepted the ICC's jurisdiction back in 2015, unlike Israel. With that actually pointing to a major reason the ICC was set up. You know, it's an independent court that's supposed to help places with a failing judicial system go after war criminals. And in Israel's case, it argues that it is a functioning judiciary and doesn't need the ICC. As a matter of fact, it's because of this and other factors that many nations don't even recognize the court, including the United States, Russia, and China. Hell, I mean, the U.S. even levied sanctions on the ICC prosecutor back in 2020 for their attempts to look into potential American war crimes in Afghanistan before Biden lifted them in 2021.

You know, Vladimir Putin, he's flaunted an arrest warrant since March of 2023 by traveling with seemingly no issues. Well, that's also backed up by the realities of world politics, right? I mean, actually arresting Putin or Netanyahu or any leader with a capable military would probably mean serious retaliation. So they have that bubble, whereas Hamas would not. But that doesn't mean that Netanyahu would be able to just go anywhere that he wants, as some countries may still risk it. That becomes even more true once he's out of power. Also, while he is in power, it still could make other countries reluctant to help him and Israel over fears of looking like they're helping an alleged war criminal.

But of course, with this news, whether you see it as symbolic or something that's actionable, I'd love to know your thoughts. But y'all, that is where your Monday evening, Tuesday morning show is gonna end. But I'll see you again soon because my name's Philip DeFranco.

You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.