The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.21 Guess Who's Finally Pleading Guilty, Kendall Jenner, & Our Recession Unemployment Problem

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. Hope you have a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. And a quick note before we get started, this is actually the second video I uploaded today on this channel. I know we're usually once a day, but we had so many things to talk about.

Starting point is 00:00:12 And so this morning I covered the heavily requested Call Her Daddy story. If you're unfamiliar, it is a ride. I highly recommend you watch it after today's show, but this is the Philip DeFranco Show, so buckle up, hit that like button and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is Fyre Festival.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Thank you to them for sponsoring today's show, I'm kidding. Yeah, actually Fyre Festival is back in the news years after, I forgot how long ago this was. It happened in 2017. An event that was such a disaster, it resulted in multiple criminal charges, spawned documentaries, some of which that were actually made by people that were involved in the process.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Also on this journey, we learned what this man would do for a bottle of water, which no disrespect, that's just dedication. But for those unfamiliar with what this thing was, it was this promised glamorous weekend in the Bahamas. It was supposed to be the cultural experience of the decades and ticket packages ranged from $1,200 to over $100,000.

Starting point is 00:00:59 And yeah, they were supposed to give their guests access to luxurious accommodations, gourmet food, musical performances from acts like Blink-182 and Migos. But of course, none of that actually happened and we ended up just seeing stranded festival goers, people in FEMA tents, people wondering how the hell did this thing that seemed so legitimate had so many

Starting point is 00:01:16 big names seemingly involved, how did this happen? And part of the reason for that is you had massive influencers promoting this event, which actually brings us to one, Kendall Jenner, and two, updates we're seeing now. Kendall was actually one of the biggest names is you had massive influencers promoting this event, which actually brings us to one, Kendall Jenner, and two, updates we're seeing now. Kendall was actually one of the biggest names promoting this event on social media.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Because of that, in August of 2019, she was sued in New York's US bankruptcy court by Gregory Messer, who is a trustee recovering money and assets for creditors who did business with the festival. And according to court documents, Kendall Jenner was paid $275,000 to post about the festival on her Instagram

Starting point is 00:01:43 in January of 2017. That since-deleted post was captioned, "'So Hyped to Announce My Good Music Family "'as the First Headliners for Fyre Festival. "'Use my promo code for the next 24 hours "'to get on the list for the Artists and Talents "'After Party on Fyre Cave.'" And so you had the lawsuit accusing Kendall

Starting point is 00:01:56 of intentionally leading the public to believe that Kanye West, who founded the Good Music label, was set to perform at this event, with the suit stating, this conduct demonstrates a clear lack of good faith on Jenner's part. It was also noted that Kendall did not properly specify that event. With a suit stating, this conduct demonstrates a clear lack of good faith on Jenner's part. It was also noted that Kendall did not properly specify that her post was a paid promotion,

Starting point is 00:02:09 which caused her to receive a warning from the Federal Trade Commission. And as far as the reason we're talking about it now, it's being reported that Kendall has now settled. And so as part of the agreement, she will pay $90,000 for her role in promoting this event, which of course is less than half of what she earned from the post itself.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Now as I'm recording this, she hasn't made an official statement about the settlement, but she did actually talk about her involvement with the event in March of last year. And in that interview with the New York Times, she said, "'You get reached out to by people, "'to whether it be to promote or help or whatever. "'You never know how these things are going to turn out.

Starting point is 00:02:34 "'Sometimes it's a risk.'" But then also saying, "'I definitely do as much research as I can, "'but sometimes there isn't much research you can do "'because it's a starting brand "'and you kind of have to have faith in it "'and hope it will work out the way people say it will.'" Now a big note here is that Jenner isn't the only one who was hit with a lawsuit for connections to the festival.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Claims were also filed against other celebrities like Emily Radichkowski, Migos, Pusha T, Blink-182, and Lil Yachty. And of course the person hit the hardest from this situation is Fyre Media founder Billy McFarland, who of course is currently serving out a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to wire fraud. With him also being ordered to repay the 26 million he defrauded from investors. Yeah, that's the story. And I guess the question I would pass off to you is, what do you think about that $90,000 settlement? Right, do you think it was uncalled for?

Starting point is 00:03:13 You think she was misled as well? Or maybe do you think it makes sense? Or do you maybe think it is not enough? Why, why not? Anything you have thoughts on with this, I'd love to know in those comments down below. And then let's talk about Lori Loughlin back in the news. Of course, she was previously known

Starting point is 00:03:25 as being Aunt Becky on Full House. Now, she's known as being Aunt Becky, who was a part of the college admissions scandal. The news around this today is that she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are planning to enter a guilty plea. So, as you might remember, back in March of last year, these two were part of a huge group of wealthy parents charged with falsifying documents

Starting point is 00:03:42 to get their kids into elite colleges. And Loughlin and Giannulli specifically were accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters, Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade, into the University of Southern California as false rowing recruits. And when the indictments came out, they initially pleaded not guilty to the charges,

Starting point is 00:03:56 which was really something of a shock at that time, because many of the parents who were involved were quicker to enter guilty pleas, with many thinking that entering a deal and getting a shorter sentence in the end would just be the easier option. But these two maintained their innocence, saying that they believed that they were making

Starting point is 00:04:08 a legitimate donation. And so unlike many of the parents who did quickly enter plea deals, Loughlin and Giannulli ended up getting hit with more charges. And as more started to unfold, you also saw that much of the evidence did not help their case.

Starting point is 00:04:18 Right, just last month, photos that were allegedly part of this scam to get their daughters into USC were released along with a bunch of other evidence. Right, and those photos appearing to show Olivia and Isabella on rowing machines pretending to be athletes. And along with those photos, there was also email correspondence between Giannulli and Rick Singer,

Starting point is 00:04:32 who was the ringleader of the college admissions scandal. And those appeared to show Singer requesting action shots of the girls so that he could build fake athletic profiles. But still, with all of this, we had Loughlin and Giannulli maintaining that they were innocent. In fact, they even made a bid to drop the charges against them,

Starting point is 00:04:45 citing misconduct by federal agents involved, claiming that they fabricated evidence. But unfortunately for them, just two weeks ago, that bid was rejected by a judge, meaning that Loughlin and Giannulli would have to go to trial in October when a bunch of other parents involved in the scandal were taking the stand.

Starting point is 00:04:57 And there, if they were found guilty after going to trial, they could face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy, which is much worse than the sentencing of their new guilty plea, which they're scheduled to formally enter tomorrow. This also notably making them the 23rd and 24th parents to enter a guilty plea for the college admissions scandal. And as far as the specifics of the plea agreements,

Starting point is 00:05:14 Loughlin will reportedly be pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, with the other charges against her being dismissed, with her reportedly agreeing to a sentence of two months in prison, a fine of $150,000, two years supervised release, and 100 hours of community service.

Starting point is 00:05:29 Now Giannulli, on the other hand, will be pleading guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and honest services wire and mail fraud. Here, they're dropping the other charges as well, and he's agreed to five months in prison, a $250,000 fine, two years supervised release, and 250 hours of community service.

Starting point is 00:05:45 Though, in both of their cases, a judge will ultimately decide the extent of their punishment. Right, so we're gonna have to wait and see what happens there. Now, of course, following this announcement, this became a huge topic of conversation online. Both Aunt Becky and Lori Loughlin

Starting point is 00:05:57 quickly became trending topics on Twitter, with a lot of people thinking that these sentences are kind of just a slap on the wrist, which was a very similar discussion that people had back when Felicity Huffman was sentenced to just 14 days for her participation. She reportedly had her child's SAT scores faked, and while she only got those 14 days,

Starting point is 00:06:11 that came after prosecutors recommended she get four months. And Huffman also didn't have to serve the full 14 days, she ended up being released after just 11. And connected to what people said were light sentences, you had a lot of people bringing up situations like that of Tanya McDowell. If you're unfamiliar, she's a woman in Connecticut who lied about her address to get her son

Starting point is 00:06:25 into a better school district. She was reportedly homeless, living out of a van at the time. She used her babysitter's address. And Tanya ended up getting a five-year sentence. This after entering a plea deal encompassing charges related to this as well as drug charges. Right, so you see people making the comparison saying that this is injustice,

Starting point is 00:06:39 that people that have more money are treated different by our government. Also with this Loughlin situation, you have people wondering if they're even going to serve their sentence or if they're gonna serve their sentence maybe from home because of the coronavirus situation right now and the fact that this is a non-violent crime.

Starting point is 00:06:51 But that's where we are with this story now. We're gonna have to see what this judge does, what the actual sentence will be. And here, I will pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Is this just a slap on the wrist? Because it's kind of a Goldilocks question. Is it too little, too much, just right?

Starting point is 00:07:04 Let me know what you're thinking and why. And then let's talk about the situation that's led to thousands of people saying boycott FedEx. And so there's this video that's gone viral that appears to show a confrontation between two FedEx workers and a customer. And so reportedly these two workers who are black men were out delivering packages in a small town in Georgia.

Starting point is 00:07:20 And according to one of the workers, Antonio Braswell, this confrontation happened as they were delivering a package to a house. Braswell then saying a white man runs out of the house, Antonio Braswell, this confrontation happened as they were delivering a package to a house. Braswell then saying a white man runs out of the house, cussing at them, threatening them. Braswell then adding that this man kept escalating the situation, then kept saying he would whoop our black asses, with him going on to say that the man

Starting point is 00:07:35 then told his wife to call the police. That man then allegedly follows these two workers, he pulls out his phone to record them. However, Braswell says that he and his co-worker drive away at first, but then the man cusses at them again. And that's when he says his co-worker stops the truck, gets out of the truck, with Braswell says that he and his co-worker drive away at first, but then the man cusses at them again. And that's when he says his co-worker stops the truck, gets out of the truck, with Braswell then recording the incident from there from his own phone.

Starting point is 00:07:50 But you didn't have to come out there cussing me like that, like I'm some child. I ain't no little boy. I'm no little boy. I'll wait till the police come. You can record all you want, bro. I got you. I got you, bro.

Starting point is 00:08:02 That's where his power at right there. That's your power. That's his power. That's where your pile at right there. That's your pile. That's his pile. That's where your pile at right there. Where you going? Man, I ain't finna waste my time with you. You got my information. You got my information.

Starting point is 00:08:13 They'll find me. They'll find me. You need to get your glasses back on. I thought you was waiting for the cops. Yeah, I thought you was gonna whoop my too. And that's all we actually get to see from this incident because that's also where the video ends. But according to Braswell, the police arrived soon after.

Starting point is 00:08:29 Both sides apparently give their testimony. According to Braswell, the man who allegedly confronted them told police that the two employees looked like they would have broken into the house while his wife was at home. You know, and with accusations like that, you had Braswell saying, "'Mind y'all, we go through this all the time.'"

Starting point is 00:08:41 But adding, "'He was the first to actually come at us crazy "'and all we doing is our job. "'We work work six days out the week to deliver these packages during the coronavirus But ultimately that's the incident at least according to Braswell right to be fair here The other man in this video has not yet been identified so we have not heard his side of the story But what we have seen is this video just blow up in the past couple of days It's been viewed more than six million times and just Twitter alone and in the process of it blowing up yesterday We saw another development Braswell tweeting,

Starting point is 00:09:05 update FedEx called and told me to take down this video and fired both of us today. I'm reposting this video because people like him, doesn't matter white or any race, should never disrespect essential workers putting their lives in jeopardy, especially with this COVID-19. From there, we've also seen a GoFundMe page

Starting point is 00:09:19 being created for these men. And just over the course of a day, it's already raised $63,000 with money reportedly set to be split between the two men. Also of course resulted in the hashtag boycott FedEx trending tons of people calling for these workers to be reinstated. And as far as a response from FedEx, we actually saw them release a statement late last night

Starting point is 00:09:34 saying, we are aware of the incident in Georgia that led to the release of two drivers employed by a service provider. We're offering employment while investigating to ensure an appropriate outcome. We take seriously allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or improper employment actions. Right, so FedEx essentially trying to clarify

Starting point is 00:09:49 the situation saying we did not fire them, it was actually an independent contractor. With them saying that they're gonna be looking into it and offering them jobs at the company. As of recording this video, it doesn't appear that Braswell has responded to that offer from FedEx. We've also seen a number of media outlets reaching out for comment, but so far,

Starting point is 00:10:02 Braswell hasn't responded to those either. Ultimately, with this story, I do wanna pass a question off to you. What are your thoughts based off of what we have? Do you have an opinion based off of what we've seen here, or do you wanna wait to see what else comes out? The last thing we're gonna talk about today is, it's Thursday, which means we get that depressing

Starting point is 00:10:17 and developing news around unemployment and what we're gonna do about it. Right, so today, the US government reported that another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week, bringing the official total count to more than 38 million. And while that still supports this downward trend that we've seen over the last few weeks,

Starting point is 00:10:31 that's really only one part of a much bigger picture, right? Almost 40 million people have filed for unemployment over the last nine weeks, and that doesn't even count the estimated millions more that are currently applying or waiting for their applications to be approved. And while many places are reopening and more people are going back to work,

Starting point is 00:10:46 those numbers might not be as optimistic as many have hoped. In fact, continuing claims which show how many people are still collecting unemployment after their initial application rose by 2.5 million to a record 25 million, which we've seen report state is a sign unemployment is lingering even as states reopen. Although, and this is an important note here and also in several other places because there are delays,

Starting point is 00:11:05 that figure we were just talking about is reported on a two week lag. So it might not be representative of recent reopenings. But that said, a lot of people are still hurting. In fact, according to a recent household survey from the Census Bureau, 47% of adults say that they or someone in their household have lost employment income since March 13th and nearly 40% expected that they

Starting point is 00:11:21 or someone in their household would lose employment income over the next four weeks, which brings up a very major concern here. More and more economists are now warning that many of the job losses meant to be temporary could be permanent. With one recent report published by the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute estimating that 42% of recent layoffs

Starting point is 00:11:38 will result in permanent job loss. But despite all of that, what we're seeing is that President Trump and top Republicans have said that they want to end enhanced federal unemployment benefits that were laid out under the stimulus bill. So normally, state governments are the ones that give out unemployment benefits. But under the CARES Act, Congress authorized an additional $600 a week on top of that for all unemployed Americans. But those extra benefits are set to expire in July.

Starting point is 00:11:59 Now, notably, the $3 trillion stimulus package passed by the House on Friday would extend those benefits until the end of the year, but Republicans, and more importantly because of the two houses in Congress, Senate Republicans have broadly rejected a number of the provisions in the bill. And also, according to reports, Trump has privately expressed his opposition to extending those benefits during a private meeting on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:12:16 Also, just yesterday we saw Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly saying that the enhanced unemployment benefits will not be in the next packet, with McConnell also reportedly saying the Republicans are, quote, "'going to have to clean up the Democrats' crazy policy "'that is paying people more to remain unemployed

Starting point is 00:12:28 "'than they would earn if they went back to work.'" Right, and so that appears to be one of the big reasons that Republicans want to end the benefits. Right, essentially it's the classic promotion of laziness argument that people use against welfare and universal basic income. Right, they believe that if unemployed people are getting more money from unemployment

Starting point is 00:12:41 than they would from their normal job, or even if they're just able to get by existing on those benefits, then they won't go back to work. And you know, here there has been some normal job, or even if they're just able to get by existing on those benefits, then they won't go back to work. And you know, here there has been some anecdotal evidence of companies saying they're having a hard time getting their workers to go back to their old jobs. Although, according to reports,

Starting point is 00:12:52 some workers say that this is just because they're concerned about unaddressed safety issues. But also, here's the thing with this situation. Legally speaking, people who are offered re-employment and then turn it down are likely to actually lose their unemployment benefits. But then, this also puts employers in a hard spot because they have to make hard choices

Starting point is 00:13:07 about keeping their business afloat as well as rehiring people who, genuinely in these really tough financial times with the system that is in place now, might actually be better off on unemployment. And it turns out that is true for a lot of people. While some studies estimate that only about 40% of workers made less at their jobs

Starting point is 00:13:21 than they would get from expanded benefits, others have said that two-thirds of unemployed workers who are getting these benefits are taking home more than they would from their expanded benefits. Others have said that two thirds of unemployed workers who were getting these benefits are taking home more than they would from their previous job. But on the other side of this debate, you have a lot of people saying, well, that's a good thing. Not just for everyday people who are hurting, but for the economy as a whole.

Starting point is 00:13:34 As the Washington Post reported, unemployment benefits represent a critical component of the country's recovery effort as the weekly payments to out of work Americans function as a form of stimulus in their own right. So normally, joblessness benefits are supposed to provide around 45% of a person's wages, but in order to also boost the economy,

Starting point is 00:13:49 the extra $600 in the CARES Act is intended to be enough to give most people 100% of their lost wages. And as Chad Stone, the top economist for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said, "'Unemployment insurance in a normal recession "'is a great stimulus because it has high bang for your buck. "'People spend it, it's very valuable "'to the people receiving it,

Starting point is 00:14:04 "'and it's beneficial to the economy. And so that's this economic domino effect idea that we've talked about before. When people aren't working or don't have enough money, they don't spend it on bars, restaurants, clothes, electronics, et cetera. But when those places don't make money, they have to lay off people,

Starting point is 00:14:17 which means more people don't have money. And so the argument here is that if we give people who lost their jobs more money, then they'll spend it and put it back into the economy. And with rising concerns about more and more of these job losses being seen as permanent, that could be incredibly important for supporting the economy in the long term.

Starting point is 00:14:30 And in general, you see a number of economists saying that's the big picture, the long term, not the short term. That normal 45% of your wages would be okay if you're out of a job for a little while. But if the previously believed temporary job loss is a permanent job loss, you need to plan for the distance. For example, during the 2008 financial crisis, Congress extended unemployment benefit eligibility

Starting point is 00:14:47 up to 99 weeks. While it was expensive and it was a controversial move, some experts say that these payments were essential for people who were unemployed for way longer than their states would normally give them benefits, which currently is around 26 weeks in most parts of the country. But ultimately, that's where we are with this right now.

Starting point is 00:15:00 We're gonna have to wait to see what Congress does, how the situation in the country just continues to develop. With this story, I'll pass two questions. One, what are your thoughts in general about extending this federal aid to people that are unemployed? And two, what are you currently going through? Have you lost your job?

Starting point is 00:15:14 Are you in fear of losing your job? Are you worried about the rent next month? Anything and everything, let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, as always, thank you for watching, hitting that like button, being a part of the thinking in those comments down below. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, as always, thank you for watching, hitting that like button, being a part of the conversation in the comments down below. Also, if you're new here and you like these dives into the news during the work week,

Starting point is 00:15:32 definitely hit that subscribe button and tap that bell to turn on notifications so you don't miss future videos I post in the future. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you next time. I hope you like this video. Subscribe if you like it.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.21 Guess Who's Finally Pleading Guilty, Kendall Jenner, & Our Recession Unemployment Problem

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