The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.24 What The Canceling of Dua Lipa Exposes, Weird Censorship, Adrian's Kickback, & Belarus

Episode Date: May 24, 2021

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!  SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter!  http://www.DeFrancoDailyDownload.com -- WATCH Troy Hunt Podcast: https://youtu.be/XVd8mRErzcE  WATCH Full “A Convo With” Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/ACW   LISTEN On The Podcast Platform Of Your Choice: http://LinksHole.com  WATCH the ACW Clips channel!: https://youtube.com/ACWClips  -- 00:00 - Dua Lipa CANCELLED 01:55 - Anti-Semetic Hate Crimes Rising 04:00 - AP Fires Journalist For Pro Palestine Posts 07:05 - Sponsor 07:56 - Hundreds Arrested At TikTok Party 09:30 - School Under Fire For Editing Girls’ Yearbook Photos 11:49 - Crypto Loses $1 Trillion 12:41 - Belarus Backlash After State Sponsored Plane Hijacking -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com  ✭ Paid Subscription: http://DeFrancoElite.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Dua Lipa Slams New York Times Ad That Condemned Her Pro-Palestine Stance: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/24/dua-lipa-slams-nyt-ad/ Rise in Antisemitic Hate Crimes Reported: https://www.npr.org/2021/05/24/999790233/officials-say-hate-crimes-against-jews-are-growing-in-the-aftermath-of-gaza-viol Associated Press Writers Sign Letter in Support of Emily Wilder: https://www.axios.com/emily-wilder-associated-press-firing-2331912e-8075-4461-84a0-4ced614ee8c3.html Nearly 150 Arrested at TikTok 'Kickback' Party After Thousands Attend: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/24/adrians-kickback/ School Altered Girls’ Yearbook Photos For Modesty Without Permission: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/us/yearbook-photos-st-johns-girls-altering.html Goldman Sachs Officially Considers Bitcoin an Asset Class: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/24/goldman-btc/ Belarus Accused of Forcing Airline to Land to Arrest Journalist: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/24/belarus-accused-of-international-terrorism/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Wuhan Lab Staff Had Symptoms Before Outbreak Was Disclosed, WSJ Reports: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/24/wuhan-lab-staff/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright Produced by: Amanda Morones Art Director: Brian Borst  Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Cory Ray, Neena Pesqueda, Brian Espinoza Production Team: Zack Taylor ———————————— #DeFranco #DuaLipa #AdriansKickback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. Hit that like button to support the video. Subscribe for your chance at $5,000 at the end of the month. And let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today are a number of splintering stories that are connected to the Israeli-Palestinian violence

that we covered last week. With one of the biggest updates being that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has generally been held into a third day as of Sunday. But of course, another big part of this story is public opinion. And a big part of that has been celebrities speaking out. Last week, we discussed the likes of Bella and Gigi Hadid

expressing their support for Palestinians and they weren't alone. We also saw the likes of Dua Lipa expressing her support as well. And actually connected to those three, on Saturday we saw a full page ad in the New York Times calling those three out. The ad was purchased by Rabbi Shmuley Botea,

the head of the World Values Network. And at the top, it shows the images of the three women and says, Bella, Gigi, and Dua, Hamas calls for a second Holocaust, condemn them now. With it lower on the page saying, the three mega influencers have vilified the Jewish state in a manner that is deeply troubling. Saying that the three accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing.

With the ad also claiming that any criticism of Zionism is antisemitic. Right, and so following that, we saw Dua slamming the ad on Twitter, writing, "'I utterly reject the false and appalling allegations "'that were published today in the New York Times "'advertisement taken out by the World Values Network. "'This is the price you pay

"'for defending Palestinian human rights "'against an Israeli government whose actions in Palestine, "'both Human Rights Watch "'and the Israeli Human Rights Group, B'Tselem, "'accuse of persecution and discrimination. "'I take this stance because I believe that everyone, "'Jews, Muslims, and, and Christians have the right to live in peace as equal citizens of a state they choose.

The World Values Network are shamelessly using my name to advance their ugly campaign with falsehoods and blatant misrepresentations of who I am and what I stand for. I stand in solidarity with all oppressed people and reject all forms of racism. But also a ton of just everyday people criticizing the times for allowing this ad to run.

With tweets like, how did this ad even get approved by New York Times advertising? It clearly doesn't meet their own ad acceptability principles, which includes keeping out ads that advance baseless claims and or conspiracies. And this aspect of this story actually branches off into two important pieces of news. One actually touches on something I mentioned last Monday.

Right then I said it was important that we saw Jewish Americans speaking out against the Israeli government because it hits on an important point that what the Israeli government is doing in the name of the Jewish people can be separate from the will of many of those people. And the criticisms of violence perpetrated by that government is not antisemitic in and of itself.

That is an incredibly important note to hit. And I would argue that it's way more bigoted to say that Israelis and Jewish people in general are just this one singular monolith, but also at the same time, trying to remember that antisemitism does still exist and is very prominent. And with that, it is important to note and report

that in places like New York City, antisemitic crime is on the rise. Reportedly in New York City, between January 1st and May 16th, there was an increase of 71% from the same time period last year, with it widely believed that the number is probably way higher

because so many incidents go unreported. And with that, you also have Axios reporting that the New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force launched an investigation into a pair of antisemitic incidents in Brooklyn on Saturday night. In one of those incidents, three suspects are wanted for harassing

a group of Orthodox Jews outside of a synagogue in Borough Park, who allegedly yelled, "'Free Palestine and kill all the Jews,' according to an assemblyman." New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calling the attacks unconscionable, saying they were pure unbridled antisemitism. With this, it's important to remember

that it is not just a New York issue. Reportedly vandalism and harassment fueled by antisemitism and Islamophobia has been reported to law enforcement and shared across social media platforms throughout the United States and Europe. Or you've got incidents where four people were arrested in the UK on Sunday

for driving a convoy through an area of London with a large Jewish population yelling violent antisemitic language. Videos of that incident went viral, drew widespread shock and condemnation. You also have things like in Los Angeles last week, people in a convoy of cars flying Palestinian flags, harassed and physically assaulted patrons

sitting outside a restaurant with a witness saying they were chanting death to Jews and free Palestine. So it is important to remember that criticism of what the Israeli government is doing and just pure unbridled antisemitism, those are two separate things, right? The first one does not warrant the second one. And the second one, bigotry, needs to be called out.

Right, so that is one of the splintering topics. And then the second is the relationship between what is happening and the news media. And at the center of this story, at least for now, you have the Associated Press. One, because their office in Gaza was bombed by the Israeli government, the whole building decimated. And two, they fired an employee,

and there's a big spotlight on that situation right now. So the employee in question was Emily Wilder. She was a news associate, and on May 17th, the Stanford Republicans accused Wilder, who is Jewish, of being an anti-Israel agitator, and quote, "'Promoted the blood libel that Jews ethnically cleansed Palestinians from the land of Judea and Sumeria, with Wilder then being fired just two days later.

And with this, according to Axios, the AP said that Wilder was fired for violating social media policies as an employee. And then, because it's this weird situation where you have a news organization reporting on itself, you had an AP spokeswoman, Lauren Easton, not sharing with the AP itself how Wilder had violated the outlet's social media policy.

Though, as noted in Axios' report, employees are not allowed to share political views or opinions on other public issues in order to protect the outlet's reputation for objectivity. And according to their report, after joining the AP, Wilder had retweeted a reporter's footage of a pro-Palestine protest, news footage of Israeli airstrikes,

and a journalist's tweet that stated, "'Reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does readers a disservice if it lacks historical context. With her also notably retweeting opposed detailing edits made to a New York Times headline on the conflict, which had removed mentions of Palestinians being evicted from their home. So there's that.

And then as far as what Wilder had to say after she was fired, she issued a statement saying, "'The compassion that drove my activism "'is part of what led me to be a reporter "'committed to just critical fact-based coverage of undertold stories. Now, after being fired after less than three weeks at my job, I have to ask what kind of message this sends

to young people who are hoping to channel righteous indignation or passion for justice into impactful storytelling. One of the biggest updates on this story today is that it appears that many of the employees of the Associated Press are in support of Wilder. With over 100 AP employees signing an open letter Monday saying they strongly disprove of how the organization

handled the firing of Emily Wilder, demanding more clarity on the issue, and saying we need to know that the AP would stand behind and provide resources to journalists who are the subject of smear campaigns and online harassment. As journalists who cover contentious subjects, we are often the target of people unhappy with scrutiny. What happens when they orchestrate a smear campaign

targeting another one of us? Interest groups are celebrating their victory and turning their sights on more AP journalists. They have routinely made journalists' identities subject to attack. Once we decide to play this game on the terms of those acting in bad faith, we can't win. And adding, we have no confidence that any one of us

could not be next, sacrifice without explanation. And, you know, ultimately with this, yeah, my opinion is, if I worked at the Associated Press with the AP not being transparent and specific about what transpired, I wouldn't believe that they had my back. And I also think we need to get past this idea that if someone has openly shared their support

for something or shared their opinions, they can not be objective. We all have opinions and beliefs and to automatically discredit someone because they decided to share them rather than keep them secret, I think that we're better when we bring people that have different understandings,

different views, different life experiences. So long as those opinions don't get in the way of a person's ability to report the facts, there's no reason for those opinions to be held against them. Yeah, that is where I'm gonna end this section, whether it be the reporter or really anything else that stood out to you from this first piece.

I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. But from that, I want to take a second to pay some bills and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, over the last year, I know many of you have found your passion projects in which truly makes you happy.

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make sure you enter an offer code Phil to get 10% off your first purchase. And then let's talk about some guy named Adrian. So if you haven't seen this, there's this guy, Adrian. He posted TikTok about having his kickback at the Huntington Beach fire pits in California. He gives a date and time and encourages people to repost the invite.

And of course, because the internet is the internet, within days, people were talking about it all over the app, making jokes about getting permission from their parents, flying in from other areas, trying to get rides, even needing legal advice in case they got into trouble at the party. And as it turns out, one, a number of people were not joking, and two, some of that legal help

may actually be needed because the turnout was chaotic. It resulted in 149 people, including 28 juveniles being arrested for vandalism, curfew violations and other offenses. Viral videos from the scene showed crowds of mostly young people in their teens and early 20s flocking to the beach and surrounding city. Some lighting fireworks, throwing bottles,

destroying property and police cars, climbing trees and flagpoles, doing a, destroying property and police cars, climbing trees and flag poles, doing a ton of other dangerous stunts, though miraculously there were no reported injuries. But still police eventually declared it an unlawful assembly, it put a curfew in effect at 1130 p.m. They also reportedly ended up using tear gas

and pepper balls to break up the crowd. And while having this giant party, and even the chaos seemed like a lot of fun to a lot of people, it's also incredibly important to note that local businesses and community members were very upset and were of fun to a lot of people. It's also incredibly important to note that local businesses and community members were very upset and were ultimately left to deal with the mess.

Business owners reported finding people on their roofs or having their doors and windows smashed along with other vandalism. On Sunday, we saw many of them coming together for a massive cleanup effort, sweeping the streets, using chemicals to remove graffiti. One business owner saying, "'It's horrible because they do it

on the busiest days of the week. They do it on the weekends. They shut down the businesses and it's just not right. You've gone through enough with the pandemic and now have to deal with something like this. Then, you know, I'm really interested to know your opinion on this one. So there's a situation where you have students

and parents at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County, Florida, expressing massive outrage that female students had their yearbook portraits digitally edited. Reportedly, none of the students were consulted about the edits, which were often lazily done, and were added to about 80 images to cover their chests and shoulders in the name of modesty.

With this, several students said that they felt embarrassed, ashamed, and sexualized after seeing the edits. Many saying they never even received dress code violations when wearing those outfits to school. One parent telling the St. Augustine Record, "'I think it sends the message that our girls "'should be ashamed of their growing bodies, "'and I think that's a horrible message to send out

to these young girls that are going through these changes. As far as the school district, they later said that the decision was made by yearbook coordinator Ann Irwin, a teacher at the school who deemed the photos were in violation of the school's dress code. And according to the school's website, all photos in the yearbook must be consistent

with the dress code or they may be digitally adjusted. But also their critics were quick to point out that the rules were not consistently enforced throughout the book. For instance, some pages showed the men's swim team in Speedos, which would also violate the dress code. Other pages with less formal images of the female students left unedited.

And as it turns out, this isn't even the first time this school has found itself making headlines over its dress code enforcement issue. Causing controversy earlier this year when dozens of girls there were taken out of class in one day for dress code violations. Many of the girls saying they were asked to unzip their fully zipped sweatshirts

in front of other students and teachers to reveal tank tops and sports bras, which were deemed in violation. And at that time, we saw students creating an online petition saying that the implementation of the dress code unfairly targets females and is clearly based on the sexualization

of young women and their clothing, especially since many girls are told that they're dressed inappropriately or that what they are wearing may be distracting to the boys. Now that said, as far as this situation, after all the outrage around the yearbook edits,

the school district offered to give students a refund, but only if they returned their yearbook. That response ended up frustrating a lot of the students who feel that it doesn't do anything to correct the real issue regarding the school's rules and enforcement practices. So right now, many are continuing to speak to local reporters to spread this story

in hopes of enacting change. And, you know, like I said at the beginning of the story, I really would love to know your thoughts here. Are you in the camp of, you know, the school has rules, they're there for whatever reason, but those are the rules. Or the district and the yearbook coordinator, Anne Irwin, they did nothing wrong.

Or are you in the camp of, no, this is disgusting. By censoring these young women, we're saying that their bodies are dirty and wrong and you're actually sexualizing them, right? Just another example of the policing of female bodies. Where do you land and why? I'd really love to know. Then in crypto news, my net worth took a hit last week.

Though that was also probably the case for a number of people since about $1 trillion was wiped from the crypto market last week. But at one point yesterday, Bitcoin actually dropped below $32,000, which is about half of its all-time high that it hit last month. And while a piece of the story today is that Monday has brought some recovery to the market,

I think the bigger story is about Goldman Sachs. Because Goldman Sachs, the second largest investment bank in the world, now officially considers the cryptocurrency Bitcoin a new asset class. Cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate are all examples of asset classes. And this is extremely notable

because this is a massive turnaround for the bank, which just a year ago said that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, are not an asset class. Though also very notably, we're seeing a different leaked Goldman Sachs report right now that is predicting that Bitcoin will be overtaken by Ethereum, which right now is the second largest crypto on the market,

which it called the Amazon of information. And then let's talk about Belarus and state sponsored terrorism. So according to Belarus's interior ministry, there was a bomb threat called in about a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania. So while this flight was over Belarusian airspace, the flight got a call from the control tower

saying that it had to land in Minsk. With it said that Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko was so concerned about this flight that he personally ordered a fighter jet to escort the flight all the way. But once the plane landed and it was searched, there were no bombs found and instead they just found blogger Roman Protasevich on board.

And wouldn't you know it, Roman just happened to be a co-founder of the next Telegram channel, which is one of the few remaining free press outlets remaining in Belarus. Reportedly, when Roman realized they were being forced to land, he told other passengers that he was facing the death penalty. And after seven hours, the plane finally took off again

to Lithuania with everyone on board except Roman. And if none of that seems like random happenstance to you, congratulations, you're not a fucking idiot. Right, it very much appears that Lukashenko and his government made up this bomb threat so they could take down an airplane and lock up one of his biggest critics.

That's why we saw Ryanair calling this a state-sponsored hijacking. You also had leaders around the world condemning the act. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken saying, we strongly condemn the Lukashenko regime's brazen and shocking act to divert a commercial flight and arrest a journalist. We demand an international investigation

and are coordinating with our partners on next steps. The European Commission, the EU's executive body calling the incident utterly unacceptable. While individual European states were far more forceful. The Greek foreign ministry calling Belarus's actions a state hijacking, Poland's prime minister calling it an act of state terrorism.

Germany and France also saying that such an act cannot remain without clear consequences, although it is unclear what those consequences can be. Belarus is not part of the EU, its top leaders and institutions are already under crippling sanctions for how it cracked down on opposition figures in a hotly contested election

last year. I mean, Lukashenko is known as Europe's last dictator, which maybe also explains why in places like Russia, Lukashenko's actions were met with praise. With Margarita Simonian, editor of the RT propaganda television network saying that he played it beautifully. Well, of course we wait to see what these countries do. If anything actually happens, you have airlines

also taking the matter into their own hands. With some carriers like Air Baltic telling its captains to avoid entering Belarus airspace until the situation becomes clearer or a decision is issued by the authorities. And ultimately with this story or honestly anything else that stood out to you today, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below

because this is the end of today's show. As always, think of being a part of the family, watching, liking, subscribing, all the good stuff. Before I overstay my welcome, I'll leave you with, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.