The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.5 Mr.Beast EXPOSED?! NY Times "Hit Piece" Backlash, Dogecoin, Peloton, Facebook, & More

Episode Date: May 5, 2021

Get 20% OFF + Free shipping @manscaped instantly at https://www.manscaped.com/phil SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter!  http://www.DeFrancoDailyDownload.com -- WATCH Marisha Ray Podcast: https://youtu.be/CjYRblfIeB4 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 - If only… 00:38 - MrBeast Toxic Workplace Allegations 06:13 - Sponsor 07:08 - Pizza Shop PPP Fraud 08:21 - Peloton To Recall Tread+ 09:55 - Board Upholds Trump’s Facebook Ban -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com ✭ Lemme Touch Your Hair: http://BeautifulBastard.com ✭ Paid Subscription: http://DeFrancoElite.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  MrBeast Accused of Creating Toxic Workplace: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/05/mrbeast-toxic-workplace/ Pizza Shop Owner Defrauded $660,000 in PPP Loans to Buy Alpaca Farm: https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/05/04/dana-mcintyre-ppp-loan-fraud-rasta-pasta-pizzeria/ Peloton Recalls Treadmills: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56993894 Facebook’s Oversight Board Says Trump Ban Was Justifiable: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/05/trumps-facebook-ban ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Derek Chauvin Seeking New Trial: https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/05/derek-chauvin-seeks-new-trial/ India Surpasses 20 Million COVID-19 Cases After Massive Month-Long Surge https://roguerocket.com/2021/05/05/india-surpasses-20-million-covid-19-cases/ ——————————     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 #MrBeast #Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh my god, you're not supposed to do this. You're not supposed to do this, but I need to. If I had taken the money I invested in the stock market last year and I just YOLOed it all into Dogecoin, I would have never done that. I grew up poor, I'm horrified at losing money. But if I had done it,

I would have a quarter of a billion dollars today. None of my enemies would be safe right now, I'm kidding. Anyway, money isn't real. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. It is Wednesday, May 5th, 2021. Hit that like button, subscribe, and let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today

is this massive controversy and scandal around one of the biggest creators on pretty much any platform, Mr. Beast, AKA 22 year old Jimmy Donaldson. Right, most all of this stemming from a New York Times piece that was released yesterday that some have referred to as a really interesting profile and the other side of Mr. Beast that people don't see,

to others just calling it a straight out ridiculous hit piece. Right, noting that you have other massive creators like TikToker Josh Richards saying, "'I think Mr. Beast inspires all of Gen Z.' He's giving a lot of kids a new path to take, to teach these young kids on how to be entrepreneurial, not just to get a lot of views or become famous."

But then it delving heavily into issues that allegedly take place behind the scenes and accuse Mr. Beast of essentially being a very different person when the cameras aren't rolling. The Times claiming that his corporate entities have been rife with favoritism and bullying. With people like Matt Turner, who was an editor for Mr. Beast between 2018 and 2019, saying that Mr. Beast berated him almost every day and often called him, quote, a phrase used

to insult people with mental disabilities, which would leave him in tears. Report also noting that initially many of Mr. Beast's employees were friends, though as his platform grew, so did the people working for him. With Turner saying that while Jimmy's friends got to be in the videos, he struggled just to get acknowledged saying, "'I was not to be credited for anything I did. "'I'd ask for credit, he'd credit someone else.'" The Times also talking to another person by the name of Nate Anderson,

who said that he worked for Mr. Beast for a week back in 2018 before quitting because of what he described as unreasonable demand. Saying nothing ever worked for him, he always wanted it a certain way. Also saying that when he later posted a video about his experience, he got death threats from Mr. Beast fans. Turner is saying the same happened to him when he posted about his experience, he got death threats from Mr. Beast fans.

Turner saying the same happened to him when he posted about his experience. As far as the other side of this, you had Mr. Beast reportedly not commenting to the Times on the story, a representative declining to talk about the workplace allegations, but the representative did acknowledge a part of the piece

that briefly mentioned Mr. Beast's past use of slurs and offensive jokes, saying that when Jimmy was first starting out, he carelessly used on more than one occasion a gay slur, but now he knows there is no excuse for homophobic rhetoric and has grown up and matured into someone that doesn't speak like that. But that said, you know, primarily this piece

and what a lot of the focus has been on is the alleged toxic work environment behind the scenes. But also now we're seeing a lot of pushback on social media against the claims in the Times article. And that's because of a now deleted video from Turner, who of course is one of the main accusers in this article starting to circulate. And in that video, he paints a drastically different picture

calling it a dream job, recommending others work there. Also saying the decision for him to leave was mutual. If you have the opportunity to get this job that I had, totally take it, it's a lot of fun. It was basically just like a friendship and going to work was a blast each and every day. With him then going on to say in the video that his actual primary reason for leaving

was because they knew that he wasn't in the job for the long haul because he wanted to move to Los Angeles. He wanted to go to college. He wanted to backpack around Asia. So they decided to part ways. With him even saying that even though he was no longer working there, Mr. Beast offered and continued to pay for his rent

so that he could stay in the apartment as long as he needed. Right, and saying they even continued to pay him as though he was working for an unspecified period of time. And that is basically funding my trip to backpack across Asia. He's saying, you don't have to work for me, but I'll still pay you, and because of that, I hope that lets you live in LA, go to college, backpack Asia. Whatever you want to do after this, I want to set you up for that. And with him ultimately saying, If you're watching this, Mr. Beast, I love you, bro. You see people going,

okay, so he said what he said in the New York Times article. Then we see him in this video. Then you have also others pushing back against that video saying this isn't coming out of nowhere, that Turner actually allegedly shared tweets describing a negative experience, that he posted videos as well. And while of course those have since been deleted, there are of course re-uploads, including one video where he tells a story about Mr. B's being unhappy with him and wiping an entire video that he was editing. Comes in the room and he goes,

"'You absolute." Get back in that room, I swear to God, Turner. Jesus Christ, how many times do I have to tell you how to edit this video? What are you a." And in that video, according to the re-uploads, he claimed that he only posted the positive things to clout chase because he was afraid of what would happen

if he spoke negatively about the situation. But then obviously because he said that, there you have people pushing back and saying, well, isn't he just clout chasing in the New York Times now? And that is essentially where we are with this story. And as far as my opinion, just to be transparent, I have a Mr. Beast bias. I personally think that Mr. Beast

is one of the most exciting people to watch in our space right now. I think he's pushing our industry further. Everything that I've seen makes me feel like he is a good guy and he's not just doing it for showmanship, whether it be Mr. Beast philanthropy or other stuff. Though, I guess if you're being a cynic about it, you could say that he's using that as a way to shield

himself from any kind of future hits. Also, that's not to say that I agree with everything that he's done. I still don't fully like that they took a PPP loan. I have concerns about what he's doing with investing and creators moving forward because while it could be very cool, I think that it's kind of just an MCN and different wrapping.

Then finally, regarding the situation at hand, it's hard to have any sort of solid opinion when one of the main people speaking out is this Turner kid. When you have someone who has publicly said, I said something that was not true because I was clout chasing, it understandably is going to make people skeptical

about what you are claiming. Right, are you telling the truth or are you lying? Are you kind of telling the truth but you're embellishing a lot? We don't know. Because the Times piece doesn't really fully address and dive into the flip-flop nature of Turner's claims, it ends up feeling like a hit piece.

And hey, I don't have a perfect track record in calling these things. It's also probably the reason why I get so angry when I'm kind of proven wrong when I think someone was a good person. But Mr. Beast to me in no way feels like a bad actor. But also I'm just one guy and this is kind of my opinion and feeling section, right?

I give you the story, my opinions and thoughts on it, and now I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Was this just a hit piece fueled by clout chasers and kind of disgruntled former employees? Or is there a real concern here? What camp are you landing in here and why? But from that, I wanna take a second

to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Manscaped.com. Manscaped, the premier brand for men's grooming just launched their fourth generation electric trimmer, the Lawn Mower 4.0 that is available as of today in the United States and Canada. And the craftsmanship and details on, the Lawn Mower 4.0 that is available as of today in the United States and Canada. And the craftsmanship and details on the new Lawn Mower 4.0 are pretty incredible.

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with a sleek two-toned matte and gloss finish, which not only looks cool, but helps fit perfectly in your hand. And best of all, right now you can get 20% off your Manscaped order plus free shipping when you visit manscaped.com slash Phil. And then let's talk about this news around 57 year old Dana McIntyre.

So like a lot of small business owners impacted by the pandemic, Dana applied to the Paycheck Protection Program. Right, he's impacted so he fills out the form to protect him and his 50 employees. However, we've now learned that the authorities are saying that McIntyre is a liar. A liar McLiar face.

Turns out he does not have the world's largest pizzeria, with him reportedly in reality having fewer than 10 employees, also saying that he falsified his official tax form in order to inflate the size of his loan, which reportedly for a while actually worked. He received a massive loan of $660,000. He then allegedly didn't even continue to run the shop. He sold the pizza shop and used the money to buy two vehicles, including a 1950 Hudson. He also allegedly bought weekly

airtime for a cryptocurrency themed radio show that he hosted himself, as well as a farm in Vermont and even several alpacas for that farm. He wanted to live the hippie dream in Vermont, don't we all? But that hippie dream may be out of his reach because he was arrested yesterday and now charged with both wire fraud and money laundering. And I mean, if he's convicted for both, he could face up to 40 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Though following charges,

as far as McIntyre's side of things on Facebook, he posted plain utter bullshit. Cannot wait for my day in court. So, you know, we'll wait and we'll see what happens there. Then in this has cost me, I do not feel comfortable saying that number out loud news. We had Peloton in the news today. And this because the company announced today

that they would be recalling their Tread Plus and Tread treadmills. Well, of course this was announced today. This is kind of the other shoe dropping, right? Because as outlets like Axios reported last month, you had the CPSC issuing an urgent warning for parents to stop using the Peloton Tread Plus. This after there were 39 incidents

where small children were injured, including one that resulted in a death. And saying in an April press release, CPSC staff believes the Peloton Tread Plus poses serious risks to children for abrasions, fractures, and death. In light of multiple reports of children becoming entrapped, pinned, and pulled under the rear roller of the product,

CPSC urges consumers with children at home to stop using the product immediately. Right, so that happened happened and initially Peloton said that they were shocked and devastated to learn about the child's death, but also slamming the report saying that it was inaccurate and misleading, saying there is no reason to stop using the Tread Plus as long as all warnings and safety instructions

are followed, but now that has obviously changed. The CEO of Peloton, John Foley, now saying, "'The decision to recall both products "'was the right thing to do for Peloton's members "'and their families. "'I want to be clear, Peloton, John Foley, now saying, the decision to recall both products was the right thing to do for Peloton's members and their families. I want to be clear, Peloton made a mistake in our initial response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission's request that we recall the Tread Plus.

We should have engaged more productively with them from the outset. For that, I apologize. With Peloton adding that they will work with the commission to set new industry safety standards for treadmills, saying, we have a desire and a responsibility to be an industry leader in product safety.'" You know, with this news today,

we saw the stock get hammered, Peloton dropping more than 14%. Yeah, for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens next here, and also what happens with the rollout of this recall. And then we should definitely talk about Donald Trump back in the news, and this in part, because this morning Facebook's

semi-independent oversight board ruled that the former president's indefinite suspension from the platform following the January 6th insurrection was justified. There, the board specifically citing two posts from Trump, one where he told insurrectionists, "'We love you, you're very special,' and another where he calls them great patriots

and tells them to remember this day forever." The board then noting that Trump repeatedly created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible by peddling the false claim that the 2020 elections were filled with voter fraud, and adding, "'At the time of Mr. Trump's post, there was a clear, immediate risk of violence was possible by peddling the false claim that the 2020 elections were filled with voter fraud. And adding, at the time of Mr. Trump's post, there was a clear immediate risk of harm and his words of support for those involved in the riots

legitimize their violent actions. Also kind of an interesting side thing, that the board's decision here is actually rather notable because it's one of the few times that it's actually agreed with Facebook, right? Actually, if you look at the first five rulings that it issued back in January, the board cited against Facebook's decisions

in all but one case. But despite upholding Trump's ban, and this is a big key thing that I think a number of people missed just if you just read headlines, the board also ordered Facebook to reassess how long this will remain in effect, saying, "'It is not permissible for Facebook

"'to keep a user off the platform "'for an undefined period with no criteria for when "'or whether the account will be restored.'" With the board adding that Facebook should complete a review on the length of Trump's suspension within six months. Now, that said, technically the board's decisions are not binding, so Facebook could just ignore this. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also pledged

to abide by its rulings. And in fact, following this ruling, we saw Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications saying that the platform will now, quote, determine an action that is clear and proportionate. And while obviously the indefinite suspension leading up to this was already a huge deal, the ruling that we're going to see here will set a new

standard for how world leaders could be moderated on social media, right? For example, with all of this, he had the board also writing that quote, "'Considerations of newsworthiness should not take priority when urgent action is needed to prevent significant harm.'" And with that seeming to be specifically aimed, not only at Zuckerberg's belief

that speech from political leaders should be left largely untouched, but also at criticisms that Facebook's policies and lack of transparency have led to both confusion and calls of bias, which we saw once again from many top Republicans following this ruling, which I will say largely and oftentimes feels like a cry that you're being abused, that you are a victim

as a way to further promote yourself. I mean, it's rather easy to find out on Facebook what's getting the most engagement, what's getting the most views, what's getting the most traction. Seven, eight, nine, sometimes 10 out of 10 times the most popular stuff is conservative stuff. Do not let them whitewash what happened on January 6th

and Donald Trump's involvement in it. Also, don't let them try to equate what Donald Trump was actively doing on social media to just people having conservative opinions and being cracked down upon. Right, Donald Trump didn't get booted off of Facebook because he was like, I want a smaller government, or maybe actually he kind of did,

because he was like, I don't want people who oppose me in government. You get what I'm saying. He didn't get booted off of Facebook because he was like, I'm for a strong border and lower taxes. We know what happened. Don't let him change the story on you

because if you talk to half a Republicans about what happened on January 6th, there's a lot of different stories that contradict reality. 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 the show. So as always, thank you for watching,

like and subscribe and all the good stuff. If you're looking for more to watch, you got that brand new podcast with Troy Hunt or I got some more news of course, right here. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's and all the good stuff. If you're looking for more to watch, you got that brand new podcast with Troy Hunt or I got some more news of course right here. 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 tomorrow.