The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.6 WHY Adele Situation Sparked BACKLASH & Praise, INSANE Venezuela Coup Rollercoaster, & More

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

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Sup, you beautiful bastards. Hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up. Hit that like button. Otherwise, I will absolutely devastate your throat and I mean with my fists. That doesn't make it better. Cut to an intro. I know we don't have one anymore. Welcome to the Philip DeFranco Show. The show that is the best show that's not really a show, but it's me talking to a camera for 15 to 24 minutes. Yeah, yeah. Apparently it's nostalgia week. Welcome. Also before we do jump into it, a quick note.

Over on youtube.com slash ACW for the video version or at linkshole.com for the audio version. Right before today's PDS, I just uploaded my podcast A Conversation With Andrew Yang. It was a really good time. We've been trying to do this for a little while now. I was glad that we could set it up and I think you'll enjoy it.

So youtube.com slash ACW But with that said this is the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is this whole deal with Adele Which that's that sounds so dramatic But legitimately people were making a massive deal about this so much so that she was one of the top trending things on Twitter this Morning that's because in part yesterday was her 32nd birthday. Happy birthday Adele. And with it being her birthday, she returned to Instagram after a long break from social media, simply posting a picture

with the caption, thank you for the birthday love. I hope you're all staying safe and sane during this crazy time. And adding, I'd like to thank all of our first responders and essential workers who are keeping us safe while risking their lives. You are truly our angels. And in general, the internet's reaction to this was,

okay, hear you on the birthday, hear you on the essential workers But bitch is skinny. The topic of conversation immediately became about her weight and her image. You had media outlets publishing headlines like Adele looks Unrecognizable after huge weight loss and Adele shows off amazing figure in tight black mini on 32nd birthday with fans also quickly praising the singer for what some called her glow-up even sharing side-by-side photos of her body Transformation. just compliment after compliment saying she looks stunning, inspiring, more.

But also with this, we saw people hitting back at those types of comments saying that Adele has always looked good and has always been stunning, inspiring. With some arguing that people were reinforcing harmful beauty standards associated with weight by calling her weight loss a glow up. Right, and this is kind of a continuation of that debate

between those who say there's nothing wrong with supporters celebrating someone's weight loss achievements. While others saying comments about her figure, her weight, it's inappropriate and no one's business. Others also sharing the frustration that this is a focal point when it comes to Adele because it overshadows the singer's incredible list of achievements.

And ultimately, as far as my opinion on this topic as someone who has been 250 pounds, who has been 170, 180, it is understandably a sensitive topic because pretty much any statement can be taken as a broad statement that is attributed to everyone, but everyone's personal experience with weight loss, with health, is different. For example, when I dropped from 250 pounds to a strong 180 pounds, I got compliments all the time.

And at the time, and for a while, I resented that because it made me think, well, did you think I was disgusting before? Like, why are you being nice to me, complimenting me? I'm essentially the same person just without the pounds. And that was on such a small scale. I don't even know what happens if the topic of conversation was an internationally trending topic.

But then looking back, I realized that wasn't necessarily true. When I was 180 pounds, I was busting my ass. I was working hard. The celebration was also about my dedication. The effort and the results, it said something about me at that time. But also, and once again, this is why it's so,

it's such a damn minefield when talking about this topic because it became such a focal point about who I was at that time. It would result in me leaning into unhealthy practices to try to maintain that image. Though that said, this was me in my early, early 20s where I didn't really have a sense of self-worth anywhere else outside of all of a sudden

this out of nowhere praise. And on the opposite end of this situation, once you get kind of higher in weight, I'm all about body positivity, you accepting yourself for who you are, not hating who you are because of the way you look. And also a massive fuck you to those who would call you names because of your weight or make you feel lesser than

because of your weight. But I also think we need to draw the line at the kind of the promotion and endorsement of unhealthiness. Like I was 240 going into the coronavirus pandemic. I am horrified to get on a scale right now. I feel unhealthy now. I still love myself. I still accept myself.

My worth is not what my body is right now, but I also know that I need to change things up. Right, not only for the visual, the physical, the self-confidence, but also my health, right? I have slightly high blood pressure. I want to watch my kids grow up, enjoy all those experiences and then eventually in like 40 years, call them and start every conversation with,

"'Why don't you call me anymore?' Because you know, as an adult, every conversation is meant to start with a guilt trip." Once again, this is my personal story. This is my personal experience. Maybe some can relate. Maybe this is the polar opposite of many. But ultimately, what I want to do with this story

is actually much like Adele, not going to talk about her body anymore, and instead, once again, a big thank you to our essential workers, and specifically our nurses. Today is National Nurses Day, thank you to the nurses nationally and internationally putting their lives on the line to help us. I mean, just today, the International Council of Nurses said that coronavirus has killed more than 260 nurses and infected over 90,000 healthcare workers worldwide. But also at the same time, stressing that this is actually an underestimation because it's only based on records collected

from 30 countries. And so the organization is urging more governments to keep better track of this data, saying this failure to record both infection rates and deaths among healthcare workers is putting more nurses and their patients in danger. And so those are already devastating numbers and knowing that it's likely much worse,

it's just a reminder of how grateful we should be for our healthcare workers. So again, a huge thank you to everyone and specifically our brave nurses out there right now. But ultimately, to kind of bring it back to the initial story, how we got here, I don't want the question to be specifically about Adele herself.

What are your thoughts about the general online reaction and debate around this topic? And then let's talk about Uber and Lyft in the news, actually for a number of reasons, and not just because you're not using them as often, but in fact, because California is suing Uber and Lyft. This lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and we also saw a coalition

of city attorneys joining him, this including from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. And as far as why they filed this lawsuit, they say that both Uber and Lyft have violated state law by classifying their drivers as independent contractors, right, gig workers. And this when they should actually be classified

as employees. And the coalition said in a statement, "'Uber's and Lyft's misclassification of drivers "'deprives workers of critical workplace protection, "'such as the right to minimum wage and overtime "'and access to paid sick leave, disability insurance, "'and unemployment insurance.'" Also adding that they're seeking restitution for workers,

a permanent halt to the unlawful misclassification of drivers and civil penalties that could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. In the lawsuit itself, they also accuse Uber and Lyft of utilizing quote, illegitimate savings they gain from depriving their drivers of the full compensation and benefits they earn as employees to offer their ride hailing services

at an artificially low cost, decimating competitors and generating billions of dollars in private investor wealth off the backs of vulnerable drivers. Also, as far as how Uber, for their part, has been defending their business, they have argued that their business is technology, not rides, therefore drivers are not a key part

of its business. Also, both Uber and Lyft have argued that their drivers prefer being independent, right? They get to decide when they work. But still, this lawsuit claims that those companies have enough control over drivers to classify them as employees. The lawsuit saying that these companies hire and fire them,

also adding that they control which drivers have access to which possible assignments, and Uber and Lyft are transportation companies in the business of selling rides to customers, and their drivers are the employees who provide the rides they sell. The fact that Uber and Lyft communicate with their drivers by using an app does not suddenly strip drivers

of their fundamental rights as employees. Now, part of the reason Becerra and those other attorneys are saying that this is illegal is because last year, California passed a law known as Assembly Bill 5. And notably, that required companies to start treating their workers as employees instead of contractors if those companies control

how workers perform tasks, or if their work is a routine part of the company's business. And if you're like, wow, that bill sounds really specific. Yes, it was targeted at companies like Uber and Lyft in the first place. So unsurprisingly, we've seen these companies resisting this with a number of companies pumping $90 million

into a campaign for a ballot initiative to exempt them from that law. Also, according to a spokesperson, Uber plans to contest the lawsuit, saying that at the same time, it will also be pushing to raise the standard of independent work for drivers in California. This including guaranteed minimum earnings and new benefits.

And adding at a time when California's economy is in crisis with four million people out of work, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to quickly start earning. We also saw Lyft release a statement, this one less critical than the Uber one, with Lyft saying they're looking forward to working with the attorney general and mayors

across the state to bring all the benefits of California's innovation economy to as many workers as possible, especially during this time when the creation of good jobs with access to affordable healthcare and other benefits is more important than ever. And all of this new is happening at the same time where this morning we saw that Uber has now cut 14%

of its jobs, right? Notably that is around 3,700 people. Right, and this on top of Lyft last week saying that it was cutting 17% of jobs, putting hundreds of workers on unpaid furloughs and trimming salaries. But ultimately that's where we are with this story right now. It is gonna be very interesting to see what happens with the lawsuits if we see other lawsuits pop up.

But the main thing with this story is I wanna ask, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think that Uber and Lyft drivers should be classified as employees? And then to add a thing onto the end of that statement, do you still have that opinion if it will personally cost you more per ride? And also, for the Uber and Lyft drivers out there,

do you want to be classified as an employee? And the last thing that we're gonna talk about today, also I think highlights why I love this show, but also have such a hard time explaining what it is to people who've never watched it. Now we open up with a kick to a podcast with Andrew Yang, where we talk about UBI and a bunch of other stuff. We talk about Adele and body image,

and then we close on this insane story involving Venezuela, US soldiers, and an alleged coup attempt against Nicolas Maduro. And also regarding this story, it is a total roller coaster and there are a lot of moving parts. So we're gonna try and break it down piece by piece and explain exactly what happened.

So on Sunday, the Venezuelan government announced that it had stopped what they called an invasion off of its coast, claiming that eight people had been killed and two had been captured. With their government also saying that the group were mercenary terrorists who had come from Colombia in a speedboat

to overthrow the government, but that security forces had stopped the planned coup and taken the group's weapons and equipment. But later that day, what we end up seeing is a former US Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau releasing a video alongside a former Venezuelan National Guard. In that video, the two announced

that they had launched what they called Operation Gideon, which they described as an operation to capture senior members of Maduro's government and call on Venezuelan soldiers to join them. And then in an interview with the Washington Post later that day, Goudreau, who now runs a Florida-based security firm called Silver Corps, said the operation involved 60 troops,

some of whom he claimed had already engaged Maduro's forces by land and sea, though none of these claims have been verified. Goudreau also telling the Post that the troops, most of whom he said were Venezuelan military defectors, had been based in camps near Colombia's border, which seemed to back up an AP investigation that was published on Friday,

coincidentally just two days before all of this went down. And that found and claimed that Goudreau had been working with a former Venezuelan army general who is now facing US narcotic charges. This to train Venezuelan military deserters to eventually mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro's arrest. And very notably here,

Goudreau said that he had tried to get backing from the US government, but he was unsuccessful. Also claiming that he discussed this with the Venezuelan opposition led by Juan Guaido, but the opposition pulled out. And in another interview on Sunday, the guy was busy. Goudreau provided what he claimed was a general services contract

between Silvercore and the opposition, signed by Guaido in Miami in October for $213 million. But here, he also claimed that the opposition never paid them, but he still went on with the operation because he is a, quote, freedom fighter, and this is what freedom fighters do. Now, all of that said, Guaido, for his part,

has denied any connection to this operation. With us also seeing another leading opposition lawmaker telling reporters that the operation was conducted without the knowledge of Guaido or any opposition leaders, adding that they had been briefed last year on the general idea, but did not endorse it. Though around this, Grudeau later insisted that they were lying.

Right, so with all of that said, that's just what happened on Sunday. It was a very busy day. On Monday, we saw Venezuelan president Maduro giving a super long televised address where he described the operation as a terrorist assault on Venezuela aimed at killing him. Also saying that the authorities had arrested 13 terrorists

with Venezuelan authorities later releasing videos of those prisoners. Though, it is important to point out here that we have seen some contradictions within the Maduro regime on how many people were captured. We had their attorney general claiming that they had arrested 114 people, that they're looking for 92 more,

which is a massive step up from 13. But then of course, very notably here, Maduro also said that two of the people they had captured were American mercenaries, with him showing what he said were the US passports and other identification cards of the Americans, which identified them as Aaron Berry and Luke Denman. And regarding this, Goudreau also later claimed

that Berry and Denman were two of the people involved in the operation, telling reporters that there were fellow former special forces who joined the operation, supervisors, and that they had been on a boat that was intercepted by Maduro's forces. We also saw Maduro accusing the Trump administration of helping coordinate the operation, with Maduro also claiming that the plot had been infiltrated

by someone in his government, saying, "'We knew everything. "'What they ate, what they didn't eat, "'what they drank, who financed them. "'We know that the U that the US government delegated this as a US Drug Enforcement Administration operation. That said, the DEA for its part outright denied any involvement on Monday.

Also according to reports, US officials tried to distance themselves from the operation with some questioning the truthfulness and legality of it. We've also now seen President Trump himself deny any involvement, saying, well find out, we just heard about it, but it has nothing to do with our government. With Defense Secretary Mark Esper echoing that statement

and telling reporters the United States government had nothing to do with what's happened in Venezuela in the last few days. Also in a statement to the media, we saw the State Department say that it could not comment on the reported arrest because privacy considerations, but also adding there is a major disinformation campaign underway by the Maduro regime,

making it difficult to separate facts from propaganda. Also saying that officials would be looking closely into the role of the Maduro regime and adding, the record of falsehoods and manipulation by Maduro and his accomplices, as well as their highly questionable representation of the details, argues that nothing should be taken at face value when we see the distorting of facts.

Now in response to Trump denying involvement, we saw Maduro's communications chief claim that Goudreau and Trump are actually connected, saying, how is it that the Secret Service of the United States hired Silvercore to handle Trump's security, and that Silvercore publishes that on its website.

Right in this referring to the fact that Silvercore posted a promotional video on its website that shows Goudreau a security detail behind President Trump at a rally in 2018. Also pointing to the company posting a picture on its Instagram that appeared to be backstage at that same rally. Though notably that picture seems to have now been deleted.

But ultimately that is where we are with this story right now, as far as my opinion, I am somewhat torn. I place no trust whatsoever in bogus President Nicolas Maduro. You know, I see and hear people like Eric Farnsworth, the vice president of the Council of the Americas and a former senior US diplomat saying, there's not one person at the State Department

or the CIA who says, let's repeat the Bay of Pigs. But also, I mean, you just look back to the end of March where the Trump administration put a $15 million bounty on Maduro. So then you're like, maybe if it wasn't officially backed, it was the inspiration for. But ultimately with this, I would love to know your thoughts around this situation.

Do you think that it was just this other group? Do you think that there was US involvement? Why, why not? Any and all thoughts, I'd love to see in those comments down below. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked the video, maybe share some common sense.

Also, if you're new here, you want more of these daily dives into the news, hit that subscribe button. Maybe even ring that bell to turn on notifications so you don't miss any. On that note, if you're looking for more to watch right now, we of course have that brand new podcast with Andrew Yang, or maybe you just missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show.

You wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch that right now. 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. I hope you liked this video. Subscribe if you like it.