The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.10 Gone with the Wind FREAKOUT EXPLAINED, Stassi Schroeder FIRED, & The Voting Mess in Georgia

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

Go grab yourself one! ALL profits from our Limited Edition “Everything Isn’t Fine” Drop @ http://ShopDeFranco.com will go to the ACLU Foundation. Get Whacking. 20% OFF + Free Shipping @ http://manscaped.com/phil You can also donate directly to the ACLU here: https://www.aclu.org/ --  00:00 - Reality Shows Firing Stars For Racist Comments 03:41 - TIA 05:17 - HBO Max Removes Gone With The Wind 11:32 - Georgia's Sh!tshow Elections -- 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 ✩ FOLLOW ME ✩ ✭ TWITTER: http://Twitter.com/PhillyD ✭ INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco/ ✩ 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 IN AWESOME ✩ ✭ A Conversation With George Watsky: https://youtu.be/6pDUCAgsnKU ✭ Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man: https://youtu.be/CwiY4i8xWIc ✭ Baby Rose: Tiny Desk Home Concert: https://youtu.be/zdD3UsAemq0 ✭ Crossing Swords - Trailer (Official): https://youtu.be/EUrOT5RGM_w ✭ Inside 12 Lavish Entertainment Spaces: https://youtu.be/WNnMLLZq8Z8 ✭ Keep It Real Online: https://youtu.be/94mINLDSWlk ✭ What to Do If You Are Trapped on a Roller Coaster: https://youtu.be/Yf5EyjtIyvk ✭ Secret Link: https://youtu.be/SyPjwxHxbus ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Vanderpump Rules Stars Fired: https://roguerocket.com/2020/06/10/reality-tv-grapples/ HBO Max Temporarily Removes “Gone With the Wind” https://roguerocket.com/2020/06/10/hbo-max-gone-with-the-wind Georgia Primaries: https://roguerocket.com/2020/06/10/georgia-primaries/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ NY Police Union Head Slams Legislators and Reporters: https://roguerocket.com/2020/06/10/ny-police-union-head-demands-respect/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg 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, Luke Manning  ———————————— #DeFranco #VanderpumpRules #Georgia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you've had a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today actually involves the reality TV world, specifically around the show Vanderpump Rules. And this because several cast members on that show have now been fired due to behavior that's been described as racist or racially insensitive. The first being Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doughty. And this after it was revealed that they called the cops on the show's only black cast member two years ago because they thought that she was a wanted thief. And that cast member is Faith Stowers,

who recently told the story on an Instagram Live, which in part led to their firings. And she said that Stassi and Kristen saw an article in the Daily Mail about a woman who was at large and had been accused of stealing things and drugging people. And as Faith explains here. They called the cops and said it was me. It was just funny because they thought it was me

because it was a black woman with a weave. So they just assumed it would be me. And apparently when they called the officers, they did not respond, seemingly not taking their claim seriously. The woman in that photo was not Faith. Also, what's really interesting here is one of the reasons that Faith even knew that this had happened

was that Stassi was openly talking about it back in 2018. This on the Bitch Bible podcast, and seemingly she was kind of bragging about being a sleuth. Saying, saying that the woman in the photo had tattoos in the same spot as Faith and that day someone had told them that Faith stole their friend's credit card. Also, we had a fellow cast member accusing Faith of stealing his jacket and so they started looking through Faith's Instagram to make sure that it was really a match with Stassi saying, we find a wig she has a photo with the same wig that she had on because she likes her f***ing wigs. We're like we just solved a f***ing crime.

She talks about how they then called the cops who did not care. Also saying down the line, Kristen saw Faith at a club, so she called the cops again. And the police reportedly said they knew who she was, but did not care to come. And so with all of that, Faith then said that she left the show after all of this happened. And so once that Instagram Live happened, people started sharing the clip. There was a ton of pressure on Bravo to fire Stassi and Kristen. You had people saying that their actions could have gotten Faith killed. And with this, you also had people sharing a clip

from Stassi's podcast from around three years ago. And then she's criticizing the Oscars so white hashtag, asking why everything has to be about race. I'm like really sick of everyone making everything about race. Yeah. Like I'm kind of over it. And I know that I am the one person

who's not allowed to say that because I am a white, privileged, blonde, 28-year-old. So I get that. Everyone giving their impassioned speeches about race and all that stuff. I'm like, why is it always just about African-Americans? Like, why aren't the Asians being like, we're not represented? Why aren't like, I don't know, like Native Americans and Latinos being like, we're not represented. Why is it that they're like, it's always just that.

And then like whenever they get upset, then everybody has to go above and beyond to then make them happy. And I hate saying the word them because I'm not, no, not, not everybody's the same. So I get, I mean the ones that are like out there bitching about things. Now, following all of this, we've seen both issuing apologies. Stassi writing on Instagram, "'I did not recognize then the serious ramifications "'that could have transpired because of my actions. "'What I did to Faith was wrong.

"'I apologize and do not expect forgiveness.'" With Kristen saying that what she did was not racially driven, adding, "'I am now completely aware of how my privilege blinded me "'from the reality of law enforcement's treatment "'of the black community. "'It was never my intention to add to the injustice "'and imbalance.'"

But what we've seen thus far, you had Kristen and Stassi being fired, Stassi being dropped by her agent. Also of note, they were fired along with two new cast mates, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni for old racist tweets. Stassi's podcast has also now been removed from all platforms. But ultimately, that is where we are

with this specific story. Also, interestingly enough, it's not the only kind of story in this space that touches on this. We've also seen examples like MTV announcing that there were severing ties with Dee Nguyen of MTV's Challenge, with MTV calling this a result of her offensive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.

With that said, I would love to know your thoughts in general about the whole Stassi-Kristen situation, also more specifically about calling the police. What are your thoughts on this situation? I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. And then let's talk about this national conversation we've seen pop up over the last 24 hours regarding entertainment, what it says about society,

and also censorship. Right, so the first part more connected to just the horrible George Floyd story, the protests that have followed, the feelings around police in general. Because yesterday we saw the news breaking that Paramount is canceling Cops. Now personally, I did not know it was still around,

but apparently they have produced over 1100 episodes. It has been on the air since 1989. And them canceling it is actually a pretty big deal. They had an entire season that they were going to premiere on the 15th. And with this news, we've also seen people pressuring A&E to cancel Live PD, which on that note, they did pull last weekend's episodes,

with reports saying that the network is still evaluating the right time to bring it back. The return this weekend appears unlikely at the moment. Although I will say, and this is probably gonna be part of a different episode, Live PD is currently in hot water because it's currently being reported that Live PD actually deleted footage of a man's in custody death. This in connection to Javier Ambler's arrest and death.

Also regarding other shows, we've seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews saying the show's upcoming season will address topics like racism and police brutality. But by far the biggest news as it pertains to entertainment is actually coming from a movie that is 80 years old, right? We're talking about Gone with the Wind which notably is the highest grossing film of all time if you adjust for inflation But the reason that Gone with the Wind is making headlines right now is that yesterday we saw that HBO Max Removed it from its streaming library which to backtrack for a minute that decision came one day after the LA Times published an op-ed

From 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John John Ridley, who wrote, "'Hey HBO, Gone with the Wind' romanticizes the horrors of slavery. Take it off your platform for now." With Ridley saying, "'As a filmmaker, I get that movies are often snapshots of moments in history. They reflect not only the attitudes and opinions of those involved in their creation,

but also those of the prevailing culture. As such, even the most well-intentioned films can fall short in how they represent marginalized communities. Gone with the Wind, however, is its own unique problem. It doesn't just fall short with regard to representation, it is a film that glorifies the antebellum South. It is a film that when it is not ignoring

the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color. With that likely referring to the slave character that actress Hattie McDaniel played. And while McDaniel here is very much remembered for this role, she also became the first African American to win an Oscar because of this film. You of course still have people pointing out

that her character has also been associated with perpetuating the stereotype that slaves were happy to serve their masters. Also in this op-ed you had Ridley noting, "'Let me be real clear, I don't believe in censorship. "'I don't think Gone with the Wind should be relegated "'to a vault in Burbank.'" With Ridley then going on to ask HBO to reintroduce

the film with other films that give a more complete picture as to what slavery and the Confederacy were. Or to pair the film with, quote, "'Conversations about narratives and why it's important to have many voices sharing stories from different perspectives rather than merely those reinforcing the views of the prevailing culture.'"

Right, so that article goes out, it generates some movement, some pressure on HBO. What we see the following day is you have HBO removing the film and saying in a statement, "'Gone with the Wind' is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have unfortunately been commonplace in American society.

These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible." Which is a move that you had many people happy about, but also a move that generated a ton of outrage. I mean, this morning you you had Gone With The Wind trending at the top of Twitter

with people saying things like, HBO removing Gone With The Wind is just another part of the left's sinister plot to erase American culture. And noting that Hattie McDaniel was the first black American to win an Oscar, and saying, but the left doesn't care. They just want to see it all burn.

People also making reference to George Orwell's 1984. And a book about a police state and revisionist history. Many referencing back to this quote from the book, every record has been destroyed or falsified. "'Every book has been rewritten. "'Every statue and street and building has been renamed. "'Every date has been altered.'" And that process is continuing day by day

and minute by minute. History has stopped. However, you also had a lot of people calling foul to those using this quote, saying things like, "'Ironically, Gone with the Wind' "'is a great example of this. "'It became part of a bigger fictionalized narrative "'of the noble Confederate and the Southern belle

romanticized slavery and erased the less flattering realities of the South. With others also criticizing those trying to defend the movie by using Hattie McDaniel as an example. With at least one person noting, you don't give a shit about Hattie McDaniel, so don't use her legacy to spew propaganda about Gone with the Wind.

This wasn't the only movie she was in. Creighton with others pointing out that this is a private company shelving a film, right? It's not the Library of Congress. And also it's important to note that gone with the wind here is it's not like it's gone forever. In fact, it's not even really gone from HBO and that's because in a statement HBO said that it plans to eventually bring the film back with a discussion of its historical context while denouncing its racial missteps. We've also seen a conversation pop up in entertainment that's not censorship, but rather what we're featuring. Like we talked about last week,

there were a lot of people sharing movies and also releasing movies for free about the black experience. Like till the end of the month, among others, you can watch Just Mercy and Selma for free. But in addition to those, we've seen a conversation and a criticism about other movies, specifically ones that kind of have a white savior character.

Something that's defined as a trope where white characters come to the rescue of minorities in a feel-good tale that dilutes people of color and their own stories by minimizing and simplifying racial issues. And part of the reason that conversation is blowing up is the help spiked to number one on Netflix. Right, it's a movie that stars Emma Stone,

Biola Davis, Octavia Spencer. Right, in it you have Stone playing an aspiring journalist who begins to document racism experienced by black maids in 1960s Mississippi. Right, and on the surface it sounds like a movie that might open your eyes, maybe educate you to a certain degree. Right, but with this situation, you have people like Darnell Hunt,

director of UCLA's Ralph J. Bunch Center for African American Studies, telling USA Today, not to say the film isn't entertaining and may have other benefits, but if I were to pick one film that helps us understand where black people are today and what problems we face, that wouldn't be the one I pick. And I mean, we've even seen one of the movie's stars,

Bryce Dallas Howard, saying, "'Watch something else if you want to learn "'about black history,' with Howard writing on Facebook." The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers. We can all go further. You also have people going back and digging up

an old interview where Viola Davis actually says she regrets being in the movie. With Davis saying, "'I just felt that at the end of the day, "'that it wasn't the voices of the maids that were heard.' "'If you do a movie where the whole premise is "'I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963,

I want to hear how you really feel about it, I never heard that in the course of the movie. Right, and this particular topic of conversation may be why last night we saw Netflix introducing a Black Lives Matter genre. Notably now, when you go to Netflix, you'll see that More Than a Moment page pop up asking if you wanna go to your homepage or that collection.

And there you can find a number of films and TV shows made by black people about black people. Right, but with all of that said, of course I'd love to know your opinion on this. I know that we kind of covered several things, cops, Gone with the Wind, these last movies. I'd really love to know what you think because I've been really fascinated

by the conversations we've been seeing take place. And the last thing we're gonna talk about today is this incredibly important story coming out of Georgia, a place that I called home for several years, of course known for shenanigans. And I actually, I think I might've mispronounced that. Alleged voter suppression, I think I got it that time. So we've talked about the issues with elections being held during the pandemic before, but this is a completely different level. And while there were problems reported all over the state,

most of them were centralized in Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs, and specifically in predominantly black communities. Even before the polls opened, there were already reports of incredibly long lines. And that continued throughout the day with many people saying that they had to wait hours and hours to vote. And of course, part of the reason for that was because of coronavirus precautions.

Leading up to the election, more than 80 polling places were closed and consolidated in the Atlanta metro area. New rules for social distancing also limited the number of voting machines and voters in a polling place at one time. But those long lines were made a hell of a lot worse due to the fact that many people

who requested absentee ballots said that the election officials never sent them. And so as a result, numerous people that were waiting to vote told reporters that they were there because their mail-in ballots never came. But all of that is just the first act in yesterday's complete shit show.

The biggest problems came from the new voting machine system that Georgia rolled out yesterday. And for some context there, that system was put into place after a federal judge last year ordered that the state replace outdated voting machines that did not provide paper records. So instead of just printing out a ton

of good old fashioned paper ballots, state officials decided to spend over $100 million on a touchscreen system that produces a paper record after the virtual ballot is filled out. But, and that is a word I feel like I'm saying so much, but yeah, but numerous election security experts warned that there was not anywhere near enough time to switch the systems before the 2020 primaries

and properly train people, especially with the pandemic, which also scared a ton of the usual poll workers away, many of whom are generally older folks. But also it's not just because of the pandemic, even before the pandemic. You had the ACLU of Georgia warning in January that the state at large was poorly prepared for the elections, with others also warning

that while the new machines were better than the old ones, they still risked major malfunction. So what we ended up learning yesterday is that listening to experts is often helpful because basically all of the bad things they said could happen, did happen. All over Georgia, tons of machines were reported to be not working or missing entirely.

And in fact, according to election officials, there was no place in the entire state of Georgia that had a fully functioning voting experience. But again, this isn't just about the state, Atlanta was hit the worst. Poll workers all across the city reported that machines were not working or had not been delivered on time.

In fact, in some places precincts delayed opening because the poll managers were not given the correct access codes to set up the voting machines. Other delays were caused by the fact that some officials were forced to process paper ballots by hand. And after it was recorded that several majority black polling locations

had zero working machines, the mayor of Atlanta took to Twitter to encourage people to stay in line, writing, if you are in line, please do not allow your vote to be suppressed. Please stay in line. They should offer you a provisional ballot if the machines are not working.

But there's that word again, there were not enough provisional ballots. In fact, according to reports, multiple observers said that polling precincts ran out of provisional and emergency ballots in the first hour of voting. With one poll manager even saying that his precinct only had 20 provisional ballots.

And on top of that, he had to wait nearly four hours before the county's technical support got the voting machines online. And so as a result of all of this, there were a lot of reports saying that people got fed up with waiting for hours and they just left without voting. Now, despite the fact that you had experts basically warning that all of this would happen

well in advance, we ended up seeing Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, responding yesterday by blaming local officials with his office saying in a statement We do have reports of equipment being delivered to the wrong locations and delivered late We have reports of poll workers not understanding setup or how to operate voting equipment while these are unfortunate They are not issues of the equipment But a function of counties engaging in poor planning limited training and failures of leadership with Raffensperger also saying in a statement that his office

Would be opening an investigation and in an interview later that day Raffensperger himself said that None of what happened was his fault and that he did not accept any responsibility And adding the counties run their elections the problems in Fulton County are the problems with their management team not with me This was also echoed by Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs who said there is nothing the Secretary of State could have done to prevent This this is the singular failure of poor planning at the local level But it just gets bigger and bigger and he pointed out that the lack of training was a failure of the Secretary of State In fact, according to Democratic State Representative David Dreyer a training session for poll workers held on Monday consisted only of a one-hour training video provided By the Secretary of State explaining how to use the voting machines

But with with Dreyer adding you needed an IT professional to figure it out Y'all saw tons of other local officials statewide Democrats and activists placing the blame on Raffensperger, saying that he was responsible for this whole disaster and that it was his fault for rushing to use these new machines and not providing proper training and resources. People like Michael Thurmond, the chief executive of DeKalb County,

where many of the issues took place, calling for Raffensperger himself to be investigated and saying in a statement, "'It is the Secretary of State's responsibility "'to train, prepare and equip election staff "'throughout the state to ensure fair and equal access to the ballot box. Those Georgians who have been disenfranchised by the statewide chaos that has affected

the voting system today in numerous DeKalb precincts and throughout the state of Georgia deserve answers." With others saying that there was a lot that he could have done to prevent this, with people like Stacey Abrams saying in an interview yesterday, "'It is a disaster that was preventable. It is emblematic of the deep systemic issues

we have here in Georgia. One of the reasons we are so insistent upon better operations is that you can have good laws But if you have incompetent management and malfeasance voters get hurt and that's what we see happening in Georgia today And so on that note you had a lot of people accusing Raffensperger and other Republican leaders in the state of voter suppression Especially because so many of these problems were largely in black neighborhoods So that's happening Meanwhile, you see reports of voting in general going smoothly in white suburbs of Atlanta, which is also something we saw LeBron James tweeting about,

writing, everyone's talking about how do we fix this? They say, go out and vote. What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist? And that's a really important point in general, but also especially in Georgia. Because while the news from yesterday is very alarming, the alarms for November should be going off. Voter suppression is not something that is new for Georgia.

Black citizens and activists have long accused the white Republican leadership that has been in power for years and controls the state and election of engaging in racist voter suppression. I mean, you just look back to the 2018 midterms. Those concerns were magnified on a national scale when Stacey Abrams lost the race for governor

to Brian Kemp by just 50,000 votes. That, notably after Kemp, who was secretary of state at the time, refused to recuse himself from literally overseeing the election he was participating in and barely won. This also after Kemp put into place secretary of state at the time, refused to recuse himself from literally overseeing the election he was participating in and barely won. This also after Kemp put into place tough new voter ID laws, also conducting massive voter roll purges, both of which disproportionately impacted black Georgians.

All right, and so we saw mass accusations of voter suppression, something that Kemp denied. And of course with this story, it matters because of what just happened. It mattered in 2018, but one of the biggest things is looking forward. We of course are going into the 2020 presidential election and actually Georgia is believed to possibly be

a battleground state for the first time in a generation. It is also expected to be home to two very competitive Senate races. Right, and so going into this election, which is expected to be very bitter, hotly contested, have a razor thin margin, allegations of voter suppression and issues with voting machines could be a disaster.

This should one, be something that forces the hand in Georgia to make sure that everything will be set up by November, and two, sound off the alarm to election officials nationwide to get their shit down. Also, as far as how the two main campaigns have responded, we saw Joe Biden's campaign saying in a statement, "'Free and fair elections are the cornerstone "'of our democracy.'

"'What we see in Georgia today, "'from significant issues with voting machines "'to breakdowns in the delivery of ballots to voters who requested to vote absentee, are a threat to those values and are completely unacceptable. As far as the Trump campaign, they released what I can only describe

as a very different assessment, with a senior political advisor saying, "'The chaos in Georgia is a direct result "'of the reduction in the number "'of in-person polling places "'and over-reliance on mail-in voting. "'We have a duty to protect the constitutional rights "'of all of our citizens to vote in person

and to have their votes counted. Although the clear counter to that is most of the problems that we saw here were in person voting machines, not the mail-in voting. Instead of a number of people getting their mail-in voting stuff on time, they were forced to try to use systems that were not working. But of course, not a completely unexpected statement

from the Trump side as they've been trying to muddy up and attack mail-in ballots. But I mean, come on, it's right in front of us. If we're seeing issues with machines like we've seen in Georgia, if anything to muddy up and attack mail-in ballots. But I mean, come on, it's right in front of us. If we're seeing issues with machines like we've seen in Georgia, if anything, absentee and mail-in voting appears to be essential. And I will say at the end of this, I am personally concerned that not enough

is going to be done before November. Yes, you do have people like Amy Klobuchar, who is sponsoring a bill to increase funding for mail-in voting, who said in a statement, "'When we don't properly fund our elections "'and develop plans to protect voters, "'Americans, often in communities of color, "'get disenfranchised, and that's what happened today in Georgia.

But don't expect that to pass because in addition to Trump's statements, I mean, right now his campaign is working with the RNC to spend millions suing states that expand vote by mail systems. But ultimately, that is where I'm gonna leave it today. And hey, as always, thank you for watching, liking the video, sharing the video,

being a part of the conversation in those comments down below. Also, if you're new here, definitely hit that subscribe button and then tap that bell to make sure it looks like this so you get down below. Also, if you're new here, definitely hit that subscribe button and then tap that bell to make sure it looks like this so you get all notifications. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, maybe you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show

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