The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.17 The Taylor Swift "You Need To Calm Down" Backlash, Bella Thorne, Hong Kong, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you've been a fantastic Monday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it. The first thing we're gonna talk about today is a situation around actress Bella Thorne. So as you may or may not have seen it appeared that Bella Thorne's Twitter and possibly Snapchat was compromised. There were a bunch of weird tweets posted as well as a promise to drop nudes if enough people followed another account. Those tweets ended up being removed and then the next thing we saw over the weekend was Bella Thorne tweet Fuck you and the power you think you have over me. I'm gonna write about this in my next book." Then posting what appeared to be several nude photos

Starting point is 00:00:30 of herself in a text message, where it appears that whoever hacked her account is saying, I have all of this on you. Bella also includes a statement in the notes app saying, "'For the last 24 hours, I have been threatened with my own nudes. I feel gross, I feel watched. I feel someone has taken something from me

Starting point is 00:00:43 that I only wanted one special person to see." Also adding, "...he has sent me multiple nude photos of other celebs. He won't stop with me or them, he will just keep going. For too long, I let a man take advantage of me over and over and I'm fucking sick of it. I'm putting this out because it's my decision, now you don't get to take yet another thing from me. I can sleep tonight better knowing I took my power back. You can't control my life, you never will. Here's the photos he's been threatening me with, in other words, here's my boobies. So here fuck you in the last 24 hours I've been crying instead of celebrating my book while doing my book press and then closing

Starting point is 00:01:10 Oh, yeah, the FBI will be at your house shortly So watch your motherfucking back and we've seen two main responses from the people praising Bella Thorne for seemingly taking her power back in the situation We calling her strong and brave for not letting someone just hold this over her head But at the same time we've seen a good number of people say that this seems too convenient. As she mentioned, she has a book coming out. She's been doing press for it. Also, her tweet after the Taking the Power Back tweet was a promotion for her book. So there's that conversation and debate happening right now.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Also, there was an update to this story Sunday afternoon slash night. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bella Thorne gave them a statement in it explaining why she is not pursuing charges against the alleged hacker and in the statement she says she believes that the person who hacked her is a juvenile who made a poor choice so she is trying to be understanding. Quote, this kid sounds like he's 17 as much as I'm so angry and wanted to fuck him up over doing this to people I just wanted to teach him a lesson. He's still a kid and we make mistakes this mistake is a bad one. But I don't want some 17 year olds whole life ruined because he wasn't thinking straight and was being a dumbass. Plus he's obviously smart so if he got on the right side of the tracks

Starting point is 00:02:05 he could actually possibly help our community and be an alliance. You can't always tear someone down for their bad sides but more so build up their good side. Right, so now the question becomes so is she saying that she's not trying to push forward to find this person? Also, what about the alleged nude photos from other celebrities who were hacked or had compromised accounts? Yeah, that's where we are with this story as of right now, and I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around this whole thing? And then let's talk about a story that involves what's arguably going to be the largest video today.

Starting point is 00:02:32 It's a standout of the week, and that is Taylor Swift released a music video for her new song, You Need to Calm Down. It was just released this morning. It's already number one on trending. It's got millions of views. It's been called an anti-hate anthem that calls out anti-gay bullies.

Starting point is 00:02:45 It includes lines like, why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? Which of course is a shout out to the huge LGBTQ organization. In fact GLAAD executive Anthony Ramos said, the fact she continues to use her platform and music to support the LGBTQ community and the Equality Act is a true sign of being an ally. But the focus for me with this story isn't just to go, oh, Taylor Swift is swell. It's because in all of this, we got a moment, kind of a showcasing of someone where it just, nothing will ever be enough. And what I'm talking about specifically

Starting point is 00:03:13 is a Slate article titled, "'Taylor Swift's New Single' is a Teachable Moment "'About How Not to Be an Ally,' which is an article written by a person by the name of Christina Cotarucci. And in this article, Christina accuses Taylor Swift of queer baiting. She says it feels hopelessly, insultingly out of place.

Starting point is 00:03:28 She refers to it as pathetic, annoying, and easily my favorite line of this article reads, "'Even though Swift has advocated for the Equality Act "'and put her money where her lyrics are "'with a donation to GLAAD, "'gays have reason to take particular affront "'to this careless pat on the head. "'Christina, who didn't give you a hug

Starting point is 00:03:45 when you deserved one? So yes, Taylor Swift recently has become more outspoken politically. She also, as mentioned, made a donation to GLAAD. Her fans have followed suit. Also, according to reports, there has been a surge in donations towards GLAAD since the song was released. Also, not only has Taylor Swift advocated

Starting point is 00:03:59 for the Equality Act, but at the end of this music video, she even encourages fans to sign a change.org petition to support the Equality Act. And by the way, the music video includes huge pillars of the LGBTQ community. Christina says Taylor Swift is patting on the head. A video that by the way, Christina boiled down to, wait, so let me get this right.

Starting point is 00:04:17 Taylor Swift's new video is a heartwarming tale of the two straight people at a gay party finding and comforting one another, which appears to be a reference to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry hugging it out in the music video. Which I will say, that tweet, for me at least, kind of explained why Joseph Kahn tweeted, This writer has been endlessly bashing Taylor for years. She's obsessed. Some editor at some point should take her stalker-like attacks with some professional skepticism.

Starting point is 00:04:37 And so I guess if there's any note that I could end this on, 1. Thank you for making an article so stupid that both left and right wingers could be like, What? And 2. To Sl to slate and I guess more Specifically Christina. Here's the attention you order enjoy also if you're wondering no that wasn't my penmanship That was that was the writing of a small child and definitely not me grown man Anyway, moving on and then let's talk about the massive news and updates coming out of Hong Kong and we talked about it last week But if you missed that show because you're a monster who doesn't want to Philip DeFranco show every day

Starting point is 00:05:03 Here is a quick recap So there was this extradition bill that was proposed in Hong Kong and the big thing with this bill is it allow people suspected of certain Crimes to be handed over to countries and territories with which Hong Kong does not have formal extradition agreements And that would notably include China which Hong Kong is an autonomous city-state of but so they have their own separate political and economic Systems from and so many of the people in Hong Kong strongly opposed this bill fearing that it would open the door to critics of the Chinese government being detained and extradited to China. And last week, reportedly over one million people

Starting point is 00:05:29 hit the streets for massive protests. And one of the protests later in the week resulted in some clashes with police, as well as leading to the debate around the bill being postponed, with the police later deeming these demonstrations a riot, which is notable not only because of the narrative, but also because it is a crime in Hong Kong.

Starting point is 00:05:44 But still, after this massive protest, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, who proposed this bill, said she would not be backing down. Even, and I'm paraphrasing here, calling herself the mother of Hong Kong, who just could not give in to the children that she was the mother of. But over the weekend, it appeared that stance changed,

Starting point is 00:05:58 announcing that the bill would be suspended, but a massive note here, not fully withdrawn, and this reportedly so that the legislators could further take into account the public stance. With Lam telling reporters in a press conference, I want to stress that the government is adopting an open mind to heed comprehensively different views in society towards the bill. And according to the Hong Kong Free Press, Chinese officials responded to this by saying we support, respect, and understand this decision. However, this update did not appear to be enough

Starting point is 00:06:25 for many people in Hong Kong. Many of which who also took part in another huge protest on Sunday, where according to organizers, almost 2 million people attended this protest. However, of no police dispute this number, they claim it was actually around 338,000 people. But I mean, you can just look at the pictures,

Starting point is 00:06:39 the video, and you see that there's just, the numbers are insane. But that said, if the organizers are correct, this would actually be the largest protest in the history of Hong Kong. Which I mean, you'd be talking about close to 30% of Hong Kong's population not supporting something, but actually going out and marching.

Starting point is 00:06:54 And as far as what the protesters had to say on Sunday, there were a few things. Those in the demonstrations said they wanted the bill to not only be suspended, but completely withdrawn. They wanted Lam to step down. They also want an investigation into the way police handled the demonstrations last week, claiming that excessive force was used.

Starting point is 00:07:06 They also want officials to not label last week's events as a riot so that no one involved could be criminally charged for participating. And we also saw demonstrators honoring a protester who died on Saturday after falling while trying to hang a banner. But jumping back to how police handled the last protest, of note, this time around the protest

Starting point is 00:07:20 had little police involvement, with reports saying that the officers actually remained on the sidelines while everything played out. Also, we saw Lam release another statement on Sunday, this one where she apologized for the way the bill unfolded, saying, "'The Chief Executive apologized to the people of Hong Kong

Starting point is 00:07:32 "'for this and pledged to adopt a most sincere "'and humble attitude to accept criticisms "'and to make improvements in serving the public.'" And that then brings us to the now, right? What is happening now? Well, since Sunday's protest, officers have cleared the streets, but a lot of people in Hong Kong

Starting point is 00:07:45 still have the urge to keep fighting. Notably a pro-democracy activist by the name of Joshua Wong, who was actually just freed from prison. This after serving two months for contempt of court. And upon his release, Wong tweeted, "'Hello world and hello freedom. "'I've just been released from prison.

Starting point is 00:07:57 "'Go Hong Kong. "'Withdraw the extradition bill. "'Carrie Lam stepped down. "'Drop all political prosecution.'" But as of right now, ultimately that's where we are. We're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out. If the people will continue going to the streets, if they want to take this further than just this bill,

Starting point is 00:08:10 which isn't to say that they're not going to try and push this bill through. You know, looking at the situation, if I can kind of just boil this down, no matter what happens here for the people of Hong Kong, it's hard to see this as being the end of any situation. This is a small piece to a much larger situation. And that is the continued effort of China

Starting point is 00:08:25 and Chinese President Xi to take away power from Hong Kong, to slowly chip away at their freedoms until they're fully in their grasp. And I feel like the people in Hong Kong, out in the streets, they don't support Carrie Lam, they probably shouldn't. Once again, that murder case in Taiwan that Lam was using as the reason why we need this bill,

Starting point is 00:08:41 even after Taiwan, so they don't support it, so it took away the legs from that argument. And so based on all the information in hand, it appears that her reasoning behind this is pretty transparent. And for someone in Hong Kong to not trust her, I think that's completely understandable. But hey, that's the story,

Starting point is 00:08:55 a little bit of my personal takeaway. And of course I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? And then let's talk about what's happening with and what's going on in Iran. The situation is getting incredibly concerning and this is the tone down explanation of what's happening. So today, among several things,

Starting point is 00:09:09 Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced that they have significantly ramped up their enrichment of uranium, and adding that they will pass the amount of uranium they have been allowed to stockpile under the 2015 nuclear deal in 10 days. And for some quick context here, the nuclear deal called

Starting point is 00:09:20 the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA, it was set up in 2015 to limit Iran's civilian nuclear program. And that was because the US and other countries were concerned that Iran's nuclear efforts, like enriching uranium, were not for peaceful purposes. So the JCPOA set restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for loosening some of the economic sanctions

Starting point is 00:09:36 that were destroying Iran's economy. And in addition to the United States and Iran, the deal was also signed by the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany, with many considering the agreement a massive step in the right direction. But Donald Trump and some other Republicans argued that the deal was actually bad because it gave too many concessions to Iran

Starting point is 00:09:50 without getting enough in return. So in May of 2018, the United States withdrew from the deal and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran. And a massive note here, the United States was alone in this move. In response to this, the five other countries that crafted the deal said they would keep their commitments and condemn Trump's actions,

Starting point is 00:10:03 saying that he was undermining the agreement and calling his actions a mistake. Now, while today's news is a massive deal, it also doesn't necessarily come as a surprise. And the reason for that is on May 8th, Iran's president announced that they would stop complying with some of their commitments under the nuclear deal. Right, so to be clear, Iran didn't pull out

Starting point is 00:10:16 of the deal entirely, but basically they said that they're no longer going to respect certain restrictions under the deal, right, like restrictions on building stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water. With Iran saying that they would give the other countries 60 days to help ease the sanctions on their oil and banking industries imposed by the United States. And if they didn't, they would just slowly stop

Starting point is 00:10:32 their compliance with the deal piece by piece. And while that 60 day period technically won't be up for a few more weeks, Iran has made it clear that they are not happy with the progress that has been made. In fact, in a televised speech earlier today, a spokesperson for Iran's atomic energy organization specifically targeted the European signatories for not doing enough.

Starting point is 00:10:47 But adding that they still had time to save the nuclear deal. Saying, if it is important for them to safeguard the accord, they should make their best efforts. And adding, as soon as they carry out their commitments, things will naturally go back to their original state. But then adding, they should not think that after 60 days, they will have another 60-day opportunity. But, as I mentioned at the beginning of the video, this is not happening in a bubble bubble because today's announcement comes as tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated even more So just this past Thursday two tankers were reportedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman just off the coast of Iran Causing one of the boats to be set on fire and a few hours later US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of attacking The tankers in a press conference Pompeo said the attacks were part of a campaign of escalating tension by Iran

Starting point is 00:11:24 Continuing it is the assessment of the United States that the Islamic Republic of Iran iso said the attacks were part of a campaign of escalating tension by Iran, continuing, It is the assessment of the United States that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks. With US officials later claiming that Iran had launched a missile at a US operated drone surveying the area after the attack. And a note here is at this time Pompeo didn't immediately provide any evidence for Iran launching this attack. But later on Thursday, US Central Command released a video and claimed that it shows Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the IRGC, removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers hit by explosions. And while the Trump administration,

Starting point is 00:11:48 backed by Saudi Arabia, believed that the video clearly proves that the IRGC was guilty, we all saw others not so sure. We saw Germany's foreign minister say, "'The video is not enough. "'We can understand what is being shown, sure, "'but to make a final assessment, "'this is not enough for me.'"

Starting point is 00:12:00 And also of note, the Japanese operator of one of the ships that was attacked also disputed the US's claims. In a statement, the president of the company that operates the ship said that he didn't believe that there was a mine attached to the ship at all, saying, I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship,

Starting point is 00:12:13 and adding, our crew said that the ship was attacked by a flying object. And as far as the reaction from Iran, they have strongly denied the allegations. Iran's foreign minister condemning the accusations in a tweet, saying the United States immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence,

Starting point is 00:12:27 and referring to the incident as sabotage diplomacy. But also of note here, the incident on Thursday and the US's response is only part of the increased tensions between the United States and Iran. In fact, this isn't even the first tanker attack that the United States has blamed Iran for. Last month, four tankers were attacked off the coast of the UAE.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Again, the United States was quick to blame Iran, but didn't provide evidence, and again, Iran denied the accusation. And over the last few months, numerous world leaders have come forward and called for the United States was quick to blame Iran, but didn't provide evidence. And again, Iran denied the accusation. And over the last few months, numerous world leaders have come forward and called for the United States and Iran to deescalate the situation. With many fearing that the situation

Starting point is 00:12:51 could lead to an all out war. Multiple EU governments and leaders have called on the Trump administration to exercise what they call maximum restraint. Following the attack on Thursday, France's foreign ministry said in a statement, "'France reiterates its call to all the relevant actors "'with which it is in constant touch,

Starting point is 00:13:04 "'exercise restraint and deescalate the situation. And that same day, the French foreign minister said in a briefing, it's in the American's interest to show flexibility to allow a process of dialogue to be started with Iran. And as far as what happens next, it is unclear. That said, in an interview with Fox and Friends on Sunday, Pompeo indicated that the US

Starting point is 00:13:19 has not ruled out military action, saying the United States is going to make sure that we take all actions necessary, diplomatic and otherwise, to achieve that outcome. And in a separate interview with CBS, he also said the United States might tighten sanctions. Also, according to reports, Pentagon officials are considering tactical responses to these attacks, including deploying as many as 6,000 Navy,

Starting point is 00:13:36 Air Force, and Army personnel to the Persian Gulf. But at the same time, many are skeptical that Trump would actually send troops to directly engage Iran. Trump has repeatedly said he doesn't want a war in the Middle East. Also, during an interview with Fox and Friends on Friday, Trump said Iran did attack the tankers, but repeatedly said he doesn't want a war in the Middle East. Also during an interview with Fox and Friends on Friday, Trump said Iran did attack the tankers,

Starting point is 00:13:47 but also that he wasn't looking for war. Even going as far as saying he wanted engagement with Iranian leadership saying, quote, I'm ready when they are. Whenever they're ready, it's okay. In the meantime, I'm in no rush. But of course, all that was before Iran's announcement today. And regarding that, this morning we saw Trump tweet, quote, Iran to defy uranium stockpile limits. But ultimately, that's where we are with this story right now. It seems that the situation is just escalating and escalating and ultimately we're gonna have to wait to see what happens here But of course like with everything I'd love to know your thoughts on this story And that's where I'm going to end today's show and hey if you like this video I love you took a second to hit that like button if you're new here

Starting point is 00:14:17 You should definitely hit that subscribe button ring that bell to turn on notifications Which on that note if you missed the last two over daily weekday videos You can click or tap right there to watch those but But with that said, of course, as always, my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.17 The Taylor Swift "You Need To Calm Down" Backlash, Bella Thorne, Hong Kong, & More

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