The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.18 Huge Max Landis Accusations, Elijah Daniel's "Gay Hell", & Kyle Kashuv Harvard Controversy

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. The first thing we're going to talk about today is trolling slash internetty slash now international covered by the mainstream media news. So, uh, let's talk about gay hell. And specifically what I'm talking about is Gay Hell Michigan. This appears to be the latest stunt from the 25-year-old internet personality that is Elijah Daniel. Now if the premise for this story sounds vaguely familiar,

Starting point is 00:00:25 it's because back in 2017, Elijah Daniel actually became the mayor of Hell, Michigan. He served as mayor for one day, he banned straight people, and then he was impeached. Right, the place has a gimmick of anyone can be the mayor of Hell, and Elijah Daniel did this because, quote, my ban is a copy and paste of Trump's Muslim ban, but with heterosexuals instead.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Right, so that was kind of his last troll that got major media attention. Now this time it appears that rather than paying the $100 fee to become mayor of hell, he has just outright purchased it. And this time, since purchasing the small town, he has renamed it Gay Hell. Also, as far as why did he do this, he explained in tweets, Ahead of Pride Month, Trump's administration put a ban on embassies flying pride flags. So as of today, I am now the owner of Hell, Michigan. The only flags allowed to fly are pride. Also, reportedly when NBC News asked him directly,

Starting point is 00:01:10 Why are you doing this? He responded, I have a young audience who is 16 to 24 who would not be involved in politics if it wasn't in a funny or meme way. I'm just trying to have fun and get my audience politically active. And following Elijah's announcement, there were a lot of responses. And rather than focusing time on people that were like, Yeah, this is awesome. Hey, this is stupid. The most unexpected response came from CM Punk, who tweeted,

Starting point is 00:01:30 Please annex Climax, Michigan so I can vacation in gay Climax hell. Yeah, this is kind of just a weird internet-y troll story because, and I really do want to hit on this, I'm about 100% positive that he did not actually buy this place. Like, the amount of free promotion that he has gotten from this troll probably is in the millions of dollars. No, I don't believe that he really did it. Although just so I can feel like I covered some real news with this story and actually inspired by this story. If you're unfamiliar with what Elijah Daniel

Starting point is 00:01:54 was talking about with like the flag ban, there was outrage over the flag policy that was sparked earlier this month after NBC news reported that US embassies in at least four countries were denied their request to fly the pride flag during pride month. And those four countries were Israel, Germany, Brazil, and Latvia.

Starting point is 00:02:07 With the report noting that during the Obama administration, the government had granted blanket permission to embassies overseas to fly the pride flag during June. But now, according to State Department spokesperson, Morgan Ortegas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has the position that as it relates to the flagpole, that only the American flag should be flown there. With Vice President Mike Pence also defending the move,

Starting point is 00:02:24 reportedly telling NBC News that it's the right decision. Adding, when it comes to the American flag should be flown there. Vice President Mike Pence also defending the move, reportedly telling NBC News that it's the right decision. Adding, when it comes to the American flagpole and American embassies and capitals around the world, one American flag flies. With Pence adding that the administration had quote, "'Put no restrictions on the pride flag "'and other flags flying elsewhere at U.S. embassies.'" So essentially his angle there is that people

Starting point is 00:02:39 can have pride flags at the embassy. It's just that the pride flag cannot go up on the flagpole because only the American flag can be on the flagpole. So yeah, there we go. We got a little news in whatever the hell this story was. But with all that said, I mean, you can give me your opinion on this story, but the question I have connected to this story,

Starting point is 00:02:55 a question for the younger viewers in my audience or someone who has like a younger brother or sister, or maybe you have kids, where do you slash they get your news? Now we've been creating news content on this platform. We've been expanding it on the places that we've been established, like the Facebook, the Twitter, the Instagrams.

Starting point is 00:03:10 But you know, I've been reading things about Gen Z recently because I wanna know more about the people that are gonna be like, shut up, old man. And looking into it, they're actually meaningful numbers when it comes to news consumption via Snapchat. I wanted to know, based off of your experience or your observations, if that's true, because I've been thinking about making making kind of

Starting point is 00:03:26 Like quickie TLDR type news videos. Yeah, just something I'm interested in personally and also in a business sense Then let's talk about why Max Landis is in the news. If you're unfamiliar with him, he's a writer screenwriter filmmaker He wrote Superman American Alien, Chronicle, Bright among others. That is not why he's in the news today The news today is this Daily Beast headline reading, Eight women accuse Hollywood filmmaker Max Landis of emotional and sexual abuse. We're not people to him. And really I can't do the full piece justice because it's just it's such a large piece. I'm gonna link to it down below. But for now, I'll give you some excerpts so you understand why this is gaining so much traction. One accuser writing, he'd instigate fights,

Starting point is 00:04:05 belittle and upset me just so he could have sex with me and the real legitimate fights ended the same way. He choked me until I passed out and did humiliating, degrading things to me that I still can't manage to write out on paper. There was also another accuser saying, once he choked me and told me he wanted to kill me and I would wind up reassuring him

Starting point is 00:04:20 that he wasn't a monster when he felt bad about it because I felt bad that he was so sick. Another accuser by the Name of Annie Baker also shared a similar story regarding death threats saying we finished having sex and we were standing naked in this kitchen And I slapped his butt and he said don't slap my butt and I said no I'm going to in a way I thought was playful and he snapped is the only way I can describe it he turned around and he put his hands around my Throat and he got very close to my face and he said quote I will fucking kill you you understand what I'm saying

Starting point is 00:04:44 I will fucking kill you another accuser also reportedly I'm saying. "'I will fucking kill you.'" Another accuser also reportedly said, "'I awoke to him performing oral sex on me "'despite expressing the night before "'that I wasn't interested in sex again.'" And that accuser explaining the night before, "'I told him I was really uncomfortable with this situation "'and didn't want to again.

Starting point is 00:04:56 "'He became enraged and began screaming at me "'and throwing things in the hotel room around. "'I shrank into a corner on the far end of the hotel room "'to put some space between us "'and then he loudly complained "'that I wasn't being a good date There's also this whole part where I'll just use this tweet from from Marlo Stern that truncates it one woman says she walked in on Max Landis raping her friend while she was passed out

Starting point is 00:05:14 They filed a police report in Miami and went to a court hearing where Landis's lawyer allegedly pressured the accuser into not pursuing the case The piece also goes into accusations of how he allegedly was able to keep this going for so long with so many different women. This is an oversimplification, but it had to do with friend groups that actually involved some of the women who were also accusers. One of the women in the article also said he was kind of like a cult leader.

Starting point is 00:05:33 Here's someone with a lot of resources and power and glamor and he's surrounding himself with people, basically kids who just moved to LA from who knows where, who don't have a network. He swoops in and like a predator, he knows how to hook a person. And understand this is in no way covering all of the accusations in this article.

Starting point is 00:05:45 I will once again implore you to read it. Now as far as the response from Max Landis or his people, right now we have not seen one. Although we have seen additions to the story, like that from Whitney Moore who tweeted, "'The only thing I wish was included "'in the Max Landis article is the fact "'that his dick doesn't work,

Starting point is 00:05:59 "'and of course he'd blame us for it. "'Body isn't good enough, enjoying it too much.'" But ultimately that is where we are with this story right now. It's gonna be very interesting to see what response, if any, comes from this. What happens next? But of course like with everything we cover, I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? And then let's talk about this Kyle Kajuv Harvard situation that you may have seen in the news. And for those who don't know, Kyle is a survivor of the tragic Parkland shooting. And since then he's becoming prominent guns rights and conservative

Starting point is 00:06:20 activists, even meeting with President Donald Trump. And Kyle made headlines yesterday after it was learned that his admission to Harvard had been revoked. And this appeared to be connected to racist comments that he made around two years ago surfacing online. Which if you're unfamiliar with this, to give you a little bit of background and context, at the end of May, two of Kyle's former classmates shared screenshots of racist remarks and slurs that he had made to the Huffington Post.

Starting point is 00:06:38 According to the Huffington Post, the remarks were made in Skype messages and in a shared Google Doc for a class study guide, with a report saying they were sent in either late 2017 or early 2018, just a few months before the shooting. HuffPost was given access to the Google Doc study guide and took screenshots, where it appears Kyle's writing can be seen in gray highlighting.

Starting point is 00:06:53 We can see that he wrote the N-word multiple times and he said he was, quote, really good at typing it and that practice makes perfect. In the previously mentioned Skype messages, he also reportedly used the N-word, this time when talking about a classmate's type. He also reportedly used the term pasty Jew. And as far as why, the student who shared

Starting point is 00:07:07 these Skype messages said she came forward because she felt his behavior was problematic. And telling HuffPo, quote, "'I honestly think, yeah, he's racist against black people.'" Also, after the Huffington Post reached out to him for a comment, Kyle responded on Twitter, writing, "'We were 16-year-olds making idiotic comments "'using callous and inflammatory language

Starting point is 00:07:21 "'in an effort to be as extreme and shocking as possible. "'I'm embarrassed by it, but I want to be clear that the comments I made are not indicative of who I am or who I've become in the years since. This past year has forced me to mature and grow in an incredibly drastic way. When your classmates, your teachers, and your neighbors are killed,

Starting point is 00:07:35 it transforms you as a human being. I see the world through different eyes and am embarrassed by the petty, flippant kid represented in those screenshots. I believe those I've gotten to know since know that I'm a better person than that. I can and will do better moving forward. Also connected to the story,

Starting point is 00:07:47 there was another Parkland student that told the Huffington Post that she had threatened to expose Kyle. And then the next day he stepped down from Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit student organization. With Kyle announcing in a tweet on May 16th that he was leaving his position

Starting point is 00:07:58 as director of high school outreach, saying it was in order to use my gap year to push for more school safety legislation before I attend Harvard in the fall of 2020. Which then brings us to yesterday when Kyle tweeted, "'Harvard rescinded my acceptance.' Three months after being admitted to Harvard class of 2023, Harvard has decided to rescind my admission

Starting point is 00:08:13 over texts and comments made nearly two years ago, months prior to the shooting. I have some thoughts. Here's what happened. A few weeks ago, I was made aware of egregious and callous comments classmates and I made privately years ago when I was 16 years old, months before the shooting, in an attempt to be as extreme and shocking as possible.

Starting point is 00:08:27 I immediately apologized. Here is my apology, and he shared the apology that he initially posted back in May. He then goes on to say, "'After I issued this apology, "'speculative articles were written, "'my peers used the opportunity to attack me, "'and my life was once again reduced to a headline.

Starting point is 00:08:39 "'It sent me into one of the darkest spirals of my life. "'After the story broke, former peers and political opponents "'began contacting Harvard, urging them to rescind me. Harvard then sent this letter, stating that Harvard, quote, "'reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission' and requested a written explanation within 72 hours. I responded to the letter with a full explanation,

Starting point is 00:08:55 apology and requested documents." And in this letter, he says he apologizes unequivocally, that he made poor choices with regards to the people he surrounded himself with, and that he is not the same person now, and that he has tried harder to be a better man to honor the friends he lost. He also shared a letter he wrote to the Office of Diversity himself with, and that he is not the same person now, and that he has tried harder to be a better man to honor the friends he lost. He also shared a letter he wrote to the Office of Diversity

Starting point is 00:09:08 and Inclusion about the matter. He then continues, Harvard decided to rescind my admission with the following letter. Somewhat ironically, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion sent me this response regarding my apology, which read, thank you for your email. We appreciate your thoughtful reflections

Starting point is 00:09:19 and look forward to connecting with you upon your matriculation in the fall of 2020. He goes on to say, after receiving Harvard's letter revoking my acceptance, I responded by asking for the opportunity to have an in-person meeting to make my case face-to-face and work towards any possible path of reconciliation. Harvard responded by declining my meeting request.

Starting point is 00:09:34 He then goes on to talk about Harvard's past and their own history of growth as a school, calling their decision deeply concerning, writing, if any institution should understand growth, it's Harvard, which is looked to as the pinnacle of higher education despite its checkered past. Continuing throughout history, Harvard's faculty has included slave owners, segregationists,

Starting point is 00:09:50 bigots, and anti-Semites. If Harvard is suggesting that growth isn't possible and that our past defines our future, then Harvard is an inherently racist institution. But I don't believe that. I believe that institutions and people can grow. I've said that repeatedly. In the end, this isn't about me.

Starting point is 00:10:02 It's about whether we live in a society in which forgiveness is possible or mistakes brand you as irredeem end, this isn't about me. It's about whether we live in a society in which forgiveness is possible or mistakes brand you as irredeemable as Harvard has decided for me. So what now? I'm figuring it out. I had given up huge scholarships in order to go to Harvard and the deadline for accepting other college offers

Starting point is 00:10:14 has ended. I'm exploring all options at the moment. And so after Kyle posted this thread, his story made headlines. He was trending on Twitter. Saw a variety of responses of people happy about this news, angry about this news. We saw people reacting to the whole of the story as well as specific arguments being made.

Starting point is 00:10:29 Specifically regarding Kyle's argument where he compares Harvard's history to his own. We saw Ed Henry on Fox News push back when Kyle started saying that. But I think that people can grow and people can change. Right. And I don't hold that standard to Harvard and I think that people can make mistakes and I don't think that mistakes make you irredeemable, as Harvard showed for me. Fair point. Can I give you a timeout there? So you're mentioning that they had slave owners in the 1600s.

Starting point is 00:10:54 You using the N-word was, what, a year, year and a half ago? Two years ago. Two years ago. A little more recent. Okay. On Twitter, we saw the likes of Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson tweeting, the focus on Kyle Kashuv leaves out key players. There were tens of thousands of wonderful applicants

Starting point is 00:11:12 to Harvard who did not do what he did. Why on earth would Harvard keep someone like him when they can use their resources on one of those folks instead? You had Adam Best, host of the Left podcast saying, right wingers are freaking out about conservative Kyle Kashuv losing the opportunity to go to Harvard due to racist comments.

Starting point is 00:11:25 These same folks didn't care at all when 14 of his Parkland classmates lost all future opportunities after being murdered in a mass shooting. Though regarding that note of the right-wingers, we've all seen comments that were made back in May from the incredibly controversial right-wing figure Laura Loomer. She allegedly advocated for Kyle to be removed from Harvard saying, I honestly think his acceptance into Harvard should be revoked. Join me in telling Harvard to give Kyle Kashuv's admission spot to a hard-working black student. Saying, But on the other side of this, at the same time, you had NRA spokeswoman Dana Lash writing, You also had conservative teen activist C.J. Pearson saying, "'My heart hurts' for Kyle Kashue. While his comments were indefensible and personally offensive, I forgave Kyle.

Starting point is 00:12:10 More than anything, what he needs at this time is our prayers and our grace, not our continued condemnation." And you have the likes of Ben Shapiro saying that Harvard's move here sets up an insane, cruel standard no one can possibly meet. Also, we saw some kind of in the middle takes on this story. You have the likes of Meghan McCain saying that while she

Starting point is 00:12:24 thinks that some of this has to do with the internet mob just attacking Kyle for his pro-gun views, she also doesn't think that his actions were acceptable. I don't know anymore. I really, I'm so mixed on this. I had a really hard time coming up with how I feel because I don't think it's too much to ask to not say the n-word from young people. It's not too much to ask that he go to another college. Yeah, I don't disagree. And you also had other people pointing out that this isn't the first time that Harvard has set this standard.

Starting point is 00:12:46 With people pointing back to 2017, where the school rescinded the applications of 10 students over comments that they made on Facebook pages. Comments that included racial slurs, anti-Semitic jokes, as well as jokes about sexual violence. As far as Harvard's response to this whole story, it's not really a public one because quote, "'We do not comment publicly on the admission status

Starting point is 00:13:01 "'of individual applicants.'" But with all of that said, that's where we are with the story right now. And of course I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on all of this? 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.

Starting point is 00:13:12 If you're new here, definitely take a second to hit that subscribe button, ring that bell to turn on notifications. It makes it that much easier to make sure you don't miss these daily weekday Philip DeFranco shows, which actually on that note, if you missed either of the last two, you wanna catch up. You can click or tap right there to watch those right now.

Starting point is 00:13:26 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.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.18 Huge Max Landis Accusations, Elijah Daniel's "Gay Hell", & Kyle Kashuv Harvard Controversy

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