The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.29 I'm Done With The Internet After This...

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. I got a fantastic Wednesday show for you today, and you know what? We're gonna switch it up. Like that hit button, let's just scooch into it. You know, the first thing that we have to talk about today is this virtual mental health treatment company that is coming under fire, and it's not BetterHelp. What? Also, quick aside, some of y'all remember when the internet tried to end my career because I worked with BetterHelp, and I didn't personally find that they did anything wrong, but I still ended the relationship. How is it that still to this day people are like, remember BetterHelp and I didn't personally find that they did anything wrong, but I still ended the relationship. How is it that still to this day, people are like, remember BetterHelp? But they literally just fucking sponsored Mr. Beast and I didn't see anyone make a fucking peep. And I'm not

Starting point is 00:00:32 saying go after Jimmy. I think Jimmy is a very, very good guy, but what the fuck internet? Anyway, I still don't work with that company, even though they offered me a ton of money, but they are not in the spotlight today. Instead, it is Cerebral, where they connect people to talk therapy and medication for conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD. They're a very new company. They were founded in 2020. They brought in $462 million in funding. They grew very, very popular. You might've seen any number of a billion ads of theirs on TikTok, which also makes sense. It was like during the height of the pandemic, everyone was at home struggling with their mental health. But reportedly behind this rosy, upbeat brand is a reckless company

Starting point is 00:01:04 delivering sensitive healthcare in flagrant disregard of medical standards. And I say reportedly because at least that's what's being suggested by a cache of leaked documents obtained by Insider, as well as interviews with over 30 current and former employees, which paint a damning picture from behind the scenes. With over 2,000 incident reports filed by employees over seven months in 2021, with many of them flagging serious concerns about patient care and showing that the company took on patients with complex conditions like bipolar disorder, then assigning them to clinicians and other staff members with insufficient training, oversight, and support to treat such cases, with it also putting dozens of patients on questionable treatment plans, allegedly

Starting point is 00:01:35 misdiagnosing others, and company medical providers prescribing potentially lethal combinations of drugs or addictive drugs to patients with histories of addiction. But reportedly, the problems go even further because you also have technology issues and a failure to retain clinicians, leaving many patients stranded without care, then leading them to be shuffled from one provider to the next, or even seeing their prescriptions bungled, which sometimes cause them to suffer drug withdrawal or take the wrong medication. With one specific patient reportedly being left two weeks waiting for a referral and later saying she spent eight days in a psychiatric ward.

Starting point is 00:02:02 Or this woman who told CBS she got a prescription for her anxiety, but then... Every time I needed her help, she was never available. And when she couldn't get instructions on how to safely switch to her new drug, she started taking it anyway, causing her to break out in a rash. I messaged back letting them know it was spreading and getting worse, and they said that they were still trying to get a hold of that prescriber. They make it seem like they want to help, and then they get you, and they're gone. And so with all this, you had cerebral spokesperson telling insider any incident reports you obtained show cerebrals

Starting point is 00:02:29 dedication to quality you can't take a relatively small group of incident reports and draw conclusions about our care but on that note there's two former senior employees who are countering that saying the incident reports were monitored by just a couple of people who had other responsibilities and adding that leadership repeatedly pushed off dealing with the issues with another employee saying she never heard back about her reports so she just quit filing them and so now what we're seeing is cerebral facing possible legal consequences you've got the drug enforcement administration the department of justice and the federal trade commission all investigating its practices we're also seeing major health insurers and pharmacies cutting ties with the company but

Starting point is 00:02:59 ultimately that is where we are with this story and we're gonna have to wait to see what happens does more information come out is anyone held accountable is any of the information out there wrong and i know that a lot of people are talking about like monetary reparations and stuff like that but i just i just think of like the psychological harm that some of these people might have gone through it's also part of the reason i don't think i could ever publicly talk about like a telehealth mental service because i do think that it is helpful for some people i think more people need to go to a therapist and you know know, telehealth services is very interesting, but I could never promote it because unlike, let's say with the sponsor today, you might love it, you might hate it, but it'll never be connected to like failing you during a

Starting point is 00:03:32 mental health crisis. The stakes are just too fucking high for the level of anxiety that I live with. The, for a lack of a better term, the PTSD from that moment in time with better help. But the way that I actually want to end this story is by passing the question off to you, because I'd love to know your thoughts specifically with what we're talking about with Cerebral, as well as what are your thoughts about the promotion of mental health services, both in general, as well as creator focused or anything, because maybe your opinion has changed over the last four or five years. Because I mentioned one creator at the top, but there's really a lot of them now. Then in absolutely horrifying or exciting news, depending on which side of the knife you're on, nearly half of U.S. murders go unsolved. With a CBS News investigation finding that according to

Starting point is 00:04:08 FBI statistics, the murder clearance rate has fallen to its lowest point in more than half a century. But as it turns out, not all murders are created equal. For example, in 2020, if the victim was white, they were 30% more likely to solve that case than if the victim was Hispanic and 50% more likely if the victim was black. But also the situation gets a little more muddy when you look at places like Chicago. But if you look at the Chicago Police Department, it looks like they have a 44% clearance rate. But they have cases that are called exceptionally cleared cases and those can be considered closed even though a suspect is not prosecuted. And even though exceptionally cleared cases are supposed to be rare, in Chicago in 2020 they made up 50%

Starting point is 00:04:40 of closed cases. Meaning without those they would only have a 24% clearance rate. You have a 75% chance of getting away with murder in Chicago. I know it's 76%. I'm trying to bump it up so it's less scary. So I guess good luck out there. Then we had Epstein's number two, Ghislaine Maxwell receiving a 20-year prison sentence yesterday, which yes, is a decent chunk of time, but is notably a much more lenient sentence than the DeFranco recommended, everyone gets to throw rocks at her until she stops moving sentence. Which yes, some would say is cruel and unusual, but my argument is that what she did was cruel and unusual

Starting point is 00:05:10 and that she helped Epstein recruit, groom, and abuse underage girls. Also, speaking about people that don't deserve to see the light of day, let alone breathe the air we breathe, R. Kelly was just sentenced and will likely be in prison for the rest of his life. He, of course, was charged with racketeering and violating an anti-sex trafficking law known as the Mann Act. Back in September he was convicted on all nine counts and prosecutors were seeking a sentence in excess of over 25 years. And that's exactly what they got because just today he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. And my recommendation to R. Kelly is keep that

Starting point is 00:05:36 chin up. Don't think of this as you being locked in prison for the rest of your life because you're 55. Think of it as like the sequel to Trapped in the Closet. Then after long last NATO has formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, with that notably happening after Turkey dropped their objections, which is obviously a giant middle finger to Russia, but also is kind of a side story to this.

Starting point is 00:05:53 NATO's new strategic concept mentions China for the first time, meaning that while it's always been a global alliance, it's now also looking ahead at what it may think will be its major rival rather than Russia. With them having just released the full concept today, but notably, Europe is still incredibly important.

Starting point is 00:06:05 There is a growing US presence there. As of today, the US has a permanent presence in Poland. NATO is also expanding rapid response troops to 300,000 from 45,000. So, you know, fun times. And actually on the note of Russia, you had Prime Minister Boris Johnson today saying that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine

Starting point is 00:06:20 if he were a woman. If Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn't, but if he were, I really don't think he would have embarked on a crazy macho war of invasion and violence in the way that he has. If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it's what he's doing in Ukraine. Which many, whether they agree or disagree, see is his very bold statement about how men historically have made the world worse And we need to give women a chance to ruin the world as well or boris johnson Just kind of let it slip that he's been thinking about some of that putin usi Oh my god, I I regret it at the moment. It came out of my mouth the joke not the the putin usi

Starting point is 00:07:00 See he just went from demented war criminal with ukrainian blood on his hands to just a girl boss trying to slay democracy. Oh, I'm gonna regret today's show. Which, actually, on the note of being hungry, I want to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Catalina Crunch. If you're a long-time viewer, you know I really enjoy Catalina Crunch. I mean, the cinnamon toast crunch flavor is so damn good, which also makes sense. I'm not unique here. It's their best-selling cereal. As a lot of you have known and commented on, I've been working out, working on my eating habits, taking better care of myself. And that's one of the reasons I love Catalina Crunch, because it's just about making better choices in my life.

Starting point is 00:07:30 But I really didn't want to drop cereal for breakfast. So with Catalina Crunch, it's low-carb, zero-sugar, high-protein, even vegan. And basically, I think that's the whole point of Catalina Crunch. It's better for me than the normal super sugary cereals, but it's still delicious. So treat yourself to a delicious cereal by going to CatalinaCrunch.com slash DeFranco and enter code DeFranco at checkout to get 15% off plus free shipping on any Catalina Crunch cereal pack. You can try a variety pack that includes a selection of their best-selling flavors, or if you already have a favorite flavor, order a four-pack of that. This is the best deal available. It even beats Amazon, so be sure to take advantage of it while

Starting point is 00:08:00 it lasts. Main point, head on over to CatalinaCrunch.com slash DeFranco, enter code DeFranco and snag a pack while they last. And then it turns out that the internet has been taking jabs at Chris Pratt for things that aren't even accurate according to a new poll of Chris Pratt's. But as you might have seen on social media over the past few years,

Starting point is 00:08:14 people kind of love dunking on Chris Pratt. Among other things, joking that he is the worst Chris among the Evanses, Hemsworths, and Pines. A trend that turned into such a big thing, we saw a number of celebrities speaking out and defending Chris, with many of them saying that the people making fun have him wrong, they don't know what he actually truly believes in his heart or who he is as a person. Right, like he's been hit for things, like people speculating and guessing that he's a Trump supporter. People have

Starting point is 00:08:35 also been critical of his alleged relationship with Hillsong Church as it has anti-LGBTQ ties, which is something I'll touch on in a minute. And so recently, Chris told Men's Health that he thinks some of the backlash against him started when he gave a speech at the MTV Movie Awards saying, God is real, God loves you, God wants the best for you. And explaining that he gets why this might have rubbed people the wrong way, but adding that even though he said that and has a relationship with God, he doesn't consider himself religious. Saying, maybe it was hubris for me to stand up on the stage and say the things that I said, I'm not sure I touched anybody. Religion has been oppressive as fuck for a long time. I didn't know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I'm not a religious person.

Starting point is 00:09:05 And adding that he thinks there's a difference between adhering to certain customs and believing in God and using God to control and harm people and justify hatred. Also, regarding Hillsong, he has previously denied being tied to it, and he again doubled down on this in the Men's Health interview, saying, I never went to Hillsong. I've never actually been to Hillsong. I don't know anyone from that church. And saying he goes to Zoe Church, though not exclusively, but even that church is not without its issues.

Starting point is 00:09:24 As Men's Health explained, it was founded by a pastor who produced a film that equated sexual brokenness to same-sex attraction. And on top of that, other outlets have referred to Zoe Church as a Hillsong affiliate. But also, notably in this interview, it wasn't the only controversy that Pratt touched on. Right, last year he faced a ton of backlash after writing a gushing Instagram post about his wife, where he praised her for giving him a gorgeous, healthy daughter, with many feeling that was a slight against his ex-wife, Anna Faris, as the son that he shares with her was born prematurely and experienced health issues after his birth, which is something that Pratt said upset him, saying, I'm like, that's fucked up.

Starting point is 00:09:51 My son's gonna read that one day. He's nine, and it's etched in digital stone. It really fucking bothered me, dude. I cried about it. I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are, to people close to me, a real burden. And so with this, I'd love to know your thoughts, because the reactions online, very split. You look one place, you see comments like, the people defending Chris Pratt here

Starting point is 00:10:06 completely wiped away the context and timing of when he posted that healthy daughter spiel. He was purposely spiting on a Ferris and why people ate him up. Not everything is a random cancel culture attack, justified dragings happen. But at the same time, you have people saying things like I've never seen any celebrity

Starting point is 00:10:19 get more mindless hate than Chris Pratt, as well as I'm sorry, but if your mind automatically went to Chris Pratt saying his son was unhealthy, then I hate to break it to you. You're the fucking problem. Yeah. Main thing with this story, which camper you landed in and why. And then I want to talk about our bamf of the day. And it's, it's unfortunate because a lot of the times we see people stand up and do an amazing thing. It's in the face of something horrible. And the story that we have today is about that train derailment on Monday. It was in rural Missouri. The train was barreling at 90

Starting point is 00:10:43 miles per hour, going through a passive crossing. That's a section of track that vehicles on a gravel road can drive over. But on Monday, according to investigators, there were railroad crossing signs, but there were no arms down, bells, or warning lights. So a dump truck attempted to make the crossing, and the train collided with it, derailing and killing four people and injuring over 100 more, with a surviving passenger later recalling, It just seemed like a normal jolt, but then I could definitely feel it come off the tracks. And then, it just kept going.

Starting point is 00:11:11 And then it started to tip. But amid this chaos, the train just so happened to have Appleton Boy Scout Troops 73 on board. They just spent 10 days trekking through the backcountry in New Mexico. They were on their way to Wisconsin. And while there was 14 of them, to be exact,

Starting point is 00:11:22 there was one Boy Scout standing out in particular, and that was 15- old Eli Skripzek. The smell of diesel hitting his nostrils with a train car flipping onto its side, sending Eli tumbling out of his seat onto the Boy Scouts across from him. Everything around them becoming a projectile, phones, AirPods, shoes, you have people panicking,

Starting point is 00:11:37 but Eli and his troop just fucking leap into action. They reportedly first secure passengers who look like they might have spinal cord injuries. Then they begin popping out emergency windows. And for the ones that get stuck, break the glass using their shirts for protection. And then they start evacuating people, carrying them out the window to safety. With Eli recalling, I had to carry a couple kids in my arms, two at a time. He then runs to the front of the train to check for more injured people, but instead finds the driver of the truck.

Starting point is 00:11:59 He's hurt bad, bleeding. He's gurgling, but still breathing. Eli gives him water. He tries to stop the bleeding, holding the man's hand, telling him that help is on the way. But by the time emergency crews arrived, the man's died. But Eli doesn't see that as an end point. He does not stop. He rushes back to the crash site. He begins pinballing between the fire trucks and the train to resupply and paramedics. According to his father, probably making around a hundred trips. Also, he had other BAMF Boy Scouts performing first aid on their own seriously injured Scoutmasters, some hauling passengers on backboards to ambulances. And while obviously this is a horrifying story, it's a sad story. It's in moments like these where we see people stand up and stand out. And that's exactly what

Starting point is 00:12:32 we saw these young men do, which is why they are badass motherfuckers of the day. But y'all, ultimately, that is where that story and today's show ends. My name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I need to go to sleep and I'll see you tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.29 I'm Done With The Internet After This...

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.