The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.30 Let's Talk About This Ariana Grande BetterHelp Scandal, Cosby Released From Prison & More

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

Go to https://NordVPN.com/phil and use code PHIL to get a 2-year plan plus 4 additional months free! It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! -- WATCH Rhett & Link Podcast: https://youtu.be/1Hy6BKjjAQQ  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  -- 00:00 - Let’s Talk About This BetterHelp Thing 04:50 - Annie Murphy Talks Mental Health Struggle 05:58 - Sponsor 06:52 - Scumbag Cosby Goes Free 09:26 -  SCOTUS Rules Eviction Ban To Stay In Place 11:08 - New York Mayoral Election Mess -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Ariana Grande to Give Away $2 Million in Free Therapy With BetterHelp: https://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2021/06/30/ariana-grande-betterhelp-free-therapy/ Annie Murphy Opens Up About Mental Health Struggles: https://roguerocket.com/2021/06/30/annie-murphy-opens-up-about-struggle-with-depression/ Bill Cosby Sentence Overturned: https://roguerocket.com/2021/06/30/bill-cosby-released/ SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Keeping Federal Evictions Ban in Place: https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-courts-supreme-courts-health-coronavirus-pandemic-157f6feec3197dd34cba492fd1b92f71 Election Board Fumble Throws NYC Mayoral Race Thrown Into Chaos: https://roguerocket.com/2021/06/30/nyc-mayoral-race-chaos/  ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ U.S. Military "Days Away" From Afghanistan Withdrawal: https://roguerocket.com/2021/06/30/u-s-military-days-away-from-afghanistan-withdrawal/ Fox News To Pay $1 Million Fine in Sexual Harassment Probe: https://roguerocket.com/2021/06/30/fox-news-to-pay-1-million-fine/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright 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 ———————————— #DeFranco #ArianaGrande #BillCosby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Wednesday Philip DeFranco Show. It is Wednesday, June 30th, 2021. Hit that like button, otherwise it'll absolutely punch you in the throat. And let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today, I mean, just on a personal note,

it's not something that I feel very comfortable talking about. It just brings up memories from one of the worst periods of my life. But I've been getting more and more questions about this over the past several months, and especially over the past 24 hours. So let's talk about it.

BetterHelp. If you're unfamiliar, BetterHelp connects you with private online counseling, right, maybe you wanna speak to a therapist, you want couple counseling, whatever. And the reason people have been asking me questions is, you know, years ago they were a sponsor of the Philip DeFranco show.

I also partnered with them, connected with them with a few other YouTubers, a few agent friends of mine that represented other YouTubers. There were then a number of allegations regarding the quality of their service, the quality of their counselors, with me ultimately ending my sponsorship

and partnership with them, which ultimately led to a lot of people going, oh, that's confirmation, BetterHelp's a scam. Then we fast forward to now, and part of the reason that so many people have been asking me about BetterHelp is they have been sponsoring a ton of people, whether it be really big podcasts or YouTubers.

I mean, over the past few months, they've sponsored creators like Nash Grier, Funhaus, Julie Nolke, CinemaSins, Good Mythical Morning, Anthony Padilla. They've also sponsored one of the biggest podcasts in the world, The Daily. Now, most notably, in the past 24 hours, we saw Ariana Grande announcing that she was partnering

with BetterHelp to give out a million dollars in free therapy, that then today getting up to $2 million. This receiving almost universal praise though, it has also resulted in a number of people going, "'Phil, wasn't BetterHelp a scam? "'What's happening?' My response to you is relatively close

to the same thing I said when I ended my relationship with them. I mean, I did not find them in any way to be a scam. The only thing that I ever found that was 100% solid is they had really shitty terms of service. Like, I mean, you look at the terms of service for almost any company and you're like, there's red flags, but BetterHelp did have really lazy legalese. There was like a part that said they weren't responsible for the quality education or accreditation of counselors. And so all of a sudden there were these allegations that like everyone on the site was a fraud. But also,

I mean, with researching this today for what it's worth, BetterHelp has since updated its terms of service, clarifying that counselors need to be accredited, trained, experienced, and have a certain education level and time spent in the field, depending on what country you're in. So no, to the people saying, oh my God, is Ariana Grande and all these people, are they promoting a scam?

No, in no way do I believe that they're promoting a scam. That said, I don't believe that BetterHelp or telehealth in general is going to be perfect for everyone. And I think for this field that is booming right now, there are gonna be a lot of bumps in the road with one of those being slowly weeding out bad counselors, which I think is why it's such a big part of all these telehealth, or most of the telehealth services

that make it so easy to switch counselors. Yeah, I ended my partnership and sponsorship with BetterHelp not because I was like, oh, it's a scam. I ended it for two main reasons. One, even though BetterHelp sent me this mountain of positive testimonials from people that signed up using my link, they used the service, they loved it, there were also a few people

that had negative experiences with it. And so that bothered me, that I was getting paid for someone signing up to the service, which I saw as a win-win-win, and they didn't come out better for it. Even though that was an extreme minority reaction, it just, it didn't sit right with me. And two, I just wanted the hate machine,

the insane pylon to stop. I had hundreds of thousands of people at the same time, actively assuming the worst about me. And it was horrible. The pylon I experienced at that time was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was the darkest moment of my life. I've dealt with depression,

which is also part of the reason why I promoted this service my entire life. But it was one of the only times in my life where I like thought about not just ending my time on YouTube but like ending life. So I just wanted the situation to end and go away because I realized that like no matter what I did it was a losing situation because even though I did things like I went up there and I like went through their office and I interviewed those people there was going to be a big chunk of people that never believed what I said at that time because I had made money through BetterHelp. Right, if like I take myself out of that situation

and I'm some other third party news curator and commentator, I'd be like, well, why should we believe this person? Wouldn't you be just defending your own interests? And what's funny is like, I still actively use and pay for the service. It's just, anyway, I just, I hate this. But also as someone that's been getting a lot of questions about it and uniquely positioned

to talk about it with me not being compensated for this in any fucking way. I figured I'd finally speak on it. And if this comes off as dismissive, I apologize. I just, that's not what I'm going for as a professional communicator. I'm actually relatively shitty at communicating. I just, it just, for some people that are gonna read this as soft,

this brings me emotional pain. Yeah, how about this? If there's a final note with this story, I don't give a shit if it's with BetterHelp, Talkspace, a million of their other competitors. You're able to get a therapist in person and afford a therapist in person, whatever it is. I think 99% of people could benefit from therapy.

There should be no stigma around it if you are seeking it or feel like you need it. You're not weak. You're human. Being a human being is like the best and worst fucking thing on the planet. This thing up here is a gift and a curse, which is why I'll often on this show commend people, especially people with audiences that open up about their own mental health struggles. Most recently, you have Annie Murphy, probably best known as Alexis on Schitt's Creek, though she's also making headlines for her

performance on Kevin Can Fuck Himself. This was in a profile by the Zoe Report published yesterday. She said that during the farewell tour of Schitt's Creek in January of 2020, she could barely perform and would go home and cry. Also speaking about the pandemic when lockdown started, saying that it really took a toll on her, explaining, my mom was like, "'You're crying 12 times a day, hysterically,

"'to the point where your teeth are chattering. "'That's not normal.'" So with that, saying she saw a therapist, she got diagnosed with depression and continued, "'A lot of people are going to think "'that I sound like I'm playing a tiny violin for myself. Oh, you're rich and famous. Why the fuck are you sad?

You have nothing to be sad about, but I'm not going to post photos of me covered in my own snot, lying on the floor and able to get up. I don't want people to have to see that. And in addition to speaking about getting regular therapy, she also says she now takes antidepressants. Right, notably, she's not the only one.

Recently, you've had Ryan Reynolds, Naomi Osaka, Selena Gomez, and more sharing their experiences and their struggles. So yeah, main thing I'll leave you with, if Ryan Reynolds isn't safe, nobody is. You're not alone in this. This thing that makes you feel isolated and indifferent is one of the biggest unifiers out there. But from that, I want to thank the sponsor of today's show, Better How- I'm joking, NordVPN.com slash Phil. If you're a long time viewer, you know that I've been talking about NordVPN and the many reasons why you should use it for a while now,

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Then in huge and in my opinion, disgusting news, Bill Cosby has now walked out of state prison a free man. Right, and that's because earlier today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction. And that because it found that an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.

Ray Cosby was first charged with a crime back in 2015 by a woman by the name of Andrea Constance. There, she accused him of drugging and molesting her at his home in 2004 after she went to him for career advice. In 2018, he was then convicted and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison with Cosby vowing to serve all 10 of those years rather than express any kind of remorse over the encounter.

Also with this, you might be thinking, well, isn't this just one case? Weren't there many more accusers? And the answer there is yes. Actually over 60 women have accused Cosby of some kind of sexual misconduct or assault, but this is the only case that led to a criminal trial. And so now with this ruling,

83-year-old Bill Cosby must go free. And as far as more of the specifics with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court saying that in a separate civil case brought by Constance, former Montgomery County District Attorney, Bruce Castor, struck a non-prosecution deal with Cosby in order to get him to testify. With the court adding,

unable to invoke any right not to testify in the civil proceedings, Cosby relied upon the district attorney's declination and proceeded to provide four sworn depositions. During those depositions, Cosby made several incriminating statements. With the court going on to say that once Cosby was then charged with the crime, those statements were then used against him, tainting his criminal trial.

Right, so that's one of the biggest things here. This is not the court saying he did not do it, but rather that his prior deal barred him from being charged for it. And very disappointing if you're hoping for any sort of continued justice against Cosby. Cosby cannot be retried on the same charges, and as the court argued, this is the only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system. But also one of the biggest points of controversy to this deal between Castor and Cosby is that no hard

evidence of it actually exists. Instead, Castor has simply cited news releases that he issued on the decision in 2005 as binding on all prosecutors that succeeded him. And that was actually a point of contention for one of the court's seven judges who argued that a news release does not represent unconditional promise which would tie the hands of Castro's successors.

Meanwhile, you also had two of the seven arguing that although Cosby's due process rights had been violated, the answer should not be to bar further prosecution, but rather to simply throw out that specific chunk of evidence. However, with that decision now done, Cosby was reportedly released from prison this afternoon and is now a free man.

So with this story, I do want to end it on two notes. One, of course, I really want to know your thoughts regarding this Cosby news. And two, to Bill and more likely the people on Bill's team, since I know you won't see me on Twitter since you blocked me there, yeah, you're still a scumbag. A scumbag that I pray will actually be held accountable

for his actions. Hey, that's just me and my little old opinion, you scumbag. Then in absolutely huge news that may affect your life or the life of at least someone you know here in the States, in a narrow five to four decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal evictions ban will stay in place until it expires at the end of next month with this move notably coming just a few days

after the CDC announced that it was extending the moratorium initially set to expire today until July 31st. But also, and this is a key thing here, the CDC also emphasized in that, that it was intended to be the final extension of the freeze. Now, that said, as far as why this was in front of the Supreme Court, right?

What was the lawsuit in question? The lawsuit was one that was filed by a group of landlords, real estate companies, and trade associations that argued that the ban was illegal under the public health law that the CDC had relied on to implement it. But the government said that the moratorium was in fact

within the purview of the law because evicting people during a pandemic posed a serious threat to public health. And while the Supreme Court did not provide reasons for its ruling, which is actually normal for emergency applications like this, you did have Justice Brett Kavanaugh issuing a short concurring opinion, explaining that while he thought that the CDC

exceeded its existing statutory authority, he voted not to end the program because it will already expire in a month, adding, those few weeks will allow for additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds. Right, remember, this decision comes at a time when around 7 million American households

say that they are still behind on their rent, according to Census Bureau data. And granted, while some of those people do live in states like California, which extended its own statewide ban through September, the Bureau still estimates that 3.2 million people will face eviction in the next two months without aid. And meanwhile, more than $46 billion

in rental assistance funds already approved by Congress has been delayed from reaching some of those same people. And so now the hope here is that people in those states without further protections will be able to obtain those funds before the federal freeze ends. But also we do have to wait and see how much of that money will actually be allocated in the next month. And if it will be enough to help prevent

a massive evictions crisis. Then let's talk about the absolute shit show in New York, though I should probably be more specific here. Right, so the New York City mayoral race, the first election in the city to use rank choice voting turned into an absolute shit show last night when the city board of elections posted incorrect preliminary vote counts in the Democratic primary

and then withdrew them. The results in question had been released earlier in the day showing that the strong lead held by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams had narrowed significantly. Former Sanitation Commissioner, Catherine Garcia, jumping from third place to second place behind him by less than 16,000 votes.

But then just a few hours after releasing those totals, the election board posts this vague tweet saying that they were aware of a discrepancy and that they were working with technical staff to identify where the discrepancy occurred. And by the nighttime, what we ended up seeing is that the agency had removed all the unofficial results from the website and replaced them with an advisory

stating unofficial rank choice results starting on June 30th. And then finally, after a ton of confusion at around 10 30 PM, the board finally issued a statement explaining that it had accidentally counted 135,000 fake ballots that had been used to test its counting software. With them adding that the board staff

had removed the test ballots and would re-tabulate the votes. With all of that, unsurprisingly, of course, getting a ton of backlash from critics who argued that it showed that the board was not prepared to handle the ranked choice vote. Right, and for some context here, ranked choice voting is basically a series

of elimination rounds based on how voters rank each candidate on their ballots. Under this system, voters can list as many as five candidates in the order of who they want to be elected the most. And so what happens is if no single candidate gets over 50% of the first choice votes in the first round, they go to the second round and so on

until all the lower polling candidates are eliminated. And very key here, as those candidates are removed, their votes get reallocated to whichever candidate voters ranked next. With that process then continuing down the line until there is a winner. And kind of to make matters worse here, because there's already confusion, even once these latest votes are clarified, they will then likely be scrambled again because the board still has to

count around 124,000 Democratic absentee ballots. And once those are counted, they have to be run through the same series of eliminated rounds, meaning that the final results are not actually expected until mid-July. And so now with all this, right, you have many election officials worried that both the partial rollout of the results and now the discovery of this error, it's going to undermine the trust in the new ranked choice voting system and the city's election system at large.

And so with this, you have the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, urging the state legislature to restructure the elections board so that members are not affiliated with political parties and calling for an immediate complete re-canvas of the vote count and a complete explanation of what went wrong. But ultimately with this story,

or honestly anything else stood out to you today, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below because one, this is a conversation and two, it's the end of today's show. Once again, a massive thank you for being a part of the family, watching the video, liking the video, subscribe and join in. Also, if you're looking for more news,

I got you covered right here on those top links down below. 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. Unless, unless I have jury duty. Two more days, two more days of checking.