The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.22 Free Britney Spears Controversy & Movement, Chair Girl's Mockery of a Punishment, & More

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

Go to https://buyraycon.com/defranco for 15% off your order! Brought to you by Raycon. Watch the latest DeFrancoDoes Video: https://youtu.be/4bUem4nicss Follow me off of Youtube: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco -- 00:00 - Chair Girl 01:48 - Kanye 04:17 - TIA 05:58 - Free Britney Movement 11:58 - US, China, and Sanctions -- 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 ✩ 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 ✩ ✭ Ghost of Tsushima: https://youtu.be/iqysmS4lxwQ ✭ Search Party: https://youtu.be/VbykYDn1A8s ✭  Avatar sequel series The Legend of Korra to hit Netflix in August: https://www.polygon.com/tv/2020/7/21/21332810/the-legend-of-korra-new-avatar-on-netflix-release-august-2020 ✭ How Spider-Man 2 Should Have Ended: https://youtu.be/mggVxZj5HTs ✭ Ice Cream Sundae Battle: https://youtu.be/QtkcDaJQZQg ✭ Cyberfunk Teaser: https://youtu.be/XSnnAH3zRTI ✭ How to Build a Cardboard Robot Helmet: https://youtu.be/3HRrg1zhou0 ✭ Secret Link: https://youtu.be/cAjpEdjZa1o ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Toronto Chair Girl Gets Fine: https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/chair-girl-spared-jail-time-for-tossing-chair-of-45th-floor-balcony Kim Kardashian West Releases Statement on Kanye’s Mental Health https://pitchfork.com/news/kim-kardashian-west-releases-statement-on-kanye-mental-health/ Jamie Lynn Spears Defends Her Sister as #FreeBritney Trends: https://roguerocket.com/2020/07/22/jamie-lynn-spears-defends-britney/ U.S. Orders Chinese Consulate in Houston to Close https://roguerocket.com/2020/07/22/houston-consulate/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” Delayed Again: https://roguerocket.com/2020/07/22/tenet-delay-hollywood-implications/ Trump Threatens to Deploy Feds to More Cities: https://roguerocket.com/2020/07/22/trump-threatens-to-send-feds/  ——————————     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 #KimKardashian #BritneySpears 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 is actually an update to a story we covered a while ago. Do you remember Chair Girl?

Marcella Zoya, she was that woman out of Canada that was filmed doing this, just chucking a chair off a balcony, seemingly with no regard for human life that might be down below. There was also another angle of that incident that ended up coming out where you can just hear the impact. Right, so the video of her throwing that chair

off the high rise, it's uploaded to Facebook. It goes viral. There's outrage, she's publicly shamed. She also ends up getting charged with mischief related offenses. She ends up pleading guilty back in November of last year. And the news now is that while prosecutors were asking for and recommending she serve six months in jail,

she ended up only receiving probation, community service, and a fine. And specifically, that's two years of probation, 150 hours of community service, and about 1500 US dollars. And I will say, honestly, I am kind of surprised that the judge was so lenient. Looking into this, and it's a little bit of an oversimplification, her defense was,

"'I was young, dumb, drunk, and peer pressured.'" Okay, sure, but still, she could have easily killed someone. According to reports, there were numerous people walking below, including a small child. And with this story, you hear the word remorseful connected to her, but almost all the videos I see, she's smiling. You look to her social media, seemingly unfazed. If anything, it looks like she's enjoying the cameras, enjoying the attention. If I ever drunkenly do something stupid, I want do it in Canada and get Judge Mara Greene.

I mean, obviously this is just my opinion, but this is a ridiculously light sentence. Yeah, ultimately that's where we are with this story. We'll see if she messes up in the next two years and then could actually face a punishment. But also that's a story, some of my personal opinion. And now I do pass the question off to you. Do you think she should have got a harsher sentence?

Or no, do you think the judge got it right? She's young, no one ended up actually getting hurt. Yeah. Let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. And then let's talk about the first of two stories we have today that have to do with mental health. You know, in case you missed it,

last night there was a continuation of the Kanye West situation. It seemed like things were calming down, but then Kanye went on a tweeting spree. Among other things, he claimed that Kim Kardashian and her mother tried to get two doctors to 5150 him. Right, that being an involuntary psychiatric hold. Also saying, I've been trying to get divorced from Kim

ever since she met with Meek Mill to talk about prison reform. Going on to say that Kris Jenner and Kim put out a statement without my approval. That's not what a wife should do, calling it white supremacy. Now Kanye ended up deleting most of those tweets and kind of what we were left with

was many people wondering, what is Kim Kardashian's response going to be? And this morning we learned with Kim Kardashian releasing a statement on Instagram and Twitter. Starting with, as many of you know, Kanye has bipolar disorder. Noting anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does, knows how incredibly complicated

and painful it is to understand. Saying she's never publicly talked about this because she's very protective of her children and Kanye's right to privacy. But saying today she feels she should comment on it because of the stigma and misconceptions about mental health. Noting that the families in these situations are powerless unless the member is a minor.

Saying people far removed from this experience can be judgmental and not understand that the individual themselves have to engage in the process of getting help, no matter how hard family and friends try. Adding, I understand Kanye is subject to criticism because he is a public figure and his actions at times can cause strong opinions and emotions.

Calling him a brilliant but complicated person. Going on to talk about the pressures and the trauma he's experienced as well as the isolation that is heightened by his bipolar disorder, going on to say living with bipolar disorder does not diminish or invalidate his dreams and his creative ideas, no matter how big or unobtainable they may feel to some, and among other things,

saying we as a society talk about giving grace to the issue of mental health as a whole, however, we should also give it to the individuals who are living with it in times when they need it the most. I kindly ask that the media and public give us the compassion and empathy that is needed so that we can get through this." You know here we saw a number of reactions. We saw some praising Kim Kardashian for continuing the conversation around mental health, trying to take away the stigma. Some calling it eye-opening, some dignified, classy.

But also at the same time you have people on the other side saying, yes, it's fine to try and remove the stigma from these conversations about mental health, but accountability for your actions and your words should still be a thing. With responses like this one from Cameron Caskey, who tweeted, I'm severely bipolar too, and I hope nobody on this planet lets me get away with the bullshit they let Kanye West get away with.

With other people who said they struggle with mental health issues themselves, chiming in and saying he should still be held accountable for his actions. But you know, this is just a complicated thing to talk about because a lot of the times the people who need the help aren't at a place where they can hold themselves accountable

or reason with others. And so with this story, the situation, I'd love to know your thoughts. And I mean, regarding the whole situation as well as Kim Kardashian's reaction. And then as promised, the other mental health story I wanted to talk about today was around Britney Spears and the Free Britney movement.

So if you haven't been keeping up with Britney Spears outside of her very random, but also very viral TikToks, you might not know that she actually has very little control of her own life. And in fact, that has been the case for about 12 years because she was placed under a conservatorship in 2008 after she was put on an involuntary psychiatric hold. Conservatorships are court orders.

They're actually mainly used when someone's in a coma, suffering from dementia, or has some serious illness that makes them incapable of making judgments. And at that time, back in 2008, a court placed her under the conservatorship of her dad, Jamie, and an attorney by the name of Andrew Wallet, meaning that they had control over her estate

and needed to sign off on every decision in her life, from business to health, finances, and even marriage. But also, it's not just the big decisions. Reportedly, this conservatorship impacts her daily routine. Back in 2016, there was a New York Times article that reported, her most mundane purchases from a drink at Starbucks to a song on iTunes are tracked in court documents

as part of the plan to safeguard the great fortune she has earned, but does not ultimately control. And for years now, fans have had a huge issue with this because they think it gives her father and wallet too much control over her life and it gives them the ability to abuse her finances. With some saying she is mentally fit enough to be in control herself,

others saying she's not getting the right care that she needs, that she's being exploited. In general, the specific thoughts vary, but overall, most wanna see her removed from this conservatorship. Though, it is important to note, there is not a lot that we know about the inner workings of her situation or her health,

and she has continued to live this way for years. You know, with this story, we then flash forward to 2019 and that's when we see the Free Britney movement really take off. In January of that year, you had fans surprised when Britney canceled her second Vegas residency, saying she needed to spend time with her father and help him recover from surgery.

You had fans suspicious because it appeared she kind of went off the grid. There were no public sightings of her. She stopped posting on Instagram. Then in March of 2019, we saw Wallet resigning as co-conservator, handing sole control off to her father. Then reports come out in early April that say Britney checked into a mental health facility.

A few days later, she posts a quote to Instagram and captioned it, we all need to take time for a little me time. There you had fans thinking it didn't match her typical posting style. Then we saw speculation that something wasn't right. That concern then grew and later that month, the podcast Britney's Gram said that it received a voicemail

from a paralegal source that claimed it worked for an attorney of Britney's case. With that source claiming that Britney was actually placed in a facility against her will by Jamie. Also claiming that during her Vegas residency rehearsals, he learned that she was refusing to take her medications and told her she either take them, meet with a doctor for a new type of medication,

or cancel her Vegas shows. However, at the same time, you also saw reports that there was a source saying the singer would be dead had she not checked in. But still, we saw this movement picking up steam. You even had fans holding a protest outside of West Hollywood City Hall back in April of 2019. All of that then prompted Britney to make a post

telling fans she was doing well, she would return soon. Eventually she does finish treatment. She returns to a regular type of Instagram content. And ever since we've seen people kind of looking through all of her posts for any kind of secret signals that she's in distress. But as many have noted with this whole situation, there seems to be a range of people expressing concerns

that do feel based in reality, as well as people jumping to huge speculation based on what feels like little or selective information. We've actually seen Britney's camp hitting back at some people. In fact, her conservatorship even won a defamation lawsuit against a blogger back in 2019, who they said was making false accusations, right?

Perpetuating claims that the conservatorship was controlling Britney and manipulating her social media accounts as a coverup. But as far as big changes to Britney's situation, we saw a huge announcement come in September of last year. There we see her father, Jamie, filing a temporary request to relieve himself of the role for personal health reasons.

At this point, Britney's care manager, Jody Montgomery, took over the role. And because of the coronavirus pandemic, that temporary conservatorship was extended in April of this year until August 22nd. Now, all of this brings us to why are we talking about this today? I mean, we've seen a recent resurgence of the Free Britney movement.

In recent weeks, fans have been pushing around a petition asking Congress to intervene on her behalf, which already has over 100,000 signatures. And also, it appears that there's a lot of attention on this again, because Britney is reportedly scheduled to have a court hearing today, where many hope that her conservatorship is going to end. Right, and for now, we have to wait and see

what happens there, what information comes out next. But also, very notably, during this new wave of concern, many have turned to Britney's younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, for answers. And earlier this week, we saw Jamie Lynn sharing tweets from celebrities in an Instagram post. Those tweets were from celebrities discussing mental illness and condemning those who were joking about it,

including ones we talked about yesterday from Halsey. Those tweets, in general at the time, appear to be in relation to jokes about Kanye West. And in her post caption, Jamie Lynn wrote, "'If you deal with mental illness "'or care for someone dealing with mental illness, ones we talked about yesterday from Halsey. Those tweets in general at the time appear to be in relation to jokes about Kanye West. And in her post caption, Jamie Lynn wrote, "'If you deal with mental illness "'or care for someone dealing with mental illness, "'then you know how important it is

"'to respect the situation with privacy for the person "'and the family trying to protect their loved ones, "'no matter how it may appear to the public. "'And as the public, we must learn to do the same.'" And there we saw one user commenting back, "'How about your sister's obvious mental illness? "'Why don't you speak on that?' And to that, Jamie Lynn responded, "'You have no right back. How about your sister's obvious mental illness? Why don't you speak on that? And to that Jamie Lynn responded,

you have no right to assume anything about my sister. And I have no right to speak about her health and personal matters. She is a strong, badass, unstoppable woman. And that's the only thing that is obvious. Also, according to People Magazine, another follower demanded that Jamie Lynn and her family clarify all these assumptions.

And she allegedly responded, I would never speak out just to clarify things to the public when the person it pertains to "'does not want that to happen. "'I'd rather take all the hate "'than speak about someone else's personal matter "'that they want to keep private.'" Which is why we also saw a number of people speaking out,

saying that we have to have compassion when talking about concerns for Britney. But ultimately, that is where we are with this story, and it's also hard for me with this one to figure out where to end it. And the reason for that is obviously, you wanna try to be respectful when talking about something as sensitive as mental health. And it appears in this situation that

everyone is saying or showcasing that what they're doing is in the best interest of Britney Spears. Right? Respect her privacy. She's fine. No, we have to ask questions because she's not okay. So we're in this situation where I want to ask you, what are your thoughts here? Based off of the information that's out there, which by the way, there's more stuff out there. This is kind of the surface level of this story. Do you think that Britney Spears is being exploited? That if she had the mental capacity to go on numerous world tours since 2008,

doesn't she have the ability to control her life? But at the same time, by covering the concerns and the accusations, am I inadvertently doing something negative? According to Jamie Lynn, her sister wants this to be a private situation. Does it lead to more unnecessary, unjustified anxiety and stress for these people?

I don't know, as more of these stories have been popping up, I've been kind of struggling with that. So you know what? If there is a question I want to pass off to you, it's more about that last part. What are your thoughts? I really want to hear from you on this one. And then let's talk about what's happening with China

and the United States. Nothing, everything's great. No, obviously not. If we're talking about it on this show, it's probably escalating. The most recent way we've seen this escalate is that last night, the United States ordered China to close its consulate office in Houston.

So the situation appears to have begun last night when people at the Chinese consulate building were spotted burning documents in what appeared to be trash cans. Soon after, you had police and firefighters responding to the scene after calls from residents in the area. However, they didn't actually enter the grounds

because they weren't granted access, which notably is in accordance with diplomatic rule. Then a few hours later, we see a local news outlet capturing more footage, this time of people inside the consulate grounds hosing down what appeared to be flaming containers. This of course, raising a lot of questions. One of them being, what do they know?

I mean, it's really no secret that the United States and China, that the situation has been escalating, tensions have been know? I mean, it's really no secret that the United States and China, that the situation's been escalating, tensions have been high. I mean, you have the trade war, both countries slapping sanctions on one another, expelling journalists. You've had the United States passing

the Uyghur Human Rights Act. We've talked about that situation on the show numerous times. How it is not front page news every day blows my mind. Like the Chinese government has literally put at least one million Uyghurs in internment camps that they call re-education centers. We've seen reports of Muslims saying they've been detained, interrogated, beaten because of their religion there.

But also in addition to that, and more recently, you have the Hong Kong-China national security law situation with the US recently declaring that it no longer views Hong Kong as separate and autonomous from China. But all of that said, what we ended up seeing later last night is that we got an answer as to why this was happening. You had US State Department spokesperson, Morgan Ortega,

saying in a brief statement that the Trump administration had ordered the consulate to close, quote, "'To protect American intellectual property "'and Americans' private information.'" And adding, "'The United States will not tolerate the PRC's violations "'of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, "'just as we have not tolerated the PRC's

"'unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, "'and other egregious behavior.'" Ortega is also suggesting that China had violated the Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic relations between states. And notably here, under that convention, diplomats must respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state and have a duty not to interfere

in the internal affairs of that state. We've also since seen Houston police confirming that employees at the consulate as well is that a building where many of them live will be evicted on Friday. But as far as what China specifically did to cause this move from the United States, I mean, that's all we've really seen thus far.

I mean, you have Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that the US has long complained about alleged Chinese intellectual property theft. Pompeo saying President Trump has said enough, we're not going to allow this. But definitively, that's all we know. I mean, we don't even know why this specific consulate was singled out.

However, with all that said, there is a reason that suggests that this move is tied to something else that happened yesterday. This coming when the United States accused China of sponsoring criminal hackers who were targeting coronavirus vaccine research. And there the Justice Department going on to charge

two former engineering students with hacking companies engaged in high-tech manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and gaming software development, as well as with targeting dissidents, clergy, and human rights activists in the United States, China, and Hong Kong. And potentially the big key here, the Justice Department also alleged

they were aided by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch making very similar statements to that of Ortega, saying China steals intellectual property and research which bolsters its economy, and then they use that illicit gain as a weapon to silence any country that would dare challenge their illegal actions.

This type of economic coercion is not what we expect from a trusted world leader. It is what we expect from an organized criminal syndicate. Though to be clear, while it does appear that these situations go hand in hand, it hasn't been officially confirmed if the situations are linked. Now, as far as the reaction from China,

they're actually pretty chill about it. President Xi releasing a statement saying, "'Yeah, that's fair.'" Obviously I'm kidding. President Xi doesn't like when people fuck with his honey. You had a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry calling this move outrageous and unjustified, saying this was an unprecedented escalation

that violates international law. Also threatening to retaliate, saying the US has far more diplomatic missions and staff working in China. So if the US is bent on going down this wrong path, we will resolutely respond. And as far as who could be targeted there, who could be impacted there,

not only do you have the US embassy in Beijing, but there's also five consulates scattered throughout China. With media outlets speculating that the consulate office in Wuhan might actually be the most likely candidate to be shut down. And this in part because it would be easy back in January when the coronavirus first started breaking out in Wuhan, the United States evacuated that consulate office.

It's a move that angered Beijing. Also that that office has not reopened though. As of right now, the only move that we've seen from China is China's foreign ministry renewing its travel warning for Chinese students in the United States, warning them that they might be subject to arbitrary interrogations, the confiscation of personal belongings

and possible detention. This likely alluding to the charges against those two engineering students. You know, looking at the situation, it's just a small part of a very, very big deal. I mean, you have analysts saying that this is the worst that relations have been since before 1979, which is saying something because that's when

the United States formally recognized the People's Republic of China. And so for now, this is where we are with this story. This is where this story ends. But as far as the much bigger picture, we're gonna have to just keep our eyes on this. It is still developing and there's no reason for us to think that we're anywhere near the end of this.

And that is where I'm going to end today's show. As always, to you beautiful bastards, thank you for being a part of these daily dives into the news. Having this community makes me feel less crazy about the crazy state of the world right now. Also, if you're new here, you wanna join the family, hit that subscribe button, definitely tap the bell

to turn on notifications so it looks like this and you get updates, hopefully. Also, if you're looking for more to watch right now, you got two options right there. 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. I hope you like this video.

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