The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.24 More Ava Kris Tyson Fallout After Quitting MrBeast, Netanyahu's Speech To Congress, & Today's News

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

Go to https://ground.news/defranco to stay fully informed, think critically about the news you consume and get all sides of every story. Subscribe for 40% off unlimited access through my link.  & NEW DROP LIVE @ https://BeautifulBastard.com w/ limited time Unburdened tees and tank -- Watch yesterday's show: https://youtu.be/zh9n2og7_2A?si=iFs0s--qdA1YvoNc  -- ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Ava Tyson Speaks Out Again as Other Creators Get Blasted for Their Responses  04:54 - Missouri Man Remains in Prison After Judge Orders His Release 09:48 - Sponsored by Ground News 11:07 - Netanyahu Delivers Address to a Divided Congress 14:57 - Jon Stewart Pushes VA to Cover Vets Exposed to Uranium 17:08 - Sen. Menendez Resigns Following Bribery Conviction 19:40 - New Beautiful Bastard Drop! 20:29 - Kayak Cross Makes Its Debut at the Paris Olympics 21:14 - Stunt Workers Struggle With Reporting Injuries ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer for Wildfires: Maddie Crichton ———————————— #DeFranco #KrisTyson #Moistcritikal ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. And I'm sorry to inform you, the news is still newsin'. There's just so much we have to talk about today. In fact, I might even have to do a live stream tonight. So make sure you're subscribed, make sure you have all notifications turned on,

and let's just jump into it. This is a news show. Go, this Ava Chris Tyson, Mr. Beast situation appears to just be getting messier and worse by the minute. Now, if you didn't see our full dive into this situation yesterday, I'm gonna link to it down below. There's a lot of ground to cover there.

There are multiple different accusations and controversies. But yesterday, just before we put out the show, and one of the last things we put into the show was that Ava put out a general apology, saying, I would like to apologize for any of my past behavior or comments, if it hurt or offended anyone. It was not my intent. And adding, seeing recent events, we've mutually

decided it's best I permanently step away from all things Mr. Beast and social media to focus on my family and mental health, which resulted in a ton of different reactions, though the vast majority appeared to be disgusted or angry. But then, to give the first update here, a few hours after posting that, she followed up by flat out asserting that, quote, I never groomed anyone. The person who gets brought up in these accusations, LavaGS, is vocally supported that they are false. Adding, having said that, I humbly apologize to anyone I have hurt with my unacceptable social media posts, past actions, and to those who may feel betrayed by how I used to act online. In closing, to lump these two factors together to create a narrative that my behavior extended beyond bad edgy jokes is

disgusting and did not happen. In past years, I have learned that my old humor is not acceptable. I cannot change who I was, but I can continue to work on myself. I don't want these accusations to impact the hundreds of people who work at Mr. Beast, which is why I have stepped away. And there we actually saw Lava replying to her post saying, I'm sorry that people are making up lies with my name in them. I hope everyone sees the truth soon. You never did anything wrong to me. Nothing inappropriate happened between us. And while you saw some agreeing with what Lava said there, you also had others saying no. We're kind of having a version of the argument that Moist Critical had when we talked about him yesterday. And in fact, he posted another video last night where he talks a lot about Lava's defense of Ava.

And I'm not trying to be some kind of armchair psychologist because I'm just, at the end of the day, a little reptile brain idiot. But I really do feel like in a situation like this, it's very difficult to process just how inappropriate or unacceptable something was when you lived it but in reality no child should have this kind of relationship with an adult where you're joking about sending nudes to a minor or making edgy jokes about coming for america so while the person here might not feel like a victim, it really is completely unacceptable that Ava Tyson would be communicating with them like this. It really is.

With that then actually seeming to get Lava's attention because shortly after that video went live, Lava posted on X, "'Moyst, hey, I just saw your video. I would love to chat in DMs to maybe clarify some points you made in the video.'" Though so far as of recording, we haven't seen anything come from that. Though this also as Moist himself has been on the defense for another reason. With that connected to that

whole other aspect of the situation where you had a lot of creators facing a lot of heat for not immediately chiming in. The number of critics saying a combo of either you're too scared to piss off Mr. B's because you want that collab or you're trying to avoid talking about Ava even though you came for Dr. Disrespect's throat when the allegations against him came out. Though also there you had many, including Moist himself, saying, you know, he actually did chime in on the Ava situation pretty early. But this also as he's hardly the only one getting attacked over this.

In fact, we're seeing situations like this and pushback all over the place. Where you have big creators like Ludwig responding to calls to respond by saying, "'My video on Doc literally came out two days "'after Charlie's, not immediately "'after information came out.'" Saying, "'I waited for Doc's statement on Twitter "'and on Steam and his removal from Midnight Society. And adding I'm

literally in Paris with my family, why y'all motherfuckers so horny for a statement. Also, we're seeing a number of those who did speak out still being hit. With a number of people still going after Pokimane and Valkyrie, who we talked about yesterday. We're seeing many shifting their criticism from you aren't talking about this to you didn't go in against Ava enough. Or with people going back to when Poki said y yuck, and Ray said, doctor disgusting after the whole doctor disrespect situation. Though there you saw a good number of people defending them, noting that their responses

came a few days after the doctor disrespect allocations had already been stewing and adding. The way people are treating Valkyrae and Pokemon over this Ava situation makes me so sad. This happened in one day? I still don't fully know what the fuck is going on. And going on to say, creators didn't speak up against doctor disrespect until he made a statement himself.

Ray and Pokey made statements condemning the behavior. What more do you want? And we also saw Ray defending herself, saying she felt pressured to put out a tweet as soon as possible, saying her mentions were being swarmed, that large creators were calling people out, saying she had to take a break from moving

in order to look into the situation, and adding, I equally called both Dr. D and Ava disgusting after their statements. But with all that said, it's gonna be very interesting to see what happens from here. And I say that not only because some have alleged that there's gonna be more that comes out,

but also because the mainstream media has now latched onto this story. With the BBC, Sky News, and Forbes, just to name a few covering this today. But also part of this seeming to be morphing into going after Mr. Beast. There's people posting old clips of him that are racking up views,

doing things like dropping a homophobic slur. There's also a clip where it appears that he asked someone if they'd put their dick inside Bad Baby, with people saying that she would have been 14 at the time. But again, all of this has been developing and evolving. And for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what comes from all this.

And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts. And then we've got to talk about this emotional rollercoaster of a story around Christopher Dunn. And while it's in the news today, to fully understand this, we got to go back to a spring night in 1990. Because that is when you had this group of teenage boys

hanging out in front of one of their homes in Missouri when a gunman suddenly opened fire on them. And they're shooting, killing 15-year-old Rico Rogers. And then as the search for the shooter unfolded, you had two witnesses, aged 12 and 14, identifying Christopher Dunn, then 18 years old, as the shooter. Now in his defense, Dunn's childhood friend testified

that she was on the phone with him that night, a phone which was at his family's house. His mom also backed that up, confirming that he was at home watching TV with the family when the shooting happened. I know he wasn't because we all was at the house. And I told the police that. And he said, well, family people lie for family people.

But despite that, one, Dunn was tried for murder, and two, the prosecution presented no motive, no weapon, not even any physical evidence. Just the testimony of those two boys, which formed the backbone of the case against him. And this entire trial, it was over in a single afternoon, with the jury deliberating for just 45 minutes. But instead of giving Dunn the slam dunk acquittal that he expected, they found him guilty of first degree murder, for which he was sentenced to life without parole. And he recalled this to CBS. It was like my world just fell in front of me.

I didn't see anything else but darkness. And throughout all of this, Dunn maintained his innocence, which also led eight years later to the story catching the eye of writer and editor, Keira Kaywood. Their testimonies didn't match, but by the time they got to court, everything matched. And so it was clear to me reading it that these young men seemed to have

been coached. Friends with the help of a private investigator, she tracked down the two witnesses and both recanted their testimony. The first admitting that he lied because the prosecution offered him leniency on charges he was facing himself. And the second admitting that he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang. Did we see them do it? No. Okay. No, nobody seen that do it. Akira, she wasn't just convinced of Dunn's innocence. She also became convinced that she loved him. We got married right here in this visiting room. So her name is no longer Kira Kaywood,

but Kira Dunn, wife of the man that she's fighting to set free. Which then brings us to 2018, when Dunn's legal team filed to vacate his conviction. And given the bombshell evidence that they now have, Dunn's family told ABC they assumed that this case would just be open and shut. One of the guys came out and he told mom that Chris was, he believed Chris was

innocent. He said, Mrs. Dunn, on behalf of the state of Missouri, I am so sorry for what's happened to your son. I had his clothes and we had the car and we were just ready to go have something to eat afterwards. But after two long years of deliberation, the judge shocked everybody by ruling that Chris Dunn had to stay in prison. Write it. This court does not believe that any jury would now convict Christopher Dunn under these facts. But then adding that even despite that, a quirk of Missouri law prohibits his release because only death row inmates can make innocence claims. And of course, Dunn, I mean, he was only given a life sentence. So this was an absolutely devastating gut punch for all,

but especially his mom. It's just a whole lot of time. Then even with that, Dunn still had one last hope, St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Gabriel Gore. Because thanks to a 2021 state law, prosecutors can actually request a hearing if they have evidence that someone was wrongfully convicted. So Gore filed a motion to vacate the conviction

in February of this year, presenting his case to a judge in May, and he just got the decision this week. With the judge stating, in no uncertain terms, the state of Missouri shall immediately discharge Christopher Dunn from its custody. Meaning that at the age of 52, having spent 33 years of his life in prison,

suffered three heart attacks after being stabbed by another inmate, Chris Dunn could finally walk free. With Kira telling the news. I'm still processing this. I'm so thankful though. I can tell you that I'm so thankful that we're all safe. Except it turns out his freedom may not be so easy. And that's because Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who has maintained that Dunn is in fact guilty since the beginning, appealed the judge's ruling. And this, even though the district attorney says that under Missouri law, the AG has no right to appeal. But despite that, the Missouri Department of Corrections is refusing to let Dunn go, citing the pending appeal. As for why Bailey's doing this, I honestly cannot find an answer right now other than maybe he has a kink for keeping innocent people locked up?

I mean, he has stubbornly opposed other high profile innocence claims in Missouri recently, like with Lamar Johnson, for example, who spent 27 years in prison before being freed, and Marcellus Williams, who's set to be executed later this year. Now, there was also Sandra Hemme, who spent 43 years in prison before a judge vacated her conviction last month.

In that case, Bailey's appeals kept her from being released and even called the prison warden to urge him not to let her go. Though there, after the judge threatened Bailey with contempt of court, she was finally set free on Friday. And so now you have Dunn's family just hoping to God that he gets the same outcome. We are overjoyed and at the same time,

we're also afraid to really exhale until Chris actually takes his first three steps and feels the free ground against his feet. When that happens, I think all these feelings we've been holding onto for so long will finally erupt. But then just to take a minute, y'all, the recent news cycles have just been wild. And I know that, you know, for many,

it's hard to know when you're getting the full picture, which is, you know, what we strive for when creating the PDS each day. But that's also where today's sponsor, Ground News comes in. See, Ground News' app and website combine news from across the political spectrum and around the world, allowing us to compare coverage with helpful context in. See, Ground News' app and website combine news from across the political spectrum and around the world, allowing us to compare coverage with helpful context in each source,

like potential political bias, reporting reliability, and even the source of their funding. And often comparing coverage is critical to getting the heart of a story. Take for instance, Republicans calling for Biden to resign after ending his reelection campaign. With more than a hundred articles published, the right is covering it slightly more,

but it's clearly a hot issue for both sides of the aisle. You've got sources on the right, like the Business Standard, the New York Post, emphasizing Biden isn't fit to serve, while left-leaning sources like MSNBC call this, quote, "'Tough to take seriously' with the Atlantic, then reframing Trump as the Republican's elderly candidate." And Ground News enables us for every story you read.

It's a place for moderates, liberals, conservatives, the politically homeless, or anyone tired of mainstream narratives and interested in leaving their silos to see the full picture. And at a time where it feels like we just all live in different realities, it can help to see where potentially other people

are coming from, right? How and what they're being fed. It can help you understand where they think they're coming from. And if any or all of that sounds interesting, go to ground.news.deFranco or scan the QR code for 40% off unlimited access, which is what I use to read the news.

And then, so this Benjamin Netanyahu situation has just stirred up a major shit storm in American politics. Where for the first time in nearly a decade, the Israeli leader addressed Congress today and tensions have been insanely high, both inside and outside the Capitol. I mean, yesterday you had hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters arrested inside a congressional building. And today you had thousands of demonstrators descending on the Capitol ahead of mean, yesterday you had hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors arrested inside a congressional building.

And today you had thousands of demonstrators descending on the Capitol ahead of Netanyahu's speech. Meanwhile, in Congress, Netanyahu's visit has highlighted the sharp divides among members on Israel and his leadership during this war, particularly among Democrats. In fact, we saw dozens of members announcing beforehand that they'd be skipping the address and protest.

But according to Politico, at least 18 House Democrats and nine Senate Democrats saying publicly they'll miss the speech. With that, including key members of leadership in both chambers, prominent Jewish leaders, and high-profile lawmakers like AOC who said in a tweet, It is a dark day in U.S. history when an authoritarian with warrant requests from the International Criminal Court is allowed to address a joint session of Congress. 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Hostages are at home. Netanyahu is a war criminal. I will be boycotting his address." This was also echoed by Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress who said in a statement, "...it is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress."

Beyond that, we've seen others blasting the event as a political stunt, and this even including some Democrats who are attending the address. With some arguing the Republican leaders knew that it would put a strain on Democrats when they invited Netanyahu. Right in this is foreign leaders usually address Congress in coordination with invitations from the address, with some arguing the Republican leaders knew that it would put a strain on Democrats when they invited Netanyahu. Right in this is foreign leaders usually address Congress in coordination with invitations from the president, but here it was actually Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson who led the effort, not Biden. A move that, you know, emphasized the GOP support for Netanyahu and Israel while driving a wedge

between Democrats just months before a chaotic election. And this at a time when Democrats are trying to unite around Kamala Harris, also notably here, Harris skipped the address, even though it's customary for the vice president to preside over these events. So there, her aide said that it was because of a previously scheduled conflict and not a reflection of her views on Israel.

In general, Harris has made sure not to stray from Biden's staunchly pro-Israel views, and she's actually set to meet with Netanyahu while he's in the States. But despite that, we saw Johnson seizing on her absence, trying to politicize it, condemning her, even though apparently there was this conflict and saying, "'Madam Vice President, you say you want to be

"'the leader of the free world, "'and yet you can't bring yourself to sit behind "'our most important strategic ally in this moment. "'That is not a good look for you. "'It is not a good look for America. "'It's not a good look for her party "'that she aims to lead.'" Brain with all this, we also saw other Republicans

criticizing members for missing the speech, even some Democrats joining in to condemn their colleagues, arguing here that the US needs to show that it is committed to the Jewish state and a major ally, regardless of politics. And that said, as far as the contents of the speech itself, Netanyahu's address was still going on while I was recording this show. But so far, some of the big things that he's hit on are the things that you'd expect, such as Hamas's attack on October 7th, with Netanyahu likening it to Pearl Harbor and 9-11, and then saying comparing America's and Israel's populations, it was actually like 20 9-11s. Also with this promising victory over Hamas, saying Israel will do whatever

it takes to secure its northern border. He also thanked Biden for referring to himself as a Zionist, as well as the U.S. for its support of Israel. And with all this, asking for U.S. military aid to be fast-tracked to, quote, finish the job faster. We also saw Netanyahu firing in all cylinders against protesters. Incredibly. When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer.

So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus, enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They should be ashamed of themselves. For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building. Well, I have a message for these protesters. When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiot. Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza.

They might as well hold up signs saying chickens for KFC. But for now, that's where we're going to have to end this, because again, this is still ongoing as I'm finishing up today's show. So very likely I'll be adding to this tomorrow, as well as talking about the responses. And in the meantime, I'd love to know yours. Let me know what you're thinking and why in those comments down below.

And then, you know, when we've got things like burn pits, atomic bombs, weapon shock waves, you have to ask how many more ways can we poison and injure our soldiers? Well, apparently there's one more. Say hello to Karshi Khanabad, or simply K2 for short, a military base in Uzbekistan. See, it's a former Soviet air base

that the United States used to strike targets in Afghanistan after 9-11. But it also happens to be a former chemical weapons processing site. So when the Americans arrived, they found tons of old debris, including what appeared to be enriched yellow cake uranium, right, a highly radioactive substance

that littered the ground in clumps and was spread everywhere in powdered form. And that form matters, because it means that it gets picked up in the air that you inhale as well as the water and the soil. In fact, according to the Associated Press, the uranium radiation levels in the soil, they were up to 40,000 times higher

than would be expected if it were just natural uranium. And even though an environmental ground team found unambiguous contamination there, the US military built a sprawling tent city at K2, with ascending more than 15,000 soldiers there between 2001 and 2005. And all the while, rain and wind frequently stirred up the contaminants. Which then brings us to the fact that of the 5,000 vets that advocates have gotten in touch with,

more than 1,500 have self-reported medical conditions. But that's talking about what you'd expect. Cancers, neurological conditions, reproductive system problems, a large number of birth defects and bone conditions, among other issues. But despite years of complaints to Veterans Affairs, the agency says that it's still studying the issue before it'll actually decide whether to add radiation exposure at K2 to its coverage. Now with that said, of course,

it would be a hundred times easier to sidestep all that bureaucracy if Congress just expanded coverage instead of leaving it up to the VA. And that's exactly what they did for burn pit victims and other types of toxic exposure with the PACT Act in 2022. But notably, as monumental as all that was,

the legislation didn't cover radiation exposure at K2, which is why now you have Jon Stewart, a guy who advocated for the PACT Act and 9-11 first responders well before that, telling the AP, imagine you're stationed inside the meth lab on Breaking Bad. These guys were exposed to a toxic soup of basically an exploded chemicals and nuclear weapon facility.

And this whole situation is not done getting attention because this Friday you have Stewart headed to Washington to press the VA on this issue. But for now, we'll have to wait to see if John Stewart and others yelling at Congress gets them to do something again. Which again, in any country worth anything, shouldn't be that hard of a push.

It's taking care of people who took care of the country, but you know, America. And then y'all it is Menend over. That doesn't work. It's over for Senator Bob Menendez. Because he has just announced that he will officially be resigning next month. And this coming as he faced tons of pressure

from his Democratic colleagues to step down after he was convicted by a Manhattan federal court jury last week in a sweeping international bribery scheme. With Menendez actually being found guilty on all 16 felony counts for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes Benz from three businessmen. And all of this in exchange for securing deals with foreign officials and interfering with

criminal investigations in New Jersey. Now Menendez, for his part, has insisted that he is innocent and vowed to appeal the decision. But not long after that verdict came down, the Senate Ethics Committee started laying the groundwork to hold a vote to expel him from the Senate if he didn't resign voluntarily, which notably would have made him the first senator to be expelled since the Civil War. Of course, instead he is resigning. And in his resignation letter, Menendez explained his decision saying, "'While I fully intend to appeal the jury's verdict

"'all the way and including to the Supreme Court, "'I do not want the Senate to be involved "'in a lengthy process that will detract "'from its important work.'" Now that said, as far as what happens next, Menendez said he will officially depart on August 20th, giving his office time to find new jobs. And then once he's out,

the state's Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, will appoint a replacement to serve in his seat until January when his current term expires. But also regardless of who the governor picks, that person's only gonna serve for a few months. You know, because New Jersey, they already had their primaries to select, the Democratic and Republican candidates

were gonna fight for the seat in November and neither are Menendez. And that because after he was indicted last year, the party abandoned him and he declined to seek the Democratic nomination. And instead he launched this long shot bid to run for reelection as an independent. Though also, very notably here, even though he's resigning, the New York Times reported that Menendez, quote, left open the possibility that he might remain a long shot candidate for reelection this fall

as a political independent, noting he has until August 16th to take his name off the ballot, which is actually super significant because while there's no way that he's going to win, some party members are worried that he's still going to have enough of a following that he could siphon votes from the Democratic nominee. And in doing that, create a path for the Republican candidate to swoop in and take the seat. And a Republican strategist telling the Times that even a small number of votes for Menendez, those could be consequential. And that's more important than ever because Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to try to keep their slim majority in the chamber. So actually, as a result, there's now pressure on Governor Murphy to appoint the Dem candidate, Rep. Andy Kim.

With the hope being he serves the rest of the term, it gives him a solid incumbency advantage ahead of the election, but who knows? According to reports, Murphy strongly dislikes Kim because he beat the governor's wife, who was also running for the seat during a pretty blistering primary. And what's more, he also faces pressure from Republicans

not to tip the scales in favor of the Democrats. So I don't know how much that actually plays into the real life equation. But for now, we'll have to wait and see because even with this resignation, it is nowhere near over. Except for Menendez, because of course it's Menendover. I still hate it. But then to shift gears really quick, because some of y'all just won't stop yelling at me. For the first time in a little while, we are no longer completely sold out at beautifulbastard.com. And that is a brand new drop of classics and remixes and another thing has just gone live this afternoon.

With that including OG Emotionally Exhausted and new colorways, Emotionally Exhausted Flowers, the tie dye. We've got Yeah, No, I'm Fine on new colors. Custom colorways of Don't Be Stupid. New colorways of Embrace Change and Are You Taking Care of Yourself? A brand new remix of our sports shirt and tanks. Along with the classics you know and love. And then possibly, maybe just for one day only, we'll see.

Someone on the team just kind of made this as a goofy. Unburdened by what has been tea and tank. And of course, all of these are on our custom cut and sew cotton spandex blends for the teas and the tanks. 100% cotton on the hoodie. We're not just using some random blanks that are out there. So grab what you want while you can.

I know you'll love it. And then, y'all, we have to talk about the Olympics. I'm gonna keep it, I'm gonna keep this short. It's just something awesome you may not be aware of. And that is that there is a new sport that is part of the Olympics this year called kayak cross. And it is very much like they allowed a child to make up a game and they were like, yeah, that should be in the Olympics. So you might guess from the name, it involves kayaks. Good job. But this race, it doesn't start in the water. That would be silly. It instead starts six and a half feet above the water and they're dropped into the water

with the four athletes then having to race through an obstacle course. There's upstream and downstream areas. Also, it's like full contact. But then my favorite part being you cannot finish the race unless you do a 360 flip underwater. They call it an Eskimo roll. This may be the only sport that I watch every single race.

And then gunshots, motorcycle accidents, balcony falls, high speed winds throwing equipment around. Those are just some of the hazards that have led to severe injuries and even deaths on film sets in recent years. In fact, Amazon Studios alone has had three incidents in less than five years that have left people dead or seriously hurt like John Farhat.

Before working on the set of Amazon's holiday movie, "'Candy Cane Lane, starring Eddie Murphy, John was a 33-year vet of Hollywood. He'd overseen the computer-generated graphics on more than 20 films over his three decades. He had become an in-demand visual effects supervisor. Hell, he was even nominated for an Academy Award for his work on The Mask.

But in March of last year, John got seriously injured in an accident on set, and he's been mostly bedridden ever since, which is why in September, we saw him sue for negligence. And according to John's lawsuit, the production for Candy Cane Lane was a disaster, saying the director was frequently requesting rewrites, completely changing the movie,

and the production schedule was disorganized, to say the least. Like for example, the producers were demanding a flaming 15-foot Christmas tree, but the weather kept pushing that shot further and further back. That is until March 29th, when they just decided to press forward

despite gusts of wind of around 30 miles per hour. And in his lawsuit, John said that the tent that was meant to protect the equipment, it wasn't secured properly to the ground, leading to a strong gust sending it flying. And that tent, he said, it speared him in the back and it threw him into the air before he fell

to the ground unconscious. In fact, John actually made a video simulation showing exactly how he was injured. And this accident broke five of John's vertebrae, two ribs, and even now, more than a year later, he is unable to sit and can't even stand for more than an hour, and he has to take an ambulance

to and from his doctor's appointments. With John's wife saying she struggles watching her husband, a staple in the Hollywood crew world, and also a helicopter pilot, just waste away in front of a television now. Saying it's like putting a hummingbird inside a box. And while he's obviously struggling physically, he's also battling bureaucracy, right?

Endless red tape for workers' compensation. And when he filed his lawsuit, Amazon's lawyers denied they were negligent or even liable for the accident. And all we really saw was OSHA impose a fine of $7,200 for violations in connection with the Candy Cane Lane project, including the delayed reporting of a serious injury.

However, the fines were levied against Big Indie Candy Inc., a production services company hired by Amazon to oversee the film. In fact, Amazon reportedly often employs a production service to manage day-to-day operations on film sets. And then you see that production service in turn outsources even further for things like insurance, payroll, and equipment,

with the key thing being separating Amazon from direct legal liability if things go sideways. And according to the New York Times, John decided to share his story now over a year later amid his lawsuit in light of other incidents that are happening on Amazon sets. Like in April on the set of the movie, The Pickup, which interestingly also stars Eddie Murphy, a stunt went wrong in Atlanta resulting in a car crash

that sent eight people to the hospital. With one of those eight being Marvin Haven, who spent several days in the ICU for injuries, including broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a skull fracture that required facial reconstructive surgery. But then really the first incident to kick off Amazon String of film set mishaps, it happened back in 2020,

because that's when a stunt woman on the set of Rings of Power hit her head on a fitting on the bottom of a tank that she was working in. And a review of the accident by the New Zealand government's health and safety regulator determined, quote, "'Risk assessment, worker engagement,

"'hazard identification, monitor and review structures "'were not as cohesive as they could have been.'" You know, it's worth noting that while film sets can be dangerous for anybody in any department, stunt workers are often assuming the most risk, with many of their injuries also going unreported, usually out of fear of being blacklisted. With, for example, Jeffrey Russell of Ohio University saying, Many stunt performers are afraid to report their injuries, especially head trauma,

and feel that we put on a do-not-hire list or looked at as a liability. The more injuries or trauma, the harder it may be to find work. But that should not be how it is. Production companies and their unions should be ensuring stunt performers are taken care of and not reprimanded for any injuries sustained on the job. And according to a study co-authored by Russell and published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology last year, around 80% of stunt performers have experienced at least one incident of head impact or head whip on the job, which is of course more than similar injuries reported by dancers, theater workers, and even professional fighters. With 65% of those who were injured reporting

concussion-like symptoms and kept working despite that. And 44% deciding not to report it out of shame or fear of losing work or feeling like they needed to just tough it out. With also several respondents in the study survey suggesting improvements to safety of the work environment, right, including things like stricter standards for stunt coordinators and ensuring proper gear is used.

They also suggested that some coordinators have a tendency to choose less experienced stunt performers over proven ones and said that involving a producer in the vetting process, that may address that. Nonetheless, they say that the risk of injury, especially head injuries to stunt performers, it needs to be addressed within the industry. With notably the 2023 studies co-author,

Elizabeth Beverly saying, "'We have observed the negative outcomes of head trauma in football and other sports and changes have been made in the last five years to prevent and reduce the number of those concussions. My hope is that the film industry draws parallels and sees this as an opportunity to intervene and make changes.

Stunt performers are an integral part of the entertainment industry and they deserve to work in a safe environment. Now with all this, I do wanna note, injuries on set, they are not an Amazon exclusive. I mean, following the infamous shooting accident by Alec Baldwin on the set of Russ, the LA Times reviewed published reports and government data

to find that at least 19 fatal injuries occurred on movie sets between 2010 and 2019. According to data from OSHA, there have been at least 47 fatalities in 250 film production accidents since 1990. Though there, it could also be worth noting that compared to some other industries, less than 50 deaths in over 30 years, it's not too bad.

But as attorney Chris Deacon told the LA Times, "'Any death in what should be a safe working environment "'with platinum-rated safety standards is a death too many.'" And adding, "'If those engaged to work on set in whatever capacity "'are dying at the hands of the creative process, "'then something is fundamentally wrong "'in the production processes.'"

And all this is over the last decade, we've actually seen the number of fatalities steadily rise. And that likely to part of the rapid growth of the industry to feed the content beast of innumerable streaming services. However, also you have authorities and experts saying the producers cutting corners to save on time and money, it's also contributing to the problem.

With for example, Jeff Harris, an attorney who represented the family of stuntman, John Berneker in a wrongful death lawsuit saying, "'It does not surprise me if you have reduced budgets, a more stressed crew, more expectation on the bottom line that you're going to have increases in both injuries on set and fatalities. But that, my friends, is where today's Wednesday evening,

Thursday morning dive into the news is gonna end. Also, friendly reminder, I might be going live tonight, but the good news, no matter what, is you don't have to miss my stupid face for that long, because I'll be right back here to talk more news with you tomorrow.