The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.5 Disturbing Mr Beast Scam Has Surprise Happy Ending, "I'LL KILL YOU!" Adele Threatens "Pranksters"

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today!  Catch up on the latest PDS: https://youtu.be/xk_e-c4OSB0 Check out our daily newsletter! http://dailydip.co/pds  Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillydefranco/?hl=en  –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 0:00 - Child Pranked By People Posing as MrBeast’s Team 02:05 - Adele Warns Fans Not to Throw Objects on Concert Stages 04:07 - Meta Teases “Twitter Killer” App Dropping Thursday 06:29 - Man Who Couldn’t Swim Drowns Saving Two Best Friend’s Kids From Lake 07:35 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 08:43 - Japan Approved to Dump Nuclear Fukushima Waste Water Into Ocean 11:18 - Adam Conover Discusses the Writer’s Strike  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #MrBeast #Adele ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're talking about this heartbreaking and disturbing Mr. Beast scam, why Adele's threatening to kill people at her shows, why people are freaking out about Japan releasing radioactive wastewater, you've got Adam Conover exposing the truth about the writer's strike. We're going to talk about all that and so much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, so buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. Starting with this completely messed up, heartbreaking, but then heartwarming story that involves Mr. Beast, because the situation centers around Gabe Lyles,

this eight year old boy from Connecticut who suffers from hearing loss. Because he and his dad, TJ, reportedly were shopping at Target when three men approached them. And they claimed to be working for Mr. Beast. They wanted to do a fill the cart challenge where we would be blindfolded. Within 30 seconds, whatever we could put within the cart,

they'll pay for it. With TJ explaining that Mr. Beast is one of Gabe's favorite YouTubers. He's over the moon. And so they believe these guys are working for the show. They put on blindfolds, they'll pay for it. With TJ explaining that Mr. Beast is one of Gabe's favorite YouTubers, he's over the moon. And so they believe these guys are working for the show. They put on blindfolds, they start putting stuff in their cart. Then they heard the men running away.

My heart sank 100%. The very last thing in this world I wanna do is hurt him. It broke my heart because I thought my dreams were coming true. My son leaned in and said that he couldn't hear them because he had to wear hearing aids. And they said, that's why we're choosing you for this challenge, because of the hearing loss.

Right, this is already an insanely fucked up prank to pull on anyone, but also to literally tell him, hey, you're lucky, we're picking you because of your disability. And you can just imagine how horrible they feel, with TJ then going to Facebook to post about the situation. And from there, we all of a sudden see this swell of support from the community.

With the outcry prompting the town of Southington commission for persons with disabilities to give Gabe a $200 gift card. And Target also matching that, allowing Gabe to fulfill his dream of a shopping spree. Made me feel heartwarming and happy. And now, in another twist of fate, Gabe's dreams may actually come true.

Because just today, Mr. Beast became aware of what happened. Seeing a report of this on Twitter and replying, give me his info, which, oh my God, would just be the perfect end to this story. For these heartless monsters who just decided to fuck with a kid and his dad to inadvertently give that kid his dream. I look forward to seeing what happens now that Jimmy knows what's going on. So just a little bit of good news and the otherwise dumpster fire that is our news cycle. And then stop throwing things at people. And I say that because shit's gotten so crazy.

You got Adele out here threatening to stab a bitch. That happening at one of her recent Vegas shows. Have you noticed how people are like forgetting fucking show etiquette at the moment? People are throwing shit on stage. Have you seen that? I fucking dare you. Dare you to throw stuff at me.

I'm not fucking kidding you. And it's easy to understand why she's giving that warning. There's just been this increasing trend of people throwing things at people on stage, whether it be for content or just to do it. And most recently we talked about Bebe Rexha getting stitches after a fan threw a phone at her head while she was on stage.

But then a few days after that, someone walked on stage while Ava Maxx was performing in Los Angeles and slapped her in the face. And since then, there's been no shortage of stories. Kelsey Ballerini was pelted on the face with a bracelet while singing in Idaho, with her then turning away from the crowd, eventually walking off stage,

later writing that it scared her more than it hurt her. Lil Nas X also had to kind of deal with this situation, though in his situation, someone threw a sex toy at him. I mean, you even have artists like Harry Styles, who has gotten stuff thrown at him so often. He has like Spider-Man reflexes now. There was a recent show he did in Warsaw where someone threw what looks like a bracelet

or a hair tie, he kicked it into the air and caught it. Also, if you thought the Lil Nas X sex toy thing was weird, no. Someone in London at a Pink concert threw their mother's ashes on stage at her. This is wrong. I don't know how I feel about this. Which is why Adele's not the only one speaking out about this. You got people like Charlie Puth saying, This trend of throwing things at performers while they're on stage must come to an end.

It's so disrespectful and very dangerous. And Rolling Stone even putting out a piece titled, Dear Idiots, Please Stop Throwing Things at the Stage. But people also noting this isn't like a new stupid thing. Pointing out that somebody threw a lollipop at David Bowie in 2004 in Norway and almost blinded him. A lollipop. You know, we can see people saying, you know, it was COVID, it was the isolation, we don't know how to act in events. But all of that, I think, highlights why this is not going to get better. This is not going to stop. We live in a time where more than ever, you have a surplus of people that are like, any attention is the attention I want.

Positive, negative, all the same. And then you add the fact that a lot of people don't see entertainers as actual human people. They're just like content machines you can fuck with. And when you have people with massive audiences, statistically, you know, one or two people are going to pop up. They're going to be assholes there. So I don't know. If shame's not going to work, maybe we all kick them in the head.

No, I'm joking. My lawyer says I'm joking when I say that. And then, is Mark Zuckerberg the Twitter killer? Or rather, will his new app be? Because on Monday, Meta teased their new Twitter competitor, Threads, which is gonna be released and available for download tomorrow.

With Meta seemingly trying to capitalize on Musk's chaos and gutting of the company. With coding for Threads reportedly starting at the beginning of the year. And Chris Cox, the chief product officer, calling Threads Meta's response to Twitter and saying in a meeting last month, we've been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution. And of course, that sanely run line,

a less than subtle jab at Elon Musk and the chaos over Twitter since he took over. And the timing of threads release is very key, with Musk just over the weekend managing to piss off an even bigger group of people by limiting the number of tweets a user could read in a day. A number that was substantially lower for those who weren't paying for Twitter verification. Well, of course, Threads isn't by itself here. There have been several Twitter-style competitors popping up recently.

The main differentiator between those apps is that a user has to start completely from scratch. Or they have to completely lose their established audience. They have to try to migrate people over. It's just an exhausting prospect. Like one of the only reasons that TikTok really doesn't have that same problem is the potential for massive growth,

even if you start from zero. And so with threads, your account is linked to your Instagram account, which is reportedly going to allow you to post to an already existing following. And while I personally don't know anyone that uses Facebook other than like my parents, Meta has an established user base of 3 billion people

over Facebook, Instagram, and other apps. And so technically, if Zuckerberg could get 18% of Instagram users to sign up for threads, it would essentially be the same size as Twitter. And honestly, I have no educated guess as to whether this is gonna be a massive success or a massive failure,

because there have been times in the past where people were like, what, Instagram's adopting stories? How stupid. Oh, now that's one of the most used features. Oh my God, Instagram is copying TikTok with Reels? Who's gonna care about that? Reels primarily consists of old TikToks.

Turns out, massively successful feature. So honestly, who knows? Though I will say out of all the potential Twitter killers or actual Twitter competitors, this feels like something comparatively that could have a higher percent chance of succeeding. That said, even before the public launch, there's been a fair share of criticism directed towards threads, specifically focused on the privacy of threads and mostly found on Twitter. Several screenshots from the Apple's app store's threads page showing just how much data may be collected from the threads app. With even Elon Musk himself responding to at least two

of those screenshots and saying in one, thank goodness they're so sanely run. But for now we're gonna have to wait to see how the release goes tomorrow, what the initial user base looks like over the course of at least the first week. But in the meantime, I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Which way are you leaning on threads?

You think it's gonna fail or it's gonna be a success? Also when it comes out, are you gonna try it? And if you are, or you just wanna follow me on Instagram, you can follow me here, look, Philly DeFranco, link in the description. And then, we all like to believe that we would step up and be the hero during a crisis, but how many of us are gonna find ourselves

in this situation, and how many of us would actually be willing to put our lives on the line when the moment comes? But 37-year-old Marvin Fernandez, he is that guy. Because reportedly he and his best friend, along with their kids, took a trip down to Lake Nockamixon in Pennsylvania to fish and listen to music.

It's a tradition they've done for years since they moved to the U.S. together from Honduras. As their getaway is winding down, Fernandez takes four of the kids along the lake to catch more fish. That's when two of the kids slip on a rock, thinking they were wading through shallow water and they plunge into a deeper part of the lake.

And y'all, they cannot swim. And so Fernandez, who it turns out also cannot swim either, faces a choice. Either leave the kids there, try and run back for help, find someone, or jump in to save them himself. And as you've probably guessed, he did the latter with the two children getting out safely. But unfortunately, Fernandez was grabbed by the current and pulled away, tragically drowning just 25 feet from the shore. And his best friend sang with this, my son is alive because of Marvin. But I lost someone who was more than a friend to me. He was And with that, I would add, he is a hero and easily our Banff of the day. Though none of that makes this story any less heartbreaking.

And then, have you ever been on the hunt for a new doctor? Like a doctor who actually gets you, listens to you, and doesn't make you feel like a paycheck. And then finally, after weeks of searching, you find the one. And then you finally get the receptionist on the phone. You work out an appointment that kind of works. Then you find out they don't take your insurance. I mean, who has time for that? Nobody. Nobody has time for that. Well, that's where the fantastic partner and sponsor of today's show comes in, ZocDoc. ZocDoc is a free app that millions of people are using where you can find amazing doctors who are right for you and take your insurance and then

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That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash Phil. ZocDoc.com slash. And then, are we on the verge of a nuclear disaster? Also, no, I'm not talking about the possibility that Russia is going to sabotage and leak radiation from the nuclear plant that they took over in Ukraine, though we should keep our eyes on that. Instead, today I'm focusing on Japan's plan to dump more than a million cubic meters of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima disaster

directly into the ocean, with activists around the world sounding the alarm, claiming that this is going to cause irreparable damage. And in fact, there's so much concern that in nearby South Korea, some have started to panic buy goods like sea salt and dried seaweed, where both staples and Korean cuisine over fears that they're gonna be contaminated soon.

And in addition to that, over the next week, the government's releasing 50 million tons of salt a day from reserves at a discount. And it's not just South Korea that's worried. Russia has opposed the move, as well as China, which has long been wary of any plans that would release the wastewater into the Pacific. But here's the thing. Experts are actually pushing back against the narrative that this is a dangerous and risky idea. The first big

thing is that we don't have to just blindly trust Japan that the plan is safe. This decision was made after a two-year consultation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the world organization that oversees nuclear energy and use. And together, they agree that this water, which has been treated to remove nearly all radioactive materials for years, is perfectly safe. With pretty much the only measurable thing that they couldn't remove being tritium. Which you might think, boom, checkmate.

The activists were right. Even if it's one thing, that thing is unsafe. But turns out, not quite. To deal with this, Japan has diluted the tritium to 1 7th the level that the World Health Organization thinks is safe for drinking water. And on top of that, throwing it into the ocean just further dilutes it.

And that's without mentioning that it's not especially radioactive and its energy can't even penetrate your skin. So not only would you need to ingest it, you would need to ingest a shocking amount of the stuff to actually be considered dangerous. And then there's what some are calling the hypocrisy of the situation. For example, China has long criticized any plan to put Fukushima waste into the ocean, while at the same time dumping nearly 20 times that amount into the ocean from its own nuclear plants, something even the US ambassador to Japan pointed out in tweets.

Similarly, South Korea dumps far more radioactive waste into the ocean than Japan's plan will, but all that information still hasn't stopped some of the criticism. With some, like the Japanese fishing lobby, having very practical concerns that just the perception that the fish being near Japan are gonna be contaminated,

just that alone is enough to hurt their livelihoods. Right, that's something that happened after the initial disaster, when quite a few countries banned Japanese fish over fears that it was dangerous to consume. Meanwhile, others have argued that if the water is so safe to drink, then why isn't it being used for places like Tokyo?

That's probably because transporting the water that far isn't practical at all, especially when the ocean's right there. And so no matter what, it feels like there's nothing that the nuclear experts can do to convince critics that the water is actually safe. With a number of experts here saying

this is just kind of the continuation of nuclear having a PR problem. Because if nuclear experts are to be believed, it is now among the safest, cleanest, and by far most efficient energy sources out there experts here saying this is just kind of the continuation of nuclear having a PR problem. Because if nuclear experts are to be believed, it is now among the safest, cleanest, and by far most efficient energy sources out there, and could heavily cut down on our reliance of fossil fuels. Which some argue is part of the reason huge titans

of industry, let's say like the oil industry, it's in their best interest to fearmonger as much as possible when it comes to nuclear. And then the writer's strike has gotten to this really important point. Where they've been on strike for over two months with seemingly no end in sight. Actors have authorized a strike vote

and they're ready to hit the picket lines if their demands aren't met. And you have this situation where the industry has just changed so damn much over the last decade or so, and many of the changes have come with obstacles that make it harder for everyday people to make a living. You know, I could talk on this for days, but at the end of the day,

I'm just kind of an outsider with this story, which is why I think it's really important we talk to and hear from the actual people that are on the front lines. And so with this huge situation, we decided to talk to Adam Conover. You might know him from Adam Ruins Everything and the G Word. He's also a member of the Writers Guild's Negotiating Committee. And when speaking with him, he said that one of the big reasons that writers are striking is to reclaim the power they deserve in the industry. So you've always been picky about

your produce, but now you find yourself checking every label to make sure it's Canadian. So be it. At Sobeys, we always pick guaranteed fresh Canadian produce first. Restrictions apply. See in-store or online for details. Only reason that anyone thinks of working in Hollywood as being a lucrative career is because of that unionization. It's because we've had those strong unions making sure that the people who are making the media receive a fair share of the profits. And the last couple of decades, the companies have worked really hard

to upset that equilibrium and end that deal. And we are on strike right now to put it back in place, to remind them that we are the people who make their content. They can't do anything without us. And with this, we've seen the writers having the backing of tons of other sectors in the business because it's getting harder to create a sustainable career in Hollywood

on all fronts. So you see this big swell of solidarity and momentum to fight. Hollywood workers are ready to mobilize because the companies that run this business have spent the last two decades trying to squeeze every dollar out of us. And they've done it to every single craft in town. Actors have been wedged into sticky contracts and held back by self-taped auditions. Crew members have been overworked to the point of exhaustion, and writers' jobs have become increasingly less stable. And in many ways, it all boils down to studios using the streaming revolution as an excuse to essentially screw writers over.

We're doing the same work. More people are watching it than ever. The companies are more profitable than ever, and yet they refuse to pay us a fraction of what we used to make on linear television. In fact, according to the WGA, the median weekly writer-producer pay has gone down 4% over the last 10 years, and when you account for inflation, that is a 23% decline. Also, more staff writers are working at the minimum rate than they were 10 years ago, and as the Guild has explained, most writers on streaming shows are earning less per season because of shorter work periods.

With that, I'm also noting that for years, the entertainment industry had a sustainable model for putting out film and television shows in a way that got writers paid and pleased audiences. But then streaming came and that all shifted. A lot of these companies started behaving in ways that really, you know, killed the golden goose, to be quite honest. But like Adam mentioned at the top of this story, Hollywood is a union town. The WGA itself dates back to 1933, and for decades, unions have empowered employees to not just stand up for themselves, but to fight for the next generation's workers.

And you don't even have to look that far back to see it, just 2007, 2008. That being the last major writer's strike in Hollywood, that one lasting for 100 days. And you've likely seen a lot of people refer back to it amid this ongoing strike, especially since this one has the potential to last even longer.

With Adam noting that the writers there, they fought for the future of the profession then, and writers today have to fight for a future now. Members of the Writers Guild know that that was a victory, and they know that every once in a while, the price of being in a union is you need to step up and have the fight of today. So I'm so grateful to those writers back then, in 2008, for going on strike for me, because that meant that my new Netflix show that came out last year had union coverage. If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have had those

benefits today. And so I know that no matter how well my career may or may not be doing, it is my job today to go on strike to help the workers of the future. That is what a union is all about. And it's that solidarity and energy that has kept momentum so strong for two months now. People are still on picket lines, holding marches, sounding off because they know what's at stake if they don't. For us, this fight is existential. We know that if we don't have this fight, if we don't win, it's going to be the end of television and film writing as a sustainable career. And so we're going to be out here as long as it takes. And I don't really put into perspective how much of this job has been upended, explaining that among other things, writers often spend twice as much time trying to land their next job as they do working in their current job. And so,

yeah, to a certain degree, that's just the way that it works. But as the average gig length has shrunk, writers are being stretched thinner and thinner, with Adam noting that previously, you get a job, you work in the writer's room for six months or more writing out a show. Then you're sent to set and you help adjust the lines when the actors need the lines adjusted. You help the director make an adjustment if they want. Then you go to post-production and you help edit the show because writing is done in the edit as well. Companies, they keep finding loopholes to separate them from a lot of that work. So now they say, oh, we just want you to write the whole show in just eight to 10 weeks. And by the way,

you're not going to be sent to set. You're not going to do posts. And as a result, now getting that one job only lasts a couple of months instead of most of the year. And it no longer is enough to make your year. And on top of all that, it's also harder to break into the industry than it used to be. And mind you, becoming a writer in Hollywood has always been very competitive. It used to be that you'd be hired on a show, you'd work on it for six to eight months, you'd be shown the ropes, and then you would carry that experience with you into your next job. The way television writing works now is when you get that first job, you might only be hired for eight weeks, and you might only talk to your coworkers over Zoom, and you might not even make enough on

your first job to qualify for health insurance. And then thatworkers over Zoom and you might not even make enough on your first job to qualify for health insurance. And then that job ends and you're like, what do I do now? I'm in the same position I was before. The ladder that writers used to be able to climb just doesn't exist the way that it used to. And so now many are concerned that writing for a television show is no longer going to be a way that people can actually make a living. It'll become something people do between other jobs. With Adam there saying that casting writers aside in this way could harm Hollywood in a way that even viewers could pick up on. If we allow them to do that, the quality of our television and movies, this product that so many people around the world love, is going to plummet.

And so in many ways, we are going on strike in order to save the industry from itself. But also with all this, it's very important to note that at the end of the day, this is also just a strike like any other. Yeah, it may involve a high profile union and it has the star power of Hollywood, but these are workers rights issues just the same. And that's part of the reason that tons of other industries have recognized that and joined writers on the picket line. It means so much to us to get backing from teachers. We've had janitors walk with us. We've had hospitality workers. We've even had union strippers join our picket line.

And that's because these folks know that we're all fighting for the same thing. We're fighting for a sustainable career in the face of corporate greed and CEOs who are trying to save money by squeezing labor. And I'm also emphasizing that every worker, whatever they do, should know that they have the right and capacity to fight for their rights as well. What I want everybody to know when they're watching our strike is I want you to know that you have the same power. You have the opportunity to organize and create a union in your workplace.

You can do it. And I am so grateful to the writers who came before me 90 years ago, who created this union and took on the multi-decade battle it took to win us our first contract. But ultimately, that's where we are with the story and the situation right now. We keep watching to see what happens with this strike. And a big thank you to Adam for his time and

the insight. And that's where today's Daily Dive into the news is going to end. That said, if you're looking for more news, you need to know I got you covered here. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.