The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.1 Ninja Ditches Twitch, BTS vs Badshah, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Tomi Lahren, & Sudan

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you have a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is a story that involves a controversy in the music industry, online entertainment, and it's another example of kind of India versus the rest of the world. And that last thing I mean not as like an India versus Pakistan, but more a T-Series versus PewDiePie sort of way. And that's because today's story involves an Indian rapper by the name of Badshah, whose music video for his song Pagal broke the YouTube record for the most views

Starting point is 00:00:28 in 24 hours. And reportedly in that time span, that song hit 75 million views, which beat the record which was set by BTS back in April, and was previously held by artists like Ariana Grande and Blackpink. And the thing is, Badshah actually broke this record back when the video premiered on Sony Music India's channel

Starting point is 00:00:42 on July 10th. But the reason you might be just hearing about this now is because YouTube has remained pretty silent on this matter and that has become big news. In the past they've made sort of announcements, they sent out congratulation tweets when BTS, Blackpink and Ariana Grande broke the record. Hell, even recently they tweeted in praise of Taylor Swift

Starting point is 00:00:56 setting the record for highest female and solo 24 hour debut which are smaller records in comparison. But they've still said absolutely nothing since Badshaw's video debuted and they're not the only ones. In fact, even the Guinness World Records site, which claims to keep the record up to date, still shows the title belonging to BTS. Once again, keep in mind,

Starting point is 00:01:11 this isn't something that happened yesterday. It's been about three weeks. And so a lot of people have been calling out YouTube for not giving credit to Badshaw for breaking this record, with a lot of people saying they are ignoring the milestone because his music is not popular in the West. People saying it's because he's Indian, that it's racism plus corporate control,

Starting point is 00:01:25 but others are claiming that it's actually for a different reason, with some claiming that it could be because Badshaw and Sony bought ads to get more views. According to a recent Bloomberg report, labels can buy an ad space on YouTube that will place a music video between other clips, and quote, if viewers watch the ad

Starting point is 00:01:38 for more than a few seconds, YouTube counts that as a view, boosting the overall total. However, of note there, Badshaw isn't the only record-breaking artist to use this practice. According to Bloomberg, both Blackpink and Taylor Swift have gotten views from ads for their recent videos. So some people, especially BTS fans,

Starting point is 00:01:52 as that band did not buy ads to get views, are calling out this practice, with some calling the views fake or saying that the practice is cheating. But still, others are confused as to why the company who has congratulated artists who have purchased ads did not congratulate Badshaw. Because yes, while some argue that Badshot

Starting point is 00:02:06 could have benefited the most from this strategy due to cheap ad prices in India, some think that there's still kind of a double standard on YouTube's part. Now ultimately, that is where we are with this story. We still haven't seen an official YouTube response, but Bloomberg reported that according to people familiar with the company's thinking,

Starting point is 00:02:18 they are now reevaluating the way it judges records. Which I will say, I feel like that does make sense. You shouldn't be able to win a record just because you threw money and someone kind of saw 10 seconds of your video even though they weren't actively looking for it because it was an ad. But at the same time, I personally wonder how they would handle it because the part of YouTube's business

Starting point is 00:02:36 model does involve companies putting their videos as pre-rolls to fluff up their numbers. So would we see YouTube changing what counts as a view or only what counts towards a record? But at the same time, I will say it feels like music records often now seem like BS. It's like when you have these records for album sales that end up just getting tied to other things

Starting point is 00:02:54 like these merch bundles or things not focused on the music itself, but then they still count towards album sales. I mean, notably there's even a lawsuit between DJ Khaled and Billboard around sales connected to an energy drink. But hey, ultimately that's where we are with this story right now. And of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

Starting point is 00:03:09 Do you feel like bad jaw not being acknowledged is discrimination? Or do you feel like this is an instance of the purchasing of views being so brazen for a record that all of a sudden the industry has to go, okay, well we have to change things. If we don't change it, this is actually a larger threat to our business model.

Starting point is 00:03:24 I'd love to know your thoughts. Also, while we are talking about online entertainment If we don't change it, this is actually a larger threat to our business model. I'd love to know your thoughts. Also, while we are talking about online entertainment, we got some of the most massive news regarding kind of the platform wars. And specifically, I'm talking about streaming. And most of the time when you say that, most people think YouTube gaming, they think Twitch. But one of the most massive announcements today

Starting point is 00:03:39 is one of the most popular Fortnite players in the world, Ninja, announced today that he is going to be exclusively streaming on Mixer, which I will say, I cannot imagine how much money they just threw at him to make this a thing. And kind of fantastically, Ninja announced this in a sort of press conference sketch video. I mean, this could be massive,

Starting point is 00:03:56 especially considering the timing. There has been kind of more and more complaints regarding Twitch's treatment of certain streamers. So it'll be interesting to see if maybe this starts off a mass exodus or it's just sort of a momentary blip. I mean, in the past, we've seen some examples of people going exclusively to an alternative platform. Oftentimes it does not work out well for them,

Starting point is 00:04:14 but I've never really seen someone with the size and notoriety of Ninja do so. Plus I imagine his massively successful social media presence as well as YouTube presence will continue to fuel this new initiative. But ultimately I will, I'm personally excited because this shakes things up. And anytime we see new legitimate competition

Starting point is 00:04:29 or big moves being made, I think it's good for the industry as a whole. But hey, ultimately we're gonna have to just wait and see. Then of course last night it was the second round of the second run of Democratic Debates. And there were several notable moments last night, but two of the kind of biggest hits were actually hits on Kamala Harris.

Starting point is 00:04:45 Interestingly enough, one happened on stage and one off. On stage, you had Tulsi Gabbard taking a shot at Kamala Harris's record. Senator Harris says she's proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she'll be a prosecutor president, but I'm deeply concerned about this record. There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. She blocked evidence. She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California. The bottom line is, Senator Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's

Starting point is 00:05:29 lives, you did not. And worse yet, in the case of those who were on death row, innocent people, you actually blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so. There is no excuse for that. And interestingly enough there, Harris on stage defended herself by saying that she was against the death penalty, saying when she had the option to seek the death penalty or not, she didn't, which didn't seem to address a lot of the criticism.

Starting point is 00:05:53 But also that moment seemed to lead to a post-debate moment where even a CNN editor described it with the headline, how you know Tulsi Gabbard really got under Kamala Harris's skin. Harris reportedly said, this is going to sound immodest But obviously I'm a top tier candidate And so I did expect that I'd be on stage and take some hits tonight when people are at zero or one percent or whatever She might be at so I did expect to take some hits tonight

Starting point is 00:06:14 So there was that and she later went on to call Gabbard an Apologist for Syrian dictator Bashar al-assad then regarding the moment off the stage It actually involved Tommy Lahren who tweeted Kamala Did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown? Which regarding that reportedly in the mid 1990s, Kamala Harris had a relationship with San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, something that Willie Brown actually

Starting point is 00:06:32 at the beginning of the year even addressed in an op-ed, saying quote, yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was assembly speaker. I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco, but then also adding, I have also helped the careers of house speaker Nancy Pelosi,

Starting point is 00:06:46 Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and a host of other politicians. And adding, the difference is that Harris is the only one who after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I quote, so much as jaywalked while she was DA. Right, and I explained that just so you have some background and understand the context there. But regarding Tommy Lahren's tweet,

Starting point is 00:07:03 the responses were not great. And I don't just mean the responses from Democrats. Like there are even people from Fox News. Fox News libertarian commentator Kat Timpf tweeting, "'I am curious to know what you think "'bringing a woman's personal slash sexual life "'into this accomplishes?' "'Men do that to us enough as it is, I'm honestly asking.'"

Starting point is 00:07:18 Britt McHenry, who's also a host on Fox Nation tweeting, "'Do you have any idea how damaging this is "'to women who've actually been sexually harassed, "'assaulted, or demeaned in the workplace? How much this weakens our own gender regardless of partisanship? My goodness. And later adding, I'm sorry, what law degree do you have? What state bar did you pass? And early this morning, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean tweeting,

Starting point is 00:07:41 Pretty disgusting, Tommy. Are clicks and retweets worth demeaning women? Would you do the same to a conservative female candidate? And as far as Tommy Lahren's concerned, initially after the debate, she seemingly had doubled down, tweeting, I didn't make this up. Willie Brown admitted it, the truth hurts, while linking to a USA Today article, but this morning, she seemingly walked back some of the statement, writing, I apologize for my comment

Starting point is 00:07:59 on Kamala's personal relationship. It was the wrong choice of words. There are many other things to take her to task for, and I will stick to those. And for Tommy, it was kind of the second time she popped up in the news this week for something she tweeted. Tuesday after tweeting, if you traipse your kid 2,000 miles in dangerous conditions, you're not only a criminal, you're a shitty parent. The actor Chris Evans responded in a tweet that's been retweeted almost 80,000 times, 482,000 likes, writing, wow, the complete lack of sympathy, respect, and general awareness is astonishing.

Starting point is 00:08:24 Also, I would carry my kid through fire if it meant escaping hell. Yeah, that is some of what we saw stirred up yesterday. And then let's talk about this situation in Sudan. Now we talked about Sudan back in June, but here's a very quick recap. The people of Sudan have been consistently staging anti-government protests since December of 2018.

Starting point is 00:08:39 Now the protests started over shortages and price hikes, but shifted to a call for President Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power for 30 years, to step down. Then in April, we saw al-Bashir ousted in a military coup, which installed a transitional military council, the TMC, which was meant to oversee a transition of power, but the protests did not end there. Massive demonstrations continued, calling on the military

Starting point is 00:08:58 to give a civilian-led government immediately. Meanwhile, protests and military leaders tried to negotiate how to form a transitional government until elections could be held, but those efforts kept stalling. And in fact, the last time we talked about Sudan, it was when paramilitary forces violently attacked a protest camp that had been set up in front of the military headquarters for weeks. Medics associated with the opposition said that more than 120 people were killed in the violence, while the government said that the death toll was 87. After that, we saw negotiations stall, but then get restarted. And on July 5th, we saw the leaders finally agreeing to a power sharing deal that would establish

Starting point is 00:09:27 a joint military civilian sovereign council to govern Sudan until elections in three years. And after that, we did see some positive steps taken. Things like the internet access that had been cut off by the military since the June crackdowns being slowly restored. But that said, there were still some key issues to hammer out, and so the negotiations continued.

Starting point is 00:09:41 And during that time, so did the protests. Which, all of that brings us to the reason that we're talking about Sudan today. Reportedly, on Monday, paramilitary security forces opened fire on school children in the city of El Obeid who were peacefully protesting food and fuel shortages. Those attacks resulting in the deaths of at least six people, five children and one adult.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Also, according to opposition-linked medics, they left more than 60 injured. But this violence also reportedly didn't deter the protesters. Videos have circulated that appear to show students protesting in front of the hospital where those injured in the shooting had been taken. And after hearing of the violence,

Starting point is 00:10:10 demonstrators in the Sudanese capital Khartoum also took to the streets to protest the killings. The protests in Khartoum and El Obeid continued the next day, and protesters in both cities were reportedly met with security forces who fired tear gas and live ammunition at them. It's also been reported that schools were shut down and a curfew imposed in El Obeid.

Starting point is 00:10:25 And according to the Guardian, a state of emergency was declared, the army was deployed, and the internet was once again cut off. Then on Tuesday, we saw officially the military council ordered the schools be shut down nationwide, reportedly telling Sudan's news agency in a statement, orders have been given to governors of all states

Starting point is 00:10:39 to shut kindergartens, primary and high schools from tomorrow Wednesday until further notice. We of course also saw a number of responses to the shooting Sudan's official news agency quoted the head of the military council condemning the attack saying what happened in al-obaid is a regrettable and upsetting matter and the killing of peaceful citizens is Unacceptable and rejected and a crime that requires immediate and deterrent accountability UN Children's Agency UNICEF also criticized the violence with a representative Saying in a statement I am devastated about the fatal shooting that led to the death of at least five high school children and scores of serious injuries in al-Obaid. And adding, UNICEF calls on the government to investigate and hold all perpetrators of violence against children accountable. Which on that note, we saw the African Union's mediator for Sudan calling for a trial for those responsible for killing the school children.

Starting point is 00:11:20 And also notably urging the opposition and military leaders to resume negotiations which have been cancelled on Tuesday Which on that note while some opposition leaders reportedly did not want the talks to resume Reuters reported this morning that the leaders are set to resume talks later today Adding that opposition leaders have said that they had resolved some major sticking points and we're getting closer to a deal and of course all the While there are still thousands of people in the streets protesting actually as of recording this video We saw reports that four people have been killed in today's protests. But ultimately, that is where we are

Starting point is 00:11:47 with a story that involves a lot of horrible, a very tense situation. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens from here. And that's where we're going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked today's video, I love if you took a second to hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, you want more of these dives into the news,

Starting point is 00:12:01 be sure to hit subscribe. Definitely click that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're not 100% filled in, your brain is still craving more. Be sure to check out today's extra bonus news deep dive right here over at Rogue Rocket, or maybe you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show. You wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there

Starting point is 00:12:15 to watch that as well. 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.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.1 Ninja Ditches Twitch, BTS vs Badshah, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Tomi Lahren, & Sudan

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