The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.10 An Apology, Kylie Jenner Cardi B Megan Thee Stallion WAP Backlash Controversy, & More

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!  GO TO http://ShopDeFranco.com ! The “Emotionally Exhausted” Drop is FINALLY LIVE!  Follow me off of Youtube: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco -- 00:00 - merch 01:16 - WAP 05:06 - TikTok 09:58 - TIA 11:41 - Georgia 15:29 - Lebanon -- 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 ✩ ✭ Immigration Nation Trailer: https://youtu.be/X_xVKy58Yuw ✭ ‘Bubbles Of Nothing’ That Eat Spacetime: https://youtu.be/_n6lKx3mxeI ✭ Away Trailer: https://youtu.be/3f_REapPwio ✭ How Ellie Goulding Uses Her Voice as an Instrument: https://youtu.be/Uui1Kjg0pmY ✭ Tara Strong Improvises 10 New Cartoon Voices: https://youtu.be/UlWLeaph0nU ✭ Secret Link: https://youtu.be/uoHGJwgFMKs ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  “WAP” Video Prompts Backlash: https://roguerocket.com/2020/08/10/conservatives-slam-wap-lyrics/ Trump’s TikTok and Tencent Ban: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/10/21358505/trump-tiktok-wechat-tencent-bytedance-china-ban-executive-order-legal-sanctions-rules Cases In Georgia High School: https://roguerocket.com/2020/08/10/cases-confirmed-georgia-high-school/ Lebanon’s Government Resigns:  https://roguerocket.com/2020/08/10/lebanons-government-resigns/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Hong Kong Crackdown: High Profile Media Tycoon Arrested: https://roguerocket.com/2020/08/10/jimmy-lai/ ——————————     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 #Lebanon #CardiB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Hope you have a fantastic Monday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and a big announcement before we get started. I'm so excited I get to finally say this today. Right now, the limited edition, exclusive, emotionally exhausted drop is live. If you go to shopdefranco.com,

you can snag one of your own embroidered bleach tie-dye hoodies. If you loved our premium hoodies before, these are even better. We've also got the embroidered tie-dye shirt that you can snag. Also at the same time, you want something maybe a little more minimal. We've got the premium hoodies before, these are even better. We've also got the embroidered tie-dye shirt that you can snag. Also at the same time, you want something maybe a little more minimal.

We've got the depleted heart, emotionally exhausted on our premium shirts and our hoodies. And also if you want to add a little awesome to your order, we got fantastic hats and notebooks. This is easily my favorite drop that I've been the most excited about releasing, in part because they're my favorite, beautiful, minimal designs.

And in part, this whole line was actually created because I tweeted that it was emotionally exhausted and way too many people were like, yeah, same. So that inspired me to work with some designers to kind of try to transform this negative thing into a creative thing. Also, little side thing, I've been whispering positive affirmations into the designs.

Don't worry, one day this will just be something that happened a long time ago. Also, Jessica's a hater. You can totally pull off those jeans. Also, stop wasting energy on people not willing to give you theirs. Okay, ship it off. Yeah, all of that available right now

at shopdefranco.com for a limited time. But with that said, like I said, 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, I could not have predicted this before the weekend. Let's talk about Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion,

and their new song and music video, WAP. This has become a whole thing, actually several whole things. They released this video Friday. As of this morning, it has over 59 million views just on YouTube. And along with the massive success of this song, there have also been people angry for a number of reasons.

First up, you had some slamming the song for its sexual nature. For instance, you have people like James P. Bradley, a Republican running for a congressional seat in California tweeting out, "'Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure.

Their new song, The WAP, which I heard accidentally, made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model." Deanna Lorraine, another Republican and former congressional candidate from California making similar remarks, saying the women set the entire female gender back by 100 years With their disgusting and vile song even pointing to explicit lyrics calling for the song to be banned

You know these two weren't alone You had other politicians making similar remarks about the song being degrading and encouraging promiscuity But we also saw a number of those comments met with backlash of their own for several reasons though in general many pointed to double standards in the music industry since men often sexualize women without the same level of criticism. Others saying that the song is actually empowering and that women shouldn't be shamed for talking about

or enjoying sex. As far as where I personally land regarding this first aspect of the story, I personally land on the support of these women with this issue. If you wanna wear 17 hoodies and not show a single curve or an ankle, power to you, it's your body.

And also on the other side of this, if you wanna boost and prop and shine and shake and do whatever the hell with your body, because it's your own, power to you. And as far as people offended by the language, just horrified at the naughty, naughty words coming out of these young ladies mouths. To me, when I, when I listened to this, I watch the music video.

I see the inclusion of Frank Skeet. To me, it feels like they flipped what was once exploitive and turned it into empowerment. And this last part, it's not just towards women. Whoever you are, you should treat yourself like you're the main character of your story. If you're not hurting anybody else and what you're doing, it makes you feel strong and powerful and whatever the hell, it's a good thing.

Own it, rock it, do it, whatever. We only got this one life. Don't let other people's standards of what they think is appropriate or okay dictate your life. But like I said, that was only one aspect of the story. You actually saw a large number of people frustrated that Kylie Jenner made an appearance in the video, with many feeling like she shouldn't have shown up at all,

or she was just given too much screen time in comparison to other people who showed up. With there even being a Change.org petition to have Kylie's cameo cut from the video that now has over 65,000 signatures. Among the reasons you had people frustrated that you had one user writing, Normani did all this and Kylie walked down the hall

and opened a door. If that's not a perfect visual indication of black women having to do the most and white women do the bare minimum work to get somewhere, I don't know what is.'" And there we actually saw Cardi B respond in a series of now deleted tweets saying, "'Normani is one of the best female artists

that dances like she dances her fucking ass off. Why would she open a door? Please tell me how that would make sense.'" With her also adding that not everything is about race and noting that there are issues like that in the world, which she speaks on. Right, so there was that. And then the third reason some people were angry

actually involved Tiger King's Carole Baskin, a name I cannot see without hearing that TikTok song in my head. But yeah, you had Carole taking aim at Cardi and Megan because of the use of tigers in the video. Saying to make this video, they most likely had to deal with what she called big cat pimps, who she said makes a living

from beating shocking and starving cats to make them stand on cue in front of a green screen in a studio. Also adding the worst part is that it glamorizes the idea of rich people having tigers as pets, which if you didn't know is actually a thing, there are more captive tigers in the United States than there are in the wild globally.

And as far as why Baskin has an issue with rich people buying tigers, after tigers are too old for pay-to-play sessions by people like Joe Exotic and others, they become a liability instead of an asset. And noting that the cats either die or end up dumped in sanctuaries, or worse yet, breeding mills.

Yeah, ultimately that's a story, a big release, a lot of different people angry for a number of reasons. And of course, now I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on any of these three angles in regards to this story? And then let's talk about this TikTok story that has now become so much bigger than a TikTok story. So a lot has happened

since last Thursday's Philip DeFranco show, with the most notable being that at the end of last week, President Trump issued two executive orders that in 45 days would ban Americans and American companies from doing business not only with ByteDance, but also Tencent. ByteDance, of course, a company that owns TikTok, and Tencent is a massive company that,

among other things, owns WeChat, and also has major stakes in a ton of video game companies. Let's hit TikTok first. The Trump administration, of course, announced that they were looking at ways to either ban the app or force its sale. And you know, in Trump's executive order, it says that TikTok automatically captures

so much information from its users. And going on to allege that this data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information. Adding, potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.

Going on to allege that the app is used by China to censor topics that are sensitive to the Communist Party, things like Hong Kong and the Uyghurs. Though we've also seen TikTok actively denying censorship claims. And with this story, like we discussed last time, there were a number of people saying, hey, the president can't just ban an app.

But effectively, Trump is doing that, though in a roundabout way, right? If no American or American entity can do business with TikTok in any capacity, that effectively bans it. For example, right now, it's not fully clear if it will, but this order could try to force Apple and Google to pull TikTok from their app stores. The ByteDance gets put in the situation

if they don't choose to sell TikTok, they risk losing the United States, which is their largest market. So we have the situation where the company needs to sell by September 20th, like we talked about last time, Microsoft has said that they are in talks, but it turns out that Microsoft might actually have some competition

because we have reports coming out over the weekend saying that Twitter is also in talks to buy TikTok. Though there has been argued that Twitter would likely need help in buying the video app since TikTok is worth upwards of what Twitter is worth. Which also brings us to a major point of contention. How much is TikTok actually worth? I mean the estimates on valuation from experts and analysts, they're all over the place. In just one fortune article for example, you had people giving out numbers ranging from 20 billion to 50 billion. So there's all that that TikTok news, which is big enough on its own,

but then of course you have Tencent being thrown into the mix. As mentioned, they're the company that owns WeChat, which is a massive messaging, social media, mobile and pay service. Worldwide, it is about a billion users, although most are Chinese nationals and their families. And in the executive order,

along with making similar claims like that of TikTok, it claims that WeChat allows the Chinese Communist Party a mechanism for keeping tabs on Chinese citizens. And in addition to WeChat, one of the reasons you had so many people freaked out was the implication that this might have on other companies that Tencent owns. I mean, they own a lot of major gaming companies,

including Riot Games and Grinding Gear Games. They also have significant stakes in other companies like Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, even other platforms like Reddit, Spotify, and Discord. And so you had a lot of people, including those who were like, "'I don't give a damn about TikTok.' Going, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

what does this do to me though?" And I'm here today to say, it appears to be good news for gamers. We've since now seen a White House official confirming to the LA Times that the order is meant to block WeChat and transactions associated with that app, not Tencent's video game brands. However, asterisk, we will also likely not know

if that is true until the Secretary of Commerce lays out the official guidelines. Because ultimately, that department gets the final say in what subsidiaries will be banned. And interestingly enough, the company most affected in the right now has been Tencent. This in part because unlike ByteDance, they are a publicly traded company

and their stock has just gone down since this announcement. Though TikTok has probably been the most vocal about this potential ban. According to NPR, the company is threatening to sue the Trump administration over this order, saying that it denies TikTok its due process. It's possible we could see a lawsuit as soon as this Tuesday,

with them also releasing a statement pushing back against the executive order's justification, write it. The text of the decision makes it plain that there has been a reliance on unnamed, quote, "'reports' with no citations, fears that the app, quote, may be used for misinformation campaigns with no substantiation of such fears,

and concerns about the collection of data that is industry standard for thousands of mobile apps around the world. But all of that said, it's really unclear what happens from here. Trump issued both orders under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. And that act gives a president a ton of power

to impose economic sanctions when presented with a quote, "'Unusual and extraordinary threat.'" One of those threats is the excuse the administration is going with, national security. However, there are also limits. The order can't be used to prohibit personal communication or the sharing of film and other forms of media. And so TikTok's lawyers will likely argue those exceptions

protect the company. But ultimately, that is where we are with the story as of right now. There's a line in the sand, every day that goes by, we get closer to seeing what's actually going to happen. Though it is important to remember, there is that elephant in the room, China. Last week, notably before Trump signed these executive orders, the Chinese is important to remember, there is that elephant in the room, China. Last week, notably before Trump signed

these executive orders, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry said if the US goes this way, then any country can take similar measures against any US company. The US must not open Pandora's box or it will suffer the consequences. But ultimately, that is where we are with this story and it will be very interesting to see what happens. You know, will we see the Trump administration

continue down this road? Will they back up? Will they escalate? Also, will we see a TikTok sale to Microsoft, to Twitter, maybe a third party? And also, will we see other companies get involved? Obviously this started with ByteDance, now Tencent. Will there be another company?

Or maybe even flip it around. Will we see an American company or American companies hit in some way? And then let's talk about some updates regarding North Paulding High School, which is that school in Georgia that we talked about last week. Now, if you haven't seen, after I posted Thursday's video,

I actually went to Twitter to apologize. If you missed that statement, I'd like to just read it to you now. So I would like to completely apologize for a comment that I made on last Thursday's show where I was attacking the leadership in Georgia and a particular school district over the handling of their schools in this pandemic.

I jokingly said that the crowded hallways where no one was wearing a mask, they were obviously not dangerous because as we all know, coronavirus gives you a five minute headstart. And it's now been brought to my attention that's completely wrong to say because the coronavirus actually gives you

a 10 Mississippi headstart before trying to spread in situations where you have school district leadership that don't give a fuck about their students. So they create and allow situations that have unmasked crowding. Side note, to the superintendent of the Paulding County School District, Brian O'Tott,

you can go screw yourself. Though, I guess kind of like your view on mask wearing in your schools, while recommended at the end of the day, it is your personal choice. Right, so if you're playing catch up, where we last left off, there was this viral photo of the hallways of that school where it was super crowded. You barely saw anyone with a mask.

You had students being told that they would face disciplinary action if they chose not to go to school. Two students had also been suspended for sharing photos of the crowded hallways. And we'll actually start there for updates because those suspensions caught a lot of attention, prompted outrage.

One of the students, Hannah Waters, actually spoke to CNN about this incident as far as why she took the photo she said. I took it out of mostly concern and nervousness after seeing the first place of school. I'd like to say that this is some good and necessary trouble so I don't regret this because it's, it needed to be said. She also tweeted on Friday saying that the school called her

and reversed her suspension with the Paulding County Board of Education later tweeting out a statement confirming that both suspensions had been lifted. But that is also not where the updates regarding this school end. As it turns out, so far, nine people at the school have now tested positive for the coronavirus,

with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution saying that it was six students, three staff members. Also yesterday, we saw Superintendent Brian O'Todd writing in a letter that as a result of these cases, along with the possibility that number could increase if there are currently pending tests that prove positive, we have consulted with the Department of Public Health and are temporarily switching the instructional model to digital learning. Right, so today and tomorrow we'll definitely not have in-person instruction,

so students will be learning remotely. And reportedly during these days, the school will be deep cleaned, and on Tuesday night, students will learn if in-person instruction will or will not continue. With Brian's letter also continuing, please know that according to guidelines established by the school district, any students and staff who are confirmed cases of COVID-19, along with any identified close contacts, must quarantine for at least 14 days and cannot return to school until they have completed

all the requirements of the DPH's guidance for persons infected with COVID-19. Right, so currently it is not clear how many students are being required to do this 14 day quarantine. Because as one woman with two nephews who were among the school's positive COVID-19 cases told the AJC, they sat in class all day with no masks

and no social distancing. And I have no idea how many kids they came into contact with. And adding that they did not grasp the gravity of this virus, that they were not encouraged to wear masks. With that, I just go back and I look at that viral photo and I go, what do they consider close contacts? If this is how they had students navigating the hallways,

who was not in close contact? And overall, this just feels like another example of what we all learn in our lives. I feel like Gen Z has learned at a faster rate. Just because people are in positions of power does not mean that they are necessarily qualified or deserving of that power. And once again, understand,

I say this as someone that I want schools to open. The numbers need to make sense, right? Like what is the positivity rate and efforts need to be made? How do you implement social distancing? And of course the most basic thing, just have people wear masks. It is the easiest thing you can do.

And I look at the failures here by the people in power. And I wonder if the things that they say, if they're trying to BS the public or also BS themselves. And then let's talk about the massive news and updates coming out of Beirut and then even Lebanon as a whole. So if you haven't seen our previous coverage on this, I'll link to it down below.

I can't even really say anything here out of fear that the video will be suppressed. But one thing that we did talk about that I can mention is that this comes at a time when Lebanon is already in the midst of what has been described as the worst economic crisis that the country has seen in decades. And with everything that's going on,

many Lebanese people see this as the result of the years of government corruption and mismanagement by the country's ruling elite. So what we ended up seeing is in Beirut, anger boiling over with thousands of protesters taking to the streets of Beirut to demand the government step down. Tons and tons of protesters gathering in downtown Beirut on Saturday.

And to oversimplify what we detail on roguerocket.com, we saw some confrontations between protesters and government forces, escalations. We saw the protests continuing into Sunday. Also very notable is on Sunday, while all of this was going on, you had international leaders meeting in a virtual summit where they pledged $298 million to help Lebanon.

And according to reports, while French president Emmanuel Macron's office said that this aid was unconditional and would be given out regardless of political or institutional reforms, they also said that countries had made other pledges for longer term support that would depend on government reforms.

And so with the pressure from the protesters in the streets, who we also saw continuing their demonstrations today, as well as the pressure from world leaders, you had eyes on Lebanon with many people wondering what was going to happen with the Lebanese government. And there, already, we're starting to see some movement. According to reports, over the weekend, nine members of parliament

and two high ranking cabinet ministers resigned. Then, this morning, we saw the country's justice minister announce her resignation amid reports that other ministers had said that they had planned to step down. And then, literally, as I was recording this segment, Lebanon's prime minister announced in a televised statement that he was resigning,

saying this tragedy was caused by endemic corruption and that he was taking a step back. This so he could stand with the people and fight the battle for change alongside them. Also adding that the ruling class quote, "'Should have been ashamed of themselves "'because their corruption is what has led to this disaster "'that had been hidden for seven years.'" And while that is exactly what protesters wanted,

some experts have also warned that this move will create more political instability. With a political scientist at Lebanese American University in Beirut telling the Wall Street Journal, Not only do we have an absence of government and a political vacuum, but we're going to have a severe problem with the function of the state of Lebanon. We are heading toward the unknown. And you know as far as what happens next, it is very unclear. According to reports,

the cabinet will now become a caretaker government until a new one is formed. But even then, because the corruption is so deep rooted, it is unclear how much a new government would change without substantial reforms. Right, and as the Guardian explains, the fact that there is still this caretaker government will allow the ministers who resigned to form the backbone of a new administration.

Those concerns are especially valid because we've seen this happen before, even in the last year. Right, the most recent prime minister and his cabinet took office just back in January, which happened after a similar wave of massive protests against corruption prompted the former prime minister and his cabinet took office just back in January, which happened after a similar wave of massive protests against corruption prompted the former prime minister to step down

and continue to serve in a similar caretaker role. But clearly, based off of what we're seeing, it appears that little has changed. And so as far as what happens from here, we have to wait and see. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. And to the 12 of you still here, thanks for being a part of these daily dives into the news.

Also, if you're new here, you want more of these daily videos, definitely hit that subscribe button, tap that bell to turn on notifications. Also remember, and a big thank you to anyone going to shopdefranco.com to get our exclusive merch right now. 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.