The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.13 Viral Chris Cuomo Fredo Outburst, Priyanka Chopra Backlash, Barstool Sports Union & Kashmir

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and just a quick note, I wanted to address this in the place that most people watch. Yes, our deep dive video on youtube.com slash rogue rocket on Shen Yun was removed as it started blowing up. It also appears that it was removed by Shen Yun. It appears to be a manual takedown, so in my opinion it appears that this is the use of the copyright system to censor. We're trying to figure out the best way to handle it, obviously with the system the way that it is. It's uh, it's deflating, but I just wanted to make it clear,

Starting point is 00:00:28 we didn't remove it and we're trying to deal with the situation. But with that said, regarding the Tuesday Philip DeFranco show, let's just jump into it. The first thing we're gonna talk about today is this now viral situation and video with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. So according to reports, a man went up to Cuomo

Starting point is 00:00:42 and asked for a picture. Shortly after, he reportedly called Cuomo Fredo, which if you're unfamiliar, appears to be a reference to a character in The Godfather, a character who is generally seen as less intelligent, more cowardly, the more incompetent one in the whole Corleone family. Right, and so reportedly that is in part what happened before this video was recorded, or at least what took place before the cut of this video we've seen. Just right off the bat in the video, you can tell the situation is heated. I thought that's who you were. No, punk ass bitches from the right call me Fredo. My name is Chris Cuomo. I'm an anchor on CNN.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Fredo is from the Godfather. He was our weak brother. Isn't that your brother though? And they use it as an Italian aspersion. Any of you Italian? I'm a little bit. You Italian? It's a fucking insult to your people. It's an insult to your fucking people. It's like the N word for us. So I will interject there. That last line is what has really become

Starting point is 00:01:29 the focal point of this story and then we're gonna come back to it. One thing I will say here briefly though, I am Italian, I've heard a number of slurs used about Italians. I have never heard someone use Fredo as the equivalent of the N word. You could say it's disrespectful,

Starting point is 00:01:45 much like if you went up and called someone a punk ass bitch, I'm using the language used in the video. It's nowhere near the equivalent of the N-word. Obviously this is sensitive to Chris. I mean, he even refers to other people having called him that. But it appears for Chris, this appears to be kind of like the ultimate disrespect,

Starting point is 00:02:00 but the situation continues. Is that a cool fucking thing? You're a much more reasonable guy in person than you seem to be on television. Yeah, but if you want to play, then we'll fucking play. If you've got something you want to say about what I do on television, then say it. But don't call me a fucking insult. Hey, man, hey, listen. What?

Starting point is 00:02:14 You're going to have a big fucking problem. What's the problem? It's a little different on TV. Don't fucking insult me like that. I didn't insult you. You called me Fredo. It's like I call you punk bitch. You like that?

Starting point is 00:02:23 You want that to be your nickname? I didn't call you that. You called me Fredo. You know my name's you punk bitch, you like that? You want that to be your nickname? I didn't call you that. You called me Fredo, you know my name's not fucking Fredo. I thought your name was. So we see the guy saying that I thought Fredo was actually genuinely your name. And regarding that, the person that actually uploaded the video saying, my source that sent this in says that he was just asking for a photo and thought his name was Fredo from being an avid listener of Rush Limbaugh.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Now regarding if that is true or not, he really didn't know or he was trying to offend, I mean, you start talking about someone's intent here. I will say though, my personal opinion here, given kind of the footage looks like it's being secretly recorded, it makes me feel that it was a setup, that it wasn't, I'm going to disrespect this guy and make it go viral sort of play. Back to the video, down these stairs like a fucking punk. Why, so you can fucking sue? So you can fucking sue? Go take a swing then. You wanna call me Fredo, take a fucking swing.

Starting point is 00:03:10 Take a fucking swing. Watch your fucking hands. Watch your fucking hands. So Cuomo comes back in with a threat to throw someone down the stairs, but then he keeps saying, you know, swing at me. Essentially saying that at that point, if he swung on him, he's fair game, he couldn't sue.

Starting point is 00:03:23 And then it ends with the guy pointing out that their camera's filming. Hey, hey, look at all these cameras! You're in for it. You're in for it. I'm in for what? You saw me fucking Fredo? You're in for it. And following this video just blowing up, we saw a number of reactions.

Starting point is 00:03:35 One, unfortunately for Chris Cuomo, since this video makes it incredibly apparent he does not like the name Fredo, it is kind of guaranteed that people will call him Fredo forever. That is just the Shry Sand effect at play as we've seen a number of times. There's people calling Chris crazy, a loose cannon, saying he seems like a violent guy. You also had a number of people, just to paraphrase, saying fuck the guy that was in this video,

Starting point is 00:03:54 he was being a douchebag, but saying that Fredo is the Italian equivalent of the N-word is just crazy. That including the likes of Ben Shapiro who tweeted, "'I think the guy was being a jerk to Chris Cuomo "'and I certainly understand Cuomo getting pissed, but there's just no way calling someone Fredo Corleone is like the N word.

Starting point is 00:04:09 There just isn't. That's plain nuts. And there were some unexpected people defending Chris Cuomo because I mean, yes, it's not surprising that a CNN spokesperson tweeted, Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him.

Starting point is 00:04:21 But a number of people were surprised when they saw a Sean Hannity tweet this morning. I say good for Chris Cuomo. He's out with his nine-year-old daughter and his wife orchestrated setup we completely support him but a number of people were surprised when they saw Sean Hannity tweet this morning I say good for Chris Cuomo He's out with his nine-year-old daughter and his wife and this guy is being a jackass in front of his family in my honest opinion Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for he deserves the apology which I will say it'll be interesting to see if Sean Hannity Updates that statement or tweaks it or maybe kind of never goes back to it because he and President Trump are often in line And this morning Trump tweeted I thought Chris was Fredo also the truth hurts totally lost it low rating CNN and then later tweeting would Chris Cuomo be given

Starting point is 00:04:50 A red flag for his recent rant filthy language and a total loss of control. He shouldn't be allowed to have any weapon He's nuts. So as far as any statement from Cuomo We saw him tweet appreciate all the support but truth is I should be better than the guys baiting me This happens all the time these days often in front of my family, but there is a lesson No need to add to the ugliness. I should be better than the guys baiting me. This happens all the time these days, often in front of my family. But there is a lesson, no need to add to the ugliness. I should be better than what I oppose. But ultimately, that's the core of the situation. Right now as I'm recording this,

Starting point is 00:05:11 this is still trending number one on Twitter. A number of people finding other examples of Fredo being used in the past where no one kind of made a big uproar. Archived footage of Chris Matthews on NBC calling Donald Trump Jr. a Fredo-like son. Like inviting the son, Fredo-like son, of the president to a meeting to give him dirt on his father's opponent.

Starting point is 00:05:29 Other incidents where Matthews compares Jared Kushner and Paul Ryan to Fredo. There's also a video of Ana Navarro on Cuomo's show where she says Fredo. Daddy kept Fredo back home, so who cares what Donald Trump Jr. says? Who cares what Donald Trump Jr. says? Who cares what Donald Trump Jr. says? All right, you know what?

Starting point is 00:05:46 I don't want to talk about that entitled little brat. And a number of people have been saying, well, if Cuomo has an issue with this, that it's an ethnic slur, why did he not get heated or at the very least call it out? People also finding a radio interview where Cuomo appears to be calling himself Fredo. And they are members of La Cuomanostra.

Starting point is 00:06:01 So who am I then, Fredo? Yes. But ultimately, where I'll end this is I personally do find it comical that Chris Cuomo thinks Fredo is anywhere in the same league as the N-word. But I also think that the primarily just focusing on that or his reaction

Starting point is 00:06:16 to seemingly being fucked with I personally don't buy into the he genuinely didn't know his name wasn't Fredo. It's being recorded in a secret manner. There's the call out to the cameras after. There's's a even mentioned seeing him on TV I think something that should be noted in between us going what the hell are you talking about the equivalent of the n-word is that Left or right whoever is the target of it We shouldn't be normalizing or applauding people going up to people they've seen on TV or the internet or wherever and just fucking with them

Starting point is 00:06:41 And I do worry that that's getting lost and people are kind of more of an eye for an eye mentality of, oh, this happened to Cuomo, then it's okay if it happens to this person. And then back and forth and back. Yeah, that's a story. And of course, as always, I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Then let's talk about Dave El Presidente Portnoy.

Starting point is 00:06:57 He's the founder of Barstool Sports, although I think back in 2016, he sold the majority control. If you're unfamiliar with Barstool Sports, I'm not gonna explain it. the only way to describe it is yeah It's barstool sports and Dave and barstool sports are in the news because yesterday Dave tweeted heard ringer employees once unionized little refresher How I feel about unions and then linking to an article he wrote about Gawker writers wanting to unionize following that a staff writer for live Science tweeted if you work for barstool and want to have a private chat about the unionization process

Starting point is 00:07:23 How little power your boss has to stop you, and how you can leverage that power to make your life better, my DMs are open." To which Dave Portnoy quote tweeted that and said, If you work for Barstool Sports and DM this man, I will fire you on the spot. There was also someone that responded, lawyer here, if any Barstool employees are looking to unionize and run into problems, I would be happy to help out in any way, pro bono. To which Dave Portnoy responded, anyone who hires this lawyer will be fired immediately and I will personally sue you for damages and back wages. Which a lot of people responded essentially, I would be happy to help out in any way pro bono which Dave Portnoy responded anyone who hires this lawyer will be fired immediately And I will personally sue you for damages and back wages which a lot of people responded essentially I'm paraphrasing here. Yo, bro

Starting point is 00:07:50 I think you just broke the law this because according to report to the National Labor Relations Board it is unlawful for employers to discourage Or encourage for that matter union activities or sympathies quote by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment. For example, the NLRB says companies are prohibited from laying off or disciplining employees because they are pro-union. Although I guess to interject here, and it's more to pose a question to any actual lawyers out there, could Dave Portnoy's legal defense be

Starting point is 00:08:16 that he was just saying this for the lulz? Because yes, Portnoy does have his opinion about unions, but I mean, a good chunk of barstool sports traffic comes from kind of the outrage marketing. I can't believe they did that, that's so shocking, click click click click. And on this specific fire there was a lot of gasoline thanks to a number of people, but also including AOC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quote tweeted Portnoy and said, trying to unionize, you are likely breaking the law and can be sued in your words on the spot. All workers in the U.S. have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions. And speaking to the outrage marketing angle of this, you had Portnoy quote tweeting her.

Starting point is 00:08:52 On the Barstool Sports site, you had an article reading AOC versus Dave the union crusher Portnoy. We are officially living in bizarro world. Another article posted a few minutes later saying, I am standing up to tyranny and oppression by officially leading the unionization of Barstool Sports.'" I mean, before that, yesterday you had Kate Mannion post on Barstool. "'I'm starting a union at Barstool and these are my demands. "'A list that included cool robots, a secret staircase,

Starting point is 00:09:13 "'and a small decorative tree in the ladies' bathroom.'" Honestly, I would be shocked if there is not a shirt they release around this today, if not tomorrow. On Twitter, you had a few Barstool Sports employees kind of making light of the situation. Also, in this tweet spree, he took a shot at YouTube's Jenna Marbles.

Starting point is 00:09:28 Someone asking Jenna, why are you following this rat? Which Portnoy responds, I invented her. And I think that highlighting the possibility that he's just being a loud dickhead for views. But the question becomes, is this just a situation where they get all kind of the free outrage clicks and all that, and everyone's kind of making fun of it? Or could this genuinely turn into

Starting point is 00:09:43 a huge legal situation for them? But ultimately, to see what actually happens, we're just gonna have's kind of making fun of it or could this genuinely turn into a huge legal situation for them? Ultimately to see what actually happens We're just gonna have to kind of wait and see and then I never thought I'd introduce a story like this Let's talk about Priyanka Chopra and what is going on between India and Pakistan And as you might remember we talked about India and Pakistan last week We've been providing updates on the situation actually for a while now and we'll jump into some of the more direct updates a little bit Later, but for some quick context here, tensions between the two nuclear powers have increased recently.

Starting point is 00:10:06 And this especially after India announced that it was taking away the special autonomous status given to the state of Kashmir. Which if you're unfamiliar, Kashmir is a contested region that both India and Pakistan claim complete control over. And this move on India's part was a big, big deal and many experts and global leaders are concerned that the two countries will be drawn into a conflict.

Starting point is 00:10:22 And so with how big that story is, you may be wondering, well how does Chopra fit into it? Well, Chopra, who is an Indian actress, was speaking at BeautyCon this weekend. And while taking audience questions, influencer and beauty YouTuber Aisha Malik asked this. So it was kind of hard hearing you talk about humanity because as your neighbor of Pakistani,

Starting point is 00:10:41 I know you're a bit of a hypocrite. Because you tweeted on February 26th, J-Hind, hashtag Indian Armed Forces. You are a UNICEF ambassador for peace and you're encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan. There's no winner in this. As a Pakistani Pakistani millions of people like me have supported you in your business of following what and using my nuclear war. And for some context here, the tweet Ayesha is referring to says Jai Hind, which loosely translates to hail India or long live India.

Starting point is 00:11:15 And like Ayesha pointed out, it also includes the hashtag Indian armed forces. And it appears that Chopra's tweet was referring to the fact that India had just launched airstrikes on Pakistani soil, prompting Pakistan to retaliate with airstrikes on Indian soil. And at that time Chopra did get backlash for cheering India's strikes on Pakistan, especially after she condemned Pakistan for responding by doing the same, writing on Twitter, Absolutely shocked by the attack in Pulwama.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Hate is never the answer. Strength to the families of the martyred Jawans and the CRPF soldiers injured in the attack. And Ayesha later uploaded the video of her interaction with Chopra on Twitter with the caption, Priyanka Chopra tweeted during a time when we were this close to sending nukes to one another. Instead of advocating for peace, she tweeted in support of the Indian Army. Aisha also posted Chopra's response on Twitter as well. There are very few things that you can be certain of

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Starting point is 00:12:57 Done? Okay, cool. So, I have many, many friends. Thanks, girls. I have many, many friends from girls. I have many many friends from Pakistan and I am from India and War is not something that I'm really fond of but I am patriotic So I'm sorry that if I've got sentiments to people who do love me and have loved me But I think that all of us have a sort of middle ground

Starting point is 00:13:27 that we all have to walk, just like you probably do as well. The way you came at me right now. Don't yell, we're all here for love. Don't yell. Don't yell. Don't yell. Don't yell.

Starting point is 00:13:37 Don't yell. And after the interaction at Beautycon, Aisha took to Twitter to address what happened writing. Hi, I'm the girl that quote, yelled at Priyanka Chopra. It was hard listening to her say "'we should be neighbors and love each other. "'Swing that advice over to your PM.'" Both India and Pakistan were in danger,

Starting point is 00:13:51 and instead she tweeted out in favor of nuclear war. It took me back to when I couldn't reach my family because of the blackouts and how scared slash helpless I was. She gaslit me and turned the narrative around on me being the bad guy. As a UN ambassador, this was so irresponsible. And on that note, we actually reached out to Aisha and she elaborated on that point. That's exactly what I meant with you can't be an extremist patriot and also a UN ambassador trying to build bridges between countries. It

Starting point is 00:14:15 doesn't make sense. So before the mic was snatched away from me, what I was going to ask her was, will you relinquish your title as the UN ambassador for peace, or will you denounce your tweets against nuclear war? And as far as the reaction online, we did see lots of people responding, criticizing how Chopra responded. Some saying she talked down to Aisha and embarrassed herself. Others saying she was condescending and did not act like a UN ambassador. But of course, we also saw people defending Chopra. Some saying that her tweeting Jai Hind was just out of respect for Indian soldiers and didn't mean she supports nuclear war.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Also claiming that Aisha herself was hypocritical because she supports Pakistan, so Chopra should be able to support India. And as far as my reaction to this part of the story, I do think that this is actually important. One, with this part of the story blowing up, hopefully that brings more eyes to what is happening in Kashmir.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Two, in my opinion, Chopra completely mishandled that situation. You have this person that was calling it a question, your actions, and you kind of dismiss it as venting. And three, Chopra's past words and how she handles herself here and who she is connected to, whether you like it or not, it does matter. Celebrities in this day and age more and more, because it's not like they didn't do it before, but they are also thought leaders, potential movers of change.

Starting point is 00:15:20 Leonardo DiCaprio has the climate crisis. You have Kim Kardashian and prison reform. You have Ashton Kutcher taking on human trafficking. So in part I think that's why this matters rather than people kind of just trying to cancel someone. And Aisha also touched on that when she was speaking with us. Yeah, there's a lot of rhetoric going around saying Kashmir belongs to India. That's not true. Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris. And I want that message to be louder than anything else because there's a lot of focus on me for some reason when the focus should be on the message that I was trying to yell across to the stage

Starting point is 00:15:51 where we need to bring attention to Kashmir because as long as I remember as a child Kashmir has always been an issue but nobody else has been talking about about it except for Pakistanis Indians and Kashmiris. And for the first time in my life, I'm seeing Kashmir headline worldwide, thank God. But I want the attention to be directly towards the Kashmiris that are going through this humanitarian crisis and not me. I cannot stress that enough. Now meanwhile, all of this happening for the people in Kashmir, whether they were interested

Starting point is 00:16:23 or not, the people who live there probably don't know that any of this has happened. And the reason for that is because they have essentially been under lockdown since India announced that they were taking away Kashmir's special status. Currently, Indian military forces are enforcing a widespread security crackdown and communications blackout on the 4 million people in the territory, leaving them without the internet and forcing many to stay in their homes by imposing a near-constant curfew. We've also seen reports of razor wire coils and steel barricades being set up to maintain the blockade, as well as drones and helicopters hovering over the region. But still, despite all of that, people in Kashmir have defied the lockdown this week

Starting point is 00:16:53 with hundreds taking to the streets to protest. And this coming after military forces used tear gas to break up about 8,000 anti-government protesters in a demonstration over the weekend. And while it's been reported that some of the schools and businesses that were previously closed have now been opened again, the entire territory is still being patrolled

Starting point is 00:17:07 by tens of thousands of military forces. And internationally, we've seen people saying that the lockdown is concerning and will likely increase tensions. Just the other day, you had Pakistan's prime minister comparing the lockdown to Nazi ideology, saying that this attempt is to change demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing.

Starting point is 00:17:21 And adding, question is, will the world watch and appease as they did Hitler at Munich? And adding, I'm afraid this RSS ideology of Hindu supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan supremacy, will not stop in IOK. Instead, it will lead to suppression of Muslims in India and eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan. But ultimately, that is where we are with this story.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on any part of it. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked this video, I'd love if you took a second to hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, be sure to hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, be sure to hit that subscribe button. Definitely ring that bell to turn on notifications.

Starting point is 00:17:49 Also, if you're looking to watch more, maybe you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show, you can click or tap right there to watch that. Or you want something new, we have a brand new Rogue Rocket deep dive that you can click or tap right there to watch that. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.

Starting point is 00:18:01 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 8.13 Viral Chris Cuomo Fredo Outburst, Priyanka Chopra Backlash, Barstool Sports Union & Kashmir

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