The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.18 This is Creepy...

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, make sure you're subscribed because I'm splitting $10,000 across 10 lucky subscribed beautiful bastards this month, and let's just jump into it. Drugs, money, and religion. Two out of three are Grandma DeFranco's favorite things, but all connected for these stories. The first being about the Zyde Door Church of Entheogenic Plants. It's non-denominational and they support the safe use of cannabis and magic mushrooms, among other substances, which can establish a direct connection with God. And for a while, they could do this because, of course, California made

Starting point is 00:00:26 recreational marijuana legal, and in 2019, Oakland effectively decriminalized mushrooms. Though, while you can smoke a joint, from the pews, you cannot consume mushrooms on site. Which, while a little questionable, seems a lot more fun than communion. Reportedly, members of the church just have to pay a $5 monthly fee, plus donations for the psychedelics, and around 200 reportedly come to get them every day. And because, course services are held every Sunday at 4 20 PM. Also the church's founder is a guy by the name of Dave Hodges. He's an activist for drug legalization. He also says the highest single dose of mushrooms

Starting point is 00:00:52 he's ever taken is 30 grams, which what the fuck? I once took 10 grams. I got stuck in a black and white anime for two hours. I don't even want to think what 30 would do, but he believes that mushrooms are the way that humans evolved to have religious experiences. But leaving your body, interacting with entities, gods, aliens, all sorts of things.

Starting point is 00:01:12 You can get to these places through intense meditation. You don't have to take a bunch of mushrooms to get there. But that's the shortcut, and we believe it's the first way that we ever actually experienced this. But the reason we're talking about Dave is what happened back in August of 2020. You had Oakland police suddenly raiding the church, seizing around $200,000 worth of cash, cannabis, and several strains of magic mushroom. And that's because despite the lax laws, it was still illegal for them to sell the drugs and undercover cops reportedly bought some from the church. But now the Zydor church is seeking justice, not from the Lord, but rather the courts.

Starting point is 00:01:42 With them filing a lawsuit against the city and local police and federal court this week for allegedly infringing on its constitutional and religious rights Which arguably is backed by some laws where some religious groups are actually exempt from drug bans Like a couple churches of Brazilian origin can use ayahuasca and the Native American church can use peyote So this church is seeking damages for the harms that it suffered as well as a permanent injunction allowing it to operate So we'll see what happens there, but that was only the drugs and religion. What about money and religion? See, that's how I know you still poor, broke, busted, and disgusted because of how you've been honoring me. I'm not worth your McDonald's money. I'm not worth your red lobster money. I ain't worth your St. John Nick. Y'all can't afford

Starting point is 00:02:19 it no how. I ain't worth your Louis Vuitton. I ain't worth your Prada. I'm not worth your Gucci. So that right there is another pastor in Kansas City named Carlton Funderburk. And as you can tell, he is not happy with his congregation because while he's blessing them with prayers, they are not blessing him with those dollar dollar bills. Which by the way, quick question, since when did the Lord want his people blinged out? Like there was a recent story about a Brooklyn pastor

Starting point is 00:02:40 who got $1 million worth of jewelry stolen off of his and his wife's bodies in the middle of a sermon. But my guy Funderburk, here's the thing. He is more humble. He's only asking for a watch. Mother, oh, I'm saying this, and I promise you, Deacon Ed, it's not with respect and want. I'm saying it because I want you to understand just what God is saying. Even found out that Movado, you can buy a Movado watch in Sam's. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. And y'all know I asked for one last year. Here it is the whole way in August. I still ain't got it. Y'all ain't saying nothing.

Starting point is 00:03:08 Let me kick down the door and talk to my cheap sons and daughters. With that clip going viral, Funderburg coming under fire. He's also since apologized, but I'm not going to play the clip. Like, those words are worthless. This is a grifter protecting his grift. And the thing that's annoying is you know he's going to get away with it. Like, snake oil salesman plus religion. That is a money printing machine

Starting point is 00:03:25 with an unlimited supply of get out of jail free God forgiveness cards. And then he likes some young. When I just said that phrase, whose name and or face popped into your head? There might be a range there in those specific situations. They may range from illegal to creepy to questionable. And the reason that we're talking about this today

Starting point is 00:03:41 starts with Demi Lovato. She just put out a song called 29, which signifies not only her age, but many believe that it's a nod to the age that Wilmer Balderrama was when he met Demi. With reports saying they met when Demi was 17 and Wilmer was 29. They start dating later when she turns 18. Reportedly, they're on and off for six years, and this is not kind of an outlier. Wilmer has famously dated younger women, Lindsay Lohan when she was 18 and he was 24,

Starting point is 00:04:01 Mandy Moore when she was 16 and he was 20. While Lovato never specifically names him, there are lyrics like, Far from innocent, what the fuck's consent? Numbers told you not to, but that didn't stop you. Finally 29, funny, just like you were at the time. Thought it was a teenage dream, just a fantasy, but was it yours or was it mine? 1729. Seems very obvious. Also possibly in reference to the other girls saying this person is quite the collector. Lovato also later saying to the Los Angeles Times, I didn't understand it at the time. I was like, I just like older guys. And now I'm like, hey, that's not okay.

Starting point is 00:04:28 That's weird. And also adding that it's not a one-way street, saying they have a guy friend who also relates to the song. And so following this online, you had people specifically going after Balderrama, some talking about the situation, and older guys who date younger women in general. But it's also seeming to connect to the growing conversation

Starting point is 00:04:41 about the predatory behavior around child stars or just young women in Hollywood in general, though I would say it's not just limited to Hollywood. And I'll really add to this story because if you look at the social conversation online everything's being said. My only thing is if you are bothered by this, be bothered by this equally. Like the other week I saw everyone losing their mind that 50 year old Dane Cook is now engaged to a 23 year old. And I believe rightly so, especially because it appears that he met her when she was a teenager. Like when I was back in Atlanta watching Dane Cook perform the Vicious Circle Tour, his now fiance was probably learning addition and subtraction. I wish that was hyperbolic. I think the math on that adds up. Yeah, talk about and be disgusted by that, but don't do it just because

Starting point is 00:05:18 Dane Cook is like no longer popular and he has that like weird plastic surgery face. Talk about Valderrama. Talk about Leonardo DiCaprio, talk about Zach Braff. I loved that 70s show, The Departed. Oh my God, amazing. Garden State helped me emotionally evolve as a young man. But unless these men have some sort of medical condition, allergic reaction to having sex with women

Starting point is 00:05:38 who witnessed 9-11 happen, it's at the very least weird, and some of these situations sound very, very much like grooming. But from that, I want to take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Thrive Market. Organic groceries can be expensive, but Thrive Market will help you cut your grocery bill by over 30%. They're an online membership-based grocery store on a mission to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone. You can shop for thousands of organic foods and natural products below traditional retail prices delivered straight to your door, saving you time and money. And if you find a better price elsewhere, they'll match it.

Starting point is 00:06:06 They've got a huge selection of snacks, supplements, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, non-toxic beauty items, organic kids products, wine, meat, seafood, and more. My favorite products from my last order, probably my crispy crisp, banana muffin mix, pasta. And I saved $48 by getting them on Thrive Market. Do you want gluten-free, vegan, keto? No worries. You can shop by over 90 plus diets and lifestyle needs. And all orders $49 and up are shipped free and delivered with carbon neutral shipping.

Starting point is 00:06:29 And for every paid annual membership, Thrive Market donates a free membership to someone in need. So go to thrivemarket.com slash DeFranco to save an extra 30% off your first order and get a free gift worth up to $50 when you join Thrive Market today. You need to drink more alcohol. That is currently what the Japanese government is telling its young people.

Starting point is 00:06:48 Or rather, that's what they want to tell their young people, but they want your help. So their national tax agency is launching the Viva Sake campaign. Applicants have until September 9th to submit their ideas, with winners going into a final tournament arc in November, with the grand prize being for their plan to be implemented and commercialized.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And like most things in this world, they're doing this because of the money, and specifically, taxes. Because since the pandemic began, nearly half of the country's versions of a pub have closed and the tax revenue that they brought in went with them. Now, luckily for them, during the pandemic, at-home drinking skyrocketed during the pandemic, except that wasn't the case for young people. With the government finding that only 7.8% of people in their 20s drink three or more times a week compared to 30% of those between 40 and 60.

Starting point is 00:07:22 This trend has meant that alcohol taxes, which are a major source of revenue for the government, have drastically declined. Back in 1980, it was about 5% of the total budget, but in 2021, it was only 1.7%. And personally, I think this is fucking insane. Like, I get that money moves mountains, it puts on blinders, and I enjoy the occasional drink or two,

Starting point is 00:07:36 but you're telling people, because they're drinking two times or less a week, that is not enough. Another one. Like, you're actively pushing people to be heavy drinkers at the same time as your health ministry has done campaigns in the past discouraging heavy drinking. Like you literally know it's bad to the people

Starting point is 00:07:50 that you're now trying to promote it to. And so far, the leading messaging is that if you are a patriotic Japanese person, go drink. Like y'all, according to research, harmful use of alcohol causes over 3 million deaths per year. And drink too much or too often increases risk of injuries, liver damage, cancers, heart disease, mental illness. Like do you know how fucking stupid your idea is to make me go into daddy mode? NFTs are the future. You've probably heard some celebrities say that in the past year or two.

Starting point is 00:08:14 Hell, even fucking 84 year old Sir Anthony Hopkins released an NFT collection yesterday. They often seem inescapable as the market has become so saturated with so many influencers pushing them. And because it's been so saturated,'s easy to forget you know who is pushing this what has been successful what has failed just horribly luckily you have creators like coffeezilla who's a creator who's done a lot to educate people about the influencer crypto space and just recently put out a video looking at nearly two dozen celebrity nft ventures starting with justin bieber who still actively supports his nft venture which is currently down 30 from its mint which in the sphere of celebrity NFTs,

Starting point is 00:08:47 CoffeeZilla kind of explains it's not actually that bad, especially since it's hard to keep people interested, to keep hype alive. Also turning to the likes of the Nelk Boys as an example of people who've actually done a relatively good job of that. The price has only dipped like 20% in the last several months, which frankly really surprised me.

Starting point is 00:08:59 I mean, I guess the Nelk fan base just won't let this one die. And actually have examples like entrepreneur Gary V doing quite well. They're selling for the price of an economy car. With a mint price between 2.5 Ethereum and 0.5 Ethereum, early investors are very happy. Their investments are up several hundred percent. I think they're selling for like over six Ethereum now.

Starting point is 00:09:16 And I think the X factor is obviously Gary Vee himself and the project's exclusive access to VCon, which is an NFT event he throws every single year. But also noting that just because an NFT goes up in value doesn't mean that it's going to stay that way. And with that, pointing to Reese Witherspoon's World of Women project as an example. Right there, noting that if you got in at the beginning, you still probably are happy, but pointing out that it's really dipped

Starting point is 00:09:36 since its high peaking point a few months after its release. But notably, it appears that these are kind of like the exceptions. Even so-called real artists like Grimes will release stuff like you know this earth collection she did originally it'll cost 7 500 and now it's selling for 200 asap rocky faced the same problem with his project which initially sold for two thousand dollars and is now selling for four hundred dollars but coffee's illy noting that this is a pattern

Starting point is 00:10:00 it's turning to mike tyson's nft collection which is down from its all-time high and explaining projects have a boom and then a bust. They initially get hype, they get sales. And then over time, the celebrity and the holders just kind of lose interest in the NFT. And that kind of makes sense. It's hard to maintain that initial hype. When it comes to celebrities just losing interest, right?

Starting point is 00:10:19 Some just quietly distance themselves from those projects. Lindsay Lohan promoted the K9 Cartel NFT, but. Fast forward to today, Lindsay has deleted her tweet promoting it and the project is down 90%. And adding that the basketball player John Wall just deleted the website for his NFT venture. CoffeeZilla also putting Jake Paul in his sights. He releases the sacred NFT project or partners with it, and now he abandons it and it's down 90%. And so ultimately, I think the main point of this story is be careful out there. I know that with my audience is kind of preaching to the choir, but it's also a reminder that many of these celebrities could give a fuck about you.

Starting point is 00:10:51 They at most kind of risk part of their reputation, even though if you look at like an NFT project, there's only going to be several hundred or a few thousand holders. But still, those are real people who believed and supported you and are going to lose money possibly. Most of the creators promoting this shit don't even think about the why. At least like the Gary Vee and Nelk venture is there supposed to be some sort of utility, like there's at least an idea that maybe there is some sort of value rather than just give me money and then try and fucking schlop it to some other random person. I don't know why I said schlop, I meant sling. But ultimately that is where that story in today's show ends. Thank you for watching and subscribing to my daily dives into the news. Also, if you want more news,

Starting point is 00:11:24 I got you covered here or in those links down below. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you next time.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.18 This is Creepy...

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.