The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.25 THE COWARDS BACKED DOWN! Joe Rogan, OnlyFans, Megan Thee Stallion, Blizzard Lawsuit, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. I hope you have a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. It is still vacation week, which means I'm filming this at six o'clock in the morning in the bathroom, so it does not interrupt family time and my wife kills me. Plus, it's kind of nice to film it where about half of you watch it every day. That's right, I have analytics. But hey, like the video, subscribe for that dedication, support the channel. Let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today is a shocking 180 OnlyFans announced this morning that they do not want to become Tumblr,

Starting point is 00:00:31 i.e. that they're dropping their plan to ban sexually explicit content, saying in a tweet, "'Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. "'We have secured assurances necessary "'to support our diverse creator community "'and have suspended the planned October 1st policy chain.'" And adding that it stands for inclusion and will continue to provide a home for all creators.

Starting point is 00:00:48 And as far as who they secured these assurances from, according to an OnlyFans spokesperson, they were talking about their banking partners. Though it is unclear what banks exactly made those assurances. But still, this statement is very notable given that it comes just days after OnlyFans started to try and change the narrative

Starting point is 00:01:02 around its initial decision to try to ban porn. For example, on Saturday for the first time, OnlyFans seemingly tried to side with the sex workers so many had accused it of blindsiding, saying in a tweet, Dear sex workers, the OnlyFans community would not be what it is today without you, and blaming banking and payment services and saying we are working around the clock to come up with solutions. Then, in an interview with the Financial Times published yesterday, we saw Tim Stokely, the founder and CEO of OnlyFans, starting to get much more specific, saying, the short answer is banks.

Starting point is 00:01:27 We obviously do not want to lose our most loyal creators. With Stokely adding that three banks, Bank of New York, Mellon, Metro, Bank, and JPMorgan Chase, had all refused service with the platform because of, quote, reputational risk. In fact, even saying BNY Mellon flat out flagged and rejected every wire transaction involving OnlyFans, something he said

Starting point is 00:01:45 threatened the platform's ability to pay its creators, and also accusing JPMorgan Chase of being particularly aggressive in closing accounts of sex workers or any business supporting them. He also denied accusations such as those made by Axios, which reported that the decision to ban porn was made as a way to more easily find investors. But even with OnlyFans about facing on this porn ban, the reception here still hasn't exactly been that positive. Right, with many saying things like, "'Overall, I've lost about 500 subscribers. "'This is my only source of income,

Starting point is 00:02:11 "'and your indecisiveness and poor communication "'has made models and subscribers scramble and cause chaos. "'Give us a temporary fee reduction to help us "'if you are actually sorry.'" Others also joking, but not joking, saying, "'Something about the special way "'you gaslight and manipulate us "'is starting to make me feel like this account "'is run by one of my ex-boyfriends.'" Right, so understand joking, saying something about the special way you gaslight and manipulate us is starting to make me feel like this account is run by one of my ex-boyfriends. All right, so understandably, moving forward, I believe that OnlyFans is going to have a major

Starting point is 00:02:31 trust problem on its hands, with many creators still likely worried and wondering what's to stop the platform for potentially doing this again. For example, as Linda the Plug, a creator I chatted with on the show last week, said this morning, we should all be suspicious of the word suspended and continue to build up pages on backup platforms. "'As SWs, we are never truly safe anywhere we go.'" And personally, my opinion on that is, yes, I've given this advice for non-sex workers, but for sex workers as well, diversify.

Starting point is 00:02:55 Trust no man, and I don't mean that in a gendered way, but just don't trust anybody. Assume that everyone is looking out for themselves and do the same for yourself, because at any point, I mean, you know this. You know this more than anyone, you are trying to do a very specific dance on shifting grounds.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And whether it be self-unaware douchebags like professional video game player Faze Sway tweeting OnlyFans is removing porn from their site, meaning that you fucks are gonna have to start getting a real job now, or super prudes, or people who are jealous, or just people who exude astronomical amounts of small dick energy, there are going to be people actively rooting

Starting point is 00:03:24 for your demise, or not even viewing you as a human being. So diversify, diversify, diversify. But with that said, that's the story, my opinion. And now I pass the question off to you, whether you agree or disagree with me, what are your thoughts on OnlyFans not wanting to become Tumblr, about, facing? Do you feel like this is them just going,

Starting point is 00:03:42 oh shit, we hit the hornet's nest? Or no, are you buying what they're selling? Do you feel like they are also just going, oh shit, we hit the hornet's nest? Or no, are you buying what they're selling? Do you feel like they are also in part kind of a victim here? Then we had California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing now lobbing a new series of accusations against Activision Blizzard. Right, last month, like we talked about, it accused the game developer of creating a culture

Starting point is 00:03:57 of constant sexual harassment and discrimination, even going so far as to detail specific instances of sexual assault. And now it's accusing the company of illegally withholding and suppressing evidence, saying that they also shredded documents the DFEH requested for its investigation, and claiming that Blizzard has been encouraging its employees to talk to attorneys at the law firm it hired, rather than state investigators. And so because of that, the DFEH said that Blizzard has been able to deny access to that evidence

Starting point is 00:04:22 since the conversations there are considered confidential. Also saying that Blizzard has been trying to get employees to that evidence since the conversations there are considered confidential. Also saying that Blizzard has been trying to get employees to sign away their ability to speak freely through secret settlements and NDAs, which would give Blizzard the ability to take all steps it deems appropriate to prevent or limit the required disclosure. Now, for its part,

Starting point is 00:04:36 Blizzard has denied this latest round of accusations telling IGN that it hasn't shredded any documents and that it has kept information relevant to the DFEH investigation. You know, no matter how hard Blizzard defends itself at this point, for many online, this is just more fuel to the fire. Still, it is going to be incredibly interesting

Starting point is 00:04:51 to see what other evidence comes out as this court battle moves forward. Then in entertainment news, though it's weird to refer to this as entertainment news, we had Tory Lanez's bail raised by a judge in LA after the rapper violated a protective order for Meg Thee Stallion. If you're unfamiliar with the situation between the two,

Starting point is 00:05:05 Tory was accused of shooting Meg back in July of 2020. And with that, even though his career has continued as if nothing had happened, he's been charged with assault with a semi-automatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle. Now, he pleaded not guilty to those charges,

Starting point is 00:05:20 but in October of last year, he was also issued a protective order to not be in contact with or be within 100 yards of Meg. But last month at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, that was violated when right after Meg performed, DaBaby brought out Tory as a surprise guest. While that was obviously super controversial, there was a lot of backlash, nothing really happened until Monday, where his bail was raised from $190,000 to $250,000. And Tory is actually very lucky, because according to Billboard, the judge actually wanted to issue a court-ordered tracking device, but Tory's lawyer was able to stop that. While Tory was ultimately not detained here because he was able to post bail, the judge did warn that another move like this could be massive trouble.

Starting point is 00:05:53 With Billboard reporting that he told Tory, you're facing years in prison, over 22 years in prison. They could have filed an additional charge based on violating the protective order because that's a violation of law as well. You do not want to be doing things like this, sir. But with that, he is due in court again in September, so we're going to have to keep our eyes on this story. But from that, I want to take a second to offer you something awesome and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Omaze. If you didn't know, Omaze gives you the chance to win life-changing experiences

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Starting point is 00:07:10 to win a dream car while supporting an organization responsible for eliminating 3 million plus single use plastic water bottles at concerts. Head to omaze.com slash DeFranco or just click that link down below for your chance to win that sexy Tesla Model S Plaid and support this great cause. Then in news that I think you should start expecting to see more and more of now that we're starting to see COVID vaccines getting full FDA approval. We got the news today that Delta Airlines is putting pressure on their employees to get vaccinated, but not by simply mandating the vaccine. According to a report from the New York Times, on September 30th, unvaccinated workers will lose pay protection for employees who test positive for the virus and miss work while having to quarantine. And starting on November 1st, any employee who remains unvaccinated will have to pay an additional $200 per month to remain on the company's health care plan. The airline's chief executive saying that this is necessary to, quote, address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company.

Starting point is 00:08:01 Also noting that it only applies to a minority of their staff as 75% are vaccinated. And while of course we should expect pushback and backlash against us, we also saw the likes of Representative Ted Lieu tweeting, I see that Delta Airlines is making a personal choice. I look forward to seeing everyone respect Delta's freedom to do so. Then we had podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan

Starting point is 00:08:20 popping back up in the news though, and not for the kind of usual slew of reasons. It's usually connected to people offended by what he said or as of late promoting vaccine hesitancy or vaccine misinformation. But rather, according to a new report from The Verge, Joe Rogan's been losing a lot of power and influence since moving his show exclusively to Spotify.

Starting point is 00:08:37 Right, if you don't remember, Rogan moved his entire show over to the platform in 2020 as part of an over $100 million deal. Since then, the company has boasted about how quickly he became its biggest podcaster, also noting that he was actually performing above expectations in terms of increasing engagement and adding first-time users or podcast listeners. But it's been noted that they actually haven't given specific data on his success, with reports pointing out that we don't know how many plays each episode gets or how many unique listeners

Starting point is 00:09:01 tune in. So instead, what The Verge looked at here was how much of a boost Rogan's show gives to his guests, and specifically those who have less than 500,000 followers, since bigger stars are actually more likely to bring attention to Rogan than vice versa. With The Verge ultimately finding that guests gained about 2,000 less Twitter followers after their appearances on the show since it moved exclusively to Spotify.

Starting point is 00:09:18 Also saying that Google searches for Joe Rogan dropped with notable peaks happening when he made headlines for controversial remarks, and on top of that, his YouTube channel, which now only posts highlight clips of his show, isn't growing nearly as quickly. And while the report says that these declines suggest a drop in listeners,

Starting point is 00:09:31 they also know that it could be partially tied to pandemic-related lifestyle changes, along with, yes, some general unhappiness with the Spotify move. And that's kind of more of the same. When Rogan first announced the deal, we saw tons of fans express disappointment, some noting that Spotify isn't even available

Starting point is 00:09:43 in their country. And as far as my opinion on this, this feels a little bit like a nothing story, but also kind of what's to be expected. But if you go exclusive somewhere rather than being everywhere, yes, you should expect some sort of drop off. Well, yes, you are going to have a lot of people follow like whether when Howard Stern went to Sirius or Joe Rogan going to Spotify, there's going to be a lot of people that move to the platform. There's also going to be a viewership, a listener that's like, no, you fit into my life. I don't fit into yours. And also while I'm interested in stuff like this, trying to say that he has like less of a pull is a little bit of a weird hit because like,

Starting point is 00:10:12 you know, if he says something really offensive or he once again promotes vaccine misinformation, like that's going to be in the New York times. Like there are different kinds of relevancy. Like I'm not going to completely shit on myself. My show gets out to 800,000 to 1.2 million people each episode. But when people like Joe Rogan say something or do something, there's a massive ripple effect that doesn't happen with many other people. It happens once you pass a certain level of success where all of a sudden all these outlets are talking about you. People know you in everyday conversations rather than just your core audience. And honestly, at the end of the day, if you told me I would get half my viewership for $100 million, yeah, I'm signing that check.

Starting point is 00:10:50 I could do way more good and cool shit in the world with $100 million. Then we should definitely talk about the US House approving the nearly $3.5 trillion budget plan in a 220 to 212 vote yesterday, notably paving the way for Democrats and Biden to enact some of their top priorities like healthcare, childcare, and climate change. And while yes, this is massive,

Starting point is 00:11:10 understand Democrats still have a long road ahead of them. Like a similar proposal adopted in the Senate just a few weeks back, the House budget proposal is just that, a proposal. It's basically a blueprint that doesn't require Biden's signature and instead lays the groundwork for the longer budget reconciliation process that will allow Democrats to pass the bill with a simple majority in the Senate, AKA no Republicans. But still to even get to that point, they have to one, write the legislation first and two, make a thousand percent sure

Starting point is 00:11:35 that all 50 Democratic senators are on board. That includes Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who notably have both expressed concern over the cost of the package. Democrats have a lot of work to do. And in addition to all of that, yesterday we saw the House also set a vote for the infrastructure bill by September 27th

Starting point is 00:11:49 and passed the voting rights legislation aimed at combating the wave of restrictive new Republican voting laws. But also that last bill is basically dead on arrival in the Senate. But that said, one thing is definitely clear and that is both chambers are going to be especially busy in the coming weeks

Starting point is 00:12:02 and we're gonna have to pay attention. But taking a long time to negotiate this legislation could create issues with the viability of its passage. I mean, while very involved in a number of things would have to happen in a certain way, I mean, a few weeks back, we covered the California recall, right? That whole effort to oust Governor Newsom,

Starting point is 00:12:15 and it could actually have a major impact on the makeup of the Senate. Our polls have consistently shown that not only is it entirely possible that Newsom could be ousted in the recall election, but a Republican would very likely be chosen to fill his spot, a Republican like Larry Elder, who's leading in the polls right now. And that's alarming for Democrats, not only in the state of California,

Starting point is 00:12:31 but nationwide because you have Senator Dianne Feinstein, who's 88 years old. And if she were to die or something happened that would make it so she had to vacate her seat, a Republican governor would then get to choose who gets to fill that seat, giving the Republicans a majority in the Senate, which is why in recent weeks, there's been such a big campaign for people trying to get out to to fill that seat, giving the Republicans a majority in the Senate. Which is why in recent weeks, there's been such a big campaign for people trying to get out to Democrats in California saying, hey, you may not even like Newsom.

Starting point is 00:12:51 Sure, vote him out in the next full election, but don't recall him because then you're most likely gonna get a Republican. With a number of people kind of calling this campaign, don't Florida, my California. And that's even connected to Elder's positions on vaccines and mandates as well as the fact that he stands

Starting point is 00:13:05 for things like no minimum wage. But I mean, the recall is a whole other story we can't even get into today. We don't have enough time. We should also definitely catch up on Afghanistan because today is another vacation episode. I'm not going to be able to get kind of as deep as I want to, as I will be able to next week. I still want to try and give you a top down view and talk about some stuff I want to make sure that we did not miss because right now people in Afghanistan are adjusting to this new normal under Taliban rule, like Sharia-style laws and punishments, and for women, a substantial curbing of rights.

Starting point is 00:13:31 However, you have the Taliban promising that women would have increased rights this time around, being able to go to school, work, walk around without male guardians. But also at the same time, it's urging women to stay home with the group's spokesperson, justifying the, quote, temporary policy. We are worried our forces who are new

Starting point is 00:13:44 and have not been yet trained very well may mistreat women. We don't want our forces, God forbid, to harm or harass women. But also a reminder, this is the Taliban that we're talking about, not a name you normally associate with words like trust. Also, we should talk about the ongoing evacuations from the Kabul airport.

Starting point is 00:14:02 Reportedly in a 24 hour period across Monday, 16,000 people were airlifted out of Kabul. And according to an update provided this morning by Major General Hank Taylor, that record was broken yesterday when 19,000 evacuees left Afghanistan. Since the US and coalition forces began the evacuation to date, approximately 88,000 have safely departed from Afghanistan. But it's also not all good news. Taliban have now reportedly enacted roadblocks leading to the airport and are maintaining control over entrances

Starting point is 00:14:31 to stop Afghans from leaving, while also allegedly allowing foreigners to pass through freely. The group's spokesperson also calling on the US to not encourage Afghan people to flee their country and adding, this country needs our doctors, engineers, and those who are educated. We need these talents.

Starting point is 00:14:45 Also calling for Afghans at the airport and those seeking access to it to go home, saying the Taliban would ensure their safety. But at the same time, there is widespread evidence that the group is carrying out reprisals against Afghans who work with foreign forces over the last 20 years. This is the Taliban and all the reports about like, maybe the Taliban 2.0 are gonna do this.

Starting point is 00:15:02 It's the Taliban. How are you gonna both sides give the benefit of the doubt to the fucking Taliban? How many times do I need to say this? But also the situation on the ground has led to concerns about the looming August 31st deadline when US troops are supposed to leave the country. Coalition allies are reportedly asking the US to extend that deadline to ensure everyone is out.

Starting point is 00:15:20 But the Taliban maintain that August 31st is a red line that cannot be crossed. And so the Biden administration is in a very tricky situation and is trying to figure something out. The administration even reportedly sent CIA Director William Burns on Monday to a secret meeting with the Taliban in Kabul

Starting point is 00:15:32 to discuss it, but it doesn't look like that amounted to much. Since then, we've also seen Biden give an address to the country. We are currently on a pace to finish by August the 31st. The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops. But the completion by August 31st depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate

Starting point is 00:15:54 and allow access to the airport for those who were transporting out and no disruptions to our operations. With Biden adding that he hoped operations would be complete by the deadline, but also saying, I've asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to adjust the timetable should that become necessary. Biden's statements give him some wiggle room as he didn't commit to leaving by August 31st. But there's a widespread concern

Starting point is 00:16:18 that the US will be there beyond that date, especially as coalition forces are intent on helping the Afghans who assisted them leave the country while the Taliban are trying to keep them in, which also sets up the stage for American forces to stay longer amid fears that they'll be accused of leaving people behind. And so at this point, August 31st is really the date

Starting point is 00:16:33 to keep in mind. It'll dictate whether the war in Afghanistan truly finally comes to an end for the United States or mark the start of yet another chapter in it. But yeah, ultimately with this story, or honestly anything else stood out to you today, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below because yes, this is a news show that is being filmed from a bathroom, but it is also a conversation that's happening in a bathroom.

Starting point is 00:16:52 Hey, maybe while you're letting me know your thoughts, you definitely hit that like button to support the video, subscribe, join the family, and of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you tomorrow, maybe, but probably definitely Monday.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.25 THE COWARDS BACKED DOWN! Joe Rogan, OnlyFans, Megan Thee Stallion, Blizzard Lawsuit, & More

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