The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.19 Philip DeFranco Exposed, Sirius Boycott, & More

Episode Date: September 19, 2018

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Sup you beautiful bastards hope you've been a fantastic Wednesday Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it The first thing we're gonna talk about today is Philip DeFranco exposed Not really, but it is actually something important that I do want to address yesterday We talked about the story and shared the video where it appeared that MGK machine gun Kelly was being booed Well turns out it appears that video was doctored There's a video that appears to be the original video claims claims to be the original video, was uploaded a day previously, and it doesn't have loud booing.

I heard that weak-ass shit. We also found other raw videos from the event that were uploaded to the internet. I heard that weak-ass shit. Hit! Knees weak or old age, the wheels slim, said you can't stand up. In those other angles, some of the comments that we shared yesterday do appear to be true. Specifically the comments that said Machine Gun Kelly didn't tell that Fallout Boy audience

that the picture was going to be for Eminem. Hey, turn all the lights on real quick. Let's all take one picture. I wanna send it to old Fred, it's very important. Put your middle fingers up like this. Big, big middle finger. But still in that video and many others that have been released now,

it does not appear that many people were booing. Obviously different pockets of the crowd had different reactions, but the booing is much less pronounced. And I know for a lot of people, this was a lighter story compared to kind of the heavier and more important topics we covered that day. But for me, it's important to cover this.

As much as I pride myself giving you the most accurate information possible and breakdown of a situation, I also like to go out of my way and explain I am not infallible and when we do mess up or potentially show you something that might not be the case it's important to provide an update. One, it's just the right thing to do

because the truth should matter in every story we cover. And two, I think it's the only way that you can actually trust me. And actually also three, because there are still places today that are misreporting this story like Cosmopolitan. So there's that and something I wanted to just make sure I got out of the way at the beginning of this show. But actually on the topic of music,

there is massive news coming out of the world of music. And that's because yesterday the US Senate did something that it very rarely does. It unanimously agreed on something, and that thing was the Music Modernization Act of 2018. And if you're unfamiliar with this, the bill is aimed at updating music copyright law for the digital era,

and doing that by revamping section 115 of the US Copyright Act. And with this, three key pieces of legislation have been combined into this one comprehensive bill. And those three include, one, the Music Modernization Act, that aiming to update licensing and royalty rules for songs on streaming services to pay rights holders in a more streamlined way.

Two, the Classics Act, that aiming to make sure songwriters and artists receive royalties on songs recorded before 1972. And three, the AMP Act, that aiming to improve royalty payouts for producers and engineers when the recordings are used on satellite and online radio. And that last one's pretty huge, since it marks the first time the producers

have actually been mentioned in a copyright law. But the general idea behind the MMA is that it makes sure that music makers are fairly compensated for their work in a new era where music listening happens more heavily on streaming services. Now back in April, a version of this bill passed unanimously in the House.

Now that we have the new Senate version of the bill, that has to go back to the House where they need to approve the changes that were made for it to pass through the Senate. And if the House approves the new version of the bill, all it needs then is to be signed by President Trump and it will become law. As of right now, experts are saying

that's pretty likely to happen since the major hurdle they were looking at was getting past the Senate. Now of course, when we're talking about situations like this, we always have mixed reactions. And the MMA was no different. There was overwhelming support from artists, producers, songwriters, but it also faced

a major resistance from streaming services and other industry groups who said the changes would hurt their businesses. And some of the most prominent opposition came from SiriusXM, Music Choice, and Blackstone, which is a private equity firm that owns a royalty distribution company. Now during the legislative process, lawmakers were able to appease Blackstone and Music Choice by offering them compromises, but satellite radio giant Sirius XM still disapproved.

And in fact, in recent weeks, we've seen them continue to fight the bill through lobbying efforts and op-eds about the MMA. And while Sirius had several issues with the bill, their main issue was the Classics Act. That, as I mentioned earlier, the portion that would require them to pay a new set of royalties on recordings made before 1972. And Sirius says that this is unfair since their main competitors, terrestrial radio companies,

AM and FM channels, don't have the same rule applied to them. And so there was talk that some of the senators were convinced by the concerns of these industry groups, which would cause them to vote against the bill, which seemingly is why on Monday, the same week as the vote, more than 150 songwriters and artists like Paul McCartney, John Legend, some new blood like Charlie Puth, they signed a letter to SiriusXM's board members

and their parent company, Liberty Media, expressing their concern, saying, "'It's SiriusXM versus all of us. "'We can either fight to the bitter end "'or celebrate this victory together. "'Rather than watch bad press and ill will pile up "'against SiriusXM, why not come out supporting "'the most consequential music legislation in 109 years?

We do not want to fight and boycott your company, but we will as we have other opponents. Adding, we look forward to your endorsement, but the fire is burning and only you can put this out. And seemingly because they did not want that fire to rage, on Tuesday we saw Sirius XM releasing a statement that they had come to an agreement with other industry players with compromises

that would allow them to support the bill. And one of the major compromises was that Sirius secured a guarantee that its recorded royalty payments for pre-1972 songs would be shared 50% with the artists in question. So now we have that Senate approved bill and it's very likely it's going to become a law. But from that I want to share some stuff I love today in Today in Awesome brought to you by NordVPN.com slash Phil. And for those not familiar with what a VPN is, one, you should definitely become familiar with it, and two, the kind of simplified explanation is much like a firewall protects your data on your computer, VPNs protect it online.

VPNs allow users to securely access a private network and share data remotely through public networks. And NordVPN has thousands of super fast servers in 61 countries and absolutely no data logging. It's just smart and general to protect yourself where you can, I mean on your computer, your phone, iOS or Android. I use it on my personal devices.

In fact, one of the first things my new head of security said when he got in was, why don't you have NordVPN on all devices at the office? Which I will say, because there are so many people that work here now, it's nice that there is 24 seven customer service, so I don't have to deal with that part. The main thing here, if you wanna try it out risk-free,

there's a 30 day money back guarantee. Just go to nordvpn.com slash Phil, use code Phil, and they'll give you 66% off a two-year plan. And the first bit of awesome is a game I am so excited for, Red Dead Redemption 2. Today, Rockstar Games, the team behind the game, announced Red Dead Online. And they describe it as an evolution

of the classic multiplayer experience in the original Red Dead Redemption, blending narrative with competitive and cooperative gameplay and fun new ways. You can explore it alone or with friends. They're planning to launch it November 2018, initially as a public beta, and I'm excited, but also at the same time, a little skeptical.

Hopefully the years of experience with GTA Online have taught them many, many, many, many things, because I will forever remember the first few weeks of GTA Online as one of the most frustrating gaming experiences of my life. With that said, I'm excited and I will be waiting. Then we got an interesting video from Cut called Guess My Income.

We had Reese Witherspoon, Zoe, and Lenny Kravitz playing lip sync charades. We got a trailer for Spell. We got a trailer for The Haunting of Hill House. We had Madison Beer breaking down her favorite Instagram accounts. We also got the Honest Game trailer for Spider-Man. Then if you're in the mood for some nostalgia gaming,

rejoice, Sony has announced they are releasing the PlayStation Classic and reportedly it will come preloaded with 20 games. And the last bit of awesome today is over on the second channel, youtube.com slash philly D. Go subscribe. I uploaded 17 minutes of the new podcast we're testing out, so definitely go check it out

if you need a little more today. And if you wanna see the full versions of everything, I just shared the secret link of the day. Really anything at all. Links, as always, are in the description down below. Then, and it's not really news, but it's trending, so let's add to the problem. Let's talk about Kylie Jenner. So why today was Kylie Jenner one of the most trending Twitter moments? Why did the Evening Standard say fans were shook? Well, it's because, according to Kylie Jenner, she tried cereal for the first time with milk. And most everyone that responded was, you never did what? Kylie calling the experience life-changing, adding, I always like cereal dry. I never bothered to put milk. Far as the cereal in question,

it was Cinnamon Toast Crunch who loved the free promo. And my response to this massive reaction is, really, you're surprised? You're surprised that a 21-year-old billionaire or near billionaire who grew up in a house full of Kardashians is disconnected from your personal life experience. If this is the weirdest Kylie Jenner news we ever get,

many bullets were dodged. And that's where I'm leaving it. That's all the air this story gets. And then let's talk about the most 2018 international incident I've seen so far. There's international news, international controversy, and at the center of it, you have the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and Salt Bae.

Salt Bae, of course, the Turkish celebrity chef that has been memed from one corner of the internet to the other. And the reason there's a controversy here is video was shared of Maduro at this restaurant. A restaurant that reportedly sells steaks from anywhere between $70 to $275. Smoking cigars, having a good time, all while

there are millions of Venezuelans in Venezuela in crisis. In Venezuela, the cost of food has skyrocketed to the point that some people just have to skip meals. They can't eat. People nationwide, they're losing weight. And the thing is, this isn't even a new crisis in Venezuela. You might have seen our coverage in the past.

I mean, you've also had reports since 2016. Two thirds of the hospitals in Venezuela saying they didn't have formula for infants. In the midst of this horrible situation back home, you see Maduro gorging on steaks, hugging Salt Bae. And it's a situation that infuriated many, including Senator Marco Rubio, who tweeted, "'I don't know who this weirdo Salt Bae is,

"'but the guy he is so proud to host "'is not the president of Venezuela. "'He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation "'where 30% of the people eat only once a day "'and infants are suffering from malnutrition.'" Then adding, "'This guy,' Salt Bae's Twitter handle, "'who admires dictator Nicolas Maduro so much,

actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, Miami. He then proceeds to name it, provide the location, and release the phone number for that location. Adding, in case anyone wanted to call. Now some people have accused Rubio of doxing Salt Bae, which, I mean, it's a public restaurant with a public number, public address. So I don't think there's much there.

There are also people that accuse Rubio of harassing, but to that Rubio responded, "'Sad you don't see the big difference "'between shaming someone because you disagree "'on a political issue and shaming a celebrity chef "'who didn't just host Maduro. "'He promoted videos of the lavish feast he provided "'for a criminal that is systematically starving

"'the people of Venezuela.'" Ultimately where I land on this, one, I'm definitely in the fuck Maduro camp. I think it's disgusting to see him living lavishly while so many people in his country suffer. And as far as the outrage towards Salt Bae, I understand why it's there. It feels like a situation where it would be hard to be ignorant to what Maduro has done and not done in his country. How his actions and inaction lead to more human suffering.

But on that note, I do want to pass the question off to you as far as what are your feelings? Are you also angry? And also, what is your opinion as far as Marco Rubio's reaction? Any and all thoughts on this one? I'd love to see in the comments down below. And then let's talk about once again a man that is consistently in the news cycle, Elon Musk. Now of course the last time we talked about Elon that was connected to news where he called Vern Unsworth a pedo. Also, he is now officially being sued. But this news situation has a potential to be far far worse.

Bloomberg News reported that federal prosecutors have begun a criminal probe into Tesla. And reportedly this is a connection to Elon Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla, tweeting out on August 7th, I'm considering taking Tesla private at $420, funding secured. And Musk later clarified that he was close to securing funding from the Saudi Arabian

Sovereign Wealth Fund. But since all of this, Elon Musk has said that he's going to keep Tesla public. Now the SEC had already been investigating Tesla when this tweet was sent out. And that SEC probe was reportedly focused on whether they had issued misleading pronouncements on manufacturing goals and sales targets.

And so as when that funding secured tweet came out, the investigation reportedly expanded to include it. Now an incredibly important note here is it's actually common for both the SEC and the DOJ to investigate these kinds of issues because federal securities law violations can be prosecuted criminally or civilly. And according to Steven Diamond,

associate professor of law at Santa Clara University, the SEC only has the ability to get monetary relief. The DOJ has the ability to put someone in jail. Also, in a statement released after the article came out, Tesla said, Last month, following Elon's announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it. And adding, We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process.

We respect the DOJ's desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received. And there are two notes that I wanna end on. One, I think that it's incredibly important to keep in mind that just because the DOJ opened a criminal probe does not mean that there will be any charges brought forward.

As of now, it is just an investigation, but of course there is concern because all of a sudden you have the SEC and DOJ poking around. As we've seen in other high profile instances, sometimes you start looking for one thing and you find some other stuff. But also too, this situation with the SEC,

the DOJ and Tesla, it's not happening in a bubble. It's happening at the same time. There are fires inside and outside. Elon Musk, Vern Unsworth situation doesn't help things. As we've covered in the past two weeks, there have been some high profile exits from the company. As we've covered in the past two weeks, there have been some high profile exits from the company. We also saw Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund,

who this year bought around 5% of Tesla, just this week announcing that they are putting $1 billion into Lucid Motors, which is seen as a competitor to Tesla. This because the company reportedly has plans to release a luxury electric vehicle in 2020. And while the company has gone through massive ups and downs over all of these news cycles, what will be very telling is the second half year reporting. And that's

because Elon Musk has said that Tesla will be profitable in the second half of this year. Ultimately, while we have seen the stock go up and down based off of things that were happening, a lot of it's always going to come down to the numbers. Ultimately, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens with everything that's in the air right now. Now personally, I'm rooting for Tesla. I think they're an exciting company doing a very exciting and important thing. And I mean that in an even broader way than just them as a company,

how they've pushed to the forefront of this conversation around what vehicle will you get next, EVs are now a part of it. Now whether it's Tesla or something that ends up coming in at a more affordable rate, that's to be debated. But all of that said, we are just gonna have to wait to see, and I pass the question off to you,

what are your thoughts around this? And that's actually where I'm going to end today's show. But of course, I also want this show to be a conversation, so whether it be the last story, the first one, anything in between, let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. Also, while you're at it, if you like this video,

hit that like button. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button. But 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.