The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.25 Disturbing Youtube Controversy Arrest, & More

Episode Date: September 25, 2018

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is one of the most requested stories. It's an incredibly important story to talk about. It is unfortunately also a story that is likely to make it so this video does not hit recommended. With that said, we need to talk about the controversy around the 7 Awesome Kids channel here on YouTube. 7 Awesome Kids is one of the largest tween networks on YouTube since 2008. Between its main channel, Seven Awesome Kids,

Saks, and its six other channels, it has 17 million subscribers and billions of views. The network has a rotating cast of about 20 girls, all between the ages of 8 and 18. And recently, over the past month, there have been a lot of questions as to why this popular network hasn't posted any new videos on its seven channels. Before this seemingly random drop-, videos were being posted multiple times a week. And then it came out thanks to Buzzfeed who actually broke this story. Reportedly Ian Rilett, the owner and proprietor of Saks was arrested. Buzzfeed obtaining a warrant dated August 16th for Ian Rilett in Orange County, Florida.

And unfortunately the arrest wasn't for some fairly common charge, but instead for lewd and lascivious battery of a minor and according to the report, the minor was a girl under the age of 16 who was a part of Saks. According to the warrant on August 16th, Orange County Police were called to Rylett's hotel room after he allegedly verbally abused this young girl.

Allegedly he demanded that she undress in front of him and quote, practice wrapping her breasts down to make them appear smaller for the video shoot. Also in addition to demanding that she undress in front of him, Rylett reportedly went up to her and groped her breasts. Additionally, he is accused of then fondling her while she undressed, culminating in him attempting

to forcibly remove her underwear. He also allegedly threatened to use the contract to fine her if she did not comply with his demand. And after this warrant was obtained, some girls who used to work for Rylett were contacted and asked about his conduct. Now, none of them said that they were sexually assaulted, but they did make it clear that he would do things

that were creepy, to say the least. Some of the examples included forcing them to wear bikinis that were too small for them, having a girl send sizing photos for each new bathing suit she planned to wear, apparently for quote, sponsor approval. Two former performers, and remember, we're talking about girls between the ages of eight to 18,

said that Rylett would make jokes about wardrobe malfunctions when accompanying them when they were on shoots. One girl telling Buzzfeed News, "'On trips we used to joke about him being creepy, "'but we never thought he'd act on it.'" Three of the girls that worked with sex said they became concerned over the channel

after a segment done by Daniel Tosh on Tosh.0. Who's watching all these videos of little girls in bathing suits and taped up to beds? I suspect it's not just teenage girls, it's dudes. This channel posts a new video every single day where they guarantee and even brag that all girls are under 18 years of age, which confirms that all showbiz parents are unethical monsters.

One of them reportedly saying, Then some of us started to get the feeling we were being groomed for some darker audience. Things that didn't feel weird at the time, like the themes, the leotards, and the camera angles, started to feel strained. I started to get that feeling, especially when you think that some of these girls are nine years old. Which I will say, personally, it's hard for me not to feel like they were being groomed for something darker because on top of just the content in general, which we've talked about,

Daniel Tosh has talked about, many people have talked about before. You connect the ages of these girls, the accusations that he was having this girl wrap her breasts down to make them appear smaller, another former sex girl saying that she was under constant pressure to make myself look younger. It appears to me at the very least

that they are being groomed, or also at the very least, that the owner of this channel, whoever is making this content, is aware of the actual audience that is consuming it, perhaps even a lean into that audience. Additionally, some of the other statements given in the article include, he talked to our parents and tell them to yell at us,

he threatened to take our videos down, his language was so hostile, and the way he talked about the girls' bodies, clothes, and makeup, it was scarring. You have to understand, these are 12, 13, 13, 14 year old girls he's doing this to. Also on the note of the parents, one of the girls said a lot of the parents early on didn't understand or know what YouTube really was and they weren't really involved. Also along with this story, YouTube has come under fire. Many people asking why was nothing done before after Daniel Tosh and many others put this kind of on the national stage.

As well as why are these channels still up, given the charges and the report. And on the note of what has YouTube actually done here, reportedly after YouTube first heard of Rylett's arrest, they demonetized the channel, but as other people have pointed out, they have not taken it down. And as far as YouTube goes, this is kind of standard procedure.

YouTube often won't take down a channel in this scenario until there is a guilty plea or a conviction, and Rylett has pled not guilty and is going to stand trial later this year. A YouTube spokesperson saying in a statement, "'We take safety on YouTube very seriously. We work closely with leading child safety organizations and others in our industry to protect young people. When we're made aware of serious allegations of this nature, we take action,

which may include suspending monetization or, upon conclusion of an investigation, terminating the channel. However, girls who worked for Rylat claim that YouTube was never there for them. Some of the quotes including, With a place like YouTube, there were just no regulations or protections.'" Also, after one of Rylat's channels was taken down last year for breaking guidelines, performers contacted the platform and were told almost nothing.

One saying, "'YouTube's responses were not satisfactory.'" I think it was like barely three sentences with no real information. Another girl reportedly saying, "'In all my years filming for the channels, "'there was never any conversation with YouTube,' saying, "'There was no kid rep support that I know of

"'and no number to call to report things to.'" We were on our own. And ultimately, that is where the situation is right now. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens to Rylat next. And as far as my personal takeaway from this, I understand that YouTube is a very large platform. It's very hard to find bits and pieces, but this is not a new situation. I mean if you look through the content now, and it would take a very long time because there is a lot of content. You can find bits and pieces of finished products where you're like, okay, that's kind of weird. Why would you do that? Considering who is behind the channel in making this,

okay, it's a little weird. But this is the same channel I talked about November of last year in a video titled We Need to Talk About the Disturbing Exploitation of Kids on YouTube, where we talked about the videos on seven fabulous teens where a girl is unconscious, she is dragged away, and then she is taped to a wall. And it just

feels like more could have been done and more could have been looked into beforehand. But also, I am aware, and many of you are aware if you've watched for a while, I am far more judgmental and sensitive about stories involving the exploitation or mistreatment of children. So I'll pass the question off to you. One, what do you think about the accusations in general? And two, what do you think about YouTube's role here? Do you feel like they dropped the ball, they could have done more, or no, this is a situation where they did what they could. Maybe you'd argue it's not their place

or just the site's too big for them to actually move on these things. Let me know what you think. Then, in news that is incredibly important here in the United States, if you did not know, today is National Voter Registration Day. If you live in the United States and you've recently moved or you've moved since the last time you voted,

maybe you got married, maybe you just turned 18, make sure you are registered to vote. I don't care who or what you're voting for, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, I'm not going to endorse anybody. But if you can vote, you should vote. Especially in these midterms, not only because this specific election, potentially one of the most consequential elections for a lot of people voting. Because while obviously voting for the president every four years is a big deal, when you vote in local elections, that is the thing that is most likely

going to affect your day-to-day life. Also, if you need help because you're in the military or you're overseas, I'll include links to help anyone who wants to vote to vote. There are places in this world where people don't get a say. They don't get close to a say. And regardless of what polling says, and once again, this is for wherever you land,

this is your chance to throw out into the world what you would like to see for your future, for the future of your friends and family and your children. It just takes a few minutes, and I know I'm talking like I'm trying to get you to eat your vegetables. But one, voting in general is important. Two, voting locally is extremely important. And three, Americans usually don't show up as much

for the midterms, in fact, it's gotten worse and worse. For example, the 2014 midterms, we saw the lowest voter turnout in 70 years. My main point, just for me, I needed to say that to you, and also if you're like, Phil, I'm already registered. Well to you, I say congratulations, good job, you're looking fantastic, you are a great person. And go jump on any and all of your social media to tell people to register to vote, and or link to nationalvoterregistrationday.org. But from that, I wanna share some stuff I love today and today in awesome, brought to you by movement.com slash philly D.

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ShopDeFranco.com or go to the individual product with the links down below. And then an awesome I'm going to mention one time, it's also kind of as a thank you to you for even making me part of the conversation, but also I'm not going to be campaigning this year. This year we were nominated for two Streamy Awards. We were nominated for News as well as Audience Choice Show of the Year. But like I said, I'm not gonna be campaigning telling you to vote every day or any of that.

I just wanted to include this as a kind of a thank you to you guys for watching and sharing and just being a part of this conversation for us to even be a part of award conversations. That's where I'll leave it. Whenever I talk about this sort of stuff, I get mushy and start rambling on. Just thank you for allowing me into your life every day or so. It is a privilege.

I love your face. Anyway, moving on. Then we got video game, Dunkey explaining Kingdom Hearts. Then we got the launch gameplay trailer for Black Ops 4. We got a featurette for 8th Grade, which actually came out on demand today. We also got the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts,

The Crimes of Grindelwald. We had Elizabeth Olsen answering the web's most searched questions. We had Marshmello creating the playlist to his life. We got the how it should have ended for his solo. Then in, I'm about to watch it right after I finish uploading this video, awesome Shane Dawson released the first episode

of his new series. The mind of Jake Paul, and just in the first two minutes of it being up, it had over 200,000 views. The main point, I'm excited to see where this ride goes. And if you want to 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. And then we had a lot of people talking about the UN today for two reasons.

One of the first reasons, rolling over from yesterday, is you had Kim Namjoon, aka RM, of course a member of the K-Pop sensation BTS, speaking to the UN. He talked about BTS launching the Love Myself campaign with UNICEF, adding, We've been partnering with UNICEF's Inviolence Program to protect children and young people all over the world from violence. And our fans have become a major part of this campaign with their action and with their enthusiasm. I'd like to ask all of you, what is your name? There are very few things that you can be certain of in life, but you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your

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Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice. I want to want to hear your conviction. No matter who you are, where you from, your skin color, your gender identity, just speak yourself. And so of course this was big news, not only because BTS was speaking to the UN, but someone in a privileged position where they are in the spotlight, raising awareness, trying to do some good, and just trying to spread some love and positivity. But also what followed that was a little bit of a controversy.

YouTube's own Lilly Singh spoke after them and she said, Shoutouts to BTS who millions of girls at home right now are crying. And some people had a problem with that. Read a few. Shout out to Lilly Singh for completely undermining BTS' impact as global advocates for the protection of youths and reducing them to nothing more than fangirl fodder. People like Lilly Singh are the reason BTS aren't taken seriously by others. Instead of commenting on their speech or thanking them, she brought up the fangirl narrative

I'm so tired. One writing, no offense to Superwoman, but if girls were at home crying it was not the result of crazy fangirling. We're human too and we felt every single thing Namjoon said in his speech, from offense to Superwoman, but if girls were at home crying, it was not the result of crazy fangirling. We're human too, and we felt every single thing Namjoon said in his speech, from human to human. We also had some on the other side saying that this wasn't actually a big deal. One writing, I see some people in my timeline

coming at Lilly Singh for saying one sentence about BTS. Yes, it probably wasn't necessary, and she probably should have worded it a different way, but it ain't that deep. As far as where I personally land on this, I know that the fandom, BTS's army, incredibly protective. Personally, I agree with that last tweet. I don't think that it was that deep. I don't think Lilly Singh was trying to demean or lessen the group or Namjoon. Maybe it was even based off of Lilly's

own love as a girl of the group. Watching through Namjoon's and Lilly's speeches, it seems very much that they're speaking about the same thing, about the youth standing up, loving themselves and loving the world. I think there's already enough negative in the world, we don't really need to add to it in a place where people are just trying to do good. So there was that, and then the other big news coming from the UN is Donald Trump spoke today. And in his speech he gave a lot of what we've come to expect, but one of the most notable moments came from when Donald Trump was talking about his administration's accomplishments. In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America is so true. I didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay.

So there was that, seemingly members of the UN laughing at Donald Trump. But like I said, for the most part, that was one of the main standout moments. And in general, the speech was very toned down, especially compared to what we got last year. I mean, last year, of course, we had the infamous Rocket Man moment. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself. But this year, we had President Trump praising Kim Jong Un's courage. Also seemingly on the note of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, as well as the UN Human Rights Council. Trump said we reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of

patriotism. Also saying that the US will not tell you how to live and work and worship that as long as you respect the United States's own sovereignty and return. And on China, Iran, OPEC regarding oil prices. And on that note adding, we are not going to put up with it these horrible prices much longer. But ultimately, that is where we are with this right now. Also, if you'd like to see the full speech, I'll link to it down below. As far as where the oil situation goes, we're going to have to wait and see. As far as the speeches, that's what we have so far. And as far as what story will come next, if the early reporting is true, most likely there's going to be a lot of attention on John Bolton. According to Axios, his speech contains some of the most aggressive and confrontational language we've seen from a

U.S. administration in recent decades. Even reportedly warning Iran in this speech. We are watching and we will come after you. But as of recording, he has not actually said that yet, and we'll have to wait and see. But a question I do want to pass off to you, what are your feelings regarding that moment where Trump is speaking, kind of self-congratulating, and then you hear that response? Do you take that moment as him having lost or just not having international respect? Or is your personal takeaway from that moment that that's an example of Donald Trump not caring what the international community thinks because he's thinking about America first? I ask in that specific manner because I've seen

both of those responses. Now let's talk about Bill Cosby in the news. It's been five months since he was found guilty. His sentencing was set for today. You had Cosby's lawyers asking that he just be put on house arrest, essentially saying he's too old, too helpless to do this time. And on the other side, you had prosecution requesting

five to 10 years saying that he was still a threat to women. Also before the sentencing came in, we saw the judge rule Bill Cosby to be a sexually violent predator. That was already a big deal on its own, because as The Hollywood Reporter explains, the classification means that Cosby must undergo monthly counseling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities, and also that his name will appear on a sex offender registry sent to neighbors, schools, and victims. But, all of that said, the sentence finally came in today, and Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.

And no house arrest, this is total confinement. And additionally, Cosby was denied bail and ordered to be jailed immediately. And as far as my personal reaction to this, while of course I feel that this punishment comes far too late, I feel that it is far too little, and it was always going to be too little because it was a case involving the drugging

and sexual assault of just one of the many women who have come out with their stories about Bill Cosby, I am happy to see some accountability. And on the note of something Cosby's lawyer Joseph P. Green said, I don't remember anyone ever sentencing a blind octogenarian to state prison. And what I would say to Mr. Green there is there's just a problem with your classification. You are depicting Bill Cosby as this blind, helpless old man. Whereas with the law and the general public, they now see convicted sexually violent predator Bill Cosby going to state prison. And to that whole, oh he's too old, I would say we're talking about a man, and in this specific

case, an incident that happened in 2004. A 14 year younger Bill Cosby who eluded justice for 14 years, you don't get to just call timeout because, oh, he's old now. To the people that still defend Bill Cosby here, I ask you to read the extended victim statement that was submitted for this. Three to ten years for the lifetime of harm he inflicted on just this one individual, not including all the other accusations, just this one. That is a bargain. But also, hey, that is my takeaway. I pass the question off to you whether you agree or disagree with me What do you feel about this sentence? And that's where I'm ending today's show, but of course remember this is the PDS

I also want it 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 these daily dives into the news hit that like button if you're new here you want to see more hit that subscribe Button also if you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show you want To catch up you can click or tap right there to watch that or if you haven't watched the really raw Special interview we did with Jason click or tap right there, but that's it of course as always my name is Philip DeFranco You've just been filled in I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow