The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.28 Why This Gabby Petito Dog the Bounty Hunter Situation Has The Internet Split

Episode Date: September 28, 2021

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!  Watch More News: https://youtu.be/nOnp5kFOZTg TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco -- 00:00: Dog the Bounty Hunter Searches for Brian Laundrie 02:55: Companies & Experts Push Back Against TikTok Claiming Real Estate Market Manipulation 06:54: Netflix Releases a List of Its Most-Watched Shows 07:53 Sponsor 08:43: Activision Blizzard Will Set Up an $18M Victims Fund as Part of Lawsuit Settlement 10:10: Most NBA Players Are Vaccinated, But Debates Still Divide the League 15:51: Generals Contradict Biden in Testimony -- ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Dog the Bounty Hunter Searches for Brian Laundrie: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-update-news-b1928365.html Companies & Experts Push Back Against TikTok Claiming Real Estate Market Manipulation: ​​​​https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zillow-tiktok-video-real-estate-housing-211403123.html Netflix Releases a List of Its Most-Watched Shows: https://roguerocket.com/2021/09/28/bridgerton-most-viewed-netflix/ Activision Blizzard Will Set Up an $18M Victims Fund as Part of Lawsuit Settlement: https://roguerocket.com/2021/09/28/activision-eeoc/ Most NBA Players Are Vaccinated, But Debates Still Divide the League: https://roguerocket.com/2021/09/28/nba-skeptics-debate/  Generals Contradict Biden in Testimony: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/28/top-generals-afghanistan-withdrawal-congress-hearing-514491 ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ CA Makes Universal Mail in Voting Permanent: https://roguerocket.com/2021/09/28/california-universal-voting-by-mail/ ——————————     Executive Producer: Amanda Morones  Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Cory Ray, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Neena Pesqueda Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #GabbyPetito #NBA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. And hey, hit that like button to help spread some common sense news coverage that's needed here on the YouTubes. And let's just jump into it. You know, first up today, one of the most requested stories.

People have been asking about updates on the Gabby Petito case. Right now, the updates are a little bit all over the place. One, a dog, the bounty hunter is reportedly now involved. Brian Laundrie's parents are probably calling the police on him when he showed up to their home on Saturday to ask them questions. The dog saying that he decided to join the hunt.

He wanted to ask the parents about Brian's possible whereabouts, telling news outlets that he went to their house first because he believed in second chances. And adding, the police said we were welcome to knock on the door, so we did. I wanted to tell the Laundries that our goal is to find Brian and bring him in alive.

Right, and that angle of let's get Laundrie alive was something that he stressed over and over, repeatedly implying that an encounter with law enforcement could end differently. And it seems like Dog's self-inclusion in this manhunt has now drawn even more headlines and attention to Gabby Petito's case after her body was found last week and an autopsy confirmed that her death

was due to a homicide. Right, and with all of that, I mean, Laundrie's been missing for almost two weeks now. His parents claim that he went for a hike in the Carlton Reserve. However, there are tips Dog wants to follow up on, claiming that Laundrie was possibly at the Fort DeSoto campgrounds instead.

Allegedly, Laundrie's family had camped there for a few days starting September 6th, which is backed up by park records. But police have already rejected that tip, saying that there are no reported sightings of anyone resembling Laundrie in the area. So, you know, with all of that, there's been a lot of debate about his involvement.

Some saying his actions is very helpful, others saying that he's making it about him, some kind of in the middle, thinking that maybe this is somewhat problematic. Right, Dog's been speaking with the media a lot. A number of people saying, isn't he just possibly tipping off Brian Laundrie if he's still out there?

But I mean, beyond that alleged tip, we know a little more about what progress has been made in finding Laundrie. Right, with all that, Petito's parents also not releasing any new information, but have still held press conferences promising that justice will be brought. And in fact, during one such press conference today,

her family emphasized that this kind of attention shouldn't just be reserved for their daughter, with her father saying, I want to ask everyone to help all the people that are missing and need help. And like I said before, it's on all of you, everyone that's in this room, to do that. And if you don't do that for other people that are missing that's a shame

because it's not just Gabby that deserves that. But that messaging coming after the family announced the Gabby Petito Foundation on Saturday in a tweet that read, no one should have to find their child on their own. We are creating this foundation to give resources and guidance on bringing their children home. We are looking to help people in similar situations as Gabby. And according to the family attorney, the foundation is still working out details on what types of missing person cases will be targeted. And adding today, Gabby's family does not want that light to dim and they want to make some good

from this awful tragedy. So there's that aspect of the story. Still the question of where is Brian Laundrie? What, if any, involvement did the parents have? And finally, really love to know your thoughts on Dog the Bounty Hunter's involvement here. Like when I've asked friends, family, just people I know, it's like 50-50 split.

Or some saying this is very helpful, others saying is it kind of just noise and maybe an issue. So yeah, where do you stand on this right now and why? Then shifting gears to other news, we should definitely talk about this TikTok market manipulation scandal, all of it kind of aiming at companies like Zillow. There's a lot of debate happening with this story,

people firing shots at one another. And so the story actually starts a couple of weeks ago when a Las Vegas real estate agent by the name of Sean posted this TikTok. What if there was a company that everybody used, everybody used, everybody knew of to look for houses? And so that company, they just sit back and they just collect all the data.

They just know what zip code is looking at what zip code and how much those people can afford. And let's say that billion dollar company uses that information to go into that zip code and start purchasing houses. Because the people that are selling their houses, even though they sell it for a little bit less sometimes than what the home could actually be worth, and they pay these high fees to this billion dollar company, it's a convenience factor. So this company is scooping up houses less than what they actually could cost. And let's say that that company, excuse me, Canute, that company buys 30 homes within a two mile radius. And let's say the price is 300,000. So they buy all of these

homes for 300,000. And then on the 31st home, they buy it for 340. Well, what that just did is create a new comp. So when they go to sell these other 30 homes, that extra $40,000 that you could say, this one sold for 340, just made them 1.2 million. So he's mentioned a lot of math there. Lindsay, if you're watching, the main thing you need to understand, Sean seems to be insinuating

that some unnamed real estate company, wink wink, is engaging in market manipulation by driving up the price of home. And so that quickly led to users speculatinguating that some unnamed real estate company, wink wink, is engaging in market manipulation by driving up the price of homes. And so that quickly led to users speculating that he was talking about Zillow, especially since the size and business structure of the company matches the profile of the unnamed company. Though with this, you also had others accusing companies

like Redfin and Opendoor, but right as of this morning, that video alone racked up around 3 million views. In fact, blowing up so much, the conversation spread across social media as well as the mainstream, even resulting in the CEO of Redfin responding, saying, where Redfin's concerned, this is untrue. We would rather sell the home without owning it. We'd never intentionally underpay or overpay for a home. It's madness to overpay for a single home in order to set a high watermark for other sales. With Redfin's CEO also saying the company simply doesn't sell enough

homes nationwide to be able to control the market. We've also now seen Zillow responding, telling Yahoo Finance in a piece published yesterday that the video is full of misinformation and falsehoods. Adding, our goal is to buy at market rate, then sell quickly at market rate. Saying, the business model is designed to generate our profit margins from the convenience fees we charge sellers,

typically around 5%. And adding, because our margins are so thin, it's critical that we price a home accurately. If we overpay, we'll lose money on the resale. If we make too low of an offer, homeowners won't use us. What's funny with all of this is even if it's not happening because of this story, you had a Bloomberg reporter calling the market manipulation theory possibly brilliant,

even though they noted that it's probably not the case, saying, a much more likely explanation is that Zillow sometimes overpays for homes because the market has been really hot and at times prices in certain markets have been moving so fast that it's hard to know what a property is worth. However, with all this, we've now seen Sean responding,

calling the media's reporting of this manipulative, stressing the hypothetical nature of his original TikTok. But also with that, we've seen people like YouTube's own, Kevin Paprath calling Sean's video, quote, nonsense conspiracy and saying that it's laughable, it's a joke. Also noting that like Redfin, Zillow sells too few houses to manipulate market prices

and that in the first half of this year, Zillow actually lost money flipping houses. If they were really scamming people right now in terms of fixing prices in the market for a profit, they'd probably actually be profitable in this portion of their business. But they're not because margins in flipping real estate, especially for a corporation, are notoriously low. Yeah, ultimately for now, that is where we are with this story. It's a very interesting one for a number of reasons.

One, just because I think what's been happening with the housing market has been very weird and crazy and very interesting to watch. And also two, it's already kind of become the case, but I think even more so, I think we're gonna see things like this happening all the time where there's like a TikTok that goes viral and it becomes national news.

Whatever's going on with her algorithm, it genuinely feels like anyone could blow up at any time, which depending on the content could be a very good thing or a very bad thing. Yeah, like with everything I talk about on the show, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. Then in future of entertainment news,

we had Netflix releasing some lists and numbers, showcasing their top films and series, showing tens of millions of households watching Bridgerton, Lupin, The Witcher. The film Extraction, I mean, that almost broke a hundred million. They also released numbers for like millions of households watching Bridgerton, Lupin, The Witcher. The film Extraction, I mean that almost broke a hundred million. They also released numbers for like millions of hours watched in the first 28 days, but really to stand out here to me? Netflix has got to be over the fucking moon that their foreign language content is doing so incredibly well everywhere. Their top list including multiple seasons of Money Heist, Lupin Part One,

absolutely dominant. While it was too new to be on the list, Squid Game is also a massive hit, which, side note, if you didn't understand yesterday's intro, it was a reference to Squid Game. It's a South Korean thriller. I cannot recommend it enough. It is messed up and amazing. While there's no data yet because it's so new, reportedly it's on track to become

the most popular series on the platform. And at the very least, you have the co-CEO of Netflix, Ten Sarandos, saying that it is the platform's biggest non-English language show worldwide. And the massive success we're seeing with some of these international shows, it just means more and more content, new directors, new visions, and with that, I'm excited.

But from that, let's take a second to pay some bills and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, over the past year, I know a lot of you have found your passion projects and what truly makes you happy. Whether that means finally getting your independent business off the ground or creating a place to share your homemade goods, new favorite

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And in probably a different kind of video game speed running news than you're used to, we had Activision Blizzard being hit with a lawsuit and then settling that lawsuit the same day. Right, for those who haven't seen, Activision Blizzard's been getting hit both socially and legally as of late. But this most recent lawsuit kind of hitting on the general notes, right,

you have the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that Activision Blizzard fostered a culture of sexual harassment and engaged in gender discrimination against female employees. And while this isn't their only lawsuit where there were very similar claims being brought by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing back in July, this latest lawsuit and settlement is actually a big deal for a number of reasons. One, like pretty much every big settlement that we've talked about as of late, Blizzard doesn't have to admit any wrongdoing. But also, two, at the same time they're doing something that a number of people are considering is an acknowledgement that they did things wrong.

That's because if a federal judge approves this settlement, Blizzard's gonna have to shell out $18 million to establish a fund to compensate and make amends to eligible claimants. Now, as far as who is eligible to be a claimant, employees who've worked domestically for Blizzard somewhere within the last five years, that's you. And as far as where Blizzard's gonna get the money,

this is essentially pocket change to them. Just this past quarter, the company brought in an operating income of $959 million. Still though, in gonna get the money, this is essentially pocket change to them. Just this past quarter, the company brought in an operating income of $959 million. Still though, in addition to the money, Blizzard will now have to implement improved anti-harassment training, oversight by an independent consultant, regular reports to the federal government,

explicit policies about the consumption of alcohol at company events, and the expansion of mental health support for employees. And of course, this in no way means that Blizzard's legal troubles are over overall. Right, like I mentioned earlier, you have the California lawsuit and also you have this group of employees in an ongoing lawsuit over worker intimidation and union busting.

And then we should definitely talk about the NBA, vaccines, and kind of just the general clusterfuck of the last 48 hours. It's the NBA and vaccines. It's been a major point of discussion for a while now. The topic's been dominating the news cycle. While the NBA said that 90% of its players are vaccinated, there's not a mandate for players, even though there is one for referees,

as well as league and team staffers that work closely with the players. There's numerous outlets reporting that although the league pushed for vaccines to be required, the players union has refused because there's this small, but very vocal minority that's basically set the agenda and railroad the conversation. And all of that is happening at the same time

where there've been some outside efforts to ensure the players are vaccinated. For example, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed a rule requiring sports arenas to require all employees and guests 12 and up to prove that they've received at least one dose of the vaccine without religious or medical exemptions. A similar mandate also enacted in San Francisco,

though players, staff, and attendees there are required to show that they are fully vaccinated. So as a result of these city mandates, unvaccinated players from the Knicks and Nets in New York and Golden State in San Francisco are banned from playing in their team's own 41 home games. And on top of that, this would hurt the players' wallets because with all this, you have the NBA saying

the teams do not have to pay players for missed games. So you're talking about massive losses for major stars bringing tens of millions of dollars each season. So all of that then came to a head yesterday because yesterday was the NBA media day. There were a lot of different viral clips, a lot of different takes and kind of opinions. Where you got a viral clip of Kyrie Irving.

He has a four year deal, $136 million contract with the Nets. Refusing to answer four different questions about his vaccination status. I would like to keep all that private. Please just respect my privacy. Like all the questions kind of leading in to what's happening, you know, just please,

everything will be released at a due date. And once we get this cleared up. With that, people noting that Kyrie's silence, also the fact that he wasn't there, that he zoomed in, that speaks volumes. With outlets reporting that he didn't do it in person because of the league's health protocols. But also you had places like the Rolling Stones saying

it's not really crazy to think that Kyrie's in this camp. Noting that he's been known to support conspiracy theories in the past, he recently started following and liking Instagram posts from conspiracy theorists who claimed that secret societies are implanting vaccines in a plot to connect black people to a master computer for a plan of Satan.

Right, and obviously Kyrie wasn't the only one. There were a number of other people that went kind of viral for their clips, some making less sense than others. But at the same time, there were also a ton of players who used their media days to promote vaccination and speak on the importance of protecting yourself and others, that including the likes of Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard,

who talked about getting himself and his family vaccinated. I have a lot of people in my family. It won't take long to tell you Neutral's ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. You also had others mocking fellow players lives to it. Like I'm not, and it's a way for me to protect myself and the people that I love. I'm gonna do it. You know, it was pretty simple. You also had others mocking fellow players who said they still need to do their own research

after all this time, like Orlando magic's Robin Lopez. I'm still not sure the Milwaukee is actually won the championship. I didn't, I didn't watch, I wasn't there. I didn't watch the game myself. So, um, I guess I'll go off a basis of there's gotta be some kind of proof. I'll do, I'm going to do my own research and figure out if they want it. And you also seem to have a large number of players like Steph Curry who just seem to hate this situation, right? Player after player being asked about their unvaccinated teammates, right? Saying, Hey, I've done my research. I'm vaccinated, but, uh, you know, we hope that he's with the team. Kind of don't want to throw that guy into the fucking bus. Cause I'm supposed to play with them, we hope that he's with the team. Kinda don't want to throw that guy under the fucking bus

because I'm supposed to play with him. And in general, like across all three groups, and obviously it's for different reasons, everyone's just like uncomfortable and exhausted and tired of everything. But also with this, you have big former players speaking out on it, people like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, really taking a much stronger stance

than active roster NBA, really going in hard on those who have spread skepticism and misinformation, arguing that their choices and more specifically their decisions to broadcast them go beyond protecting themselves and those around them, but also have a direct impact on public perception and hesitancy. And with that, arguing that the NBA should have

a mask mandate and took aim at Kyrie specifically in an interview last night. He's hiding behind procedure here. Either you understand what's going on and you're gonna do the right thing, or you don't understand what's going on and you're gonna do the right thing, or you don't understand what's going on and you're gonna continue to create all this confusion with your stance. I don't think that they are behaving like good teammates or good citizens.

This is a war that we're involved in and masks and vaccines, they are the weapons that we use to fight this war. But I'm also publishing an article on his sub stack yesterday, further elaborating on how it's really dangerous for people to keep pushing this, I need to do more research narrative, especially this far into the pandemic, and especially in black communities. Writing, athletes and other celebrities

have a public platform to help alleviate this crisis and to save lives. To not take on that responsibility harms the sports and entertainment industries, the community, and the country. Those who claim they need to do more research are simply announcing they have done no research. And while obviously that's not gonna be universal,

that has been something we've seen echoed by other prominent black voices. People like sports reporter Vincent Goodwill, who published an article yesterday titled "'Stop Giving Vocal Minority of Antivax NBA Players "'The Space to be Loud and Wrong'," writing, "'In giving them the platform or giving them what they want.

They have access to the greatest doctors in the world and will consult them for anything from the common cold to its worn up knee, but they have apparently discovered something all the world's greatest scientists have missed. And concluding there, the volume should be turned down on those yelling into the mic, even if minds can't be changed, damage can be mitigated.

But yeah, that is where the story ends for now. And I know that was a lot, but I would love to know your thoughts on really any aspect or all of it. Or whether it be about the specific players or if you think there should be a mandate or not. Also regarding Kareem, do you agree or disagree about his thought

that the I need to do more research stuff is really just saying I'm not doing my research? Yes, no, maybe so, why, why not? I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. And then finally, the last thing that we should talk about today is President Biden and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Mark Mill below. And then finally, the last thing that we should talk about today is President Biden

and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Mark Milley. And that's because today you had Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Head of US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie, testifying before Congress today. Well, there are definitely a number of headlines that'll be coming out of this, some relating to Trump when he was still president.

One of the biggest things was Afghanistan. That's because after the Afghanistan withdrawal last month, you had President Biden having an interview on ABC where he was Afghanistan. That's because after the Afghanistan withdrawal last month, you had President Biden having an interview on ABC where he was asked. So no one told your military advisors to not tell you, no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It's been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that.

No, no one said that to me that I can recall. Or Biden said there clearly, no one said that to me that I can recall. But today during testimony, you had Milley and McKenzie saying that they agreed with recommendations that the US should keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. And while they did dance somewhat around

what they specifically said to Biden, they did make very clear that this was their stance and belief when they advised him. And that is absolutely massive news because one, this is the top military brass directly contradicting the president. And also two, this line of questioning led to Republican Senator Tom Cotton asking,

why did Milley not resign after the withdrawal from Afghanistan? As a senior military officer, resigning is a really serious thing. It's a political act if I'm resigning in protest. My job is to provide advice. My statutory responsibility is to provide legal advice or best military advice to the president. And that's my legal requirement. That's what the law is. The president doesn't have to agree with that advice. He doesn't have to make those decisions just because we're generals. And it would be an incredible act of political defiance

for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken. This country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do or not. That's not our job. The principle of civilian control of the military is absolute. It's critical to this republic. In addition to that, just from a personal standpoint, you know, my dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima. And those kids that are at Abbey Gate, they don't get a choice to resign. And I'm not going to turn my back on them. I'm not going to resign. They can't resign. So I'm not going to resign. There's no way. If the orders are illegal, we're in a different place. But if the orders are legal from civilian authority,

I intend to carry them out. And ultimately, that is where this story and today's show ends. And hey, whether it be this last story or anything else that stood out to you today, let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. As always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.