The Philip DeFranco Show - The Tortured Poets Department Controversy, Creepy Caitlin Clark Scandal, Columbia University Fallout

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Click my CoPilot Fitness link https://go.mycopilot.com/PhilipDeFranco or scan the QR code to get a 14-day FREE with your own personal trainer! ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Reporter Criticized For “Sexist” Remark During Caitlin Clark Press Conference 02:27 - Columbia University President Testifies in House Antisemitism Probe 07:14 - Entertainment News Roundup: Taylor Swift, Sydney Sweeney, Mariska Hargitay  09:44 - Sponsored by CoPilot 11:02 - Hawaii Wildfires Were Stoked By Miscommunication, Blocked Evacuation Routes 15:09 - Amsterdam Bans New Hotels to Slow Tourism 17:48 - Proposed Georgia Law That Led to Lawmaker Being Punched Moves Forward ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino  ———————————— #DeFranco #SydneySweeney #TaylorSwift ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. I hope you had a fantastic Thursday evening, Friday morning. You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show. You daily dive into the news, and there is a lot to talk about today, so let's just jump into it. Starting with... A lot of people are arguing right now whether this Caitlin Clark situation that just went down is sexual harassment, misogyny, creepy behavior, or just someone being awkward. Right, because yesterday she did an introductory press conference after being drafted by the Indiana Fever and the WNBA as number one pick overall. And there, indie star reporter Greg Doyle decided to give her a heart sign. Which for some context there, Caitlyn's become known to give heart signs to her family during games. But at the press conference,

it led to this very, very uncomfortable moment. Real quick, let me do this. You like, you like that? I like that you're here. I like that you're here. I do that at my family after every game, so it's pretty cool. Start doing it to me and we'll get along just fine. And the backlash from this was fast, with the likes of Dave Portnoy calling him a sexist pervert and adding that his actions were nauseating, some calling it sexual harassment or straight-up misogyny,

with Jemele Hill writing obviously something that never would have been said to a male athlete. I said this some time ago, but another upside of Caitlyn Clark's popularity is that it's going to finally force the sports media to grow up. Sports media has been extremely complicit in marginalizing and infantilizing women's sports. And this, as others in the sports media space added, this is disgusting and unethical and not something that Caitlyn should have to worry about. This Indy Star reporter should not cover another Indiana Fever or women's sports event again. And others just saying women's sports are going to go nuclear when the average man stops looking at players as sex symbols

and starts looking at them as athletes. Until then, this shit. And with all that said, for his part, Greg Doyle has issued a couple of apologies. First, on Twitter, saying that he was sorry that his gesture was clumsy and awkward, even though it was well-intentioned. He also wrote a column addressing the situation where he said, I'm devastated to realize I'm part of the problem. And adding, what happened was the most me thing ever in one way.

I'm sort of known locally, Cy, for having awkward conversations with people before asking brashly conversational questions. Listing off all the various players and coaches he's done this to before and adding, notice something about all those names? They're all men. I was just doing what I do, talking to another athlete, another person, and didn't see the line. Didn't even know there was a line in the vicinity until I crossed it. Caitlin Clark, I'm so sorry. Though that apology has just

not been well received, with a lot of people thinking that he missed the point entirely by focusing on the, this is just the awkward dude I am, haha element. With all of this playing out in the court of public opinion, I got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Do you think with what Doyle did, that this is harassment, that he is sexist, or are you of the mindset of, you know, this is just an awkward guy, like he's saying. You know, what are you thinking and why? And then there's been a lot of talk and news around the latest university leader

to testify before Congress about antisemitism. And that in particular was Columbia president Manoush Shafiq. And one of the most notable things from this hearing was how it differed from the one that took place four months ago, when Harvard's Claudine Gay and UPenn's Elizabeth McGill spoke before the same committee, with reporters describing their responses as terse and lawyerly.

And of course, the most controversial moments being when both struggled to answer whether students should be punished if they called for the genocide of Jews. With notably, those testimonies kicking off a chain of events that led to both stepping down from their positions. And as the New York Times put it, Shafiq was not about to make the same mistake, describing her testimony as an all-out effort to persuade the committee that she was taking serious action to combat anti-Semitism on campus. Shafiq, for example, reportedly spent many hours preparing, and afterwards, one Republican lawmaker apparently congratulated her on saying the right things. And so with all that, it's no surprise that she and her colleagues were prepared for the question that tripped up Gay and McGill. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Columbia's code of conduct, Mr. Greenwald? Yes, it does.

Ms. Shipman? Yes, it does. Dr. Sh. Greenwald. Yes, it does. Ms. Shipman. Yes, it does. Dr. Shafiq. Yes, it does. And Professor Schisser. Yes, it does. But also beyond that, a lot of the discussions centered around how the university would deal with perceived antisemitism from faculty members, with Shafiq notably disclosing disciplinary

details that are usually confidential. For example, she revealed that five faculty members had actually been removed from the classroom or dismissed in recent months for comments stemming from the war. Noting in particular, Muhammad Abdu, a visiting professor who came under fire for showing support for Hamas on social media, quote, will never teach at Columbia again.

They're also revealing that the university was investigating Joseph Massad, a professor who used words like awesome to describe Hamas's October 7th attack that Israel says killed 1200 people. And under pressure from Elise Stefanik, Shafiq said she would commit to removing Massad from a leadership position. With that, Mossad claims that the House committee had mischaracterized his article, that he was unaware of any investigation

targeting him, and that he was already scheduled to leave the leadership position anyway. Though all of this playing out is why you have people saying things like, well, Mossad may have said things that are abhorrent. That it's also worth noting that among the people questioning Shafiq was Republican Tim Walberg. You know, the same guy who recently suggested treating Gaza like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And this is people say, you know, all this talk about punishing professors for things they say, that that's worrying for supporters of academic freedom. For example, retired Columbia professor Sheldon Pollack telling the New York Times that the comments about specific professors were deeply worrying.

That he thinks Shafiq was bullied by these people into saying things she regrets. And Irene Mulvey, the president of the American Association of University Professors, telling The Times, We are witnessing a new era of McCarthyism where a House committee is using college presidents and professors for political theater, and arguing that this will ultimately damage higher education and the robust exchanges of ideas it is founded upon. And notably here, Democrat Bobby Scott of Virginia, while strongly condemning anti-Semitism, also suggested that this was political, noting, for one, that anti-Semitism on college campuses is not new. With him actually

playing video clips of the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally, which wound through the University of Virginia, and Scott emphasizing that, quote, we have witnessed a disturbing rise in incidents not only of anti-Semitism, but also in racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and other forms of hate. And so with that, he suggested that the committee should be investigating all of them. You also had Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, one of the only two Muslim women in Congress specifically questioning Shafiq on whether sufficient action was being taken

to help students who face anti-Arab or Islamophobic hate, referencing instances where pro-Palestinian activists were doxxed, as well as the case of the business school assistant professor who had equated Palestine supporters to terrorists and had been accused of harassing students. And then, in one of the weirdest parts of the whole hearing, Republican Rick Allen seemingly quizzed Shafiq

about her knowledge of the Bible. Are you familiar with Genesis 12, three? Probably not as well as you are, Congressman. Well, it's pretty clear. It was the covenant that God made with Abraham. If you bless Israel, I will bless you. If you bless Israel, I will bless you. If you curse Israel, I will curse you. Do you consider that a serious issue?

I mean, do you want Columbia University to be cursed by God? And notably there, Congresswoman Johanna Hayes responded to this by saying that the injection of biblical theology into the hearing was inappropriate. You know, all of this kind of just showing us how many different directions people were coming from at this issue, right? And also how you have people disagreeing

at such a fundamental level. For example, there's so much disagreement on just how to define antisemitism. And in the hearing, for instance, lawmakers raised the issue of the phrase from the river to the sea, which notably some people believe calls for the elimination of the state of Israel,

while others say it's just an aspirational call for Palestinian freedom, which Shafiq at one point basically acknowledges and saying it's a difficult issue because some people hear it as antisemitic, other people do not. And with that, the argument is that whatever someone's intentions may be,

the result can be to make Jewish students feel unsafe. You know that, I mean, it brings us to this whole other debate about how much we should distinguish between feeling unsafe and being unsafe, right, with people asking, well, where do you draw the line? And also, notably, all of this playing out as pro-Palestinian Columbia students

are now continuing to protest for a second day in response to Shafiq's testimony, with some reportedly being threatened with suspension. But with everything that we've seen and as everything is playing out, I gotta ask you, what are your thoughts here? And then we've got some bits and pieces of quick entertainment news,

with there being a lot of focus on Taylor Swift right now with her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, coming out at midnight Eastern time. Though this, as leaks reportedly have already spread like wildfire online, sparking tons and tons of discourse. Some fans diving right in, others fighting back, arguing it's disrespectful to listen to the leaks, trying to bury them online. There are also some reports that Twitter itself has blocked searches for Taylor Swift leak. So if you put that in, you actually get an error. All of this playing out as you have fans wondering if the leaks are even real or if they're just AI.

Because in the past, there've been no shortage of AI songs being pushed out there. The people are like, oh, it's from the album. Turns out it's not. So in general, you have a lot of people just not trusting anything they hear or see. But then also with this, you have people focusing on the business side, right? Wondering if these leaks are going to impact her numbers. Though there, you know, her albums have actually leaked before and that hasn't really stopped her from dominating the charts. Especially, you know, because she has a pretty strong record for pre-orders on vinyls and CDs.

Meanwhile, you also had Sidney Sweeney in the news because a producer called her untalented and ugly. Yes, the same Sidney Sweeney that seemingly everyone I know thirsts over and who got nominated for two Emmys in the same year. But yeah, producer Carol Baum, who's behind movies like Father of the Bride and also teaches a college-level producing class, is apparently not impressed. Because according to the Daily Mail, while she was speaking to a critic during a screening event, she said, There's an actress who everybody loves now, Sidney Sweeney.

I don't get Sidney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane, Sidney Sweeney's movie, Anyone But You. I watched this unwatchable movie. Sorry to people who love this. I said to my class, explain this girl to me. She's not pretty. She can't act. Why is she so hot?

Nobody had an answer. But then a ton of people sounding off online, and this actually got so big, it prompted reps for Sidney Sweeney to speak out, telling Variety, how sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman. If that's what she's learned in her decades in the industry

and feels is appropriate to teach her students, that's shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Miss Baum's character. You also had other people who had worked with Sydney coming to her defense, saying she's very talented and professional. And all of that bringing us to Carol now telling TMZ

that she regrets making her original comments. But then finally, for entertainment news, it's kind of just a little wholesome thing. You know, this little girl recently that got separated from her mom at a park in New York City. You know, what do you do when you're a kid and gets lost? You try to find some help, some adult that you think looks trustworthy.

And so this little girl, she sees a cop with a badge, she explains the situation, but not a real cop. It was actually Mariska Hargaday filming Law & Order SVU. And she was in costume, badge, and all. And so this little girl thought she was actually a cop. But the fact that she wasn't a cop didn't stop her from actually helping this child in distress. With her reportedly stopping production of the show for 20 minutes to help this girl find her mom and to console both of them.

And in fact, she was able to successfully reunite the two. And then to start this, I do want to say I appreciate the love I've been getting in the comments about how healthy and happy I've looked over the past year. And for those who have watched me for a while, you know, this is kind of a long journey. Well, it's involved numerous life changes spawned from me having health issues. You know, it all starts with small changes. You know, my life's busy, but also that's not unique. Everyone's lives are busy, which is why anything that I can work in seamlessly captures my attention. And that includes working out

with a fantastic sponsor of the PDS, Copilot Fitness. Because you know, with Copilot Fitness, I don't need to think about my workout. It's already planned for me. They mix it up so it's not monotonous. And it really is for everyone. You prefer the gym, home workouts, you travel a lot. Copilot Fitness has you covered.

In fact, they're ranked highest out of the best personal trainer apps of 2023 by Forbes, which makes sense. You have your own personal trainer at your disposal. My trainers tweak my workouts throughout my journey to match up with whichever new goal I've set for myself. Like pretty much all this year, I've been focusing on flexibility and core. With summer coming up, I really want to focus on arms, chest, and back. Superficially, I'm just tired of my wife only complimenting me on my calves. You know, the big thing here is that small changes that you make today can enhance your life in ways that you never thought possible. And the first step's easy. You

start with an onboarding call, you connect with your trainer, and then they make customized workouts tailored to your needs. And between the app and your trainer, Copilot Fitness sets you up for success. And it has absolutely helped me. So if you want to join me on a fitness journey of your own, click my Copilot link or scan the QR code to get 14 days free with your own personal trainer. And then when we talk about wildfires in the United States, you know, you sometimes think of like, okay, people are having to evacuate. There's going to be a lot of property damage. But if I were to ask you how many people die every year because of wildfires, what would you say? And I ask not only because of the numbers we have now, but what we think the numbers will be. Because as our earth's climate warms over the

coming decades, there are very few things more deadly and more terrifying than wildfire. With often the worst thing not being really the fire itself, but rather the smoke. Because inhaling any amount of that stuff, it's bad for your health in pretty much every way. And while it usually doesn't kill you directly, it does worsen a whole host of other issues that do kill you. Which is why in the days and weeks after smoke exposure, we see things like cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems, kidney disease, and mental health issues all rising. And that's in addition to just general mortality in areas smothered by wildfire smoke. And despite the difficulty in counting all those deaths, we now have more research offering some estimates. Starting with a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research that found that wildfire smoke currently

contributes to nearly 16,000 deaths each year. And that number could rise to nearly 30,000 a year by the middle of the century. Though according to researchers at Yale, we're already there. With their analysis finding that there could be as much as 30,000 yearly deaths from wildfire smoke right now. And of course, because there's a price tag on everything, we gotta look at the staggering financial costs as well. With our first study projecting that by 2050,

deaths from wildfire smoke could cost $240 billion a year, which is notably more than previous estimates of all climate-related damages combined, including direct costs related to wildfire. But none of this is inevitable, not only because we can still try and combat climate change, but also because to a certain degree, we can adapt and prepare for the effects that we fail to prevent. And the key to that is studying how we responded to past wildfires, which actually brings us to this new report from the Western Fire Chiefs Association of the Maui Wildfires, because it details numerous

failures by multiple actors to prepare for and respond to the crisis. Starting with the Maui County Fire Department, right? Because in the days before their disaster, the National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning about the likelihood of high winds that could stoke flames. But the department actually did little to get crews set up in the areas at risk and then struggled to launch firefighting vehicles once the flames reached Lahaina. But some of the crews called up for duty, reporting that there had been delays of up to an hour

as workers struggled to gather equipment for their vehicles. Also notably, staff used WhatsApp for situational awareness updates, but not everyone in the department had the app. And then the report directs some of the blame toward elected officials, and in particular, Mayor Richard Bisson, with the chief of the Maui Emergency Management Agency recalling that when he asked whether Maui County should issue an emergency proclamation the morning before the fires, which notably is something that Hawaii County had already done, the mayor reportedly said no, believing it wasn't necessary. And the agency chief himself declining help from the National Guard, according to a text message, with him then days later resigning amid

questions about why his agency didn't sound emergency sirens. Plus, I mean, cell phone alerts didn't go out until over 45 minutes after evacuations began. And even then, some people reported not getting them. Right. And so in response to all this and much more, Bisson defended himself on the news. So you've always been picky about your produce. But now you find yourself checking every label to make sure it's Canadian. So be it. At Sobeys, we always pick guaranteed fresh Canadian produce first.

Restrictions apply. See in-store or online for details. I don't think we delayed in requesting any assistance at all. We had about 29 firefighters up in Kula fighting that fire. And I constantly checked with the fire department if we were in need of more. The police were the ones who asked for the National Guard to come out with the checkpoints. And we immediately accepted that help. We had helicopters here on Maui on the ground. They just couldn't get in

the air because of the winds. The report made more than 100 recommendations for improvements in training, technology, equipment, and other areas, which who knows, might have prevented some of the 100 lives lost, the hundreds of buildings burned, and billions of dollars in damage. Though this is not to say that many of the first responders who leapt headfirst into this disaster did not do their best. With a report describing firefighters doing 36-hour shifts using their own vehicles, carrying victims on their backs, I mean, heroic shit. And in many ways, they were set up for failure. They were under-equipped for what hit them. And that was detailed in another report from the Hawaii Attorney General's office yesterday, which I can't go through at all. It's an exhaustive, nearly 400-page, minute-by-minute

analysis. But in short, it details just how insanely fast the blaze spread and overwhelmed fire crews. They had to fight through blistering winds and black smoke, blocked roads and dangling power lines, broken fire hydrants and trapped vehicles. But notably, that report is only phase one of an even bigger, more comprehensive report. Phase two, which is expected to come out this summer or fall,

that'll analyze what was done right and wrong. And then actually the final one, phase three, will come out by the end of the year and outline best practices for the future. And then Amsterdam's kind of tired of y'all's bullshit. And by y'all, I mean tourists. Because while they're not flat out banning tourism, they have decided to ban new hotels in order to combat mass tourism. Because they absolutely do want tourists, but they want to do it in a way where the people that actually live there, it's good for them as well. And in a statement, they said, we want to make and keep the city livable for residents and visitors. This

means no over-tourism, no new hotels, and no more than 20 million hotel overnight stays by tourists per year. The only exception being that they would allow a hotel to be built if an older one's closing and the number of available beds goes down across the city. You know, on the surface, it might seem crazy to want to limit the number of tourists in a city where it's a massive industry. But for the 800,000 residents there, the 20 million people coming through every year, it's just too much. Right? And notably, this is just the latest move by the city to try and slow down visitors, who are often going there for its open red light district and lax regulations around drugs.

And so with that, we saw them last year banning cannabis consumption in the red light district, meaning two of its most infamous activities had to be enjoyed separately. It's also, I should add, just the latest city to try and curb tourism. We're actually seeing it in a lot of places. In Europe, Venice started to limit how big tourist groups could be to just 25 people, which is about half the size of a tourist bus. It also banned loudspeakers, saying they can generate confusion and disturbances. And all of that's on top of a small €5 fee to even enter the city for a day during peak

tourist season. Though I'll also say, and this is not meant to be like a reaction to or a slap against Venice, if you only have a little time in Italy, you can skip Venice. And if you're going to go, just go for a day. Maybe it's changed, but it is overpriced for what it is. Though on the note of monies and fees, you know, fees in general are a common approach. With places like Japan, for example, doing something similar to anyone who wants to climb Mount Fuji. That'll cost you about $13 now. Although there, at least officially, that one's not meant to discourage or limit tourism, but rather to help offset the cost of maintaining the trails that are used to get up it.

But you also have some places like the city of Kyoto that have banned travelers from visiting the Geisha district, which is one of its most historic, with officials citing bad behavior in the area by tourists after locals complained that their neighborhood was not a theme park. And it's not just overseas. Like, even here in America, you see locals getting mad about their town being treated like a theme park. With, for example, this one tiny Vermont town known for its trees during fall, banning all tourists during the season and closing its roads. And there, they're trying to protect Sleepy Hollow Farm, which is a private property

and can only accommodate a moderate number of visitors. But there, videos by content creators have made this place actually too popular. So you end up seeing things like people trespassing despite there being signs telling them not to. You know, post-pandemic, you have to imagine that a lot of these places, like, they know whether they want people there or not. Because during the pandemic, tourism essentially died for a bit. So it forced locals to see what would life be without it. And while a lot of businesses struggled and it was rough for a lot of people, you also saw some others thriving.

And so now post-pandemic, you have locals kind of going, oh, is the monetary boost tourism's giving them worth the disruption to their daily lives? With the answer many places are finding saying, yes, we want tourism, but let's cap it. But it'll be interesting to see if that trend continues and what comes from it. And then, if you didn't see, a Georgia lawmaker got punched in the face this week. But it wasn't Marjorie Taylor Greene or really anyone from the state of Georgia, because we're talking about the country of Georgia. And specifically, the controversy going on there surrounding a proposed so-called foreign agent law. A controversy which led to this moment during a session of Georgian parliament yesterday.

You know, which then led to a massive scuffle as others tried to break up the fight. And so this law is being proposed by the majority Georgian dream party. And what it would do is require media and non-commercial organizations to register as pursuing the interests of a foreign power if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. And the reason this has been so widely criticized is because it's eerily similar to a law that already exists in Russia, a law that critics say has been used to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the government. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch, since the adoption of the first foreign agent law in Russia, hundreds of civic groups and activists have been designated as foreign agents, with many of them having to close

down to avoid what they've called the toxic label. And then also others having to do so because they simply couldn't afford to comply with the law's labeling and reporting requirements. And all of this, as has been reported by the Columbia Journalism Review, as these types of foreign agent laws are cropping up all over the place, with China, Uganda, and even Australia being among the countries that have implemented some version of a foreign agent designation. But Georgia is understandably a bit more sensitive to Russian influence. In a way, before Russia invaded Ukraine, it invaded Georgia, where it still occupies territory today, with many having argued that the weak international response to that invasion was a green light for Putin to just sort of do whatever the hell he wants. And that's why,

despite having a government that is often seen as being friendly to Putin, just 2% of the Georgian population says they're pro-Russian, with nearly 80% saying they support European integration. And in fact, one of the main reasons many Georgians are opposed to this law is that it could make it harder for the country to join the EU. And to that point, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell has said, the law is not in line with EU core norms and values and that if implemented, it would negatively impact Georgia's progress on its EU path.

And so with all that, many Jordans are doing everything they can to keep that from happening. And notably, they have succeeded in the past. Because see, this is actually the second time there's been an attempt to pass this foreign agent law in Georgia, with mass protests forcing the government

to take it off the table the last time that it came up. And so now we're seeing the same thing, with thousands protesting in the street every night this week. And this is reportedly they are facing a brutal police response. And this also, as supporters of the law in Parliament, seem even more determined this time to force the law through. And in fact, despite the backlash in Georgia and in the EU, they've just passed the law in its first reading. And there's really nothing stopping them from seeing it all the way through. Even though Georgia's president, which is largely a ceremonial role anyways, has said that she would veto the law in its first reading. And there's really nothing stopping them from seeing it all the way through. Even though Georgia's president, which is largely a ceremonial role anyways, has said that she would veto the law if it passed parliament,

her term ends this year. And the Georgian Dream Party now actually has enough votes to override the veto anyway. And on top of that, they've successfully changed the Constitution and passed other laws to boost their chances in the upcoming election. So really, it's these protests that are the only potential obstacle now. But for now, all of this is still playing out. We have our eyes on it, and we're going to have to wait to see what happens. But that is where today's dive into the news is going to end. Thank you for being a part of these daily dives into the news, and I'll see you soon, because remember, my name's

Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday. You on my mind a lot. Don't need no time to watch. I don't know how I got. You in my pocket spot. Yeah, that's bae. Miss you every day. You like my oxygen.