January 9, 2025 • 36 mins
Joe Escalante's weekly dive into Hollywood's backside (business end of showbiz). This week: a look at the Golden Globes and the politics of award shows. Joe explains the reasons why no one wanted to see an anti-Trump movie (there are millions). Also, the latest from the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni issues... it's a mess. At least the movie is finished filming, but damn...
And... are eco-friendly touring practices taking over the music industry? Joe complains about musicians like Billie Eillish and Coldplay planting trees and trying to save the environment, while riding private jets.
And... are eco-friendly touring practices taking over the music industry? Joe complains about musicians like Billie Eillish and Coldplay planting trees and trying to save the environment, while riding private jets.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Joe Escalante Live from Hollywood. If by Hollywood you mean Burbank.
We are two hours of the business end of show business.
You know that we're a podcast episode this week because
we've been preempted by the NFL, hopefully for the last time.
The NFL season winding down, and we're gonna talk about
the awards, the Golden Globes coming up, the BAFTAs, and
(00:32):
you know, some movie stuff and some TikTok and I
think last week I said I was going to talk
about the Blake Lively Baldini lawsuit that is just consuming
Hollywood right now, and I didn't. But it doesn't matter
because there's new stuff this week and we will get
to that. But first, let's talk about some uncomfortable truths.
(01:01):
Not that uncomfortable, but if it involves Donald Trump, people
get weird, all right. In recent years. This is according
to a story in The Hollywood Reporter by what was
this guy's name, Stephen Zeitchick. It's an unfortunate name. It's
(01:31):
one of those names that you'd have to change if
you're running for office. Steve Zeitchik, this is what he
says at the Hollywood Reporter. He says that in I mean,
he thinks that in recent years, the vocal criticism by
Hollywood of Donald Trump has been notably diminished. Now, I
don't know if that's true or if it's just sour
(01:53):
grapes on the election and they thought that Hollywood could
do more. But he says that during his presidency, knew
sumerous celebrities openly opposed his you know, policies and his rhetoric. However,
as the twenty twenty four election started to approach, this
once fervent opposition largely quieted. He contributes several factors to
(02:18):
this shift. Firstly, he says, the entertainment industry is, you know,
has these internal challenges. The writer strikes and you know,
they have to focus inward to get the me too
movement and all that stuff. So they didn't have time
to make fun of Donald Trump or oppose Donald Trump.
And some industry insiders also suggest that the initial surge
(02:43):
of the anti Trump sentiment may it led to some
fatigue among celebrities and audiences, resulting in a strategic retreat
from overt political commentary. People are just tired of it.
This change affects a broader trend and Hollywood reassessing its
role in the political discourse. This guy says, aiming to
(03:06):
balance activism with audience engagement. Now's the political landscape and evolves.
He says it remains to be seen whether Hollywood will
re engage with more assertively in the future elections or
continue to adopt a more subdued stance. And we've talked,
we've been talking about this a little bit, how Hollywood
(03:28):
is just kind of well, they're over the woke. So
the woke. He didn't mention any of that stuff, like
woke is dead stuff, But he does mention the movie
The Apprentice, and he says, something's been happening to The Apprentice.
That's a movie about Donald Trump in his earlier years.
And he says that despite the acute timeliness and eighty
(03:49):
three percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's been willed
away by the industry. Most distribution execs wouldn't touch it,
and actors won't talk about it. And whether entertainer's fear
of validating Trump's relevance or worry about repercussions for a
seeming critical of his power, they've sidestepped the subject. So
(04:10):
there's been a lot of griping about this movie. Trump
called The Apprentice, and that it got no awards, got
no distribution. Actually did get awards, Golden Globes nominated some
people in it, but it was a fail, and you know,
they're just they're just like, how could we We had
(04:33):
this movie come out at just the right time and
it failed. And I think the answer to that is
most people where you like Trump or hate Trump, By
the time it came out, it kind of it looked
to a lot of people like Trump was gonna win,
(04:54):
you know, and I don't think they wanted to talk
about it. And to me, it's like, this is low
hanging fruit. Someone says, let's make a movie about Donald
Trump and how much we hate him. That's like writing
(05:14):
a punk song telling your audience that you don't like
Ronald Reagan, you know in the nineteen eighties, just like yawn.
So they spend all their money another time making this
movie about how much they hate Donald Trump, make them
look bad, and then release it right before the election hopefully.
(05:37):
I mean, is that an election interference? Yeah, you know,
it's just people expressing their rights of free speech. But
and then they were mad that it didn't do anything.
I think it didn't do anything because people are I
mean right now, they're tired of it. And they're also
(05:59):
living in a world. By the time this movie came out,
I mean, you're living in a world, in a world
with wars everywhere, at rampant crime and the immigration, you know, problems,
and people were just starting to go it's all bad now,
So why don't we fix it instead of making movies
and watching movies about this guy that used to be president. So,
(06:25):
you know, Hollywood's basically just grappling with the election of
Donald Trump because they most of them didn't like him,
and now he's going to be president, and so what
do they do? And this guy's just saying, well, first
everybody should have embraced this movie, and then you should
just get off your asses and hate Donald Trump. But
(06:50):
I think most actors and he cites, like you know,
Joe Rogan and certain people that are you know, they
just said, I think it's okay too not hate this guy.
I don't know, Okay, I'm done talking about this. Tired
(07:11):
of it. I'm tired of it. I tell you, Let's
get to something more fun. How about the Golden Globes.
I think the Golden Globes are fun because it's a
train wreck, a poop show, whatever you want to call it.
Celebrities getting drunk. They don't really care it's corrupt. You
can buy an award the I mean that's my perception
(07:33):
of it. I don't know if any of that's true.
If they're drunk, I don't know. Can you buy any work?
I don't know. Pia Zadora got one. Look google her,
Pia Zadora and the Golden Globes. So I just think
it's funny. It's a funny award show because it just
seems so it seems corrupt. This year they got a
(07:55):
Nikki Glazer. This is the Awards where Ricky Gervais went
off on all the executives. Now Nicki Glazer, who went
off on the roast of Tom Brady, and I think
that's why they hired her for this. She's going to
host It's the eighty second glo Global War that started
like the nineteen forties. It's going to be on Tonight
and Sunday, January fifth. But she's indicated her performance will
(08:20):
steer clear of controversial politics. She did an interview with
Yahoo Entertainment, and she said she intends to avoid jokes
about figures like Donald Trump and sensitive issues like the
Blake Lively Justin Baldini scandal and aiming not to offend
the Attendees's interesting approach contrasts with the previous you know,
(08:41):
Ricky Gervay's thing and other people who are known for
as sharp critics of political figures and their biting humor.
And it's not just politics. They were like Ricky Gervais
was making fun of the Hollywood executives or were in
the room in Gnarley. And there's another So there's not
going to be that to watch, according to Nicki Glay,
And there's some tension at the Golden Globe because now
(09:04):
this is complicated, so bear with me on this one.
There are new owners of the ceremony that's called Eldridge
Industries and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is the
organization that's established it over eighty years ago. Now there's
now a new method of ownership of this thing. And
(09:30):
reports indicate that the majority of the Hollywood Foreign Press
Associate members have not been invited to Sunday's event at
the Beverly Hilton. That's where most of the celebrities like
Angelina Jolie, Timothy chalameat Demi Moore and Zendaiah in Obe partying. Instead,
approximately fifty members received last minute invitations to a separate
(09:53):
viewing party within the hotel, where they will watch the
ceremony remotely. That's not bad. That Beverly Hilton is kind
of fun. You're going to be in a in one
ballroom instead of the one where all the stars are in.
But after things over, they're all going to be mingling around.
I don't think that's that bad. But this development follows
the Eldridge Industry's acquisition of the Golden Globes two years ago,
(10:16):
during which the company divided the operation into a for
profit awards ceremony and the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
As part of the agreement, sixty six legacy members of
the Association were promised annual salaries, health insurance, lifetime voting rights,
and other benefits. However, the recent exclusion from the main
(10:37):
event has led to feelings of estrangement among the association members,
and some expressing frustration over their perceived sidelining from the
ceremony that they helped establish and their being pushed out.
So these are the legacy guys, but I think they
have like new people and new voters. And they got
in trouble a while ago because's no black members. I
(10:59):
don't know if you remember that. Then they lost their
TV deal. They got it back. Is it relevant the
our Awards shows relevant? That's like the question. But I
believe they are because everyone will watch the Golden Globes.
They'll think of they'll see a bunch of movies nominated
and talked about, and then that will influence the Oscars,
(11:19):
which have not been There's no nominations there yet. You know,
we keep talking about these Golden Globes and we haven't
even talked about who's been nominated. Let me give you
a quick list of things nominated so you know what
to go see and what could be a precursor to
the Oscars, etc. Best Most Picture The Brutalist from A
twenty four, A Complete Unknown from Searchlight Pictures, Conclave from
(11:42):
Focused Pictures, Dune Part two from Warner Brothers, Nickel Boys
from Amazon, and a movie called September five Paramount Pictures.
Now they have the Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,
and this is weird. They put Anora in that as
(12:02):
not a musical or a comedy, but whatever, it's Going
Globes is Kinky Challengers Amelia Perez a Real Pain from
Searchlight Pictures. I've never heard of that. The substance I
saw that. It's gross. It's interesting though Wicked saw it.
(12:23):
I was at a table out to dinner last night
with six people, two three couples. It was the only
one at the table, actually my wife and all the
waiters too. The only guy in the room that saw Wicked,
the only gay in the village. A lot of people
(12:44):
are resist in that movie. I saw that. Three people
walked out. I told you that, but you know I'm
the only one. Okay, Animated pictures, what do you got
in there? Anything worth looking at? Moana two, Memoir of
a snail wild Robot. That's gonna win. If it doesn't win,
it's an outrage. Oh. By the way, you know that
(13:05):
movie Kneecap where we have the guys on this show
from Kneecap, the two stars and the director. They are
nominated for Best Picture for a bathtom So who So
animated Wallace and Grommett. Next Non English speaking movies, Who Cares?
(13:28):
Actresses Pam Anderson for The Last Show Girl, Angelina, Joe Lee,
Nicole Kidman, for Baby Girl, Tilda Swinton for the Room
next Door, and Kate Winslet for Lee. I'm skipping some
things that we've not talked about at all. Adrian Brody
Best Actor for The Brutalist, Timothy Shallamay Complete Unknown, he
(13:49):
should win, Daniel Craig for a movie called Queer, Coleman
Domingo for a movie called Sing Sing, Ralph Fines Fines
for Conclave, and Sebastian Stand for the Apprentice. See that. Yeah,
they didn't ignore the Apprentice. Everybody else did. Female actor
(14:09):
in a music coal ort comedy. Eighty Adams for Night Bitch,
Ammy Adams, Cynthia Arrivo for Wicked, Carlo Sophia gascon a
transgender for Amelia Perez, and Mikey Madison for a Nora.
That's great. She did a great job. I hope she
does well. I'd like to see her win it. Demi
(14:31):
Moore in the Substance will probably win this. Probably, I'm
gonna I'm gonna call it out right now, Demi Moore,
Male and the music. Anything interesting in here, No, nothing's
interesting in this category. But the BAFT is the British
(14:54):
Academy of Film and Television Arts. They're rolling out their nominations,
and they have an initial long list highlighting several standout
films like Amelia Perez, a Spanish language musical that's got
fifteen nominations, and then a historic nod for Carla Sophia Gascon,
(15:16):
who could become the first transgender actress shortlisted for a
baft To Film Award. Conclave featuring a Raife fines Is
as a cardinal. I don't know, it's probably heretical. Got
fourteen nominations, that means it's anti Catholic. I would say
(15:38):
Angelina Jolie's portrayal of the opera singer Maria Collins, she
got snubbed. So these are the stuff who got snubbed.
Who's getting nominated. Ridley Scott's Gladiator two, which we talked
about on the show, received limited recognition, securing only a
supporting actor for Denzel Washington. That's weird because I thought
he was the most unconvincing character in the whole thing,
(16:04):
just falls in and out of his accents, just like
but he's like, you know, an awesome icon, So I
guess he's like there, and the movie is like spectacularly
shot and stuff, so I guess he's I don't know,
uh the ceremony. That ceremony will be in February, February sixteenth,
and I think the Oscars go to March, so we'll
(16:25):
see what happens. Speaking of movies, let's go to the
box office. The box office number one is Mufasa the
Lion King derivative with you know, digital animals that look real.
These movies are like if it's anything like mo Wana two,
it's like, which is number four this week? By the way,
it's like, this is spectacular, this is amazing, This animation
(16:49):
is overwhelming. It's so good. But who cares because the
story is kind of just you know, man, And that's
the same way I felt about Gladiator. Too spectacular. But
then the story in the writing was like Sonic the
Hedgehog is number two, Nosferatu is number three, oh, number four,
(17:16):
so it's Mufasa, Sonic, nos Feratu, Moana, then Wicked hanging
in there and a complete unknown I saw that. Did
we talk about that? We talked about it last week.
It's it's it's you see it just for Timothy Challoman,
He's tremendous. Number seven, baby girl, I haven't seen it,
so I think Nicole kidman having an affair with a
(17:39):
young office boy or something like that. Ooh, number eight, Gladiator,
number nine, Homestead. That's bout enough of that. What isn't
in the top ten is a Nora. A Nora is
going to be nominated for I think Best Picture, and
I think the Baftis were all over it already now,
(18:05):
So enra I saw it. It's from Sean Baker. Sean
Baker is one of the greatest American movie makers that
is alive today. He made the film Florida Project. If
you haven't seen Florida Project, you need to see it.
Florida Project is the name of disney World when it
(18:26):
was a secret, that was the code name for Disney World.
And this is a story about Florida Project is a
story about a just a dilapidated motel where people live,
you know, hotel people that live in hotels because they
have nowhere to go. And William Dafoe is the hotel manager.
(18:49):
And there's a girl, she's kind of a hooker and
she lives with her daughter in one of the rooms
and just shows her struggles. Pretty amazing, amazing characters, amazing actors.
So Shaan Baker's new film Nora is about another interesting concept,
interesting subject for a movie. Russian strippers slash prostitutes in
(19:14):
New York and this one of them named and Nora
or Annie. She gets a really good customer who is
the son of a Russian oligarch, and he, you know,
starts paying her to be like a permanent girlfriend. And
then pretty soon he says he wants to marry her,
and she doesn't believe it, but she ends up saying,
(19:37):
all right, if you're serious, you know, don't screw with me.
And he says, no, I love you. We're getting married,
and they get married, but he's a son of a
Russian oligarch, so the marriage cannot be. That's I don't
think that's giving away too much. I won't tell you
everything that happens, but I would. It's very it's morally offensive.
(19:57):
There's many strippers scenes sex, and a lot of really
nasty songs. I didn't know that strippers. I didn't know
there were so many nasty, like rap songs that there's like,
you know a lot of rap songs that are sung
by girls and they're nasty and they strippers stripped to them,
(20:19):
and yeah, it's pretty bad, you know, can't bring kids
to this thing. But if you're looking to see what
is going to be one of the big movies of
the year, go see Anora. It's not really in very
many cities right now. You can only see it in
like Rolling Hills, I think, down in the South Bay
near Palace Verdes. But you can buy it for twenty
(20:40):
dollars on Amazon and YouTube, and two people are going
to the movies. That would be a savings. So I
think that's that's what I did. I didn't want to
go to Rolling Hills. It wasn't playing in the theater
by me, so I just I bespotted. I usually go
(21:02):
into the theaters, but this time, I does, you know,
I'm gonna buy this thing. And she and my wife
and I sat down and you know, the popcorn and
the Samsung frame and just just had a great time.
But it was quite offensive. I try to separate myself
from the offensive nature and the craft of filmmaking. And
(21:23):
then I go to confession. I just tell the priest, look,
I watched a terrible movie. There's no redeeming value, and
I'm really sorry, but that's the way it is. That's
the world of Jewish Glante, all right. Let's move on. No,
Justin Baldeen Baldoni. Okay, here's the state of Justin Baldoni.
(21:47):
He fouled. Justin Baldoni is an actor and director of
the movie It Ends with Us, and it's about domestic violence.
I think, and I'm not seeing it. I saw the
trailer and I go, no, I'm not going to do it.
And Blake Lively is the star. And they've been suing
each other. The publicists are suing each other. Everybody's suing everybody.
(22:11):
Here's the latest. Actor director Justin Baldini filed a two
hundred and fifty million dollar lawsuit against The New York
Times a legend that the newspaper published a defamatory article
accusing him of orchestrating a smear campaign against actress Blake Lively.
The suit was filed in La Superior Court and claims
(22:32):
that The Times relied on Lively's unverified narrative using selectively
edited communications that misrepresent the situation. Basically, that means that
The New York Times read the complaint and then just
made a big story instead, as if this is the story,
(22:54):
and a complaint is filled with a lot of stuff
that is you know, they're going to try to prove
in court, and you're trying to say, you know, pretend
that the other people harmed you. You know, you're exaggerating
everything because you're hoping you'll get some of it. So
the New York Times, Baldini is saying, Baldoni is saying,
(23:16):
you took that thing, that fantasy that we are going
to that we haven't had a chance to rebut and
you made a New York Times article about now everyone
thinks I'm a loser. So he just filed a two
hundred and fifty million dollars lawsuit. So you can't do that.
The New York Times says they stand by the reporting,
saying that the article was meticulously and responsibly reported based
(23:38):
on a review of thousands of pages of original documents,
including text, messages and emails, quoted accurately and at length.
That's what they say now. This follows the recent lawsuit
where Lively sued Baldoni, in which she alleges sexual harassment
(23:58):
and a retaliatory campaigned to damage her reputation after she
reported misconduct on the set of their film. It ends
with us. Baldoni's lawsuit contends that Lively's allegations are a
strategic attempt to assert control over the production and deflect
from her own public image issues, which evidently she has.
(24:19):
Both parties are preparing to address their disputes in court,
and the New York Times just says, we're going to
vigorously defend our statements about the lawsuit. Now, it kind
of all started with a like publicists, like one publicist,
(24:44):
Baldoni having you had publicists, and then then the person left,
and or lively, someone had a public One of the
sides had a publicist, and then one of the publicists
at the publicity company left, and then one of the
sides hired that one, and and then they started like
writing like smears against the actress, and then the actresses
(25:10):
publicists were, you know, doing the same back and forth.
And there's and one of the the original publicists she
sued her ex employee in all this, So that girl's
in a lot of trouble. But after looking at it,
what is what do you what is it? What do
you think? Joe? I guess too early to tell this
(25:31):
guy could be a total jerk and a womanizer and
creating a hostile environment. You know, she was saying, like
excessive sex scenes that were gratuitous, but no one's saying he,
you know, you know, just kind of a jerk at work,
you know, a male jerk at work basically what he's
being accused of. And he's saying, look, this lady's nuts,
(25:52):
and she's trying to take control of the whole movie,
and she wants it to be her way of the highway.
So she's like trying to, uh, this is the way
she's doing it. Let's tell everybody that I'm a jerk
at work, and then she will get all these concessions
and then everything will go her way. Her husband is
(26:17):
Ryan Reynolds, the famous actor, and he's involved in it
a little bit because he yelled it the director and
it's just a mess, but the movie's over. He got that.
I mean, that made the thing, and I think this
would have faded away. But then she filed like a
(26:38):
civil rights thing, saying that this guy was awful to her,
and then it got leaked. It was supposed to be
a non legal, like a administrative complaint, and then it
got leaked, and then the publicist got involved, and then
they started suing each other, and it is making them
ten times more famous than this movie was ever going
to be. So in a way, it's almost like if
(27:00):
you're a conspiracy theorist, they just they're all in on it.
They made it up and now they're I'll bet their
Internet movie database ratings are like, you know, number one
and number two. Like everybody's got a rank in Hollywood.
I have a rank. Mine hovers between eighty thousand and
two hundred and ten thousand or whatever of the most
(27:22):
important people in Hollywood or whatever. If you go look
at my IMDb, Like if everybody listens to this show
goes and looks at my IMDb page every day for
you know, the next couple of years, it'll move up drastically.
So make sure you do that. Okay, here we have it.
Blake Lively. Blake Lively is the number thirteen person in Hollywood. Okay,
(27:51):
she's been in Gossip Girl. I've never seen it and
I know it exists. She plays Serena Vanderwoodson, so she
was in there for five years. A movie called The
Age of Adeline. Never heard of it. Movie called The
Town twenty ten, never heard of it. Movie called The
(28:12):
Shallows twenty sixteen, never heard of it. She's the number
thirteen person in Hollywood. So the number thirteen hottest star,
I just looked at mine. It's fall into two hundred
and thirty thousand. People do something about that. Because I
haven't been made a TV show in over a year.
I've been managing Sublime. I'm in the music business. I
(28:35):
don't know if they have a list for this, but anyway,
I'm in there. The highest I ever got was like
eighty thousand when I was on the Brett Easton Ellis Show.
So this is like, people like, who's looking you up?
And she is number thirteen? But guess who we's where?
Baldini is. Baldeini's number three. He's a number three most
(28:58):
hottest star in Hollywood. So these guys don't want this
lawsuit to go away. In many ways, I just proved
the conspiracy theory correct by looking at that list. So
all right, we're done with them for a while. You
(29:19):
can hear my scrolling of my notes here until I
get to the next amazing story. This is kind of nauseating.
Are eco friendly tours the future of live music? How
Billy Eilish and Coldplay make their concerts sustainable? So in
(29:42):
recent years, major artists like Billy Eilish and Coldplay have
been at the forefront of promoting eco friendly practices in
the music industry. I mean, these are all great people.
They're all beautiful, wonderful people, care about the world and
all that stuff. I don't know, I'm just a little
cynical about it. Coldplay's new tow Where the Music of
the Spheres has notably reduced carbon emissions by fifty nine
(30:04):
percent compared to their previous tour, planting over nine million
trees and utilizing renewable energy sources to power their concerts.
Their initiatives have set new standards for sustainable touring, sustainable touring,
Oh my god, influencing other artists to adopt similar measures.
Bill Billie Eilish also did this, and she encourages fans
(30:29):
to engage in eco friendly behaviors, making conscious efforts to
reduce the environmental impact of her performances. And they do
this by raising public awareness, people in booths. Okay, yeah,
it's a climate change thing. It's a commitment by the
(30:51):
music to address climate change. You know what it really is,
in my cynical nature, it is a way to justify
the private jets because if they wanted to make an impact,
a lot of people tell them, and I don't do math.
I don't even believe in science. If they flew commercial
(31:12):
planes that are already flying places they could, those private
jets they take would not even leave the ground. And
those private jets harm the environment, according to some climate people.
My band takes private jets. But these guys want to
(31:38):
you know, these guys are in the forefront. They're taking
the heat. They're saying, I am all about climate change.
And then people say, what about your private jet? Well,
I got a private jet, But let me tell you
what I'm doing, how many trees we plan it, and
how much awareness we created? Ey. My problem is the
(32:01):
private jet thing. And then it just gives you one
more thing to judge the other bands. Now the other
bands are bad because they don't do it. So that's
where I have a problem. There's something surprising. I've heard
a lot of people saying, and they're coming to me
and they're saying, Joe, are they going to get rid
of TikTok? Is TikTok going to be taken off of
(32:23):
the internet? And my answer is I don't worry about
stuff like that. Probably not, but you know, something to
blame Donald Trump for? Maybe, But In a weird twist here,
President elect Donald trust Trump has requested that Supreme Court
delay the enforcement of a law that is set to
ban TikTok in the United States. Yeah, Donald Trump, saying, hey,
(32:45):
hold on there. The band is scheduled for January nineteenth,
just one day before the inauguration. It was initiated under
legislation signed by Joe Biden. So Joe Biden signed the
legislation to destroy TikTok. I said that Theese company that
owns it Bike Dance has to sell it or it's
going to go off the air. Trump's legal team argues
(33:05):
that he is uniquely positioned to negotiate a resolution addressing
these security issues while preserving the platform's availability in the
US because people think that it's a Chinese trick and
they're giving secrets to the Chinese Communist Party. I mean,
it's not a crazy theory. Sounds reasonable. President Biden believes it.
(33:28):
But Trump is urging the Supreme Court to postpone the
band's implementation to allow the incoming administration to seek a
political institution. Basically, Trump thinks, hey, I can handle this.
I'll talk to the Chinese. I'll talk to the tiktoks.
I'll talk to our congressional leaders and I'll say, how
can we make this TikTok thing safe and secure so
(33:49):
we are confident that the Chinese aren't stealing secrets from us, etc.
And he says that they put the ban in effect
right before he's be inaugurated to kind of like take
away his power or his ability to solve this problem.
And you know him, he thinks he can solve this problem,
so he wants he wants to crack at it. So
(34:12):
the question here is should we give him a crack
at it? Uh? So, next time someone says, hey, Trump's
going to take away TikTok I heard, or the other
one I heard is going to take away porn. Yo,
someone told me that I think I talked about I've
talked about this. Some very important musician playing with one
of the top bands in the world and the history
(34:32):
of music probably tell me, he goes, ah, Trump's gonna
take away the porn. I just at that point, I'm like,
I don't know what to tell you. Trump's going to
take away the porn. Well, someone's got to take away
the porn, but it's probably going to be Jesus Christ
on the you know, final days. But yeah, just I
(34:56):
mean they come up with stuff and they go, well,
what is everybody like everybody likes? Why don't we tell
everybody Trump's going to take away their porn and then
they won't vote for him. But it didn't work. And
I keep hearing people say, hey, Trump's gonna take away TikTok.
But what we find out today and I didn't know
that until just today, tunk Trump is saying, don't take
away TikTok. I thought he hated the Chinese and he
(35:17):
thought they were stealing everything and forgot what he did
in his first term about TikTok. But here he's saying,
I think I can create a political solution. It's a
free speech platform. Let people speak, but let me negotiate
some terms so the chi cooms aren't stealing all their stuff.
(35:39):
All right, I think that's enough for this week. On
the podcast episode of Joe Ascalante Live from Hollywood. If
you're listening to this and you like Smith's or Morrissey,
make sure you get tickets for The Sweet and Tender
Hooligan's playing at the Observatory in San Diego on Friday,
January tenth and at The House of Blue was Anaheim
(36:00):
on Saturday, January eleventh. Super fun and I play the
bass woo, and I'll leave you with just a taste
of the greatest song ever Retten. It's all on the
(36:22):
FI
Joe Escalante Live from Hollywood. If by Hollywood you mean Burbank.
We are two hours of the business end of show business.
You know that we're a podcast episode this week because
we've been preempted by the NFL, hopefully for the last time.
The NFL season winding down, and we're gonna talk about
the awards, the Golden Globes coming up, the BAFTAs, and
(00:32):
you know, some movie stuff and some TikTok and I
think last week I said I was going to talk
about the Blake Lively Baldini lawsuit that is just consuming
Hollywood right now, and I didn't. But it doesn't matter
because there's new stuff this week and we will get
to that. But first, let's talk about some uncomfortable truths.
(01:01):
Not that uncomfortable, but if it involves Donald Trump, people
get weird, all right. In recent years. This is according
to a story in The Hollywood Reporter by what was
this guy's name, Stephen Zeitchick. It's an unfortunate name. It's
(01:31):
one of those names that you'd have to change if
you're running for office. Steve Zeitchik, this is what he
says at the Hollywood Reporter. He says that in I mean,
he thinks that in recent years, the vocal criticism by
Hollywood of Donald Trump has been notably diminished. Now, I
don't know if that's true or if it's just sour
(01:53):
grapes on the election and they thought that Hollywood could
do more. But he says that during his presidency, knew
sumerous celebrities openly opposed his you know, policies and his rhetoric. However,
as the twenty twenty four election started to approach, this
once fervent opposition largely quieted. He contributes several factors to
(02:18):
this shift. Firstly, he says, the entertainment industry is, you know,
has these internal challenges. The writer strikes and you know,
they have to focus inward to get the me too
movement and all that stuff. So they didn't have time
to make fun of Donald Trump or oppose Donald Trump.
And some industry insiders also suggest that the initial surge
(02:43):
of the anti Trump sentiment may it led to some
fatigue among celebrities and audiences, resulting in a strategic retreat
from overt political commentary. People are just tired of it.
This change affects a broader trend and Hollywood reassessing its
role in the political discourse. This guy says, aiming to
(03:06):
balance activism with audience engagement. Now's the political landscape and evolves.
He says it remains to be seen whether Hollywood will
re engage with more assertively in the future elections or
continue to adopt a more subdued stance. And we've talked,
we've been talking about this a little bit, how Hollywood
(03:28):
is just kind of well, they're over the woke. So
the woke. He didn't mention any of that stuff, like
woke is dead stuff, But he does mention the movie
The Apprentice, and he says, something's been happening to The Apprentice.
That's a movie about Donald Trump in his earlier years.
And he says that despite the acute timeliness and eighty
(03:49):
three percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's been willed
away by the industry. Most distribution execs wouldn't touch it,
and actors won't talk about it. And whether entertainer's fear
of validating Trump's relevance or worry about repercussions for a
seeming critical of his power, they've sidestepped the subject. So
(04:10):
there's been a lot of griping about this movie. Trump
called The Apprentice, and that it got no awards, got
no distribution. Actually did get awards, Golden Globes nominated some
people in it, but it was a fail, and you know,
they're just they're just like, how could we We had
(04:33):
this movie come out at just the right time and
it failed. And I think the answer to that is
most people where you like Trump or hate Trump, By
the time it came out, it kind of it looked
to a lot of people like Trump was gonna win,
(04:54):
you know, and I don't think they wanted to talk
about it. And to me, it's like, this is low
hanging fruit. Someone says, let's make a movie about Donald
Trump and how much we hate him. That's like writing
(05:14):
a punk song telling your audience that you don't like
Ronald Reagan, you know in the nineteen eighties, just like yawn.
So they spend all their money another time making this
movie about how much they hate Donald Trump, make them
look bad, and then release it right before the election hopefully.
(05:37):
I mean, is that an election interference? Yeah, you know,
it's just people expressing their rights of free speech. But
and then they were mad that it didn't do anything.
I think it didn't do anything because people are I
mean right now, they're tired of it. And they're also
(05:59):
living in a world. By the time this movie came out,
I mean, you're living in a world, in a world
with wars everywhere, at rampant crime and the immigration, you know, problems,
and people were just starting to go it's all bad now,
So why don't we fix it instead of making movies
and watching movies about this guy that used to be president. So,
(06:25):
you know, Hollywood's basically just grappling with the election of
Donald Trump because they most of them didn't like him,
and now he's going to be president, and so what
do they do? And this guy's just saying, well, first
everybody should have embraced this movie, and then you should
just get off your asses and hate Donald Trump. But
(06:50):
I think most actors and he cites, like you know,
Joe Rogan and certain people that are you know, they
just said, I think it's okay too not hate this guy.
I don't know, Okay, I'm done talking about this. Tired
(07:11):
of it. I'm tired of it. I tell you, Let's
get to something more fun. How about the Golden Globes.
I think the Golden Globes are fun because it's a
train wreck, a poop show, whatever you want to call it.
Celebrities getting drunk. They don't really care it's corrupt. You
can buy an award the I mean that's my perception
(07:33):
of it. I don't know if any of that's true.
If they're drunk, I don't know. Can you buy any work?
I don't know. Pia Zadora got one. Look google her,
Pia Zadora and the Golden Globes. So I just think
it's funny. It's a funny award show because it just
seems so it seems corrupt. This year they got a
(07:55):
Nikki Glazer. This is the Awards where Ricky Gervais went
off on all the executives. Now Nicki Glazer, who went
off on the roast of Tom Brady, and I think
that's why they hired her for this. She's going to
host It's the eighty second glo Global War that started
like the nineteen forties. It's going to be on Tonight
and Sunday, January fifth. But she's indicated her performance will
(08:20):
steer clear of controversial politics. She did an interview with
Yahoo Entertainment, and she said she intends to avoid jokes
about figures like Donald Trump and sensitive issues like the
Blake Lively Justin Baldini scandal and aiming not to offend
the Attendees's interesting approach contrasts with the previous you know,
(08:41):
Ricky Gervay's thing and other people who are known for
as sharp critics of political figures and their biting humor.
And it's not just politics. They were like Ricky Gervais
was making fun of the Hollywood executives or were in
the room in Gnarley. And there's another So there's not
going to be that to watch, according to Nicki Glay,
And there's some tension at the Golden Globe because now
(09:04):
this is complicated, so bear with me on this one.
There are new owners of the ceremony that's called Eldridge
Industries and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is the
organization that's established it over eighty years ago. Now there's
now a new method of ownership of this thing. And
(09:30):
reports indicate that the majority of the Hollywood Foreign Press
Associate members have not been invited to Sunday's event at
the Beverly Hilton. That's where most of the celebrities like
Angelina Jolie, Timothy chalameat Demi Moore and Zendaiah in Obe partying. Instead,
approximately fifty members received last minute invitations to a separate
(09:53):
viewing party within the hotel, where they will watch the
ceremony remotely. That's not bad. That Beverly Hilton is kind
of fun. You're going to be in a in one
ballroom instead of the one where all the stars are in.
But after things over, they're all going to be mingling around.
I don't think that's that bad. But this development follows
the Eldridge Industry's acquisition of the Golden Globes two years ago,
(10:16):
during which the company divided the operation into a for
profit awards ceremony and the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
As part of the agreement, sixty six legacy members of
the Association were promised annual salaries, health insurance, lifetime voting rights,
and other benefits. However, the recent exclusion from the main
(10:37):
event has led to feelings of estrangement among the association members,
and some expressing frustration over their perceived sidelining from the
ceremony that they helped establish and their being pushed out.
So these are the legacy guys, but I think they
have like new people and new voters. And they got
in trouble a while ago because's no black members. I
(10:59):
don't know if you remember that. Then they lost their
TV deal. They got it back. Is it relevant the
our Awards shows relevant? That's like the question. But I
believe they are because everyone will watch the Golden Globes.
They'll think of they'll see a bunch of movies nominated
and talked about, and then that will influence the Oscars,
(11:19):
which have not been There's no nominations there yet. You know,
we keep talking about these Golden Globes and we haven't
even talked about who's been nominated. Let me give you
a quick list of things nominated so you know what
to go see and what could be a precursor to
the Oscars, etc. Best Most Picture The Brutalist from A
twenty four, A Complete Unknown from Searchlight Pictures, Conclave from
(11:42):
Focused Pictures, Dune Part two from Warner Brothers, Nickel Boys
from Amazon, and a movie called September five Paramount Pictures.
Now they have the Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,
and this is weird. They put Anora in that as
(12:02):
not a musical or a comedy, but whatever, it's Going
Globes is Kinky Challengers Amelia Perez a Real Pain from
Searchlight Pictures. I've never heard of that. The substance I
saw that. It's gross. It's interesting though Wicked saw it.
(12:23):
I was at a table out to dinner last night
with six people, two three couples. It was the only
one at the table, actually my wife and all the
waiters too. The only guy in the room that saw Wicked,
the only gay in the village. A lot of people
(12:44):
are resist in that movie. I saw that. Three people
walked out. I told you that, but you know I'm
the only one. Okay, Animated pictures, what do you got
in there? Anything worth looking at? Moana two, Memoir of
a snail wild Robot. That's gonna win. If it doesn't win,
it's an outrage. Oh. By the way, you know that
(13:05):
movie Kneecap where we have the guys on this show
from Kneecap, the two stars and the director. They are
nominated for Best Picture for a bathtom So who So
animated Wallace and Grommett. Next Non English speaking movies, Who Cares?
(13:28):
Actresses Pam Anderson for The Last Show Girl, Angelina, Joe Lee,
Nicole Kidman, for Baby Girl, Tilda Swinton for the Room
next Door, and Kate Winslet for Lee. I'm skipping some
things that we've not talked about at all. Adrian Brody
Best Actor for The Brutalist, Timothy Shallamay Complete Unknown, he
(13:49):
should win, Daniel Craig for a movie called Queer, Coleman
Domingo for a movie called Sing Sing, Ralph Fines Fines
for Conclave, and Sebastian Stand for the Apprentice. See that. Yeah,
they didn't ignore the Apprentice. Everybody else did. Female actor
(14:09):
in a music coal ort comedy. Eighty Adams for Night Bitch,
Ammy Adams, Cynthia Arrivo for Wicked, Carlo Sophia gascon a
transgender for Amelia Perez, and Mikey Madison for a Nora.
That's great. She did a great job. I hope she
does well. I'd like to see her win it. Demi
(14:31):
Moore in the Substance will probably win this. Probably, I'm
gonna I'm gonna call it out right now, Demi Moore,
Male and the music. Anything interesting in here, No, nothing's
interesting in this category. But the BAFT is the British
(14:54):
Academy of Film and Television Arts. They're rolling out their nominations,
and they have an initial long list highlighting several standout
films like Amelia Perez, a Spanish language musical that's got
fifteen nominations, and then a historic nod for Carla Sophia Gascon,
(15:16):
who could become the first transgender actress shortlisted for a
baft To Film Award. Conclave featuring a Raife fines Is
as a cardinal. I don't know, it's probably heretical. Got
fourteen nominations, that means it's anti Catholic. I would say
(15:38):
Angelina Jolie's portrayal of the opera singer Maria Collins, she
got snubbed. So these are the stuff who got snubbed.
Who's getting nominated. Ridley Scott's Gladiator two, which we talked
about on the show, received limited recognition, securing only a
supporting actor for Denzel Washington. That's weird because I thought
he was the most unconvincing character in the whole thing,
(16:04):
just falls in and out of his accents, just like
but he's like, you know, an awesome icon, So I
guess he's like there, and the movie is like spectacularly
shot and stuff, so I guess he's I don't know,
uh the ceremony. That ceremony will be in February, February sixteenth,
and I think the Oscars go to March, so we'll
(16:25):
see what happens. Speaking of movies, let's go to the
box office. The box office number one is Mufasa the
Lion King derivative with you know, digital animals that look real.
These movies are like if it's anything like mo Wana two,
it's like, which is number four this week? By the way,
it's like, this is spectacular, this is amazing, This animation
(16:49):
is overwhelming. It's so good. But who cares because the
story is kind of just you know, man, And that's
the same way I felt about Gladiator. Too spectacular. But
then the story in the writing was like Sonic the
Hedgehog is number two, Nosferatu is number three, oh, number four,
(17:16):
so it's Mufasa, Sonic, nos Feratu, Moana, then Wicked hanging
in there and a complete unknown I saw that. Did
we talk about that? We talked about it last week.
It's it's it's you see it just for Timothy Challoman,
He's tremendous. Number seven, baby girl, I haven't seen it,
so I think Nicole kidman having an affair with a
(17:39):
young office boy or something like that. Ooh, number eight, Gladiator,
number nine, Homestead. That's bout enough of that. What isn't
in the top ten is a Nora. A Nora is
going to be nominated for I think Best Picture, and
I think the Baftis were all over it already now,
(18:05):
So enra I saw it. It's from Sean Baker. Sean
Baker is one of the greatest American movie makers that
is alive today. He made the film Florida Project. If
you haven't seen Florida Project, you need to see it.
Florida Project is the name of disney World when it
(18:26):
was a secret, that was the code name for Disney World.
And this is a story about Florida Project is a
story about a just a dilapidated motel where people live,
you know, hotel people that live in hotels because they
have nowhere to go. And William Dafoe is the hotel manager.
(18:49):
And there's a girl, she's kind of a hooker and
she lives with her daughter in one of the rooms
and just shows her struggles. Pretty amazing, amazing characters, amazing actors.
So Shaan Baker's new film Nora is about another interesting concept,
interesting subject for a movie. Russian strippers slash prostitutes in
(19:14):
New York and this one of them named and Nora
or Annie. She gets a really good customer who is
the son of a Russian oligarch, and he, you know,
starts paying her to be like a permanent girlfriend. And
then pretty soon he says he wants to marry her,
and she doesn't believe it, but she ends up saying,
(19:37):
all right, if you're serious, you know, don't screw with me.
And he says, no, I love you. We're getting married,
and they get married, but he's a son of a
Russian oligarch, so the marriage cannot be. That's I don't
think that's giving away too much. I won't tell you
everything that happens, but I would. It's very it's morally offensive.
(19:57):
There's many strippers scenes sex, and a lot of really
nasty songs. I didn't know that strippers. I didn't know
there were so many nasty, like rap songs that there's like,
you know a lot of rap songs that are sung
by girls and they're nasty and they strippers stripped to them,
(20:19):
and yeah, it's pretty bad, you know, can't bring kids
to this thing. But if you're looking to see what
is going to be one of the big movies of
the year, go see Anora. It's not really in very
many cities right now. You can only see it in
like Rolling Hills, I think, down in the South Bay
near Palace Verdes. But you can buy it for twenty
(20:40):
dollars on Amazon and YouTube, and two people are going
to the movies. That would be a savings. So I
think that's that's what I did. I didn't want to
go to Rolling Hills. It wasn't playing in the theater
by me, so I just I bespotted. I usually go
(21:02):
into the theaters, but this time, I does, you know,
I'm gonna buy this thing. And she and my wife
and I sat down and you know, the popcorn and
the Samsung frame and just just had a great time.
But it was quite offensive. I try to separate myself
from the offensive nature and the craft of filmmaking. And
(21:23):
then I go to confession. I just tell the priest, look,
I watched a terrible movie. There's no redeeming value, and
I'm really sorry, but that's the way it is. That's
the world of Jewish Glante, all right. Let's move on. No,
Justin Baldeen Baldoni. Okay, here's the state of Justin Baldoni.
(21:47):
He fouled. Justin Baldoni is an actor and director of
the movie It Ends with Us, and it's about domestic violence.
I think, and I'm not seeing it. I saw the
trailer and I go, no, I'm not going to do it.
And Blake Lively is the star. And they've been suing
each other. The publicists are suing each other. Everybody's suing everybody.
(22:11):
Here's the latest. Actor director Justin Baldini filed a two
hundred and fifty million dollar lawsuit against The New York
Times a legend that the newspaper published a defamatory article
accusing him of orchestrating a smear campaign against actress Blake Lively.
The suit was filed in La Superior Court and claims
(22:32):
that The Times relied on Lively's unverified narrative using selectively
edited communications that misrepresent the situation. Basically, that means that
The New York Times read the complaint and then just
made a big story instead, as if this is the story,
(22:54):
and a complaint is filled with a lot of stuff
that is you know, they're going to try to prove
in court, and you're trying to say, you know, pretend
that the other people harmed you. You know, you're exaggerating
everything because you're hoping you'll get some of it. So
the New York Times, Baldini is saying, Baldoni is saying,
(23:16):
you took that thing, that fantasy that we are going
to that we haven't had a chance to rebut and
you made a New York Times article about now everyone
thinks I'm a loser. So he just filed a two
hundred and fifty million dollars lawsuit. So you can't do that.
The New York Times says they stand by the reporting,
saying that the article was meticulously and responsibly reported based
(23:38):
on a review of thousands of pages of original documents,
including text, messages and emails, quoted accurately and at length.
That's what they say now. This follows the recent lawsuit
where Lively sued Baldoni, in which she alleges sexual harassment
(23:58):
and a retaliatory campaigned to damage her reputation after she
reported misconduct on the set of their film. It ends
with us. Baldoni's lawsuit contends that Lively's allegations are a
strategic attempt to assert control over the production and deflect
from her own public image issues, which evidently she has.
(24:19):
Both parties are preparing to address their disputes in court,
and the New York Times just says, we're going to
vigorously defend our statements about the lawsuit. Now, it kind
of all started with a like publicists, like one publicist,
(24:44):
Baldoni having you had publicists, and then then the person left,
and or lively, someone had a public One of the
sides had a publicist, and then one of the publicists
at the publicity company left, and then one of the
sides hired that one, and and then they started like
writing like smears against the actress, and then the actresses
(25:10):
publicists were, you know, doing the same back and forth.
And there's and one of the the original publicists she
sued her ex employee in all this, So that girl's
in a lot of trouble. But after looking at it,
what is what do you what is it? What do
you think? Joe? I guess too early to tell this
(25:31):
guy could be a total jerk and a womanizer and
creating a hostile environment. You know, she was saying, like
excessive sex scenes that were gratuitous, but no one's saying he,
you know, you know, just kind of a jerk at work,
you know, a male jerk at work basically what he's
being accused of. And he's saying, look, this lady's nuts,
(25:52):
and she's trying to take control of the whole movie,
and she wants it to be her way of the highway.
So she's like trying to, uh, this is the way
she's doing it. Let's tell everybody that I'm a jerk
at work, and then she will get all these concessions
and then everything will go her way. Her husband is
(26:17):
Ryan Reynolds, the famous actor, and he's involved in it
a little bit because he yelled it the director and
it's just a mess, but the movie's over. He got that.
I mean, that made the thing, and I think this
would have faded away. But then she filed like a
(26:38):
civil rights thing, saying that this guy was awful to her,
and then it got leaked. It was supposed to be
a non legal, like a administrative complaint, and then it
got leaked, and then the publicist got involved, and then
they started suing each other, and it is making them
ten times more famous than this movie was ever going
to be. So in a way, it's almost like if
(27:00):
you're a conspiracy theorist, they just they're all in on it.
They made it up and now they're I'll bet their
Internet movie database ratings are like, you know, number one
and number two. Like everybody's got a rank in Hollywood.
I have a rank. Mine hovers between eighty thousand and
two hundred and ten thousand or whatever of the most
(27:22):
important people in Hollywood or whatever. If you go look
at my IMDb, Like if everybody listens to this show
goes and looks at my IMDb page every day for
you know, the next couple of years, it'll move up drastically.
So make sure you do that. Okay, here we have it.
Blake Lively. Blake Lively is the number thirteen person in Hollywood. Okay,
(27:51):
she's been in Gossip Girl. I've never seen it and
I know it exists. She plays Serena Vanderwoodson, so she
was in there for five years. A movie called The
Age of Adeline. Never heard of it. Movie called The
Town twenty ten, never heard of it. Movie called The
(28:12):
Shallows twenty sixteen, never heard of it. She's the number
thirteen person in Hollywood. So the number thirteen hottest star,
I just looked at mine. It's fall into two hundred
and thirty thousand. People do something about that. Because I
haven't been made a TV show in over a year.
I've been managing Sublime. I'm in the music business. I
(28:35):
don't know if they have a list for this, but anyway,
I'm in there. The highest I ever got was like
eighty thousand when I was on the Brett Easton Ellis Show.
So this is like, people like, who's looking you up?
And she is number thirteen? But guess who we's where?
Baldini is. Baldeini's number three. He's a number three most
(28:58):
hottest star in Hollywood. So these guys don't want this
lawsuit to go away. In many ways, I just proved
the conspiracy theory correct by looking at that list. So
all right, we're done with them for a while. You
(29:19):
can hear my scrolling of my notes here until I
get to the next amazing story. This is kind of nauseating.
Are eco friendly tours the future of live music? How
Billy Eilish and Coldplay make their concerts sustainable? So in
(29:42):
recent years, major artists like Billy Eilish and Coldplay have
been at the forefront of promoting eco friendly practices in
the music industry. I mean, these are all great people.
They're all beautiful, wonderful people, care about the world and
all that stuff. I don't know, I'm just a little
cynical about it. Coldplay's new tow Where the Music of
the Spheres has notably reduced carbon emissions by fifty nine
(30:04):
percent compared to their previous tour, planting over nine million
trees and utilizing renewable energy sources to power their concerts.
Their initiatives have set new standards for sustainable touring, sustainable touring,
Oh my god, influencing other artists to adopt similar measures.
Bill Billie Eilish also did this, and she encourages fans
(30:29):
to engage in eco friendly behaviors, making conscious efforts to
reduce the environmental impact of her performances. And they do
this by raising public awareness, people in booths. Okay, yeah,
it's a climate change thing. It's a commitment by the
(30:51):
music to address climate change. You know what it really is,
in my cynical nature, it is a way to justify
the private jets because if they wanted to make an impact,
a lot of people tell them, and I don't do math.
I don't even believe in science. If they flew commercial
(31:12):
planes that are already flying places they could, those private
jets they take would not even leave the ground. And
those private jets harm the environment, according to some climate people.
My band takes private jets. But these guys want to
(31:38):
you know, these guys are in the forefront. They're taking
the heat. They're saying, I am all about climate change.
And then people say, what about your private jet? Well,
I got a private jet, But let me tell you
what I'm doing, how many trees we plan it, and
how much awareness we created? Ey. My problem is the
(32:01):
private jet thing. And then it just gives you one
more thing to judge the other bands. Now the other
bands are bad because they don't do it. So that's
where I have a problem. There's something surprising. I've heard
a lot of people saying, and they're coming to me
and they're saying, Joe, are they going to get rid
of TikTok? Is TikTok going to be taken off of
(32:23):
the internet? And my answer is I don't worry about
stuff like that. Probably not, but you know, something to
blame Donald Trump for? Maybe, But In a weird twist here,
President elect Donald trust Trump has requested that Supreme Court
delay the enforcement of a law that is set to
ban TikTok in the United States. Yeah, Donald Trump, saying, hey,
(32:45):
hold on there. The band is scheduled for January nineteenth,
just one day before the inauguration. It was initiated under
legislation signed by Joe Biden. So Joe Biden signed the
legislation to destroy TikTok. I said that Theese company that
owns it Bike Dance has to sell it or it's
going to go off the air. Trump's legal team argues
(33:05):
that he is uniquely positioned to negotiate a resolution addressing
these security issues while preserving the platform's availability in the
US because people think that it's a Chinese trick and
they're giving secrets to the Chinese Communist Party. I mean,
it's not a crazy theory. Sounds reasonable. President Biden believes it.
(33:28):
But Trump is urging the Supreme Court to postpone the
band's implementation to allow the incoming administration to seek a
political institution. Basically, Trump thinks, hey, I can handle this.
I'll talk to the Chinese. I'll talk to the tiktoks.
I'll talk to our congressional leaders and I'll say, how
can we make this TikTok thing safe and secure so
(33:49):
we are confident that the Chinese aren't stealing secrets from us, etc.
And he says that they put the ban in effect
right before he's be inaugurated to kind of like take
away his power or his ability to solve this problem.
And you know him, he thinks he can solve this problem,
so he wants he wants to crack at it. So
(34:12):
the question here is should we give him a crack
at it? Uh? So, next time someone says, hey, Trump's
going to take away TikTok I heard, or the other
one I heard is going to take away porn. Yo,
someone told me that I think I talked about I've
talked about this. Some very important musician playing with one
of the top bands in the world and the history
(34:32):
of music probably tell me, he goes, ah, Trump's gonna
take away the porn. I just at that point, I'm like,
I don't know what to tell you. Trump's going to
take away the porn. Well, someone's got to take away
the porn, but it's probably going to be Jesus Christ
on the you know, final days. But yeah, just I
(34:56):
mean they come up with stuff and they go, well,
what is everybody like everybody likes? Why don't we tell
everybody Trump's going to take away their porn and then
they won't vote for him. But it didn't work. And
I keep hearing people say, hey, Trump's gonna take away TikTok.
But what we find out today and I didn't know
that until just today, tunk Trump is saying, don't take
away TikTok. I thought he hated the Chinese and he
(35:17):
thought they were stealing everything and forgot what he did
in his first term about TikTok. But here he's saying,
I think I can create a political solution. It's a
free speech platform. Let people speak, but let me negotiate
some terms so the chi cooms aren't stealing all their stuff.
(35:39):
All right, I think that's enough for this week. On
the podcast episode of Joe Ascalante Live from Hollywood. If
you're listening to this and you like Smith's or Morrissey,
make sure you get tickets for The Sweet and Tender
Hooligan's playing at the Observatory in San Diego on Friday,
January tenth and at The House of Blue was Anaheim
(36:00):
on Saturday, January eleventh. Super fun and I play the
bass woo, and I'll leave you with just a taste
of the greatest song ever Retten. It's all on the
(36:22):
FI
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