Listen: Impossible

Joe Escalante's Weekly spelunk into the business end of showbiz. This week: let's try to steer away from celebs behaving badly... How about some box office news??? Lilo and Stitch is #1... and Joe hasn't seen it... But he did see a few good movies this week: Dogman, The Face of Jesus (which claims that Jesus may have had a nuclear resurrection), and the hot nun in Wes Anderson's The Phoencian Scheme triggers Joe's kink. 

Also, murder-for-hire doesn't pay... Just ask Victoria Goodwin! Russell Simmons is suing HBO for a documentary accusing him of sexual assault. Diddy shouldn't try to intimidate jurors, and Joe brags about buying into a Disney neighborhood that doesn't want you to have a statue of Goofy on the front lawn... I mean, what's the point, then??? 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, how do you like that?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sam? Who was that guy?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
I don't know, but he sounded ominous.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
He announced, pronounced my name correctly. All Right, we've got
two hours of the business, end of show business coming
your way. Uh. First, let's go to the box office.
Sometimes we go a little salacious before we get there.
But after last week's rape after rape, after rape, after rape,
after sexual assault after rape, let's do something a little
more less disgusting. The numbers are in for the weekend. Uh,

(00:41):
and we will see if Lilo and Stitch. Well, someone
told me it's called Lee Lo, but how would I know,
I've never seen the movie held its top spot. And
how the New John We spin off performed. Then later
on in the show, after we get after, we UH
tackle this box office. Russell Simmons issuing HBO for two
million dollars. And Smokey Robinson we talked about him before,

(01:05):
but there's some developments in that case against his for
Housekeepers Man. The Diddycombs trial continues, of course, and Blake
Lively and Justin Baldini still being immature.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I would say that that's still happening.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, it's just embarrassing. M and M's getting litigious, and
there's some stuff happening over at Disneyland we'll talk about.
But first, Leilo and Stitch number one at the box office,
thirty two million dollars, and this brings its domestic gross
to over three hundred and thirty five million.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Sam, you still haven't seen it.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
No, I was gonna go see it a couple of
nights ago, and I saw something else, which we will
get to. Okay, number two.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I'm just surprised because you're such a Disney fiend. I
thought you would have like the animated one at least
under your belt.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
N And you have me wrong. I'm not a Disney fiend.
I'm a guy who grew up twenty minutes from Disneyland,
and i'm and I got very used to going there.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
But you show up in tuxedos.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, if there's a black tie event, I will, I will,
you know, I address appropriately, Yeah, But I'm I'm just
a guy who grew up twenty minutes from there, and
I got used to going, so I still go very
nice and most of the time I was getting in free,
So I do like it there. You know, I think
you would go anywhere that you spent most of your
childhood going to I'm fortunate enough to live where I

(02:33):
grew up, So if you're accusing me of being a
pin trader, you're talking to the wrong guy.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
No, No, I think pin traders are a different breed.
I feel like you have in like a higher level
of Disney going through you, just because you have been
so yeah, a part of the community there for so long.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
But I also have not seen like The Incredibles. I
just there's a list of things that I'm you know,
I haven't seen a bunch of these movies. But and
I could have seen Lee Low and Stitch on Friday,
but I saw something else. In second place, we have

(03:15):
from the world of john Wick Ballerina who kicks high
and kicks ass twenty five million at the box office.
I think got successful. And you know, they're trying to
get more girls involved in the in the john Wick thing.
I think girls like john Wick without a ballerina. But
I'm sure I think Ballerina is a good idea great

(03:37):
name too, the ballerina, because you know she's not just
doing pirouettes. Oh you don't even have to see it.
You know what she's doing. Oh yeah, mission impossible. I
still haven't seen. I really want to see The Final Reckoning.
Third weekend, it did another fifteen million, bringing it up
to one hundred and fifty million. One hundred and fifty
million is good, but it's no. Three hundred and thirty

(03:57):
five million, and.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
They opened the same time.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I'm doing Yeah with Lo Lo and Stitch.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Lulu Win Stitch. I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Called Oh, I'm making a movie called Liloh and Storch.
It's about a Polynesian character and Larry Storch, the character
actor from f Troop. So look for that coming probably
a Christmas release. Karate Kid doing pretty good. Second weekend

(04:30):
eight point seven. Final Destination Bloodlines. It's making some money.
It's in fourth place. Other notable new releases sam are
the Phonetian Scheme from Focus Features, which saw a significant
increase as it expanded to more than one theater over
the week. And Dan to Dan Evil Eye is a

(04:51):
animated movie that's doing really well overall. The box office
shows that there is life in the movie business and
in theaters and the movie I went to two films
in the theater this week and they were the theaters
were packed for each one of them. But first let's

(05:11):
go to a movie that I saw. The first one
I saw was, which was actually a couple of weeks ago,
dog Man. Did you see it?

Speaker 3 (05:22):
No, I haven't, but I've heard quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
What have you heard.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
I've heard that it is very much worth watching.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Okay, yeah, that's what I heard. It's a movie based
on this guy, dav Pilkey's popular graphic novel series, and
it goes back to the origin. It's an origin story,
which is always good if you got a superhero to
go to the origin story. And it's about a loyal
police dog and his human officer slash owner, who are

(05:51):
fused together after an accident, creating dog Man. He's a
hero with a dog's body, a man's body in a
dog's head. The film follows dog Man as he battles
his arch nemesis, pet the Cat, who is played by
none other than Pete Davidson. Interesting, actually pet the Cat, No,

(06:13):
pet the Cat is played by I don't know whatever.
The clone of pd the Cat is Pete Davidson. His
name is Pete. And the Dog like makes friends with
Pete and it's just like, you know, an unlikely friendship.
And everyone told me, yeah, this is we're seeing even
if you're not. You don't have to be a kid
to like this. I was, okay, I think you have
to be a kid to really like it though, So

(06:35):
I I would say, not even on a plane. Would
I recommend this movie to an adult?

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Really?

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (06:45):
But it's great movie for kids. It's clever and it's
a good movie for kids too. You know, humor is
intelligent in a bugs bunny kind of way where it's like,
you know, it's kind of adults. Could you got to
be a smart kid to get everything, but most kids
aren't that smart right now? So you know, what are
we gonna do? Second movie? I saw, Sam, I don't

(07:06):
know if you saw this one. Maybe you did, Maybe
maybe you can take over from here. The Face of Jesus.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
I did not see the Face of Jesus. Back to you, Joe.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay. So it's a it's a documentary that is, you know,
as you can guess, focused on exploring key sacred images
of Jesus and likenesses of Jesus, like the Shroud of Turin.
Now the Shroud of Turn we all know about, right, Yeah,
it's a shroud that Jesus was buried in and his

(07:42):
face appears in it. And when they do all the testing,
they realize, wow, this is dates back to the years
of the birth of Christ, and we don't know how
the image got on here because this is not it's
there's blood. Okay, blood is one thing, but there's an
image of Christ. How did that get on there. I've

(08:05):
seen a bunch of people speak on this subject, and
there was there's always the guy that says, oh, they
proved that was not real and it was from a
different time period, and then someone else comes in and says, no,
the people that thought it was from a different time
period were measuring a piece of cloth that was a

(08:25):
border that was added later, and so when you measure
the actual shroud, it dates back to the birth of
I mean the death of Jesus at that time. So
I say that because when everyone brings this up. Whenever
I bring this up, people say, oh, that's too bad.
That was proved to not be real. But it has

(08:47):
not been proved to not be real. And then the
thing I like about it most is they didn't explore
that much in this movie is how did the image
get on there? When they test it? It is akin
to the kind of images they saw in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki that were made by nuclear blasts.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
So Jesus went nuclear.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yes, wow, So if you think about it, what kind
of an event? There was an earthquake when Jesus had
his resurrection, But what kind of event was it? If
you can make a man come back to life, who
is the son of God? Now, if these are all
accurately chronicled events, how does a man come back to life?

(09:36):
A nuclear event? You know? And that's some kind of energy.
It makes doesn't not make sense if you're gonna have
some nuclear a nuclear event, So that's how the that's
the closest thing that they can find that would create
these kind of images, would be a nuclear event. So
that's just one of the images they talked about in

(09:57):
the movie. And the other one is another veil that
maybe is an the body, but is of the face.
And then they do a lot of cool things, like
they line them up and they one is the face
of Jesus as he is unconscious or dead or sleeping
or whatever he's doing. And then the other one is

(10:17):
the picture of Jesus's face after he wakes, and then
they line him up and for some reason they line
up perfectly, and you got Jesus is awake, Jesus Sleep,
Jesus awake Sleep. Anyway, it kind of reminded me of
one of these like old time documentaries that used to
travel around when I was a kid, like like in
Search of Noah's Ark or The Chariots of the Gods.

(10:44):
These were like paranormal kind of things. And you know,
I guess it's a lot like not Raiders of the
Lost Ark, but Noah's Ark, because you know, this is
a religious mystery, and they make a documentary and they
travel around with theaters. And it was only one night
at the Bella Terra, so if you want to see it,
you're gonna have to wait so that that theater was full.

(11:12):
And I saw one more movie. Sam, Let's take a break,
check the traffic, and we will talk about the other
movie that is actually in the top ten this week
that I saw, and I will let you know if
it's worth you seeing. Right after this Joe Escalante Live
from Hollywood by Hollywood you mean Burkplink. All right, let's

(11:32):
continue with the show business, Sam. Yeah, I saw another
movie this week that I can recommend to you to
everybody listening all across America. It is called the Phonetian
scheme and it's the latest film from acclaimed director Wes Anderson.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
You know Wes Anderson, right, I do know Wes Anderson.
He's one of my favorite directors out there.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
He's known for his distinctive, highly styled cinematic universe anywhere
from the Life Aquatic to The Royal Tannon Bombs.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
That's a great movie. I love the Royal Tannon Bombs.
That one, Life Aquatic, beautiful movie. What was it? Moonrise
Kingdom was another great movie.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Love Moonrise Kingdom.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
And Grand Budapest Hotel is incredibly good.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
This one's a lot like the Grand Budapest Hotel if
it's the same kind of travel and you know, vague
time period in the countries that are fictional. It's it's
an espionage, dark comedy what I call it follows a
guy named Anatola Jajacques Corda played by Benicio del Toro.

(12:47):
I almost said, Benicio del Taco. That's because I'm very
hungry right now, so am I.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
I don't know if you saw the snacks that I
just pulled in. There's a drawer in down the hall
that's got a bunch of them for free.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Even holding out, I just found out about okay okay. So,
after surviving numerous assassination attempts and having a near death experience,
Korda played by Del Toro, has visions of his own
judgment day. This prompts him to try and mend his
relationship with his estranged daughter lisl played by the lovely
Mia Threppleton. And she makes the movie. She's a novice nun.

(13:20):
She wears her none costume the whole time. But she's
an amateur nun, you know, a novice, so she's just
like she's not. She just looks hot. He wants her
to take over his sprawling business empire and participate in
his ambitious Phonetian scheme. It's a massive infrastructure overhaul in

(13:41):
the fictional nation of Phonicia, which he plans to fund
and manage. And they spare no expense in like putting
this ambitious scheme together and showing you how it's all
going to take place. And then the film delves into
Courta's attempts to navigate a world full of enemies. Everybody's
his enemy, including government trying to stop his unethical practices,

(14:02):
and rivals who are manipulating the market to bankrupt him.
He travels across Phoenicia, engaging with various shady partners, each
one of them, you know, played by another star or whatever,
like Bill Murray or you know these uh what's the
girl's name that I that used to like but I
don't care about anymore anyway, while being uh yeah, and

(14:27):
so he just takes Lisa around and his hot nun daughter,
and they also bring Michael Sarah who plays a tutor,
a Swedish tutor named Bjorn, and he's awesome. And then
you know, then it's just like you know, family legacy, redemption,
moral complexities, extreme wealth, these kinds of things, and U

(14:51):
and the you know, the visual style of of Wes Anderson.
You're gonna want to see this thing. Some other people
in the cast are Hanks, how about that? Wow, Brian Cranston,
Scarlett Johansson, that was the girl that I was wow,
trying to think of that I was used to be
so into, but don't care about it anymore. And then

(15:11):
Benedict cumber Patch, how about that?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah? In the cast of dozens.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
A fan of bandersnatch.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah. He went to can Film Festival in May and
I'm not sure how it did there, But I don't
know if people are sick of his style, I'm not
I can I can use a little more. I'm still
going with it. But it's so stylized you might go,
let me guess, with just one frame, you can tell
that it's a Wes Anderson movie. Just one frame, that's

(15:43):
all it takes.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
You can kind of get that with almost all of
his films though, Yeah, every one of his films has
that unique.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
That's why it only takes one frame.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Sam, Yeah, and that that's a sign either of really
bad directing or really good directing. Maybe.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
So reviews are generally positive. People love del Toro's work,
But then people say it's not likely to convert any
new Wes Anderson fans because it's so Wes Anderson. It's
kind of more the same. But what's the most delightful
thing about this movie The Phoenetian Scheme is the the

(16:23):
discovery of Mia Threppleton, the English actress who's just twenty
five years old and is the daughter of famed painter
slash filmmaker Jim Threapleton and Kate Winslet.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yes, she made her film debutitic Kate Winslet Yes. She
made her film debut at age thirteen, and then did
a couple other things. Something in twenty twenty called The Shadows,
something called Firebrand in twenty twenty three, and Scoop in
twenty twenty four. But here she is a star. Okay, Uh,

(17:02):
and it's a it's a it's a hot nun. There's
nothing hotter than a hot nun. I don't know if
you know that. It's just so the temptations are just
are everywhere. So uh, when you see it, Sam, you'll you'll,
I know you're doubting me, but you'll I.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Get the feeling I'm going to be coming in here
next week being like that was a hot nun.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, it's a hot nun, is what he I mean?
You seem like the naughty nurse. Of course, it's just
a nurse. She's a selfless, giving person. But then they
on Halloween they make them hot. You know this is
the same kind of thing. Okay, I haven't seen it
done on Halloween.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
So she is she holding a ruler at any point?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
You know what the that would be, you know, a
next level. But she is she is somewhat of a disciplinarian.
She everything, she says about the Catholic Church is right
on with the magisterium. She's so, this is not anybody
the Catholic Church. This is not anybody who is ignorant

(18:04):
of the Catholic Church. It's Wes Anderson going realizing that
the Catholic Church aesthetic fits perfectly into his world because
you know, it's huge, and when you have these mythical lands,
times and destinations looming in every Western society, is the

(18:24):
Catholic Church if you're being true to the history of
the world. And then of course you know as they
travel around there are Muslims, Hindus, et cetera. But she
just she just nails it.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I like it when they it feels authentic.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yes, I mean he has he's got a daughter that
wants to be a nun, and he's like, oh, come on,
I have millions of dollars for you. And then she's saying, well,
I'll help you because you're my dad, but you know,
I still want to be a nun. And then I
don't want to give away anything. You're going to see it. Yeah,
the Phonetian scheme in theaters right now, Joe Scalante, let's

(19:00):
take a break. Joe Live in Hollywood. Okay, when I
talk about Miathrepleton has a hot nun, I think a
lot of nuns could be hot if they were a
makeup but they don't because they're nuns and they're not

(19:21):
supposed to, you know, be obsessed with material trappings of
pleasures of.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
This earth.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
It's supposed to be focused on the next life that
you know, where you don't need makeup. So if you
put but you know, she's dulled up the whole time.
So it's just like it's it works. And that's part
of the plot too. The mother Superior, her convent she's
trying to enter, is is concerned about this, concerned about

(19:50):
her attachment to material and not. I think she professes
her detachment for material things quite well. But the mother
Superior sees through it says, too hot to be a nun.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
I always saw people were more attractive without makeup to
begin with. But hey, everybody, you know, to each their own.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Wall, why don't you just just why don't we just
have women uh not wear makeup and not take baths
and not shave their armpits and just go all the
way with it, Sam? Why not? Okay? So the uh, well,
my priests would say, you would always say this about that.

(20:35):
Uh yeah. People ask him, is it a sin? Fathers?
Is a sin for a woman to wear makeup? And
he would answer, well, my child, it's for some women
it's a sin not to wear makeup.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
From the Sacred to the Profane sam A. Victoria Goodwin,
the ex wife of Ghost Adventure star Aaron Goodwin, is
heading to prison for helping orchestrate a murder for a
hire plot to kill him. We have covered this extensively
because this couple used to be a couple that my
wife and I would dine with Wow regularly. We were

(21:17):
not close friends. We don't make close friends with potential
murder for higher perpetrators. But you know, I mean, we
were all members of the same club and we would
we would look forward to seeing each other and gallivant.
So Victoria Goodwin her lawyers confirmed to USA Today on

(21:40):
Thursday that she had been sentenced to thirty six to
ninety months in prison following a guilty plea in April.
Now we knew that she was she had pled guilty,
but we didn't know what the sentence would be. Thirty
six to ninety months, that's a weird time. It's like
three years to more more than six years.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, that's a little broad there.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
As far as sentence, she is a little broad and uh,
which is that's why she had to hire somebody to
kill her husband for her? She did not have the strength.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
Was there anything in your time around them that led
you to believe that this is the kind of thing
that she was capable of?

Speaker 2 (22:20):
She reminded me of someone that used a lot of drugs. Okay,
you know, I.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Know plenty of people who use a lot of drugs,
and none of them are murderous.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
As far as you know. But I would say she
reminded me of somebody who was up for anything, even murder. Okay, yeah,
I would describe her as that up for anything, even murder.
At the sentencing hearing, cameras for Court TV captured a

(22:52):
clearly distraught Goodwin awaiting her sentencing. Now, why wasn't I
dvring that?

Speaker 4 (22:57):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Wow? So she she sat there very distraught, listening on
as lawyers for her husband recounted the plot in which
she is accused of hiring a hit man to kill
her husband rather than ask for a divorce. You know,
divorce is a sin. So there we have to mitigate
her sentence for her holy devotion to the Sacred Union.

(23:25):
Maybe I would have gone with that.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Well, I mean divorce is legal. I mean it now
comes down to whether you want to violate the rules
of God or the rules of man.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Well, she just went through the ten Commandments and was
picking and choosing like it was some kind of a buffet.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Cafeteria Christian.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yes. Firstly, and most importantly, she said to the court,
I would like to apologize to aarn. She had a
shaky voice reading a statement during the hearing. I am
so immensely sorry for the pain and innxiety I have
caused you and the betrayal you undoubtedly and rightfully feel

(24:06):
by my actions. I'm sorry I broke us, and I'm
consumed with regret every day, she continued, vowing to bow
out of his life forever and adding she was ashamed
and disappointed with herself. Victorious lawyers, arguing that she had

(24:26):
never been in any previous legal trouble and had by
November abandoned the plot to kill. She wasn't going to
go for it, go through with it, she says, They
urged for a shorter sentence. Aaron Oodwin then delivered a statement.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
I think it's go Oddwin.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Oh go I Aaron go. Oddwin then delivered a statement
of his own, speaking through tears about his fear. This
has led me to fear for my life. But if
you watch my TV show, I'm fear everything. Ah. I
can't trust anyone anymore. I cry every day. I feel

(25:06):
so alone. She turned me into a person I never was.
Boo Goadwin was originally arrested in March on suspicion of
two felony charges, solicitation to commit murder and conspiring to
commit murder, according to county court records. According to the

(25:30):
criminal complaint, Goodwin hired, commanded, or otherwise solicited up to
two people to commit the murder of a Ron Goadwin.
They say she conspired with a man via cell phone
communication to have her husband killed by a third party
by providing the location of the victim and providing funds
to pay for the murder. Investigators uncovered the alleged plot

(25:56):
through Victoria Goodwin's text and Facebook messages communicated with the
inmate in Florida. Oh everything gets back to Florida sooner
or later, and they discovered messages on his cell phone
when he was seized by the corrections officer in October.
So she's texting a guy in prison that we talked
about it. She's she's not bright. She texted the guy

(26:18):
in prison, Hey, can you can you pay anybody to
murder my husband? Basically that's what happened. And then they
and he's not allowed to have this phone.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Like, did she text a random guy in a prison
in Florida? She was introduced to some guy and you know,
like what has pen pals. During an interview with detectives
before her arrest, Goodwin revealed she had become aware of
the Florida inmate through a true crime documentary and began
writing to him.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Wow, so he had committed committed some crime that was
that was headline grabbing and uh, she got a hold
of him, you know, just a cold call. Hey, this
guy looks like the right guy. Uh, when her resume
was highly referred to me. She further described being lonely
and being began connecting with the Florida inmate, and when

(27:03):
asked about the texts soliciting and conspiring to murder aa Ron,
police said she denied wanting her husband to be killed
and denied remembering those specific messages. Come on, I don't
know what you guys are talking about. I don't remember that.
I know I solicited, I'm pleading guilty to soliciting the

(27:25):
murder of my husband, but I don't remember wanting him dead.
So I think you know people, Well, do you want
to know what I really think? Sam? And do you
want to know what the really the probably most likely
truth is here?

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yes? Please?

Speaker 2 (27:39):
It is Aaron Godwin opens himself up to demonic forces
by nature of his occupation summoning spirits for a living.
It's a dangerous job, it is quite entertaining, but he
takes a risk, and I believe demonic forces entered his

(28:02):
life and entered the life of his wife, and she
was in some way maybe even demonically possessed and wanted
to commit the ultimate sin, which is murder. There that's

(28:24):
why people listen to the show, Sam, because I've got
a lot of years in show business, but I'm not
afraid to tell the truth.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
The end very demonic.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
This is a demonic situation. And this guy is like,
you know, Aaron Goodwin. He's a lot of fun, he's
a really nice guy, but you know he's his soul
is in danger by nature of his occupation and the
thoughts that he's entertaining all the time, because he's surrounded

(28:56):
by an unnatural obsession with the afterlife, and not in
a great way. It's uh, it's it's to be avoided
because we people listening to me now go, oh you're nuts, Joe,
you're crazy. That's cuckoo talk. But it is better to

(29:17):
avoid it. If if because I believe this is true.
If you don't, okay, but if you're wrong, the consequences
are eternal. All right, let's leave it right there and
go to the phones. Eight seven seven five to two
oh eleven fifty. Is that really the number?

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, that's the number.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
All right, someone could call they wanted, now, they could
unblock the number. Okay, eight seven seven five to oh
eleven fifty. Now we're gonna take a break and we're
gonna check the traffic in case some protester is walking
across the freeway right now, which you know, it's only
a matter of time and.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
We'll have it.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
We got your back on that. Joe Ascalante Live from Hollywood.
Joe Escalante, Live from Hollywood. Can it's the business end
of show business? Every Sunday from five to seven right
here and k E I B eleven fifty on your
am dial. And I got more bad people the we

(30:33):
can call them celebs behaving badly. Yeah, and this one
is a celeb defending himself. Russell Simmons, we talked about this.
There was an HBO documentary called On the Record, and

(30:54):
it portrayed Russell Simmons as a cad, to put it lightly,
a cad, a cad you know, hip hop mogul. Russell Simmons, right, yes,
I do.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Uh deaf was a deaf chance.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Jam Yeah, yeah, the deafest. And he's filed a twenty
million dollar lawsuit against HBO because they made a documentary
called on the Record and he didn't like what they
said about him. So he alleges this material in the
movie was defamatory, it caused him emotional distress, and it
was an evasion of his privacy. He claims the film
deliberately omitted key evidence that contradicted this sexual assault allegations

(31:39):
featured in the movie.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
Sam what a scoundrel? Ah.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
They portrayed him as a scoundrel. But many people are
coming to his aid and saying he's a great man.
The lawsuit claims that the film deliberately emitted key evidence.
Now this is this is where this lawsuit to me
loses from the first description of it. So they say

(32:04):
that he committed sexual assault. So they and if it's HBO,
you know usually there's there's enough lawyers that they're saying, well,
what's the basis of this. Well, this this girl filed
a lawsuit against him or whatever. Here's our here's our
evidence that he was accused of this. So this is
a story of that claim of him being accused of

(32:28):
sexual assault. And maybe they're saying, we reached out to
him to find out it's true. He wouldn't talk to us.
I'm just I made that part up, but it's probably
what they would do. If I'm a TV producer, I
would reach out to someone like that and say, hey,
is this true because we're going to go with the
court record here or and the movie was called on
the record, Okay, can you talk to us about it? Actually,

(32:50):
I would have one of my research people call HM
because I'd be too embarrassed. But so they got some
basis and they accuse him in the movie of sexual assault.
So he sues he lives in BALI.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Right now, I heard it's beautiful out there.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
I heard it. Even if you're innocent that it's still
okay to live that far away from all this. You
shouldn't infer anything of that nature, okay, so the he is.
He argues that the high level executives at Warner Media,
including the CEO former CEO John Stanky, were made aware

(33:33):
of excupatory evidence that's evidence that exculpates Sam and they
knew about this evidence, but they allowed the documentary to
proceed without it. He also alleges that several civil rights
leaders and members of Congress urged HBO to reconsider airing
the film. The lawsuit notes Oprah Winfrey's public departure from

(33:57):
the project, stating that she withdrew after expressing concerns about
the inconsistencies and the accusations. The documentary, which premiered on
HBO and debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, profiles women
who accused Simmons of sexual miscontact misconduct, including Drew Dixon,
Sherry Hines, syl Li Abrams, Alexia Norton Jones, and Jenny Lemmett.

(34:22):
Simmons has denied allegations and said he has never been
violent toward anyone. Speaking with Black Press USA in twenty twenty,
Simmons said he had taken and passed nine Ellie detector
tests administered by none other than the president of the
California Polygraph Association.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
I didn't know that they associated the CPA.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
A source close to Simmons at the time said neither
HBO nor filmmakers Amy and Kirby Dick sought his input
or statement before releasing the film That's Just Irresponsible. In
an interview with CBS This Morning, Oprah Winfrey later explained
to her departure from the project, saying, Houston, I think
we have a problem here, clever, referring to new information

(35:08):
she had received. Sources close to Simmons indicated that he
believed Winfree's decision stemmed from recognition right, recognizing the potential backlash,
comparing it to the Tawana Brawley case. That person that
was like a sham case too, Tauana Brawley blah blah blah.

(35:32):
Okay from then teenies. Okay, Now, why did I say
that this case fails on the first description. Okay, they
make a movie, they have some whatever evidence that they
have statements or whatever, if someone makes a statement says
he this guy assaulted me. If he got like five
girls saying he assaulted me, you can do you can

(35:52):
report that. You have a free speech right to report that,
as long as it's clear that this is what they're saying,
and you know you're not presenting it as ultimate fact.
You're saying this is based on these stories. They're allowed
to tell their stories. Sam, Yeah, if it's not true
and they say these things, what do we do? We
have defamation? So why isn't he's suing those women for

(36:15):
saying it? And why is he suing HBO?

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Because HBO is the one that's distributing it. They're allowed
to say it freely, but it's being amplified against a
public figure.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Right and they have money. Yeah, but why doesn't he
sue the accusers? They're the ones that are saying the
lies too. So that's one thing. Why does the case fail?
To me, the case fails because his main claim that
it's going to prove his innocence or that this case

(36:47):
is a defamation case is that they were aware of
exculpatory evidence, so they didn't put I mean, if you're
making a movie, are you going to put every single
bit of exculpatory evidence into your movie. Are you going
to put you know you do? You have to. That's

(37:07):
that's what the court will decide. Now, what do we
need for a defamation case, Sam.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
We must have it must be so bad that it
makes you spit on the ground. Yes, number one, it
has to be that that it's a public figure, so
you have to well, it has to be not true. Well,
it has to be not true, right, it has.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
To be not true and has to make people spit
on the ground. Yes, Now we have this other bar
that we have to a hoop we have to jump through,
which you were about to.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Say, Yeah, the public figure, the public figure.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
So there has to be a malice, some malice, some
like some you know it's not true, and you're doing
it to like ruin their reputation, and it can be
proved like maybe I'm trying to steal I have. I'm
a rival record label owner, and I'm trying to get
people to stop signing to Russell Simmons label, and I
am having them on my label. And I cooked up

(37:58):
the scheme and I and I said a lie that
made people split on the ground so I could so
I could serve my greedy interest. That would be a
malice factor. Now he has something that is does make
people spit on the ground. He says, it's not true.
He's a public figure. I don't see the malice here.

(38:18):
It'd be hard to prove that. And then they got
to go to court and prove that he doesn't he
didn't assault these people. So he's not saying he didn't
assault these people. I mean, he is saying that, but
he's saying, here's my legal claim is based on the
fact that there was some other evidence you didn't put
into the into the case. So the question is does
it do these people just have to put all the

(38:40):
evidence in this case that they find and that's a
hard one.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
That's an interesting case.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Actually the case Joe Ascante Live from Hollywood. We got
one more hour. Stay right there is working.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
Sam, that's working.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Joe's Goolante Live from Hollywood by Hollywood, I means Birdbank.
This is two hours of the business end of show business.
We do every Sunday from five to seven on k EIB.
That's eleven fifty on year, Am Dial. I want to
stick with the topic of Russell Simmons a little bit
because it is an interesting case. His defense of he's

(39:26):
doing two things here. He's suing for defamation, so he's
got to prove that there was something that was said
was not true and something was defamatory. I think sexual
assault is defamatory. It makes you spend on the ground.
So that's my That's why I measure defamation. Now you

(39:48):
also have since it's celebrity, there has to be some molice.
Has to be some It can't just be someone saying
it just because they don't like you. They have to
have a reason or some gross negli where they knew
it wasn't true and they knew people would take it seriously,
so you can't like That's why celebrities have this extra
bar to go to if you're talking about defamation of

(40:11):
a celebrity, because you know people are used to you
look at the tabloids of saying stuff all the time.
You know, it's not like it just kind of goes
with the territory. So you have to have this other
thing that should be some malice.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
And it can't just be asking or wanting to get
money out of them. It has to be something deeper.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Right, we'll get money, Do you mean like to sell
a story.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
No, like I'm launching these accusations because I want to
get money.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Oh them, Well, that would be if you're doing it,
if they that would be extortion. Extortion is threatening someone
with something harmful that would cause harm to them if
they don't do something that they're not legally required to do.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
But what if I'm suing them actively in court with
false accusations, specifically for the purpose of them losing and
me getting a judgment.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Financially, Yeah, that would be extortion.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Okay, all right, just checking to.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Me, you know, yeah, uh so here and then usually
when you're putting stuff in court, you're not held to
this if you're if you're really putting it in court
and a court document, usually you're you're allowed to say
a lot of things in your court documents that they
that they they they don't qualify as as defamation because

(41:24):
you're you know, you're obviously if you're suing someone, something
bad happened and you have to be able to see it,
so you can't say, oh, that's that's the deformation. Well,
the person has a right to say what they believe
in court, and HBO has a right to make documentaries
based on the testimony of people, and they have several people.

(41:45):
Now these people might all be liars and they and
and what Russell Simmons is now doing. He's saying, I'm
suing you for defamation and I'm also throwing in the
court this stuff in the court about these people. And
I've got people signing affidavit saying, yeah, this one person
said she was willing to do anything to gain fame,
and okay, well that's you know, should we throw that

(42:08):
into the mix or not? Does that affect their credibility?
So he's throwing it all out there, kind of rehabilitating himself,
Like I think what he did is sat for a
while in Bally because that's where he lives now and
thought what am I going to do about this? And
then they had some time to cook up a response.
And the response is, well, we have to say we

(42:31):
vehemently deny these claims and we're so and if they're
not true, you kind of have to sue for defamation
because you're saying that's outrageous, it's not true. It makes
people spend on the ground, and then you go to
court to try to establish the malice that HBO used.
But is it wrong to make a documentary about the

(42:53):
testimony of what these girls. This is the story of
these girls, So this is their story. Can it never
be told?

Speaker 3 (43:02):
No, it should be told. It can be told. It's
just are they defaming someone in the telling of that story?

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Well, if the can the can the story of a
sexual assault ever be told?

Speaker 3 (43:15):
I'm sure it can.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
It's just this is obviously it's defaming him because it's
sexual assault.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
Was he found guilty of sexual assault?

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Well, you're gonna they say he's he sexually assaulted them,
So it's not a he has to go to court
and say it's not true. Then they're gonna go around
and back and forth and say whether it's true or not.
Now can they prove that it's not true? These girls
are saying it's true. Now they have the right to
tell their story. HBO's a right to do it. So
it's a very it's an uphill battle to sue a

(43:45):
documentarian because of the free speech issues.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Then why doesn't and he can sue and try, I'm
not sure if he'll do. You think he's gonna win
this one because he could just as easily go to
HBO and say, here's my documentary saying my side of
the story.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yes he can, and that's the way it's supposed to work.
He has his documentary, they have theirs, now if they
have some what he's saying in his in his uh,
his pleadings so far is not to me not I
mean not not establishing that these girls that that that

(44:23):
they were negligent in telling the story of these girls.
He's saying, Hey, there were some some people said they
were bad girls. Why didn't you put that in the movie?
Some people said these girls wanted fame at any costs.
Why didn't you put that in the movie. Uh, in
a perfect world, they they would pick and choose and
not ambush this guy, you know, and take one side

(44:43):
of it. They should have thrown both sides in. But
is it enough to call it defamation? Hard? It's just
it's an uphill battle. So I don't think that's a
very I don't think it's a winner, because the courts
tend to, you know, air on the side of free speech. Otherwise,

(45:05):
if you and then you got to believe the women, right,
that's the trend. You must believe these women. So if
you're saying we're gonna call it defamation, that means we
don't believe these any of these women for him, for
him to win, we kind of have to say every
one of them is a liar. Yeah, how is that
going to work? And they might all be liars. So

(45:28):
that's why I'm saying uphill battle. I think that's why
it took five years for him to to get the
courage to do something. But he's fighting back and he
is getting it. And we're talking about the fact that
he denies all this stuff and he has his own
story and that other people are saying that these women
are questionable. Now, but is that wrong to attack these

(45:51):
women in such a way, sam.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
H before knowing any real facts or details. Yeah, it
is wrong. We shouldn't be attacking anybody on this and
wait until actually finding out what happens and what comes
out in court.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Well he's attacking on Oh yeah, well they attacked him,
he's attacking me.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
That's the thing I'm those those two parties have all
right in the universe to attack each other. I'm talking
about public out you know, like you know, outcry from
people wanting one way or the other to criminalize or not.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Like on this show, we are we don't have the facts,
we have this is a movie about the story of
these women. That's what That's what HBO. If I'm HBO going, hey,
I made a movie about these women's story.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
They're not arguing the facts, They're just telling a story.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Yeah exactly. Yeah, I'm telling a story of what these
women said, and we're trying to corroborate it, and we're
dramatizing it. Got it, And that's what I do. And
that's what I did. How can I not do that?
What world do we want to live in a world
where you can't do that? Just because you didn't put
in every single thing that the other side wanted to
you to put in, I don't. It's all ugly. But

(47:04):
that's why I'm saying it's an uphill battle because of
the free speech issues at play.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Here, deeply fascinating stuff.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
I might take another look at the HBO documentary that
they're all talking about, which is called on the record.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
See that's the thing. Usually when we get into like
the deep legal weeds on a lot of these stories,
I kind of gloss over these. This story is really
intriguing because it goes to a lot of free speech issues,
whether or not, Like he's not suing the individuals who
brought the suit against him. He's suing HBO, Yes, for

(47:42):
allowing it that story, that specific version of the story
to be told. Yes, that's strange.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
That's well, I mean he's suing them because they have.

Speaker 3 (47:52):
All the money. Well, of course, obviously.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Now, in California, the statute limitations for a deformation lawsuit
is generally one year from the day of the defamatory
statement that was first published or spoken. This means that
if you plan to sue someone for defamation, you got
to file the lawsuit within one year of the date
the statement was made. So, uh, when was this file?

(48:20):
We'll find out. And this is in New York, so
I'll find I have to get the New York statute
on that. I doubt it's much different. This is five
years ago. All right, let's take a break. Well, I
checked the lob books and the traffic, and we will
come back on Joe Scalante Live from Hollywood. Joe Ascalante
Live from Hollywood. By Hollywood, you mean Burbank. Here we

(48:42):
are in Burbank. It's not so bad.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
I'm still going with the Russell Simmons story because I, uh,
you know, while I was telling you about it, Sam.
I was thinking, it's got to be a statute of
limitations on this, and it's one year. It's one year
in California, it's one year in New York. So I
don't know how he gets around that. It's one year
from when he finds out that the statements were made,
basically is what the law would be. And this is

(49:13):
a twenty twenty documentary. Last time I checked, we're in
the year twenty twenty five, so the movie HBO's on
the record is five years old. And then he's filing
a twenty million dollar lawsuit in New York against HBO,
Warner Brothers, Discovery, and the producers, alleging defamation, emotional distress,

(49:38):
and invasion of privacy. What we also didn't tell you
I'm now sprinkling other things in, is that he has
been these women already made these claims against him, and
he settled with them, and he has settlements totally eight
million dollars approximately, that's when being reported, and then they

(50:04):
had to file other lawsuits against him because he didn't pay,
according to them, So he's got these lawsuits for not
paying the settlements, and then from like two separate groups
of women, and then there's another one.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
So all this has been hanging over his head for
a long time.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Yeah, and then yours. Last year, Drew Dixon, one of
the people that has accused him of sexual assault, filed
a defamation claim against Russell Simmons for suggesting her sexual
assault claim was false. This is kind of what you

(50:49):
were talking about before. And this happens all the time.
This happened to Donald Trump. He's like, someone says he's
sexual assaulted her, and then he's as that lady's a
liar and she's ugly, and then she goes, oh, now
I sue you for defamation. And I don't think those
lawsuits go very far because you're going to defend yourself

(51:11):
and you're gonna say it's false. You have a right
to do that. If you say that whore is lying,
then you got another problem. But if you just say
she's lying, So it depends on kind of but it's
just kind of more legal tactics and lawyers going let's
throw this at him. Let's throw this at him, get
him to settle again, get him to pay that settlement,
let's increase the settlement. So he needs money from HBO

(51:33):
to pay these women. Basically, but I don't see how
he gets past the statute of limitations thing on there,
because why do we have statute of limitations and stuff
like in cases like this. It's because evidence gets old
and it's hard to get justice when evidence is old.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
So sorry, he had time to do a lot to
protect himself here and he didn't.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
He moved a balley, he did that. That was one
thing you did.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
They got internet out there.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Yeah, but you know it's like you can't be extradited.
Maybe that was that was the deal from the okay,
Oh well, in in other news, what's going on, Smokey Robinson?

Speaker 3 (52:17):
How's you know?

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Smokey? I was sued by Jane one, Jane Doe one,
Jane Doe two, Jane Doe three, and Jane do quattro.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
It's a common name.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Yeah, and they were accused him of sexual assault. They
were his housekeepers. I like a guy who can't like
have his housekeeper have four housekeepers. So they swarmed the
place because you know they they take too long. If
you only got one, you leave, you go, hey, honey,
let's go walk the dog. And while you know you
can't while lords is cleaning the house. Uh, you gotta

(52:53):
walk the dog. You gotta go to lunch, You gotta
you better, you gotta go to the movies. Sometimes you
go to the movies, you come back. She's still doing it.
It's why Nathan Felder invented the swarming technique. He would
take a bus of thirty maids to clean your house
in like two minutes.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Yeah, it's a swarming method. A lot of people, you know,
it's too much for them, but smoke, he's got four
they've they've sued him for sexual assault. He says it's
an extortion scheme. All right, and maybe it is, maybe
it isn't. Courts will decide, but he something happened this week.

(53:38):
He also filed the motion to dismiss their claims. So
that's the two things. He Last week he filed a
five hundred dollars defamation lawsuit against them. Okay, this goes
back to that. Now, do they have a right to
say they were sexually assaulted and not get a defamation claim?
They do, but they have a they have a But

(54:03):
if it's if it's false and they were doing it,
maybe this is the malice. I'm doing it to get
a judgment. But I don't think that's enough malice because
they're just you know, trying to get a judgment. But
it's an interesting another interesting case. It'll be interesting to
see how these come out, and it's important that they

(54:23):
get adjudicated so that celebrities are protected from this kind
of stuff because they are vulnerable. Everyone knows they have money,
and they know that they will pay a certain amount
of money to avoid publicity and lawsuits. It puts them
in a vulnerable position. So if we can get to
the bottom of these and say, hey, if you do
this insincerely, you could be liable for a defamation lawsuit,

(54:49):
or you could be good, or it could be like
a malicious prosecution kind of thing, like what is it
called a frivolous lawsuit? You can kind of go that
route if if someone's just really trying to shake you down,
are they trying to shake him down? Only time will tell.

(55:11):
How would you like it? I mean, while we're on
the subject, let's throw out some updates on the puff
Daddy trial. What's going on in the puff Daddy trial.
It's going to go on for a while, could go
on into July. People are testifying that, you know, witnesses,
former assistants, et cetera, saying that they there was you know,

(55:31):
abuse and drug fueled sex acts. The judge also had
to admonish Puff Daddy in court for nodding at the jury.
Don't nod at the jury if you're a defendant. But
it's intense in that court room.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
And yeah, they told they told him that if he
were to address the jury the way he was, that
they would just carry on the trial without him in
the room.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Was he why was he getting all theatrical I don't.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Know if he's again theatrics threatening him. I think it
was giving them kind of knowing nods, trying It may
have been in an effort to intimidate or try to
influence them in some way, shape or form.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Some people are saying that sex trafficking is is really
not that bad of a crime and that he should
just be sentenced to sex traffic school and have this
removed for his record.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
I can't find my room shop button here?

Speaker 1 (56:31):
What is it?

Speaker 3 (56:37):
But apparently a few celebrities names were mentioned in the
last few days. The x or, the former assistant, testified
only under the pseudonym of Mia, talked about working she's
also been ever since working for Diddy she's now been
working for Madonna, and she went over the different jobs

(56:59):
that she does form a for Madonna now, but also
text message and conversations between her and Diddy where they
mentioned Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
All perverts, all of these people. You know, you don't
want to be mentioned in this in this trial under
any circumstances, allegedly, Yeah, you just don't. You don't want
to be in the Epstein list, you don't want to
be mentioned in the Diddy trial. You just want to
live your life. So if you really, if you really
are that hell bent on getting into a freak off

(57:35):
or or an invite or wristband to get into the
Puff Daddy party or any celebrity party, you know, most
of the time you're better off just going home. Just yeah,
just don't, I mean, don't do it.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
Beyonce and Rihanna were also mentioned during the testimony on Wednesday. Uh,
there's quite a bit of salacious details going along. But
also every once in a while, whenever they mentioned just
the name of the celebrity in the middle of the court,
you're like, everybody goes nuts and say they talked about
this person, even if it's just mentioning their name and
passing in an innocent way.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Yeah, so be careful what you wish for. I think
what we have here, everybody, if you're p did P Diddy,
be careful what you wish for. He was on the
top of the world and now he's in jail.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Be buried under it. People.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
People that were at the party probably thought they were
very privileged to be there, and now it's detrimental to
their otherwise stellar careers. All Right, we're gonna take a
break now and we're gonna come back. Still got some
bad I think we're done with the salacious bad boy stuff,

(58:47):
but I got some Disney stuff too. Okay, let's uh
enter the world of who's suing who? Sam?

Speaker 3 (58:57):
Okay, who is suing who?

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Disney is suing YouTube because YouTube hired one of their
executives away to work for them. Okay, Now, should they
be able to do that, Sam?

Speaker 3 (59:17):
I mean, if there's something in the contract where it
says that they can't, we'll start working for a competitor
or something.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah, sometimes you have those kinds of that kind of
language in a contract, But according to YouTube, they don't
have that. This contract that he had over there was
at will. Do you know what an at will employment
agreement is? Yep, yeah, you probably have one currently around here. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
It's like they can fire me whenever they want, and
I can quit whenever they want. It is at will.
It is the will of the participants. So if you
have an at will agreement, it's really hard to prevent
someone from quitting and going to a competitor. Now, if
you have some secrets, you know that you have, and

(01:00:01):
they could and you and it shouldn't be divulged. I mean,
if that's not in the agreement, you know, I think
it's kind of like tough luck. It could be like
a corporate espionage claims could come. But here they're just
saying that they are, like, you know, kind of like
an unfair competition kind of claim they're making. I guess
I don't know what since it's an out will. Uh,

(01:00:23):
He's just it's just, you know, it's just hard to
make to You can't compel him to go back to Disney.
If it's an at well a contract, then have a contract.
They can fire him any time. It's kind of like
that guy that got kicked out of America and then
they everybody said he's got to come back so he
can rot in an American prison instead of a Salvadorian

(01:00:45):
prison or whatever. It's just like, you know, its just
you can't force somebody to, uh to go work somewhere.
I guess it wasn't a very good comparison, but you know,
I'm just throwing stuff out. I just want people, let
to let people know that I read the news. Okay, Okay,
so I don't I don't think this is gonna gonna

(01:01:09):
go anywhere, and I think Disney will lose this, and uh,
there's a lot of contract you know, reasons like law
school reasons I could cite. But basically, if you have
a contract that says, you know, you got to work
for like five years for Disney, then they could prevent
you from working in the industry and they could say

(01:01:30):
you can work anywhere. You can't prevent people from working,
but you can't go to YouTube and do the same
kind of thing. Because they also said that there's negotiations
where YouTube are licenses programming from Disney and they pay
license fees for it. So this guy's going to be
part of that negotiation. We don't want him on your side.
He's because he knows too much about how much well

(01:01:51):
we how much we're willing to take for the licensing fees.
If you hire him, he'll tell you all our secrets.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
Non compete agreements. I think.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Yeah, so you got to spell that out, you know,
or you got to pay him so much. He's not
gonna go to to YouTube, you know. Yeah, guess what
he's not getting after going to YouTube, Sam, I don't know,
free tickets to the park and thirty five percent off merchandise.
That's what he's not getting.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
That's true. Any employee of Disney, dude get the four
free tickets today, which is great. I love having friends
that are working for Disney because anytime I need tickets,
I know who to bug.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Yeah. Yeah, he's not getting those. So I mean, that's
just like, if you're working somewhere and you want to leave,
you got to be careful. But if you don't have
a contract that is ongoing, you can leave. But it
is really good to concern Mostly most time I don't
say this, it's really important to consult an attorney before

(01:02:54):
leaving an executive job. I left CBS and I was
not allowed to work at another network doing business affairs.
But then I got a job at UPN United Paramount
Network in the scheduling department, which is where I was
really wanted to be anyway. And then they never came

(01:03:17):
after me because I think they looked at it and said, well,
he's in scheduling, he's not doing business affairs, and we
can't prevent this guy from working, or they just didn't care.
It's just more likely who else is suing somebody? Eminem.
Eminem is very litigious. His publisher is suing Facebook or
Meta and for what Meta has to pay. When they

(01:03:42):
play music, they have to have some kind of license, okay,
and they're very complicated these web licenses, like is somebody
you know, is somebody just uploading the music on their
page and so they got and then so they don't
even know it's getting played. But then they have to
have maybe a blanket license or a or a just

(01:04:06):
a way that it is it is pegged like or
it's found by you know, bots, and then they go, okay,
you your song's getting played so many times, so we're
going to pay you so much money or or do
they do blanket licenses. It's different everywhere, so but they
got to pay something. So a lot of the bands

(01:04:27):
have collective aggregators make those deals for them, and then
they make one aggregator is going to make a deal
with with the service and they're going to say, here's
what you got to pay our artists. But Eminem usually
never plays along with that, and he says, no, I'm
not part of that. You got you got to make
a deal directly with me, and you know me one
hundred and nine million dollars right now, I just did
the math. Oh wow, yeah, that's what he says. That

(01:04:51):
Facebook Meta o's Eminem now Eminem or no. Facebook says,
we were negotiating with these people in good faith and
all of a sudden they just left the table and
filed a lawsuit. That's just you know, hardball negotiating tactics,
that's what that is. He's asking for one hundred and
fifty thousand for each song that was used without permission,

(01:05:13):
and it added up evidently. He says he has two
hundred and forty three songs that are controlled by the
company that handles their publishing, which is called eight Mile Style,
and two hundred and forty three songs people can attach
to their posts. Wow, okay, okay, so he can pull
that and I think he might have pulled that or
they might have dropped it because they're saying, hey, this

(01:05:34):
guy's becoming a problem. Let's just drop it. And you
can't attach eminem songs to your posts anymore. Yeah, so
that's one way for them to minimize their damages. But
at some point they got to make a deal with
the guy, and he is hardball. This guy grew up
in the street. Sam, I don't know if you know that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
Detroit. By the way, I have breaking news you really
Let's go to the breaking news desk right now where
Sam Zia is standing by Sam. Lawyers for Sean Diddy,
Comb's filed a letter in support of a renewed motion
for a mistrial citing prosecutorial misconduct. According to the documents

(01:06:13):
that were just filed, they're arguing that prosecution knowingly presented
false testimony in court based off of the testimony from
Cassi Ventura's friend Brionna Bongolin, who claimed Diddy dangled her
off of a seventeenth floor balcony in September of twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
So they knew. So they're going to say they're going
to present to the court evidence proving that the prosecutors
knew that was false, and they put her on the
stand anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
Yay, prosecutor normally used knowing use of perjured testimony can
violate the due process clause even if it only undermines
witnesses credibility.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Wait say that again.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
The prosecutor's knowing use of perjured testimony can violate the
due process clause even if it only undermines a witness's credibility.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Okay, so that's just you know, that's just daily, that's
just good lawyering basically, just like I'm gonna file this today,
did he? And I don't know, maybe we'll get a looky,
maybe they'll throw it out. Maybe it's that bad. And
they're also what they're a big part of that is

(01:07:29):
is flagging that for appeal. Now that judge has to
rule on that. If the judge says, come on, let's
just get on with it because this is this is
getting tiring, and that's not going to affect the outcome anyway.
So just let's just keep going. I'm not gonna do
a mistrial because it's not that big a deal. Okay,
flag it for flag it for an appeal, and then
now you have something to go this guy's rights were violated.

(01:07:52):
This is a shammery of a mockery of a sham
and he was, it's a kangaroo court, really, and we
need to throw out this conviction and let did he go?
And so they're getting ready for that right now. And
you know, it's a lot of money. But he's got
a lot of money to just you know, do everything go.
He just scorched earth, scorched earth. We're doing everything.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
Okay, interesting stuff that's going on. They've said that Cassiu
and Bana both provided demonstrably false evidence about the balcony
incident and then doubled down on false testimony to obtain
a ruling admitting admissible hearsay evidence about it as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
Well, there's a lot of you know lore's of the
hip hop, you know, mogul dangling the artist over a balcony. Yeah,
I think was it was it beaber that that that
that happened to.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
A few people. Vanilla I dangled over a balcony by
what's his face back in the day.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
I think I think I think Million Vanilla used to
dangle each other all the time, and they actually liked it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
That's that. But see it to each their own consenting
adult behavior.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Yeah, okay, who else is suing each other? Blake Lively
and Justin Baldoni still suing each other.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
For those of you who don't know this legal dispute is,
it's you know, it's stupid. But Baldoni recently responded to
Lively's motion to dismiss his four hundred million dollar defamation suit,
accusing them her of trying to extort and manipulate him
and of aide culpability for her wrongful acts. As you see,
it just keeps going back and forth, back and forth,

(01:09:30):
back and forth. The new development this week was Yeah,
that his response to her motion to dismiss it's such
a waste of time. I feel bad about wasting your
time with that, and I promise when I return, I
will not waste any of your time with that. But
I will let you know about a new ride coming
to Disneyland and other new Disney stuff that's kind of fun.

(01:09:53):
In our final segment on Joe Scalante Live from Hollywood.

Speaker 4 (01:10:16):
Joe as he's my lawyer. He don't want money. He
does it all for you and he knows what he's
talking the baton. Oh yes, he knows what.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
It's all Joe Ascalante live from Hollywood. This is our
final segment, Sam together on this Sunday evening, and uh,
it's good to be out of football season. We can
just brave the freeways and go to Burbank and have
a real show.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
It is lovely. It really is.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Now Disneyland, Sam. As you know, I'm moderately enjoy Disneyland
and Disney things, moderately in moderation. In moderation. When I
recently bought a home in the Disney Cotino development out
in Rancho Mirage, I did not buy the most expensive

(01:11:15):
house in that of the model homes. I went about halfway, okay,
halfway towards the bottom level of the spectrum, but not
all the way up to the four million dollar ones.
Certainly not because I'm not a fanatic. I just like

(01:11:36):
a a I don't know, you know, I'm getting old.
You start you start thinking about the desert when you
get old.

Speaker 3 (01:11:43):
Do they have are they going to have like a
costco inside of this Disney neighborhood?

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
Ah? Well, it's like a costco, but it's costs it
one thousand dollars a month to belong to it, and
and it serves better food.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
Ooh so better Sam?

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
Yeah, no samples, Oh no, no, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:12:05):
You stop at this spot and it's lobster thermidor and.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Stuff like that. We don't know. You know. There is
a there's something called the Artisan Club, which is more
exclusive than Club thirty three. Sam, really yes, and that
that is there at Cootino. And there's a shopping center,
a whole section of the lagoon open to the public
where you can buy a day pass and go in
this twenty four acre lagoon if you don't own a
home in the development. And it's the same big lagoon,

(01:12:29):
but you can't take your paddleboard over to my private beach.
That's evidently. And there's lifeguards on electronic jet.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
Skis like e jet skis, E jet skis.

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
Yeah, and they're patrolling the waters.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
What happened to normal jet skis? What's the difference.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
It's a combustion engine and the water is purified it
it comes out of an aquifer and gets purified. It's
cleaner than evy on wow. Yeah, now until I jump in,
until ip in it and then he gets cleaned. You know,
when it comes back out cleaner than avion Wow. Avian's
filthy evidently, but so I do have. When I'm gonna

(01:13:08):
talk about some new Disney rights, there's one Disney ride
that's free and it's more fun than any of these.
You go to Kotino. It's on the corner of like
Gerald Ford and Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra and Monterey
and that, like right around there. You go to Kotino
and you go up to the guard gate and you say,
I'd like to look at some model homes please, and
the person says, park over there, and then someone in

(01:13:30):
a Disney tag, a Disney name tag, comes out and
drives you in a golf court a golf cart for free,
out to the model homes. And you can run around
in the model homes and hang out and all you
want looking at them and going rummaging through them. And
it's a nice afternoon and it's free, and they don't
judge you, and they're not trying to say, hey, you
know you got to buy one of these. You know,

(01:13:51):
they might even give you a die coke.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
Really.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
Yeah, so that's my that's a good date.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
Can say I was told there would be diet coke.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Yeah, ask him for dike. Oh nice, But you might
going to address nice.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
I will, I will, and I'll even wear Mickey ears.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
Just like, no, you don't want to do that. That's
that's not Oh that's right, Beaux Paul. Yeah, in in Cotino,
they will not let you put any Disney things on
your house. Like everything has to be it's like Truman Show.
Everything has to be uniform in a certain way. But no,
you can't like put a big goofy statue in front
of your house and say I love Disney. You can't

(01:14:28):
because it's a way to defend some of the neighbors
like me. So yeah, go down there, code that's my recommendation. Okay,
there's a gonna be a Coco themed boat ride at Disneyland.
Sam excellent.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
Seriously, the visuals on that movie were phenomenal. If they
can recreate that on a ride, I'm down.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Disney has confirmed the location of the new Cocoa attraction
in Disney California Adventure. It will be built near Paradise
Gardens Park and Pixar Pier, primarily in areas that are
currently backstaye so it's not going to steal away from
much that's already there. Construction will begin in fall of
twenty twenty five, and isn't that what we're in. No, No,

(01:15:09):
we're not. We're not there yet. The suggests This suggests
an accelerated timeline for the project. The ride is described
as a boat ride with the audio animatronics, drawing inspiration
from classics like The Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of
the Caribbean. And contrary to rumors, there will not be
a section where someone comes and packs your boat with

(01:15:33):
illicit contraband and then you try to get across get
out of Columbia and into the United States with it.
That was just a rumor and that's not happening. Okay,
there's an Avatar experience in the Disney California Adventure. What
does that mean? That means an Avatar themed land is
confirmed for the Hollywood Backlot area of the Disneyland California Adventure.

(01:15:56):
This project is still in the early development, but Disney
has stated it will bring Pandora to life in a
brand new way, different from the Animal Kingdom version to
make way for the expansion of the Monsters Inc. Mike
and Sully to the Rescue attraction that will close in
early twenty twenty six. So the Avatar ride in the

(01:16:18):
Animal Kingdom Disney World's probably the best ride disneyas okay,
and so the fact that they're saying it's different from that,
you know, okay, all right, And then they got like,
also they're going to build over there a new eastern
Gateway transportation hub to support future growth, an all new

(01:16:42):
parking structure and transportation hub will be built on the
east side of the resort. This hub will include approximately
six thousand parking spaces, shuttles, ride share areas, and improved
traffic flow. A pedestrian bridge will connect this hub to
the new Esplanade Arrival Experience, improving access to the parks

(01:17:03):
and downtown Disney. While construction on the main structure isn't
expected until the fall of twenty twenty six, it's a
critical prerequisite for the Avatar Land. So a lot of
stuff's going on over there.

Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
Nice I'm curious to see how it all boils out.
It seems like they're adding a lot of stuff to
California Adventure, which already had some cool stuff with the
Avenger's Campus and stuff like that. So that should be
a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
And part of the seventieth anniversary celebration going on right now.
That's the big thing right there. It's the seventieth anniversary.
So there's different food items. There are the Paint the
Night and Wonderless Journey shows that they do with the

(01:17:48):
water fountains and.

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
I like those. I like their Christmas one.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
And then yeah, anyways, so a lot of reasons to
go to Disneyland right now in a while. But I'm
kind of overdue.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
And can you walk me in, like like put me
in a little tiny like suitcase and just wheel me
in and just let me let me loose run around
on in throughout the park.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
I would. I would put you in the wagon with
the covered wagon that I have, But I got there
it was banned.

Speaker 3 (01:18:23):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
I like to think I can take credit for the
banning of the wagons. And I've seen people just just
bring the wagons up and I've seen them get scolded
and told to turn around.

Speaker 3 (01:18:31):
Yep. And I'm proud of you for doing that as well.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Now it certainly wasn't me, but.

Speaker 3 (01:18:38):
You're an inspiration to us all. Joe, stop take credit
where it's due.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Yeah, so, uh, not's very farm. Don't forget about that place?

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
Oh yeah, I can't.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
And then there's been a bold statement by Magic Mountain
that they're going to double their attendance the next coming years.
They were saying, we're gonna we're gonna throw so much
stuff at this this place, so many rides, as so
many attractions there, it's going to double their attendance. Now,
I say, you're crazy unless you unless you do what

(01:19:12):
everybody wants is you need Kiss to perform live in
concert at Magic Mountain to bring people back to their
memories of Phantom of the Park, the TV movie from
the seventies that is where Kiss did perform. And then
you got to have puppet show with spinal tap opening

(01:19:34):
for them too. Then I think you get a lot
out of people over it over at Magic Mountain. Otherwise
it's well, I mean for me, I live rub By Disneyland,
so it's fun for me, but I can't go to
Magic Mountain and I don't have a Raider's jersey. All right,

(01:19:56):
And I'll leave you with just a taste of the
greatest song ever written Joe Escalante live from Hollywood, and
we will see you next week, Sametime saying back Channel