Iran, Carolyn Bessette & Albo Calls Grace Tame 'Difficult'

Production.

Hi, I'm Hannah. And I'm Sarah. And this is Big Small Talk. This is the podcast where we try to cover the entirety of the news cycle from the serious to the frivolous all in one place. Because loving pop culture doesn't mean you don't understand politics. And today we're gonna be talking about Iran, Love Story FX, Albanese's difficult week, the Brit.

It's Four Corners Investigation and the Paramount Warner merger. But before we begin today's episode, we would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we're recording today, the Gadigal people, and pay our respect to Elders past and present. But before we get into the actual news, Hannah, what is your personal headline this week? Well, you know, I talked about my part last week and it served me well this week. A lot of people messaged about the part.

And it's sort of just like given me this sort of newfound confidence. I've I bought a button up that I'm wearing today. I feel different. It's a really crisp white shirt. It is, thank you. We are actually going to talk about Love Story FX, uh, which is the new Caroline Bessett. And um J F K Jr.

T V show and we have accidentally both dressed exactly like a I didn't realise that'cause I haven't seen the show yet, but I've heard about it and I suddenly feel super cool. So thank you for saying that. Um I was in Adelaide over the weekend for work, but I had the nicest time.

I feel like I've had I've had a really nice week. It's a big couple of weeks. I'm going to the UK next week, but I feel like I'm trying to just enjoy my new part and shirt in the meantime, you know? You're really glazing over the UK part of things. Do you wanna Do you want to speak about that? It's a pretty big one. Yes, I am going to the UK because the Oxford Union, which is like

I hate I hate speaking like this, but it's pretty cool. It's very cool. It's the most prestigious debating society in the world at Oxford Uni um has invited me to do one of their debates. And the debate is on whether social media should be privately or publicly owned, essentially. Um and so I'm gonna go and debate Although people would suggest I would argue for public ownership.

I'm gonna be arguing for private ownership with the caveat of having guardrails that are independent. So m my view is like essentially everyone you can see it on YouTube, I'm gonna be very excited about it. Um but my view is obviously we shouldn't have people like Donald Trump.

in charge of social media. We see what that happens, what happens to say with truth social. So my view is gonna be private with guardrails and like regulation basically. But I'm sure it'll be more exciting than that. You know me, little freak loves to make something a bit stuffy, very exciting and passionate. So I'm like stoked. I've never been to the UK before. Oh, time is beautiful. My first trip. And if you're wondering, I'm going via Singapore.

So I know people will be worried. I'm gonna make it there. What's your personal headline of the week? My personal headline of the week. Okay, I have two quick things. One is I've been very humbled. I have not been out in I'm gonna say months. Out, out. Out out. Like I ha even over the summer I had a very relaxing time. Yeah. And I had so much fun on the weekend going out for Mardi Gras. And it's taken me days, days and days to recover. And it wasn't even that big a night.

I look sick, I sound sick. We've both so embarrassing. We've both got a sweaty sort of like we came to the office this morning and we're like we're on the brink. Like it's like the the symptoms are not not great right now. Do you know what it is? I think when you're so busy work wise.

And then you have just one thing to tip it over the edge and you're like, and now you've done it now. You've you're asking for it. But I did really I had I had it was worth it. It was fun. It was worth it. And then the other really, really exciting thing that happened last week. Maisie Peters is on is on small talk this week. She came into studio. I Interviewed her in person. If you don't know who Maisie Peters is, uh, I've been listening to her since I was 19 years old. I was such a fangirl.

Uh I actually started listening to her in Oxford on my gap year. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're an OG fan. I'm an OG fan. That was her first song. She s still wasn't independently like she put it out independently. She's just blown up. She's pretty much Ed Sheeran's protege. She's also open for the Iris tour. She's open for Coldplay.

She's performed at Wembley Stadium like eight times. And she literally was in the studio with you. And I went and saw her concert as well. I went with Warner and I got to go to Cafe Party and I was like, wow, this is the fucking life. That's the day, right? Yeah. At all History of Man, if you haven't heard it, that's my favourite of her songs. You are right, it's a one of the greatest bridges of all time. I love it.

Huge fan. Yeah. That was awesome. I can't wait to hear it. So that'll be out on Thursday. If you're going through a breakup or need any love advice, that would actually, is it that the episode to listen to? It might crush you, but In a way that's uplifting. In a way that's productive. Yeah. Sometimes you need to be crushed. And like she's tiny. She's like a button.

There's a photo of us together and I'm gonna have to crop it so you guys will never really truly know, but it looks like I could eat her. That's how I feel every day on this fucking podcast. But actually it would really help because people would be like, you know who she is, five seven. Anyway, uh, fantastic week. Let's do it all again.

On Saturday morning, the US and Israel launched illegal strikes on Iran in a major joint military campaign called Operation Epic Fury. Operation Epic Fury? That sounds like you're Gamer Boyfriend's Discord server name. So tacky. What the Department of War or some shit.

Operation Epic Fury, it's literally like a they have a basketball hoop on the door in the room. It sounds like they asked Chat GPT. So I wanna say at the top of this story, it's fast moving. By the time this episode comes out in seven hours. It will have changed. There is no way to keep up with what's happening, and we are doing our best to stay on top of it. And I'm sure we'll be covering this in the coming weeks as well.

But really what we need to go back to is that Donald Trump ordered these attacks without congressional approval, and that is a blatantly unconstitutional act from the US. So this aerial assault came two days after US talks with Iran on Tehran's nuclear program had ended without a deal. So talks were ongoing. Like we need to state that at the start. This was not really a situation where

The discussion had broken down. There was kind of, you know, no amicability. There was no like ability to move forward, and that was the only choice. in the middle of talks, you know, obvious they hadn't reached a deal. Then shortly after explosions were reported in Tehran on Saturday, Trump went on social media, of course, and accused Iran of carrying out what he called an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder against the United States.

And he said that Tehran had repeatedly refused to abandon its nuclear programme and was developing long range missiles that were capable of threatening, you know, Europe, US forces overseas. and potentially America directly. Trump also was pointing to, you know, the nineteen seventy nine seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran.

Um when Americans were held hostage for four hundred and forty four days. And then he also referred to the nineteen eighty three bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut that killed two hundred and forty one people. He blamed Iranian backed forces for that. We remember we covered this earlier in the year as well, that Trump had pledged to kind of step in and stop Iranian authorities who are cracking down on

protests. We covered the story about this economic crisis in Iran, the protests where the internet had been cut out and we knew that thousands of people were murdered by the government. Um, but we didn't know how many because reports were so hard to establish. And we also last year in June covered the US strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities in what was called Operation Midnight Hammer. Another

telling name. That and and and what's really, really important and please do not forget this, if this is one of your key takeaways from this segment, at the time when those strikes landed, The US, the White House, put out a statement saying that Iran's nuclear program had been obliterated. The claim to preventatively stop the establishment of nuclear weapons.

This is from the same White House that claimed they'd already obliterated them. Yeah. Plastered on their website. Yes. Huge vomit. Yes, Et Media made a great post breaking that down yesterday. It's just, it's something that we need to be able to recall really quickly when we're met with this rhetoric. Now, those strikes in June preceded a ceasefire in a twelve day conflict between Iran and Israel.

And that began with Israeli air raids on Iranian nuclear, military, nuclear facilities, military and infrastructure targets. And Tehran responded with. hundreds of rockets and drones, so there was just a back and forth that was occurring. Iran's foreign minister had condemned that attack, saying it was wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate by the US and Israel, and then Tehran launched a series of counter-strikes across the Middle East.

Now, Trump also told the world via a truth post that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed. Iranian state television have also confirmed that now, hours later, and senior officials have also confirmed in Iran. Now, I want to take a second here as well to say. Iran's supreme leader led one of the most oppressive regimes in the world for thirty-six years. And this is a man in his late eighties. But when I we talk about the regime as well, we need to remember.

In this room, we are sitting as two white women who live in Australia and we are not the voices of the Iranian people. But I also think it's really important to declare that one of the key problems that's unfolding on social media right now. Is that there is this claim and belief that, you know, and this happens a lot. This kind of happened with Venezuela as well. There's a lot of comparisons to be drawn here.

There's a lot of comparisons to be drawn throughout the entirety of history. Oh, and also another key example to be drawn is the Iraq War, which we just released a two part Big Talk series on. Which we were texting each other going like, Oh my god, this feels so prevalent right now. It's prevalent just to see the way the states operates and the fact that it is

Such repeated rhetoric, almost identical sentences coming out of the White House. That I think just recently deep diving that and now watching the news today, I was like Wow. It's really not been that long. I think what's happening now, there's this really problematic belief and this is fueled by social media. It makes it so much harder to cut through the noise.

But that when we talk about this, you know, killing of the Supreme Leader, um, we we need to understand that Iranians are not a homogenous group. They're gonna not gonna have one singular view. There are people in Iran who are celebrating widely this killing at any cost, whether it's the US intervention, whatever. There's lots of people that are going, This is great And that's so valid. Yes. There o is also

grave concern for the fact that the US and Israel are coming in and forcing regime change, which is harder than just killing the Supreme Leader. Yeah. I think something to say earlier in this segment as well. Uh something that is really drilled into all of us when we're consuming media and the news and um especially Western media.

is this belief that you cannot hold two truths at once. And you just pick a side mentality. And everything is binary. And I think that's re like the more I do this podcast, the more I learn, the more I realize that's actually a really oversimplified and quite dangerous way of thinking, that's what they want you to do. They really want you to pick a binary because it'cause it makes it simple and it makes you feel like you have to pick a side

Well you can completely listen to this story and go, that guy was a dictator and he sucked. Yeah. There is no mourning. There is no. And I can also say I'm not a fan of what Trump has done, obviously, and I don't think that's right either. It's not binary. Yeah. And it can be that there is a net positive for Iranians here that we don't have that supreme leader in power anymore. But what does US

prolonged intervention with Israel mean. Yeah. And also, we're going to go through some of the like unlawful kind of frameworks we need to look through about Trump's actions. But also are we just paving the way for Israel to become more powerful in this area? And also w who dictates who gets to have nuclear weapons as well? I don't think we will ever have the answers here. And I think that's what was really interesting about going back to Iraq as well, because it's like

Unfortunately, what history has shown is this doesn't work. This doesn't actually help people in the long run. We don't know what's gonna happen here, but I would be quite shocked if it is a positive outcome. Yeah. Now Iran is officially in forty days of mourning and we have, you know, it has Iran has interim leaders that are continuing to green light retaliations against Israel and the US.

They're this brutal regime does retain like this is what we're talking about, as like a solid base of support on the ground, despite these recent mass protests. And so there are a lot of conflicting viewpoints from Iranians and we need to be able to hold that. So now we see the US and Israel, you know, escalating an imperialist war of aggression, murdering civilians, destroying cities in the pursuit of regime change.

And we obviously sit here saying we want Iranians to have that freedom and that liberation. But there is significant doubt that the US and Israel will be able to achieve that. You know, every expert opinion I have read over the course of the weekend has said, you know. The way that this regime operates is not through one leader. No. There is a clear it's a very institutionalized regime that of is affected at every level, right? And so overturning that, fundamentally changing that requires more.

than US and Israel coming in and bombing and killing civilians. You know what? Something that this also feels relevant in the conversation is, you know, talking about Afghanistan. Afghanistan, they they went in, dismantled the government with the best efforts to put democracy in. What actually happened is Afghanistan became more of a haven for terrorist extremism.

And then it w fell right back into the hands of an awful party afterwards and and was overrun by terrorism. And that is heartbreaking. Yeah. There were so many lives and civilian lives lost in that. Yeah.

It again, it's history repeating itself and it's it's tiring to sit here and know that everyone is just being asked to pick a side, essentially, because it is so much more complicated than that. Actually something we never even mentioned on the podcast, but like the news in the last like two weeks I think it was was The Taliban in Afghanistan has now just come out and said

That men are allowed to beat up their wives as long as they don't break bones. Yes, I've I saw that headline. I'm really glad you raised it. I wanna talk about the retaliation too here that we've seen. So Iranian missiles have reached Tel Aviv in Israel, as well as military bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. And they've eas even reached Europe as well with two missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus, home to British military bases, and both were intercepted.

There's also like a luxury hotel in Bahrain was hit, and a hotel in Dubai also was. Iran has also targeted a massive oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, and they've also fired a barrage of missiles toward Israel, including at Benjamin Netanyahu's office. And then on Monday Israel launched these large scale strikes on Tehran, and Israel's military has issued a new evacuation warning for residents of the southern suburb of Beirut. Now, I wanna return to

Trump and Congress and approval and the legality of this. So the US Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. This is something that is attempting to limit the presidential powers, right? Separation of powers, the executive, the legislature, like this is just an attempt to kind of control who has final say, who has red button access, essentially.

But at the same time, the Constitution does give the president broad powers, broad authority as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. So this allows for, you know, military action, airstrikes, troop deployments without an official declaration of war. So there is a great area here, but when we talk about a full-scale war, that's the distinction that we can clearly make. So really what's happening here is there's going to be a debate about what this amounts to.

But I would suggest that commencing an escalation like a i I would describe it as an imperialist war of aggression on Iran, where the US is teaming up with Israel to do so. I understand why that would be an a very clear unconstitutional argument against Donald Trump. And that's before we even get into the UN founding charter.

you know, the exceptions for when a person when a country can take action as a state against another state, the exception being self defense, that not being met here. And so that there is an international law breach and a constitutional breach at a domestic level for the US. Also while we're talking about irony, the fact this is from the leader of the Board of Peace. Yeah. And also from a man who claimed to not start any new wars. Yeah. But we also need to talk about the people who have died.

The Guardian has reported that at least two hundred civilians have been killed since the weekend. The Iranian Red Crescent Society has said at least five hundred and fifty five people have been killed in Iran. And again, these are numbers are going to change a lot because it is hard to get formal reports on the ground given these internet ac access issues as well. One bombing that you will likely have seen, which was one of the first. On your feeds on Saturday.

Was a missile strike on a girls' elementary school in southern Iran. I was watching this story unfold on Sunday morning because I was reading headlines. From six hours ago, from two hours ago, where this number was just rising. I think when I wrote o about it for cheek on Sunday morning, the death toll was at like eighty that was counted. I believe now that at least hundred and sixty five people incl and that includes the children.

were killed and an additional ninety six were injured. And again, these are girls in primary school. We also know that four US service members have been killed in action, and at least five have been seriously injured according to US Central Command. R and remember, when Donald Trump went came forward to announce what was happening in Iran, what U the US and Israel were going to launch these, you know, acts of terror, I'm gonna call them, he also said, you know, we will lose lives. It's just

There's sort of nonchalance about it all. Meanwhile in Israel, I we know at least nine people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a synagogue bomb shelter. And in central Tel Aviv another missile hit several buildings, killing one person and injuring at least twenty others. We know so much is happening. We know that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

has, you know, his killing has led to mass celebrations, mass protests, mass mourning. This is an unfolding situation that we need to keep watching and that we need to be able to talk about with the nuance it deserves. I also briefly want to speak about at a local level our Prime Minister's response. Yeah. Anthony Albanese, I think Lame Stream reported on Saturday when I was opening my phone, I saw that he they said he was the first world leader.

I was about to bring this up because I read that as well. Yeah. He was the first world leader to come forward and issue a statement. Which is very unusual for Australia. Usually as a you know, we would be s describe ourselves as a middle power along with like Canada and the UK and countries like that. Um, and usually we wait. We usually wait back to follow to follow suit, really. And it was fascinating to see his statement launched so fast.

Because, you know, w what he said was we support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran continuing to threaten international peace and security. It has long been recognized that Iran's nuclear program is a threat to global peace and security. The international community has been clear that the Iranian regime can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

Mm. He released this was a joint statement, the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Miles, and who he said stands with the brave people of Iran in their struggle against oppression.

One of the things I wanna say though is that we've seen our leaders come out in the days since we've doing press conferences and saying that, you know, this was action taken by the US and Israel that we were not aware of prior. But I do wanna say about this statement, there's if there's a lot that can be said. It is so fascinating when you haven't been provided with the reasoning for the US and Israel to attack.

to release a statement justifying it and to go for this nuclear program, to go for all these kind of old lines when the US has clearly said the nuclear program was obliterated. What I also find interesting is quite a few other statements from other world leaders is saying we're not sure about this. Yes. You know, it's quite clear that.

We do not want instability. We need to check the receipts on this. We're like, they are issuing concern. Yeah. What I find interesting about Albanese's statement is going in to just support. Not even like a a note of like Ooh Are we sure about this? And I also think you I'm compl I completely agree with you. He could have waited. He could have spoken with our other allies, you know. Um, but no, he launched without understanding the reasoning.

Mm-hmm. And what's then happened is that, you know, when asked questions, I watched him on 730 with Sarah Ferguson last night. And to hear him just kind of whenever he was asked about Um the illegality, you know, whether it was lawful, he just pushed back and said, you know, that's the Israel and the US's justification to provide, not ours.

But it's so interesting if you're not willing to speak to that, to release a statement in support of something that you don't know or or aren't able to argue whether it was lawful is fascinating and disappointing. And I think there was completely unnecessary given that other, you know, middle powers, other allies of ours have been more hesitant. I just

It's it's so hard to watch, I think, for Australians. This will be a a very much an unfolding story. Yeah. I I think Trump has already said that he predicts the fighting will go on for weeks.

I predict longer. Yeah. We don't know. We don't know. And it also has disrupted, you know, there's a lot of economic disruption that we could speak to. And there's a lot of travel disruption and things, there's a lot of safety warnings for Australians traveling, so make sure that you check if you are planning to travel in the next few weeks. Um, but again, this is going to be something unfolding and I think it's really fascinating to watch how Australia is involved as well.

To pivot from the US, the Brit Awards happened and they were thoroughly enjoyable. What a pivot. What a pivot. So the Brits is one of the biggest nights in British music, and it was actually held in Manchester this year, not London, and that was the very first time. ever that it happened, and Manchester train station I thought this was quite cute. Excitedly changed their name from Deansgate to Olivia Deansgate. Oh, beautiful. I needed that.

And the night belonged to Olivia Dean. She received four awards. She got Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Pop Act, and a share of Song of the Year with her duet with Sam Fender Raid Me In. One of the best songs. Beautiful. She absolutely swept. She also performed Man I Need on stage. Something I'll say when I was watching clips.

Of the night is that she really genuinely looked like someone actively enjoying their dream coming true. And she made a post about it saying that she was a student who attended the Brits ten years ago. So it was that? Like she was like, and now I've won these awards and I perform like it was just this like beautiful moment. W i no, she really did look Pinched me. And I just think there's something so magnetic about an artist.

who visibly loves what they do. And every time the camera was on her, you could just feel her excitement. And like she had this like, can you believe this expression the whole time? And not in an annoying way. Like'cause you know sometimes it feels a bit put on. Yeah. It seemed

So genuine. No, I think there's something, and this could be a segment all of its own. There's something about Olivia Dean, whenever we speak about her, it's so positive. It's so seamless and authentic. You know, the way we speak about her, I I think really speaks to the fact that she is so herself.

There's nothing her celebrity and yes, it's also because there's a light in her eyes that a lot of celebrities are missing nowadays. And I think that's because of the way of the world, the way of misogyny and celebrity and fame in in public figures a as young women.

I think Olivia Dean is this is rare example of genuine sunshine that's come into this take up space. You know what? I think that the album, The Art of Loving, could not have come at a better time. It's and it's something she said in her speech. She's like this album is about loving in a in a time that the world feels so loveless. And it I think it was just a breath of fresh, fresh air for all of us to be like, yeah, actually let's put some positivity back into this.

Um returning superstar Harry Styles kicked things off with a performance of Aperture from his very highly anticipated new album, Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally. Please go watch the performance. Have you seen clips of it? No. Wait, okay. I want your live reaction. I'm really scared because I don't like the song. What? Yeah, I'm not a house music girly. I'm not gonna You know a song also just got teased, I think it was in the last like two days.

Fred Again premiered it at one of his shows. So he's doing a song with Fred Again. It's so scary to me. It's really good. So you've been to Fred Again concerts since I've been. Yeah, I love Fred Again. Okay. That was fun. I'm obsessed with him. I want his pants. I want him. I don't know that song. That whole performance really did something. Can I can I say how much I love that after my little criticism I gave? Because when I went to his last concert the last time he toured.

I left and I was at the very back. I was like noseblades of like the core stadium. And I left thinking He's so fun, he's so beautiful, I love his music, right? But I left feeling the gap between how women are expected to like have a stadium tour and have ten outfit changes and like have fireworks and have and have seventy dancers and performers and do everything all the time.

And then I saw Harry Stars and I went, He didn't do that. Seeing that performance I went, Now I wanna go to the concert. No, I that was huge. I watched that and I now desperately need to find tickets. No, that's that is And it felt like he personally addressed every concern I had. Also, if you want another wreck of the week, go watch his royal court with Brittany Broski. Yes.

Okay. Oh my god, I'm gonna play a little clip because I watched this as well and I was like, wow, I really haven't seen him in the media in a while and apparently I'm not over him. Could I offer one into the the ring? Oh please. Why? Actually no. You know what? No. No, actually. No. I'm a serious person. I don't deserve it. You said on Nard War. Oh fuck. Is there anything else you're lying about? Yeah. This hairline though. No. I'm gonna play this song from the album.

What the fuck is your problem? That's pretty iconic. It honestly just keeps going. I watched the whole thing and I was He's a star. You know, he's a star and he he sounds like he lacks media training and that's what people like. Him and Olivia Dean radiate in similar ways and I can't believe they dated. I don't think those people are meant to be together though.

You know, I don't think people no, no, but you know what I mean. People who are both like that are not destined for each other. I do see where you're coming from from that. Yeah, thank you.

Mark Bronson received the outstanding contribution to Music Award and he thanked Amy in his speech. And I think the Guardian was right in saying that you can pretty much draw a straight line from Ronson's retro soul instincts to like Ray today. Yes. I like that completely. She did such a good performance. She's so freaking good. Um, also, can I just say on the Mark Ronson performance as well, I thought it was kind of crazy that Bruno Mars didn't show up for Uppertown Funk.

Like he has an album coming out as well. So I did think But maybe that would be Sometimes when they have a press tour coming up for a current album they just want to go to ground beforehand and have like an exclud an exclusivity and scarcity around. Potentially Dua Leepa did join him though and she's just the coolest, hottest person alive.

And the other coolest, hottest person of life is Rosalia. I love her. I love her new album so much. If you haven't heard it, it really merges like classical with almost like opera music mixed with hip-hop in Spanish. It is incredible to an amazing descriptor. It is so good. And she also had a surprise contribution to her performance from Bjork, who performed a verse of one of Rosalie's songs, and it was also um Bjork's first time performing on s performing on stage.

on the Brit stage in more than thirty years. Whoa. And Rosalia also won International Artist of the Year. Which is pretty big considering she was up against Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Chapel Roan, Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Lady Garga. Like that's a pretty stacked category. And in her speech she said, Let's keep celebrating otherness, let's keep celebrating different music, different cultures and different languages.

I know that it's yeah, I should shout out Bad Bunnies here at the moment, and I feel like everyone's been loving it. He went to my old local, the Rusty Rabbit. Did he? Yes. Fuck, I would have lost my mind if I saw. Benito. Our old office was next door to the Rusty Rabbit basically and I used to go all the time. Uh another thing while we're on the performances though, uh somber Mid performance at the Brit Awards had a random man crash the stage and then push him off the platform.

Uh which, you know, he looks stunned in it. And there was a lot of debate online about whether it was staged or not. His reps have confirmed it was staged. Bit of a s I love a good stunt. I did see that. I did think it was real, and then I went to the comments and saw it was staged, and I went, Oh, that's kind of sad, if so. Like that's a random way to get views.

Yeah, but also I guess I think it's a bit of an homage to the Brits as well, because that used to happen quite a bit back in the back in the day, back in its heyday nineties. Comedian Jack Whitehall was the host, and Jack joked that the Brits had hired the best in the business to handle censorship. in case anything chaotic happened on stage, adding, We've got the guy for the BAFTAs.

Jack Whitehall, I feel like, was huge in like twenty eighteen. I didn't realise he was kind of circulated still. He was like the dominant force on reels in twenty eighteen. I didn't really realise he was still a thing, to be honest. Really? But he still comes up quite a bit of my thing. Um so

What he's taking a dig at in that joke was the recent BAFTA controversy, which we didn't even get a chance to talk about on the podcast given the insane news cycle. But what happened was there was a man called John Davidson who is a Tourette's campaigner. whose life story and struggles with Tourette's inspired a film that was acknowledged at the Baffeters called I Swear.

And John during the BAFTA shouted a racial slur at the Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who were on stage presenting the first prize of the BAFTA. Awards. Yes. It really was not managed well. Um Delroy said that he wished someone from Bathur spoke to him after the incident and also

I think what was really sad is that for those part of the film, they feel upset because they wanted people to understand that these outbursts are involuntary and do not reflect their beliefs. And the BBC has apologized for failing to censor. I really do think that was on the Baffeters in the BBC. Because they should have done more to be prepared for that. Yes. Especially given that that was a possibility. Yes.

You know, it's an incredible film and I would hate to see that become a punchline or a conversation that derails the point of the film. Yes. And also like I think that what's happening in the media, a lot of people are kind of blaming John.

and kind of saying like, you know, he has control but and that's actually lacking awareness around Tourette syndrome. And I think he also raised concerns. He's been so apologetic and so forthright in speaking to his concerns around being placed close to microphones. um and the fact that the B B C you know, it wasn't live, they could have edited it out. It really could have been edited. Other things were edited out. The calculation there around what is kept in and who

feels harm. But again, it's that thing of like where blame is placed, who it shifted to. And how we need to actually navigate these conversations and how Michael and Delro should have been spoken to after that incident. Yeah. Another thing that Jack the host did was have a a pretty clear swipe at at James Blunt while introducing him. joking that he's the thirtieth in line to the throne, but by next week he may be twenty nine.

And that is a nod to James Blunt's very long-running friendship with the royal family. So he's close with Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, and Prince Harry. He's attended many royal weddings, and he is married to the granddaughter of the eighth Duke of Wellington. I mean, I didn't know that. That's crazy. I forget that. Also Blunt played piano while Alex Warren sung ordinary.

I was like, this is there's so much going on. That's a lot. What I will say, I think that in previous years, the Brits have had to rely on international star power. I don't think they needed it this year. They're doing no, and again, like British music is huge.

Huge. But uh it's always has been. But I do feel like the last five years has been an American lean. Yes, there has been. I agree. And I you're right. Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Lily. Harry Styles. The fact that like The fact that Alex Warren was performing when we could have had Lily Allen doing one of the most talked about albums of the year's performance.

That I was like, actually, you guys were good. You had the star power on your own. But it's it's still kind of a funny conversation because like even us saying the last five years have been dominated by the US. Like, I think we should focus on ourselves. True. Like Australia's a long way behind the UK. Like, um, watch out for yourselves there. Genuinely.

It's been a big week for Anthony Albanese. He's faced a bomb threat, went on Karl Stefanovic's podcast, and called Grace Tame difficult. That wasn't even mentioning Iran as well. So frankly, a massive week. I wanna start. Thank you, producer Helen, who's put in a very fun fact to start this segment. That the ABC's Politics Now podcast wrapped it up pretty well. In one of their episodes' titles saying it is a difficult week for the PM so I've absolutely

In saying at the top of this episode a difficult week for Albow, taken from that funny joke. So thank you to them. I want to start with the security threat at the lodge last Tuesday. So there was a bomb scare which forced federal police to evacuate the PM from his official residence on Tuesday night at six PM last week. He was at a secondary location for about three hours before he returned.

And that threat was linked to the Shen Yun Group, which is a classical Chinese dance and music group. They're banned in China and they were going to hold concerts in Australia in the coming week. According to the ABC, an email was sent to the organizers of a local Shenyun Chinese dance group falsely claiming explosives had been placed at the Prime Minister's property.

There was no evidence. And I've repeat, I think this is one of the sort of like tendencies that we send to hear with this is like this kind of conclusion then drawn that the Chinese government's involved. There was no evidence that the Chinese embassy or government was linked to this whatsoever. And the ABC's reporting on this has been great. And the email essentially said.

The threatening email said large quantities of nitroglycerine explosives have been placed around the Australian Prime Minister's lodge, located on Adelaide Avenue in the Deacon area of Canberra, Australia. If you insist on proceeding with the performance, then the Prime Minister's lodge will be blown into ruins and blood will flow like a river. I think that this also happens in a broader context of increased

threats against politicians, federal politicians specifically. Actually there's data from the Australian Federal Police that has also been spoken about in the last few weeks in relation to all of these kind of occurrences where there have been increased death threats, threats of violence at level at the Prime Minister and other politicians.

Those threats have nearly doubled since 2022. But also just even acknowledging the difference between 2022 and 2024, incidents rose from five hundred and fifty-five to a thousand and nine. And the last, you know, twenty-five and twenty-six. have been even worse. I think when we talk about the tensions, the lack of social cohesion, all of these things are impacting how we see our politicians, but also the way that people feel entitled and inclined to engage in acts of extremism.

The Prime Minister also appeared on Carl Stefanovic's podcast this week. Now, Carl Stafanovic's show has only been running for just more than a month, I think, maybe almost two. And a few comments This is the first time we've spoken about it on the pod. Yes. Crazy. I think so, yeah. I think he's had a really interesting guest list so far, which is worth noting. So he's been dominated basically by

right wing guests. One Nation politician Pauline Hansen was the first guest. Barnaby Joyce, liberal shadow minister and First Nation Senator for the NT, Jacinta Price, and anti-immigration podcasters have been just some of the guests. Now, the same day as this bomb threat. Alba appears on Car Stefanovic's show, which was filmed at the Lodge. Alba was the first Labour politician to appear on the show. It was it was kind of seen as a big get, but

You know, I think I'm not alone in saying that a lot of what's been circulating about commentary on Carl Stefanovic's show is that there's a very clear feeling that he's trying to emulate Tucker Carlson Tucker Carlson field. I find it interesting because Carl is also the host of the today show. Breakfast TV is very down the middle. Safe. This transition is fascinating to having this really right-wing edge. Carl, I'd love to come on.

Just as a personal announcement, I'm gonna campaign to get on the pod. I think no, I know, but I think it's really important that instead of going uh-uh, we go bring on some different guests. Because I think it's very easy to kind of go like, I don't want to go near it. But I'm like, no, actually I want to engage. And I I had the opportunity to go on the Today show and meet him. Three days before his first episode with Pauline was live.

And I sat down next to him and said, Congrats on the show. Um, Pauline, Sunday live, wow. And he was really um coy about it, I would say. Really? And I was surprised. And I just think it's kind of interesting. I'm I'm

Carl, if you're out there, if you're a big small talk phone to the show, I'm not sure that you are given your run of guests. I'd love to come and have a chat and express my views. I wonder if Albo is now gonna be the first guest in a line of Different types of guests, and he's just kind of filtering through different types, or if it goes back, I think it will go back for a bit because I think he copped a lot of backlash for having Albow on.

Even as well, you established a very interesting audience with those first few episodes. And there's something about, you know, people are reading the comments before. Listening to it. Yeah. Like that's most the entertainment. No, and and one of the things that was happening during this kind of stream on YouTube of it was there was all these comments, people saying anti Semitic things, people publishing really violent, dangerous rhetoric that was deleted, that was removed.

And was promoting Australian neo Nazis. Like that's some of the commentary that was appearing that was having to be removed. from that section. I think, you know

the comment section, the top comment on YouTube was I'd rather read the comments than watch the interview. And I think that speaks to like a l a lot of the audience, right? But I think the part that's got everyone and that made a lot of headlines this week was what he said about David Pocock, who's an independent senator for the ACT and probably

I would very well liked. Thank you. I was gonna say probably the most popular politician in Australia. Essentially, during this interview Al Bernese went at David Pocock and basically he called him he called him someone who promotes grievance, a grievance politician, which is also something he's referred to Pauline Hansen as in the past, which is it's sort of a terrible thread to draw, I think.

But it was interesting because what Carl was raising is comments about, you know, Australians paying more tax on beer than mining companies were for our national resources, specifically the gas industry. Albanese clearly at first thought it was the Greens that he was referring to and said, like, you know, they want to shut down all of their industry.

And then it was clarified that it was Pocock and he kind of shut it down by saying, He's a grievance politician, he cherry picks. Like that was kind of the tone. David Percock made a video in response and it's really worth playing. Pocock's not one I would go up again like No, he's not.

But only'cause he's so good at socials. Like he he is pumping the socials. I love that that's how So Jen said, I would not challenge his Instagram reel buddies. Like, you know, like I would not challenge that man's engagement. I'm a big fan of Cocock and his team. I think they're brilliant. I think his socials cut through like no one else. Think David Pocock is uh someone who seeks to promote grievance.

The PM's accuse me of grievance politics for pointing out that we pay more tax on beer excise than multinational gas companies are paying for our offshore LNG via the petroleum resource rent tax. One of the things I've learnt in my time in politics is that when some politicians don't want to debate a policy

They just get personal. I usually take that as a sign that you should definitely keep talking about this issue. You know, David also does a good job in the longer form of that video, he then speaks to the fact that yes, Albo is right that mining companies do pay some form of tax.

but there's a particular kind of attack. It's called P-R-R-T that David is focusing a campaign on right now. So if you don't follow him on socials, go and watch some of his videos because he wants everyone to write to their, you know, local member. to get that moving because I think it's it's a really big opportunity for Australians to find more wealth and more, you know, resources socially if that wealth is redistributed to us for our natural resources.

I now wanna talk about probably the biggest moment of the week though. Gosh, yeah. I think we wanna talk about the biggest moment of the week that's dominated headlines, and that was Anthony Albanese's comments during a rapid fire one word answer question series that he received at Future Victoria Summit, which was hosted by News Court publication The Herald Sun.

Basically, it sound it is what it sounds like. He gets a name, a person, a reference point, and he has to respond with a one word answer. Word association game. It's a terrible game too because none of these things should have one word answers. It's it's a design to have a gotcha moment, right? Here's just a few examples of what he said. To Donald Trump, he said president. To One Nation voters, he said frustrated. Pauline Hansen, he said divisive. Australia Day, he said great.

Um, women with Islamic State links, he said they made their bed they're lying in it, so he ignored the one word game. to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, he said grub. When asked about Grace Tame though, he said difficult. I don't want to offer my thoughts just yet, because the first thing I want to do is also incorporate his response the next day. So speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Albo then apologised, not for saying difficult, but if it was misinterpreted.

He claimed that the what he was referring to by saying difficult was that Grace Taman had a difficult life. I just want to say that my opinion has to come from that looking at both the initial and the response. Because in many ways I think that The response from Australians there is At least own what you've said. When I saw the response I just thought it was a weird way of justifying it. But it's that's not true.

That's such a that's such a reparation. No, but even if it was true, that still doesn't make sense to me because if you're saying that someone's had a difficult life and you're acknowledging that for anyone who's been a victim of sexual assault, that is difficult. But They don't wanna be described as difficult. They should be described for like They're really fucking brave. Yeah. Or moving on or being resilient or you know, being an advocate. Yes. There are like a

thousand other words. Yes. If that was the point you were tr even if that was the point you were trying to make. I agree. And I think also that what's hard to distill here, I think, is that for me I looked at it and when I saw he was at this news corp sponsored event and I was I was looking at the kind of context. I was thinking like

Did he think that he was just kind of in the right crowd for that answer? And then when he stepped outside of that context, that bubble, suddenly it was like, oh my God, I've misread the national response here. It felt very Scott Morrison slipper.

It felt very man who has is out of touch. Who was really focused to playing to a particular crowd right now. Exactly. And has forgotten the rest of the country. I made this video about it the next day because my my thing to say is I think it's is as simple as Right now, Pauline Hansen's numbers are climbing. And this is someone who is sort of contorting himself to fit what he believes the nation wants.

And I think what hurts the most is that there are so many women in Australia who felt let down and also Even if you disagree with some things that Grace Tame has publicly said, she is someone who has built her life fighting for the rights of children, fighting for their safety and protection.

For the Prime Minister of the country to speak about that that way about a former Australian of the year, it's misogynistic, you know? And I think that needs to be called out. And I don't think anything we're saying here is fresh, but I think it's interesting to speak about in the context of his response, his maneuver to try and avoid accountability. And I also want to mention Grace Thames

Rebuttal and kind of response. She basically said, you know, dude's quoting Scott now, exclamation mark, exclamation mark. And this was in a comment section under a post by Ep Media. She said, Spare me the condescension, old man. We all know what you meant. A badge of honor anyway, a confession that I've ruffled him. I actually really liked what she re shared to her social media, which was um a post that said

Difficult is the misogynist code for a woman who won't comply. History tends to call her courageous. That was awesome. I think that might have been Harry James's post to her, who's an amazing advocate as well. Yeah.

Binge worthy or boundary crossing the Kennedy debate around love story FX. So Seemingly everybody right now, or at least definitely in my feed, is watching Ryan Murphy's new show Love Story, which is about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bassett's relationship, as well as their tragic death in a plane crash in nineteen ninety nine. Genuinely, I think I've seen about a thousand and one CBK inspired outfits. I love Carolyn Bassett. I have had the CBK

coffee table book as one of my prize possessions for years. So if anyone comes at me saying I dress like her, like no.

I was originally I have been doing that for years. This headband has been on me since year ten. That's actually true. You know, the show like seemingly everything Ryan Murphy touches is controversial and there is a clear ethical debate about how to approach a story like that and if even if you should at all For context, we know that J F K Jr. was the son of President J F K who was assassinated.

uh and also the son of Jackie O, also the sister of Caroline Kennedy, who we know and love as the US ambassador to Australia for years, and also the mother of Jack Schlossberg. Our queen our queen. I think is somewhat similar

to JFK in the way that a lot of people swoon after Jack. Drawing very important tethers here. Yes. Especially after his Vogue photo shoot that I think we posted years ago because everyone kinda lost their minds over it, but he w was a political writer for Vogue and he also creates very funny videos taunting Trump and JD Vance, as well as his cousin RFK Junior.

Uh he has a lot of political commentary that's great and he's also announced that he'll be running for Congress. Yeah, I've been following his campaign really closely and also his sister Tatiana just tragically died. Yeah. And it's been a really tough period for that family.

But we know that there is this everlasting fascination with the Kennedy family. They are considered, I would say, the closest to like American royalty. Even while watching the series, I found myself endlessly Googling and like trying to put a family tree together and like discern what was

From the T V show and what's real life. So if you didn't know, JFK was one of nine children. He was born to a self made millionaire many times over, who made his family fortune on Wall Street, in real estate, in Hollywood, and in liquor distribution.

His whole thing to his children was that they had to be successful and they had to give back. And there was like an enormous amount of pressure put on these children, but they all really rose to the occasion. Um, but as I said, within a devastating amount of tragedy that has now been coined the Kennedy curse, which I actually think was coined by Ted Kennedy. I think this is important to know.

when discussing whether or not a show should be made about them. Also I suggest that we do it for big talk. The Kennedy curves. Oh my God. But even that feels explor like I'm not sure. But I think discussing like the family and what's happened. Like there's an interesting exploration of them there with that that could be done in an ethical way, I think. Yeah. So JFK's brother Joseph died in a plane crash in World War II. His sister Kathleen died at twenty eight in a plane crash.

Uh JFK was assassinated obviously in Dallas. His brother RFK Robert was then assassinated while on his presidential campaign trail. His brother Ted drove off a bridge, killing a twenty eight year old woman called Mary. His daughter also died of a heart attack. JFK's nephew, the son of Robert and Ethel David, died of a drug overdose at twenty-eight. His older brother then died in a skiing accident.

J FK Junior and Carolyn Bassett obviously died in a plane crash. Robert and Ethel's granddaughter died of an accidental overdose at twenty-two. Robert F. Kennedy, so JFK's brother's granddaughter, went missing in a canoeing incident.

RFK's estranged wife Mary died by suicide during their divorce battle. Jackie O died of illness. And then of course, as you mentioned, heartbreakingly Tatiana Schlossberg, who is the daughter of Caroline Kennedy and the sister to Jack died of a red died of a rare form of cancer at 35 in November last year.

After releasing a truly heartbreaking essay to the New Yorker. It was great. I'd highly recommend going and reading it. I highly recommend going. It's called like Battle with My Blood. Yeah. And um Jack actually recently made a comment about Tatiana and said her last words to him were you better win.

Uh even just hearing that list, I don't want to do that as a big talk. No, it it is an unfathomable amount of loss on a world stage. But if I was to talk about the series directly, it stars Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr. and Sarah Pigeon as Carolyn. The executive producers actually said point blank that the show was never intended as a takedown. They said

We were always cognizant that they were real people and there are people that are still touched by this who knew them or were around them. They were beloved both by America but also by their friends and we hope we did them justice. Jack Schlossberg, I think a lot of people would have seen this already, was very quick to call out Ryan Murphy and said that he was profiting off his family in a grotesque way. Interestingly, Ryan Murphy then hit back, and I believe it was on Gavin Newsome's podcast.

And he said it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you don't really remember. Schlossberg then took to Instagram with a screenshot of Murphy's comments alongside text overlay that said, Ryan Murphy, say it to my face. He then said, My earliest memories of John were him calling me Jack a lantern and the nudist, picking me up from school in his Pontiac Convertible. I remember being the ringbearer at his wedding and the day he died. I remember Wycliffe singing at his funeral.

More memories are passed down from stories like the time he locked himself out of a car at an intersection and asked the guy screaming at him if he could borrow a golf club and smash the window to get the keys, and then did it.

You're making millions of John, making a public spectacle of it, but won't contribute any of your riches to the causes he championed or the legacy of public service that he represented. I think it's a good statement. I think a lot of people really backed him in that. I mean I think it's One of those things where, like, all the time there are going to be shows and t and movies made about the lives of people that you know their families don't consent to. And it is that question of like

Are you allowed to make it if you haven't consulted the people that remain and know them and love them? Like Imagine it being out of your control where a TV show is being made about your relatives that you have no say in. What I found interesting, they actually asked production why the hell they didn't think to consult anyone that actually knew them. And they had an interesting response. They said

When you do shows like this, if you talk to one person, one person can't speak for the entire family. Certainly that's true of the Kennedys. There are so many Kennedys, but also you feel an obligation to their point of view, to something they may say that you may find contradictory. Someplace else. Yeah, well you're also gonna get ten opinions from ten people about how the show should be done and how they should be represented. So I understand almost

Like I I get that. I still think when you have like living people that are related that they should be at least consulted. Yeah. Sarah Pigeon, who plays Carolyn, also spoke on it recently directly about Jack's comments. You know, Jack, I I don't know what it's like to have a TV show or a movie or a book written about my family and I I understand that his sensitivities and I I fully support him speaking his mind. I I think that our intention in this the focus was quite narrow in in terms of

it always came back to the relationship between John and Carolyn. Um and while you do understand their lives before they met, which is integral into understanding the relationship to each other, that was always their foc uh our focus. And it was done with r uh respect and I think you know and I I felt the same I felt the same fears of in terms of if uh that we were going to sensationalize this.

And then as I got on board the project that could not be, in my experience, further from the truth. What like you've watched the show. What do you think of it? I look, I I am enjoying watching it. I must admit I do like when Ryan Murphy does an American story. I think he does a much better job of this than I than I find his other shows. Like I think O. J. Simpson was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I found a really interesting article in the Hollywood Reporter written by a woman called Lisa DePolo who worked quite closely with JFK Jr. She wrote an article that was pretty much titled I Thought I Would Sob, I I Laughed. And I found it a really interesting read because I think she made a really good point. So she worked at J F K's magazine, George, right? So J F K

Junior had a magazine. Actually, I just want to say on that, he is so big, small, talk, coded. He pretty much started a magazine to blend pop culture with politics. I saw the post about this. Like I saw all of the old school. I'm gonna post a uh uh like Harris Elliott because he like he's first cover was Cindy Cindy Crawford dressed up as George Washington. And he would have celebrities on the cover. And the whole thing was he kind of believed that if anyone was gonna make politics cool,

He had to combine it with pop culture and he had to be the one to do it. Like he was the one to blend that. He was the sexiest man alive. You know. What I found interesting in what Lisa DePolo said was he started a magazine for Christ's sake. He wouldn't miss something that was so clearly part of the Zeitgeist. Everyone's talking about this. It's the same reason he invited Staff to a dinner party with a big screen TV at the Racquet Club the night that Monica Lewinsky blabbered to Barbara Waters.

Even though he was visibly uncomfortable and was squirming through the whole thing, but of course he watched. And I think he would have hate watched Love Story. Interesting. Yeah. She also said that he would have hated the portrayal of Jackie Owen it, which was actually played by Naomi Watts as well, I have to say.

that didn't I didn't really buy that, but he said that he would have loved the way they portrayed his wife because they did Carolyn, you know, for someone who's so mysterious. And as, you know, Lisa is someone who knew Carolyn said they they c they captured her. Yeah, fascinating.

Hollywood is shrinking again with Warner Bros. taking a deal to merge with Paramount. So this comes after months of behind the scenes bidding. We've spoken about it on the pod before, but Paramount Skydance now looks set to take over Warner Bros. Disney. Warner Bros Now look set to take over Warner Bros. Discovery in a US a hundred and eleven billion dollar, that's a hundred and fifty six billion dollars Australian deal.

Which is substantially more than Netflix's original offer or deal, which was US eighty-two point seven billion. Whoa. Also worth adding here, Paramount is led by technology air David Ellison. who was also known to have very close ties with Trump. And Trump even publicly has hinted, and this was previously, if you remember this,

that he might help push this deal through and then later had to backtrack and say that approval would ultimately have to sit with the Justice Department. Oh, not Trump saying he's gonna behind it and then having to admit there's a separation of powers, even though that's clearly not anymore. There's also a massive concern in this whole conversation about the political influence this would mean for newsrooms. So under Skydance ownership,

It's a worry that Warner, which also owns like CNN, changes hands, then the ideological changes will also follow. So frightening. Um but for context as well. Not so long ago, Hollywood had the big six, which had six major studios. Disney brought most of 20th century Fox and then suddenly it was the big five. And now if this deal goes through, we're basically looking at a big four. That's Disney, Universal, Sony, and a Paramount Warner combo.

So what actually happened here? Netflix was circling Warner for months. They even s you know, as we said, struck a preliminary deal late last year to acquire key parts of the business, which was the studio, the film library, and HBO. Then Paramount came in with a higher, more aggressive offer, about a$31 per share compared to Netflix,$27.75.

Netflix then walked away. Their reasoning was it just really wasn't worth it to them. They said it was a nice to have, but not a we must have at any price. Yeah. What does Paramount then actually want out of this? What do they want here? So their CEO said that they plan to scale up and that they're aiming for thirty plus movies a year to keep both Paramount and Warner operating as distinct labels.

I I don't buy that. Um, but the pitch is that combining forces will make them stronger against streaming giants, especially in a world where content libraries are everything. But and and I would say this is always a part that follows. They're also planning billions in cost savings, which typically means massive, massive job cuts. And I guess like then what is the flow on effect for movies? The main thing is that

There are now very major players and very few major players who now control the majority of what we watch. Anytime power concentrates like that is really frightening. Potentially. Like what I've read is that there could be a more franchise heavy strategy to guarantee financial returns, but that also means continued pressure on mid budget and experimental films, which is

I think sad for art. Yeah. It it is sad for art. It's sad. It's good for the Avengers and it's sad for art. It's kind of like the right? Like that's what we're talking about. But I also, you know, I've been to the movie theaters a few times recently because I've been so excited about films that are coming out and controversies that are surrounding them. But what does it mean for cinemas?

This is a really interesting part of the conversation because I think at first you think this is better for cinemas. I ultimately don't think it's great. Basically, Cinema United, which is the peak body representing movie theaters, was very publicly against the idea of Netflix buying Warner Bros. and That makes sense because Netflix is a studio that raises red flags because in Netflix's entire model is obviously built around streaming and not going to the cinemas.

And so Paramount taking over sounds like sounds like a safer option as they have a long history of theatrical releases and they understand the cinema model and they still rely on box office revenue. But and I was reading this in the ABC. Box office numbers haven't really bounced back since the pandemic. So before twenty twenty, the US domestic box office would regularly top eleven billion a year, and now it's only crossed the nine billion mark once. Whoa.

And when Paramount and Warner combine, that single studio could control up to 40% of annual domestic box offers. Oh. Which is, yeah, what the fuck. Cinema United's argument is basically this, that historically, when studios merge, fewer movies get made. Not fewer blockbusters, but fewer mid-budget, diverse, or riskier films.

which means less art to fill the movie screens and that's less time in cinema. Mm-hmm. Also I think it's interesting that Warner Bros just had this huge year. They pulled thirty Oscar nominations for films like Sinners and One Battle After Another and Paramount got zero. It'll be interesting to see Mark Harris, who is a Hollywood historian who was quoted in the ABC, basically called.

the thirty movies a year promise a fantasy and his prediction is that Warner Bros will slowly get absorbed and then eventually fade out altogether. That's devastating. Yeah. It's yeah. This is what's like I'm trying to make the story as

basic as possible, but there's like fifty different avenues we can go in in this. Like this is a really huge story. Also it is hard because when you're talking about a merger between, you know, and I I liked the Oscar comparison there because I'm like, oh that makes actually a lot of sense that we've got

Paramount on z Paramount on Zero, and that might speak to the kinds of films they're making versus like Warner Bros who like pursue like the higher kind of forms. Yeah. Um, but it it's interesting. When we talk about a merger, a lot of it is speculation about how the corporations and the entities will work together and which parts will get absorbed and which parts will disappear and thrive. Like we don't know yet. We don't know. And it's also important to note that none of this is done yet. Like

The US Department of Justice is still reviewing the deal and regulators globally will have to take a really hard look at this. So it's developing story, but yeah, it looks like it's definitely gonna happen.

Okay, we are now at the QA section for this week. If you don't, please do follow us on big small talk underscore pod, which is where you can submit questions to us or message us. Kelly asked a question for this week, which was have you seen the Four Corners episode? Yes, and I think that Kelly is referring to the one around from last Monday night around Melbourne surgeon Dr. Simon Gordon.

A massive episode. There was a seven month long investigation by the Four Corners team. And if you haven't watched it, you can watch it on ABC Ivy. You can go back and and visit this one because this is a a huge moment, I think, for women's health in Australia. think if you're someone that struggled with your reproductive health, who struggled with, you know, endometriosis, with PCOS, with the range of experiences that so many women in this country unfortunately have.

this will be familiar in so many ways his story. And what was scary about it, I'll get into some of like the high level parts of this and what the outcomes have been already. But I think what's so scary about this story is that so many women are ignored through medical misogyny. They don't have their pain and symptoms taken seriously. But this kind of episode focused on another

Sinister element of the medical system. And this is that basically what this episode uncovered was a surgeon in Melbourne at a private hospital. who was repeatedly performing gynecological procedures. to remove tissue and organs from young women for severe endo who didn't have traces. There's one end which is like women being ignored, and there's the other end which is excessive surgeries for something that doesn't need that to happen. It's so scary.

So scary. Oh my God, that's horrific. And essentially what this Four Corners Deep Dive did, and again, Louise Milligan is a fucking brilliant journalist um on this story, but there's also some articles on ABC that go through the investigation, which I highly recommend reading. But they interviewed colleagues, they interviewed patients, and what they uncovered at Epworth Private Hospital.

Also I wanna say at the top as well, when the hospital discovered Simon Gordon was being investigated, they told him to go on leave last year in October and he actually retired from practice that weekend, I think, knowing what was coming. He also maintains before I go into this that he has always acted ethically and responsibly. What this episode describes, explores, examines is, you know, catastrophic failures.

in surgical practice, which includes unnecessary surgeries, so these allegations of, you know, invasive surgeries, removal of organs, so like the uterus, ovaries on women who did not have clinical needs. Regulatory failures. So wait, sorry, they were removing the uterus of women with the ovaries who didn't need to have them removed.

Like what I'm talking about is like God, that breaks my head. No, you like absolutely go and watch this episode. If you're a woman listening to this, the majority of our audience are women. Make sure a man in your life watches this. Yeah. This is not I think we constantly frame women's health as a women's issue.

This impacts men. Our reproductive health benefits all people. There are so many men that thri like every man in some way or another benefits from the reproductive health of women, right? This is so important. Sorry, my mind is blown. There's there is someone who's really close to me in my life who actually had her uterus taken out. That was such a complicated and horrific surgery.

And not only that, but psychologically took a toll as well because it feels like such a big part of your yeah womanhood. Yeah. And especially if you're a young woman who then, you know, can't have children. Oh my god, this makes me so angry. You're like the Sarah's like in tears over there basically. It's really distressing, right? Like it's Also like

there's so many elements of this, right? But, you know, there's regulatory fails as well. So there's also the need to examine how, you know, concerns were raised by colleagues, by former patients to the health regulators, so OPRA, which is the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, to the hospital directly, and that he was allowed to continue practicing. And how I think this also speaks to the nature of private practice and, you know, healthcare in Australia where

There are a lot of people who are kind of averse to healthcare generally or who are on a pipeline towards kind of being against Western medicine. And I see that the health practice, like holistically, doesn't want to report on other

practitioners because they fear of speaking out that it will kind of undermine trust in the healthcare system further, or that they'll be at risk as another practitioner. And so it's really, really brave some of these practitioners who were speaking out and who have come out since. But also important to say that The Vic government has actually responded really strongly. Initially, Four Corners reached out to the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler.

And he said the allegations are sickening and he wrote to the Victorian Health Minister and that ha the hospital has commissioned and so what we do know now is that the private hospital has commissioned an external review into its own clinical governance after Four Connors kind of contacted them about investigating him. At a state level, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen, who has shared her own story of endometriosis as well.

Said she was sickened by this discovery, by this reporting, and has announced that the government has formally referred allegations against Dr. Gordon to police. But yeah, there's also gonna be like regulation reviews. There's gonna be, you know, there's a lot of independent M MP speaking out about this, but it's obviously an ongoing story, but a really important one. Thank you so much again for listening to this week's episode.

Please remember to tap the bell, follow us wherever you're listening, leave a review, follow us on Instagram, or buy a ticket to Domefest at the end of March if you're in Sydney on the 29th. Thank you again for listening this week. See you next Tuesday.