(upbeat music) - You're listening to The Parding Shot with H. Allen Scott. (upbeat music) - It is August 16th, 2024. And we have reached the end of yet another week. And perhaps Donald Trump can take a little bit of a clue from Blake Lively and Justin Valdone and hire his own PR crisis manager after that Elon Musk interview. But before we get to any of that, today I am joined by comedian, writer, and my good friend, Elliot Glaser. - Hello, Elliot. - Hi, friend, how are you? - Well, how are you? - I'm doing just fine. - How are you feeling after this week? - Tired. (laughs) Is it tired because of your personal life or the news? - I think the news, although boy, I feel like it could be so much worse, you know, if things hadn't shifted course in the past month or so. So in that sense, I'm feeling optimistic, but yeah. I don't know, I'm just tired in general, I guess. I mean, it's okay to be tired. - It's the dog days of summer. - It's the dog days of summer. You are with your niece right now, which explains that there's any children, noises in the background or anything. You are not being held hostage by a child. You are actually in the presence of a child in an enjoying way, which I love that. Well, let's get to some stories from the week because there's so much that is going on. First off, Blake Lively versus Justin Valdone. Now, I know before we started recording, you were like, you have to explain this to me. And it is a wild, wild ride of a story. So let me just set it up, how it all started. So they both are in the film It Ends With Us, which is based on the best-selling calling Hoover book. And the film version, the promotion for the film version, people started to see that Justin Valdone, who was also the star and director of the film, he wasn't doing any press with any of the cast at all, which isn't always so strange, especially if they directed the film. Sometimes they wanna stand out on their own and do their own thing or whatever. But then social media people started to notice that he was not being followed or he was following them, but they were not following him on any social media, on Instagram or whatever. We got the other actors. The other actors and crew and whatnot. And so that led people to wonder, is something going on with this? Well, it exploded this week in that Justin Valdone just recently hired a veteran PR crisis manager, the person who worked for Johnny Depp, which is, that's when you know you're at a level of crisis, that is a red flag, you need help, you need help. But then also, people on social media have started to scrutinize Blake Lively's press for this and some of her old press as well, sending out videos online of her being maybe somewhat aloof with interviewers. There was one that's gone viral since that is her, she's Blake Lively is very obviously visibly pregnant and I don't know if it was announced that she was pregnant at that point, but you could say. And the interviewer congratulated her on baby bums. I think I saw this, right? She said, "Nice congrats on the bums." Nice bums, on the bums. Blake Lively said, "Congrats on your bums or something?" Yeah, yeah. And it turned into a very sort of antagonistic conversation and very awkward conversation with the interviewer. And listen, I've been in those conversations where sometimes the talent is maybe a little bit awkward or even perhaps confrontational with some of their responses and it can be uncomfortable. And part of me is like, we're both just trying to do jobs here. Just answer the question. What she said was not remotely offensive, not remotely encroaching. I don't really have, I don't know. I don't have much patience for that kind of behavior when you're being interviewed for a project and all you have to do is sit and answer questions and I'm sure, I know it gets tiring at a certain point, but to be that, I don't know, confrontational, even if it's passive aggressive. It's like, "Oh my God." And she's with Parker Posey, who is just more playful, I guess. Yeah, and it seems like they're talking to each other and not the interviewer, which also is very uncomfortable 'cause there's another person in the room. Sure, yeah. But then also, the things that, I mean, TMZ reported this week that Blake Lively felt uncomfortable on set and that she felt that she was dealing with baby weight that Justin Baldoni was, that shaming her basically is the essence of the thing. So there's a lot of reports of a lot of friction. I wanna know what's your take, 'cause none of them have confirmed anything other than Justin Baldoni hiring a PR crisis manager and no one's confirmed any of them. I don't know, who is Justin Bald, like what is he from, I'm not familiar. Yeah, that's the other thing. He kind of came out of nowhere. So Justin Baldoni, I mean, he didn't come out of nowhere. People have known about him for a number of years, but he's been in a bunch of projects. He was most famously in "Jane the Virgin" for, I think, five years. And then after that, he was in things like "Five Feet Apart" and he was even in the sweet life of Zack and Cody back in the Disney Channel show. So he's been around for a minute and he's been kind of just like, I mean, I'll just be real, he's been a hot boy actor for a little bit, you know? It's just interesting that he's like taking up all these articles, like all this talk about him and I guess not for good reason, apparently. Well, it's because this is sort of his shift into being more of an O2, if you will. More of a director, more getting to a different place in his career and this film. And apparently there were, I mean, there's even rumors that there were two different, so Blake Lively is also a producer on the film and there were two different cuts of the film. There was his edit of the film and then she hired another person. Oh, wow. To come in and edit it. We don't know, I don't know if it's been confirmed, which edit is the one that exists in the world, but whatever edit exists in the world, people are going to see this movie. I mean, last weekend, it had like $50 million, which is it only had a $25 million budget. So the film is a hit. Do you think it's a hit because of the PR or is the book, like-- Well, see, no, that's what I'm, that's what the book is massively popular. Colleen Hoover's books are just insane. I mean, she has like a couple on the New York Times bestseller list always. Like she's insanely huge. But that said, I do think the film is authentically a hit, but I also, the cynic in me and the media critic in me kept wondering, is this all for PR? Right. Is this all for-- If so, congrats. Yeah, if so, it worked because like it definitely, it definitely worked out for them. But there is like a tone deafness. Now, in a lot of people are pointing out on social media and this is the other thing that I want to speak a little bit to that while I don't, I don't give a fuck about either of these people. I'll be honest, I don't. I don't care about Blake Lively. I don't care about Justin Belldoni. But I mean, I'm sure they're lovely people. I don't know them personally at all. I would gladly interview them someday. But I don't necessarily care about what they're doing. But what is so fascinating is online, particularly on X, which is a cesspool of craziness. But there's a lot of people who are in massive support of Justin Belldoni talking about how during the press tour that they did for this film, he was talking about the story of the film, which deals with domestic violence, which deals with abuse. And he's telling a woman's story in a delicate way. And really being, I would say, respectful to the story, whereas Blake Lively, as has been shown from many of her interview clips, has been more flippin'. I mean, there's even one clip in which a reporter is talking to her about the importance of the story and domestic violence and respecting that and respecting the women of who have those stories, et cetera, et cetera. And Blake Lively goes into some sort of tangent on what it's like to meet her or something. And then there's one response about, "What are you excited about tonight's premiere "of this film and this film getting into the world?" And she's like, "I'm wearing Britney Spears' dress "from whatever VMA thing you're from." And there's just like a detachment of the story and what it's about with the star promoting the project. - That's an interesting take pretty sortily. - Yeah, but I wonder, because it seems like a lot of these clips are being edited or being focused intentionally going after Blake in a way that to me feels a little sexist, feels a little bit like two things can be right at the same time. She can be a Louvre actress who says crazy things and maybe is not necessarily on message, but also have been mistreated on set. Like two things can be true at the same time. - Sure. - So I wanted to get your take on sort of the insanity that is Twitter's reaction to something like this. And if it holds any weight in the conversation. - Well, I don't, I mean, in the past, I probably would sort of write it off as inconsequential, but unfortunately, I mean, well, I don't know if it's fortunate or not, but I feel like social media has created this parasocial relationship where people can not only attach themselves to the lives of the people that they, you know, covet or don't covet or hate, but also can actually en masse, insert themselves into a narrative. And it's like, unfortunately, that's proper. Again, unfortunately or not, you know, that's certainly what's happened here. And I think that can be really scary. On the other hand, I also think it can help, you know, push forward good messages when they need to be pushed forward. And, but there is such a, there's such a quickness to, you know, to burn people, you know, to cancel the burn or tear down people in a way that is so quick and almost thoughtless now, you know, where you just run, that threat is more real than ever before. And yeah, I mean, I think it's all, I think all of the social media, but specifically X is really impactful now. And that's very significant. And I think different than it was maybe even five years ago. - Yeah. Yeah. And it's so interesting that there's no, to me, the conversation on something like that, there's no gray area. It's either black or white. You either love gray area. - There's never gray area. - There's no gray area and there's no room for, I mean, to me, I'm like, are we surprised that Blake Lively maybe is not the most coherent messenger for a message, like a film like this? Like, are we surprised? - I never really understand why anybody would put it upon. I mean, I'd say this as an actor, but like actors to shepherd messages. Like, I know we're talking about it a little bit later about like celebrities with politics and the DNC, but I think there's something so unfortunately, just a little odd and bizarre to attaching narratives to actors and expecting of them. - Or celebrities in general. - Yeah, that's what I mean. Like expecting them to shepherd messages or be more than what they are. And so, but that being said, like, when you're the producer of a movie, you do bear more responsibility than just that thing. - In that thing, exactly. - So there is, there is in that capacity. Like, yeah, messaging then does become pretty important. So like you said, a few things can be true at once. She can be mistreated. She can be the attacks or the focus can certainly be sexist, but also you can also be a producer who's not necessarily doing the cogent thing. But at the same time, the movie has doubled its budget. So whatever's being done, producerially, even if it looks bad, it's clearly working. - It's clearly working. - And it's a conversation, we're talking about it. - And also too, I mean, this for anyone who maybe doesn't know this about Hollywood, a lot of times, when someone has a producer credit on a film, it is fully vanity, it is all vanity. - It's all vanity, but it helps get the movie made, potentially. - Exactly. - Yeah, that's the point, bringing an audience. But I mean, even like, you know, I'm not like a movie buff the way you are, like you are very attuned to movies and stuff. But like recently that whole, the Kevin costume movie that came out and just bombed is wild because it's like Yellowstone is a huge thing that broke through the noise of linear television. And people follow it across different platforms, looking to stream it wherever they can find it, even though it's on, that's wild. And then for a movie, not to translate speaks to, I think might speak to the fact that because it wasn't, there wasn't chatter about it online, it didn't make an impact at the box office. That's insane, it's Kevin Costner. - It's Kevin Costner, but also, it's Kevin Costner. - But he's, the Yellowstone is huge. - I know Yellowstone is huge. - It is huge. - So to see that that doesn't bring people to the box office shows you that things are not the way they were. Everything is cursed, everything is niche and it's just not linear anymore. - Yeah, it's so true. Well, I wanna stay on the whole line of X and what was formerly called Twitter, wish this, I'm not gonna call it what it is. I mean, this was just like a full-on shit show of a chat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. And politics aside, like- - What a pest Elon Musk. Why is he in our world? - Wait, let's save that for the end of this conversation. Let's start with that this, so Elon Musk, who famously owns Twitter or now X, and Donald Trump was sort of promoting this conversation on the platform as not only Donald Trump's return to the platform after being banned after the events of January 6th by the previous owners of Twitter. And the conversation was billed as a massive conversation that was gonna strip through the media bias quote unquote their quotes and have a real conversation between these two people. When in reality, I don't think you can often have a conversation, an unbiased conversation if the person doing the interview is someone who has openly endorsed the person doing the conversation. - Yeah, right. - There's nothing unbiased about that conversation. That said, it started, and the reason why I called it a shit show was not for the content of the conversation, which that's a whole other conversation, but that a person who is known for being a genius in terms of the tech war or in terms of the car world and building rockets and literally, quite literally a genius in many respects, technically could not do a streamed conversation on Twitter. The amount of technical difficulties that this conversation had not only was it an hour late, which did not seem to bother Donald Trump, even though the last time a conversation started late at the National Association of Black Journalists, he had a lot of words to say about that. He went nuclear about how late that conversation started, but when it's Elon Musk, it's okay, everything's okay, that's suspicious, that is a little suspicious, I will say that. - Wonder what that could be about. - It was nearly an hour late. The conversation started nearly an hour late after many technical difficulties. Finally, when it happened, there were weird glitches. It also seemed like Trump's words were being slurred in certain parts. We don't know if that was actually him or the technical side of it. I mean, it could have been both, who knows. So there were lots of things that happened, but in the actual conversation, did you listen to any of it, Ellie? - No, no, I mean, I heard a little bit in the news, but no, I didn't listen. I just, yeah, it just sounded kind of incoherent, but that's not really new with Trump. - Well, I listened to all of it. - Oh, I'm sorry. - Oh, no, it was fascinating. I enjoyed listening to all. I enjoyed listening to it in the respect that I, in a weird way, there's this sense of Elon Musk and the aura that is Elon Musk, that there's a parade of failures in that, especially when it comes to this sort of platform that he likes to say is doing very well, but in terms of numbers, it is not necessarily doing particularly well, and that it is a losing business venture for Elon Musk when his other things like Tesla, et cetera, are doing moderately well at this point. And so what's so fascinating is that, like he did this previously with Ron DeSantis. When Ron DeSantis announced, I believe his run for president, that also was not the best launch, and well, we know what happened to Ron DeSantis' campaign for presidency. So I wanna know, do you think this is another failure in Elon Musk's sort of run of endorsing candidates? And could this be, 'cause one of the takeaways that I had from the conversation was that Trump is Trump. Trump is saying the things that Trump says, and it's impossible to fact check everything, and many of it is not necessarily factually true. And yet some of it does ring very well with his base and with other people who might be undecided, especially on the economy, who respond to his messages of, especially his tax messages. But what I wanna know is, are we seeing the moment, it does feel like people listening to that conversation that they were just bored. They were bored by Trump, and they were bored, and we're seeing it in his obsession with numbers at rallies and all of these different things. Are we in the era of, Trump is finally boring? - I thought that was honestly like, I have nostalgia for 2021 post, very post insurrection, because when Biden took office, for God, for a couple of years, it was like, he was, Trump was quiet enough or boring enough that we weren't paying attention, that the noise of stop the steal really kind of just tuned into the ether and wasn't a front page thing. And I love that so much. And unfortunately, I think he's gotten power back, but attention, the media is giving him attention. Do I think it's reached a new level of boring? Hmm, I don't know. I don't think so yet, I think obviously because he's running, he's the candidate, like attention has been brought back to him. But I do think we are so far along that he has to say stuff, he has to say things that are really inflammatory for them to make us flash, and doing so with the black journalists was, well, that was pretty jaw-dropping, you know, with something like a Twitter, a Twitter town hall or whatever. I mean, the thing is like, he's just, he's so bombastic, but I, he's so bombastic, but he also is, to me, like he is of his age in that people might say he has power digitally and on social media. And I don't know if it's him as much as his, you know, sycophants online, just doing the dirty work and wanting to like keep on spewing the worst possible toxic things and, but I don't know. I mean, maybe that's, maybe that's the reason that it was on X in the first place. Well, I mean, it was on S because Elon Musk wanted it to be, you know, X feels like the place for the most listening, right? Oh, for sure, for sure, it's definitely, and also the people who truly care about X are the people who are in tune with politics and pop culture in the way that like they just feed off of each other. But the vast majority of people don't care about X, they probably care more about Facebook, let's be real. Because the vote, the people who are of that generation are probably more on Facebook than anybody else who Trump desperately needs to get in touch with. Right. But the reason why I bring up sort of the boring impact of Trump in this conversation is that, you know, and since Kamala Harris' campaign was announced after Biden dropped out a couple of weeks ago, and it has blanketed media in a way that she has really benefited from. And it is exciting to see in that like, there is this sort of element of a fresh new voice in the mix that we haven't had. And what I was, the political junkie in me was hoping for was that Trump would match the moment and would find a new, and it would almost give Trump a new lease on life in his campaign in that as if the assassination attempt wasn't enough, that it could perhaps get Trump sort of on his, you know, on the defense a little bit, which I've always found, Trump is an entertaining figure to watch in that like he is kind of like a circus barker. And he is sort of like a, he's a showman in that respect. And when he has someone like Kamala Harris as an opponent, it could potentially bring out the best in Trump in the best meaning that the most bombastic, the most whatever. But what we've seen these past few weeks, ever since Kamala came into the mix, is that Trump is just lashing out in wild ways. And spiraling, spiraling is a great word for it, in that he's, and it does feel like there's sort of like a code red going on, and Trump is on how to respond to this. - I mean, I love it, I love it so much, I really do. And I don't wanna be like smug, like we were in 2016 where we were like, it's a shoe in, Hillary's gonna win, like obviously for liberals and Democrats and people who were Hillary supporters, we thought we had it in the bag and then the world turned upside down. But I think this time around, it really feels more like 2008, where somebody who genuinely, like this would be a paradigm shift to have a woman of color who is more than qualified, who has a strong personality, who is likable, who is relatable, who is intelligent, like she checks off all these boxes and they, they-- - For the left, for the left. - Sure, for the left. - A lot of people do not like her as well. So like there is-- - Well of course, but they don't really have much to go on, which is why Trump, watching Trump spin out is so delicious because he could, you know, easily like go after Biden for his age, for his demeanor, as if Trump is not, you know, a raving lunatic and also falling down stairs. But, you know, with Kamala, it's like he has very little and the moment that he goes after the lowest standards that we sort of expect him to, the low bar of race and gender, it kind of, you know, it just turns more and more and more and more people off, you know? And I think, I do enjoy watching her respond with the level of grace and dignity and a disinterest in that. But the difference is that she, her social team is so adept and actually connected to youth in a way, and not just pop culture, but like youth and the language of youth, that I don't think Biden's team is or was. It just feels like they are connected to the youth now in the way that Obama did in 2008. And I think that about face and this real change in voice, in generation, like a Generation X candidate versus a, I guess, is Trump even a boomerous heel? - I think he's older than boomer. - Yeah, like the greatest generation or whatever. - Yeah, yeah. - I mean, it's night and day. And I'm here for it, I think he deserves somebody who can sling the mud back. And I think the Kamala's team is doing so in a way that is still upstanding and through policy and humane behavior. - Well, let's talk a little bit about Kamala and what's happening next week when the Democratic National Convention starts off in Chicago, very famous city. It's not always been necessarily the best place for Democrats to do a convention. I mean, we all know what happened in 1968 with all the riots and everything that happened, but they are going to Chicago next week. And there's a lot of celebrities that are going to be there as well. Both The Daily Show and Late Show will be filming from there. John Legend will be there. Billy Porter, of course, will be there. They love bringing Billy Porter out. Octavia Spencer will be there. Joan Chet, many of the stars of RuPaul's Drag Race will be there. We just had Nigeria on the podcast the other day. And they'll even have a blue carpet where, well, Snapchat will have a blue carpet where many of the celebrities in attendance will be speaking. And it does feel a little bit like the Democrats are like, look at the celebrities we can get. They want to actually film shows from here. Is there an element that by having the celebrities sort of be turned out in the way that they are, some voters will be turned off by being like, let's talk about policy here. I don't care about John Legend. - I don't know. At this point, I don't think celebrity endorsement necessarily makes a difference, except for-- - You mean Hulk Hogan's endorsement of Donald Trump didn't matter. It didn't push both. What Amber Rose is not a great campaign service. - Oh my God, Lee Greenwood. It's like, oh my who? But I don't think it makes a difference. I mean, with people like Hulk Hogan and Amber Rose, like, you know, sideshow acts, you know, it's like, I think they're just like feeding the crowd with the DNC celebrities. I don't know. I just don't think people really, I agree with you. Like, I don't think, I don't think it'll turn voters off from voting for Kamala. I just don't think it makes that much of an error. - I think people can't pack outside of Taylor Swift, if and when she, you know, endorses her. - Yeah. - And obviously, like Beyonce, like, I think there are-- - And Oprah. - And Oprah. Like, I think there are a few celebrity behemoths who really do have like a hypnotic effect on people the way Taylor does, the way Beyonce does, the way Oprah does. Like, that's huge. I mean, I think Obama too. Like, I think that that's huge. But I don't know. I don't feel like celebrity and politics is really the same thing anymore. I don't know if it ever was, but I certainly feel like outside of these, you know, some huge names that really, you know, turn the dial or whatever, move the dial. I don't know if it really makes that much of a difference. But at the same time, it's like, it is nice to be able to say we have John Legend, like, like bona fide, you know, Oscar Grammy winning talented people rather than pro wrestlers, you know, something for, also stepping for policy and like, and something for humane positive messaging rather than the stuff that Trump goes for, which is whatever Hulk Hogan's screaming about. I don't know if that's not, you know, watch that quite honestly. I mean, I did, I thought it was fun. It's just, it's too surreal. And it's like the movie "Adiocracy," it's like the epilogue to "Adiocracy" that nobody asked for. Yeah, yeah, true. Well, I want to end this week with some parting shock questions for you, if you will. Questions to help you take stock of the week and maybe even help others prepare for the week to come. So what or who pissed you off this week? I guess, I mean, of course it's going to be Trump. It's just, you know, he's just repeatedly just digging this hole deeper and deeper. There was something so dastardly and also just funny about him commenting on the picture of Kamala on, I think it's "Time Magazine," where it's like a picture of her that feels very shepherd fairy, Obama, '08, you know? And he said that she's beautiful and it looks like Melania. It looks like Melania. And it's like, what planet are you on? But I mean, we shouldn't not expect him to just be as, you know, as baseline as possible when it comes to commenting on women's appearances. But it's even otter to compare them to Melania, it's so, she doesn't look like, it's so strange, it's so strange. It's so strange, yeah, that was very strange. Did you watch anything good this week? You know, I watched, I'm bingeing "Broadchurch." Oh, "Broadchurch" is so good. Yeah, it's so good. Wait, which one? The British version or the American version? There's an American version? They made an American version of it, but there, but it was not necessarily. Oh, I'm watching the British version and I'm falling in love with Olivia Coleman. In a way I never had before. Now, see, I fell in love with Olivia Coleman during "Peep Show," an incredible show, a comedy show that was going for like 10 years or something in the UK. And then "Broadchurch" is where I was like, she's an actress. She's great. I love you. She's incredible. Drive, British, crime, and drama. Have you finished the first season? Yeah, I'm on the third. Okay, good. I mean, that first, the end of the first season was just like incredible. Incredible. Incredible. Okay, what's one new story from this week that you can't get out of your head? Well, quite honestly, I was reading the one about, last night reading "In the Times" about how Biden and Nancy Pelosi are not speaking. Yeah, I read that too. Yeah, and that really bummed me out. I kind of love it. I love that Biden holds a grudge. I love that he's spicy. You know what I mean? He's like, nah, you called me a name and I'm not taught. You can't sit at me with me at lunch anymore, girl. Like, I do love that vibe of, I mean, I don't think he's being petty about it because I would be hurt too. I would definitely be hurt too. I didn't know that their history goes back. It's who it is. When she wasn't even, I mean, she's always been, I mean, she's from a political family. So like people have known who she is for years. She's been a Democratic operative for a very long time. But I didn't know that they went back like to when he was first elected Senator in the 70s when Elvis was alive. Yeah, it's pretty remarkable. And like him, her driving, I think his Jeep or his-- Oh no, him driving her Jeep in San Francisco when he was there for a campaign event. Incredible. It's just, I'm like so, so fascinated by their back history. And I do hope they're, I'm like genuinely like, I hope they're friendship. I hope they find their way back to each other as friends because she says I can't, I'm not sleeping. I'm like, I'm, she's lost sleep. She's crying and I feel bad for me and see. I don't. I'm just, I'm thinking back to, what show is it? Oh my God, New York Poller when she was just like, she was like, not you, not you, not you, not you. Screw you, you know what I mean? Like, there's some reality moment where she did something like that. And that's what I think you, I want Biden to do that in his like parting message to be like, and I wanna thank you, I wanna thank you, I wanna thank you. Snow you, Nancy, I wanna thank you. I love you, I love you, I want that to happen. - I love it. - I love it. What are you looking forward to next week? - I mean, as much as I just said, like I don't really care about like the celebrity aspect of the DNC, that's not what I'm looking forward to. I am just looking forward to the DNC itself and I'm hoping that Kamala continues on this, this wonderful streak she's on and continues to just bring about hope and messaging and in some really uplifting. I really hope she just has some uplifting speeches. And I'm also looking forward to hearing more from Waltz. - I have a feeling there is a long tradition of the opposing team not really campaigning or doing much during the other's conventions. I don't think Trump and Obama didn't necessarily follow that in '08. I don't think Trump's gonna follow that in 2024. And so I will be watching what Trump says about everything next week, 'cause I'm very excited about that. - Well, that's it for today, thank you, Elliot Glaser. Where can people follow you on the internet? - Just at Elliot Glaser on Instagram and that's basically all I use at this point. - Yeah, of course, yeah, I love that. Well, and we have our own podcast. You're making the words. - Yes, you do, you can go listen to that as well where we're definitely more unhinged there. If you like what you just heard, consider following me at @HCLNCOT on everything and leave a little rating and review wherever you're listening to this podcast and find yourself a crisis manager which I like to call my bag of Oreos and have a great weekend. (upbeat music) You
