Chris Franjola, Rosie’s Kimmel Feud, Phoebe Gates Facing Prison? and Howie Mandel’s Viral Drama

Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald - Heather McDonald & Studio71

In this episode of Juicy Scoop, host Heather McDonald dives into a mix of celebrity gossip and viral internet moments with guest Chris Franjola. They discuss the fallout from a

Key takeaways

• Viral moments from local news anchors are increasingly being repurposed for internet fame, even if they result in professional consequences.

Main topics

• Viral news anchor meltdown in Detroit
• Phoebe Gates' alleged involvement in illegal influencer marketing scheme

Notable quotes

"If they do a Real Housewives of Detroit, this chick has a job because she's like, it's..." - Chris Franjola on the viral news anchor

Conclusion

The episode underscores how internet fame, influencer culture, and celebrity

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:04) The Speaker 1 (0:05) city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. Speaker 3 (0:15) The new Speaker 1 (0:20) Honda City isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe. Speaker 5 (0:29) Heather MacDonald has got the Juicy Scoop. When you're on the road, when you're on the go, Juicy Scoop is the show to know. She talks Hollywood tales, her real life, Mr. Saving Serial Data, and Serial Sisters. You'll be addicted and addicted fast to the number one tabloid real life pod. Listen in, listen up. Woo, woo. Heather MacDonald. Juicy Scoop. Speaker 6 (0:59) Hello and welcome to Juicy Scoop. When he is not making you buckle over laughing in clubs across America, you can find him at your local Color Me Mine or in a pool being dad of the year with his daughter. Everyone's favorite girl dad and funny man and my friend, Chris Frangiola. Speaker 2 (1:22) Wow. Speaker 6 (1:23) Welcome back to Juicy Scoop. Thank you. Speaker 2 (1:25) Really nice. That intro actually... You made me think I was back on like morning TV that I used to have to do when I was on the road. That's what I was modeling it after. That was really good. Thank you. I could totally Speaker 6 (1:36) be like a dorky date. Like my life had a different thing. Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:41) There Speaker 6 (1:41) was a time I had a chance to go full dork. Like on one Speaker 2 (1:44) of those Good Morning Sacramento? Yeah, it Speaker 6 (1:47) was after Chelsea. So nothing like the podcast hasn't taken off. I'm just doing stand up, whatever. And a producer of another show was going over to Denver and they were like, basically, I had an offer. Speaker 2 (2:01) In LA? No, I'd have to move to Denver. Oh, man. With the fam because it Speaker 6 (2:07) was like every day. Right. And there was like a minute where I'm like, oh my God. I just walk in. I could be on TV every day, like doing hot topics and things like that. It was like a... you know, a show that came on the afternoon, multiple hosts and like live in Denver and just like start a whole new, like mommy life. And then of course the money was so bad that it was like, there was, there was no way. And it wasn't going to need to like anything. And thank God I didn't. Cause a few years later it did get canceled. But when I would go do shows in Denver, I'd be a guest and they were all like lovely. Speaker 2 (2:44) Yeah. Speaker 6 (2:45) But I remember we went to it one time and Drake was with me. And there were all these people working. This was before the show got canceled. All these people working. And Drake was looking over at this person running a Facebook page. And Drake was like, there's seven people. There's seven people that's watching this on the Facebook. It was just so... And I was like, oh God, this is hard. This is hard. Speaker 2 (3:08) I, at one time... I had done it like five weeks in a row, got up at five o'clock in the morning to go to these shows. You don't know who's watching. Coffee Speaker 6 (3:16) cuteness. Yeah. And I actually Speaker 2 (3:17) went on stage at the comedy club and I'm like, how many people are here from good morning, whatever the fuck. And there's nobody. And I'm like, so thank you. So nobody's watching. Why was I here? Did Speaker 6 (3:28) you ever, because you don't say no to anything. No. Did you ever start to go, hey, thanks so much for the offer. I'm not gonna be able to make it. Thinking in your head. It's not really worth my energy to do this show. Or you're such a thirsty bitch, you still do it. Unless the comedy Speaker 2 (3:44) club, it was a comedy club, requested it, I would do it. But otherwise, never. Speaker 6 (3:49) I Speaker 2 (3:49) would always say no. I still say no. But I don't get those. Those are gone. Most of that stuff's gone. Yeah, Speaker 6 (3:54) they're all like, ha ha ha. You don't see that Speaker 2 (3:56) anymore. I actually simply, I had a kind of an offer too in Dayton, Ohio. It was like, good morning, Dayton. And I said something like, this would be a great job. And they were like, well, you want it? Like basically like that. Like if you want to come back, you could be the guy. And I was like, oh no, I mean, I can't move to Dayton, but I swear, I think they told me how much they made. That's like $12,000 a year or something, you know? Like, but you get to, you go, you make a little extra money going to like car dealerships and, you know, signings and stuff. I'm like, oh, okay. I was like, I think I'm good on that. Speaker 6 (4:31) Yeah. Like I think growing up, you think it's like a bigger deal, but I think if you're only in like a big. market but there was just a story that went viral did you see that girl that like lost her shit yeah Speaker 2 (4:41) she Speaker 6 (4:42) was like a local news person in detroit yeah right and Speaker 2 (4:47) that's a big market yeah that was a market Speaker 6 (4:49) and i guess she's got fired but now she's suing and so they're they pulled up this old footage of her being like wait a minute i'm trying to read the teleprompter well lashaun was told to do that Speaker 6 (5:06) whatever. And then like the LaShawn or whatever his name was comes to like, just Mike, the bitch, whatever. And she's like, she's such a fucking bitch. Like, okay, walk away. I'm like, oh my God, if they do a Real Housewives of Detroit, this chick has a job because she's like, it's Speaker 3 (5:21) a Speaker 2 (5:21) pretty good clip. I mean, now they just want those clips to go viral. Anytime that they do like something dirty. Did you see the girl talking about, there was another one like same day. Yeah. Speaker 6 (5:31) It Speaker 2 (5:31) was like a morning show. And she was talking about, would you eat a beaver? You know, they were talking about surviving in the woods. Oh. And she's talking to the two co-hosts. And she's saying, a lot of these people eat beaver. Would you eat a beaver? And that guy starts cracking up. And like, they must love it if it goes Speaker 6 (5:46) viral. The other one I saw was it was a QVC type thing for the wigs. And she's like, you know, instead of having to give a blow job, you can just wear this wig. Meaning she meant to say blow out. Speaker 2 (6:01) And a lot of Speaker 6 (6:02) people made fun of that. She was on Speaker 2 (6:04) Jimmy Fallon. She was? Yeah. Next day she did a whole Jimmy Fallon bit. That woman really took off. Speaker 6 (6:10) Where is... Takui. What was it? Takui. What is it? That's I'm saying it wrong. Speaker 6 (6:19) Was it? Haktua. Haktua. What was it? Haktua, yeah. Haktua. Yeah, Speaker 2 (6:24) that girl. Speaker 6 (6:25) When's her documentary coming out? Because she's been gone just enough to get just like a 35-minute one-off doc. Speaker 2 (6:34) Well, I think the reason that she is gone is because there was a criminal investigation into her. She did like a Bitcoin or something. And it was at the point where she could be put in jail for. manipulating something with Bitcoin. So she had to go away. Speaker 6 (6:50) Well, since we're talking about that, let's talk about the Gates girl. So Bill Gates's daughter. Speaker 2 (6:58) Yes. Speaker 6 (6:58) And some other billionaire nepo girl. I've seen this story a few times, so I'm going to try to explain it the best I can. But they started a company about... It's like an app with shopping or something. Yeah. And all these other, like Kris Jenner and, you know, the people like that, they're like, you know, in that circle of, but like bad boss ladies, they all invested in it. Speaker 2 (7:24) Okay. And Speaker 6 (7:25) now she's under investigation because she does this thing called cookie stuffing. Cookie Speaker 2 (7:32) stuffing. Speaker 6 (7:33) And you're like, wait, I like first I was like, wait, she's selling cookies. What? The easiest way I think I can understand it is. Speaker 6 (7:41) what's interesting is she had all these influencers, high up influencers being part of her company. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:47) But Speaker 6 (7:47) really there's so many people now and it's great that even if you have, you know, a thousand followers and you wear a cute top, you can just put a link and go, Hey, this is where you get the top. And that girl gets whatever, 12 cents. Right. And why not? Right. Why not? You're, you're spending the time doing it. The way they did it was they were somehow latching on to those. links or something which is illegal so they would get all even though they even though the person found it through this one influencer somehow that company was getting that extra what do you call it like um money the the extra link the connection whatever Speaker 2 (8:27) they were getting the commission commission they were getting the commission there was stuff and cookies or something Speaker 6 (8:31) there were stuff and cookies and so they had they looked up and they have all the emails and text messages between the Gates girl and a couple other people like clearly talking about the cookie and make sure we capture it all and everything. So it's like they, she can't be walking around like, I didn't know what was going on. I was just the face of it. No, it like appears that she knew what was going on. And they're like, well, let's make sure we capture them all. Like, what are we doing? We need to capture it all. And the crime could Speaker 2 (9:02) be up Speaker 6 (9:03) to 20 years. Speaker 2 (9:04) Which won't happen to her, but. Speaker 6 (9:06) Won't happen to her, but it would be kind of great if she went for at least got to meet One Drop. Speaker 2 (9:16) Yeah. Like Speaker 6 (9:17) they could have fun together. Yeah. Because Jen Shaw from Real House of Salt Lake City, she already left One Drop. Speaker 2 (9:24) One Drop Elizabeth Speaker 6 (9:25) Holmes is still in the Texas one. Speaker 2 (9:27) Yeah. Speaker 6 (9:28) Didn't she have a Speaker 2 (9:29) child while in prison? Speaker 6 (9:30) Yeah. Yeah. And the husband, she married someone really. like an heir to like hotels. Yeah. Speaker 2 (9:36) And Speaker 6 (9:37) he goes and visits. I want to say there's two kids. Speaker 2 (9:40) Really? Yes. What hotels? No, like a Speaker 6 (9:43) big, like his parents are really wealthy. Speaker 2 (9:46) I feel like if you're going to be having sex with her in prison, I feel like you're not. I Speaker 6 (9:51) don't know that he can have sex. It's Speaker 2 (9:52) not the four Speaker 6 (9:52) seasons. I don't know that they can meet in the little. cabins and have sex i don't think it's that how'd she Speaker 2 (9:58) get pregnant then was it beforehand no she Speaker 6 (9:59) was pregnant before okay while she was waiting she had a kid or two okay Speaker 2 (10:04) then Speaker 6 (10:04) went to prison i believe her sentence is eight years she's been there like four yeah Speaker 2 (10:09) and Speaker 6 (10:09) um i'm sure when she comes out security Speaker 2 (10:12) prison yeah Speaker 6 (10:14) and i'm sure when she comes out she'll have a reality show or a documentary or she'll be saying buy this shirt if Speaker 2 (10:21) you Speaker 6 (10:21) like this black Speaker 2 (10:22) turtleneck Speaker 6 (10:24) A lot of people say, hey, I know it's maybe a bad memory, but I love your black fitted turtleneck. And I want to tell you about one that is completely cotton. We cut out the Speaker 5 (10:34) middleman. Speaker 6 (10:36) Yeah. So she doesn't talk that way anymore. Oh, Speaker 2 (10:39) she doesn't? No, Speaker 6 (10:40) that was a whole act so that she sounded like these Google dudes that she was like obsessed with. Or even like, she wore the black turtleneck because what's his name wore the black turtleneck? The one that died. Speaker 2 (10:51) Apple, yeah. What was his name? I don't remember. Speaker 6 (10:54) Ashton Kutcher played him. Yeah, Speaker 2 (10:55) I know. Steve Jobs. Steve Speaker 6 (10:57) Jobs. Yeah, she was kind of either on purpose or not on purpose imitating Steve Jobs. Yeah. But the Gates girl could go. Speaker 5 (11:06) They Speaker 6 (11:06) could have a little, you know, white collar scammy like mentor, big sister, little sister. Right. Like Speaker 2 (11:13) a Speaker 6 (11:13) little like sorority. Speaker 2 (11:14) Yeah. And Speaker 6 (11:15) she could be like, oh, my big is Elizabeth Holmes. Speaker 2 (11:19) I feel like the Gates girl, there must be some money left for her, right? There'll be a will or something eventually. There's got to be money there. He's one of the richest men in the world. Does she have to be stuffing cookies or working for some website? I Speaker 6 (11:31) think that it was the Gates once they got divorced. They gave it all away. Because Speaker 2 (11:36) Bill Gates Speaker 6 (11:36) was also friends with Epstein, right? Oh, was he ever. And Speaker 2 (11:39) then Speaker 6 (11:39) his wife, ex-wife's McKenzie. Yeah. And she. Has given so much to charity and everything. And I want to say that they said, we're not leaving our kids any money, but clearly there's like, I think it's Melinda Gates. Melinda. Oh, Melinda. Yeah. And I think that they were one of those that are like, you know, we're not leaving our kids anything. We're whatever, giving it all to charity, but they'll have these things. Listen, I mean, obviously she'll have access to the best attorneys, but just like Elizabeth Holmes. She has to prove she didn't know this was going on. That she started this and all these people under her were doing this shady shit. This is like Iran-Contra scandal with Reagan. That's how old I am. They have to act like, oh, she didn't know. She was just the girl that showed up to cute lunches and did this fun thing because she was fresh out of college and they had the capital. And they could get more capital because they're the Gates and everybody wanted to be friends with her. So that's what they'd have to prove. But I think I'm just going to keep talking about it because I want to see what happens. Speaker 2 (12:42) Well, now in the billionaire, because the other ones, Warren Buffett also says he's giving nothing to his children. Okay. Now, does that really mean nothing? Or does that mean, no, I'm not going to give you enough so you can get a waterfall in your bedroom? You know, like don't go crazy, but you're not going to be homeless either. Speaker 6 (13:00) Right. I think there's trust funds and things where they're like, okay. If you know, you could do whatever you want. You could be like, you get this much at 25. If you produce two children, you're going to get this much at 40. If at 55, okay, now you can like enjoy your life just so that you aren't like complete loser and you have some motivation to do something. Right. Like I was just talking to somebody and they, they know a family that, you know, she married a very rich trust fund type of guy or whatever it is. And the parents paid for the house and the parents paid for all the private school. But they don't have extra money for like vacations. And they don't have extra money to send now the kid to like the really expensive college that she got into. Speaker 2 (13:43) Because the Speaker 6 (13:44) grandparents are finally like, oh my God, fucking go get a job. Like your kids, I'm not paying for the grandkids college to like do something. So I think that's what they're trying to say is because they're so uber wealthy, like in the billions. Yeah. Speaker 2 (13:58) They Speaker 6 (13:58) have to figure out a way that. Still, their child will not become a complete drug addict and loser and contribute something to society. So they're probably all excited when the Gates' daughter found a friend who was also a billionaire's daughter. And they're like, hey, girl, Speaker 2 (14:13) let's be Speaker 6 (14:14) bad bitches together. And then they realize, oh, my God, not only are you doing a shady thing, but again, you're stealing from other women that are working so hard. posting every day to be a bad bitch you're like stealing 12 cents from them every time like and so i really i hope that um i hope there's some real punishment because when you look at like someone who gets thrown into jail for six months because they wrote a bad check at a grocery store like right Speaker 2 (14:42) you know to buy groceries for their kids like yeah but their dad's not bill gates right exactly but that's the thing that's not right right so um But it is funny that I see those commercials. Like in afternoon television, they have these commercials for, I guess, these websites where they're like, come on over to Cash Dash. And then you have the people who did it. And they're like, I got a blender for four cents. And I'm like, that can't be, that's gotta be a scam, right? They're like these different apps that they have commercials for. It's like afternoon television where commercials are aimed at people who are like. Speaker 6 (15:17) And what do you think that you're just basically giving all your information for them to screw you later? Exactly, Speaker 2 (15:22) yes. Somehow they just want your information. I don't think you ever actually get a blender for four cents. Speaker 6 (15:28) Right. I'd Speaker 2 (15:29) like to see the person who actually got the four cent blender. I don't think that's actually happening. Or Speaker 6 (15:32) like companies that are like, are you in tax debt? We'll help you. Yeah. And so then I know that some are legit, but some are not because then somebody will like, okay, oh my God, thank you. I haven't paid my taxes in five years. I don't know what I'm going to do. Okay, well give us, you know, $4,000 and we're going to help you. Speaker 2 (15:50) Yeah. And Speaker 6 (15:50) then like, they're like, well, now you need to pay more so we can help you or get the course or whatever. And then they disappear. And then you're like, oh shit, you Speaker 2 (15:59) know. Thank God I've never had to do any of like. check cashing plays. I mean, life's been okay. I never had Speaker 5 (16:07) to Speaker 2 (16:07) go into a check cashing place and get payday loans. Yeah. Like we'll get you that $50 you need. I Speaker 6 (16:13) think we can agree that everyone's favorite time of the day is when you're actually crawling into your bed to go to sleep. And what makes it so great is when the sheets are soft and keep you cool on a hot summer night. And that is why I love bowl and branch. And since I've switched to bowl and branch, I love it because Bowling Branch summer bedding options are breathable, lightweight, and designed to keep you cool all night long. And 95 % of Bowling Branch customers say their sheets get softer with every wash. 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For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our Juicy Scoopers $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you visit Nutrafol.com and enter promo code Juicy Scoop. That's Nutrafol.com spelled N-U-T-R. A-F-O-L dot com promo code Juicy Scoop. Rosie O'Donnell, fresh from her face left. And she also said that it was a horrifying experience having to play a lesbian opposite Miranda Hobbs. And just like that. Remember, she was the lesbian nun. Speaker 2 (19:33) Yes. Oh, my God. I forgot about that. I know. It's such Speaker 6 (19:35) a golden era of time for us. I know. I'll never forgive myself for being so quick. Speaker 2 (19:40) So Rosie's just back. I thought she was going to go away. She did. She said she Speaker 6 (19:43) went to Ireland. Ireland, yeah. And then they called her and said, well, do you want to do the Jimmy Kimmel show? And she was like, yeah. Like, I hate America, but not if it means I can be on TV. Yeah, back on Speaker 2 (19:53) TV. Speaker 6 (19:53) So then she came back. Speaker 6 (19:56) I don't watch these shows. I mean, I saw the clip. It's so... Tell me, how is it going this week for her? Well, I Speaker 2 (20:03) watched a couple of her monologues and... I mean, I guess we're Speaker 6 (20:06) going Speaker 2 (20:06) to go back 30 years to when she, you know, we all remember the Rosie O'Donnell show where she pretended to be straight and she was into Tom Cruise. Yes. So Speaker 6 (20:16) in love with Tom Cruise. Yeah. Speaker 2 (20:17) And we all bought it at the time. And she always was Speaker 6 (20:19) saying she was obsessed with like every week there'd be at least one person from Broadway on. A Broadway person. Which as someone that lived in LA, I was like, I don't know who these Broadway people are. I'm never going to see these shows. Yeah. Like I, I mean, I guess it was good that she promoted Broadway, but I was always like, can we just stick? to like the TV people that I know who they are. But Speaker 2 (20:38) I figured she would do a different shtick now because it's been a long time when we all, you know, know that Rosie's not. into tom cruise yeah Speaker 6 (20:46) but Speaker 2 (20:47) she's still doing cutie patootie and stuff you did it in the monologue people like applauding she goes you know guillermo there's still sidekicks she goes and look at you guillermo cutie patootie and people like yay from 30 years ago and then they she goes to the desk where she does her celebrity interviews and she's got like little dolls and koosh balls and stuff like from 30 years ago And I'm like, come on. I think we've all advanced as a society beyond that corny shit. You know what I mean? Speaker 6 (21:16) Well, I saw a clip of. Speaker 6 (21:21) of Kathy Griffin talking directly to the camera saying like, a lot of people have been asking me when I'm going to be on this week because Rosie and I are such good friends and I am not going to be. And I'm pretty sad and bitter about it, though I want everyone to watch her because she's so great. But I really thought like, you know, but I guess she has no say or maybe she does in putting who she wants on the show. And Kathy Speaker 2 (21:48) Griffin must know it's going to get like, who's going to see it. Nobody's watching. But Speaker 6 (21:53) also I'm just going to kind of want to be like, yeah, that's Hollywood. Yeah. She's finally back on TV. You think she's going to push the agenda of having someone that's no offense, Kathy, like right Speaker 2 (22:04) over Speaker 6 (22:04) having like an Alex Earl or somebody on that's going to bring in the audience. Like, Speaker 2 (22:08) I mean, Speaker 6 (22:10) it was just kind of like, but I liked that she mentioned it and was like, yeah, I didn't get asked to do it, but. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (22:16) I feel like there's a couple of other people on higher up on the totem pole than Kathy Griffin. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 6 (22:21) But again, like, come on, have me on. We both hate the same man. Like we could have so much fun together. Let's go for it. Um, speaking of Alex Earl, she has, you know, this is the biggest influencer you get for people that don't follow the stuff. You're like Alex Earl, Alex Cooper, Alex Cooper is caller daddy. And. Alex Cooper was kind of the original. She found Alex Earl, who became famous by just doing these just explosive TikToks while she was at the University of Miami of getting ready and all this stuff. And then she was dating this cute football player named Braxton. And people just fell in love with her. She had Speaker 2 (22:59) acne. There was a problem. She had some acne issues. I'm telling you, that's why she became famous. She was dealing with acne and people were drawn to that. Speaker 6 (23:08) Okay. The realness. Yeah. She was like, I'm getting a boob job. Her body is beyond banging. And then she has this interesting family. So her parents got divorced because her dad was having an affair with her now stepmom, who was also previously famous for having an affair with. Elliot Spitzer, the governor of New York. Oh, Speaker 2 (23:33) yes. Yes. So Speaker 6 (23:35) it was found out that he was using call girls. Yeah. And she was one of them. And she didn't crawl away. She was doing interviews. She was like, yeah, like I'm a happy hooker. Like, who cares? And then years pass and she and Alex's dad fall in love. It's clear from the trailer. Yes, it was an affair. And the mom is also on the show with her new husband. And she's like, yeah, is it, was it hard to hang out with the woman that broke up my