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Samantha Bee
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Joanna Coles
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Amy Klobuchar
I know sometimes I have a hard.
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Order online, so let's give it a try.
Joanna Coles
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Amy Klobuchar
I'm going to try that again.
Joanna Coles
Go tell your friends though.
Justin Baldoni
Get on WISP.
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Justin Baldoni
Will come and to the Daily Beast Podcast I'm Joanna Coles. I'm the Chief Content Officer of the Daily Beast.
Samantha Bee
And I am Samantha Bee. I'm the Chief Content Officer of Elon Musk's team of little teenagers running the usaid. They sleep on cots. I tuck them into bed every single night and I read them a bedtime story.
Justin Baldoni
They are like the Lost boys in Peter Pan, aren't they? And he is Peter Pan. Forever young.
Samantha Bee
Forever. Oh, that's my least favorite.
Justin Baldoni
My feelings about Elon, for whom I have been an enthusiast, are waning. We can get into that. But every week, first we dig into the stories and the people that we are aroused by.
Amy Klobuchar
People are aroused. I haven't seen people so aroused in a very, very long time in terms of going trying to get this done. So yes, I think democracy will have an effect and we are going to keep at it. We're going to keep at it legally, we're going to keep at it legislatively, but we're also going to keep at it in terms of the grassroots.
Justin Baldoni
Thank you, everybody. Did you hear Chuck Schumer say that?
Samantha Bee
I did hear him say that people are aroused, and I just don't think that it is a word that he should ever utter again. I don't think he should say aroused. I don't think he should say moist. I don't think that he should say that a building is erect. There are a lot of words that he should probably erase from his vocabulary.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, well, we do have just the person to talk about what on earth is going on with the state of the Democrats. Our beast of the week, the badass Midwestern senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, or as I refer to her, clovers.
Samantha Bee
Clovers, Clovers.
Justin Baldoni
I feel like this is the problem. If you are English, you just always reduce people down to sort of boys, public school nicknames. Do you know what's unfortunate?
Samantha Bee
What is very funny about that is that I think of her as clobes and I don't even know why. And as I was leaving my house today, I was like, oh, I'm excited to talk to clobes. We don't have that type of relationship. I don't talk to her. Well, I call you Joey Jojo in my brain.
Justin Baldoni
Well, in your. Let's keep it in your brain. Let's keep it in your brain. Anyway, Senator Klobuchar, she's officially known. Well, we'll be talking to her about just how aroused the Democrats are. And from our end, they seem more like dead men and women walking. Anyway, who should be leading the Democrats now? We'll be talking about that. And is there a Democrat out there besides Amy Klobuchar that Amy Klobuchar thinks could have won against Trump?
Samantha Bee
Interesting.
Justin Baldoni
Well, and in the download, we're talking to Leah Weiher, the president of People magazine, the magazine that celebrities actually chased down for coverage, rather than the other way around to unpack the complex $400 million defamation lawsuit that I've honestly been completely avoiding. But that will not leave us alone. Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. Cringe fest. If you've heard these names, caught wind of litigation, or merely heard the words, you have a baby on your boob, don't fear, we're diving headfirst into the legal firestorm that's almost as confusing as Blake Lively's wardrobe choices.
Samantha Bee
And as my homework assignment, I watched the movie except for the last three.
Justin Baldoni
Minutes I can tell you what happens. He kills her. Oh, no, it's not true. That's not what happens.
Samantha Bee
Oh, my God. Tell me about your week.
Justin Baldoni
Well, I also watched that movie. Can I just make a point? Why do movies not have friend. Why do people not have friends in movies?
Samantha Bee
What does that. What do you mean, she has friends?
Justin Baldoni
Well, it means that the movie opens with Blake Lively going back to see her mum because her father's just died.
Samantha Bee
Right.
Justin Baldoni
And it's just the two of them in the house. And you know that when something like that happens, the neighbors come in, everybody's wanting part of the action, they're bringing casseroles. None of this movie made sense. And then it focuses on Blake, who has a flower shop.
Samantha Bee
Yes.
Justin Baldoni
And as she's taking over the property, this woman knocks on the door with an Hermes bag on her. On her elbow, dangling. Yeah. And says, oh, hi, I'm looking for a job. And miraculously, a becomes her best friend, gets the job, and then at one point completely decorates the flower stores so that when Blake comes in, she is surprised by her own business. None of it makes sense.
Samantha Bee
It doesn't make sense. You're right. Yeah, that's right. She had to employ a person who then became her best friend, who comes.
Justin Baldoni
Randomly knocking at the door. They've never met before, and she has a Birkin bag and she lives in a huge apartment, so she doesn't need a job cutting off thorns of roses. And she doesn't like flowers and she doesn't like. None of this movie makes sense. If Blake should have sued anybody, it should have been her team for suggesting or even bringing this script to her.
Samantha Bee
I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. We've got to get into it because I don't. I never wanted to learn about this story. I really wanted to avoid it. But it keeps coming into my viewfinder, my personal viewfinder, and I don't like it. And then I watched the movie, and now I have so, so many opinions about something I do not care about.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah. Isn't it strange? Well, Leah will be able to keep us informed, but it is one of those stories that I didn't commit to at the beginning because I thought this. It's a bit like Clubhouse. You know, there was that week three years ago when everybody sent you a thing saying, you must be on Clubhouse. Build a following on Clubhouse. And I was like, I am going to sit Clubhouse out. I'm so glad I did. I knew it wasn't Going to work. Didn't need to waste the time.
Samantha Bee
Okay, well, we'll be drawn into it and we'll learn all the particulars and then we'll share them and we'll force them into your ear hole because it is actually pretty interesting. Although I don't recommend watching the movie.
Justin Baldoni
Well, way to, I mean, way Hollywood. You know, you've got fires, you've got the world appears to be on fire. And Here we have two very good looking people suing each other for $400 million. This is why people don't like celebrities.
Samantha Bee
It's a welcome distraction. It's a welcome distraction.
Justin Baldoni
So you're seeing it as entertainment?
Samantha Bee
Yes, kind of. I know that, I understand there's a great deal of pain, but I'm going to choose to see this pain as a delightful distraction. Much like the French cream donut that I gobbled in a t taxi cab on the way here and use. Why I did, I did.
Justin Baldoni
Why did you do that?
Samantha Bee
Because I was on the phone with my dad and I love my dad so much and he's having a small orthopedic issue that's causing great ripples in my life. And the instant I hung up with him, I was passing a bakery with these big just like cream filled brioches in the window and I went, I have to put it inside my body literally right now. And I bought one for $7 and I ate it in a taxi cab with a.
Justin Baldoni
That does sound very delicious. Are you though? Because I need to be forewarned now about this. Are you about to have a sugar crash?
Samantha Bee
Yeah. Well, I have also a full sugar coke at the ready. So if things start to, you know, start to go awry, I can always re re up.
Justin Baldoni
I can no longer. I mean, having had a childhood where I could eat 30 donuts in one sitting. Yeah. I now can't eat a quarter of a donut without immediately having a sugar crash and feeling depressed.
Samantha Bee
Oh, no, no, no. This one, this one fed, it had the proper amount of like fat in it too. So it's stable, you know, it's like a stable kind of a sugar French. I've got 20 minutes to get it all out. I've got 20 minutes before I die in front of you.
Justin Baldoni
Well, if you're managing your father's health issues, real or imagined, yes, that's a problem that requires a lot of energy that a donor I'm sure does not suffice. It does.
Samantha Bee
Along the way, in the conversation, he does say things like, you've never known real Pain. And then I go, I gotta get off the phone right now. And I have to walk into a bakery immediately.
Justin Baldoni
I'm not gonna call your father, man. I'm not gonna call your father.
Samantha Bee
Don't do it.
Justin Baldoni
Okay.
Samantha Bee
You were on cnn.
Justin Baldoni
Oh, I was on cnn.
Amy Klobuchar
Oh, boy.
Justin Baldoni
I did Abby Phillips new show on Saturday mornings and I got a very last minute call to go on. So they'd obviously had someone drop out. It was great fun. But I did make the mistake with Kara Swish and Melek Abdul and Solomon Jones of trying to defend, somewhat weakly, I will say at this point, Elon. And they just. Everybody leapt on me. It was as if I was in a kind of cage fight. Everybody leapt on me. And actually we have a bit more transparency. We know that Elon is doing this. Is he? No, no, we don't.
Samantha Bee
Because he's using signals.
Amy Klobuchar
I don't think Elon is genuine.
Justin Baldoni
And then I got rubbished all over social media for it. And I will say, not as a result of that, but as a result of his behavior and the extraordinary amount of power he's been given. I am rapidly fading on my once great enthusiasm for Elon.
Samantha Bee
I am rapidly fading. Joanna, what is it gonna take to get you there? What is he at this point? I mean, honestly, I'm honestly asking this. What does he have to do to lose you?
Justin Baldoni
Well, who, who is gonna fall out with Elon first? Is it gonna be me or is.
Samantha Bee
It gonna be the boss? Yeah, is it gonna be you or is it gonna be Donald Trump? Yeah, I think it might be Donald. He might get there faster than you. You've been a really slow. This is a slow trickle.
Justin Baldoni
I know, and I'm very sad at how this is working out for him because I do think if you can harness that, it would be really helpful for America. But right now it seems like he's giddy with power. And, you know, the thing I really hate is the way he carries his child around in the way that Paris Hilton used to carry a Pomeranian in a bag. A child is not an accessory. And we know, and I'm sure it's performative because he knows that one of his children, his older children, doesn't speak to him at all. So he's now dragging this poor little two year old around. I gotta say, it just seems very odd and unnecessary.
Samantha Bee
I, you know, I guess the best for me, I think that he has just had a tangible negative effect on all of humanity. And if I owned a Tesla right now, I would drive it into a wall and That's.
Justin Baldoni
Well, I did own a Tesla and I did give it back 18 months into its lease, largely because it didn't work. That I would get texts from it saying the back door is open when I knew that it was parked on the high street. And then the doors would open when we were driving, which was. So they said, oh, yes. When I called them and said, oh, well, it's a, you know, it's an S and it's November, whatever it was 21. They said, yeah, that wasn't a good batch. It's probably a real good batch. Yeah, it was, it was. But him being out there talking, whatever he was talking about irritated me because I would be like, dude, just be quiet and fix your cars.
Samantha Bee
Yeah, I think the train, I think the, the train has pulled out of the station on Elon Musk. I don't know. I mean, I just don't, I don't even. I have so much anger and disgust, like actual. That I don't, I don't even know where to put. I don't even know where to put it. Like, I don't have a bucket large enough to put all of my animus toward Elon Musk. And it's debilitating to me as a person because I just over the weekend, all this USAID stuff, like just taking a flamethrower to an agency that represents, you know, real American values. He's disgusting. He's. You don't really need to dig too deep to learn that. He definitely thinks that some lives are worth more than other people's lives. I think he's a dirtbag.
Justin Baldoni
I mean, what I thought was amazing about the USAID is The budget is $50 billion, which is $4 billion less than the bonus that he was negotiate well that he negotiated and the board approved at Tesla. A judge then slapped that down. But just looking at where the case was now, and the amount has now gone up to $110 billion bonus for his work at Tesla.
Samantha Bee
What he's doing to government agencies, obviously it's ideological. It's not really money based at all. I just feel like handing the levers of power over to this person who had some good ideas 10 years ago is just the worst possible. I don't know what to do and I don't even know what to say. But looking at the photographs of the like 20 year olds that he handed all of this power and control to, it's just like, why don't we just like hand over everybody's Social Security numbers to like a DJ at the Ultra Music festival and let them fuck around for a bit. Like I don't know what we're doing and I don't know who can stop him. I just think he's just a person who's never considered any aspect of, you know, civic life.
Justin Baldoni
Well, this is because he went into Twitter, cut the staff by 80%. He even put the same subject matter in the field, the fork in the road. Email. Right, Yep. So I agree, you run government like you can run Twitter. And then of course you remember he was supposed to do the big opening statement for Desantis on Twitter and it was a disaster. It's probably why Desantis campaign became very quickly a joke.
Samantha Bee
I'm just really hoping that all of these op eds and all of this stuff that's going on at the Wall Street Journal now penetrates Trump's cerebral cortex or something and that he starts to feel the sting of the people who should be on his side because he's making so many rash and terrible decisions. I mean, turning Gaza into a beachfront resort, like, I don't even, I just, I, again, I really don't know. I don't know what to do with all of it. I woke up this morning and I just went, you know, imagining all the people who really depend, like internationally, the people who depend on USAID to live, to be alive.
Justin Baldoni
I know some of it's just like baby strengthened baby formula for dying children.
Samantha Bee
It's trash, tragic to me and I.
Justin Baldoni
But it's also extraordinary that Rupert Murdoch has emerged as the current resistance. Right. I mean he, Chuck Schumer may be aroused but, but Rupert Murdoch, certainly with his op ed pages at the Wall Street Journal is definitely aroused and after being told off by Trump. Yeah, they ran a piece, we're recording this on a Wednesday. It's in today's Wall Street Journal saying, you know, Trump campaigned on not getting involved in international affairs and here he is saying he's going to take on Gaza, which must most complex thing you can do. But as you, as you pointed out before, before we sat down, if you're a hotelier, all you're doing is looking to build hotels. Of course, so you know, Trump hotels right down the Gaza Strip. I mean that worked out well for Atlantic City, didn't it?
Samantha Bee
It makes, it makes me physically ill. Like talking about, I mean just like the, the non interventionist who wants to suddenly wants to take over Canada, like keeps talking about it, keeps bringing it.
Justin Baldoni
Up and we haven't even begun to talk about Canada.
Samantha Bee
Oh my God.
Justin Baldoni
And Rob Ford's brother. Rob Ford, the famous crack addict of.
Samantha Bee
Toronto, May he rest in peace. Yes, his brother is the premier of Ontario and he's taking a very strong stand. I mean, no Canadian wants to be the 51st state of America. That's how we define ourselves, by how we're not the usa. That's our complete national identity. I mean, and it's so preposterous. But he keeps bringing it up like he's just, I Anyway, I think we.
Justin Baldoni
Need another cream donut.
Samantha Bee
I need another cream donut.
Justin Baldoni
I'm a little sad you didn't bring one in for me.
Samantha Bee
Actually, you know what I thought of it as? It was almost like. It was almost like putting a band aid on a wound. Like it just made me whole again. Do you know what I mean? It wasn't like a treat, per se. It was just filling all the way.
Justin Baldoni
It was a medical necessity.
Samantha Bee
It was a medical necessity.
Justin Baldoni
We have so much more to get to. Let's take a quick break and make some money for the podcast. And when we come back, we'll be joined in the download by Leah Wire, the fabulous president of People magazine.
Amy Klobuchar
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Samantha Bee
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Amy Klobuchar
Huh?
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Turns out you can love a work management platform.
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Samantha Bee
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Samantha Bee
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Samantha Bee
Hello, whisp.com. the waiting room can wait.
Justin Baldoni
Welcome back. We're joined now by Leah Weier, the present of People magazine and an old and favorite colleague of mine. We even did a reality show together. So Cosmo. Right. It was absolutely hilarious. We had cameras in the office the whole time, and Leah was by far the emergent star. It was very exciting. Anyway, you're going to give us the download on the Baldoni bottomless pit of bizarreity.
Joanna Coles
Yeah, it is a bottomless pit. You just can't get enough.
Justin Baldoni
And I haven't. I feel stupid because I didn't realize this was gonna turn out to be such the story that it has. So I haven' Committed to it. And my understanding of it is flawed, and I think, is it fair? I can say the same for you.
Samantha Bee
My understanding of it is deeply flawed, and yet I seem to have very strong opinions about it.
Amy Klobuchar
Of course.
Justin Baldoni
That's why we love you. Yeah. I would just like to hold this up because what Leah has just said, don't worry, it's all going to become clear. And she has brought us this magnificent flowchart of who's who.
Samantha Bee
It.
Justin Baldoni
It's a who's who.
Joanna Coles
Yes.
Justin Baldoni
Of Baldoni and Blake. And instinctively we go to support Blake, I guess, because she's got great hair, truthfully. And she was Serena Van Der Woods. And I'll never forget how much I loved Gossip Girl. But I watched it all of one season on a plane, and then I've never watched it since. A bit like your donut. I overdid it.
Joanna Coles
Okay.
Samantha Bee
It was ridiculous. Perfect.
Justin Baldoni
But I never need to see it again. So when did this all sort of start?
Joanna Coles
Yeah, so. So the fishiness, I think, started at the premiere, which was last August 2024.
Justin Baldoni
It does feel like it's been going on for several years. It might not be 24.
Joanna Coles
And by the way, it has been going on several years because they started filming in May of 23. So. And we were catching glimpses of, like, the fashion and, like, the interesting choices that were being made.
Samantha Bee
Odd.
Justin Baldoni
Fashion was it fashion. Odd fashion, Terrible camo jacket, which no one should have made, let alone worn.
Samantha Bee
My daughter is in fashion. And what she said about it is that Lively's fashions in the movie, it's very clear that the producers hated her.
Justin Baldoni
Oh, well, there you go.
Joanna Coles
There you go. So that's why it feels like it's so long. But it was very fishy at the premiere because there was a clear line of demarcation between Blake and the cast. And then Justin, it was them versus him. He did everything alone, walked the carpet alone, all the press rounds. He did interviews by himself. They weren't even around. And then we learned later when he filed his lawsuit that he was banished to the basement during that premiere with his family. And they showed pictures of them in windowless rooms with pallets of water stacked this high and pallets of snacks stacked this high. So they were clearly in the basement of the AMC in Lincoln Center. So that was where it started to get weird. And you knew instantaneously. We had a set source that said all is not what it seems. And there is so much more to this story. So that's where you kind of.
Justin Baldoni
I long to have a source that sends something like that. So sinister. All is not what it seems as it seems.
Samantha Bee
So who fires the first shot of litigation?
Joanna Coles
I guess she does. I will also say, though, before that happens, he hires a crisis PR person a week after the premiere. So that's when everyone is like, okay, we saw something going on at the premiere. This is now a thing. And then a few months pass and she files a complaint a couple days before Christmas, citing disturbing and unprofessional behavior on set, hostile work environment. She gave some examples that he entered her trailer uninvited while she was pumping.
Justin Baldoni
Cause she just had her fourth child, right?
Joanna Coles
She just had the baby. There were inappropriate statements regarding, you know, sex and porn on set, like, this type of stuff. So instantaneously, I think, as a woman, having lived through the PTSD of MeToo, you're like, okay, Team Blake, right? And that, I think, was Most people felt that way in the beginning. Like, this is just another gross moment in Hollywood. And, like.
Justin Baldoni
And also, can I point out that Justin Baldoni, who I'd really not come across before this movie, he is the director and he stars in it. And a lot of the script literally talks about how good looking he is. And so you're like, how is this? Cause first of all, you're on screen with Blake Lively, who, however she turns out, is gorgeous, and he plays a character that is just far too good to be true. It makes no sense. He's a neurosurgeon. He loves children, he's good looking, he's rich. I mean, it's like a sort of bad version of fifty Shades of Grey. And that's interesting.
Samantha Bee
Did he write the script or did someone.
Justin Baldoni
No, he didn't write the script, but he directed it and he stars in it.
Joanna Coles
And he's produced. And he produced it. And he owns the rights to the book. So there's two.
Justin Baldoni
The Colleen Hoover book.
Joanna Coles
Yeah, and there's two books. There's a. It ends with us, and then the follow up, it starts with us. He owns the rights to both. Okay, so theoretically, this could continue for many years to come.
Justin Baldoni
Well, I'm fascinated to know who would work with either of them after a $400 million lawsuit, but please continue.
Joanna Coles
Okay, so. So she files this complaint. The next day is when the Time story comes out and the Times story is titled, we Can Bury Anyone Inside a Hollywood Smear Campaign, which everybody is like, whoa, my God, she got smeared. What is happening? So this is like the Blake train, like, going.
Justin Baldoni
Right, so wait a minute. Just. So the New York Times. For people who didn't read it, just explain what the New York Times story was.
Joanna Coles
The New York Times was essentially ran through the allegations that she had filed in the complaint the day before. All the things that we had talked about, like inappropriate conversations, he took liberties, kissing her during sex scenes. There was maybe intimacy coordinator issues. Like, all of that stuff was in the time story.
Justin Baldoni
So they had had a heads up on the lawsuit that she was filing.
Joanna Coles
I don't know if they had a heads up. I assume they would have gone to ask questions. Right. To get his feedback, but I don't totally know that.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, so the Times comes out with a huge long piece which everybody is sending to everybody.
Joanna Coles
Everybody's talking about it. And on the same day, he's dropped by wme, who also reps Blake as well. So he's dropped. Okay, so now this is starting to pick up a lot of steam. And then. Sorry, I have a timeline, because this is very complicated.
Justin Baldoni
No, I love the fact you bought incredibly legal looking notes.
Joanna Coles
I mean, this is. You must. This is now three lawsuits that were filed in 16 days. Like, there's a lot going on. Yes. And so. So at this point, the cast is starting to show support toward Blake. So you're like, oh, they were on set, they saw all this. Like, maybe this is real. This is like, this got legs. New Year's Eve Though he files his lawsuit against the Times, and that's the. He alleges libel. It's a $250 million lawsuit. He's saying they cherry picked information. He removed context that misled the public. That's making him look bad. And not only. In her original complaint, she said his team, they were planting all these stories making her reputation look bad. He's saying, you did the same thing to me. You're telling everybody that there are HR violations all over the set. Not true. So, like, they're going tit for tat now.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, so that was high stakes.
Joanna Coles
High stakes. Now she then turns, the same day her complaint into a real lawsuit against him. So now there's two lawsuits as of New Year's Eve.
Justin Baldoni
So there's the first lawsuit, then there's the Times piece. Then he.
Joanna Coles
Hers was. That was like a unofficial complaint, not a lawsuit. It was a complaint.
Samantha Bee
It was a complaint.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, so she makes a complaint. The Times piece comes out. He files a suit against the Times claiming libel.
Joanna Coles
Yes.
Samantha Bee
And her complaint was based on her experiences on set and then a PR campaign that had been rolling out for months prior to the movie launch, which I remember because my kids saw it roll out on TikTok. So, like, it all kind of, like, made sense to me. When she filed her complaint, I was like, I remember this. I saw this playing out in real time, this campaign against her.
Joanna Coles
You know, everyone's kind of putting pieces together. But now it all starts to be really cleanly laid out and official.
Justin Baldoni
Now people are paying lawyers, which is.
Joanna Coles
Expensive, and that is very expensive. So the day that he filed, we talked about, he files this $250 million lawsuit against the Times. She formalizes her lawsuit against him. It's unspecified the amount of money. Like, it's not as blatant as what his lawsuits are calling out, dollar amounts. And then in the middle of January is when he drops the huge bomb of the $400 million lawsuit against Blake. Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloan, the publicist.
Justin Baldoni
And what is he claiming? That I'm assuming he can never work again.
Joanna Coles
It's 179 pages. The, the. The filing. He's claiming civil extortion, defamation, invasion of privacy.
Samantha Bee
Can I ask a question about the original complaint that Blake Lively lodged? What was the intention behind that? Like, who was the complaint to?
Joanna Coles
The complaint?
Justin Baldoni
That's a good question.
Joanna Coles
If the complaint came out the day before the Time story, the complaint, I think, was to surface this to the Time story to come out.
Samantha Bee
I see. Okay. The.
Joanna Coles
The why, though, I think, is Still a mystery to everybody because you go from filming the movie, premiering it, and there being weirdness there. And then you're jumping to these lawsuits and it's like what happened during these gaps that made her want to do this. That made her want to. Is it. And there's so many theories. It's like, did she really just feel like she was being sexually harassed? Maybe, who knows? But then it gets like really, really. It's an onion that just kind of keeps going and going and going. And that's where it starts to get a little confusing as to like the intention of it all.
Justin Baldoni
And he's now releasing emails and texts from her that appear to slightly undermine the idea that she was sexually harassed. Or she, he offers her an intimacy coach and she says, well, I don't need to speak to her before the movie. Which actually seems reasonable.
Samantha Bee
It's reasonable.
Justin Baldoni
And then there's a lot of issues about she claims, or Ryan Reynolds claims that Baldoni was weight shaming her because she was just getting over having had her fourth baby.
Joanna Coles
Yeah, I call this his receipt era. Baldoni's like, he's just throwing it all out there. Like, he starts, releases the footage of them slow dancing. And, and I think the story is she says in that particular scene that there was no dialogue, that he had a kiss that kind of like dragged from her ear, like all the way down to her neck. And he tells her she's smelling good. So it's sort of feeling like it's very gross. He releases this footage which actually has audio. You hear the part of, oh, you smell good, but it's actually in response to a joke that she's talking about, like, oh, my self tanner might be all over you. And so this is weird. Like it's so blatantly different from what she's saying to what he is sort of proving was what happened. And obviously he could be cherry picking things, like, who knows? But he's really smacking down a lot of these claims that she brings to the table. He releases the video. He releases this wild voice note. I don't know if you sat and listened to that crazy.
Samantha Bee
Oh, yes, I did.
Justin Baldoni
This is the seven minutes voice note.
Samantha Bee
That the one that leaves four hertz.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah.
Samantha Bee
Yes, yes. I have a hard line against voicemails left at 3 o'clock in the morning. To me, like leaving someone a message at 3 o'clock in the morning says, it says you have no boundaries whatsoever. Like, that is not okay.
Joanna Coles
I couldn't even get through the whole seven minutes because it's so hard to listen to. It's. It's overacted in a way. It is.
Justin Baldoni
Do you think it's performative to make up for something that's already happened?
Joanna Coles
I don't know if it's that or if that is just who he is as a person. There's a lot of actors who are just on all the time.
Justin Baldoni
Just a very, very good looking director and actor. So good looking. Just like crazy good looking. I mean, I mean, I would like. My mom would have a few things to say about his face. She could point out some flaws in his face. She could, yeah. I'm just saying she could. It's good to have a Yorkshire mother. Cause you're never gonna get above yourself. Cause she can always point out a flaw that she spotted from 200 paces.
Joanna Coles
Well, let's maybe talk about that for a second. Because in that video that he releases of them slow dancing, she makes a joke that maybe he should get a nose job.
Justin Baldoni
Interesting. I think my mother would agree with that. She would.
Samantha Bee
We should really have your mother on.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah. Honestly, she'd be very good on the podcast. She was a soft spot for the.
Joanna Coles
Italian men with the large nose.
Justin Baldoni
Well, so also, what was the thing about someone released, and I'm assuming this is part of the smear campaign, and it came out last summer, they reminded people of an interview with a female journalist, a Danish journalist that Blake had done, where Blake looked like she was being a bit hostile to the journalist who was there to help her promote a movie.
Joanna Coles
Yeah. And the journalist I think said, you know, how's like congrats on the little buck.
Justin Baldoni
Meaning. Cause she was pregnant. Right.
Joanna Coles
And Blake was like, well, congrats on your little bump. And she wasn't pregnant. So it was. These things started to come out and you then start saying like, well, is this who she is in real life? And that's where I think it gets sticky because she's. Is this a character shaming moment too? Or is it just proving that everything she says in the very beginning complaint is like, not all it's cracked up.
Samantha Bee
To be, but where does it end? Like where maybe it never ends with us.
Amy Klobuchar
It might.
Justin Baldoni
I think that's the sequel. It's not. It starts with us. It's. It never ends with us.
Joanna Coles
And then I think the piece of this that is hard for him is that his whole brand was that of a male feminist. After Jane the Virgin, like he. That was his whole social media vibe. He had a podcast that talked about toxic masculinity. He did A TED Talk that was about this. So that was his full brand. And so now this. This whole thing has put that in question. And I think, like, he stands to lose the most from all of this in terms of credibility, because post Jane the Virgin, that was who he was at this point.
Samantha Bee
I feel like if you are a man in Hollywood and you say out loud that you're a feminist, that's your tell. And I don't know what it is, but it definitely is something. And it's gonna come out in the wash. Well, it's.
Joanna Coles
Yeah, the cycle. The wash cycle is spinning.
Samantha Bee
Oh, boy.
Justin Baldoni
I. I highly recommend this. I'm hoping that people can get this on the People website.
Joanna Coles
Oh, yes.
Justin Baldoni
So good. You're a total expert. What is the next stage? Just so we can prepare ourselves.
Joanna Coles
The next stage is the trial's next March. They did a pre trial.
Justin Baldoni
Oh, my God.
Samantha Bee
We've got.
Joanna Coles
I know. It's a whole year.
Justin Baldoni
What?
Joanna Coles
And they did a pretrial on Monday and we sent a reporter. It was pretty, like, dull. The judge did say that if they don't chill out on the public PR stunts that, like, they'll expedite the trial and it would maybe possibly come sooner. And he's expecting the attorneys to take it down.
Justin Baldoni
Can you imagine living with either one of them? Because this is going to be. They are going to become so obsessed. You know what it's like when someone has a legal case and all they can do is talk about it. That's what's going to happen to them. I cannot believe anybody is going to work with either of them until this is resolved.
Joanna Coles
That's going to be rough.
Samantha Bee
Oh, no. I think people will be very happy to work with Blake Lively. I mean, she brings the heat. I mean, like, she's a star. Of course they're gonna work with her.
Joanna Coles
Also, people have been through worse. I mean, like, look at Mel Gibson, and he's still kicking around.
Justin Baldoni
It's different for men than it is for women. I think people don't like it when women have sort of sturm and drang around them. I bet this does impact her career.
Samantha Bee
I feel like it was very brave and smart to actually. I feel like it was very instructive to reveal the step by step of what a smear campaign looks like and the fact that it could even reach someone who is in her position. I feel like it was just kind of like opening that up to the world really opened a lot of people's eyes to the kind of the machine behind the machine, which I Think was a really interesting move, and I can understand why he's upset about it, and it's affecting him. And all of that is true, and all of that is real, and it's all extremely painful. But I think she's, like, one of the only people in Hollywood who can take a risk that big because she's in the position that she's in. She's pretty untouchable financially. They're very financially successful, by all accounts.
Justin Baldoni
But wasn't one of the problems that she felt that her hair product that she was just launching off the back of a film about domestic violence was impacted by this?
Joanna Coles
Yeah, I mean, that's in her suit, too, saying that, you know, it's. Various businesses that she has are in peril, too, so. And that's one of them. The Blake Brown, I think, is what the target line's called.
Samantha Bee
These things happen all the time to much less wealthy people, and we don't know about them. We just hear all this bad press about someone, and then you go, oh, I've changed my mind about it. And she is kind of one of the only people who can, like, lay it out point for point, for point, point, and go, this is actually what happens. Take a look at it, and here's why it's painful. And I think it's really interesting. I mean, you cannot deny that that happened. I was there. I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes. I was like, what is going on here? Why does everybody hate Blake Lively all of a sudden in the summertime around the release of the movie? You know, I'm not a person who is that aware of these things. I'm not on a lot of social media myself. So for it to reach my eyeballs meant that it was, like a pretty meaningful campaign against her. And it was just interesting to see it point for point. I think that that was. I think that that was a real awakening for a lot of people. And, you know, it's meaningful to me that you can see a lot of the people who are also in the movie are kind of on her side, and I think that means something.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah, it's deep state publicists, pretty deep.
Samantha Bee
Bench of people who are like, yeah, it was bad.
Justin Baldoni
Well, the movie was bad, too. So that's.
Samantha Bee
Oh, my goodness. Always one of the things, isn't it, where you just, oh, my goodness, if.
Justin Baldoni
Only it was a really great movie. If only this was about something worthwhile that would be so much more interesting. But, Leah, thank you so much. I miss working with you so much.
Joanna Coles
So nice thank you.
Justin Baldoni
Okay. Come back anytime. Yeah, come back.
Joanna Coles
This is my Roman Empire.
Samantha Bee
Okay. Come back.
Justin Baldoni
Back before March 2029. Whenever it. Whenever it happens.
Amy Klobuchar
God.
Joanna Coles
That might be the second movie.
Justin Baldoni
This is why people hate celebrities. 400 million dollar lawsuit.
Joanna Coles
Crazy.
Justin Baldoni
Crazy. But it keeps you in business.
Joanna Coles
It really does. We'll take it.
Justin Baldoni
Did that help? Do you know, have clarity?
Samantha Bee
I think I have clarity, but I don't know what is clarity.
Justin Baldoni
I like Blake Lively. We used to put her on the COVID when I was editing Marie Claire and Cosmo. I'm sort of still team Blake. I'm just very confused because the film has clouded all judgment for me because it was so bad. But I will say it's too much about him, the movie, and how good looking he is. And he's not that good looking.
Samantha Bee
I find it. It's actually funny. But why watching the movie gave. Put me even more squarely on team Lively. I think I already was. And it just put me there even more deeply because it's directed so claustrophobically. Like every frame is so tight. I felt like I was being smothered by his face. It's just so. I don't know how to. I don't think anyone should watch it in order to see this. Just let me tell you that it was like being. It was like being suffocated by the close up shots.
Justin Baldoni
The close up shots of him kissing her.
Joanna Coles
Yeah.
Samantha Bee
Even when he. This. The vibe is so incredibly creepy. And I'm just not sure it was, like, intentional. I don't think it was like. I don't think it was the intention of the script. I think that's just. He kind of directed it creepily. Is that.
Justin Baldoni
Well, I think he directed it to make himself look like the hero and incredibly good looking and thought he would probably launch from their as the next Brad Pitt. And in fact, the complete reverse has happened.
Samantha Bee
The complete reverse has happened. And it's. It's a really. It's an extremely.
Justin Baldoni
It's.
Samantha Bee
It's an extremely ugly story. But I do actually, I really do applaud Blake Lively for coming forth with the information that she learned about the very intricate campaign against her. Like, you know, there was a big gap many months between the time that that campaign was in full operation and for her to issue her complaint. So she must have, like, learned within that couple of months span exactly, like how technical it was. How technical it was.
Justin Baldoni
Well, I think it's.
Samantha Bee
I think it's actually really.
Justin Baldoni
It's very elucidating and it's very trumpy I mean, lawsuits flying everywhere, huge sums of money, neither side backing down. That feels like the new world we're living in.
Samantha Bee
Yeah, well, I don't know. I don't bl. I don't. I don't. I don't blame her. And, you know, reputationally, I guess I don't blame him for trying to, you know, fight for his point of view, but. Yeah, I don't know.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, well, I think we might need a quick break after. After all that. Before we talk to our beast of the week Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Amy Klobuchar
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Justin Baldoni
We're back and we're thrilled to be joined by this week's Beast of the week, Senator Amy Klobuchar. Amy isn't just a Midwestern moderate or the newly minted number three Democrat. She's clever, she's spicy, as Sam would say. And she's much more charismatic than one might expect from a senator from Minnesota. Al Franken used to refer to himself, remember Al Franken as the second funny, funniest senator from Minnesota, making Klobuchar number one. She's the daughter of a teacher and a newspaper man, the first woman elected to the Senate from her state, and a Bob Dylan fan. As we saw in her powerful inauguration speech a few weeks ago last November, she didn't just win re election, she outperformed her party's presidential candidate. Remember her by 11 points, proving she knows how to connect with voters in tough territory. She deserves a Golden Globes.
Samantha Bee
Oh my gosh. Senator Klobuchar, I can't believe you're talking to us today. Thank you so much for making time. I know you're not busy. Nothing is happening.
Amy Klobuchar
I'm gonna speak at midnight, so I have plenty of time.
Samantha Bee
Oh my God.
Amy Klobuchar
Stopping. We are doing a 30 hours through the night against the OMB nominee. Vote, as in don't vote for vote. Vote. His last name is Vote, who was one of the Project 2025 architects. And actually the Stephen Miller, who of course is known as one of Trump's Bengalis, has attributed this idea of freezing the funding to vote before vote was even in the office.
Samantha Bee
Wow. Well, how are we going to keep you awake for four years straight? Like, what's the strategy?
Amy Klobuchar
I'm getting a lot of sleep.
Samantha Bee
Okay. That's good.
Justin Baldoni
That.
Amy Klobuchar
Yes.
Samantha Bee
Going to get any. What do you. Are you still capable of being shocked? Because I thought that I was. No. Could. No longer be shocked. And I was so surprised that everyone just toed the line on RFK Jr.
Amy Klobuchar
Tulsi Gary, I was actually surprised when you looked at some of those nominees.
Samantha Bee
Yeah.
Amy Klobuchar
Cash Patel is coming down the track and there seems to be no opposition. You had Pete Hegs. There was two senators, of course, or three that voted against him on the Republican side. But our Democrats have, when it comes to these really big ones that have been clearly unqualified, have been very strong in our opposition. But again, it's the numbers. Do the math. You know, they can get these nominees through with 51 votes beginning and end of story. And they have those votes.
Justin Baldoni
So there seems to be so much going on right now. So many confirmations, so many extraordinary policies by the president and then Donald Trump. What should we be focusing on, Senator? And you know, if you were to prioritize the things that are worrying you, what are they?
Amy Klobuchar
Well, I think the first is that we have to realize that this isn't business as usual. This isn't just one person you disagree with that you debate. This is a complete constitutional power grab. And if you, unless you realize how bad it is, you're not able to, I think, cope with what the answers are. So that's the first thing. The second thing is a little different. You need to go back to what the basics are, where the American people are right? A bunch of them voted for Donald Trump, a bunch of them wanted change. And the major reason they weren't happy with the status quo is that they wanted cost to go down. They were concerned about inflation. So I kind of start every day and say to myself, oh, as we see more messes and firing of inspector generals that would be watching taxpayers money and egg prices, I kind of think to myself it's another day where Donald Trump has not brought down costs for the American people. And instead, what do we see? We see chaos going up, we see corruption going up and we see egg prices going up. And I think there's tons of things that I would like to do to change that, from housing proposals to childcare to finally doing something on bringing more drug prices down. But what they are doing is the opposite. They are trying to help their billionaire friends and Elon Musk at the expense of helping the American people.
Samantha Bee
Right. I mean, he governs by distraction. Today. He wants to turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East. Yesterday, Canada was the 51st state like the.
Amy Klobuchar
Have you thought about what that would do to the electoral college?
Samantha Bee
Oh, my God. Never mind Canada.
Amy Klobuchar
Snappy new states, Canada Panama and Greenland. It's don't tell him, but it could actually go bad on him. But I, you're right, it's distraction. But really, in answer to that question about what to do, I wanted to kind of set that up about this is a constitutional horror show power grab. But to regular people right now, they're still saying, wait, where's my change? I wanted to bring cost down, but what can we do? Number one, people have to awake from their anger, slumber, frustrations, whatever, and get out there. We have had thousands of calls, members of Congress getting called. They broke the phone system in the Senate. The emails are especially really, it broke the phone system in the Senate, was garbled in their answers for a day. Now I'm no longer running the Rules Committee. Maybe that's why I had to hand it over to Mitch McConnell. But the system broke and now it's fixed. But it was because of all the calls. Secondly, the emails are the most important. I know this seems wild, but it actually can be part of evidence because the cases that are being brought across the country by state attorney generals, this is a real thing happening by interest groups by the like, we can submit this evidence and maybe we take the emails. Today I'm giving a half an hour floor speech using a number of the constituent concerns in detail that written into me, they are evidence of what's going wrong. And we've heard this time and time again from some of the attorney generals that are bringing the cases. So believe it or not, those arguments that we are making are part of the record for these cases to show the harm that's made. So that's another piece of it. And then the other piece of it is just continuing to talk to people that maybe didn't vote for Kamala Harris and voted for Donald Trump. People, you know, talking it through how much the tariffs hurt businesses and farmers and all of those things. When you are basically going to war with our allies of Canada and Mexico and what that means for the American economy.
Samantha Bee
Elon Musk seems to be doing is doing so much damage. I mean, it's just like kind of immeasurable. He answers to no one so far, especially not the government. Is there anything that he could do that is so beyond the pale you think that the Supreme Court might actually intervene? Like, is there. What is the possible intervention or do we just have to wait for that very durable relationship to fall apart and how can we personally undermine it?
Amy Klobuchar
I think that is the one thing no one quite expected, that this unelected billionaire there would be basically making decisions for an elected president. And there's a few things going on. Number one, you know, can they steal the data of employees and Americans and put it off on private servers? And some of the horror show that's going on around that, that's going, that is, if not already, that is going to be the, the evidence of lawsuits over violations of law. The second thing is, when he is, is unelected, what is he having access to? Is he really allowed to have that in the position that he's in and what conflicts under the laws? And then my final and favorite one, is there some way to argue, and I know, you know, big legal minds are looking at this, that he has to divest himself of his companies if he's going to be involved in things that are going to affect them. So I think all of those things now, the courts in the past, including Republican appointed judges, it is a number of Republican appointed judges have already made decisions that stop some of this activity. It takes a while to wind through the court system. We all know that. But you can have temporary orders that block what's going on. And some of that has already happened. One, with regard to immigration, that was really significant.
Justin Baldoni
Senator, you presided over the opening of the inauguration. What was it like being in the room?
Amy Klobuchar
Well, I thought I would give all the scoops to you and Sam B.
Samantha Bee
Thank you.
Amy Klobuchar
Because I know they never get out at all. And that was my plan. Yeah, right. So first of all, I picked every word that I spoke that morning very carefully. When it came to, when I addressed the Congress and the nation to open those inauguration, that inauguration, I had a job. I was picked for that job because of my job with Rules Committee. A year before it started, it would have happened if Kamala Harris won or Donald Trump won. I had to supervise a committee which was composed of Mitch McConnell, the speake of the House, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. We basically put together a bipartisan staff and that's how the whole thing got planned. And I have to say, they were extraordinary and the law enforcement was extraordinary. They had four days notice to bring that thing inside, change the whole security profile. They did it. So the things that I talked about in the speech were, number one, we are in a hot mess of division and it's on all of us to work our way through it. Number two, and this is key, there's a reason in America that the inauguration is not held at a gilded presidential palace or in an executive office building. It's in Congress because our founding fathers in the Constitution makes clear we have three equal branches of government and that's the one that turns out to stand the test of time. We hope in reality, in what Donald Trump is testing right now, legally and in every which way by taking money that Congress has already appropriated for very important, important functions. Number three, and this was my favorite part, when he moved it inside, I thought, aha, we're going to have a room. I never really knew that all the broligarchs would be standing together, but I thought this is a room of power. Right. But the power in that room of the elected officials doesn't come from in that room, it comes from outside of the room. And that's what we have to remember. And you've got both the Democratic base which is ignited now and it's getting more and more involved.
Samantha Bee
Right. But I'm not seeing a ton of like, I mean, I know that the party is becoming aroused to Chuck Schumer. We're getting our aroused.
Justin Baldoni
Take him on one side and tell him he can never use that word again.
Amy Klobuchar
Pass it on.
Samantha Bee
You know, you're not feeling like out in the world. We're not feeling a lot of resistance. There's a lot of feeling there. People are feeling very hopeless. How do you communicate that people have the power and then what does that really mean on a day to day basis? Like people don't. I understand the importance, the civic importance of writing emails and calling in and doing all of that stuff, but the vast majority of people kind of don't do that. They don't actually think it makes a difference when it really does or does it right now with this type of administration.
Justin Baldoni
And also not everybody is feeling hopeless. I think one of the issues is that some people are excited by this and think that finally stuff is because people don't see the workings of government. They think finally someone's coming in and of course they overspend and we're going to chop it down by 80%. So I disagree with your premise that everybody's feeling, hopefully everybody I know.
Amy Klobuchar
Yeah, I think that's fair. I was talking just the people in the middle that are going, wait a minute, there are people like that and then there are people in base of Democrats who are getting very, very upset and realizing maybe I can make a difference. So I think the first thing is that people have to kind of get out of thinking this is I can do nothing, I make no difference. I just don't think that's true. There's only a few vote right now, two vote margin in The House of Representatives on the other side of this Capitol. So you can make a difference when it comes to getting involved in elections. I think that the other way that people can make a difference is by talking to each other and not just looking at their phones all the time.
Justin Baldoni
And unless they're looking at the Daily Beast, then they must.
Amy Klobuchar
That is true. But I think that a lot of this is that they have to be able to go to things again and talk about things and listen to other people. The 20, 26 midterms that are upon us soon. But I do think people talking to each other matters. I also think getting educated on what's happening and looking at media outlets like the Daily Beast and listening to podcasts, I think all of that matters. So people and not. And maybe understanding why we can't just press a magic button right now. Adam Schiff and I were talking about this this morning. They just press the button, make this better. Fix it. Make it go away. I think we all know we have to be in this, and the Democrats are in this right now in Congress, but we're in it for the long haul.
Samantha Bee
Out of all of them, who do you hope does not go through the most? Can you identify one of those very provocative picks that you're just like, if this goes through? I don't know. I don't know what.
Amy Klobuchar
I have no choice. I must keep going. But I would. I think one of the hardest ones is Kash Patel. By the way, after the Kash Patel hearing, I. If you, you know, I. You think about what you try to do to get your head out of it. So on Saturday morning, I was in Minnesota, and I went to the Container Store because I decided I had to. I had this, like, drive to reorganize the coffees and the teas and the, you know, everything I had in these cupboards, my husband just keeps throwing things in them. So I'm in line at the Container Store, and I know there's not a lot of those left, but there is one in Minnesota, and I'm in line. These. The clerks are there, and they're really friendly. And all of a sudden, this total stranger comes up with her big heart. And I've got this big card of all these baskets and box. And she goes, I know why you're here, Amy Klobuchar. And I go, why? And I'm like, oh, man, what is this? And she goes, you are living in a world that feels out of control, and you're trying to assert some control over it at the Container Store. And I decided that is totally true. I'm going to have my three hours off on Saturday morning and I'm going to organize some things that I have control. So that feeling of this is all outside of our command is everyone is feeling it, Senators are feeling it right now, they can't sleep, all those things. But we just, I just need people to know that we are in this so big in these ways. We're in it with the courts and helping however we can on litigation, which is probably the ultimate way we're going to stop this. We're in it for trying to encourage and bugging and prodding our Republican colleagues to vote with us whenever we can and waiting for that glorious moment when they do. We can't do anything about it till they do, but we can keep calling it out and calling it out, and we are in it with working with our constituents and going to town halls. And I was at a senior center, hundreds of people there mad because they are not committing to negotiate the prescription drugs that we're finally negotiating under Medicare, which the last administration, the Biden administration, did the negotiations and for just 10 drugs, saved 9 million seniors, $1.5 billion dollars, billion in out of pocket costs for drugs like Januvia and Jardiance and Xarelto and Eliquis. Those things are happening right now. And it's on this next administration and on us to hold them accountable, how we ask questions in hearings, what we are expecting them to do. And all of this stuff matters.
Samantha Bee
So what I'm hearing is that America is like one big freight train that just puked its contents all over Arizona. And we need to be thinking like a Container store shopping spree, compartmentalizing.
Amy Klobuchar
That's not what that story is. That shop, that is a shopping spree. You're just adding more stuff, okay? Just trying to like take what you got, containment, contain it, organize it, get some control over it, and then do your work. So because you have, we have to accept, accept that this is like a really hard situation. And we try to control what we can, try to take breaks from it when we can, but when for us, the leaders, we don't really have a choice. By the way, another thing that motivates me is the new members. You know, we've got Adam Schiff in the Senate. We've got Andy Kim out of New Jersey that replaced Bob Menendez. We've got Alyssa Slotkin from Michigan, Lisa Blunt, Rochester. We've got Angela. Also Brooks from Maryland. I've got these new cool people that I get to Work with that. Make me feel better and make me better. And we have that same thing happen in workplaces across America. When you get involved in politics, there's always new young people that are involved. We are going to generate a whole bunch of people that want to get involved in politics.
Justin Baldoni
Now, do you think there was anybody the Democrats could have fielded at the last election to beat Donald Trump that.
Amy Klobuchar
You know, backwards, looking backwards, you always hope there was someone. I mean, who knows. I don't know. I can't spend my time, time looking backwards. Kamala could not have been better in that debate. Kamala Harris. Okay, to be really clear, I talked to many seasoned debaters who've run for president before who agreed with me on this. She was phenomenal. They raised the money that they needed, but it was a change election. And she also came in at the end. We're not going to go back through all of that and the good things that Joe Biden has done, all of that, we all know that, but we just cannot. And this is what my colleagues feel. And we do not spend time looking in the rearview mirror. We're looking at the fact that we, we in the Senate at least overcame some of the states where the presidential ticket, the Democratic presidential chicken, lost. We won in Wisconsin with Tammy Baldwin, Jackie Rosen in Nevada. We won with Rubin, who's also a new member, who's amazing. Ruben Gallego, who, by the way, had the funniest. He made a incredible graphic to show what these tariffs would mean if you're trying to make a margarita in Arizona and how much each ingredient would go up by 20, 25%. So my point is, and then, and so we win in these, in four of the states in Michigan that the presidential campaign lost in. So we're just looking at and think, what did these guys do and what did we do there that made the difference? A lot of it is going to be candidate recruiting, but a lot of it's going to be focusing on these bread and butter issues that matter.
Samantha Bee
I have such a good idea. And that is you just get like six people who were teenagers four years ago, like couple of 20, like six, 22, you're girls. And you just move them into your offices over the weekend and have them sleep on cots and they just break the whole thing apart. They get a big whiteboard, they put post it notes on it. They just have like big ideas. Just big, big, big crazy ideas and no sense of civic responsibility. And we can blow it out that way. Yeah.
Amy Klobuchar
But I do think one of the things and you all know this in doing these podcasts, what we have to do, I mean, the Democratic Party and Cory Booker is spending a lot of time on this right now. Number three in leadership. I'm working hard on these, on all of the policies, what we're pursuing, what we're taking on, the battles we're picking and getting out there in a big way. And he and others we are also working on, we got beat out on, let's face it, on social media now. It's not easy when Elon Musk controls the algorithms of X. We know that, but that's not an excuse. And we are going to get our content out there in a big way. And one of the ways we get out there is by going to podcasts, by getting the message out in different ways about what we're doing. And right now, we are strongly making the case we're in it, that chaos and corruption are up, that these guys are doing things to help their billionaire friends, and that they are engaged in a constitutional power grab. So that is what we're getting out there right now, in addition to putting out our own ideas.
Samantha Bee
Nuts and bolts. We're down to the studs. Let's go.
Amy Klobuchar
Those are my colleagues. The studs.
Samantha Bee
The studs.
Justin Baldoni
First of all, what are you hearing from Republican senators, moderate Republican senators matters about some of the choices that gone through? I, I'm disappointed there hasn't been more resistance to some of the. I know you pointed out there were three people that resisted Pete Hexorth, but what are the conversations going on that you, you are privy to that we don't hear about the internal Republican resistance to what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing?
Amy Klobuchar
Yeah, I think that there is a lot of people that feel very uncomfortable, comfortable with what they're doing, but they are afraid of Donald Trump and they are literally. There's reports of Musk and primaries and millions of dollars spent against them. A lot of them privately will say things about it. But in the end, you've got to live with your votes. Right? You have to have. You're going to be held to those. Your own morals, your own North Star, your own compass. And I don't know how some of them are doing it. I think some of them don't care, but there are ones that do. So I'm not just counting them off, not talking to them or not working with them on legislation, because I'm just waiting for that moment. And it may come right where they have to defend the democracy of the United States. And you're Going to. I know what you're thinking. I just picturing Sam. I know. I'm like, you know, how about, did they stand up then Amy? How about this? How about when Cash Patel's coming, they. I get all that. But some of them do stand up and there does come a moment. And if we don't, if we just ignore them and just pretend they don't exist, that's not going to help either because we have to call them out and we have to commend them when they do the right thing. And we have to keep this pressure on every single day.
Samantha Bee
You know that I named my cat Susan Collins, right? I did.
Amy Klobuchar
I kind of missed that.
Samantha Bee
Yep. I named my cat Susan Collins because it makes me laugh.
Justin Baldoni
Laugh.
Samantha Bee
Every single time she does something weird. I'm like, sis and Collins. So there you go. I take your point.
Justin Baldoni
Patience.
Samantha Bee
Okay.
Justin Baldoni
Definitely. My final question. Does this make you want to run again?
Amy Klobuchar
Oh, I just ran. I ran for the United States.
Justin Baldoni
I know. You got 11 points over the Democratic presidential candidate you romped home. You're a very popular senator, I should say. Does this make you want to run again as leader and potential president?
Amy Klobuchar
Right now I am focused on in the moment. I literally can't think of more important job right now.
Samantha Bee
You're going to be up for the next 30 hours.
Amy Klobuchar
No, there. We have to focus on now because literally people are dying, as you know, overseas because of this cutbacks from the, from usaid. People are dying. You have got our democracy. And if, if all these federal employees either decide to take this made up buyout, that may or may not be true. And we lose epidemiologists at the USDA if we lose key people. It is really hard to get people back into those agencies as we're facing avian flu and the like. I believe in an independent judiciary, but I also believe in independent law enforcement making decisions. Justice Department, all that's on the line right now. So I can't think of a better place to be, even though it means I have to go to the Container Store.
Samantha Bee
We need to send you a mobile cappuccino truck to keep you awake for four.
Amy Klobuchar
Look at it. I have plenty of energy.
Justin Baldoni
You look aroused. You look thoroughly aroused.
Amy Klobuchar
Can you imagine organizing all these senators who maybe a few of them have egos, right? And he is really been leading us down this. And we are really focused right now on litigation, legislation, on oversight, and then of course on our constituents and making our voices heard, so.
Samantha Bee
Well, the arousal is palpable. All right, thank you so much for this time.
Justin Baldoni
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And come back and come back and give us a sit rep in a few months, please.
Amy Klobuchar
Okay, we will, we will get. We will do. Let's see how we are. We'll do a little, you know, three months look back.
Joanna Coles
Okay.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah, that we. We're going to need check ins. If we're all still there, then you'll.
Amy Klobuchar
Play old clips of me saying that, hey, no, people just need to hang in there.
Joanna Coles
Really.
Samantha Bee
I'll show you my own organized closet.
Justin Baldoni
I think you need to go and organize the entire group of Democratic senators at this point. We need them all in Container Store boxes.
Amy Klobuchar
We're actually doing a lot of organizing. I do hope you've seen everyone out there. I mean, it's been, it's been, they've been doing a lot.
Samantha Bee
So. Well, thank you so, so much for your time.
Justin Baldoni
Okay, thank you very much.
Amy Klobuchar
All right, thanks.
Justin Baldoni
I just love the idea of her in the Container Store.
Samantha Bee
I find that so relatable. I don't even know what to tell you. Container Store is just one of my favorite places to go when I'm feeling all over the place. Like I just. Is that the cretiker of the menopausal woman? It's just like the place I feel safest is where little boxes are that I can put pencils and lipsticks into.
Justin Baldoni
Well, it does feel like the perfect antidote to the chaos and the noise and the broness of. It does feel like we're living through bro performance art.
Samantha Bee
We really are. And I really. I. I don't know. I don't know what to do about it. I just, I look at, you know, there's this great. Now I'm gonna. I think it's called. There's this really great short story by Margaret Atwood and it's called Dusting the Oldies. I think it's part of the Stone Mattress series, short stories. I think it's called that. But I'm probably wrong. And it really is about. It's a distant, you know, obviously distinct dystopian speculative fiction about the end of the world. And basically it's all the young people, all the young men in particular, burning down all the old folks homes. Like that is how. Just kind of getting rid of. Just kind of getting rid of older people. And that is what I see when I look at like young, like fresh out of college people around in people's medical records, words. And it really. It's dystopian to me. It's dystopian to me. That was not an uplifting download, but you should read that story. And I do feel like that's the energy that I get from all these, like, tech people, that they really just don't care. They don't have no regard. There's no regard for human life. I don't know. It's really. I find it really. I find it scary. I find it dystopian.
Justin Baldoni
Well, yeah, there's clearly a lack of empathy and a lack of good messaging too. Because even if people voted for this level of disruption, the messaging should be better than. My billionaire friend has moved in with his five lost boys, and they're just dismantling everything and helping themselves to your data.
Samantha Bee
Yeah, well, some things. Some things worked just fine and they don't require disruption. When everything is primed for disruption, then I. I don't know what we have. There are just some things that government is for. Anyway, sorry, this is my very Canadian.
Justin Baldoni
I think feed Susan Collins and myself. Yeah, you need another cream donut. It's time for another cream. If you start the day with a cream donut and the day with a cream donut, what's not to love?
Samantha Bee
I just want the cream. I don't even need the donut part. I'm just gonna lick the cream right out of the center. Okay, Joanna, I know we're about to wrap it up, but first I have to present you with something which is a gift. I think you're gonna love it.
Justin Baldoni
I think I'm not going to love it. What is this?
Samantha Bee
This is horrified.
Justin Baldoni
I hate the way obsession. This is magnificent.
Samantha Bee
I knew you would love it.
Justin Baldoni
It is magnificent. Lauren's milkmaid's outfit.
Samantha Bee
Yes, and signed it.
Justin Baldoni
It's signed what? Your secret rebel. It's fantastic. I need it framed and I. I need it on the wall next to that amazing picture you gave me. Christmas. This is just too much. You're taking care of. Of my art. Art collection. It's just.
Samantha Bee
That's right.
Justin Baldoni
I'm just obsessed. If you have been. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please, like subscribe, comment and share it with everyone. You know, everybody. You don't. If you're on the subway, just tell people what you're listening to and keep.
Samantha Bee
Sending us those emails. God, we love them. Beastpod@the daily beast.com drop us a comment on our youtubes. Joanna might even respond. She's kind constantly watching herself on YouTube.
Justin Baldoni
I do love the comments we get. Some of them are really apropos. I think we should talk about some of them next week, actually.
Samantha Bee
Oh, that would be delightful.
Justin Baldoni
Yeah.
Samantha Bee
What could possibly go wrong?
Justin Baldoni
Oh, so many things. So many things. You should subscribe to the Daily Beast if you haven't done it. It's very straightforward. You literally just go to thedailybeast.com and then you can sign up and then you do.
Samantha Bee
As my personal museum always seems to say, be best.
Justin Baldoni
I have a new muse now. Be milkmaid.
Joanna Coles
Milk.
Justin Baldoni
Be milk, mate.
Samantha Bee
What does.
Justin Baldoni
She's a beast.
Samantha Bee
My God, she's upside down.
Justin Baldoni
She's an absolute beast.
Samantha Bee
She is a beast.
Justin Baldoni
She's a beast.
Samantha Bee
Well, she doesn't say be beast. She says be breast. She adds an ar.
Justin Baldoni
That's very good. She's a Bezos beast. But beasts for Bezos. I love it. It's all good. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, the Daily Beast podcast, I Almost Forgot is produced by Sarah Demonkoff, Sphere, Baron Reinstein, Jesse Cannon, and Seamus Calder. Additional writing, as you just heard by Sasha Seinfeld and edited by Deanna Chapman and engineered by his second week in a row, so you can blame him for any mistakes. Johnny Simon.
Samantha Bee
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Amy Klobuchar
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Justin Baldoni
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Amy Klobuchar
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Joanna Coles
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Justin Baldoni
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Podcast Summary: The Daily Beast Podcast – "Amy Klobuchar, Blake Lively and Aroused Democrats"
Release Date: February 6, 2025
Hosts: Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee
Guest: Senator Amy Klobuchar
In this engaging episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, co-hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee delve into a multifaceted discussion that intertwines Hollywood drama with the current political climate. The episode primarily focuses on the high-profile legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, juxtaposed with an in-depth interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar, addressing the state of the Democratic Party and the challenges posed by influential figures like Elon Musk.
Timestamp: [04:14]
The hosts kick off the episode by dissecting the tumultuous legal battle between actor/director Justin Baldoni and actress Blake Lively. This feud has garnered significant media attention, highlighted by a staggering $400 million lawsuit filed by Baldoni against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and others associated with their joint film project.
Key Points:
Origins of the Feud: The conflict began at the movie premiere in August 2024, where irregularities and tensions were observed. Swift actions, such as Baldoni being relegated to a basement office during the premiere, raised alarms about potential underlying issues.
Lawsuit Details: Baldoni’s lawsuit accuses Lively and her team of civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy, claiming that false narratives were planted to sabotage his reputation and career. Conversely, Lively filed complaints citing unprofessional behavior on set, including invasive actions by Baldoni during sensitive moments.
Notable Quotes:
Justin Baldoni: “I did make the mistake with Kara Swish and Melek Abdul and Solomon Jones of trying to defend, somewhat weakly, I will say at this point, Elon. And they just. Everybody leapt on me.” [10:43]
Samantha Bee: “I just don't think that it [the lawsuit] is a word that he should ever utter again.” [02:46]
Impact on Hollywood: The hosts humorously critique the film’s plot and production choices, suggesting that the lawsuit has become a “cringe fest” and a distraction from more pressing societal issues. They also touch upon the broader implications of such high-stakes litigation in Hollywood, where personal grievances often escalate publicly.
Timestamp: [45:03]
The episode transitions to a compelling interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar, the first woman elected to the Senate from Minnesota and a prominent figure within the Democratic Party. Klobuchar discusses her strategies to combat the current political challenges, including a constitutional power grab and the influence of tech mogul Elon Musk.
Key Points:
State of the Democratic Party: Klobuchar emphasizes the urgency of recognizing the constitutional threats posed by the current administration. She urges constituents to become more involved in the political process through voting, contacting representatives, and participating in grassroots movements.
Elon Musk’s Influence: The senator criticizes Musk’s control over platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and his interference in government affairs. She highlights the dangers of an unelected billionaire wielding significant power over elected officials, advocating for legal measures to curb his influence.
Policy Focus Areas: Klobuchar outlines her legislative priorities, including lowering costs for Americans, addressing inflation, housing reforms, childcare, and reducing drug prices. She underscores the importance of bipartisan collaboration to effectively implement these policies.
Notable Quotes:
Amy Klobuchar: “This isn't business as usual. This isn't just one person you disagree with that you debate. This is a complete constitutional power grab.” [48:01]
Amy Klobuchar: “We are in it for the long haul.” [58:10]
Constituent Engagement: Klobuchar shares personal anecdotes that humanize her political struggles, such as organizing her home to regain a sense of control amidst national chaos. She stresses the importance of community and collective action, reflecting her commitment to fostering a resilient and engaged electorate.
Challenges Highlighted:
Media Manipulation: The influence of biased media and smear campaigns is a recurring theme, both in the Hollywood lawsuit and political discourse. Klobuchar advocates for transparency and the dissemination of factual information to counteract misinformation.
Election Integrity: The senator discusses the significance of upcoming midterm elections, urging voters to prioritize "bread and butter" issues that directly impact their daily lives, such as inflation and healthcare costs.
Throughout the episode, Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee maintain a lively and witty rapport, interspersing their analysis with humorous commentary and personal anecdotes. They reflect on the absurdity of certain Hollywood dynamics, the complexities of political battles, and the broader societal implications of current events.
Samantha Bee’s Commentary: Bee offers sharp critiques of political figures and media practices, highlighting the problematic language used by politicians like Chuck Schumer. She also empathizes with the public’s frustration towards Elon Musk’s unchecked influence, describing his actions as having a "tangible negative effect on all of humanity."
Joanna Coles’ Insights: Coles brings a seasoned perspective, drawing parallels between the legal battles in Hollywood and larger political confrontations. She questions the intentions behind public complaints and lawsuits, suggesting strategic motivations that extend beyond personal grievances.
Host Interactions: The hosts frequently engage in playful exchanges, such as discussing the merits of cream-filled donuts or contemplating the organizational chaos of political leadership. These moments add a relatable and entertaining dimension to the podcast, balancing the serious topics with lightheartedness.
In wrapping up the episode, the hosts reaffirm their commitment to addressing both entertainment industry dramas and significant political issues. They underscore the importance of staying informed, engaged, and proactive in combating corruption and safeguarding democratic integrity.
Final Takeaways:
Active Participation: Listeners are encouraged to actively participate in the political process, from voting to engaging in community discussions.
Awareness of Power Dynamics: Understanding the influence of powerful individuals like Elon Musk is crucial in maintaining a balanced and fair political landscape.
Resilience and Unity: Despite the chaotic and often disheartening nature of current events, the hosts and Senator Klobuchar advocate for resilience, unity, and collective action to drive positive change.
Samantha Bee: “I just don't think that it is a word that he should ever utter again. I don't think he should say aroused. I don't think he should say moist. I don't think that he should say that a building is erect.” [02:46]
Amy Klobuchar: “People have to awake from their anger, slumber, frustrations, whatever, and get out there.” [56:35]
Justin Baldoni: “They have the votes. And they have those votes.” [46:35]
Amy Klobuchar: “We are in it with the courts and helping however we can on litigation.” [62:06]
Conclusion:
This episode of The Daily Beast Podcast masterfully intertwines the glitz and drama of Hollywood with the pressing political challenges facing the Democratic Party. Through incisive commentary and a candid interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar, Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the ongoing struggles within both the entertainment industry and the political arena. The episode serves as both an informative analysis and an entertaining exploration of contemporary issues, encouraging active engagement and informed discourse among its audience.