Meltdown Over Patriotic UFC at White House, with Glenn Greenwald, and Justin Baldoni's Attorney Bryan Freedman Gives Exclusive Details of Settlement | Ep. 1339

15 Jun 2026 · 1 h 42 min · 33 chapters

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In short

Megyn Kelly discusses (1) the latest court developments and settlement terms in the Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively defamation/sexual-harassment dispute, focusing on California Civil Code 47.1 attorney-fees; and (2) a separate news segment with guest Glenn Greenwald analyzing a reported Trump–Iran framework agreement to stop fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, plus related political and security implications. The episode also briefly mentions a UFC event at the White House.

Guests (and backgrounds)

Bryan Freedman, Justin Baldoni’s attorney, who provides details and interpretation of the settlement agreement and Judge Louis Lyman’s ruling. Glenn Greenwald, host of System Update on Substack and a frequent political/legal commentator.

Key claims (Baldoni/Lively)

Judge Lyman awarded Blake Lively attorney’s fees under Civil Code 47.1 but denied punitive damages and treble/other damages; the settlement agreement leaves only a limited fee calculation for Lyman. Freedman claims the settlement involved no money exchanged (no $400M payment). He says Lively cannot “resurrect” punitive/treble/compensatory damages elsewhere; only fees for defending Baldoni’s defamation claim remain.

Notable examples

Freedman points to the settlement’s “no dollar figure” and that both sides agreed proceedings on the 47.1 motion stay before Judge Lyman. Greenwald cites the New York Times/CBS reporting: reopening the Strait within 30 days, sanctions relief and frozen-funds access (e.g., ~$25B/$24B), and a 60-day nuclear negotiation window.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Breaking News on Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

0:00 to 0:15

Analysis of the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over defamation and attorney's fees.

“In the U.S., there's a break-in every 26 seconds.”

Breaking News on Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

1:15 to 9:02

Analysis of the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over defamation and attorney's fees.

“Happy Monday on another very busy news day.”

Reaction from Justin Baldoni's Attorney

9:17 to 14:00

Discussion with Brian Freedman about the implications of the ruling and the settlement agreement.

“And I guess she thinks she's got some actual damages she can prove that will be troubled or tripled if she can just resurrect this claim under 47.1, the statute of California law that I just explained.”

Legal Proceedings and Damages Overview

14:00 to 17:05

Discussion on the legal implications of the case and ruling details.

“like punitive damages, like treble damages, like compensatory damages.”

Settlement Agreement Analysis

17:05 to 19:31

Analysis of the settlement agreement and its implications for both parties.

“she ultimately settled it because there was only a small little acorn left in her corner to hurl at Justin.”

Moving On from the Case

19:31 to 21:46

Exploration of the necessity to move on and the emotional toll of the lawsuit.

“And you're correct about the fact that there's no dollar figure that exchanged in either direction in this document.”

Disappointment and Accountability

21:46 to 24:07

Discussion on the disappointment of the parties involved and the pursuit of accountability.

“I don't think she would agree with that.”

Attorney Fees and Legal Costs

24:07 to 28:00

Discussion on attorney fees, their reasonableness, and what lies ahead legally.

“And so it was really easy for us to end up in a trial.”

Settlement Insights with Bryan Freedman

28:00 to 36:56

Discusses details surrounding Justin Baldoni's settlement and its implications.

“somebody with a lawsuit that tends to scare them and force them into giving them the inability to protect themselves.”

Settlement Insights with Bryan Freedman

37:39 to 39:12

Discusses details surrounding Justin Baldoni's settlement and its implications.

“Credit cards can keep your payments secure and provide rewards that families use to help make everyday purchases more affordable.”
Show all 33 chapters

Analyzing the Iran Settlement

40:18 to 42:00

Examines the recent Iran settlement and its potential implications on international relations.

“But actually, that's the news hitting just as we come to air, which is the following, new from the New York Times, Trump and J.D.”

Details of the Iran Deal

42:00 to 45:22

An in-depth analysis of the proposed Iran deal and its implications.

“And in response, or in, you know, as a result of all this, if we do it, then we are going to allegedly provide full sanctions relief and access to$25 billion in frozen funds of the Iranians.”

Critique of the War's Outcomes

45:22 to 48:03

Discussion on the effectiveness and outcomes of the war with Iran.

“Vance and Donald Trump both have confirmed that it is, we ought to see the terms of the deal.”

The Strait of Hormuz's Strategic Importance

48:03 to 50:43

Exploring the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz.

“a remarkable observation, given that the United States is the most powerful military in the world.”

Trump's Position on the Middle East

50:43 to 54:06

Analysis of Trump's approach and statements regarding Middle Eastern politics.

“infrastructure of our Persian Gulf allies, meaning the Arab dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.”

Preview of Upcoming Guests

54:22 to 55:20

Discussion about future guests and upcoming topics on the show.

“Glenn Greenwald, host of System Update on Substack, is my guest today.”

UFC Event at the White House

55:20 to 56:00

Reaction and commentary on the UFC event held at the White House.

“I don't like I really just don't like I don't like full metal jacket, the Green Mile, like anything involving torture or you can like break somebody's bone in UFC.”

Weather Forecast Chaos for UFC Freedom 250

56:00 to 58:20

A bizarre and exaggerated weather forecast raises eyebrows ahead of UFC Freedom 250.

“not because DC was experiencing some bad weather.”

Public Reactions and Patriotism at UFC Event

58:20 to 1:02:30

Discussing the responses to the patriotic UFC event at the White House and the cultural significance behind it.

“Rain or shine, we're celebrating our great country no matter what.”

Critique of Cultural Celebrations and Liberal Backlash

1:02:30 to 1:06:40

Examining the criticism from liberals regarding cultural celebrations and the perceived elitism in their responses.

“And yes, they were forced to condemn it after it happened because there was a national outcry after like, how dare you do that?”

Discussion on Masculinity and Gender Roles

1:06:40 to 1:10:00

A conversation about masculinity, gender roles, and the portrayal of these themes in media, highlighted by Elliot Page's comments.

“If you just regurgitate every feeling and gesticulate with your hands while doing it, Gavin Newsom style, you might say, that's the good kind of masculinity like Elliot lives.”

Discussion on Celebrity Political Statements

1:10:00 to 1:22:16

Explore the disconnect between Hollywood celebrities and ordinary Americans.

“Doug and I have an ongoing joke of, I'll just say to him, like, well, we're sitting there on the couch and I'll say, do you want to talk about our feelings?”

Knicks Victory and Celebrations

1:24:00 to 1:25:00

Discussion about the Knicks' recent victory and the celebrations that followed, including fan reactions and incidents of violence.

“I've lived in New York State for most of my life.”

Celebrity Attendance at Knicks Games

1:25:00 to 1:26:39

Exploration of the presence of celebrities like Ben Stiller at Knicks games and their implications on fan experience.

“But there's a couple of things we got to discuss.”

Hank Azaria's Critique of Celebrities

1:26:40 to 1:30:45

Hank Azaria's comments on celebrity culture at sports events, particularly his complaints about not having the best seats.

“I don't think I could afford the Knicks season ticket front row.”

Resentment Towards Celebrity Privilege

1:30:45 to 1:33:08

Discussion on the disconnect between celebrities and fans, highlighting why resentment exists towards privileged individuals in sports settings.

“noting that other stars like Questlove, Rainn Wilson, Edward Burns, Jeremy Strong, Aaron Judge, and Christy Turlington were also in the same area.”

Jon Stewart's Humble Presence

1:33:08 to 1:36:00

Contrast between celebrities and Jon Stewart's choice to watch the Knicks game among the fans, embodying a more relatable experience.

“agent, I would be like, just just shut up always unless you have a script in front of you or some written prepared speech.”

Community in New York Sports

1:36:00 to 1:38:05

Reflections on how New Yorkers come together during sports events, showcasing the city's diverse community.

“And, you know, I'm sure you've had these experiences, too, in New York.”

A Heartfelt Connection

1:38:05 to 1:39:05

Hear a touching story about a child's wish and the impact of human connection.

“And it was a quick call, but it was well worth it.”

The Power of Genuine Moments

1:39:06 to 1:41:08

Discussion on the significance of genuine emotional experiences in sports.

“Will you make a phone call or will you send a note?”

Critique of Celebrity Culture

1:41:09 to 1:43:30

Analyzing the authenticity of celebrity actions and public personas.

“it does kind of remind you that human beings are capable of great things.”

Friendship and Sports Events

1:43:31 to 1:44:28

A light-hearted take on friendship and attending sports events together.

“And apparently the only friend he brought was a guy, a military guy from, I don't know if it was his Invictus games or what he was, but like, he has no friends.”

Friendship and Sports Events

1:45:28 to 1:45:57

A light-hearted take on friendship and attending sports events together.

“Feel the sense of calm that comes from having up to$300 in overdraft protection with GoToBank.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:52Glenn Greenwald:Tap to open an account today. Eligible direct deposits and opt-in required for overdraft protection. Fees, terms, and conditions apply. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.

1:12Glenn Greenwald:Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. Happy Monday on another very busy news day. Some incredible sports stories over the weekend. They even made their way into my lane, so you know they were big. From UFC fight night at the White House to the New York Knicks. winning the NBA championship. It's unbelievable. It's like it's been almost well, it's been over 50 years, incredibly. But we begin today with an exclusive here on the MK show. And that is some breaking news and an exclusive document to reveal in the Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively saga. As we reported Friday, Judge Louis Lyman granting Blake Lively's request for attorney's fees on the defamation claim that was filed by Justin Baldoni against her.

1:59Glenn Greenwald:She sued him for sexual harassment. He counterclaimed for defamation. And she got that counterclaim dismissed before virtually all of her claims were dismissed. And under this weird California law that entitles her potentially to attorney's fees. All right. It sounded like a like a victory. Right. But remember that Baldoni's, and the judge said, yes, you can have the fees to Blake Lively. But Baldoni's defamation claim was only active for less than five months. So that's just a small part of the 18 months of high-priced litigation between the parties. Justin Baldoni, on the other hand, got himself a major win on Friday when Judge Lyman denied Blake Lively's request for punitive damages against him, damages meant to punish him or for a tripling of damages that she also argued she was entitled to when it comes to her actual sustained damages.

2:59Glenn Greenwald:So she had a couple of other categories of damages that she wanted him to pay her outside of her attorney's fees. And this judge said it's a no. Now, as we've been reporting, Blake Lively's request, all of those requests for attorney's fees and these other damages was rooted in this California Civil Code 47.1, which is a law passed to protect victims of sexual harassment from being deterred to go public with their stories, thanks to a powerful defendant who sues them for defamation. It's basically like you work for a man, you're going to claim sexual harassment by said man. the law is trying to discourage said man from trying to bully you out of filing that litigation with a defamation case against you.

3:47Glenn Greenwald:I mean, the whole thinking behind this provision, and we spoke with the woman who dreamed it up and architected it, was to protect less powerful women from more powerful men, or you could reverse the genders depending on the situation, but the less powerful from the more powerful who use defamation in an effort to silence and make the whole process impossible. You tell me, who's more powerful, who's richer, who's better connected between Justin Baldoni, whose name you probably never heard of unless you watched, was it Jane the Virgin and Blake Lively married to Ryan Reynolds and at that time, best friends with Taylor Swift.

4:26Glenn Greenwald:Okay. So she misused this entire thing, but that's where we were. Okay. This was never meant to protect multimillionaire movie stars like Blake Lively. But she saw an opportunity. We heard that from the architect of the law herself who came on this program and said, Blake's people came to her, the architect, and said, she wants to be the face of it. She wants to partner with you to take your law national. And she's gonna show the world how she's an advocate for Me Too victims nationwide. And this woman said, stay the hell away from me and my law. It's actually working out okay for some plaintiff for some women here in California, and I've gotten it passed in a couple of other states, and I don't want your help.

5:06Glenn Greenwald:You'll only draw negative attention to it. No one sees you as a Me Too victim. And she said, I didn't want her to Met Gala, my law. I totally got it. Now, Lively's 47.1 motion, the motion for all these fees and costs, was the only part of the case that was not part of the settlement the two sides reached last month. Okay, so this is the one piece she said, I'm not settling this. In other words, Justin, I'll still be coming after you for attorney's fees. And it's safe to say that Blake Lively thought she would prevail. Here is her attorney, Michael Gottlieb, the day after the settlement was announced, appearing on Matt baloney's podcast.

5:51So let me tell you why our client is happy, ecstatic with this settlement. The reason that our client is happy with this settlement is because it gives her the power and the opportunity to pursue what we believe is her most potent and powerful claim in a way that is efficient, in a way that is final, in a way that the defendants have no appeal rights over, and in a way that cuts off most of the noise that would be surrounding this case and lets us get straight to the core issue of how the defendants retaliated against her, specifically the retaliatory lawsuit that they filed that called her a liar, that branded her a liar.

6:31It's not one of these statutes where there's discretion for awarding the damages once the conditions are met. And we believe the conditions have essentially already been met. And now they're going to be held liable for compensatory damages tripled, punitive damages, and attorney's fees when we establish the elements of this 47.1.

6:51Glenn Greenwald:Well, that's not exactly what happened, is it? They got their attorney's fees, but they didn't get the huge pot of money they thought they were going to get when they got punitive damages meant to punish and her compensatory damages, meaning the actual damages she could prove to a court she suffered as a result of his counterclaim times three. That's what trebled means. The judge said it's a no. And now it appears from the statements that her team has issued over the past couple of days that she thinks she can still have another bite at the apple in getting those other damages that this judge just denied.

7:32So a bit of breaking news

7:35Glenn Greenwald:there and an exclusive reaction from Justin Baldoni's attorney. He happens to be my own as well. His name is Brian Friedman, and he's done an amazing job in this case. Let me tell you something. When you sign your insurance policy for some brokers, that's it. They're done. They got their commission. They like you a lot, but goodbye. They've got somebody else to sell to. You may not hear from them again until it's time for renewal. Your business runs all year though, and so do the gaps and the risk. And this is why I want to tell you about SuperSure. It's a great idea for a company. If your company has more than 25 employees, whether you're the owner, CFO, or HR manager, it can be too complex to just buy a policy online.

8:19Glenn Greenwald:You're past that now. SuperSure is the super agency built for you. It's licensed in every state for your business insurance and employee benefits too, with year-round support for you and your team. At supersure.com, you can access tools like fine print facts, which will translate your current policy into plain English, so you see what's covered and what's not, plus a business value calculator, so you can estimate what your business is actually worth and know what actually needs protecting and in what numbers. Go to supersure.com slash Megan. One super agency, one powerful, easy to use platform.

8:59Glenn Greenwald:All your policies in one place. Go to supersure.com slash Megan and check it out. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little handholding as you go through this crazy process? Paid for by SuperSure Insurance Agency, LLC, a licensed insurance agency. Brian, welcome back. So she says it's not over for her. She's still going after Justin. Her attorney's fees are not enough. She wants damages to punish him. And I guess she thinks she's got some actual damages she can prove that will be troubled or tripled if she can just resurrect this claim under 47.1, the statute of California law that I just explained.

9:39Glenn Greenwald:Your reaction? You know, my reaction is that we don't believe that's accurate at all. And part of the reason and I think that there's confusion is because you hear all these different things from all these different people. And really, you know, from day one, it's been about the receipt. So I thought what would be really important is to release the settlement agreement, which is not confidential, which is not subject to any kind of order, which restricts the public from seeing it. And I think that will provide some clarity for people to be able to take a look at the settlement agreement and see exactly what it says, which is that Judge Lyman will have the right to rule and only the right to rule on this particular motion.

10:37one of the reasons that Justin felt it important to also not resolve that motion as part of the settlement agreement was to give Judge Lyman the right to do what he felt was appropriate under that. If he felt it was appropriate to award damages, then he would have done so. If he felt it was appropriate to award punitive damages, he would have done so. If he felt it was appropriate to award trouble damages, he would have done so. He didn't do any of those things. All of those things were not awarded. What was awarded was attorney's fees. And we respect Judge Lyman's decision with that particular ruling.

11:25And so the settlement agreement really provides that. Both sides didn't want any type of appeal from that. Both sides wanted to respect 47.1, whether it's constitutional or not. And both sides wanted resolution. And that was not something chosen by one side or the other. It's been enough time. people should be able to move on there should be a result here it should be done handled and people should move on with their lives and justin would certainly like that opportunity along with the other individual defendants they felt like you know they've gotten um they were they were you know dismissed from the case as part of the summary judgment um ruling they just would like to move on with their lives at this point.

12:21And if the judge is going to award attorney's fees, which it looks like he will, that number will be determined. We believe that that's, in the statute, it's pretty clear that that's attorney's fees to defend the defamation cause of action.

12:38Glenn Greenwald:Only. Yes, and only of Blake Lively's, not other plaintiffs, not other defendants in those cases. Okay, so to be clear, you are releasing the settlement agreement between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. You've released it to us, and people can go right now to megankelly.com to read it themselves. This is an exclusive for the show for now, and you should check it out there right now if you can. We've posted it as we came to air. And what I see in this agreement, Brian, is that she, both parties agreed that any and all proceedings relating to her pending 47.1 motion will be heard before Judge Lyman.

13:25Glenn Greenwald:So she's not going to be able to resurrect her claim here for punitive damages or triple damages in front of any court or any judge besides Judge Lyman. Do you agree with that? Yes. And as a matter of fact, and just like the other parties in the case won't be able to resurrect the ruling that she's entitled to her attorney's face. You know, the parties wanted finality, and there's no forum in which she can then take this based on the settlement agreement and say, I want to redo any of these provisions like punitive damages, like treble damages, like compensatory damages. The only issue left is for Judge Lyman to rule on what's the amount of the attorney's fees under 47.1 pursuant to the limited cause of action of the defamation claim.

14:24Glenn Greenwald:Okay, so, but let me ask you this. So she can't file this claim. She can't try to resurrect the punitives and trouble damages claim elsewhere. If she's going to try to do that, she would have to do it in front of Judge Lyman. But your point is she can't do it in front of Judge Lyman either because he issued this ruling on Friday and it did seem to make a distinction between attorney's fees on the one hand and all these other damages she wants. And he seemed, Brian, you tell me, he seemed in his ruling on Friday to be saying you can't recover all those other damages you want under the federal rule of procedure that you've raised here.

15:02Glenn Greenwald:Like the federal rule of civil procedure 54 only gives you a right to attorney's fees, madam. But he seems to be saying if you want under this California statute to recover all these other damages you're talking to me about, the triple of the compensatory, the punitive damages to punish, all that stuff requires a jury trial, Blake. He seems to be saying Justin Baldoni would have all sorts of rights to make sure any such exorbitant award would have been run through the proper legal process, which he specifically references, like the Seventh Amendment and jury trials and like a full hearing on all this, none of which she ever asked for, which she appears now to have waived and settled the case finally.

15:47Glenn Greenwald:So you tell me whether I mean, honestly, whether there is a legitimate avenue remaining for her to try to punish him more with these damages. I think what Judge Lyman was ruling on was he was saying, look, there were other ways this could have been done that you could have, you know, first of all, you could have gone to trial. but another way this could have been done is by filing some type of cross claim to try to recover these things which would have afforded the you know justin baldoni and others to to you know the right to a jury trial the right to put on a defense in the case pursuant to you know the constitution and and that that was not chosen that that was not the path that was chosen and as a result of that, there is no ability then to recover punitive damages, treble damages, or compensatory damages.

16:46The only recovery that's allowable at this point is attorney's fees based on the defamation cause of action, defamation claim.

16:57Glenn Greenwald:Yeah, that Justin filed against her that he dismissed months prior to dismissing almost the entirety of her case as well, which is why she ultimately settled it because there was only a small little acorn left in her corner to hurl at Justin. And it was going to be extremely painful to go to trial and have to get cross-examined on the truths that you guys had on your side just to pursue that one acorn. Now, as I look at the settlement agreement, and we've just gotten it, the one thing that stands out to me, in addition to her waiving all claims against Justin and any appeals as well, There's no there's no dollar figure in here, Brian.

17:35Glenn Greenwald:There's not a single penny. I mean, normally when you have a plaintiff like this with a lawsuit that was supposed to be this massive with these big claims, he sexually harassed me. Then he turned around. He retaliated against me. He tried to ruin my reputation. All the stuff she's been saying a couple of weeks earlier, she was demanding four hundred million dollars in damages. is not one red cent was paid by Justin or any of the defendants to settle this$400 million she claimed she was entitled to. I think that's a fair reading of the agreement, certainly. And but but, you know, the truth is, you know, I'm not here and Justin's not here and neither of the other parties in the case are here to start pounding our chests and saying how great this is and how wrong they are and how right they are.

18:28What we're here to do is to move on, to allow people finality, to allow them to have peace, to allow Justin to have time, you know, with his family, unmitigated time where his mind is elsewhere, to allow him to continue moving on with his career, to allow all the other individual defendants that were dismissed in the summary judgment, you know, motion to move on and live their lives. And frankly, and honestly, the same for Ms. Lively, to allow her the dignity to move on with her life and put this all behind everyone. And frankly, you know, I don't know if people are getting tired of it. I imagine that they are.

19:12And it's time to move on. And it's time to learn from it all. And I'm sure people would have made other choices had they had they considered this in hindsight. But the truth is, when you settle, you should settle. Wish the other party the best and move on. And you're correct about the fact that there's no dollar figure that exchanged in either direction in this document.

19:43Glenn Greenwald:She walked away from the whole thing on the eve of trial because she did not want to sit across from you, Brian Friedman, and have you cross examine her? Having been in that exact spot, I don't recommend it. Although it's not true. Actually, you and I got along really well. That's when we became fast friends, but it would have gone differently for her. You know what? I think that the parties got to the point where it said, what are we fighting over at this point. Let's reach a result. Let's reach a settlement. Let's move on. Let's, you know, let's live our lives. And and not. But she says here, her lawyer says, though, Brian, you heard him in that in that clip with Matt.

20:27Glenn Greenwald:He says this that her most potent and powerful claim is this bid for a fee for fees, et cetera. And that the retaliation now, he says, was Justin's cross-claim for defamation. Like, just get real honest here. That's not what she claimed was the retaliation in her case, was it? I read the claim, it's been a while, but the retaliation seemed to have been all those other allegations she made about how mean Justin was after she accused him and his business partners of sexually harassing her. and like a nasty press campaign that she could never prove he orchestrated. You know, there were a lot of positions taken in the case at various times during the case.

21:15Sometimes it was a case about sexual harassment. When the summary judgment motion was, you know, granted, it became a case about the smear campaign. It was a moving target throughout. But notwithstanding any of that, I think everyone would agree that moving on and allowing people to live their lives and do better and be better is the way to go.

21:46Glenn Greenwald:I don't think she would agree with that. That's that's why her lawyers out there saying they're going to try to get every last cent from Justin. I mean, they clearly want to make him suffer. They're not happy that they had to settle. This is my own gleaning. They're not happy they had to settle. They knew that it was the best move for Blake rather than have her subjected to cross-examination and tatters, you know, her reputation already in tatters. It would be even more so. But they're pissed. That's how I read this. And here's more from her lawyer. You certainly sound like you're ready to move on and sound like your normal, sane, classy self.

22:25Glenn Greenwald:I got a different vibe listening to him. Here he is again back with Matt Belloni on his podcast, The Town, Sot4. So what are you hoping to get here? Give me a best case scenario dollar amount that you could collect and from who? So I want to step back from that because this lawsuit has never been principally about money for our client. It has been about accountability. It has been about shining a light on this underground smear machine that retaliated against her for raising claims of sexual harassment and retaliation and has harmed so many other people. And what you've seen since Blake stood up and brought this lawsuit is evidence coming out in our case that has led to information being used now in other litigations.

23:15The Nicholas case, the Amanda Ghost case. this underground smear machine has been exposed and people are now on notice that if they see, you know, if you see a MattBellanySucks.net website pop up, you're going to maybe have an idea of who might have put that website up.

23:33Glenn Greenwald:What's your reaction to that, Brian? You know, my reaction to that is that what you're hearing is clearly disappointment on his part. And a disappointment that he didn't get the numbers that he hoped to get in this case. He didn't get the result that they hoped to get in this case. And, you know, clearly when you bring a case and you hope to prevail on that case, if you have the evidence to show that you're right, you go to trial. And so it was really easy for us to end up in a trial. All Blake Lively needed to do was to say, no, I'm not settling. Let's go to a trial and a jury of our peers and let's see what we can get.

24:24If it was so good, why do you settle a case exchanging no money? It doesn't make any sense it doesn't pass the smell test but again right that puts us back into the he said she said fight here fight there and i think the settlement agreement speaks for itself um you don't spend 30 40 50 60 million dollars and walk away um without um you know without a A dime.

25:00Glenn Greenwald:Yeah, without a dime. He paid nothing whatsoever. What about the attorney's fees? Do you have any idea, Brian, how much those are likely to clock in at? And is there a component of reasonableness that's going to be required in making that calculation? Well, the attorney's fees are limited by the statute to, first of all, the attorney's fees that were spent on Blake Lively defending a cause of action. And that's the defamation cause of action. So that's one cause of action. It's also one defendant, which was Blake Lively. So it's not you're not talking about something that would be, you know, involving a number of defendants or a number of causes of action.

25:46Also, we have to recall that that's during a time period that what was filed was a motion to dismiss. There wasn't any discovery. I mean, I believe there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 30, 40, maybe more depositions in the case. There were no depositions taken at that time. So there wasn't a significant amount of work that was done at that period of time. So we believe that those should be a pretty reasonable, relatively nominal amount, given what was actually happening during that period of time. So we're not necessarily concerned about that. But the truth is this, right? You know, Justin has always supported women, will always continue to do so.

Read the full transcript

26:36and part of the reason that he agreed to have that 47.1 heard and not dismissed it is because he wanted the right result, whatever that right result was, to respect that statute, to agree to not have appellate rights, to respect that statute, to respect Judge Lyman's opinion of that statute. But he wanted finality. He wanted this to be done and over with. And look, you've heard from the person who the statute was written by and frankly on behalf of, and you heard what her feeling was about this. And she had very strong feelings about what the purpose of the statute was and who the statute was supposed to protect and why.

27:26And without relitigating or rehashing that point of view, I think this is a very different case when you look at the power dynamic and you look at the actual funds, access to power, access to people and careers of who we're dealing with here. It doesn't feel like the typical case where you have someone who's made an allegation of sexual harassment or sexual assault, and you all of a sudden have somebody overwhelming somebody with a lawsuit that tends to scare them and force them into giving them the inability to protect themselves. It's not a typical case. It's not what was meant for Victoria Burke, who wrote this statute, said that herself.

28:29Right.

28:30Glenn Greenwald:Right here on the show. Is this something that would be covered by insurance? The attorney's fees, Brian? I don't know the answer to that question, whether it would be covered by insurance or not. You know, likely, you know, they're there. I mean, we went through during this case, we went through a fire, right? A terrible fire in Pacific Palisades. You are on the air here while your home was by was burning. That was awful. Yeah, I was, and I feel terrible for the other people in the areas that they were going through the same thing and the families that suffered. I really think, you know, a lot of people suffered.

29:12But, you know, we're still going through it with attorney with insurance companies now. So whether something's covered by insurance is an awfully interesting question, not just in the world of this type of case, but also in the world of, you know, of people who suffer, you know, their their homes and losing their homes and smoke damage.

29:32Glenn Greenwald:Yeah, it's one thing to have insurance. It's another to actually receive the payments that are supposed to be your benefit. Um, how, how, how did Justin react, Brian, when he found out she wanted to settle this thing as opposed to go to trial? I think that Justin's always wanted to be able to be heard. And he's always wanted to be able to speak and to be able to share what he experienced, what he felt, what his family went through, how he does support women and how he feels about women and how he feels about protecting them. and the laws and all of that. So I think he was disappointed that he didn't have the form of a trial in which to be able to be heard.

30:30But Megan, as you know better than anyone, a trial is hardly the form in which you get to be able to tell your story in the way that you want to. It's a very regulated process. where certain things come in, certain things don't come in. And I'm really, you know, it's kind of enough about me. I'm tired of me, frankly. And it shouldn't really be about Justin and Jamie and Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan and Steve Sarawitz and hearing from them. That's who I want to hear from.

31:06Glenn Greenwald:These are all the people she accused of engaging in the alleged smear campaign against her, as opposed to Blake just suffering the consequences of being an unlikable person in her many interviews. Yes, I see your point that those people also suffered and they also want this over. And I'm sure they want their reputations back, which I think were there. I mean, for better or for worse, filing that defamation claim did change the whole narrative around this. Even if it's gonna cost attorney's fees now, it changed the whole narrative around this whole claim. And that's when Justin really told the world he wasn't going to take this lying down.

31:41Glenn Greenwald:He wasn't just gonna roll into the fetal position and say, go ahead and beat me. I did it all. I'm sorry. I just want you to take you back. It was Christmas time. There were eight, 10 hours given by the New York Times to respond. There was a, you know, a complete, what I'll call hit piece that came out that was untruthful. We were scurrying to find, first of all, lawyers that weren't away for Christmas, but really to find the truth. And we found, you know, emojis that were removed. We found text messages that said, you know, meet me in the trailer, I'm pumping, right, that were directly opposed to some of the allegations.

32:24We found that, you know, that we were talking about circumcision because she was pregnant. Like all of these things that were different than what you were reading and really felt it important to try to get those, what the kids call, receipts out there to try to tell the truth and be transparent. And this hopefully will be the final transparency, but we're putting that settlement agreement out for everyone to see so they can take a look at it, they can see what exchanged hands or actually what didn't exchange hands, and we want to continue with that transparency and honesty with respect to showing the people what actually happened.

33:05Glenn Greenwald:You can go see it right now at megankelly.com for yourselves. What's going to happen now with Justin? Because I haven't seen him in an acting project since this whole thing came out. Is he going to renew his career? How does he feel about doing that? Where's his head on that? You know, my belief is that he will renew his career. I don't know exactly. I think that from day to day, you know, probably he has different thoughts, but I'm sure he will try and renew his career. I think that he's, you know, a super meaningful, super caring person. And more than anything, right, if you could tell anything in this case, all you had to do was read his text messages and his emails.

33:58And, you know, and you can see what kind of person he is. And that's why we were never afraid to just have the truth come out, to have the documents come out. and I think he'll go on to great things in life. And I'm really looking forward to that for him. I'm looking forward to his healing. I'm looking forward to Emily and his children's futures. And I can just say, honestly, it's been an absolute honor to represent someone of that character.

34:33Glenn Greenwald:I know you don't say that about everyone. Just for the record, Brian's also represented Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo. Never mind. He doesn't say that about everyone. Not everyone's personal emails reflect well on them, but they have in this case. You've produced them even while he was being bullied by her into the basement at his movie premiere. His messaging, and you gave it all to us. You gave us the voice memos. You gave us the emails. That also is on megankelly.com, and you can hear it for yourselves, was of someone who is very sweet trying to navigate a really difficult situation. and always saying nice things about Blake, like trying to maintain people's positive opinions of her.

35:14Glenn Greenwald:She just made it impossible. Last question. There are over 1 ,400 entries on the docket in this case. Some of the filings are over 100 pages long. Brian, is this thing finally over? I think it's finally over. I'm hoping it's finally over with respect to allowing Blake to move on, allowing Justin and the other parties to move on. There's still some collateral matters involved in this that have to be resolved. But the crux of the case and the crux of the issues, I think people are going to be able to move on. And hopefully people will wish the best for each other and come to that place that says, you know what?

36:03Enough is enough. We can agree to disagree. I feel I'm right. You feel you're right. And everyone, through transparency and authenticity, has been able to make their own decisions. And from the beginning where we had nothing in our favor, we had no one in our favor. So today, where I believe that the great, great majority of people see who Justin Baldoni is, it's really changed significantly and I'm really happy for him.

36:38Glenn Greenwald:And see who Blake Lively is too. Brian, thank you. Thanks so much. All the best to you and to Justin too and the rest of the defendants who were well represented. And this is a great result for them. Let's hope that judge keep these attorneys fees relatively low and does not engage in any nonsense about trouble, damages, and punitives. So again, go to megankelly.com right now if you would like to read exclusively the settlement agreement and general release between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. We've gotten our hands on it. All the exhibits are here too. You can see for yourself exactly what they agreed with, how they came up with the joint statement that they would release, and the signatures of the parties on the back of it.

37:20Glenn Greenwald:Not one red cent was exchanged between them after all of her nonsense, about$400 million. All right. Up next, Glenn Greenwald is here for the rest of the show. What a great couple of hours we have for you. Our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, says Washington politicians are always getting in your wallet, and now they're messing with your credit card, too. They say your credit card and the security it offers are under attack, and that Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall want to change the nation's payment system to benefit corporate megastores like Walmart and Target at the expense of everyday Americans.

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39:52Glenn Greenwald:What was she thinking? Here to break it all down for us is Glenn Greenwald. He's host of System Update on Substack and the first Megyn Kelly show guest ever, the official godfather of the MK show. Glenn, welcome back. Thank you. One of my proudest titles, if not the proudest in my career. Okay, so what a day to have you. We just got lucky. We didn't know that there was going to be a settlement inked with Iran today. But actually, that's the news hitting just as we come to air, which is the following, new from the New York Times, Trump and J.D. Vance both have electronically signed the framework agreement with Mohammed Bagherr Galabaev, one of the leaders of Iran's war effort.

40:40Glenn Greenwald:So we've signed a deal and we don't exactly know what the deal is, but we're getting some hints. So the New York Times had a long interview with Donald Trump and he said that it will ultimately assure that the Strait of Hormuz is permanently toll free. It appears the Iranians were already disputing that, suggesting not permanently, maybe for two months, but they're not necessarily giving up their right to charge tolls. Let's see. Then saying that we will deal with the nuclear agreements later. We're going to start talking about that after. So it's kind of like, let's cease fire now. Let's reopen the strait.

41:26Glenn Greenwald:We'll remove our blockade. And as for your not enriching any more uranium, or at least not enriching it to the point where we don't like it above whatever it is, 3.47 or 3.67 percent. We'll deal with that later. And as for the so-called nuclear dust, like the previously enriched uranium that we were told was obliterated by our strikes last June, we'll deal with that later too. But there's going to be some nuclear agreement to be negotiated that's going to severely restrict Iran. This is what we believe. And in response, or in, you know, as a result of all this, if we do it, then we are going to allegedly provide full sanctions relief and access to$25 billion in frozen funds of the Iranians.

42:18Glenn Greenwald:That again is per the New York Times. Now, just to add to it, the Iranians came out, CBS News reporting this, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is in charge now. It added more color. It says, immediate and permanent cessation of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon. No more battling between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. A U.S. commitment not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs. Again, not confirmed by Trump. This is via CBS citing the Iranian side. Full lifting of the naval blockade. U.S. commitment to withdraw forces from the region around Iran. Not sure what that means. Reopening of the strait within 30 days.

42:56Glenn Greenwald:under Iranian arrangements. Don't know what that last qualifier means. Suspension of sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil, petrochemical products and derivatives and full Iranian access to revenues. So that's going to be very lucrative to the Iranians. U.S. and its allies required to present reconstruction plans for Iran worth at least 300 billion. We believe that because J.D. Vance seemed to confirm it if they meet certain conditions on the news this morning. 60 days of negotiations to reach a final agreement on nuclear issues, as I just mentioned. So that one's kind of being punted to be negotiated.

43:33Glenn Greenwald:And the complete lifting of primary and secondary U.S. sanctions against Iran. Now that would be a big number. And like that's, if we really do lift all sanctions for them and reconstruct Iran and make$25 billion available in frozen funds too, I don't know whether that's in the sanction relief or not. Maybe they won't charge in the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe we're just going to make them so rich that they're going to be like, who cares about the strait? And then there's, yeah, U.S. commits not to increase its forces in the region during this time. Iran will reaffirm its commitment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not to produce nuclear weapons.

44:16Glenn Greenwald:And then they add as a separate deal part, separate and apart from the complete lifting of primary and secondary U.S. sanctions, the release of$24 billion in frozen Iranian funds during the 60-day period. They get like half and then half later. So that's where we are now. Critics who are Democrats are saying it's a worse deal than Obama's JCPOA. Critics who are Republicans are the neocons, like Mark Levin, who seems to be in a tailspin this morning, rage tweeting every five minutes about he needs to see the deal points. And why are we bashing Netanyahu? Because Trump is. And he's he deserves a kind word.

44:59Glenn Greenwald:And what basically what is this bullshit is his point of view? Like, I'm happy is ending. That's my take on this. I wish it had never started. I don't know that this is better than where we were when we were actually negotiating with Iran before we started this war. But whatever, let's get it get it done is my current feeling now back to you yeah there's so much uh there which is why it kind of shocks me both in general but right now to say that i do think the one point mark levin made that is valid is that since the deal has been signed and it's not the final deal it's a memorandum of understanding to stop the war for 60 days in order to get a final deal but everyone understands that if you stop a war of this magnitude for 60 days you're stopping the war, you wouldn't do it otherwise.

45:45If the deal is already signed, as J.D. Vance and Donald Trump both have confirmed that it is, we ought to see the terms of the deal. The reality is that we know essentially what's in the deal, not only because the Iranians have disclosed it and not only because members of Congress and certain reporters have seen it, but also because of what Iran was saying about this deal were just fabricated or completely false. You would, of course, expect the Trump White House to be saying that it's false and they're not doing that. In fact, as you said, J.D. Vance is confirming it. So what we do have is the outline basically of a deal.

46:17And we can talk about the deal and we absolutely should. I think what we are going to see end up happening. And it's extremely ironic given that it was kind of a central promise of the Trump 2016 campaign, the Trump first term to claim that the JCPOA was the worst deal ever negotiated, that we had to immediately withdraw from it because it was such a threat to American national security. That was the Israeli view. But from the American perspective, that deal, I'm not saying it was perfect, but it certainly worked to keep Iran from doing things like enriching past 3.67 percent. They only started enriching at 60 percent after Trump withdrew from the deal.

46:53And what we're going to have is a deal that's similar to that, though probably without as many of the intrusive safeguards that that original deal had, on top of which Iran has been unbelievably emboldened and strengthened by the fact that they stood down the world's most powerful military and none of the stated goals that the United States government insisted it was intending to fulfill at the start of the war. Not all of them, but none of them has really been fulfilled. Iran's government is obviously still very much in place. Their ballistic missile system has been somewhat degraded, but they could easily replace it.

47:25Their drone capacity is very high. They still have that enriched uranium buried under the soil. They still have the right to enrich. They're still able to fund what are called proxies in the region. I mean, none of the stated goals that the Israelis and the Americans at the start of the war said the war was about have been fulfilled. And on top of that, not only are those aims unfulfilled, but Iran will be much better off by now being reintegrated back into the world economy, able to sell their oil on the global market above and away from sanctions, have their funds that we froze unfrozen so that they have availability to them.

47:59I'm thrilled this war is over. I don't think the war should have ever started. But the Israelis understand and all of them are saying with a lot of rage and resentment that this was basically if you don't want to say Iran won the war, certainly they didn't lose the war and they're coming out as strong, if not stronger than when the war began, which is quite a remarkable observation, given that the United States is the most powerful military in the world.

48:23Glenn Greenwald:Yeah, not to mention that they've realized they have this other nuclear bomb, which is the Strait of Hormuz and their ability to control it, which is like brand new was not the case beforehand. But, you know, my own feeling in watching this whole thing is clearly President Trump wanted that straight back open. He wanted oil to continue to flow or to resume its flow through the straight. And I think that's important and a good idea. But my first takeaway after that was we better make damn sure somehow that there are ways around the Strait of Hormuz. Like immediately, that should be our number one job right now is to open up the oil flow, not using the strait so that we remove this important tool from the Iranians deck of cards.

49:07Glenn Greenwald:Right, because otherwise they're going to hold it over our heads forever and we're just going to have to keep going back over there. In fact, Trump reportedly said something to The New York Times along the lines of, we'll go over there if we have to, and we'll be the policeman, we'll be the guardian. Here's how The Times reported it, that Trump insisted if Iran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with us, a process his aides say they expect will begin this Friday in Switzerland, that Trump would restart military attacks on Tehran, quote, or make the U.S. the guardian of the Middle East in return for 20 percent of the region's revenues.

49:45Glenn Greenwald:Good God. No, no, thanks. No American voted for that. We don't want to be the guardian of the Middle East at all. You know, but Megan, this is to me the kind of overarching mystery and bizarre aspect of what happened here is that it's not like nobody had looked at a map before this war began and figured out for the first time that the Strait of Hormuz is this critical passageway for the world economy, not just for oil, but for natural gas and a whole bunch of other petrochemicals on which the world economy depends. And there's basically unless you want to move Iran, like actually physically move it from one place to another, which we don't have the ability to do is we one of the reasons why presidents never went to war with Iran is because of the immense leverage that they had.

50:33And by the way, the leverage is not just being able to shut the Strait of Hormuz as they've done for the last several months. They can also destroy with great ease and always will be able to the entire energy infrastructure of our Persian Gulf allies, meaning the Arab dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. And they prove that as well. And so it's not just the ability to choke off the Strait of her moves, it's also the ability, and they only exercised a small portion of this power, to be able to just, these little countries that we call the Persian Gulf allies are really not even countries.

51:07They're tiny little gas stations. They're filled with very few people. We have to protect them. And Iran is a real country, like a big country, three times the size of Iraq. And they are able very easily to destroy that energy infrastructure in a way that will cause economic collapse. And the thing is, Megan, this is what I think we always have to come back to is Donald Trump knew all this. He said it all before. He's talked about it all before. He's talked about the reasons why these kinds of regime change wars are so destructive. When was the last one that ever ended well from the perspective of the American people?

51:42You barely can think of one. Maybe you can go back to the last century and find one. But recently, these wars have been nothing but disastrous. Trump built his whole political identity on this. Lots of people were telling Trump this, that this is what was going to happen if he entered this war with Netanyahu. He knew that, and yet he did it anyway. And I think he got into the middle of it. And now what you're seeing is a kind of speech from an American president about Israel and Netanyahu that we haven't quite heard before. And I think the only reason is because Trump really ended up with no alternative.

52:14He had to get out of this war for the economy of the United States for the world economy and his political interest as the midterms approach.

52:23Glenn Greenwald:Yes, because what Trump's now saying was in our AM update this morning, but he's basically like, Israel, I don't know what Netanyahu is effing doing and apparently said to him, you don't know what you're effing doing and was very frank with him. He continues to engage in a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. he claims that they struck first. Trump's response is, what they hit you with was an absolute nothing. No one got hurt. You're using that as a fig leaf in order to launch your much larger and more devastating attacks, which will lead to us never being able to end this. He's finally lost his patience with Netanyahu.

53:06Glenn Greenwald:I've got to, I've lost my time in the first hour of the show. Here we go to break. We come back with Glenn on the opposite side. So much more to discuss. don't leave. If you are heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, you're taking a risk most people don't even think about until it's too late and an unnecessary one. Summer colds linger. They can turn into sinus infections that last for weeks. Getting sick right before vacation can derail everything. And when you are traveling, finding a doctor and pharmacy is stressful. But let me tell you about the medical emergency kit from the wellness company.

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54:22Glenn Greenwald:Glenn Greenwald, host of System Update on Substack, is my guest today. My guest tomorrow will be J.D. Vance, the vice president of the United States. And what a day to get him on the heels of this Iran deal. He's got a new book he's promoting all about his faith, which I'm very much looking forward to discussing with him. So that'll be a fun show. And we also have he's the second hour tomorrow. Wait until you hear who is the first hour. Whoa, this is going to be an interesting show. Don't forget to download tomorrow's Glenn. Welcome back. There's a lot more to get to. We can go back to the Iran deal as well.

54:59Glenn Greenwald:But I wanted to move forward and talk a bit about what happened at the White House yesterday and then what happened in New York over the weekend. They're sports stories, but they made their way into my lane of news stories. Therefore, they make it onto the MK show. The UFC event at the White House yesterday. And I don't watch UFC. I don't like violence. I don't like violent movies. I don't like I really just don't like I don't like full metal jacket, the Green Mile, like anything involving torture or you can like break somebody's bone in UFC. It's crazy. I respect them. Like they're very tough, but it's just not for me.

55:36Glenn Greenwald:However, it's very American and it's pretty cool. And I love that Trump did it differently and had this event on the White House lawn that is totally Trumpy. Like good for him. You know, it wasn't so long ago we had trannies on the White House lawn showing their fake boobs naked in front of the people's home, which is disgusting. Now, as we go into last night, the big question was, will the big event go off or will it not because DC was experiencing some bad weather. And the Weather Channel sends out the most, I gotta say, bizarre forecast. I'm putting that in air quotes. I don't know what this was.

56:17Glenn Greenwald:Here it is. UFC Freedom 250 is facing a chaotic weather setup on the White House South Lawn. Okay, so far it's fine. With a 60 % chance of thunderstorms, heavy downpours, and wind gusts, up to 34 miles per hour, threatening to delay the outdoor fights. Here we go. On top of the storm risk, brutal D.C. humidity is driving a triple-digit heat index alongside massive swarms of mosquitoes and gnats that fighters will have to battle inside the cage. While the venue's massive 92-foot overhang will keep the octagon dry, A single lightning strike within eight miles will trigger an automatic 30-minute freeze on the entire event.

57:00What? Have you ever heard a forecast about the mosquitoes and the gnats?

57:09Glenn Greenwald:I have to say, I do think there's an agenda going on at the Weather Channel. Yeah, I mean, the picture they painted is scarier than anything you can find in the Old Testament when God gets like exceptionally angry and destroys entire cities. and honestly when i first read it i almost thought it must be satirical like there was kind of a level of irony and that they knew that they were doing because it's it you know it starts off already kind of dramatic in a way that that surprises you and then the more it goes the more it just gets yeah i mean biblical is really the only term i can think of but like almost threatening and it's and it's not even a generalized warning for washington residents It's a specific weather threat, like a meteorological omen for this event that a lot of people, for whatever reasons, have a problem with.

57:56I'm still hoping there was some winking and nodding of satire in what they were doing. But we've seen so many instances where supposedly just like very neutral institutions become outrageously political in the most inappropriate ways that it really leaves you wondering. Yes.

58:14Glenn Greenwald:The rapid response account, which writes for the administration, responded, this event is about celebrating America's unmatched greatness after 250 years, which apparently doesn't sit well with the friendless loser who wrote this bullshit clickbait headline. Rain or shine, we're celebrating our great country no matter what. God bless America. And they were right because while there was like a half an hour rain delay, the fights did go off. A great time was held by all. And I do have a lot of friends who love UFC. And like their feedback on this event was so positive. They loved the entire weekend.

58:52Glenn Greenwald:They had the military flyovers. They had Zac Brown, who refused to not sing, even though he came under all sorts of the usual criticism. How dare you? How dare you? You know, at the President Trump event, he was like, stop it. This is about America. I'm doing it. Did not fold the anthem. Like all of it was very patriotic. And yet if you've got the TDS, Glenn, you're not allowed to enjoy this. You got to shit on it however you can. And the mosquitoes and the swarms of gnats and the terrible Zach Brown who flouted his duty as an American. Here was the walkout, Trump and Dana White walking from the Oval under like, well, the covered part of the White House and then out into the so-called octagon.

59:40Glenn Greenwald:That's where they have the fights. It was, you know, no, no moment of theater or, you know, presentation dramatics was spared, which is perfectly on brand for both men, actually. Yeah, you know, I actually think that these are the sorts of things where liberals have done the greatest favor to Trump by acting completely hysterical and just seemingly being very petulant and resentful and bitter and angry over what at the end of the day are really just kind of inconsequential cultural celebrations. I mean, inconsequential from the sense that there's no political harm to them or anything else like that.

1:00:21And the ability to get liberals worked up over things that in context, let's remember, we're still involved in this major, very dangerous war. There's all kinds of economic harm and damages that Americans are feeling to get liberals focused on this instead and have them whine and complain about a kind of cultural spectacle that isn't for everybody. I'm not the target audience for it. I didn't watch it. But I know that huge numbers of Americans do and have every right to be as included in White House celebrations and cultural celebrations as whatever the Obama administration liked to do in order to show how elevated and kind of uplifting Obama's intellect was.

1:01:01this is all part of kind of like what makes America great is the cultural diversity of it. And it's he's so good. Trump is and their team at provoking liberals into drawing attention away from what benefits them politically and instead whining and complaining about this sort of stuff that they have just become their own worst enemies. Why would you begrudge a celebration of this kind that obviously tens of millions of Americans take a kind of pride in and feel like they're culturally represented in a way that these kind of people haven't always felt. and in a way it's kind of one of the promises of the trump administration was to start including in our dc politics in our national life a kind of part of our country that's very important that has represents a lot of people but that has kind of been scorned upon when it's not excluded and they always fall right into the trap of sounding like douchebags and elitist assholes by saying this is a degradation of the white house when it's things that tens of millions of americans see as their culture and that they love and find entertainment in.

1:02:02Glenn Greenwald:They're still doing it. This morning, I made the mistake of putting on MSNBC for a little while on Sirius XM. You can listen to it. And I was like, that word kept coming up over and over. Even on CNN, I heard it too. They think this was a degradation, that this was somehow a defilement of the White House grounds, the vaunted White House grounds. It's like Joe Biden had a tranny out there showing his fake naked boobs all over the White House. And yes, they were forced to condemn it after it happened because there was a national outcry after like, how dare you do that? But I mean, please, would you just stop?

1:02:41Glenn Greenwald:Stop. Spare me on, you know, your standards of taste, because there are none. We saw what your standards of taste to say. Yeah, to say nothing of what American presidents have been doing in that White House forever, going back to JFK and the hordes of women that he had and Bill Clinton's blowjobs in the Oval Office. We're now going to pretend that unless it's like highfalutin enough culture, somehow it degrades the sanctity of the White House that has seen all sorts of things ever since it was constructed because human beings occupy it. It's just the kind of artificial controversy that liberals just can't help.

1:03:18And I think the reason why they love it is because they do get to feel kind of like elevated and superior. It allows them to look down upon the culture of the people with whom they disagree with politically. And it's just too tempting of a psychological benefit for them to resist.

1:03:33Glenn Greenwald:Watch this. This is this is from 2024 or 2023. 24. Look at this. OK, this is trans day of visibility at the White House. Joe Biden's right there. Look, there's the naked boobs. That's a man. This is absurd that anybody who supported this would have the nerve to talk about the degradation of the White House grounds, the defilement. Please spare me your lectures. That was disgusting. We've never really recovered from it, let's be honest. And this is like a restoration of masculinity and what it actually is. So I applaud that as well. Like, yeah, let's get back to masculinity. While I'm on the subject of masculinity and the trans people, I've got to spend one moment on Elliot Page, who makes me so uncomfortable.

1:04:25Glenn Greenwald:Elliot Page was a cute female and still is a female. The name has changed. She was Ellen Page. And now she goes by Elliot and wants us to believe she's a man, which she's not, but it's a very poor imitation. She starred in Juno and here she is. Okay, fine. She's going to pretend she's a man now. Not only is she pretending she's a man, she had a little lecture on how she believes she's feeling a healthy masculinity, unlike the toxic masculinity, obviously, of all the people who support Donald Trump or just vote Republican. Take a listen to this, Thought 34. Healthy masculinity to me is, or even just something I've felt as transitioning is like leaning away from whenever there is some sort of impulse or expectation you've put on yourself to like shut down or conform in a way that usually feels like this, like I am closing off.

1:05:25I remember kind of being like, oh, Elliot, Maybe you should talk with your hands a little less. Maybe in pictures. Because ever since transitioning, now I'm like, Johnny, I'm smiling. I am smiling in those photos. Whereas I used to be so, I could barely look at a photo of myself. I was always like, you know. And now, and I'll be taking, say a dude's like, hey, are you Victor from Umbrella Academy? You know, and we're doing a photo together. He's very, am I right? Yeah. And like having that moment where I'm like, oh, should I also not? Like, should I also be close? It's just like, what the fuck, Elliot?

1:06:00What are you, what are you talking about? Like, oh honey, you're the part of the problem. Okay.

1:06:06Glenn Greenwald:So it's now toxically male to not gesticulate, talk with your hands a lot, to not overshare, to be a dignified, stoic man. That's toxic. And Elliot will show all the rest of you, Glenn, actual men, what it really means to be masculine. And it does not include closing off from people. If you close off, that's the bad masculinity. If you just regurgitate every feeling and gesticulate with your hands while doing it, Gavin Newsom style, you might say, that's the good kind of masculinity like Elliot lives. you know there's so much here actually that that as somebody who became kind of part of and had my life affected by what was called the gay and lesbian equality movement you know starting in like the 80s and 90s when i first became aware of it coming of age to compare what it's become now it's not just a different movement or in a different category it's almost like the exact antithesis in terms of what its ethos is supposed to be i think i might have mentioned this to you once.

1:07:19I don't know, though. In Brazil, there's this left wing politician. She she was born a man. She's she's now identifies as a trans woman. And they just made her the leader in Congress of the Commission on Women. And she's been a woman for like, I don't know, 13 seconds. And she goes around lecturing everybody on what real femininity is, even like to two other women who don't who lived their whole lives as women were born women. And the audacity of that is so it's so amazing to me. It's kind of like, you know, these these these people who are lifelong Republicans become Democrats because they hate Trump and then start immediately telling you what a real Democrat is.

1:07:55But there's so many things that has been bothering me about this new iteration of like what is now called the LGBT, all those other acronyms. And one of the things that bothers me the most is that we actually made progress. I think progress in society where people weren't as confined to gender roles like to be a little girl didn't mean you can't play sports or to be a boy started to mean that it was fine to have an interest in art or fashion or whatever. We kind of had, like women were allowed to be in the workplace. Men could have a kind of more interest in raising kids. These things kind of became fine.

1:08:29And so much of this discourse is so regressive. I mean, listen to Elliot Page saying, this is how a woman is. A woman behaves this way. A woman doesn't gesticulate with hand gestures. Only men do this. It's like they're imposing these extremely rigid gender roles that I thought we had moved past, you know, past to the point that now if some, you know, celebrity parent looks at their six year old who was born a girl, but like sports, they immediately say, oh, you're not a girl. You're a boy. You like sports. Or a boy says, oh, I don't want to go play sports. I'm kind of interested in these in drawing.

1:09:02Oh, that's a very feminine trait. It's such a regressive form of looking at gender dressed up as this very progressive and radical movement. And you see that so manifest in the way that Elliot Page is lecturing us about what it means to be a man. And also, I have to say, as somebody who does tend to have more male friends and who's always kind of had just like a general disposition to being more around men than women, that discourse, everything I heard Elliot Page say, Code is very female to me, which is so ironic. Like the way she's introspective about it. No men talk like that. No men talk like that.

1:09:38No men I know think that way or talk that way. And here she is saying, I'm a man. And it sounds like a woman in therapy, like a standard liberal woman in New York on the Upper West Side, like in therapy, intent, like trying to understand her own shyness or inhibitions or whatever.

1:09:53Glenn Greenwald:That is so true. It's such a good point. She doesn't sound at all like any man I know. That's not how men talk. No men. No men talk like that. Doug and I have an ongoing joke of, I'll just say to him, like, well, we're sitting there on the couch and I'll say, do you want to talk about our feelings? And we both laugh because it's just, I'm not really that way either, to be honest. And he's really not that way. He's a Presbyterian from the main line. So yeah, it's a no. And we just joke about it, right? Like men are not like, oh, with the hands, my feelings, let's do this. And that's, yeah, so she's got thoughts.

1:10:29Glenn Greenwald:Okay, I want to get back to, what happened last night, because we had the UFC event again, much, much better than where we were just a couple of short years ago. And yet it had to be counter-programmed by the lunatic left, led by, of course, who else? Jane Fonda. Here's a little bit of how that sounded. SOT 28. This isn't the first time that Americans' rights have come under attack. But this time, what is really different from the last century. The attacks are coming from every part of the government, the executive, the legislative, and the Supreme Court. There is a clear effort to destroy our fundamental democratic rights and dramatically retake our form of governance.

1:11:19Glenn Greenwald:I think the Un-American Activities Committee right now is coming from the White House.

1:11:27Glenn Greenwald:I got to give you one more. There's a couple, but I got to give you one more. Let's check in on Bette Midler and what happened when she got up there. It's at 30B. All you fascists bound to lose. You're bound to lose. You fascists bound to lose. Hey there, all you fascists. Let me put you straight. When you come for the rest of us, we'll fight you at the gate and you will lose. You fascists bound to lose.

1:12:00Megan can I tell you something about that clip I'm like very traumatized right now I saw that clip online and I just thought that that was some like standard white progressive lady who's like a democrat like oh I didn't know that was Bette Midler until you just told me and it's very Bette Midler used to be super cool and this is like she's now turned into like Rachel Maddow's grandma. And I just a couple points on this.

1:12:24Glenn Greenwald:Robert De Niro in a dress. Yeah, totally. And like, I just want like when like there was a time maybe like a decade ago and I was getting invited, you know, when Citizen Four came out, the film that that was about my work was noted and won an Oscar when I was kind of like integrated into Hollywood stuff. I'm sure the way you were when you had your film out and other times as well. And there was always this perception that like Hollywood politics is super radical left. It really isn't. It's like very like establishment Democrat. And, you know, Jane Fonda, too, used to have pretty radical politics in the 60s, like marching against the war, obviously going very controversially to North Vietnam.

1:12:59And all these people, I guess, like as they just evolved, they just turn into really ordinary, boring Democrats. They're like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. And it's a very superficial politics. And I'll just give you a quick example. Like, OK, there's Jane Fonda giving a speech about a speech in defense of free speech. I do think free speech is under attack right now. I always think free speech is under attack as somebody who's made that a primary cause of my life. Free speech was under attack at least as much, if not way more so during the Biden administration, when they had a systematic campaign to bully and threaten and pressure and coerce big tech into censoring and banning dissidents from their policies, including on COVID in Ukraine, from the entire Internet.

1:13:39What court said was one of the most full frontal assaults on free speech in decades. Do you think Bette Midler and Jane Fonda and any of them are raising their voices against it? Of course not, because they've just become very like boring state partisans. They don't have fascism to them means Donald Trump. And you get rid of fascism by electing Kamala Harris. It's nothing more interesting or or complex than that.

1:14:03Glenn Greenwald:By the way, Kamala Harris to launched her campaign, one of her first stops was on RuPaul's Drag Race show, where the week before they had some tranny walking down the runway with fake boobs like in a in a bag and a clear cellophane bag dripping with blood. The the display was his chest like missing breasts with fake blood dripping down. That's the classiness of the Biden administration that they wanted to return us to to get us away from the disgusting debauchery of the Trump administration. It's a no. No, thank you. I mentioned Robert De Niro. Of course, he was there. So you got Bette Midler, who is the female Robert Gennaro, the actual Robert Gennaro was there.

1:14:45Glenn Greenwald:And we would be remiss if we didn't check in with Julia Roberts, who prior to the Kamala Harris campaign had done a relatively good job of staying apolitical. But like her pal, George Clooney, she just couldn't keep it under wraps anymore. She got to her late 50s Glenn and she said, let's do this thing. Here she is at this pathetic little rally. It's not 29. Renee Nicole Good is not a symbol. She is an American woman, a queer woman, who is doing the very best she could do to be good in an unjust world. Yeah. And I am honored to celebrate her life and her legacy tonight because the life she gave is our responsibility to carry.

1:15:41Glenn Greenwald:OK, remember when she did the ad for Kamala encouraging Trump voters, female Trump voters to go into the voting booth and disobey their husbands once they got behind the curtain? That was her big contribution. How'd that work out? This is not going to work out any better. But why? Why must that? Why? Why can't why didn't she get the same memo that Jennifer Lawrence got when who came out and said, I'm kind of done doing that. I just want people to watch my art and I'll express myself through my art and they can take it or leave it. Well, this is the thing, like historically, if you look at Western artists and the idea of art in Western culture, it always has been political, but not in this like direct, you know, go and vote for this candidate.

1:16:27or I'm going to represent these very banal political ideas that everybody else I speak to and that is near me also represents because I want to be part of the crowd. Part of the idea of art is to question taboos, to test new ideas, to kind of poke at orthodoxy. There is a politicized aspect to art, not always, but often. Even going back to Renaissance art, I mean, a lot of that had political themes to it. And these people have convinced themselves because they refer to themselves as artists, even though they're just like good-looking studio tools. that they too play a similar role in society, even though they have nothing of actual value or interest to offer.

1:17:03And that's why I say what offends me are not people who are in like the creative world wanting to express ideas that affect the world. Like I said, I think that's a normal part of art. What offends me about it is they're so empty and vapid about it. It's pure just Hollywood group think. They all repeat what each other says. There's no bravery to it. There's no courage to it. There's no impact. And I think that's the reason why. One of the only good things that have come out of all of this is they all do have to realize that they have basically become inconsequential because they did everything possible.

1:17:35I remember going back to that 2016 mega cringe fight video that they did with all those celebrities singing that fight song about Hillary Clinton. They've just gotten destroyed and humiliated because no one pays attention to them. I remember people really thinking Taylor Swift's endorsement or that bratwoman's endorsement of Kamala was going to swing the election. It didn't swing a single vote because nobody cares, not because people don't care about what artists think, but because these people are an artist. They're just banalities. They're just people craving public attention and applause. And that will never have any power.

1:18:10Glenn Greenwald:Truly, who cares what Julia Roberts thinks about politics? Now, if Julia Roberts is going to stand up in front of some large group in New York and tell us what it was like to act across from Richard Gere and Pretty Woman, I'm interested. Go on. What was that like? You were great in that. Great. Let's do that. But no one wants to hear me talk about what it's like to be an actress and how one prepares for one's roles. And no one wants to hear her talk about politics or the news at all. We saw her. She went on with Oprah during that fake tele-town hall, whatever she did, that she charged the campaign a million dollars for.

1:18:50Glenn Greenwald:in your life as a journalist. I guarantee Glenn Greenwald has never charged the interview subject for the set Glenn had to set up in order to go do the interview. That's not the way it works. Only a grifter would do such a thing. But at that farcical event, Julia Roberts had thoughts there too. Remember this? Watch. I want people to say, oh, you're American? And not, oh. How's it going over there? You know? Yes. So I want to get back to that. Exactly. Oh, go ahead. But just that alone. Do you see what she's saying? She's saying when I go to Paris and I'm invited to these, you know, elite royal dinners in Scandinavia, I want the people next to me to feel like being an American is a good thing instead of looking down their nose at me because Donald Trump is the president.

1:19:48I want them to see someone more European. Is this even in the same universe as what most Americans think? And this is what gets me about, Julia Roberts has been this huge Hollywood star making gigantic sums of money for decades. Obviously, that distorts her perception that removes her from ordinary life. These people have no understanding, no humility at all that the way they speak, the concerns that they have are so radically different from the people on whose behalf they think they're speaking or who they're influencing that it's like this incredible mismatch even just listening to her it sounds she doesn't speak like anybody that you typically speak to and i think this is the breach that they're incapable of recognizing it's really bizarre to watch i mean that is what she's saying it's just when i go to when i go to brussels you know i used to be applauded when Obama was president because people loved America.

1:20:40And now in Europe, they think that we're gross. And I want to get back to, you know, having British and European royalty look at us again in a positive light as though that's even anywhere near the list of concerns of ordinary voters.

1:20:55Glenn Greenwald:Yes. Like we're real working class voters who can't pay their mortgage or their grocery bills. And she thought that they'd be listening to her on how she really wants people to admire her as an American and to be universally beloved. And she doesn't like this sort of tone she hears in the elite circles across the pond. What? She's completely lost and out of touch. Now that brings me to the next game. All right. I've got to show you a couple of things here. There's a couple of people we need to call out. Feeling sluggish, bloated, not quite like yourself? Life constantly bombards us with silent threats, processed foods, artificial light, nonstop stress, all of which can disrupt gut health, drain energy, and weaken immune health.

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1:24:03Glenn Greenwald:So I'm very happy that the Knicks won. I've lived in Manhattan. I've lived in New York State for most of my life. And I lived in Manhattan for 17 years recently. And so they never win. They never win the championship. I know enough about sports to know the Knicks always disappoint their fans in the end. And no one really thought that they were going to pull it out. But then that one guy was amazing. What's his name? He was so good. He was incredible. Hold on. Jalen Brunson. He was the game. When the championship was over, they put on the screen, Jalen Brunson points, 35 or 45. Everyone else, 49.

1:24:41Glenn Greenwald:Like the entire rest of the team had scored like one or two baskets more than he did by himself. And he's only 6 '2", which is kind of short by NBA standards. And going up against, you know, Wemba Yama, who's 7 '6", it was no problem for him. He was just a crusher. So go Knicks. All right. But there's a couple of things we got to discuss. We got to discuss the absurd New York people who rioted and burned school buses and stabbed people and hurt 10 cops as a quote celebration. Just fucking derelicts. I'm sorry. It happens every time. Philly does it too because Doug likes the Eagle. So we see it.

1:25:21Glenn Greenwald:What's wrong with these people? But let's table that now. Let's go up to a higher price point on the incomes and discuss Ben Stiller and Hank Azaria. So Ben Stiller was one of the ones who you kept seeing in the front Row, celebrity row there. It was like Timothy Chalamet, Larry David, David Zaslav. Jerry Seinfeld. Zaslav is not a celebrity. He's with like the more owner's crews, but whatever. Yeah. Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift was there on the miracle at MSG night. And as I mentioned, Ben Stiller was there. So Ben Stiller was given an interview after the fact to those guys who do the halftime show, like Shaq and Charles Barkley and so on.

1:26:05Glenn Greenwald:And there was a bit of a reveal on how the celebs get those floor seats or like second row, whatever. Listen here. Where they are. Hey, Ben, you're not a Fairweather fan because we, number one, thank you for the love you show on our show all these years. But you're like a real fan. Like a lot of these other freeloaders, they're just showing up because the Knicks are doing good. How long have you actually been a season ticket holder? I don't have a season ticket. I just get I get the tickets. The celebrity, they give us the tickets. Ben, stop lying. I don't think I could afford the Knicks season ticket front row.

1:26:43No, I'm like, no, I'm just I think it's because I've been coming for so long, you know, that there's they feel I'm a loyal fan. Our family's been coming forever. So I'm lucky enough to get that.

1:26:54Glenn Greenwald:Okay, so he doesn't have season tickets and claims he can't afford season tickets, which is a lie. Ben Stiller can absolutely afford season tickets to the Knicks. I know a doctor friend of mine who has them. He's got more than that guy does. In 2016, he snapped up a four-bedroom condo for$15 million in a luxury building in the West Village of New York. His main residence is a 33-acre spread, reportedly just north of Manhattan in Chappaqua. He also owns reportedly a 14 acre pad near, well, in Hawaii and he can afford it. But they get, I didn't realize that these celebrities are getting it. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner gifts it to them.

1:27:39Glenn Greenwald:And like Anna Wintour over at the Met Gala, he sprinkles his little fairy dust on the ones he thinks, I guess, I don't know, people want to see there. So that's bad enough, Glenn. That's bad enough, right? Because God forbid they have like a contest where they give it to like the New Yorker who's most down and out, had the roughest year, lost his job in this difficult economy or in Mom Donnie's hideous New York. God forbid they give it to like the make a wish kid. No, we got to look at Taylor Swift there, fake, excited over the miracle. With her nitwit friend, She looked like an idiot. Okay. Then enter Hank Azaria, who starts off strong.

1:28:25Glenn Greenwald:I'm with him. He starts ripping on Taylor. He's like, I've had it with this woman. I had to watch her at all the football games. And now she's got to be at the basketball games too. Like I'm fucking sick of her. Yes, Hank, you speak for us all. But then started bitching about his free seats because they were in a suite that's high up at Madison Square Garden and not down at the camera level. There he is in a seat. It's high up. I agree. But you're there. You're there. People around you outside of your suite, civilians had to pay a minimum of six to seven grand for the worst nosebleed in the house.

1:29:07Glenn Greenwald:and his came for free and he's still bitching. Listen here to what he said about those seats to the Dan LeBetard show. I tell you the one that bothered me was Taylor Swift. Why? Come on. She just got here. I know she's the hugest thing in the world, but we had to sit with her all through the NFL and now she's at the Guardian. Come on. Wow. She gets four seats. Her three friends. It's total bandwagon. Wow. Hank has been there since the 70s. He's the voice actor for a generation. Like, this is, the man continues to be someone who stars in movies for the better part of 35, 40 years. Not that I question why she'd get the seat.

1:29:47I'm just tired of the whole Taylor Swift sport. She did have three seats. I got the guest list in front of me right now. That's ridiculous. She had three seats.

1:29:54Glenn Greenwald:Okay, but he went on to say, Okay, you don't know from the garden if you're going to get in until the day of the game. If you're Ben Stiller or Tracy Morgan, you know, I think Spike Lee actually pays for his tickets, he says, but they don't let you know until day of because there's such high demand. After not making the cut for complimentary tickets to game three, the actor said he was able to get in free to game four. That was the miracle at MSG game. However, Hank Azaria thought it was horrible, that's in quotes, that his seats were in the arena's Cisco Suites, located within the upper bowl of the horror.

1:30:37Glenn Greenwald:I know I'm not courtside, he said, but I think MSG has got me good seats. But we're way up in what they call the Cisco suites, which are like the ceiling, he recalled, noting that other stars like Questlove, Rainn Wilson, Edward Burns, Jeremy Strong, Aaron Judge, and Christy Turlington were also in the same area. Like there's so many folks who want in that they've stuck us all up in the rafters. I'm sorry but this too is so out of touch Glenn I get why sports leagues want to have celebrities at their events because it gives it for some people like a kind of cachet but it only really works if the people are actually interested you know like Jack Nicholson famously was like obsessed with the LA Lakers so it made sense for the LA Lakers to want him always at the game cute star you know like on the at court side I guess like some New York like Spike Lee always at the New York Knicks games when they're winning they're losing whatever like a real fan I like the sport I know and watch most is tennis and there's like huge stars like from the NBA and movie stars who love tennis travel the world like really watching the matches I get why they're promoted but like if you're gonna be that and especially if you're gonna get these free tickets for an event you know where New Yorkers And there's, you know, obviously millions of them who have lived and died with the New York Knicks forever.

1:32:05I lived in New York 15 years when they were like the era of Patrick Ewing and like really good teams. John Starks like never won the championship. These people have been waiting for these for forever. A lot of them are priced out. And then to have these celebrities who don't even seem like the real fans get in and get in free and get all these perks like those suites have tons of perks. It's not just like sitting in any old seat high up. It's, you know, like a suite. then go on and complain that their seats weren't as good as they as they this is why there's so much resentment toward the celebrity class we talked about this the last time on zone like in order to have this like mystique of celebrity that actually is appealing there needs to be a mystique to it like you have to have something opaque about yourself you don't want to show yourself because when you show yourself you're showing who you are like an ordinary guy with all the warts of everybody else but getting all these undue privileges and that's what creates resentment and these people seem not to realize it.

1:33:00They're so immersed in this in this detached culture that they don't understand any longer what they sound like to people. If I were their agent, I would be like, just just shut up always unless you have a script in front of you or some written prepared speech. And otherwise, just go do your movies, go do your TV, collect your huge paycheck and go on a boat and just don't let people know anything else about you.

1:33:23Glenn Greenwald:Yes, I they what they should have done was say uh here's my seat daniel penny here you go or cop patrolling the beat you you want a good seat they'd kill to be able to sit in this or like a single mother who gets to bring her kid you know who would never otherwise afford it yeah like that would actually be something and not even for pr like you i personally would feel better about it than you know just somebody who's gets every privilege just taking it because you can even know if it doesn't give you like find somebody who would actually see the experience as this once in a lifetime you know opportunity and i guess they just don't think that way oh it's disgusting like what a missed opportunity by hank azaria to say like i was so thrilled to be there like all i i was i'm so grateful to the garden for making sure i had a seat that was so generous of them like i saw my knicks win it's like i have nothing but blessings i'm i'm very very grateful instead of like we were up and then nosebleeds with christy turlington oh my god you you started off strong and then you fell apart hank azaria and he's not the voice of a generation either it's like if you watch the simpsons you enjoyed his work otherwise most people don't even know who hank azaria is i'm sorry and ben stiller i mean i give him credit for like at least admitting like he he's charles barkley um stepped in it right because it was like you're a real You're not a fan with a fan.

1:34:44Glenn Greenwald:You have season tickets. Yeah. And he's like, no, actually, that's not true. They just gave these to me. I really have no idea why. But credit to him for admitting it. And I have to do something that pains me, but I must do it. There were all these Knicks fans on the streets of New York watching on like jumbotrons that were up. And they were packed in like sardines. And it added a lot to watch their reaction when the Knicks won. That's exactly what you wanted to see was their reaction and how happy they were. And in smushed in with the crowd, I did see Jon Stewart. And I'm pretty sure this is where he was.

1:35:21Glenn Greenwald:Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure the audience will. But I saw him and he was standing out there outside with a baseball hat on with the everyman. and I have to say, I admired it. Like he didn't go inside the garden. Jon Stewart absolutely could have afforded a$6 ,000 ticket or more. You know, some of the other ones were tens of thousands and he chose to spend it that way. And I have to say, I like it when people do that. And he didn't look to go on, he wasn't Meghan Markle, like making sure he got in front of the camera. Here I am with the every man. He was just there watching the game and like cheering and somebody got him from the side.

1:35:57Glenn Greenwald:And I was like, you know what? Good on you, man. Yeah. And, you know, I'm sure you've had these experiences, too, in New York. And I definitely did, too. Like when I lived there, I love New York, of course, extremely frustrating people who don't live there look at it and say, why would anyone want to live there with all the obvious problems that it has? but there are certain kinds of experiences because of the diversity in new york and i don't mean diversity in like a dei way i mean like natural diversity of so many different kinds of people from so many walks of life who are almost forced into finding this common humanity and common ground and common cause where those divisions actually don't matter new york has a unique capability to bring people together from like the richest to the poorest to every kind of different religion and background in a way that really is inspiring.

1:36:41And I think having this city that's so filled with every different kind of person unite around the sporting event, you know, there is something very encouraging about humanity's ability to do that. And there aren't many cities in America that produce that like New York can. And I think that's one of the reasons why this resonated so much.

1:36:58Glenn Greenwald:Yes, totally. A word on Jalen Brunson before we leave the Knicks. after game four, he was in such demand because that was the miracle at MSG. It really was a miracle. They were down 30 plus points and somehow they turned it. You know, it was like, before you knew it, they were down only 15 points, which they were again in the final. It was like, oh my God, the stress for, you know, Knicks fans. And really, truly, they deserve to win it because it's like the Spurs, if you can't win a game when you're 30 points up or in the finals, 15 points up and hold onto that lead in a game of that consequence, I mean, with all due respect, you should expect to lose.

1:37:34Glenn Greenwald:So good for him. He was the hero of that game too. And he came out the night after game four. Um, and everybody wanted to hear his reaction. And what did you think of the game? And before he spoke about the game at all, he said this about a make a wish kid that he'd been connected to. Oh, Sot24. Um, real quick before we get started,

1:38:04just want to say hearts and my thoughts and prayers are with a friend of mine I got to meet and talk to last week Jonathan from North Carolina from the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Garden of Dreams Foundation he had a heart condition and it was just asked of me to just kind of take a video and reach out to him but But something in my mind told me just to try and get on FaceTime, get the chat with him. And I got the pleasure to do so. And it was a quick call, but it was well worth it. And I just want to say my thoughts and prayers were for him and his family. Just finding out some news about him today.

1:38:51So, thank God for us all.

1:38:57Glenn Greenwald:Obviously, the little boy died. I don't know. We haven't been able to find anything out about this Jonathan, but clearly the last line suggests that he died. And good for him, right? I've been on the receiving end of that. Will you do this thing? Will you make a phone call or will you send a note? And if you actually do, if you can spare the time to actually call and speak with the person live, it's so meaningful if they actually are your fan. And he did it. And it was one of the little boy's last moments, Glenn, it just restores your faith in humanity. Like athletes so often, there are bad stories about our famous people.

1:39:35Glenn Greenwald:And here's a great one. I love this guy. Well, yeah. And it's what we're talking about before too, with like how you have the opportunity, if you have these kinds of privileges to, instead of just like gobbling them all up for yourself and getting as much attention, you know, you can do so many things that obviously are beneficial to the people who you're helping, but obviously but also are so beneficial to you like look at how the like look at like this is a guy at the height of like his his career right he's at the pinnacle of the success the star of this incredibly uh significant sporting event where all eyes are focused on him in the most admirable way and clearly the emotions he had that he felt compelled to share in like the most unrehearsed genuine from the heart way you could just tell like his soul was invested in it probably gave to him at least as much as, if not more than, whatever other benefits he's getting from having been the star of the series, helped the Knicks win the first championship at the center of the world media capital, which is New York.

1:40:35And so many people deprive themselves of that kind of profound human experience because the benefits aren't obvious. It takes emotional investment. And just to see somebody in that moment focused on that instead of themselves, which, you know, again, this is like an extremely important moment for him financially and reputationally and every other way for a sport to which he's devoted his life to be able to have the presence of mind to speak in that manner so powerfully and connected about someone who he did not really know that well until the week before, but was so affected by. Yeah. Like you said, it does kind of remind you that human beings are capable of great things.

1:41:13Glenn Greenwald:mm-hmm and could that give me the chills when you were talking about him and he was voted mvp of the finals of course he very clearly was so definitely has a new fan in me even though i don't totally know his name yet by heart but i'm gonna i'm gonna remember it you'll get there i'm definitely gonna remember it but unlike these other people i'm not a poser i will tell you the truth about where i stand and when it comes to sports i'm not gonna lie i think j-lo is a poser She posted this video, Glenn, and Steve Krakauer, our executive producer, cracks me up on our producer text chain sometimes. He just sent it out with the word relatable.

1:41:49Glenn Greenwald:Watch this.

1:41:56Glenn Greenwald:It's her in what's clearly a multi-million dollar home. This huge TV. Oh, my God. I can't even explain the luxury we're looking at, the fireplace, the windows, floor to ceiling, dressed up. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm just trying. Oh my God. We're going to call everybody. Okay. Okay. Because Glenn, who doesn't have someone filming them in order to post it on social media when something wonderful happens? That's the point. It's like she's acting as though this was like some spontaneous, uncontrollable, emotional ecstasy. And yet she has what I'm sure is a professional social media person who probably was instructed to make it seem like it wasn't as professional as it was, even though it's framed so perfectly to show the beauty of her house.

1:42:51She's dressed up as well. Like who watches, you know, like a New York TV in their living room and like Dolce & Gabbana or whatever, a Prada, whatever it is that she's wearing with her hair all done. and you know it also like she she is the world's biggest poser she just did that subway interview where she was like if you weren't born in new york you're not a real new yorker remember she had that super cringy clip where she talked about going to the bodega and she was like got the orange juice if you know you know and everyone who is actual new yorker was like i don't have any idea what you're talking about nobody knew she was acting like it was some secret thing that only new yorkers know that nobody actually ever heard of and she is just the biggest farce i mean that was sad to watch i hadn't seen that until just now no it was pathetic i honestly like she's

1:43:36Glenn Greenwald:definitely giving megan markle vibes too like oh i just gotta happen i just happen to be on camera as you know my team won the in that case i think it was the world series her husband prince harry was there he showed up at the championship game uh like with adam silver the the commissioner of NBA. No, no wife. And apparently the only friend he brought was a guy, a military guy from, I don't know if it was his Invictus games or what he was, but like, he has no friends. You never see Prince Harry with like, and there he is with his buddies from the military or there he is from his buddies from Eaton or like some friends that they live by in Montecito.

1:44:15Glenn Greenwald:No friends, not like me and Glenn Greenwald friends for many years. And I'd go to any finals with you, Glenn nosebleeds or not. Let's go. And we won't complain about where we're sitting either. But we will need somebody who's like straight and like into sports to explain to us what's going on. To explain everything. Well, there's no shortage of those people. We can find them. See you soon. Bye, Megan. Thanks for being here. We're back tomorrow with J.D. Vance. And you'll see who the surprise guest is in the first hour. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

1:45:22We'll be right back. a month. Visit simplysafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. Tennessee 2012. Breathe in. Feel the sense of calm that comes from having up to$300 in overdraft protection with GoToBank. Now, did you say$300?

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From the publisher

Megyn Kelly is joined by Bryan Freedman, founder of Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley, to discuss the full settlement agreement between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively revealed exclusively on The Megyn Kelly Show, what the agreement actually says, why the agreement makes it clear it's time to move on from this entire case, Justin Baldoni's reaction to Blake Lively agreeing to settle the case before trial, how much Blake Lively will actually get for legal fees, what Baldoni does next, and more. Then Glenn Greenwald, host of “System Update” on Substack, joins to discuss the reported details of the new deal between President Trump and Iran, what we're learning about the actual terms of the agreement, why Trump was eager to end the conflict and why the neocons are furious, the huge success of the UFC event at the White House, the left's meltdown over the patriotic display compared to the woke events at the White House during Biden, why Ellen Page's comments about masculinity represent a step backwards for gay rights, the bizarre anti-Trump celebrity event featuring terrible musical performances, out-of-touch comments from celebrities like Julia Roberts, celebrities trying to draft off the Knicks' success, Jennifer Lopez's thirsty social media celebration, Hank Azaria complaining about his free MSG tickets, the inspiring performance of Jalen Brunson, and more.


 

Freedman- https://lftcllp.com/

Greenwald- https://greenwald.substack.com/


 

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