Biden’s battles, the Diddy trial & summer box office predictions | Ep. 20

This week, we’re diving into the headlines with our usual mix of curiosity and conviction. 

Conner runs down the latest updates on President Joe Biden: the “cover-up” accusations, the Hur tapes, his cancer diagnosis and how it’s all bubbling up into a tense political saga leading to one big question the nation is forced to ask– was he fit to serve in the world’s most powerful position?

Then Micah breaks down the disturbing federal charges against Sean “Diddy” Combs—and why some people are comparing his case to Jeffrey Epstein’s.

But don’t worry, it’s not all serious. We wrap things up with Bust the Block, our totally unofficial, probably-wrong-but-still-fun summer movie prediction game. Which blockbusters will blow up and which ones will bomb? We’ve got thoughts. Let’s get into it.

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Topics

• (00:55): Nonpartisan stance and Biden’s battles
• (02:58): Biden’s book excerpts and media reactions
• (10:03): Biden’s health and public appearances
• (16:08): Spiritual reflection on compassion
• (20:54): Introduction to Sean “Diddy” Combs trial
• (26:46): Media frenzy and misinformation
• (28:51): The dangers of hidden sin
• (32:57): Summer blockbuster predictions
• (39:59): Current events check-in
• (41:40): Memorial Day weekend send off

Resources

• Mailbag: [email protected]
• DenisonForum.org/subscribe
• Culture Brief on Instagram
• Joe Biden diagnosed with “high grade” prostate cancer
• Responding redemptively to President Biden’s cancer
• ‘Watch Me,’ Biden Said. But Hearing Him in Hur Interview Is More Revealing.
• Trump Suggests Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis Was Hidden From Public – The New York Times
• Biden-Hur interview: Special counsel audio shows Biden’s memory lapses
• Doctor Who Worked With Biden Says He Had Cancer for Years
• Axios: Biden’s Sudden Diagnosis
• Playbook: Saints and sinners
• Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter
• Amazon.com: Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again eBook
• The court of public opinion weighs in on Diddy trial
• Celebrities With Close Ties To Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Under Fresh Scrutiny
• ‘He thought of himself as a king’: The parties that led to Diddy’s downfall
• The Sean Combs Trial – The New York Times
• Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ White Parties: Celebs share wild stories of spiked drinks, drugs, and forced sexual acts – The Economic Times
• Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial is underway. Here’s what to know about the charges, evidence and more. – CBS News
• Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Legal Timeline
• Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: A timeline of allegations | Ents & Arts News
• The 36 Most-Anticipated New Movies of Summer 2025

About Micah Tomasella

Micah Tomasella is the Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.

About Conner Jones

Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, The Denison Forum Podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited. 

Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones. I’m Micah Tomasella, and this is Culture Brief, the Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and politics, sports, pop culture, and technology. We’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. Micah, we got a loaded show. Do you wanna just give us a rundown on what we’re gonna be discussing today?

Micah Tomasella: Yes, Conner, I’m so excited. Let me just share with you guys what we’re gonna be diving into today. So we’re gonna talk about Biden’s battles. That’s what everybody’s talking about right now. We’re gonna talk about the Sean Diddy or P Diddy Combs trial, depending on who you ask. We’re gonna talk about Scotty Scheffler winning the PGA championship this past weekend.

The one big beautiful bill passed the house and then eventually make it to the Senate, and plus we’re gonna make predictions on the summer box office movies, and so much. So let’s jump into the brief, 

Conner Jones: the brief. Okay, Micah, we gotta start off up top with, I mean, it seems like the whole country is talking [00:01:00] about Joe Biden and many different stories with him, and I’ll give a rundown on all of that.

But I wanna just disclose up top first and foremost that Denison form, which is the ministry that we do this podcast with, they produce this and we are a part and on staff of Denon Forum, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan ministry when it comes to political endorsements and agendas. We don’t endorse anybody and we don’t have any political agendas.

We’re nonpartisan. So as a result, everything that I’m about to discuss on today’s podcast is not intended to support or criticize either political party. It would be said regardless of its subject or political affiliation. So yeah, we’re talking about Joe Biden, but that is not us necessarily saying we are Republican or Democrat or anything like that.

We’re nonpartisan. Yep. That being said, Micah, what are your thoughts on that? 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah, I mean. Ultimately, we’ve heard from so many people, and again, we’re just prefacing before we jump into this story. We’ve heard from a lot of people and we’re so thankful for the feedback that we get from friends, from people writing in.[00:02:00] 

And guys, I’ll tell you what, as most of you can imagine, we have been too hard on Trump. We haven’t been hard enough on Trump. We’ve been too hard on the left. We’ve been too hard on the right. Like when you put yourself in a nonpartisan position, when it comes to politics or supporting political figures, it comes with the territory.

But what we’re going to do and continue to do is call a spade a spade when it’s convenient or when it’s not convenient. And we base our convictions on God’s word. Mm-hmm. And we’re trying to cover the biggest stories of what. People are talking about, but we’re accountable to our leadership, of course, and to our ministry, of course, to each other, but we hold ourselves accountable to God’s word and we’re gonna talk about this story.

And so we just wanna preface that from the top. 

Conner Jones: Yep. Thanks Michael. Great explanation of what we’re doing here, but let’s just, I mean, let’s dive in because it has been a rough 12 months for Joe Biden, but I mean, he has had a really tough last, I’d say, week and a half, 10, 12 days. I mean, what’s going on?

Let’s just start right up top with [00:03:00] Tuesday May 13th. This is last Tuesday of last week. That is when we started getting some book excerpts from the book that is now out and available for purchase. And that’s not me plugging it, it’s just me saying it’s kind of generating a lot of this conversation. The book is called Original Sin President Biden’s Decline.

It’s Coverup in his Disastrous Choice to Run. Again, written by CNN, anchor and well-known guy just in the news, Jake Tapper and then Axios Reporter, Alex Thompson. Those two classify the book as a tragedy about an American figure with somebody who persevered through a lot in life and family tragedy and tons of just stuff that happened in his life, persevered through a speech, impediment all this stuff, and gave five decades of his life to serving the country in different public service roles all the way up, obviously, to the presidency.

But his career, they’re saying is a tragedy because it’s now ending. With a damaged presidency and a damaged legacy. Yep. And they’re attributing a lot of this to this coverup, as they’re saying. So the book came out [00:04:00] on Tuesday, May 20th, but in the week leading up, we got some excerpts. Here’s what we’ve also got.

We got some reviews from some media outlets. So here’s just what some of these places are saying. Politico says, the book paints a devastating portrait of an ailing geriatric leader surrounded by mendacious aids. Washington Post an elderly egotistical president, shielded from reality by a slavish coterie of loyalists, wall Street Journal, a conspiracy and plain view.

Yep. Sounds brutal. Yep. And I, I haven’t even read it yet, but it just sounds like a, a brutal understanding of what was going on in the White House. 

Micah Tomasella: And two of those outlets are historically left-leaning. Yes. You know, and they were some of the most. Damning comments, right? 

Conner Jones: I think that’s part of this thing here is people are saying, even on the left, we got a problem here.

Yeah. And the media missed this, and we had people that ultimately damaged the Democrat party because they allowed Biden to run again anyways. Politico also noted that after years in which the quote unquote coverup [00:05:00] theory was pushed only by the right, the media now concurs. This is now the prevailing narrative.

And Micah, honestly, I would argue. Politico totally missed the ball here because they’re not recognizing what many everyday Americans recognized for years. A lot of people would say that they saw Joe Biden’s decline with their own eyes. They didn’t need the media to tell them. I. The media’s just now catching up to what everybody in America saw, 

Micah Tomasella: right?

Like they just, they just declared this is the prevailing narrative. And then a lot of America is three years ago, it, it was the prevailing narrative. What do you mean? It took that debate? 

Conner Jones: Yeah. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah. 

Conner Jones: It took that debate in June of 2024 for all the media to be like, oh, maybe America was right, but they can’t admit that America was right.

They had to be no on top of it. Anyways, all that being said. One critique that is being lodged is against Jake Tapper himself, the CNN anchor and author of this book. ’cause he has had to come out and kind of clean up his own history here. ’cause there’s tons of clips of him basically protecting Biden’s name in this sense.

And now he’s got this book that’s coming out exposing [00:06:00] Biden in his White House. And people are like, Jake, where were you a year ago, two years ago? Are you just tying now to profit off of this by book sales, post-election? So he’s had to kind of defend himself. It’s just something to be aware of. I did wanna hit on several of these specific excerpts that came out in preview in the week leading up to the book release that we got after we recorded our podcast last week.

Here’s what they said. One thing is Biden’s staff considered putting him in a wheelchair since he struggled to walk, but they ultimately determined that they could not do that because. It would make him politically viable, like it wasn’t a politically viable option during a campaign season. So they were gonna wait until after the election should he get reelected to put him in the wheelchair, and then at a much publicized campaign fundraiser in Hollywood.

This was a big one. A lot of people saw this. There were a lot of Hollywood stories there. The George Clooney 

Micah Tomasella: one. 

Conner Jones: Yeah, this is the George Clooney one. That’s the whole thing is Biden got there and he did not recognize George Clooney, who he has been friends with for many, many years. Also. Who doesn’t recognize George Clooney?

I mean that he’s just one of the most famous faces on the planet. Yep. So obviously that was very talented Guying, not just, yeah, [00:07:00] very talented. Love him as an actor. Ocean’s 11. Anyways, it was embarrassing, obviously for Joe Biden, but also for Clooney who hosted this thing and was sticking his neck out for him and ultimately had to write a New York Times op-ed telling Biden to drop out.

So just a weird thing there. And then here’s one of the bigger ones. Cabinet secretaries rarely saw Biden themselves, and instead they were briefing his aides who would then say that they’re going to take their briefings to the president. That is not normally how it works. Typically, cabinet secretaries get to meet with the president regularly, at least once a month and talk to the president face-to-face about policy stuff.

You know, in response to all those excerpts, a Biden spokesperson came out and said they were still waiting for someone. Anyone to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline. And then Tapper and Thompson, the authors jabbed back at that statement from the spokesperson saying the fact that cabinet members could not get to Biden [00:08:00] suggests the lack of ability to perform the duties of the president.

Yeah. Especially, and that they note this, apparently in their book, that there were several cabinet secretaries that were worried that should something happen specifically in the middle of the night, Biden would be unable to respond if there was a national crisis or emergency. So Michael, I mean, just what do you think about all this, just right up top?

Micah Tomasella: I mean, it’s, it’s definitely, I. Disturbing. But personally, I, I think it just kind of vilifies and gives, gives validity maybe is the right word, and more specific examples of, of what we’ve been seeing for a long time. But even after that debate with Trump. I wouldn’t even personally say that Trump had the greatest performance in that debate against Biden.

Like I remember being like, man, like Biden doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Like he said something about we took out Medicaid, or, or something like that. You know what I mean? Or we killed Medicaid or something like that. What? But Trump wasn’t particularly impressive, but Biden’s performance was so bad that nobody was even paying attention to Trump’s performance.

But I mean, even [00:09:00] if your first realization of what was going on was from that debate. None of this should surprise you at this point. And I don’t think anybody should be getting mad at Biden or saying that he’s an awful guy because of his mental decline. However, there seems to be an active coverup here and it’s frustrating.

And then you know, your concept of bringing up Jake Tapper, that’s a really good one because many would say Jake Tapper was a part of the problem and the legacy media coverup of this issue for so many years. So why do you, Jake get to. Come and and say, okay, I was wrong at a very convenient time when Biden isn’t a threat to you anymore and then try to profit off of it.

So it is a good call out to say he was a part of the problem. He seems to be owning up to it some. So we’ll just see how it all plays out. 

Conner Jones: I can say Jake Tapper had interesting perspective and he is talked about this in several interviews. ’cause he was the one who hosted that. I mean, he was the Yep.

Moderator of that debate. So he was right up specific front row and he talked about that and how he realized while he was asking questions and Joe Biden saying, yes, I heard that he was like. The election is, I mean, [00:10:00] it’s done like he, he knew immediately Joe Biden had lost the election that night. Anyways, all of that dominated headlines for a few days there, and then Joe and Joe Biden went on the view, the, the daytime show to try to get ahead of the heat, start getting themselves out there publicly.

And Micah, it really only served to amplify the concerns that he struggled to answer. Because he struggled to answer the questions that they were asking. They weren’t even hard questions. Yeah, jill had to step in and answer for him on some of that. Then came Friday and that’s when Axios got their hands on recordings from October of 2023 when Biden was interviewed by special counsel Robert Hur.

Over the allegations of improperly possessing classified documents. That’s something that Trump was also investigated for. Anyways, the Justice Department made transcripts of that interview available last year, but we never got to hear the audio recordings until this past Friday when they got released by Axios.

I. They’re now coming to light and honestly they’re just worse than anybody expected. So Robert Hur told Congress last spring that he would not charge Biden because he believed a [00:11:00] jury would likely have viewed Biden as a quote, sympathetic well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. So her was really honestly admonished by the Democrats for saying that they called him out for saying that he was using inflammatory language with intention to damage Biden’s name from this investigation and.

They, even a lot of Democrats, honestly, they, it kind of backfired because they stepped out and started doing TV interviews saying that that wasn’t possible than he Biden as sharp as it. Yeah. He’s sharp as a tack. Yeah, he is better than he’s ever been. All that that fight. Never. It’s all backfired, right?

Yeah. So Axios then points out that the Biden administration clearly wanted to prevent these tapes from being released last year, ’cause they knew how bad that they sounded. And honestly, I’m going to link the Axios article on our show notes, and I think everybody should go listen to it for yourself. Yes.

And make up your own mind on how it sounds. Yes. But here’s their quick summary. They said amid long, uncomfortable pauses. Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died. When he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had [00:12:00] classified documents he shouldn’t have had. So basically these questions that he should have been able to answer as the most powerful person on the planet.

He was unable to do yeah. 

Micah Tomasella: And you know how he would kind of get off into rabbit trails and again, like we’re not making light of this. I mean, a lot of us have family members that have had mental decline, dementia, Alzheimer’s. We’ve lost people to that. Like we’re not making light of this, but this is the commander in chief.

For that time. And so when you’re listening to these tapes, there’s even a point at which he starts talking about Mongolia. Like he just takes it down this entire, like rabbit trail. And I mean, it really is, it really is sad. It’s, it’s not even, you know, for people on the right, like I, I don’t necessarily think it’s the right reaction to be like, oh yeah, aha moment.

Like it’s actually, when you think about it, it’s just kind of sad. 

Conner Jones: I think there’s a lot of people who are recognizing that Joe has a pride thing about him where he wasn’t willing to step aside. Yes, for sure. But also, you’re right, he was mentally declining and the people around him were making. Like they were sequestering him essentially.

Yeah. And so how much of this was on him? How much was he unaware of things going on? It’s hard to [00:13:00] know. Yeah. That’s what this book hopes to reveal. So then Micah, here’s one of the big things. On Sunday we heard these unfortunate news announcement from the Biden family that he has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that included metastasis, I always messed that word up, but metastasis to the bone.

It has a Gleason score of nine, which is out of 10, which means the case is a high grade and very severe, and it could spread quickly. We don’t know his prognosis, but the Biden family is apparently reviewing treatment options and believes it can be managed. Micah, politics aside, that is just a terrible update, right?

Mm-hmm. Cancer just sucks. Doesn’t matter who it is. Yeah, it doesn’t matter. The age cancer’s the worst and we should all be saddened to hear of a diagnosis like this. 

Micah Tomasella: Yep. 

Conner Jones: And we should all be praying honestly for healing for Joe. Yeah. And for peace for him and for his family and everybody involved and all of his close people.

’cause that’s really hard to deal with. And then, you know, people across the political [00:14:00] spectrum, right? Left even across the world, started pouring in well wishes even Trump posted. Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.

Okay. That was one thing, but then suspicions quickly started coming out, particularly on social media. Why? ’cause of two things. One was the timing. The diagnosis, of course, sent social media to a stir because they, they were accusing the Biden team of waiting until this exact moment when they knew this book was coming out and all these things were gonna be happening to quell the criticism around him and his aides that they knew was coming this week.

Yep. And then two was Biden has known about the cancer for a long time, is one of the suspicions. I’m not saying that, I’m just saying a lot of people are out there claiming that. So the questions now are, was this all part of a larger coverup to conceal his deteriorating health? While in the world’s most important position as president was the cancer and potential medication he was on, making [00:15:00] him slower mentally, and draining his energy.

Honestly, I don’t know. It’s hard to know. Here’s what I can say. This week across T really mostly on Monday after this diagnosis news came out. Mm-hmm. A lot of TV channels, a lot of like news stations and podcasts and all that. Had doctors on to talk about this. Yeah. And those doctors really seem to be kind of across the board suggesting that the cancer, for it to be this widespread and as serious as it is, he’s likely been cancerous for a long time, potentially even up to a decade.

That does not mean he knew about it all that time, but it’s been growing in his body this whole time. But they also suggested that it would be very surprising for. Anybody, but especially the president of the United States who has so many medical teams, a full-time medical team 

Micah Tomasella: gets regular checks. Yeah.

And at his 

Conner Jones: age, mm-hmm. To not have been given the proper testing to catch up on. This and catch the disease earlier. It’s really hard to believe. Yeah. But another view is Dr. Judd Mole, who is a prostate specialist at Duke, said that everyone’s talking about conspiracy in coverups. The way that President Biden was diagnosed could be [00:16:00] considered perfectly reasonable and not medically unusual.

So it just kind of depends. And his Spokeperson said that they didn’t find out until Friday. You know that this was a diagnosis. Here’s what I want to end this kind of like section with before we dive into a spiritual application here. This is a quote from a former White House aide who said, I love Joe Biden, but I don’t feel the same about some of the people around him.

So I feel terrible saying this. I just don’t know what to believe. I think Micah, that’s an encapsulation of the broken trust between a president and his own staff. Really, honestly, the nation, right? There’s just a trust break there. We can’t, 

Micah Tomasella: If this diagnosis came out just to put it in context and there was nothing else surrounding it, right?

All of the coverups, not only trying to assure the American people that he’s good to finish out his term, but then trying to assure the American people that he’s good for another four years, right? And then bowing outta the race kind of out of nowhere, right? And then Kamala steps in, if none of that [00:17:00] happened.

Then maybe people aren’t questioning this, so it is actually possible that they just found out. But it is understandable why people are jumping to conclusions because it seems like a lot of things people believe to be true weren’t 

Conner Jones: right. Exactly right. I wanted to mention something that Dr. Jim Denison posed.

He wrote an article specifically about this whole thing this week with Joe Biden and the diagnosis, and he said kind of what we’re saying here, if you hold serious disagreements with Biden’s politics. If that’s you. This question’s for you. When you first heard the news, did you react in the same way as you would have if you supported Mr.

Biden’s policies more fully? Yeah. If it was Donald Trump or George W. Bush, or a governor or a mayor or someone with whom you really agree with that, received this diagnosis, would you have felt about it the same way you did about Mr. Biden’s diagnosis? That’s a good question. Good. I think it’s fair question.

Good question to ponder. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah, totally. 

Conner Jones: So let’s bring that same type of question down to our daily lives. We all have family members and [00:18:00] colleagues, neighbors, friends, classmates, whoever it is in our life that we disagree with at times. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah. 

Conner Jones: Sometimes it’s deep and emotional on that type of level. How do we treat those people?

If we have compassion only for hurting people that we like, we won’t have compassion for very many people. We like a lot of people, but there’s an easy way to dislike people or at least disagree with people, and you may not have that compassion there. So yeah, our compassion though, for those people with whom we disagree can really be a powerful witness.

One that shows the difference Jesus makes in a life and models and his grace, right? The sinlessness of God means that he disagrees with all of the sin that we make. So imagine if Jesus did not have compassion for all of us as sinners with whom he disagrees. But that’s not the case. He died on the cross for all of us.

Thank you, Jesus. Even. Even though we have, yeah, a strong disagreement with him and just the way we live our lives as sinners, right? So how can we extend such a grace to those who need it most today? [00:19:00] Few quick things to remember as you go into your week. Compassion does not equal agreement. You can disagree with someone and still have compassion.

And you can have compassion with someone and not agree with everything that they’re saying or doing or That’s right. Their political policies, whatever it is. That’s a good point. Jesus wept and had compassion for those. He didn’t agree, like I just said, and to have compassion for a hurting person does not require that we change our opinion regarding our disagreements.

Mm-hmm. Compassion also is for those with whom we disagree, and that is an unnatural thing for fallen people, which we are fallen. That requires us to use the Holy Spirit and to have the help of the Holy Spirit to be compassionate. And we can be more compassionate in this life by remembering what weights on the other side, we have heaven, right?

We’ve got eternal glory, and those disagreements will be gone. That’s not what’s gonna matter at all in eternity, right? Those with whom we disagree with. Micah, a lot of times that is our actual mission field. The more we reject them, the less we show them [00:20:00] Christ, the more that they reject their faith, the more they need Christ.

Yeah, that is something that just take into this week and I hope you all do that. And again, we will be praying for President Biden and all that he’s dealing with, and I want to just emphasize that we care deeply for those that we don’t have agreements with, that we do disagree with. That does not stop us from praying for them or loving on them, right?

Micah Tomasella: Yep. Absolutely. Conner, that was truly a solid summation of the story. There’s honestly so much more that we weren’t able to touch on, but this is called Culture Brief, not. Culture talk a long time. So you did a great job. That’s a silly joke. That was such a cheesy name. You could, 

Conner Jones: I saw you paused.

You could not come up with a better name. I was like, 

Micah Tomasella: what’s the opposite of brief culture? Extensive. Extensive. There you go. Deep dive culture. I don’t know, culture. Culture, deep dive. Oh, that would’ve been a good one, but again, we’re culture brief. All right. So here’s our next story. Okay. We’re gonna jump into the Sean Diddy Combs trial that has been dominating headlines as well.

So [00:21:00] Sean Diddy Combs. Formerly known as P Diddy changed it to Diddy at some point, is a towering figure in the music industry and is now at the center of a federal trial facing some pretty serious charges, Conner, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation for prostitution. So this isn’t like I.

Like a joking segment, right? You know, like we can make fun of a lot of things and, and have fun in a lot of things, but he’s accused of some pretty serious things and they do seem like pretty credible accusations. The allegations depict a disturbing pattern of abuse and exploitation over the past two decades.

Conner, how much do you know, like before we start, how much do you know about this story? As I’ve done more research, it’s, it’s actually pretty heartbreaking. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. I honestly don’t know a ton of details, so I’m, I’m very eager to hear you talk about this. I have heard many comparisons to P Diddy being a similar figure to Jeffrey Epstein and kind of being the host of yeah.

A lifestyle and a way of bringing powerful people into a spot to do illegal things and these sexual [00:22:00] acts, especially with younger, underage people Yep. Or people against their will, which is really, really sad. And for someone to use. Their power in this way, just, yeah. I hate that man. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah. Yeah. So I’m, I’m gonna try to breeze through these specifics, but just to give everybody a good foundation of what’s going on.

So here were the initial allegations and then the civil suits to follow. So the legal troubles for P Diddy, for Diddy began in November of 2023. This is when stuff really started to come out. He was really well, loved and liked before this to a certain extent when singer. Who he formally dated, her name is Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit accusing combs of rape and physical abuse.

Although the suit was settled, it really kind of opened the floodgates for what was to come. So by early 2024, over 100 individuals. Including many minors had come forward with claims of sexual misconduct against combs. It’s just really sad. So then there was a federal investigation and then there was an arrest.

And [00:23:00] so in March, 2024, after all of those victims came forward, the Department of Homeland Security raided his home and la mm-hmm. And then raided his home in New York and then Miami, and they seized electronic devices and other evidence. They recovered a whole lot of narcotics, some I hadn’t even heard of before.

They recovered illegally modified AR fifteens, and then more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant that were apparently used at some of these parties. He would throw, I. This was where the case started to take shape around the parties that he threw, like I said, and so then in September, 2024, he was arrested in Manhattan following a grand jury indictment.

So he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering among other offenses, and has been held without bail this entire time in Brooklyn. So here’s some context of some of these lavish parties that he would throw and the celebrity circles that he ran in. So Diddy was known for his extravagant, what he would call white parties.

So all these famous people would show up [00:24:00] and he’d throw these parties and they would all dress in white. You look back, there’s a ton of social media videos for years from famous people. This was the who’s who of parties, right? These exclusive events were guests. Were wearing white. It was only famous people.

A-list celebrities, and here’s some of the people that would attend, right? Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Ashton Kutcher, just to name a few. All a-list celebrities. The parties. It’s Mag Gala. Yeah. It is. And there was weird stuff about the MET Gala, and I’m not saying it’s the same thing, but there’s definitely some weird stuff here.

And he would hold them in, you know, really, really nice locations in California and sometimes in other places around the world. So these events were the epitome of glamor. Some lawsuits alleged though that behind the scenes in these parties, Conner, there were darker activities that occurred. One woman is claiming that she was coerced into sex trafficking after being hired for a white party.

Another lawsuit alleges a 17-year-old model was sexually [00:25:00] assaulted after being drugged at one of these events. So prosecutors have also highlighted something called freak offs, which were private gatherings. Outside of these parties were combs, allegedly coerced women into sexual encounters, sometimes recording them and then using it for black male purposes later on so that they wouldn’t come out against him.

These events were actually organized by his staff and they arranged venues. They supplied drugs and other materials. Man, this is tough. Yeah, yeah. This is the worst. I mean, this is the worst of humanity, right? Yeah. Yeah, it’s really tough. I mean, you know, ’cause I see people talking about this, you know, on social media and in the news.

And I’m not saying this is people are, are taking the wrong tone with it overall or in a joking manner. But, you know, it’s, it’s really easy to kind of gloss over this and just see, you know, he’s this rich person, he’s this famous person, there’s all these rich people, famous people involved. And that might not be like super surprising.

But then you get into the details. I mean, this is dark stuff. I mean, like the enemy [00:26:00] is behind a lot of this and it’s sad. Mm-hmm. So let’s talk a little bit about the trial. So the trial began just two weeks ago on May 5th in Manhattan. And the prosecution is alleging that this was a criminal enterprise, right?

That exploited women through coercion and drugs and violence. And so for example, there’s a 2016 hotel surveillance video. And I’m not suggesting that you look this up ’cause it’s, it’s, it’s awful. But there is a video. Of Diddy in a hallway, and he’s actually assaulting Cassie Ventura. He throws her on the ground, he kicks her, he beats her, and then he drags her back into the room.

And Diddy’s team fought really hard to exclude this from evidence. But it’s, it’s, it, it’s a tough one. So here’s, it’s a brutal video. Yeah. It’s brutal. It’s not good. And, you know, and then there’s, there’s been a media frenzy, right? And so any story like this, media companies. Like Netflix, like Peacock, like Investigation Discovery.

They wanna share the story. Sure. But stories like this [00:27:00] mean big money, right? Yeah. So for starters, Netflix, peacock, ID, investigation, discovery, like I mentioned, have already released multiple part documentaries already, right? Even as evidence is unfolding. And then on top of that, this trial has not.

Dominated just those traditional types of media, like where you’re watching nightly news on a, B, C. This has really become such a huge topic on TikTok and X content creators and users are dissecting every development, every internet sleuth. Trying to break this down. Yeah. However, this surge in online engagement has also opened the door to a whole lot of misinformation.

And I kind of just wanna make this broader point, ’cause I’ve noticed this as I’ve been researching this story. Conner, doctored images and AI generated content have circulated. Blurring the lines between what is true and what isn’t between fact and fiction. Hmm. And it’s complicating the public’s understanding.

So I’ve been seeing this a lot with not only this situation, but a whole lot of other situations. Have [00:28:00] you noticed this too, Conner? It’s, it’s kind of scary. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. I mean, from what I am able to notice, yes. But who knows what I’m seeing. Or what? Any of us, if you’re listening to this and you’re seeing things on social media or on even TV or whatnot, I mean, people are getting tricked by all this AI doctor stuff all the time and people, it’s getting to the point to where 

Micah Tomasella: you really can’t tell, you know, it’s really hard, so you, it’s only gonna get more sophisticated.

Conner Jones: Yeah. Yeah. You just gotta be sharp and, and stay sharp on what your sources are, what you’re reading, what you’re watching, make sure it’s real. I mean, I saw Facebook posts the other day going viral, and it was. AI generated images of Patrick Mahomes saving a guy on the beach, rescuing him from the water and, and doing CPR.

And I was like, it got me for a quick second. And I was like, what? And then I clicked on, he’s a ear, okay, this is, this is clearly AI generated, but people in the comments were totally just fooled by it. They’re like, oh, that’s our chief, you know? Anyways, that’s just yeah. It’s a real problem. 

Micah Tomasella: Yep, yep.

Absolutely. Looking at everything coming out about Diddy. It is tough, but it’s a real reminder. As I was reading this and as I was researching this, that [00:29:00] sin doesn’t stay small ever. It grows. The more you feed it, the further it takes you. So what starts is a compromise turns into a pattern. What’s hidden in the dark does eventually show up in the light.

And so scripture says it like this in James one 15. Then desire when it has conceived, gives birth to sin and sin when it’s fully grown, brings forth death. Pretty sobering reminder for me, and it should be for all of us too. This isn’t just about one man falling. This story is not just, oh, he’s rich and famous.

I can’t relate to this. No, I think the heart of it we can relate to. It’s about what happens when no one’s holding you accountable. No one’s holding me accountable when I let secrets. When you let secrets grow, when you believe you’re too powerful, when you believe you’re too smart to get caught, that kind of thinking can ruin your life from the inside out.

Yeah. So my encouragement to all of [00:30:00] you is that if there’s something you’ve been keeping in the dark, in the name of Jesus, bring it to light. It’s time to share it, confess it. Repent. Do the 180 turn from that sin and run to Jesus, the author, perfecter of our faith. Then find someone you can talk to who shares your faith, and then ask them to hold you accountable.

Seek them to hold you accountable. That’s the start of it. So Conner, you and I have been in accountability for about. 10 years with a couple other close friends from college, and it has been one of the single most important catalysts to my spiritual growth is US four getting together every week through thick and thin hell or high water.

We’re getting together and we’re talking about what’s going on in our lives and we’re holding each other accountable to look more like Jesus. Would you say the same Conner? 

Conner Jones: 100%. It’s so crucial. Yeah, it’s, it’s awesome. And I cannot recommend it more than you just did. I mean, it’s just so important to have that accountability and [00:31:00] it goes beyond accountability.

It’s community and it’s just a way of doing the church. Mm-hmm. On smaller scales. But it’s so worth it, guys. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah. I mean, there’s just, there’s nothing These guys don’t know about me and there’s nothing that I don’t know about them. Now that takes time and that takes effort. But you want to talk about not ending up in a situation where your sin has taken you to a place that you can’t get out.

Did he And I’m, yeah. I’m not saying he shares the same faith values, but it’s that concept. So lemme give you this scripture as I wrap this up. One John one, seven says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus. His son cleanses us from all sin.

That’s a promise. Just follow those steps. There’s freedom when you’re honest. God’s desire is not to punish you. It’s not. His desire for you is to restore you and to write relationship with him. You don’t need to carry it alone. You just need to stop pretending that everything is fine all the time. Yeah.

And actually come into recognition that it might not be [00:32:00] so here’s the question. What have you been trying to control in secret? That God is clearly speaking to you right now that you need to surrender. The longer you hide it, the more power it has. But the moment you bring it into the light, healing can start.

Conner Jones: Mm. Good stuff. Amen to that. And honestly, these we’re both really heavy stories. I think the Diddy one is heavier just ’cause of the full, yeah. Yep. Just deep hurt that comes through that. But you know, if you have thoughts on the Joe Biden story, the Diddy story, anything else you think we should be talking about?

We want to hear those thoughts. We want to hear from you. If you have a idea of. Yes. If you have a funny story, if you just want to tell us what you’re thinking about something, send it to us. You can do that at the email address culture [email protected]. You can also give us a follow over on Instagram.

Shoot us a DM that is at Culture Brief Podcast on Instagram. We’d love to talk to you. Yep, hit us up. Okay. I think we need a pallet cleanse mic up because you [00:33:00] were some happy stories. Yeah, yeah. Let’s do something fun. Let’s do something a little fun. Doesn’t negate the seriousness of those, but we just need a pallet cleanser.

Yep. Summer’s here. I’d say Memorial Day weekend is like the grand opening of summer each year. It’s a beautiful time. We love summer, and that also means it’s summer blockbuster season at the movie theater. Let’s do it. It’s not as heavy as it used to be. It feels like back in the day, summer blockbusters were awesome.

Yeah, some still are. But what Mike and I wanna do is we want to inform you of what movies will be coming out this summer, but also we’re gonna try to make some predictions here through a little game. I call, bust the block. Bust the block. I just made the bust. The block just made it up the on the spot.

Micah Tomasella: Let’s wait. Just right now. You just made it up? 

Conner Jones: Yeah. I mean it’s kind of a turn here. Okay. And I’ll, okay. Explain that. Depend on how 

Micah Tomasella: this game goes. I’ll let you know if bust the block makes sense. But right now I like the name. 

Conner Jones: Okay, so Micah, here’s how this is gonna work. I’m going list off movies from the first half of summer.

We will do the next half, or maybe next third, whatever it is next week. But this is just gonna be some of the summer movies to get you started on what [00:34:00] you should be planning for in May and June. And Micah, here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to give you the budget of the movie and I’m gonna be guessing as well, and we’re gonna try to make it a prediction on it.

If we think this movie will one either break even, which means it will just recoup its full budget, two flop, will it totally not recoup its budget, will actually incur losses for the studio? Yep. Or three. Here’s the namesake. Will it bust the block, which means it would make basically two to three times the budget.

Essentially massive profits for the studio. Okay, got it. Got it. That’s what we’re trying to guess here. I understand. So let’s get rolling on this upcoming weekend. It’s a big one. 

Micah Tomasella: These movies are only in theaters, right? Correct. Like second, not, not movie theater streaming only in theaters. Okay, got it.

That 

Conner Jones: is correct. There’s a second Happy Gilmore coming out this summer. Very excited for that. But that’s on Netflix only. So this is movie theater. Okay, got it. Movies only. Okay. May 23rd this weekend. Memorial Day. Weekend long weekend. That means a lot of people will be gonna the movies. The first movie is Lilo and Stitch.

This is a new [00:35:00] live action version of the, I think 2002, 2003 Disney Classic. Mm-hmm. The budget is a hundred million dollars. Micah, what do you think? 

Micah Tomasella: I think it will break even because I think it’s gonna make a lot of that a hundred million in the first weekend, and I just have a feeling that the reviews won’t be great.

’cause it’s so hard to recreate a classic like this. I mean, Lilo and Stitch is a great movie and it’s very timeless, so I’m gonna say breakeven. 

Conner Jones: That’s great. I’m actually gonna say, bust the block here. Okay. I kind of think it’s gonna, it’s gonna really overperform. Okay. Here’s the big one for this weekend.

Mission Impossible. The final reckoning cannot wait for this film. This is supposed to be the last installment of the Mission Impossible Franchise. It’s also one of the top five most expensive movies ever made. Massive budget. $400 million. What do you think? 

Micah Tomasella: Oh. So in order to bust the block, it’s gotta make like at least 800 million.

Conner Jones: Actually, I was reading earlier today, it needs to make closer to a billion dollars and I don’t think any Mission Impossible movie’s made a billion yet. But maybe the last one will. I 

Micah Tomasella: don’t know. I’m gonna say bust the block. It’s the last one. [00:36:00] 

Conner Jones: Okay, I’m going break even here. Okay. I don’t think it’ll reach a billion.

I do think it will break even and we’ll just see. Man, I’m excited for that movie is, 

Micah Tomasella: that’s still a lot of people watching your movie if you make 400 million. So yeah. Put Tom 

Conner Jones: Cruise in a stunt. They’re gonna go, okay. That’s right. May 30th, the next weekend. Karate Kid Legends. This is a, another installment of the Karate Kid franchise.

Returning is Ralph Maggio. Okay. The original Karate Kid and Jackie Chan from the 2010 movie with Jaden Smith. You just got excited when I said Ralph was gonna be, I 

Micah Tomasella: didn’t even know this is happening. Look like I have young kids, so I don’t get to go to the theaters very much, but this might be one I loved.

All of the Karate Kid movies and then Cobra Kai, the series that was out on Netflix that really resurrected a lot of the interest in this series. Yeah, so I think this will bust the block. 

Conner Jones: Okay. I’m going break even here. I do think they’re gonna ride the Cobra Kai wave, but I don’t think it’s gonna take them to Blockbuster series.

We have not 

Micah Tomasella: agreed yet. That’s interesting. Are you being 

Conner Jones: intentionally disagreeable? No, I had all these [00:37:00] answers in my head already of what I thought. Oh, okay. I did not have any answers in my 

Micah Tomasella: head at all whatsoever, so don’t get too upset with the people. 

Conner Jones: Cool. I’m not, yeah. Okay. The next movie is the Phoenician Scheme.

This is gonna be a little more artist boutique. This is the new Wes Anderson movie. He’s kind of an interesting director, but it does have a lot of stars, including Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson. It Benedict Cumberbatch plus some more a-listers, but the budget is $30 million. What do you think? 

Micah Tomasella: It’s gonna flop.

It won’t even make 30. My wife does like Wes Anderson movies, but this is the type of movie nobody goes to see anymore. So it’s flop. Yeah. 

Conner Jones: This is gonna, this one will drop on streaming and get a lot of views, but I don’t think people will go see it. I agree. Actually, no. Yeah, I agree. Flop. Okay, see, there we go.

We’re agreeing. Next. There you go. June 6th, the movie Ballerina. This is the first John Wick spinoff movie, and Keanu Reeves will be appearing in it. It’s, I think, set between the third and fourth movie, so he’s appearing in it. We’re gonna see some John Wick action there. Budget is somewhere estimated to be between 80 to $90 million breakeven.

[00:38:00] What do you think? Breakeven. Breakeven. I think I gotta go the same. I don’t think this is a big hit like the John Wick films are. Yeah, but the universe will bring it. A decent amount of money. Okay, next June 13th, the movie, the Materialist. This is a rom-com starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and a name that you’re just gonna hear all summer long.

Pedro Pascal. Pedro Pascal, yeah, he’s obviously in the last of us. He’s in the upcoming Fantastic Four movies and a whole bunch of other things. It had a small budget, $12 million for this little rom-com movie. So what do you think? 

Micah Tomasella: I think for 12 million it will break even. 

Conner Jones: I think it bust the block. I actually think if it’s, if it’s good, it’ll, it’ll have great word of mouth and people will go see it.

How to Train Your Dragon Live action film estimated at $200 million. Budget, massive. This is basically a remake of the original animated film, but just with live people and CGI dragons. So what do you think? 

Micah Tomasella: I’d say break even. It’s a kid’s movie this summer, so 

Conner Jones: yeah, 

Micah Tomasella: probably break even. 

Conner Jones: People love to, people love to take the kids to the movie.

I agree. Break even. Okay. June 20th, [00:39:00] the Pixar movie. Ilio Elio, I’m not sure how to say it exactly. Estimated at 300 million for this animated movie Flop. Big flop on my, on my radar. 3 million, so 3 million. 

Micah Tomasella: What is Ilio? No flop, 

Conner Jones: right? It is Pixar, so maybe we’ll be wrong. I don’t know. Then the last one I got here for this week’s episode is 28 years later.

This is the third installment of the zombie franchise that started in 2002 with 28 days later. Then 2007, 28 weeks later, and now they’re doing this several decades into the. Really Now it’s 28 years later almost. So they’re remaking it, starring Sian Murphy. Best actor winner from the movie, Oppenheimer Budget.

$75 million for this zombie flick. What do you think? Flop. I’m gonna say bust the block. Whoa. Okay. This franchise is really huge. Not for our generation. We were too young for these movies when they came in. Yeah. But it’s got a lot, it’s got a lot of stuff behind it. Okay, Micah. All right. Thank you for playing.

Bust the block. We will see how our results go. Yes, and we’ll come back next week for round two. 

Micah Tomasella: Yes, Conner, thank you for putting that together. That was a fun game, but Right. We’re gonna jump into [00:40:00] a quick check-in section. Let’s talk about Russia and Ukraine real quick and what’s going on there. Trump held a two hour call earlier this week with Putin, after which he announced that Russia and Ukraine would begin ceasefire talks immediately.

Putin agreed to discuss a peace memorandum. Didn’t commit to an immediate ceasefire. Ukraine is open to a 30 day truce proposing that maybe the Vatican would be a good place Conner, for a, a neutral venue. European leaders and many leaders around the world, many people in media remain skeptical about how serious Putin is about a ceasefire.

So we’ll see how that goes there. Tornadoes across the Midwest and Missouri and Kentucky killed about 27 people. God bless them and their families. We are praying for those recovery efforts. Scotty Scheffler. Won the PGA championship this past weekend. That is his third major title. He is a committed Christ follower.

He is from the Dallas area. We are big fans of Scotty Scheffler. Congratulations. There were a ton of jokes that came outta that because last year at the PGA Championship, [00:41:00] he was kind of mistakenly arrested. Just FYI. Mm-hmm. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. Oh no. He went to jail. Yeah. 

Micah Tomasella: There was all these memes and jokes about, Hey, the system works.

He rehabilitated himself. He reunited with his family. ’cause there’s all these, you know, yeah. Photos of him celebrating with his family and he won the championship. And then last part on check-in, will the big beautiful bill passed the house and make its way to the Senate? We will see, we’ll see probably towards the end of this week, but then at least by the end of Memorial Day, Trump visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push for it.

This will include things like tax cuts, immigration reforms, and then the $1,000 baby bonus. So we will see if Trump’s influence can get that passed. And then Conner, why don’t you talk to us about Memorial Day weekend before we wrap up. 

Conner Jones: Man, we have got the long weekend ahead, so everybody go enjoy that long weekend.

I would just say, don’t forget that this is also a time to honor our fallen heroes, and both in the military and first responders. You know, we’re forever grateful for their ultimate sacrifices to protect human life and freedom. So thank you if you served. But also, this is a time to remember those who [00:42:00] did give the ultimate sacrifice.

I cannot think of a better song for the weekend than the song Chicken Fried by Zach Brown Band It. You know, it says Salute the ones who died, the ones who gave their lives, so that we don’t have to sacrifice the things we love. All the things we 

Micah Tomasella: love. Yep. 

Conner Jones: Chicken fried. Anyways, go blast it on your speakers.

Go to church this weekend. Grab some popcorn. Go see Mission Impossible or Lilo and Stitch. Soak up the sun. Hit the lake. Hit the pool. Enjoy it. 

Micah Tomasella: Enjoy the three day weekend. Some burgers. 

Conner Jones: That’s right. Boil some crawfish and just enjoy some. Memorial Day Long weekend and come back next week for more updates in round two of Bust the Block.

Micah Tomasella: Guys, thank you so much for joining us for this week’s episode of The Culture Brief, a Dentist Informed podcast. All articles, videos mentioned will be linked in the show notes. If you enjoy today’s episode, please please subscribe, rate and review the show and share it with a friend, and have a great Memorial Day weekend.

We’ll see you next Thursday.