Discussing Harper's statement on 2024 Cameo video
Mike Florio comments on Bryce Harper releasing a statement in response to news regarding him recording a video on Cameo for a FanDuel user in 2024.
Video Transcript
There is some all-star related news that landed on the radar screen.
Now, this popped up on Friday.
The report from the Philadelphia Inquirer that Philly's first baseman, Bryce Harper, had recorded a video that had been purchased by a FanDuel VIP host for one of the FanDuel customers.
And we know how the news cycles go.
If something happens on a Friday, if you get through the weekend, there's often a hard reset and, and it's forgotten because we move on constantly.
I said yesterday one week felt like a year with all the stuff that happens that we're paying attention to, and it's easy to forget things that happened last week because so much happens in any given week.
Harper issued a statement yesterday, and I think that it's an indication that he realizes this isn't some small issue.
He mentions that he has a lawyer for this specific purpose, which either means he's gonna sue somebody or he's concerned about getting sued or generally landing in a jackpot.
If you're watching this, there is the full statement from Bryce Harper with his position regarding the video that was purchased through Cameo by a person named Brittany who wanted a holiday video for a gentleman named Terry.
Now, Terry, it turns out, is a compulsive gambler who is suing multiple sports books and the NFL for the preying upon him by the use of the micro betting.
And Harper added this, and this is what to me is key.
He shows the script that was used.
Now, his general position is, "I didn't know FanDuel was gonna use this for business purposes."
Dude, look at the script.
When the host from FanDuel is the person providing the message as a Thanksgiving gift.
Side note, who the hell gives Thanksgiving gifts anyway?
Thanksgiving is not a time for gift, it's a time for gluttony.
That's it.
It's an eating holiday.
It's not a gift holiday.
So Bryce Harper's trying to thread this needle very clumsily that he had no idea FanDuel was gonna use this for promotional purposes, was gonna use it for business purposes.
There's a separate category of videos that are purchased through Cameo for business purposes.
What the hell did he think he was doing when he saw the script?
Now, FanDuel was wrong to put its logo on the video, but what does he think a FanDuel host is?
W- why does he think that a FanDuel host would be buying something for someone?
It puts you on notice as Bryce Harper that this may be part of the effort to keep Terry spending his money and losing his money through FanDuel, and that's really why I've been covering this.
The NFL got lucky on this one that it wasn't an Eagles player, it was a Phillies player that got caught up in this.
First of all, when you made the money that Bryce Harper's made, what are you doing on Cameo?
They contacted me about Cameo years ago, and they explained it to me.
I, no, no, I, no, no.
And you're taking half of this?
I'm gonna do these videos and we're splitting it 50/50 just 'cause you have the, the infrastructure in place to allow this?
No.
Not interested.
And I don't know, maybe some people are making a lot of money doing it, but when you've made the kind of money Bryce Harper's made, why the hell are you doing this?
Why are you doing it?
And now he's in a jackpot, and it's more of a PR mess right now, I think, than anything else.
But his claims, I reject them.
They're not persuasive.
The script makes it clear to you that someone from FanDuel bought this thing.
FanDuel host is all that you need for the red flag to go up, for the alarms to sound.
At a minimum, FanDuel's trying to circumvent the higher prices that go with business videos.
At worst, this is something that they're using to keep a loser losing, and that's really the message here.
And, and we've known for years about what happens when you go to Las Vegas.
If you're getting free stuff, that means you're losing, and the nicer the stuff you're getting at the hotel, the bigger the suite, the bigger the bath you've been taking in the casino.
But you gotta go to Vegas to be treated that way.
You gotta get there to this geographic location.
This new world of g- giving you free stuff, it goes everywhere.
Its tentacles are everywhere because it's all tied into your phone.
The more you bet, the more you lose, the more they wanna try to keep you betting and losing, so they start treating you like any other business that provides a service will treat its customers.
You get gifts.
You get perks.
You get perks that are partially paid for by all the money you've lost.
It's just another reason why there's so much regulation that is needed in that industry.
We are firmly in the Wild West phase where everybody is grabbing as much money as they can before the reckoning comes.
And the reckoning can't get here soon enough because people are having their lives turned upside down.
They're being preyed upon with the advertising.
They're being preyed upon with these tactics to keep them betting even when they're trying to disengage.
Every time they think they're out, they pull them back in with a Bryce Harper video.
So we're gonna keep covering it.
And, hey, if any of the sports books out there don't like it, change your ways, 'cause you're not doing a good enough job of regulating yourselves if you're creating these issues.
These issues are popping up, and usually when you hear about one, there's more that we're not hearing about.
The regulations are needed.
The industry needs to be cleaned up.
We need to get past the Wild West phase to the reckoning phase and the regulation phase so everybody understands the whole thing a little bit better.
I'm trying to be one of the voices that explains to people you're not gonna get rich.
You're not gonna pay your bills, and if you think that's what's gonna happen, you're gonna end up not living in your house.
You're gonna end up relocating to that vague thing we always were afraid of in the '70s, the poor house.
Whatever and wherever the poor house is, you didn't wanna go there.
