The $200K LEGO Scandal Just Got Worse

PDS Published 06/01/2026

• U.K. Denies Entry to Hasan Piker & Cenk Uygur Ahead of Speaking Engagements

  The $200,000 Lego scandal just got so much worse. Hasan Piker just got banned from traveling to the UK over Hamas and Israel. Comments, Spencer Pratt’s election bid in LA, and Graham Platner’s sexting controversy. We’re talking about all that and even more on today’s brand new Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news.

  So buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it, starting with the United Kingdom just bringing down the banhammer on two of America's most prominent and controversial progressive pundits: Hasan Piker and his uncle, Cenk Uygur.

  They were both scheduled to speak at the Oxford Union and the South by Southwest festival in London this week. But then the UK's Home Office was like, nope, saying their entry would, quote, "not be conducive to the public good."

  And so their permission to travel there has been revoked, though they can still apply for a visa. And at least according to the government, decisions like this are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.

  Actually, since April, other figures have been refused entry on the same grounds, including Kanye West and 11 far-right activists.

  When it comes to Hasan specifically, while the Home Office didn't give a specific reason for the ban, you've got those saying Israel is involved, with reporting that a member of Parliament and a Jewish charity had been pushing for him to get banned over some of his past comments.

  Most notably, what's been reported as his "lesser evil" argument is that Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel and that he would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.

  Labor MP David Taylor arguing:

  "It's shocking that South by Southwest would invite someone who has openly supported a proscribed terrorist organization and spouted these kinds of vile anti-Semitic rants to speak at their festival."

  And adding:

  "With the unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our streets, leaving British Jews in a constant state of anxiety, Hasan Piker is clearly not conducive to the public good."

  So then with all this, you had Hasan reacting to the news on his stream:

  "Hasan Piker UK ETA has been canceled. This means you cannot travel to the UK without a visa. This is because your presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good. You cannot appeal this decision. This is straight up fascism."

  "Israel is a fascist country, and it gets to enforce its bidding upon other countries. I can't believe it. I cannot believe how much motion Israel has over other countries."

  "All the stuff I said prior, the things that they're complaining about, were things that I had said already and they didn't have any issues with my travel into the UK."

  "If you're an avowed anti-Zionist, your travel will be restricted. It's totally ridiculous, dude."

  Piker also arguing that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not the same thing, and that he's explicitly condemned the latter, even doing so during his previous speech at the Oxford Union last year.

  "Antisemitism is a canary in the coal mine of fascism."

  "It's one of the oldest bigotries that has caused those of the Jewish faith a tremendous amount of pain, from pogroms to the Holocaust."

  "Jews have always been singled out by those in power as a scapegoat for instability and economic volatility."

  Now, as for other reactions to this, you had many on Hasan's side of the spectrum calling out the UK's Labour government, but the response from South by Southwest was much more muted.

  Saying:

  "Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned."

  Adding that London's role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives.

  "We remain focused on delivering a program this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings."

  Then in response to that, you had Hasan saying:

  "South by Southwest was a minor part of my trip to the UK. Totally didn't defend me or Cenk at all. They're actual fucking losers."

  "And I will never work with them for the rest of my life. If you bought a ticket expecting to see me, you should demand a refund."

  And then as far as what got Cenk banned, The Times of London reporting that it was for, quote, "repeating classic antisemitic tropes such as the claim that Israel controls America."

  But as far as how Cenk reacted, you got this:

  "Who's in charge here? If you don't think that's a legitimate question, if you think that's like an antisemitic question, well brother, then why'd you ban me for disagreeing with Israel?"

  "You banned me for disagreeing with Israel, and you're not Israel."

  "This is really Kafkaesque. We're in some sort of alternate Alice in Wonderland place because apparently if I come into the UK, you guys are all gonna go nuts."

  "The minute I step off the plane, or off the Tube and I'm in the middle of London, the place is gonna go haywire apparently."

  "It's a threat to the public order."

  "If you're banning people for criticizing Israel, you will have to ban literally billions of people across the world."

  "Apparently you're all antisemites and the numbers themselves are antisemitic and the facts are antisemitic and you'll all be banned."

  "I don't know if facts will be banned from the United Kingdom. Maybe that's next."

  Then actually the timing here was kind of interesting because you had people pointing to Cenk's co-host Ana Kasparian because she had just gone on Candace Owens' podcast.

  "The fact that you were willing to put everything on the line to speak out against the genocide in Gaza made me realize that you are actually good faith on other political views."

  This conversation took place before the news about Cenk's travel ban broke. You had people pointing out that they kind of hit on the same theme in relation to Owens.

  "Suddenly it was, you're an antisemite."

  "You deserve to have nothing."

  "You shouldn't even be allowed to travel to Australia."

  "So Australia banned you after you said that it's a genocide?"

  "Yeah."

  "That was the beginning of it."

  "I mean, I was temporarily banned from ads on YouTube."

  Now to be clear here, according to reports, Owens wasn't just banned for calling it a genocide. A lot of people have called it a genocide and pointed to the war crimes that are happening.

  As far as specifically with the Australian High Court, it cited a slew of unambiguously antisemitic comments, such as denying Nazi medical experiments on Jews and calling Judaism a pedophile-centric religion.

  That was in addition to other conspiracy theories and comments about Muslims, Black people, and queer folk as well.

  But also, while we're talking about people getting banned from different countries, I want to give an update on someone who isn't banned per se, but apparently exiled himself in Mexico to avoid prosecution in the United States.

• Local Utah Police Respond to the Bricks and Minifigs/Reckless Ben LEGO Debacle

  Because that whole Reckless Ben, Bricks & Minifigs Lego scandal that we talked about? It's just gotten crazier and crazier.

  And also, if you missed the coverage last week and you're like, "What words just came out of your face, Phil?" I did a whole thing on this last week. I'm just going to link to it. It's too much to go through again.

  The TL;DR is you have YouTuber Ben Schneider, aka Reckless Ben, who's known for long-form investigative projects.

  Ben's latest investigation focused on a man by the name of Brian Mansell, who says he entered into a consignment agreement with an Oregon branch of franchise reseller Bricks & Minifigs for his father's collection of Star Wars Lego sets.

  And it's not just whatever Legos. It was one of the largest and most valuable collections in the world, with an estimated worth of over $200,000.

  Under that agreement, Brian retained ownership of the various sets until Bricks & Minifigs sold them, at which point he would receive 65% of the proceeds in monthly payments.

  But after about a year, Bricks & Minifigs corporate seized the Oregon franchise in an ownership dispute, and the store was sold to new owners Brandon Best and Josh Johnson.

  During that time, Brian's remaining unsold Lego sets somehow just mysteriously disappeared. And we still actually don't know where they are.

  In his videos, Reckless Ben claims that some combination of Bricks & Minifigs corporate and the new owners stole the collection, allegations that corporate has publicly denied, while also claiming the consignment deal Brian had entered into went against corporate policy.

  And so Ben launched into a whole bunch of wild—and let's call them zany—tactics to either get the Legos back or figure out where they are, all of which culminated in Ben trying to personally sue Brandon Best and Josh Johnson in Utah, where they both live.

  But throughout the process of trying to get in contact with the two men and serve them papers, Ben had a ton of run-ins with the American Fork Police Department in Utah.

  Among these, there was a traffic stop Ben says was bogus and where his car was erroneously searched for heroin.

  Though eventually he gets arrested twice for stalking, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct, among other charges.

  And the second time around, his entire crew was also arrested, with Ben claiming that the cops and Mormon Church are essentially colluding to protect each other because both Josh and Brandon are Mormons and the police are also part of the Mormon community.

  And so the whole initial saga ends with Ben fleeing to Mexico because the Utah police have an active warrant for his arrest, and he's been listed as a physical threat to Josh Johnson.

  Though he's also said the police will not tell him what crime he's committed.

  Also very notably here, I'll add that the American Fork Police Department said in a news release that they aren't currently seeking Benjamin Schneider and there are no active warrants. So at least right now it's unclear where the warrant claim originated.

  But then last Wednesday, Bricks & Minifigs filed its own civil lawsuit accusing Ben, Brian, and others of a coordinated harassment and extortion campaign.

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• No Guarantee Who Will Advance in LA Mayoral Race

  But then diving right back into the news, LA has its mayoral primary tomorrow.

  And the big question is: will former reality TV star Spencer Pratt advance to the November runoff?

  Because while it's a crowded field, it really comes down to three main candidates.

  You've got current Mayor Karen Bass, who's running for reelection and has actually led in the polling, even though she's had a pretty rough term.

  You've got a lot of people upset over how she handled the fires and a lot of other issues.

  You then have Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who leans left of Bass.

  Then you have Pratt, who before this was kind of best known for being the villain on The Hills back in the 2000s.

  He's also been kind of a fame-chasing tabloid figure ever since.

  Though he really got a lot of attention from a situation that happened to him, and that was when he lost his home in the Palisades fires.

  That's actually been one of the focuses of his campaign.

  But his rise in this race, especially among people who haven't been paying attention to what's been happening in LA, has a lot of people wondering:

  How is someone that many have labeled a Republican, a former reality TV star, actually running to lead one of the biggest and bluest cities in the country?

  Especially one that has the support of Donald Trump and tons of other right-wing figures.

  While I think it's definitely multi-pronged, you have some noting that Pratt's campaign strategy has kind of mirrored his reality TV provocateur persona.

  He's made headlines for saying that he'll move out of LA if he loses the election.

  He also frequently calls the city's homeless population "zombies," painting them all as drug addicts.

  Claiming that as mayor, he'll unplug them and send them to Seattle.

  He directly, or through his fans, has stayed on top of the news cycle.

  He's been pumping out ads.

  His fans have also made AI-generated videos of him as Batman defending crime-ridden LA by defeating Karen Bass, who's depicted as the Joker.

  You've got videos where California Democrats are Star Wars villains that Pratt defeats in a lightsaber battle behind the Hollywood sign.

  Even though with some of the videos Pratt didn't make them himself, he's really leaned into them and reposted them, making them a major talking point in the race.

  To the point that you're seeing Republicans across the country like Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, and Jeb Bush sharing them and applauding this kind of content.

  But then, of course, he's also gotten a ton of attention for one of his own campaign ads highlighting the fires.

  "This is where I live. They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are."

  Right there he's standing in front of an Airstream trailer on his property.

  Though then there was this whole controversy.

  A TMZ report revealed that he doesn't actually live in that trailer and instead lives in an expensive hotel in Beverly Hills.

  Pratt telling TMZ that he has to stay at the hotel because he's gotten death threats and needs the security that it provides.

  He also said that he never told anyone he lived in that trailer.

  But also, you just watched the ad.

  He literally stands in front of it and says:

  "This is where I live."

  And so with that, and really so much more, you have a lot of people comparing his run to Trump's back in 2016.

  And with that, some saying that like Trump, Pratt often accuses opponents of corruption and incompetence.

  With all this, it does seem like Pratt is trying to ride a certain line.

  Because LA generally does not like Trump.

  It would be very hard for a fully MAGA Trump candidate to become the city's mayor.

  Actually with that, when NBC News asked Pratt about this a few days ago, he tried to insist that most of his supporters are actually Democrats.

  "I don't need anyone's endorsement. But mothers. That's who's getting me elected."

  "People keep forgetting it's Democratic moms that do not feel safe that are putting me in office in five days."

  And then when he was pressed on his opinions on Trump, he really wouldn't give one.

  "Do you think President Trump is a good president?"

  "I guess the only prism I see anything through is what I lived. My town burning down is what got me in the race. I'm in a local race."

  "You're not afraid of anything. You're not afraid of giving your opinion on anything, but you won't give me an opinion on President Trump."

  "I get it that his endorsement, his blessing, may not be good for you, likely isn't good for you in LA."

  "But if you're fearless, what do you think of President Trump?"

  "You're Republican, right?"

  "Again, this is it right here. What you're doing."

  "I'm just asking."

  "I'm telling you, this conversation is what's destroyed local elections."

  But with all that, you have many noting that the mayor of Los Angeles is going to have to work with the president, at least to some degree, both on regular initiatives and to receive federal support.

  And on major events like the upcoming Olympics.

  With others saying that depending on what your algorithm is, you might have a very different opinion on what's happening.

  Because even though Pratt's campaign has sparked tons of backlash, he also has very serious momentum.

  And with that, between mid-April and mid-May, he raised $2.7 million.

  Which is millions ahead of Bass.

  And as far as the most recent polling, it's pretty close.

  With UC Berkeley and the LA Times finding that Mayor Bass is in the lead with just 26%, followed by Raman at 25%, and Pratt at 22%.

  Meaning the leading three candidates all sit within four points of each other.

  With that, I really wouldn't be surprised if we were looking at a 2016 situation where people were maybe embarrassed to say they were going to vote for Pratt and his polling is actually understated.

  That's not to say that he could win the entire thing.

  But it is to say that he could make it to the runoff.

  But also with the polling so close, I mean, Bass has led the polls and generally been considered the candidate most likely to move to November.

  But who really knows?

  We could have any combination of these candidates.

  And here's what I'll say regarding Pratt.

  If he does make it to the runoff, do not immediately write him off as someone who is definitely going to lose.

  There are a number of factors that are going to matter.

  Like who the other candidate is going to be.

  Are there other disasters?

  How does the news cycle unfold?

  But I will warn, as someone who lived in LA until about a year and a half ago—and this is anecdotal—the current polling with all the different candidates does not really capture how unpopular Karen Bass is.

  And I'm not saying Pratt could get to 50%, but there is a very large anti-Bass vote out there.

  And all of this, this is not the only major race in California that feels up in the air.

  You also have the governor's race.

  Democrat and former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has led a good chunk of recent polling.

  But also Republican Steve Hilton has shown up at the top as well.

  Then you've got Democratic billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, who's not far behind, polling in third or sometimes even second behind one of those candidates.

  So again, right now, it doesn't seem 100% certain which two are going to advance.

  If one of the Democratic candidates ends up against Hilton, the Democrats can most likely relax.

  The only way we'd expect a close race in November is if the two Democrats that lead make it through the primary.

  But then for a final block today, some more news you need to know.

• Graham Platner’s New Scandal Complicates Senate Bid

  Democrats are scared that they could lose their chance to take back the Senate because Graham Platner was just caught sexting several different women.

  And reportedly, it was actually his wife, Amy Gertner, who brought this all to light when she told his now-former communications director, Genevieve McDonald, that he had sent explicit messages to as many as a dozen women.

  With McDonald saying that they were handling the sexting as an election vulnerability.

  But then late last year, you had Platner's old Reddit posts dismissing military sexual assault and using homophobic slurs resurfacing.

  And that is when McDonald left the campaign, reportedly being offered a $15,000 severance package that required her to sign an NDA.

  Though she rejected it.

  Now, that said, McDonald claims she wasn't the person who initially leaked the sexting story.

  But by this weekend, news of it was kind of all over the media.

  McDonald saying on Facebook that The Wall Street Journal had contacted her about a story they had verified through multiple other sources.

  Adding that she might receive some blowback from the article whether she was involved or not.

  But reportedly, when they also told Platner's team about the article, Maurice Katz, one of Platner's advisers, told McDonald to call the Journal back, deny the sexting claims, and record herself doing it so she could send it to their team.

  And then McDonald said that Katz started threatening her, sending a text saying:

  "If the story goes in its current iteration, we'll communicate directly on the record and by name that McDonald violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign."

  With him also going off about it on Twitter:

  "It's no one's fucking business what happened in Graham and Amy's marriage before he was ever a candidate for office."

  Saying:

  "There should be no place in our politics for incompetent, opportunistic operatives who violate privacy, betray trust, and prioritize vengeance over decency."

  That's when you get McDonald going on the record to confirm with The New York Times that she knew about these affairs.

  Now with all this, you had Platner's wife saying that McDonald betrayed them and that they shared with her deeply personal details about their marriage.

  And she actually had even more to say in a video that she posted online.

  "It makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on."

  "I think it's shameful behavior to spend time and energy and resources on negative ads and negative stories on Graham when all he's trying to do is improve the lives of people who work for a living."

  And so now with all this, you've got everyone wondering:

  How is this going to affect Platner?

  Especially because he's been under a microscope as Democrats have been fighting for more seats in the Senate.

  And now you're seeing a number of Democrats worried that they're adding another scandal to the list that could make it easier for Susan Collins to keep her seat.

  But as far as whether this is actually going to hurt him come November?

  We'll have to wait and see.

  His previous scandals—whether it be the Reddit posts or his tattoos—haven't really hurt him.

  In fact, he went up in the polling after those.

  And it seems like a lot of Maine voters have been more focused on the issues.

  But who knows?

  Time will tell.

  And we are really only six months away now.

• Court Rules That Trump’s Name Must Be Removed From Kennedy Center

  Then we also have to talk about how a federal judge just decided that the Kennedy Center has to remove Trump's name from the building and all of its branding.

  Judge Christopher Cooper saying that the board's decision to add Trump's name was a violation of the law.

  Adding that Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it.

  And so the center's board now has two weeks to take his name down.

  All while the center was also set to close down for two years for renovations.

  But this ruling is going to put that on hold.

  With the judge saying none of the board members had sufficient information in advance of the March 16 meeting to make a well-considered decision to close the center.

  Now that doesn't mean it can't be closed in the future.

  But the judge said that the board should only push for that after they have sufficient information to make a considered and independent decision.

  And so with all this, you've got people like Representative Joyce Beatty, who was actually the one who filed the lawsuit, saying:

  "I think we will see our donors coming back."

  "I think performers will be coming back because this is a win for the American people. It's a win for the arts and it's a win for the rule of law."

  But then on the other side, of course, you have Trump pissed, saying:

  "Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself."

  "Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else—bring this institution back physically, financially and artistically—I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into never-never land."

  And adding that he told the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of the center, giving them responsibility for its operation, maintenance, and management.

  We're going to have to wait and see what that transfer of power looks like.

  Until then, you have a spokesperson for the center already saying that they're going to appeal Judge Cooper's ruling.

  Adding:

  "We are confident that on appeal, the court will uphold the board's will to recognize President Trump's historic contributions to our nation's cultural institutions."

• NYPD Investigating Videos of Men Crawling Out of Brooklyn Manholes

  Then finally, a bunch of people just climbed out of two different manholes in Brooklyn, and nobody knows why.

  Surveillance footage captured in the middle of the night shows seven men crawling into oncoming traffic on McDonald Avenue in Gravesend.

  Some are in waders and heavy-duty boots.

  They're wearing gloves.

  A few of them are carrying shovels.

  One guy is standing watch by the curb the whole time, acting as a lookout.

  Also, a different video of them shows them changing clothes on the sidewalk, a couple of them shirtless, before disappearing into waiting cars.

  Police believe that they were down there for about two hours.

  And to make everything even weirder, that same night another group of eight people went into a different manhole in Williamsburg around 1 a.m., came out at around 3:40 a.m., and fled the scene in a car before police could get there.

  Now police are trying to figure out if these two events are related and what all those men were actually doing down there.

  Now they've ruled out terrorism.

  Also, if the individuals are identified, they could face burglary charges.

  Which, okay.

  Also weirdly, this isn't even the first time this has happened.

  There was a similar situation in Brooklyn last year that ended with three men being charged with burglary and criminal mischief after pulling almost the exact same stunt.

  So for now, the investigation is ongoing.

  So stay in the loop.

  But then my friends, you beautiful bastards, that is the end of your Monday Philip DeFranco Show.

  Thank you for watching, hitting that like button, subscribing to the channel, and diving into those comments.

  Let me know what you're thinking.

  I'll see you right back here tomorrow for another dive into your daily news.