Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

It’s been three years since Squid Game came out and surprised everybody by becoming a gigantic hit. As season 2 drops today, Michelle Cho, Regina Kim and Kathryn VanArendonk join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud for a spoiler-free group chat about the return to the world of Squid Game.

Commotion guest host Ali Hassan is joined by culture critics Sharine Taylor, Danae Peart and Jovanté Anderson to discuss HBO's new Jamaica-set crime series Get Millie Black, and the way the show centers trans and queer Jamaican people. Plus, film critic Teri Hart talks about how Dwayne Johnson's new Christmas comedy, Red One, pulled in a record breaking 50 million views on Prime Video after a disa...

Fashion writers Danya Issawi, Joan Summers and Gianluca Russo look back on the year in Fashion, from John Galliano’s dolls, Charli XCX’s Brat summer and Zendaya’s red carpet moments for Challengers and Dune: Part II.

As the year winds down, Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Niko Stratis and Rad Simonpillai chat with host Elamin Abdelmahmoud about the pop culture highs and lows of 2024.

Increasing numbers of young viewers are abandoning traditional kids TV shows in favour of creator-produced online content. The Wrap’s TV reporter Kayla Cobb explains the impacts of this shift on both children and the entertainment industry at large. Plus, the ongoing protests against the Giller Prize, this country’s most prestigious literary award, has sent shockwaves through CanLit. Elamin s...

2024 was a year of highs and lows for the video game industry. There was a labour strike, mass layoffs and controversies around diversifying the gaming world. There were also long-anticipated new releases from big franchises and surprise indie successes from smaller developers. Culture writer Jonathan Ore and podcast host and producer Camille Salazar Hadaway join guest host Ali Hassan to talk abou...

Music journalists Rosie Long Decter and Natalie Harmsen reflect on the year in Canadian music, highlighting the artists, albums, and trends that defined the sound of Canada in 2024.

With the release of the album ‘Missionary’ - the first full-length collabo between Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, music critics Mastermind and A. Harmony join Elamin to review the new release, and how it holds up to the duo’s classic album collaborations - ‘The Chronic’ and ‘Doggystyle.’ Plus, 'The Brutalist' has been nominated for seven Golden Globes and critics are calling it a ‘New Great American...

It’s been a year on the internet. A pygmy hippo in Thailand captured our hearts, a model taught us how to make Cocoa Puffs from scratch, a woman turned a word-on-the-street interview into a media empire — and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Elamin is joined by culture critics Samantha Cole, Jackson Weaver and CT Jones to look back on everything that went down online this year....

With news of a lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of raping a 13 year-old girl after an awards show more than two decades ago along with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Elamin is joined by culture critics Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Rania El Mugammar. They'll discuss the allegations, the online response, and discuss how we might hold space for believing those who come forward with these types of claims, while considering...

It’s been just over a year since the CBC show The Fifth Estate aired its documentary about Buffy St. Marie, raising questions about her claim to Indigenous ancestry. In this group chat, we explore what's shifted in Indigenous art and music in the past year or so. Our guests are - Marc Meriläinen, an Ojibwe musician and producer who runs a record label called Meriläinen Music. He’s also create...

Moments after we learned that Brian Thompson, the head of a healthcare insurance company, had been shot in midtown Manhattan – the internet was full of speculation about the suspect’s motives. What we did not see coming were the memes or the look alike contests that were held in New York over the weekend. Internet culture reporters Miles Klee and Rebecca Jennings join Elamin to talk about it all....

With Taylor Swift’s epic Eras Tour wrapping up in Vancouver this past weekend, the Commotion Group Chat—Toronto Star writer Aisling Murphy, music journalist Suzy Exposito, and Swift Alert app creator Kyle Mumma—convenes to talk about the tour’s massive impact on the music industry, on fan/performer relationships and rituals, on social-media behaviours, and on Taylor herself as she closes this even...

'Tis the season for holiday movies, and the group chat is here and they're not all Grinches. Thomas Leblanc, Radheyan Simonpillai and Kathryn VanArendonk wade through what deserves your time and how holiday movies have changed. They also chat with Elamin about The Sticky, the new TV series based on the infamous $18 million dollar maple syrup heist in Quebec.

As Moana 2 breaks box office records, a critique that came up during the first Moana movie is resurfacing - how the movie flattens the identities and the traditions of indigenous Pacific Islanders. Anne Keala Kelly, an Indigenous Hawaiian journalist, podcaster and filmmaker, shares why she thinks Disney can do better.

"Brain rot" is the Oxford word of the year. Maybe you know a bit of what that feels like in this world where social media plays a gigantic role in our lives. Culture writers Rebecca Jenkins, Jackson Weaver & Mel Woods share some personal experiences of brain rot and what it says about this moment that we're in.

Writers Guild of Canada president Bruce Smith and guild member Anthony Q. Farrell join Elamin to discuss a recent experiment where the WGC fed famous lines from Canadian movies and TV shows into ChatGPT to see if the AI could improve upon them, and while the results were predictably awkward and humorous, they highlight the threats that professional screenwriters face as AI continues to encroach on...

The world of book publishing is about to get disrupted in a big way. There’s a startup that wants to use AI to edit, proofread, design and distribute 8-thousand books next year. Guest host Radheyan Simonpillai chats with book industry insiders Jen Sookfong Lee and Nathan Maharaj about how AI is shaping the future of book publishing. Plus, the movie Titanic gets the musical treatment and recasts Cé...

The Moana sequel is in theatres with a whole lot to live up to. How does it measure up to the original? And also, what’s with all the celebrity look alike contests popping up around the world? Elamin chats with culture critics Amil Niazi, Jason P. Frank and Riley Yesno.

With the release of ADVANCE: Canada's Black Music Business Collective’s new report on the state of the industry for Black artists and music professionals in Canada, Elamin is joined by ADVANCE’s Executive Director Keziah Myers and artist and culture critic Ian Kamau to discuss the report and some of its findings. Plus, Elamin is joined by film & television critic Leila Latif to talk about Silo...

With Kendrick Lamar’s surprise release of a brand new album, and Drake launching a legal petition accusing Universal Music Group and Spotify of inflating the popularity of Kendrick’s Drake diss track ‘Not Like Us,’ Elamin is joined by culture critics David Dennis Jr., Pablo The Don, and Matt Amha to review Kendrick’s new album and unpack this latest chapter in his feud with Drake.

Culture critics Cristina Escobar, Sarah-Tai Black and Reanna Cruz review the polarizing Netflix crime musical Emilia Pérez, which tells the story of a transgender cartel boss in Mexico.

This month marks the 40th anniversary of 'Do They Know It’s Christmas?' the all-star UK benefit single for Ethiopia famine relief that became a defining moment in the intersection between celebrity and charity. However, despite raising millions of dollars for Ethiopia, the song has come to be seen by many as perpetuating negative stereotypes of Africa. Culture writer Nels Abbey and music journalis...

Movie studios are eagerly waiting to see if 'Glicked' fever sweeps the box office this weekend. Critics Hoai-Tran Bui, Rad Simonpillai and Jackson Weaver join Elamin to talk about Gladiator II and Wicked.

After taking a highly publicized break from touring for mental-health reasons in 2022, Canadian pop phenom Shawn Mendes is back with his first album in four years, 'Shawn'. Music journalists Rosie Long Decter, Natalie Harmsen, and Suzy Exposito discuss his roller coaster journey from viral teen sensation to mature adult artist, and whether his pivot toward a folkier sound bodes well for his return...