Slate Culture Feed

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh discuss the unusually high number of NFL teams that are seeking new quarterbacks via trades and free agency amid a weak draft class. Later: Why the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks could be left out of March Madness despite an undefeated regular season. Finally, Lindsay breaks down some of the stranger aspects of the WNBA’s collective-bargaining process...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate editor Tony Ho Tran to talk about everyone’s sudden obsession with Anthropic, the AI company that refused to allow the Trump administration to use it for potential domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. Now, the right is branding them as “woke,” and the left is rushing to download Claude, Anthropic’s AI chatbot. Both sides, however, a...

On this week’s show, Steve is joined by June Thomas, author of A Place of Our Own , and Michael Schulman, author of Her Again and Oscar Wars , for some rollicking Gabfest discourse. First up, they get all shook up by EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert , the concert documentary directed by Baz Luhrmann from archival Elvis performance footage. Does the master of cinematic spectacle bring the King back t...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by journalist Lorena O’Neil to talk about the rise in celebrities’ families using GoFundMe to fundraise after their deaths. In her piece for Rolling Stone , Lorena spoke to experts about why GoFundMes like Eric Dane’s and James Van Der Beek’s are becoming so common, but also why we feel so weird about it. If healthcare can financially devastate both...

Graham Platner has never run for elected office before. He’s a war veteran, an oyster farmer, and now he’s running in a Democratic primary to eventually unseat Senator Susan Collins of Maine. He’s ahead in the polls, but he’s also been criticized for Reddit comments from his past and recently covered up a tattoo that looks suspiciously like a Nazi symbol (a connection he denies knowing about ).&nb...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh revisit the whirlwind week for the U.S. men’s hockey team, after their gold medal win, and SOTU and White House visits. Then, the Ringer’s Megan Schuster joins to preview the new season of Formula 1 and its broadcasting move to Apple TV. To close, Ben breaks down what to look out for in the World Baseball Classic, which starts this week. On t...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay and Slate staff writer Luke Winkie debrief after Luke’s scene report from outside Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home. The 84-year-old was reported missing on February 1, and ever since, true-crime creators have been livestreaming from her home, spreading theories, and profiting off her disappearance without any journalistic or investigative experience. Independent c...

These days, country and pop acts regularly invade each other’s territory. But in Nashville during the 1970s, “crossover” was a dirty word. Then came two rising stars who offered up a new hybrid of Americana-style pop. John Denver infused his folk balladry with homespun lyrics about country roads and wide-open skies. Olivia Newton-John sang over twangy melodies that belied her British-Australian ro...

The delicious, healthful prune has long had a cross to bear: It’s best known for making people poop. In the late 1990s, the California Prune Board set out on a quixotic mission to amend this sales-flattening reputation. It would attempt to rechristen this ancient fruit in the hopes the prune could one day be as unencumbered as an apricot, a raisin, or a fig.  In a world where every product an...

The original trio Steve, Dana, and Julia convene for a right cracker of a Gabfest as they discuss How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, the new comedic mystery from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. In the Netflix series, three longtime Belfast friends must revisit their childhood trauma to unravel the mystery of a fourth friend’s disappearance— raucous Northern Irish hijinks ensue. Next, they step int...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay and senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario reflect on the 2026 Winter Olympics —but not just what happened out on the ice. There was a different Olympics unfolding on social media, with viral moments from the ceremony that deserve their own gold, silver, and bronze medals. Kate and Daisy rank them, and also finally break their silence on the internet’s othe...

When Helena de Groot got married she didn't want children, but her husband did. For eight years, love was enough to paper over their differences. Then an unplanned pregnancy forced them to finally choose. Listen to her terrific new podcast Creation Myth , out now from the CBC. This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn.  Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our col...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh relive the dual wins for Team USA's women's and men’s hockey teams and examine how MAGA has co-opted the victory. Then, they’re joined by journalist Chris Dalby, author of the Sports and Crime newsletter, goes deep on why Trump seems to love pardoning athletes . Next, the hosts get into the alarming expansion of sports betting via prediction...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Charlie Sosnick to break down “looksmaxxing.” While the trend—which involves things like jaw surgery and “bone smashing” to achieve mathematically-determined levels of attractiveness—has existed for some time in incel forums, creators like Clavicular have brought it mainstream. Now, teenage boys are growing up with their own kind of beauty...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Jenna Ryu, a lifestyle writer at SELF whose piece, “ Meet the ‘Finger Princess’: The Annoying Friend Everyone Has ,” introduced the term for a persistent pet peeve. “Finger princess,” the English translation of the Korean phrase ping-peu , applies to those in the group chat who ask questions instead of Googling, and refuse to scroll up to see if t...

This week, Dana is joined by Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times film critic and host of the podcast Unspooled , as well as Jamelle Bouie, New York Times columnist and host of the podcast Unclear and Present Danger . They discuss love affairs, lustful, glamorous, and interspecies. First up, it’s the lustful as they take up Emerald Fennell’s bodice-ripping adaptation of “ Wuthering Heights.” Starring...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh examine the NBA’s growing tanking problem and the league’s ongoing struggle to make the All-Star Game competitive. Then they’re joined by sportswriter, Neil Paine , to discuss the rise of Connor Zilisch, a young NASCAR driver drawing comparisons to Jeff Gordon. To close, Hang Up vet, Josh Levin , returns to talk all things Winter Olympics and...

Here at DSM, we’ve been enjoying Heated Rivalry , the HBO series about two pro hockey players who begin a secret love affair. The show is steamy, but it also highlights some persistent problems in male sports culture, namely, that same-sex relationships are still extremely taboo.   But one TikTok account is trying to change that culture for the better. Sex Ed for Guys was started by athletes...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Sonia Weiser to discuss her piece, “ I Made My Dating Profile Weird on Purpose. It’s Surprisingly Effective .” People have been frustrated with dating apps for some time, but now the rise of AI has made profiles boring and inauthentic. When everyone looks and talks the same, it’s even harder to find a spark. Instead, Sonia and a number of o...

These days, country and pop acts regularly invade each other’s territory. But in Nashville during the 1970s, “crossover” was a dirty word. Then came two rising stars who offered up a new hybrid of Americana-style pop. John Denver infused his folk balladry with homespun lyrics about country roads and wide-open skies. Olivia Newton-John sang over twangy melodies that belied her British-Australian ro...

The sugarcane fields! La casita! Piraguas! Lady Gaga! Ricky Martin! An actual wedding! Bad Bunny’s immense and boisterous Super Bowl Halftime show brought a whole Puerto Rican universe to Levi’s Stadium and into American viewers’ homes. Julia and guest hosts Nadira Goffe and Rebecca Onion revel in the joyful spectacle and are joined by Slate writer Joshua Rivera to decode the inclusive politics of...

Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet : a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, anthropomorphized lump of coal. This piece of coal has big googly eyes and a smudge of a nose, and is wearing a safety vest and a hard hat. He is, frankly, adorable—and he has a name: Coalie. When Coalie first appeared on the internet, he went viral—r...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Kat Tenbarge, who wrote “ There's nothing funny about the Epstein Files ,” to discuss how the internet has turned Jeffrey Epstein into a meme. While dark humor has long been a way to process tragic events, online shitposts about the sex offender and alleged sex trafficker risk minimizing his crimes. Instead of justice, the public is using the newl...

On the air, Yesi Ortiz is a warm, flirty host for a popular L.A. hip hop station. Off the air, she’s a single mother of six adopted kids. Managing both roles, plus romance, is a challenge. This episode originally aired in 2015.  Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus ! Members get ad-free podcast...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh break down the Seattle Seahawks’ brickwall defense in the Super Bowl, plus Bad Bunny’s refreshing halftime performance. The panel then pivots to the stranger corners of the NBA trade deadline before welcoming college sports writer Jesse Dougherty, who discusses his experience as part of the Washington Post sports desk that was recently elimin...