The Popaganda Podcast

In this episode of The Popaganda Podcast, survivor activists Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok discuss HBO's Emmy-winning medical drama, The Pitt —a series hailed by medical professionals as the most accurate representation of healthcare workers and the challenges they face in a post-pandemic America. So, if you're coming to The Pitt for some Grey's Anatomy level shenanigans , the...

In this episode, Erin Miles Cloud j oins pop culture besties Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok for a breakdown of the Law & Order: SVU episode Hubris . Erin is the co-founder of Movement for Family Power and co-editor of H ow to End Family Policing: From Outrage to Action alongside Shannon, Erica Miners, and Charity Hope Tolliver. Erin is a civil rights attorney and a former family defens...

This special episode was made in partnership with the Capital City Film Fest , where Tashmica moderated a live panel with filmmaker Courtney Montour and skater Hawaiian Blaze following a screening of Rising Through the Fray . Courtney then joined Tashmica and Shannon to go even deeper. Rising Through the Fray follows Indigenous Rising — the first team in roller derby history to compete at the Worl...

Days before Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette was set to air, TMZ released footage of a violent incident between her and her ex, Dakota, from 2023. ABC pulled the season. Together, Shannon and Tashmica talk through what the video shows and what it doesn’t, why one moment of volatility can’t tell us who is setting up a pattern of power and control, and who is surviving it. They unpac...

Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok dig into Adult Braces, Lindy West's new memoir, Adult Braces. The internet is in a tizzy about her 15-year partnership with Aham Oluo and the process of opening their relationship. We use the word 'process' intentionally. Polyamory is only one expression of how people and the terms of their most intimate relationships can and should transform over...

What does it mean when the person who built the door is also the one controlling who walks through it? Netflix's Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model pulls back the curtain on two decades of harm styled as opportunity—and Shannon and Tashmica are not letting Tyra off the hook. This docuseries revisits the 2003–2018 run of America's Next Top Model through interviews with Tyra...

In this special short episode of The Popaganda Podcast, hosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok talk about the BAFTAs moment that hit Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo in real time. The N-word was shouted by John Davidson, whose life inspired a nominated film, and who has Tourette Syndrome with coprolalia—meaning the slur was an involuntary tic, not an intentional act. Listen in as we talk a...

What if the apocalypse showed up… as excellent customer service ? In this episode of The Popaganda Podcast, survivor activists Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok bring pop culture obsession and Transformative Justice-flavored analysis to Pluribus (Apple TV+), Vince Gilligan’s sleek, unsettling sci-fi series starring Rhea Seehorn as novelist Carol Sterka—a woman who becomes the world’s least wi...

In this episode of The Popaganda Podcast, survivor activists Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok bring intimate storytelling and expert analysis to Virginia Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice . Before “release the Epstein files” became the public’s favorite internet punchline, Giuffre was a teenager trying to escape her f...

What happens when your comfort shows stop comforting—and your “fun little apps” start feeling like tiny extensions of state power? In this episode, Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok talk about how living under fascism is reshaping our relationship to pop culture, streaming, and the platforms we’ve treated like default companions. From canceling Hulu/Disney after the Jimmy Kimmel controversy (...

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? In Tashmica’s house, absolutely—and it’s also a masterclass in copaganda. In this special holiday episode, Shannon and Tashmica rewatch Die Hard the way Tashmica’s family does every year: loud, talk-back style, like a Christmas Rocky Horror—except the call-and-response is all about how the “good cop” story gets built. We break down how the film makes John McLane (Bru...

What if our best tool for fighting fascism is embracing all of our ‘Wayward’ teens and their imagination for resistance? In this episode, Shannon and Tashmica rave about the talented nonbinary artist Mae Martin (they/them), and Wayward, the limited series they created for Netflix. Set in 2003, the story follows Leila and Abby, teenage best friends and a local police officer, Alex, as they uncover...

Fascism trains us to shrink. Pee-wee shows another path: bold, maximal, unashamed. What can Paul Reubens teach us about refusing to comply in advance? In this episode, hosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok discuss the pressure to get small under rising Fascism—and how Paul Reubens, through Pee-wee Herman, modeled color, camp, and audacity anyway. From 70s/80s performance-art roots to TV fam...

This week on Papaganda , Shannon and Tashmica dive into We Are Lady Parts , the brilliant British sitcom about an all-Muslim punk band that has captured hearts with its humor, complexity, and radical tenderness. From awkward first gigs to the band’s unapologetic “villain era,” we explore themes of friendship, family, self-determination, and joy in claiming your full personhood. As this episode com...

What if you could sit in on our group chat—unedited, unfiltered, and supported by a quick check-in with Daddy Google? In our 2nd annual Pop Culture Chisme episode, we unpack the messiness of reality TV, the chokehold The Pit had on us, and the power of Alex Cooper naming abuse in sports. This time, we edit nothing—no cuts, lots of “ums,” and even more chisme. You’ll feel like you’re sitting in on...

What do you get when you mix juke joint resistance, supernatural horror, and a masterclass in Black storytelling? Sinners —Ryan Coogler’s 2025 genre-defying masterpiece—sets the Mississippi Delta on fire, and The Popaganda Podcast is here for that Smoke (and Stack). In this episode, co-hosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok sink their teeth into the historical brilliance, Black cultural refe...

Adolescence isn’t your typical TV crime drama. Stephen Graham, creator and writer of the hit Netflix miniseries, isn’t asking you to figure out who did it—he’s asking you to consider why . Shot entirely in one continuous take, each episode of this four-part series follows 13-year-old Jamie, a boy accused of murdering a classmate. But Jamie isn’t just a perpetrator. He’s also a child—shaped by patr...

The Popaganda Podcast is an official Cast & Crew Sponsor of the 15th Annual Capital City Film Fest . Join cohosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok in an episode spotlighting the Midwest premiere and Closing Night Feature Firebreak , a deeply moving documentary screening. Firebreak follows Brandon and Royal , two formerly incarcerated firefighters who turned exploitation into transformati...

Dakota Adams and the Cost of Extremism. This episode unpacks King of the Apocalypse, a new documentary exposing Stuart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers and key figure in the January 6th insurrection. But this isn’t his story—it’s about the people who survived him. Through the eyes of Dakota Adams, we explore how radicalization and abuse shaped the family Rhodes tormented, the years of planning...

What do Neil Gaiman, Scientology, and NDAs have in common? More than you'd think—and none of it is good. Join hosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok as they break down the accounts of harm, the power imbalances, and the larger cultural problem with how we talk (or don’t talk) about consent. Listen in as they unpack why we need better ways to talk about sexual violence—because the binary...

On this episode of The Popaganda Podcast , Tashmica and Shannon talk about the explosive new psychodrama series, Anatomy of Lies , which uncovers the jaw-dropping story of Elisabeth Finch, a Grey’s Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story, exploited the empathy of her colleagues, and used the trauma of others for personal gain. Stories like Finch’s weaponize trust and harm the very communities...

Shannon and Tashmica discuss It Ends With Us , a TikTok famous, bestselling romance novel written by Colleen Hoover now adapted into the recently released blockbuster drama. Based on the relationship between the author's mother and father, It Ends With Us follows the life and love of the fictional character Lily Bloom starting with her childhood experiences of domestic violence. Calling it &#3...

On the sweetest episode of The Popaganda Podcast, Tashmica tells Shannon a heartwarming story about Big Bird, Snuffleupagus, and the political aspirations of America's longest-running children's TV show, Sesame Street. Big Bird loves his best friend, Aloysius Snuffleupagus and all he wants to do is introduce him to his grownup friends on Sesame Street. There's only one problem. No one...

On this episode of The Popaganda Podcast, Tashmica and Shannon talk with guest Mia Mingus about the post-apocalyptic TV series, The Walking Dead. Viewers watched in horror as Negan brutally murdered Glen in front of his wife Maggie. None of us knew that we'd be on a Transformative Justice journey with two of the show's most compelling characters up until the final seasons. We watched the d...

The Popaganda Podcast is an award-winning social justice podcast that explores the pop culture we love and how it inspires us to build a safer, more just world for everyone. Hosts Shannon Perez-Darby and Tashmica Torok are lifelong survivor activists and pop culture besties who use elevated unscripted commentary to normalize transformative justice practices and prison abolition strategies by ampli...