Episodes

  • Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Revisions

    Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Revisions
    Sep 19 2025
    The day after Charlie Kirk was murdered, Ezra Klein published an essay in the New York Times: “Charlie Kirk Practiced Politics The Right Way.” Klein’s piece was one of countless teary-eyed eulogies from across the spectrum of political media, and this first draft of Charlie Kirk’s legacy is now being used by the U.S. government to crack down on free speech in unprecedented ways. But let’s be clear: the way Charlie Kirk died does not change the way he lived. He did not “practice politics the right way,” and his “debates” were nothing more than manufactured social media bait to radicalize young people into becoming foot soldiers for an authoritarian regime. The people most affected by Charlie Kirk’s politics do not work at the New York Times, but they deserve a say in his legacy, too. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Subscribe to Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Subscribe to Taylor on YouTube. Subscribe to Karen Attiah, the journalist fired from the Washington Post because she quoted Charlie Kirk’s own words, on Substack. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Dr. Phil: From Nice Guy to Nazi (with Aubrey Gordon)

    Dr. Phil: From Nice Guy to Nazi (with Aubrey Gordon)
    Sep 5 2025
    Dr. Phil has a new hobby: ICE raids. The daytime television fixture bewildered fans when he began touring with the Trump campaign last year, ending his decades-long streak as a seemingly apolitical celebrity. Like so many 2000s stars, Dr. Phil has found a career revival in right-wing media, advocating for everything from deportations to zionism. But what could explain such a radical shift from the man who spent decades trying to bring families together? In this episode, the inimitable Aubrey Gordon and I take a journey through the 2000s, encountering a motley crew including Oprah, Bhad Bhabie, and Benjamin Netanyahu along the way. Come to find out, the Dr. Phil we know now is the Dr. Phil we knew all along. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Sleep and dream well! Visit https://helixsleep.com/fruity to take advantage of their Extended Labor Day Sale exclusive partner offer — that’s 27% off sitewide. Get smarter about yours (and others!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Listen to Aubrey’s podcast, Maintenance Phase. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 44 mins
  • Sydney Sweeney and the Outrage Machine

    Sydney Sweeney and the Outrage Machine
    Aug 23 2025
    Sydney Sweeney is Hollywood’s most-discussed starlet, often for confusing reasons. Her existence as a visible woman with a human body made her the target of widespread male adoration, ridicule, and political projection. How she navigates being the new Miss American Dream is yielding increasingly bizarre results — what’s the deal with her eugenics, I mean genetics? And the bathwater? In this much-requested episode, Taylor, Kat and I examine the 27-year-old’s relationship to wokeness (just kill me already), the line between sex work and whatever’s happening in her brand endorsements, and the right-wing media’s penchant for manufacturing hysteria. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Join the fight to get religion OUT of public schools at ffrf.us/school or text FREEDOM to 511511. Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Read more of Kat’s work at her newsletter, Spitfire News. Listen to Taylor’s podcast, Power User. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • The Trans Teen Imprisoned for Refusing to Join the IDF

    The Trans Teen Imprisoned for Refusing to Join the IDF
    Aug 6 2025
    Yona Roseman is 19. In two weeks, the Israeli government is imprisoning her for refusing to join Israel's military, for which service is required by all Israeli Jewish teenagers. Because she is transgender, Yona anticipates she’ll be kept in solitary confinement for 22 hours per day. She’s been brutalized by cops who hurl slurs at her despite Israel’s alleged status as a safe haven for LGBTQ people. Ahead of her imprisonment, Yona joins us to talk about the reality of Israel’s treatment of queer people, the way Israel intentionally endangers LGBTQ Palestinians, and why prison and expulsion from mainstream society are prices she’s willing to pay. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Send letters to imprisoned refusers: https://linktr.ee/Meaarvot Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 mins
  • Jojo Siwa: The Internet’s Court Jester

    Jojo Siwa: The Internet’s Court Jester
    Jul 25 2025
    Jojo Siwa has been a lot of things: an eleven-year-old abused on television for public entertainment, a tween merchandising mogul with a billion dollar brand, Nickelodeon’s first out gay child star, and most recently, a dollar store trad wife. Behind the facade of endlessly shapeshifting court jester, though, Jojo Siwa is a 22-year-old human who has not known life without cameras and a momager since she was nine. Today, Kat Tenbarge and I do some good ole (queer) child star anthropology — and make the case that we, the viewers, are not morally neutral for tuning in. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • The New York Times Thinks Gays Have Gone Too Far (with Chase Strangio)

    The New York Times Thinks Gays Have Gone Too Far (with Chase Strangio)
    Jul 12 2025
    On the twilight of Pride Month, the New York Times published (and sent out a push notification for) a guest essay titled “How the Gay Rights Movement Radicalized and Lost Its Way” by a gay journalist named Andrew Sullivan. If you thought I could resist this A Bit Fruity bait, you’d be wrong. Today, Chase Strangio — who recently made history as the first trans lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court in US v. Skrmetti — helps us parse out some genuinely difficult questions. What is the right way to ask people in power for your rights? Has the gay movement gone too far? What is the point of the New York Times? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about your (and your dad’s!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    2 hrs and 1 min
  • Why Is Everyone Going Back Into the Closet?

    Why Is Everyone Going Back Into the Closet?
    Jun 27 2025
    From granola fascism to the manosphere, much gets said of the various right-wing pipelines people have gone down in the years since lockdown. One such pipeline remains more mysterious. When you think of conversion therapy, do you imagine a doctor administering shocks to a gay man strapped to a chair? A queer child sent to conversion camp against their will? What if a queer adult goes to ex-gay camp of their own volition? What if someone's conversion therapy is simply a playlist of ex-gay testimonial videos on YouTube — what can laws do to prevent kids and adults from watching them? Today, Kat Tenbarge and I examine ex-queer case studies, from beloved YouTuber Lohanthony to detransitioners, and try to understand what “conversion therapy” means in 2025. It’s understood that more people will come out as a society becomes friendlier to queerness — but can that pattern also work in reverse? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Subscribe to Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Never Apologize to Fascists (with Contrapoints)

    Never Apologize to Fascists (with Contrapoints)
    Jun 13 2025
    Last week, world-class athlete Simone Biles stood up to failed-athlete-turned-crybully Riley Gaines when Riley antagonized a transgender child to her 1.5 million Twitter followers. A harassment campaign, which has become a standard (and winning!) online strategy for online right, ensued against Simone. The comments flooded in, eviscerating the gymnast (and her sponsors) — “So you want my daughter to compete against boys?” “How many medals would YOU have if you competed against MEN?” And perhaps most jarring, “I guess you want other little girls to get abused the way you did.” Things flew off the handle and became severely detached from reality, as they so often do in these campaigns. Facing endless harassment, Simone apologized, and Riley has been taking a Fox News victory lap ever since. Today, Natalie Wynn (a.k.a. Contrapoints) returns to the show as we explore the anatomy of a moral panic, the harassment campaigns which fuel them, and why you cannot compromise with a fascist. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Subscribe to Natalie on YouTube. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins