Think cancel culture is new? The Catholic Church invented it in the Middle Ages.

Being burned at the stake was the ultimate deplatforming. In the 15th and 16th centuries, figures like Joan of Arc, Giordano Bruno, and Jan Hus faced the stake for the crime of heresy. But was heresy actually just a way to crush dissent?

This week, medievalist and historian Eleanor Janega (@GoingMedieval) joins Katelyn and Christine to unpack history’s original cancel culture. From the Vatican's "Community Guidelines" to the trial of Galileo, we look at how institutions have always used moral panic to maintain power.

Scheduling Note: Cancel Me, Daddy will return in January 2026. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Thank you for tuning in—we appreciate you so much.

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Links for Apple:

• Subscribe to the Gone Medieval podcast via History Hit, Apple, or Spotify
• Follow Eleanor Janega on Bluesky: @goingmedieval
• Buy Eleanor’s book, The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society, via The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop.org storefront

Cancellation List Patreon Supporters:

Megg, I Beuregard, Alison, Siobhan Green, Maggi Joseph, Leslie Zavisca, Summer Lark, Amy Veeres, Matt

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Olivia Nuzzi is in the headlines again for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a source. Nuzzi’s former partner, Ryan Lizza, is using his newsletter to make the claims about Nuzzi and…former Republican presidential candidate Mark Sanford in 2020. Lizza’s ongoing, multi-part series about Nuzzi amid her book launch is an uncomfortable read for its florid prose and revenge porn vibes. Never forget: The New Yorker fired Lizza for unspecified sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement. Meanwhile, Lizza continues to target Nuzzi, who committed one of the most serious public ethical breaches in journalism with former Democratic-turned-independent presidential candidate and current Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This week, Katelyn and Christine discuss the mess with Marisa Kabas, the acclaimed independent journalist who founded The Handbasket. As Kabas says, moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field.

Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Links:

• Marisa Kabas for The Handbasket: https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-elite-journalism-nuzzi-lizza-rfk-jr-trump
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice: https://www.burnsnotice.com/olivia-nuzzi-is-an-embarrassment-to-journalism/
• The Guardian on Mark Sanford's Argentina scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/24/mark-sanford-infidelity-south-carolina
• Olivia Nuzzi on Joe Biden's fitness: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/conspiracy-of-silence-to-protect-joe-biden.html
• Katelyn Burns for Vox on Biden/Sanders LGBTQ record: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/6/21167777/sanders-biden-lgbtq-voters

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There’s a lot of overlap between cancel culture and cultural panics in which the anti-hero of the week profits off their notoriety. This week, Kate and Christine co-host a very special crossover episode with Panic World, journalist Ryan Broderick’s podcast about how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality. As we like to say at Cancel Me, Daddy, “all the panic around cancel culture” can result in even more notoriety—and visibility—for our favorite canceled people. From Dave Chappelle, to disgraced Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner, to, alas, Donald Trump, none seem poised to exit the national stage anytime soon.

Stream Cancel Me, Daddy on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Links:

• Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: @katelynburns.com
• Follow Christine on Bluesky: @yourombudsmom
• Follow Ryan on Bluesky: @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social/
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice: You Can't Run the Nazi Tattoo Guy Against Susan from "The County"
• Jamelle Bouie, Gene Demby, Aisha Harris, and Tressie McMillan Cottom for Slate: I'm Not Your Racial Confessor
• Merch Me, Daddy—Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

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The Cancel Culture Grift Economy™ has once again rewarded Bari Weiss.

Support CMD on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cancelmedaddy

CBS News anointed Weiss—the former New York Times op-ed columnist turned so-called Free Press founder—as the broadcast network’s editor-in-chief.

What was once a mainstream media mainstay is poised to transform into a reactionary mouthpiece. Weiss will report directly to parent company Paramount CEO David Ellison, a billionaire aligned with Donald Trump.

Join Katelyn, Christine, and “Cancellation Guncle” Michael Hobbes, journalist and co-host of the popular podcasts Maintenance Phase and If Books Could Kill, to discuss how the imminent media transformation threatens free speech and rigorous journalism.

Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katelynburns.com

Follow Christine on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/yourombudsmom.bsky.social

Follow Michael on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/michaelhobbes.bsky.social

If Books Could Kill Bari Weiss episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/cg/podcast/a-bari-special-bonus-episode-teaser/id1651876897?i=1000589386352

CMD episode about Jimmy Kimmel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE3ERIoEQwE&pp=ygUPY2FuY2VsIG1lIGRhZGR5

CMD episode with Smith College professor: https://podcasts.apple.com/cg/podcast/america-uncancelled/id1550508625?i=1000511540271

Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/wash-post-health-care-reporter-has-history-spreading-misinformation-about-abortion

Katelyn Burns for Xtra: https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/bari-weiss-cbs-the-free-press-media-277156

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Why does America's infrastructure prioritize cars over people? In this episode, we're joined by the hosts of The War on Cars podcast to expose the decades of pro-car propaganda that shaped our cities—and discuss how politicians like Zohran Mamdani are fighting back with bold transit plans.

We break down:

🚗 How the auto industry manufactured car dependency

🚇 Why public transportation became a political battleground

🏙️ Mamdani's vision for transit-oriented development

💰 The deadly body count of car-centric urban planning

🔥 What Democrats get wrong about the "war on cars"

This isn't just about transportation—it's about who our cities are built for and who gets left behind.

🎙️ GUESTS: Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon from The War on Cars podcast

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• The War on Cars Podcast: https://thewaroncars.org/

• Zohran Mamdani's transit plan: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform

• Flytrap Affiliate link for Life After Cars: https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-after-cars-freeing-ourselves-from-the-tyranny-of-the-automobile-aaron-naparstek/9af03feee57404e9

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💬 What's your take? Are cars destroying our cities, or is public transit the real problem? Drop your hottest take in the comments.

🔔 Subscribe to Cancel Me, Daddy for more media analysis and political commentary that cuts through the BS: [your channel link]

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#UrbanPlanning #PublicTransportation #CarCulture #WarOnCars #TransitPolicy #CityPlanning #ProgressivePolitics #UrbanDesign

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Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive podcast exploring politics, media, and culture through perspectives ignored by mainstream news. Hosted by Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a Flytrap Media Production

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Jimmy Kimmel might be getting his show back after a pause following his comments about Charlie Kirk's death, but dozens of other people have lost their livelihood for commenting on it.

Former NBC News Internet and Culture Writer Kat Tenbarge joins co-hosts Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi on this week's episode to discuss the free speech crisis currently facing the US.

Can free speech last through this conservative government crackdown? Let us know in the comments.

Subscribe for more good politics takes and ring the bell to be notified of our next episode.

Sign up for Kat's newsletter, Spitfire News on our Trustfund collaboration link here: https://trustfnd.com/cancelmedaddy

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According to the centrist group Third Way, Democrats should scrub their vocabulary of 45 words and phrases spanning six pejoratively titled categories: therapy-speak, seminar-room language, organizer jargon, gender/orientation correctness, the shifting language of racial constructs, and explaining away crime. “Was it something I said?” Third Way asks of Democrats’ losing streak. No—winning is something you do.

This week, Katelyn and Christine cancel "Centrist Language Nannies,” debunking Third Way and the rest of the pundit class’s overhyped language policing. Our hosts make the case for concrete policies that help people and—spoiler alert—win elections.

Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Links for Apple:

• Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: @katelynburns.com
• Follow Christine on Bluesky: @yourombudsmom
• Third Way (with our regrets for linking): Was It Something I Said?
• Adam Wren for Politico: The ‘woke’ words Democrats should cut from their vocabulary
• Dr. Alan Pelaez Lopez: The X in Latinx is a Wound, Not a Trend
• Nicole Froio for The Flytrap: Deny, Defend, Depose, Slay: How Luigi Mangione Became a Thirst Trap
• Buy Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger via The Flytrap’s Bookshop.org affiliate link
• Merch Me, Daddy—Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

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