Explore every episode of the podcast A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein

The Boston Globe’s biggest story in 2002 was an earth-shattering expose of child abuse within the Catholic Church. The Boston Globe’s biggest story in 2026 was an earth-shattering expose of a dysfunctional lesbian community in a small town in Massachusetts trying to keep a COVID-conscious, masks-required queer bar financially afloat. It’s true, this story has everything: a co-owner ditching the bar for clown school, a therapist mediator accused of being a cop, and of course, some secular hijab-inspired accessories. But I fear an analysis of the story’s immense virality reveals a darker truth, and should encourage us all to reconsider our own online behavior. 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 Watch Kat on YouTube. Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Moira on Twitter. Listen to Moira on In Bed With The Right. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A cultural and political earthquake revolving around Ed Sheeran, Macklemore, and P!nk might have felt semi-plausible in 2012, but certainly not in 2026. And yet! After Macklemore called for a free Palestine at Ed’s concert, a disgruntled P!nk took to Instagram to call for apologies and refunds. In a follow-up essay, the 2000s pop icon clarified she does not need a refund, but wants to make one thing clear: as a Jew, Macklemore’s words made her feel unsafe. Today, Palestinian author and poet Mohammed el-Kurd helps dissect P!nk’s big feelings, the evolving rhetoric of Liberal Zionism, and the power of calling something what it is. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsor! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Follow Mohammed on Twitter. Read Mohammed’s book, Perfect Victims. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The homosexual fascist must be savvy, and Milo Yiannopoulos was (at least for a time) among the savviest. But it wasn’t enough. It never is. The flamboyant British provocateur who wormed his way into American politics was never destined for a seat at the winners’ table, because the winners’ table doesn’t even exist. Today, Kat Tenbarge, Matthew Sitman (of the Know Your Enemy podcast) and I chronicle the most dangerous gay demon of the 2010s, the culture that produced him, and the destruction left in his wake. May the leopards feast. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein 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 Listen to Matt Sitman on Know Your Enemy. Follow Matt Sitman on Twitter. Follow Kat on Instagram. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2024, the trans TikTok influencer Jools Lebron graced the world with “very demure, very mindful.” The phrase was lightning in a bottle, and got plastered just about everywhere. Two years and two million followers later, Jools broke the news to her followers: after the lucrative brand deals stopped coming, she needed their help to afford dental surgery. The colossal backlash that ensued reveals a disconnect between the public’s understanding of influencer fame and the reality of freelancing. It also raises questions about the conservatism inherent to TikTok’s algorithm, and how we all might end up Fox News boomers if we don’t start thinking critically. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Access the Internet from anywhere and protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Watch Franchesca on on YouTube. Follow Franchesca on Instagram. Watch Kat on YouTube. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Boy George released an AI-generated reggae Zionist fight song last month, I was not shocked. That’s only because the 1980s queer pop icon and “Karma Chameleon” singer quietly directed his ire at me (ME!) a few months earlier. How did such a legendary countercultural figure resort to… whatever this is? Today, we’re telling a bizarre story of fame, crime, geopolitics, and artificial intelligence. A lot of artificial intelligence. George Michael, as the decidedly superior 80s gay pop singer from across the pond, we salute you. 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 Watch Caroline on Twitch. Follow Caroline on Twitter. Follow Kat on Instagram. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lindsey Graham died doing what he loved: fanning the flames of war and hiring queer sex workers while legislating against their basic human rights. What is there to say of an evil gay man who dies in the closet? Lindsey wasn’t the first, and likely won’t be the last. Today, Moira Donegan (of In Bed With The Right) and I perform a psychosexual autopsy on some of America’s worst gays. Good riddance. 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 Listen to Moira on In Bed With The Right. Follow Moira on Bluesky. Follow Moira on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kylie Jenner is selling Meta Glasses that record people without their knowledge. Timothée Chalamet is selling Kalshi gambling addictions to teenage boys. Do a billion-dollar beauty mogul and the most bankable movie star of a generation really have to debase themselves like this? This week, Kat Tenbarge, Ed Ongweso Jr. and I waltz through the recent business exploits of Hollywood’s busiest couple. Therein lies stories of mass surveillance, legally dubious and politically corrupt virtual casinos, and good ole American greed. 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 Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Listen to Ed on This Machine Kills. Follow Ed on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caught on camera fleeing the NBA Finals for his $40 million Hamptons home, Jerry Seinfeld declared: “Palestine doesn’t exist.” It’s hard to imagine someone with a larger repository of goodwill and adoration than the 90s television legend, yet Jerry remains steadfast on his mission to destroy it all. This week, comedy connoisseur Emma Vigeland and I investigate Seinfeld’s growing animosity for the changing world around him. And for adult women. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Access the Internet from anywhere and protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity Everyone who signs up wins a FREE Rose toy: https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/abitfruity-pod :) Watch Emma on The Majority Report. Follow Emma on Instagram. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mel Robbins wants to Let You give her your money. The lawyer-turned-self-help guru has made an unfathomable fortune through books, speeches, and most recently, protein smoothies. Mel’s core message to her millions of fans is simple: the only thing standing in your way is you. But as the systems that govern us continue to stratify people across seemingly unmovable barriers of wealth and power, Mel’s advice feels at odds with reality. Additionally, Mel’s insatiable quest for building personal wealth requires us to ask brave questions: Can AI be girlboss? Can pyramid schemes be empowering? Perhaps, if we let them. 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 Watch Princess on YouTube. Follow Princess on Bluesky. Read Kat’s work. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time to dive into one of Canada’s worst exports. Kevin O’Leary a.k.a. “Mr. Wonderful” gained household recognition by performing as a mean venture capitalist on TV. As it turns out, the meanness might be the only honest aspect of his character. Today, Emma and I excavate Kevin’s personal and professional history to reveal a nesting doll of capitalist grifter hell. Grab your $28 avocado toast and strap in. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Everyone who signs up wins a FREE toy or gift card: https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/abitfruity-pod :) Support a fairer future free from religious overreach at https://humanist.org/fruity Watch Emma every weekday on The Majority Report. Find Emma on Instagram. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mallory McMorrow is one of three Democrats running in one of the most hotly contested primary races heading into the 2026 midterms: the Michigan senate race. After I interviewed her progressive opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory’s team reached out for an interview as well. After a publicized back-and-forth between my camp and hers, we are gathered here today to discuss Mallory’s support for funding Israel’s Iron Dome, her decision to not run on Medicare for All, and more. Thank you to the great Emma Vigeland of the Majority Report for joining me. This one’s for Lady Bunny. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tucker Carlson has emerged as one of the most influential voices opposing the U.S. relationship to Israel. He’s also anti-Trump. So is he your friend now? Today, the inimitable Naomi KIein makes her A Bit Fruity debut to explain the Right’s burgeoning realignment, why the Republican successor to Trump could be so much scarier (sorry), and how an inept Liberal establishment made the rise of an antisemitic nationalist movement inevitable. And, of course, what we can do. 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 Memorial Day Sale exclusive partner offer — that’s 27% off sitewide. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Naomi is currently platformless, but please preorder her forthcoming book, End Times Fascism. It will be brilliant. Also, read Doppelganger. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time to podmax. The Internet’s biggest rising star is a 20-year-old from New Jersey named Braden Peters, and he wants your sons to hit their jaws with hammers so they can get girlfriends. Not great! But in my quest to explain Clavicular, I encountered other, bigger problems: a generation of young people who know the American social contract is broken, a generation of older people who don’t care, and a media industry that feeds off rage at the expense of reality.  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 Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity Watch F.D. Signifier on YouTube. Follow F.D. Signifier on Instagram. Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, an Arkansas grandmother of 10 children flew to Washington D.C. at the behest of DoorDash to deliver the President of the United State two bags of McDonald’s. The stunt was a promotion for the food delivery app, and for Trump’s “No Tax On Tips” policy which allegedly helps workers like DoorDash Grandma save on taxes. As you might imagine, no aspect of the bizarre stunt was what it seemed. Today, we unearth the truth about DoorDash, grandmas, and the absolute fraud that is Republican tax policy. I even try math! Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Support a fairer future free from religious overreach at https://humanist.org/fruity and find an event near you at https://www.americanempathyproject.org/ :) Get up to 30% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Watch Caroline on Twitch. Follow Caroline on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we teeter on the edge of war, Epstein chaos, and an AI-induced job market collapse, it’s a comfort to know that Democrats are fighting as hard as they can to defeat… Hasan Piker! The online left’s favorite hunk has created a crisis for establishment Democrats, whose allegiance to Israel and corporate interests has become career-threatening (finally!). Today, Michigander and 2026 senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed joins me to unpack the centrist smear campaign against Hasan Piker, the millions of Democrat dollars intent on crushing the left, and what we can do about it. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Support Abdul’s campaign for senate. Follow Abdul on Instagram. Follow Abdul on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 21, 2026, as violent tensions escalated in Trump’s illegal war on Iran, the second most-discussed event in the United States was Chappell Roan’s hotel breakfast. What began as a forgettable “controversy” involving celebrities, a security guard, and a fancy hotel in Brazil soon transformed into a political proxy war that feels deeply emblematic of what the Internet has become. Today, Caroline Kwan, Kat Tenbarge and I dive deep into the episode I was sure I wouldn’t make. But here we are. In tears. 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 Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Watch Caroline on Twitch. Follow Caroline on Twitter. Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year at the behest of Elon Musk, a group of young men in their 20s with no political experience set out to reduce federal spending by terminating lifesaving public health programs, slashing thousands of science and culture grants, and gutting entire federal agencies. The “DOGE Bros” wreaked havoc on American life — and somehow, reduced federal spending by nothing. Recently, two former DOGE employees were deposed amidst a lawsuit by organizations that want their money back. After spending days watching videos of their lengthy testimonies (that the government is actively trying to wipe from the internet), I’ve concluded that nobody benefits from identity politics quite like a mediocre white man. 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.  Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Watch Krystal on Breaking Points. Follow Krystal on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gavin Newsom, the California governor who’s been seemingly anointed to the throne of the Democratic Party, thinks Democrats should be more “culturally normal.” He thinks we should spend less time talking about pronouns. He won’t tax billionaires, and he’s had approximately four different positions on Israel in the last six weeks. Yet two and half years out from the 2028 election, some inside the party are already demanding allegiance to the newest spineless, corporate candidate in a long line of spineless, corporate candidates. This week, Emma Vigeland, Kat Blaque and I air our grievances with a man who believes in nothing, and a party that touts democracy while practicing nothing of the sort. We all deserve better. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein Thanks to today’s sponsors! Support a fairer future free from religious overreach at https://humanist.org/fruity Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Follow Emma on Instagram. Watch Emma on The Majority Report. Follow Kat on Instagram. Watch Kat on YouTube. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neil Patrick Harris would like to make art that is “apolitical.” Sydney Sweeney “is not a political person.” Jelly Roll is a “dumb redneck” who we shouldn’t want to hear from, but we will be hearing his thoughts on global events “soon.” Ethan Hawke says we shouldn’t seek moral guidance from “a bunch of jet-lagged, drunk artists,” and perhaps he’s right. But at a time when celebrities who were once known for their political outspokenness have gotten strangely coy (Taylor Swift and Beyoncé come to mind), one naturally begins to wonder if something is amiss. And when LeBron James, who cites civil rights hero Muhammad Ali as an inspiration, says he’s heard “only great things” about Israel — now we’re just being, well, played. Today, Gianmarco Soresi, Caroline Kwan and I examine the marked shift pop culture has taken towards spinelessness and attempt to remedy it. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Follow Gianmarco on Instagram. Watch Gianmarco’s podcast, The Downside. Watch Caroline on Twitch. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICE is many things — chief among them, an outgrowth of a seemingly neverending masculinity crisis. The U.S. government has devised a billion dollar strategy to recruit aggrieved young men into ICE with the promise of giving them a purpose: to “restore the homeland.” And their masculinity. The results have been devastating. A parallel crisis of manhood is unfolding in the form of looksmaxxers, a booming online community of men injecting meth and breaking their bones to enhance their perceived physical beauty. Today, YouTube essay legend F.D Signifier, Twitch culture streamer Caroline Kwan and I explore the evermore bizarre ways patriarchy is setting men up to fail while everyone else pays the price. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Watch F.D Signifier on YouTube. Watch Caroline on Twitch. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ashley St. Clair dropped out of college to become a full-time conservative influencer. Five years later, she was pregnant with Elon Musk’s child. Within months, the weight of the politics Ashley built her career on collapsed. Elon publicly disparaged Ashley and reneged on his fatherly responsibilities, and the influencer who once shamed single mothers on Fox News was one herself. Today, June (or JUNlPER, of Twitter fame) joins me to have a frank discussion with a newly reformed Ashley St. Clair. We probe her on profiting off anti-LGBT bigotry, the seductiveness of the right-wing influencer ecosystem, and making amends. And, of course, what it’s like for the leopards to eat your face. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Listen to June’s podcast, Kill The Computer. Listen to June’s other podcast, Ill Conceived. Follow June on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candace Owens’s daily livestreams have more viewers than Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC combined. The woman who less than a decade ago was a liberal blogger in New York City is now one of the most powerful voices representing — and tearing apart — the American Right. Her latest and most successful act is that of a professional conspiracy theorist, spinning webs around Brigitte Macron’s gender, Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and of course, The Jews. Millions of people who’ve self-admittedly “never agreed with Candace” are finding themselves in her clutches. Today, fellow Connecticut native Taylor Lorenz and I take a trip into Candaceland to try to decipher why Candace is the way she is and what the Right may look like after Trump. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Support a fairer future free from religious overreach at https://humanist.org/fruity Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Watch Taylor on YouTube. Read Taylor’s work on User Mag. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Nicki Minaj stepped on stage in Phoenix, Arizona, with one hand clasping Erika Kirk and the other waving to a crowd of white supremacists, even I was shocked. We’ve known the Queen of Rap to be many unsavory things: an insecure egomaniac, a steadfast defender of predators, an obsessive poster (she has my solidarity on that one). But “fascist propagandist” I did not see coming. Today, Olayemi Olurin, Kat Tenbarge and I draw a map of Nicki’s life to make sense of how she got here, what she hopes to receive from it, and if it’ll even pan out. 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 Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Kat Tenbarge’s work. Follow Kat Tenbarge on Bluesky. Subscribe to Olay on YouTube. Follow Olay on Instagram. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Samantha Fulnecky filed a religious discrimination complaint against her university after failing an essay assignment in which she only referenced the Bible, she was on a path to victory. Sure, the essay was a grammatical disaster and completely incoherent — not to mention offensive towards both her classmates and professors. Sure, the failing grade was deserved. But in the age of right-wing culture war domination, Samantha was poised to become a star. Her January 6th-loving mother, Turning Point USA (and their recent influx of cash), and the Oklahoma House of Representatives all threw their full weight behind her. Despite all this, Samantha Fulnecky became the last great joke of 2025. Today, Kat Tenbarge, Parker Molloy and I examine why she failed the grift (and the essay). Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about yours (and others!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Kat Tenbarge’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat Tenbarge on Bluesky. Subscribe to Parker Molloy’s newsletter. Follow Parker Molloy on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the afternoon Charlie Kirk died, Jeffree Star livestreamed a four-minute-long rant about how nonbinary people aren’t real. Star, with his pink hair, diamond nails, and prior openness to using “any pronouns,” doesn’t necessarily fit in with Turning Point USA’s target demographic. Or does he? In this long-awaited and much-requested episode, veteran YouTuber Kat Blaque and former full-time Jeffree Star reporter Kat Tenbarge guide us through the tragic, racist, celebrity-filled history of the Internet’s most prolific makeup mogul. Despite many changes in circumstance — just like Gwen Stefani, he’ll always be an Orange County girl. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about yours (and others!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Subscribe to Kat Blaque on YouTube. Follow Kat Blaque on Instagram. Subscribe to Kat Tenbarge’s work. Follow Kat Tenbarge on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no bigger danger to Jews, apparently, than New York City’s Mayor-Elect, Zohran Mamdani. The morning after he was elected, the ADL announced the launch of the “Mamdani Monitor” to track antisemitism within Zohran’s administration. Debra Messing posted 91 Instagram stories in a single day about how she fears for her life as a Jew — not because of the rise of antisemitism within the MAGA movement or the mainstreaming of neo-nazi Nick Fuentes, but because of Zohran Mamdani, a man who is not antisemitic. This week, Matt Lieb (of Bad Hasbara) and Simone Zimmerman (of Israelism) help me navigate a literal industry — and ethnostate — propped up not only by fearmongering about antisemitism, but also by intentionally creating it. 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.  Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Listen to Matt Lieb on Bad Hasbara. Follow Matt Lieb on Twitter. Listen to Simone on Beyond Israelism. Follow Simone on Instagram. Read the Jewish Currents audit of the ADL’s 2023 antisemitism statistics. Read the Jewish Currents audit of the ADL’s 2024 antisemitism statistics. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Welch, a 51-year-old Texan turned Oklahoman, is radicalizing America one wine mom at a time. The southern podcaster (who might finally be our “Joe Rogan of the Left”) has become an unlikely, fierce critic of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the corrupt Democratic establishment, and unregulated capitalism, which she says “brought us Trump” (I agree). This week, Jennifer and I cross a generational divide to discuss Israel’s erosion of the Democratic Party, Ezra Klein’s idiotic centrist plea for more anti-abortion Democrats, and how to sell democratic socialism to the masses. 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. Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Listen to Jennifer on I’ve Had It. Follow Jennifer on Instagram. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Maher is, allegedly, the last sane voice on the left. But he doesn’t believe in the rights of transgender people, or of Palestinians. He thinks college campuses are hotbeds of liberal indoctrinarian that have gotten “out of control.” Come to think of it, he hasn’t really advocated for any left-wing position in recent memory. An advocate for breaking out of echo chambers, Bill speaks almost exclusively to right-wing activists, and never to the minorities he bashes. He claims to know what Democrats should do if they want to win, but hates the ones who are actually winning. Three decades into his TV career and lost in the delusions that often come with a nine-digit net worth, Bill Maher has never been so useless. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about yours (and others!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Listen to Francesca on The Bituation Room. Follow Francesca on Twitter. Listen to Will on I Hate Bill Maher. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last two decades, Debra Messing — the star of early 2000’s hit Will & Grace — has been something of a liberal Hollywood icon, courting an adoring gay audience and getting into public feuds with Donald Trump. More recently, she’s become the face of Liberal Zionism, an ideology which believes in human rights in the US while supporting Israel’s flagrant violation of them in Gaza. Sound confusing? The contradictions inherent to Liberal Zionism are too big for anyone to hold onto — even, it turns out, the winner of a GLAAD award. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Join the fight to get religion OUT of public schools at www.ffrf.us/school or text FREEDOM to 511511. Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Listen to Emma on The Majority Report. Follow Emma on Twitter. Listen to Matt Lieb on Bad Hasbara. Follow Matt Lieb on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/ Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“From the river to the sea” is antisemitic. “Free Palestine” is antisemitic. Children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel raising money for child amputees is antisemitic. ICE is kidnapping college students for antisemitism. Trump is dismantling higher education because of antisemitism. As a Jew, I’m… confused. And uncomfortable. Today, we examine the validity of The Antisemitism Panic, the dark underbelly of it, and the people pulling the strings to make it happen. Hint: they aren’t Jewish. 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.  Listen to Matt Lieb’s podcat, Bad Hasbara. Follow Matt Lieb on Twitter. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s special episode, we’re taking a break from political and cultural analysis to chat with someone who’s been at the center of today’s culture wars but rarely in her own voice: Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s 21-year-old estranged trans daughter. She tells us about her decision to take back her voice after years of being spoken for by an unsupportive father, dealing with lunatics online, and putting Jordan Peterson in his place. 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.  Find Vivian Wilson on Instagram. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the New York Times reported: “White House Assesses Ways to Persuade Women to Have More Children”. But who exactly is behind this push, and why, and what does it have to do with Elon Musk’s breeding compulsion? The answer is that “pronatalism”, a far-right movement that looks and smells a lot like a eugenics cult (despite what its leaders say), has entered the White House. Today, Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report and Moira Donegan of In Bed With the Right help explain how a particularly creepy strain of doomsday misogyny found itself at the center of the Republican party. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! 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

When fitness influencer Ashton Hall’s absurd morning routine went viral a few weeks ago, I was… moved. The hours-long skincare, gym, and journaling ritual felt like an American Psycho-inspired metrosexual fever dream — one peppered with shocking misogyny and profound loneliness. Hall’s viral moment felt like a tipping in point in “alpha male” influencer culture, or the content ecosystem of men teaching boys what it means to be men. The further down the rabbit hole I went, the weirder it got — and between scammy financial incentives and an authoritarian take on gender, I began to understand why so many of these influencers are Trump supporters, and how they’re teaching their viewers to follow suit. Most disturbing is the message that underpins almost all alpha male content: a life well-lived is one lived alone. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Subscribe to Ryan Broderick’s newsletter, Garbage Day. Follow Ryan on Bluesky. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does “gender ideology” have in common with ISIS? Well, they are both… things, arguably. As more people become aware of opportunities to commodify their trauma into anti-trans right-wing media bait, the race for those opportunities is getting more competitive, and the results are… fascinating. Today, veteran trans YouTuber Kat Blaque and I interrogate the right’s shiniest new detransitioner, Maia Poet — an ex-trans October 7th survivor, kind of. In doing so, we take a closer look at what detransition means and looks like, and the right’s ultimate goal in selling “stories” like Maia’s. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here.   Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! Subscribe to Kat Blaque on YouTube.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Gwen Stefani made a tacit endorsement of Tucker Carlson earlier this month, I felt like somebody had knocked the wind out of me. Had the iconic 90’s ain’t-no-hollaback girl made a not-so-sweet escape to the dark side? Dizzy and disturbed, I set out to journey Gwen’s path from early aughts punk rock princess to… spokeswoman for a conservative billionaire’s anti-abortion prayer app. I learned a lot about how she’s changed — and perhaps more importantly, how she hasn’t. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. 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/factorpodcast.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News. Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag. Listen to Taylor’s podcast on YouTube. Essays mentioned: The New Gwen Stefani Is A Lot Like The Old One by Anne Helen Petersen Gwenihana by Mihi Ahn Harajuku Girls by Margaret Cho Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To the mainstream news, she’s the mother of three of Elon Musk’s children. To a certain type of extremely online Tumblr user in the year 2012, she once approximated God. Today, we take a challenging look at the strange tapestry of Grimes’s life and unearth stories about the Internet era that shaped millennials, pipelines to right-wing radicalization, and domestic abuse as a public spectacle. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. :-) 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.  Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag. Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News. Subscribe to Taylor's YouTube channel! Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk just (allegedly) had his thirteenth child with a fourth woman — a 26-year-old “conservative” influencer named Ashley St. Clair. In a past version of the “traditional family values” party, this might’ve been a career-ending event. Today, it hardly generates coverage. In this episode, Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub (of In Bed With The Right) help me make sense of the right’s impossibly contradictory code of sexuality: is MAGA the movement of the hot, virile new youth, or is it the movement attempting to ban contraception and abortion? Are women supposed to spit on that thang or dress modestly? And what does Elon’s public humiliation of Ashley St. Clair reveal about a woman’s place in the New Right? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today's sponsors! Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quiet luxury. Clean girl. Old money. Trad living. Kylie Jenner’s pivot from Black culture vulture to glass skin pilates princess. College youth dressed like polyester Shein replicas of Reagan-era prepsters. Something’s happened, and I’m uncomfortable. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off.   Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  SUBSCRIBE TO KAT'S NEWSLETTER! SUBSCRIBE TO TAYLOR'S NEWSLETTER! Listen to Taylor's podcast, Power User. Follow me on Instagram. Follow A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our country is now run by a bunch of spineless billionaires who were cast out as nerds in college so they launched a vendetta against humanity. Today, Edward Ongweso Jr. of This Machine Kills helps us understand the tech bro-ligarchy’s key overlords, why they are so far up the president’s rectum, their deranged philosophy on life, and their apocalypse escape plans.  Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50.  Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first episode of this podcast ever recorded was about Amber Heard and the online public’s inability — or unwillingness — to distinguish between their organic feelings about celebrity abuse allegations and their participation in a strategic, well-funded smear campaign against a woman coming forward. Since that episode, journalist Kat Tenbarge and I have become best friends. She’s also reported on this exact news cycle over and over again with different women. Today, we break down the new yet familiar legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and attempt to sharpen our critical thinking skills, because the decisions we make online matter — and the success of these misogynistic campaigns can end with us. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The remarkable dissonance between the public’s embrace of UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione and the mainstream media’s outward disdain for both Luigi and the public’s martyrization of him has been… bizarre. In a rare moment where the culture war has been traded in for the class war, billionaire-owned media corporations and politicians alike seem to be panicking. That panic should be a moment of clarity for everyday Americans. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Listen to Taylor’s podcast, Power User.  Subscribe to Taylor’s newsletter, User Mag. Subscribe to Ken Klippenstein’s Substack. Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at www.factormeals.com/fruity50.  Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a time before Elon Musk was tweeting 60 times a day about trans people and the woke mind virus — and it wasn’t that long ago. As recently as 2018, Elon was boasting about Tesla scoring a 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index and telling anyone who was bothered by that to “not buy our car.” So what happened? Today, Ryan Mac and Kate Conger, authors of Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, unpack Elon’s personal and political midlife crisis — and the price we pay for it. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes: www.factormeals.com/fruity50  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices