Cancel Me, Daddy

Latest Episodes:

How the Media Turned a Lesbian Bar Into a Culture War (ft. Kat Tenbarge) Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

If you have been online in the past few weeks, you’ve consumed at least one “take” about the viral “lesbian bar story.” According to The Boston Globe, “all hell broke loose” when the Greenfield, Massachusetts-based Last Ditch bar posted a cheery Instagram announcement about mask optional Saturday nights.

The Boston Globe played up the backlash—some from Greenfield community members, some from Internet strangers all too happy to add to the ire. But there’s a missing link between Last Ditch’s Instagram post and the Globe’s coverage.

Who or what tipped off the state’s major newspaper to the situation developing in historically caricatured Western Massaschusetts?

This week, Spitfire News’ Kat Tenbarge returns to the pod, revealing the story’s likely origins in a noted transphobe’s podcast. Kate, Christine, and Kat critique the tone of the Globe story and what it reveals about mainstream media’s biases against COVID precautions, queer people, disabled people, and the intersections thereof.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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!

Episode Links:

- Grab a discounted bundle subscription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab! https://trustfnd.com/collaboration/bundle-pass-bvco--bvCOiGCVS51ajgYKJKbR

- Subscribe to Kat Tenbarge’s Spitfire News, https://spitfirenews.com/about?modal=signup, and follow her on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/kattenbarge.bsky.social.

- Support local journalism! Subscribe to The Greenfield Recorder, https://recorder.com/subscribe/.

- Madison Schofield, Erin-Leigh Hoffman, and Aalianna Marietta for The Greenfield Recorder: Greenfield takes stock of viral attention: Businesses, officials weigh in after coverage of lesbian bar Last Ditch takes national spotlight, https://recorder.com/2026/09/24/greenfield-lesbian-bar-mask-controversy/

- Madison Schofield for The Greenfield Recorder: Last Ditch in Greenfield bolsters security amid national attention, https://recorder.com/2026/09/30/greenfield-last-ditch-security-increase/

- Annalisa Quinn for The Boston Globe: A Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose, https://archive.ph/2026.09.22-175848/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/22/magazine/greenfield-last-ditch-bar-backlash/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why the Right-Wing Press Couldn't Let Jason Arday Be (ft. Dr. Jenn Jackson) Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

The right-wing outrage machine could not stand Dr. Jason Arday, the University of Cambridge’s youngest ever Black professor. And so, the coalition of journalists, pundits, and academics could not let the 41-year-old’s academic record stand.

Scorned white academics in the United Kingdom and from the United States unduly interrogated Jason Arday’s credentials and accomplishments. British tabloids amplified the intense and disproportionate scrutiny and pundits around the world doubled down on it.

The right turned Jason Arday into an international story, a cautionary tale for the consequences of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. They hounded Dr. Jason Arday until his death in August 2026.

This week, Katelyn and Christine discuss the playbook used to discredit Black academics with Dr. Jenn Jackson (they/them), a Syracuse University professor and the author of Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism. Dr. Jackson speaks with Katelyn and Christine about how racist right-wing smear campaigns fit into the larger conversation about Trump’s DEI backlash.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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!

A note on care:

This episode discusses suicide and death. If you are struggling, support is available:

US: Call or text 988

UK: Call Samaritans 116

Episode Notes

- Grab a discounted bundle subscription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Connect with Dr. Jenn Jackson via their website, www.jennmjackson.com, and their handle @jennmjacksonphd on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky

- Buy Dr. Jenn Jackson’s Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism via The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop.org affiliate link

- Request Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism from your local library—it makes a difference! Search for your local library via zip code.

- Juana Summers for NPR’s All Things Considered: A professor’s death brings new focus to how Black academics are treated

- Philip Martin for NPR member station GBH in Boston: Black women at Harvard accused of plagiarism to attack DEI programs, supporter says [transcript]

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How the Media Turned the WNBA Into a Culture War (ft. Kate Riga) Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham made her initial comments about “protecting young girls” in women’s sports to an ESPN.com writer in July.

The rest of the summer devolved into a moral panic, the likes of which the WNBA had never seen.

The league doesn’t know what to do with its new transphobia problem—or its old anti-Blackness problem. Doing nothing continues to fuel the right-wing ecosystem in which reactionary media capture every anti-trans or racist remark, gesture, or blatant stunt, notwithstanding there aren’t any trans players in the WNBA.

Fox News and innumerable conservative podcasts then reinforce the larger cultural narrative about the sanctity of women’s sports that they otherwise degenerate as inferior to men’s leagues.

This week, Talking Points Memo’s Kate Riga joins Katelyn and Christine to discuss transphobia in the WNBA. Did you know washed-up NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom may be collaborating with the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute on his ongoing stunt to declare for the next WNBA draft as a woman? And Sophie Cunningham appears to be setting herself up for a retirement career in transphobic punditry. The cancellation-to-grifter pipeline is strong.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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:

- Grab a discounted bundle subscription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Cancel Me, Daddy’s Patreon bonus: The WNBA Doesn’t Know What to do with Transphobia

- Kate Riga, Derick Dirmaier, Joe Ragazzo and Allegra Kirkland for TPM: Why the Right Is Going All-in on Stoking the WNBA Culture Wars

- Brooke Migdon for The 19th: The WNBA ‘felt like a lifeline’ for LGBTQ+ fans. Anti-trans attacks are testing that refuge.

- Alissa Hirsh for The Chicago Sun-Times: DiJonai Carrington says ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ post goes beyond flagrant foul [of Sophie Cunningham]

- Kate Riga for TPM: The Right Has Found Its New Riley Gaines in the WNBA

- Katie Barnes for ESPN: WNBA task force discusses transgender athletes amid furor

- Kate Riga for TPM: Trump-Aligned America First Policy Institute Backing Ex-NBA Player Tossed from WNBA Game

- Kate Riga for TPM: Ex-NBA Troll [Enes Kanter Freedom] Who Got in Mid-Game Altercation Laments That His Anti-Trans Crusade Distracts From WNBA Play

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Your Tech CEO Doesn't Want to Fix Democracy. He Wants to End It. (ft. Gil Durán) Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Pundits, politicians, and lobbyists have given a pass to Silicon Valley’s tech bros for far too long. We don’t have to understand Peter Thiel or Sam Altman, but we have to understand the "Network State" they want to establish.

Journalist Gil Durán exposes tech bros as the leaders of “The Nerd Reich,” the name of his unputdownable new book. They’re the bad guys—and they’re all guys, some we know better than others.

Over the course of “The Nerd Reich,” Durán introduces us to lesser known players and explains why we should watch out for Peter Thiel and his network state even more than we already do.

Without Thiel, we would not have J.D. Vance a heartbeat away from the presidency. Vance is more “Thielbilly” than “hillbilly,” Durán argues, drawing a sinister connection between “Silicon Valley fascism” and the Trump regime.

This week, Gil Durán joins Katelyn and Christine to reconsider whether the visionaries are really cartoon villains and propose ways we can stop their network state.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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:

- Grab a discounted bundle subscription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Buy Gil Durán’s: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy from The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop affiliate link.

- Request The Nerd Reich from your local library—it makes a difference! Search for your local library via zip code.

- Subscribe to Gil Durán’s newsletter “The Nerd Reich” and follow him on Bluesky at @gilduran.com.

- Read Gil’s coverage of tech fascists for The New Republic via his author link.

- Roberto J. González for The Transnational Institute: “The Rise of the Techno-Tyrants: Silicon Valley’s right-wing past, present and future.”

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

They Printed a Zine. The DOJ Gave Them 450 Years. (ft. Melissa Gira Grant) Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

On July 4, 2025, a loosely affiliated group of demonstrators gathered outside

the Prairieland immigration detention camp in solidarity of incarcerated migrants.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) would soon recast the demonstrators as an “Antifa cell.” Federal prosecutors would trump up terrorism charges against them. In some cases, the DOJ indicted people who hadn’t even been present at the demonstration. Their so-called crime? Making and moving zines.

Then Trump’s hand-picked federal judges sentenced the Prairieland defendants to a combined 450 years in prison.

How did a routine act of public protest against unjust incarceration spiral into centuries’ worth of more incarceration?

This week, journalist Melissa Gira Grant joins Katelyn and Christine to separate fact from fiction in the Prairieland cases. Melissa, Katelyn, and Christine discuss the Prairieland prosecutions’ dangerous implications for free speech and assembly.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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!

Get Cancel Me, Daddy every week on our Patreon or through an Apple Membership.

Links:

- Grab a discounted bundle subscription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Follow Melissa Gira Grant’s ongoing Prairieland coverage for The New Republic and on Bluesky at @melissagiragrant.com

- Melissa Gira Grant for The New Republic: The Prairieland Sentences Are a National Emergency

- Lex McMenamin for The Guardian: ‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison

- Lex McMenamin reel via Instagram: “the prairieland case: how it impacts protest, trans people, and freedom of information”

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pope Fights: Antipopes, Schisms, and Trump's Vatican Problem (ft. Eleanor Janega) Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

The Catholic Church has spent two thousand years fighting about who actually gets to be Pope — and this year, it's happening twice at once.

The Society of St. Pius X, the traditionalist breakaway group that's been in schism with Rome since the 1980s, just got hit with a fresh round of excommunications. Meanwhile, US officials floated the idea of backing an antipope against Leo XIV after a very public spat with the Trump administration. Two crises, one institution, and a lot of history nobody in the mainstream coverage is bothering to explain.

Katelyn and Christine are joined by historian Eleanor Janega (medievalist, author of the Going Medieval newsletter, and a returning favorite for anyone who wants their Church history with actual rigor) to walk through what schism and antipopes have historically meant, why the Vatican keeps splitting along the same fault lines, and what it says about power — inside the Church and out — when a government thinks it can just install its own Pope.

In this episode:

-What the Society of St. Pius X schism is actually about, and why "excommunication" doesn't mean what most coverage implies

-The long, messy history of antipopes — and what it takes to actually pull one off

-How the Pope Leo/Trump administration conflict fits (or doesn't) into that history

-Why institutions that claim infallibility keep having legitimacy crises anyway

Janega joins us to answer the same question we always ask: who gets to define legitimacy, who benefits when they do, and what happens when that consensus breaks.

Links:

-What Pope Leo Can Teach Liberals About Power - The Nation - https://www.thenation.com/article/society/society-sspx-excommunication-schism-leo-catholic/

-Avignon Papacy Explained: What Reported US Threat to Pope and Vatican Means - Newsweek - https://www.newsweek.com/avignon-papacy-explained-what-reported-us-threat-to-pope-and-vatican-means-11803877

Show Links:

Merch Store: https://cancelmedaddy-shop.fourthwall.com/ CMD Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cancelmedaddy CMD TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cancelmedaddypod CMD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cancelme_daddy/ CMD BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/cancelmedaddy.bsky.social Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CancelMe_Daddy

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Leftist Men Who Made Graham Platner a Star (ft. Marisa Kabas) Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

To podcasters, pundits, and outlets on the left, Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner could do no wrong.

Platner’s rugged oyster farmer persona and populist platform appealed to the full spectrum, from center-left Pod Save America’s Jon Faverau to socialist comrade and streamer Hasan Piker.

Progressive media men made excuses for Graham Platner’s misdeeds and misconduct. The Nazi tattoo. The sexts. The abusive behavior. They only dropped their Platner endorsements after the sexual assault allegations. And they’re not sorry for platforming a political newbie that they didn’t vet beneath the shiny ideological surface.

This week, independent journalist Marisa Kabas joins Katelyn and Christine to discuss how lefty media men enabled Graham Platner’s rise and tried to cushion his fall. What does their steadfast support say about progressive media’s accountability gap when one of their own is accused?

Marisa, Katelyn, and Christine center the accusers, rather than the accused, while asking how to correct the structural failures and media gatekeeping that led us to this point.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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! Marisa Kabas is a journalist covering news and politics at thehandbasket.co.

Marisa Kabas is a journalist and newsletter writer covering media and politics at thehandbasket.co.

- Grab a discounted bundle subcription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Subscribe to Marisa Kabas’ The Handbasket for 100% independent journalism

- Marisa Kabas for The Handbasket: We didn’t need a rape accusation to know Graham Platner was unfit

- Ben Binday for The Washington Post: A timeline of the scandals surrounding Graham Platner in Maine Senate race

- Katie Glueck and Lisa Lerer for The New York Times: Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall ‘Unsettling’ Behavior

- Jessica Piper and Adam Wren for Politico: Exclusive: Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

CBS News Has a Bari Weiss Problem. Scott Pelley Was the Latest Casualty. Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

Renowned “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley is the latest casualty at CBS News under the leadership of reactionary editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. At a staff meeting the day before his ouster, Pelley accused Weiss of having “no qualifications” for the role and “murdering ‘60 minutes’” in the process.

But Scott Pelley represents much more than another journalist out of a job. His firing is the inevitable outcome of a centrist media class that panders to both-sides journalism while claiming false objectivity.

Continuing with business as usual is no match for media consolidation—the Paramount-Skydance merger that put billionaire nepo baby David Ellison in charge of CBS News—and censorship under Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr.

This week, Katelyn and Christine draw on their political reporter creds to construct and analyze the timeline, from Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against CBS News to the network’s billionaire buyer to Bari Weiss. What really led to Scott Pelley’s firing? And what comes next?

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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:

- Grab a discounted bundle subcription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Lulu Garcia-Navarro for “The Interview”: Scott Pelley on the Bari Weiss Era and His Last Days at ‘60 Minutes’

- Michael M. Grynbaum and Benjamin Mullin for The New York Times: Scott Pelley Accuses CBS News Boss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’

- Rashard Rose and Jon Passantino for CNN: Trump sues CBS over ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Harris. Legal experts call it ‘frivolous and dangerous’

- Jill Goldstein for Deadline: Paramount-Skydance Merger Clears SEC And EU Amid Ongoing, Fractious FCC Review

- David Bauder for the AP: Paramount will pay $16 million in settlement with Trump over ’60 Minutes’ interview

- John Koblin for The New York Times: CBS Canceling ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ After Next Season

- David Folkenflik for NPR: CBS News chief Bari Weiss pulls '60 Minutes' story, sparking outcry

- Oliver Darcy for Status News: Bari’s Anderson Agitation

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bari Weiss vs. Anderson Cooper: Both Are Overseers. Here's Why. (ft. Steven Thrasher) Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

Anderson Cooper recently left CBS News' "60 Minutes" after more than 20 years on the job. Cooper received glowing media coverage for his voluntary departure in the wake of billionaire David Ellison's acquisition of CBS and installation of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

But Cooper and Weiss share more in common than they'd like to admit. As prominent queer media figures, they're both part of the media "overseer class," the subject and title of author Steven Thrasher's new book.

Thrasher defines the overseer class as "a phenomenon in which people from marginalized populations amass power not by uplifting people from the communities they come from, but by collectively cracking the skulls of their own." Both Cooper and Weiss meet the criteria, albeit in different ways.

This week, Katelyn and Christine sit down with Steven Thrasher to identify and critique the media "overseer class" and what we, the people, can do to challenge their structural power.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

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!

Episode Links:

- Grab a discounted bundle subcription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Buy Steven Thrasher’s The Overseer Class: A Manifesto from The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop affiliate link.

- Request The Overseer Class from your local library—it makes a difference! Search for your local library via zip code.

- Oliver Darcy for Status News: Bari’s Anderson Agitation

- Steven Thrasher for Literary Hub: How Do We Tell the Story of Gaza's Murdered Journalists?

- Amy Goodman and Juan González for Democracy Now!: “The Overseer Class”: Steven Thrasher on How Identity Politics Is Used to Protect Unjust Systems

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Right-Wing Media Is Dying (But Don't Celebrate Yet) (ft. Parker Molloy) May 21, 2026

Show notes

Ben Shapiro, Bari Weiss, and Jeff Bezos have the same problem: audience retention.

Shapiro's Daily Wire podcast and the conservative website he co-founded are in a prolonged free fall.

"CBS Evening News" viewership continues to plummet since Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss installed conservative puppet Tony Dokoupil as the flagship show's host. The Washington Post's bro-y "Make It Make Sense" podcast — their YouTube channel has just 615 subscribers (as of May 19).

Does that number count if it includes Bezos and any of his alts?

This week, Katelyn and Christine welcome Parker Molloy back to the show to discuss whether conservative media is dying out. The reasons why may surprise you!

Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive media criticism show hosted by journalists Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi. New episodes every other week.

Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

LINKS:

- Grab a discounted bundle subcription to Katelyn’s and Christine’s newsletters at their TrustFnd collab!

- Subscribe to Parker Molloy’s The Present Age via Patreon

- Parker Molloy for The Present Age: Nobody Asked for This Washington Post Podcast

- Natalie Korach for Status News: The Post’s Opinion Divide

- Drew Harwell for The Washington Post: Inside Ben Shapiro’s MAGA meltdown

- Oliver Darcy for Status News: CBS’ Ratings Calamity

- Emery Winter for Snopes: Video authentically shows sparse crowd for JD Vance at Turning Point USA event

- Zachary Basu for Axios: MAGA media's great unraveling

- The Righting: Traffic Plunges at All Major Right-Wing News Websites in February

- Sara Fischer for Axios: MAGA media sites fizzle as infighting splinters messaging

- Paul Farhi for The Atlantic: Right-Wing Media Are in Trouble

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected