Stay ConnectedJoin Kate Lindsay twice a week as we gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back.
Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI—plus ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Copyright: © 2021 Slate Magazine
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison crack open some romance novels and talk about BookTok, the realm of TikTok where readers can find hyper-personal recommendations and niche memes about the horny books everybody is reading. They discuss how TikTok has caused some books to reappear on the New York Times bestseller list, Rachelle’s love of The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and why the top priority when it comes to reading is fun.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle try to answer a listener question about whether over-the-top DIY videos are secretly kink content. They end up get pulled into the world of online reaction videos and discuss why these DIY videos are so tempting to react to, how TikTok has made engaging with this content even easier, and if reaction videos are maybe just the internet’s own kink.
Things discussed on the show:
- @sadsadmatt reacting to a TikTok where a girl pours paint on herself in a kiddie pool.
- “42 Holy Grail Hacks That Will Save You a Fortune,” from 5-Minute Crafts on YouTube
-“Your Least Favorite Gross Viral Food Videos Are All Connected to This Guy,” by Ryan Broderick in Eater
- @lixvucy on TikTok reacting to 5-Minute Crafts videos
- @vernonrecords on TikTok reacting to 5-Minute Crafts videos
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison call up an ex-Mormon listener, who provides some further insight into our previous investigation of the BYU Virginity Club and explains why she thinks it’s clear that the person behind the account is unaware of Mormon culture. Then, it’s another round of High Speed Downloads. Rachelle speeds through the controversy surrounding rapper DaBaby, and Madison tells us about Adam Driver becoming a horse.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
75 Hard, a new trend sweeping TikTok, is just another fad diet pretending to be a mental toughness challenge. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle revisit the world of diet culture to unpack exactly what makes 75 Hard so insidious, and why it’s so hard to curate a healthy approach to wellness culture on your TikTok feed. They also down a gallon of water during the episode, something we do not recommend you trying at home.
And don’t forget to check out Decoder Ring’s history of hydration.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How did a clip from In the Heightslead to a new TikTok face filter that has helped some of the app’s users express their gender identity? On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle trace the timeline of this trend, and how it ended up causing a number of trans and nonbinary users to experience gender euphoria.
Even though this is a wholesome trend, In the Heights isn’t free from criticism. As we mentioned on the show, you can read more about that in the New York Times and Slate.
And we discussed the Wall Street Journal investigation into TikTok's algorithm.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Instagram has seen a recent influx of college “virginity club” accounts featuring sharp, funny memes about remaining chaste. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle put these accounts under the microscope. Is anything about these accounts real, or are they just a grift for merchandise and music promotion? After some internet sleuthing, they track down the creator of the most popular account, “Brigham Young Virginity Club,” and put him on the spot.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison turn the show into a sports podcast. First, they discuss the recent news in college sports that allows athletes like Sedona Prince to finally make money off their personal brands, a major shift after years of schools profiting off of students without compensation. Then, they talk about how even though the Olympics haven’t begun, they’re getting an early start on TikTok.
Olympic athletes to follow:
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle talk about two of the internet’s favorite subjects: cats and Wendy Williams. First, they talk about the story that made “Slate” itself trend on Twitter: the debate surrounding a Slate essay published last week in which writer Alexis Nowicki revealed that the 2017 New Yorker story “Cat Person,” which became the first work of short fiction ever to go viral, was based on her life. Then, Madison shares a listener letter that validates all of her suspicions about those TikTok missed connections. (It also happens to feature a cat.) Finally, they close out the episode with High Speed Downloads about two recent online controversies: one about a woman who faced a flood of hate for tweeting about feeding feral cats, and another about a tasteless segment from a recent episode of The Wendy Williams Show.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
GETTR, a new social media network from former Trump aide Jason Miller, launched on July 1 and quickly became an unmanageable mess. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison discuss this low-budget Twitter clone, how it got overrun with hentai, and why its privacy issues may indicate that the network is already dead. If you’d like to read more on GETTR, Slatester Aaron Mak wrote about what happened when he tried to make a profile on the platform as Donald Trump.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Zola, a new movie based on the infamous Twitter thread by Aziah “Zola” Wells King, follows a part-time stripper who goes on a weekend trip to Florida with a new friend to make money, and how things quickly escalated until their friendship fell apart. On today’s episode, Rachelle and Madison talk to Tony-nominated playwright and screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris about how he and director Janicza Bravo translated the 148-tweet saga into a feature-length film, the scene that almost made members of the crew quit, and why he considers Zola’s tale to be akin to Homer’s epic poetry.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.
Support ICYMI and listen to the show with zero ads. Sign up to become a Slate Plus member for just $1 for your first month.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
