Bad Gays

Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller
  • 4.5 (536)
  • History
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A podcast about evil and complicated queers in history. Why do we remember our heroes better than our villains? Hosted by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller. Learn more: www.badgayspod.com

EXTRA BAD GAYS

A subscriber-only show discussing queer culture.

$4.99/month or $49.99/year

  1. 2d ago

    Mike Jeffries (The Abercrombie CEO)

    Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners, including our upcoming quarterly Bad Gays Book Club. We start our brand-new season with the story of Mike Jeffries, the Abercrombie & Fitch CEO who turned a bankrupt old-school outdoors brand into a late-90s/early-00s temple of exclusionary “cool."  Surely you remember the ads, or maybe you remember the stores: the pumping music, the blasts of cologne that made your throat close up, the shutters across the front of the store, as if this little corner of a suburban shopping mall was actually an exclusive nightclub.  Or maybe you remember the Bruce Weber-shot soft-porn catalogue, which once featured an essay by (yes! no!) Slavoj Zizek.  Clothes for homophobic bullies were made in marketed from a self-hating gay sensibility: and the story of Mike Jeffries might be the single solitary key to understanding how the aesthetics of the closet became mainstream marketing, how a gay aesthetic was used to sell homophobic masculinity and how that tension crushed employees and turned its visionary into a monster now credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment. ----more---- For more on Mike Jeffries, read the sources we used to research this episode: Netflix: White Hot - The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch BBC: World of Secrets - The Abercrombie Guys https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/an-oral-history-of-abercrombie-and-fitch   https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-story-behind-fitch-the-homeless   https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2012/oct/18/abercrombie-fitch-boss-extraordinary-male-model-demands   https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/feature/fashion-photographer-bruce-weber-and-male-models-end-legal-battles-1234907151/   https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8vmy56yero   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-corporate-jet-rulebook_n_1980960   https://www.salon.com/2006/01/24/jeffries/   https://www.advocate.com/crime/abercrombie-fitch-mike-jeffries-dementia   https://www.theguardian.com/global/2024/sep/14/i-constantly-was-saying-no-ex-abercrombie-fitch-boss-accused-of-abuse-at-global-sex-events   https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/22/former-abercrombie-ceo-mike-jeffries-arrested-in-sex-trafficking-case.html\   https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-jeffries-partner-is-too-involved-2013-5   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/02/former-abercrombie-fitch-ceo-accused-of-exploiting-young-men-for-sex   https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/55905/1/abercrombie-fitch-netflix-documentary-sexual-exploitation-racism-bruce-weber   https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/former-ceo-abercrombie-fitch-and-two-other-individuals-charged-sex-trafficking-and   https://archive.ph/JUDyD   https://www.thecut.com/2014/02/why-abercrombie-is-losing-its-shirt.html#   https://monoskop.org/images/d/db/A_and_F_Quarterly_Back_to_School_2003_The_Sex_Ed_Issue.pdf   https://www.complex.com/style/a/emilyl/revisiting-absurd-critical-theory-abercrombies-2003-back-school-catalog   https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/19/abercrombie-fitch-netflix-documentary-fashion-discrimination   https://archive.ph/HdrvF   https://archive.ph/W0YZo   https://archive.ph/pAoOR   https://www.classaction.org/media/abercrombie-indictment.pdf   https://www.theguardian.com/business/interactive/2012/oct/19/abercrombie-fitch-aircraft-standards-manual?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487   https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB876176611622798500   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/style/mario-testino-bruce-weber-harassment.html   https://web.archive.org/web/20170614225056/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-01-22/the-aging-of-abercrombie-fitch-i58ltcqx Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner. Michael Oswell is the voice of Slavoj Zizek.

  2. 5d ago · Subscribers Only

    Extra Bad Gays October 2026: Our First Gay President

    The last few weeks are forcing us all to ask: why can't Donald Trump keep talking about how hot various Republican Senators are? We talk about latent bisexuality, Between Men, and Trump's foundational misogyny before taking user questions about professional class guilt and evil twink addiction. News: our book club will start with John Rechy's 'City of Night' - so get your copy and send your written or voice note questions via WhatsApp to +1 231 999 1934

    Extra Bad Gays October 2026: Our First Gay President

  3. Sep 30 · Subscribers Only

    Extra Bad Gays September 2026: The Last Ditch Bar and Dad's Musical

    Alright, we did it: we talked about the Last Ditch bar in Greenfield, MA: the threats, the botched mediation process, and national media coverage. Rather than relitigate the specifics, we step back for a meta-conversation about what the whole saga reveals about organizing in real-life queer spaces including the tension between commercial and community ownership. Then it's time for Gaggony Guncles, with two juicy advice letters: one from a traveler scapegoated after calling out friends who arrested in Thailand (yes, they WERE stupid bitches), and another from a trans person whose wealthy liberal dad refuses to stop staging his transphobic musical about the 2016 election.

    Extra Bad Gays September 2026: The Last Ditch Bar and Dad's Musical

  4. Aug 31 · Subscribers Only

    Extra Bad Gays August 2026: Dolly Parton and Aging

    We discuss the titanic legacy of Dolly Parton before turning to a Gaggony Guncles question about how queer community changes as we age. Is it possible to remain in community in the same ways? How can we deal with tension and discomfort?

    Extra Bad Gays August 2026: Dolly Parton and Aging

  5. Jul 30 · Subscribers Only

    Extra Bad Gays July 2026: The Gen Z Sex Recession and Couple Form Questions

    On this episode, we discuss the Gen Z sex recession and a recent debate about it that seemed to focus on every aspect of the problem except the material––one needs a room of one's own to get fisted, as Virginia Woolf might have written, but didn't––and then take a question from a listener upset about a friend's decision to prioritize the couple form over friendship as a way of life. We open the episode by talking about the recent attack on CSD (Pride) in Berlin, where Ben lives. If you live in Berlin and are experiencing trauma related to the attack, help is available. GLADT offers counseling for queer people who also experience racism, inquire at info@gladt.de. All Berliners affected can call a support hotline at 0800 – 0009546.

    Extra Bad Gays July 2026: The Gen Z Sex Recession and Couple Form Questions

  6. Jun 29 · Subscribers Only

    Extra Bad Gays June 2026: We're Starting A Book Club For Subscribers

    It's pride month, and we've HAD IT with Discourse. As Lady Miss Kay says: "just go to the parties and shut the f**k up!" So instead we talk about last week's special episode on the one and only Liza Minnelli, Ben tells his dad's Judy Garland story he teased on the main feed, and then we take two gaggony guncles questions about age gaps and sexual relationships that cross into the professional world: easy, breezy topics everyone loves to be Normal about. And to close, we announce our upcoming subscriber-only book club! Here's how the book club is going to work. We'll announce four seasonal books with plenty of time for you to read. We'll open a WhatsApp line for you to send voice notes with questions and thoughts about the book, and add a third mic for each conversation so that the discussions feel like a community. The discussions will be designed to be interesting both for people who read the book and for those who might wish to in future. We love our listeners and we can't wait to read queer lit with you!

    Extra Bad Gays June 2026: We're Starting A Book Club For Subscribers

  7. Jun 27

    Special Episode: Liza Minnelli's Bad Gays

    Happy pride! Gather around, we've got a story to tell! For Stonewall weekend, a special treat: writer, critic, and journalist Cameron Cook joins Ben to talk about the one and only Liza through the stories of the bad (and good) gays in her life, from her father Vincente Minnelli to her first husband Peter Allen to her diabolical fourth husband David Gest. Liza learned on her (and our) mother Judy Garland's knee how to survive by appealing to gay guys. Gay guys used Judy, then Liza to self-fashion. None of it is particularly healthy, and yet we love it so. Our main source for this episode was Liza's new memoir, Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, and Cameron's newsletter Cooked, with monthly essays and regular music playlists for pop culture obsessives, can be found here. Support our work by subscribing to Extra Bad Gays on Patreon or Apple, and get an extra monthly episode!

  8. Jun 3

    Mandelson: A Homosexual History - Episode 6

    The final episode of our saga: Mandelson's fall from grace in the aftermath of Keir Starmer's election first as leader of the Labour Party and then as one of Britain's most rapidly unpopular Prime Ministers. Can't get enough Mandelson? Subscribe now to Extra Bad Gays to hear our subscriber-only followup discussion with James Butler of the LRB and Juliet Jacques of Suite 212. Mandelson knows too much, understands too much, to be left out of the equation. It’s because he’s sly and underhanded and deceitful that people need him, because it’s a political system that works on those qualities. This is court politics; it’s what Mandelson is a master of, it’s what Epstein was a master of, it’s what Trump is a master of: the informal power of relationships. ----more---- SOURCES: Mandelson and the making of New Labour, Donald Macintyre Mandy: The Unauthorised Biography of Peter Mandelson, Paul Routledge Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT Education, Paul Baker Tory Pride and Prejudice: The Conservative Party and homosexual law reform, Michael McManus The Rivals : the intimate story of a political marriage, James Naughtie Bloody Nasty People, Daniel Trilling Clampdown: Pop-Cultural wars on class and Gender, Rhian E. Jones 1997: The Future That Never Happened, Richard Power Sayeed Authentocrats: Culture, Politics and the New Seriousness, Joe Kennedy https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://ntouk.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/wilsons-white-heat-of-technology-speech.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/media-the-dirty-world-of-mr-punch-1187016.html#:~:text=Last%20week%20an%20internationally%20famous,then%2Downers%2C%20United%20Newspapers. https://jennifrazer.com/mandelson-judaism-lord-levy-jc-dad/ https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1993/10/08/mr-majors-speech-to-1993-conservative-party-conference-8-october-1993/ https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/lord-mandelson-lord-speakers-corner/ https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2011-12/volume-3/issue-7-open-theme/the-long-road-to-repeal-the-labour-party-and-section-28 https://www.newsweek.com/one-bonk-and-youre-out-181768 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jan/25/mandelson.labour6 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/03/mandelson.labour2 https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/12/23/peter-mandelson-boris-johnson-bum-boys-about-homophobic-attack/ https://petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/outing/catalyst/ https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/public-attitudes-section-28 https://www.gryklaw.com/https-www-gryklaw-com-lgbt-history-month-coming-of-age-same-sex-relationship-immigration-rights/ https://www.theguardian.com/century/1990-1999/Story/0,,112756,00.html https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/see-epsteins-full-birthday-book-with-alleged-personal-messages-from-trump-clinton-and-others https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr6yjzkvx6o http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/630399.stm https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/17/northernireland.guardianleaders https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68079300 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/peter-mandelson-why-its-taken-me-27-years-to-marry-the-love-of-my-life-3gx8cfgs5 https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/lgbtq-hubs/trans-hub/gender-recognition-act-2004 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2007/05/10/the-great-performer-leaves-the-stage https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/extras/lgbt09.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-lords https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/13/mandelson-gayrights https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/oct/25/corfu-rothschild-russia-osborne-travel https://www.politico.eu/article/mandelson-backed-by-commission/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/22/former-trump-campaign-chief-paul-manafort-offered-help-putin-russia http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article384041.ece https://www.scotsman.com/news/italian-shoe-magnate-steps-forward-to-sponsor-spruce-up-for-colosseum-1693900 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/05/over-330000-excess-deaths-in-great-britain-linked-to-austerity-finds-study https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/nov/29/politicalcolumnists.gordonbrown https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benefits-dwp-cuts-conservatives-austerity-cap-b2956620.html https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour/peter-mandelson-firm-lobbies-tiktok-shell-water-labour-3409771 https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/03/labour-party-within-progress https://labourlist.org/2013/06/falkirk-clp-placed-in-special-measures-over-selection-allegations/ https://labourlist.org/2017/02/mandelson-i-am-working-every-day-to-bring-down-corbyn/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-election-abolish-tuition-fees-nationalisation-396843 https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmers-not-driving-the-train-confessions-of-his-inner-circle-mq2kbg39x https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/14/who-is-josh-simons-labour-mp-andy-burnham https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/labour-thinktank-close-to-morgan-mcsweeney-allegedly-paid-firm-to-investigate-journalists https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/27/mandelson-and-mcsweeney-a-partnership-forged-on-winning-and-crushing-the-labour-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/20/labour-minister-falsely-linked-journalists-to-pro-kremlin-network-in-emails-to-gchq https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/28/keir-starmer-leadership-labour-leader-left https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/20/appointment-peter-mandelson-new-uk-ambassador-to-us-divides-labour-mps https://archive.progressivebritain.org/2013/06/27/no-more-falkirks/ peterchrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69b13135cdd628b29e3495f8/V1_FINAL.pdf https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26086390-jeffey-epstein-50th-birthday-book/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/revealed-mandelson-failed-vetting-but-foreign-office-overruled-decision https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn82elvzpz7o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9el4dw0z3o https://archive.ph/uWXFn https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrjd2kxw2lo https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00764113.pdf https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/peter-mandelson-epstein-swear-ambassador-trump-b2693376.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/11/peter-mandelson-declines-to-apologise-for-association-with-jeffrey-epstein https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jeffrey-epstein-peter-mandelson-emails-b2914283.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/world/europe/ties-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein.html https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/04/starmer-confirms-he-knew-mandelson-kept-epstein-ties-after-prison-term https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/05/how-epstein-scandal-shaken-british-government-peter-mandelson https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/peter-mandelson-election-labour-insiders https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/20/peter-mandelson-a-timeline-of-his-appointment-as-uk-ambassadorto-the-us https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx26yz7kxzo https://www.ft.com/content/fdf7afe9-9ad3-4325-8843-f590dcdd7e57?syn-25a6b1a6=1

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Hosts & Guests

4.5
out of 5
536 Ratings

About

A podcast about evil and complicated queers in history. Why do we remember our heroes better than our villains? Hosted by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller. Learn more: www.badgayspod.com

Information

  • Creator
    Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    176
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2019-. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Bad Gays
  • Provider
    Benjamin Miller

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