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175 episodes
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The Unspeakable Podcast Meghan Daum
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- Society & Culture
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4.7 • 727 Ratings
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Author, essayist and journalist Meghan Daum has spent decades giving voice—and bringing nuance, humor and surprising perspectives—to things that lots of people are thinking but are afraid to say out loud. Now, she brings her observations to the realm of conversation. In candid, free-ranging interviews, Meghan talks with artists, entertainers, journalists, scientists, scholars, and anyone else who’s willing to do the “unspeakable” and question prevailing cultural and moral assumptions.
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Who Was The Hollywood Con Queen? Scott Johnson on the most unbelievable true story ever told
Between 2013 and 2020, hundreds of people who worked in the entertainment industry—from actors and writers to photographers, makeup artists, and security personnel—were targeted by brilliant and bizarre scammer who came to be known as the Con Queen of Hollywood. The Con Queen impersonated famous female studio executives and convinced many of her marks to spend huge sums of money—often on trips to Indonesia—under the pretext of doing research for film projects that would be their big break.
Journalist Scott Johnson covered the case for The Hollywood Reporter, eventually reporting that the Con Queen was actually a man named Hargobind “Harvey” Tahilramani, a genius impersonator who was also trying to make it as an Instagram food influencer. Scott’s book about the case, The Con Queen of Hollywood: The Hunt for an Evil Genius, was published last year and a three-part documentary series based on his book premiered on Apple TV this past May. Scott joined me for a conversation about his years reporting the case and how he finally tracked Hargobind down in England in the early months of the Covid pandemic. He also talks about how reporting from wars and being the son of a CIA officer informed his reporting.
GUEST BIO
Scott C. Johnson is the author of two highly acclaimed books. The Wolf and the Watchman (W.W. Norton, 2013) was long-listed for the National Book Award, the PEN USA award and was named a Washington Post Notable Book. His second book, The Hollywood Con Queen (Harper, 2023) was given a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly and selected as an Amazon editor’s pick. Scott was a consulting producer of Hollywood Con Queen, a 3-part documentary series to air on Apple TV+ in the spring of 2024. He now lives in France with his wife and two children.
Buy the book
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The Inconvenient Truth About Divorce: Bridget Phetasy on staying together for the kids.
We hear all the time that children are resilient — and should be even more so! But do divorcing parents overestimate their kids’ resilience to justify their actions? Should “staying together for the children” come back into style? Returning guest Bridget Phetasy talks about her recent article for The Spectator about an aspect of divorce that rarely gets discussed: the ripple effects over decades as adult children and grandchildren are spread thin among multiple families and step-families. Bridget’s parents, who had five children under 12 when they divorced, followed the logic that parental happiness is better for children than “staying together for the kids.” But is that really true? Bridget’s essay kicked off a huge conversation online and touched a lot of nerves (and ruffled a lot of feathers) and she and Meghan continue that conversation here.
They also talk about their shared desire to quit the content creator hustle and move to the woods. Also, Bridget apologizes to Meghan for a microaggression that’s been haunting her, even though Meghan has no memory of it.
GUEST BIO
Bridget Phetasy is a Spectator columnist and contributing editor. She is also the host of the Weekly Dumpster Fire on YouTube and the Walk-Ins Welcome podcast. Follow her on Twitter, Rumble and YouTube, or join her community at phetasy.com.
You can read her article for The Spectator here: https://bit.ly/465I5yv
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Building A Post-Woke Brand: Jennifer Sey gets back to business
Jennifer Sey has been an elite gymnast, a high level marketing executive at Levi’s, and an outspoken critic of protracted school closures during the Covid pandemic. That last role led her to become a prominent figure in the new free speech movement, and she fulfilled that role by writing a book and starting a Substack about her conscription into the culture wars. But her real skills are as a business person, so she decided to apply those skills and start a retail brand. XX-XY Athletics, which launched in late March, is an apparel line that sells athletic clothing for men and women but is branded around the idea of standing up for women’s sports
Given the fraught politics around this issue, XX-XY may be the first “gender critical” retail business. But does it make sense to build a brand around a culture war issue? In this wide-ranging conversation, Jennifer talks about the legacy of corporate virtue signaling, the inner turmoil of wealthy executives who want to look like progressives, her attempts to get another job after being designated as problematic, and the day to day tasks of building a business. She also explains how HR departments gained massive power in corporations and why executives are so afraid of their young staffers.
GUEST BIO
Jennifer Sey is a corporate marketing executive turned author, activist, documentary filmmaker (we didn’t even talk about that) and now the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics.
You can find her on her Substack here.
Check out XX-XY here.
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Has Gay Pride Shamed Itself? FAIR director Monica Harris on how a mighty movement lost the plot.
Are you relieved that Gay Pride month is over? Monica Harris, an author, attorney, activist, and the executive director of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) fought for LGBT civil rights in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, she finds herself dismayed by the current state of that movement.
In this conversation, Monica talks about how we went from Ellen DeGeneres to drag queen story hours, why gay rights organizations turned their attention to trans issues, and why she believes homophobia lies at the root of much of gender medicine. She also talks about the economic forces driving ordinary people to the ideological fringes, particularly young men who find themselves without job or relationship prospects.
GUEST BIO
Monica Harris is the executive director of FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She spent over a decade as a business and legal affairs executive at Walt Disney Television, NBCUniversal Media, and Viacom Media Networks. In 2011, she abandoned corporate life and moved with her family to Montana, where she serves entertainment clients remotely through her firm, Big Sky. Monica is a TEDx speaker, author, and blogger who advocates for balanced, common-sense solutions to systemic problems based on our shared values and goals. Her book, The Illusion of Division, is available on Amazon.
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Sarah Hepola Does Dallas
Writer and podcaster Sarah Hepola returns to The Unspeakable to talk about love, sex, #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction, her new job at The Dallas Morning News, her book in progress, and why she thinks local reporting will lead the way out of the media abyss.
GUEST BIO
Sarah Hepola is a features staff writer at the Dallas Morning News, the cohost with Nancy Rommelmann of the Smoke ‘Em If You Got Em podcast and author of the 2015 best-selling memoir Blackout. She was also the host and creator of the Texas Monthly podcast "America's Girls," about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Read her work at the Dallas Morning News here.
Listen to her podcast about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, “America’s Girls,” here.
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HOUSEKEEPING
✈️ 2024 Unspeakeasy Retreats — See where we’ll be in 2024! https://bit.ly/3Qnk92n
🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women: https://bit.ly/44dnw0v
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How Victimhood Can Work For You! Andrew Boryga on his novel VICTIM.
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The first portion of this episode is available to all listeners. To hear the entire conversation, become a paying subscriber here.
Who says you can’t write a novel skewing social justice excesses? Andrew Boryga has done just that — to critical acclaim. His debut novel VICTIM tells the story of Javier Perez, an academically gifted kid from The Bronx who lands at an elite college and soon discovers the advantages of playing up his disadvantages.
In this conversation, Andrew talks about the decade-long process of writing the book, his similarities to Javier, and how he feels about contemporary fiction and the literary world these days. He also discusses what it was like to shop the book to publishers and explores the question of whether a white author could get away with this kind of satire.
GUEST BIO
Andrew Boryga is a writer and editor who grew up in Bronx, NY and currently likes in Miami with his wife and two children. His debut novel VICTIM, was published in March by Doubleday.
Buy VICTIM here.
Follow his Substack here.
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HOUSEKEEPING
✈️ 2024 Unspeakeasy Retreats — See where we’ll be in 2024! https://bit.ly/3Qnk92n
🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women:https://bit.ly/44dnw0v
🔥 Follow my other podcast, A Special Place in Hell: aspecialplace.substack.com
Customer Reviews
Very Good
Not too sure about this paywall business, but nonetheless, it’s an informative and often fun listen. Meghan’s a sharp lady.
Meghan Daum for President!
In an alternative universe Meghan Daum garners the interest of young men and women, the world’s problems are solved, and Kardashians work at TJ Max. That’s a world I would like to live in.
Generational Differences
So interesting - I actually took notes. Twenge speaks with authority, is backed by data & she’s no nonsense.