It is Cancel Me, Daddy’s fifth anniversary! This week, former co-host Oliver joins Katelyn and Christine to discuss all the panic around cancel culture. Oliver and Katelyn pinpoint how they defined cancellation when the podcast started in 2021 and what has and hasn’t changed about it over the past five years.

Some of the very same “cancellation grifters”—Bari Weiss, Dave Chappelle, and J.K. Rowling—from the show’s earlier days are still profiting from their so-called cancellation[s]. They’ve evolved into what Katelyn and Christine call “media villains,” which exist within the show’s increasingly focused media and politics lens. Oliver, Katelyn, and Christine scrutinize the cancellation-to-grift pipeline with the show’s trademark wit. Come celebrate five years of thoughtful analysis and verbal shitposting! Thank you, listeners, for five years of support!

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:

• Listen to our Dave Chapelle episodes: Cancel Me, Daddy Classics: Shame on Chappelle and Netflix Part 2
• Catch up on Bari Weiss (again) and the rest of the Harper’s Letter crew: They Screamed “Cancel Culture” — Then Went Silent While Trump Gutted Free Speech (ft. Parker Molloy)
• Tune into J.K. Rowling’s cancellation: Canncel-o Wizard Game-o (ft. Ana Valens)
• 
  

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You can’t log onto social media or otherwise tune into the news without witnessing extremely disturbing images of masked federal agents assaulting and arresting people in Minneapolis. We’re talking bystanders, legal observers, passerbys, immigrants, citizens—everyone in ICE’s wake.

This week, Katelyn and Christine welcome New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie to the pod. Jamelle’s work centers on history and racial politics. From the George Floyd uprisings to today’s violent campaign against undocumented immigrants and anyone who happens to get caught up in an assault or arrest, he brings moral clarity into focus. Katelyn, Christine, and Jamelle discuss how 19th century slave patrols became modern-day policing and the military-industrial complex led to the militarization of modern-day police—with the intent of suppressing free speech. It’s time to cancel—and abolish—ICE.

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:

• Follow Jamelle Bouie on Bluesky: @jamellebouie.net + TikTok: @jamellebouie + Instagram: @jbouie
• Subscribe to Jamelle’s YouTube channel, Takes™
• Listen to Jamelle’s podcast, Unclear and Present Danger
• Katelyn Burns for Xtra: Renee Nicole Good’s queerness isn’t an aside—it’s a key part of her story
• Laura Jedeed for Slate: The Trump Administration Is Calling My Viral Story a Lie. Good Thing I Kept the Receipts.
• Nick Miroff for The Atlantic: ICE’s ‘Athletically Allergic’ Recruits
• Jeremy Barr for The Guardian: CBS News report on ICE officer’s injuries drew ‘huge internal concern’
• Rishika Dugyala for Politico: NYT opinion editor resigns after outrage over Tom Cotton op-ed
• Jamelle Bouie for Takes™: Donald Trump Wants to Cancel the Midterm Elections

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Was the Harper’s “free speech” letter really about defending open debate—or about protecting powerful media elites from criticism and consequences? In this episode, we expose how the Harper’s letter, its transphobic signers, and the larger “cancel culture” panic helped shield figures like J.K. Rowling and Bari Weiss while the real threats to free speech exploded under Trump.

More than 150 journalists, authors, and academics signed the infamous “Harper’s letter” in 2020. Published in Harper’s Magazine amid the George Floyd racial justice protests, the letter argued that the more serious threat to the nation was “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty”—aka “cancel culture.” At the time, trans people were some of the letter’s biggest critics, highlighting its bigoted dog whistles. The letter’s signatories include a who’s who of transphobia, from Bari Weiss to J.K. Rowling.

This week, writer Parker Molloy joins Katelyn and Christine to discuss how this so-called free speech crisis transformed how elite media covers—and protects—itself, from 2020 to today.

Tell us your out of context cancellation in the comments and we'll read the best ones on our next episode 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!

Leave us a voicemail with your out of context cancellation at https://www.memo.fm/cancelmedaddy

Links:

Follow Parker Molloy on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com

Subscribe to Parker Molloy’s newsletter, The Present Age: https://www.readtpa.com/

David Klion for The Nation: They All Signed the Harper’s Letter. Where Are They Now?, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/harpers-letter-free-speech-trump/

The Objective: A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate, https://objectivejournalism.org/2020/07/a-more-specific-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

Emily St. James

Zach Beauchamp for Vox: The “free speech debate” isn’t really about free speech, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/22/21325942/free-speech-harpers-letter-bari-weiss-andrew-sullivan

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Think cancel culture is new? The Catholic Church invented it in the Middle Ages.

Being burned at the stake was the ultimate deplatforming. In the 15th and 16th centuries, figures like Joan of Arc, Giordano Bruno, and Jan Hus faced the stake for the crime of heresy. But was heresy actually just a way to crush dissent?

This week, medievalist and historian Eleanor Janega (@GoingMedieval) joins Katelyn and Christine to unpack history’s original cancel culture. From the Vatican's "Community Guidelines" to the trial of Galileo, we look at how institutions have always used moral panic to maintain power.

Scheduling Note: Cancel Me, Daddy will return in January 2026. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Thank you for tuning in—we appreciate you so much. 

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 for Apple:

• Subscribe to the Gone Medieval podcast via History Hit, Apple, or Spotify  
• Follow Eleanor Janega on Bluesky: @goingmedieval
• Buy Eleanor’s book, The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society, via The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop.org storefront 

Cancellation List Patreon Supporters:

Megg, I Beuregard, Alison, Siobhan Green, Maggi Joseph, Leslie Zavisca, Summer Lark, Amy Veeres, Matt

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Olivia Nuzzi is in the headlines again for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a source. Nuzzi’s former partner, Ryan Lizza, is using his newsletter to make the claims about Nuzzi and…former Republican presidential candidate Mark Sanford in 2020. Lizza’s ongoing, multi-part series about Nuzzi amid her book launch is an uncomfortable read for its florid prose and revenge porn vibes. Never forget: The New Yorker fired Lizza for unspecified sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement. Meanwhile, Lizza continues to target Nuzzi, who committed one of the most serious public ethical breaches in journalism with former Democratic-turned-independent presidential candidate and current Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

This week, Katelyn and Christine discuss the mess with Marisa Kabas, the acclaimed independent journalist who founded The Handbasket. As Kabas says, moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field.

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:

• Marisa Kabas for The Handbasket: https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-elite-journalism-nuzzi-lizza-rfk-jr-trump
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice: https://www.burnsnotice.com/olivia-nuzzi-is-an-embarrassment-to-journalism/
• The Guardian on Mark Sanford's Argentina scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/24/mark-sanford-infidelity-south-carolina
• Olivia Nuzzi on Joe Biden's fitness: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/conspiracy-of-silence-to-protect-joe-biden.html
• Katelyn Burns for Vox on Biden/Sanders LGBTQ record: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/6/21167777/sanders-biden-lgbtq-voters

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Democrats’ recent, high-profile gubernatorial and mayoral victories across the country proved the value in candidates sticking to their pro-equality values. Whereas former presidential candidate Kamala Harris dodged Republicans’ notorious, bigoted anti-transgender playbook from the 2024 presidential election cycle, Virginia’s governor-elect, Abigail Spanberger, and New Jersey’s governor-elect, Mikie Sherrill, confronted pronoun panic and proved that Democrats are, indeed, for you in being there for everyone. New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani produced extra credit with his ad highlighting legendary trans and gay rights activist Sylvia Rivera. Mamdani highlighted trans people’s essential role in NYC history and how he’ll help trans people in the future as part of his official mayoral platform.

This week, Katelyn and Christine cancel anti-trans political ads with help from friend of the pod Laurel Powell, director of communications for the Human Rights Campaign and an advocate in her own right.

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:

• Follow Laurel Powell on Bluesky at @laurelpowell.net and check out her website, www.laurelpowell.net
• Katelyn Burns for MSNBC: Democrats’ big election wins showed they don’t need to hide their support for trans rights
• Amanda Becker for The 19th: Democrats responded to anti-trans attacks this year — and won
• Lyz Lenz for Men Yell at Me: You can run a Mamdani in Iowa and win
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice, You Have to See This Mamdani Ad
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice, He Doesn't Even Go Here - Sick Burns 10/17/2025
• Cancel Me, Daddy: Democrats Were Banned From Saying These Progressive Words?? (aka Canceling Centrist Language Nannies)
• German Lopez for Vox: HB2, North Carolina’s sweeping anti-LGBTQ law, explained

Christine Grimaldi for The Atavist Magazine: The Shadow and The Ghost

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There’s a lot of overlap between cancel culture and cultural panics in which the anti-hero of the week profits off their notoriety. This week, Kate and Christine co-host a very special crossover episode with Panic World, journalist Ryan Broderick’s podcast about how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality. As we like to say at Cancel Me, Daddy, “all the panic around cancel culture” can result in even more notoriety—and visibility—for our favorite canceled people. From Dave Chappelle, to disgraced Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner, to, alas, Donald Trump, none seem poised to exit the national stage anytime soon.

Stream Cancel Me, Daddy 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:

• Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: @katelynburns.com
• Follow Christine on Bluesky: @yourombudsmom
• Follow Ryan on Bluesky: @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social/
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice: You Can't Run the Nazi Tattoo Guy Against Susan from "The County"
• Jamelle Bouie, Gene Demby, Aisha Harris, and Tressie McMillan Cottom for Slate: I'm Not Your Racial Confessor
• Merch Me, Daddy—Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

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The Cancel Culture Grift Economy™ has once again rewarded Bari Weiss.

Support CMD on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cancelmedaddy

CBS News anointed Weiss—the former New York Times op-ed columnist turned so-called Free Press founder—as the broadcast network’s editor-in-chief.

What was once a mainstream media mainstay is poised to transform into a reactionary mouthpiece. Weiss will report directly to parent company Paramount CEO David Ellison, a billionaire aligned with Donald Trump.

Join Katelyn, Christine, and “Cancellation Guncle” Michael Hobbes, journalist and co-host of the popular podcasts Maintenance Phase and If Books Could Kill, to discuss how the imminent media transformation threatens free speech and rigorous journalism.

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!

Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katelynburns.com

Follow Christine on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/yourombudsmom.bsky.social

Follow Michael on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/michaelhobbes.bsky.social

If Books Could Kill Bari Weiss episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/cg/podcast/a-bari-special-bonus-episode-teaser/id1651876897?i=1000589386352

CMD episode about Jimmy Kimmel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE3ERIoEQwE&pp=ygUPY2FuY2VsIG1lIGRhZGR5

CMD episode with Smith College professor: https://podcasts.apple.com/cg/podcast/america-uncancelled/id1550508625?i=1000511540271

Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/wash-post-health-care-reporter-has-history-spreading-misinformation-about-abortion

Katelyn Burns for Xtra: https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/bari-weiss-cbs-the-free-press-media-277156

Merch Me, Daddy—Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store, https://cancelmedaddy-shop.fourthwall.com/

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

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Why does America's infrastructure prioritize cars over people? In this episode, we're joined by the hosts of The War on Cars podcast to expose the decades of pro-car propaganda that shaped our cities—and discuss how politicians like Zohran Mamdani are fighting back with bold transit plans.

We break down:

🚗 How the auto industry manufactured car dependency

🚇 Why public transportation became a political battleground

🏙️ Mamdani's vision for transit-oriented development

💰 The deadly body count of car-centric urban planning

🔥 What Democrats get wrong about the "war on cars"

This isn't just about transportation—it's about who our cities are built for and who gets left behind.

🎙️ GUESTS: Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon from The War on Cars podcast

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• The War on Cars Podcast: https://thewaroncars.org/

• Zohran Mamdani's transit plan: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform

• Flytrap Affiliate link for Life After Cars: https://bookshop.org/p/books/life-after-cars-freeing-ourselves-from-the-tyranny-of-the-automobile-aaron-naparstek/9af03feee57404e9

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💬 What's your take? Are cars destroying our cities, or is public transit the real problem? Drop your hottest take in the comments.

🔔 Subscribe to Cancel Me, Daddy for more media analysis and political commentary that cuts through the BS: [your channel link]

📱 FOLLOW US:

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Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CancelMe_Daddy

#UrbanPlanning #PublicTransportation #CarCulture #WarOnCars #TransitPolicy #CityPlanning #ProgressivePolitics #UrbanDesign

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Cancel Me, Daddy is a progressive podcast exploring politics, media, and culture through perspectives ignored by mainstream news. Hosted by Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi.

Cancel Me, Daddy is a Flytrap Media Production

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Jimmy Kimmel might be getting his show back after a pause following his comments about Charlie Kirk's death, but dozens of other people have lost their livelihood for commenting on it.

Former NBC News Internet and Culture Writer Kat Tenbarge joins co-hosts Katelyn Burns and Christine Grimaldi on this week's episode to discuss the free speech crisis currently facing the US.

Can free speech last through this conservative government crackdown? Let us know in the comments.

Subscribe for more good politics takes and ring the bell to be notified of our next episode.

Sign up for Kat's newsletter, Spitfire News on our Trustfund collaboration link here: https://trustfnd.com/cancelmedaddy

Links:

Merch Store: https://cancelmedaddy-shop.fourthwall.com/

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Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CancelMe_Daddy

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