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/

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CMD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cancelme_daddy/

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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

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

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:

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According to the centrist group Third Way, Democrats should scrub their vocabulary of 45 words and phrases spanning six pejoratively titled categories: therapy-speak, seminar-room language, organizer jargon, gender/orientation correctness, the shifting language of racial constructs, and explaining away crime. “Was it something I said?” Third Way asks of Democrats’ losing streak. No—winning is something you do.

This week, Katelyn and Christine cancel "Centrist Language Nannies,” debunking Third Way and the rest of the pundit class’s overhyped language policing. Our hosts make the case for concrete policies that help people and—spoiler alert—win elections.

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:

• Follow Katelyn on Bluesky: @katelynburns.com
• Follow Christine on Bluesky: @yourombudsmom
• Third Way (with our regrets for linking): Was It Something I Said?
• Adam Wren for Politico: The ‘woke’ words Democrats should cut from their vocabulary
• Dr. Alan Pelaez Lopez: The X in Latinx is a Wound, Not a Trend
• Nicole Froio for The Flytrap: Deny, Defend, Depose, Slay: How Luigi Mangione Became a Thirst Trap
• Buy Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger via The Flytrap’s Bookshop.org affiliate link
• Merch Me, Daddy—Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

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Age verification laws are the latest front in the religious right's movement to censor your speech and limit your Internet access, including what information you can access. Whitewashed as interventions to "protect children," these conservative laws and their so-called content moderation actually make it more dangerous for kids, especially trans and queer kids cut off from digital lifelines. No one in Mississippi can access Bluesky, including critical local news alerts, thanks to the state's ban. You know who warned us this would happen, back when Visa and Mastercard first started refusing to process payments for what conservatives—not you—have deemed NSFW video games, the games you can no longer play? Sex workers.

This week, Katelyn and Christine interview adult performer and content creator Siri Dahl, one of the first people to call out the Trump administration’s anti-pornography crackdown for what it is—an effort to suppress free speech for all. The Supreme Court’s June decision upholding age verification laws for porn—“corn”—websites arms Trump’s federal lackeys with your data and allows them to more broadly encroach on internet privacy. What is obscene? This government wants to decide and limit what information you can access, from gender-affirming info about trans identities and hormone therapy for trans and menopausal people to reproductive health issues about menstruation, contraception, and abortion. It is a fascinating conversation between intersectional feminists who recognize that sex work is another facet of bodily autonomy.

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:

• Follow Siri Dahl via her website, www.siridahl.com, and Instagram @thesiridahlagain
• Siri’s SFW free speech explainer video
• Stream and support the Corn Telethon on September 4!
• Ashton Pitttman for the Mississippi Free Press: Editor’s Note | Bluesky Blocks Mississippi IPs, Citing State’s Age Verification Law, Free Speech and Privacy Concerns
• Jasmine Mithani for The 19th News: Supreme Court clears the way for increased age verification for porn sites
• Karl Bode for Techdirt: Waypoint Writers Quit After Vice’s Chickenshit New Owners Delete Articles Critical Of Steam Policies
• Josh Taylor for The Guardian: Mastercard and Visa face backlash after hundreds of adult games removed from online stores Steam and Itch.io
• Christine Grimaldi for The Flytrap: The District of Abortion
• Martin Austermuhle for The 51st: What’s going on with the National Guard in D.C.?

Merch Me, Daddy—order your “Mother” stickers in Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

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Excommunicated! Executed! Deposed! What did today’s equivalent of cancellation look like in Medieval Times? For Edward II, it was losing the throne. For Anne Boleyn, it was losing her head.

Get your Justice for Anne Boleyn merch: https://www.cancelmedaddy.store

This week, Katelyn and Christine time travel through cancel culture history with Dr. Eleanor Janega, co-host of the hit history podcast “Gone Medieval.” Need a good laugh? Despite the ruthless punishments, it’s a convo on the lighter side that skewers Braveheart propaganda to tell the real story of how “She-Wolf” Isabella of France and her latest lover, Roger Mortimer, deposed her husband, Edward II. Join Cancel Me, Daddy’s alliance with Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose beauty and brains led her two lesser husbands—King Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England—to contribute to her reputation as a “femme fatale.” Then there’s Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor who would rather “excommunicate and chill” than crusade and conquer. Make sure to check out Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store for medieval swag—“Justice for Anne Boleyn!”

Watch the full episode on Cancel Me, Daddy’s YouTube channel. Ring the bell to be notified for our next episode! We’re offering channel memberships and doing a monthly livestream for channel members—join today!

We’re connecting the dots from papal bulls to modern media pile-ons, asking: How did medieval rulers weaponize public opinion? What role did gender, gossip, and propaganda play? And why do these centuries-old scandals feel so familiar in today’s political circus?

Dr. Janega brings the receipts, the context, and the dark humor. If you’re a history nerd, a politics nerd, or just love a bit of royal drama, this one’s for you.

-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 

-Check out Eleanor's Crusades project! https://americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/welcome-to-the-crusades-the-first-crusade

-Merch Me, Daddy—order your Anne Boleyn crop tops and stickers in Cancel Me, Daddy’s merch store!

👑 Perfect for fans of history with a progressive twist, and anyone wondering if we’ve really evolved at all. 👑

#MedievalHistory #CancelCulture #Politics #HistoryPodcast #ProgressiveMedia #EleanorJanega

Which historical figure do you think got the roughest deal? Drop your thoughts in the comments—we’re ready for your hot takes!

Links:

-Merch Store: https://www.cancelmedaddy.store/

-CMD Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cancelmedaddy

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-CMD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cancelme_daddy/

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-Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CancelMe_Daddy

Cancellation List Patreon Supporters:

-Megg

-I Beauregard

-Diego M Sanchez

-Leslie Zavisca

-Maggi Joseph

-Siobhan Green

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Donald Trump is bungling the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in real time. The Trump-Epstein connection is the politics news of the month, with no end in sight to further developments about the extent of the so-called “Epstein files” that may or may not be in the administration’s possession. Trump’s MAGA base is openly angry at him for seemingly the first time over the course of two administrations. Some Republicans have demanded answers, even as GOP leaders have shut down the House to stop Democrats from pursuing the release of further information. Both parties are using the scandal to their advantage, to the detriment of Epstein’s real-life victims and survivors. 

This week, Katelyn and Christine interview independent journalist Ken Klippenstein about the Epstein discourse that split MAGA and might finally, finally stick to Teflon Don.

Watch the full episode on Cancel Me, Daddy’s YouTube channel.

Links:

• Follow Ken Klippenstein on Bluesky @kenklippenstein.bsky.social
• Subscribe to Ken’s newsletter: www.kenklippenstein.com
• NPR’s “Morning Edition”: A timeline of the controversy over the administration's handling of the Epstein files
• Marianna Sotomayor and Kadia Goba for The Washington Post: House largely grinds to a halt over Epstein files
• Katelyn Burns for Vox (2020): “At a news conference in 2019, [Trump] lied so often — about everything from Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case to whether Article II of the US Constitution gives him unlimited power — that Vox’s Aaron Rupar called it a “master class in gaslighting.”

Landon Thomas Jr. for New York (2002): “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump booms from a speakerphone. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

In this episode, we cover:

• The documented Trump-Epstein connection timeline

• Political psychology of scandal immunity

• How conservative media frames controversial stories

• Progressive analysis of MAGA loyalty dynamics

This isn't just another Trump scandal breakdown - it's a deep dive into American political tribalism and the media narratives that shape public opinion.

💬 What do YOU think? Will this scandal move the needle, or is Trump's base truly scandal-proof?

🔔 Subscribe for biweekly progressive political analysis that cuts through mainstream media spin

👍 Like if you want more deep-dive political psychology content

📢 Share with friends who need to hear perspectives the news cycle ignores

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Cancel Me, Daddy explores the confluence of politics, social media culture, and traditional media by finding perspectives ignored by the news cycle. Thoughtful analysis & verbal shitposting from progressive hosts who aren't afraid to ask the hard questions.

🎙️ Listen on all podcast platforms

Links:

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