ICYMI

By Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture Tech News

What's ICYMI about?

Join Rachelle Hampton twice a week as we gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back.

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LAST EPISODE

Meet NPR’s TikTok Boy

06.03.2023

On today’s show, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Jack Corbett, one of the people behind NPR’s Planet Money TikTok account. In the three years that have passed since @planetmoney was started, the account has amassed over 14.1 ...

ICYMI episodes:

06.03.2023 Meet NPR’s TikTok Boy On today’s show, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Jack Corbett, one of the people behind NPR’s Planet Money TikTok account. In the three years that have passed since @planetmoney was started, the account has amassed over 14.1 ...
05.31.2023 The Only People Who Made Money From Tumblr On today’s show, Rachelle and Candice are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie. The three go back in time to 2010 when a lucky few creators of Tumblr blogs like Hipster Puppies, This is Why You’re Fat and Garfield ...
05.27.2023 How To: Succeed at Social Media Emily is a successful career and executive coach in Ohio, who has done well finding clients through word-of-mouth. But in order to expand her business she knows she has to up her online marketing game. The only catch? She is ...
05.24.2023 Is Ice Spice an Industry Plant? On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim speak to Sidney Madden, the host of NPR’s music podcast Louder Than a Riot. The three discuss the meteoric rise of 23-year-old Bronx rapper Ice Spice and how she went from going ...
05.20.2023 The Internet’s Biggest Secret On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined for the first time by ICYMI’s new co-host. Tune in to hear their first internet memory, what four subreddits they visit every single day and the time they got catfished on mileyworld.com. This podcast ...
05.17.2023 Quiet Luxury is TikTok’s Latest Nonsensical Fashion Trend On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined again by Nadira Goffe for a sequel to their August 2022 episode “What is A Clean Girl?” The two dive deep into TikTok’s latest favorite fashion trend: quiet luxury, or stealth wealth. The aesthetic’s ...
05.13.2023 The Ill-fated Brand Trip That Took Over TikTok On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by ICYMI favorite, Nadira Goffe to talk about the makeup meltdown that’s taken over TikTok. The two dissect a Miami F1 brand trip sponsored by Tarte Cosmetics that ended in multiple apology videos and ...
05.10.2023 We’re Sorry On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by the co-host of NPR’s Throughline podcast, Ramtin Arablouei, who recently did an episode about the history of public contrition from the Salem witch trials to the infamous notes app apology. The two discuss ...
05.06.2023 Inside the Nexus of Wellness Culture On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Hannah Jackson, the culture writer and reporter behind the recent Cut article “Meet the People Working Three Jobs to Afford Erewhon.” The two discuss how Erewhon transformed from a humble Boston market stall ...
05.03.2023 Should Influencers Unionize? On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Wailin Wong, Darian Woods and Adrian Ma, the hosts of NPR’s daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money. They discuss The Indicator’s recent five-part series on the $15 billion influencer industry that ...
04.29.2023 Should We All Be Pirating More? On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by Sarah Marshall, writer, critic and host of the You’re Wrong About and You Are Good podcasts. The two discuss Marshall’s recent You’re Wrong About episode about Napster, the ill-fated peer-to-peer file sharing app ...
04.26.2023 We’ve Learned Nothing From West Elm Caleb On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Slate staff writer Nitish Pahwa for a mailbag episode. The two answer questions about Jojo Siwa’s rumored pregnancy, the fate of the music industry after an AI-generated Drake song went viral and the ...
04.22.2023 Has TikTok Ruined Live Music? On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by Alex Sujong Laughlin, a supervising producer and co-owner of Defector Media where she makes the podcast, Normal Gossip. Alex and Rachelle dive deep into the age-old debate over concert spoilers, a debate that’s ...
04.19.2023 How the Internet Broke Netflix’s “Love is Blind” On today’s show, Rachelle is joined by Jonquilyn Hill, reporter and host of Vox’s politics and policy show The Weeds. The two take a deep dive into the most recent season of the Netflix reality dating show Love is Blind ...
04.15.2023 Meet the Internet’s Princess For the third installment of Internet Diaries, Rachelle is joined by 21-year-old cultural critic and internet essayist Rayne Fisher-Quann, who has amassed a devoted following on TikTok, Substack, Instagram and Twitter. The two discuss Fisher-Quann’s online work around leftism, feminism, ...
04.12.2023 The Free Trial Period of Social Media Is Over On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by Alex Kantrowitz, the writer behind the Big Technology newsletter and podcast. The two discuss the recent changes to Twitter Blue and how paying for Twitter might be a joke, it won’t be for ...
04.08.2023 Blac Chyna and the New Plastic Surgery Era On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Terry Nguyen, a culture writer and critic and staff writer for the digital culture newsletter Dirt. The two discuss Angela White, better known as Blac Chyna, who has taken to Instagram to ...
04.05.2023 Buying Concert Tickets Online is Still a Hellscape On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Justin Richmond, co-host of the music podcast Broken Record and host of the new podcast Started From the Bottom. The two discuss what, if anything, has changed with the online ticketing giant ...
04.01.2023 Succession’s Kendall Roy is the Internet’s Girlboss On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined once again by BuzzFeed internet culture report Kelsey Weekman. The two discuss the fandom surrounding Succession’s Kendall Roy, the second son of billionaire Logan Roy, played by Jeremy Strong. This podcast is produced ...
03.29.2023 ICYMI: Live from Copenhagen On today’s episode, ICYMI goes international! Rachelle Hampton is joined by Lucia Odoom of Poptillægget, a Danish podcast about pop culture. On stage at CPH:DOX, the two discuss growing up online as black women in predominately white environments, the joys ...
03.25.2023 Gwyneth Paltrow and the Ozempic Craze On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Kate Lindsay of the Embedded newsletter to talk about the latest in diet discourse. They discuss Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent interview and the flak she got for revealing she drank bone broth most ...
03.22.2023 Encore: Someone’s Selling Human Bones on TikTok? Today, we’re revisiting one of our early favorite episodes from August 2021 about selling bones on TikTok. In the episode, Rachelle Hampton and Madison Malone Kircher try to figure out if it’s legal to buy and sell human remains. They’re ...
03.18.2023 Pedro Pascal Is the Internet’s Daddy On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Slate’s Madeline Ducharme to talk about the internet’s thirst for Pedro Pascal. They discuss how he started edging into the role of Internet Daddy with Game of Thrones, his recent turns in ...
03.15.2023 Dear Prudence: Sister Wants Me to Be Her Surrogate. Help! Today, we’re bringing you an episode of the recently relaunched Dear Prudence podcast hosted by Jenée Desmond-Harris. In this episode, Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) is tackling questions about text etiquette, whether or not to allow children at a wedding, and weighing ...
03.11.2023 Vanderpump Rules’ War of the Roses On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Deepti Sahrawat, the host of Pop Culture Prisoner, to discuss a shocking cheating scandal within the cast of the Bravo reality series Vanderpump Rules, and why it blew up on the internet ...
03.08.2023 The Internet Should Be Fun On today’s episode, Daisy Rosario is joined by Nitish Pahwa and they’re talking about the places they go to when they need online comfort. They discuss cute cartoon affirmations, the need for satisfaction, and hear from a few Slate colleagues ...
03.04.2023 The Internet Hates Hogwarts Legacy On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Gita Jackson to talk about a video game that has stirred up anger across the internet, Hogwarts Legacy. They discuss the controversy surrounding it, how the game reveals so many holes in ...
03.01.2023 Selena Gomez Loves Logging Off On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Time’s Moises Mendez II to talk about Selena Gomez’s internet history. They look at her early days on YouTube, discuss her tumultuous relationship with Justin Bieber, and explain why TikTok has blown ...
02.25.2023 North West Is TikTok’s New Queen On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by WAMU’s Aja Drain to discuss North West’s TikTok presence. They talk about how North got started on the app like going live without her mother’s permission, the controversies that’ve bubbled up around ...
02.22.2023 Tumblr Revived the Welcome to Night Vale Fandom On today’s episode Rachelle Hampton is joined by journalist and podcaster Wil Williams to discuss the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and how its faceless narrator just won the poll as top “Tumblr Sexyman.” They talk about the show’s origins ...
02.18.2023 The Influencer Even Skeptics Love On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by NPR’s Candice Lim to discuss the online rise of Emma Chamberlain. They discuss her origins as a YouTuber in 2017, how she kept evolving her brand so it never got stale, and ...
02.15.2023 The Internet’s Black Emo Renaissance On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Slate’s Nadira Goffe to discuss Rihanna and Paramore. First, they talk about the Super Bowl halftime show and the discourse that Rihanna sparked, and what she does or doesn’t owe her fans. ...
02.11.2023 Is Weight Lifting a Diet Culture Escape Hatch? On today’s episode, Rachelle speaks with writer and cultural critic Casey Johnston about weight lifting. They discuss what led Casey to pick up the barbell, how she found her way into the online weight lifting space and the following she ...
02.08.2023 How a 9-Year-Old Took Over TikTok On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined again by Slate’s Nitish Pahwa, this time to open up the mailbag. They answer questions about a child named Topher whose loud presence has swept across TikTok, Twitter’s bad bot decisions, and recent ...
02.04.2023 The Anal Bead Cheating Scandal That Rocked the Online Chess World On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Slate’s Nitish Pahwa to discuss a major cheating scandal in the chess world this past fall between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann, and how the story just keeps going. They talk about ...
02.01.2023 Has the Internet Made Parenting Easier? On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Jamilah Lemieux, one of the columnists for Slate’s Care and Feeding advice column, and the host of Mom and Dad Are Fighting. They open up Jamilah’s internet diary, discussing how she got ...
01.28.2023 TikTok Isn’t For Creators Anymore On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by journalist and author Cory Doctorow to discuss his latest piece, “The Enshittification of TikTok,” in Wired. They talk about the life cycles of online platforms, why nobody on the platforms have any ...
01.25.2023 American Girl’s Addy Is More Than a Slave On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by NPR’s Aisha Harris to talk about the return of the discourse about Addy Walker, the first Black American Girl doll. They discuss Aisha’s great piece from 2016, “The Making of an American ...
01.21.2023 The Internet Won’t Let Austin Butler Forget Vanessa Hudgens On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Nadira Goffe to talk about Austin Butler and Kerrygold butter. First, High Speed Downloads return so Rachelle can explain why everybody was melting down about Irish butter online, and Nadira takes us ...
01.18.2023 MrBeast Dethroned a Child to Become the Most Successful YouTuber On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by BuzzFeed’s Kelsey Weekman for a crash course in the history and significance of YouTuber MrBeast. Kelsey tells Rachelle all about how he first got started counting numbers to camera, his wild philanthropic ...
01.14.2023 RuPaul’s Drag Race Has Finally Logged On On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined again by Daisy Rosario to talk about the premiere of season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. They talk about how the season seems to understand more than ever how the pandemic has affected ...
01.11.2023 Who Is Alix Earle And Why Are People Mad at Her? On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is back in the host chair. She’s joined by Daisy Rosario as they open up the mailbag to answer listener questions about Greta Thunberg’s involvement in the arrest of Andrew Tate, the rise of the ...
01.07.2023 The Untalented Mr. Ripley On today’s show, Daniel Schroeder is joined by Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos to talk about the gay scammers that emerged at the end of the year. First we answer a listener’s question about some gay drama on Twitter, then we discuss ...
01.04.2023 Fans Ran the World Last Year On today’s episode, Nadira Goffe and Daisy Rosario are in the host chairs ready to talk all things fandom. They discuss the important moments like the Swifties’ battle with Ticketmaster, and John Fetterman’s wildly successful online campaign. Then, they get ...
12.28.2022 Encore: We Talked to BYU’s Black Menaces Today, we’re revisiting our episode from April 16, 2022 when we interviewed BYU’s Black Menaces. The Black Menaces are a group at Brigham Young University who have recently gained popularity on TikTok for their videos in which they ask their ...
12.24.2022 Encore: All Hail the Liver King Today, we’re revisiting our episode from March 9, 2022 on the Liver King, his philosophy, and his online presence. Brian Johnson, aka the Liver King, has amassed millions of followers with his bizarre yet addictive workout and raw-meat-diet videos. On ...
12.21.2022 Decoder Ring: The New Age Hit Machine Today, we’re excited to share an episode from Slate’s Decoder Ring that we think you’re going to love. For this episode, a story from Slate senior producer Evan Chung about how Yanni, John Tesh and a number of other surprising ...
12.17.2022 Who Gets to Complain About Their Job Online? Earlier this month, a group of nurses were fired after posting a TikTok where they shared their complaints or “icks” about their patients. On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by health and wellness journalist Julia Craven to talk about ...
12.14.2022 Why Did NBC’s Internet Culture Reporter Spend So Much Time on Reddit? On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is is joined by NBC’s Morgan Sung to talk about how she lives online as an internet culture reporter. They talk about early internet loves like Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction, who Morgan thinks you ...
12.10.2022 Goodbye to All That 2022 Internet The internet has been as wild as ever this year, delivering stories like West Elm Caleb, the Liver King, the Bridgerton musical and its legal woes, and more. On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Time’s Moises Mendez II ...

Older episodes

ICYMI

What's ICYMI about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

ICYMI episodes:

Meet NPR’s TikTok Boy

The Only People Who Made Money From Tumblr

How To: Succeed at Social Media

Is Ice Spice an Industry Plant?

The Internet’s Biggest Secret

Quiet Luxury is TikTok’s Latest Nonsensical Fashion Trend

The Ill-fated Brand Trip That Took Over TikTok

We’re Sorry

Inside the Nexus of Wellness Culture

Should Influencers Unionize?

Should We All Be Pirating More?

We’ve Learned Nothing From West Elm Caleb

Has TikTok Ruined Live Music?

How the Internet Broke Netflix’s “Love is Blind”

Meet the Internet’s Princess

The Free Trial Period of Social Media Is Over

Blac Chyna and the New Plastic Surgery Era

Buying Concert Tickets Online is Still a Hellscape

Succession’s Kendall Roy is the Internet’s Girlboss

ICYMI: Live from Copenhagen

Gwyneth Paltrow and the Ozempic Craze

Encore: Someone’s Selling Human Bones on TikTok?

Pedro Pascal Is the Internet’s Daddy

Dear Prudence: Sister Wants Me to Be Her Surrogate. Help!

Vanderpump Rules’ War of the Roses

The Internet Should Be Fun

The Internet Hates Hogwarts Legacy

Selena Gomez Loves Logging Off

North West Is TikTok’s New Queen

Tumblr Revived the Welcome to Night Vale Fandom

The Influencer Even Skeptics Love

The Internet’s Black Emo Renaissance

Is Weight Lifting a Diet Culture Escape Hatch?

How a 9-Year-Old Took Over TikTok

The Anal Bead Cheating Scandal That Rocked the Online Chess World

Has the Internet Made Parenting Easier?

TikTok Isn’t For Creators Anymore

American Girl’s Addy Is More Than a Slave

The Internet Won’t Let Austin Butler Forget Vanessa Hudgens

MrBeast Dethroned a Child to Become the Most Successful YouTuber

RuPaul’s Drag Race Has Finally Logged On

Who Is Alix Earle And Why Are People Mad at Her?

The Untalented Mr. Ripley

Fans Ran the World Last Year

Encore: We Talked to BYU’s Black Menaces

Encore: All Hail the Liver King

Decoder Ring: The New Age Hit Machine

Who Gets to Complain About Their Job Online?

Why Did NBC’s Internet Culture Reporter Spend So Much Time on Reddit?

Goodbye to All That 2022 Internet