What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 5
Sun City and Apartheid in South Africa

 Sun City is a luxury resort and casino complex in South Africa. During the apartheid era (1948-1990s), it became infamous for hosting international artists despite the global cultural boycott of South Africa. The South African government promoted Sun City as a major entertainment destination, but for many, it symbolized the oppression and exploitation of apartheid. Artists United Against Apartheid was a collective of musicians who came together in 1985 to raise awareness and protest apartheid, mainly targeting the Sun City resort. Steven Van Zandt, a musician and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and record producer Arthur Baker spearheaded the group. They were outraged by the continued performances of international artists at Sun City despite the call for a cultural boycott of South Africa.
Trigger Warning: Racism
Sources for this episode

• Zinn Education Project: https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/sun-city-artists-against-apartheid/ and
• https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/strangers-in-their-own-country and https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/steve-biko/
• Black Past.org: https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/south-african-students-organization-saso/
• The African Activist Archive: https://africanactivist.msu.edu/ and https://africanactivist.msu.edu/organization/210-813-12/
• African Access Review: https://africaaccessreview.org/
• Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/steven-van-zandt-sun-city-reissue-951087/, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/apartheid-rock-108260/, and https://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artrs83.htm
• Rolling Stone Podcast Interview with Steven Van Zandt: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0U8duHoJCDxM0qLLdhzjOl
• Teach Rock: https://teachrock.org/lesson/sun-city-a-musical-force-against-apartheid-part-1/
• Cool Cape Travel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyJQwCI7-oY
• Artists United Against Apartheid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fR2r8Qlyyk
• 60 Minutes interview with Steven Van Zandt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOp-rLSRXUo
• Africa’s a Country.com: https://africasacountry.com/2020/01/linda-ronstadt-is-still-playing-sun-city#:~:text=Although%20Ronstadt%20was%20conflicted%20about,percent%20pure%2Dwhite.%E2%80%9D
• U Music.com: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/little-steven-sun-city-protest-song/
• Little Steven Interview (2019) https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/summer-of-sorcery-little-steven-interview/
• Rosa Mannon (YouTube)/The Making of Sun City (1985) https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=3a6b220f597eeedb&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIIxP_ymW_r7DZB-jNqvr6ccWlgxZw:1724106272458&q=Sun+city+apartheid+documentary&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim3LKvjIKIAxVfhIkEHf5BH6oQ1QJ6BAhaEAE&biw=1366&bih=599&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:784ac663,vid:CmJC6GcVDn0,st:0
• Asbury Park Press: https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/08/12/little-steven-van-zandt-sun-city-hip-hop-rap-rappers-south-africa/8113803002/
• ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/steven-van-zandt-sun-city-helped-break-apartheid/story?id=21180715
• Variety: https://variety.com/2020/music/news/little-steven-interview-sun-city-apartheid-political-1203528043/
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 

Not a Creep
There needs to be a ceasefire in Gaza.
We can’t make those decisions, but we can call our representatives and let them know how we feel. We can also donate money to help the people in Gaza.

• International Rescue Committee
• Doctors Without Borders
• Save the Children
• Unicef

If you’re unsure about an organization, you can run a search on CharityWatch and Charity Navigator, which review charities' track records.
Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
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• Facebook: Join the private group! 
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• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
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• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 4
President Ronald Reagan and the AIDS crisis

When the AIDS epidemic started in the early ’80s, the Reagan administration's response mainly involved making jokes in the daily press briefings. Throughout his two terms as president, Reagan and his administration didn’t even do the bare minimum to help. According to The Atlantic, almost 83,000 cases of AIDS were confirmed while Reagan was in the White House, and nearly 50,000 people died of the disease.  Reagan, what a creep. 
Trigger warning: Homophobia

• Sources for this episode
• The Atlantic
• Buzzfeed
• History
• HIV.gov
• The New Yorker
• PBS
• “The Reagans,” a documentary series on Showtime
• "When AIDS Was Funny," a short film directed and produced by Scott Calonic
• Vice
• Vox
• Washington Post
• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
• Instagram @WhatACreepPodcast
• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 3
Ronald Reagan “The Mental Health Systems Act 1980”

The Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 was a significant legislation to improve mental health care in the United States. It was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 7, 1980. The act was intended to restructure the federal approach to mental health services, emphasizing community-based care and providing grants to community mental health centers to improve their services.
When Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in January 1981, his administration's policies marked a drastic shift from those of his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, particularly in social services and mental health care.

Trigger warning: Discussions of previous treatments for mental illness, suicide, sexual assault,  and general assholery. Sources:·         Mental Health Systems Act (Wiki)·         San Diego Union-Tribune·         NPR·         The American Library Association·         National Library of Medicine·         KQED-TV·         Salon.com·         The Hill·         The New York Times (1984)·         Psychiatry Online·         C-Span “Washington Journal”·         PBS News·         Psychiatry News·         Women’s History Org (Dorothea Dix)

• Podcasts: The Dollop (Ronald Reagan), Behind the Bastards (Ronald Reagan,) Meet Your Heroes (Episode 13, Ronald Reagan,) and History Fix (Episode 60, Mental Health.) 
• Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/timeline-mental-health-america/ 

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
• Instagram @WhatACreepPodcast
• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 4
Ronald Reagan and the AIDS crisis

When the AIDS epidemic started in the early ’80s, the Reagan administration's response mainly involved making jokes in the daily press briefings. Throughout his two terms as president, Reagan and his administration didn’t even do the bare minimum to help. According to The Atlantic, almost 83,000 cases of AIDS were confirmed while Reagan was in the White House, and nearly 50,000 people died of the disease.  Reagan, what a creep. 
Trigger warning: Homophobia

• Sources for this episode
• The Atlantic
• Buzzfeed
• History
• HIV.gov
• The New Yorker
• PBS
• “The Reagans,” a documentary series on Showtime
• "When AIDS Was Funny," a short film directed and produced by Scott Calonic
• Vice
• Vox
• Washington Post
• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
• Instagram @WhatACreepPodcast
• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 2
Phyllis Schlafly

But before we had those weird losers like Lauren Bobert, Majorie Taylor Greene, and Laura Loomer, we had Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly was a conservative activist who successfully campaigned against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because she thought women should stay home, and we were lucky to do so. Her work in the conservative movement paved the way for so much of what we see now in the GOP platform, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the constant sexism and transphobia. She was a garbage person with a lot of crappy takes. What a creep.

Trigger warning: Sexism, homophobia, the c-word, and we don’t mean “creep”
Sources for this episode

• CNN
• CNN
• Harper’s Bazaar
• History
• MIC
• National Women’s History Museum
• New York Times
• New York Times
• PBS
• Politico
• Smithsonian Magazine
• Vox
• Vox
• Wikipedia

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
• Instagram @WhatACreepPodcast
• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 1
Fatty Arbuckle: The First Movie Star Scandal

The Fatty Arbuckle scandal in the 1920s significantly impacted Hollywood and the career of comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. He was accused of raping and accidentally killing an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe during a party he hosted. After three trials, Arbuckle was acquitted, but his career suffered, and he was blacklisted in Hollywood. Rappe’s cause of death was never properly explored, and her legacy is that of a victim who was devoured by her craving for adulation and fame. 

Trigger Warnings: SA
Sources:

• ·         Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-skinny-on-the-fatty-arbuckle-trial-131228859/
• ·         The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/fatty-arbuckle-and-the-birth-of-the-celebrity-scandal
• ·         YouTube “Hats Off Entertainment” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsrIlnZwzHw
• ·         BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14640719
• ·         Thought Company: https://www.thoughtco.com/fatty-arbuckle-scandal-1779625
• ·         History.com: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/silent-film-star-arrested-for-murder
• ·         Found SF: https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Fatty_Arbuckle_Scandal
• ·         Forty Quarts of Liquor by Dave Zuda
• ·         The Casual Criminalist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08G18wZ12Sk
• ·         Virginia Rappe Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Rappe
• ·         Room 2019 by Greg Merritt
• You Must Remember This: Fatty Arbuckle (2018)  
• ·         Crime Library: https://web.archive.org/web/20150210053306/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/fatty_arbuckle/3.html
• ·         People Vs. Arbuckle: https://peoplevsarbuckle.com/2023/09/09/september-9-1921-virginia-rappes-last-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day/
• ·         PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-sexual-assault-case-that-shocked-hollywood-almost-a-century-ago
• ·         The Independent (UK): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/who-was-virginia-rappe-the-true-story-of-the-rising-career-and-shocking-death-of-a-1920s-star-and-the-fatty-arbuckle-trial-b405039.html

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
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• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
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• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

 What a Creep
Season 20, Episode 8
Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Kiedis is the lead vocalist of the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, a position he has held since the band's formation in 1983. The band is known for its energetic performances and eclectic style, blending rock, funk, and punk influences. The band's notable albums include "Blood Sugar Sex Magik," "Californication," "By the Way," and "Stadium Arcadium." Kiedis has also written an autobiography titled "Scar Tissue," which delves into his life and career. Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault & Addiction
Sources for this episode:

• eBaum's World: Red Hot Chili Peppers Commit Assault on Camera (Trigger Warning!)
• Reddit forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/HollywoodReceipts/comments/mseyii/the_red_hot_chili_peppers/ 
• Huffington Post: Music Exec Talks About Sexual Assault by RHCP
• LA Weekly "Can you be a feminist and listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers?"
• Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/2016/04/music-exec-writes-about-chili-peppers-harassment.htm 
• Far Out Magazine: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/red-hot-chili-peppers-singer-anthony-kiedis-truth/
• Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1990/05/13/the-medium-is-the-mayhem/72a4e924-517c-4716-b311-5d7647dd81e4/
• Variety: https://variety.com/2024/music/news/anthony-kiedis-scar-tissue-optioned-universal-pictures-memoir-1235875658/
• UPI: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/04/03/Singer-Anthony-Kiedis-convicted-of-sexual-battery-indecent-exposure/2421639115200/
• UPI: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/03/17/Two-members-of-Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-arrested/7434637650000/
• Rock and Roll True Stories (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JhGaLzyV58
• Consquence.net: https://consequence.net/2017/11/the-uncomfortable-disregard-for-legendary-rockers-sexual-misconduct/
• Anthony Kiedis Scar Tissue
• Your Tango: https://www.yourtango.com/news/anthony-kiedis-dated-ione-skye-when-she-was-16-and-he-was-24 
• Celebrity Memoir podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anthony-kiedis-has-scar-tissue/id1533533467?i=1000537621325 
• Ione Skye memoir news: https://deadline.com/2024/06/ione-skye-memoir-1235983736/

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
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• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez created our logo. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep (Replay!) 
Season 20, Episode 7
George Washington and the Tale of Ona Judge

George Washington is the “Father of Our Country” and one of American history's most revered Founding Fathers. We heard tales of how brave he was and that he could not tell a lie. He also famously refused to create a fiefdom with the office of President, which means we are not stuck with someone in office unless they are duly elected. 
Like many white people of his time, he enslaved people. This is a fact, and though not unusual in his peer group--it's not a great look for a person who is enshrined all across the United States. People want to downplay his racism and evil acts. Listening to Bill Maher and Elon Musk minimize his actions made us realize we need to dive into one of the first President’s most heinous acts by talking about badass Ona Judge. An enslaved woman who escaped from the President’s home and remained free despite his relentless pursuit of her. 
This woman is an American hero whom everyone who truly believes in liberty and freedom needs to learn about and memorialize her contribution to history. 

Trigger Warning: Racism and slavery

Sources for this episode: Twisted Philly PodcastGeorge Washington WikiDaily MailOney Judge WikiDrunk History with Jen Kirkman Mt. Vernon.or colonial Williamsburg, Virginia video never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of the Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar Erica Armstrong Dunbar at SMUBlack Heritage Trail videoThe White House Historical AssociationThe National Park Service
Zinn Education ProjectBeyond the Bell Tours (Philadelphia)Museum of the American RevolutionOna Judge’s 1845 interview with The LiberatorHistory.com The Fugitive Slave ActsNew York Times 2015 op-ed https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/opinion/george-washington-slave-catcher.html?searchResultPosition=3

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPod
• Facebook: Join the private group! 
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• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez created our logo. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a Creep
Season 25, Episode 8
Movie Character Creeps

We’re doing a different kind of episode this week. We’re talking about movie character creeps. More specifically, fictional characters who we don’t think of as creeps at first, but then maybe you see the movie again and think, “Huh. That person sucks.” 
This is a list of movie characters who we are supposed to like, but, in fact, they’re a real asshole, or even worse, a real fuckin’ creep. 
Movie sources (all of these are available for rent or streaming): Grease, St. Elmo’s Fire, Notting Hill, Purple Rain, Revenge of the Nerds, The Devil Wears Prada, Love Actually, Sixteen Candles, Willy Wonka, and The Chocolate FactoryThe Birdcage)

Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it! 

• Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts
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• Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreep
• Email: [email protected] 
• We’ve got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#
• Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com 
• Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud