Exploring the Intersection of Media, Sports, and Culture

I know a lot about historic Hollywood feuds. I could do an entire episode just on the magazine covers featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds circa 1959. But to do any episode on Celebrity Feuds right — particularly one that airs just days before Kendrick Lamar performs at the Super Bowl — I knew I needed a different sort of celebrity feud expert. When Joel Anderson, host of three blockbuster seasons of Slow Burn (including a canonical one on Biggie + Tupac), agreed to come on the show, I legitimately let out a little scream of delight. He has so much knowledge, context, and perspective; this episode is a dream come true.

**Note: This episode was recorded before the Grammys, and we didn’t correctly predict Beyonce’s AOTY win nor Kendrick Lamar’s FIVE awards for “Not Like Us.”**

Show Notes:

• If you’re unfamiliar with Joel’s work and want an intro, I can’t recommend the first episode of the Clarence Thomas season of Slow Burn highly enough. I’ve listened to it so many times (which is VERY rare for me with podcasts); it’s such a journalistic coup. The entire season is a marvel.

• But also — and pertinent to this discussion — check out the season of Slow Burn on Biggie and Tupac

• Listen to Joel over at The Ringer on The Press Box

• I strongly recommend (re)watching the video for “Not Like Us” (the lyrics auto-play)

• A solid overview of the Kendrick/Drake feud from GQ

• One of the first reaction Tiktoks I remember seeing:

• Easter Eggs from the video for “Not Like Us”

• The ridiculous Cosmo compilation of “Celebrity Feuds From the Year You Were Born” I keep referencing

• Joel references “The Fight’s Over, Joe,” a classic Sports Illustrated article on the feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier

• Listen to the Elizabeth Taylor episode of You Must Remember This

• This is the unfathomable movie where Liz and Debbie raz Eddie Fisher

• If you really want to know about Jane Fonda’s “feud” with her father, the Fonda section of Richard Dyer’s Stars is unrivaled

• I personally learned about 50 Cent’s beefs from this episode of 60 Songs That Explain the ‘90s: The 2000s

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• HISTORICAL ROMANCE (will neither confirm nor deny that we have a co-host whose confirmation made Melody faint)

• By popular request, all things fan fiction

• Dark Academia

• How cookbooks get made

• Spiritual care for non-religious people

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

For today’s discussion: What celebrity feud did we not talk about? Or what layer of celebrity feuds did we miss?