Taylor Swift and her maybe boyfriend, Kansas Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have been inescapable the past few weeks. The pop superstar has been showing up at Chiefs games, and the NFL has been playing it up - all to the mutual benefit of each party involved. Regardless of if the three of them - Taylor, Travis, and the NFL - are in a romantic polycule, public relations expert Molly McPherson says they are for sure in a PR relationship. Brittany and Molly get into how PR relationships work for celebrities — from pop superstars to politicians.Plus, Taylor Swift released her Eras Tour film and Beyoncé announced her Renaissance Tour film a couple weeks ago. Brittany takes a look at whether these films add something for fans or if they are just another cash grab from these artists.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We can all think of a bad movie accent. There's Lady Gaga in House of Gucci, Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black, or Emma Watson in The Bling Ring. A bad accent takes you out of a movie, right? Well, Brittany sits down with New York Times columnist Kyle Buchanan who thinks a bad accent actually pulls you into a movie. Brittany and Kyle breakdown his theory and play a special game of "Where IS she from?"Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Every year, the Katmai National Park in Alaska puts on a March Madness-style bracket of all the fattest bears in their park. It's a celebration of fatness, because a fat bear ahead of hibernation means a healthy bear come spring. This competition is popular — there were over a million votes tallied last year — and it speaks to a larger cultural obsession with bears. In honor of Fat Bear Week, Host Brittany Luse journeys through time to unpack what bears mean to us — and why they're family, friend and foe all at once. And later, an exploration of how the queer community emulates bearness — and what the symbol of the animal can mean to them.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This week, host Brittany Luse kicks off spooky season by sitting down with the current champion of Black horror, Jordan Peele. In his most recent project, he's taken his talents from the screen to the page as the editor of a new book of short stories, Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror. Then, Brittany is joined by Black horror scholar and author Tananarive Due, to discuss her contributions to the anthology and her upcoming novel, The Reformatory. Due walks Brittany through how she honors a horrific past while offering readers satisfying scares.Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is out today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A recent New Yorker piece on Hasan Minhaj found that some crucial bits of his stand-up act didn't stand up to fact-checking. Stretching the truth in comedy is par for the course, but how does that work for a figure like Minhaj, who'd previously doubled down on these stories in interviews and is known for his political satire shows? Brittany is joined by writer Imran Siddiquee and journalist Allana Akhtar to make sense of an entertainment industry that created the conditions for his fame.Then, we explore what happens when you recast western fantasies through a Black lens? We start by looking at one of the most beloved Black fantasies of our time: The Wiz. It's Been a Minute producer, Corey Antonio Rose shares how the original Broadway production of The Wiz made the storyline from The Wizard of Oz hit different for post-civil rights America. Brittany is then joined by African American Studies professor Darieck Scott to discuss the difference between representation and RE-presentation in fantasy.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Bethann Hardison is the fashion icon behind so many fashion icons: she worked as a modeling agent in the era of the supermodel – brokering the careers of stars like Kimora Lee Simmons and Tyson Beckford. And when models of color all but vanished from view at the turn of the millennium – she forced designers to bring them back. Host Brittany Luse sits down with Bethann to discuss the new documentary about Bethann's life, Invisible Beauty, and why fashion imagery, while fraught, is still powerful in our culture.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This year, the WNBA had its most-watched regular season in 21 years, but what went into creating this new moment of visibility for the league? Host Brittany Luse is joined by Katie Barnes, author of Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates to unpack the league's initial 'Barbie girl' image, the trailblazers who pushed the WNBA to become the first professional sports league to celebrate Pride, and what it means for an athlete to 'authentically' express themselves.Then, we explore the growth of sports betting. Sports betting went from a somewhat shameful hobby to something that is fully mainstream - with billions of dollars in bets placed. Dr. Timothy Fong, an addiction specialist, joins Brittany to talk about the associated risks with the growth of sports betting.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Exploring incidents of fan violence at concerts and the lack of concert etiquette. Discussion on disruptions during concerts, excessive phone use, and fan entitlement. The podcast also explores the concept of fan entitlement and its impact on the concert experience. Possible solutions for improving concert experiences are discussed including boycotting, supporting smaller artists, live streaming concerts, and using holograms for a more comfortable and accessible concert experience.

The podcast discusses the rise of discussions around capitalism in pop culture, politics, and culture. It explores moments of realization about capitalism's influence, the questioning of capitalism in a changing culture, concerns about home ownership and the impact of capitalism, the divisiveness and rage in American politics, and the current dissatisfaction with the capitalist system.

When you think of rockstar royalty, a queer, Southern Black man normally doesn't come to mind. But director Lisa Cortés wants us all to reconsider that thought. Her documentary, Little Richard: I Am Everything, takes viewers through the life and legacy of one of the most influential men in music - Little Richard.From the bawdy roots of his hit song, "Tutti Frutti," to teaching Mick Jagger how to work a crowd, Little Richard's impact spans generations. Host Brittany Luse and director Lisa Cortes talk about the documentary, Little Richard's struggles with own identity, and the queer influence on rock and roll.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy