ICYMI

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to play a game of High Speed Downloads, where they get 60 seconds to break down an internet story they’re obsessed with. From the sudden memeification of a decade-old Nickelodeon show to everything that’s going on with Shannon Sharpe, they also explain what happened between Ice Spice and her opening act-turned-former best friend. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by culture reporter Ej Dickson to break down her Rolling Stone profile of A.J. and Eric “Big Justice” Defumo, better known as the “Costco Guys.” In January 2024, A.J. was a former pro wrestler-turned-mortgage lender who wasn’t finding much traction on TikTok, until his son Eric joined him for a trip to Costco. That laid the groundwork for the duo’s biggest video to date, which combined their love for the warehouse chain and Tiktok’s fascination with the chicken bake institution. With more than 53 million views, the family business is only expanding with influencer touchstones such as toothbrush sponcon, a cast of characters, and a hit song. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to break down the BookTok drama surrounding Old Enough by Haley Jakobson. Last year, Old Enough hit the shelves as a queer, coming-of-age novel about a sophomore in college named Sav and her ex-best friend, Izzie. A year later, a guest of Lucie Fink’s podcast The Real Stuff claimed she was allegedly the basis for Izzie and that her childhood was “plagarized” for the novel — from her experience with sexual assault to sensitive details about her family. On today’s episode, ICYMI asks how this BookTok drama became the “Bad Art Friend” of 2024 and where the lines should be drawn when it comes to using the trauma of others to sell a book. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Wailin Wong, the co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money. Back in January, ICYMI explained everything you needed to know about Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise — a nine-month trip that TikTokkers on land and sea couldn’t stop talking about. Today, we’re checking in with our favorite boat that’s finally coming home, dispatching everything from geopolitical crises to engagements, and passengers who didn’t get back on board. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Rolling Stone writer CT Jones and Switched on Pop producer Reanna Cruz to hold a retrospective on the internet history of Charli XCX, the founder of brat summer and a decades-long digital icon. They’re going all the way back to 2012, when a girl from Essex named Charlotte Aitchison hit the main stage with “I Love It.” They’ll dissect their first Charli XCX memories, the 2016 song that changed Charli’s entire internet career, and how her pandemic album-documentary led up to this moment, asking: Was it Charli’s Angels or Charli’s destiny? This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Want more ICYMI? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the ICYMI show page. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Zakiya Gibbons, the host and creator of the reality dating podcast Hang Up. On today’s episode, they explain YouTube’s biggest phenomenon of the past year — Skibidi Toilet. The animated, dystopian web series was created by Alexey Gerasimov, whose toilets have broken the internet and wracked up more than 43.5 million subscribers. Skibidi Toilet’s biggest fans seem to be Gen Alpha, who are congregating around a meme that Gen-Z can’t fully get behind. Therefore, does Skibidi Toilet mark the first internet war between our two youngest generations? This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Want more ICYMI? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the ICYMI show page. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe and former host of Vox’s The Weeds Jonquilyn Hill. Vice President Kamala Harris has been a public servant for more than 20 years, but her internet history is just as storied and rife with awkward singing, baffling laughter, and accidental viral hits. From coconut trees to Venn diagrams, ICYMI dives into Harris’ relationship with the internet, the K-Hive, and her hall of fame memes. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by internet culture reporter and Embedded writer Kate Lindsay to explain Hannah Neeleman, better known as Ballerina Farm — the Mormon, Julliard-trained dancer who married a JetBlue nepo baby and became one of this year’s most intriguing, yet controversial influencers. They’ll check in on the state of tradwives, trace how Neeleman got here, and ask whether Ballerina Farm is a victim or a victor. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by writer, podcaster and YouTuber Allison Raskin, whose new book I Do (I Think) about Gen-Z and millennial marriages comes out October 15th. On today’s episode, Raskin takes us through her internet diaries which include the Substack app and her favorite internet conspiracy theories. But first, Raskin talks about her good (and bad) memories of working at Buzzfeed in its heyday, and the highs and lows of her most public friendship online. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Unladylike’s Cristen Conger, whose new podcast Conspiracy, She Wrote unravels women’s overlooked roles in today’s conspiracy culture. On today’s episode, they’re diving into Conger’s internet diaries, from her golden rules for engaging online to the conspiracy theory she secretly believes in. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to play High Speed Downloads. On today’s episode, they’ll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories of late, including the mess surrounding It Ends With Us, why a Team USA gymnast has been asked to return her bronze medal, and what it means to be “very demure.” This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by internet culture writer Steffi Cao, whose Substack recently started an advice column all about internet etiquette. On today’s episode, they’re answering reader questions such as: Should I report unhinged Facebook behavior? And should I get into political fights in the DMs? This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from this January about longform video essays. In this episode, Candice Lim is joined by Anisa Khalifa, a podcast producer and host of The Broadside from WUNC. They dissect the phenomenon surrounding video essays, which are not exactly new to YouTube, but finding a captivated audience in Gen-Z and millennial culture. From deep dives into The Hobbit to retellings of Greek mythology, the ability to analyze pop culture, cite sources and listen to spoken essays uninterrupted is creating the hunger for more longform content. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe curate the internet’s best memes and moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics thus far. From the best Snoop Dogg moment to their favorite Olympic TikToker, they begin with the question on everyone’s mind: who’s winning the gold medal for best Olympic crush? This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim, with production assistance by Jared Downing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe break down the allegations surrounding YouTuber and podcaster Cody Ko. In May, fellow YouTuber Tana Mongeau alleged that Ko had sex with her when she was 17 and he was 25. While covered by outlets such as Rolling Stone, the controversy did not pick up steam until commentary YouTuber D’Angelo Wallace posted a 15-minute video investigating Mongeau’s claims and mapping out Ko’s history of burying controversies. Since then, Ko has lost more than 300,000 subscribers and his podcast network claims he “will not be involved in the day-to-day operations” of their business. However, fans have lingering questions, such as: did Ko’s associates try to squash the controversy on Reddit? Why were Mongeau’s allegations not taken seriously the first time? And what happens when a commentary YouTuber espouses the rampant misogyny they so heavily criticize online? This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Slate writer Luke Winkie to break down the curiously indefinable “Zynternet.” Substack writer Max Read coined and defined the term as “a broad community of fratty, horndog, boorishly provocative” (mostly) men in their 20s and 30s who obsess over college sports, light domestic beers and Zyn nicotine pouches. On today’s episode, ICYMI asks who the “Zynternet” is performing for and whether its rise is a backlash against brat summer. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Patrick Hosken to discuss the downfall and disappearance of MTV News. In May 2023, Paramount Global laid off 25 percent of its workforce, which included MTV News staffers like Hosken. A year later, Hosken had a new job at Rochester’s CITY Magazine when he clicked on his own MTV News articles and discovered they were gone because the website had been taken down. On today’s episode, Hosken describes the emotional journey of getting laid off, watching decades of music journalism disappear and how this was a lesson in internet preservation. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re bringing you an episode from our friends and colleagues over at What Next: TBD. Guest host, Cheyna Roth is joined by Ash Nelson, journalist and author of “The Lost Art of the DVD Extra” for Slate. The two discuss the downsides of the streaming era are coming into focus for movie fans—uncontrollable, changing libraries; lower fidelity; lack of extras and features. Can all of these be solved with a return to physical media? Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Amanda Mull, whose pieces investigate your favorite big-box stores, the cult of exercise and the girlboss economy. They dive into Mull’s internet diary, which includes her golden rule for arguing online, her most beloved @dril tweets and why she’s changed her mind on Peloton. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to play a game of High Speed Downloads, where they get 60 seconds to break down an internet story they’re obsessed with. From the rapidly rising star of the “Hawk Tuah girl” to the awkward BET Awards moment involving Taraji P. Henson and TikTok star Keith Lee, they also give some advice on what to do if you catch someone cheating on your next flight. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices