**Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com** This episode, we go back to the “naughties” and look at a conversation Oprah held about the depiction of young girls on TV, in music videos, and beyond. This featured hip-hop dancer Karrine Steffens, who had written a book called “Confessions of a Video Vixen” — as well as the singer PINK, who took on this culture in her song “Stupid Girls.” Our guests for this episode are Elizabeth Hinton of Yale, and Saida Grundy of Boston University. You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
**Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com** This episode, we look at the moment that Oprah Winfrey ran the Marine Corps Marathon — and all that it represented about her relationship with fitness, dieting, and health. Throughout the years, from the infamous “wagon of fat” to her very public experiments with different diets, Oprah’s personal approach to fitness has reflected the way our larger culture thinks about weight and health. Our guest for this episode is Natalia Petrzela of The New School, author of FIT NATION and host of the podcasts WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY and PAST PRESENT. Check out all her amazing work on her website! You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
**Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com** This episode, we look at an iconic friendship — and an epic road trip. In 2006, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King drove from California to New York together. Of course, they turned it into an episode for the Oprah Winfrey Show. We look at their friendship, what it says about the bond between Black women, and of course what went down on the very long drive. Our guest for this episode is Brittany Luse, host of NPR’s It’s Been A Minute. You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
**Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com** This episode, we look at Oprah’s love/hate — or maybe hate/love — relationship with hip-hop. We break down two key moments: a 1990 episode about rap music featuring Ice-T, Tipper Gore, and Juan Williams; and then Oprah’s very warm interview with Jay-Z about a decade later. Our guest for this episode is C. Brandon Ogbunu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
**Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com** This episode, we revisit perhaps our most-requested episode, and a touchstone moment in the OWS history. In 1987, Oprah took her show to the town of Forsyth, Georgia — an area where all the Black residents had been driven out some 75 years before. In 1987 there were protests and violence about the town’s racist past, and Oprah held an explosive town hall with the residents of Forsyth. We’re joined for this episode by Carol Anderson, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, a New York Times Bestseller, Washington Post Notable Book of 2016, and a National Book Critics Circle Award winner. You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
We’re back for our second season! We’re bringing you two months of new episodes on some of the most iconic Oprah moments. This episode, we discuss the talk show scene in the late 80s and early 90s, and how Oprah sought to transform herself and evolve past the “trash TV” scene of Jerry Springer, Geraldo Rivera, and more. It’s the evolution from Oprah 1.0 to 2.0 that marked a key moment in The Oprah Winfrey Show, and set the table for the success that would follow. Help support the show as we get back to making new episodes. You can donate right on our website YouGetAPodcast.com You Get A Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kellie Carter Jackson, with co-host Leah Wright Rigueur. You Get A Podcast is produced by Roulette Productions. Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Producer Nina Earnest. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. We are a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Class dismissed!
We’re coming back with two months of new episodes! Here’s a taste of what’s on the way. In the meantime, help support the show and help us get back on our feet under a new name and a new era. Visit https://yougetapodcast.com/home/#donate to help however you can. Thank you!
To wrap up our first season, we bring you a conversation recorded at our first ever live show at the Tribeca Film Festival. We discuss Oprah’s career in film, as actress and producer, from The Color Purple to The Butler. Special Guest: Wesley Morris, culture critic for The New York Times and co-host of “Still Processing.” Find lots more and subscribe to our newsletter on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
Beyonce appeared on Oprah’s show multiple times — as a singer, wife, mother, and mogul. We discuss how the relationship between these two icons evolved and reflected the larger culture. Special Guest: Treva Lindsey, Associate Professor in the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at Ohio State University. Find lots more and subscribe to our newsletter on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
In 2006, Oprah Winfrey profiled three families, their spending habits, and their out of control debt. The episode caused a huge stir, with audience members, the public, and Oprah herself adding a level of shame and disbelief at how the families spent their money. It also launched the eight-step “debt diet” program. But the episodes didn’t get at the larger structural questions of why families end up in debt, and why it’s so hard to break free. Special Guest: Mehrsa Baradaran, professor at UC-Irvine and author of How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap. Find lots more and subscribe to our newsletter on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
Donald Trump appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show eight times, with Oprah touting him as a model American success story. He also used the show to tease his political ambitions, with little pushback on his racism and misogyny. Their relationship reveals a lot about how Trump built his brand, how different audiences viewed his story — and ultimately how he forged a path to the presidency. Special guest: Christina Greer of Fordham and the podcast FAQ NYC. Find lots more and subscribe to our newsletter on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
In 2006, Oprah Winfrey picked James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces” as a book club pick, catapulting Frey into the literary limelight. Soon after, though, reports emerged that he’d fabricated much of the memoir and his most harrowing experiences with drugs and violence. So Oprah confronted Frey on her show, in a very awkward interview. Years later, though, she apologized to Frey for the confrontation. We break it all down and what it means to be duped, be called out, and show contrition. Special guest: Glory Edim, founder of “Well Read Black Girl” and host of the Well Read Black Girl podcast. Learn lots more at wellreadblackgirl.com Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
With Dr. Oz very much in the news — and our listeners very eager to hear our thoughts — we get together to discuss what to make of Dr. Oz’s very questionable track record, and Oprah’s role in giving him a platform. Oprahdemics is hosted by Kellie Carter Jackson and Leah Wright Rigueur. Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
In 2011, Oprah Winfrey did a show in which she was as much subject as host. In it, she revealed and spoke to her long-lost half-sister. It was a show that dove into family secrets, the stories we tell about ourselves, and deep emotion. Special guest: Kendra Field, professor of history at Tufts University, author of “Growing Up with the Country: Family, Race, and Nation after the Civil War” Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
In 2009, a year after falling short in the election, former VP candidate Sarah Palin visited with Oprah to mend some bridges — and sell some books. It was a moment when Palin was trying to shift her image, but she’d already sowed the seeds for much of our modern politics. Special guest: Nicole Hemmer of Columbia, co-host of This Day In Esoteric Political History and author of “Messenger of the Right” and the forthcoming “Partisans.” Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
When Oprah turned 50 in 2004, her friends — that means people like John Travolta and Tina Turner — threw her a surprise birthday party on her show. It was over the top, a little much, but also a celebration of her impact and influence. Special Guest: comedian Roy Wood Jr, Daily Show correspondent and host of the podcast “Roy’s Job Fair.” Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
Tyler Perry appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show ten times over the years — sometimes to go deep on his traumatic past, and sometimes in over-the-top drag as Madea. It’s complicated, it’s deep, it’s messy, and we break it all down. Special Guest: Carvell Wallace, writer and podcaster, regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine and host of the podcast “Finding Fred.” Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
As she does from time to time, Oprah has produced a high-profile interview special — this time with actress Viola Davis, which just dropped as a special on Netflix. Kellie and Leah watched it and immediately shared their thoughts, why Oprah chose Viola as her latest interview subject, and what these two powerful women mean for the culture today. Even if you haven’t watch the special, join us as we talk about Oprah and Viola! We’ll be back on Wednesday with another fresh episode. Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
In 2009, Oprah announced that she was founding the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Gauteng province, South Africa. The show on which she discussed the opening of the school was a mix of charity, celebrity savoir-ism, and complicated American-African dynamics. Special Guest: Elizabeth Todd Breland, historian who studies education and education reform. Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com
Perhaps no guest has infatuated Oprah as much as Toni Morrison. We break down Morrison’s appearances on the show, her place in the Oprah Book Club, and how Oprah served as a bridge between Morrison’s work and wider audiences for decades and decades. Special Guest: Dennis Tyler of Fordham University, who teaches a course on Oprah’s Book Club! Find lots more on our website — Oprahdemics.com Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda. Oprahdemics is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: Oprahdemics.com