ICYMI

ICYMI

Join Kate Lindsay twice a week as we gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back. Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen.

Episodes

December 27, 2025 57 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by internet culture writer Kat Tenbarge to break down the most important internet moments of 2025. But not just any internet moments—specifically, the moments that fall under the three key themes that emerged in online culture over the past twelve months: brain rot, surveillance, and big tech dystopia. These themes not only defined how we lived life online in 2025, but have set the st...
Mark as Played
On today’s encore episode, hosts Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Slate staff writer Aymann Ismail to discuss the controversial YouTube channel, Jubilee. A video of political commentator Mehdi Hasan debating 20 far-right republicans has gone viral, but as Ismail argues in his piece for Slate, it also crossed a line. When political disagreement becomes content and extremism is rewarded with clicks, everybody loses.  This ...
Mark as Played
December 20, 2025 46 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by comedian and writer Youngmi Mayer to talk about a controversy that’s divided TikTok: How should Asian people feel about white people in Asian grocery stores? That’s the question creator Madeline Qi didn’t even mean to ask when she posted her now-viral video, which resulted in call-outs, doxxing, and, ultimately, a conversation too nuanced for TikTok. Youngmi’s attempts to make sens...
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December 17, 2025 41 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by culture writer Angelina Mazza to discuss the online reaction to the new HBO series, Heated Rivalry. Before the Canadian show premiered, let alone was picked up in the U.S., a dedicated online fandom committed to helping it succeed. Why did this show become such a sensation, and what happens to a niche fandom when their subject suddenly goes mainstream? This podcast is produced b...
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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Gen Z expert and After School writer Casey Lewis to talk about how Gen Z TikTok users are switching up on Millennials. After years of mocking the generation for being “cringe” online, now people are longing to return to the 2010s and the culture that came with it. But were Millennials really as “optimistic” as the fancams make it seem? And what does Gen Z have, if anything, to be n...
Mark as Played
December 10, 2025 53 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek, Amanda Mull, to talk about how the enshittification of online shopping came for Etsy. The platform used to be a thoughtful reprieve from the cheap, mass-produced products on Amazon, but now it’s plagued by a number of the same problems. With cheap junk and AI allegations abound, where can the Shein and Temu-haters go to actually find what ...
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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by culture writer Mikala Jamison to talk about the rise in online concern about celebrities’ bodies. Mikala writes the newsletter Body Type, and her forthcoming book The Forever Project details her recovery from an eating disorder. Following the premiere of movies like Wicked: For Good, fan concern and speculation about celebrity bodies has culminated in a larger discussion about the ...
Mark as Played
December 3, 2025 50 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario to unpack the 25-part TikTok saga titled the “Danish Deception.” After a former Bachelor contestant came forward with a story about her scamming ex, TikTok turned on her instead. Why didn’t Onyeka get the Reesa Teesa treatment? And who is the real villain of this story? This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate ...
Mark as Played
November 29, 2025 50 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by creator and social media manager Carmen Vicente to chat about the rise of offline hobbies, and how crafts, DVDs, and something called an “analog bag” are being used as acts of rebellion against an overly plugged-in society. But does this really mean the beginning of the end of social media? Probably not. Instead, Carmen shares how apps as we know them are about to change.  This pod...
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On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by I <3 Mess writer Emily Kirkpatrick to discuss the influx of celebrities joining Substack. As two long-time Substack newsletter writers themselves, the pair dive into all of these new celebrity publications…including the parts they may not know readers can see. What does it say about the state of celebrity that so many are becoming writers—and do they even have anything to say? This...
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November 22, 2025 48 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by porn historian Noelle Perdue, author of the Porn World newsletter. OpenAI announced that they’d allow adult users to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT, just one more way AI and porn are becoming intertwined. As sex becomes more online, not only does it become more solitary, but also more surveilled. Both of these things are intended to divide us, but Noelle is confident that AI...
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On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by New York Magazine feature writer, Rebecca Jennings, to discuss the two internet villains currently trying to get back in the internet’s good graces. First, there’s former Try Guy Ned Fulmer, who was ousted from the group after having an affair with an employee, and has now relaunched his YouTube channel as well as his own podcast. Then, Colleen Ballinger, also known as MirandaSings,...
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November 15, 2025 49 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer and content creator Josh Lora, who also goes by TellTheBees. Josh’s Substack essay, Boyfriendland, was cited in the viral Vogue article written by Chanté Joseph, “Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?” Many women are hiding their boyfriends online, or losing followers if they hard-launch. Some go as far as to say having a boyfriend “feels republican.” Is this heterofatalism...
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November 12, 2025 43 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by Yahoo News senior entertainment writer, Kelsey Weekman, to answer the question on everyone’s lips: Who is Alex Warren and why is every store playing his music? The Hype House OG is nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys, and is part of a growing wave of musicians making “secular praise music.” Where did Alex Warren come from, and how did he pull off a musical career pivot when...
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November 8, 2025 52 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by Manny Fidel, culture writer and cohost of the No Such Thing podcast, to explain how gambling took over the internet. A recent betting scandal not only exposed the chokehold that gambling has on the sports industry, but opened up a larger conversation about how everything on the internet is influenced by gambling. People are betting political candidates and arbitrary fashion choices,...
Mark as Played
November 5, 2025 48 mins
On today’s episode host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate contributing editor Angelina Mazza to explain why Christian creators are throwing away their Hatch alarm clocks. The company’s Halloween commercial was so spooky that it was accused of having “demonic ties,” and now people are claiming they hear voices coming out of the device. The question is not, “Is the devil really hiding inside of a $200 alarm clock?” But rather, “Why do ...
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November 1, 2025 43 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by producer Vic Whitley-Berry, whose favorite animated shows like Hazbin Hotel have been funded by the internet—not big studios. In fact, as major studios consolidate and cut resources for animation, platforms like Patreon and YouTube are keeping the genre afloat. If we don’t continue to support independent artists, then crude animated musicals about religious trauma and pegging won’t...
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October 29, 2025 45 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s Explain It To Me podcast. The pair chat about how the internet used to celebrate Halloween, from spooky Twitter display names to Snapchat filters, and why no one wants to be earnest online anymore. However, today’s internet is still filled with plenty of scary stuff, with r/nosleep still going strong, ghost sightings going viral on TikTok, and LinkedIn...
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October 25, 2025 50 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer and streamer Laura Kate Dale to talk about what happened to Emiru at this year’s TwitchCon. The streamer was assaulted during a meet-and-greet, after a number of female streamers had already dropped out of the convention in fear for their safety. What is it about TwitchCon that makes creators feel unsafe, and why are female streamers, in particular, still paying the price?  ...
Mark as Played
October 22, 2025 42 mins
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to talk about Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who some viewers have accused of shocking his dog on his livestream. Winkie spent time with Piker and his dog, Kaya, for Slate earlier this year, and helps debunk the misinformation currently being spread by cloutchasers and right-wing media figures alike. He also answers the most important question of them a...
Mark as Played

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