Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Misty Copeland took her final bow last week, retiring from a 25 year career at American Ballet Theatre. A decade ago, she made headlines when she became the first Black woman to be promoted to principal dancer at the company. Lydia Murray, marketing and communications manager at Baryshnikov Arts in New York, joins Elamin Abdelmahmoud to reflect on Misty Copeland’s career as both a star and trailblazer in the world of ballet.

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With the new film ‘A House of Dynamite’ and season 3 of the ‘The Diplomat’ streaming now on Netflix, Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by culture critics El Jones and Kathryn VanArendonk to look at the ways political thrillers are being received amidst our real world geo-political tensions. And CBC Music journalist Natalie Harmsen talks about the new album from Juno and Grammy-Award-winning R&B star Daniel Caesar, and how it reflec...

It's game three of the World Series tonight. And no matter how it all ends, it's been an incredible post-season for Canadian baseball. Elamin Abdelmahmoud talks with Jays superfan Sadaf Ahsan and sports reporter Shireen Ahmed about how the Blue Jays are challenging the idea that it’s ‘America’s Game.’ And podcaster and comedian Marlon Palmer talks about Vybz Kartel's first-ever concert dates in Canada.

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Gwyneth Paltrow, the Oscar-winning actor, multi-millionaire founder and CEO of Goop and unofficial arbiter of gorgeous living, is upset about the way she’s characterized in Amy Odell’s new biography about her. Lainey Lui and Jen Sookfong Lee join guest host Amil Niazi to discuss how her reaction is a little off-brand. And Deven McClure talks about why so many of the NPCs in the latest Pokemon game seem to be going through an e...

'The Perfect Neighbor' is a new Netflix documentary about how a seemingly trivial neighborhood dispute turned into a tragedy. And the doc is told almost entirely through bodycam footage. Culture critic El Jones and Rolling Stone journalist C.T. Jones join guest host Amil Niazi to talk about the doc's unique approach to this true crime story. And comedian Ali Hassan drops by to talk about ‘Who Killed the Montreal Expos?’ The documen...

ChatGPT is expanding into erotica, for verified adults, while Instagram is restricting content for teen users. Tech journalist Samantha Cole and policy analyst Vass Bednar talk with guest host Amil Niazi about the direction of both these platforms. And police are still searching for the thieves who pulled off a jewel heist at the Louvre. Karen K. Ho explains people are turning to pop culture to make sense of the dramatic crime...

Have you noticed hemlines getting longer? Blouses being more buttoned up? Kelsey Stiegman and Tashira Halyard join guest host Amil Niazi to talk about how politics in the era of U.S. President Donald Trump are reshaping fashion, from the fall runways to TikTok trends to your own closet.  Plus, music journalist Grayson Haver Currin discusses the highly anticipated new album from Australian psychedelic-pop artist Kevin Parker — ...

Rock star Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is doing rock star things — like buying paintings. And what better painting for an iconic Canadian rocker to buy than one by Norval Morrisseau, one of the most iconic Indigenous artists in Canada? But when Kevin’s Morrisseau painting is featured in an exhibit, it gets taken down because the head curator says it’s “questionable.” Kevin tries to get some answers but every answer leads to ...

Marc Maron’s groundbreaking podcast WTF is over – he dropped his very last episode this week, more than 15 years after it launched. Culture critics Dominic Tardiff and Niko Stratis join Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about how the podcast changed them, changed public discourse, and so much more. Plus - tickets for Rush's tour officially go on sale this Friday. Music journalist Annie Zaleski discusses the surprise return of the Canadia...

Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter D’Angelo died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. Elamin is joined by music critics Jay Smooth and David Dennis Jr. to look back on D'Angelo's legacy, and how his music helped to change the trajectory of soul, R&B and rap music as we now know it. Plus, legendary Anishnaabe artist Norval Morrisseau is one of the most celebrated Indigenous artists in the world, and criminal fraudsters...

With the controversial theater production ‘Slave Play’ coming to Toronto, Elamin Abdelamhmoud is joined by culture critics El Jones and Matt Amha with their thoughts on this most recent staging of the play and the themes around race, slavery and interracial relationships that it covers. Plus, creators are frustrated after the AI platform SORA introduced stricter controls around what they could do with copyrighted characters and rea...

More than three decades after his death, Canadian actor and comedy trailblazer John Candy is currently enjoying a renaissance thanks to a new documentary and book about his life and legacy. The book’s author, Paul Myers, joins the Group Chat alongside entertainment reporter Teri Hart and podcaster Vish Khanna to explain why Candy remains such a revered figure in Canadian pop culture. We value your input. Fill out our listener ...

One of the bestselling books of the year has to be The Tell by Amy Griffin. It's a memoir about how MDMA-assisted therapy helped her unearth this buried childhood trauma, but a New York Times investigation is now casting doubt on the book. Elamin chats with Nathan Maharaj and Jen Sookfong Lee about the controversy. And MTV cancelled Catfish after 9 seasons. Elamin chats with Candice Lim, co-host ICYMI, Slate’s podcast about interne...