Forget the War of 1812. The United States and Great Britain have just gotten into one of history’s biggest tiffs yet, and the casualties include TikTok FYPs everywhere. The culprit? The origin of most modern issues plaguing the interwebs today: a podcast.
Don’t get me wrong; podcasts can be a wonderful tool for thought leadership and entertainment when conducted by professional or, at the very least, responsible sources. But nowadays, it seems like anyone with an Amazon Prime account and enough abhorrent hot takes to fill up a hot air balloon is chomping at the bit to broadcast the most vile, racist and misogynistic ramblings the world has ever had the displeasure of hearing.
James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu, the men behind the British-based ShxtsnGigs Podcast, are the latest in an embarrassingly long list of men who have made Black women the digital punching bags of their content. This is despite Black women being a very supportive faction of their subscribers.
Things first went south, well, in the south, during a stop in Georgia as a part of their American tour. On an episode of the Pour Minds podcast, the men declared there were no “baddies” in Atlanta.
This struck viewers as strange for quite a few reasons. See, the Pour Minds podcast is hosted by two Black women and is based in Atlanta. I’m not suggesting these men needed to find the love of their lives in the city, but the statement didn’t make sense from a business or cultural standpoint.
Now, perhaps if this was an isolated quip, it would have landed as little more than an ill-advised personal exclamation of a “presence” (everyone’s favorite word when it’s time to disparage Black women, but whatever.) This still would have been problematic in its own right, but it would have been a recoverable fumble. These remarks became especially egregious, though, when a clip of the two men sitting idly by while known racist and provocateur Andrew Schulz called Black women abusive, exhaustive and suggested if given the options, Duncan and Fuhad would choose partnership with white women over Black women.
Their response? To grin all their teeth in his face, laughing as if they were watching an episode of Living Single. (Or perhaps more fittingly, Friends? If you know, you know.)
Given that context, their statements on the Pour Minds podcast became even more concerning. For those who are unfamiliar, saying there are no baddies in Atlanta is like saying there are no horses in Texas: indisputably false and borderline asinine.
“Baddie” is literally an AAVE term, and Atlanta has been a Black mecca for years. Video vixens, IG baddies, W.A.Gs: ATL’s impact is encoded in the DNA of any baddie aesthetic. Black women from Atlanta are a load-bearing wall, integral to the very structure of Black culture.
If James and Fuhad had said this in any other setting, time or place, perhaps they would have been able to take cover under the misogynoir stained cloak that allows men to get away with giving every reason in the book to excuse their disdain toward Black women. (“Black girls bullied me in school; that’s why I don’t like them.”) But to say it in Atlanta was not just illogical, it was hurtful.
For many women, the Sh*ts& Gigs Podcast was once quite popular amongst some Black women who felt like their podcast was one of the few “safe” podcasts we could listen to.
Par for the course at this point, their apology tour has started, accountability has been dogged, and Black women are once again left to wonder what we did to warrant any of this.
