Debunking “Trans Terror” Moral Panic After the Minneapolis Shooting
There Are No Girls on the Internet
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 820 Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rightwing media often spread the myth that trans people are violent or dangerous — a false narrative with zero evidence. These “trans terror” stories persist online and in the news, fueling real-world harm against the trans community. In this episode, Bridget and producer Joey Patt unpack the origins of these myths, explain why they stick, and show how the false idea of “trans terror” makes everyone less safe.
A Trans Pilot Was Falsely Blamed for a Plane Crash. Now She’s Fighting the Right-Wing Disinfo Machine: https://www.wired.com/story/a-trans-pilot-was-falsely-blamed-for-a-plane-crash-now-shes-fighting-the-right-wing-disinfo-machine/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:06.4 | I'm Marcus Grant. |
| 0:07.9 | And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. |
| 0:13.1 | Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? |
| 0:15.8 | Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:45.3 | There are no girls on the internet as a production of IHeart Radio and UnBossed Creative. |
| 0:52.3 | I'm Bridget Todd, and this is there are no girls on the internet. |
| 1:00.2 | Something that should surprise nobody in America is that school only recently just started back, |
| 1:04.7 | and already there was a school shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last week, |
| 1:10.9 | that left an 8-year-olds and a 10-year-old dead and injured 17 others, according to the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O'Hara. |
| 1:14.9 | The three weapons used in the attack were purchased legally, police officials said. |
| 1:18.1 | Now, I wanted to talk about this shooting with my producer, Joey. |
| 1:19.6 | Joey, thank you so much for being here. |
| 1:21.8 | Hey, thanks for having me on, Bridget. |
| 1:30.6 | You know, regardless of it being sort of a less than not so great topic today. |
| 1:35.4 | Yeah, and it's kind of coincidental because you and I had been working on an episode about the way trans people are consistently and unfairly blamed for tragedies or mass shootings |
| 1:42.6 | or mass acts of violence online before all the details are even really clear. |
| 1:48.3 | And so I was offline when this shooting happened and a friend pinged me and said, |
| 1:52.2 | oh, look at this school shooting. It looks like the shooter was trans. And I said, oh, I'm very online. |
| 1:57.6 | I know what's going on here. You know, this is a familiar trope to me. It's a thing that |
| 2:02.6 | happens after a mass shooting online. The internet circulates to say that the suspect is trans. |
| 2:08.5 | And it turned out when the, when the, when more information came in that this suspect actually |
... |
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