ICYMI: Can The Internet Save Animation?

Slate Culture

Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 get the audience they deserve! 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. This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Kate Lindsay.
0:14.8	And I'm Vic Whitley Barry, and you're listening to I see Y.
0:18.1	In case you missed it.
0:20.0	Slay's podcast about internet culture. And Bick, well, one, welcome to the other side of the mic. Oh, my gosh. It's an honor. I love looking at my pillow. It's great. In your beautiful face. Of course, of course. Goes about saying. But two, and perhaps more importantly, did you see Lizzo's Halloween costume?
0:46.1	You are acting like you were telling this to me new, and I will be one to discover it. No, I think I found it. I think I found it and I discovered it and I dropped it in the chat.
0:52.6	Oh, yeah. Okay.
0:55.3	Was that emotionally true?
1:10.4	We'll give you that emotional truth today. That's an emotional truth. But okay, why don't you go ahead, because you're the expert, why don't you go ahead and tell us what was Lizzo's Halloween costume? Yeah, so I used to be a big fan of hers a couple years ago. not really so much of a follower,
1:12.5	fan of her now, but I have to admit,
1:12.2	when she came up on my feed and I saw what her costume was, I got to give her her digital
1:19.1	flowers, dude, because she absolutely ate, in my opinion, because she reenacted the cover of our king international bestselling author, Kuan Mills.
1:33.2	You may have heard of him on this very show.
1:35.8	He is the author of This Ho Got Roaches in Her Crib.
1:39.8	And Kuan Mills blew up on TikTok because of these covers, they are so ridiculous.
1:45.6	And he just knew how to go viral every single time one of his new books came out.
1:52.3	And when I saw her on these covers, you know, I got to give it to her.
1:56.3	That's hilarious.
1:57.3	The commitment to the bit is incredible.
1:59.0	And then I saw the comments.
2:00.5	And a bunch of them were pointing out, this is a, like, girl, you used AI, which she doesn't say. And so I can't like, I was so excited about this. And then now I'm like, oh, if that's AI, that's kind of, kind of a bummer. I am, of course, I'm with you, using AI in just about every circumstance. I'm like,
2:18.5	ew, no, gross, get out of my way. I don't want to do it. But we had to be so for real right now.
2:23.5	V. Kwan Mills absolutely used AI for those original covers. Oh my gosh. No, don't tell me that.
	...

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