ICYMI - There's No Point To Influencers Anymore
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Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer Daysia Tolentino to discuss whether influencers serve us at all in 2026. James Charles faced backlash for publicly mocking a recently laid-off woman who DMed him for support. And in response, some users are questioning why they even support influencers. While some creators offer niche content or services, many in the A-list are now simply famous for being famous. Meanwhile, the average American is struggling with the rising cost of living. Which begs the question: can we any longer be entertained by watching privileged people doing privileged things?
This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Kate Lindsay, and you're listening to I-C-YMIMI or, in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture. |
| 0:21.2 | And today I am joined by internet culture writer Deja Tolentino, welcome Deja. |
| 0:26.1 | Thank you for having me. |
| 0:27.9 | If you have ever, you're the listener, looked up and explainer for something that is happening on the internet, be it between influencers or with the platforms themselves, and you've probably read Deja's work. |
| 0:38.2 | She has written for places like NBC and GQ and Teen Vogue. |
| 0:41.6 | Deja, I actually thought for sure you would have already been a guest on I-Cy-M-I, |
| 0:46.1 | but it turns out this is the first time we're welcoming you to the pod, |
| 0:49.7 | so I get to ask you our first time welcoming question. |
| 0:52.7 | What is your earliest internet memory? |
| 1:01.6 | I believe my first internet memory was Fred, as in Lucas Krookshank. |
| 1:09.3 | Like Fred goes swimming because I remember very distinctly |
| 1:13.1 | being in the cafeteria of my elementary school in the fifth grade and people were talking about it. |
| 1:20.7 | Like other fellow students were talking about this weird YouTube video. And I was very compelled to |
| 1:27.1 | look it up when I went home that night. And he was a freak. And I was very compelled to look it up when I went home that night. |
| 1:29.6 | And he was a freak. And I was kind of like in love. And I feel like that's telling. |
| 1:36.5 | No, yeah. Can you maybe for the people who weren't little freaks like the rest of us, |
| 1:41.8 | how would you describe Fred? Fred was kind of like an |
| 1:46.1 | intentionally obnoxious and annoying internet character. Yeah. And kind of offensive, but it's |
| 1:53.8 | the early 2000. Yeah, I know. It definitely, we should not say, do not hold us to what is said |
| 1:59.1 | in that video that I haven't seen in like 15 years. Exactly. Also, Lucas Khrushank was probably like only a couple years older than me. And I was like, I was like, I was like 10 years old. Yeah. So it's this creator, Lucas Krochshank, who created his character, Fred Figglehorn, which eventually was turned into a bunch of Nickelodeon movies, but he got to start on YouTube, |
| 2:18.6 | and it was just ridiculous child behavior, I suppose. You know, he just really like high, |
| 2:26.0 | like he turned up the pitch, so it was really high pitched and screaming and yeah. |
... |
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