Iran, slopaganda, and the lego-inspired creator behind it all
Top Comment
BBC
2.8 • 947 Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lego-inspired characters depicting conflict in the Middle East. This Iranian brand of so-called slopaganda has been viewed hundreds of millions of times and it is colouring the conversation around the US and Israel's war with Iran. On this episode, we speak to a key creator behind the content - the man who calls himself Mr Explosive - and challenge him on his connection to the Iranian government.
Also this week, will a TikToker running into the Church of Scientology's LA headquarters rekindle the trend of 'trespasser content'? And how Nutella are capitalising on the historic Artemis II space mission.
Top Comment is hosted by Marianna Spring and Matt Shea. The series producer is Laurie Kalus. The social producer is Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The editor is Justine Lang. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to get in touch about something that's popped up on your feed, our email address is topcomment@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | An abandoned psychiatric hospital. |
| 0:10.7 | As if staff had simply walked out one day and never returned. |
| 0:14.3 | And the unexplained death of a nursing assistant. |
| 0:17.8 | Mary Glasgow 35 had died when on Judy. |
| 0:20.8 | It wasn't just an altercation. The room was wrecked. |
| 0:23.2 | The curtains were on the floor. |
| 0:24.9 | She didn't just die at her workplace. |
| 0:27.0 | Something strange happened. |
| 0:29.9 | Assume nothing. What happened to Mary Glasgow? |
| 0:33.5 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.7 | Okay, this week on my social media feed, there's one video popped up, which shows this guy called Jaden running really, really fast into what appeared to be, or what are the Scientology headquarters in LA. |
| 0:51.5 | And it's basically like deepest run into Scientology, like how far can you get? |
| 0:56.0 | Wow, it's nice in here. |
| 0:59.0 | And the reason the video is so funny is because you've got kind of like slightly half-hearted, |
| 1:04.0 | like security people going like, no, no. |
| 1:07.0 | And then this guy is like jumping and climbing over stuff. |
| 1:10.0 | It feels like the kind of content that's going to inspire lots more running into buildings. |
| 1:13.8 | And also it feels like that kind of trespasser content that sits in that slightly murky area of, is this okay? |
| 1:21.9 | Because you're kind of breaking into a building, but it's kind of funny. |
| 1:24.8 | No. |
| 1:25.3 | That's really funny because I did that once. |
... |
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