Samantha Fulnecky Failed the Grift

A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein

Matt Bernstein

Society & Culture, News, News Commentary

4.9 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Samantha Fulnecky filed a religious discrimination complaint against her university after failing an essay assignment in which she only referenced the Bible, she was on a path to victory. Sure, the essay was a grammatical disaster and completely incoherent — not to mention offensive towards both her classmates and professors. Sure, the failing grade was deserved. But in the age of right-wing culture war domination, Samantha was poised to become a star. Her January 6th-loving mother, Turning Point USA (and their recent influx of cash), and the Oklahoma House of Representatives all threw their full weight behind her. Despite all this, Samantha Fulnecky became the last great joke of 2025. Today, Kat Tenbarge, Parker Molloy and I examine why she failed the grift (and the essay). Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about yours (and others!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Subscribe to Kat Tenbarge’s work at Spitfire News. Follow Kat Tenbarge on Bluesky. Subscribe to Parker Molloy’s newsletter. Follow Parker Molloy on Bluesky. Find me on Instagram. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am saddened that they're offended by the truth of the gospel and the truth that I wrote about in my assignment.
0:07.5	And it saddens me to see that that offends them and upsets them the way it did.
0:13.5	Jesus is always worth standing up for and...
0:16.0	Um, um, um, um, um, um, I just want to start by saying that if Samantha Fulnecki was a freshman
0:22.8	in college it would be like, okay, like you're, you know, you're a freshman.
0:26.9	All right, Samantha.
0:28.1	But she's a junior.
0:30.2	And I just think that like by junior year, it's time to get your shit together.
0:41.0	Hello, hello, and welcome back to A BitFruity.
0:44.7	I'm Matt Bernstein.
0:45.8	And if you're watching the video version of this podcast and you're thinking, wow, Matt, that's a lot of makeup.
0:51.5	You look even more like a cloud than usual.
0:54.5	I submit to you that I am not about to talk about evangelical Christians for two hours
1:00.8	and not do my best Tammy Fay drag.
1:05.2	I think this is the first time I've worn false lashes on this podcast, and I'm really fucking excited.
1:08.8	I feel like my face is about to fly away from itself.
1:10.8	A few weeks ago, America reached a new low. You might think I'm referring to Trump getting rid of
1:17.7	free national park access on Martin Luther King Day and on June 10th and instead offering free passes
1:23.7	on his birthday. Or maybe you think I'm talking about CNN, officially partnering with
1:28.7	Kalshi, the pocket casino, which preys on people's financial insecurity by allowing them to
1:34.4	bet on anything and everything, develop gambling addictions, and go broke from the comfort of their
1:40.1	homes. Side note, I was thinking about making an episode about that because it's like really
	...

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