The Politics of Pretending to be Apolitical

Vibe Check

SiriusXM

Society & Culture

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Vibe Check, Saeed and Zach break down the political drama surrounding the Berlin Film Festival 2026 (Berlinale). Then, they dive into Tyra Banks and the new documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, unpacking how the show’s cruelty reflected its era, and how it functioned as part of a broader cultural machine built to break women down. Plus, they share their latest picks for “the vibes are on” and “the vibes are off.” ------------------------------------------------------ Saeed’s Poem of the Week: “How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This” by Hanif Abdurraqib

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Girlfriend.
0:05.4	Girlfriends.
0:07.7	Status has been upgraded to Girlfriend because...
0:12.4	Yeah.
0:13.3	Wow, a lot is going on.
0:15.3	A word.
0:16.0	Well, let's get into it.
0:17.4	I am Saeed Jones.
0:20.3	And I'm Zach Stafford.
0:22.1	You are listening to Vibe Check.
0:33.8	And on today's episode, we're talking about so much, so much political drama, all within culture.
0:40.5	And I think the big takeaway for today is that no matter how hard these celebrities try, there are politics within the culture they make, whether they like it or not.
0:50.7	And also, violence, too.
0:52.9	And the ways in which they create culture as well.
0:55.4	Yeah, well, because it's kind of like, it's like, what is politics? What is culture? It's kind of
1:01.0	saying, what is life? All of it. All of it is culture. All of it is politics. All of it is
1:06.4	life. All at the same time, everywhere, all at once, as they would say. So today we're talking about
1:11.6	two big stories that tell us a lot about the moment we're in. One is the political drama coming
1:16.3	out of the Berlin Film Festival or the Berlinale. One of my favorite film festivals I've ever been to.
1:21.1	It's in Germany, a place that Saeed and I both love. And there's a lot to unpack with what's
1:26.3	happening there that tells us a lot about this year's
1:28.5	award season and all the films that are up for awards. And then we're talking about America's Next
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from SiriusXM, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of SiriusXM and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.