War with Iran, and Award Shows in This Political Moment

Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Stacey opens the show with the war the Trump administration launched against Iran, a deadly and expensive undertaking pursued by the president without seeking congressional approval. Then, she turns her attention to the upcoming Academy Awards and examines the role the film and entertainment industry plays in America’s current political and cultural moment. Stacey is joined by Sam Sanders, host of The Sam Sanders Show on KCRW, and Hunter Harris, host of the Lemme Say This podcast and author of the Hung Up column on Substack. They discuss the movies and moments with political messages this year, the way media consolidation will impact studio decisions in the future, and the art and performances that will stick with us for years to come.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Learn & Do More:

Be Curious: Check out The Sam Sanders Show on KCRW, Hunter Harris’ Substack, Hung Up, and her podcast Lemme Say This.
Solve Problems: Support organizations that uplift independent filmmakers and diverse voices in the industry. Check out Chickeneggfilms.org, the NAACP’s entertainment initiatives, and GLAAD’s efforts to bring inclusivity to film and gaming.
Do Good: There have already been many civilian casualties because of the war against Iran. Donate to doctorswithoutborders.org and unicef.org to support families in the region.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams from Cricket Media.
0:12.6	I'm your host, Stacey Abrams.
0:16.5	Culture creates politics.
0:18.7	Who we think we are dictates what we value, and it often predicts who we put in
0:24.1	charge, who we punish, and what we celebrate. Once a year, we enter into a season where our culture
0:31.4	is judged by the products it puts on screen, and that's why today's episode is a deep dive
0:37.3	into the Oscars. We'll be talking
0:40.0	about the nominations. What got platformed, what was ignored, and why this year's ceremony
0:45.8	moves unmistakably political undertones into stereo. From vampires to battlefields to anti-heroes taking center stage, the Oscars recap a 2025
0:58.8	no one has fully processed, and it gives us hints about what's to come. Guiding us today are our
1:06.2	panelist Sam Sanders, host of the Sam Sanders Show on KCRW, and Hunter Harris from the Let Me Say This
1:14.5	podcast and the substack column hung up. They are cultural experts and proud movie buffs who will
1:21.6	help us understand how the Oscars reflect and project our times, even from Shakespeare in England, and what we may have
1:29.9	missed in the background. But first, we cannot enter this week of cinematic and cultural analysis
1:38.9	without understanding the theater of war playing out half a world away. The decision by American and
1:47.2	Israeli leaders to attack Iran will have reverberations for decades and across multiple nations.
1:55.3	The killing of the Ayatollah, the religious and political leader of Iran's theocracy,
2:00.6	has been confirmed, but not much else about why we attacked or what comes next is actually known.
2:09.4	Now, I am not a pundit or a commentator, but I am an American citizen active in the political life of her country. For the past 30 years,
2:19.9	I have been focused on democracy. At one point, a good friend challenged me to better understand
2:26.8	the international dimensions of that topic. To know what is happening abroad could help my work
2:33.3	here at home.
	...

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