You can't even hate watch 'The Idol'; Plus, LIVE with Aubrey Gordon

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

HBO's 'The Idol' has been riddled with controversy, and with the show coming to an end, host Brittany Luse and NPR's Hazel Cills had a lot to say about the series portrayal of female pop stars, along with the more interesting stories they'd like to see Hollywood show us.

Then, Brittany takes on fat discrimination with author, columnist and Maintenance Phase co-host Aubrey Gordon LIVE from the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.

Gordon just had the world premier of "Your Fat Friend" a documentary follows her journey from the eponymous blogger 'Your Fat Friend' to New York Times bestselling author and podcaster.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to it's been a minute from NPR.
0:05.7	I'm Britt Elos.
0:07.2	And just a warning, this segment contains brief mentions of sex depicted on screen.
0:15.8	If you were around in the early Aughts, you remember rushing home after school to do your
0:20.4	homework while watching Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Britney Spears on TRL.
0:27.2	While we grew up in our music tastes expanded, Hollywood is a different story.
0:33.1	TV and movie makers just can't seem to loosen their grip on that iconic idea of the
0:38.5	mic wielding, hip shaking, new-bile pop princess.
0:43.2	The latest of these is HBO's The Idol, which comes to a rocky end this Sunday.
0:49.1	The show follows a fictional pop diva named Jocelyn, and her stormy relationship with
0:54.1	club owner, slash talent manager and cult leader Tedros, played by actual pop star, The
1:00.5	Weekend.
1:01.5	I know it might be hard for you to digest this right now, but I'm running the show.
1:06.9	Okay.
1:07.9	Let me just ask you to get on the table.
1:11.4	What did you think of The Idol?
1:13.3	I have not enjoyed watching The Idol.
1:16.9	This is NPR Music Editor Hazel Sills.
1:19.8	I just think that the show so far is, it's a lot.
1:23.4	It's very grating, it's very violent, it's very intense, and I don't know, I just haven't
1:27.4	been having the fun, hate watch experience that I thought I would be having.
1:32.6	Critics and audiences have trashed the show, calling it sleazy, lazy, and overall not
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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