The police killing of George Floyd and the global reaction to his death dominated the news, and that’s reflected in this week’s podcasts.
Of the top 50 episodes on Apple Podcasts this afternoon, 32 addressed the situation. Some covered the ongoing events. Others dove deeper into longer-term issues of institutional racism and police violence. A few episodes that predate current events but are relevant to the moment, including two episodes of 1619, made the top 50.
On the Top Shows chart, 1619 and Code Switch are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Beyond the charts, among the more than 1,000 podcasts I subscribe to, I’d say roughly three out of five episodes also focused on Floyd and relevant issues surrounding his killing. Many podcasters also participated in #PodcastBlackout and didn’t release episodes.
I stand with the peaceful protestors, but I have decided to publish. As always, I aim to chronicle what’s happening in the world of podcasts each week and to keep you — and myself — informed. Take care of yourselves.
Pod Take of the Week
“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but I see hope and I see progress right now.”
Listen: The Ezra Klein Show: Why Ta-Nehisi Coates is hopeful (3:03)
- That’s “Between the World and Me” author Coates, finding some solace in the signs of multi-ethnic solidarity in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
- Coates compares the current turmoil to 1968: “I don’t want to overstate this and be too Pollyannaish, but I think…there are significant swaths of people in communities that are not black, that at least to some extent have some perception of what that pain and that suffering is. And I think that’s different.”
Go Deep
1) George Floyd and Racism in America
Listen: The Daily, Pod Save America, Unlocking Us with Brené Brown, The Bill Simmons Podcast, 1619, Code Switch, FiveThirtyEight Politics
- A few of the 32 episodes in the Apple Podcasts top 50 that touched on current events:
- The Daily has been on the story all week, with an exploration of the systems that protect the police (Chart position: No. 2) an interview with the mayor of Minneapolis (No. 3) and an overview of the U.S. demonstrations (No. 5).
- Pod Save America (No. 6) talks to civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
- Brené Brown (No. 19) talks to Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Antiracist.”
- Bill Simmons (No. 22) also talks to Mckesson.
- The two 1619 episodes in the top 50 cover the fight for a true democracy (No. 29) and the economy that slavery built (No. 50).
- Code Switch (No. 33) examines a decade of watching black people die.
- FiveThirtyEight Politics (No. 47) dives into police violence data.
2) The Potential Covid-19 Vaccine
Listen: Coronavirus Daily, Marketplace All-in-One, Coronavirus Global Update
- Some progress this week! Several vaccine candidates have begun human trials, and these podcasts have the details.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. Allen, Woody Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin
- The backlash Baldwin received for featuring Allen on his pod was swift and persistent.
Beah, Ishmael The Maris Review
Boseman, Chadwick Off Camera with Sam Jones
Bottoms, Keisha Lance Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction, Pod Save America
Choi, Susan Bookable
Colbert, Stephen Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Cooper, Chris WTF with Marc Maron
DeGruy, Joy FANTI
Egan, Jennifer Bookable
Gadsby, Hannah Good One, Homo Sapiens, Conversations
Gervais, Ricky The Last Laugh
Hoffman, Reid Hello Monday
Kasparov, Garry The Jordan Harbinger Show
Kendi, Ibram X. Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
Lowe, Rob Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Mandel, Howie Life is Short with Justin Long
McCarthy, Andrew Deviate with Rolf Potts
Mckesson, DeRay In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt, Touré Show, The Bill Simmons Podcast Pod Save America
Menakem, Resmaa On Being
Minhaj, Hasan It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Pavitt, Bruce How I Built This with Guy Raz
Poneman, Jonathan How I Built This with Guy Raz
Popovich, Gregg Flying Coach with Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll
Pratt, Katherine Schwarzenegger On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Rawlings, Donnell Good for You
Sabathia, CC The Bill Simmons Podcast
Smith, G.E. WTF with Marc Maron
Thurston, Baratunde Pivot
Watts, Reggie The Joe Rogan Experience
Wright, Jeffrey WTF with Marc Maron
Yang, Bowen Keep It
Notable New Podcasts
- The pod about the missing women of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, “investigates theories about what or who is responsible—a serial killer, organ traffickers, a Satanic Cult—and pursues an investigation with law enforcement on both sides of the border, terrified witnesses and corrupt authorities.”
- It’s No. 15 on Apple Podcasts.
- It’s the “untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring a savage Nazi murderer to justice.”
3) Heaven Bent
- Tara Jean Stevens investigates a “bizarre spiritual movement” that, in 1994, turned a small Christian church in Toronto into one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
- Tim Ferriss’s short-form pod “highlights short life advice from the best in the world.”
5) Paperclip
- The Amazon Studios/L.A. Times Studios production “explores how Operation Paperclip – the recruitment of Nazi Germany’s most brilliant and, in many cases, most villainous scientists to the United States after World War II – impacted some of America’s most vital, monumental, and controversial endeavors.”
- It’s a “musical comedy about tech and innovation, think The Producers meets Gimlet’s ‘Startup’ podcast.”
- The true crime pod “tells the stories of five men with different paths who arrived at the same destination — the Electric Chair.”
And One to Look Forward to: This is Not a Drake Podcast (June 16)
- The CBC pod will break down “seminal moments in Drake’s career to explore the history and evolution of hip-hop, R&B, gender dynamics, and Black culture.”