Cultural Appropriation? Podcast Not Exclusively Run by White Guys Goes Viral

6/7/2021 by Madeline Kline

Outrage from the podcast community has recently hit a peak due to the recent viral success of the hot new podcast, The Anything Academy.

While the podcast mainly focuses on a variety of seemingly innocuous topics such as “Asparagus is the GOAT of Vegetables” and “Dishwashing Detergent: Also Hand Soap?” controversy has followed hot on its heels. The cause of the controversy? Classic cultural appropriation.

“It’s literally so unfair,” says Jasper Scott, 22, member of a podcast called The Dude Burrito. “This group just comes in and thinks that they’re podcasters because what? They have a podcast? It’s total cultural appropriation.”

This sentiment was echoed by another podcaster, Nathan Perry, 25, who said, “it’s like they’re wearing the title of podcaster like a costume. They have no appreciation for the culture.”

In this investigation, we dove deep to look into the cultural significance and history of the podcast and found it was steeped in tradition. The tradition, of course, being the semblance of a podcast group being made up of at least three to four white men and, potentially, a woman or non-threatening person of color. 

The Anything Academy sports a “woke” group of only two white men and three women, a staggering deviation from tradition and, in our opinion, human decency and respect.

“They’ve stolen our history, and for what? To talk about ‘Which Ryan Reynolds Role Was Funniest’? It’s outrageous and clearly takes the rich history of podcasts as a joke.” said Jeremy Brooks, 31, of the podcast Time Out for Titties.

In time, we can only hope that The Anything Academy will be held accountable for the blatant cultural appropriation they display every Wednesday night when their podcast is released.Outrage from the podcast community has recently hit a peak due to the recent viral success of the hot new podcast, The Anything Academy.

While the podcast mainly focuses on a variety of seemingly innocuous topics such as “Asparagus is the GOAT of Vegetables” and “Dishwashing Detergent: Also Hand Soap?” controversy has followed hot on its heels. The cause of the controversy? Classic cultural appropriation.

“It’s literally so unfair,” says Jasper Scott, 22, member of a podcast called The Dude Burrito. “This group just comes in and thinks that they’re podcasters because what? They have a podcast? It’s total cultural appropriation.”

This sentiment was echoed by another podcaster, Nathan Perry, 25, who said, “it’s like they’re wearing the title of podcaster like a costume. They have no appreciation for the culture.”

In this investigation, we dove deep to look into the cultural significance and history of the podcast and found it was steeped in tradition. The tradition, of course, being the semblance of a podcast group being made up of at least three to four white men and, potentially, a woman or non-threatening person of color. 

The Anything Academy sports a “woke” group of only two white men and three women, a staggering deviation from tradition and, in our opinion, human decency and respect.

“They’ve stolen our history, and for what? To talk about ‘Which Ryan Reynolds Role Was Funniest’? It’s outrageous and clearly takes the rich history of podcasts as a joke.” said Jeremy Brooks, 31, of the podcast Time Out for Titties.

In time, we can only hope that The Anything Academy will be held accountable for the blatant cultural appropriation they display every Wednesday night when their podcast is released.