A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein

There is no bigger danger to Jews, apparently, than New York City’s Mayor-Elect, Zohran Mamdani. The morning after he was elected, the ADL announced the launch of the “Mamdani Monitor” to track antisemitism within Zoh...Read more

Jennifer Welch, a 51-year-old Texan turned Oklahoman, is radicalizing America one wine mom at a time. The southern podcaster (who might finally be our “Joe Rogan of the Left”) has become an unlikely, fierce critic of...Read more

Bill Maher is, allegedly, the last sane voice on the left. But he doesn’t believe in the rights of transgender people, or of Palestinians. He thinks college campuses are hotbeds of liberal indoctrinarian that have got...Read more

For the last two decades, Debra Messing — the star of early 2000’s hit Will & Grace — has been something of a liberal Hollywood icon, courting an adoring gay audience and getting into public feuds with Donald Trump. M...Read more

The day after Charlie Kirk was murdered, Ezra Klein published an essay in the New York Times: “Charlie Kirk Practiced Politics The Right Way.” Klein’s piece was one of countless teary-eyed eulogies from across the spe...Read more

Dr. Phil has a new hobby: ICE raids. The daytime television fixture bewildered fans when he began touring with the Trump campaign last year, ending his decades-long streak as a seemingly apolitical celebrity. Like so...Read more

Sydney Sweeney is Hollywood’s most-discussed starlet, often for confusing reasons. Her existence as a visible woman with a human body made her the target of widespread male adoration, ridicule, and political projectio...Read more

Yona Roseman is 19. In two weeks, the Israeli government is imprisoning her for refusing to join Israel's military, for which service is required by all Israeli Jewish teenagers. Because she is transgender, Yona antic...Read more

Jojo Siwa has been a lot of things: an eleven-year-old abused on television for public entertainment, a tween merchandising mogul with a billion dollar brand, Nickelodeon’s first out gay child star, and most recently,...Read more

On the twilight of Pride Month, the New York Times published (and sent out a push notification for) a guest essay titled “How the Gay Rights Movement Radicalized and Lost Its Way” by a gay journalist named Andrew Sull...Read more

From granola fascism to the manosphere, much gets said of the various right-wing pipelines people have gone down in the years since lockdown. One such pipeline remains more mysterious. When you think of conversion the...Read more

Last week, world-class athlete Simone Biles stood up to failed-athlete-turned-crybully Riley Gaines when Riley antagonized a transgender child to her 1.5 million Twitter followers. A harassment campaign, which has bec...Read more

“From the river to the sea” is antisemitic. “Free Palestine” is antisemitic. Children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel raising money for child amputees is antisemitic. ICE is kidnapping college students for antisemitism. Trump i...Read more

In today’s special episode, we’re taking a break from political and cultural analysis to chat with someone who’s been at the center of today’s culture wars but rarely in her own voice: Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s...Read more

Last week, the New York Times reported: “White House Assesses Ways to Persuade Women to Have More Children”. But who exactly is behind this push, and why, and what does it have to do with Elon Musk’s breeding compulsi...Read more

When fitness influencer Ashton Hall’s absurd morning routine went viral a few weeks ago, I was… moved. The hours-long skincare, gym, and journaling ritual felt like an American Psycho-inspired metrosexual fever dream...Read more

What does “gender ideology” have in common with ISIS? Well, they are both… things, arguably. As more people become aware of opportunities to commodify their trauma into anti-trans right-wing media bait, the race for t...Read more

When Gwen Stefani made a tacit endorsement of Tucker Carlson earlier this month, I felt like somebody had knocked the wind out of me. Had the iconic 90’s ain’t-no-hollaback girl made a not-so-sweet escape to the dark...Read more

To the mainstream news, she’s the mother of three of Elon Musk’s children. To a certain type of extremely online Tumblr user in the year 2012, she once approximated God. Today, we take a challenging look at the strang...Read more

Elon Musk just (allegedly) had his thirteenth child with a fourth woman — a 26-year-old “conservative” influencer named Ashley St. Clair. In a past version of the “traditional family values” party, this might’ve been...Read more

Quiet luxury. Clean girl. Old money. Trad living. Kylie Jenner’s pivot from Black culture vulture to glass skin pilates princess. College youth dressed like polyester Shein replicas of Reagan-era prepsters. Something’...Read more

Our country is now run by a bunch of spineless billionaires who were cast out as nerds in college so they launched a vendetta against humanity. Today, Edward Ongweso Jr. of This Machine Kills helps us understand the t...Read more

The first episode of this podcast ever recorded was about Amber Heard and the online public’s inability — or unwillingness — to distinguish between their organic feelings about celebrity abuse allegations and their pa...Read more

The remarkable dissonance between the public’s embrace of UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione and the mainstream media’s outward disdain for both Luigi and the public’s martyrization of him has been… bizarre....Read more

There was a time before Elon Musk was tweeting 60 times a day about trans people and the woke mind virus — and it wasn’t that long ago. As recently as 2018, Elon was boasting about Tesla scoring a 100 on the Human Rig...Read more

A Bit Fruity was due for a good old-fashioned film analysis. Wicked is a kids movie that is actually for adults, holding up a mirror to our increasingly fascistic reality and asking us to question our struggle against...Read more

This was the first election where the online far-right radicalization of young boys and men revealed itself in exit polls. After years of being fed diet-incel podcasts, one thing is clear: Gen Z will not, by some inhe...Read more

In America, the only thing standing between you and wealth beyond your wildest dreams is tying for fifth with a trans person. Today, media critic Ari Drennen takes us into the bizarre world of the 24-year-old whisperi...Read more

The slogan of YouTube’s most popular debate channel, Jubilee, is “provoke understanding & create human connection.” So why is all of its content a cesspool of bigotry, rage-bait, and pseudoscientific slop? Supp...Read more

Well, I got Swiftied. As I sat there, sifting through ever more creative and graphic death threats, I wondered: is it time for a podcast episode? Today, Amanda Montell (of Sounds Like a Cult) takes us on an exploratio...Read more

H-O-T-T-O-G-O, Chappell Roan is someone we do not actually know. But what do we do with the (very real) feelings and relationships we form with the people on our screens? Today, Eliza of Binchtopia and I discuss fame...Read more

How does a harmless interest in yoga turn into a crusade against homosexuals in public schools? Specific though it seems, we’ve all seen it happen: a friend with a seemingly innocuous interest in wellness starts “doin...Read more

Your gender is not determined by your anatomy, your chromosomes, your hormones, or even your internal sense of self. It is determined by J.K. Rowling. Today, Natalie Wynn (aka Contrapoints) and I unpack the harassment...Read more

Is Kamala bumpin’ that? Is BRAT summer over? Who killed it? Today, Maia of Rehash and I attempt a cynical but fair analysis of meme culture, Gen Z nihilism, and political standom. Support me + listen to bonus ep...Read more

I stay away from heterosexual mess, but this time it came to me. Today, Taylor Lorenz and I work backwards to understand how a 21-year-old bed spring factory worker from Tennessee became a culture war symbol because o...Read more

A special episode where we hear from listeners of the show who were lovers, nurses, relatives, students, and friends of people who died from AIDS. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks t...Read more

A drug that needs no introduction and a culture of fatphobia that lives on. Today, we are ALL beating the Ozempic allegations. Use code "fruity" at https://incogni.com/fruity to get an exclusive 60% off an annu...Read more

How does a white gay guy from England go from “trans-Korean” troll to a member of the conservative media establishment? It’s easier than you think! Today, Taylor Lorenz helps us unpack the anatomy of the right wing gr...Read more

Girlbossing too close to the sun can cause a real trainwreck. Today, we examine the unstable foundation of Amy Schumer's feminist brand of comedy and how it all fell apart. Support me on Patreon! Thanks to...Read more

Until a month ago, college students in America were dweeby snowflake liberals, too socially anxious to notify the waiter of an incorrect order. Now, they’re (allegedly) well-connected, well-funded terrorists. Who are...Read more

Autistic nonbinary TikTokers. Loud, flamboyant gay men. The twink who filmed himself having sex in the Senate hearing room. Are gay rights being eroded across the country because some of us are… annoying? It’s temptin...Read more

The new docu-series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” is shedding light on the abuse that early-2000s child stars faced behind the scenes of our favorite Nickelodeon shows. The doc focuses especially on Drake B...Read more

From “sex is real” to Holocaust denial — if it happened to the wizard lady, it can happen to you. Support me on Patreon! Watch more from the brilliant Natalie Wynn a.k.a. ContraPoints. Find more of...Read more

In 2018, I called “Love, Simon” a “gay movie made by a straight woman for straight people.” Today, I tell you why I was wrong. Support me on Patreon! Huge thanks to Blueland for sponsoring today’s show. G...Read more

A rant. Support me on Patreon! Learn more about Trans Lifeline. Big thanks to Rocket Money for sponsoring today’s show. Save more and get your life together at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity. Fin...Read more

I get called a “groomer” on Twitter every day — which is weird, because I want nothing to do with your kids. What is it with queers and kids that gets conservatives so livid? Today, we explore The Gay Agenda’s exhaust...Read more

Peter Staley was a 24-year-old, closeted finance guy when he was diagnosed with HIV. Having been handed a death sentence, he quit his job and devoted what life he had left to fighting the homophobic governments that w...Read more

Taylor Swift has the power to swing the presidential election. What if nothing else matters? Support me on Patreon! Find Angela on Twitter, not X. Find more of A Bit Fruity. Find more of Matt.<...Read more

How the manufactured hysteria over a single can of beer brought an end to the golden age of rainbow Doritos and “Homo Estás” Chipotle ads — at least until we’re profitable again. Support me on Patreon! (ww...Read more

Is there valor in scamming your way through a system that failed you, even if you hurt people along the way? What is the value of the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves? Can you be morally bankrupt and a camp icon...Read more

99% of people who transition continue identifying as transgender for the rest of their lives. The very small amount of people who stop or reverse their transitions — known as “detransitioners” — have become the center...Read more

Are “Queers for Palestine” really like “Chickens for KFC”? No, but understanding intersectional justice can be hard, and sharing memes is easy. Joined by Moe Dabbagh, a gay Palestinian American with family currently i...Read more

The number of kids being homeschooled today is more than double of what it was four years ago, and nobody is making the rules. While the religious right is convinced that political indoctrination is rampant in public...Read more

At the forefront of today’s anti-LGBTQ movement is one shockingly uncharismatic woman. Journalist Taylor Lorenz helps us understand the rise of Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent who now makes a handsome living...Read more

In 2008, Jenna Karvunidis was looking for ways to involve her distant mother in the life of her soon-to-be child. Fifteen years, thousands of acres of wildfires, and a few plane crashes later, she wishes she could put...Read more

Like many people, sitting still and staring at the wall during the early days of the pandemic brought up new feelings for Miss Benny. Notably, that she was transgender. From viral closeted teenager to out Netflix star...Read more

One year later, we revisit the trial that metastasized through society, leaving a culture of brutal misogyny in its wake. NBC journalist Kat Tenbarge helps us navigate a story not just about Amber Heard, but about our...Read more

LGBT conservatives: Why? How? Where did they come from? What can we learn from them, and how can we dismantle the LGBT conservative that lives within all of us? Natalie Wynn (aka Contrapoints) helps us psychoanalyze o...Read more

A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein is coming soon! I'm so happy you're here. Subscribe everywhere podcasts are available, and watch full episodes at https://www.youtube.com/MattBernstein1 Follow Matt: @mattx...Read more