A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein

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, a dollar store trad wife. Behind the facade of endlessly shapeshifting court jester, though, Jojo Siwa is a 22-year-old human who has not known life without cameras and a momager since she was nine. Today, Kat Tenbarge [https://spitfirenews.com/c/about] and I do some good ole (queer) child star anthropology — and make the case that we, the viewers, are not morally neutral for tuning in.  Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein%E2%81%A0]! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off [https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off] Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity [https://www.blueland.com/fruity].  Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News [https://spitfirenews.com/%E2%81%A0%C2%A0]. Find me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/%E2%81%A0]. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/%E2%81%A0]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

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 Sullivan. If you thought I could resist this A Bit Fruity bait, you’d be wrong. Today, Chase Strangio [https://www.instagram.com/chasestrangio/?hl=en%20] — who recently made history as the first trans lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court in US v. Skrmetti — helps us parse out some genuinely difficult questions. What is the right way to ask people in power for your rights? Has the gay movement gone too far? What is the point of the New York Times? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein%E2%81%A0]! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about your (and your dad’s!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity [https://www.ground.news/fruity] Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity [https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity] Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity [https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity] Find me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/%E2%81%A0]. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/%E2%81%A0]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

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 therapy, do you imagine a doctor administering shocks to a gay man strapped to a chair? A queer child sent to conversion camp against their will? What if a queer adult goes to ex-gay camp of their own volition? What if someone's conversion therapy is simply a playlist of ex-gay testimonial videos on YouTube — what can laws do to prevent kids and adults from watching them? Today, Kat Tenbarge [https://bsky.app/profile/kattenbarge.bsky.social] and I examine ex-queer case studies, from beloved YouTuber Lohanthony to detransitioners, and try to understand what “conversion therapy” means in 2025. It’s understood that more people will come out  as a society becomes friendlier to queerness — but can that pattern also work in reverse? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein%E2%81%A0]! Subscribe to Kat’s work at Spitfire News [https://spitfirenews.com/]. Find me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/%E2%81%A0]. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/%E2%81%A0]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

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 become a standard (and winning!) online strategy for online right, ensued against Simone. The comments flooded in, eviscerating the gymnast (and her sponsors) — “So you want my daughter to compete against boys?” “How many medals would YOU have if you competed against MEN?” And perhaps most jarring, “I guess you want other little girls to get abused the way you did.” Things flew off the handle and became severely detached from reality, as they so often do in these campaigns. Facing endless harassment, Simone apologized, and Riley has been taking a Fox News victory lap ever since. Today, Natalie Wynn (a.k.a. Contrapoints) returns to the show as we explore the anatomy of a moral panic, the harassment campaigns which fuel them, and why you cannot compromise with a fascist. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein%E2%81%A0]! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off [https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off].  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity [https://www.blueland.com/fruity].  Subscribe to Natalie on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/contrapoints]. Find me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/%E2%81%A0]. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/%E2%81%A0]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

“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 is dismantling higher education because of antisemitism. As a Jew, I’m… confused. And uncomfortable. Today, we examine the validity of The Antisemitism Panic, the dark underbelly of it, and the people pulling the strings to make it happen. Hint: they aren’t Jewish. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/mattbernstein%E2%81%A0]! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni: https://incogni.com/fruity [https://incogni.com/fruity] Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity [https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity].  Listen to Matt Lieb’s podcat, Bad Hasbara [https://open.spotify.com/show/5RDvo87OzNLA78UH82MI55?si=27ec3fb7b0e44ab0]. Follow Matt Lieb on Twitter [https://x.com/mattlieb%E2%81%A0]. Find me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mattxiv/%E2%81%A0]. Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/abitfruitypod/%E2%81%A0]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]