Podcasting Becomes Last Refuge For Disgraced Politicians & Celebrities

 Last week, disgraced ex-Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced he is starting a new podcast. Fourteen months after resigning from office in a sexual harassment scandal, the former New York governor is forcing his way back into the public eye by launching a podcast on his redemption tour.

“It’s just about expressing my opinion to the public and speaking publicly,” Cuomo said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And to the extent, they don’t like what I have to say, then don’t listen.”

Cuomo’s first guest on the podcast, “As a Matter of Fact … with Andrew Cuomo,” will be Anthony Scaramucci, former President Trump’s White House communications director.

 Cuomo's brother, Chris, is trying a comeback of his own after he was fired from CNN for acting as a strategist for the former governor in violation of the network’s ethics rules.

Debra Katz, a lawyer for former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett, who sued Cuomo last month for sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, was quoted as saying in an article, “I think the world would be a better place if he just stayed at home and worked on his motorcycle,” Katz said, referencing Cuomo’s well-known love for bikes and classic cars.

Cuomo is now following a too-familiar playbook for redemption. 

Start a podcast. There, you can attack your attackers with impunity, and rewrite your history. The revisionism typically includes self-exoneration for themselves and blame dispensed liberally to others who are "out to get me."

After his debacle in Ukraine politics in the Trump administration and his tipsy performance during the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani has been hosting a podcast called, laughably, "Common Sense."

Try to contain yourself, but the podcast is pitched as "Rudy Giuliani gives insight on leadership, courage, and the most pressing issues of our time." Is that liquid courage?

Then we have recently convicted Steve Bannon, who escaped the law via a Trump pardon, and has been charged in New York with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud for his alleged role in We Build the Wall, a group that raised at least $15 million to construct a barrier along the border with Mexico but skimmed the donations.

His podcast, War Room, is indeed popular with the conspiracy set. Bannon may need to pause his podcast since he was just convicted to four months in prison for contempt of Congress. 

These three examples and more politicians and celebrities who have a nasty habit of being reprehensible have started podcasts.

As an avowed podcasting fan and a self-professed steward of podcasting, I worry that podcasting is becoming the trash pile for disgraced people who are seeking amnesty via their own podcast.

Am I worrying about nothing? Look at YouTube. Founded in 2005, the video channel is now a gateway to all kinds of heinous, horrible, and hostile videos. From porn to white supremacists, right-wing extremists to pseudo-religious cults, YouTube's algorithm can grease the skids, so viewers can slide down the rabbit hole toward hate, deviancy, and violence. How many of these school shooters or other mass killers have been glued to YouTube or, worse, posting on YouTube?

TikTok is steering toward a YouTube-like head on collision with dumpster fire content and atrocious people egged by fringe politicians who are now considered mainstream. 

Facebook? Did you know that Nancy Pelosi owns a mansion in China? John F Kennedy Jr is actually the current U.S. President? Joe Biden is to blame for a shortage of Chick-fil-A dipping sauces?

That's the deep vein of misinformation that spreads through Facebook today. I actually miss the days of "Fakebook" where truly unhappy and dysfunctional families posed for breathtaking photos. 

Twitter is already so bad that, by comparison, the Department of Motor Vehicles has become an oasis of civility. Instagram has developed multiple personality disorder. One day, it's a photo posting app. The next day, it's pseudo TikTok. The next day, it's Snapchat.

Since podcasting is, in essence, an open-source, decentralized media format and entry costs are less expensive than most other media outlets, podcasting has become STEP ONE in any disgraced personality's redemption tour. 

Harassed and touched women that work for you and got caught? Start a podcast about the disappearance of masculinity. 

Took bribes as an elected official? Start a podcast about the deep state and how it is out to get you and all your listeners.

Fired for being an unapologetic racist? Start a podcast about societal persecution of white people. Invite other disreputable white people on your show to prove your point. Attack Critical Race Theory (CRT) in every episode, even though you have no friggin' idea what it actually is.

Fired for being a homophobe or being transphobic? Start a podcast about students demanding litter boxes in schools, even though you can't point to a single example. Or attack the two girls that beat your daughter in the high jump because they don't look feminine enough.

Do I have any solutions? Or do I just want to complain?

First, podcast networks like Apple, Amazon, Spotify and others should do a much better job of monitoring the content of their podcasts. 

Second, podcast hosting companies like Libsyn should also being monitoring content and not simply enabling anyone with a credit card to start a podcast.

Third, the hard part. Listeners should not fall prey to confirmation bias. Certainly, you can be a Trump supporter without falling prey to election fraud lies. If you want to listen to Steve Bannon, have at it. Then maybe listen to Rachel Maddow and weigh the disparity between their divergent perspectives. In politics, each ideology has cogent points. Yet, no group have a monopoly on the truth. Question everything. Do your own research.

Even Ted Cruz tells the truth, especially about daylight savings time.

Fourth, do not allow these disgraced politicians and celebrities to rewrite history. Hold them accountable. Are these people on an apology tour or an "everybody was out to get me" grievance festival?

Finally, develop bottom lines on what content you will not accept from these podcast hosts. Stoking hate, denigrating racial, gender, lifestyle and ethnic groups, promoting violence, and augmenting grievances should never be acceptable. 

"Tolerance is possessing a heart or a spirit that gives room at all times for people's weakness and imperfection with a view to fostering peace and promoting friendship." Bishop Dr John Ibenu