Wesley Morris on podcast-fame, sports, and performing blackness in America

“There’s nothing that will stop white people from trying to do some black shit. It’s fundamentally baked into every aspect of American popular culture. It is the first thing that we invented that was entirely ours — white people dressing as black people and entertaining other people.” — Wesley Morris

Wesley Morris (@Wesley_Morris) the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic at large for the New York Times. Formerly the co-host of the Grantland podcast “Do You Like Prince Movies?”, he now co-hosts the “Still Processing” podcast with Times colleague Jenna Wortham.

In this episode of Deviate Rolf and Wesley discuss the nature of podcast celebrity and how it differs from traditional celebrity (2:45); the stories that sports uniforms tell to the people who watch sports (23:00); the unique task of cultural criticism in the 21st century (30:00); the challenge of being seen as racially representational as a journalist and critic (40:15); and Wesley’s upcoming book about the invention of the performance of blackness in America (51:00).

Media personalities mentioned

• Jenna Wortham (technology reporter and podcaster)
• Roger Ebert (film critic)
• Ta-Nehisi Coates (journalist and public intellectual)
• Bill Simmons (sports columnist and podcaster)
• Ira Glass (This American Life host)
• Angelo Moore (lead-singer of Fishbone)
• Lilly Singh (YouTube star)
• Rebecca Black (YouTube star)
• Emily Bazelon (journalist and podcaster)
• Jordan Peele (film director and actor)
• Ian MacKaye (DIY punk pioneer)
• Rany Jazayerli (sports writer)
• Roxane Gay (writer and commentator)
• Spike Lee (filmmaker)
• Sidney Poitier (actor and diplomat)

Books and articles mentioned

• “The Misunderstood Genius of Russell Westbrook,” by Sam Anderson
• “Bagginess, baseball bodies, and the post-steroid era,” by Wesley Morris
• “Treme’s Big Problem: Authenticity,” by Rolf Potts
• “The Frustrating Unlikeability of Treme,” by Alex Pappademas
• “‘Whitney,’ a Pop Music Tragedy, Is Sad, Strange and Dismaying,” By Wesley Morris
• The Geto Boys (33 1/3), by Rolf Potts
• To the Break of Dawn, by Jelani Cobb
• “The Hug Heard Round the World,” (Malcolm Gladwell podcast episode)

Other notable links

• Slate Political Gabfest (podcast)
• UniWatch (sports uniform website)
• Court tennis (archaic sport)
• ABA/NBA merger (basketball league realignment)
• Free Spirits (30 for 30 episode about the ABA)
• Blaxploitation (1970s film subgenre)
• Blackface minstrelsy (American entertainment form)
• Stephen Foster (19th century songwriter)
• Post Malone (rapper)
• Chromeo (electro-funk duo)
• Teena Marie (singer-songwriter)
• Hall & Oates (pop-music duo)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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