I know a lot about historic Hollywood feuds. I could do an entire episode just on the magazine covers featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds circa 1959. But to do any episode on Celebrity Feuds right — particularly one that airs just days before Kendrick Lamar performs at the Super Bowl — I knew I needed a different sort of celebrity feud expert. When Joel Anderson, host of three blockbuster seasons of Slow Burn (including a canonical one on Biggie + Tupac), agreed to come on the show, I legitimately let out a little scream of delight. He has so much knowledge, context, and perspective; this episode is a dream come true.
**Note: This episode was recorded before the Grammys, and we didn’t correctly predict Beyonce’s AOTY win nor Kendrick Lamar’s FIVE awards for “Not Like Us.”**
If you’re unfamiliar with Joel’s work and want an intro, I can’t recommend the first episode of the Clarence Thomas season of Slow Burn highly enough. I’ve listened to it so many times (which is VERY rare for me with podcasts); it’s such a journalistic coup. The entire season is a marvel.
But also — and pertinent to this discussion — check out the season of Slow Burn on Biggie and Tupac
Listen to Joel over at The Ringer on The Press Box
I strongly recommend (re)watching the video for “Not Like Us” (the lyrics auto-play)
A solid overview of the Kendrick/Drake feud from GQ
One of the first reaction Tiktoks I remember seeing:
The ridiculous Cosmo compilation of “Celebrity Feuds From the Year You Were Born” I keep referencing
Joel references “The Fight’s Over, Joe,” a classic Sports Illustrated article on the feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Listen to the Elizabeth Taylor episode of You Must Remember This
This is the unfathomable movie where Liz and Debbie raz Eddie Fisher
If you really want to know about Jane Fonda’s “feud” with her father, the Fonda section of Richard Dyer’s Stars is unrivaled
I personally learned about 50 Cent’s beefs from this episode of 60 Songs That Explain the ‘90s: The 2000s
HISTORICAL ROMANCE (will neither confirm nor deny that we have a co-host whose confirmation made Melody faint)
By popular request, all things fan fiction
Dark Academia
How cookbooks get made
Spiritual care for non-religious people
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!
You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here