Podcast
Diabolical Lies
Hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin & Caro Claire Burke · EN
29episodes
Episodes
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How 'The Botox Psyop' Broke Our Brains in the Name of Beauty
6d ago00:18:48Summary readyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
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Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, & the Business of Relatability
3w ago02:13:58Summary readyAlex Cooper is one of the most successful podcast hosts in the country. Alix Earle is one of the most popular TikTok stars in America. The women, who appear to be separated by a single vowel and little else, have become central to a slow-burning pop culture feud representing two distinct, radically divergent archetypes: the Mean Girl™ and the Girl’s Girl.™Cooper’s storied past includes a messy, public split with her former Call Her Daddy cohost, Sofia Franklyn, which she parlayed into an enormous deal with Spotify and, later, SiriusXM. Earle’s background is simpler and cleaner, involving a seemingly overnight ascent on TikTok and a Teflon-like immunity to controversy.Today’s episode is ultimately a story about the manipulation of discourse and how double standards don’t just exist between women and men, but between women who are, for all intents and purposes, functionally identical. It’s a deep dive into the characters populating the latest girl-on-girl morality play, a spectacle uniquely suited to demonstrate the skill of those seated atop the modern attention capture content creation industry. Enjoy this valiant effort to extract a takeaway other than “wow, maybe the internet really is making all of us stupider.” “Call Her Daddy’s Alexandra Cooper Made Her Name Talking About Sex. With Her Massive Spotify Deal, She’s Pushing Beyond That” by Eliana Dockterman for Time (2021)“Daddy Issues: Trouble Behind the Scenes of Alex Cooper’s Unwell Media Empire” by Clara Molot for Vanity Fair (2026)“Noticing Emily Ratajkowski’s New Essay, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Politics, and Alex Cooper’s Leadership Skills” from Good Noticings (2026) “Inside Alex Cooper’s Unwell: Tears, Screaming and Employees Looking for the Exit” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026)“Alex Cooper, Husband Skip Team Meeting After Behavior Complaints” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026)“Alex Cooper Went From Raunchy Podcaster to Gen-Z’s Barbara Walters” by EJ Dickson for Rolling Stone“The ‘Call Her Daddy’ Feud: What Happened?” by Taylor Lorenz for The New York Times (2020)Dave Portnoy’s obnoxious video to “Suitman” on the Call Her Daddy Instagram account during the negotiation breakdown“The truth about Call Her Daddy” on Alex Cooper’s YouTube channel“After Leaving ‘Call Her Daddy,’ Sofia Franklyn is Back with a New Podcast of Her Own” by Andy Meek for Forbes (2020)“Dave Portnoy Hates The Way Alix Earle Has Handled The Alex Cooper Controversy,” also known as a 50-year-old man hosting his favorite series, “Tea by the Sea” Brianna Chickenfry entering the chat “‘Call Her Daddy’ Host Alex Cooper Launches the Unwell Network, Inks Development Deals with Influencers Alix Earle and Madeline Argy” by Todd Spangler for Variety (2023)“The Alix Earle Effect” by Véronique Hyland for Elle“Alix Earle’s ‘Hot Mess’ Podcast Dropped by Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network (EXCLUSIVE)” by Tatiana Siegel for Variety (2025)“The Art of the Alix Earle Deal” by Sara Ashley O’Brien for The Wall Street Journal (2025)The first direct shot, fired by Alex Cooper“Alix Earle is Bringing Your FYP to TV with New Netflix Reality Series” by Melanie Whyte for Tudum, the Netflix site (2026)“The Conservative Star Who Wants to Host the ‘Call Her Daddy’ of the Right” by Ashley Carman for BloombergYou know we’re in some rich pop culture territory when the right-wing reactionary framing almost exactly matches the mainstream framing“Alex Cooper’s Netflix Problem” by Natalie Korach for Status (2026) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
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How Reality TV Makes Us All Republicans
Jun 1400:16:02Summary readyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
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The "Rise" and Fall of the Girlboss
May 3102:24:49Summary readyRESTOCK ALERT: Just in time for your summer vacation, the Banned Books tote is back in stock.Alt. title: Katie finally bites off more than she can chew and attempts a nuanced exploration of the Lean In, Girlboss cultural era.13 years ago, Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The following year, Sophia Amoruso published #GIRLBOSS.The broad understanding of this period was that—for a few solid years—we widely embraced the edicts of “corporate feminism” or “Lean In feminism” or “Girlboss feminism,” so named for a societal shift that saw a recognition and celebration of women’s career ambition as a decidedly positive thing worthy of support and encouragement or, at the very least, a collection of sassy poly-blend T-shirts.We tried it, and it didn’t work.…but did we?Diabolical Lies investigates.All citations and references can be found at https://www.diabolicalliespod.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
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How to Give Birth in America, Pt. 2
May 1700:15:14Summary readyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
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Gen Z Women's New "Anti-Woke Voice"
May 302:16:59Summary readyNEW SWAG ALERT 🚨 The Small Government line is back & better than ever. Get yours here.Katie’s back on her metaphoric “What’s Charlie Kirk up to these days?” editorial grind—checking in with one of the hottest new Gen Z Lady Voices taking the middle-aged men of the center-right by storm.In this episode, we check in with a writer we haven’t discussed since one of our very first episodes:Freya India, also known as three Jonathan Haidts in a very hot 26-year-old trenchcoat, just published her first book, Girls®—an excoriation of the modern world and its effects on The Youth (or, more specifically, the pathologies of liberal teen girls, as she often puts it).To hear India tell it, young girls have been Filtered, Diagnosed, Documented, Disconnected, Detached, and ‘Empowered,’ all thanks to the increasingly rapacious incentive structure of a pyramid-shaped economic system that necessitates a constantly growing consumer base wait, sorry, no. That’s not it. Actually, we’re not really sure why. You know what? It’s not important. Let’s move on.What Girls® lacks in explanatory mechanisms, it makes up for in solutions: Logging off, finding God, and starting a family.The ideological project underway here should be obvious to anyone whose brain hasn’t been marinated in a dutch oven full of expired bath salts, so why has this book been endorsed by a gaggle of high-profile, putatively left-wing men?Diabolical Lies investigates.All citations and references can be found at www.diabolicalliespod.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
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Who's Afraid of Hasan Piker?
Apr 1900:20:44Summary readyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
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The Caro Episode
Apr 501:42:10Summary readyOrder Yesteryear if you like nice things, have good taste, or don’t want Katie to show up in the middle of the night at your house with a strongly worded remonstration.What does it feel like to spend 10 years of your life pursuing an uncertain dream when the chances of breakthrough success are one in a million?What does it feel like to—finally, at long last—be “the one”?Caro Claire Burke, one-half of your favorite podcast, is publishing her debut novel this Tuesday, April 7. Yesteryear is mouthy, thrilling, important, ambitious, and, as one of my favorite reviews said, “moves like a freight train.”Sound like anyone else you know?Today, I finally get the opportunity to talk to caro claire burke about:* whether publishing your debut novel is a dream come true or a nightmare* who she was before she wrote Yesteryear* her seemingly endless years writing clickbait for a paycheck in the content coal mines of various aggregators* how she felt when we met 🥰* how I felt when we met 👹* the psychological experience of feeling like everyone’s looking at you (Professionally™️) and knowing the precise dates and times when your life’s work will be dissected for sport in public lol* to what extent it’s fair to infer someone’s politics from their fiction (a la this piece)* her Official Stance on separating the art from the artist (compelling tbh)* a spoiler-frenzied discussion of the Next Great American Novel* and a very personal, very special update for Caro This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
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How 'Love Story'—and the Kennedys—Fooled America
Mar 2200:48:55Summary readyThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
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Jeffrey Epstein & the Ordinary Misogyny of "Extraordinary" Men
Mar 802:28:38Summary readySome quick housekeeping to start this lovely Sunday:If you’ve already pre-ordered Caro’s debut novel Yesteryear, or wish to do so now, Knopf wants to thank you. They’re sending custom, limited edition bandanas to DL Substack subscribers — all you have to do is input proof of your order in this link here, and they’ll ship you the bandana, clean and simple. (This is only for US subscribers.) Thanks so much for the support, y’all!Jeffrey Epstein got away with it because he was richer than God. No — he got away with it because he had a rolodex filled with the most influential and powerful people on the planet. No — he got away with it because of his wiliness, and his almost preternatural ability to charm people. All of these claims have been discussed to death in both mainstream and alternative media, and continue to serve as the prevailing theories for why this man was able to abuse young women at a terrifying scale for decades without suffering legal repercussions for it. Today, we discuss an alternative hypothesis. ”A Young Jeffrey Epstein Made An Impression On His High School Students,” by Cat Schuknecht for NPR“Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich,” by David Enrich, Steve Eder, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Matthew Goldstein for The New York Times “The Talented Mr. Epstein,” a March 2003 profile by Vicky Ward for Vanity Fair “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery,” a 2002 profile by Landon Thomas Jr. for New York MagazineHere’s one of the many, many early pieces of reporting I leaned on from The Palm Beach Post; not going to link all of them because it would fill Substack’s word count limit but highly encourage poring through their 2005/2006 archivesAnd here’s a pretty interesting FBI transcript of an interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, conducted in 2020And here’s the deposition interview between unproblematic king Brad Edwards and World-Renowned Fucking Loser Epstein:Highly encourage anyone and everyone to read Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s GirlHere is the deposition Katie and I role-played where a Very Smart Lawyer played Very Smart Gotcha with Giuffre about, checks notes, whether or not she was a bartender in 2007Here’s where a federal judge decided that Giuffre’s testimony about Epstein’s sex trafficking ring was not relevant to a case about Epstein’s sex trafficking ringHere is a timeline from the Miami Herald on all this gruesome shit; cc looking through their archives, too, as well as the archives for The Tampa Bay Times for any interested armchair sleuths If you liked that timeline by reporter Julie K. Brown, consider reading her book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story”How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein,” by David Enrich, Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg for The New York Times“Newly Unsealed Epstein Records Shed Light on Years of His Financial Transactions with Wall St. Figures,” by Kara Scannell for CNNHere’s a link to the Epstein email dump, neatly organized in this little faux-inboxHere’s the meta study elaborating on the justice gap, which highlights precisely how fucked survivors of sexual assault are in their efforts to seek justiceRead Jessica Knoll’s phenomenal book, Bright Young Women, if you want a highly entertaining and cathartic literary experience to exorcise the fury from your bodyThanks (and also sorry???) for listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
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