Heavyweight – Episode #63: Jasmin
Host: Stevie Lane (with Jonathan Goldstein)
Podcast: Heavyweight (Pushkin Industries)
Release Date: October 30, 2025
Episode Overview
Theme:
This episode centers on Jasmin, a successful young actor who still wrestles with a pivotal and painful moment from her high school years in Springfield, Oregon: being named homecoming queen—only to have her moment "stolen" at the dance. Through interviews, confrontations, and overdue conversations, Jasmin seeks closure on whether the painful incident was a simple mistake, intentional exclusion, or a subtle act of racism. The episode explores identity, the trauma of racial microaggressions, the slipperiness of memory, and the long arc toward self-acceptance and healing.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Growing Up as an Outsider (03:21–06:03)
- Jasmin’s background: Raised in Springfield, Oregon; one of very few Black students in her school and the only person of color in her white family.
- Experience of racism: Regular microaggressions and outright racism (“You are a credit to your race,” “My dad wouldn’t like you, he doesn’t like Black people,” “Mm, tastes like black cherry” after a stage kiss).
- Family silence: Race was never discussed at home, compounding Jasmin's isolation and sense of ugliness.
“I don’t think I even heard anyone in my family say the word black. It almost felt like a bad word, kind of. I just always felt so ugly, honestly, like, just ugly and frizzy and not shiny.”
— Jasmin (05:42)
2. The Homecoming Build-Up and "Movie Moment" Expectations (06:03–09:50)
- Announcement shock: Jasmin unexpectedly named Homecoming Queen alongside the most popular boy, Jacob King.
- Anticipation: Jasmin fantasized about the quintessential coming-of-age, movie-style moment where everything changed for her.
- Deep longing: The coronation seemed to offer a promise of inclusion, beauty, and worth she hadn’t experienced.
“I thought that they would call my name and it would be my movie moment... Maybe he would even whisper in my ear, ‘I’ve always been in love with you.’”
— Jasmin (09:00)
3. The Scene of the Incident: Sudden Displacement (09:55–13:16)
- At the dance: Jasmin prepares for her moment as Queen, only for the announcer to name "Whitney" instead.
- Shock and disbelief: Jasmin, confused and hurt, runs out and cries alone—no one speaks about it.
- Lasting pain: The moment remains unresolved and returns often in Jasmin's mind.
“And it was really like a record scratch, like in my head. I was like, wait, what?”
— Jasmin (10:24)
“Over the years, she’s developed two possible theories. First, was one Black girl mistaken for another?... Or...was the announcement rigged?”
— Stevie Lane (11:18)
4. Theories and Unanswered Questions (11:18–14:27)
- Two main theories:
- It was a mix-up—one Black girl confused for another.
- It was a deliberate switch—maybe if there could only be one Black queen, it should be the popular one (Whitney).
- Oscillation: Jasmin swings between believing it was accidental and suspecting racial malice.
- Long-term impact: Jasmin thinks about the incident “once a week for the last 728 weeks.”
“Is the why that there could only be one Black girl at the top? Is the why that they hated me for some reason? ... Both of those feel intense. And so it's like, where, where to land.”
— Jasmin (13:21)
5. Investigating the Past: Calls with the "Popular Girls" (17:10–21:54)
- Stevie interviews: The "popular" girls mostly don’t remember the incident or don't return calls; Jacob King (the king) withdraws from responding.
- Revelation: Only Whitney, as senior class president (and princess), actually ran the event, potentially holding the answers Jasmin seeks.
- Empathy and Shared Experience: Both Jasmin and Whitney wrote/experienced essays about growing up Black in Springfield, both with absent Black fathers and white mothers, yet neither knew the other's struggles.
6. The Confrontation & Reunion: Face to Face with Whitney (24:29–32:46)
- Nervous reunion: Jasmin and Whitney meet as adults, both acknowledging past pain and sharing their own stories of survival.
- Whitney’s side: Remembers intense stress organizing the dance, lacks memory of any announcement mistake, adamant she wouldn’t have accepted a crown she didn’t win.
“I don't remember it. ... If they called my name, I would have been horrified... I would have went somewhere and been like, hey, like, that was the wrong name. Can we, like, reset?”
— Whitney (28:46, 29:08)
- Possible culprit: They consider DJ Sip, the DJ who had a paper with names—possibly mixing up queen and princess.
- Skepticism vs. Acceptance: Jasmin still can’t shake the possibility of racism, despite Whitney’s insistence otherwise.
“I feel that I will never relinquish the possibility that there was foul play. ... I 100% believe it is a possibility that someone did do something racist... That just is possible.”
— Jasmin (32:05)
7. Attempts at Resolution and the Limits of Closure (34:22–39:14)
- Investigation outcome:
- DJ Sip remembers little—though the teacher corroborates there was shock in the room and it likely was a mistake.
- Ongoing doubt: Jasmin struggles to “choose” a non-cynical worldview after years of microaggressions, in both life and career.
- Internal conflict: Knowing she may never be sure is itself a wound.
“It's completely crazy making because Jasmine can never know if a rejection is because of her performance or her skin color. It's like with the homecoming story, Jasmine will never know if it was DJ Sip or something way worse.”
— Stevie Lane (35:33)
8. Final Reflections: Acceptance and Healing (38:32–40:50)
- Contrasting paths: Whitney found community and self-confidence in a diverse college setting; Jasmin dove straight into Hollywood, facing renewed doubts about belonging.
- The gift of acknowledgment: Ultimately, Jasmin receives a symbolic crown from Stevie—lime green and sparkly—which lets her experience the moment of validation she never got.
“Wow, this feels awesome. I finally got my crown. This is definitely doing something.”
— Jasmin (40:33)
9. Memorable Quotes
-
“No one came up to Jasmine after to say sorry. No one even came up to her to say hey, that was weird, right? ... One Black girl was substituted for another and that went largely uncommented on and unapologized for because no one seemed to think it was a big enough deal.”
— Stevie Lane (39:14) -
“I don't know, it's like I'm meeting the world with, like, a knife out.”
— Jasmin (36:30) -
“At a certain point, you have to make a choice, and I want to make that choice. It's just really hard.”
— Jasmin (36:07) -
“I mean, I think you’re the homecoming queen.”
— Stevie Lane (38:47)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Introduction & Jasmin’s Background: 03:21 – 06:03
- Homecoming Buildup & Shock: 06:14 – 10:24
- Incident & Theories: 10:24 – 13:51
- Life Since Homecoming: 13:51 – 14:27
- Calls to "Popular Girls": 17:10 – 21:54
- Confrontation with Whitney: 24:29 – 32:46
- Search for Answers (DJ/Teacher): 32:46 – 34:22
- Jasmin’s Reflection on Rejection: 34:22 – 36:30
- Gift of the Crown & Emotional Resolution: 40:00 – 40:50
Memorable Moments
- Jasmin’s vulnerability: Her lifelong hurt, oscillating between the need for answers and realizing some wounds can't be healed by truth alone.
- Whitney’s empathy and boundaries: The shared but differently processed pain of two Black women who never got to connect when it mattered most.
- The lime green crown: A tangible, healing moment of reclamation.
Tone
Intimate, candid, often bittersweet but threaded with humor. The episode is marked by Jasmin’s whip-smart vulnerability, Whitney’s gentle candor, and Stevie Lane’s openhearted, gently insistent investigative style.
For Listeners New to the Episode
Heavyweight #63 is a searching, honest inquiry into memory, racism, and the deep need for acknowledgment. Whether you lived a similar moment or have ever struggled to move past a formative wound, this episode offers a look at why these stories linger, how identity shapes what we remember, and what it means to finally claim your own crown.