Two weeks ago, we ran an essay by Kat Harding on the podcast My Favorite Murder’s problematic Facebook fan page, which Harding argues MFM hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark have failed to rein in. The podcast’s fans—“murderinos”—didn’t take kindly to the critique.
Eric Landfried writes that Harding needs to chill: “Why don’t you get off Karen and Georgia and stop being so damn offended by every single thing? We were not put on this earth to pussyfoot around everyone’s feelings. If you don’t like it, listen to another podcast. There is nothing about Karen and Georgia’s podcast that is, in any way, shape, or form, white supremacist. You can’t go through life letting everyone’s words control your feelings, crybaby. Your feelings about people’s words and opinions are yours. It’s not the world’s responsibility to coddle you. Grow up.”
Commenter magnificentbish adds: “They aren’t responsible for the actions and words of others who claim themselves as their fans and fellow murderinos. As a woman of color myself, I find it in extremely poor taste that you, a white woman, choose to focus using your own privilege and journalistic talent on shitting on some podcast hosted by other white women as some acknowledgment of your intersectional feminism. Congratulations. All I’ve gotten from this poor writing is that you don’t like this podcast and seem to think it’s literally the only true crime offering out there.”
“I am outraged that these women speak in such an off-the-cuff manner and make ‘mistakes’ while recording a podcast,” writes Dan O’Neil. “They should have purchased The Big Book of Politically Correct Terms for Everything and studied it carefully before starting a podcast. Shame on them.”
Over to you, hiyaneighbor1: “This article is so disparaging of people’s characters while not referencing any specific instances beyond the mispronunciation of an important geological space. In my opinion, the two cohosts go out of their way to admit when they are being stupid, they’ve messed up, or were insensitive, meaning they are trying to fix it when they make mistakes. Just like you have done by writing an article slicing people’s reputations with little to no actual research. There are so many people who do wrong and either don’t even know they are doing so or, worse yet, don’t care. Maybe spend your ample time and minimal energy focusing on them.”
Next up, Sara James: “Hey, it’s good that you’re trying to call someone out on facts while getting all the facts wrong. If you’re writing about a podcast, you should have actually listened to it. Most of what you brought up has been addressed by Georgia and Karen. You need to do better sleuthing and realize G&K are regular Joe Schmoes like the rest of us; they never once have claimed to be experts.”
Not everyone rose to MFM’s defense. Ashouraita Khoshaba writes that she quit listening six months ago: “I respectfully called them out on Twitter for being against intersectional feminism (listen to The Last Podcast on the Left’s episode with them if you want to hear their disgusting views on it, but be warned that it’s infuriating). I asked if they had educated themselves since that episode. Instead of answering me, Hardstark blocked me, and then made an indirect Instagram post about me on the same day. It’s dangerous that they have such a huge platform while quietly abusing POC. They’re the epitome of white feminism.”
“I watched the whole thing unfold in real time, and this was honestly a toned-down retelling,” adds Holly Higgins. “I’ve been disappointed in their response and unsubscribed from the podcast—the emotional gymnastics required for the sake of two women reading off Wikipedia just isn’t worth it anymore.”
And we conclude with Jess Davey: “MFM is a tone-deaf, pumpkin-spice flavored, white woman cult. Someone should call their dads.”
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Letters: My Favorite Murder Is a “White Woman Cult”
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Two weeks ago, we ran an essay by Kat Harding on the podcast My Favorite Murder’s problematic Facebook fan page, which Harding argues MFM hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark have failed to rein in. The podcast’s fans—“murderinos”—didn’t take kindly to the critique.
Eric Landfried writes that Harding needs to chill: “Why don’t you get off Karen and Georgia and stop being so damn offended by every single thing? We were not put on this earth to pussyfoot around everyone’s feelings. If you don’t like it, listen to another podcast. There is nothing about Karen and Georgia’s podcast that is, in any way, shape, or form, white supremacist. You can’t go through life letting everyone’s words control your feelings, crybaby. Your feelings about people’s words and opinions are yours. It’s not the world’s responsibility to coddle you. Grow up.”
Commenter magnificentbish adds: “They aren’t responsible for the actions and words of others who claim themselves as their fans and fellow murderinos. As a woman of color myself, I find it in extremely poor taste that you, a white woman, choose to focus using your own privilege and journalistic talent on shitting on some podcast hosted by other white women as some acknowledgment of your intersectional feminism. Congratulations. All I’ve gotten from this poor writing is that you don’t like this podcast and seem to think it’s literally the only true crime offering out there.”
“I am outraged that these women speak in such an off-the-cuff manner and make ‘mistakes’ while recording a podcast,” writes Dan O’Neil. “They should have purchased The Big Book of Politically Correct Terms for Everything and studied it carefully before starting a podcast. Shame on them.”
Over to you, hiyaneighbor1: “This article is so disparaging of people’s characters while not referencing any specific instances beyond the mispronunciation of an important geological space. In my opinion, the two cohosts go out of their way to admit when they are being stupid, they’ve messed up, or were insensitive, meaning they are trying to fix it when they make mistakes. Just like you have done by writing an article slicing people’s reputations with little to no actual research. There are so many people who do wrong and either don’t even know they are doing so or, worse yet, don’t care. Maybe spend your ample time and minimal energy focusing on them.”
Next up, Sara James: “Hey, it’s good that you’re trying to call someone out on facts while getting all the facts wrong. If you’re writing about a podcast, you should have actually listened to it. Most of what you brought up has been addressed by Georgia and Karen. You need to do better sleuthing and realize G&K are regular Joe Schmoes like the rest of us; they never once have claimed to be experts.”
Not everyone rose to MFM’s defense. Ashouraita Khoshaba writes that she quit listening six months ago: “I respectfully called them out on Twitter for being against intersectional feminism (listen to The Last Podcast on the Left’s episode with them if you want to hear their disgusting views on it, but be warned that it’s infuriating). I asked if they had educated themselves since that episode. Instead of answering me, Hardstark blocked me, and then made an indirect Instagram post about me on the same day. It’s dangerous that they have such a huge platform while quietly abusing POC. They’re the epitome of white feminism.”
“I watched the whole thing unfold in real time, and this was honestly a toned-down retelling,” adds Holly Higgins. “I’ve been disappointed in their response and unsubscribed from the podcast—the emotional gymnastics required for the sake of two women reading off Wikipedia just isn’t worth it anymore.”
And we conclude with Jess Davey: “MFM is a tone-deaf, pumpkin-spice flavored, white woman cult. Someone should call their dads.”
Want to see your name in bold? Email us at backtalk@indyweek.com, comment on our Facebook page, or hit us up on Twitter:@indyweek.