Was the Harper’s “free speech” letter really about defending open debate—or about protecting powerful media elites from criticism and consequences? In this episode, we expose how the Harper’s letter, its transphobic signers, and the larger “cancel culture” panic helped shield figures like J.K. Rowling and Bari Weiss while the real threats to free speech exploded under Trump.

More than 150 journalists, authors, and academics signed the infamous “Harper’s letter” in 2020. Published in Harper’s Magazine amid the George Floyd racial justice protests, the letter argued that the more serious threat to the nation was “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty”—aka “cancel culture.” At the time, trans people were some of the letter’s biggest critics, highlighting its bigoted dog whistles. The letter’s signatories include a who’s who of transphobia, from Bari Weiss to J.K. Rowling.

This week, writer Parker Molloy joins Katelyn and Christine to discuss how this so-called free speech crisis transformed how elite media covers—and protects—itself, from 2020 to today.

Tell us your out of context cancellation in the comments and we'll read the best ones on our next episode Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

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Links:

Follow Parker Molloy on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com

Subscribe to Parker Molloy’s newsletter, The Present Age: https://www.readtpa.com/

David Klion for The Nation: They All Signed the Harper’s Letter. Where Are They Now?, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/harpers-letter-free-speech-trump/

The Objective: A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate, https://objectivejournalism.org/2020/07/a-more-specific-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

Emily St. James

Zach Beauchamp for Vox: The “free speech debate” isn’t really about free speech, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/22/21325942/free-speech-harpers-letter-bari-weiss-andrew-sullivan

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Think cancel culture is new? The Catholic Church invented it in the Middle Ages.

Being burned at the stake was the ultimate deplatforming. In the 15th and 16th centuries, figures like Joan of Arc, Giordano Bruno, and Jan Hus faced the stake for the crime of heresy. But was heresy actually just a way to crush dissent?

This week, medievalist and historian Eleanor Janega (@GoingMedieval) joins Katelyn and Christine to unpack history’s original cancel culture. From the Vatican's "Community Guidelines" to the trial of Galileo, we look at how institutions have always used moral panic to maintain power.

Scheduling Note: Cancel Me, Daddy will return in January 2026. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Thank you for tuning in—we appreciate you so much.

Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Links for Apple:

• Subscribe to the Gone Medieval podcast via History Hit, Apple, or Spotify
• Follow Eleanor Janega on Bluesky: @goingmedieval
• Buy Eleanor’s book, The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society, via The Flytrap Media’s Bookshop.org storefront

Cancellation List Patreon Supporters:

Megg, I Beuregard, Alison, Siobhan Green, Maggi Joseph, Leslie Zavisca, Summer Lark, Amy Veeres, Matt

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Olivia Nuzzi is in the headlines again for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a source. Nuzzi’s former partner, Ryan Lizza, is using his newsletter to make the claims about Nuzzi and…former Republican presidential candidate Mark Sanford in 2020. Lizza’s ongoing, multi-part series about Nuzzi amid her book launch is an uncomfortable read for its florid prose and revenge porn vibes. Never forget: The New Yorker fired Lizza for unspecified sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement. Meanwhile, Lizza continues to target Nuzzi, who committed one of the most serious public ethical breaches in journalism with former Democratic-turned-independent presidential candidate and current Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This week, Katelyn and Christine discuss the mess with Marisa Kabas, the acclaimed independent journalist who founded The Handbasket. As Kabas says, moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field.

Stream on our YouTube channel—remember to ring the bell! Listen via Apple or Spotify. Be sure to check out the merch store—Merch Me, Daddy!

Links:

• Marisa Kabas for The Handbasket: https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/moral-rot-elite-journalism-nuzzi-lizza-rfk-jr-trump
• Katelyn Burns for Burns Notice: https://www.burnsnotice.com/olivia-nuzzi-is-an-embarrassment-to-journalism/
• The Guardian on Mark Sanford's Argentina scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/24/mark-sanford-infidelity-south-carolina
• Olivia Nuzzi on Joe Biden's fitness: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/conspiracy-of-silence-to-protect-joe-biden.html
• Katelyn Burns for Vox on Biden/Sanders LGBTQ record: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/6/21167777/sanders-biden-lgbtq-voters

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.