matt bernstein

The Eugenia Cooney Spectacle

[IMPORTANT NOTE: YouTube has age restricted this video because the world is against me. That being said, if you're over 18 and signed into YouTube/Google — which I assume is the case for basically all of you — you can click HERE to watch the video on YouTube. Please let me know if you run into problems....

The Eugenia Cooney Spectacle

A two-hour-long analysis of one of the Internet’s strangest and longest-running spectacles. This story has everything: a northeastern coastal mansion, a severe yet unacknowledged illness broadcast to an audience of millions for over a decade, an almond mom, Jeffree Star, a cottage industry of sleuthing bloggers, and, of course, Donald Trump. This is the American dream.

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In Defense of the Coldplay Couple: An Examination of the Social Media Surveillance State

Last month, two middle-aged white people were caught embracing on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert. A video of them awkwardly dodging the cameras went viral on a scale that harkens back to the Ellen era. The Internet decided that the two were having an affair, and within a day, their names, job titles, and families were plastered across social media and cable news. The videoed man’s wife r...

In Defense of the Coldplay Couple: An Examination of the Social Media Surveillance State

Last month, two middle-aged white people were caught embracing on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert. A video of them awkwardly dodging the cameras went viral on a scale that harkens back to the Ellen era. The Internet decided that the two were having an affair, and within a day, their names, job titles, and families were plastered across social media and cable news. The videoed man’s wife r...

The Fruity Live Show: Testicle Tanning & Egg Aprons

In the first ever A Bit Fruity live show, Kat (surprise!) and I dig around the manosphere and the wo-manosphere to try to understand how highly popular, highly gendered, seemingly apolitical lifestyle content has played a role in turning the American public more conservative in recent years. From Joe Rogan to Ballerina Farm to Tucker Carlson to Brett Cooper, it's a big club, and we ain't in it....

The MAGA Lesbian Who “Left the Left”

In the wake of Lesbian Visibility Week, Kat and I examine the career and ideological trajectory of one of YouTube’s longest-visible lesbians, for better and for worse. In doing so, we unpack truths about internalized homophobia, how tweaks to social media algorithms incentivize radicalization, and the dishonesty at the heart of the “leaving the left” grift.

The MAGA Lesbian Who “Left the Left”

In the wake of Lesbian Visibility Week, Kat and I examine the career and ideological trajectory of one of YouTube’s longest-visible lesbians, for better and for worse. In doing so, we unpack truths about internalized homophobia, how tweaks to social media algorithms incentivize radicalization, and the dishonesty at the heart of the “leaving the left” grift.

surprise! a bit fruity is hitting the road.

hello patreon friends :) i wanted to post this here before anywhere else.

a bit fruity is hitting the road! this spring, i'll be doing a small series of live shows in toronto, chicago, philly, new york, seattle, los angeles, and portland. think: the podcast in real life, with intimate discussions on internet culture + politics + celebrity + tati westbrook, q and a's, meet and greets, and ...

Emilia Pérez and the Botched Absurdity of Representation Politics

Subscribe to Fran’s wonderful Patreon podcast, Like a Virgin: https://www.patreon.com/LikeaVirgin

Fran's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fransexuality

With 13 Oscar nominations, Emilia Pérez is the most critically acclaim...

Emilia Pérez and the Botched Absurdity of Representation Politics [AUDIO ONLY]

Subscribe to Fran’s wonderful Patreon podcast, Like a Virgin: https://www.patreon.com/LikeaVirgin

With 13 Oscar nominations, Emilia Pérez is the most critically acclaimed film of the year. According to current rhetoric about “the importance of representation in media”, such attention being given to a film a...

BYE SISTER Part 4: Litigation, Lewd Behavior, and the Legacy of the Lipstick Nazi

In our final chapter of the Bye Sister series, what began as vitamin gummy fodder takes a turn for the darker. In examining who sinks and who swims, Kat and I seek to uncover enduring truths about online homophobia, mobs, the media, and Halo Beauty’s proprietary blend.

BYE SISTER Part 4: Litigation, Lewd Behavior, and the Legacy of the Lipstick Nazi

In our final chapter of the Bye Sister series, what began as vitamin gummy fodder takes a turn for the darker. In examining who sinks and who swims, Kat and I seek to uncover enduring truths about online homophobia, mobs, the media, and Halo Beauty’s proprietary blend.

the final installment, coming soon.

nearly three hours of raw footage -- TBD on where the final length nets out. thank you for your patience, sister.

Livestream: Elon Musk and the Microblogging Website Wars

In case you couldn't attend in real time: an in-depth chat about the culture warification of Elon Musk and the current arms race between Bluesky and Threads to be a viable Twitter replacement. Plus, updates on the podcast and a love letter to Michael Hobbes.

so what now

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October update + please weigh in!

Hey y’all! A little update and request for you to weigh in.

The Bye Sister Part 4 finale retrospective is on a brief delay right now as Kat is fully occupied at her… real job. And it would be pointless to do without her.

While we wait on that, I was thinking that this month, we could do a sort of mini-tangent-palooza: a sort of edited sample platter where I provide brief (ish?) ...

BYE SISTER Part Three: Gummies, God, and Gucci [Audio Only]

The question that divides a nation: was this about vitamins? Today, we excavate the 24 months of fallout that followed Tati’s and James’s original videos. Palettes are peddled, silence is broken, lives are streamed, and God herself is seen on home video footage. This is “the last time we’ll be talking about this.”

BYE SISTER Part Three: Gummies, God, and Gucci

The question that divides a nation: was this about vitamins? Today, we excavate the 24 months of fallout that followed Tati’s and James’s original videos. Palettes are peddled, silence is broken, lives are streamed, and God herself is seen on home video footage. This is “the last time we’ll be talking about this.”

coming soon.

Woman’s World: Political Pop for No One [Audio Only]

Last month, Katy Perry — one of the most cherished names in pop by millennials and Gen Z — promised her musical comeback in the form of a fiery, progressive feminist anthem. What arrived instead was a soulless, alleged-predator-produced declaration of nothing. 

Joined by Nikita Dumptruck, we examine our complex relationships with an American icon, the successes and failures of Po...

Woman’s World: Political Pop for No One

Last month, Katy Perry — one of the most cherished names in pop by millennials and Gen Z — promised her musical comeback in the form of a fiery, progressive feminist anthem. What arrived instead was a soulless, alleged-predator-produced declaration of nothing. 

Joined by Nikita Dumptruck, we examine our complex relationships with an American icon, the successes and failures of Po...

BYE SISTER Part Two: Hair Vitamins and Homosexual Trickery

Have you or a loved one been tricked into thinking you’re gay? You may be entitled to free biotin gummies. Today, we spiral into the dazzling and dizzying events of May 2019 in the YouTube beauty sphere — the genesis of BYE SISTER.

BYE SISTER Part Two: Hair Vitamins and Homosexual Trickery [Audio Only]

Have you or a loved one been tricked into thinking you’re gay? You may be entitled to free hair vitamins. Today, we spiral into the dazzling and dizzying events of May 2019 in the YouTube beauty sphere — the genesis of BYE SISTER.

BYE SISTER Part One: The Four Gurus of the Apocalypse [Audio only]

As requested: an audio-only version of this episode you can listen to with the Patreon app closed!

Eyeshadow, fascism, hair growth supplements, guns, Nicki Minaj: there's only one plane of existence where all of these intersect. Today, we dive into the history of four people whose lives were, in 2019, on the precipice of an explosion that would change the social media landscape as we knew...

BYE SISTER Part One: The Four Gurus of the Apocalypse

Eyeshadow, fascism, hair growth supplements, guns, Nicki Minaj: there's only one plane of existence where all of these intersect. Today, we dive into the history of four people whose lives were, in 2019, on the precipice of an explosion that would change the social media landscape as we knew it.

Deep Dive: The Right's Imaginary World Where Minorities Run Everything

Nothing in this is an April Fools joke, sadly.

Deep Dive: Israel Influencers

We're in a race to the bottom of who can churn out the most inflammatory, click-worthy content about ongoing mass death. Today, we explore how the atrocities in Gaza are being put through the culture war machine, the influencers who capitalize on it, the content that seems to stick, and liberals who succumb to right-wing impulses when their emotions are tugged on in the right way.

Join Am...

Deep Dive: Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do

Last week, the New York Times published the Gaylor magnum opus: a 5,000 word speculation of Taylor Swift's sexuality couched in the language of  queer theory and social justice, cleverly titled "Look What We Made  Taylor Swift Do." Today, we dissect it. In a situation that I think requires both empathy and scrutiny, we ask such important questions as:  is it gay to be an ally? Ar...

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For a long time, I essentially disregarded Patreon as an option for making a sustainable living as a creator because I wanted everything I put out to always be free. In a perfect world – or at least a world where Instagram pays creators for their contributions to the platform and shares a percentage of the ad revenue they generate, which I have pathetically begged Meta employees to do more ti...