Leon Neyfakh | |
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| Born | |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, staff writer, radio host |
Leon Neyfakh (born 1985) [1] is an American journalist, radio host and writer. He is known for hosting the podcasts Slow Burn and Fiasco, [2] and his book The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up .
Neyfakh was born in the Soviet Union and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. Both of his parents are Russian Jews [3] who immigrated to the United States when Neyfakh was a child. [4]
He graduated from Harvard University in 2007 with an A.B. in history and literature. [5] During his time there, he wrote for its student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson . [6]
Neyfakh is best known for creating and hosting Slate 's podcast Slow Burn , which has covered American political scandals. The first season of the podcast was about the Watergate scandal of Richard Nixon, [7] [8] and the second season covered the Lewinsky scandal of Bill Clinton. [9]
Before joining Slate, Neyfakh worked for the Boston Globe as the Ideas staff, and was a reporter for the New York Observer . He has also written for The FADER , The New Republic , and Rollingstone.com. [5]
Neyfakh also wrote a book titled The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up, about Juiceboxxx, a rapper from Wisconsin. [10] [4]
In November 2018, Neyfakh announced on Twitter that he was leaving Slate to write and host his new podcast, Fiasco, [11] which is offered exclusively on the Luminary podcast platform. [12] The first season, Fiasco: Bush v. Gore focused on the Bush vs. Gore legal battle, and the second, Fiasco: Iran-Contra, is centered around the Iran–Contra affair. [13] This season was later adapted to a six-part television series by Epix in 2021. [14]
In February 2019, it was announced that Epix would release a six-part docu-series inspired by Slow Burn with Neyfakh as host. The series was set to premiere on February 16, 2020. [15]
The third season of Fiasco, Fiasco: The Battle For Boston, is centered on the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s, [16] and was released in August 2020, during the ongoing George Floyd protests. When asked about how Americans can actively and effectively engage in the topic of race, Neyfakh said:
I think there should be more recognition on the part of white people like me that believing in equality usually means giving something up. In the new season of Fiasco, listeners will hear a lot of white voices saying they believe in integration and equality but not in “busing” because it’s not fair to force white children into worse schools. The thing is, as [the journalist] Nikole Hannah-Jones has written, busing is the most immediate method of desegregating schools and making them equal. Of course someone has to give something up." [17]
In early 2020, a new podcast called 5-4 was launched, for which Neyfakh provides introductions to the individual episodes and has editorial oversight. The podcast focuses on U.S. Supreme Court cases and how they impact life and liberty of Americans. [18]
The fourth season of Fiasco, titled Fiasco: Benghazi, was released in 2021. The season is centered around the 2012 Benghazi attack and the political scandal that followed. [19]
The fifth season of Fiasco was released in 2022. Titled Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis, it tackles the history of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. [20]
In 2023, Neyfakh and radio deejay and cultural commentator Jay Smooth released the "Think Twice" podcast covering the legacy of singer and performer Michael Jackson. [21]
Neyfakh is married to Alice Gregory, a freelance journalist. The couple live in Brooklyn, New York City, [22] [23] [4] and have a black toy poodle named Mickey. [24]
The Watergate scandal was a significant political controversy in the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974, ultimately resulting in Nixon's resignation. It originated from attempts by the Nixon administration to conceal its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Slate is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2004, it was purchased by The Washington Post Company, and since 2008 has been managed by The Slate Group, an online publishing entity created by Graham Holdings. Slate is based in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C.
A select or special committee of the United States Congress is a congressional committee appointed to perform a special function that is beyond the authority or capacity of a standing committee. A select committee is usually created by a resolution that outlines its duties and powers and the procedures for appointing members. Select and special committees are often investigative, rather than legislative, in nature though some select and special committees have the authority to draft and report legislation.
Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. Her public comments and interviews during the Watergate scandal were frank and revealing.
The Watergate scandal refers to the burglary and illegal wiretapping of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, in the Watergate complex by members of President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign, and the subsequent cover-up of the break-in resulting in Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, as well as other abuses of power by the Nixon White House that were discovered during the course of the scandal.
Mae Magnin Brussell was an American radio personality and conspiracy theorist. She was the host of Dialogue: Conspiracy.
Fiasco may refer to:
Frank James Brasco was an American politician who served four terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York from 1967 to 1975.
Richard Berkowitz is a gay American author and activist best known as an early advocate of safe sex in response to the AIDS crisis among gay men in the 1980s. The award-winning 2008 documentary Sex Positive directed by Daryl Wein is about his life and activities.
Slow Burn or Slowburn may refer to:
Events from the year 1973 in the United States. The year saw a number of important historical events in the country, including the death of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade, the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and end of the United States participation in the Vietnam War, the end of the post-World War II boom and the beginning of the first of a series of recessions that continued over the next decade, and the first oil crisis.
Events from the year 1974 in the United States.
Megaphone is a Software as a service (SaaS) business owned by Spotify. The company provides software for podcast hosting and monetization as well as an ad network to generate additional revenue for podcast publishers. It was formerly an audio content producer started by The Slate Group as Panoply Media, and later shifted to focusing solely on software for monetizing, measuring and distributing podcasts of media companies and independent producers.
Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, has inspired or been portrayed in numerous cultural works.
Slow Burn is a narrative podcast produced by Slate Plus, a division of Slate. The first two seasons of the podcast are hosted by Leon Neyfakh; the third and sixth seasons of the show are hosted by Joel D. Anderson; and the fourth and fifth seasons are hosted by Josh Levin and Noreen Malone, respectively.
Gaslit is an American political thriller television limited series based on the first season of the podcast Slow Burn by Leon Neyfakh. It stars Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, Dan Stevens, Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham, and Darby Camp. It premiered on Starz on April 24, 2022.
Elizabeth Benedict is an American author best known for her fiction, her personal essays, as the editor of three anthologies, and for The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers. Her novels are: Slow Dancing, The Beginner's Book of Dreams, Safe Conduct, Almost, and The Practice of Deceit. Her first memoir, Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own, was published in May 2023. She lives in New York City and works as a college admissions consultant.
Gordon Freedman is an American educator, producer, writer and investigator. He is currently the president of the National Laboratory for Education Transformation.
Blindspot is a podcast hosted by Kala Lea and produced by WNYC Studios. The first season was called The Road to 9/11 and the second season was called Tulsa Burning.
5-4 is a podcast that covers the U.S. Supreme Court from a critical, progressive perspective. The podcast's tagline describes it as being "about how much the Supreme Court sucks", and providing an "irreverent tour of all the ways in which the law is shaped by politics." It was launched by Leon Neyfakh's Prologue Projects in partnership with the Westwood One Podcast Network.
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