Fruit is a podcast created by Issa Rae and distributed on Howl. The series is an audio drama about a football player who is exploring his sexuality while trying to navigate the hypermasculine culture of the NFL.
The show debuted in February 2016. [1] The episodes were released every Wednesday exclusively on Howl. [2] Each episode is roughly 20 minutes in length. [3] The show consists of two seasons. [4] The series is told in a first-person retrospective narration. [5] The podcast was originally released behind Howl's paywall, but was re-released outside of the paywall about a year later. [6] [7] Midroll Media incorporated product placement into the script of the show for Mailchimp. [8]
Issa Rae created the show shortly before becoming well known for shows like Insecure. [9] Benoni Tagoe and Deniese Davis were executive producers for the show. [10] The story follow an anonymous football player who goes by "X" and is voiced by Roderick Davis. [11] The story follows a rookie football player attempting to navigate his professional career in the hypermasculine environment of the NFL while also trying to figure out his own sexuality. [12] The show explores how homophobic locker room conversations contribute to a culture of hypermasculinity. [13] The Guardian compared the story to that of Michael Sam, however, Fruit is purely fictional and not based on any real life events. [14]