Latest Episodes
PREVIEW! “BECAUSE OF ANITA,” WITH ANITA HILL, CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD AND MORE
September 24, 2021
- 05:42
Special for UNDISTRACTED listeners…it’s a sneak peek of the new podcast “Because of Anita”—a four-part series about the legacy of Anita...
BONUS! YOUR UNDISTRACTED HIGHLIGHTS REEL
August 19, 2021
- 07:15
Forty episodes, baby! With our first season under our belt and a mini-hiatus ahead of us, the UNDISTRACTED team is looking back on some...
Tarana Burke on Her Powerful New Memoir—And The Future of #MeToo
August 12, 2021
- 57:52
Season finale! Fifteen years ago, Tarana Burke started using two simple words to empower young Black and brown girls who had experienced...
About The Show
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an activist, educator, and popular TV commentator—and a trusted voice for millions of people interested in social justice. Now, with UNDISTRACTED—an original podcast from The Meteor and Pineapple Street Studios—she aims her focus on the most pressing issues of our time through the lens of intersectional feminism. From the latest headlines to deep-dives with today’s most fascinating changemakers, UNDISTRACTED is your weekly guide to the revolution.
More Episodes
PREVIEW! “BECAUSE OF ANITA,” WITH ANITA HILL, CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD AND MORE
September 24, 2021
- 05:42
Special for UNDISTRACTED listeners…it’s a sneak peek of the new podcast “Because of Anita”—a four-part series about the legacy of Anita...
BONUS! YOUR UNDISTRACTED HIGHLIGHTS REEL
August 19, 2021
- 07:15
Forty episodes, baby! With our first season under our belt and a mini-hiatus ahead of us, the UNDISTRACTED team is looking back on some...
Tarana Burke on Her Powerful New Memoir—And The Future of #MeToo
August 12, 2021
- 57:52
Season finale! Fifteen years ago, Tarana Burke started using two simple words to empower young Black and brown girls who had experienced...
Pleasure Activist adrienne maree brown On Conflict, Canceling, and Community
August 5, 2021
- 39:34
As we head into the last stretch of summer, Brittany catches up with the guru of feeling good, writer adrienne maree brown. Together...
Jemele Hill On “The Cursed Olympics”—And Simone Biles Choosing Her Peace
July 29, 2021
- 40:31
Fresh on the heels of Simone Biles’ decision to put her mental health over Olympic gold, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham sits down...
The Billionaire Space Race and Patriarchy in Physics, With Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
July 23, 2021
- 37:39
On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos became the latest contestant in the “billionaire space race,” prompting a million memes—and serious questions...
Connie Walker On Covering the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
July 15, 2021
- 40:20
Mass graves found on the sites of former residential schools in Canada. Disturbingly high rates of murder and disappearance for...
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw On the Truth About Critical Race Theory
July 1, 2021
- 37:18
In recent months, Republican lawmakers in close to a dozen states have been trying to stop schools from teaching Critical Race Theory—or...
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Finally Fixing the Military’s Sexual Assault Problem
June 24, 2021
- 30:20
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been speaking up for sexual assault survivors in the military for the better part of a decade. The...
The “Grandmother of Juneteenth” on the Holiday’s Past, Present and Future
June 17, 2021
- 31:14
This week, Congress voted to designate Juneteenth a federal holiday—something Opal Lee has spent years trying to make happen. The...
Lawyer Chase Strangio On “Genocidal” Anti-Trans Laws—And Resistance
June 10, 2021
- 36:20
2021 has already been declared the worst year in U.S. history for legislative attacks against the LGBTQ community...and we’re not even...
Amani on Why This Moment “Feels Different” For Palestinians
June 3, 2021
- 31:48
After last month’s devastating violence in Palestine and Israel, global public opinion began to shift in support of the Palestinian...
‘Queen Sugar’ Author Natalie Baszile on the New Black Farming Revolution
May 27, 2021
- 36:14
In a week that marks one year since George Floyd's death, there’s no better time to talk about cultivating the world we deserve. Queen...
Travon Free Wants To Flip The Script on Masculinity
May 20, 2021
- 35:38
Feminism is not just about changing the ways we raise girls—in the words of host Brittany Packnett Cunningham, “men need to be freed...
Nikole Hannah-Jones Wants Us To Confront The Truth of Who We Are
May 13, 2021
- 34:09
New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones is the creator of The 1619 Project, a multimedia effort about the legacy of...
Insecure’s Yvonne Orji On Black Joy… And Her “Homie” Jesus
May 6, 2021
- 37:27
In the year of our lord 2021, we need all the faith we can get—so it felt like the perfect time to invite comedian/actress Yvonne Orji...
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson On The “Feminist Climate Renaissance”
April 29, 2021
- 37:28
The state of our blue planet can feel dire—because it is. California wildfires, Midwestern droughts, Southern floods, and global food...
Andra Day on the Tragedy and Triumph of Billie Holiday
April 22, 2021
- 37:01
In a week that brought us Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts but also a relentless wave of police killings, it can feel like not much has...
Sophia Bush on Surviving “Relentless” Harassment in Hollywood
April 15, 2021
- 34:56
Sophia Bush ruled the small screen in TV hits like “One Tree Hill” and “Chicago PD”—but on both those sets, the workplace abuse was...
Alexis McGill Johnson on the “Dire” Landscape for Abortion Rights
April 8, 2021
- 30:46
Headlines are already calling 2021 “the year of anti-abortion legislation.” State lawmakers have so far introduced more than 500 bills...
Shannon Watts Believes We’re at a Tipping Point for Gun Reform
April 1, 2021
- 33:02
People may believe that gun violence went away during the pandemic because mass shootings slowed down—but in reality, gun violence...
Comedian Amber Ruffin Wants to “De-Gaslight” America
March 25, 2021
- 36:35
Amber Ruffin is breaking boundaries in late-night television with her witty and insightful takes on race, politics and history. She’s a...
Rep. Cori Bush Is What “Keeping It Real” Looks Like
March 18, 2021
- 30:21
U.S. Rep. Cori Bush made history last fall when she became the first Black woman from Missouri to be elected to Congress. Host Brittany...
Lisa Ling on Anti-Asian Violence—And the Rising Movement Against It
March 11, 2021
- 34:05
Lisa Ling, the award-winning CNN host, was sounding the alarm about anti-Asian threats long before the current rise in violence hit most...
Padma Lakshmi on the New Food Revolution
March 4, 2021
- 32:07
With International Women’s Day coming up, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to Padma Lakshmi, the “Top Chef” host and advocate for...
“The Squad is Big, Y’all”: Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the Power of the People
February 25, 2021
- 34:03
To round out Black History Month, we turn to a woman making history of her own: U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley, who’s holding...
What Would a Future Without Prisons Look Like?
February 18, 2021
- 36:15
Calls for criminal-justice reform have built over the last year—and this week, with jail uprisings in St. Louis, the focus is on prison...
Opal Tometi on the Righteous Rise of Black Lives Matter
February 11, 2021
- 30:37
Black Lives Matter was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize—so this week, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham sits down with co-founder...
Raquel Willis Believes in Black Trans Power
February 4, 2021
- 36:17
President Biden signed new protections for LGBTQ people on Day One of his presidency—but new anti-trans legislation is cropping up...
Want A Safer Internet? Listen to Black Women
January 28, 2021
- 32:33
The Capitol attacks were shocking...but, to many Black women, who had been sounding the alarm on online hate and disinformation for...
A Historic Day… And Why The 'Nap Bishop' Believes Rest is Radical
January 21, 2021
- 33:05
We’ve got a new president. A new, historic vice president. And so much work to be done! But in order to truly change the world, says...
Valerie Jarrett on Impeachment... And the Next 100 Days
January 14, 2021
- 37:42
With Inauguration Day only a week away—and impeachment proceedings raging around us—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to a woman...
America Ferrera Is Talking ‘Bout a Cultural Revolution
January 8, 2021
- 35:35
This was a rollercoaster of a week—but before there was a white nationalist coup, there was a major, momentous Senate victory in...
BONUS: What Just Happened?
January 7, 2021
- 06:32
Reflections on a day of white supremacy run rampant.
Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew Are Building Black Futures
December 22, 2020
- 34:12
Who do you call for perspective on the craziest year in recent memory? Two expert dreamers—New York Times critic Jenna Wortham and...
Flattening the Curve of Inequality
December 17, 2020
- 39:38
Vaccines are here. We can almost, kind of, sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what world will we be coming out into?...
Sue Bird Won't Shut Up and Dribble
December 10, 2020
- 29:22
Fresh off her fourth WNBA championship and newly engaged to soccer star Megan Rapinoe, basketball phenom Sue Bird sits down with host...
Tracee Ellis Ross Is The Lead in Her Own Life
December 3, 2020
- 34:28
How do the roles we see influence our own choices in life? That’s a subject Tracee Ellis Ross has thought a LOT about. As the 7th season...
Nikki Giovanni Believes Your Dreams Are Worth It
November 26, 2020
- 33:16
Living legend alert: On this Thanksgiving—or "Friends and Family Day,” as we call it around here—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks...
Rebecca Traister Is Still Good and Mad
November 19, 2020
- 33:43
Yes, we just had an election that promises to make life better for many women. But our guest this week—New York Magazine writer-at-large...
LaTosha Brown Is Betting On the South
November 12, 2020
- 32:35
With the election of a lifetime just days behind us, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to one of the organizers who made the...
Soledad O’Brien Is Calling It Like It Is
November 5, 2020
- 27:39
In our election special—recorded the day after election day—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to award-winning journalist Soledad...
Cecile Richards Is Ready for the Uprising
October 29, 2020
- 30:38
We are UNDISTRACTED! In our debut episode, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham gets real with Supermajority co-founder Cecile Richards,...
Coming soon: UNDISTRACTED
October 5, 2020
- 01:41
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an activist, educator, and popular TV commentator—and a trusted voice for millions of people interested...