Within a month of launching, Food 4 Thot, the brainchild of four thotty queers of color, had catapulted up the charts and become a viral sensation. "We always thought we were too niche, too trash, too queer, too brown to exist in the white straight mediascape of audio," explained Fran Tirado, Food 4 Thot co-host and Executive Editor of Hello Mr., over email. But it's within this trashy, queer, brown podcast that fans found a voice often lacking in LGBTQ media.
Related | Queer Podcast Food 4 Thot is 'Like NPR, on Poppers'
Alongside Tirado, the hosts include Tommy "Teebs" Pico, a critically acclaimed indigenous American poet and author; writer and MacDowell Fellow Dennis Norris II; and scientist-memoirist Joseph Osmundson. Together, they spent a season crafting something they've self-described as "NPR on poppers," which is a fitting descriptor for a series that deals with sex, relationships, race, and reading.
With a first season under their belts, the hosts are preparing for their return to the airwaves with a few big, gay surprises. For the first time ever, the Thots are heading to Grindr and INTO, their new LGBTQ lifestyle magazine, to make Food 4 Thot the first ever podcast to stream on the hookup app. For Tirado, the move was a natural progression for the political, sex-positive podcast. Along with the obvious ability to log in and get off, Grindr has evolved into a platform for taking on everything from the Chechnya genocide against LGBTQ people to the presidency--it was only months ago that they sent busloads of activists to D.C. to protest against Donald Trump.
Photography: Michael George
It's this last point that gets to the heart of why Food 4 Thot has become an essential platform for queer brown people. When we asked Tirado about how the podcast, which regularly refers to Trump as everything from a "Buttplug-in-Chief" to a "KKK Goblin King," has changed in the face of this overtly anti-LGBTQ administration, he was quick to point out the important of their mission: "The podcast feels like a direct response to the current administration-it's a political act."
As the hosts prepare to launch Season 2 on December 10th, they let slip a small tease of what we can expect to hear. Alongside an exciting array of queer thots of color and "thot-on-the-street interviews," we should buckle in for a heavy dose of "totally, completely uncensored thottery," which is something we can all get behind.
If you can't wait until December 10th to get your Food 4 Thot fix, you can join the Thots live at the Bell House this Sunday with Comedy Central star Joel Kim Booster. Grab your tickets here. Subscribe to Food 4 Thotshere and get ready for a thotty season 2.
