I have absolutely had it with shameless virtue signaling.
A few months ago, I stumbled upon a masterpiece of a podcast show wherein former Bravo comedians Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan have created a program to air petty everyday grievances that too often feel painfully familiar.
From mocking dumb girls who engage in baby talk and deriding the cliched use of “manifestation,” Welch and Sullivan have capitalized on their decades-long friendship to offer witty commentary on a platform that’s both a fun and satisfying listen, especially when the complaints are similar to your own pet peeves.
Their show often features clips of the two women making fun of “dramatic sneezers,” people who back into parking spaces, overuse of the word “trigger,” and the modern obsession with “tracking culture.” But whenever the pair decide to turn the talk to politics, their snarky yet relatable commentary turns into a dreaded divisive lecture presented by two upper-middle-aged white women as if the Golden Girls had suddenly turned into far-left social justice warriors. On this front, the pair are just as ignorant as they are desperate to virtue signal for the liberal Bravo fanbase. Their latest podcast Thursday, delivered over the conservative response to “Barbie,” was the most nauseating episode of the political puke-speak yet.
Welch, the lead co-host, opened the discussion with a plea to “talk about the hysterics and the pearl-clutching of right-wingers with the movie Barbie.”
The acrimonious reactions to the film from conservative pundits such as Ben Shapiro, Welch said, were “unbelievable,” and likened the pink-tinted fairytale film about the patriarchy to outrage over drag shows.
“You don’t like drag queens? Don’t go to a drag show,” Welch said simply, minimizing concerns that today’s drag performances increasingly feature sexually provocative strip teases for children. (In another episode, Sullivan calls drag shows the “happiest place on Earth” while wearing a “proud ally” shirt featuring a rainbow).
The pair went on to joke about Shapiro’s penis size with their producer, Kiley, chiming in to say, “little dick energy” gives the Daily Wire podcaster “too much” before she claims Shapiro is a “smooth Ken doll down there.”
Penis jokes aside, the first 10 minutes of commentary on Thursday’s episode were completely unhinged, with Welch and Sullivan complaining that conservatives just wanted Barbie to be “barefoot and pregnant.”
“I get back from Italy,” Welch says, and a “very loud minority” is “wound up.”
They say, ‘we’re the silent majority.’ And it’s like b-tch, you’re not silent. You are a fever pitch minority that screams and throws feces every chance you can get because people are sexy and/or having sex, and/or might be gay, and/or women might actually have careers or women might choose not to get married. Women might choose not to have babies, and some women, like Kiley, might be lesbians.
While none of that is true, which Welch would know if she ever interacted with conservatives in good faith, Welch’s side-kick co-host was quick to agree.
“Here’s the deal, off that whole list you just ticked off, I can’t think of one of the items on that list that affects anybody but the person making the choice,” Sullivan said.
“Or that is a negative attribute,” Welch said.
Sullivan came back to recite the tired line: “Why do you care?”
Even though the Barbie movie had nothing to do with homosexuality, the podcast panelists are so desperate to make villains out of political opposites that they screamed homophobia anyway. For starters, majorities of Republicans supported same-sex marriage in 2021 and 2022, with acceptance taking an overall hit this year after the trans activists who’ve hijacked the gay movement raided state capitols demanding governments allow children to chop off their genitals. The retail giant Target didn’t help by debuting trans-apparel for kids designed by a “Satan supporter.” Meanwhile, nothing says “gay rights!” quite like getting flogged naked in the back of a pick-up truck at a parade advertised as family-friendly.
With that being said, I’m a gay writer in the heart of conservative media and nobody cares (except for gay liberals). But the two women on the “I’ve Had It” podcast are constantly so desperate to virtue signal for their leftist audience that they need anti-gay sentiment to exist as far and wide as they claim. If anti-gay attitudes didn’t prevail on the scale that they pretend, they would have nothing to vilify in order to proclaim themselves good people for their left-wing fanbase. The mentality is really no different from those who plant those obnoxious “We Believe…” signs on their front lawns decrying neighbors as evil who don’t adhere to leftist platitudes for complex problems.
Do anti-gay attitudes exist at all among Americans? Some probably always will. Are such attitudes on the level of severe and systemic discrimination? Ask any Hollywood agent how a good “coming out” story might propel a client’s career. It’s a point that even Welch could acknowledge on the show.
“Can you imagine being a conservative and trying to navigate the entertainment industry?” Welch asked, who then complained about online comments venting frustration whenever the two hop on a political soapbox.
“We still get people on our Instagram, despite trying to get rid of these people,” Welch said. “We’re doing our very best to get rid of them.”
I wish that were enough to rant about this episode. But the pair’s seething contempt for conservatives apparently twisted the two into writing off a separate film about the horrors of child sex trafficking as a Qanon conspiracy.
Sullivan shared the story of how she went to go see “Sound of Freedom” at her mother’s recommendation. The movie presents the true story of Special Agent Tim Ballard who catches sex criminals targeting children online and raises the alarm on global trafficking.
“I enjoyed it, it was a pretty good movie, I came back out and then find out on social media later that it’s a Qanon movie,” Sullivan said. “I should have known the minute my mother recommended it, that it was bad. Like, immediately put on the ‘do-not-watch’ list.”
“There was no, like, message that I got,” Sullivan added.
[RELATED: The Left Attacks ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Because It Exposes An Uncomfortable Truth About Moral Boundaries]
Imagine being so desperate to be seen under a lens of supposed virtue that you change your mind about a movie on child sex trafficking because of some far-fetched association with a fringe conspiracy.
Welch finished the segment by dedicating the episode to those in the show’s comments section who ask the hosts to stay away from politics.
“So much to all of you in the comments section that said we should stop talking about politics, this episode is dedicated to you,” Welch said.
I’ll dedicate this column to the same people, especially because Welch and Sullivan are blinded by pandering.
