Woke AF: Black Feminism and The Read

The purpose of this study is to analyze how Crissle West and Kid Fury use humor and African American discourse to discuss Black feminism on the weekly comedy podcast, The Read. I argue that West and Fury discuss Black feminism with respect to the following themes: a) Black women’s lived experiences at the intersection of race and gender, b) interrogation of patriarchy within Black heterosexual relationships, and c) deconstruction of heteronormativity to prompt their audience to question hegemonic discourse. The overwhelming majority of audience responses were consonant with the hosts’ discourse. The implications of using social media channels, such as podcasts, to engage a new generation of activists are also discussed.