Myron “Fit” Gaines and the Fresh & Fit podcast made more waves on social media after a series of clips showing singer Nia McKenzie, a guest on their podcast, being demeaned and attacked by the show’s producers went viral.
According to Atlanta Black Star, the clips that are circulating are emblematic of the content of the show Gaines shares with Walter “Fresh” Weekes, wherein the pair regularly trade in racial slurs and misogyny, particularly targeted to Black women.
In 2023, YouTube demonetized the pair’s content due to their history of violent outbursts between the show’s guests and hosts. However, they have since moved their show onto Castle Club, an independent subscription-based hosting site.
After the clips from the episode began circulating, some questioned the wisdom in Black women appearing on their podcast, given the type of “manosphere” content the two men produce.
In October, an episode of NPR‘s “Code Switch ” discussed the Black manosphere. As one of the hosts, Gene Demby, explained, the Black manosphere is a sprawling universe connecting Black men who are hostile toward Black women.
“The manosphere — this whole sprawling universe of media and podcasts and books and YouTube channels — I guess those are all media — subreddits that are made by and consumed by men and men who are deeply suspicious of — if not, like, hostile towards — feminism and who also champion all sorts of other kinds of patriarchal ideas around sex and gender,” Demby explained. “There are men’s rights groups. You’ve got incels. You’ve got pickup artists. You’ve got alpha men. It’s dudes like Andrew Tate, who is really popular among a lot of young boys and men.”
Demby also discussed Nicole Young’s article about the Black manosphere, which she wrote for Elle Magazine in 2022 with Young herself.
According to Young’s long-form piece, Black men and other men of color like Gaines are united by their open disdain for Black women.
“Within the Black Manosphere’s fiefdom, there are many subgroups, rival influencers, competing philosophies, and myriad content creators. But each of them contains one common thread: a concerted, explicit disdain for Black women,” Young wrote.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Young’s depiction of the Black manosphere is correct as it was created as an offshoot of the wider manosphere and functions as a way for Black men to castigate Black women under the guise of Black male empowerment.
“The misogynoir of the Manosphere is on full display on the popular podcast “Fresh and Fit,” hosted by Walter Weekes and Myron Gaines. The podcast covers ‘females, fitness, and finances,’ and boasts more than 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube –- though the show was demonetized by the platform in 2023 after repeatedly violating community guidelines,” the SPLC explained, “The hosts are known for mistreating the Black women who appear as guests on their show and for their comments about Black women.”
According to Alexandria C. Onuoha, a community organizer and scholar with expertise in digital misogyny, the great irony in spaces like Fit and Fresh is that they are harmful to and for the Black men that they claim to uplift, at the greater expense of Black women.
“At first glance, it is clear why Black men and boys are attracted to these spaces because they need spaces that affirm them,” Onuoha explained to the SPLC. “Black men and boys deserve spaces where they can be authentic, and these spaces offer a false idea of what community is. This is harmful for them, too.”
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