Spectacular Media Fails of 2025 episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 2, 2026 · 1H 12M

Spectacular Media Fails of 2025

from Ruthless Podcast · host Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook

🎙️ We review the year that was 2025, counting down the greatest media failures of last year. To top the list, Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad. A basic pun about “genes” turns into a prime-time lecture about eugenics and white supremacy, and watching a major network try to make that argument out loud is the kind of thing you still can’t believe is real. Then over to CBS, where John Dickerson tries to compare modern immigration enforcement to Irish discrimination and deportation crackdowns in the 1800s. 📺 Other favorites included in our countdown: Jim Acosta interviewing AI, Taylor Lorenz romanticizing Luigi and Jim Cramer dropping a giant F-bomb on live TV. Plus Olivia Nuzzi’s chaos, Bill Belichick’s off-camera relationship, and Anderson Cooper snaps at Chris Sununu. 🐘 We recap our favorite moments from just a few of our best interviews, like, JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, Senator Kennedy, Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson. Looking forward to a great 2026 on The Progrum! 00:00 — 2025 media fails 01:11 — Sydney Sweeney “great genes” becomes a national freakout 06:09 — CBS Saint Patrick’s Day: Irish deportations vs ICE 11:15 — Jim Acosta interviews an AI recreation of a murdered child 13:05 — Taylor Lorenz praises an alleged assassin as “morally good” 15:44 — CNN and the defense-fund moment 19:26 — Jim Cramer drops an F-bomb 20:30 — Olivia Nuzzi interview spiral and her accountability problem 25:24 — Bill Belichick + Jordan Hudson shuts down a standard question 27:56 — Anderson Cooper snaps at Chris Sununu on-air Our Sponsors: ➢Go to https://zbiotics.com/RUTHLESS and use RUTHLESS at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ➢Unleash American energy to be bigger and better than ever before, because when America builds, America wins. https://permittingreformnow.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🎙️ We review the year that was 2025, counting down the greatest media failures of last year. To top the list, Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad. A basic pun about “genes” turns into a prime-time lecture about eugenics and white supremacy, and watching a major network try to make that argument out loud is the kind of thing you still can’t believe is real. Then over to CBS, where John Dickerson tries to compare modern immigration enforcement to Irish discrimination and deportation crackdowns in the 1800s. 📺 Other favorites included in our countdown: Jim Acosta interviewing AI, Taylor Lorenz romanticizing Luigi and Jim Cramer dropping a giant F-bomb on live TV. Plus Olivia Nuzzi’s chaos, Bill Belichick’s off-camera relationship, and Anderson Cooper snaps at Chris Sununu. 🐘 We recap our favorite moments from just a few of our best interviews, like, JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, Senator Kennedy, Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson. Looking forward to a great 2026 on The Progrum! 00:00 — 2025 media fails 01:11 — Sydney Sweeney “great genes” becomes a national freakout 06:09 — CBS Saint Patrick’s Day: Irish deportations vs ICE 11:15 — Jim Acosta interviews an AI recreation of a murdered child 13:05 — Taylor Lorenz praises an alleged assassin as “morally good” 15:44 — CNN and the defense-fund moment 19:26 — Jim Cramer drops an F-bomb 20:30 — Olivia Nuzzi interview spiral and her accountability problem 25:24 — Bill Belichick + Jordan Hudson shuts down a standard question 27:56 — Anderson Cooper snaps at Chris Sununu on-air Our Sponsors: ➢Go to https://zbiotics.com/RUTHLESS and use RUTHLESS at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ➢Unleash American energy to be bigger and better than ever before, because when America builds, America wins. https://permittingreformnow.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Spectacular Media Fails of 2025

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This episode was published on January 2, 2026.

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🎙️ We review the year that was 2025, counting down the greatest media failures of last year. To top the list, Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad. A basic pun about “genes” turns into a prime-time lecture about eugenics and white supremacy, and watching a...

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