On Social Media “Reputational Russian Roulette” and the “Kardashian-ization of Celebrity”
The Autonomous podcast with Toure, author and Love City podcast host — on how Trump is like Steph Curry, on the art of profile writing and more
Author, former MSNBC host Toure left Twitter for more than a year, at the time deeming staying on as “unnecessarily risky” because of all the social media flopping that goes on. Toure, now host of the Love City podcast, talked about this and more in the Autonomous podcast, including what musician John Mayer told him, about the platform, calling it ‘reputational Russian roulette.” [9:25 in the podcast.]
While he’s back on Twitter now, Toure says, “There’s nothing you could write that would improve your career. There’s no tweet you can write that’s like, ‘oh you need a promotion.’” [14:50]
We talked Trump and the GOP, Prince and celebrity, the art of profile writing and more. Listen to the FULL podcast here, or below, more quotes from the overall interview:
[You can listen to all the Autonomous podcasts on Soundcloud, or subscribe and listen now on iTunes as well.]
Toure was born in Boston, went to the prestigious Milton Academy for high school (notable alum include Austen Goolsbee, Deval Patrick) and Emory University for college. But he left before graduating and moved to New York to begin his career in media. [:55]
His career took off as he began to profile some of the biggest names in music and celebrity, including Prince, Jay-Z and Beyonce. What’s the key to great profile writing? “I wanted to have moments with people. Not just cover them, but be in a moment with them,” he said. [24:05]
Toure’s career in TV included two notable stops, first as pop culture correspondent on CNN, and more recently as a co-host of “The Cycle” on MSNBC. Since canceled, he describes it as a “really quality show that people look at fondly.” [44:55]
Prince was the subject of his first podcast for Love City, and we talked about how celebrity has changed since Prince was around creating Purple Rain to great acclaim. “Now it’s about overexposure and intimacy through social,” Toure said. “The strategy Prince used, you maybe wouldn’t want to do that now. You may get run over by all the other people who are feeding the beast.” [52:30]
We talked the story behind going by one name professionally [7:35], advice for young journalists (“It’s really important to have intergenerational friendships”) [41:15], the importance of building your brand on social media [18:10], we debated which side of the aisle gets more fake offended on social media [16:55] and the movie “Crash” (“great ambition, but a bit simplistic”) [23:10].
And of course, we talked Donald Trump. Toure says Trump comes out of “what the GOP really is,” and “if you erase him…you’ll have another like him the next time.” [30:20] But Trump is unlike anything else in another way [37:15]:
“Trump is unique. You cannot do what he does anymore than you can do what Rafael Nadal does, or you can do what Steph Curry does. These are unique figures. As much as we may revile the things that come out of his mouth you have to admit he’s an extraordinary entertainer.”
Thanks to Toure for his time — please listen and give any feedback (good or bad) — especially as a review on iTunes — as we continue to shape the podcast!
Next week: Hannah Storm of ESPN.
