The “Good News”: How the Gospel of Anti-Respectability Is Shaping Black Millennial Christian Podcasting

African American preachers and journalists have partnered throughout history to establish some of the most influential news outlets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This has meant, however, that much of what news audiences read in those newspapers and magazines adhered to the respectability politics of the Black church itself. At the turn of the twenty-first century, however, Black millennial Christian podcasters have reached an editorial tipping point. Gone are the appeals for assimilation. In their place are bold proclamations of anti-respectability, embracing the “ratchet” performance as authentic social justice commentary. But why? In this case study I explore how four leading Black women podcasters are reporting the “good news” in reimagined ways: D. Danyelle Thomas of Gospel for the Culture, Candice Marie Benbow of Red Lip Theology, and Simone Brown and Seretha Collins of The Clean Ears Show.