Leon Neyfakh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1985 (age 39–40) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist,staff writer, radio host |
Leon Neyfakh (born 1985)[1] is an American journalist, radio host and writer. He is known for hosting thepodcastsSlow Burn andFiasco,[2] and his bookThe Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up.
Neyfakh was born in theSoviet Union and raised inOak Park, Illinois. Both of his parents areRussian Jews[3] who immigrated to the United States when Neyfakh was a child.[4]
He graduated fromHarvard University in 2007 with anA.B. in history and literature.[5] During his time there, he wrote for its student newspaper,The Harvard Crimson.[6]
Neyfakh is best known for creating and hostingSlate's podcastSlow Burn, which has covered American political scandals. The first season of the podcast was about theWatergate scandal ofRichard Nixon,[7][8] and the second season covered theLewinsky scandal ofBill Clinton.[9]
Before joiningSlate, Neyfakh worked for theBoston Globe as the Ideas staff, and was a reporter for theNew York Observer. He has also written forThe FADER,The New Republic, andRollingstone.com.[5]
Neyfakh also wrote a book titledThe Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up, aboutJuiceboxxx, a rapper fromWisconsin.[10][4]
In November 2018, Neyfakh announced on Twitter that he was leavingSlate to write and host his new podcast,Fiasco,[11] which is offered exclusively on theLuminary podcast platform.[12] The first season,Fiasco: Bush v. Gore focused on the Bush vs. Gore legal battle, and the second,Fiasco: Iran-Contra, is centered around theIran–Contra affair.[13] This season was later adapted to a six-part television series by Epix in 2021.[14]
In February 2019, it was announced thatEpix would release a six-partdocu-series inspired bySlow Burn with Neyfakh as host. The series was set to premiere on February 16, 2020.[15]
The third season ofFiasco,Fiasco: The Battle For Boston, is centered on theBoston busing crisis of the 1970s,[16] and was released in August 2020, during the ongoingGeorge Floyd protests. When asked about how Americans can actively and effectively engage in the topic of race, Neyfakh said:
I think there should be more recognition on the part of white people like me that believing in equality usually means giving something up. In the new season ofFiasco, listeners will hear a lot of white voices saying they believe in integration and equality but not in “busing” because it’s not fair to force white children into worse schools. The thing is, as [the journalist] Nikole Hannah-Jones has written, busing is the most immediate method of desegregating schools and making them equal. Of course someone has to give something up."[17]
In early 2020, a new podcast called5-4 was launched, for which Neyfakh provides introductions to the individual episodes and has editorial oversight. The podcast focuses on U.S. Supreme Court cases and how they impact life and liberty of Americans.[18]
The fourth season ofFiasco, titledFiasco: Benghazi, was released in 2021. The season is centered around the2012 Benghazi attack and the political scandal that followed.[19]
The fifth season of Fiasco was released in 2022. TitledFiasco: The AIDS Crisis, it tackles the history of theAIDS epidemic in the United States.[20]
In 2023, Neyfakh and radio deejay and cultural commentatorJay Smooth released the "Think Twice" podcast covering the legacy of singer and performerMichael Jackson.[21]
Neyfakh is married to Alice Gregory, afreelance journalist. The couple live inBrooklyn, New York City,[22][23][4] and have a black toy poodle named Mickey.[24]
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