The Ms. Rachel Monologue & The 22-Hour Jew, Trans TV Writer Our Lady J
3/24/20261 hr 17 min
She converted to Judaism yesterday! Jonah Platt interviews transgender activist, Emmy-nominated TV writer-director (Transparent, American Horror Story, Pose), and musician Our Lady J (Yona Speidel), less than 24 hours after she formally converted to Judaism. She describes her 12-year path, the beit din with three rabbis, her written reflection on Isaiah 56 and intersex identity, her mikvah immersion, and why she chose the Hebrew name Yona. She recounts growing up in a Mennonite household, losing trust in organized religion amid homophobia during the AIDS crisis, and later returning to spirituality through Judaism. The conversation addresses unconscious antisemitism, queer-community susceptibility to “they” cons...
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First 90 secondsJonah Platt· Host0:00
[upbeat music] This is a breakdown takedown of Miss Rachel. Ooh, that was dramatic. Nah, this isn't really a takedown. I just thought it sounded cool. Believe me, I don't want to do a takedown of Miss Rachel. She teaches kids. She's a mom. She's neurodivergent. My daughter loves her, and I think in her heart, she's a good person trying to do good in the world. She's also built one of the most extraordinary platforms in the history of children's media. Over twelve billion views, the number one children's show on Netflix, nineteen point two million YouTube subscribers. That's more than the entire Jewish population of planet Earth. With such an enormous platform comes enormous responsibility and should come with enormous accountability, which is what I wanna talk about today. Whether knowingly or not, Rachel Griffin Accurso has used her massive reach to unapologetically cause significant harm to the Jewish community by subtly shifting the mindset of millions of parents toward hatred of Israel specifically and Jewish people broadly. And when confronted about it, she has been defensive, deflective, and demonizing toward the very people voicing these concerns. And I have the data to back it up. That's right, friends. I pulled all six hundred eighty-three of Miss Rachel's Instagram posts from October seventh, twenty twenty-three through March sixteenth, twenty twenty-six. And what those posts reveal