The Jonas Brothers’ Chastity Crusade (Part One)
We just can’t help ourselves: our latest episode is the premiere of our brand new fall series, The Jonas Brothers’ Chastity Crusade! In the first episode, we dive into the comically obvious PR spin being applied to Joe’s divorce from Sophie Turner! Click here for tickets to Crooks & Nannies’ album release party 09/30 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia! Links:
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Finale)
In the finale of our series on Ariana Grande, things finally fall apart. Rumors of an affair with Wicked co-star Ethan break the internet as Scooter Braun jet skis in Europe. But is the story tabloids have told really what happened behind closed doors? Sources:
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Part 5)
Our audio sync issues have been fixed! Fresh off more scandals than she had rings, Ariana Grande “quarantine n chills” with now ex-husband Dalton Gomez. A pandemic looms, and the long shadow it casts over Grande’s Midsommar-themed 27th bday bash spells doom for these star-crossed lovers! Links:
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Part 4)
Following immense tragedy, Ariana Grande experiences a year of contrasts in 2019: record breaking achievements are overshadowed by more scandals and controversies than any other contemporary in her lane. That hair? She’s gonna wish she never bought it! Links:
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Ariana Grande Broke Up With Scooter Braun Cuz She’s Bored (Intermission)
Let’s take a brief intermission in the middle of our 5 part Ariana Grande series to tear apart the flood of rumors around Scooter Braun’s mass client exodus. Some very shady stuff happening with all those “sources” talking to the tabloids! Sources:
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Part Three)
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains long conversations about violence, terrorist attacks, suicide, drug use, and alcohol addiction. As moral panic descends, let’s be brave, and critically examine the mess Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater made of everything! In this week’s third installment of our deep-dive series, we look into Ariana’s modern pop culture moments and the events leading up to the Manchester bombing…
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Part Two)
As moral panic descends, let’s be brave, and critically examine the mess Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater made of everything! In this week’s followup to Part One, we look into Ariana’s big-break moment and her debut commercial album to learn what turned the Nickelodean actress in the world’s next big superstar. Links:
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We Forgive You Ariana Grande (Part One)
As moral panic descends, let’s be brave, and critically examine the mess Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater made of everything! In this week’s episode, we dig into their careers and personal lives to seek…absolution? Forgiveness? Healing? A ponytail joke? Sources:
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Barbie Girls in a Barbie World (feat. Rashida Renée)
To get things started with a bang on our return from summer vacation, we brought on the most hotly discussed and begged for guest in E4F history: Joan’s sister, the legendary fashion scholar and Barbie officianado, Rashida Renée! We talk Barbie, Barbie, Barbie, Barbie, and Barbie! Links:
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It’s BibleGirl B*tch! (feat. BibleGirl)
This week we’ve got the legendary BibleGirl on to tell it. What exactly? Everything! Quitting drag, bulding a drag merch empire, the Target controversy, and the liberation of Britney, bitch! Links:
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#DivaDownUpdates: Live From OceanGate Crisis Control Center
This is an emergency broadcast of the E4F #DivaDown alert system! Let’s dig into the OceanGate submarine disaster: a step-son’s feud with Cardi B/Blink-182, a CEO’s dream of offshore oil mining, and capitalism’s rapid response to endangered billionaires. Links:
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Taylor Swift Invented Matty Healy In the Anti-Slay Torment Nexus
We’re back this week and we mention it all! From Drew Barrymore’s legendary crusade against tabloid media, Samantha Jones iconic return to SATC, to Joan’s channeling of a demonic entity known at Matty Healy… Links:
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Life After #Scandoval (feat. Shamira Ibrahim)
Our favorite guest, Shamira, is back to talk about where Bravo can possibly go after Scandoval, and how this drama has fundamentally changed the industry of reality television forever. Listen now! About: Hosted by journalists Joan Summers and Matthew Lawson, Eating For Free is a weekly podcast that explores gossip and power in the pop culture landscape: Where it comes from, who…
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The Great Big Writer’s Strike Episode (feat. Ashlyn Thomas)
Friend of the show and Tinseltown icon Ashlyn Thomas joins us to discuss the lead up to and impact of the most prominent organized labor movement of 2023 so far! Solidarity with all striking writers 🫡 and a perpetual “FUCK TED SARANDOS FOREVER!” Links:
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Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are F**king … With Our Minds
Sydney Sweeney & Glen Powell have entranced people with flirty press appearances & “scandalous” pap shots. The internet’s convinced they’re fucking, but that’s only half the story being told to potential audiences of future hit movie “Anyone But You.” Sources:
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Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet, and Kim Kardashian Ruined My Life
Amid breaking news about Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet’s nothingburger romance, a man who claims Kim Kardashian ruined his life has begun to tell his story around LA. Let’s dive into this 10 year saga of lawsuits and App Store trademark warfare! Sources:
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Pedro Pascal’s Sugar Mama, Jacob Elordi’s Bare Feet, & Tom Sandoval’s War on Feminism
Joan’s sick this week, so in lieu of our regular programming, your two favorite gay people sat down to talk about… Pedro Pascal’s sugar mama, Jacob Elordi’s bare feet, Tom Sandoval’s war on feminism, and Vanessa Hudgens’ demonic possession! Sources:
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#Scandoval: A Lucrative Nightmare
A president was indicted? Who cares! We’re still in#Scandoval. As the biggest news in the nation, VPR is Bravo’s greatest success story, and its stars’ highly lucrative nightmare. Let’s dive into the business of a scandal; this is how gossip gets made. Sources:
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Child Star Hell: Justin Bieber’s Paradiso
In the fourth and final part to our series on Justin Bieber (catch “Justin Bieber’s Purgatorio” on our Patreon), we explore the singer’s relationship with God, his evolving public relations strategy, and Scooter Braun’s future prison sentence. Get into it! Links:
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Child Star Hell: Justin Bieber’s Inferno
This week on Child Star Hell, “Justin Bieber’s Inferno”, we begin to examine how the patron saint of “Bieber Fever” went from an unknown Youtube prodigy… to the most famous kid on earth… to the most hated man in America.. all in just five years! Links:
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Child Star Hell: Selena Gomez vs. Justin Bieber
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber, haunted by adolescent fame, have been entangled for over a decade. Invasions of privacy, exploitation, and stints in rehab are just the tip of the iceberg. What can save their souls from this child star hell? Links:
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Kim Kardashian Put $350,000 of Embezzled Funds In a Garbage Bag?
Former 1MDB consultant ‘Jho Low’ famously embezzled billions of tax-dollars to fund his lavish Hollywood lifestyle. Celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio & Kim Kardashian received millions to party with him, only to find they’d been tricked years later. We break it down in today’s episode! Links:
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Pop Music That F*cks: The Long War Against Rap
In 1990, a landmark case about “obscenity” in rap music sparked decades of discourse. 30 years later, hundreds of black artists have been prosecuted based on lyrics and their music. Part three of “Pop Music That F*cks”, The Long War on Rap, is out now! Links:
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The Ozempic-ification of Hollywood
From ‘The Real Housewives’ to A-listers, controversial diabetes drug Ozempic is the talk of TikTok and Tinseltown med-spas. This week, we trace its origins, unpack its ubiquity, and link it to past weight loss drug disasters like fen-phen in the ’90s. Sources:
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About These Menaces
The only podcast and blog transmitting live from the absolute edge of the internet!
Hosted by journalists Joan Summers and Matthew Lawson, Eating For Free is a weekly podcast that explores gossip and power in the pop culture landscape: Where it comes from, who wields it, and who suffers at the hands of it. Find out the stories behind the stories, as together they look beyond the headlines of troublesome YouTubers or scandal-ridden A-Listers, and delve deep into the inner workings of Hollywood’s favorite pastime. The truth, they’ve found, is definitely stranger than any gossip.
Join us for pop culture investigations, podcasts, guest essays, and so much more.
Meet the Team
Joan Summers / editor, writer, host / twitter
Matthew Lawson / writer, content producer, host / twitter
Ashlyn Thomas / writer, audio producer, social / twitter