Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

The vibe shift around Artificial Intelligence is happening. The Pope released his manifesto warning that AI poses a threat to humanity. Meanwhile, our social feeds are filled with graduates booing mentions of AI at their commencement speeches. And more celebrities are speaking up. Elamin Abdelmahmoud talks with culture writer Amil Niazi and religious studies professor Judith Ellen Brunton about the cultural reset that seems to be well and truly underway.

t’s happening all over again -- a hockey romance based on a Canadian book series is taking over television. Off Campus is the number one show on Amazon Prime and it’s based on Toronto author Elle Kennedy’s romantic comedy novels. Gillian McKercher and Steve Dangle Glynn join guest host Amil Niazi to dive into the new series, and discuss how hockey’s place in pop culture is changing today.Plus, after five seasons, HBO’s Hacks is getting its curtain call. One of the smartest and funniest shows on TV, the comedy-drama follows the friendship between an older stand-up comedian and her younger comedy writer as they navigate the entertainment industry. But it's also a show that criticizes the current practices of big entertainment companies. Discovery. Pop culture writer Kevin Fallon is here to talk about its final season with guest host Amil Niazi. 

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is a new AppleTV comedy-thriller starring Canadian actor Tatiana Maslany. Commotion guest host Amil Niazi is joined by film critic Radheyan Simonpillai and culture critic C.T. Jones to talk about the new series and why it's so polarizing for some audiences.Plus, over the past week, videos of an Olivia Rodrigo performance in Barcelona have gone viral largely due to her choice of outfit: the babydoll dress. What was once seen as a symbol of feminist fashion in the ‘90s (think Courtney Love), the dress has taken on a much more problematic, infantalizing dimension for younger women raised in the shadow of #MeToo and the Epstein files. Music journalist Brittany Spanos explains how the babydoll dress has come to represent dramatically different things to different generations, and how Rodrigo’s use of it blurs the line between these varying interpretations.

The big fashion story of the moment is Shein buying Everlane. The companies are total opposites: Shein is the king of ultra-fast fashion and Everlane marketed itself as an eco-conscious and ethical clothing brand. Elamin Abdelmahmoud chats with Clare Press, the host of the sustainable fashion podcast, ‘Wardrobe Crisis’ about what this acquisition says about our relationship with sustainable clothing.Plus, Canadian poets haven’t won the most prestigious prize for Canadian poetry for the past 4 years, ever since International poets became eligible to win it too. And Canadian poets are not happy. Yesterday, prize organizers held a town hall to hear all sides. Poet Paul Vermeersch was there, and he’ll share what he heard and saw with Elamin

Held on May 24 in Las Vegas, the Enhanced Games is a rarity among international sporting competitions, in that it permits – and actively encourages – athletes to compete using performance enhancing drugs, thus earning the dubious nickname of the “Steroid Olympics.” Sports writers Morgan Campbell and Adam Skolnick discuss whether the games are just a silly spectacle, or a troubling bellwether of where sports – and wellness culture as a whole – could be heading. Plus, classical music lost a legend this month. Cris Derksen was a prolific Cree cellist and composer, who was known for defying genres. Musician Jeremy Dutcher joins Elamin Abdelmahmoud to honour his friend, Cris Derksen, who died at the age of 45.