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Vico Ortiz is a multi-hyphenate performer and actor. You may recognize them from their performance as Jim on HBO’s Our Flag Means Death, or heard their voice on the animated Harley Quinn show. And now they’re expanding into the world of podcasts with their show, Today in Gay, which they told our Editor-in-Chief Chris Arrant latest edition of Awe Talk recorded at GalaxyCon Columbus 2024.

For Ortiz, Today in Gay presents an opportunity to break a harmful cycle where we can be inundated with bad news at any given moment. They said, “Today in Gay will be a sandwich of news between good news – like good gay news – and the news that is a little tougher to hear. Oftentimes we get thrown news about people without much sense or care, and so with our podcast we intend to create a safe space for anybody. We are an ally to listen to the news in a way that’s really intentional and caring, balancing good gay news with stuff that’s harder to hear.” You can consider Today in Gay as an antidote to doomscrolling. 

Ortiz is producing Today in Gay with Jasmin Savoy Brown, Nay Bever, and Bex Taylor-Claus, and provides an opportunity to create discussions around news, rather than providing one singular view. Speaking about their collaborators, Ortiz said, “We’re all queer, and we also have different backgrounds and different perspectives. So for some things, we’ll all agree, and there will be others with which we won’t all agree. With all of that, we’ve been able to have these really beautiful discussions that are expansive, rather than just like ‘I’m right’ and ‘You’re wrong.’ It’s interesting. So that’s why when we have different feelings about a particular piece of news, rather than just shutting somebody out it's an opening for a discussion.” 

Thanks to GalaxyCon Columbus 2024 for facilitating this conversation. Please visit GalaxyCon.com for a complete list of their upcoming events.

You can check out Chris’s full conversation with Vico Ortiz here if you’re a Popverse member. And if you’re not a Popverse member, consider joining! You’ll get full access to each Awe Talk, alongside other member-only content like our Popversations video series where Ashley V Robinson interviews top talent in pop culture like David Dastmalchian and Star Trek: Lower Decks’s Mike McMahan. 

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