Why Here

When Why Here started in May of 2020, amid a global pandemic, the hosts had no idea what the next few months would look like. On this week's episode of Why Here, contributors Claudine Ko and Dr. Virat Madia join hosts Benton Whitley and Tristan McAllister to look back on the podcast's first season. The four reflect on big moments that changed how they saw the conversation around them and how their thinking has evolved during a summer that none of us will ever forget.

Starting a conversation with Jake Shears is easy. Ending one is hard ... because he has so many INSANE stories about his career in pop music. As the lead singer of the band Scissor Sisters he shot to stardom at a young age and became a queer icon for a generation of people looking to see themselves represented in music. On this week's episode of Why Here, he joins hosts Tristan McAllister and Benton Whitley to talk about his journey to becoming a solo artist, his love of Dolly Parton, what Elton John once said to him in a dressing room and what he wishes he'd known when he first found fame. And, at the end a "Savage" friend joins us to talk about Jake's coming out story.

You’d be hard-pressed to find some of the most incredible minds in entertainment and beyond who haven’t been interviewed by Stacey Wilson Hunt. The veteran Hollywood journalist even once received a phone call from Oprah who personally thanked her for the feature story she wrote about the famed media mogul for The Hollywood Reporter . Wilson Hunt’s work goes far beyond that, as the host of the new National Geographic podcast series Consider This. On this week’s episode of Why Here, she shares her take on how Hollywood is addressing Black Lives Matter and #MeToo with hosts Benton Whitley and Tristan McAllister.

Growing up in the shadow of a Trump golf course, when you’re in-fact living in a low-income neighborhood, stokes a special brand of motivation. This is something that NYC city council member Ritchie Torres knows all too well. On this season’s first episode of Why Here he joins hosts Benton & Tristan to talk politics, his run for U.S. congress and his early crushes on WWE wrestlers. Torres is gay, which makes him the first ever openly LGBTQIA official to represent the Bronx. His highly likely win in November makes this Afro-Latino, Bronx-born political star on the rise a sure bet for the future of American politics.

It's been more than 50 years since the historic riots at New York City's Stonewall Inn birthed the modern queer rights movement and the first Gay Pride. On this special Pride episode of Why Here, hosts Benton Whitley and Tristan McAllister speak with prominent queer role models Jake Shears, L Morgan Lee, Bob The Drag Queen, Andre De Shields, VINCINT and many more to ask a simple question: What does Pride mean to you?