Steven Bartlett is going through rising criticism, with many complaining that the tone of his hit podcast, The Diary of a CEO, has shifted from considerate self-improvement to one thing far darker.
And now, even his fellow celebrities appear to be turning in opposition to him, together with Oti Mabuse, Vicky Pattison, Ulrika Jonsson, and Greg James, who’ve all commented in settlement on a viral TikTok criticising Bartlett.
Since 2017, the 33-year-old entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den star has constructed an unlimited viewers by positioning himself as a peaceful, considerate interviewer, exploring matters reminiscent of burnout, anxiousness, and success in enterprise and private life with a soft-spoken, therapeutic fashion.
For years, that strategy helped the podcast stand other than louder, extra aggressive voices within the male self-help house.
However current episodes have prompted accusations that Bartlett is amplifying misogynistic concepts with out adequate problem, with critics warning that their presentation as measured and non-controversial makes them particularly insidious.
The most recent backlash was sparked by an end-of-year episode that includes way of life podcaster Chris Williamson, during which the pair mentioned declining beginning charges.
Through the dialog, ladies’s independence, entry to contraception and altering social expectations had been framed as potential explanations for why fewer individuals are having kids.
Williamson went additional, suggesting that an ‘anti-family’ angle amongst ladies was guilty, singling out a TikTok creator who had listed causes she doesn’t need kids and seemingly mocking her choice to not change into a mom.
The trade rapidly circulated on social media, the place many listeners – and now a rising checklist of celebrities – accused the podcast of belittling ladies’s reproductive selections and decreasing advanced social points to cultural grievances about feminism.
On-line creator Shabaz Ali has emerged as one of many extra outstanding voices calling out the podcast’s route.
In a extensively shared video, he argued that The Diary of a CEO now affords ‘manosphere concepts a hoop mild and a hug,’ warning that its measured tone makes dangerous narratives appear affordable fairly than excessive.
‘This podcast was once about mindset, trauma and development,’ Shabaz mentioned. ‘Now it looks like ladies are being blamed for males’s issues.’
The controversy goes past one episode. A resurfaced clip from an earlier interview with psychiatrist Alok Kanojia has additionally reignited anger, after Bartlett requested whether or not society ought to ‘put programs in place’ to make sure lonely males or self-described incels can discover companions.
The dialogue, critics say, handled ladies as an summary resolution to male dissatisfaction whereas failing to acknowledge consent or autonomy.
Shabaz continued, addressing the controversy in his video, saying: ‘For this reason lots of people have referred to as him like a Computer virus, proper, as a result of it isn’t the identical as Andrew Tate standing up there shouting and screaming. This has acquired a remedy vibe to it.’
His criticism was met with an outpouring of help from high-profile figures, a lot of whom mentioned they had been former followers of the podcast.
Dancer and tv persona Oti Mabuse commented that Bartlett was ‘so disappointing,’ including that she had as soon as cherished the present.
Actuality star Vicky Pattison praised Shabaz’s video as ‘insightful’ and echoed the sense of disillusionment, whereas Ulrika Jonsson added a easy ‘Amen.’
Others, together with Ferne McCann, Sara Cox, and The Traitors finalist Charlotte Chilton, additionally publicly backed the critique with emoji responses and likes.
Radio 1 presenter Greg James was blunt, suggesting the podcast had been ‘hurtling’ on this route for a while.
He continued, commenting: ‘What’s everybody’s favorite episode? Mine is the one the place an “knowledgeable” claimed autism might be reversed via eating regimen. Oh and the one which mentioned Covid was an engineered weapon. Neither declare was challenged. Nice stuff.’
In fact, this isn’t occurring in a vacuum. Amelia Whitworth, Head of Coverage, Campaigns & Youth at Plan Worldwide UK instructed Metro: ‘Misogyny has lengthy been embedded in our society, however we’re now seeing a surge in on-line content material that claims to talk to males’s points whereas really selling dangerous attitudes.
‘This content material faucets into very actual fears and anxieties that boys and males might expertise, then twist them to push misogynistic concepts that ignore – or outright dismiss – the challenges ladies face.
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‘What was as soon as confined to fringe corners of the web is more and more coming into the mainstream. It’s deeply worrying to see these narratives go unchallenged on one of many nation’s hottest podcasts.’
Dr Ján Michalko, Analysis Fellow within the Gender Equality & Social Inclusion group at ODI World assume tank, additionally echoed these sentiments when chatting with us, saying: ‘It can be crucial that each one influencers and content material creators who’ve hundreds of thousands of followers take into account fastidiously the fabric they placed on social media.
‘Platforming concepts that undermine ladies’s autonomy and rights, even when they arrive from the phrases of different individuals, does have an effect as a result of they attain hundreds of thousands of individuals, together with males who’re in search of steering about what it means to be a profitable man nowadays.’
Lengthy-time listeners have additionally expressed related issues on-line. On Reddit, former followers described feeling more and more uneasy as discussions about males’s loneliness drifted into hypothesis about managing copy and relationships at a societal degree.
One person famous that conversations framed as ‘large concepts’ typically ignored ladies’s views fully, whereas one other mentioned the podcast’s refusal to meaningfully interrogate friends felt like complicity.
As Whitworth factors out: ‘This isn’t occurring in isolation. It comes alongside a well-funded, influential world pushback in opposition to the rights of ladies and ladies. This motion seeks to protect inequalities by limiting ladies’s company and bodily autonomy, together with via assaults on reproductive rights. Usually, that is framed via rhetoric about household values, which is then used as a instrument to limit ladies’s freedoms.’
These criticisms are compounded by broader questions on accountability. In 2024, a BBC investigation discovered that The Diary of a CEO had amplified dangerous well being misinformation, together with anti-vaccine narratives and unsupported claims that sure medical situations might be reversed via eating regimen.
A spokesperson for Diary Of A CEO instructed Metro: ‘The Diary Of A CEO is a long-form, conversational podcast designed to discover the views and experiences of its friends in their very own phrases. Inviting a visitor is an act of inquiry, not endorsement. Steven Bartlett doesn’t undertake the opinions of his friends, neither is the format meant to move judgment on private viewpoints.
‘To counsel {that a} host is chargeable for each view expressed by a visitor is a elementary misunderstanding of the long-form interview format.’
Concerning strategies that the podcast has something to do with the ‘manosphere,’ a spokesperson mentioned: ‘DOAC options friends from throughout your complete political and cultural spectrum. In current months alone, friends have included Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and a yet-to-be-published dialog with Zohran Mamdani. The podcast’s archive is a matter of public report and disproves this declare immediately.’
However for a lot of exasperated listeners, that defence doesn’t fairly really feel like sufficient. Because the backlash grows, many say the difficulty just isn’t freedom of speech, however the penalties of repeatedly platforming dangerous narratives beneath the guise of reality and motive.
As Dr Michalko put it: ‘As there was a resurgence of voices advocating for conventional and dangerous gender norms, any content material that questions ladies’s autonomy can contribute to shifting what we normalise as individuals’s rights and roles in society.
‘Influential figures ought to strategy their social media content material with care, understanding that we’re in a context of accelerating on-line and offline misogyny, similtaneously ladies’s rights, particularly their reproductive rights, are politically focused world wide.’
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