Reading is Fundamental Recap: Queer Lawyers Dextra & Blue Spill the Tea on the Writers’ Strike & BuzzFeed

May 31, 2023
AJ SLOAN

Our cute and queer attorneys at law are here to serve up the second installment of their second season (congrats!) of Reading is Fundamental, now presented by Fleshbot! In this episode, we break down the Writers’ Strike happening all over our country and how it will affect your TV viewing consumption. We also get into an interesting case regarding BuzzFeed’s republication of a photoshoot and whether that publication is protected by Fair Use. I don't know whether to say that this podcast puts the "fun" or "mental" in "fundamental." Decisions, decisions... I'll let you decide for yourself. The library is open!

After a brief discussion about the Evil Dead Franchise (hot), our legal team discuss the writer’s strike and its relevance to the entertainment industry as well as in the studio’s surrounding area of Burbank, California. Although they drag the picketers that they’ve seen for their lack of creativity in their signage (READ), they wholeheartedly express their support for the cause. They refer back to the last major writers’ strike that occurred in 2007 and chew over the impact of the strike on the entertainment industry. Both Bailey and Dextra note the shift toward streaming platforms and shorter seasons for shorter attention spans and how these aspects affect writers. Despite all of the changes and challenges the industry experiences, our hosts advocate for fair compensation for writers.

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Dextra dishes on the train crash/viral story which BuzzFeed picked up. No, not about the actual crash, but about the controversy surrounding it. Apparently, the photographer of the crash sued BuzzFeed for copyright infringement after they used her photos in their article. However, BuzzFeed defended itself by claiming fair use. For all of us muggles, Dextra explains fair use as the defense against copyright infringement and the factors that go into it. The court determined that BuzzFeed's use of the photos fell under fair use because it was a comment on the event and within their rights as a media source, those shady f*cks. Why do corporations suck so much?

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Reading is Fundamental is where to go to hear members of our community talk about news and entertainment law. Drag Diva Dextra Denovo and her accomplice, the leather daddy himself Blue Bailey, come together in our Fleshbot podcast to celebrate queerness and sex positivity while also reading b*tches to filth. Check them out for yourself and you may learn a thing or two. Who knows, this podcast might keep you out of prison.

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