Off the Record, On my Mind with Ayana

Episode 012 opens with Ayana confessing to reading the back of a Benadryl box like it was a legal brief, only to find out the label is basically begging parents not to use it as a sleep aid for kids, so naturally she asks the only question that matters: are the parents okay?

 On the Docket, she digs into Raven Symoné's comments about whether her and her family even count as a Black family, unpacks what that actually implies, gu...

Episode 011 opens with the wild tale of a man who catfished the NFL to swindle 20 women out of $1.6 million, because apparently a fake jersey and a confident smile is all it takes these days. Ayana then heads to The Docket to pay respects to Dolly Parton, a genuine force of nature whose passing has her spiraling into the very real, very depressing realization that we are losing the greats faster than we can appreciate them. She piv...

Ayana opens with a shoutout to a hilarious hyperlocal TikToker giving out the community’s business better than the nightly news, so go give her a follow. On The Docket, she has thoughts on Neutrogena finally issuing Hayden Panettiere an apology, a decade after dropping her for talking about postpartum depression and only after she passed away, because nothing says accountability like a statement drafted once the person can&rs...

Ayana’s back with WNBA All Star Weekend chaos.  On The Docket she sends condolences of a different kind to the Boseman family, now in court against Chadwick’s widow over an estate that still hasn’t been distributed nearly four years later. She wishes Nic and Olandria well, separately and individually, and questions the business model of launching a relationship podcast a month and a half into a relationship. ...

Ayana’s back on The Docket fresh off Spain’s World Cup win, and she’s got thoughts on Toronto Tempo, Angel Reese being a protected species, and the difference between what you meant and what you actually said (spoiler: nobody cares what you meant). She sends love to the Kardashian/Jenner family, then pivots hard into the internet’s favorite pastime of blaming teenage girls instead of the grown men who show u...

Ayana kicks things off with the true story of Mr. Carl getting sent airborne by a bison in Yellowstone, because some people still haven’t learned not to pet the fluffy cow. From there she’s on to the Docket, breaking down Jay Z’s three sold out nights at Yankee Stadium and why it was less a concert run and more a legacy victory lap, complete with a surprise Beyoncé appearance and her best friend’s unfiltered...

Ayana is back with a Docket covering Taylor Swift’s Madison Square Garden wedding (and why the crazies are actually the reason it stayed private), Beyoncé’s “Morning Dew” lore, Love Island’s biggest schemers this season, and the Yung Miami Spend Dat controversy. Then she’s breaking down the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision and what it means for a conservative supermajority be...

Ayana returns with a docket that has range, starting with Kylie Jenner getting sued again because apparently that’s just a personality trait at this point. She marks the BET Awards’ return after a stretch of feeling more like background noise than an event, and holds out hope they can actually make it matter again. She also opens with the saga of Gracie, a giraffe who went missing from Cedar Hollow Ranch in San Antonio,...

Ayana returns with another packed Docket, discussing the loss of young talent following Tay-K’s passing, Anne Hathaway’s latest chapter, and why the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center sparked a little nostalgia. She also reacts to hilarious World Cup culture clashes, from Americans introducing the world to ranch dressing to the internet’s obsession with it all, before unpacking the chaos of Love Islan...

Ayana is back with a packed docket. Love Island Week 2 has her with thoughts, Elon Musk’s trillionaire conversation has her with questions, and Cierra from Summer House has her sending prayers. She also gets into the mess surrounding the 2026 World Cup before heading into What They Aren’t Telling You, where she breaks down what Josh Hokit’s White House moment was really about and why the silence after said more th...

Ayana returns with a packed docket, leaning on Love Island as her summer dopamine while breaking down Latto and Cardi B’s beef resurfacing after Latto’s Big Mama lyric and Cardi’s response about the leaked “pussy” call and attempted private outreach. She reacts to Serena Williams announcing a doubles return via a Queen’s Club wild card with Victoria Mboko, and highlights Hunter Biden’s unex...

In the first episode, Ayana explains the show’s three segments: The Docket (weekly pop culture), What They Aren’t Telling You (deeper dive on a bigger story), and Off the Record (personal thoughts). On the docket, she covers reports of a leaked Diddy sex tape and online reactions, then breaks down Jay-Z’s Roots Picnic freestyle. She also discusses Love Island Season 8 cast news, including a contestant removed afte...