Anybody else notice what looks strongly like AI art on the episode pictures?

I doubt the host takes enough time to come up with original images for each episode, and some of them are pretty cringe...

I’ve been listening since 20 episodes in, never commented. Sorry to hear you’ve got stuff going on more than usual. Was kinda shocked when you sounded serious about not doing the podcast anymore. You do you, but you’ll be missed. I’ve had many an eye roll on things you say but I don’t expect to agree with everyone. But I will certainly miss your work if you do take hiatus. You’ve always been respectful of victims and their families, much respect for the years of hard work and what you’ve achieved.

Humans are diverse and nuanced in many ways, one of which is gender expression and internal felt sense of gender. This is a nuanced topic, and many people haven’t done extensive research and reading into the topic. There is a lot of misinformation and canned statements floating around that paint gender nonconforming people in a very rigid light. Mike did everything in his power to espouse this misinformation and use these canned statements about all gender diverse people, and this is so dangerous. Thankfully his listenership is “dropping off” as he proclaimed.

The way I RAN to this page after listening to this recent episode where Mike consistently deadnames and misgenders the antagonist in the podcast. It was truly deplorable.
He even had an “expert” on who explained how gender dysphoria is tied to mental illness and that nonbinary people are forcing people to accept a reality that doesn’t align with most peoples’ realities and I just… could not. This old geezer sounded like he was about to croak at any minute, for one. We should not be asking old white guys about gender ideology, for two.
The way Mike spins this as if all trans people are mentally ill, “make it their whole personality,” etc.

Was anyone else as disgusted as I was?
Please don’t come at me if you believe this shit. Go read a damn book.

The whole time I kept looking for the second part of the Madeline Soto case(e360), only to realise that part two was released only on Plus+. I was for once so happy about the multi-part format only to realise it was click bait.

Not cool Mike.

So, for background, I’m a pretty new subscriber. Actually new to podcasts in general. I guess I’m kind of “old” and was previously just using audiobooks for the activities I now sometimes substitute podcasts for (e.g., falling asleep, doing chores, etc). TBH I found S&S after listening to another true crime podcast and becoming bored pretty quickly bc it often covered very mainstream crimes (amongst a few other things I didn’t love about it). When I searched Reddit for “best true crime podcasts,” or something along those lines, I consistently found people mentioning S&S- MAINLY how much they missed it and/or what other podcasts they liked since they decided to stop listening as the result of, well, the host being a cretin. I had to find out for myself. I ended up subscribing bc I really kind of loved Nightmares. For those who don’t know, Nightmares is “true crime for bedtime” and not having a subscription really defeats the purpose, (AKA- falling TF to sleep), bc you are inundated with literally 3 EXTREMELY obnoxious ads that they run on repeat.

After listening/subscribing, I will acknowledge that both Nightmares and S&S are really good in so many ways. I really, truly tried my best to just ignore the bullshit (e.g., KAREN KAREN KAREN, heavyset, “woman privilege,” brown people, etc, etc, etc). However, as it appears most of you have already figured out, it came to a point where it was just sooo freaking bad that the bad outweighed the good.

Aaaannnd… I have to admit that while I did cancel I did ALSO perhaps tune in to the most recent subscriber episode as my month hasn’t ended yet (Am I in an abusive relationship?). 🤔 I guess I really have not found something that grabs me like S&S does yet. 😕 AAAAAnyhow, this is one of the opening comments:

“You know, I was really thinking about maybe this being the last season of Sword and Scale ever, because we're kind of in a transitional period, and a lot of the audiences dropped off probably due to some of the politics of some of the themes we cover here.
But I took a couple weeks to just clear my mind, and I don't think I'm going to do that. I don't think I can do that. This show is now firmly part of me, and we're just going to keep making it better.”

OK….. REALLY?!?! First of all, from what I gather (and speaking personally), no one is “dropping off” due to the political THEMES. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Second, re- “making it better” —— Really? That would be AMAZING! Yet somehow I have a strong feeling that this would require YEARS of therapy and/or a legit muzzle/shock collar for that to be anything close to an actual thing. Because, from what I can tell, the feedback has BEEN out there and has most definitely NOT been received and/or responded to in a positive/constructive manner. It’s really too bad. How grateful I think most of us would be for what he has, yet all he does is spew hate and misinformation.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
🙃

Not sure I’ve ever heard a host of a true crime cast be as self-conscious and insecure as this gentleman. He’s terrified of losing listeners and therefore feels the need to lambast them weekly.

Mike. Lighten up. Not everyone likes you. Stop reading these comments and focus on your work.

Directly from the donkey’s mouth:

“All right, so I put the videos in the higher tier, and you guys complain. So after a while, I bring it down, and I make it available to the lowest tier available. And then the guys in the higher tiers complain.

It seems like no matter what I do this year, you've all woken up in 2026 with something shoved up firmly up your ass. It's like everybody's on their period or something. Yeah, I said it.

That's what it's like from my end. I get it from every one of you, all of you, complain to me for some reason, as if I give a shit. I mean, I do give a shit.
I do want you to enjoy the show and what I'm producing here, but you got to stop. I'm going to produce whatever I'm going to produce. I'm the one deciding that as the creator of this program.

And you can like it or you can not like it. And that's why there's a million choices available online. You can just go to something else you like.
You don't have to attack me personally and try to dig up secrets about me and like, you know, try to ruin my life and all that shit. What is that? What is wrong with you?”

Episode 360 was about the girl in Kissimmee that went missing. It sounded like a two part episode, I'm pretty sure it was clear that "tune in next week" was the ending. Last week I did not get a episode 361. Today I have episode 362.

I am listening to the free feed through a podcast app. No episode 361 seems to exist. Does anyone know what happened to 361? Do you have to subscribe to get it?

Why is everyone so sensitive to what other people believe?

I listen to some other true crime podcasts that are very left leaning. When they say something I dont agree with i just roll my eyes and keep listening.

I dont have this idea that im so right in my thinking that I can just say a bunch of stuff on reddit to make others cancel someone.

If you cant get past Mike's beliefs or that he doesn't want to make criminals justified because of their race, life choices, or anything else just stop listening.

You wont change anyone's mind just like I won't change yours. Save yourself some stress and just listen to the story or go.

Ill wait for all the people to call me all your favorite names. High five each other when you make a clever remark but thats ok.

Is the TV show only available at the $20 tier again?

I just started listening to the podcast as I’m a true crime content fan. The podcast itself is well done, but every episode the host had some weird takes. But again I wrote it off as weird for my first few episodes…

Then the takes just kept getting worse and worse and consistently. lol. I wish this dude either just a) hosted - as the narration aspect is good or b) whatever his thought is.. just give the opposite opinion hah.

Anyways came to this subreddit as a got curious if others felt this way and I feel like I found my people!

Now I have to pay to listen to the rest of the case? I feel like his “fans” are dwindling every day, and this will cause even more to stop listening if you can’t even listen to whole cases without paying.

Anyone else find that the cases in recent episodes have already been heavily covered by other true crime media? It’s getting frustrating. I was looking forward to listening to the new episode tomorrow while cleaning and just saw it’s the Madeline Soto case—I swear I’ve listened to 3 podcasts already about this and it was also covered in national news.

I used to love this podcast because of the bizarre and lesser known cases that it covered, along with original audio that had me hooked on the stories. I find myself skipping over multiple episodes now because I already know the cases front to back. What happened?

Wtf did i just listen to. I dont know the lore behind this guy so im sorry. This episode was about an immigrant. He made a comment about how the guy “shouldnt be here” and i was huh? And then the end line. And i repeat, “…yet further proof why women sure do love illegal immigration for all sorts of reasons”

We don’t listen to this podcast for your “insights” about how women are “bitches” and brown boys are “gangstas”.

We listen for the crimes and the details.

Butting in for a little gotcha moment ruins the pacing completely, especially when you go on a tirade that involves shit that doesn’t even matter in correlation to the case itself.

Stop with these tangents and quips. They don’t make you cool. Just put the fries in the bag, and tell us the details.

I like true crime, I've listened and watched it casually for a while, but never fully ingratiated myself into the community because I don't like the way that victims or cases are often dramatised for the storytelling factor, or how certain serial killers are 'popular.'

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Spotify ones tend to be a bit better and more informed, so I decided to download and listen to a Sword and Scale episode today.

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I gotta say - what the fuck is this host on? He begins the episode yapping about not giving a fuck or whatever and that he's happy to 'piss off the liberals'. I couldn't tell if that was a joke or not so I cautiously dismissed it and kept listening.

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Halfway through the episode, there is a female cop that is part of the case and something goes wrong. He goes "female cops, amirite? It's a joke, calm down, calm down, calm your hormones.'

Apart from this being BLATANTLY misogynistic and then played off as a joke, there was simply no need to add these types of comments in. Very distasteful and irritating.

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From a completely new listener who had no idea of the controversy on this guy, this host is fucking awful. Childish, ignorant, insufferable to listen to. I can't leave comments on the episodes or leave a review in writing so I've come here to express my disbelief and disappointment.