iHeartMedia is launching a podcast network dedicated to featuring LGBTQ+ voices with stars like JoJo Siwa, Rosie O’Donnell, Laverne Cox, Bowen Yang, Raven-Symoné, Lance Bass and more.
Called Outspoken, the network will be executive produced by the writer and activist Raquel Willis and iHeartMedia’s creative development and marketing director, Jay Brunson. The network will include new programming like O’Donnell’s podcast Onward, which will debut later this month. Siwa will executive produce and host her own show, as well as develop a slate of programming specifically for the network.
Willis is also developing two original shows for the network: The first will feature the perspectives of LGBTQ+ youth living in battleground states for legislation targeting queer people, while the second will focus on Willis’ work on violence targeting trans women that expands on her work as the former executive editor of Out magazine.
Existing iHeart shows from Big Money Players like Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Cultaristas, Cox’s The Laverne Cox Show, George Civeris and Sam Taggart’s StraightioLab and Lance Bass’ Frosted Tips will also join the Outspoken network.
“With Outspoken, iHeartMedia and a team of brilliant creators are building a space for LGBTQ+ talent and listeners everywhere to celebrate who they are. It’s exciting to see podcasting becoming a medium where voices of all kinds go to be heard, and the Outspoken network will elevate the impactful culture of the LGBTQ+ community,” Will Pearson, the president of iHeartPodcasts, said in a statement. “We’re also honored to have some of the biggest personalities in podcasting joining us as advocates by using their massive platforms with millions of listeners to amplify these creators and help bring a greater diversity of voices into the podcast space.”
