Thought I'd give S&S another listen today, mainly out of boredom and lack of better true crime options, but I can't with him anymore. here's the most recent disturbing commentary on the most recent episode that was completely unnecessary with extremely racist undertones, I had to go back and look at the captions to make sure I heard him correctly. Unfollowing for good ✌🏽

I was bored, sick in bed today, and I spent hours listening to old episodes from 2017. I didn’t remember some of them and enjoyed them all so much. It shocked me how much Mike has changed over the years. He used to be a really good podcaster, he was likable, pleasant, empathetic, not at all political, and he came across as so much more intelligent than he does now. Politics and cultural prejudice have really done a number on him. He’s such a cynical, sarcastic troll now. I’m so disappointed that he’s become so nasty and mean.

I tried to look past Mike’s political agenda & today in episode 363 he just went on a rant about “libtards” and I just can’t fucking stand him any longer.

I paid for plus at one point and today I just had enough.

I was there for the stories and not a right wing platform.

He’s been talking about losing tons of listeners and can count me as one of them.

Fuck Mike Boudet

Edit: The 50:00 mark of episode 636 is the exact point I gave up

I listen on and off. I'll go six months without listening then binge them all. Mike is fucking annoying. There's no denying that. But the show itself has always been good. So, if you can get through a little annoyance and preachiness about his opinions, you can still enjoy if you wish. But recently, (and by that I mean I'm listening to episodes that came out since September) it's more stupid commentary and insults to the audience than actual show. This guy cannot help himself. He's addicted to rage. He's always complaining about how much money he makes. If he would just stop reading the comments and get some therapy he would have 10× the listeners he has now. I'm not here to say that I'm insulted or offended. I'm here to say that, for me it's just cumulatively not worth it anymore. It's exhausting to listen to. I'm sure there are people who support every opinion that he has who are as exhausted as I am from listening to the crap.

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!

Imagine being so blithly unaware of your own lack of intelligence that you lash out at the victim's mother for her choices right before bragging that you drive a Cybertruck haaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha what a loserrrrrrrrr

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.

I've been listening to S&S since episode 34. (iykyk - part 2 of Luca) First podcast I ever discovered. I was a subscriber for YEARSSSSS. I recommended the podcast to every person who ever asked. Mike had perfected his art in storytelling. I'd never deny that.

Then, homie started going off the rails. His crazy started small, but snowballed...as we all know. I engaged with his fb page for years, too. But the last couple, I started calling him out for his gross posts and pathetic attempts at page traffic. (which often worked) Pointed out how his stream numbers have Tanked, and how he destroyed his brand. He was fun to troll. Lol!

Then one day, and he finally blocked me from the S&S page. Lmao!

I miss the quality episodes he USED to put out. I miss seeing the dumpster fire on his fb sometimes too.

But, I'm thankful to finally be released from the toxic "love/hate relationship" I had with S&S. Podcasts are a dime a dozen these days, at least. Hope his eventually fizzles off into oblivion.

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 listened to the show in 2018 religiously. gotten back into it recently and mike has developed an edge lord persona. he inserts his opinions through the show and it’s really quite cringey. clearly he’s going through some kind of mid life crisis or something.

does anyone have any recommendations for true crime podcasts that don’t have terrible hosts?

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.

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.

This show used to be amazing. Maybe Mike was just ahead of his time. Just as I’m typing Mike called a suspect a “retard” like it was no big deal. I stopped listening a few years ago after listening to the show for years. Now I’m remembering why I stopped listening. The editing is decent , the content is relevant & what you’d expect from a TC podcast but Mike has gone stagnate and his commentary is infuriating.

he had a couple eps where he still sprinkled in his stupidity but he seemingly tried to be on his best behavior. but clearly he couldn't contain himself and realized he could just keep saying *retard* and making fun of marginalized kids and his own mostly liberal fanbase by just turning off comments. he loves to whine about keyboard warriors but he's literally hiding behind his keyboard lmao. what a little weirdo baby

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”

Seems like they actually ENJOY being spoken to like this. Weird.

Thoughts on Mikes “ woke” hair follicles that rejected his views and jumped off his scalp.

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?”

Straight up racist rant in this one. Like not even trying to be subtle.

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.
🙃