Fur & Loathing
4.8/5
Critic Rating
It’s early December 2014, and at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, an unusual gathering is taking place. It’s the final night of Midwest Furfest, the world’s largest convention for a subculture known as Furries.The party is in full swing when, just after midnight, attendees suddenly find themselves struggling to breathe. Something terrible has happened: poisonous levels of chlorine gas are sweeping through the hotel corridors.Nineteen people are hospitalized and hundreds are evacuated into the freezing cold, many still wearing their colorful anthropomorphic animal costumes, or fursuits. Hazmat teams trace the gas to a stairwell, where...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Wil Williams • Podcast Promise • Jun 24, 2024
"...Fur and Loathing is pretty much exactly what I want in true crime. there is a sense of care and respect for the victims that nobody has provided with such a platform so far. There’s a sense of actual justice, seeking actual truth....glossy, deep, reverent treatment..."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Life Hacker • May 21, 2024
"This is a serious, respectful look at a cold case that will fill in gaps, connect dots, and take you to unexpected places."
Score: 5
Rachel Cunliffe • New Statesman • May 15, 2024
"This is first and foremost a true crime podcast. And it’s an exhilarating one, as Woolf and his team of researchers track down FBI reports and travel the US to interview witnesses and suspects. it’s a story about the internet: what it does to us, and how the distinction between real life and online doesn’t exist the way we think it does."
Score: 5
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • May 12, 2024
"Woolf is a specialist in internet subcultures...Woolf makes a point of taking the furry fandom seriously, noting that he’s always had a “soft spot” for them...if that makes the series sound po-faced, it isn’t. Woolf is clearly charmed by these devotees who, he argues, do no harm in pursuing their mammalian passions."
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • May 11, 2024
"...there definitely is an innate silliness to the case, which the podcast itself makes use of in its title and with an upbeat soundtrack. But Woolf being Woolf, there’s also some proper in-depth investigation here. A strangely gripping show that uncovers more than you might imagine (and, no, that’s not a furry joke)."
Score: 4
James Marriot • The Times UK • May 9, 2024
"This investigation provides structure for a wider examination of the furry subculture and the hatred it inspires. Woolf is beguilingly open to its oddities...good journalists are able to extend their sympathy in unexpected directions and I think it’s to Woolf’s credit that he’s able to find it all “beautiful and absolutely nuts”. I’m keen to see where the tale takes him."
