‘Normal Gossip’ Is Getting New Hosts

The gossip girls behind the internet’s favorite podcast have some new faces and new sounds for the upcoming season. Defector Media announced Tuesday that duo Kelsey McKinney and Alex Sujong Laughlin will be stepping down from the hit podcast Normal Gossip — with Rachelle Hampton and Se’era Spragley Ricks taking over the hit show.

Normal Gossip first premiered in 2022 and quickly became a cult hit for its colorful episodes anonymyzing real-world drama into a hysterical podcast episode, complete with culture guests. According to Vulture, the show has around 45 million downloads, a major success since the series only has 70 published episodes.

Prior to taking over Normal Gossip, Hampton and Spragley Ricks worked together on Slate’s culture podcast In Case You Missed It also known as ICYMI. “We’re excited and can’t wait to start working on Season 8,” the duo said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone. “We got to keep the girlies fed. Although our dowager queens of gossip will not be in the pilot seats, the show’s spirit will still remain with a black southern twist that we know they’ll enjoy. Think Beyonce’s rendition of Dolly Parton’s Jolene.”

McKinney and Laughlin will be not be levaving Defecteor, but rather taking their newfound time to work on other projects. Laughlin will remain a supervising producer for Defector, and McKinney’s newest book You Didn’t Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip will release on  February 11, 2025.

In Rolling Stone’s 2023 Creator Issue, McKinney and Laughlin said one of their biggest rules about gossiping revolved around choosing it— and your targets — wisely.

“Gossip as a way to reinforce social standards and create rules for the community has always existed,” McKinney said. “It is funny to read gossip columns from the Thirties and Forties, where it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, her dress was so short,’ and that’s scandalous.”

“Gossip about the White House has a different weight than gossip about [a] co-worker,” Laughlin added. “It has everything to do with the amount of power that the people have and the power that the narrative about them has. So if that narrative is refuted or undercut in some way, that’s going to have an equally powerful effect, either for good or evil.”

The seventh season of Normal Gossip recently wrapped, and the team hasn’t yet announced when the eighth will begin — but at this point, there’s no shortage of excitement.