An entertainment journalist for outlets like Paper and The Cut, Evan Ross Katz is more than a cultural critic: He is the culture. That’s evidenced by the buzziness of his Chaos Dinners, where celebrities from prestige TV shows, reality TV franchises, and beyond gather yearly at Katz’s invitation.
“I'm an amalgamation of a fanboy, a hypeman, a cultural anthropologist, and a Sarah Michelle Gellar historian,” Katz says.
With his keen eye for virality, Katz regularly breaks down dialogue from TV shows like The White Lotus and And Just Like That…, creating instantly shareable memes. But he goes deeper on long-form platforms, like his Shut Up Evan podcast and newsletter. In 2022, he released his deep dive into Buffy culture with Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts.
“Journalists and journalism are facing significant and intensifying attacks, and job security in our industry is scarcer now than ever,” he says of our “rapidly shrinking media ecosystem.”
“I value storytelling as much as the stories themselves, so my area of interest is most deeply rooted in studying, metabolizing, and disseminating pop culture, whether that be through writing, podcasting, or content creation.” @evanrosskatz
Years before Stonewall, a cafeteria riot became a breakthrough for trans rights
All about the Compton's Cafeteria riot, when drag queens and trans women rose up against police at a diner in San Francisco.