The Woke Week Special (With Michael Hobbes)

The Woke Week Special (With Michael Hobbes)

From Aftermath Hours by Aftermath

March 27, 2026 · 1h 31m · Episode 108

About this episode

The episode features a discussion on Woke Week and video game speedruns with guest Michael Hobbes.

On a this week’s (very special) episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by podcasting royalty, Michael Hobbes of If Books Could Kill and Maintenance Phase, to discuss Aftermath’s latest, greatest, possibly dumbest event, Woke Week, as well as Michael’s true passion: video game speedruns. What was Woke 1? What were its true ills versus those centrist pundits have wrongly tried to diagnose? And why are Woke 1 and Woke 2 fighting? Can they stop? There are also multiple shocking—to Michael—reveals throughout the episode, such as Nathan’s role in Gamergate. We fill him in on all the deep gamer lore and some recent drama involving Chris and Bluesky that exemplified the Woke 1 vs 2 divide. Finally, we decide which games constitute the Woke 2 canon, and we pick out a mascot (Kirby). Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Chris Person, and special guest Michael Hobbes - Podcast Production & Ads:  Multitude - Subscribe to  Aftermath ! About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice…

People in this episode

Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Chris Person

Guest: Michael Hobbes

Topics covered

  • Woke Week
  • video game speedruns
  • Woke 1 vs Woke 2
  • gaming culture
  • Gamergate

Keywords

  • Woke Week
  • Michael Hobbes
  • video games
  • speedruns
  • Gamergate

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aftermath, If Books Could Kill, Maintenance Phase

Products: Kirby

Places: Bluesky

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