Margaret Cho on her parents’ gay bookstore, BDSM during HIV/AIDS, and why Ellen hates her

Margaret Cho on her parents’ gay bookstore, BDSM during HIV/AIDS, and why Ellen hates her

February 17, 2026 · 49 min · Season 3 · Episode 23

About this episode

Margaret Cho discusses her career, queerness, and personal experiences related to her parents' gay bookstore and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Iconic comedian Margaret Cho joins us on the podcast to discuss the ups and downs of her career, and all of the ways queerness has always been part of her life. We cover topics like: discovering gay people at her parents' gay bookstore working at a lesbian BDSM leather shop the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in her communities being a self-proclaimed life-long *** hag starring in the first Asian-American family sitcom on television, and the eating disorder that came from that racism and fatphobia in Hollywood why Ellen Degeneres hates her -You can find out more about Margaret Cho and her current "Choligarchy" stand-up tour at margaretcho.com -Follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cruising's Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for deep dives and companion pieces to our episodes! -⁠⁠⁠Preorder our book⁠⁠⁠, THE LESBIAN BAR…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, Jennifer McGinity

Guest: Margaret Cho

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cruising Podcast, margaretcho.com

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