Calling all thots! The prolific gay hookup "dating" app, Grindr, recently announced a new business venture: digital media.
INTO, Grindr's new "digital magazine," was launched earlier this year as a part of a major image overhaul in honor of their eight-year anniversary. As I've said before, Grindr did to gay sex what Amazon did to books, and, like Amazon, they're expanding to new markets in hopes of global domination. Here's what Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai told Forbes:
"INTO focuses a lot on travel, since our users like to travel and go out. ["Travel" means "suck dick." - CB] A lot of current offerings don’t give you up to date info, and we have millions of Grindr users asking us to figure out what’s going on around them. So INTO will help you navigate while travelling, as we’ll share info relating to nightlife, culture, and where to hang out.”
Well, travel-obsessed Grindr users were solicited a new offering when they opened up Grindr this morning:
That's right! Christopher Frizzelle's fav podcast, Food 4 Thot, has announced a partnership with INTO. Frizzelle, a higher-ranking Stranger gay than I, pitched the podcast over the summer:
If you like podcasts, books, gossip, and gay stuff, and you do not already listen to Food 4 Thot, you've got to get on it. They are a multiracial group of young queer writers sitting around drinking rosé and talking about experiences in publishing, irritating people they've dated, Beyoncé, favorite canonical literature, poppers, gay bars, whether Zadie Smith is a top, dating apps, Beyoncé, identity politics, food, threeways, television, and Beyoncé.
Food 4 Thot is basically like Two Dope Queens but it's four dope queens and they prefer to go by "thots." The murder of thots includes Stranger-approved poet Tommy Pico, ex-figure sk8r/MacDowell Fellow Dennis Norris II, scientist/memoirist/"second least funny co-host" Joe Osmundson, and Hello Mr. Executive Editor Fran Tirado.
(Full disclosure: Tirado edited an essay I wrote about my butt for Hello Mr.'s eighth issue. In the piece, I have a list detailing "MY TYPE OF BOY," where I bullet point out my ideal man. I originally included "treats me like Carrie Brownstein," which Tirado wanted to change to "treats me like Carrie Bradshaw." Tirado believed Bradshaw was more universal. I believed Bradshaw was insufferable. This disagreement explains why Tirado lives in New York City and I live in the Pacific Northwest. TL;DR, I think we compromised on "Julia Roberts in the 1990s.")
The partnership is a big deal for both parties. Food 4 Thot will now reach a larger audience while simultaneously helping Grindr (via INTO) seem friendlier. (Grindr's former Creative Director Landis Smithers has said, “One thing we hear a lot from the younger generation is that they don’t like the definition of a hookup app.")
Season two of Food 4 Thot will premiere in partnership with INTO on December 10, shifting to a weekly format instead of biweekly. (What, bi isn't good enough for ya?) For now, catch the season two trailer on iTunes.
