Leon Neyfakh (born 1985) is an American journalist, radio host and writer. He is known for hosting the

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

s ''

Slow Burn Slow may refer to various basic dictionary-related meanings: * Slow velocity, the rate of change of position of a moving body ** Slow speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change ...

'' and ''Fiasco'', and his book '' The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up''.

Early life and education

Neyfakh was born in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and raised in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

. Both of his parents are

Russian Jews The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

who immigrated to the United States when Neyfakh was a child.The Impulsive Life Not Chosen
''The New Yorker'' He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 2007 with an A.B. in history and literature.LEON NEYFAKH OF SLOW BURN PODCAST TO DISCUSS COVERING WATERGATE FOUR DECADES LATER
Manhattan College During his time there, he wrote for its student newspaper, ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

''.

Career

Neyfakh is best known for creating and hosting ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

''s podcast ''

'', which has covered American political scandals. The first season of the podcast was about the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, and the second season covered the

Lewinsky scandal Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. Before joining ''Slate'', Neyfakh worked for the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' as the Ideas staff, and was a reporter for the ''

New York Observer New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

''. He has also written for ''

The FADER ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', and Rollingstone.com. Neyfakh also wrote a book titled ''

The Next Next Level ''The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up'' is a book by Leon Neyfakh about rapper Juiceboxxx. It was released on July 15, 2015. Synopsis The book tells the story of a young white rapper from Wisconsin, Juiceboxxx, w ...

: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up'', about

Juiceboxxx Juiceboxxx is an American rapper, producer, and label-owner based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Music Juiceboxxx released his first album in 2005: ''R U There God?? Itz Me Juiceboxxx'' on Vicious Pop Records. In 2010, Juiceboxxx released two mixtap ...

, a rapper from

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. In November 2018, Neyfakh announced on Twitter that he was leaving ''Slate'' to write and host his new podcast, ''Fiasco'', which is offered exclusively on the Luminary podcast platform. The first season, ''Fiasco: Bush v. Gore'' focused on the Bush vs. Gore legal battle, and the second, ''Fiasco: Iran-Contra'', is centered around the

Iran–Contra affair The Iran–Contra affair (; ), also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitat ...

. This season was later adapted to a six-part television series by Epix in 2021. In February 2019, it was announced that

Epix MGM+ (formerly known as Epix; pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as eᴘix), is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the MGMPlus Entertainment subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which is itself a subsidiary ...

would release a six-part

docu-series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

inspired by ''Slow Burn'' with Neyfakh as host. The series was set to premiere on February 16, 2020. The third season of ''Fiasco'', ''Fiasco: The Battle For Boston'', is centered on the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s, and was released in August 2020, during the ongoing

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

. When asked about how Americans can actively and effectively engage in the topic of race, Neyfakh said: In early 2020, a new podcast called '' 5-4'' was launched, for which Neyfakh provides introductions to the individual episodes and has editorial oversight. The podcast focuses on U.S. Supreme Court cases and how they impact life and liberty of Americans. The fourth season of ''Fiasco'', titled ''Fiasco: Benghazi'', was released in 2021. The season is centered around the

2012 Benghazi attack Members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia carried out a coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. At 9:40 p.m. local time, members of Ansar al-Sharia attacked ...

and the political scandal that followed. The fifth season of Fiasco was released in 2022. Titled ''Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis'', it tackles the history of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. In 2023, Neyfakh and radio deejay and cultural commentator Jay Smooth released the "Think Twice" podcast covering the legacy of singer and performer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

Personal life

Neyfakh is married to Alice Gregory, a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. The couple live in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, and have a black toy poodle named Mickey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neyfakh, Leon Living people Harvard University alumni Harvard College alumni Soviet emigrants to the United States Slate (magazine) people Journalists from Illinois 1985 births American people of Russian-Jewish descent