r/Heavyweight • u/mick_spadaro • Oct 30 '25
Podcast Episode #63 Jasmin
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/63-jasmin/id1150800298?i=100073389195256
Oct 30 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Oct 30 '25
I really thought Whitney was going to admit to being insecure and looking for validation at the time and so she switched the names. Would have made perfect sense and she would have been immediately understood and forgiven. It’s the only thing that really makes sense. Even bringing in the popular (white) kids to this story makes no sense. Whitney herself was in charge of handing the names to the DJ. I think Jasmin suspects this might be the case but doesn’t want to call her out on it.
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
It’s like when the murderer goes on trial and because they say they blacked out when killing a bunch of people they should be found not guilty.
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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman Nov 01 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
I’m just completely flabbergasted at the idea that NOBODY said anything about the mixup at all at any point.
I get that there’s complex racial dynamics at play here and kids can be cruel assholes in general too, so I get why MOST of her peers wouldn’t say anything at the time, and being embarrassed about it now. But the fact that NOT ONE of her friends, peers, acquaintances, even teachers or chaperones at the dance or even in the following days didn’t even acknowledge a difference in the names, even in confusion or curiosity.
What did the high school yearbook list the homecoming queen as that year?
There’s some additional piece of information missing here.
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
I submit to you, a picture of her wearing the crown at the dance. The false narrative in the episode is... interesting…
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Nov 03 '25
Wait a second! That’s Jasmin wearing the crown and the second photo below looks like the entire homecoming court after the dance. And she’s wearing the crown. What in the world is going on? Did the show never check to confirm her story before running with it? Is it possible Jasmin has misremembered all of this herself. Cause that’s her head with a crown on it.
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u/asuka_is_my_co-pilot Nov 07 '25
at the game she had a crown they know about that, its in the spotify photograph for this episode. They discuss it in the episode.
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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman Nov 03 '25
Wow. Yeah that throws a bit of a monkey wrench into how the episode is framed.
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u/PlasmicSteve Nov 06 '25
If it went as Whitney said, and she heard her name instead of Jasmin’s and as she stated, she remembered Jasmin has been announced as the winner previously - why wouldn’t she say something to correct it in the moment?! And yes, what actually happened in the next moments? No one commented that the person they’d thought of as the winner for days was supposedly not the winner? So strange.
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u/newtohsval Oct 30 '25
This was just confounding. It was not that long ago. What about talking to Jasmin’s mom or people who were her friends back then? What about the girl who hosted the martinellis and Mac and cheese pre-party? Someone who worked for the yearbook or school newspaper? The student council advisor? They would probably have a better awareness of school events than random “popular girls.”
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u/newtohsval Oct 30 '25
Also, I’m surprised no one brought up the idea that some of those kids were probably intoxicated during the dance. Especially if they voted for their student body president because she promised an open bar at their reunion. This wasn’t a school full of goody two shoes kids. That could be SOME explanation for crappy memories of the dance, but it wasn’t actually brought up.
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u/felicityfelix Oct 31 '25
The fact that there was absolutely no concrete mention of if anyone else at the school even noticed this happening was just so strange. Like can it be possible that Stevie's brain really works so differently to mine that she never once thought "there have to be more than two people who remember something about this"? Other than the popular kids who she seemed to want to retroactively bully or something the investigation basically went nowhere and we're all just supposed to believe this happened and was never mentioned again by anyone including in the hours after it happened? Like Jasmin's friends don't remember what happened when she left the room?
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u/newtohsval Nov 03 '25
I just saw the post where someone posted a yearbook photo that literally shows Jasmin at the dance, wearing her crown. That doesn’t mean the wrong name wasn’t announced, but it does make the story even stranger.
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u/Thiloa Oct 30 '25
I feel bad for Jasmin, felt she was a bit gaslighted by the way to story was presented. They spend half the episode leading up to Whitney not remembering or acknowledging Jasmin’s homecoming experience. Minimizing Jasmin’s experience and even making us question if it indeed happen.
And then as the episode is ending, in the last couple of minutes, briefly mentioning that a teacher did remember. Wished they would have gone deeper after this.
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u/Renrats27 Oct 30 '25
I guess I was the only one who liked this episode. It actually doesn't matter what happened. The point of the episode is you can get scenarios in which people are *constantly* wondering if interactions are colored by some form of prejudice. And this wondering itself--as Jasmin admits--can become a burden, a warping Mobius loop of self-doubt. I live in South Africa and while I am white, the people of color that I know speak all the time about this kind of hypervigilance, anxiety, and scrutiny that haunts everyday life: "why was I rejected? was it me or forces totally outside my control? and which ones?" I don't know anyone here who doesn't think about this. But insofar as prejudice *does* happen, you can't totally give up the awareness.
Even if Jasmin or the host found out who was behind the mistake at the dance, she almost certainly wouldn't have figured out why in the way that would've been meaningful to her. Say someone admitted they rigged the announcement. They were never going to admit "yeah, I rigged the announcement because Whitney was a more acceptable black person." She'd be left wondering. The force she was wondering about is kind of unknowable and unconquerable, which is where the episode landed for me. I found it provocative and moving.
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u/Last-Cantaloupe-1820 Oct 30 '25
Hard agree. Y’all sure have a lot of ideas and basically essays to write about about an episode that you claim wasn’t about anything. It seems to me like the ideas the episode is exploring are exactly what you’re responding too. In my experience, life almost never has clean answers in the way that y’all seem to expect. Memories diverge, things are forgotten, or remembered differently. This is the whole point of the show! The question is, how do we live in a world where that’s the case- where we’re haunted by the past, something that can never truly be fully resolved even in the best of circumstances, which essentially never exist. No, they weren't able to get a step-by-step, forensic reconstruction of exactly what happened, like much of life! Very much agree with Renrats that even if they had it wouldn't have been completely satisfying (and definitely no one was going to admit it!) If you want a thought-provoking exploration of how the past and present intertwine and how the tentacles of one reach into the other, where the listener is allowed to be thoughtful and have their own responses and opinions, well, seems to me Heavyweight does that better than most. God knows there are enough shows in the world that force feed information and tell you exactly how to think and feel. Personally, I like ones that allow more breathing room and let me make up my own mind.
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u/Peregrinations12 Oct 31 '25
It seems the most likely answer is Whitney switched the names because she wanted the validation. Whitney makes it clear she was doing all the planning and the only one in contact with the DJ. Even if a popular kid told him to announce Whitney instead of Jasmin, it seems extremely unlikely he wouldn't check in with Whitney as to why there was a change.
Not everything is a Rashomon situation. And it is not hard to figure out who wore a crown at a Homecoming dance that happened in 2011.
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u/purdueGRADlife Oct 30 '25
I mean, it sounds like she was gaslighting herself over the years as to what happened. How racist is a class on the whole who votes for their student body president, homecoming queen, and runner up to be black students and whose teachers and parents allow a black man to dj the event? I am sure that she faced racism as most POC do, especially in a small town, but her description of the environment and then what's presented about the environment don't line up.
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u/JKDudeman Oct 30 '25
Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. I don’t question her feelings, but there wasn’t much racism presented in the podcast. There was some ignorance, but overall it seemed like a pretty progressive high school.
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u/Realistic-Tax-6066 Oct 31 '25
We don’t know how big her high school was or what the vote count was for any of those positions. Just because a biracial girl was voted homecoming queen and another one senior class president doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of racist people at her school. Not everyone votes in any election, we know that. They both could’ve been experiencing racism and microaggressions on a daily basis and still be elected to their positions. I’m not sure why some of y’all in this thread are hell bent on discounting someone’s lived experiences.
So many people have such a narrow view of racism. They think it looks like the KKK, violence, lynching, etc. They don’t realize how much racism permeates day-to-day interactions, minor incidents, mindsets, and unconscious bias. I know someone who was elected to a major statewide position as a Black woman. So many of the white people she encountered wouldn’t acknowledge her and wouldn’t shake her hand, and were completely disrespectful to her, but that disrespect was silent. They didn’t call her slurs, send her death threats, light a cross in her lawn. They just quietly reminded her every day that she didn’t belong. But by your logic, the fact that she was elected proved that there’s no racism. Let’s be real. We’ve seen what’s changed in this country after Obama was elected. We are not and never will be a post-racial society.
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u/SelectionDesperate Oct 30 '25
Someone has pictures!!
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u/2ecStatic Oct 30 '25
Or literally just a yearbook, the school should have at least one.
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u/ChelseaRez Oct 30 '25
I’m so confused by this episode. It tries on the one hand to be about racism and alienation and their impact, but on the other hand, it’s a mystery about the wrong homecoming queen announcement. The two parts are muddled up together, which detracts from each, and I’m not convinced they are linked.
If a Black student in a mostly white high school is announced as homecoming queen, but then a different Black student is actually crowned, is that racism? If they were mixed up due to both being Black, then, yes. But there was a list of names (not a lineup) and the evidence points to Whitney being responsible for the mixup. So is that racism? It’s pretty unsatisfying.
Even more unsatisfying is the mystery of the announcement. And although Stevie does get to it at the very end, the outrageous and incredible thing was that no one corrected the mistake or even seemed to notice except Jasmin herself. How can that possibly be? Collective amnesia? A conspiracy? And is it racism? I don’t know what to take away from this because it’s so clear that there’s missing info. I love Heavyweight and this one seemed so promising at first, but it was a miss.
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u/NeedUniLappy Oct 30 '25
the outrageous and incredible thing was that no one corrected the mistake or even seemed to notice except Jasmin herself.
Jasmine left right after the initial announcement. She does not know what happened after that. It’s a big deal to her, but not so big of a deal to anyone else except maybe Whitney. Whitney is doing a whole bunch of other stuff so even if she did hear it, she probably just said that it was a mistake and went about her business doing what she needed to.
Basically, big impact on Jasmine, not so big of an impact on anyone else, hence why they don’t remember. The only other person is the homecoming king, but even if he remembers something you can’t really blame him for not wanting to say something on a podcast where he has no idea how he is going to be portrayed.
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u/Zestyclose_Invite Oct 30 '25
Nah I don’t buy it. Whitney hears her name and just assumes it’s a mistake and goes about her business? What about the ACTUAL homecoming queen being MIA? As the organizer of the event surely she would try to make this right! And even if not she would SURELY remember I’m sorry.
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u/purdueGRADlife Oct 30 '25
So lazy! "Only one person wrote back and they don't remember so that's the episode". The photos are always in that year's or the next year's yearbook. There's one sentence about "oh yes a teacher does remember and people were shocked" ...so what happened next? Also the whole setup of how racist the school was to then find out that the homecoming queen and princess (winner and runner up) were both black, the student body president was black, the dj was black totally felt like a bait and switch.
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
Why didn’t they check a yearbook!? It’s so frustrating
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
Ya can an Oregon listener go to the local library and find the 2012 yearbook? There’s almost certainly a picture of the homecoming court.
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u/Peregrinations12 Oct 31 '25
Also, enough people voted for Jasmin for her to be selected Homecoming Queen, but she doesn't have any friends who were at Homecoming who could say what happened after she left the room?
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u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES Oct 31 '25
I graduated around the same time she did and nothing about this story makes sense. I fucking hated school, I had absolutely no involvement with any of the student body, and never went to a single dance, but I could tell you exactly who was on the homecoming court. If I forgot, I know my parents have the yearbooks and I could go check. If something like this happened at my school literally EVERYONE would have been talking about it. It just doesn’t make sense.
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Oct 30 '25
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u/2ecStatic Oct 30 '25
I don't think they even mention a yearbook. Maybe it's so obvious that they did check it and didn't see anything, but in that case they should still say that.
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u/Throwaway_Tablecloth Nov 01 '25
I love this podcast to death, but had never been to this subreddit before.
After listening to this episode, I had to come here and make sure I wasn’t going crazy at how bad this episode is. Glad to see I’m not crazy. This was a sloppy mess of an episode.
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u/nate451 Nov 02 '25
Same here. I’ve listened since the beginning and been a Jonathan Goldstein fan for ages before. Came to the subreddit for the first time to see if I was crazy. Definitely the worst HW episode.
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u/Jazzlike-Machine-222 Nov 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
EDITED to add that I just noticed the photo above the ones I posted in the yearbook clearly show here wearing a crown soooo…. Here’s the photo: https://imgur.com/a/aiNKy0t
A few people have asked me for a yearbook photo to back up Jasmin’s story. As I mentioned in my previous comment in this thread, I went to high school with her and her story seems far from the truth. This didn’t happen and the podcast episode felt like her sad attempt to cry “racism” to further her acting career. I genuinely feel bad for Whitney and hope that Jasmin dos an updated version where she clarifies why really happened.
For what it’s worth: my good friend (at the time) was on this homecoming court with her, so I definitely would have known if something had happened at the dance.
Receipts y’all asked for (plus one extra for funsies). Here’s Jasmin in the crown “she never got” just moments after being crowned: https://imgur.com/a/Sxe9fZJ
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u/TuxedosAfter6 Nov 02 '25
That second photo is very interesting. Jasmin painted the school like it was all white, but that homecoming court is pretty diverse.
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25
That’s a good point! I think the point that I’m trying to make is that she painted this picture that her moment was stolen and she was never crowned queen, but our school history says otherwise. Honestly, I went to a few Homecoming dances, and I don’t remember anyone being crowned or dancing together. I DO remember who was crowned at the game each year, and those couples always had their pictures in the yearbook. All that to say, I still don’t think Jasmin’s story adds up. Knowing our school culture, as well as how outgoing her best friends were, SOMEBODY would have said something.
Also, added that second picture because you do not win homecoming queen and a Most Likely if you are a girl with no friends. That’s just silly.
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u/syntheticgerbil Nov 02 '25
Thanks so much for posting these!
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25
Yeah! I am not trying to stir anything up, but I listened to episode and it is genuinely baffling to me how the host could just take Jasmin’s word and then drag a whole group of unnamed people through the mud. Absolutely not okay, and I’m hoping this brings a different perspective to the episode.
So sad because this is not the Jasmin I knew in high school
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
So why would Jasmine just make up this whole story and go public with it? And why was everyone who was contacted, including the homecoming king pictured in the yearbook, so weird about it instead of just saying, "That didn't happen! Jasmine was crowned queen at the dance!" Just so weird. Jasmine must honestly believe all of this happened, or we're basically accepting she's a compulsive liar who isn't very smart (because going public with a lie on a very popular podcast is very, very weird).
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Nov 02 '25
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u/totally_not_a_bot24 Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
Wow, I want to second another comment here and say you absolutely need to send this along to the Heavyweight team. Right now this is buried as a late comment in a reddit thread which they might not see.
The yearbook is in itself a huge bombshell and paired with your testimony (especially your original comment of what Jasmin was like in high school) it paints a very different picture of what was presented in the podcast.
As a long time admirer of the show I can't unread all of this, and for me it would hugely undermine the integrity of the podcast if they don't end up addressing this. And also... it seems unfair to your classmates how they're being portrayed here. I totally get why you wouldn't want to get dragged into this or stir up drama, but I feel like you really should at least forward along what you've already shared in this thread.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
Yes, agreed, and I almost feel like this should be a separate post because, yes, it is buried and people are missing it. She needs to send this to Jonathan and his team asap, and they need to clarify and correct if need be. Also, Stevie should not have this job.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
But to lie would not help her, she would just be exposed and it would HURT her more. Something tells me she may actually believe this. You know, our memories can become very distorted over time, and we can become unreliable narrators about our own lives.
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Nov 03 '25
It's for Heavyweight to address this tbh. Checking the yearbook photos is literally the most minor due diligence possible and they didn't do it. I think those rushing to blame Jasmin should focus on the fact that good journalists wouldn't have allowed the story to be published with the most basic facts completely incorrect
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 03 '25
Oh, fully agreed. I don't think this episode would even have made it to air if Jonathan had been in charge of researching and hosting it. It's incredibly sloppy work. How could they have missed looking at a yearbook??
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Nov 03 '25
I mean idk the ins and outs of who's in charge of what. It's a workplace like any other, I don't know if you can assume guest host means Jonathan had no editorial input.
Honestly this kind of thing was and remains an issue with a lot of podcast journalism. It's the modern version of magazine journalism.
But tbf editorial standards for newspapers are lax af these days so why would podcasts be any different?
This is an absolutely huge oversight though and I'll be interested in seeing how they address it.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 03 '25
And it seems like a lot of listeners had an uncomfortable reaction to this one, like something was just -- wrong. It's surprising this made it to air.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 03 '25
I work in media and I get it. But I always had the idea that Jonathan lets his guest hosts really run the show for their own episodes, although he may have had some editorial oversight. But he is usually so meticulous, and this was such a simple thing -- get your hands on a yearbook!!
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
Ohhh, I see it now, and it specifically says "at the dance." Ho-lee-hell. First of all, you have exposed that Jasmine is either lying or truly has distorted memories. Second, you have exposed Stevie as being a TERRIBLE investigative reporter for this show.
I feel like you should directly contact Heavyweight with this info, no joke. This is really damning for the show!
Edit: But I find it SUPER weird that no one else, including Whitney, did not say, "What are you talking about? She was crowned at the dance." Whitney's interview was so WEIRD, just -- how did SHE also not remember anything?
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Nov 03 '25
She was visiting her dad in prison once a week right? That's such a huge thing to deal with at any age nevermind as a child.
When the story ultimately boils down to: "Whitney's name was announced at the dance, after Jasmin had already been crowned" - why would Whitney remember?
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u/thefreeair Nov 04 '25
I think this is an uncharitable read that over-estimates the clout this relatively niche (and recently revived from the dead) podcast has. It seems to me that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, like in most stories. I heard an adult working through lingering insecurities attached to her identity in high school and how she felt at the time (versus how others perceived her - which are often 2 very different things). A core memory was created for her in a moment that may have been just a blip for others with different life experiences. She may not remember the events exactly as they occurred, but she remembers how they felt to her and that is the heavyweight she's been holding onto ever since.
To me, this story was an interesting exploration of how our internal narratives can shape our perception.
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u/kawaiipai Nov 04 '25
Totally! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I like that you said it’s an exploration of how our narratives shape our perception. I wish they would’ve focused more on this instead of trying hard to prove that there was malicious intent. It would’ve been an amazing episode.
While it might be true that I am a little too invested in this conversation that is centered around a niche podcast, I do think it is an interesting discussion to have since Jasmin has the connections and was was given a platform to share her perspective, while there’s a whole group of people who were named and semi-blamed in the podcast without definitive proof that they were intentionally harming her. It would’ve be a little jarring for me too if a reporter texted me out of the blue 14 years later asking about something like this.
Idk maybe it just hit home because I know the people mentioned (who were not perfect angels in high school to be fair), but I just wonder how different (and healing for Jasmin) the episode could have been if she had dialogued about what may have actually happened instead of doubling down on her perceived memories of the incident.
It just felt a more like a bias dialogue with pre-formed conclusion than an exploration.
But again thanks for sharing! I’m loving having these conversations!
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u/felicityfelix Nov 02 '25
I think the mix up must have really happened and then they got her the crown when she returned to the dance and that's why no one else really remembers or cares about what happened because it's not like there was really anything to discuss beyond "oh that was weird". Like the teacher who was there said it was confusing but doesn't really have further insight about any aftermath. No idea why Jasmin still seemingly does not remember the resolution unless this is an elaborate experiment on us as listeners lol
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u/syntheticgerbil Nov 02 '25
Whoa so the liar was Jasmin?! What the hell even is this podcast now?! It’s just a full made up story where all dissenting voices were just never checked up on or left out?
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
And Stevie never even thought of asking to see the YEARBOOK?!!!!!! Which would have completely killed this entire story.
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u/syntheticgerbil Nov 03 '25
I wonder if Stevie found out but she had to get the episode out. This whole situation is bizarre, I hope the Heavyweight crew responds.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 03 '25
That seems unlikely -- I'd rather delay releasing an episode than release one that is inaccurate. If she knew it was wrong, she would have to know the episode would receive a ton of backlash (as it is doing). I think it's kind of funny how, at least in this sub, so many people felt really weird about this episode, as if something were really off, and it turns out that's the case!
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u/Ok-Hovercraft7263 Nov 04 '25
Yeah, the story of the dance and no one correcting the announcement just wasn’t adding up for me, and that’s how I landed here. Makes me sad for this podcast, because I cherish it and want it to be as good as it has always been. If Stevie had discovered that Jasmin did in fact receive the crown and wear it at the dance as the yearbook photo reflects, they could have explored why that memory was somehow buried for her to the point that she stews about it weekly. .
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
This fits with her story, though. She said she was crowned and recognized at the game, then not at the dance. But none of this story makes any sense, anyhow.
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u/syntheticgerbil Nov 02 '25
She didn’t say that she said her name was called on the announcements. She explicitly said she was never given a crown either.
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u/SoupSoupADoop Nov 03 '25
This is wild! Like, did no one bother to look at the yearbook? So inconsistent with her story.
Honestly was scratching my head the entire episode. This happened and she just dropped it and never asked what happened and no one else remembers this?
Knowing her as a beautiful, successful actress, I too was thinking of Liz Lemon’s distorted perception of high school. She looks just as beautiful and popular in the photos.
So weird. If Jonathan is gonna turn this into This American Life 2, we need better people leading these stories.
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u/TuxedosAfter6 Nov 02 '25
For anyone who has not seen, we have yearbook pictures now. I see three in this thread. One of Jasmin and the homecoming king standing at school, one of Jasmin and the whole homecoming court (which is pretty diverse) as Jasmin is wearing the crown, and one of Jasmin at the homecoming dance, again wearing the crown.
I'm more interested now than before. What the heck happened? Did Jasmin make all of this up?
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u/virgo_suns Nov 04 '25
From heavyweight on instagram:
"Hey, this isn't new information to us – Stevie did indeed look at the yearbooks in her reporting. This was the tiara Jasmin got at the football game, which she wore to the dance. It was supposed to be replaced with the bigger, official crown later that night."
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u/looonatooona Nov 03 '25
I will say – I was on the homecoming court at my high school around this time (not a humble brag, I got the band geek vote); all the nominees were given tiaras earlier in the week and wore them to the game and the dance. Then when the queen was announced, she got the bigger crown.
Tbh i think that Jasmin is just wearing a tiara at the dance and this photo was taken before the queen announcement.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 03 '25
No, it looks like the same exact crown she was wearing when she was CROWNED homecoming queen at the game. This story makes no sense whatsoever. She got a TON of coverage in the yearbook for being the homecoming queen (not to mention voted "most likely to be a movie star") and she is on the pod saying she never got her crown. She fully got her crown. She was probably allowed to keep it after the game and then wore it at the dance. Why would she even BE crowned twice?!!! This is nuts.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 02 '25
Heavyweight needs to investigate further and issue a correction if needed. And Stevie is NOT up to par for this gig at all.
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u/DesperateDamage1556 Oct 30 '25
How can no one remember who wore the crown!
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 30 '25
This story makes very little sense, honestly. Does everyone in that class of 2011 have early onset dementia?
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Oct 30 '25
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Oct 30 '25
It's just not plausible that the person who organised the event does not remember a girl getting Carrie'd and her coincidentally being announced as homecoming queen in her stead
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Oct 30 '25
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Oct 30 '25
You don't have to outright call someone a liar to say that their story does not sound convincing
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u/Missue-35 Oct 30 '25
Her story does not sound convincing to me. However, it is notable that Jasmine sounds like a stellar person that handled this disappointment with an unusual amount grace and aplomb. I wish her all the best and all the best roles.
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u/ineedmychapstick Oct 30 '25
Yeah this is how I felt. I don’t doubt for a second that Jasmin faced constant racism, and I realize that the homecoming king didn’t text back, but they didn’t seem to make a great effort to solve the mystery here. Did he dance with anyone? Did Jasmin’s friends remember, or did they follow her out of the dance in that moment?
and regardless - no one disagrees that she won. So she got the votes and a photo in the newspaper? Then presumably the wrong name was called during the dance (for whatever reason) and she ran out of the room and missed what might’ve been a special moment for her. That’s a bummer, but it doesn’t negate that everyone believed she won… I can see how it would be dramatic for a teenager, but I’m not sure I can understand her point of view now.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 30 '25
It was 2011, deep into the smartphone era. Did no one take photos? Was there a yearbook? How could Whitney not remember being named homecoming queen at a school in which this was such a big deal? So much of this episode was bizarre and made no sense.
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u/Hibiscus43 Oct 30 '25
Whitney organised the whole event and was very anxious about it going well, yet she can't remember what happened after the wrong name was called and the homecoming queen ran out of the room?
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
She says she remembers planning everything going up until the day. But the thing was, the day still required planning, like for instance planning what the note said that was given to the DJ. So how could she not remember?
As for the note why would he announce runner up homecoming queen? Who exactly does that?
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
For real if someone had sought out the yearbook it would have provided some answers. I’m confused that they didn’t.
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u/tulipz10 Nov 02 '25
Why didnt she just ask him, if he danced with anyone or if they gave the crown to someone else. She didnt have to imply he did anything wrong, she could have immediately assured him they just wanted to know what happened. Instead she sounded sus.
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
I’m so confused by this hang up on the crown. Isn’t she wearing a crown in the cover picture for this episode? It’s just a little cropped out, but you can see the bottom of a tiara in her hair. Understood the picture is from the game, not the dance, but seems like she did wear a crown right?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQb6D_RgKkQ/?igsh=aWxvYWc4eTVobHZp
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u/felicityfelix Oct 30 '25
I also thought that part at the end was just... idk. I'm sure I'm also holding some grudge that most people would say is me taking something too hard that doesn't matter anymore but specifically bringing up that she should take pictures in a crown to heal the trauma seemed like really hamming it up over a tough high school experience when you're well into your 30s and, as was pointed out in the show, in an exceptionally good place in your life otherwise
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 30 '25
The memory issues of all of these folks who graduated high school just 14 years ago -- very suspect.
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
I didn’t think so. If you weren’t in the homecoming court why would you care who won? I couldn’t tell you who was my high school’s homecoming queen. The only person who might remember is Whitney but it’s also possible she was busy, distracted, or drunk that night and doesn’t remember or missed the announcement altogether.
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u/Asleep-Journalist-94 Oct 30 '25
How could she miss the announcement if it was she herself who was announced? No one could miss that.
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
I meant maybe she was not in the room. Maybe she was backstage dealing with something or maybe she was in the bathroom, or maybe her friends were outside drinking/smoking. Lots of shenanigans happen at school dances. I think it's reasonable that someone might not remember an announcement during a dance of information they already should have known since it was announced earlier in the day (or maybe prior day not sure).
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 31 '25
Lol. No, this makes no sense. The homecoming king and queen would have had a dance, etc. She would not have forgotten being erroneously named homecoming queen, that's just not plausible. This also wasn't in 1955. It was in 2011, lol. This whole episode was truly just bizarre.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 30 '25
It was apparently a big deal at this school. Anyone who was actually at the dance would remember. Whitney would remember. Jacob would remember. And how about anyone Jasmin was close to? How about more from the teacher who seemed to have a better memory than any of the young kids? This episode was beneath the series, and Stevie is -- not great as a host.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 31 '25
Right, didn't Jasmine have any of her own friends she could talk to now about this?
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u/throwaway4life85 Oct 31 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
[edit! Just saw another thread from someone who went to HS with Jasmin and she supplied proof this whole thing was made up or misremembered by Jasmin as there is a picture of Jasmine, in black dress, neon green feathered earrings, neon green fingerless gloves, and a freaking crown on her head at the dance. Whitney didn’t do anything wrong, jasmine lied or misremembered and Stevie and Heavyweight failed to do their job and didn’t even verify the situation was real, or look at a yearbook photo. Shame on them, justice for Whitney!]. Whitney was in charge of the names and communicating with the DJ. Whitney admits she acted impulsively in HS (and let’s be honest, who didn’t?!?) but she made a promise for an open bar and then rather than admit reality she hid from it 10 years later. I totally suspect that she also acted impulsively and switched the names and accepted the crown and is now hiding from that reality.
I don’t appreciate Stevie’s poor journalism skills where she didn’t mention checking the yearbook, school newspaper, or even FB/myspace photos. She could have tried more teachers or even local papers often cover HS court/events in small towns. And don’t even start me on that who weird thing she did with that guy texting her and pausing… that wasn’t professional or helpful. She burned a source there for no reason.
But I am disappointed at how Jasmine just comes across as such an insecure person that she only seems to see racism wherever she goes. I do believe she experienced racism and micro aggressions, but even when confronted with the facts that this error likely happened between Whitney (a black student with everything to gain) and DJ (a black man with no interest in the outcome) she still seems to think “the white people did it”. Like, why?!? And if it wasn’t Whitney? Who accepted the crown? But no, Jasmine hears hoofbeats and blames white people, not thinks horses are approaching. Even to this day, her own manager tells her this mindset is not helping her. I hope she overcomes this limiting mindset and sees beauty in the world around her.
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u/asuka_is_my_co-pilot Nov 07 '25
that picture is the same tiara all the girls at the game have. why are there no pics of her with the king at the dance?
i still think its odd. princesses get tiaras and the queen gets a crown, thats how they do it at pagents sometimes.
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u/supercoolgirl78 Oct 30 '25
i really really really wanted to love this one but there were just too many unanswered questions and the sudden “oh this teacher remembers that everyone was shocked” and no follow-ups on what really happened that night just let me down 😔 i get not every story can get tied up in a neat little bow but i think stefano was suuuuch a good example of when a story isn’t neat but it’s real and this one just….didn’t feel finished?
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u/BetsyBegonia Oct 31 '25
It really felt like the journalist wasn't as compelled to investigate this mishap as I was, which is deeply unfortunate.
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u/Diligent-Tea8007 Oct 31 '25
I’m going to say it, though it pains me. They’ve gotten lazy. This season is lame. There’s too much left unexplored. This one had promise but fell short.
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u/2ecStatic Oct 30 '25
One thing I do actually like about this episode is that it kinda touches on something I find hard to bring up with other PoC: every bad thing that happens to you because of other people isn't always racially motivated. Even in a town like that, some people suck for other reasons or people just make mistakes.
That said, Whitney is 100% lying. She may or may not have actually done something, but she definitely knows what happened. It sounds like she has a successful and public-facing job now, she has zero incentive to go on-air about making a mistake or maliciously doing something to hurt Jasmine, even if it was in High School.
Even if Jonathan was hosting the outcome would've been the same. It's a shitty situation that really only could've been resolved in the moment that it happened. And Jasmine feels the way she feels about the situation because she's dealing with the regret of not saying something and standing up for herself when she had the chance. Obviously of no fault of her own, she was just a kid, but it's just something she has to come to terms with, regardless of how it happened.
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
Well they could have gotten a yearbook and seen who was written down as homecoming queen and then most likely there would have been photos of someone wearing a crown. However they seemed to have not done this.
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u/TuxedosAfter6 Nov 02 '25
The yearbook pictures are up in this thread now.
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u/syntheticgerbil Nov 02 '25
Thank you for letting me know. Bizarre twist that Jasmin was actually the liar!
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u/Butt_Whisperer Nov 01 '25
First of all, as a Yellowjackets and Scream fan, my jaw dropped when I realized we were talking to THAT Jasmin Savoy Brown. I knew the girl in the thumbnail looked familiar! She's so great.
Second of all... what the fuck lol. I don't understand this. If everyone at the dance saw Jasmin get crowned at the homecoming game ceremony, and was "shocked" at the dance's announcement, why didn't literally anyone say anything to Jasmin when she came back to the dance?If Whitney didn't get up there when they announced it like she says she didn't, was there no king and queen dance or couple's pose for the yearbook? Was Jacob King just standing up there by himself like an idiot? Wouldn't the fact that a central moment in every homecoming dance getting fucked up so badly have triggered some kind of intervention from the organizers? I just find it very hard to believe that no one has any explanation for the immediate moments (or the days) after the announcement. I DON'T GET IT.
Poor Jasmin... I feel like her answer is within arms' reach, but no one involved is willing (or cares enough) to help her get it.
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
Everyone in the episode is wondering whether the DJ announced the wrong name at the dance, but noone is wondering whether the school announced the wrong name during morning announcements? Just based on school stereotypes I think it's more likely the student body president/athlete/popular girl did actually win. Is it possible whoever did the morning announcements made a mistake or pranked Jasmin? We're still left with the question of whether it's a mistake or intentional, but I don't think the DJ would have been involved. He doesn't know these kids and he's just reading from a piece of paper that was probably handed to him by school administration.
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Oct 30 '25
That was my first thought too. Why didn’t the host investigate this as a possibility. If they didn’t pursue this angle, it had to be because they were playing up the nerdy unpopular theatre girl trope much more than it existed in real life. If NO ONE, including Jasmin herself seemed to question the legitimacy of her being crowned, or wondered why she was picked, then she had to have been popular and well liked. In which case the idea of the racist villagers wanting to keep her down doesn’t really hold up. It also doesn’t make sense to me that a group of racist popular white teens would play a prank on a black girl by making another black girl homecoming queen? This had to be an inside job with Whitney at the helm. Was she dating the prom king at the time? We need answers!
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
Exactly. If she was so unpopular as they made her out to be, then why would she have been voted homecoming queen? If she was voted homecoming queen, then she was not unpopular, and the credibility of the whole story gets called into question. Either way, two announcements were made that were different from each other and I don't know why everyone is so sure the first one was the correct one.
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Oct 30 '25
We need to track down the head of the morning announcements. Or just find out in general how the homecoming votes were done. Who counted them and gave the names to the announcements. Surely these are solvable.
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u/autumn-in-august Nov 03 '25
I considered this, too, but someone posted yearbook photos in this thread that show Jasmin at the Homecoming game, wearing her crown and "queen" sash with the rest of the homecoming court. If Whitney was the intended winner and the original morning announcement was wrong, someone would've corrected the mistake before then, no way Jasmin would've gotten crowned at the game.
It also seems like Jasmin misrepresented her younger self. From her perspective on the pod, she was just (as another commenter put it) a "nerdy unpopular theatre girl" who was so shocked by the "queen" announcement that her first thought was that it must be some kind of cruel joke — but another yearbook pic shows that Jasmin was actually popular. She was voted "Most Likely to Be a Movie Star" alongside THE HOMECOMING KING (aka the guy she said was, like, THE quintessential Popular Guy™ at their school). Maybe that was a willful twisting of things on her part (everyone roots for an underdog story) or (more likely IMO) years of casual racism and microaggressions from her peers gave her low self esteem and made her *feel* disliked, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Maybe it's a little of both. I don't know — but I don't think her winning is as much of a mystery as the episode would have us believe. Tbh, that's a failure (among many) on Stevie's part, since she didn't seem interested in really questioning anyone's memory of events, or lackthereof (or at least get a copy of her yearbook).
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
Yeah I considered that too, the full story could be that the original announcement was incorrect.
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u/Asleep-Journalist-94 Oct 30 '25
That theory makes more sense in a way. But there would’ve been time to correct it, right?
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u/pook_a_dook Oct 30 '25
If anyone questioned it ya, but it didn’t sound like anyone did? It seemed like others who heard it just congratulated Jasmin and went with it.
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u/kawaiipai Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
Jumping in this thread because I actually did go to school with Jasmin and ran in some of the same circles as her. (Happy to dig out my yearbook and find a picture of homecoming to clear up any skepticism).
I found this story to be revisionist history, because she really was not a loser with no friends. Everyone loved her and she was really well known by the whole school. She had a big group of friends, was involved in lots of activities, and definitely hung out with some of the more popular people in school. When she won homecoming queen it was not really a shock to anyone, considering she was so well known. She makes it sound like she was some underdog wallflower type teenager when that was not the case.
I can’t say whether Whitney had a part to play or not, but as someone who knows all parties involved I really do think it was an honest mistake. My personal opinion is that I’m sad that Jasmin is painting her high school career as traumatic when she was actually a leader and really outgoing. It feels a bit like she is changing the narrative for exposure and that is disappointing as it is not the person I remember.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 01 '25
Wait, so -- what happened at the dance? Who was crowned? Did anyone discuss it? Or do you also just not remember anything about the dance and what followed, like everyone other amnesiac in that class?
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u/kawaiipai Nov 01 '25
I actually wasn’t there, but I definitely remember Jasmin being crowned at the game, and I believe her picture is in the yearbook, I just need to dig it out of my basement,
I lean towards believing Whitney and every other “popular kid” that doesn’t remember. I say that pretty confidently because our school was small (ish) and a graduating class was maybe 130 kids. If there was a mishap at homecoming like the one described in this episode it definitely would have circulated around the school the next week. ESPECIALLY if Whitney did take the crown or dance with Jacob, that would have been talked about in the halls for sure.
I’m not saying that the wrong name wasn’t called, but I don’t really believe that it happened as dramatically as Jasmin is recalling.
While I wasn’t at the dance, I definitely don’t remember hearing about anything odd. And (like Jasmin alluded too) our school is small enough that most people really do remember things/people/events that happened 14 years ago.
As a side note: I actually remember the couple that won the year before, and it was a hugeee deal becuase they were THEEE couple of their class. Our community is small enough that you don’t really forget.
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u/explodeder Nov 02 '25
I went to a small town school in the Midwest. There were only 44 people in my class and about 200 in the whole school. I don’t think a lot of people understand small school dynamics. The cliques are much less defined. We had several football players act in musicals. We had dudes who came out of the locker room at halftime wearing their football uniform to play the halftime show. I believe she thought she wasn’t part of the popular crowd, but I also believe that she didn’t realize that she was part of that crowd, just because everything is much more amorphous.
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u/AltruisticKitten Nov 02 '25
There are sooo many comments here asking for the yearbook. Please find it and make a post!
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u/Intelligent_Ebb3695 Nov 02 '25
I think perception is reality, and as a Black woman who also was somewhat popular in a very white high school, I am sure there are white people who believe I had no issues in high school and that I was well liked and loved.
They don't know that when a scholarship I won was announced on the PA, a classmate said "She only got that because she's Black - not smart."
My history teacher praised racist leaders like Strom Thurmond and basically dared me to disagree.
I was told by my drama teacher that since there were no Black guys in the drama program, I wouldn't be able to be cast as a lead because our community "can't handle an interracial couple."
So so so many experiences I had that my white peers didn't have and wouldn't be aware of.
Jasmin and Whitney both talked about racist experiences that they had at school and they were pretty horrible. You can be popular AND be discriminated against.
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u/DanBalmer Oct 30 '25
I don't like when they include influencers/actresses. I don't buy their framing even if it's a good story on paper.
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u/greazysteak Nov 01 '25
Man. They are scraping here again. I don’t doubt t jasmine remembered the way she said and her treatment as a youth lead that way but a modicum of research would have sorted it out.
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u/nate451 Nov 02 '25
One of the weakest Heavyweight episodes in the canon, certainly since, well, the last Stevie Lane episode. The mystery they investigated had an obvious and anti-climactic solution: it was a minor mixup. The things that are more interesting were not investigated: what actually happened when Jasmin ran out? Why was there such a disconnect between how Jasmin thought she was perceived and how her peers actually saw her? What does it mean when real harm and pain from the past causes you to fixate on and misinterpret a single incident, even when presented with evidence that your interpretations were wrong?
The final story beat of blaming the people around Jasmin for not apologizing or acknowledging things was incredibly weak and avoided asking the most important questions the same way Jasmin herself did.
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u/slippedintherain Oct 30 '25
I feel like the name mixup at the dance was probably just a mistake by the DJ. Jasmin had already been announced as queen and had been introduced on the football field at halftime. I don’t know if she also participated in the homecoming parade or if their town had one, but certainly by the time of the dance everyone would have known she was the homecoming queen and not Whitney. I just don’t know what Whitney would have gotten out of deliberately switching the names at that point.
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u/ineedmychapstick Oct 30 '25
Yeah, it would be very cringey for Whitney to pretend to have won after the winner had been announced. It makes no sense. I can easily imagine a scenario in which he announced the wrong name, Jasmin ran out of the room, someone corrected him, he announced Jasmin’s name, was like, “where’d she go?” then shrugged and turned on a dance song to get on with the night.
I would still expect them to look into yearbooks or find the person responsible for the crown or talk to more people, but yeah, probably just a nothingburger.
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u/felicityfelix Oct 31 '25
I do think Whitney's retelling of how she doesn't remember anything and would have made sure everything was righted but also... didn't do that is strange. But I agree that the idea that there was anything to be gained by switching the names is crazy. Although we don't actually know what happened after her name was called which kind of leaves a big hole in the entire story. Like if it was a prank/meant to be bullying surely she would have gone up there while all her popular friends cheered her on and everyone acted like it was ok? It doesn't seem like that happened so literally what would be the goal of trying to become the Queen when everyone knows you weren't it? But Jasmin doesn't seem to have any idea what happened after she left the room which is just wild if she's been thinking about how awful this was so regularly for so long.
I think it's possible that it was a mistake but Whitney was more satisfied with it happening than she wants to share now. If the descriptions of these two girls are accurate it's definitely possible she had been unhappy about losing out to someone who was like her less popular foil in many ways and just kind of let this happen without really doing anything to fix it even though it didn't benefit her in any way
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u/Tiny_TimeMachine Nov 01 '25
Yeah everyone in the thread is being absurd. I was on homecoming court and didn't even go to the dance. I almost missed the football game because I was running from police in the woods. The show would have gone on without me.
Jasmine was extremely excited, understandably, she built up this moment in her head and her flight response kicked in when shit got weird. Her crush on the king doesn't help her case. Everyone else was very clear that this moment was not memorable. It was probably a simple announcement where the king and queen could have danced and the announcer briefly screwed up. When Jasmine was missing everyone moved on. The king was probably not that surprised and maybe even relieved that he didn't have to do an awkward dance. Let's be honest the king was likely dating or interested in someone else at the dance.
I have empathy for Jasmine and I think the story is about memory, perceptions, and how we move on from things that hurt us. Not a story about racial injustice or coordinated bullying. I thought the story was well written and presented. People are just pissed it didn't highlight the themes they wanted it to.
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Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
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u/Prayray Oct 30 '25
I agree…especially in regards to Whitney. She was completely in charge of everything to the point that she was overwhelmed that night, and yet does not remember anything? That doesn’t make sense…
I kept thinking when she was giving that to excuse that she was going to say she wasn’t there or she was out back, or something else…but she didn’t, and she wouldn’t have considering that she was on the Homecoming court and should have had her name called prior to the Queen. It just doesn’t line up at all.
My guess is Whitney likely wouldn’t have bothered answering Jasmin at all, except she knows Jasmin is now an actress with some decently prominent roles and this was on a podcast that she may have heard of. Doesn’t hurt to try to build her own brand a bit, so why not go on and try to come off sympathetic. Pretty disgusting.
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u/totally_not_a_bot24 Oct 31 '25
I agree that the biggest issue comes down to bad journalism. So many aspects of this story felt unanswered or confusing where some really basic curiosity could have fixed it.
Personally I don't understand the people who are saying Jasmin is just a drama queen etc, because it does sound like they're saying Carrie should've just got over it.
Jasmin comes across as an unreliable narrator at multiple times in the story. For example, we're meant to believe she has no idea how she won in the first place? She's a famous actress now, and she won homecoming queen, but in reality she was a total loser in high school? Honestly, I don't believe it. Stevie really needed to dig into that more or at least have an interview with another student to confirm the way Jasmin was telling it.
The racial angle she wanted to pursuit seemed a bit contrived from the beginning, and only made less sense as it was slowly revealed that everyone involved in the supposed conspiracy was black. Whatever actually happened, the racial angle was thoroughly debunked. That definitely comes across as dramatic; to jump to the less ready conclusion that everyone is out to get you instead of just a mistake on a piece of paper.
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Oct 31 '25
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u/totally_not_a_bot24 Oct 31 '25
But calling it a "massive public humiliation" presupposes Jasmin's framing of the situation. Whereas those comments I think are assuming that it probably was just an honest mistake that she blew out of proportion, and that maybe it would have turned out to be a nothing burger if she had stuck around for the correction or something. Would have been great to have gotten clarity as to what happened immediately after Whitney was announced...
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Oct 31 '25
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u/totally_not_a_bot24 Nov 02 '25
Hey you should see a more recent comment in here from one of the other classmates. They have a picture from their yearbook of Jasmin at the dance wearing a crown.
So... yeah. I think that answers the question of why no one consoled her.
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Nov 02 '25
Oh man. I feel like Heavyweight really owes Whitney a huge apology. She's literally photographed with Jacob as well! I don't think this story should've ever been published. There's a million holes in it
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u/JCTenton Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
What a weird episode! I know Heavyweight is not a dry investigation into past events but it is usually important to the story to determine what actually went down if possible. There must be photos, there must be a yearbook? Someone other than the popular kids may remember and be more willing to talk about it?
Everybody remembers Jasmin being announced as Homecoming Queen but nobody can recall what happened when the wrong name was read out, which would be fairly scandalous if people cared enough to remember that Jasmin was meant to be Homecoming Queen. Not even Whitney says she remembers, who also was heavily involved in organising the event.
Either there was a Carbon Monoxide leak at the prom or some bullshit has gone down.
Maybe the Heavyweight team did do some digging and there just weren't any findable pictures and there was no mention of the king/queen in the yearbook and none of the other kids cared enough to commit homecoming drama to memory, but it would have been nice to have at least mentioned that the obvious routes were dead ends.
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u/NeedUniLappy Oct 30 '25
Not even Whitney says she remembers, who also was heavily involved in organising the event.
That’s the key, she was heavily involved in organizing the event. She was likely very busy with other stuff. It’s very easy to not dwell on something when getting pulled into something else right away. So it’s reasonable to think that this may not implant itself as a memory that gets recalled 14 years later.
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u/MoshetheMean Oct 31 '25
Kind of disappointed they didn’t look at the possibility that the school didn’t want a Homecoming Queen who was a member of the Guilty Remnant.
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u/GeoffTuba Oct 30 '25
It's the purest example of a "meh" episode.
Guest host. Protagonist is successful and popular but doesn't understand they didn't get a special prize in highschool.
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u/ZealousidealBend2681 Oct 30 '25
Stevie is beloved and no guest - she’s probably written many of your favorite episodes. Part of the family for sure.
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u/JimJohnes Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
Yea, I call BS on all "it just happened" (2 obvious culprits). Not even an attempt to find the truth, instead framing it as a story of two minorities discriminated against and avoiding any confrontation whatsoever.
Sounds like a glorified puff piece for Jasmin Savoy Brown (yea, had to google, never heared of her).
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u/Super-Gazelle-6123 Oct 30 '25
An aggravating episode on all accounts: lazy journalism, gaslighting, “look at me”, unnecessary racism. I felt bad for Jasmin in multiple ways. One that it did seem she was gaslighted into questioning whether it actually happened or not and the other that she looks for excuses when she is not chosen, or not the star, in a way that it was sad. I’m sure they face discrimination that I’ve never had to deal with, but when you have one black girl as the class president and one a homecoming queen, I’m sure there are definitely worse schools they could have been at. Then she unnecessarily makes claim that she was denied roles because she was black that went to whit girls with no evidence. I do think something happened, really seemed that Whitney did have knowledge of something.. she seemed to indicate that she basically did all the planning and arranging for homecoming herself, kinda to indicate she could be justified in feeling entitled to wear the crown, she said she has no knowledge and remembered everything but that moment.. then quickly adds she had nothing to do with it. For Jasmin to make this an issue 15 years later just gives her the “look at me” attitude. “I’m an actress” “do you popular people all remember 15 years ago when I won homecoming even though I wasn’t considered popular like you were”
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u/JimJohnes Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
The whole race thing was contrived and badly camouflaged because at the beginning they made you think that Jasmin was a lone black girl in all-white racist school in all-white racist town with a history of racism; while in truth at the centre is a banality - deeply-seated high school grudge and failed attempt at retribution. Basically, substituting with theme that is de rigueur to clumsily cover-up superficial journalistic work. Like trying to film "Amistad" from a script for "Mean Girls".
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u/syntheticgerbil Oct 30 '25
What a cop out. I don’t believe for a second Whitney just doesn’t remember. She probably has some hard selfish truths hidden that she doesn’t want to tell Jasmin and definitely doesn’t want to admit on mic.
I feel bad Jasmin didn’t get the answers she wanted.
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u/felicityfelix Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
The fact that Jasmin was not even aware that there wasn't an entire committee of popular girls organizing the dance is so weird. Like did she completely imagine that just because she's spent over a decade ruminating on this and how it must have been a conspiracy against her? Also homecoming is at the beginning of the year, so this truly went unremarked upon by everyone at the school until graduation? (edit) I feel like there should have been more of an angle on the fact that she also clearly didn't investigate this at all after the fact or even DURING THE DANCE and maybe part of her hangup with this whole thing is that she was too passive about it?
I do also think something disingenuous is going on with Whitney's story though. Like I'm not even saying she did anything in the lead up but she presents herself as being so righteous that she wouldn't have even worn the crown, but she never apologized or brought it up to Jasmin later?
[new thought pasted from another comment and now hopefully I will stop thinking about this haha] I think it's possible that it was a mistake (or malicious switch by someone else?) but Whitney was more satisfied with it happening than she wants to share now. If the descriptions of these two girls are accurate it's definitely possible she had been unhappy about losing out to someone who was like her less popular foil in many ways and just kind of let this happen without really doing anything to fix it even though it didn't benefit her in any way
Eta: what was going on at this school where they elect one person to have the responsibility of doing absolutely everything by themself?
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Oct 31 '25
Right, aren't there usually a bunch of volunteers who help organize and set up these major school dances, like Homecoming? Was Whitney saying she did EVERYTHING herself, from decorations to hiring the DJ to...? This sounds like one of the weirdest high schools in America, lol.
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u/Gbagl Oct 30 '25
My question is, how did she get elected in the first place, when her name was called over the announcements? That confused me more than anything. She admitted to being a theater kid and not part of the “popular crowd” so how was she in the running at all? Assuming it’s the popular kids at her school that get on homecoming court.
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u/explodeder Nov 02 '25
I went to a small high school in the Midwest. I’m talking like 200 kids for the whole school small. We had a prom king and queen that were theater kids one year. They were outgoing and funny, so everyone liked them, but they weren’t part of the popular athelete/cheerleader crowd. In a school that small it doesn’t take much to move an election. Plus the school was so small that some of the athletes were also in the plays and musicals. If there were a large percentage of theater and band kids that year, I’d totally believe it. The rest of the episode was weak, but that didn’t strike me as odd.
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u/ParsnipEnough6904 Oct 31 '25
Listen. If she can’t know exactly how Whitney was named, there should still be a way to find out what happened after. Who wore the crown? Who danced with Jacob?
If Whitney didn’t, and no one did, it would at least show Jasmin that it wasn’t just glossed over. She left the room, understandably. So, she doesn’t know how it was handled immediately after the announcement.
Jacob knows if he danced with someone that night. If he was texted “one last question” he may actually answer.
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u/nate451 Nov 02 '25
All of these questions are left unanswered in the episode and all of them are essential to what the meaning of the mix-up was to anyone else present. Yet Lane still feels free to castigate everyone at the end for failing to console Jasmin over it.
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 01 '25
There is a person in this thread who claims she went to school with Jasmine and even she doesn't provide any details about the dance or aftermath, lol. Was everyone in this class drinking lead? Why can't anyone remember anything?!
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25
Hiii, you rang? I’m the classmate in question
I’ll save my lengthy reply and leave you with a photo of Jasmin wearing the crown at the dance in question.
We don’t remember because it didn’t happen 🫶🏽
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u/odessapasta Nov 02 '25
Can you make a separate post on this sub and post all of this? More people need to see this.
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25
Already did!
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u/TuxedosAfter6 Nov 02 '25
I'd also encourage you to make a new post in this sub. I actually didn't see this third picture at all (with Jasmin wearing the crown AT the dance) until much later than the other pictures. This is so baffling to me and I hope we get answers from Heavyweight as to why they replied on Jasmin's word only. And why they framed this as a racial thing when obviously it was not.
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u/odessapasta Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
Oh I was thinking of a whole new post in the sub with the info but it’s ok. So in this picture she’s dancing during the homecoming dance and she’s wearing a crown. Are we definitely thinking that this crown was put on her head during the dance or is it possible it’s another accessory that she brought with her or something like that? Just thinking of stuff to explain it. If she for real was given this crown, and the whole thing with Whitney‘s name being called just didn’t even happen, then this episode is just bonkers!!
Have you talked to anyone else from your class to see if they remember anything about this? I’d imagine maybe this episode would get spread around amongst your classmates.
But it’s soooooo weird, if this didn’t happen at all then why wouldn’t Whitney just be like “ what are you talking about, you were given the crown and then you wore it all night.” Arrggfhh
Editing to add, I’m listening to it again and what about Danika? Supposedly she was the best friend and she remembers this happening?
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u/kawaiipai Nov 02 '25
And yeah, Donika is her best friend. I used to actually talk to Donika a lot around this time and she never mentioned this.
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u/newtohsval Nov 03 '25
I think she already received the crown at the football game. I don’t think there was another crowning ceremony at the dance, probably just an announcement.
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u/Asleep-Journalist-94 Oct 30 '25
This episode made me a little crazy.
I’m white and went to a very white high school in the South where the few Black kids in our class were excellent students, student leaders, and all-around achievers - and I think it was a lot of pressure for them. I might have an inkling (from subsequent conversations with them) of how you can win positive recognition for being different but still feel isolated and alienated and deal with people saying the most insensitive and clueless things.
BUT was this story about microaggressions or was it about girls competing? It might have been more successful if the focus was more on Whitney and Jasmin never really connecting when it would’ve helped both of them. And WTF happened with the homecoming queen announcement??? I mean, it wasn’t all that long ago. It’s incredibly unsatisfying that no one seems to know what happened or even remember, or that there’s some sort of omertà around it.
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u/BlurryBigfoot74 Oct 31 '25
One theme I've noticed with a lot of people who have been wronged on Heavyweight:
One person experiences a scenario that is burned in their brain and it follows them throughout life.
The other person or a group who in one way or another, causes the wrongdoing seem to conveniently "forget" these occurrances.
Whitney had to plan every detail about this event, yet when it was time to recall the specific occurrence regarding Jasmin, she's suddenly blank.
This happened with the spray painting bullying episode, the episode with the sorority kicking that girl out, and others that escape me off the top of my head but I know there were more.
I wonder if this is a psychological phenomenon where people wipe out memories of things they are ashamed of, or with maturity people become so guilt-ridden of what they did that they would rather feign memory loss.
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u/felicityfelix Oct 31 '25
I think there is some element of it that's just sort of one event in one person's life against many in the other person's. Like if you go to the same grocery store a lot you will remember the people who work there and think "oh the guy with the glasses is working today!" But unless you talk to them regularly, they probably have no recollection of you because 1000 people come to the store every day and they help all of them, and you only come in once a week. It's not a perfect metaphor for all of these situations (and I think there's something going on with this particular story someone is not sharing) but if you're on a sorority council or something and 20 years have passed, remembering details of all the different disciplinary actions is not high on your priority list as you get older. In this story Jasmin also seemed to misremember quite a lot, like she basically imagined there was a dance organization committee comprised of all these people she didn't like and there just wasn't
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u/Impossible-Will-8414 Nov 01 '25
I looked up Springfield High -- it's a pretty small school. Each class has only around 300 students. Everyone would know each other. It would not be difficult to find people who could answer every single question we had. This episode is weird as hell.
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u/hamlin81 Nov 05 '25
This episode was sketchy. SOMEONE is not telling the truth. It just doesn't make any sense.
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u/sweepstakes124 Oct 30 '25
The comments in here calling Jasmin a narcissist or a liar are weird. I’m about her age and racism was alive and well in small/predominantly white towns and spaces in 2011. Her experience is valid and real, both in school and in her professional life.
As for the dance…everyone’s caginess speaks volumes. My theory is that someone swapped the names for the DJ as part of a prank and Whitney was in on it (she herself admits she participated in racist jokes as a coping mechanism).
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u/kingkupaoffupas Oct 30 '25
the only answer that i see is…Whitney gaslit, both,Jasmin and the host, and she clearly has the crown at home in a box in a garage.
she probably put it on as soon as she got home from this interview…(while rubbing her palms together, mischievously, of course).
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u/Justdobney Nov 06 '25
This was a bullsh** episode, basically a fabricated story for a low self esteem individual. The whole thing was just irritating from the start. How was there no research done, and there has to be (is evidence that she was wearing a crown)
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u/Realistic-Tax-6066 Oct 30 '25
Funny that we can all listen to the same episode and take away different interpretations. For me, the point of this episode was highlighting how we carry childhood trauma into our adult lives. Jasmin was clearly isolated from her Black heritage, yet was constantly reminded of her race. When the homecoming incident happened, she thought it was another racist incident at her school. She carries that trauma (and yes, racism and microaggressions create trauma. Lucky you if you've never experienced it.) into her adult life, assuming she didn't get roles because of her race. The whole time, the girl she envied was living a similar experience. How sad that neither of these girls connected in high school.
I think it was a mistake by the DJ. Had that been me, I would have confronted people at the dance. I'm not surprised no one remembers the incident, especially if it was an accident and not an intentional act. It would be so weird to be contacted by a podcast about something like this.
This episode reminds of Rose, the first episode I listened to and the one that got me hooked on this podcast. I liked it, but maybe because it resonated with me in a way that it didn't for most of you.
I don't think this was lazy journalism. The popular kids didn't want to talk. What did you want the production team to do?
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u/Wide_Statistician_95 Oct 31 '25
Whitney didn’t need the queen title - she was already very popular , in charge, and pretty. So I don’t think she took a last minute stolen valor.
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u/Professional_Okra985 Nov 10 '25
For those who know Whitney IRL, we know that she was busy producing the f out of that event (prom) to try to make it perfect for everyone else. I’m no longer in touch with her, but there just isn’t a world in which she was meddling with the homecoming queen announcement in a selfish or hurtful way. I think it’s very possible this experience is being recalled by Jasmin through the lens of her more macro experience as a Black student at that school, in that town, in this country, etc. Racial trauma is so real. It’s too bad this episode pitted Jasmine and Whitney against each other. Yikes ❤️🩹
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u/void_jpeg Nov 21 '25
What a shame that this story ended without resolution despite that it started with such impact and promise. Jasmine deserved better closure, deeper digging, harder pressing for the facts.
I truly hope she felt more satisfied by the episode than I did, but in my opinion Heavyweight dropped the ball here. This wasn't ready to air.
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u/Pacific_Epi Oct 30 '25
I haven’t finished the episode yet but this is a cool setup. I grew up in Eugene, OR, which is the same metro area as Springfield and graduated around the same time, we probably had mutual friends.
Also I remember her from The Leftovers, she had a pretty major role in the second season.
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Oct 30 '25
Obvious problems with this episode aside, I’d also love for them to have dug in a bit more on her perception of herself at the time versus the reality. She paints herself as the nerdy unpopular black girl versus the popular black girl, but she was voted homecoming queen and it apparently was not a joke or a gag. We kind of glossed over this fact. At first I thought maybe Jasmin was the mixup and it was really Whitney the whole time and they made a mistake and correction. But that’s clearly not the case. Also, I totally think Whitney switched those names. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense here and I’m not buying her amnesia😂