Michelle Obama Ridiculed Over ‘Abysmal’ Podcast Debut: ‘Flop And Boring’
Former First Lady Michelle Obama faced widespread mockery online after her new podcast, "IMO (In My Opinion)," struggled to gain traction in its initial episodes, performing poorly compared to other political content on YouTube.
Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, launched their video podcast on Monday, March 10, releasing the first two episodes on Wednesday. However, the debut was met with disappointing numbers. The first episode garnered only 15,000 views, while the second managed 47,000. In stark contrast, Joe Rogan’s show attracts between 500,000 and 56 million viewers per episode, and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new podcast debuted with over 743,000 views on YouTube.
Social media users were quick to ridicule the former First Lady for the podcast’s "abysmal" performance.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a screenshot of Obama’s YouTube page, writing, "Michelle Obama’s first couple podcast episodes absolutely flopped, not even getting a combined 20,000 views in the 15 hours after posting. The comments filled with people saying ‘nobody asked for this.’ What an utter failure. Who thought this was a good idea?"
Another commenter on X remarked, "I find the majority of successful podcasts come about naturally and over time. The left seems to think success can be forced. I have news for ‘em. You can’t just take someone who was popular at one time, and achieve your goals. It just doesn’t work that way."
A third person added, "This is extremely embarrassing. Absolutely insane that it did this bad."
Fox News host Jesse Watters wasted no time in labeling Michelle Obama’s podcast a "flop" on the same day the first episode aired.
Speaking on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Wednesday night, Watters speculated about Obama’s recent absence from major events, including President Donald Trump’s inauguration and former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
“Turns out, Michelle has been busy working on a new podcast, and so far, it’s been a flop,” he quipped. “The first two episodes have been up all day and only gotten a few thousand views on YouTube. Half of them are probably Primetime producers, but still.”
Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy echoed this sentiment, calling the show "boring."
“This would’ve been such interesting stories about 15 years ago. I don’t care about any of these stories; I didn’t even find them funny.”
Discussing her podcast on Instagram, Obama wrote: "There’s a lot going on in the world right now. We’re living through some really complicated and confusing times and on top of that, folks are trying to juggle family life, work dynamics, relationships, aging parents, and more."
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama was spotted courtside at a Los Angeles Clippers game on Wednesday—but noticeably without Michelle, fueling ongoing rumors about their relationship.
Instead, Obama sat alongside Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie Snyder, appearing to be the odd one out.
Notably, Barack Obama attended President Donald Trump’s second inauguration alone in January after Michelle, who has been vocal in her criticism of Trump, opted not to attend.
Michelle Obama was also absent from her husband’s side at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral in D.C. Reports suggest she remained in Hawaii for an "extended holiday vacation."
Despite speculation about their relationship, the couple showed affection on Valentine’s Day, sharing heartfelt messages on social media, as noted by The Post.
Following Michelle’s decision to skip Trump’s inauguration, a source close to her stated that the former First Lady would not want to "fake a smile for someone she still views as a threat to American democracy."