How do you open a podcast between two outspoken women whose similarities end with the name Antoinette?
One simple line: “Welcome to the shit show.”
After meeting at an event last year, Australian broadcaster, columnist and award-winning journalist Antoinette Lattouf and American poet, DJ and speaker Azure Antoinette found something special amid the cacophony of their clashing personalities.
It led to the creation of The Antoinette’s podcast, which was launched in Sydney on Thursday night following the release of Episode 1.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make: throughout the course of their individual careers, both Antoinette’s have run into trouble. Before they began creating the podcast, Antoinette Lattouf phoned Azure Antoinette and asked her: “Are you sure you want to do this?”
There’s one other thing the Antoinette’s share in common: it’s their fearlessness. And the pair are not afraid of trouble together.
“The thing you need to know about me is I will always stand up, and I will always do what’s right,” Azure said at the launch.
As an African-American woman, Azure was often branded as “rogue” or a “wild card” in her home country when speaking out on issues of social justice.
“I couldn’t do this podcast in America,” Azure admitted at the launch.
It hasn’t stopped her other work in the past. The two-time Grammy-considered artist writes poetry, music and art that always pushes the boundaries.
The Antoinette’s podcast is produced by DM Podcast, the independent media team behind the Australian satirical publication, The Betoota Advocate. And Azure was unsure at first if it was the one for The Antoinette’s.
As she told the audience at the launch party, a team of white men producing a podcast with two women of colour didn’t seem right. But she was pleasantly surprised by their enthusiasm towards the project.
“I was impressed to find such solidarity – and not just that, it was their interest,” Azure said.
Lattouf faces similar prejudice for her passion. Her name is making headlines across Australia for her current Fair Work Commission case against the ABC. She alleges the national broadcaster terminated her short term employment in December last year because of her political opinion and her race.
The Antoinette’s were working together when it all came to a head, and as mentioned in Episode 1 of the podcast, they will be discussing the case later in the show.
In the first episode, Lattouf recounted advice she received from Azure in December last year, as the incident was unraveling: “Antoinette, just stay. Just be yourself.”
And that’s exactly what Lattouf has done.
“My name twin told me to stay,” Lattouf said in the first episode of the podcast. “So I’m gonna stay and be myself.”
The differences between the Antoinette’s could not have been clearer as they spoke to a packed crowd at the launch event. While Lattouf sat forward in her chair, ready to crack on with the show, Azure laid back in her seat, arms flopped on the arm rest.
“I don’t plan anything, ever,” Azure said at the launch.
“Antoinette is not like that at all. There is no part of her that isn’t planned.”
The Antoinette’s don’t always agree either – that’s clear in the first episode of their podcast, discussing “Art and Monsters” and how we can separate the art from the problematic artist.
But if anything, the podcast shows the importance of talking to people who don’t share the same worldview as one another. The Antoinette’s challenge and critique one another, and simultaneously support each other – in between the quips, digs and laughs on the show.
“Two smart-asses tackle one problem each week,” Azure says in Episode 1.
“We’re not always gonna break bread or agree… so welcome to the bin fire.”