Lex Fridman vs. transgender people

Lex Fridman is a researcher and podcaster who has platformed many anti-transgender guests, many of whom are associated with the “intellectual dark web.”

Background

Alexei “Lex” Fridman was born on August 15, 1983. Fridman was born in Chkalovsk, Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, and grew up in Moscow. When Fridman was 11, the family moved to the Chicago area. Fridman’s parent Alexander Fridman is a physicist at Drexel University.

Lex Fridman attended Drexel University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2010, a master’s degree in 2010, and a doctorate in 2014. In 2014, Fridman worked at Google before taking a position at MIT in 2015.

Podcast

In 2018, Fridman started a podcast calledThe Artificial Intelligence Podcast. After Fridman published a 2019 paper supporting Tesla Autopilot, Fridman met with Elon Musk, which significantly boosted the audience for the podcast. In 2020, Fridman renamed it The Lex Fridman Podcast.

An incomplete list of anti-trans guests includes:

• Aella
• Marc Andreessen

• Jay Bhattacharya
• David Buss

• Jason Calacanis
• Tucker Carlson
• Mark Cuban

• Richard Dawkins
• Tim Dillon

• Niall Ferguson

• Tulsi Gabbard

• Jonathan Haidt
• Sam Harris

• Glenn Loury
• Greg Lukianoff

• “Michael Malice”
• Douglas Murray
• Elon Musk

• Jordan Peterson
• Steven Pinker

• Joe Rogan

• Ben Shapiro
• Peter Singer

• Cenk Uygur

• Bret Weinstein
• Eric Weinstein

References

Crowell, Maddy (December 8, 2025). The Idiot: Lex Fridman’s expansive, compelling, anti-journalistic podcast style. Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/feature/the-idiot-lex-fridman-podcast-musk-trump-modi-tesla.php

Winstanley, Jack; Jamerson, Shelby (April 21, 2025). Right-leaning online shows claiming to be nonpolitical pushed pro-Trump messaging during the administration’s first 30 days. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-leaning-online-shows-claiming-be-nonpolitical-pushed-pro-trump-messaging-during

Bengani, P., Dottle, R., Yin, L., Mejía, E., & Alba, D. (January 22, 2025). The second Trump presidency, brought to you by YouTubers. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-youtube-podcast-men-for-trump/

Haskins, Caroline (November 7, 2024). Rogan, Musk and an emboldened manosphere salute Trump’s win: ‘Let that sink in.’ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/joe-rogan-elon-musk-heterodoxy-trump-win-reaction

Jenning, Rebecca (September 26, 2024). The cultural power of the anti-woke tech bro. Vox https://www.vox.com/culture/373990/heterodoxy-anti-woke-libertarian-tech-bro

Black, Julia (April 12, 2023). Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman’s podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite. Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/lex-fridman-podcast-anti-woke-elon-musk-ai

Robinson, Nathan J. (January 5, 2023). The Guy Who Just Loves Everyone. Current Affairs https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/01/the-guy-who-just-loves-everyone

Anti-trans coverage

Stanley, Tim (March 28, 2025). Is Lex Fridman the world’s most dangerous podcaster? The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/lex-fridman-podcast-putin-zelensky-modi/

Lewis, Helen (September 4, 2024). Trump’s Red-Pill Podcast Tour. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/09/trump-lex-fridman-podcast-tour/679702/

Kirsner, Scott (February14, 2024). How podcaster Lex Fridman became MIT’s highest-profile science ambassador. The Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/14/business/lex-fridman-mit-science-ambassador-podcast/

Media

Lex Fridman with Mark Cuban (March 29, 2024). Mark Cuban: Shark Tank, DEI & Wokeism Debate, Elon Musk, Politics & Drugs | Lex Fridman Podcast #422. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cn3VBjfN8g

Lex Fridman with “Destiny” / Steven Bonnell (November 14, 2022). Destiny: Politics, Free Speech, Controversy, Sex, War, and Relationships | Lex Fridman Podcast #337. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeuFiAUU4o

• [clip] Destiny: Should trans women compete with cisgender women? | Lex Fridman Podcast Clips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMajn6tshkQ

Lex Fridman with David Buss (May 4, 2022). David Buss: Sex, Dating, Relationships, and Sex Differences | Lex Fridman Podcast #282. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sndW9hzX-wA

• [clip] Is gender a social construct? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0vtz3gkWjU

Resources

Lex Fridman (lexfridman.com)

MIT (https://lex.mit.edu/)

• Lex Fridman
• lex.mit.edu
• LIDS staff
• lids.mit.edu/people/research-staff
• CCES staff: Lex Fridman
• cces.mit.edu/team/lex-fridman

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

• Lex Fridman

YouTube (youtube.com)

• lexfridman
• lexclips

Facebook (facebook.com)

• lexfridman

Instagram (instagram.com)

• lexfridman

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

• lexfridman

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)

• Lex Fridman
• scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ