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The Cutting Up: A Kiki with Connie & Lina
Welcome to The Cutting Up: A Kiki with Connie and Lina, a new weekly podcast hosted by DJ/activist Lina Bradford and fashion legend Connie Fleming, the show offers unprecedented access to the icons, secrets, and untold stories that shaped queer culture. Lina and Connie are both trailblazing women of transgender experience, with deep backgrounds hosting and performing in NYC’s most storied clubs—and pioneering on fashion runways. They bring their knowledge, stories, and relationships to “The Cutting Up,” offering audiences a backstage pass to authentic conversations that can only happen between true friends and industry legends. “The Cutting Up” goes deep on fashion, music, activism, and identity.
Episodes
29 episodes
Peppermint on Survival of the Thickest, Trans Rights, and Celebrity Traitors
Peppermint joins The Cutting Up, and the gloves are OFF.The icon, activist, and 2026 NYC Pride Grand Marshal comes through for what starts as a springtime kiki, and ends up being one of our most honest, m...
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Cleansing Curses, Taking Leaps & Owning Your Power
This week on The Cutting Up, Connie and Lina are welcoming our brother-in-chaos and Pride royalty himself, David Correa. Shall we start with outfits and an I Love Lucy tangent? Yes, we shall....
Alvaro Takes Us Inside 80s NYC Art & Fashion: Antonio Lopez, Naomi & The Golden Club Era
Okay, first of all… yes. The camera betrayed us last time. But like true legends, we came back hotter. On this episode, we welcome back the incomparable Alvaro, an artist, fashion insider, South Bronx original. And this time the cameras stay...
Music to Kiki By: Disco, House & the Albums That Raised Us
This week we are joined by producer Matthew Breen (who also doubles as HR, Sugar). We all spiral from the iconic Justin-Britney denim lewk into a full jukebox of memories.It’s all about MUSIC. The albums that raised us, the son...
Kevin Aviance on Black Queer Legacy, Beyoncé, and Club Kid History
It’s a birthday episode and we are celebrating all month, Sugar and we’re setting intentions.Connie and Lena kick things off with a mystical little “circle of three” blessing before summoning the icon, the legend, the voice you definite...
Joey Arias Unfiltered: Nightlife, Mugler & a Legendary Downtown Life
This week on The Cutting Up, Connie and I are kiki‑ing in Washington Heights like it’s a downtown séance — and our guest? Only a living, breathing piece of NYC nightlife history: the one and only Joey Arias.Yes. That...
Glam, Grit & Glisten: Our Convo with Wilson Cruz
Baby… this episode? A whole mood.Wilson Cruz dropped into The Cutting Up and we started where all important conversations start: backstage glam. Because if we’re going to talk about surviving late-stage c...
Our First Times: Crushes, Chaos & A Married Man
This week’s kiki starts creamy… but quickly turns into a full-blown “the first time I…” chaos! .Yes, we open with creamsicles, Charlie perfume, and a head-to-toe cream moment (because aesthetics matter). But the real meat of th...
Kiki, Chaos & Crisco (Yes, THAT Crisco): Backstage with Connie & Lena
Oooh Sugar, we are back and bring you a peek “backstage” - it’s unfiltered, off-the-rails and spiritually protected, okay?? Because why did we start the episode spraying “Go Away Evil” like we were cleansing demons… and almost took our...
Psychic Tea & Protection Spells
Hey Sugar, we’re back! 💋This week on The Cutting Up, Connie and I start with a cute little backstage kiki — you know, just casually spiraling from Diane Freis dresses and YSL fantasy to vintage perfume me...
Love Bombs & Trash‑Bag Exits: The Dating Red Flags We Missed
🚩 If he says “I don’t really give compliments…” baby, that’s your cue. 🚩This week on The Cutting Up, we’ve got outfit breakdowns, supermodel nostalgia, and mental Versace campaigns. But then we...
Connie & Lina’s Valentine’s Day Survival Guide
Okay Sugar, it’s Valentine’s Day and we are serving opinions and giggles. This episode is basically a heart‑shaped box of chaos.First up, dating apps that test my patience, then subway crushes that live rent‑free in our minds. ...
Cutting Up with the Cosmos: David Odyssey Reads Lina & Connie
On this episode of The Cutting Up, we went full cosmic with David Odyssey from Heavenly Bodies. Honey, that’s a crossover! And it felt magical, grounding, and just plain fun.We star...
Hollywood, Casting & Life as a Trans Actress
This week on the pod, Connie and I are doing what we do best: talking fashion, reliving auditions we absolutely should have booked, and unpacking the absolute circus that is today’s news cycle. We get into door‑knocker...
More Than Makeup: Beauty as Trans Power
Okay Sugar, strap in! This episode of The Cutting Up is serving beauty, history, and a whole lot of truth.This week, when the gong rashes, guess who it is… the iconic Bradley Miller—makeup artist, educato...
Training the Body, Feeding the Soul: A Kiki with Celebrity Trainer Kacy Duke
We were already in full kiki mode, but once fitness icon Kacy Duke stepped into the chat? Baby. It became a juicy, feel-good, soul-stirring conversation about fitness, confidence, and loving the skin you’re in, no matter the season.<...
Carson Kressley: Style with Heart
Slip on your favorite heels and settle in, because this episode is everything. We are spilling fashion tea from the early 2000s—the era that gave us questionable shoes, plaid overload, and confidence we maybe didn’t ea...
Connie & Lina’s Holiday Hot Takes
This week, our brother and producer Matt joins us to ring in the new year! We share some of my favorite holiday memories from childhood gifts to traditions that still bring the vibes. We talk about how we actual...
Connie & Lina's Christmas Pajama Party
What’s the first thing a girl’s to do on a jubilant Christmas morning? Call a sistrix, of course! Sugar, this is unfiltered Christmas energy because if anyone is going to tolerate me before caffeine, it’s a sistrix.Your girl Li...
Pirate Boots & Punk Roots: Connie & Lina’s Tribute to the Iconic Vivienne Westwood
Okay Sugar, buckle up—because this episode was basically mine and Connie’s Olympics. From the moment we hit record, the energy was high, the accessories were rattling, and Vivienne Westwood was in the house hovering over the conversation lik...
Joy Reid Unfiltered: Black Identity, Bold Truths, Fashion, and a Little Paranormal Tea
Buckle up, because this episode goes off the rails the way only our show can. Today we have Joy Reid! Yes, Joy freakin’ Reid, the first Black woman primetime news anchor, New York Times bestselling author, and the woman who tells it like it ...
The Insanity Redux! A Wild, Candid Conversation with Susan Powter
Connie and Lina get to sit down for an incredible, off-the-freaking-chain chat with the legendary Susan Powter. And trust, she holds nothing back, sharing her wild origin story, rise, and fall—and now her return to the stage. We’ve got exclu...
We're Serving You Stuffing, Quaaludes & Paper Airplanes This Thanksgiving
Gobble gobble, everyone! Connie and Lina welcome producer Matt for their special Thanksgiving episode — which, as usual, goes completely off the rails. From cocktail conversations to family traditions, sharing their favorite traditions...
Fashion, Friendship & a Little Bit of Chaos: A Cutting Up with Kelly Bensimon
Get ready to laugh, strut and pick your jaw up off the floor — because this week’s episode of The Cutting Up is giving full runway meets “girl chat” . Hosts Connie and Lina are in the house, join...
First Jobs: We Work Hard for the Money, Honey!
This week ladies are delivering fashion highs, hair flips, and hilarious flashbacks, and they are joined by their adorable and ever‑patient producer, Matthew Breen. From jaw‑dropping outfits to legendary first gigs, Connie...