Jacobs, who now lives in Los Angeles, first started listening to Desus & Mero’s Bodega Boys podcast while in college in New York City. “I worked at a sneaker store, and a couple of my coworkers there put me [onto] a few episodes into their podcast in 2015,” she told Gothamist. “I had an hour subway ride to and from work every day, and listening to their outrageous conversations during my commute quickly became the highlight of my day.”
The duo kept getting bigger and bigger, expanding beyond the podcasts into books (God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons From the Bronx) and the Showtime series (which started on Viceland). They made high-profile appearances shading Taylor Swift on the Tonight Show and feuding with the Breakfast Club’s DJ Envy.
It only made their fan base even more passionate. “I think most of us feel like we grew with them and really value that,” Jacobs said. “Their brand has always been so raw and uncensored, which makes fans feel like we’re shopping it up with friends in real life.”
She started the Twitter fan account in 2017, initially in the hopes of getting hired to do social media for their podcast/show, but found she enjoyed interacting with other fans. (She is currently a copywriter at Fanatics’ brand Zerocool, which produces pop culture/entertainment trading cards.)
Jacobs first got an inkling that things weren’t all well for Desus & Mero earlier this summer after Desus announced he would be guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! solo.
“Once I saw that, it registered that they’ve been doing more and more separately lately, which made me think something might be up,” she said. “More recently, posting videos and pictures from their MLB All-Star Game appearance, I noticed them arriving separately and shooting a bunch of content on their own, so I figured there was some tension.”
In June, the duo had just completed the fourth season of the Showtime series, which included interviews with former President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Derek Jeter, Missy Elliott, Denzel Washington and more.
She noted that she generally doesn’t post rumors or gossip on the fan page, but “it got to a point where everything I posted was flooded with comments asking where the podcast was. So, when I saw that both Desus and Mero had commented on it with their public Twitter/Reddit accounts basically confirming it was over, I thought all the fans following me deserved to see that.”
She was shocked when Showtime confirmed the breakup less than 24 hours later: “A couple years back they mentioned me and the page on their podcast, joking about Selena being killed by a former fan and comparing me to Yolanda Saldivar. That old joke is one of the first things I thought of,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, I had nothing to do with the actual dissolution of the show or the podcast, but it’s pretty clear that they weren’t planning on making any announcements before my tweet went viral, so I felt responsible for all the publicity and for some people being unemployed.”