'Maybe we didn't have a right to know any of these things': S-Town critic reacts to lawsuit

When S-Town was released in the spring of 2017, it faced criticism over what some saw as its overly invasive approach to chronicling the life and death of the central character, John B. McLemore.

Now it seems McLemore's family agrees, after his estate sued the creators of S-Town in July.

Aja Romano, who covers internet culture for Vox, was among those who criticized S-Town's methods. She sat down for an interview with Podcast Playlist host Matt Galloway. Here is part of their conversation.

What is the suit, and those behind the suit, the estate of John B. McLemore, what is it that they are alleging?

Basically they're alleging what they call unjust enrichment under a 2015 law that was passed in Alabama called the "right of publicity" law. And basically they're saying that S-Town failed to get McLemore's consent to use his identity and his likeness and the details about his personal life the way the podcast used it.

When this podcast came out in the spring of last year, it was received with great acclaim. People said that it changed the game of podcasting. But there were a lot of people, yourself included, who said that there were real troubles around it. What did you find so troubling about it?

I think the thing that makes it so amazing is also one of the things that makes it so troubling to me. Because it is this really splendid deep dive into the narrative of one man's life.

But in order to bring that story to the public, they had to basically be very invasive in terms of exploring his life and uncovering the details of his life, and really go in deep to figure out who he was. 

It is possible to do harm even while you're bringing beautiful art to the public.- Aja Romano

And I'm talking about him in the past tense because he actually committed suicide — John McLemore committed suicide in 2015, about three years after he had met and befriended Brian Reed, the journalist and main investigator for S-Town.

And after McLemore committed suicide, Reed basically turned the investigation into an exploration of McLemore's life.

And so the invasiveness of this, and the practice that he underwent, the questions that he asked, the way that he handled issues like mental health, and the way the production handled the suicide itself, were all things that felt really, really — as though we didn't have a right to them.

Maybe we didn't have a right to know any of these things about this dead man who never really understood that after he died a story of his life would be made and then downloaded by 40 million people.

What is a lawsuit like this going to mean for the future of narrative podcasting like S-Town?

I think it might be too early to tell. S-Town is obviously standing by the reporting and the podcast. They claim that they got McLemore's full consent, and everything that they didn't get full consent for, I think the argument is that it's fine because it's artistic license.

That is obviously an argument that gets made many, many times, and isn't always tested in court with a case that's this prominent.

I would hope that this whole conversation around S-Town would advance our overall awareness that it is possible to do harm even while you're bringing beautiful art to the public. And I think those things can co-exist and maybe should be weighted accordingly.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. For more, listen to the interview with Aja Romano.