Fela Kuti: Fear No Man Wins Peabody Award for Arts

Congratulations to host Jad Abumrad and the production teams at Audible, Higher Ground, Western Sound and Talkhouse, whose groundbreaking podcast, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, has won this year's Peabody Award for Arts. Representing the most captivating and impactful stories released in broadcasting and streaming media during 2025, the honor marks the fourth career Peabody Award for Jad Abumrad – creator of Radiolab, More Perfect and Dolly Parton's America – who made his triumphant and long-awaited return to audio with Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, and will be further celebrated during the 86th Annual Peabody Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sunday, May 31.  

As Abumrad's most daring work to date, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man – which also earned the 2026 Webby Award for Best Limited Series (Podcasts) this week – tells the story of one of music's greatest political awakenings: how a classically trained 'colonial boy' named Fela Kuti traveled to America in search of Africa, only to then return home to Nigeria, transform his sound into a battering ram against the state, and create a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. It wonders: In a world that's on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do? Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed?

Listen to Fela Kuti: Fear No Man Here

Blending oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism and cutting edge sound design, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man was named the #1 Best Podcast of 2025 by The New Yorker, and one of the best podcasts of the year by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, Vulture, The Week, Podcast Review and others. It is "a beautiful show about a unique figure in musical history who mixed art with activism," says President Barack Obama, who is featured in the series alongside Ayo Edebiri, Brian Eno, Burna Boy, David Byrne, Flea, Jay-Z, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Santigoldand more than 200 other interviews that Jad Abumrad recorded over three years spent traveling to Lagos, London, Paris and Los Angeles, speaking to Fela Kuti's family, friends, closest collaborators and biggest fans, and asking some of the most prescient and pressing questions of the moment. 

Earlier this month, Fela Kuti became the first African solo artist to earn an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and earlier this year, he became the first African musician to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy®. Kuti's 1976 album Zombie was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2025, making history as the first Nigerian album to be inducted. 2026 marks the 50th anniversaries of both Zombie and another seminal album, Expensive Shit, which is featured on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Plans to honor both recordings by the Fela Kuti Estate and Partisan Records will be announced in the coming months.

Praise For Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

"Deeply reported and sonically glorious…a stunning eight-hour immersion into Fela's life and music—and into volatile post-colonial Nigeria, in which we glimpse flashes of our own precarious time."

– The New Yorker, #1 Best Podcast of 2025

"Fela Kuti: Fear No Man does what the best biographies do: make the legacy of an outsized life feel tangible."

– The New York Times, 9 Podcasts That Made Us Stop and Really Listen in 2025

"Abumrad and his team manage to encompass the full spectrum of Kuti's music—its blending of sonic traditions and narrative lyricism—through expressive sound design. At a moment when ambitious podcasts are hard to come by, the zealous fluidity of Fear No Man stands out."

– The Atlantic, Best Podcasts of 2025

"Jad Abumrad's in-depth interviews and passionate explanation of the power of Kuti's music created not just an immersive account of why Kuti's name should be writ large in international history books, but quite probably the best music podcast of 2025."

– The Guardian, Best Podcasts of 2025

"Jad Abumrad's return to podcasting finds him in characteristically compelling form. The Radiolab creator reprises the approach he honed in Dolly Parton's America, melding his distinct flavor of expansive sound design with a deep historical and musicological curiosity."

– Vulture, 10 Narrative Podcasts We Loved This Year

"The bio-pod from Radiolab creator Jad Abumrad asks big questions about a larger-than-life character and delivers on an equal scale...emotional insights and astounding anecdotes to fill out the life of a superstar who invented his own genre and used it to stand up to an oppressive government. The reporting is first-rate, and the music is undeniably funky."

– Washington Post

"It's a measure of the rich storytelling, the wonderful music and the wild anecdotes that run through Fear No Man that, even after 12 episodes, I didn't want it to end."

– Financial Times

"It is an invigorating show, fizzing with ideas, colour and wayward craziness — all of it driven by propulsive beats."

– The Times 

"Thoroughly researched, an expansive effort that walks through the nuances that made Kuti who he became, the encounter that radicalized him, his passion for afrocentric intellect, his complex relationship with women, and as a father."

– OkayAfrica

"The podcast has all the high quality production value and on-location original audio that listeners would expect from a veteran like Abumrad, but there is also a great deal of nuance...It has something in common with Kuti's music: there is a strong sense of discovery."

– Podcast Review, 10 Best Podcasts of 2025

ABOUT HIGHER GROUND

Higher Ground was founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. From scripted and unscripted television, feature films, and animated series to podcasts and digital series, the company tells widely acclaimed stories across all platforms. Higher Ground has earned 3 Academy Award nominations (winning the Oscar for American Factory), 12 Emmy nominations, and 3 Grammy nominations, producing celebrated projects like Leave the World Behind, Crip Camp, Rustin, and American Symphony. For more information on Higher Ground projects, visit HigherGroundMedia.com.

ABOUT TALKHOUSE

Talkhouse is a Webby-Award-winning first-person media company, podcast network, and outlet for musicians, actors, filmmakers, and others in their respective fields. Talkhouse's podcast series include SubwayTakes, How Long Gone, Blank Check, Alison Roman's Solicited Advice, Life of the Record, Craig Finn's That's How I Remember It, Santigold's Noble Champions, Björk: Sonic Symbolism – which GQ praises as "a road map to the creative life," delivering what The New Yorker calls "a rare chance to listen in as one of the most mysterious and mystical artists working today explains herself" – as well as the new Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, which critics are raving about and represents Jad Abumrad's triumphant return to audio. Björk's Cornucopia represents Talkhouse's first foray into producing TV/film. Other projects are currently in development and production.

ABOUT WESTERN SOUND

Western Sound is the Peabody Award-winning podcast studio founded by journalist and podcaster Ben Adair. Established in 2018, Western Sound has created dozens of award-winning, hit shows—both its own, original #1 hits Lost Hills and Strangeland, as well as partnered shows for ESPN, The Los Angeles Times, Team Coco, and CNN. Western Sound's most recent shows include two summer '25 Top 10 series Doctor’s Orders andThe Burden: Get the Money and Run. The most recent awards include a 2024 Peabody Award for Pulse: The Untold Story and a 2024 Peabody Award nomination for Ripple. Numerous Western Sound productions are currently in development as both TV and feature films.

ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering global audiences a powerful way to enhance and enrich their lives through extraordinary content. Audible's catalog includes more than 1 million audio titles, including Audible Originals as well as audiobooks and podcasts from leading studios, print, audio and magazine publishers and world-renowned entertainers.

For more information, please contact Matt Hanks, Greg Jakubik or Henry Thomas at

Shore Fire Media, 718-522-7171