iHeartMedia and Double Asterisk Investigate The 2016 Murder of Ferguson Activist Darren Seals in Season Two of “After The Uprising”

Listen To The Full Season Here

For Immediate Release — June 11, 2024 — The NAACP Image Award-nominated true crime podcast “AFTER THE UPRISING”, a co-production of Double Asterisk and iHeartPodcasts, released a new 10-episode season today that may have solved the murder of rapper and Ferguson activist Darren Seals. The new season will be hosted by former Missouri state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal and series co-creator Ray Nowosielski, who together wrote, reported and produced alongside John Duffy, series co-creator, and Mallory Keenoy. 

National headlines in 2016 asked “Who killed Darren Seals?” after he was shot dead and found in his torched Jeep Wrangler. Perhaps most famous among a number of mysterious tragedies that have befallen St. Louis activists who helped launch the national movement for Black Lives one decade ago, Seals was hailed as the successor to Malcolm X.  He was also a rapper in D.O.A. and manager of the Bottom Boyz, hip hop music groups, posting on social media in his final weeks of a pending deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.  

Many in the activist community suggested white supremacists or law enforcement elements could be responsible, a suspicion seemingly bolstered by a witness report of the involvement of a white man with a ponytail, what appeared to be sloppy police work at the crime scene and the 2022 revelation that the FBI had been surveilling Seals during his final months.  Police have never provided details of their findings, and no prosecution has ever gone forward in the case. 

The “After the Uprising” team conducted their own two and a half year investigation into the matter. As their promotional materials describe, “They crossed a landscape of rap artists, protestors, gang members, cops, FBI agents and even a serial killer, from the violent streets of St. Louis to the elite headquarters of Roc Nation in New York City, from government offices to prison cells, picking up the trail left by Darren's murderer -- with an ending you have to hear to believe.” 

Seals’ late mother Bonnie Otis sat down for roughly 30 hours of interviews for the podcast over four months in 2023, before her unexpected death in August. His brother Byron and many others across his personal and professional circles will also be featured. 

All episodes of “After The Uprising” will be available today everywhere podcasts are heard. The season was made in association with True Stories. Executive producers are Nikki Ettore and Lindsay Hoffman for iHeartPodcasts, John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski for Double Asterisk and David Cassidy and Ruth Vaca for True Stories.

“After The Uprising: The Murder of Darren Seals” is distributed by iHeartPodcasts. 

EMBED PODCAST STREAM

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ABOUT DOUBLE ASTERISK**

Double Asterisk** is the investigative media company of critically-acclaimed documentary filmmakers and journalists John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski.
https://www.doubleasteriskmedia.com/ 

About iHeartMedia, Inc.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) is the number one audio company in the United States, reaching nine out of 10 Americans every month. It consists of three business groups.

With its quarter of a billion monthly listeners, the iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group has a greater reach than any other media company in the U.S. Its leadership position in audio extends across multiple platforms, including more than 860 live broadcast stations in over 160 markets nationwide; its National Sales organization; and the company’s live and virtual events business. It also includes Premiere Networks, the industry’s largest Networks business, with its Total Traffic and Weather Network (TTWN); and BIN: Black Information Network, the first and only 24/7 national and local all news audio service for the Black community. iHeartMedia also leads the audio industry in analytics, targeting and attribution for its marketing partners with its SmartAudio suite of data targeting and attribution products using data from its massive consumer base.

The iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group includes the company’s fast-growing podcasting business -- iHeartMedia is the number one podcast publisher in downloads, unique listeners, revenue and earnings -- as well as its industry-leading iHeartRadio digital service, available across more than 500 platforms and 2,000 devices; the company’s digital sites, newsletters, digital services and programs; its digital advertising technology companies; and its audio industry-leading social media footprint.

The company’s Audio & Media Services reportable segment includes Katz Media Group, the nation’s largest media representation company, and RCS, the world's leading provider of broadcast and webcast software.

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