HOUSTON, TEXAS: The long-running true crime podcast 'Sword and Scale' has come under criticism for a shockingly insensitive Twitter poll that its host and creator, Mike Boudet, conducted. The poll encapsulates a part of the moral dilemmas that have emerged recently as the true crime genre has grown immensely popular. 

"When listening to a true crime podcast, which race do you prefer the murder victims to be?" an account operated by Boudet, tweeted on Tuesday, December 20. White, Black, and Indigenous were the three options available in the poll. True crime journalism has received harsh criticism from experts for placing an over emphasis on white victims. Boudet, however, questioned whether that had resulted in white crime victims no longer being represented. In a subsequent tweet, he stated, "I've heard certain popular podcasts are no longer covering stories with white victims, so wondering if this is due to audience preference?"

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The poll's bizarre and nasty undertones stunned people. One person wrote, "I think 'preferring' any one type of person is completely f**ked up personally and a really weird thing to ask," while another person wrote, "What a weird way to phrase this question because i would prefer there to be NO victims but that's just me."

This other person who did not like the way the question was worded wrote, "Your problem here is your wording. People listening to true crime might want more stories to be covered, more communities to be valued enough to be on the radar when one of their own is lost... it's not about 'preferred murder victims'."

A fourth individual who proposed additional options for the poll wrote, "Do a few more polls. One with age ranges, gender, income, sexual orientation and whatever else that would be weird to vote on." One person who was shocked by the poll wrote, "Jesus Christ," to which this other person responded, "I too would prefer more murder podcasts about Jesus Christ!"

Boudet hid some of the responses made in reaction to the outcry over the poll itself while also making jokes about wokeness. He even criticized "people with pronouns in their bio" for their "feigning outrage at this question".

Boudet was proved to be mistaken, as evidenced by viewer responses. Three hours into the voting period, the majority of respondents (67%) chose the white victims, followed by Black (19%) and Indigenous (14%). 

Disclaimer: This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online