The host of a popular podcast has issued an apology after drawing sharp criticism for using the Lindsay Clancy trial to promote a betting platform on her show.
Amanda Hirsch, who hosts “Not Skinny But Not Fat,” posted the advertisement for Polymarket — an online platform that allows users to wager on real-world events — on the same day the case ended in a mistrial after a hung jury.
“On Polymarket it was predicted the verdict would be Not Guilty. Are you surprised? #Polymarketpartner,” Hirsch wrote in a post that has since been deleted.
Before the mistrial, more than $161,000 had been wagered on the outcome of Clancy’s trial on Polymarket. The trade was not available to U.S.-based users, only those outside the country. While it is not legal to bet on court case outcomes in the U.S. through standard sportsbooks and federally regulated financial exchanges, prediction sites like Polymarket remain legally ambiguous.
Following the backlash, Hirsch called her decision to post about the trial for the brand partnership “insensitive” and “wrong.”
“I should have known better, and I feel sick that I didn’t see that in the moment,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Hirsch, who is a mother herself, said she has been following the case and “talking about it constantly.” She had posted about the case before the Polymarket ad.
“I became so consumed by the trial that I completely lost perspective and didn’t stop to think about how grossly inappropriate it was to discuss something this tragic in that context,” she wrote.
The Clancy trial has captured national attention and sparked highly emotional debates over mental health, as well as conspiracy theories surrounding the case. The jury’s deadlock has raised the prospect of a retrial in Massachusetts, and the judge’s handling of the deliberations has been closely watched. Hirsch’s apology comes amid broader scrutiny of prediction markets and their growing role in political and legal events, with some platforms facing legal gray areas.
