Listen as the Beastie Boys member recounts tales of his Jewish upbringing, hydraulic penises and his return to music
In the latest episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, which is out today, the quirky British journalist welcomes musician Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond, one third of behemoth hip-hop/punk outfit Beastie Boys. Over the course of an hour, the pair go on a rollercoaster of a conversation that swoops from the origins of the mullet – and Beastie Boys’ role in popularising the term – down to the stoicness of Mike D’s Jewish mother and the state of Trump’s hair, which he’s seen up close not once, but twice in his life.
The born-and-raised New Yorker is currently promoting his new album, Thank You. The 13-track record is out on 28 August and marks the first time he’s ever worked on a solo project. “I completely fell in love all over again with making music,” he tells Louis. He also speaks about the founding of Beastie Boys and how that helped him cope with the death of his father Harold, who was an art dealer. “That’s why I was so happy to find the band, ultimately, because that became my found family – my chosen family.”
Chosen family is a topic that the artist recently visited in detail as part of his exhibition at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (which runs until 27 September and features in our Spring 2026 issue). Named for the Yiddish and Hebrew term for a network of family and friends, Mishpocha: The Art of Collaboration brings together a multitude of mediums, including a 360 degree immersive installation, that explore the connections between musicians, between family (and chosen family) and language crossovers.
Mike D, who was born to two Jewish New Yorkers on the city’s Upper West Side, also talks about his relationship with his mother Hester, a renowned art collector and critic who died, aged 93, shortly before the Covid pandemic hit in 2020. “My dad died when I was 15, and both my brothers were quite a bit older than me, so I was the only one left at home,” he tells Louis. “I didn't have the tools to understand the word grieving or grief … My mum, she just wanted to do the right thing, but because she comes from a Jewish background, growing up in the South Bronx with no money … and with immigrant parents and the Great Depression [and the] extermination of Jews in Europe… She was an incredibly brilliant person, but she was also emotionally very stoic.”
The mother-son relationship grew stronger as he got older, however, and the pair found it easier to talk a lot more. He remembers one occasion of speaking to his mother, while on tour in the UK promoting the first Beastie Boys album License to Ill, when the trio evoked controversy after unveiling a giant hydraulic penis at the end of their show. “I vividly remember calling her,” Mike D says, “in the midst of 1987 craziness and tabloid headlines … I don't know what words I used to describe it at the time, but it felt so alienating. There’s this huge storm going on that you’re not even a part of, yet you’re the epicentre of it. So I remember calling her – and thank god I had a mum that I could call. Her big line was always, ‘You'll figure it out’.”
By Danielle Goldstein
Images courtesy of The Louis Theroux Podcast
Mike D's interview with Louid Theroux (series 8, episode 6) is out now. The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Read about Mike D's Mishpocha exhibition at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, as featured in the Spring 2026 issue of JR.