Call Her Daddy Recap
As the media blew up this past week over Barstool Sports’ “Call Her Daddy” scandal, some of you may be wondering what all the hype is about. This is a quick recap and everything you need to know to stay caught up. Many of you may be loyal listeners to Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn’s podcast, “Call Her Daddy”, which is owned and run by Barstool Sports. For those of you who are not, the podcast is made up of Alex and Sofia talking about their lives, hookup culture, and living in New York. Both girls have had great success because of their talent and made the podcast very popular. They regularly have been uploading a podcast every Wednesday for about a year and a half until they came to a stop after their April 8th episode. The two girls were under a three year contract with Barstool and were having great success bringing them nearly half a million dollars a year, each.
After the first year, Alex and Sofia approached Barstool President, Dave Portnoy, about changing the deal. The girls claimed that they were not getting paid enough and should have ownership of the IP for “Call Her Daddy.” The girls began a search for a deal with another company that might represent them better. Because they were still signed into their three year contract with Barstool, they could not leave without consequences, but Portnoy came to them with a new negotiation. He offered to make a new contract where Alex and Sofia are guaranteed half a million dollars each plus bonuses, less time in their contract, and he would give them the IP for “Call Her Daddy.” After April 8th, Alex and Sofia had stopped making new podcasts and the company was losing lots of money for each episode not uploaded. Alex Cooper eventually reached out to Portnoy and stated that she wanted to accept his deal and that it was a no-brainer to her. She told Portnoy that Sofia would not accept because of her boyfriend, Peter Nelson. Peter Nelson, “Suit,” is an executive for HBO Sports and has influenced Sofia to get lawyers involved and shop around, looking for a new contract with another company for the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
Peter Nelson was preparing for a lawsuit against Barstool and was trying to get as much dirt on them as he could. Alex and Sofia had initially looked into going somewhere else together, but when Portnoy proposed the new deal, Alex knew it was the best they would get. Sofia was stuck and would not accept the offer because her boyfriend had put lots of work into finding a new deal for them. Alex began to work with Portnoy on a deal for just her, without Sofia. Barstool kept trying to get in contact with Sofia but she was not talking to them directly and would not shed any light on what was going on. Alex struck a new deal with Barstool where she profited a majority percentage of earnings from the podcast and believed that this was best for her especially because she does all of the editing for the podcast. After Sofia realized that the other deal she had was falling through, she came back to Barstool looking for an option. The option for her to be back with Alex on “Call Her Daddy” was now gone but Barstool offered her to have her own podcast on their network and they never heard back from her. After Portnoy’s podcast “Daddy Speaks” on “Call her Daddy,” the scandal spread very quickly and lots of hate started being shed on Sofia. Sofia posted an instagram story addressing her side of the situation, claiming that Alex went behind her back, as her best friend, making deals with Barstool that were unfair to Sofia and were putting her in the shadows of the podcast.
This scandal is getting lots of press and social media coverage and has blown up many people’s Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok feeds. As we stand currently, Barstool is preparing to have Alex come back and do the podcast on her own. Hopefully, the podcast will still have just as much success and that the scandal blows over without lawsuits soon enough.
- Claire Degennaro