Dave Portnoy has reconsidered Alex Cooper and Sophia Franklin’s acrimonious exit from Barstool Sports, with the media mogul revealing that the former Call her father The co-hosts had a plan to say they had been sexually harassed in order to get out of their contracts.
In a new interview with Wall Street Journal Posted on Friday, Portnoy discussed his new memoir Cancel me if you can Which follows podcasters Cooper and Franklin, first about how they joined the male Barstool empire, then how they ended up going out in a blaze of gossip and rage.
Call her father It was started by roommates Cooper and Franklin in October 2018. After incredible immediate growth, a month later Barstool added the podcast to its lineup of sports-focused offerings. Although Call her father Being the polar opposite of Barstool’s usual fare, Portnoy says in the interview that Cooper and Franklin’s show struck him as something “different.” “It’s not my cup of tea, but I know I’ve never seen it before. Let’s try it,” he added.
The gamble paid off and the number one female advice and comedy podcast became a phenomenon, in a big way Call her father He appears to have moved on from Barstool, leading to fraught contract negotiations with Cooper and Franklin in 2020 and their eventual breakup. Portnoy says Cooper and Franklin were “willing to step on my neck and burn any bridge to move forward.”
Portnoy submits the claim in Wall Street Journal In Cooper’s interview, she told him that she and Franklin had a plan to say they were sexually harassed at Barstool to get out of their contracts. For context, Barstool as a company, and Portnoy personally, have been consistently accused of promoting misogyny over the years.
Also in the interview, Portnoy confirms that Cooper and Franklin “hate each other.” After the duo left Barstool, they engaged in a public fight that caused them to part ways. Franklin will start her own podcast Sophia with Fand Cooper will continue to use Call her father brand and establishing herself as a media mogul with her company The Unwell Network.
In a 2024 interview with Hollywood ReporterCooper discussed her working relationship with Portnoy, the breakup with Franklin and why she fought so hard for her position. Call her father IP before leaving Barstool.
“I’m very happy that I trusted myself and fought for[theIP[theCall her father “Brand archive and presentation],” Cooper said. “Because I will never forget today [Barstool founder] Dave Portnoy showed us this IP on the roof and I was very happy and said, “I’m going to stay another year. I’ll do whatever it takes. I want this IP.” Because I put a lot of effort into this – marketing, editing, writing, all of that. on [Sofia’s] On the other hand, she was like, “I think we could start a show called Girls in the bathroom“,” or whatever, “and it will be just as good.” I said, “That might be true. But in my personal opinion, I’m not giving up this IP address. I don’t want to start over.” Thankfully I saw the value of the intellectual property, branding and catalogue. This is what comes to my mind. The minute I sign a new contract, every time, I text Dave Portnoy a little thank you.
As told to Cooper THR That Portnoy was in a dilemma about what to do with it Call her father. “He was in a tough spot. We were making him a lot of money, and the show blew up,” Cooper said. “We wanted to renegotiate because we were making a pittance compared to what the offer was making for Barstool. I went there with my partner to ask for more money. If we broke the contract, what could the company do? He realized there was no other way but to appease us and get an extra year of the offer.”
Why Portnoy couldn’t paraphrase Call her father With new people, Cooper said he couldn’t do that. “When I first signed with Barstool, every show had emoji characters on their album cover — they were creating an IP where they could always put new people in chairs. But I fought hard to put our faces on that artwork,” Cooper said.
“I was trying to force it on them when you think about it,” she addedCall her fatherYou thought about us. So when he offered the IP and not a lot of money for another year, I didn’t care about the money. I was saying, “This intellectual property is a gold mine. I’ll be a millionaire and I’ll be set for life if I just stick around for one year.” I would never judge my former host and ex-partner for making the decision she did. She really saw that I didn’t want to work another year for Barstool, and I didn’t, and that’s work.
