This past May, the Barstool Sports’ podcast Call Her Daddy was the center of attention for a drama-filled feud between the two co-hosts, Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, as well as their boss at Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy. The feud ultimately caused the co-hosts to split, Cooper walking away with a new solo contract with Barstool and the IP for the hit podcast Call Her Daddy. We hadn’t heard anything from Franklyn in five months, until this Wednesday, when she announced her new podcast, Sofia With An F. The first episode of which was released yesterday.
Call Her Daddy Feud
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8KUFqpAkU4/
The Call Her Daddy drama at the start of the summer was all there was to focus on before the Black Lives Matter movement took over the media. People who had never listened to the podcast before were suddenly familiar with the giant feud going on with the sex positive podcast. Long story short, Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn created a lude, somewhat toxic, yet entertaining podcast covering “locker room talk for women.” It was instantly picked up by Barstool in 2018 and became one of the top Apple podcasts.
The show has been going on since 2018 and everything seemed fine to listeners until suddenly in April episodes were not being released on their usual Wednesday midnight drop time. A few weeks went by and episodes were not being released at all. The Call Her Daddy Instagram was releasing cryptic messages about how they couldn’t legally speak about what was happening, so everyone knew some serious drama was going down.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-_7zAtAr97/
Confessionals
Finally Dave Portnoy, head of Barstool, released his side of the story in a podcast episode under the Call Her Daddy channel. In his story, he told how Cooper had done a majority of the work for the podcast, editing it, and asked for a raise a year into their initial contract. He gave her a raise, but eventually gave both girls raises. Then he explained how both Franklyn and Cooper got greedy and were demanding ludacris new contracts and he was not having it. He also said how there was talk from the girls about leaving Barstool and taking their podcast elsewhere, but Barstool owned their IP. Portnoy claimed this was all sparked by Franklyn’s boyfriend, an executive at HBO Sports, Peter Nelson. He ended it saying he made one last ditch effort, offered them a new contract that included the IP of their show, and now the ball was in their court.
After the Portnoy episode of Call Her Daddy was dropped, Sofia made an Instagram story, where she briefly explained how negotiations were happening, her best friend Alex had broken her trust and she thanked her fans. She didn’t really give “The Daddy Gang” a lot to work with.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13zOXiiKn8k
Then Alex told her side of the story. In a vulnerable 34 minute YouTube video, she details what happened with their show and ultimately how she lost her best friend and co-host, Sofia. It was way more informative then the two minute story Sofia had done.
She ended the video saying that she had accepted Portnoy’s offer and was going to do the show on her own. Daddy Gang was thrilled to hear the show was coming back. Alex had saved the day, she was a hero. Although it was the end of an era for the two co-hosts, fans were ready to continue with a solo act.
CW: offensive language
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAq1ei7A5Ok/
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Aftermath for Sofia
Sofia received lots of hate and cyber bullying. People attacked her for letting a man get in the way of her friendship and business, and blamed her for the break up of the show. And that had effectively silenced her. Until now.
On Wednesday, October 7th, Sofia posted a story and Instagram post for the very first time in months, announcing that she had made her own podcast. In true Sofia fashion, she forgot to actually add a swipe up link in her story, but quickly fixed it, correctly attaching the link to her new podcast, Sofia With an F.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGDRTIMBkdu/
She almost immediately was hit with backlash on Instagram, with people commenting to remind her that they had “canceled her,” and that her show would be terrible.
sofia franklyns podcast is going to be trash. she’s got nothing alex cooper
— brie jacinth (@briexanna) October 8, 2020
Loyal fans tried to call off the bullying. Others said they would listen to both Call Her Daddy and Sofia’s new show, as if they didn’t want to pick sides between their two friends. Regardless of “whose side” fans were on, almost everyone was quick to notice that Franklyn had announced her new podcast on Wednesday, a sacred day for the Daddy Gang, as these are the days CHD episodes are released. Intentional? You be the judge.
https://twitter.com/notmekaylaa/status/1313972341878263808?s=20
Sofia Franklyn dropping her new podcast on a Wednesday knowing that Call Her Daddy drops new episodes on Wednesdays is so messy. THE DRAMA OF IT ALL pic.twitter.com/UJYjiIYF6X
— C-3PO (@Ceeepm) October 7, 2020
Sofia With An F
With only a one minute trailer up, fans were anxiously awaiting her first full episode, and on Friday we finally got to hear what we’ve all been missing. Franklyn’s first episode, entitled, “Sloot: A Short Autobiography,” was a 43 minute episode that…well, was kind of all over the place, but was a valiant effort nevertheless.
Fully embracing the slander that has been said about her, she gave us a look at what has been going on with her for the past five months. While it is not her style to get into the nitty gritty of everything, Franklyn gives us a short run down on her side of the story in terms of Call Her Daddy. She directly addresses Alex, calling her out as a bad friend and business partner. In Franklyn’s spilling of the tea portion, she also addresses rumors about her boyfriend making her business decisions on her behalf. She talks about how her depression and social anxiety have been affected, as well as how her public image has been tarnished. The episode then slightly derails into a rant about the pressures women face as they get older, to get married and have children. She throws in a few stories about her “glory days” as a misbehaving teenager growing up in Utah. It may not have been the most amazing, put together episode, but Franklyn is clearly serious about her new show. She created her own company, Sloot Media, and even has some of the same sponsors as Call Her Daddy.
A Second Chance
Fans are congratulating Sofia for picking herself back up.
https://twitter.com/shelbyburrows22/status/1314694459641270275?s=20
https://twitter.com/SNiFFiNbuTT/status/1314697685950246912?s=20
The episode has even made some fans question their decision to continue to support Cooper and the Call Her Daddy podcast.
Me listening to @sofiafranklyn address @alexandracooper directly ???????????????? I will never be supporting @callherdaddy ever again. Unsubscribed, unfollowed, and will never recommend going forward. No hate, but cannot support misogyny.
— Vanna (@vansoms) October 9, 2020
https://twitter.com/gnatreed/status/1314720299447967745?s=20
Of course, there is still some hate.
I did not miss your voice @sofiafranklyn
— Erica McGovern (@Erica_McGovern) October 9, 2020
Yikes @sofiafranklyn first podcast episode is hella cringy. This is embarrassing.
— Bottlen0se (@marinarolchigo) October 9, 2020
And there are a lot of listeners that miss the old duo between the two girls.
I know there’s bigger social issues rn but can Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn please apologize and make up? I miss them as a duo my life is void without the power couple.
— Katie (@katie_drayton) October 9, 2020
At the end of the day, Cooper and Franklyn both seem to be successful business women. They created a strong fan base together that has luckily continued to support them both in their separate endeavors.
I have two dads again….they just live in different houses….hmm @alexandracooper @sofiafranklyn ❤️
— e (@LadyAphroditex) October 9, 2020
And these fans are intense. Both hosts have separately stated that they have anxiety because of the attention that has come from the show.
Daddy Gang fans are now wondering if Alex will address Sofia’s new podcast and her side of the story. Both her personal Instagram account and the CHD accounts have been focusing on the upcoming 100th episode of Call Her Daddy and the guest she is bringing on, and has not acknowledged her ex-co host’s new podcast.
