Call Her Daddy

Call Her Daddy is an advice and comedy podcast created by Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn in 2018. The podcast was formerly owned and distributed by Barstool Sports until June 2021, when it was announced that Cooper had signed an exclusive deal with Spotify worth $60 million. In the late spring of 2020, Cooper and Franklyn were engaged in a publicized dispute with Barstool founder David Portnoy, which resulted in Franklyn leaving the show. Cooper reached an agreement with Barstool and continued hosting the podcast on her own. In August 2024, Cooper signed a deal with Sirius XM to replace Spotify as her distribution and advertising partner.
The podcast was launched in 2018 by Sofia Franklyn and Alexandra Cooper who were roommates at the time. The podcast rapidly increased in popularity, with downloads rising from 12,000 to 2 million in two months. According to Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy, the company signed a three-year contract with the co-hosts in 2018. This contract provided a base salary of $75,000, supplemented with bonuses for podcast performance and a portion of merchandise sales. The contract ceded all intellectual property to Barstool Sports.
Following an episode titled "Kesha... The End" released on April 8, 2020, new episodes stopped being released. Explanations for the break were not communicated to fans, with the co-hosts releasing a statement on Instagram noting that they "legally can't speak out yet." Amidst the lack of communication, significant gossip developed among tabloids and fan forums. On May 17, an episode was released to the podcast feed featuring Portnoy discussing the hiatus from the perspective of Barstool. The 30-minute episode described financial and contractual details. Portnoy claimed that Barstool had offered a base salary of $500,000 to the co-hosts and noted that Barstool was losing $100,000 per missed episode of the podcast. He said Cooper had settled on new terms, but Franklyn remained unwilling to agree to a new contract, ultimately leading to her exit from the show.
At the time, Franklyn was involved in a relationship with Peter Nelson (dubbed "Suit Man" in previous episodes of Call Her Daddy), who was working as an executive for HBO Sports. Portnoy accused Nelson of advising Franklyn to refuse Barstool's contract offer. Nelson also allegedly shopped the program around to other podcast distributors, further fraying the relationship between Franklyn and Barstool.
Alexandra Cooper began releasing the podcast alone following the break, stating in late May 2020 that she would be pushing forward without Franklyn. She told listeners that a new co-host would be chosen soon. Miley Cyrus joined Cooper on the re-launched podcast in August 2020, discussing her breakup from Liam Hemsworth. Franklyn eventually began her own individual podcast titled Sofia with an F.
In June 2021, Cooper signed a deal worth $60 million to exclusively present the podcast on Spotify. Barstool continued to handle the show's merchandising. In August 2024, Cooper signed a $125 million deal with Sirius XM to replace Spotify as her distribution and advertising partner. The podcast is set to remain available on Spotify.
While owned by Barstool Sports, the podcast focused on discussing sexuality and dating, and was known for being explicit. After moving to Spotify, the show focused more on mental health, having clinical psychologists and psychotherapists as guests, though the show continues to have raunchy elements. Cooper has said that the show is edited to make every moment saturated with content to avoid losing the audience's attention.
In October 2024, Cooper conducted an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris to explore various pressing issues in the United States as the country approached the 2024 presidential election.
According to the August 2024 SiriusXM Press Release, extensive exclusive content will debut on SiriusXM in 2025.
Cooper calls the show's audience the "Daddy Gang". In 2020, Call Her Daddy was the fifth most popular podcast on Spotify. In 2021 and 2022, Call Her Daddy was ranked as the second most popular podcast on Spotify, finishing behind The Joe Rogan Experience in both years.