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. Barstool is still involved in the podcast's merchandising. 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. Cooper reached an agreement with Barstool and continued hosting the show on her own. Content . Podcast content includes sex/relationship advice, stories/anecdotes, discussion of embarrassing moments, and just some classic "girl talk". History. Alexandra Cooper started the podcast in 2018 with co-host and roommate Sofia Franklyn. The podcast rapidly increased in popularity, with downloads rising from 12,000 to 2 million in two months. According to Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, the company signed a three-year contract with the co-hosts in 2018. This contract provided a base salary of $75,000 that was to be supplemented with bonuses by download statistics and a portion of merchandise sales. The contract ceded all intellectual  property to Barstool Sports. 2020 break and dispute with Barstool Sports. Following an episode titled "Kesha... The End" released 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 speculation developed among tabloids and fan forums. An episode released to the podcast feed by Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports founder and president, on Sunday May 17 discussed events from the perspective of Barstool. The thirty-minute episode described financial and  contractual details. He said that Barstool had offered a base salary of $500,000 to the co-hosts in a rooftop deal, and noted that Barstool was losing $100,000 per episode. He said that Cooper had settled on new terms, but that Franklyn remained unwilling to accept the new terms which ultimately led to her exit from the podcast. "The New York Times" notes that this effort by the co-hosts to re-negotiate terms comes out of a trend of fissures between creative talent and corporate platforms. Acquisition by Spotify. In June 2021, Cooper signed a deal with  Spotify for $60 million. The podcast will continue until July 21, 2021, after which the migration would take place - having the podcast exclusively on the streaming service. Barstool sports still handles the show's merchandising. Suit man. Meanwhile, Franklyn was also involved in a relationship with Peter Nelson (pejoratively called "Suit Man" by Portnoy), an executive at the time for HBO Sports, who was allegedly actively convincing Franklyn to undermine the podcast's success and ask for more money and merchandising money. Nelson was also allegedly shopping the program around to other distributors for her. Return. Cooper was releasing  the podcast alone following the break, and said in late May that she would be pushing forward without Franklyn for the future. She told listeners that a new co-host would be chosen soon. Miley Cyrus joined Cooper on the re-started podcast in August 2020. Along with Cooper, she discussed her breakup from Liam Hemsworth. Franklyn released her own podcast titled "Sofia with an F" starting in October 2020. Popularity and reception. In 2020, "Call Her Daddy" was the fifth most popular podcast on the streaming service Spotify. Controversies. Feud with Sean Avery. In September 2020, Cooper made a  noise complaint against a neighbouring apartment, owned by former professional hockey player Sean Avery, that was under construction. Cooper alleged that the noise from the construction was interrupting the recording of "Call Her Daddy". Avery discussed the incident at length on his own podcast, where he accused Cooper of being “entitled” and attempting to leverage her fame to halt the construction. SoHo Karen. In January 2021, Miya Ponsetto (also known as SoHo Karen) gave an interview with Gayle King over her 2020 incident in which Ponsetto falsely accused a 14-year old black boy of stealing her iPhone. In the  interview, Ponsetto is seen wearing a "Daddy" baseball cap in reference to the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. Cooper later commented that the hat was not official "merch" from the "Call Her Daddy" website.