Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn’s ‘Call Her Daddy’ Drama Explained: How Dave Portnoy Was Involved

The Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn “Call Her Daddy” drama will go down in history — so much so that Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy included it in his June 2026 memoir, Cancel Me If You Can.

“The revelation of Alex and Sofia’s torpedoed friendship was almost more than the public could handle,” Portnoy wrote in his book. “Two girls who the world loved to hate now hated each other.”

Portnoy’s version of the story offered more details that the public might not have been privy to before. For example, he first noticed Cooper on MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard’s Instagram in 2017, when they were dating.

After hearing about her decision to launch a podcast, Portnoy reached out to Cooper, and the “Call Her Daddy” era began. The podcast launched at Barstool Sports in 2018 where it lived until 2021, when Cooper and the company mutually parted ways.

However, the end of the “Call Her Daddy” and Barstool era had tons of drama, which rocked the internet in 2020 as Cooper and Franklyn severed their friendship.

Keep scrolling for a complete breakdown:

The Contract Drama Begins

According to Portnoy, the contract drama began in 2019 after Cooper and Franklyn appeared on Logan Paul’s podcast. They started to “show their growing dissatisfaction” with being tied to Barstool, he claimed, and by the end of that year, lawyers were involved for contract negotiations.

By 2020, however, things got even rockier when the contract drama went public. In May of that year, Cooper told “Call Her Daddy” listeners that she and Frankyn had signed a three-year deal with Barstool, making $75,000 their first year, $85,000 the second year and $100,000 the third. They both got a raise during their first year because of how well the podcast was performing. Cooper, who handled the production side of the podcast, got an extra bump.

Behind the scenes, Franklyn’s then-boyfriend started shopping the show around to other networks. Portnoy got wind of this.

The Rooftop Meeting

This led to the infamous “rooftop meeting” in 2020 where Portnoy offered Cooper and Franklyn $500,000 along with “3.5 percent each of all merch they sold,” according to Portnoy’s book. “At the end of their term, they would own all their merch sales,” he explained. It also “cut six months off their contract so they would have to do the podcast with us for only one more year,” he wrote, noting that after the year ended, Barstool would “relinquish full ownership of the intellectual property.”

Cooper Accepts the Deal

Cooper had her own meeting with Portnoy and eventually accepted the deal.

“Alex left our meeting saying that she wanted to accept the deal. She also said that Sofia hated my guts, which came as a surprise,” he wrote. “The whole time I had believed that Alex was the one who didn’t like me, but I thought that I had a solid relationship with Sofia.”

Portnoy also admitted to leaking the story about the drama to The New York Post, leading to the end of Cooper and Franklyn’s friendship.

“It worked perfectly: Alex and Sofia completely severed all communication. They each believed the other had leaked the story,” Portnoy wrote. “The friendship, and the podcast as we knew it, would never exist again. They hated each other.”

Related: Barstool Employees Who’ve Detailed Salaries and Contract Negotiations

Cooper’s Docuseries

In June 2025, Cooper reflected on her friendship with Franklyn in the Call Her Alex docuseries. She noted that their relationship had started to fracture long before the contract drama.

“It became really difficult to enjoy the process,” Cooper said at the time. “It was the classic you think you see something online, and people genuinely believed we were like sisters, but our relationship was so awful.”

Franklyn’s Book

Franklyn announced her Daddy Issues memoir in February 2026. The book is set to tell the story of “girlhood, friendship, sexuality, agency and healing.”

“My story has only been told for me. And if you asked me to write this book five years ago you would have gotten a different story — fearful, vengeful, insecure, wounded with something to prove,” Franklyn shared in a statement at the time. “I couldn’t live truthfully until I told it in my own words, on my own terms, and in the most radically honest way I know how.”

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Deal of the Day

Where Cooper and Portnoy Stand Now

Cooper and Portnoy still have a close-knit business relationship. During a June 2026 interview with Us Weekly, Portnoy even shared the advice he gave Cooper while she was going through some public drama.

He also explained how their relationship evolved — and where he stands with Franklyn — in his memoir.

“Through it all, Alex Cooper has never forgotten the company that helped launch her. She credits me and Barstool frequently, and I’m genuinely happy for all the success she has found,” he wrote. “I’m even hoping she helps me promote this book. I guess we’ll see what she thinks of this chapter. I have no f***ing idea what Sofia is doing.”

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Alex Cooper

Dave Portnoy