Phil Tonseth ‘22
Production Editor
I am unwell. While COVID-19, racial unrest, and the upcoming presidential election has dominated the news media in 2020, an arguably bigger story has largely been ignored. As a card-holding member of the “woke” generation, I saw the biggest news story of the year as the endless drama and splintering of the wildly popular podcast Call Her Daddy. Luckily, I’m here to provide a breakdown on the breakup, including commentary on the legal issues that drove the two parties apart.
Labeled as “uncensored, real, female locker room talk,”[1] the podcast known as Call Her Daddy took the world by storm in 2018. The unabashed hosts, Alexandra (Alex) Cooper and Sofia Franklyn met by chance, struck up a conversation, and were encouraged to create a podcast by those around them. A month after starting their podcast, Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports bought the podcast and hired the two rising stars as Barstool employees. Their contract was initially for three years with the option to renegotiate. When Alex and Sofia began renegotiating in early 2020, though, everything fell apart.
Photo courtesy of Barstool Sports.
The issue between the podcasters and Barstool Sports was a contract dispute, mainly centering on intellectual property (IP).[2] At the outset, both Alex and Sofia earned salaries bordering $100,000, which rose to almost $500,000 following the podcast’s meteoric rise. The ladies did not own the intellectual property to their brand, because David Portnoy retained ownership per the initial employment contract. Believing they were underpaid compared to the industry standard, the ladies wanted more and were willing to bet their huge following on it.[3]
Alex and Sofia didn’t negotiate alone. Sofia’s long-term boyfriend, Peter Nelson, a.k.a. “Suitman,” worked as an HBO Sports executive and claimed to know the market and have “clout.” Suitman drafted a list of demands for the initial renegotiating offer to Portnoy, which included salaries of over a million dollars, a larger share of merchandise revenue, and sole ownership of the intellectual property rights for Alex and Sofia.[4] For his part, Portnoy dug in almost as hard as COVID-19 has in America. He did not counter terms in the ladies’ initial renegotiation offer.
With negotiations stalled, Suitman shopped the Call Her Daddy brand, including Alex’s and Sofia’s talents, to others in the industry. Knowing this, Portnoy hosted the two and presented his counteroffer to fend off their potential departure and the ensuing legal battle over the IP. Portnoy offered to increase their base salary to $500,000, raise their share of the merchandise revenue, and gradually transition ownership of the intellectual property of the Call Her Daddy brand to the two. Rather than cement a deal, this offer drove Alex and Sofia apart. Sofia and Suitman wanted more.
Alex wanted to make a deal with Barstool, acknowledging that Portnoy’s offer was everything the two initially wanted. Through consultation with Suitman, Sofia kept moving the goalposts of the negotiations, frustrating both Alex and Portnoy. After Sofia threatened Alex with negotiating in bad faith in an attempt to gain access to the IP of Call Her Daddy, Alex made a unilateral and lasting decision. The duo would split; their goals were far too divergent to reconcile.
Reaching out to Portnoy, Alex accepted the initial offer and left Sofia out of the fold. Likening the situation to losing an old friend to a new boyfriend, Alex expressed sadness both for herself and “Daddy Gang.”[5] At that point, Call Her Daddy hadn’t recorded a podcast for two months due to the unfolding drama. Alex jumped back into the fray as a “Single Father” on May 27 and has been rolling ever since. In her most recent and eleventh installment as a Single Father, Alex interviewed Miley Cyrus, a.k.a. Hannah Montana, in an absolute banger of an interview.
Needless to say, it’s clear who won in these negotiations. Daddy Gang has thrown their full support behind Alex and her personality. Barstool Sports maintains ownership of the Call Her Daddy brand until the IP transitions solely to Alex. Sofia and Suitman? Well, they’ve been relegated to the influencer blackhole where they belong.
You may ask, why does the dissolution of a podcast matter in a legal sense? Intellectual property is a rapidly rising area of litigation in our current media-conscious environment. Media companies provide the initial exposure to their talent, but the personalities often outstrip that exposure through developing followers on social media. As such, the personalities want ownership of the intellectual property to further capitalize on their brand, without relying on a company as a middle man.[6] As Alex showed through this saga, negotiating in good faith is the proper way to find a middle ground. For the sake of Daddy Gang, let’s hope Call Her Daddy and Barstool Sports have a long, successful relationship. The way this situation ultimately played out left Daddy Gang almost as satisfied they would be receiving a “Gluck Gluck 9000.”[7] Gang Gang.
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pjt5hm@virginia.edu
[1] https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/call-her-daddy-barstool-sports-drama.html.
[2] If you’re reading this, Dean Mahoney, my likely incorrect legal analysis of contracts is in no way a direct reflection of your amazing teaching.
[3] Call Her Daddy is currently the #1 ranked comedy podcast in the United States.
[4] https://nypost.com/2020/05/23/call-her-daddy-drama-update-alex-cooper-to-host-podcast-solo/.
[5] Avid listeners to the podcast refer to themselves as members of the Daddy Gang.
[6] https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/call-her-daddy-barstool-sports-drama.html.
[7] If you have to Urban Dictionary this, don’t.