Alex Cooper pushed back on Dave Portnoy’s claim that she threatened to fabricate sexual harassment allegations to get out of her Barstool Sports contract, saying she did not remember it that way.
During a Wednesday appearance on CNBC, Cooper was confronted with Portnoy’s allegation, first made in his June memoir, “Cancel Me If You Can,” and responded to it for the first time.
“I’ve been pregnant, Andrew [Ross Sorkin]. I’m busy building a child,” the “Call Her Daddy” podcast host and Unwell founder quipped when asked why she hadn’t addressed the claim sooner.
She continued: “Whenever I see Dave online, we all enjoy his banter. He is a very entertaining person, and I have a very great and complicated relationship with Dave. He gave me my start in this industry and I will never not be grateful to him.”
As Cooper went on, she admitted that she has yet to read Portnoy’s memoir, but pushed back on his account: “That’s not how I remember that at all.”
Still, the podcast personality didn’t outright deny Portnoy’s claim, adding, “But I also am like, Dave’s got his version, and I’ve got my version, and we’re all good.”
When asked by Ross Sorkin if she wanted to tell her version of the drama, Cooper laughed and responded, “No. I am in my mother era. I’m no drama right now, Andrew. We’re here to talk business.”
For those unfamiliar with Cooper’s career, the podcaster got her start at Portnoy’s Barstool by co-hosting the “Call Her Daddy” podcast alongside Sofia Franklyn between 2018 and 2020. Franklyn departed the show amid a public contract dispute, which saw Cooper hosting “Call Her Daddy” on her own for one year at Barstool. She then left Barstool with her podcast in tow, later launching her podcast network Unwell in 2023.
Watch Cooper’s comments below. TheWrap reached out to Portnoy for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
@cnbc "Call Her Daddy" host and Unwell Media co-founder Alex Cooper told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin that she has "a great and complicated relationship" with her former Barstool boss Dave Portnoy. "Dave's got his version and I've got my version," Cooper said about Portnoy's recent memoir. "And we're all good." Watch the full interview at the #linkinbio or the link on screen. #CNBC ♬ original sound – cnbc
Cooper’s appearance on CNBC coincided with her company, Unwell, achieving a valuation of $500 million following an investment from former Endeavor, WME and TKO executive Patrick Whitesell’s new investment firm, WTSL.
“Matt [Kaplan] and I, with Unwell, knew that we wanted to take on investment at some point,” she added elsewhere in the interview. “Obviously, when we started the company we put in our own money to start it – and we’ve been profitable since day one. So, this decision wasn’t about needing cash infusion. It was really about wanting to partner with someone who could help us go to the next level with acquisitions and investments.”
Per Cooper, it was “pretty obvious” Whitesell was the one to help them achieve this goal, noting that their “goals aligned.”
