Over the past several months, there has been a bit of a standoff between social media sensation and the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model, Alix Earle, and podcast giant Alex Cooper. Now, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is weighing in on the rift between the two former colleagues.
Cooper and Earle have each had their own rise to fame and notoriety. Cooper, a former college soccer player, began her media career with Barstool Sports before eventually starting her own media company, the Unwell Network, where she hosts her popular podcast Call Her Daddy.
Earle, meanwhile, became a TikTok sensation through her candid Get Ready With Me videos. She’s since risen to celebrity status, competing on Dancing With the Stars last year and landing a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover feature that debuted on Tuesday.
At one point, Earle and Cooper were friendly with each other, with Earle launching her podcast Hot Mess Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network in September 2023. While the two were regularly seen together for years, their relationship seems to have gone south in 2025. Earle did not attend the Unwell Super Bowl party, and shortly after, her podcast was dropped from the Unwell Network. The rift became obvious, but neither party addressed it directly.
For most of 2025, Earle and Cooper seemingly took subtle jabs at each other online without directly addressing the situation. However, things escalated in early 2026 when Earle liked a post from Sofia Franklyn — Cooper’s former Call Her Daddy co-host — announcing a tell-all memoir. Then, back in April, Earle reposted a TikTok that called Cooper an “ambulance chaser” who profits off women in vulnerable moments.
Finally, Cooper addressed the rift directly, posting a TikTok that called out Earle’s “passive-aggressive reposts” and demanding she either make specific accusations or stop the “fake narrative.” Earle commented “Okay on it!!” on the post, but never actually addressed anything publicly.
On Tuesday, Earle went on the Today show to discuss her SI Swimsuit cover, where she was asked about the ongoing feud with Cooper. However, she declined to say much about it.
“I’m trying to keep things pretty positive today,” Earle said on the show. “We don’t have that much time here, honestly. So it’s like, why ruin such a good day with something not so great? You know?”
Following Earle’s latest decision not to address the feud with Cooper, Portnoy decided to weigh in, posting a TikTok video where he gave his thoughts.
“I get that all the girlies love Alix Earle,” Portnoy said as he explained that Earle seems to have much more support from women compared to Cooper. “It’s 95/5, it feels like, [in favor of] Alix. She’s a girly girl, they love her, they’ve been following her. Alex Cooper, this ruthless businesswoman, all of these hit pieces on her…”
That said, Portnoy admits that he is not a fan of the way Earle has handled the situation.
“I’ve said I like both girls,” Portnoy said. “I think the way Alix Earle has handled this is [expletive] dog[expletive].
Portnoy criticized Earle for taking subtle jabs at Cooper and then declining to actually address the beef specifically, even when Cooper explicitly invited her to do so.
“I’ll tell you this. Maybe I’m old school, and I’m sure that Alix [Earle] has like 3,000 people advising her and rolls around with like a team of like 40 PR people, but if you’re going to talk and take shots, you better answer that bell when somebody calls. That’s just me.”
“That’s just me,” Portnoy continued. “I don’t need a team, I don’t need a script. If I have [expletive] to say about you, I’m going to say it with my chest. I’m not going to take these veiled shots at somebody. And then when the other person is like, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s hear what it is,’ you just disappear.”
Portnoy had previously said that he liked both girls, but after the way Earle has handled the situation, he’s now officially taking a side.
“I’m on Alex Cooper’s side, at this point,” Portnoy said. “I still don’t know what the [expletive] actually happened.”
Portnoy theorized that Earle is waiting for her new Netflix show to share her side of the story, which then led him to think that the whole situation is “PR.”
“But if you’re gonna chirp, chirp, chirp, just answer the bell,” Portnoy said. “You’ve had plenty of time to say your piece. You’ve said zip. You shouldn’t have been taking shots if you’re not ready to back it up. At least that’s how I come from.”
It’s worth noting that Cooper is one of Portnoy’s former employees, as she worked for Barstool Sports for years before leaving the network following a highly-publicized contract dispute.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.