Dave Portnoy claimed Alex Cooper and Sophia Franklin were planning to break up their Barstool contract over “bogus” sexual harassment allegations.
The Barstool Sports founder claimed in his newly published memoir, “Cancel Me If You Can,” that the women had a change of heart about their pay and contracts after meeting YouTube star Logan Paul.
According to the Daily Mail, Portnoy claimed in her book that “until they met Logan Paul, there was no sign that Alex and Sophia were unhappy with their situation.”
“In April 2019, Alex and Sophia flew to Los Angeles to appear on Logan Paul’s podcast, and he planted a pretty toxic seed in their hearts. They got into an argument about their current contracts and salaries, but Logan was unimpressed,” the businessman wrote.
Ms. Portnoy, 49, claimed that both Mr. Cooper and Mr. Franklin (co-host of the podcast Call Her Daddy, which was owned and distributed by Barstool Sports from 2018 to 2021) were “beginning to show increasing dissatisfaction with being tied down” to Mr. Cooper’s company.
“First of all, they stopped coming to the office. It was near the end of 2019 that we really started having major problems,” Portnoy claimed in his memoir.
“Please call dad. He hired a lawyer and wanted to meet with us. The list of demands the lawyer brought with him was so ridiculous that we couldn’t even attend the meeting,” he added.
The media personality claimed that the women wanted “$1 million a year, the right to sell their own advertising, ownership of the ‘Call Her Daddy’ intellectual property, and 90% of merchandise sales.”
Additionally, Portnoy claimed that Cooper, 31, and Franklin, 33, no longer wish to qualify as employees of Barstool Sports.
Mr. Portnoy claimed he “simply stopped the podcast” in order to force his contract demands on the women.
Mr. Portnoy said he met with them and proposed “the most generous offer in Barstool history” that would make Mr. Cooper and Mr. Franklin instant millionaires.
Ms. Portnoy then claimed that Ms. Cooper called her and asked if she could meet with the Barstool boss again without Franklin.
“‘I like the deal you’re offering and I’d like to take it, but Sofia’s never going to take it,'” Portnoy claims Cooper told her in her memoir.
“‘Okay,’ I said, ‘you know that if I take my podcast to another network before my contract is up, I’m going to sue you, right?’ Alex claimed to me that he had a plan to say that we both had been sexually harassed at Barstool,” the lawsuit claims.
“That’s it. That was their game plan to get out of their contractual obligations with Barstool Sports if I didn’t relinquish their IP to them. And I wish them well as they jump to a rival podcast network.”
Portnoy wrote in his book that although his company was attacked “for telling sexist jokes,” he was “never accused of inappropriate workplace behavior.”
“But if they had chosen that path, even though it was patently false, it would have been an uphill battle for us to win in the court of public opinion. No one would have believed my side of the story,” he wrote.
“I am aware that this is a serious accusation that I just made, that ‘Call Her Daddy’ lied about sexual harassment at Barstool and was allegedly trying to break his contract with us.”
Portnoy doubled down on his claims, telling the Wall Street Journal that the women “hated each other.”
Page Six reached out to representatives for Paul, Cooper and Franklin, but did not immediately receive a response.
Franklin quit the podcast Call Her Daddy in 2020, claiming that “contract negotiations broke down.”
She went on to create her own podcast titled “Sofia with an F.” Franklin will talk about his conflict with Cooper in his upcoming memoir, “Daddy Issues.”
Cooper then signed a $60 million, three-year deal with Spotify in 2021, followed by a deal estimated at more than $100 million in 2024.
In June 2021, Cooper signed a $60 million deal to provide podcasts exclusively on Spotify, with Barstool continuing to handle merchandising for the show.
Three years later, the influencer signed a $125 million deal with SiriusXM as its distribution and advertising partner on behalf of Spotify.
“Cancel Me If You Can” is available for purchase now.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
