Two of social media’s biggest stars are taking their spat to the court of public opinion.
Influencers Alex Cooper and Alix Earle, who were rumored to have had a major fallout last year, have exchanged barbs on social media over the past week, reigniting fan interest in their purported feud.
The latest in the saga began when Cooper posted a TikTok video on Monday accusing Earle of resharing “passive-aggressive” social media posts about her. By Wednesday, it had escalated, with Cooper also claiming Barstool Sports podcaster Brianna LaPaglia (known online as Brianna Chickenfry) is “adding onto the fake narrative and dog pile” by calling her a “mean girl.”
By Thursday morning, Earle hadn’t told her side of the story, and fans are on the edge of their seats waiting for what will surely be a lengthy “get ready with me” tell-all from the influencer.
Here’s everything we know — and don’t know — about the Alex-Alix discord.
Who is Alex Cooper?
Cooper, whose “Call Her Daddy” podcast is among the most listened-to shows, has built a brand with Unwell Network, a subsidiary of the media company Trending, which she founded with her husband, Matt Kaplan. Her millions of listeners, nicknamed the “Daddy Gang,” consider her the go-to voice on relationships, dating and life in your 20s and 30s.
She often pulls big guests with big announcements. It was on “Call Her Daddy” that Taylor Frankie Paul announced she would be the next Bachelorette. Cooper’s podcast has also featured then-Vice President Kamala Harris, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber and more.
Who is Alix Earle?
Earle, meanwhile, exploded in popularity in 2023 while a student at the University of Miami, making viral “get ready with me” videos. She now has 8.4 million followers on TikTok and 5.5 million on Instagram.
She was one of the first people Cooper signed for her Unwell Network, which has been marketed as a media and production company catering to Generation Z audiences.
How do the two know each other?
The pair was once seen together everywhere, acting the part of blond besties to seemingly promote their new collaboration.
But it was short-lived.
Rumors of a feud started swirling when Earle didn’t show up at the Unwell 2025 Super Bowl party in New Orleans — even though Earle was at the game with her then-boyfriend, NFL wide receiver Braxton Berrios.
Soon afterward, their friendship — and partnership — seemed to fall apart.
Earle, who also hosted a podcast called “Hot Mess” for Cooper's network, left Unwell last year, after fans noticed the duo had seemed to distance themselves from each other.
Sticking to her roots, Earle talked about the apparent drama in an “un-get-ready-with-me” TikTok at the time.
“There’s been a lot of chatter online this week about me and work, and I also have no idea what’s going on,” she said at the time.
She then addressed the news that her podcast was a no-go in another TikTok video posted about a month later, speaking directly to the camera and to her fans.
“I have to put a pause on podcasting right now for the foreseeable future,” she said, noting that she doesn’t want to — and can’t — get into the details “right now.”
“I’ve loved it so, so much, and I’m really proud of what I built with the podcast,” Earle added. She said in its place, she’d pivot to weekly vlogs that would give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at her life.
Earle then addressed the fallout in a May 2025 interview with The Wall Street Journal, in which she called it “behind the scenes, a little bit of a hot mess.”
“We have plans to bring things back, elevate things,” she said of her podcast. “It might look a little different, but I’m excited to see what we do with it.”
What's going on now?
In the year since, both women have appeared to send subliminal messages about each other via their social media, but neither has outwardly dissed the other until this week, keeping it mostly professional.
It seems, however, that Earle swung first.
She reposted a TikTok from a creator with the handle TheBravoMom that likened Cooper to an “ambulance chaser” and a “grim reaper.”
“She wants to be there when you’re vulnerable and you’re broken down and you’re ready to sign over your rights to your life. Like, she’s so awful,” she said.
After that, Cooper entered the chat with a video explicitly addressing Earle and her behavior. It marked the first time either woman had publicly spoken about any such feud.
“I got to call you out here. You’re going to need to get specific and just say what you got to say about me,” Cooper said in the video. “There’s no NDA. No one is stopping you. Stop hiding behind other people and just say it yourself. What’s the beef?”
She went on to accuse Earle of creating a “fake narrative” that “happens to be way more interesting than the truth.”
“I know what happened, and so do you,” Cooper said, addressing Earle. “I have nothing to hide when it comes to you and me. So unless you actually have something to say, I’m out. This is over.”
“Okay on it!!” Earle commented.
Earle hasn’t posted a video directly responding to Cooper’s callout. However, she shared a recording of one of her friends capturing her initial reaction to Cooper’s TikTok video.
In it, Earle appears to laugh in response to part of the video, and she says afterward, “Wait, that just literally made my whole day.”
Who else is involved?
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, was among the first to post on TikTok to opine on the matter. (Both women have ties to Portnoy’s company.)
In a selfie video, Portnoy said Earle was a “full-blown Barstool girl before anybody knew who she was.” And Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” famously got its start under Barstool’s network — before her relationship with her then-BFF and then-co-host Sofia Franklyn fell apart, and Cooper assumed the role of solo host when it was brought back on Unwell.
But that’s another story.
In the video, Portnoy said he has point-blank asked both women why they hate each other, and that he has long-term relationships with both of them.
He then claimed their fallout had to do with the fact that Earle was just too famous to sit under Cooper, and that Earle was big enough to pursue a career without Cooper’s assistance.
“It made no sense from a financial standpoint because Alix Earle didn’t need [Cooper],” Portnoy said. Neither of the women has verified Portnoy’s claims.
Then on Wednesday, Cooper posted an Instagram story about LaPaglia — who works with Portnoy at Barstool — that appeared to suggest the beef between her and Earle isn’t manufactured, amid rumors that it might be.
“This girl-on-girls--- needs to stop,” Cooper wrote, adding that she and LaPaglia have never met in person. She went on to post a series of direct messages they exchanged over the years that appear to be friendly. (NBC News hasn’t independently verified the screenshots that were shared.)
“So speaking of mean girls... I have never met you in my life,” Cooper wrote in the story. “What I just showed is the only interaction we’ve ever had. And you hate me? Wow. Please go back and read the dms. That has never been the nature of our relationship.”
She closed her statement with a return to Earle, shutting down rumors that the supposed feud is a publicity stunt: “Now back to Alix. And no, this is not a pr stunt.”
LaPaglia quickly responded to Cooper with a video of her own, saying those DMs happened “before I found out everything about this girl.” She also slammed sleuths who claim the saga is all a publicity stunt, telling them to “get a brain cell.”
“I work at Barstool, so Dave introduced me to Alex Cooper. I was a fan of Alex Cooper before I knew the wrath of f-----g Alex Cooper and what she does to people and how she treats people. I’m friends with Alix Earle. Alix Earle told me everything that transpired between those two two years ago at the Super Bowl. She told me everything.”
She didn’t expand on what supposedly happened at the Super Bowl, saying it’s “not my story to tell.”
“From what Alix Earle told me, Alex Cooper is a very, very mean person,” LaPaglia added.
Is this for real?
At first, some social media users speculated that the back-and-forth could be part of a broader publicity stunt, but Cooper appeared to debunk that claim in her posts about LaPaglia.
Both creators, who have massive followings, are also entrepreneurs with their own products.
In one instance, a TikTok creator suggested that Earle reposted the initial video only to drive views to her own TikTok posts. In recent days, she has been reposting a stream of videos about her new skin care line, Reale Actives, which launched last month.
“This is genius-level marketing,” another commented on the video.
Someone else said the whole debate felt staged, and a third reminded viewers that Earle graduated with a marketing degree.
But others defended Earle, who is known to stay out of online drama.
“Long time alix earle fans know that this issue is not a PR stunt and has been a long time coming,” one comment said.
Representatives for Cooper, Earle, LaPaglia and Portnoy didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
