HOLLYWOOD REPORTERS
Alex Cooper knew she was taking a huge risk, but it was hardly the first time.
Since launching her megahit podcast, Call Her Daddy, six years ago, Cooper engineered her meteoric rise with a series of strategic moves — jumping ship from Barstool Sports to Spotify in 2019 (for $60 million) and then again to SiriusXM this year (for $125 million), becoming the most popular (and highest-paid) female podcaster in the world. Along the way, she’s evolved from presenting a bubbly character known for her salacious banter about sex and relationships into a media powerhouse who scores buzzy celebrity interviews and leads candid discussions centering on women’s issues.
At first, Cooper was reluctant to interview the vice president, long having tried to project neutrality to her loyal young female listeners, known as the “Daddy Gang.” “Politics is something I’ve been very in-between on, and I’m aware people come to my show for reprieve and relief from the day-to-day, and I don’t want to use my platform as a campaign tool,” Cooper says. “[But] her team had reached out multiple times to make it happen, and it finally felt like the time was right. I was looking forward to a conversation surrounding women’s rights.”
For their sit-down in Washington, Cooper wore one of her trademark purple hoodies along with black stiletto heels — a combination of soft and sharp, just like her question list, which stuck to topics she frequently covers on her show (“I’m probably not the one to be having the fracking conversation,” she admits). Still, Cooper threw an occasional fastball (“Why should we trust you?” she asked Harris). The episode received backlash from the MAGA crowd (despite Cooper offering to give equal time to Donald Trump, who declined) and perhaps wasn’t a feet-to-the-fire grilling, but their chat didn’t avoid substance — covering topics like abortion and sexual violence. And suddenly, Call Her Daddy was being name-checked alongside Harris’ other stops at household-name legacy media outlets like 60 Minutes and The View and surged to No. 2 on the podcast charts behind her biggest rival, Joe Rogan. Perhaps coincidentally, Rogan is now in talks for a Harris interview as well.
During our 90-minute Zoom chat, Cooper — the Pennsylvania daughter of a TV sports producer and a psychologist — discussed her podcast rivals, best and worst interviews, that 2020 breakup with her former Call Her Daddy co-host Sofia Franklyn, her Unwell content creator network, torturous sleeping habits and the little-known benefits of being chronically online. “I want to be the biggest creator in the world,” she says.
