On Oct. 11, podcaster Alex Cooper released an episode of her show Call Her Daddy featuring Prof. Kate Manne, philosophy, regarding the recent alleged gang rape at Cornell University. The hour and 15-minute long video titled “I am Jane Doe” covers subjects relating to the prevalence of misogyny, rape culture and Title IX on college campuses, and throughout our culture at large. The episode comes at a complicated time for Cooper, who herself has faced backlash recently for her associations with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy and her husband’s, Matt Kaplan, involvement with her company Unwell. New reports reveal a less than savory company culture, including allegations of verbal abuse and sexual harassment. The onslaught of criticism Cooper has faced raises questions about her position in this conversation of rape culture, misogyny and the industry’s exploitation of such topics.
Call Her Daddy is a podcast, started in 2018, featuring Cooper and her then-business partner Sofia Franklyn underneath Portnoy’s Barstool Sports. The podcast gained notoriety for its sexually explicit content and controversial advice for young women. After a falling out in 2020, Cooper took over Call Her Daddy alone, evolving the content from vulgar episodes such as “You’re Just a Hole” to interviews of celebrities and major public figures such as Kamala Harris. While this shift is admirable in sentiment, it comes with new questions about the authority Cooper has as an entertainer turned pseudo-journalist turned CEO. Cooper’s show runs on charisma and appeals to the general female audience's pathos. Rarely ever disagreeing in conversation, Cooper tries her hardest to befriend her guests, offering up relatability over criticism, shying away from asking difficult questions. Her show is not really about asking hard hitting hypotheticals, rather, it gives prominent people space to tell their own stories. Call Her Daddy is essentially a rentable commodity for large cultural figures to garner attention, sympathy or awareness.
This past week's episode discusses a multitude of prevalent questions regarding the mood of Cornell students, and utilizes Cornell’s own Prof. Manne in order to mediate the discourse. Manne discusses the ubiquity of the issue of sexual assault across all campuses, the inadequacy of the Cornell University Police Department, institutional betrayal and the myriad reasonings why women do not report. The issue of Prof. Manne’s decision to speak with Cooper lies less in her wanting to bring awareness through a large platform and more with who the platform really is.
The comments under the video vary from support of Jane Doe to criticism of Cooper for her alleged hypocrisy. In a Vanity Fair article from June, reports of Cooper’s newest recruit Alix Earle leaving Unwell triggered speculation into the company’s hostile work environment. Vanity Fair claims that Cooper’s media executive husband Matt Kaplan plays an overly involved and unwelcome role in her company, reporting, “[employees] describe a company where Cooper is indeed the talent but where executive decisions are largely made by her husband, whom several described as having a leadership style that has felt like a volatile mix of unprofessional and caustic — at turns flirtatious or given to screaming. Some women characterized his behavior as ‘just Matt being weird,’ while others said they were more significantly affected by it.” The article goes on to describe a series of unwanted touching, lingering stares and inappropriate sexual questions asked to employees who felt they had little power to stand up for themselves. Vanity Fair illustrates the stark contrast between Cooper’s public persona of a girlboss leading the charge and her behind-the-scenes reality — pulling up the ladder from beneath her.
Cooper also has a close association with Barstool Sports, where she got her start. She maintains a relationship with Dave Portnoy, who has a myriad of sexual misconduct allegations and accusations of creating a work environment that cultivates opportunities for more misconduct. While no longer the owner of Barstool, which has its roots in blackout college party tours, Portnoy has left his mark on the company and all of its products. Portnoy once remarked, “just to make friends with the feminists I'd like to reiterate that we don't condone rape of any kind at our Blackout Parties in mid January. However, if a chick passes out, that's a grey area.” Cooper’s alignment with Portnoy is unsurprising due to his direct affect on her success, yet disappointing for listeners who pride her for claiming to speak up on situations of abuse. Cooper released a docuseries in 2025 about her own disheartening interactions with Title IX, aiming to bring awareness to her large following and use her voice for change.
It is one thing to say you want to hold abusers accountable and another to actually do so. Cooper’s general statements about sexual assault and platforming those who bring awareness are important, but the crux of the issue is implementation. Prof. Manne herself says education can only go so far; can we put theory into practice? Cooper remarks in the episode that men need to be held accountable for their actions, but she herself has never held any of the men in her life accountable. Prof. Manne’s statement, “morally shocked but not empirically surprised,” perfectly sums up the feelings of all listeners. Her “girlboss” choice feminism shoots and misses when she uses her power to perpetuate the corrupt system she exploited to hoist herself alone above the ranks. We can't be afraid to criticise her platform; progress without abolition of the underlying culture solves nothing.
Presley Grauer is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a contributor for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at pjg225@cornell.edu.
