What is up, Daddy Gang? It is your founding father, Alex Cooper, with Call. Her. Daddy.
If you are a young adult woman with any form of social media in the last seven years, chances are that you can recall the exact voice and background music that has captivated audiences along with that slogan since 2018.
In October 2018, Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn launched the Call Her Daddy podcast on Spotify with the primary theme being the female sexual experience. Following shortly after the Me Too Movement, sex began to be viewed through a new lens – the female lens – and the Call Her Daddy podcast saw this as a new frontier for honesty, education, and chance to chat with your favorite girls.
Almost immediately, the podcast blew up following the infamous “Gluck Gluck 9000” episode, catching the attention of Dave Portnoy, Founder of Barstool Sports.
Through a loyal, female-driven fanbase, Call Her Daddy has risen to household fame, becoming the most-listened to podcast by women worldwide. In the years since its inception, there have been many changes to the “Call Her Daddy” brand including the early exit of Sofia Franklyn, the departure from Barstool, and a pivot from sexually driven conversation each episode to an interview-style format with primarily female celebrities.
Through each new challenge or chapter, fans have adored Cooper each and every episode, cheering her on through personal and professional successes, including the Hulu documentary, Call Her Alex.
Directed by Russo-Young, this two-part documentary takes audiences through Cooper’s early life and into her professional podcasting career up until her “Unwell Tour” in 2024. As she travels through the United States for the tour, she reflects on major milestones including the beginning of her career as a young woman in New York City.
The former athlete even recounts her time on the Boston University Women’s Soccer Team from 2013-2015. Throughout her childhood in Newtown, PA, Cooper was always an incredible athlete, but as a college soccer player, she was phenomenal.
In the documentary, she explored the complexities of her experience with BU Women’s Soccer, including the sexual harassment she and other teammates faced at the hands of her female coach.
Following public media support and scrutiny, Cooper released a public statement to Instagram, “She stripped me of my identity and took away what I had worked my entire life for because she didn’t control herself. This defined my life for a decade and impacted her life 0%. I reported the abuse to the athletic director, Drew Marrochello, and I was turned away and ignored. There was no accountability, no investigation, and no justice. So when I found out the harassment and abuse was STILL happening on that campus today – 10 years later by Nancy Feldman’s successor and my former assistant coach, I knew I needed to share my story. This is no longer just about me, this is systemic. When this initially happened to me I felt like I had no voice. But that is no longer the case. Now I’m coming for all of you who abused your power over innocent young individuals. Nancy Feldman, you will no longer be able to hide in the shadows and get away unscathed from the calculated pain you caused me and so many other women. To anyone who has also experienced what I have and been ignored… I am with you and this is DAY ONE of changing the system, flipping the script and finding justice. We will no longer be silenced. I’m ready to bulldoze through every f*cking door for all of you out there. Because when I was 18 years old, dismissed and ignored by Boston University, I prayed and wished someone with a voice would have held my hand and helped me through the darkest time in my life.”
While her soccer career was admirable, with many stand-out victories, she must face the difficult reality that she was pushed out of the sport she loved at the end of her junior year with no resolution to her pain. Although, as she highlights at the end of her statement, she has pledged her platform to not only provide a safe-space to escape the taboos of female sexual identity, but also to stand as a pillar of strength and support for other women and young girls who may be experiencing similar struggles that she has throughout her life.
Through her social media presence and especially Call Her Daddy, Cooper has welcomed countless guests to share their stories and chat honestly with the queen of podcasting herself. Some of her most notable guests have been Millie Bobby Brown, Khloe Kardashian, Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others.
In the documentary, Cooper even shares the experience leading up to her interview with 2024 Presidential Candidate and former Vice President, Kamala Harris. As she recognizes that this decision will divide her fanbase, composed of both Republicans and Democrats, she knows she has a duty to herself and her fans to take this opportunity and address this huge moment in history – or as I like to say, HER-story.
With a 6.3/10 on IMDb and an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, fans and critics alike are divided on Cooper’s story, including a Judy Berman with Time Magazine stating, “[Then, suddenly, the] awkward childhood photos are replaced by images of the perfectly proportioned and coiffed blonde she’d become by the time she matriculated at Boston University. There’s no talk of how this glow-up might’ve affected her personal life or career, or the messages it might send to skinny redheads who worship Father Cooper, as she calls herself. The defining contradiction of Call Her Daddy, like Cosmo and the “female chauvinist pigs” of Y2K pop culture, is its frequent implication that female empowerment requires catering to male desires. But Russo-Young never really interrogates Cooper’s gluck-gluck feminism.”
Dissimilarly, Liz Kocan with The Decider, a hub for opinion pieces on film and television, was pleasantly impressed with the documentary stating, “The way this documentary positions the struggles of her youth against her drive to succeed in what’s been considered a man’s space effectively depicts a person who contains multitudes. The sex stuff is one heightened facet of who she is; discussing women’s sexuality helped propel her to fame, but it’s also given her an opportunity to educate and to amplify women’s issues and what people think women should be like.”
Many have not been impressed with the unique empire Cooper has created or the documentary that praises her journey from young dreamer to media mogul and Founder of her own media company, Unwell. Comparable to the assistance that she was given with Barstool Sports, Unwell provides that support and platform to other young creators getting their footing in the wild world of podcasting and content creation.
Whether you love her or hate her, the fact is that Cooper has built a media empire upon her foundational empowerment of women and creators. ‘Call Her Alex’ is not only a documentary, but an inspiring call to many young, female creators that if you have a passion and a vision, go after it with everything in your heart because anything is possible.
So next time you’re looking for a quick and thrilling watch, throw on that signature sweat set and cozy up Daddy Gang, because ‘Call Her Alex’ is on Hulu, ready for your viewing pleasure.