Less than two years after they teamed up for a content development partnership, Alex Cooper and Alix Earle are breaking up. Cooper’s Unwell Network is dropping Earle’s Hot Mess podcast from its lineup after apparent friction came between the two creators.
According to Variety, Unwell Network has renounced all rights to Hot Mess, turning Earle and her podcast into free agents. SiriusXM, which recently inked a nine-figure deal to win the advertising and distribution rights for Call Her Daddy, will no longer sell ads against Hot Mess.
Alex and Alix initially joined forces when Cooper launched Unwell Network in August 2023. The partnership between one of the most influential podcasters in the U.S. and the namesake of the powerful “Alix Earle effect” promised big returns, and initially, it lived up to the hype. Earle and Cooper reached the two top spots on the Spotify podcast rankings, dethroning long-time chart-topper Joe Rogan.
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In recent months, however, the relationship between the two blonde-haired “it girls” seems to have soured (some fans called it from the start). Unwell decreased its promotion efforts for Hot Mess, and Earle’s father alluded to “a business situation” he “wasn’t happy about” when speaking to his daughter on an episode of her podcast.
The drama ramped up during Super Bowl weekend. That’s when Earle reportedly skipped an official Unwell party in New Orleans, even though she was in town for the game.
In the wake of Earle’s separation from Unwell, Barstool Sports personality Jack Mac took to Instagram to suggest that Cooper’s former employer could become the new home of Hot Mess. As evidence, Mac cited a post from Barstool leader Dave Portnoy, who revealed that he had chatted with Earle on the phone.
Portnoy accompanied that post with a clip of him raising a drink in the air. That was an apparent reference to the post Cooper made when Unwell signed Grace O’Malley after her departure from Barstool. “If there’s one person I would not want to scorn, it’s Dave,” Mac said. “Dave legitimately has a row of champagne bottles with his enemies’ names on them that he’s ready to pop if they fail.”
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Former co-workers Cooper and Portnoy are not necessarily at odds, and Unwell has plenty of other high-profile creators on its roster, even after Earle’s departure. In addition to O’Malley, other Unwell signees have included Madeleine Argy and Harry Jowsey.
Even if Earle and Cooper both emerge from this alleged feud with their respective reputations unharmed, there are still a lot of questions worth asking. Unwell Network had the potential to remedy recurring issues faced by many creator-forward media companies. Those firms tend to hemorrhage talent when on-screen stars become more recognizable than the brands they represent.
At first, Unwell seemed to be different, because Cooper signed creators who were already established and were looking to break into fields like podcasting and live events. But even in that case, it seems as if Cooper and Earle ended up with disparate priorities, leading to their schism. Now that’s what I call a hot mess.
