Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, & the Business of Relatability

Alex Cooper is one of the most successful podcast hosts in the country.

Alix Earle is one of the most popular TikTok stars in America.

The women, who appear to be separated by a single vowel and little else, have become central to a slow-burning pop culture feud representing two distinct, radically divergent archetypes: the Mean Girl™ and the Girl’s Girl.™

Cooper’s storied past includes a messy, public split with her former Call Her Daddy cohost, Sofia Franklyn, which she parlayed into an enormous deal with Spotify and, later, SiriusXM. Earle’s background is simpler and cleaner, involving a seemingly overnight ascent on TikTok and a Teflon-like immunity to controversy.

Today’s episode is ultimately a story about the manipulation of discourse and how double standards don’t just exist between women and men, but between women who are, for all intents and purposes, functionally identical.

It’s a deep dive into the characters populating the latest girl-on-girl morality play, a spectacle uniquely suited to demonstrate the skill of those seated atop the modern attention capture content creation industry. Enjoy this valiant effort to extract a takeaway other than “wow, maybe the internet really is making all of us stupider.”

“Call Her Daddy’s Alexandra Cooper Made Her Name Talking About Sex. With Her Massive Spotify Deal, She’s Pushing Beyond That” by Eliana Dockterman for Time (2021)

“Daddy Issues: Trouble Behind the Scenes of Alex Cooper’s Unwell Media Empire” by Clara Molot for Vanity Fair (2026)

“Noticing Emily Ratajkowski’s New Essay, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Politics, and Alex Cooper’s Leadership Skills” from Good Noticings (2026)

“Inside Alex Cooper’s Unwell: Tears, Screaming and Employees Looking for the Exit” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026)

“Alex Cooper, Husband Skip Team Meeting After Behavior Complaints” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026)

“Alex Cooper Went From Raunchy Podcaster to Gen-Z’s Barbara Walters” by EJ Dickson for Rolling Stone