All who listened to “Sofia with an F” can confirm what they already knew: Sofia Franklyn is an entitled, immature millennial whose greed ruined her chances for success.
Emerging as the No. 1 podcast on iTunes after its surprise Saturday release, Franklyn’s first-episode rant set the tone for a poor show long term. The disgraced former co-host of the Barstool Sports podcast “Call Her Daddy” finally spoke out after months of silence.
Following intense personal and professional drama between Franklyn and her once-best friend and co-host Alexandra Cooper and Barstool Sports amid contract negotiations, fans got to hear Cooper’s side of the story as she continued the show on her own. As of this weekend, however, fans can now judge for themselves.
Throughout the new show, Franklyn tried to cast blame on anyone but herself for everything that happened. Most of her statements regarding the dramatic and highly publicized split were exactly what I expected. The facts of her story, for the most part, matched what Cooper and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy have said since the beginning. Even the terminology matched the stories the “Daddy Gang” audience had been fed: Franklyn wanted to get her salary up to “industry standard,” valuing her worth at the nearly $10 million the show earned in total.
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Franklyn Confirmed What the ‘Daddy Gang’ Already Knew
Franklyn’s misguided defense that she was the real on-air talent, as opposed to putting in hours of writing and editing, only backed up Cooper’s claims of her co-star’s laziness and self-obsession.
“Your skills are menial; Mine are intangible,” Franklyn said. “My humor is my own. To say you do more than me is a f-cking joke. And that you are so insecure about your talent that you want to measure yourself in editing hours and social media posts would be laughable if I didn’t find it so pathetic.”
Hearing the tale from the horse’s mouth only further cast Franklyn in a bad light. What I didn’t expect from Frankyn’s inaugural episode was a confusing feminist message on female empowerment. After losing her show at least in part due to her boyfriend’s insistence, Franklyn claimed he was removed from the situation. Ignoring an obvious scapegoat, she instead condemned Barstool Sports and the ever-blamable patriarchal society for its discouragement of women.
‘Sofia with an F’ Turned into a Feminist Rant
“I know as a woman it is not my place to talk about business, but if you will please allow me to,” she said. “If a man walked into his boss’s office requesting to be fairly compensated, would he be labeled as greedy? Really chew on that for a second. No! He wouldn’t. He’d be labeled as a knowledgeable businessman. Not a greedy, ungrateful b-tch.”
So she admitted that her separation from Barstool, which lost Franklyn her career and financial stability, was really a feminist crusade.
Ladies, never let a man or anyone bully you into thinking you deserve less. Never let another woman twist a narrative because they were too weak to stand up for themselves. If you are in a situation where you feel your time, energy, mental and emotional investment is being compromised or not compensated, do not stay there. Because let me tell you something: Society and men and those that bow down to them will try to convince you that you are being crazy and you are being greedy.
Franklyn then ventured to label wives and mothers “just vessels” who are programmed to turn to marriage and children when they’re giving up. In her saddest stage since the onset of all the mayhem, Franklyn claimed she considered giving into the so-called socially constructed urge to have a baby to eliminate her problems. Rather she “picked herself back up” and created this show instead.
In the same week that thousands of Twitter users lauded Sen. Kamala Harris for her use of the phrase “I’m speaking” during an obvious evasion of a question during the vice-presidential debate, the same modern feminist attitude reared its ugly head in Franklyn’s podcast. These empty declarations do nothing for women except to promote their place as beings who are incapable of genuine success and must therefore rely on misplaced aggression to achieve something real.
Portnoy Called Out Franklyn’s Drama
“Call Her Daddy” fans are not the only people who find Franklyn’s analysis of the situation irrational. So does her former boss, Portnoy, who gave his reaction to “Sofia with an F” in an Instagram video on Saturday, defending his company for its equal treatment of men and women.
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“People come into my office every day asking for raises. The way that Alex and Sofia handled it, which was stop talking to me, went silent, stopped doing their job, stopped coming to work, started lying about what the situation was, saying they were broke, comparing themselves to Ke$ha, having all these ridiculous demands, that’s what they did,” Portnoy said. “That’s not male-female. In 17 years, nobody’s ever acted like that.”
Franklyn’s Immaturity Was on Full Display
Throughout the podcast, Franklyn did make some points that ring true even to the most loyal “Call Her Daddy” fans. The host described to listeners how Cooper was able to keep the fan base dedicated to the podcast after 50 percent of the show was gone. In an effort to gain support, Franklyn painted Cooper as a manipulative ex-friend who places fame, profit, and social status above people.
“You lied relentlessly for 14 months about a side deal you did behind my back with Barstool to me and others, including our own shared attorney,” Franklyn said. “This is exactly the type of behavior that has cost you your best friends one after the other over the years.”
Pieces of her insight about why the hit podcast remains at the top of the charts make too much sense to ignore. Unfortunately for Franklyn, this recognition won’t be enough to carry her and her new show’s popularity.
Hearing Franklyn’s side certainly bolstered some sympathy. What Franklyn failed to do, however, was show signs of growth from the last time her listeners heard from her and sided with Cooper. As Portnoy said in his video, Cooper didn’t come out on top because she is blameless. Rather, she took steps to accept her due blame and attempt to make amends.
“The thing that still astounds me about Sofia is I don’t think she’s taken an ounce of responsibility for anything that happened,” Portnoy said in the Instagram video. “Everything is everyone else’s fault. She’s the poor little victim.”
Losing her best friend and roommate, reputation, livelihood, and place — physically and socially — in New York City couldn’t have been easy. Franklyn’s description of the last six months, riddled with intensive cyberbullying from pre-teen girls, coupled with worsened depression and anxiety, deserves some level of pity from former fans — but that’s all she deserves.
“Sofia with an F” doesn’t merit any of Franklyn’s old “Daddy Gang” viewership. After Franklyn refused to take responsibility, instead hurling insults at former colleagues, her new podcast won’t stand a chance against the Barstool-owned “Call Her Daddy.” The last-ditch appeal to female empowerment to regain her fame only confirms what fans knew: Cooper carried the show and will continue to successfully host “Call Her Daddy,” while Franklyn will fade after the drama wears off.
