“Cancel Suitman”: How Cancel Culture Rebranded One of the Most Popular Podcasts of Our Generation
Cancel Culture is defined as ostracizing prominent members of the online community. It is a term that emerged from Black Twitter in 2014 that had sarcastic connotations about “cancelling” something as a form of humor. For example, Joanne the Scammer said in a video on Twitter, that her coffee machine was cancelled because it was broken. No one was to acknowledge it because it had lost meaning to her because it was broken. Over time the term emerged to have a much deeper meaning. The situations and interactions that feed cancel culture are heavily intensified by current events. Today, the goal of cancel culture for many people in the online community is to target the person they are trying to cancel and ruin their fame or career. Celebrities and well-known figures are the easiest to target because they have a wide fanbase, but also simply never fall entirely, which is what makes cancel culture so complex.
A very current example of cancel culture is the drama surrounding the Barstool Sports podcast, Call Her Daddy. Call Her Daddy is a pop podcast, with topics surrounding sex, dating, relationships, with the overall goal of providing young women renewed sexual and self-confidence. Prior to Summer of 2020, the podcast was hosted by Alexandra (Alex) Cooper and Sofia Franklyn before a feud strained their relationship to an irreparable point. To summarize the feud, Alex and Sofia were in a heated public contract negotiation battle with Barstool because Sofia’s boyfriend, Peter Nelson told them they were being underpaid and deserved more. While that may or may not have been true, the co hosts were under contract with Barstool Sports for another 12 months.
Nelson, a lawyer employed at the time by HBO, encouraged Sofia to demand more for herself, which aggravated her superior, the President of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy. Sofia’s demands for more pay and benefits got to the point where they were seen by her cohost and her superiors as “greedy”. Portnoy began a “Cancel Suitman” campaign on social media, specifically the social media outlets of Twitter and Instagram. Portnoy created a series of deepfake videos originally cut from major Hollywood movies with Nelson as an antagonist and himself as the protagonist. As the scandal grew and more shade was thrown to Peter Nelson’s name, HBO decided it would be best to let him go and he lost his job.
Dave Portnoy’s reasoning behind the backlash to Nelson was because it was none of his business to begin with. Portnoy made the case that Sofia can stand up for herself, and unfortunately, by allowing her boyfriend to get involved in her highly successful business, it cost her and Nelson both of their jobs. Peter Nelson had officially been cancelled by Portnoy, and still is months later. By association, Sofia Franklyn got cancelled too — at least in the Barstool Sports world. She was cut from the podcast and left with nothing but her name. Dave Portnoy never sent for legal action against the couple; almost every single attack she made was on social media, with an audience of roughly 3 million (plus) viewers. Alex Cooper gained all the rights to the podcast, the IP, and now is the solo host of Call Her Daddy. She greatly benefited from Sofia’s departure, as the drama only heightened her audience and granted her complete creative direction in whichever way she wanted. She also gets all of the financial benefits that otherwise would have been split 50/50 with her ex-co host.
Ethically speaking, this may not have been the best way to handle “girl drama”. When it comes to a situation between boss and boyfriend, Sofia was stuck in between a situation of personal versus personnel. Portnoy handled it how everyone expected him to: with dark sarcasm and verbal toughness. He handles all of his business that way. He has a reputation, one that was not going to be altered by some formally dressed, clean cut, HBO Executive. Anyone who knows Barstool knows that Dave is the tough guy that you do not want to mess with that walks around cities giving pizza reviews in his Roger Goodell Clown t-shirt and sweatpants. This altercation was not going to change that. Was it to be considered mature? Maybe not in the interactions of normal, everyday people, but Peter Nelson knew the type of guy Dave is and still chose to get involved. The Call Her Daddy drama just continued to prove that Dave Portnoy does not lose.
In my own opinion, cancel culture began as a way to out certain people within their industries. It also allows people to get involved with drama that is not theirs. Call Her Daddy fans were instantly thrown into the conversation around this issue and began to purchase apparel with the phrase “Cancel Suitman” on it. When it jeopardizes someone’s career, it can begin to get too much, but in some circumstances, I think it can be warranted. I think the reasons we cancel people today are much too broad and as a whole, people tend to cancel others because they said something that could be taken offensively. There is a mental toughness that lacks in today’s society, and it’s hard to predict how that will continue to evolve in the next few years. In the end, I know one thing for certain. Do not mess with Dave Portnoy.
