Midwest Besties
The pop culture podcast for the rest of us.
TV, Books, Reality, Movies, Celeb Gossip, and More.
Midwest Besties
Episode 117: Alex vs Alix: The Hot White Girls Are Beefing
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What is up, Daddy Gang?! It’s us, your besties! And this week in our Pop Culture Potluck, we have quite the spread! First, we discuss the trailer for the new Summer House spin-off, In The City. Lauren talks about how Danielle has personally victimized her. We follow up on the Summer House Scamanda scandal and how we are low-key loving Amanda and West owning their pieces of SH*T era. We break down Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber’s Coachella performances. Two artists living their truth, or the painful example of the double standard of female/male pop stars? PLUS, we break down Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper and TikTok’s Alix Earle’s mystery internet beef that we are LIVING FOR (Spoiler Alert: They are two different people). Plus, Jorginho clears Chappell’s name with another epic 3-point-font Instagram Story (we give him a big NO DUH), new books we're reading, and the exhausting GLP-1 discourse we can’t seem to escape.
In The City Trailer (Jump Scare: Danielle is BACK)
SPEAKER_01I'm Lauren and I'm Emily. And we're Midwest besties.
SPEAKER_02Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to this week's Pop Culture Potluck. And as usual, lots to discuss. Lots to discuss. What should we dig into first? I think we have to talk about this in the city trailer that dropped. Yes. It dropped right after we recorded last week. Like I'm pretty sure it was during our recording. Yeah. Yes, 100%. So for those of you who don't know, Bravo Summerhouse is going to have a spin-off called In the City, and it's moving Kyle and Amanda and Lindsay over to that. And so there's going to be a bridge. From what I understand, it premieres on May 19th. And it's going to be the um finale of Summer House. And then it's going to lead into the premiere of In the City.
SPEAKER_01And it's going to be taking place in fall in New York.
SPEAKER_02Right. And so this is sort of like for the people in the cast who are taking that next step in life. So it's like they might not be as good of a fit for Summer House anymore. We've got like married couples. We've got Lindsay who has a baby. And so we did not really know what this show was going to totally look like. Besides, it was going to have Kyle, Lindsay, and Amanda. And there's a huge cast. I was not expecting it. I was at all. Not expecting it. This cast of couples. And then um another massive, massively upsetting thing to me is that Danielle is back.
SPEAKER_01I gasped when I saw Danielle.
SPEAKER_02I just like, I don't know. I Shirley Bravo does like focus groups and test groups with audience. And I do not maybe then maybe not. Because if they did, I just don't understand why they're bringing Danielle in as a full-time cast member. She is so obnoxious.
SPEAKER_01I never hate, okay, so I don't like Danielle, but I I don't have a problem watching her. For you, like you hate, because it's like in the formula of reality stars, you can like be annoying but still fun to watch. You know what I mean? And think of like the diagram.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she's beyond that for me. Like, she is a pick-me final boss. Like, I cannot stand her. She just like to me, like her final seasons on Summerhouse and her winter house seasons were so so so bad that I just am like get off my screen.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm also just mad because I want a show about Carl. Like, I want to follow Carl. Carl has outgrown Summerhouse probably more than any of the crossover people. And it's like, so what are we gonna do with Carl? Is he still gonna be the old man at Summerhouse when everybody's doing in the city?
SPEAKER_02So here's my guess is that Carl was not like nobody cared a lot about Carl last season. He was keeping his head down, he was keeping a super low profile. He's just like this season, as Jesse Solomon said, my guy's in the mix. Like in the mix this season. He is like daddy of the house.
SPEAKER_01He looks so good.
SPEAKER_02He's so good. He's just like such a calming presence. He is just like at his best right now. And just watching softbar, like watching him develop softbar this season, but also knowing like softbar is doing really well. Yes. And I'm so happy for him. So my guess is that if if this season happened last season when they were developing in the city, he would be on it. So I think it was just a little bit too late. My guess is that they would bring him, they'll bring him on next season.
SPEAKER_01What do you think about these new cast members?
SPEAKER_02I I do not know yet. Like I'm not sure. So it's some of these people are good friends with Kyle and Amanda. I actually think the there's one couple that were on the last episode of Summerhouse. I think it's Kate and someone else. And then really good friends of Lindsay. So they're and then on oh, Andrea. I forgot about him, who he was on Summer House on Winter House. I'm happy he's happy he's on it. Yeah, Andrea and Lexi are gonna be on it. So they're married, and it looks like from that trailer they're trying to have a baby. So I I will be watching. I mean, after all this Comanda stuff, I was a little bit like if this is just Amanda, Kyle, and Lindsay, I don't know how much I want to watch this. No, but the biggest thing we have to talk about in the trailer, the biggest jump scare of our lives, is Wes Wilson was in it. Hey Mandy. We see Amanda say hey cutie to somebody out of the frame, and then we see him. He who must not be named.
SPEAKER_01Congratulations to the editor for popping that bad boy in.
SPEAKER_02The way I was like, the way somebody was drinking Celsius, potentially taking some pharmaceuticals to chemically stay up and recut. I there's no way that trailer wasn't recut after all of this news. And they added that in. They found that and they added it in. Another rumor is that cameras are being picked back up. So for in the city. We know they're not being picked back up for Summerhouse, but apparently they're filming confessionals for in the city right now. They're also reshooting some confessionals for Summerhouse because Carl took a selfie of himself in front of a green screen.
SPEAKER_01Oh man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so they're they're definitely gonna be adding some stuff back in.
SPEAKER_01Usually when there's like a scandal that breaks while um, or maybe like after they put the cameras down over the summer, they usually do like a last episode like jump.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, to kind of prep us for the reunion.
SPEAKER_02They did that with um Paige and Craig's breakup. They did that. This the first time they did that was with Scandaval. So they did that with the Ariana and Tom. Okay. Because it was so insane, and it was like, oh my god, we have to like it. That's it's like we need Andy in a camera. So, like that is where kind of that formula has come from. So that's what I'm hearing on the streets, not sure, but I do know they're filming confessionals, so there's gonna be some type of like bridge and with all of this stuff.
SPEAKER_01So that leads us to the fact that Amanda
Summer House Scandal Update - Amanda Batula’s Mental Health Bar Crawl
SPEAKER_01put out a statement basically saying for my health and my well-being, I will be back on social media.
SPEAKER_02So, you guys, I just please know this is all weighing heavily on me. I'm not dismissing it, but like I gotta go to the bar.
SPEAKER_01I I this I'm still I still feel bad, but I also don't care.
SPEAKER_02Know that I've reached out to everyone that I need to reach out to and I've said I'm sorry. She did not name names intentionally.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna hate this take that I'm about to drop. It's like, okay, Baddie, do you? Like, if you're gonna be like I, if you're gonna be a villain, be a villain. Like, I don't want this, like, oh my mental health. I'm so because now I feel like I'm punching down. Now, baby, I can let it rip.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's true. And I'm gonna let it rip. Because I am horrified. I was horrified for the statement. It was also just like a picture of her dog, which, like, whatever. I guess it's just like, what are they supposed to do? But then we see her, you literally, you guys, we see her post this statement the same night she is out with West at like a dive bar in New York.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that was that's the amount of wherewithal or uh planning that they do. It was like, hey, my friends want to go to this bar, and her being like, I really want to.
SPEAKER_02Hey, West texted me back finally.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I really want to do this. So I'm just gonna do this quick comment, this quick drop to take a picture of my dogs. I think we can officially say, thank God, that Kyle and Amanda didn't have children for many reasons. Thank God. But the way they exploit those poor dogs. Oh your opinion's changing on whether they're like together with a capital T.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm actually shocked because I was really, and I think we said this in the last episode, like, I really did not think they were together. It sounded like from what Kyle was saying on that like street interview, that like it seemed like West had already fucked her over. Yeah. But now it's like, no, they're still hanging out. Do I think that they're like boyfriend, girlfriend? No, because I don't think West can really actually, you know what? I'm not gonna say that. I was so wrong last week. Maybe they're going to like really commit like an American cheating situation.
SPEAKER_01That's what, and that's like I find myself enjoying because it's like, yeah, just be villains now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we can like hate you in earnest and just feel bad about it. Yeah. I just I was feeling like Amanda was catching more heat than West, and I didn't like that just from like a misogyny standpoint, because I'm like they both should like equally be killing a lot of heat. Um, and so when she posted that statement, I was like, oh gosh, like this, and I and she has been really open and vocal about her mental health struggles. So like there is an aspect of that, and like I I think it is insane when people are like like threatening to kill somebody over stuff like this, like go touch grass. Um, but all that to say when she posted that and then immediately like ran out her door to uh go have like half-priced beers, and she also like put a scarf over her head, and I'm just like, girl, you're 34. Like, this is so embarrassing for me.
SPEAKER_01She's definitely like reverting back to who she was at the beginning of her relationship with Kyle.
SPEAKER_02Like, she's she's it's a really full circle moment.
SPEAKER_01She's 26 again. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Booty call to booty call.
SPEAKER_01I mean, someone said she traded in season 10 for Kyle season 10 Kyle for season one, Kyle.
SPEAKER_02Well, and that's what's also so crazy. It's like so much of their issues was because he would stay out late and he was partying, and then he got this career where he was partying. And I'm like, girl, do you think West Wilson is gonna be any different? She is like, it's just funny because I'm like, if you would have done this with Kyle, what you're doing with West, you'd still be together. Yep. So it just calls into question all of it. Fascinating.
SPEAKER_01And he really is like the 2026 version of 2016 Kyle. Absolutely. Like, you know, he doesn't have like the slick back hair and like the glasses and the suits, like all fucking is now dressed like Robin Williams in the birdcage. And like, and so it's just the same thing. Like she's got a type and she's repeating patterns. And you know what? I'm here for it now. Now I'm just like, okay, full circle moment. I don't like her, I hate her, but now there's I feel this um like I feel loose and lifted because like I don't I there was this podcast that was talking like what do Bravo fans want? Like they want her to be like a Victorian, like they want to see her like on the streets, like in Jack the Ripper England being like, You want a good time? Like they want to see her popper. Yeah, they want to see her like on the streets struggling, and I don't want that. I don't even want what happened to Raquel where she like lost her mind. Like, I don't want those things. I just want them to like be villains. Um, and they're doing a great job of that. As long as Sierra's getting the opportunities, and she's getting a lot of them.
SPEAKER_02Because she just did a Sephora collab. It was so funny with uh the caption uh actually rewards loyalty. So like she's getting her bag, she's out here like a queen. Um, so that is the latest and the greatest. They're still being spotted around New York. Apparently, he was spotted leaving her apartment one morning. They were spotted going to the music.
SPEAKER_01Oh pap. Like these are all someone called T.
SPEAKER_02No, they they look really grainy. Like I think, I think, okay. So what I heard this morning, uh Dumois on her podcast was saying how like people see Summerhouse cast members out in New York all the time. And it's really not all that abnormal to see them because they live in New York. Yeah. And so it was not like a really a big deal until like people started putting this together. So I really do think it's just like people seeing them out and like no, and now they're getting like Summerhouse last episode had the highest viewers ever. It's very like VPR, where it's like you get this insane bump and then more people are paying attention. So I think it's like I think it's like boots on the ground. Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_01Now I feel good about it.
SPEAKER_02Yep. The biggest
Coachella - Sabrina and that Bieber performance
SPEAKER_02thing over the weekend was Coachella.
SPEAKER_01Nothing made me feel quite as old and like crotchety than the like double of Coachella, Coachella weekend one, and the premiere of Euphoria season three. Where I'm just like all stupid. You guys are all stupid.
SPEAKER_02This is dumb. So that leads me to my first question is would you go to Coachella? No, me either. Absolutely not. Like, I wouldn't even go if a brand was like, come stay in our house. I'd be like, no, thank you.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't know if like a brand. If I was getting paid, if I was if someone paid me to go to Coachella, I would go to Coachella.
SPEAKER_02So much work.
SPEAKER_01Um, and it would be terrible. And I would probably feel so bad about myself. And like, I don't know, it just and bad about the world. Like so dusty. One thing, the wind makes me feel unsafe.
SPEAKER_02It's it's they had to cancel one of the shows because of the wind.
SPEAKER_01Like watching Sabrina Carpenter's wig hold on her deer life, I did not feel they're already planning for next weekend.
SPEAKER_02They're like, we can't do your top, your topper.
SPEAKER_01We have to do it live. Um, but I do having said that though, like I absolutely was obsessed with I mean, like, basically. Like, obviously, when Beyonce does it, like of course Lady Gaga. Oh my god, Lady Gaga performance. Do you watch any of the live stream? I did when Lady Gaga performed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't watch the live stream, I just like watch the clips on TikTok of the performances. And so Sabrina Carpenter was headlining this year, and it was a really big deal and like a really cool full circle moment because she was at Coachella two years ago, three years ago. It was two years ago. Okay, and she debuted espresso and just blew the fuck up.
SPEAKER_00She had This is Espresso. We hope you love it, Coachella.
SPEAKER_02Nice. She had an awesome performance, and she was like, I'll see you back here when I headline.
SPEAKER_00Coachella see you back here when I headline.
SPEAKER_02And so then two years later, she's back and she's headlining.
SPEAKER_01Cause she like bursted onto the scene, at least in my view.
SPEAKER_02After grinding, like I mean, she was grinding as like a Disney person for so long. And then, yes, Cotella is what blew her up.
SPEAKER_01I remember the first time. Well, the first time I paid attention to her is when she wore um a sports watcher shirt in like the box, because it was when Taylor and Travis like first started dating and she had him in the box, and all and I took it as like, oh my god, like she just is making friends with Sabrina Carpenter because she hates Oh, Olivia Rodrigo.
SPEAKER_02She hates Olivia Rodrigo. Well, she was, yeah, by the way. Yeah. Because she was the uh aerosor opener, I think the South American like of it. She was the aerospour opener. And so that also was shot her into a huge trust.
SPEAKER_01An Olivia Rodrigo fan, I was like, who is this girl? I don't want the I don't want the girl.
SPEAKER_02There's room for both.
SPEAKER_01And that's what I found out. Because like after the Coachella performance, and then they're both amazing. I'm like, oh no, this is and their music is so different.
SPEAKER_02It's so different in their performances. I actually went to both of those concerts, and or I went to Olivia Rodrigo's Guts Tour concert. Um, and I went to Sabrina Carpenter's Short and Sweet. Emily and I went to that one together, and both were absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and I didn't see Olivia Rodrigo, but I mean Sabrina Carpenter, it's like a sh it's like a it's like a play, it's a musical. It's very theatrical. It's very theatrical, that's the word I'm looking for. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Which leads us into her Coachella set, which was a full-blown theater production. I mean, so insane. So insane. Her mic was so fucking on. Her vocals are nuts.
SPEAKER_01Her vocals are nuts.
SPEAKER_02I mean, she is so good live. Like, so, so good live.
SPEAKER_01You just don't fuck with the Disney candy.
SPEAKER_02And she can dance.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, she can dance.
SPEAKER_02She can shake her little butt. She's funny. She is so funny and cheeky.
SPEAKER_01Her dancers are amazing. Yeah. It's just so much fun to watch.
SPEAKER_02I also just think she's smart. Like so like the themes of her albums, they all like tie in together. And all of the music videos that she's released are like uh sequential.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, fun! Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So if you go back and like you can see like at the end of Espresso, I think she's getting arrested, and at the beginning of please, please, please, like she's bailed getting bailed out of jail. So it's like she is really like setting up this whole like Sabrina universe, and it's all like She's a storyteller. She's a storyteller. Um, so she had an absolutely amazing, I mean, she blew it away. And I think that I was watching this creator on TikTok who um he was talking about how it can be hard for artists up there because it's like, do you play to the streaming to people who are watching on streaming or do you play to the crowd?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but she really balanced it and gave them like an insane show, but then like did such a good job for people who are watching it at home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So like I loved all of it. I mean, she just did such a good job.
SPEAKER_01That's one of the things I actually don't like about Coachella is because like the people that are in the front like aren't fans and don't know any of the words and just like are sitting there with their cameras in front of their face.
SPEAKER_02It's bleak. Yeah, it is bleak. When you see shots of the audience like from behind, they're all just holding up their phones, and it's just like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Just be in the moment. In the moment. A little bit. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, the other performance. Two sides of a coin.
SPEAKER_02A lot of talk is Biebercella. And I was so glad. Emily and I didn't even talk. We just started posting rapidly to our social account and we had this pretty much the same opinions. Are you, were you ever a believer? Never. Me either. We are 38. I think we'd missed the boat on him a little bit. Do I think he's super talented? Absolutely. Absolutely. Would never deny that. I've never been a fan. I don't like him. I think he has a bad attitude. Yeah. I also don't like Hailey Bieber. Have never liked Hayley Bieber.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you gotta go for a girl who fangirls herself into being a wife. She's like fan it. Like it's just like that's that's something to be said.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. So I respect her. Okay. Yes. Fair. I just don't like her. Like at all. Like, I think like she is has a notorious, like, is notoriously just like a bitch. I just don't know who she's for. Like, do girls 10 years younger than us? Clean girl. She was like very, like, she's like very TikTok clean girl. And like, look at my milky toner.
SPEAKER_01So there are girls out there that are like, I love Hayley B hair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and like skincare and like freckles and like the slick back. And like that's fine, but like that bitch has had so much plastic surgery. Does not have the same face as she used to. No! The lips, the lip filler. I mean, there is like she has had so much work done. And so it's like, yeah, anybody would look amazing without makeup if you had a whole new face. Like correct. A la Kylie Jenner. Correct. Like, please be so for real. So, like, I'm not a fan of hers. I've never gotten like the hype. And then those two together, I just think are like they're just assholes.
SPEAKER_01There is this uh comedian I have followed for years. She used to write for bitches. Her name is Elise Morales, and she had this tweet that I think about with Justin Bieber. And it's like every time I get annoyed with Justin Bieber, which is all often his behavior on sets, on talk shows is annoying. She's like, I always remember that we literally took him like as a child, like took him out of a crib and like made him dance for us. So I always like think about that. And that is how I think about Justin Bieber. Like he is a menace. I don't think he is a good person. I think he has dark energy, but I just feel bad for him. Absolutely. Um which continued on to this set. So his set um was uh like a weird, almost like oblong, wavy shape, like space that he created on stage. And then it was literally just him with a MacBook as he was going through YouTube videos of his old performances. Yeah. And so lip singing and like singing along. Sometimes lip singing, sometimes like singing long, but it was just like there it was just the recording.
SPEAKER_02And not even the full videos, like he would cut them off. So it would be like it was like 30 seconds of like baby.
SPEAKER_01It was basically like just him browsing. I mean, I will say I have found out later that it was planned. Like it was like everything was planned. Oh, yeah. I don't like that. Yeah. Record for some reason I was like, was he literally do you literally just like pull it up? And then someone was like, no. No. Um I I want your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02I I mean, I hated it. Here's the thing. It's like I just and I hated his Grammy performance. For me, it was very much like I have a bias that I just don't like him. Number one. Um all of those things.
SPEAKER_01Because there's nothing likable about him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and like all of those things are true that like he was exploited, he's probably been abused, and those things are all true of many, many, many, many people in like the world uh who are performers, basically, like 90% of Hollywood. Uh Sabrina Carpenter's a Disney star. You think it like she has been exploited? Like she has probably been abused. Like, are you so serious right now? Like, come on. Read I'm glad my mom died. Like, read Jeanette Curdy's uh Jeanette McCurdy's memoir. Um, so that is all true and fair and understandable. However, I do not want, I just don't like when people assign more like creativity to a performance than the artist themselves actually gives to the performance.
SPEAKER_01That is exactly where my mind landed. My favorite, the way they could describe. This lackluster performance. He's not optimizing for validation anymore. I like posted to our Instagram like anytime I do a shitty job or something, I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. I'm just not optimizing for validation. Right. Right.
SPEAKER_02Honey, I didn't. This was healing. He healed himself with this performance.
SPEAKER_01I know. I've just been um like I haven't like hung any of my shirts in a month, but I'm just not optimizing for validation anymore, okay? And I do think like two things can be true. Like, do I think that was it an interesting take on claiming ownership and healing inner child, bitch? I am a millennial woman. Ain't nobody loves healing inner child more than me. Correct. Um, having said that, it can also, we can also look at it and say it was kind of a shitty performance.
SPEAKER_02We're also just allowed to be critical of a stage performance. Like he cashed a $10 million check to do an hour set where he sat there and fucking karaoke to himself. Yes. I'm sorry. Like, I'm not gonna sit here and say, like, this was his big healing moment. I think he's a fucking asshole and I think he's a lazy performer. He was lazy at the Grammys, he went out there, he didn't open his eyes once, he sang a song and then walked off. Like, I'm it's just like there is no like thought behind it. And we see women who are out there giving it their absolute fucking all, like blowing us away. We see Beyonce, we saw Lady Gaga, we saw Sabrina, even like not women, like we saw Somber put on an amazing fucking show. Cat's eye did an amazing performance this year. And if another woman did that set, they would be fucking crucified. Crucified. They would be drug through the streets.
SPEAKER_01There would be no look at the secret genius of this tortured artist. Right.
SPEAKER_02That only exists for men. I'm sick of the worship of male, specifically white male mediocrity. And that's exactly what this performance was. Stop assigning work to it. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Worship.
SPEAKER_02Worship.
SPEAKER_01Like we have never or nor we ever again see a performance this raw and real.
SPEAKER_02What are what are you talking about? This is insane. Like, I just, and it's like, you don't, I'm not saying he needs to get up there and be this like, be our clown, and he needs to like have this insane production like Sabrina, but to optimize her valve. Right. But like, Go Girl, give us nothing.
SPEAKER_01I I hear all of the arguments about like, well, you just don't understand, like, to be a believer and to see that and to see him take ownership because apparently he doesn't own the rights to his songs anymore either. Like he doesn't own his masters. Okay, okay, I get it, I get it, I get it. It was still a nothing burger.
SPEAKER_02My understanding is that he sold his masters. He did. So like he he wanted to sell the masters. Yeah. He wanted the money. So this isn't about owning his music.
SPEAKER_01I just think that we can say that when women act erratic like this, when female artists act erratic like this, like they literally get put under a conservatorship. And we've seen it. And we and when men act like this, we literally just like keep bowing down to them. And I I'm just worried it's like this like slippery slope of like Kanye, where like Kanye did something kind of weird, and then he did something kind of weird, and then he literally was selling stuff with swastikas on that.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, but then he was like full-blown, like anti-Semitic. We try gonna run for president.
SPEAKER_01So it's just like before we finally were like, hey, like, let's stop this. This isn't a torture genius, this is mental illness on full display.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Shout out to my sister. She texted our group chat and she was like, he is the new Kanye West. Totally, absolutely agree. I know I already brought this up, but really quickly, Somber's set was so good.
SPEAKER_01I need to watch it.
SPEAKER_02You should watch it.
SPEAKER_01Are you a Somber fan? So I love like his like main songs. What's the one?
SPEAKER_0212 to 12, Back to Being Friends. Shout out to my niece, a 13-year-old niece. She's so much cooler than us. Um, and she turns me on to like artists before they blow up, and Somber was one of them. And so I like I mean, kind of knew about him. Girl! I know. Um, but anyway, his set was so fun. He's he's doing an arena tour now as well, and I think he's about to just like really blow up more than he has. Best new artist nominee at the Grammy. So he's already getting big, and he was obviously had a huge set at Coachella, but watch that. So, how much do
Alix Earle vs Alex Cooper
SPEAKER_02you know about Alex Cooper and Alex Earl?
SPEAKER_01The white girl and white girl civil war. I think the biggest thing we can get from this is that so many people are gonna find out those women are two different people.
SPEAKER_02That's so true.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I know a little bit about it. Okay, um, you know, Alex Cooper. I think for the sake of this segment, we should like refer to her as like Call Her Daddy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Because they have the same name. It is spelling.
SPEAKER_02They have the same name, it's spelled differently. It's Lex and Licks. I'm not gonna say that. But yeah, Cooper or Call Her Daddy and then Alex Earl.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Okay, so famous TikToker.
SPEAKER_02There, yeah. So Alex Cooper, for those of you who don't know, she hosts Call Her Daddy. That has like a whole crazy history. I'm not gonna get into. And then Alex Earl is just like a huge TikToker who like blew up. Yes, and she's extremely famous now. So, um, Alex Cooper, like I said, has Call Her Daddy and she used to be under Barstool Sports, so Dave Portnoy. And then she moved out on her own and she started her own podcast network called The Unwell Network. And the first podcast that she launched under that, aside from her own, was Hot Mess Hot Mess with Alex Earl.
SPEAKER_01For all my millennial besties, um, for all my Midwest besties, uh, like she has Unwell. Like if you see Unwell anywhere at Target, that's her brand. That's super. So she her brand is far reaching. It's huge.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Alex Earl had a called a hot mess. Hot mess with Alex Earl. And we see these two like really paling around and promoting it. And it's like this insane dynamic duo. They're both blonde, they're beautiful, they're funny, and they're fucking famous, and they're like huge at the time. Like they've really blown up.
SPEAKER_01They look, I mean, really similar. And they both have that like athletic girl. Like hot, hot California girl. Totally aesthetic. Yeah. Cool, but like a cool girl that like even like nerds would love.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So, um, uh, so we see the two of them, like they're promoting it, they're out in Vegas together, they're out doing this and that together, and then there are start to be some rumblings because there was a Super Bowl, and at the Super Bowl, Alex Cooper had like a lot of like there's a lot of brand events, like at the Super Bowl, and Alex Cooper had like an unwell brand event, and Alex Earl was there, but she didn't do any promotion, and she was with her boyfriend, Braxton Berrios, at the time, but like it was kind of interesting. So we're all of a sudden, like, the rumor mill starts churning a little bit about like what's going on.
SPEAKER_01This was like 2024.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a couple years ago. Okay, and then all of a sudden, Alex Earl's podcast stops. Like, she stops with Unwell, it's announced like it's canceled or whatever. Alex owns the like she owns her IP, she owns all of her content, so she could go somewhere else if she wanted to. Um, and then people are just like, and then they don't ever communicate anymore, like online, they're never seen together again. So it's clear like there was definitely a falling out and a rift.
SPEAKER_01And people are like, after call her daddy, Alex Cooper, being like, what happened with Alex Earl, what happened with Alex Earl, what happened with this podcast? And she was finally like, hey, I don't know why. I don't know why Alex Earl can't do her podcast anymore. I gave her all of her shit. I gave her all of her IPs, I learned from the best, like with a shout-out of David uh Dave Portnoy. Dave Portnoy to say, like, you know, I did all I could to shepherd this podcast. I don't know why it's not working anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So then in the in the wake of this, like I would say in the past few months, like people will like have like posts about this, like what happened, what's this drama? And Alex Earl commented on one and was like, How much time do you have? So she and she's done some like really passive aggressive like reposts of TikToks, like talking about it, but never really saying anything. And so people know they're like, Oh very sneaky stuff, yeah, very sneaky stuff, very like calculated, like online behavior, and I fucking love it. Yeah, delicious.
SPEAKER_01Yum, yum, yum, yum.
SPEAKER_02So then Alex Cooper gets on her TikTok and she did like she did kind of big boy Alex Earl with one thing, the most unflattering camera angle.
SPEAKER_01The most unflattering camera angle, the smallest sunglasses she could find in her life, makeup free. She had a little blemish on her chin.
SPEAKER_02She did, she did.
SPEAKER_01She's like showing up to fucking roll.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I'm not really an Alex Cooper fan, but I was kind of like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_01I like Alex Cooper. I just don't like any of her work.
SPEAKER_02Because she's a bad interviewer.
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness. So I like to try to listen to Call Her Daddy. It's rough. And I think it's also just like not for me. It's for people not for us. For people who are like 15 years old.
SPEAKER_02We're not in the daddy gang.
SPEAKER_01Not in the daddy gang.
SPEAKER_02What's up, daddy gang?
SPEAKER_01That was so good.
SPEAKER_02I just love how old school Call Her Daddy was literally like, what's up, daddy gang? Learn how to eat ass. And now it's literally like, what's up, daddy?
SPEAKER_01What's up, daddy gang? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you gave the president a blowjob? We have Monica Lewinsky. You don't know who Monica Lewinsky is. But she gave the president a blowjob.
SPEAKER_02Like, and now, now it's like, uh, what's up, daddy gang? I have Kamala Harris. The mean presidential nominee. Like, it's just crazy.
SPEAKER_01Daddy gangers, we're gonna eat ass with Pope Leo. We've got Ukrainian president.
SPEAKER_02We need a whole episode of just this riffing of how daddy can call her daddy. Oh my god. Okay, okay, I gotta land this plane. So Alex Cooper gets on her TikTok and she posts this basically saying, like, I know what happened and you know what happened, and I have nothing to hide. So no NDA has been saying, Yeah, there's no NDA. I'm sick of waking up and seeing getting comments and DMs and seeing how passive aggressive you're being. So if you want to talk, talk. Nothing is stopping you.
SPEAKER_00I gotta call you out here. You're gonna need to get specific and just say what you gotta say about me. There's no NDA. No one is stopping you. Stop hiding behind other people and just say it yourself. What's the beat? Because I'm really tired of waking up and seeing you using this fake drama to distract from other shit going online for you. Not interested. I know what happened, and so do you. So talk. Unless the fake narrative that you're creating happens to be way more interesting than the truth. I have nothing to hide when it comes to you and me. So unless you actually have something to say, I'm out. This is over. Have a good Monday, everyone.
SPEAKER_02And so basically, just like calls her out. So this, so I'm like shook when I see this. I'm like, oh, she's starting.
SPEAKER_01I know the best.
SPEAKER_02And shortly thereafter, Alex Herbal comments on it and says, okay, I'm in it. Fabulous. Just fabulous.
SPEAKER_01And I love it. I fucking love it. These girls aren't for me, but you gotta appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02No, I love it.
SPEAKER_01This is this is like they are if art form is TikTok and podcasts, and they are the Leonardo da Vinci of our.
SPEAKER_02And that's what I feel like. It's just like this is the internet mess that I love. Like, this is when I'm like being a chronically online person rules. Like, this is it.
SPEAKER_01And then, and I heard, of course, like I'm always like a uh the tin hat conspiracy theorist where it's like they're just making it up so that they can be seen that I don't think that's true. And even if they are, who cares? Who cares?
SPEAKER_02I'm sad. I'm lapping it up. Fill up the bowl with more milk, please. I love it. It's just girl drama, girl mess between like two hot, rich, successful blonde women. Like what there's nothing. What's not to like?
SPEAKER_01It's called a win-win, baby. Um, okay, so I have to say this because I found this out last year and I didn't have a podcast, and I was like, who's gonna care about this? Do you remember who Elliot Spitzer is? Yes. Okay, yeah. The the the text messages, right? Yes, yes. He had a pro like the government, or he was the governor of New York in like 2007, 2008, and he was involved in a prostitution scandal where he had a call girl. That call girl went on to marry Alex Earl's dad, have an affair. Yep. So, like, nothing has made me feel older than finding out that Elliot Spitzer's Hooker's stepdaughter is Alex Earl.
SPEAKER_02I know. But also, like, the hat's fucking off to her.
SPEAKER_01I mean, girl! I know, I know, isn't that crazy? We so for 30 Rock fans, so we have like this expression where like it's from a very famous episode, season two, Gavin Valore, starring Steve Martin, and they have like a dinner party, and they're all sitting around and there's an empty chair, and he and he says, and lastly, I highly always keep an empty chair at my dinner parties to represent all our unfulfilled hopes and dreams. And then he goes, Just kidding, Elliot Spitzer's hooker couldn't make it. So every time Jake and I go to an event, like a wedding or something, and there's an empty chair, we always say, Elliot Spitzer's hooker couldn't make it. Oh God. So this is how much this woman is connected to the internet. So connected. It's in her family.
SPEAKER_02So the rumor on the street is that all of this rift. So do you remember Alex Earl's Carl's Jr. commercial? Yes. Iconic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so for those of you who don't know, like Carl Jr. commercials are like famously raunchy, like with like hot girls, big fake boobs, like um, who else has done Carl's Jr.? Paris Hilton. Yes. Um Jessica Simpson. Yeah. And so Alex Earl had this huge Carl's Jr. commercial. Well, apparently, Alex Cooper and Earl both shared the same um like publicist, Kat Bailey. Word on the street is that Alex Cooper. Call her daddy. Call her daddy really wanted that campaign. Alex Earl got it, and they were pissed, or sh she was pissed that she didn't get it.
SPEAKER_01And Dave Purnoy, uh, Dave Portnoy. Portnoy, I don't know why. A Barstool sports guy who like was basically discovered Alex Cooper. Yeah. He keeps weighing in. He needs to shut his fucking mouth.
SPEAKER_02I take his phone away. I'm so sick of him. He's a famously an asshole.
SPEAKER_01Um, but then he said, apparently, like, when he was like, Well, is it funny? He like made a comment and then checked with Alex Cooper to see if it was correct. And then Alex Cooper was like, if I had a gun to my head and like eight million trillion dollars, I still wouldn't do that, that Carl's Jr. commercial.
SPEAKER_02Oh, the Lady Doth protests too much. Correct. You fucking would do it. You were salivating to do it, Alex Cooper. Shut the fuck up. Right? Yes, 100%.
SPEAKER_01So we shall see.
SPEAKER_02But it's fun stuff. It's just fun. Like I said, it's a it's a good thing to be chronically online sometimes. But we do have some table
JUSTICE: Chappell Roan’s NAME IS CLEARED!
SPEAKER_02scraps we have to get into. There has been an update. I know everybody's been waiting for this about Chapel Roan and Jorginho. Peacock Daddy, Pete, uh Jude Law's daughter.
SPEAKER_01So he like puts out another, Jorginho puts out another incredibly long statement. I did Instagram.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna be honest, I did not read it. I was like, I'm not doing this today.
SPEAKER_01It was very much like I just did it for my family, you know. I might have overreacted and I might have missed Might have. And and and and you know, I didn't really have all the information. So it's like you got basic details, got so mad that you wrote this rant, and basically turned the internet, which was just waiting with their pitchforks for anything. Yeah, anything that you could do to attack Chapel Roan. And like I said, I'm gonna stand by my girl, I'm gonna stand by my man. That's my man, I'm gonna stand by him.
SPEAKER_00This is your man.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Look at the screen. That's my and that's what you're gonna settle for.
SPEAKER_01Stick this. Absolutely me with Chapel Roan. And again, once again, I am proved correct.
SPEAKER_02Like we were like, I will pat us on the back because we were just like, this is fucking stupid. 100%. This is insane behavior. You're insane. What are you doing? Ma'am, this is a Wendy's.
SPEAKER_00Ma'am, this is a Wendy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the poor, like, the poor, like, uh, security guard had to come out. Oh my god, it was insane.
SPEAKER_02It sounds like an SBI investigation into this. I mean, he's like, after talking to my wife, daughter, security, hotel. Like, it was crazy.
SPEAKER_01Mind you, this was just about someone talking sternly to another person.
SPEAKER_02Correct. And I'm also like, you didn't think you should do that before you went and blasted her on social media? Hothead. Come on. This in the up this isn't getting picked up enough, like as much as it should, considering how much the initial story was picked up. Yes. So Justice for Chapel, you are forever a girl.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'll be posting about this in like in my life. I'm never gonna stop talking about it. Because Justice for Chapel always.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Justice for Unlikable Women.
SPEAKER_02You can't even handle a complicated woman.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god. Speaking of unlikable women, Lena Dunham's book is coming.
Lena Dunham’s New Memoir
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Are you gonna read it? I'm gonna read it.
SPEAKER_02You read her other book, right? You didn't?
SPEAKER_01I was like so oversaturated with her. I was like listening to her podcast where she like said she was happy or sad she never got divorced. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know Lena Dunham is not perfect. Yeah. I am sitting, like, she is so problematic. I know. But again, like I you can't handle a complicated one.
SPEAKER_02I am on the fence about if I'm gonna listen or I might let you listen and tell me if I should. Or you can just report back. No, it's definitely gonna be juicy. You think she's gonna talk about Jack?
SPEAKER_01I think she's gonna talk about Jack. I think she's gonna talk about Adam Driver. I think she's gonna talk about Jet Appitow, probably all good things about Jud Apatau, but I think she's gonna talk about a lot of You think she'll say bad things about Adam Driver? I think she will say bad things about Adam Driver.
SPEAKER_02What do you think she's gonna say about Adam Driver?
SPEAKER_01So I heard like rumblings that like he was just like an asshole and like threw things and like punched walls.
SPEAKER_02Oh so basically he was his character on girls. Yes, a thousand percent. Yeah, yeah. I also went to talk about his plastic surgery at some point, but we can say about forever. Definitely it's really good. It's really good.
SPEAKER_01Because he still looks weird, but he looks better. But he's like hot weird. Yeah. That was done in a surgery room. Yeah, yeah. Like that was done in outer space. They knew what they were doing. Um, and I just like I'm I'm really enjoying her. I'm just enjoying Lena Dunham in her late 30s. Yeah. Like, and I always kind of knew that like being famous in your 20s, you're always going to be unlikable because newsflash, you're unlikable in your 20s. Um, that's not your fault. Like, it's really hard to be in your 20s.
SPEAKER_02I just also think there is something to be said about the fact that like Lena Dunham is like not a conventionally attractive woman. And she is also like has it's crazy because it was like in girls, it was like she was so fat and disgusting, and she was literally thinner than me. Like, probably she was probably like size eight, size tener.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And now she like is fat now. Yeah. So it's like she like she was like, Can you imagine me now? Like the little wave of a thing, and now like I look, and I it's also just a really amazing to see a fat body. Like, yeah. And we're not talking about the fat body, it just is a fat body body.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But I also, it's like, so I just feel like back in her girls' days, and yes, she said and did a lot of problematic things. So problematic. But I do think that the fact that it was just like, how can this like ugly fat person have the audacity to say this stuff? Like, there was definitely this.
SPEAKER_01It was just have the audacity. Yeah. Have the audacity to exist, to show herself naked on a show, to being shown being desired. Yeah. Um, and like she never what's so funny to me is that like she also she is so unlikable. Like in that show, terrible in that show.
SPEAKER_02Everyone in that show is unlikable.
SPEAKER_01And it wasn't even enough. It wasn't enough. Like, it's not like she was like walking around like getting the Emily in Paris treatment. You know what I mean? Right?
SPEAKER_02Like Totally. Yeah. Um, okay, so speaking of fat women, should we talk about should we talk about Rainbow Rowl's essay in The Cut?
Rainbow Rowell’s GLP-1 Essay We Didn’t Want
SPEAKER_01Okay, I love Rainbow Rowl. She's one of my favorite authors of all time. She wrote Eleanor and Park and she wrote Leia Line, Attachments. Really great, um, like romance writer, but like not smut. Like it's always just like yearning. Yearning. Yeah. So she's coming out with this new book called Cherry Baby that. Is gonna be a little spicy, and I have been so excited about it. Shout out to Novel Neighbor. I'm picking it up right after this podcast. And Lauren sends me this cut article about her GLP ones. I don't want it. No, thank you. Why do we have to do this? Why are we making every woman with a bigger body talk about semi-glutide?
SPEAKER_02So she posts this to the cut. It's called I Thought I'd be on GLP one by now. I sent it to Emily. I said, I just know I'm about to be pissed off reading this.
SPEAKER_01I sent her back a voice note in like the first like two seconds was just like Tina from Bob's Burgers. Oh yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_02It was. And I knew this would cut you deep because I know you're such a fangirl. And basically, I don't really know what the point of this was. But other than to say I have been fat my whole life, I've actually never seen this woman, so I have no idea what she really and she's really not that.
SPEAKER_01Well, she's apparently she's she's the kind of fat that's like literally like fat model. Like she's got big boobs, yeah, big hips and a big butt and like a little waist. You know what I mean? Totally a beautiful, beautiful woman.
SPEAKER_02And it's basically like I um I haven't gone on GL gone on a GLP one, and I thought I would have, but now like my whole life I've thought about my body and getting thin and I've dieted and I've worked out, and now there's an easy button and I'm not pressing it. I'm choosing not to press it. And it was like, okay. Did someone ask you to do this? I don't know. Or I don't know. She's just been thinking about it. And then she goes into this whole thing about how she's like, I've always been a yearner, and that's how I write my books. It's like there's lots of yearning in it, and I'm worried. If it were just my class A yearning. It were right. And it's like if it were just gonna change my body, I would do it, but I'm afraid of how it's gonna change my brain. And I love to eat and I look forward to eating, and like I just okay, like it was like, did your editor look at this?
SPEAKER_01Because this doesn't feel edited. And it's also fun thing, it makes me nervous that like uh GLP ones are gonna be a plot line in the book, and I'd rather I know, like, I'd rather go to a gynecologist. Like, I would rather like get a past mirror. Yeah, I don't want to like, especially with her books, they're so they're so romantic, but they're all so set in realism. Um, and they and she makes she just puts romance in everyday situations. Um, and I I I I have faith that she's going to do that no matter what the topic of this book. Yeah. But stay stay away. Like, I don't want to talk about this anymore.
SPEAKER_02I don't want to talk about this. I just didn't see any good reason for it. It was just like there is no this is very like, you know, navel gazing is the the best term for it for me. Of just like this could have stayed in the journal, you know. 1000%. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I um my cousin Ann, shout out cousin Ann, shout out uh grandma's dip book club once again. Um, she sent me a uh TikTok because I was thinking a lot about our my like bit on Lindy West last week and how I really don't want it to be misconstrued that I like don't like her anymore. Yeah, I like love her so much. And I was like really worried I was like too mean to her.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01Um because I always like the way I I choose like being a bitch is that it always has to be punching up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And like for some reason I'm like, was I punching down?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01I anyway, so my cousin Ann sent me this uh this um TikTok that was actually about uh this I mean again it was like a think piece on a think piece, but like essentially what it said was like we are harder on fat women about being insecure about their bodies than we are about skinny women because like we look at fat women to be like, look, they're doing it, they have it all, they're being so successful, like they're so successful. And if they're having doubts, then the whole idea or foundation of which body positivity is made on is crumbling. And I just sometimes think like we don't have to get on the GLP one, don't get on the GLP one, live your fucking life. It's not an easy button. You don't just immediately wake up a hundred pounds lighter. No, you still have to exercise and diet and do all these things, and even if you do, you might only lose like 20 pounds, 30 pounds. Like that's not enough to make a fat person a skinny person. Right. So I just for me, it's like discourse on the discourse, but I just want it to stop.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01I just want to live my life.
SPEAKER_02It's just like it it I don't know. It's like we're we don't talk this much about somebody going on a statin for their cholesterol. We don't talk this much about somebody going on blood thinners because they have a propensity for blood clots, like whatever. Like it's just like we don't need because we are assigning morality to fatness and thinness. And that's where the conversation just needs to stop. Like, that's why just like don't have this conversation because you're giving credence to these things that are not true. Yes, totally. Really quickly. So Emily and I are both reading yesterday. I didn't know you'd started it. I started it yesterday. Are you listening?
SPEAKER_01Are you
Besties’ Book Club - Yesteryear, The Irish Goodbye, Abby Jimenez
SPEAKER_01I am listening to the person they got to do so good. She sounds exactly like Ballerina Far.
SPEAKER_02She, this book is about Hannah Nealman.
SPEAKER_01I love playing around in a very like ripped. I mean, I'm a I'm a girl who's raised on Law and Order. So ripped from the headlines, ripped from the headlines fiction. Give me more, give it all.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So uh the premise of this book is it is a trad wife who has a huge social media following, wink wink. Um, and she lives on a farm, she's pregnant with her sixth kid, and she basically lives her life like it's the 1800s, but then one day she wakes up and she's actually it's 1855, and she has to live her life like it's 1855. So I think I'm gonna buy the book. Okay. Because I wanna I wanna run a switch back and forth. Well, it's like a 13-hour listen, so I'm gonna run out of Spotify hours because I'm already like halfway through, I want to say. So I'm like, shit, and I need to finish it.
SPEAKER_01Spotify, please give us a topic.
SPEAKER_02Oh, come on, Spotify. What do we gotta do? Um, so I'm listening to that, and then I just started the Irish goodbye. I'm literally like two chapters in. Like just started it last night. Okay. I like it. I mean again, I'm like two percent in. Okay. But then I did just finish Abby Jimenez's new book. And which one is that? The night we met. It was really good. I really loved it. I need a new romance. That was a lot of yearning. Like it was a slow burn yearning. Like, oh, I'll give it to you because I bought the book.
SPEAKER_01She writes yearning really well. She does. Like, there are two authors where it's like, because I am more, I will like if I'm gonna read romance, I do like there to be some spice. Yeah. Uh Abby Jimenez and Rainbow Row, I don't need the spice because the yearning is enough.
SPEAKER_02Yes, because Abby Jimenez, this sometimes she will have some spice. This did not have spice in it. Okay. But it was good. I really, really liked it. Um, I also just think she touches on interesting themes and like totally like not political, but like social themes. Yeah. Like poverty, classism. Um, there's almost always like a level of like um trauma in her books that she handles really well and delicately. Um, and I just appreciate her normalizing it. Yeah, I think. So she's just a really good writer. So I um really enjoyed that. So yeah, reading the Irish Goodbye and then listening to yesteryear right now. Perfect. Yeah. Okay, do we have anything else? I think that's it for this week. Quick and dirty. Um, well, thanks for tuning in, everybody. We hope you enjoyed it. Um, make sure to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_01If you have time and you haven't yet, if you could review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, that would be great. Um, I see the people who have gone up and given us five stars. I really appreciate it. Um, and yeah, like thank you for just being with us and continue to listen week after week.
SPEAKER_02Yes, a dream come true. It's so much fun. Leave a comment for us and then make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Midwest Besties Pod. And then everybody, enjoy your week. Bye bye. Bye.