Former “Call Her Daddy” cohost Sofia Franklyn is opening up about the podcast’s early days, including how much money their initial merch drop made.
Franklyn, 31, discussed the start of her podcasting career during a Monday, June 16 appearance on Jason Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast. Tartick, 36, who was less concerned about the “drama” surrounding “Call Her Daddy,” wanted details on how the show made money during its formative years.
“I think there’s a lot of learning lessons with it. You guys are making more on a show than your entire salary for the year based on the downloads,” Tartick stated “Did you get any bonuses at all? Because you guys were crushing merch, you’re crushing all this. Were there any other incentives other than the base.”
When Franklyn and Cooper, 30, launched “Call Her Daddy” in 2018, it was quickly picked up by Barstool Sports. Cooper revealed during a 2020 podcast episode that the women signed a three-year deal with the company, initially making $75,000 the first year.
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Franklyn told Tartick during Monday’s podcast episode that they received 2.5 percent of all merch sales.
“There was one hoodie in particular — that hoodie, just by itself, made a million dollars,” Franklyn claimed. “It was this gray hoodie, and it said ‘Unwell,’ which is this term that I told a story about.”
Franklyn claimed that the origin of the “unwell” hoodie came from an email she sent while working at Morgan Stanley. (The story was originally told during an early “Call Her Daddy” episode.)
“I was at Coachella, and I definitely had work that day and I’m in California,” Franklyn recalled. “I just sent an email saying, ‘I’m unwell.’ That’s all I said in the email. … That’s all I could muster is, ‘I’m unwell.’”
Franklyn added, “The hoodie said ‘Unwell’ on the front, and I think that was it. And that made a million dollars.”
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Stars from Hollywood, sports, comedy and beyond are finding huge financial success as they continue to share stories behind the microphone. With more and more pop culture consumers around the world streaming podcasts as voraciously as music, TV and film, companies like Spotify, SiriusXM and Amazon are willing to pay big bucks to secure top-tier […]
Us Weekly has reached out to Cooper’s team for comment.
Franklyn and Cooper parted ways as “Call Her Daddy” hosts in 2020 following a series of contract disputes with Barstool Sports. The media company’s founder offered them $500,000 and ownership of the show. Cooper was on board with the proposal but Franklyn was not, inevitably causing the pair to part ways. Cooper stayed with Barstool Sports until June 2021 and has since signed major deals with Spotify and SiriusXM. She has also launched the Unwell Network and Unwell Hydration brand.
Franklyn, meanwhile, hosts the “Sofia With an F” podcast. She spoke about her Barstool Sports and “Call Her Daddy” past during a recent episode.
“I think the internet sees me as one way, which I love and is a part of me,” Franklyn admitted during the June 5 episode of her podcast. “There’s always going to be the ‘Call Her Daddy,’ Barstool, thing, right? Sexual, ditzy, which I mean I am those things. I can be sexual and ditzy and smart at the same time, you know? But also I think, after the drama, I had this really hard exterior because I was so scared.”
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