Emergency Pod: Alex Cooper Is Poisoning Young Women

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Riley Gaines Show

Episode: Emergency Pod: Alex Cooper Is Poisoning Young Women
Host: Riley Gaines
Date: May 11, 2026

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Overview

In this "emergency" episode, Riley Gaines takes aim at Alex Cooper, the influential host of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, arguing that Cooper’s brand of “empowerment” is actually deeply harmful to young women. Gaines analyzes Cooper’s messaging, its effect on culture and relationships, and the hypocrisy she sees in Cooper’s personal choices versus what she promotes. Throughout, Gaines urges parents—especially mothers—to act as shields for their children and foster a culture rooted in faith, virtue, and self-respect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Alex Cooper and Her Influence

• Riley introduces Alex Cooper as the 31-year-old host of "Call Her Daddy", originally launched in 2018 with Barstool Sports.
• The podcast is described as "extremely explicit and graphic," gaining fame for candid talk about casual sex and dating.
• Cooper’s massive deals:
  • $60 million with Spotify.
  • $125 million with SiriusXM.
• Riley acknowledges Cooper’s business acumen:
  • “I think the brand that these women have built for themselves is impressive. And if you say it’s not, then you’re either cynical or you’re lying… But with that is a cultural grip that is really, really hard to overstate.” (01:47)

2. The Core of Cooper’s Message—“What Feels Good is Good”

• Cooper is credited with normalizing hookup and casual sex culture, exemplified by terms like “Gluck Gluck 9000.”
• Riley expresses discomfort as an adult discussing these topics, considering her audience of young women:
  • “I feel uncomfortable because I know the platform that I have and I know oftentimes it’s young women, young girls, high school, college age girls who watch my content.” (02:34)
• Describes Cooper’s content as treating intimacy like a “casual transaction.”

3. The Harm in Cooper’s Advice—A Firsthand Example

• Plays a clip of Cooper encouraging women to do what feels good, including having sex on the first date:

  Alex Cooper: “Sleep with them the first night. Like, I don't care. You have to go based on what feels good to your body and what feels right to you... I'm about to let him in my back...” (03:44)

• Riley’s sharp retort:
  • “So women should do literally the exact opposite of everything that she tells you to do… It’s cool. It’s fun to swap bodily fluids with total strangers. No, it’s not risky or dangerous or regrettable.” (04:17)

4. The Real-World Outcomes of “Hedonistic” Messaging

• Riley warns of emotional numbness, higher rates of STDs, trouble forming deep connections, and increased regret and shame for women who follow such advice:
  • “It is a recipe for heartbreak and regret and guilt and shame and broken families.” (05:15)
• Points to studies and real-life stories to reinforce these claims.
• Draws parallels to "Sex and the City” but claims Cooper’s approach is even louder, cruder, and more targeted at Gen Z and Millennials.

5. The Irony of Alex Cooper’s Personal Life

• While Cooper advocates for hookup culture, she herself pursued marriage and monogamy:
  • “Seems like Alex Cooper…traded the wild years for monogamy and a Vogue feature. It’s like marriage for me, but not for thee.” (06:13)
• Notes reports of trouble in Cooper’s marriage (sleeping in separate rooms, tension, etc.):
  • “Breaking. The girl that talks about sleeping with other dudes for a living has a horrible marriage. More at noon.” (07:38)
• Discusses the public drama and personal insecurities Cooper reportedly faces, validated by recent media coverage.

6. The Alex Earl Feud and SNL Parody

• Highlights messy, confusing online feuds, particularly the falling out with former collaborator Alex Earl.
• Plays and reflects on Saturday Night Live’s satirical take on the “Alex & Alex” drama, criticizing the Gen Z influencer culture it lampoons.
  • “It’s just sad because I think this is exactly what Gen Z airheads really sound like.” (10:53)

7. Cooper’s Cultural and Political Reach

• Cooper’s platform is so significant it attracted interviews with major figures like Kamala Harris leading up to the 2024 election.
• Riley plays a clip highlighting Cooper’s continued focus on explicit topics, even in these high-profile conversations:

  Alex Cooper: “How do you work with the balls... on a man, the balls. Like, it really depends on the guy...” (11:25)
  Riley Gaines: “I don't know if my team is going to, like, bleep out some of those words in post, but I hope they do because it feels too explicit.” (11:48)

• Harris commends Cooper for “being real” and connecting with audiences:

  Kamala Harris: “One of the best ways to communicate with people is to be real…people really want to know they’re seen and heard and that they’re part of a community...” (12:17)

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Riley Gaines' Response and Message to Parents

To Mothers of Daughters

• Warns that girls are “under siege” with dangerous messages about self-worth and sexual empowerment.
• Urges mothers to block harmful content, counter it with discussions about virtue, boundaries, and faith.
• “You are their shield as a parent, as a mom...Raise them to be wives and mothers of substance, not statistics in someone else's empire.” (13:39)

To Mothers of Sons

• Boys are “indirectly being targeted” and may end up affected by women steeped in this culture.
• Encourages raising sons with an eye for character and commitment.
• “Teach your sons how to seek women of character, not the ones chasing what feels good.” (15:12)

The Broader Call

• Riley concludes by asserting that “hedonism doesn’t build strong families,” warning that Cooper’s success is a “proof of how far we’ve fallen.”
• “The good news is we do not have to accept it…Turn off the podcast unless it’s this one. Open up the real conversations at home. You can reclaim the culture for our kids.” (16:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Cooper’s business success:

  “It is impressive. But with that is a cultural grip that is really, really hard to overstate.” (01:47)

• On Cooper’s advice:

  “Prove to them that you’re strong and independent by letting strangers give you anal. Like, what is wrong with you?” (05:11)

• On personal hypocrisy:

  “It’s like marriage for me, but not for thee.” (06:13)

• On the SNL parody and Gen Z culture:

  “You should be proud of yourself if you don’t really know who they're portraying.” (10:53)

• On parental responsibility:

  “You are their shield as a parent, as a mom... Raise them to be wives and mothers of substance, not statistics in someone else's empire.” (13:39)

• On the culture at large:

  “Hedonism. It doesn’t build strong families. It doesn’t build a strong nation. No, it leaves wreckage.” (16:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35 — Introduction to Alex Cooper’s career and influence
• 03:44 — Clip of Alex Cooper’s advice to young women
• 05:11 — Riley’s reaction and critique of Cooper’s message
• 06:13 — Discussion on Cooper’s marriage and contrast to her message
• 08:48 — Alex Earl feud and reflection on influencer culture
• 11:25 — Alex Cooper & Kamala Harris interview; explicit content critique
• 12:55 — Harris on “realness” and connecting with listeners
• 13:39 — Riley’s advice for mothers of daughters
• 15:12 — Riley’s advice for mothers of sons
• 16:19 — Final exhortation on cultural responsibility

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Tone and Conclusion

Riley Gaines wields a tone that is openly critical, passionate, and unapologetically rooted in faith-based, traditional values. She frames Cooper’s brand of empowerment as a cultural poison, and calls on parents—especially mothers—to actively shield and guide their children. The episode closes with a clarion call to reclaim culture at home, painting the stakes as nothing less than the future of families and the nation.

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Transcript

[Riley Gaines]

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Alex Cooper. Who is Alex Cooper? Alex Cooper. She is 31 years old. She's the host of Call Her Daddy. It is one of the most popular podcasts in the world, especially among young women and girls. Kind of a little, maybe too much in depth here, but she launched this podcast back in 2018 with her then roommate, Sophia Franklin. It was with Barstool Sports at the time. So Dave Portnoy. The show very quickly became famous for its extremely explicit and graphic talk about sex and hooking up and dating and relationships. I'm talking think, like detailed, like very, very detailed on sexual acts and thinking, you know, encouraging casual sex. And her signature message that what feels good is good. Well, she had a very nasty public breakup with her co host Sophia Franklin. So she then went solo. She signed a massive $60 million deal with Spotify and later after that, I guess ran its course. She signed a $125 million deal with Sirius XM. She's built out the Unwell network as she interviews huge celebrities including Kamala Harris. We're going to get to that. She has turned herself into this multimillion dollar media brand, which is impressive. I'll give it to her. I am the first to say, like not a fan of hers. Even Taylor Swift. I can't say I'm a huge Swifty, but I think the brand that these women have built for themselves and is impressive. And if you say it's not, then you're either cynical or you're lying. It is impressive. But with that is a cultural grip that is really, really hard to overstate. How is this woman one of the top female podcasters in the country with a deal of $125 million with SiriusXM? What she's peddling, it is not empowerment. It is poison. And I feel like it's time we say it out loud. She built her empire on raw, explicit Locke talk about sex and dating and relationships. She and her original co host, Sophia Franklin, they turned like hookup culture into a sport. I'm talking graphic stories and visuals and explanations about sexual acts and techniques on how to do these sexual acts, such as the infamous. This is really what got her famous, which is like A telltale sign of how rotted our culture is. The infamous Gluck, Gluck 9000. I honestly feel so uncomfortable even saying that as a fully grown adult, a married grown adult. But I feel uncomfortable because I know the platform that I have and I know oftentimes it's young women, young girls, high school, college age girls who watch my content. Oh, my gosh, like, I can't imagine unashamedly declaring that to millions and millions and millions of people with her platform. Anyway, she talks about sleeping with professors. She's talks about treating intimacy like this casual transaction. But I think the real rot at the core of her message is the hedonistic mantra, you know, like, what feels good is good. We've got a clip from earlier this week that's been all over the Internet. Let's watch it.

[Alex Cooper]

I've had so many dates where, like, I had great first date kisses and I was like, oh, my God, I'm never calling you, but oh, who doesn't love a makeout? Like, makeouts are so fun, okay? And so kiss them the first date. Sleep with them the first night. Like, I don't care. You have to go based on what feels good to your body and what feels right to you. And so if you have some friends that are prudes that are like, you should never kiss on the first day, you're going to give them the wrong impression and they're just going to think you're a whore. Okay, maybe for you, Cassandra, but I'm about to let him in my back

[Riley Gaines]

door all night, so. So women should do literally the exact opposite of everything that she tells you to do. I'm sitting here listening to this and like, her whole, like, just do whatever feels good to you. Have fun. It's cool. It's fun to swap bodily fluids with total strangers. No, it's not risky or dangerous or regrettable.

[SNL Cast Member]

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[Riley Gaines]

When I have a crush on a

[SNL Cast Member]

guy no one knows, be careful. I wish Nikki loving more than anyone in the entire world. Who you wish for. Obsession is 96% fresh on rotten Tomatoes. I love you so, so, so, so much. It's blood soaked nightmare fuel, broken spills you put on her. You have Obsession. Rated R under 17, animated without parent. Only in theaters May 15 with special engagements in Dolby.

[Riley Gaines]

It totally won't set you up for like a horrible outcome. Don't let people tell you what to do. Don't let them be prudes if they try to. They're just a prude. Prove to them that you're strong and independent by letting strangers give you anal. Like, what is wrong with you? This message is so harmful. This advice, it is a recipe. It's a recipe for heartbreak and regret and guilt and shame and broken families. Studies in real life, stories from women in their 30s, they show what happens when you follow that path. It shows emotional numbness. It shows higher rates of STDs. It shows difficulty forming deep bonds. It shows the painful realization that casual sex doesn't lead to commitment. Yet what Alex Cooper is trying to do here is she's trying to sell this as, like, liberation. Like, you feel so free, it feels so great. You have so much fun. And I think we have seen the effects of what happens when young women listen to this message. And that's honestly why she is on top. That is why she is one of the biggest and most listened to female podcasts out there. It's because our culture has normalized this garbage, this harmful garbage. It's the same toxic feminism that turned Sex in the City into a blueprint for life, except it's only louder and cruder and it's aimed straight towards Gen Z and millennials via TikTok clips and her podcasts. But you want to know what the ultimate irony is? The ultimate irony. And amidst all this messaging, like, hook up with whoever you want, however many people you want, do it. It's fun. The irony is that Al Cooper herself is now married. She's married to a movie producer. His name is Matt Kaplan. I believe they met in 2020. They got engaged pretty quickly. In 2023, they launched this media company together, the Unwell Network. So seems like Alex Cooper. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what her. Her married life looks like, what she does behind closed doors, but it seems as if she traded the wild years for monogamy and Vogue feature. It's like marriage for me, but not for thee. She pursued the tried and true path to human happiness, which is marriage, which is unity with another human being of the opposite sex. It's having children while she peddled singleness and hookups and this man hatred to their female audience. Well, I think she realized that anger sells, but it's not a path to fulfillment or satisfaction or anything of any amount of reward or purpose. But would you be shocked if I told you the woman who taught your daughters how to do the Gluck Gluck 9000 and sleep with as many men as possible, even as early as last week? Would you be shocked if I told you that her relationship, her Marriage is a little rocky right now. Probably not. I saw a headline from the New York Post. It says, alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan sleeping in separate rooms as marriage tension brews, breaking. The girl that talks about sleeping with other dudes for a living has a horrible marriage. More at noon. I hate to say this, but because I wish it wasn't true. But I think the news of her marriage probably not lasting more than a couple years would be the least surprising thing ever. Her slogan for a while, like one of the quotes that she was recognized by online was cheat or get cheated on. Actually, this story, the article released by the Post, which I think now several other outlets have picked up on, actually it's kind of framing her as the victim, which maybe is unsurprising. They have an 11 year age gap. I'm realizing he is 42, she is 31. The article actually talks about how Kaplan, Matt, her husband, allegedly earned a reputation for frequently yelling at staff members. Some employees have reportedly threatened to walk out in the middle of film sets and live tours due to his alleged behavior. I don't know who the source is. It's an anonymous source who's telling all this, but the source, an insider who seems to be close with both Alex Cooper and her husband. The source says that Alex Cooper's biggest fear is bad press on and saying it's the only thing that matters to her. She wants to control the narrative always. They said she's insecure and cutthroat all in one. She really doesn't have that many friends. Which kind of checks out if you've been following the discourse online between Alex Earl and Alex Cooper. The content of their feud, or at least what we know about it, is incredibly confusing. But it's even more confusing that they're both blonde women who just look like young, beautiful blonde women named Alex. Although Alex Earle's name is with an I. Alex Earle used to work at the Unwell brand with Alex Cooper. I don't really know what happened there. I think that's a lot of the inconspicuousness online that people are very, very curious about. We don't know what cause really they're falling out. I'm sitting here trying to think of how I can frame this online feud to you guys between Alex and Alex. But actually SNL does a good job. Let's watch it. What is up, Dottie gang?

[SNL Cast Member]

Welcome, ladies. So for anyone not familiar, would you mind introducing yourselves?

[Riley Gaines]

Yeah, of course.

So I'm Alex with an E. And

I'm Alex with an I. I'm pretty much Martha Stewart.

If instead of teaching baking, she taught you the Gluck 3000. And I'm basically Ellen if she never came out right. I'm actually ashamed I knew and understood the entire skit. That you should be proud of yourself if you don't really know who they're portraying. It's just sad because I think this is exactly what Gen Z airheads really sound like. Okay, and one more Alex Cooper clip for you, because I just want to reinforce the point number one of the platform this woman has, not even just amongst the youth. But going into the presidential election in 2024, Alex Cooper sat down and interviewed Kamala Harris. As you can imagine, they talked about abortion or what they call reproductive rights and healthcare freedom. They talked about how women are marginalized, victimized. Anyways, this is who sat down with the vice president.

[Alex Cooper]

How do you work with the balls and the. Okay. On a man, the balls. Like, it really depends on the guy. Like, some guys don't like it.

[Riley Gaines]

Some have less sensitivity. And you can tug on them.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah.

[Riley Gaines]

Put them all in your mouth. Like, some guys are like, yeah, it hurts whenever you try to do it.

[Alex Cooper]

And it's so interesting to always see, like, the difference in the balls because some have a really tight other really saggy.

[Riley Gaines]

I don't know if my team is going to, like, bleep out some of those words in post, but I hope they do because it feels too explicit. But then if they do bleep it out, you don't even know what's going on. Like, that's how raunchy this was. And she sat down with the vice president, the former vice president who was hoping to win the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024.

[Alex Cooper]

I'm curious, like, you don't do too many long form interviews. What made you want to do Color Daddy today?

[Kamala Harris]

Well, I think you and your listeners have really got this thing right, which is one of the best ways to communicate with people is to be real, you know, and to talk about the things that people really care about. What I love about what you do is that your voice and your show is really about your listeners. And I think especially now, this is a moment in the country and in life where people really want to know they're seen and heard and that they're part of a community, that they're not out there alone. And. And so I'm really glad to be with you.

[Riley Gaines]

We would have been cooked. We would have been doomed if Kamala Harris won. But the sad thing is, they really thought sitting down, talking To Alex Cooper with Kamala Harris would play really, really well with young people because, again, she has that sort of pool. So if you're a mom listening to this and you want a good role model for your daughters or you want them to listen to a podcast that is in direct contrast with everything that Alex Cooper does, the advice that she gives, everything that she stands for, look no further. You found the Riley Gaines show. But seriously, like my message to moms with daughters, your girls are currently under siege. They're hearing that their worth is in how they, like, perform in the bedroom, not who they are in their hearts, not who God knows them to be, not who he created them to be. They're hearing the really harmful, dangerous message that their feelings trump their gut instinct or their intuition or that's sleeping around is fun and empowering until it isn't. And by then, guess what? The damage has already been done. Tell your daughters the truth, that real empowerment comes from self respect and boundaries and saving intimacy for someone who earns it. Teach them that what feels good in the moment often leads to lifelong regret. Protect them from the Call Her Daddy podcast. Block it. You can discuss it. You can counter it with real talk about virtue and faith and building a life that lasts. You are their shield as a parent, as a mom, I imagine I'm talking to the moms right now. You are a shield against a culture that wants them used up and discarded, all in the name of feminism, weirdly enough. Raise them to be wives and mothers of substance, not statistics in someone else's empire. And I don't think we should leave this episode without giving a message to moms with sons, too. Because, yes, again, Alex Cooper, I think she's directly targeting young girls, but young boys are indirectly being targeted here. Your boys are growing up in a world where women are raised on this trash. They're being taught to view themselves as disposable conquests or worse, to chase the very chaos that leaves everyone broken. These girls, influenced by Alex Cooper and call her daddy, that they're not learning how to be partners or good stewards of that relationship. They're learning how to chase the thrill. Teach your sons how to seek women of character, not the ones chasing what feels good. Raise them to be the protectors and providers and leaders who value commitment and purity. Show them the hypocrisy in these influencers so they don't fall for the trap. Your sons, they deserve a future with a wife who builds a home, not one trained to tear it down, all in the name of fun. Or to not be a prude. Be the voice that counters all of that noise. It's not a matter of opinion. You can look at like statistics and research and data and you can see the direct correlation. Hedonism. It doesn't build strong families. It doesn't build a strong nation. No, it leaves wreckage. Alex Cooper's success alone is proof of how far we've fallen. But the good news is we do not have to accept it. Turn off the podcast unless it's this one. Open up the real conversations at home. You can reclaim the culture for our kids. It is not too late. It is. The best investment you will ever make is in your kids and in their future. If we don't fight for them now, who will? Thank you guys for tuning in to the Riley Gaines Show. See you later this week. Thank you guys for watching today's episode of the Riley Gaines Show. I hope you loved it and if you did, make sure you subscribe. You can do that right here so you never miss an episode. We'll see you guys next week.

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