Source : THE AGE NEWS
The drama surrounding Alex Cooper’s expanding audio empire is not limited to simmering feuds with mega-influencer Alix Earle.
According to individuals with knowledge of the company’s functions, Cooper, the number of Call Her Daddy, the fourth-most-visited radio in the country, has recently been dealing with many issues inside her business, including employee turnover, a gurgling stone of shows, and disagreements between team members and her father and co-chief professional agent, Matt Kaplan.
As many reach performers, including Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, Ashley Flowers of Crime Junkie, Ashley Flowers of Crime Junkie, and the dud-shot artists at Dude Perfect, have begun to form diversified businesses profiting from their online popularity while also running demanding podcasts or YouTube channels, these issues are becoming more prevalent in the father economy.
Cooper and Kaplan co-founded Trending, an umbrella company housing the power couple’s expanding business ventures in 2023. They are a producer of more than 50 films and TV shows, including Netflix’s To All the Boys franchise. Unwell Network, Cooper’s burgeoning collection of lifestyle podcasts, and ACE Entertainment, Kaplan’s production company, were the first two companies that made up the portfolio. The goal was to develop content around Gen Z women’s interests by speaking directly to Cooper’s audience of Gen Z women.
As their business grew into live events, TV shows, a creative agency, and physical goods, Cooper and Kaplan began employing dozens of employees. Many of the new hires were young adults who were familiar with Cooper’s show and were eager to participate in her company’s festive atmosphere while working alongside a woman they admired.
Cooper and Kaplan described themselves as driven entrepreneurs who expected employees to “work hard, play hard” in interviews with news outlets and on podcasts. She once confided to Marie Claire that she and Kaplan created a “very positive and safe” environment for their young staff and that as CEO, her door was “always open” to employees.
According to sources who requested anonymity regarding non-public information, Cooper is frequently extremely busy running her show and other inventive projects, leaving Kaplan to manage the network’s day-to-day operations. Along the way, the people claimed that he had a reputation for frequently yelling at staff members. If he doesn’t keep his distance, the crew members have threatened to walk off the set and on live tours because the issues are so serious.
For this story, the company made no comments.
Influencers compete against one another in competitions ranging from tubing down a mountain to flip-kart competitions, according to Trending’s Unwell Winter Games program that was released last month. There were logistical issues with the run-up to the series, which led to an unexpected exit and replacement of an unexpected member of the show’s production team, according to TMZ.
A prominent, well-experienced crew member broke down in tears during another incident that occurred during the filming, according to those with knowledge of the circumstances. Kaplan berated the film crew on set and threatened to stop them from ever working in Hollywood again if they messed up. According to the sources, the members of the organization had filed complaints through the formal, on-set process and eventually threatened to leave if Kaplan didn’t act better.
Some of the internal angst has been exposed in the media. The production manager in Call Her Alex, a 2025 Hulu documentary about Cooper’s first live tour, occasionally threatens to resign. In a subsequent scene, Kaplan attributes the situation to the demanding work schedule that surrounds the tour. However, a person close to the conflict said that the manager’s concerns were more related to Kaplan disrespecting staff by swearing and yelling at them. The company’s rush to put together a live show also sucked up the frantic atmosphere in the documentary.
Numerous senior executives have left Unwell in the last year, including the company’s head of brand marketing, network head, for the second time in three years, and chief growth officer. According to Cooper, Unwell has about 100 employees. At least 20 people have declared their exits on LinkedIn in 2025 and 2026.
Cooper’s business split with Earle, the host of Hot Mess, the network’s most exciting creative expansion, in 2025. Unwell at the time didn’t give much justification for Earle’s departure. Cooper recently, however, made it known that there was a rift. She claimed on TikTok that she was “tired of waking up” when Earle appeared to be spreading “fake drama” about his most recent repost of a video criticizing Cooper’s podcast interviews. After that, Earle said,” Okay on it! “!
Everyone from amateur online sleuths to the New York Times was closely watching the surprise salvo, which shook the internet. Through her publicity team, Earle declined to comment.
In a recent interview with a podcast on her network, Cooper stated that in these days, Unwell was focusing on acquiring existing shows rather than creating new programs from scratch. Cooper’s team has now entered a fiercely competitive market against established players with larger budgets and fewer ties to any one individual star as a result of the change.
Trending releases projects at a quick pace. It has also released a number of movies and TV shows over the past month, including XO, Kitty, a spin-off of Kaplan’s successful original Netflix release, Love Overboard for Hulu, a dating competition series, and Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special for Disney. The television show was No. 1 on the streamer when it first aired in April.
Cooper’s live performances have also been popular with fans. She organized a two-day festival last year in Las Vegas that included Chippendales dancers and a pool party with Paris Hilton as DJ spinning tunes. Three of her West Coast shows in 2024 grossed a total of$ US540, 000 ($ 755, 000 ) with 9549 tickets sold, according to Pollstar. Cooper has stated that sales in the department are nearly on par with those from podcasting, and that the company’s ad agency has also picked up well-known clients, including Google.
Unwell announced last week that it had appointed new executive leadership, including Joanne Bradford, who was previously employed by Honey, an online shopping brand, as president. Ellen Rocamora, who worked for The Ellen DeGeneres Show for more than ten years, has taken over as executive producer. The new team members will have a role in helping Cooper as she continues to navigate new business ventures.
It’s a challenging career path, but it might be logical for financial reasons in the long run. Creater work is not always stable, according to Seton Hall University assistant professor of communication technologies Jess Rauchberg.
They are making use of their visibility to produce content that is accessible through the podcast.
She continued that success for an influencer frequently depended on the level of the team they were working with. It’s “partly skill, but also privilege,” she said.
Cooper, for her part, exhibits no sign of retracement despite the challenges. In a recent interview on the podcast Burnouts with Phoebe &, Sophia, Cooper stated that” Unwell is a really, really fantastic and incredible and, I think, inspiring place to work.” ” But it is f—ing hard”.
