Dave Portnoy says in memoir that Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn planned to exit Barstool deal after “fake” sexual harassment claims

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said in his memoir “Cancel Me If You Can” that Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn planned to break their Barstool contract, alleging that sexual harassment claims used in the dispute were not legitimate. The comments, reported by Page Six on June 30, come as the shows and creator deals tied to Barstool continue to draw attention for both business and workplace-conduct questions.

Portnoy’s account describes Cooper and Franklyn, podcast hosts with major audiences, as having “change[d] of heart” about their pay and contracts after meeting with Logan Paul, according to the Page Six report. Portnoy’s framing is that their decision-making pivoted from an earlier posture about grievances and compensation to a different outcome once they engaged with Paul, though the report does not provide additional documentary detail beyond the memoir’s narrative.

The memoir’s most pointed allegation, as summarized by Page Six, is Portnoy’s contention that the sexual harassment claims referenced by the women as part of their negotiating posture were “fake.” The report characterizes the statement as Portnoy’s claim rather than a finding by a court or regulator, and it does not cite any legal ruling or adjudication resolving who was responsible for the workplace concerns being discussed.

In the same narrative, Portnoy ties the contract dispute to broader Barstool internal dynamics and the public controversy that followed. Page Six reports that Portnoy addressed the matter through his memoir, positioning his version of events as a corrective to how the negotiations and allegations were discussed outside the company.

Portnoy’s dispute is not presented in the Page Six report as a contemporaneous legal action with a documented procedural timeline, and no court filings or agency determinations are referenced in the account as published. As a result, readers are left with the memoir’s account as the primary basis for the “planned to break” claim and for Portnoy’s characterization of the harassment allegations, without an independently summarized adjudicated record in the report.

The women named in Portnoy’s account, Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, were not described as conceding or addressing the specific allegations in the Page Six write-up. The report focuses on what Portnoy wrote, and it does not describe a direct response from Cooper, Franklyn, their representatives, or Barstool beyond the memoir’s stated claims.

Because these podcast creator deals sit at the intersection of media contracts, audience trust, and workplace-conduct expectations, the statements add to the public record of how major entertainment brands and their top hosts narrate past negotiations. The practical next steps, based on what is present in the reporting, would be for readers and industry watchers to look for any follow-up coverage that addresses whether the parties involved have contested, clarified, or supplemented Portnoy’s account with additional facts or documents.

If additional reporting emerges with primary documentation such as contracts, communications, or formal investigation summaries, it would help separate disputed narratives from settled findings. Until then, the central takeaway from the June 30 report is that Portnoy’s memoir describes Cooper and Franklyn as seeking to end their Barstool arrangement and disputes the underlying sexual harassment claims using language he attributes to the women’s negotiating posture.