The well-known ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast host, Alex Cooper, recently attempted to justify her decision to host an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, prior to last year’s presidential election. Cooper shared a video of the interaction with her audience, claiming boldly that her discussion with Harris was important enough to warrant the time and effort she had invested. However, many are questioning the substance of this interview, as it was focused primarily on general topics such as women’s issues and lifestyle advice, rather than more pressing national matters.
Cooper boldly affirmed that Harris’ team had reached out to her for the interview. She insisted that she justified this maneuver on account of the election’s supposed focus on women’s rights, an assertion many find dubious given the myriad pressing issues at stake. Despite her podcast being one of the most listened to by women in the country, many believe that she did more to trivialize than legitimize the election through their discussion.
In the final weeks leading up to the election, Cooper proudly shared her interview with the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee. It’s worth noting that the response on the internet was far less fawning than Cooper, or her left-leaning audience, might have preferred. Plenty of social media users took her to task, accusing her of neglecting the urgent policy discussions that an election merits.
Cooper, who hails from Pennsylvania, was unsurprisingly unphased by the criticism and brushed any fallout off as nonchalant. She anticipated the social media skirmish well in advance, but clearly had no qualms. Cooper’s attitude towards the criticism was telling as she seemed to mistake not caring about public sentiment for a sense of responsibility.
Her flippant attitude was clear as she described how she reacted to reaction to the shallow interview. Cooper expressed she didn’t care about the criticism, focused more on getting the episode out rather than ensuring its substance. A decision which left many disappointed and requiring more from our public figures in the time of national decisions.
Furthermore, Cooper had offered to interview President Trump as well, but he reportedly declined the offer. If truth be told, the public never seemed too invested in her interviewing antics, for better or worse. Cooper’s theoretical brush-off of potential cancellation appears to be more a rationalization after the fact than an informed misgiving.
When probed about whether the interview was worth the backlash, Cooper resolutely stood by her decision. She described the criticism as ‘noise’, dismissing the valid concerns of many. But while Cooper might have appreciated the ‘positivity’ she claimed to observe around her interview with Harris, many others had a different perspective.
Cooper’s perception of overwhelming positivity might be relative to her own circle and it’s clear that many see the situation differently. What Cooper saw as a positive response, others saw as an echo chamber effect, as people came forth to thank her for a rather superficial political interview.
In retrospect, Cooper’s claim that her interview with Harris sparked a meaningful conversation seems more of an excuse to justify the low-effort content than a genuine observation. Cooper may be proud of what she thinks was an enlightening discourse, however, this does not address the key point of contention – the absence of meaningful political debate.
Indeed, plenty of people engaged in dialogues and debates post the release of the episode–but one must wonder if they were debating the lack of substance provided by Cooper and the Democratic VP nominee. Again, the question arises: was the interview a fruitful encounter? Or was it rather a missed opportunity to delve into prescient matters that truly affect the lives of millions of Americans?
In the end, unsurprisingly, the Call Her Daddy episode turned out to be more of a political spectacle than a thoughtful examination of political policies. Despite Cooper’s insistence on it being an empowering nod to female solidarity, it is hard to gauge the sentiment when the vast portion of the conversations bordered on superficiality.