and another blonde bites the dust
Alix Earle has left the building
Good morning and welcome back to as seen on.
In today’s newsletter: Ayo Edebiri’s latest project with A24, the celebrity skincare brand getting kicked out of Sephora, some thoughts on Starface’s skincare packaging, and a bunch of other stuff.
There’s one less hot blonde in the house of Unwell. News broke this morning that Alix Earle’s podcast was apparently “dropped” by Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network. I say “apparently” because I’m almost certain it was a case of Alix wanting to leave rather than being asked to leave. My guess is that Unwell is probably spinning the narrative here a bit. Do I think there’s bad blood here? Yes, at least a little bit. Do I think we’ll get the details? Probably. Some version of it, anyway. What’s Trending reported that Alix might be teaming up with Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports—where Alex got her podcasting start—to relaunch Hot Mess. Fitting, since Grace O’Malley just left Barstool for Unwell. At the end of the day, I think both parties will be fine. Alex has no shortage of talent and programming to focus on, and Alix is a big enough name to strike out on her own.
Personally, I don't think Hot Mess is a good product. I wouldn’t be surprised if the introduction of Hallie Batchelder’s podcast, Extra Dirty, was a preemptive move on Alex’s part and aggravated Alix’s exit. Extra Dirty seems to be doing what Hot Mess was supposed to do—but hotter and messier. And notice how Hallie and Alix are never in a picture together? Anyway, if I were Alix Earle, I’d take my time to completely overhaul the podcast and figure out what the positioning should be. The chart performances aren’t strong (#46 on Spotify U.S. Society & Culture, #88 on Apple Podcasts U.S. Society & Culture), especially compared to where it started when it launched two years ago. A rebrand is in order. Good luck to that girl.
