This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s summer editorial intern Jordyn Centerwall. Find her on Instagram at @jordyncenterwall. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Friend breakups can be the worst kind of breakups. I imagine it’s made even worse when you work with your friend, and it certainly makes it messier if you run a podcast together. Enter Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O’Malley. The internet has been locked in to the drama between these two podcast co-hosts since several social media posts were made the first week of December. Who are the people rallying behind, and raising pitchforks against? Keep reading to find out.
What Happened
Grace O’Malley has left Barstool Sports following a professional and friendship fallout with Brianna “ChickenFry” LaPaglia. Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O’Malley have co-hosted a podcast called PlanBri Uncut since 2022 and have been friends for over 15 years. Now their friendship and the podcast have come to an end.
According to LaPaglia, their friendship became strained during her relationship with country singer Zach Bryan. The two broke off their relationship in October of this year. It ended messily and most of the internet seemed to rally behind Brianna. She denied a $12 million NDA from Bryan and spilled details of their toxic relationship. The relationship caused a rift between LaPaglia and O’Malley though. LaPaglia has asserted that O’Malley was not supportive during this abusive relationship.
The pair had not been getting along for some time and had discussed ending the podcast since October. Then, the podcast went silent after an episode posted on October 10th. Fans were left confused when no announcement was made about whether it was ending. That is, until a few weeks ago when LaPaglia hinted at a change coming to Plan Bri on social media. O’Malley responded with surprise at the announcement that the podcast would continue without her. She also claimed that she and LaPaglia had been waiting to make an announcement together about the show’s end. The digital interaction has since exploded into what many are calling a feud.
Friendship History
LaPaglia and O’Malley have been friends for the last fifteen years. They met in the fifth grade at age ten and have been best friends ever since. LaPaglia originally started Plan Bri as a solo endeavor in 2020 in her dorm room. She later blew up on TikTok and dropped out to move to New York and join Barstool in 2020. Later in 2022, she invited O’Malley to join her on the pod officially after guest starring occasionally in the past.
The two discussed pop culture happenings as well as the difficulty of navigating the 20-something years and relationships. Many became fans of the parasocial relationship the podcast cultivated because it reminded them of hanging out with their own friends. After O’Malley joined, the podcast began to take off and was named one of Spotify’s breakout podcasts of 2024.
Who The Internet Has Sided With
The criticism didn’t start with Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O Malley’s friendship breakup. When the podcast became a part of Barstool and O’Malley officially began co-hosting, the name remained the same. This became a source of confusion and contention for many listeners. Why was it called Plan Bri if it was both LaPaglia and O’Malley’s podcast? Many fans took this as a jab at O’Malley and a sign of ownership from LaPaglia.
People also began to notice a difference in the dynamic of the podcast around the time LaPaglia started dating Bryan in July 2023. Many fans noted that LaPaglia seemed meaner and there was a distance between the co-hosts both emotionally and physically. LaPaglia began to call in for episodes when she moved in with and went on tour with Bryan. O’Malley began to host solo episodes. Right before the podcast ended commenters called out LaPaglia for victim blaming in an episode where she and O’Malley discussed very sensitive information about her experience with sexual assault.
Now, people online have drawn parallels between the controversy between Bryan and LaPaglia and now with her and O’Malley. Unlike the previous scandal, the internet seems to be against LaPaglia now. Many have drawn parallels to her breakup with Bryan because of how LaPaglia broke the news to fans that the podcast would be going in a different direction. O’Malley responded with surprise at the announcement and noted that she and LaPaglia had previously spoken about making the announcement together. Netizens were quick to point out how similar this experience was to Bryan’s social media announcement of his and Paglia’s relationship. This time it was LaPaglia getting dragged in the comments.
Did Portnoy Play a Part?
Many news outlets and fans online have dragged Barstool Sports founder and owner, David Portnoy, into the drama. On the BFFs Podcast’s X account, he posted an eight-minute video addressing accusations about him forcing O’Malley out and generally playing favorites with LaPaglia. Portnoy denied the claims and even explained that the original plan was to have O’Malley stay within the Barstool network and fulfill her contract on a new podcast.
Aftermath Of The Controversy
After the story blew up on social media, LaPaglia did a tell-all episode on the BFFs Podcast with co-hosts Portnoy and Josh Richards. In the episode, she went into detail about their friendship while she was dating Bryan. The episode backfired on LaPaglia though. Now one of the biggest critiques is how her behavior mirrors what she claimed Bryan did to her. Largely, claiming to have made O’Malley into the success she is today and holding how she has helped Grace over her.
It isn’t just LaPaglia who’s trying to set the record straight. After a cryptic post made by Call Her Daddy host, Alex Cooper, many believed that O’Malley would be featured on her podcast. However, O’Malley has since come out and announced that she has joined the Unwell network which is home to Call Her Daddy as well as Alix Earl’s Hot Mess podcast, Madeline Argy’s Pretty Lonesome, and several others. It’s safe to say that O’Malley will be starting her own venture in the aftermath of the drama.
Should You Work With Your Friends?
To me, this situation is a great example of why it’s not always the best idea to work with your friends. It sounds fun, but just like how living with friends can have its complications, working with friends makes the relationship different. It becomes one of dependence.
Forbes suggested that to successfully work with friends, it is helpful to dedicate time outside of work to hang out. I can see how creating the separation between a work relationship and friendship is crucial to maintaining the friendship. I can also see how, in an industry like podcasting, such plans may not be conducive. On another podcast I listen to, Relatables Podcast, they discuss how they often save things they would normally talk about for episodes. This makes sense given the constant demand for material in any sort of content creation industry. But I can also see how it doesn’t leave much saved for the privacy of one-on-one communication. While Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O Malley’s podcast was certainly aided by the rapport they had built from being friends for years, it certainly feels like an argument against working with them.
What do you think of the Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O’Malley drama? Let us know in the comments below!
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