There is more change coming at Barstool Sports around star host Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, as her now-former Plan Bri Uncut cohost Grace O’Malley announced her departure from Barstool this week.
In a note on her Instagram story, O’Malley wrote that it was “not a mutual decision” and that she was “heartbroken” to see the show come to an end on such strange terms.
“I wanted you guys to hear from me first that this is my last day at Barstool. I’m so grateful to everyone at the company and to Dave (Portnoy) for taking a chance on me,” O’Malley wrote on Dec. 16. “I’m just as surprised as you are there are no typos in this statement.”
@centennialworld #graceomalley addresses the end of the #planbri podcast and her friendship with #briannachickenfry ♬ Hip Hop with impressive piano sound(793766) – Dusty Sky
The last episode of Plan Bri Uncut was released on Oct. 20. The show was billed as “a show about how comical it is to navigate life in your 20s” and saw the two real-life friends develop quite a following. They amassed nearly 150,000 YouTube subscribers and went on tour last year.
The breakup follows a tumultuous few weeks for LaPaglia, who outed singer and ex-boyfriend Zach Bryan for verbal abuse and manipulation in early November. That led Portnoy to bring a diss-track-fueled beef against Bryan, bringing even more attention to LaPaglia. After that, Portnoy announced his departure from BFFs, the gossip podcast he did with LaPaglia and Josh Richards for Barstool. Now, the split between LaPaglia and O’Malley marks the latest professional change for the host — and it also was apparently driven by Bryan.
LaPaglia said in a recent episode of BFFs that her rift with O’Malley began after O’Malley was not supportive enough of her during the split from Bryan and her break from Plan Bri Uncut.
“We’re sitting there, pretending to be friends and I didn’t feel seen by her [so I] set a boundary,” LaPaglia said of the break from Plan Bri.
In addition to the Instagram Story, O’Malley remarked on the split in a recent stand-up set in St. Louis.
O’Malley joked that she is going through a “breakup” and “she kept the podcast.”
@popchisme Grace O’Malley addresses her divorce from Brianna Chickenfry during her standup #graceomalley #briannachickenfry #barstoolsports #podcast #planbri #celebritygossip #celebritytea #celebritysecrets #celebritynews #gossipgirl #gossipgirlhere #foryou #tiktokviral #unitedstates #usa #viral #trend #trending #fyp ♬ original sound – Pop Chisme
Neither LaPaglia nor O’Malley are natural fits at a sports media company, but then again neither was Alex Cooper. The company is open to more generalist and personality-based content if the talent presents itself.
But while LaPaglia will remain at Barstool with BFFs (minus Portnoy) and said she wants to relaunch Plan Bri soon, the stand-up comic O’Malley may find a more natural future professionally away from Barstool.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.