Lessons from Being Kicked Out of Alix Earle’s Beverly Hills Pop-up | Vanity Fair

17 April 2026 1602

The line outside Leora curled around the block—slick ponytails and ALO Yoga sets. These queued-up loyalists were there to see Alix Earle, who, to them, is the living embodiment of “realness.”

Earle was hosting a pop-up for her skin-care brand, Reale Actives, at the TikTok-famous cafe in Beverly Hills on Thursday. The brand’s four products sold out within 10 hours when it launched on March 31, so some of Earle’s girlies were waiting in line to get second dibs. I was there for a completely unrelated meeting with the chief of staff at Klutch Sports (they have smoothie at Leora named after the agency’s founder Rich Paul) when I noticed some fuss brewing in the back. I walked over to try and take some photos, but Earle’s team immediately came over, told me to stop, and swiftly denied my request for an interview. Outside, the energy among those waiting in line for skin care was less retail, more rally.

“I just love how open and honest and real she is about stuff…. You can just tell she’s really vulnerable and shares her life authentically,” said Kristen Whitney, 33, when asked about Earle.

“Team Alix Earle, we’re out here,” said Sarah Hernandez, 28.

But how do they feel about Alex Cooper, the Call Her Daddy podcast host who seems to be engaged in a somewhat passive-aggressive public feud with Earle? “I don’t like her,” Fabiola Dolchira, a 23-year-old Costa Rican fan who is in California this week for Coachella, told Vanity Fair. “She’s not good; she’s not nice.”

A cold war between Earle and Cooper has been simmering for about a year as whispers of a fallout circulated around the internet. But this week, the two heavyweight influencers (I’m talking about their reach, not their mass) dragged their feud into the open. Cooper took to TikTok and challenged Earle to “say what you got to say about me.” Earle fired back in the comments—“Okay on it!!” Then Earle amplified a video accusing Cooper of being an “ambulance chaser,” criticizing her habit of interviewing guests in vulnerable moments.

Fans outside Leora were already litigating the drama in real time.

“I think now Alex Cooper might be the problem,” said Hernandez. “There have been patterns of Cooper being a bad friend to people.”

Others were tracking every cryptic development. “My TikTok is all about the feud,” said Davina Leattau, 25. “I don’t think there’s anything else happening in the world except for this feud.” Her allegiance was also firm: “I am on my toes waiting for Earle’s response, but I feel like I’ll support her either way.”

Some fans held space for both Alix and Alex. “I actually like Call Her Daddy…. I don’t hate Cooper,” says Whitney. Even so, she added: “I definitely would lean toward Alex Earle. I think she’s more real.”

For others, the verdict was simpler.

“I’m Team Alix all the way,” said Dolchira. “I don’t like Cooper’s podcast. It’s not that good,” she says.

Nearby, another fan framed it differently: “I feel like it’s a PR stunt.... They’re both super smart,” says Roxana Recerril, 28. But she still landed in the same place: “I lean more toward Alix Earle.”

Back on the sidewalk, the crowd was eager for the next escalation.

“I am on my toes waiting for her response,” Leattau says.

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