Cole Sprouse has been called out online after a viral video of his interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast featured him smoking indoors. Now, social media users are roasting the Riverdale star for the “cringey” podcast appearance.
The former Disney Channel star was a guest on this week’s episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast. In a promo clip shared to social media ahead of the episode, Sprouse was seen inhaling from a lit cigarette as he sat inside the recording studio opposite Cooper.
“You had a relationship with a cast mate on Riverdale,” Cooper said in the clip, in reference to Sprouse’s nearly three-year long relationship with Riverdale cast member, Lily Reinhart. “How did you navigate a breakup with someone that you work with?”
“Ooh, it was really hard,” Sprouse replied, dangling the cigarette in between his fingers. “I know we both did quite a bit of damage to each other.”
When Cooper asked the 30-year-old actor why he and Reinhart ultimately broke up, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody alum then took a long puff of his cigarette while pondering the question.
Unsurprisingly, the viral clip received a flurry of reactions from people on Twitter trolling Sprouse for seemingly channelling a “tortured artist” persona.
“he gives me the ick,” read one viral tweet.
“It’s giving rich white kid pretending to be a tortured artist,” said someone else.
“Cole Sprouse smoking a cigarette INDOORS on a podcast is the cringiest thing ever,” another wrote.
Others joked that Sprouse successfully made smoking cigarettes look “uncool” and that he should be the next face of an anti-smoking ad.
“Nobody has ever looked so uncool smoking inside,” said one person.
“those anti smoking campaigns should use this video for all of their ads cause i’ve never seen smoking look less cool,” another read.
A third tweet said: “the way he smokes looks like it’s the first time he’s ever done it”
During Wednesday’s podcast episode, Sprouse spoke openly about his relationship with his Riverdale co-star, Lili Reinhart. The former couple first met in 2016 while filming the pilot of their CW show. They went on to spark relationship rumours for two years, before making their red carpet debut as a couple at the Met Gala in May 2018.
However, Sprouse confirmed in an Instagram post in August 2020 that the two decided to separate in January that year and officially called it quits in March.
The actor also revealed on Call Her Daddy that he had been cheated on by “almost every single one of” his previous “girlfriends”.
Now, Sprouse is currently in a relationship with model Ari Fournier. The couple celebrated their two-year anniversary last January.
