Grace O’Malley, co-host of the now-defunct PlanBri podcast, has officially yeeted herself out of Barstool Sports following her massive (and very public) fallout with her childhood best friend Brianna ‘ChickenFry’ LaPaglia.
The 25-year-old comedian took to her Instagram Story on December 16 to drop the bombshell, writing, “I wanted you guys to hear from me first that this is my last day at Barstool.”
She then added, “I’m so grateful to everyone at the company and to Dave [Portnoy] for taking a chance on me.” Closing out her message with a cheeky nod to her usual antics, she quipped, “I’m just as surprised as you are there are no typos in this statement.” She is a comedian after all.
While she didn’t delve into the specifics of her departure from Barstool, the timing is certainly notable. This month Grace opened up about her friendship fallout with Brianna. She revealed that Brianna had publicly announced the cancellation of their podcast without giving her a heads-up.
“We agreed to make a joint statement, so I replied, cried, and chose not to repost or say anything until it was time,” Grace explained in a December 6 Instagram Story. “On that same day, you might’ve seen Brianna post that she’s ‘working on bringing back some version of PlanBri‘… All I can say is that that was my first time hearing about this.”
Grace also hinted that Brianna’s tumultuous relationship with country singer Zach Bryan played a role in their split. “This last year, I bit my tongue so much that I shouldn’t even have one anymore,” she wrote. “I was willing to wait out of respect, but things don’t always work out the way you think they will.”
Brianna didn’t hold back either. On the BFFs Podcast with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, she accused Grace of not supporting her during a difficult time following her breakup with Zach.
“She knew what I was going through,” Brianna said. “I really needed her, so I couldn’t do the podcast anymore because we’re sitting there pretending to be friends.”
She claimed that stepping away was ultimately for Grace’s benefit: “For a year everyone was like, ‘Grace needs to leave Bri.’ So finally, I made the call. I want her to succeed in everything that she does.”
Dave Portnoy responded to Grace’s departure in a TikTok video featuring his doggo. He did spend the majority of the video yelling at everyone online for being a bunch of “stupid fucking gossip accounts” and telling us that we “know fucking nothing”. However, in between the grumbled and lowkey tantrum, he did defend Grace’s decision and clarified that he didn’t fire her.
“Grace quit and she was under contract another year. Grace is gonna do what Grace is gonna do,” he said.
“I hope Grace goes [and] makes a billion dollars.”
So there you have it — drama in the podcasting world is alive and well! Whether this marks the end or just another chapter in Grace O’Malley’s journey remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure, I’ll be sat waiting find out!
Lead image: Grace O’Malley via Instagram/ BFFs Pod via TikTok
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