“Solidarity” is a heavy word, and it has nothing to do with a cake that has three of country singer Zach Bryan’s exes’ names on them. 

Bryan made a post on his Instagram stories on Oct. 22, 2024 confirming his split with his longtime girlfriend, Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia. 

“She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her,” he wrote. 

The couple began their relationship in July of 2023, immediately facing internet backlash and cheating rumors because they had ended their previous relationships only a month before. She has since been seen at concerts of his, and many songs off of his album “The Great American Bar Scene” are rumored to be about LaPaglia. The couple celebrated their anniversary in July before ending the relationship suddenly in October. 

She has since gone on the BFFs podcast she hosts with Josh Richards and Barstool CEO Dave Portnoy to address the split, claiming emotional abuse on the singer’s part. 

“I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him. My brain’s rewired and I’m scared to make him mad,” she shared on the podcast on Nov. 7.

Her vulnerability, along with her cohosts’ diss track parodying one of Bryan’s popular songs, “28,” went viral this week.

It’s important to believe women who share difficult moments in their lives, especially when the men that they are opening up about are rich and powerful.

Bryan has offered so much as $12 million, according to the podcast host, in exchange for her silence. LaPaglia makes clear on the podcast that she did not accept this money. 

This is an incredibly brave thing to do. Not many people would be privileged enough to decline the amount of money offered and not many people would use that privilege as a warning and testimony for herself and other women. Some who may have come into contact with the artist or will in the future. 

As she said in the episode, LaPaglia does not need his money, nor the credibility that comes with it. She is speaking purely as a way to be honest with her fans. It’s incredible to see so many people on the internet come and support her after speaking out.

Then we get to the cake.

On Nov. 6, the podcast host took to Instagram to debut a cake with the names of Bryan’s two other exes in an attempt of solidarity with the only other women who understand what LaPaglia is saying. It was done with good intentions, but bad taste. 

The cake, written with the words “For Bri, Deb and Rose,” is an issue. Mostly because neither Deb Peifer nor Rose Madden, both of Bryan’s exes, ever asked to be a part of a largely problematic podcast that has not done much to support women before this moment. 

Peifer, who dated the artist from 2022 to 2023, posted a TikTok saying that she does not find joy in other people’s suffering, hinting at LaPaglia’s breakup with Bryan. But this is not consent for her name to be posted on a cake by three podcast hosts, one of whom just made a TikTok video about his support for President-elect Donald Trump, a man found liable for sexual abuse. 

It also feels wrong because the men in LaPaglia’s life seem personally offended from her own experiences, but continue to profit off of it. They’re turning the familiar “male vengeance” that comes when the women in men’s lives are victimized into a marketing strategy. It isn’t enough to listen, they also have to make a diss track to show superiority and assert their masculinity. 

It feels wrong and performative to drag other women into another person’s experience. It feels wrong for two men who have proven to be unqualified and immature in discussions of abuse and assault to profit off of it. It’s weird. 

LaPaglia deserves respect and space for the things that she has spoken about. She deserves to be believed. But Barstool is the last place I would ever go to for real discussions on women’s rights, autonomy and opinions on abuse.