We heard Kyle Cooke yell on Summer House that “Loverboy IS tanking,” but it seems like the hard tea train is back on the tracks, so much so that another canned spritz company is trying to ride Loverboy’s coattails. At least, according to Kyle. And, even more dramatically, they’re using one of Kyle’s closest friends to do it. Craig Conover was recently announced as a key investor and brand ambassador of Spritz Society, a competitor alcoholic bev company run by Craig’s friends Claudia Oshry and Ben Soffer (AKA girl with no job and boy with no job). So what’s the problem? Isn’t there enough canned cocktail love to go around? Well, Kyle has a lot of serious complaints about Craig’s new venture, and he held no punches while telling Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live all about them. Let’s get into Craig Conover and Kyle Cooke’s big bev beef.
Explaining the Craig Conover and Kyle Cooke fight
What is Craig’s new alcohol investment?
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Craig posted on April 24 that he was “excited to announce” that he is “now an investor in [Spritz Society]” after trying the canned drink during a tailgate for the Taylor Swift concert with his gf Paige (possibly the most basic bitch origin story in history). He praises the wine drink’s fresh taste and even drops a code for the thirsty folks at home. Soooo basically… a glorified spon partnership?
Not according to Craig, who told Page Six that he always wanted an alcohol brand in his portfolio. When he found out that Claudia and Ben were the creators behind Spritz, they struck up a conversation, and Craig joining their team became a no-brainer. There was a Craig-curated drink released during the summer of 2024, which was exciting for Craig because he’s never had a “pool drink” he felt passionate about sipping on before. Unfortunately, that technically includes the Loverboys Craig drank over the years to support Kymanda. Craig also claimed investing in Loverboy “wasn’t an option.” Still, he’s said that he’s inspired by Kyle’s success as a founder, though Spritz will be more of a delegated team effort. Craig proudly manifested Spritz Society becoming the future Loverboy of Southern Charm.
Kyle’s response to Craig’s Spritz Society venture
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During an episode of WWHL, Kyle started by saying there was really no bad blood, he wished Craig the best, and he wanted to take the high road about the whole situation even though it rubbed him the wrong way. Yet three seconds later, bad blood commenced. After admitting that he didn’t believe Craig made a legitimate investment in Spritz Society, Kyle went on to say that Craig has a “reputation of lying,” and Kyle was now experiencing that because of the way Craig lied to him about his involvement with Spritz Society.
Kyle got increasingly upset as he shared that the “founder” of the competitor company took Kyle to dinner to “milk” him for information just days before Kyle found out he was bringing Craig aboard. This struck Kyle as dishonest (though Boy With No Job thought it was a chill chat).
Kyle also took issue with Craig for claiming not to know that Loverboy made spritzes, canned cocktails, and other specialty beverages beyond tea since Craig was pounding the Loverboys during his stints on Summer House and Winter House. But Kyle did seem consoled by the fact that Loverboy is outselling the competitor, despite their recent “copycat” spritz launch this summer, so it’s not even a rivalry.
Ummm… if that was the high road, I don’t even want to know what the low road entails!
Are Craig and Kyle still friends?
At Miami Fan Fest in November 2024, Kyle tried to say that things were copacetic between him and Craig after having a “great conversation” over the summer, but he wasn’t too convincing since Kyle was throwing shade at Craig’s businesses at the same time. When Andy challenged Kyle to “name one way in which Craig Conover is a more savvy businessman,” Kyle replied that Craig is smarter because he doesn’t actually run his own business but rather has other people do it for him. Ouch!
Kyle quickly tried to damage control, clarifying that he just meant that, as a sole founder, he was jealous Craig had business partners helping him. But as Amanda awkwardly pointed out, that still wasn’t a compliment about Craig lolz.
On season 9 of Summer House, it’s teased that Kyle blows up Paige’s phone about the tricky situation between himself and Paige’s now ex-boyfriend.
