Craig Conover finally weighed in on his and Kyle Cooke’s investment feud over the Summer House star’s alcohol brand, Loverboy.
“Craig is deeply disappointed and saddened by Kyle’s abrupt accusations,” a rep for Conover, 35, told Page Six on Friday, June 7. “The truth only hurts one person in this instance, and it’s not Craig. Therefore, he will not comment further on this matter nor be drawn into an unprofessional arena.”
The rep added that Conover is “focused on opening his new retail store in Nashville next week and growing his companies and team bigger and better.”
“Craig has learned to blame himself and not others for everything that happens in his life, including the success of his products and companies,” the rep continued. “He looks forward to continuing to share his life with everyone and thanks all his friends and supporters, whom he views as family.”
Back in April, Conover announced he was an investor in Spritz Society, an alcohol brand founded by Boy With No Job a.k.a Ben Soffer, that competes with Cooke’s Loverboy.
While Cooke, 41, initially claimed there was “no bad blood” between him and Conover, tensions seemed to grow.
Cooke, who launched Loverboy in 2018, confessed during a May appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that the Southern Charm star wasn’t honest with him about his plans to work with Spritz Society.
“Look, I wish him the best, but the way he handled it, and we don’t have time to get into it, really rubbed me the wrong way, and I’m just trying to take the high road,” Cooke said. “He has a reputation of lying and he lied to me.”
Ben Soffer’s wife, Claudia Oshry, fired back at the remarks during a May episode of “The Toast” podcast. Oshry, 29, claimed that Cooke denied Conover the ability to invest in Loverboy — and alleged that Loverboy has no investors.
Cooke, for his part, addressed the controversy during an appearance on Jason Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast earlier this month and claimed that Loverboy does have investors. He also alleged that Conover knew he was looking for investors during Winter House in March 2022.
“First and foremost, all my friends that I’ve filmed with know that I’ve raised money,” Cooke claimed on the Monday, June 3, episode. “The only person that ever expressed interest was Carl [Radke].”
He added, “Craig never expressed interest. He never once asked to invest in Loverboy.”
Cooke claimed that Conover “sprung” his Spritz Society deal on him while the twosome got drinks in early February. The next day, Cooke alleged that he asked Conover to “hold off from signing anything” because he’d “love to put an offer on the table to kind of counter it.” However, Cooke recalled Conover telling him it was “too late.”
After his appearance on Tartick’s podcast, Cooke doubled down on his comments. “The more I think about it, the more I think Craig was intentionally or unintentionally trying to justify things and misled Claudia and Ben as to what we discussed,” Cooke commented on Tartick’s Monday Instagram post. “Craig NEVER asked me to invest and never offered to reconsider anything.”
