OK, Cupid? The Reinvention of Tucker Max

Once the most hated man on the internet, former “Dick Lit” Douche Lord Tucker Max has rebranded himself as a self-help guru teaching men how to fall in love and be happy. Are we ready to take him seriously?

- Michelle Ruiz

Tucker Max is sitting Barefoot in the podcast studio of his glass penthouse overlooking downtown Austin—and he’s about to lose his shit.

Max is taping an episode of his podcast, Mating Grounds, a sort of modern-day Loveline that dispenses dating advice to Max’s bro-centric fan base, and his 26-year-old producer, Joe Antenucci, has just admitted that he doesn’t want to commit to the woman he’s been seeing for two months, even though, Antenucci says, that’s what she “probably deserves.”

“Dude,” Max growls. “You’re very presumptive and paternalistic. Don’t tell her what she wants or deserves. It’s this weird sexism, guys who think, I’m a nice guy, but actually they’re sexist because they think, I have to be responsible for everything this woman thinks and feels.”

Max goes on, working himself up: “You haven’t even considered asking her what she wants from the relationship! As long as you’re honest and respectful and she knows what direction you’re going, then she can make a decision about the relationship based on accurate information.”

Meet the brand-new, more enlightened, far less revolting Tucker Max.

Nearly a decade after his wildly controversial 2006 bestseller, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, which established Max as an Internet-reviled “dick lit” kingpin, who sold an estimated three million books inspired by tequila-fuelled hookups and the notion that women are “hardwired for whoredom,” he has recast himself as a sensitive love guru for the self-aware millennial man. Max’s dramatic rebranding began with his podcast, which has logged more than two million downloads since it launched last August. And he aims to cement his new status with