The Story Behind Brianna Chickenfry’s Random Nickname

Like many influencers today, Brianna LaPaglia, aka Brianna Chickenfry, got her start on apps like Vine and Musical.ly, and luckily for her, she was able to carry over her pretty solid following to TikTok and other platforms once those shut down.

While that explains how she became a social media influencer and later went on to become one of the more widely known online personalities today, many people don’t actually know how she ended up with the random nickname “Chickenfry.”

But we uncovered a past interview where she breaks it down, and honestly, it’s not that deep.

Brianna LaPaglia got the nickname “Brianna Chickenfry” from an old Vine she made where she compared her legs to Burger King chicken fries. In case you’re not a Burger King fan, chicken fries are basically breaded pieces of chicken shaped like fries and served in a container similar to the one fries come in.

“I made a Vine where I thought my leg looked like a Burger King chicken fry, and then it went viral, and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna stick with the chickenfry name.’ So that’s why I made my TikTok name that, made the hangover videos,” Brianna shared in a past interview with Joe Vulpis.

And so, that really seems to be the extent of the “Chickenfry” nickname. And while it may have helped draw people to her page, especially those curious about why she calls herself that, it’s her personality and content that have led her to become one of the more widely known influencers and an employee at Barstool Sports.

And speaking of that, Brianna also revealed how she ended up there, so keep scrolling for the details on that.

After Brianna grew her following on Musical.ly and Vine and then transitioned to TikTok, she caught the attention of Barstool Sports. She says she received a DM from the company and was asked to come to their New York office. And while there, she says they offered her an internship.

The problem was that she was enrolled in school at the time in Cleveland, pre-med, she claims, and realized she had to make a choice. “I can’t be a doctor if I’m going to be drunk online, so you kind of have to pick one of the two,” she recalled in the interview with Joe. So Brianna decided to drop out and accept the internship in New York with Barstool Sports.

She said she then rented a U-Haul and moved across the country from Ohio to New York. When asked if it was a hard decision, she admitted it was, and that she cried over it because it was “intimidating and scary,” especially not knowing if it would all work out. At the time, she said she only had around 80,000 followers on Musical.ly. While that was a pretty solid follower count back then, it wasn’t a guarantee she’d keep growing or become a major name in social media.

But clearly, everything it worked out, though some fans joke online that she should have stuck with pursing a medical career. Brianna went on to host multiple podcasts, including Plan Bri Uncut and BFFs with Josh Richards and Dave Portnoy. While BFFs was started without Brianna in 2020, she helped it continue its run, and it eventually ended in October 2025.