Medium Rare: The Beefs That Rocked the Bay Area in 2025

Life is short. Sometimes other people’s petty beefs are the only things that get us through the day, okay? And this year, the Bay Area delivered some juicy morsels of drama that we found hilarious, ridiculous, satisfying, or baffling (and, sometimes, all of the above). Here are COYOTE’s favorite beefs of the year.

To illustrate each beef, we asked two COYOTE members (Soleil Ho and Reo Eveleth) to take a crack at an “artistic” rendition of the feud. Paying members will get access to the COYOTE BEEFS OF 2025 coloring book that they can enjoy while their own family members are beefing at dinner. 

Lil B vs KD

If you had a pulse at the start of the 2010 decade, you knew about NBA superstar Kevin Durant and you knew about the internet’s favorite rapper, and Berkeley's very own, Lil B. And if you were in the nascent trenches of social media back then, you’d also know that KD called Lil B “wack.” The BasedGod responded by “cursing” KD, in which KD wouldn't win any championships for years — a curse that Lil B would eventually lift in 2017 when Durant landed on the Golden State Warriors. And so, the oddest beef of the decade got squashed, it seemed. We were wrong. 

Nearly ten years after being buried, the disses were exhumed. Earlier this year, Lil B once again took shots at the NBA legend, directly challenging the 7-foot-tall Hall of Famer to a game of basketball: “Kevin Durant you still owe me that 1 on 1 you ain’t ready real NBA I really love basketball and hoop I mean that! Whatever basketball court you want ! And yo raps is trash bithc [sic].” KD’s response? “U wouldn’t be able to get a shot off on me lil one.” (Lil B is listed at 5 feet, 6 inches tall.) Oh, there’s also a song about it all, appropriately titled, “F*ck KD (KEVIN DURANT DISS).” — Alan

SFO vs OAK

I love nothing more than inanimate objects beefing with one another. And this year, two of our regional airports really delivered. This is an ongoing beef that began last year when OAK renamed itself “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport,” and SFO said, “Keep my name out of your mouth runway,” and sued. In June, OAK renamed itself again to “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,“ but was quick to note that the renaming was NOT because they agreed with SFO that they had violated their copyright, but rather as a way of “putting Oakland first,” (lol… sure Jan). The case is still percolating through the courts and recently seemed to split a 9th circuit panel. I hope these airports feud forever. — Reo

Coworker vs Coworker

There are two people at my day job who have serious beef with each other. I can’t tell you a single detail but it’s very involved and every week there is a new update. — Danny

Peter Thiel vs The Antichrist

You know that meme about whether you’d rather come across a bear or a man in the woods? I think that I’d probably pick coming across the Antichrist over Peter Thiel out there. Can you blame me? Anyway, this year the billionaire publication destroyer set his sights on a new business partner and/or fuckbuddy and/or nemesis. It’s really hard to say when all his quotes read like a crappy AI trained on high school-level fan fiction. A few months ago, Thiel gave some private, super-duper secret lectures in San Francisco about the Antichrist that were immediately leaked, and included gems like, “There are a lot of rational reasons I can give why the one-world state’s a bad idea: Turn the planet into a prison; I think the tax rates would be very high,” and “​​It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.” But it turns out, the call might be coming from inside the house. — Reo

Kis Cafe vs Influencers

Oh man, I was RIVETED by the influencer beef at San Francisco’s Kis Cafe, which got so bad that the restaurant closed after getting tons of heat online. In July, a food influencer (@itskarlabb on TikTok) posted a video about allegedly being berated by a chef while eating at his restaurant. Why was he mad? Because, according to Karla, she apparently didn’t have enough followers to justify the effort of feeding her in exchange for exposure. (At the time, she had about 15,000.) Like, yes, the whole influencer “collaboration” economy can be a real pain in the ass for restaurant workers and can feel a bit scammy. And yes, yelling at somebody that your restaurant invited in to eat is an asshole move. — Soleil

Beya Alcaraz vs her own history

Gone are the days where keeping up with the drama on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was my actual job (and boy, did they deliver). These days I roll my eyes when I see a new headline breathlessly informing us of their latest misadventures, and I usually keep scrolling. 

Except with Beya Alcaraz, the supervisor for the Sunset, who held the job for a mere seven days. She was appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie to fill the seat of the recalled Joel Engardio (karma’s a bitch), and was lauded for her experience as a small business owner. But there was clearly little research done because it turned out that the pet store she owned was filled with dead animals?! Julia Baran, the new owner of the pet store, burned that political career down fast, sharing text messages with the media showing Alcaraz admitting to tax fraud, as well as damning photos of the store filled with trash and piles of mouse droppings. 

Her appointment is broadly believed to be Lurie’s biggest political mistake to date, and I’m here for all of it. — Nuala