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Dave Portnoy’s Abusive Treatment Of ‘Bald F—‘ Employee Splits Reactions As Man Who Built Brand On ‘Calm Down, It’s Just Comedy’ Goes Nuclear Over Joke

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Barstool Sports


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Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy’s abusive treatment of an employee has been going viral all week after the 48-year-old exploded on radio personality Kirk Minihane, telling him to ‘shut up’ and calling him a ‘bald f—.’”

The dispute between Dave Portnoy and his underling Kirk Minihane came on their The Unnamed Show podcast when the latter suggested that people should be able to make Jewish jokes despite the current sociopolitical climate. The joke in question appeared to be someone on social media calling him ‘Rabbi Portnoy.”

This triggered Portnoy, who called Minihane a bald f— and an idiot before proclaiming:

“You’re literally saying people should be allowed to make Jew jokes, say whatever they want, right f—— now… how many motherf—— Jews have to be killed before you stop?!”

Portnoy’s lash out at Minihane came during the same episode in which he said he hopes activist Greta Thunberg’s boat gets taken out by a missile.

To be clear, no tears ought to be shed for the ‘bald f—‘ Minihane, either, who has built his brand as being a bully under the Barstool umbrella.

The issue here is that Portnoy is arguably the last person in media who should be arguing for the censorship of comedy, however offensive or untimely that comedy may or may not be. Whether or not Portnoy is right is ultimately rendered irrelevant because his very role as the messenger of the argument makes its message moot.

“She got upset, but it was all in jest,” Portnoy said in 2018 after the Washington Post ran an article about his treatment of a female employee. “We are a comedy reality show, and people treat us like we’re a news network. It’s just not fair.”

“We’re a comedy site and have made fun of every single race, religion, creed and gender. We’ve made fun of it equally,” he’s also said in the past. “We’re a comedy brand that pokes fun at everybody.”

“We are offensive and people will be offended. If you believe there is malicious intent and an agenda behind it, we’ll never convince you otherwise,” Barstool’s former CEO Erika Nardini said, claiming that Barstool Sports is a “comedy brand dressed up as a sports media site.”

“Portnoy can say the n-word as a ‘joke’ during the height of racial unrest, but Mick can’t say rabbi dave on twitter,” one viral tweet summarized.

“Dave Portnoy will tell you with a straight face that porn, weed, and gambling are awesome but Jew jokes are too far,” another popular post reads.

Now that Portnoy’s community finds itself in some precarious crosshairs for the first time in his adult life, the all-encompassing cover of “all comedy is fair game, we make fun of everyone” has seemingly gone out the window, underlining the insincerity and hypocrisy upon which Portnoy has built his fame and fortune: when it’s someone else, it’s just jokes — but when it’s him and his people, it’s life or death.

Eric Italiano BroBIble avatar
Eric Italiano is a NYC-based writer who spearheads BroBible's Pop Culture and Entertainment content. He covers topics such as Movies, TV, and Video Games, while interviewing actors, directors, and writers.
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