| David Portnoy | |
| Birthname: | David Scott Portnoy |
| Birth Date: | 22 March 1977 |
| Alma Mater: | University of Michigan |
| Nationality: | American |
| Years Active: | 2003–present |
| Employer: | Barstool Sports |
David Scott Portnoy (born March 22, 1977)[1] [2] [3] is an American businessman and social media personality. He is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports.
Portnoy grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, the son of Michael, a lawyer, and Linda, a high school teacher.[4] He is Jewish.[5] [6] After attending Swampscott High School, where one of his classmates was ESPN's Todd McShay,[7] Portnoy graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in education.[8] While at Michigan, Portnoy founded thegamblingman.com, a website where he published his sports betting picks.[9]
After college, Portnoy moved to Boston and began working at Yankee Group, an IT market research firm.[10] In 2004, Portnoy left the Yankee Group and founded Barstool Sports. The early iteration of Barstool was a four-page sports newspaper that Portnoy handed out on subway platforms and street corners in Boston.[11] The paper was meant to appeal to young men and rejected political correctness. Early advertisers in the newspaper included offshore betting websites such as partypoker, which was operating in the United States illegally. The contents of the newspaper was originally solely written by Portnoy, but freelance writers, including Todd McShay, joined the paper. At first, the paper struggled, but gained traction in 2004 when Portnoy began placing photos of women in bikinis on the front page of the newspaper. In 2007, Barstool expanded to a blog.
Portnoy gradually cultivated his persona as "El Presidente", a blunt and candid character.[12] His writing was well-received among young men and the publication subsequently became a mainstay of bro culture.[12]
Peter Chernin's The Chernin Group purchased a majority stake of Barstool in January 2016. In 2020, Penn Entertainment purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million, including $135 million in cash and $28 million in Penn non-voting convertible preferred stock. Penn acquired the remainder of the company in February 2023 for $388 million.[13] [14] [15] Portnoy re-purchased Barstool in August 2023 for one dollar, non-compete agreements in the gambling space, and a clause that if Barstool were to be sold again Penn Entertainment would take 50%.[16]
One Bite Pizza Reviews is an internet show by Portnoy, in which he reviews pizza from restaurants around the world, ranking it on a scale of 0–10. Portnoy began his show with the goal of reviewing every pizza place in Manhattan in 2017. In addition to Portnoy, some reviews feature celebrity guests.[17] Portnoy rarely ranks a pizza above 9.0, but some of those he praised have experienced a transformative growth in popularity, going "viral, becoming a can't-miss attraction for legions of young, loud, and often inebriated Barstool diehards."[18]
In August 2023, Portnoy was involved in an altercation with Charlie Redd, the owner of Dragon Pizza in Somerville, Massachusetts, after criticizing the pizzeria's pizza as "a floppy mess."[19] Portnoy and Redd then entered into an expletive-laden exchange.
Portnoy and Barstool Sports hosted the first One Bite Pizza Festival in September 2023 in Brooklyn, New York.
Portnoy identifies as "socially liberal" and "fiscally conservative." Portnoy opposed COVID-19 lockdowns saying "When did this become...'flatten the curve' to 'we have to find a cure or everyone's going to die?[20]
In a 2015 blog post, Portnoy said "I am voting for Donald Trump. I don't care if he's a joke. I don't care if he's racist. I don't care if he's sexist. I don't care about any of it. I hope he stays in the race and I hope he wins. Why? Because I love the fact that he is making other politicians squirm. I love the fact he says shit nobody else will say, regardless of how ridiculous it is." In 2020 Portnoy interviewed Trump at The White House. However, in 2022, he said it is "dangerous" to vote for Republicans because they will appoint Justices who are too conservative to the Supreme Court.
Portnoy criticized the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision by the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade.[21] Portnoy said: "To me, this is just pure insanity, pure insanity. We are going backwards in time. We are literally going backwards in time! It makes no sense how anybody thinks it's their right to tell a woman what to do with her body."
In 2013, Portnoy launched an unsuccessful campaign to become the mayor of Boston following the retirement of mayor Thomas Menino.[22] During the race, Portnoy identified as a libertarian.[23] After raising more than $17,000 in campaign contributions, he failed to submit enough nomination signatures to qualify for the ballot.[24]
Portnoy married his wife Renee in 2009,[25] and they separated in January 2017.[26] From March 2021 to November 2023, Portnoy dated model Silvana Mojica.[27] [28] In 2019, Portnoy said that his net worth was around $100 million.
In 2020, Portnoy donated $500,000 of his own money to the Barstool Fund, a relief effort for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through May 2021, the campaign raised over $39 million for 348 businesses.[29]
In February 2024, Portnoy donated $277,000 to the LifeLine Animal Project, an animal shelter in Atlanta, Georgia. The money was generated from t-shirt, hoodie, and hat sales on the Barstool Sports website themed after Miss Peaches, a dog that Portnoy adopted from the shelter.[30]
After NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was killed while on-duty in March 2024, Portnoy raised upward of $1.5 million for Diller's family, including $750,000 raised through a T-shirt sale on the Barstool Sports website and a $750,000 matching donation from Portnoy.[31]
In 2019, Portnoy sent out a tweet threatening to fire "on the spot" any employee at his blogging company who sought advice on forming a union. The New York State Department of Labor released a statement saying, "We say no way, no how to intimidation, threats and union busting. It is illegal to take any unfavorable action – including termination – against employees for union-related activities under the National Labor Relations Act. New York is a proud union state." New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez tweeted in response to Portnoy writing, "If you're a boss tweeting firing threats to employees trying to unionize, you are likely breaking the law & can be sued, in your words, 'on the spot.' ALL workers in the US have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions."[32] Portnoy later agreed to an informal settlement with the National Labor Relations Board where he did not admit guilt but deleted his anti-union tweets. He also released a t-shirt with his face on it which read "Union Buster".[33] [34]
Critics allege that comments on the site by Portnoy and others normalize rape culture. Comments that have sparked debate include a post on a 2010 blog in which Portnoy said though I never condone rape if you're a size 6 and you're wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?".[35] When confronted with his statement by Lisa Guerrero of Inside Edition Portnoy stated, "Correct. I stand by that. I think it's a funny joke". Guerrero asked, "Do you know how offensive that is?" to which he responded, "No. I obviously don't".[36]
In 2020, multiple old videos of Portnoy resurfaced that showed him using the N-word or joking about blackface.[37]
Business Insider reported Portnoy to launch multiple "unprovoked, personal attacks online" including making frequent "sexually harassing comments" towards Deadspins Laura Wagner. Portnoy has defended himself from allegations of sexism saying, "I gave two girls their own radio show. We have hired girl after girl — they say it’s a great place to work."[38]
Portnoy has twice been detained in NFL-related incidents. On May 12, 2015, he was arrested after he and three Barstool employees handcuffed themselves to each other on the floor of NFL headquarters in Manhattan and demanded to speak with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to protest Deflategate;[39] he was arrested again in 2019 when he was placed in a holding cell at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a portion of Super Bowl LIII. In the latter incident, he had created fake passes to attend a press event the day prior and was prohibited from attending the game.[40] [41]
The National Labor Relations Board investigated Portnoy in 2019 for posts on Twitter on charges that he illegally threatened to fire his workers if they unionized.[42] That December, Portnoy reached an informal settlement with the Board, which required him to delete his threatening tweets and remove any potential anti-union material created by Barstool Sports. The settlement also noted that the Twitter account originally encouraging employees to unionize was actually owned by Barstool in an attempt to out labor organizers.[43] [44]
In 2004, Portnoy filed for bankruptcy protection, following large gambling losses. He owed $59,000 to credit card companies and $18,000 to his father. In January 2020, a tax lien for $11,795 was filed against Portnoy by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In November 2021, a Business Insider exposé alleged that Portnoy had engaged in violent and aggressive sexual encounters with three women and that he had filmed the women without their consent.[45] He claimed that the sex was consensual.[46] Portnoy called the article a "hit piece," claiming that Business Insider tried to find evidence of wrongdoing by him for approximately eight months.[47] In early February 2022, more sexual assault and harassment claims by young women were published in a second Business Insider article.[48] After these new allegations were made, Portnoy announced a lawsuit against the publication. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in November 2022.[49] [50] Portnoy filed an appeal of the dismissal. In February 2023, he dropped his appeal.[51]