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Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy went on the attack against a Washington Post reporter over a feared “hit piece” after the journalist contacted sponsors of his upcoming pizza festival.
Portnoy called reporter Emily Heil, the paper’s national food writer, on Wednesday to upbraid her for “sending an email that says, to the effect, ‘Dave’s a misogynic racist. Do you want to defend yourselves advertising at this event?’”
He posted the recording of their 12-minute conversation on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. It has racked up over 21.5 million views in less than 24 hours.
“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Heil asks before insisting: “I have not said anything like that.”
Portnoy then confronts Heil with an email he obtained that she apparently sent to one identified sponsor of the inaugural One Bite Pizza Festival.
“We are planning to write about the festival and how some of the sponsors and participants have drawn criticism by seeming to associate themselves with Dave Portnoy, who has a history of misogynistic comments and other problematic behavior,” Portnoy reads to her.
He also posted the email on Barstool’s website with the name of the sponsor redacted. The event’s partners include hard seltzer High Noon, C4 Energy, Coca-Cola, and ’47, among others.
Portnoy, who recently reacquired Barstool Sports from Penn Entertainment for $1, called Heil’s message “tortious interference” — referring to intentional damage to his professional relationships with a third party to cause economic harm.
He was also furious that the reporter had not reached out to him directly.
Heil contended that she planned to contact Portnoy on Thursday morning, but hadn’t yet because she hadn’t come up with “specific questions” for the Barstool boss.
“Anybody who’s listening to this, to think that you were going to give me a fair chance when you’re leading to our sponsors before you talk to me is crazy,” Portnoy retorted, claiming Heil’s upcoming “hit piece” would surely include “all this stuff you’re about to make up against me.”
“The Washington Post, which is a wildly left-leaning publication, you have things you’ve said. You hate Trump. You hate Elon. Not that I’m those people. To think you’re gonna give me a fair shake. I wasn’t born yesterday,” he added.
By the end of the call, the two agreed to speak at 10 a.m. Thursday. However, late Wednesday, Portnoy tweeted that the call was canceled, and the paper “proposed 5 p.m. instead.”
“I said 10 a.m. or nothing. They refused,” he added.
The Post has sought comment from Heil, the Washington Post and Portnoy.
The 46-year-old internet celebrity has faced accusations from several women of sexual misconduct and rough sex that turned humiliating, but Portnoy strongly denied the claims, as The Post previously reported.
Three other women told Business Insider that Portnoy filmed their sexual encounters without permission. He sued the publication this year but eventually dropped his lawsuit.
The @washingtonpost just cancelled the 10am call. Shocker. They proposed 5pm instead. I said 10am or nothing. They refused. What could suddenly be more important than this? The article has to come out Friday. So they'd leave themselves a few hours before going to print? 🦝🦝 https://t.co/qPQ77bXLcG
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 20, 2023The inaugural One Bite Pizza Festival, borne out of Portnoy’s popular “One Bite Pizza Reviews” that he shares on YouTube, is 95% sold out, according to its website.
Some all-inclusive tickets are still available for $219.99 and VIP tickets are going for $699.99 for the event, which will be held at Maimonides Park in Brooklyn.
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