![]() ![]() ![]() People have been doxxed, calls have made to their home late at night, and they’ve had to lock down every single scrap of personal information, rightly fearing that it would be weaponized. “People have been doxed, calls have made to their home late at night, and they’ve had to lock down every single scrap of personal information, rightly fearing that it would be weaponized.” Four female reporters who anonymously spoke with me detailed the piles of abuse doled out by Barstool bloggers and Stoolies, and not just online. The harassment campaigns and the pummeling of their so-called enemies-the “haters and losers” or the “blue checkmark brigade”-are celebrated by Barstool, and recapped like they were a sport in and of itself. The online harassment by Portnoy and in turn by Barstool’s most devoted fans-largely young, white men or “Stoolies,” as they’re known-is a feature of the site, not a bug.Īny attempt to rein in Portnoy or the harassment would transform Barstool into something that is not Barstool. Not enough to get Portnoy to stop, anyway.Ī front-facing executive like Portnoy, who has repeatedly said that he “want to stick my tongue down throat,” would not last long at any sports media company, let alone one with a recent $100 million valuation per Bloomberg News.īut Barstool Sports isn’t like any other sports-media company. And no one associated with Barstool, from the site’s bloggers and podcasters to upper management, seems to care. He’s done so on Twitter, in blog post after blog post, during “The Rundown,” and on Barstool radio. For over eight months, Portnoy has been making highly sexualized, harassing comments about Wagner, and very much implied he wants others to follow his lead. “I’m excited it’s not ending,” he said, barely suppressing his glee and promising that he would “slowly suffocate” Ponder online.Īfter the Deadspin article was published, Portnoy set his sights on the woman who reported the story, Laura Wagner, who has covered Barstool extensively. While Katz made it clear both on Twitter and during a Barstool SiriusXM radio broadcast that he didn’t want anyone to “go after her,” Portnoy begged to differ. The sole text Portnoy added to his blog post about the sale was “#SamPonderLies.” It’s a hashtag Portnoy has repeatedly sworn that he can get to trend, by hook or by crook. He wrote a blog post calling Ponder a “liar,” “insane,” and a “scumbag,” banged out a stream of tweets, some of which read like he’s waving a red flag at his 700,000-plus followers, went after her again on Barstool’s nightly show, “The Rundown,” and printed up shirts bearing Ponder’s likeness, slapping on a clown’s red nose for effect. Still, other sports media companies would, at most, have countered Ponder’s claims and let the whole thing peter out, especially since a pound of flesh had already been extracted.Īs Deadspin reported, Portnoy launched a scorched-earth campaign. ESPN canceled the TV show, Barstool Van Talk, after one episode, thanks in part to an internal pushback by more than a few ESPN employees, according to Sports Illustrated. She tweeted out screenshots of a 2014 Barstool blog post in which Portnoy called her a “BIBLE THUMPING FREAK” whose primary job requirement was to “make men hard.” In a podcast that same week, Portnoy went on a rant while Katz egged him on, calling Ponder a “fucking slut” who should “sex it up and be slutty” instead of talking about being a working mother. Sam Ponder, the host of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, was less than thrilled. This particular roiling conflict dates back to October 2017, when ESPN announced it would be bringing in two Barstool personalities, Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger and Dan “Big Cat” Katz, as hosts of a televised version of their wildly popular Barstool podcast, Pardon My Take. Even if it meant leaning into the type of social-media harassment and misogyny that Barstool is infamous for. ![]() The other week, Dave Portnoy, the founder and chief of content of the sports blog Barstool Sports, did what he and fans of his site always do: ratcheted up an online spat to a fever pitch, transforming their collective rage at a perceived enemy into content. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |