Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy had an uncomfortable moment on his SiriusXM radio show Wednesday after telling a 20-year-old female employee that she would be too “gross” to appear on air in five years and that people would vomit at the sight of her.
“She’s not going to be able to put her face in front of a camera in five years because people will throw up,” Portnoy said of Ria Ciuffo. “There is no apology coming for that.”
An outraged Ciuffo demanded one anyway.
“I work on camera and you’re saying in five years I won’t even be able to have a job. I want to be working here in five years. I want to be on camera. I want to stay here,” she said. “That is horrible. That is really horrible.”
Portnoy then suggested she might have to consider working behind the camera.
Show co-hosts Kevin Clancy and Liz Gonzales were on Ciuffo’s side, meekly urging Portnoy to retreat from the statement.
The Barstool founder dug in, however, saying that it was just a joke and one that he would make to any male. He added that he wouldn’t allow women any special exemption from his particular brand of humor.
“It’s obviously a f–ing joke,” he insisted. “Honestly if you’re going to cry, walk your f–ing ass out the door. That’s how we built this company. So people want girls and guys treated the same? They are.”
Portnoy has increasingly become a lightning rod for his provocative brand of bro-centric content. Just last week, he offered a defense of Corey Lewandowski’s infamous “womp womp” moment on Fox News on the grounds that it was humorous.
“It’s laugh-out-loud funny when he does it,” said Portnoy. “To use the womp womp womp right there. That’s an all-time womp womp womp.”
The news was first reported by Deadspin.