Barstool Sports radio host Dan “Big Cat” Katz sharply criticized his boss, Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, for his interview with Donald Trump at the White House.
Portnoy interviewed Trump on Thursday and posted the full 20-minute chat on his Twitter account Friday.
“There were no hard questions, there were no, you know, follow-ups. You have to have that ready to go,” Katz said of the interview during his radio show Friday. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we were offered this at this specific point in time. And that bothers me because it feels like we’re being used in a political race.”
.@BarstoolBigCat weighs in on Dave's sit down with President Trump pic.twitter.com/SBkCjOYDKh
— Barstool Radio (@BarstoolRadio) July 24, 2020
Katz said that they were offered the chance to interview Joe Biden two months ago but he passed. “I said no, I’m not going to do it!” he said. “I’m not going to get into politics. People come to listen to me for an escape from the real world. I’m here to make them laugh, I don’t want to be serious. That’s what I want to provide to my audience, and that’s what Barstool should provide to our audience. Now we’re at a crossroads because I don’t really understand where we land.”
Katz added that neither Portnoy nor Barstool CEO Erika Nardini reached out to let Katz know about Portnoy’s interview, which also did not sit well with him. “But the bigger issue, and the part that is really killing me to my core this morning, is that I wasn’t made aware whatsoever that this was happening. I found out via Twitter and via text message just like everyone else,” he explained. “He didn’t talk to me. He blatantly said ‘I do not care what Dan thinks about this.’”
Portnoy responded to Katz, writing on Barstool, “I obviously know Dan was mad that I didn’t consult him about this interview first and if I had to do it over again I obviously would have told him I was going beforehand. That was a mistake by me. But we’ve talked about it and we’re fine.”