Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, lashed out at his Barstool staffer and “The Unnamed Show” co-host Kirk Minihane after he pitched a comedian named Beyond Average Mick, who is apparently known for making antisemitic jokes, to be a guest on the podcast.
“Shut up!” Portnoy hollered at Minihane at the suggestion.
“Don’t tell me to shut up,” Minihane responded.
“Shut the f—k up you bald f—k! How’s that?!” Portnoy shot back.
“I’ll never recover from that Dave, go ahead, continue,” Minihane responded.
“Well, you’re the one that’s like big bossman ‘don’t tell me’ — you work for me,” Portnoy clapped back. “You little b—h. You work for me.”
“For now,” Minihane said.
“For now? Quit, I’ll save $500K,” Portnoy said.
The heated conversation stemmed from the two’s discussion about an incident that occurred at a Barstool Sports bar in Philadelphia back in May. At the time, a video of waitresses holding up a sign that read ” f—k the Jews” was posted online by Mo Khan and the video tagged a person named Mike Wade, per reports. Portnoy later posted that he had spoken with the two young men behind the sign and offered to pay for them to travel to Auschwitz and other Holocaust sites “to get an education.” Khan later claimed that he was not involved in the incident whatsoever after previously taking responsibility.
Portnoy’s response to Khan grabbed the attention of Beyond Average Mick who criticized Portnoy’s reaction to the Barstool incident. The conversation escalated when Minihane suggested that Beyond Average Mick come on to the show.
“I hate this kid,” Portnoy said. “I do think he’s an antisemitic piece of s–t.”
During their chat, Minihane pointed out that he feels people should be allowed to make jokes about any racial or ethnic group despite what may be going on in the world as it can serve some with comedic relief. But for Portnoy, he explained that while freedom of speech is an important right, certain rhetoric or free thought can influence people and lead to them taking action, whether it be positive or negative. He added that some “Jew jokes” go too far.
“You’re telling a comedian not to make a joke,” Minihane said. “OK, we’ll ban Jew jokes of that nature. We’ll get the constitution, we’ll get congress and ban Jew jokes of that nature.”
He continued: “I thought it would be interesting to have somebody on who you disagree with and have a conversation … Which I thought you were trying to do with bringing these guys to Auschwitz, trying to have a conversation so you can put a name and a face to someone you disagree with. You don’t want to do that, so I was wrong.”
By the end of it, Portnoy took to X the next day after receiving some backlash over how he spoke to Minihane and told critics to “shut up and mind their business.”
“‘Don’t ever, how could you talk to your employees like that?’” Portnoy mocked in the video. “Shut up and mind your business, welcome to Barstool. This is how we talk to each other back and forth, Kirk and I. So just shut up, shut up. Those people don’t know what the f–k they’re talking about. This is about the bigger thing, and again, clips, what we talk about, taken out of context.”
He continued: “Let me just set the record straight … If you’re making a Jew joke currently, right now. After a bunch of Jews get Molotov cocktails thrown at them in Colorado, or after two Jews are gunned down outside a Jewish museum and your response is somehow ‘it’s the Jews’ fault,’ or a veiled Jew joke, you’re an antisemitic piece of s–t.”
During another point in the tense podcast, Portnoy targeted young climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is currently sailing to the Gaza strip to help deliver aid resources. When co-host Ryan Whitney joked that Jews control the media, Portnoy said not well enough and said Thunberg’s boat should get hit by a missile.
“It is crazy, though. If we’re being honest, this is also in my holster. Jews control the media. It’s like, well, we’re not doing a good job of it right now. You’re f–king it up,” Portnoy said. “I’ll jump on Greta van Thorsten or whatever that girl’s – she’s sailing there. Like whoever that f–k – and I hope they hit a fucking missile on her boat. Knock that boat down. Greta or whatever her name is.”
