Skip to main content
Larry Brown Sports Tagline. Brown Bag it, Baby.
#pounditWednesday, December 25, 2024

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy gets into it with AOC over union talk

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was the top trending topic on Twitter for a large portion of Tuesday, and he got there after being called out by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over his anti-union stance.

Portnoy has joked (?) many times in the past that he would crush any efforts his employees make to unionize. After the editorial staff of The Ringer announced on Monday that they are unionizing, he reminded his employees that his thoughts on the topic have not changed. In fact, he said any employee of Barstool who explores the possibility of forming a union will be fired.

If you’re familiar with Portnoy and his style, none of this will surprise you. Portnoy is willing to say just about anything if he thinks it will lead to good content, but even he probably never expected a direct response from Ocasio-Cortez.

Things blew up even more from there.

Of course, Portnoy has shown no sign of backing down. When former NHL player Ryan Whitney pointed out that the NHL Players Association helped him and fellow Barstool employee and former NHL’er Paul Bissonnette during their playing careers, Portnoy responded that he will “crush you like a grape.” He also faced angry mobs on Twitter the only way he knows how.

Remember, this is the same Portnoy who happily got arrested at the Super Bowl last year for supporting his hometown New England Patriots. For better or worse, his willingness to take on people like AOC has turned his company into a media juggernaut.

comments powered by Disqus