Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has been all over social media in recent days after staff at one of the chain’s bars were filmed holding a sign that read “f*** the Jews”.
Portnoy has expressed his outrage at the incident, saying he was “shaking with rage”, and has had some choice words for those he found to be responsible, not least because of his own Jewish heritage. But just how Jewish is the face of one of the US’ biggest hospitality brands?
Born in 1977 in the small town of Swamspcott, Massachusetts to Michael and Linda Portnoy, both his parents were Jewish
In his youth, he was a classmate of now-former ESPN sports reporter Todd McShay and the two are longtime friends.
Portnoy gained a degree in education from the University of Michigan but, by 2004, was living in Boston and working for Yankee Group, a market research firm. That year, he founded Barstool Sports as a free magazine, which he handed out on street corners in the city.
He wrote most of the magazine’s content himself with a target audience of young men and a more casual tone that mainstream outlets. The publication took off when he began using photos of women in bikinis on its cover, expanding to an online blog in 2007.
Since then, the brand has grown into a giant of sports and pop culture media, as well as organising events and offering gambling deals, while Portnoy himself has developed a persona as a vocal political critic and opponent of political correctness under the moniker El Presidente.
He has also faced his fair share of controversy, particularly after he was accused of filming sexual partners without their consent in 2021. Portnoy denied all allegations against him and maintained that all of his sexual relationships have been fully consensual.
He has also faced criticism for the promotion of heavy drinking at Barstool events and his personal attitudes towards women, including a 2010 blog post in which he wrote: “Even though I never condone rape if you're a size 6 and you're wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?”
Asked about the post in 2012 he said he stood by the comment, labelling it “a funny joke”.
Throughout his contentious career, though, he has been outspoken about his Jewishness, opposition to antisemitism and support of Israel.
Just last month, he was spotted waving an Israel flag in the crowd at a UFC event to celebrate the defeat of Bryce Mitchell, who has previously praised Hitler and said the Nazi leader “fought greedy Jews".
And in 2021, during an episode of a Barstool YouTube show, Portnoy wrapped tefillin with Rabbi Zalmy Fogelman and underwent a “30 second bar mitzvah” in which he recited the sh’ma.
Afterward he joked: “What a world, I did a pizza review and got a bar mitzvah all in one heartbeat here.” During the conversation with Fogelman, he indicated that he was not a practising Jew.
Nevertheless, he remains a well-known figure in the pantheon of Jewish celebrities, with The Forward describing him as “equal parts Howard Cosell, Mark Zuckerberg, Andy Kaufman, and Hugh Hefner”.
Portnoy has also publicly cited his Jewish heritage in the wake of the antisemitism scandal gripping Barstool’s Philadelphia bar and pledged to fund an educational trip to Poland for the culprits to visit Auschwitz.
