Barstool Sports founder and owner Dave Portnoy is widely known for his outspoken and relentless personality. It is part of what has made him such a successful businessman and helped create his Barstool Sports empire.
After getting wind of a potentially harmful story to his image/likeness that The Washington Post’s Emily Heil was prepared to release, he contacted he directly to address the matter.
Not only did Portnoy contact her directly, but he also recorded the call and shared it on social media for his millions of followers to listen to:
I Caught Wind That The Washington Post Was Writing A Hit Piece About Me And My Pizzafest So I Did What I Do. I Went on the Offensive pic.twitter.com/5oK2zJqVAs
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 20, 2023
Portnoy has become known for his patented One Bite Pizza Reviews, where he travels and tastes pizza all around the country and ranks them based on a score of one to 10. The pizza reviews have become so popular over the years that he decided to organize an upcoming “One Bite Pizza Festival” in New York, featuring pizza from some of the greatest pizzerias in America.
Heil was contacting one of the event’s sponsors to try and obtain information regarding Portnoy’s “history of misogynistic comments and other problematic behavior.” During the phone call, Portnoy asked Heil “Do you think that’s fair?”
After initially calling Heil to question her reporting, the two resolved the matter rather peacefully. Portnoy agreed to interview with Heil as long as he got to record the conversation, which Heil also agreed to.
Now, Portnoy will have an opportunity to control his narrative surrounding Heil’s story while Heil gets the exposure of working with one of the most famous individuals in the country.
