Media top headlines June 21
Reporters and activists rushing to judge Florida Pride parade crash before investigation, The Washington Post getting knocked for painting Biden as 'deeply Catholic,' and CNN getting shredded for misleading headline on GA voter roll purge round out today's top media headlines
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy isn’t happy with a lengthy feature published in Politico Magazine that tied him to the Republican Party, calling the author a "dishonest loser" with an agenda for ignoring Barstool's program to help small business owners.
The feature by Indianapolis Monthly editor Derek Robertson, "How Republicans became the ‘Barstool’ Party,’" attempts to tie Portnoy’s outspoken style to the GOP. Robertson made a variety of claims that Portnoy has heard before, such as assertions Barstool is racist, misogynist and sometimes leads online "harassment campaigns" against critics.
Portnoy’s main takeaway from the lengthy article was that the author didn’t bother to mention the Barstool Fund, which has raised nearly $40 million for small business owners struggling due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The Barstool Fund has supported over 400 businesses.
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"That guy who wrote it is a dishonest loser and guys like him are why guys like me have become so popular. I don’t have an agenda. He clearly does. I actually do things to help people. He just complains, points fingers and is a founding member of the no fun club," Portnoy told Fox News.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy isn’t happy with a lengthy feature published in Politico Magazine that tied him to the Republican Party. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) ((Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images))
Robertson wrote that Portnoy was hardly "a potential Republican standard-bearer" before former President Trump changed the shape of the party. But when Trump "casually dismantled that old fusion of free-market economic fervor and country-club traditionalism, Barstool was ready," according to the Politico Magazine feature.
Robertson then attempted to make his case and took a bizarre shot at Barstool fans by suggesting they’re probably pro-choice.
"The rise of the ‘Barstool Republican,’ to coin a phenotype, doesn’t necessarily explain Trump. It is, however, a useful way to understand what’s happened to American politics without constantly invoking the former president’s name. Portnoy’s devotees aren’t MAGA fanatics or Q fans who live to torment liberals, and they’re certainly not part of the GOP’s evangelical base. (One could imagine the last thing they’d want is a Supreme Court that strikes down Roe.)," Robertson wrote.
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"But the Barstool Republican now largely defines the Republican coalition because of his willingness to dispense with his party’s conventional policy wisdom on anything — the social safety net, drug laws, abortion access — as long as it means one thing: he doesn’t have to vote for some snooty Democrat, and, by proxy, the caste of lousy deans that props up the left’s politically-correct cultural regime," he continued.
Robertson wrote that Portnoy birthed the "Barstool Republican" with a 2015 blog post in which the media mogul declared he would vote for Trump because he makes "other politicians squirm" and says whatever is on his mind at the moment. But despite the 2015 blog post, Barstool’s website has been largely apolitical and has mostly consisted of sarcastic takes on pop culture, sports gambling content, pizza reviews, photos of scantily clad women and updates on the Barstool Fund.
Portnoy scolded Robertson on Twitter, too.
"This man wrote an 8 gadzillion [sic] word article on me trying to explain why I’ve become pop with Republicans. It included all the 1 sided lazy examples taken out of context people use to trash me. Yet in the entire essay not 1 mention of Barstool Fund," Portnoy tweeted accompany an image of Robertson.
Robertson responded, "Thank you for reading, Dave," but the outspoken Barstool founder wasn’t finished making his point.
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"Any comment on that omission? Seems you did a lot of research on me and failed to mention one of the largest grass roots fundraising efforts to save small businesses in America," Portnoy shot back.
Robertson then declared the Barstool Fund "fits perfectly into the dynamic" of his story.
"This piece wasn’t meant to ‘trash’ Portnoy or the GOP, just to accurately describe a cultural dynamic that’s impossible to ignore. Make your own judgments," Robertson wrote.
"Ohh. Derek chose to omit it even though he admits it fit perfectly. Thank god he was unbiased," Portnoy wrote.
Politico did not immediately respond to a request for comment.