Portnoy on Musk: Twitter needs to be 'even playing field', end censorship
Barstool Sports founder tells 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' mogul must end Twitter's hypocritical 'banning' dynamic.
Elon Musk pulled the "ultimate gangster" move by buying Twitter in order to "even the playing field," Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy told Fox News on Monday.
Portnoy said Twitter has been markedly one-sided, where comments from one side of the political aisle are met with bans, and the account holders are frequently attacked without the ability to respond.
Elon Musk (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File)
"There's people [who] throw shots at you. And when you respond, they have an army of bots, people who say ‘harassment, harassment’ -- And they get you banned. So they throw all the arrows. And if you respond in kind once or defend yourself, you get banned or you get in trouble," he said.
"I think that is essentially what spurred this on for Elon, because he got muted and he's just saying, 'Hey, let's open the playing field exchange of ideas'."
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The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (AP)
"The good news is he's the ultimate guy – he's the ultimate gangster… If you don't like me, you don't like what's going on. I'm just going to buy you up and let it run."
Musk's initial investment in the company was met with cries of objection, mostly from the political left, after the mogul's previous comments about prioritizing free speech over economics.
Portnoy said it remains to be seen how much of that sentiment is true, but noted it may not matter, because everything Musk touches "are gold."
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David Portnoy (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty)
He added the same people who criticize Musk taking over Twitter praised left-wing Amazon billionaire Jeffrey Bezos taking over the Washington Post a decade ago.
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"They had a tweet that said, ‘how great it is that Jeff Bezos is buying The Washington Post’-- [now] they had a tweet that said ‘this is the end of civilization because Elon Musk is buying Twitter’ – it just depends what you're looking for. The key thing is, there is no fairness."