Barstool Sports Owner Dave Portnoy Confronts Washington Post Reporter Over Email Assertions – Deadline

Controversial Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy doesn’t like what he’s seen about how the journalism sausage is made.

Portnoy is hosting a “One Bite Pizza Festival” in Brooklyn, N.Y. today. Before the festival, Washington Post reporter Emily Heil reached out to the festival’s sponsors to see whether they had any comment on Portnoy’s association with the event.

A screenshot Portnoy published on the Barstool website quotes the email: “We are planning to write about the festival and how some of the sponsors and participants have drawn criticism by seeming to associate themselves with Dave Portnoy, who has a history of misogynistic comments and other problematic behavior.” 

Portnoy confronted Heil in a phone call he taped and posted on social media. The video was headlined, “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.”

On the call, he claimed he didn’t believe the Post would give him a fair story and that Heil was trying to “shame sponsors.”

After the phone call was revealed on social media, Heil canceled a scheduled interview while they were speaking on the phone, according to Portnoy. The story ran Friday.

See the call below.