‘Frightening’ Sex Allegations Made Against Barstool Sports Founder Portnoy, Which He Denies In Video

By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff

(Forbes)

Topline

Three women recounted to Insider Thursday a series of allegedly abusive sexual experiences with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy — a controversial figure who has built a media brand anchored in brash and often-crude commentary — but Portnoy denied the claims during a lengthy video on Twitter, while Barstool said it’s “not in the business of managing our employees’ personal lives.”

Celebrities Visit SiriusXM - November 14, 2017

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy visits Faction Talk at SiriusXM Studios on November 14, 2017 in New York City.

Getty Images

Key Facts

The three women — all of whom remained anonymous — reportedly said they had sexual encounters with Portnoy, 44, and described them to Insider.

One woman who was 20 years old at the time told Insider she visited Portnoy at his Nantucket house after chatting online last year, and Portnoy’s conduct made her feel like a “human sex doll”: She told the outlet she remembers yelling “too much,” and she reportedly told a friend via text Portnoy videoed her, choked her and made her feel like she “was being raped.”

Another woman who met Portnoy in Nantucket when she was 19 also told Insider that Portnoy choked her during a “really aggressive” experience, which she didn’t characterize as sexual assault but described as being “preyed on.”

The 19-year-old woman also had depression, and she was hospitalized and suicidal three days after her encounter with Portnoy, Insider reported.

In a video posted to Twitter after the Insider article was published, Portnoy called it a “hit piece” driven by “cancel culture,” and said he’s never had nonconsensual sex.

Portnoy said the first woman’s account was untrue, insisting she never asked him to stop or indicated she was uncomfortable and “at no point was it not 100% consensual,” and he said he feels “terrible” about the second woman’s struggle with depression, but claimed she continued asking to meet up with him after their sexual encounter.

Barstool told Forbes in a statement the company will “take this matter seriously” and is monitoring it, but said it’s “not in the business of managing our employees’ personal lives” and noted the Insider story “does not involve any workplace behavior” (a company attorney also told Insider the claims were “highly misleading” and included “half-truths”).

Shares of Penn National Gaming — a casino operator that owns a 36% stake in Barstool — fell more than 20% Thursday, though some of the losses may have been driven by a weak quarterly earnings report Thursday morning.

Crucial Quote

“I just felt very preyed on,” the 19-year-old woman told Insider.

Chief Critic

“I know I've never done anything weird with a girl, ever. Never anything remotely nonconsensual,” Portnoy said in his Twitter video Thursday.

Key Background

Portnoy founded Barstool Sports as a Boston-area print publication nearly two decades ago. He eventually grew it into a larger media brand, courting a male audience by writing about sports in irreverent terms, posting photos of scantily clad women and hosting raucous events. Barstool has faced frequent allegations of sexism. Portnoy once said “we don’t condone rape of any kind [at company parties], however if a chick passes out that’s a gray area” (he later told the Boston Globe he didn’t intend to mock rape victims). ESPN severed a 2017 partnership with the company after ESPN host Sam Ponder pointed to a Barstool blog that sexualized her, and some observers say Portnoy’s habit of lashing out against critics — often women — prompts his fansto harass them incessantly.

Tangent

Despite the controversy, Portnoy’s Barstool has attracted interest from investors. Media investment firm The Chernin Group acquired a majority stakein the company in 2016, and Penn National Gaming purchased 36% of Barstoollast year, a deal that valued the media company at around $450 million.

 

Imo Portnoy and the bands of Barstool Sports has been a mess. Alex Cooper, Portnoy, Big Cat has been pretty controversial lately and imo (please don't scream at me) I hope there is an internet tax so there is less dumb content by Barstool, ACooper and Big Cat. I like their sports and comedy videos though

 

just out of curiosity, what controversy has there been out of Big Cat besides the old video where Portnoy was being racist, and Big Cat just uncomfortably chuckled while not stopping Portnoy? Is that what you are referring or am I missing another story?

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Wasn’t there the actual sex tape with Portnoy and another person where he had a tight leash/belt around her neck? Being sexually domineering is clearly his thing. I could easily see him being abusive in all sorts of ways. He’s made a fortune, but he’s a trash, know-nothing investor (didn’t know who Gary Gensler was on FOX Business) and a really horrible human being. I’ve never liked him.

 

Well he isn't an investor. Not the kind I'd imagine we think of when hearing the word. The guy started a fucking media company publicizing the absurdity of college fraternity antics, sports, etc. If I'm remembering correctly though, it took off with the college scene. He's just some half-savvy half-insanely-lucky guy that has fared well in balancing the two. He's got a video series called Davey Day Trader. Literally blows cash away without knowing shit. I don't even know what you call all that. Professional comic asshole? He's a hooker that offers absurdity instead of sex. I don't even know. 

And yeah I agree, guy is a dick. But that's why he's anybody at all. That's what made Barstool what it is today (and perhaps, to the same degree, still does). No one wants to watch people kindly interact with each other while hashing out day trading strategies they spent 2 years developing. They want the dumb fuck arrogant guy who designated $20,000 to blow during a random Wednesday's open hours.

 
Funniest

I get it. Honestly, everything about him and his work makes my brain feel like it's being microwaved. I can't stand youtube-esque content so maybe it's just me but like, what the fuck? People clamor over each other to watch a man called Big Cat wear strange clothing and talk about current events/sports? We need another Vietnam or something.

 
Most Helpful

I paid $1 for the temporary subscription, and I don't remember reading that during the actual intercourse the woman specifically told Portnoy to "stop". My interpretation, as a late 20's single guy is that Portnoy has reached the pinnacle of the "sexual market value" a guy can obtain, and has the clout to have sex with tons of women without putting much effort into it or without being a decent human being. One of the girls told him "my fantasy is to have a rape like sex experience" with which the preceded to have rough sex, another one he basically had sex with her and in a total ass hole way immediately told her she had to leave the house, and the third one he flew her out to nantucket, they had sex, and they didn't end up getting along but her flight was a couple days later so she very uncomfortably just hung around his nantucket house for a couple days and slep on the couch. 

I've interacted with Portnoy in social settings a couple times, and one of the descriptions one of the girl put out was spot on about him. When he's on camera it's total act and he is faking a personality on social media and in front of a camera. He acts as a ridiculous and comical goofy animated type character, which is what draws the views. In reality, he's a 44 year old ultra high net worth individual that tends to be quiet and not as outgoing as you think he would be. At this point, very little excites him in life, as he's been to the most exclusive gatherings and interacted with some of the most powerful people. I highly doubt that when a 19 year old girl shows up to his house, that he's going to show much emotion to her sorority stories. 

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

He may or may not have crossed "the line" in these encounters but the bottom line is any celebrity or person of substantial means absolutely needs to have NDAs or consent agreements in place prior to any casual sexual encounter. It is just the nature of the current environment. Otherwise it comes down to your word vs. mine, and the rich/famous man will always lose. 

 

I think focusing on NDAs as the big takeaway is pretty disturbing. Portnoy in worst case scenario will walk away rich and with a dedicated niche following of defenders who will continue to provide him with easy money, and he will likely continue to leverage that status to get away with ‘crossing the line’, whatever u wanna call it, in future sexual encounters. Probably by hiring more expensive lawyers to draft tighter NDAs. 

Do you want to be like Portnoy so bad that your first inclination is to play him out as a victim? You’re acting like a sycophant, and he’s laughing all the way to the bank cuz of ppl with this beta ass mentality.

The story here is the pain he inflicted on others through unempathetic and likely predatory sexual conduct. And the big takeaway is not the importance of NDAs. Idiot.

 

If the sex was consensual and no laws were broken, there is no scenario in which Portnoy shouldn't walk away still rich with a dedicated niche following of defenders. That's kind of the point. Nobody knows the "story" outside of the he-said/she-said that occurs after the fact. You weren't there watching when these people were having sex. If both parties agree that it was consensual and an NDA in place, the fallout for the rich and famous man who has vastly more to lose is neutralized in the all-to-common case when casual sex leaves the woman feeling used or debased after the fact. If no laws were broken and it's demonstrated to be consensual, you can't destroy someone in the court of public opinion in today's cancel culture environment just because you feel like it. It sounds like you're the problem.  

 

I know multiple girls who were barely 18 at barstool events a few years back and can confirm that he is a creep towards just about any college girl at their events. Hooked up with one of them and was pushy towards another. It's not illegal to sleep with an 18 year old, but it's creepy at that age and using Barstool events to basically act as an escort convention. The girl I know that slept with him said it was consensual and all that, but even a couple years after he kept texting her pushy stuff that creeped her out. 

I like a number of Barstool personalities/podcasts, but Portnoy always annoyed me. 

With all that said about Portnoy, he needs an NDA 100% as was mentioned above. What I don't seem to understand is that these anonymous girls failed to elaborate on why they hooked up with him when they thought he was a creep beforehand. Fear? Literally run away. If something in the bedroom makes you uncomfortable, YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP OR LEAVE. I didn't see any allegations that these girls said no to any of these things, until after the fact when they decided to say it was degrading and humiliating. Are they victims? I don't think so, women need to be empowered to say no and fight back/run away if they're creeped out. I don't know how we can get there as a society where they're comfortable speaking up about that, but saving things for years after is not productive at all.

 

The women consented to sex but not to the extremely rough stuff and the filming, and told him to stop, which he ignored, and physically tried to move away, which he prevented.

 

If what they say is true, Portnoy is fucked.  The women claim that:

1. Portnoy filmed them without their consent

2. They repeatedly said to stop during the sex after it got too rough and he ignored them.

If there really is a tape out there of some girl crying to stop, it’s over for him.  Even without it, the allegations are damning

 
Drumpfy

If what they say is true, Portnoy is fucked.  The women claim that:

1. Portnoy filmed them without their consent

2. They repeatedly said to stop during the sex after it got too rough and he ignored them.

If there really is a tape out there of some girl crying to stop, it's over for him.  Even without it, the allegations are damning

Oh ya, Only halfway through the article all the criteria for rape were met, he’s fucking done

Get busy living
 

Ah yes, as it turns out there is little actual evidence that any of this is true, many women have openly refuted he is like this in bed at all, at least one of the women making the claims was upset he wouldn't be her sugar daddy, it took the writers eight fucking months to find these realitively weak accusers, and last but not least it looks like there is a massive financial short play going on here.  So like I said previously the timing seems suspect at best.  Turns out it looks like I was correct. 

 

Yep, so crazy!  A dude who said that girls who wear skinny jeans deserved to get raped... raped.  Hedge funds did this!

 

People like you are the reason the culture around any type of story involving women is guilty until proven innocent for the other party. A joke, that 98% of men would laugh at if they heard it, said 10 years ago is now the "evidence" for him "raping" people? You can't separate comedy from reality, and someone I would never want to associate with for that reason. These girls knew exactly what they were getting into before flying there, and sure hooking up with 18 year olds when 45 is creepy, but not illegal. They were clout chasing to say they fucked Dave, not to mention one of the victims sisters essentially whoring her out to get invited to one of his parties. Dave showing the DM's on twitter also proves it was completely consensual, and the girl was probably "ashamed" and cried wolf only when the selfie of her with Dave started circulating and made it back to her parents which had adverse consequences. Additionally, what PEarbitrage said in regards to someone making tens of millions on the story breaking is accurate. Nothing more than a quick money grab and attempt to cancel a guy they've hated for decades because he's everything the journos at business insider aren't (which I would argue is mainly the fact he's generally liked by a good amount of the population). 

 

If this tape exists (and I see no reason it wouldn't) he's pretty much fucked. Not sure he'll go to jail (have seen too many rich white dudes avoid jail in situations like this), but his professional career will almost certainly be over. He might still carry his internet following among frat dudebros, but there's no way Penn keeps him on as an employee. 

 

There was a video that leaked of him fucking some SMU kappa but I think he got it scrubbed from the internet. Guarantee some SMU bois still have access to it somewhere though.

 

So, let's say that I go see a dominatrix and consensually agree to some rough stuff. I think that she's going to lightly spank me but she actually whips the shit out of me, but I never tell her to stop. Afterward, I regret it and feel really weird.  Has a crime been committed by the dominatrix?? I don't think so.

Is this situation weird? Absolutely. Is it a crime? No.

 

It is a crime (yoyeurism) to take sexual photos or videos of someone without their consent, and Dave did just that.

It is also a crime (rape) to continue having sex after someone says to stop.  The girls did tell Dave to stop, and physically tried to move away.

 

I'm surprised at the people here taking a clear smear-piece with zero evidence and immediately saying his life should be ruined. At least wait until there's evidence or criminal charges filed against him lol. 

 

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