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Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, has revealed his shift away from the Democratic Party, attributing his change in allegiance to the party’s portrayal of young white males as ‘the bad guys’ ahead of last year’s presidential election.
In an interview with Tony Dokoupil on CBS Sunday Morning, Portnoy shared insights into his political views while also addressing the antisemitic abuse he faces regularly.
During their conversation, Dokoupil questioned Portnoy, who was raised in a liberal Jewish household near Boston, about why many young men distanced themselves from the Democrats and supported Donald Trump instead.
Dokoupil interjected, asking, “What do you mean by normal guys? Are you implying there’s only one way to be a guy?”
Portnoy elaborated, claiming that the Democratic Party suggested it was unfavorable to be a young male who enjoys admiring attractive women, consuming alcohol, and attending fraternity parties.
Dave Portnoy has claimed he stopped supporting the Democrats because they made young white males feel like ‘the bad guys’
Portnoy frequently hit out at the Kamala Harris campaign before her election defeat last year
‘And to be honest, the white guy was the bad guy, became the bad guy,’ he argued. ‘And there’s a lot of white dudes who are like, “I’m not the bad guy. What are you getting mad at me for? I wasn’t here for colonialism or any of the stuff you guys are complaining about 200 years ago.”‘
Portnoy took aim at the Democrats on frequent occasions before last year’s election, which Trump prevailed in conclusively after winning all seven key battleground states.
The media magnate, who claims to have voted for the party in previous years, said he was left with ‘no choice’ but to vote for the Republican nominee because of the ‘pure arrogance’ of Kamala Harris’ campaign.
At a different stage of the CBS interview, Portnoy also lifted the lid on the antisemitic abuse he has been dealing with ‘daily’, insisting he feels an obligation to speak out against it.
Just last week the Barstool boss was subjected to abuse in the streets after a heckler shouted ‘F*** the Jews’ at him while he recorded one of his famous pizza reviews in Starkville, Mississippi.
The heckler, 20-year-old student Patrick McClintock, was arrested after a clip of the incident went viral on social media.
‘It’s every day now. Like, there’s a definitive shift in what’s going on. For me, being a Jewish person you got to step up,’ Portnoy said about the rise of antisemitism.
‘You’re kind of someone people look up to in the Jewish community. You have to be like, alright, this is not normal.’
The Barstool founder, who was abused by an antisemitic heckler in Mississippi last week (pictured), also discussed the rise in hate he is being subjected to
Patrick McClintock, 20, was arrested for yelling ‘F*** the Jews’ at Portnoy in the viral video
The incident in Mississippi was unfortunately not the first time in recent months Portnoy has been targeted with such disgraceful abuse over his faith.
When the 48-year-old was filming a pizza review outside of Terrazza in Toronto in June, a passer-by yelled out ‘f*** the Jews’ from a car.
‘There we go,’ Portnoy said, before being left furious that members of the crowd that had gathered around him on that day laughed at the incident.
‘What are you guys f***ing laughing about?’ he shouted. They quickly fell silent, with Portnoy adding: ‘Exactly.’
A month before the Canada incident, he was embroiled in another Anti-Semitic scandal, after a bottle service worker was filmed holding a sign that read ‘F*** the Jews’ at the Barstool Sports bar in Philadelphia.
Portnoy immediately fired two waitresses and identified the people allegedly responsible for ordering the sign – one being Temple University student Mo Khan.