OAN Staff James Meyers
5:35 PM – Monday, May 5, 2025
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted a video on X on Sunday calling for an “Emergency Press Conference,” after learning about a light-up sign in a Barstool Sports-owned bar that said “F*** the Jews,” which patrons in Philadelphia brought to his attention.
The Barstool Sports founder explained that, until now, he has never had any complaints about the Center City bar, Barstool Sansom Street. “Usually a great bar. You know, bottle service, people buy drinks, you get a sign,” he said. “[But] there was a sign yesterday that said ‘F*** the Jews.’”
“I’ve had more hate, more antisemitism in the last year and a half than I’ve ever had before,” he continued.
Portnoy, who is Jewish, then announced to his followers that he had fired two waitresses from the bar. Additionally, he also revealed that he found the two people responsible for the antisemitic sign.
The contentious events garnered massive media attention, and Portnoy discussed the incident with a reporter from ABC Philadelphia on Monday — after the network reached out to him for an interview.
However, Portnoy said that he was left feeling frustrated with the back-and-forth conversation after the reporter, who has not been identified, purportedly “pulled a quote out of her a**’… from a made-up journal,” Portnoy claimed. She also allegedly suggested that Barstool was to blame for the antisemitism that took place, arguing that the culture perpetuated by his company prompted the hateful exchange.
“Emergency Press Conference — There was a ‘F*** the Jews’ sign at our Philly bar last night. I am shaking I’m so mad,” he captioned the video.
“‘I’ve been shaking. I’ve been so mad for the last two hours. Like I instantly got on, this is why the Emergency Press Conference is late, because I was so over the top,” Portnoy said in the video, explaining that before logging into social media to address the situation, he had done everything he could to track down all employees of his who allowed it to happen.
“I’m gonna f***ing make it my life f***ing mission to ruin these people. Like, I’m coming for your throat. I’m never ending,” he continued, saying he’d spent the last two hours “on the trail” digging up as much information as he could.
“You think I’m going to put up with this s**t at my bar?” he asked. “So I’ve been hunting down waitresses, the table who did it, and everything you can f***ing name, because I want f***ing consequences for f***ing actions … Trust me, I have been on it.”
In the video, Portnoy detailed how he found and fired the two waitresses who held up the sign, calling one of them “one of the dumbest f***ing humans I’ve ever talked to in my life.”
He also noted that he spoke with a Temple University student who was responsible for posting a since-deleted video of the sign via Instagram. The school’s president, John Fry, announced that the school’s Division of Student Affairs “identified one Temple student who is believed to have been involved” — putting them on interim suspension.
“In the strongest terms possible, let me be clear: antisemitism is abhorrent. It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university,” Fry wrote.
Portnoy admitted that his “initial reaction was I’m gonna f***ing burn these people to the ground.”
However, after speaking with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who suggested that he should organize a trip for those involved to visit Auschwitz, the site of the Holocaust concentration camp, he suggested that it could be a valuable “teaching moment” for them.
The bar issued an apology in regard to the incident.
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