Barstool Sports Sparks Controversy With George Floyd, Racial Comments
Barstool Sports sparked controversy this week by entering a conversation they generally steer clear of: politics.
Various bloggers and even the site’s founder, Dave Portnoy, spoke out regarding race, George Floyd and what it all means.
Given the sports site’s reputation for mostly sticking to light-hearted, non-partisan matters, some did not take kindly to the change of pace.
“Anti-PC, straight shooting and humor, mixed in with sports. This was Barstool’s bread and butter,” wrote on person on the Barstool subreddit.
“How the mighty have fallen. The ‘editor’-in-chief doesn’t let political blogs go through but he’s making an exception this week. Post after post with the same opinions. Brees is Hitler. You’re on the wrong side of history if you don’t support kneeling during the anthem, etc..
“You want to be HuffingtonSports of DeadStool then fine. Your business and you can take it whichever direction. But don’t count on those supporters who have always been your base to continue to be there. Downvote away. I’ll cry in the background.”
Portnoy recently went on Twitter and addressed Blackout Tuesday.
“Sh** sucks in the country right now, it absolutely sucks,” he said.
“First thing’s first, the cop murderer obviously, clearly, everyone agrees with that, and it’s a shame that he was still there, that’s almost the biggest problem.”
Portnoy did not stop there.
“How do you get to somebody who’s my age or your age or whoever’s age different ethnicity different color of skin that they feel how I feel, that cops aren’t out to get them but to protect them,” he continued.
“That’s the change that’s got to happen, that’s where we gotta get to. How to get to it? I don’t know, because we haven’t in a long time and this s*** keeps happening.” he said. “And I don’t ever recall a white guy getting choked out or a knee down. It always seems to be a black person. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Given the backlash, it will be interesting to see if Portnoy and Barstool continue down this subject path.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
