Tipsheet

How Dave Portnoy Reacted to a NYT Reporter Roaming Around His Pizza Festival

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 23, 2023 9:45 PM

One Bite Pizza Festival is over. Five thousand people braved the rain as Tropical Storm Ophelia moved up the east coast. The event was supposed to be innocuous: a gathering of the most excellent pizza establishments Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy could think of after years of doing his signature reviews that have amassed an enormous following. It turned into a battlefield for cancel culture. 

You already know the story: Dave was tipped off that The Washington Post was doing a hit piece on him over his event. He cold-called them and successfully flanked reporter Emily Heil. He exposed the publication’s bias in the process, possessing the email the paper had sent to the vendors. Essentially, it said why were they supporting Portnoy’s supposedly problematic past, or something:

Hi, just following up on this. 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. I wanted to make sure that [redacted] had a chance to respond to this since the company is the most prominent of the “partners” for his festival. 

Thanks,

Emily 

The piece went live on Friday. It also got slapped with a community note on Twitter for lying to its audience. You’re not going to cancel Dave Portnoy or Barstool Sports. Some vendors might not like some of Barstool’s content, but they were doing it for those who paid for the tickets and to reach new customers. 

The event, while soggy, appears to be a success. Portnoy even encountered a New York Times reporter at one of the booths. The exchange was short and direct, with El Presidente saying she was probably saying bad things about him. She denied this. From the video, you can see she's trying to make small talk with the Barstool founder, with the reporter saying she was speaking to a man who flew from South Carolina for the festival. 

“Yeah, I believe it,” said Portnoy. “She’s [NYT reporter] bad news.” 

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He wasn't giving her the light of day after The Washington Post incident. 

Peter Grippo of Brooklyn Square Pizza also spoke with Portnoy about the harassment he received. He said he got numerous calls to his business, with folks telling him he was awful for participating in the festival. He shrugged it off. He got the number of one caller, so he called this person back in retaliation. 

“Don’t break my balls,” Grippo would say in response. 

“One guy, I got his number, so I called him back,” he said to laughter from Portnoy. 


In the words of El Prez, “Pizza is love.” But some people want to make political hay out of it. Some sick, sad, lonely folks we have in the liberal press.