Dave Portnoy Says Business Insider ‘Scumbags’ Who Reported on Him and Bill Ackman ‘Deserve Great Bodily Harm’
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy spoke about meeting hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and bonding over their respective feuds with Business Insider on a new podcast.
Portnoy spoke to Will Cain on the Fox host’s podcast Tuesday and discussed several topics, including politics. But then Cain asked Portnoy about meeting Ackman, who recently embarked on a weeks-long public meltdown after Business Insider leveled plagiarism accusations against his wife, the former MIT professor. Ackman said the story was published as retaliation after he supported the plagiarism accusations against former Harvard president Claudine Gay, who eventually resigned. An internal review of the story, however, found no errors or bias.
Portnoy has had his own troubles with Business Insider.
In 2021, the outlet reported on claims of sexual misconduct by multiple women against Portnoy. Portnoy sued the outlet for defamation, but a judge dismissed the case. Business Insider stood by their story.
“I’m glad his enemies are my enemies…they deserve great bodily harm.”@stoolpresidente on his meeting with @BillAckman and their mutual hatred of Business Insider.
pic.twitter.com/Jc9Hd9e8Fd— Will Cain (@willcain) January 31, 2024
Portnoy and Cain discussed sharing a common enemy with Ackman, and expressed his feelings about Business Insider in harsh terms:
Cain: Speaking of enemies, let’s talk about Business Insider and Ackman. It looks like you met Wall Street financier Bill Ackman, who’s got a vendetta now against Business Insider. They’re going after him because he went after Harvard. Your thing goes back with [CEO] Henry Blodget and the reporter who I don’t remember her name [Julia Black] at Business Insider. Did you meet up with Ackman, did y’all launch a grand war plan?
Portnoy: I did. Yeah, well, he’s brilliant. You meet certain guys and they just strike you as brilliant. I kind of figured he was because I don’t know how he writes the tweets that he writes. They’re like thesis tweets that would take me two weeks to write. I’m glad his enemies are my enemies.
Seeing the names that he hates, it’s like a bad memory from the past. And you know I never really… Business Insider are scumbags. And when I say “scumbags,” that’s way too light. … They knew exactly what they were doing, they knew what they could say, what they didn’t. I went the lawsuit route and I thought I would win. I’m like, there’s no way somebody can get away with it. But they use the laws of public figures defamation and everything in between.
They all deserve great bodily harm. They really do. They’re the worst people I’ve ever encountered, and I hope Ackman takes them out. They’re a worthy adversary, and they’re everything that is wrong with human beings.
Watch the video above via Fox News Audio’s The Will Cain Show.
