Elon Musk Tells Barstool Sports Founder Portnoy to Run for Office After Viral Reopening Rant: ‘Politicians Stole Our Liberty’

Billionaire tech titan Elon Musk on Thursday urged Dave Portnoy to run for office after a video in which the Barstool Sports founder ranted about coronavirus-related shutdowns disrupting the country went viral.

“Well said!” Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk wrote in a message on Twitter. “Please run for office. The politicians & unelected bureaucrats who stole our liberty should be tarred, feathered & thrown out of town!”

Portnoy on Wednesday tweeted a profanity-laden video where he said the consequences of keeping the economy closed were too dire for it not to reopen. “When did flatten the curve … become, ‘We have to find a cure or everyone’s going to die?'”

Emergency Press Conference – When Did Flattening The Curve Turn Into Finding The Cure pic.twitter.com/ZaSTxL6Tuc

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 14, 2020

He added that he would rather face the consequences of the coronavirus than lose his business as a result of an economic shutdown. “What about people who own businesses? … You can’t stay closed indefinitely. Imagine working for, like, a year, five years, a decade, grinding your fingers to the bone to start a business. Barstool, thank God, will be all right. I’m talking about other businesses. People who have jobs, who’ve worked their whole f—ing lives off to put food on the table to create a happy living. They’re just going to go out of business?”

Musk expressed his own objections this month to a coronavirus-related shutdown in California’s Alameda County, where Tesla’s sole U.S. manufacturing facility is located. He reopened the plant on Monday in defiance of county rules, tweeting, “I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” He said that he may move the facility to a different state as a result of the conflict.