Dave Portnoy is clearing the air on Barstool Sports after making a series of headlines over the past month.
On Wednesday, Portnoy announced he was bringing back former Barstool talent Ben Mintz – whose firing in May was allegedly urged by parent company Penn Entertainment after Mintz accidentally uttered a racial slur while rapping along to lyrics on a live show – as a pitchman for Portnoy’s watch company, Brick Watch.
Some on the internet took the move as a slight at Penn, with whom Portnoy has said on numerous occasions that he disagreed with on the decision to fire Mintz – but the Barstool founder insisted that was not the case in a Twitter post.
“By the way everything I say or do nowadays is construed as me having beef with @PENNEntertain,” Portnoy tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
“I 100% do not. Most of my net worth is still tied to $penn. The corporate woke overlord narrative is bulls–t. They woulda never bought us in 1st place if that was true. I trust them now as much as when they bought us.”
Mintz, who was known as a Barstool personality as “Mintzy,” was fired by Barstool after he said the N-word on a live stream while rapping along to lyrics of “1st of Tha Month” by Bone Thugz-N-Harmony on May 1.
Penn, the gambling conglomerate that finalized purchasing Barstool earlier in the year, made the decision to fire Mintz, according to Portnoy, who, along with Barstool CEO Erika Nardini and popular personality Dan Katz, protested the move.
The decision was apparently made over fears that state regulators would revoke the gambling licenses they gave out for Barstool Sportsbook.
“I hate the decision. I disagree with the decision. I would not have made the decision. But I don’t deal with the things Penn deals with in terms of state regulators etc,” Portnoy told The Post in a direct message at the time.
“Penn paid a lot of money for Barstool and they have to make the best decisions to protect their business. I trust and respect [Penn CEO] Jay [Snowden] that he makes what he thinks is the right move and that’s all you can ask for. Doesn’t mean I’ll always agree but again he deals with things I don’t have to think or deal with.”
It didn’t take long, however, for Mintz to land back on his feet – thanks to the job offer from Portnoy.
“I am being rehired by Dave Portnoy as the first employee for Brick Watch, and I cannot be more happy about it,” Mintz said.
“This month has been so hard on me. Obviously I made an unforgivable — but stupid and honest — mistake at the beginning of the month. It cost me so dearly. It cost me my job at Barstool Sports. I had to pay a hell of a price.”
Portnoy posted an image of Brick Watch’s site analytics before and after the announcement that Mintz would be joining the company – noting a large spike after the news.
“There he is! That’s Mintzy!” Portnoy tweeted.