Dec 14, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Dave Portnoy, Bar Stool Sports founder and owner walks along the sidelines before the playing of the 125 Army Navy game at Commanders Field. Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

A video went viral online over the weekend that appeared to show Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy being smacked in the face by a cashier at a pizza joint. There was just one problem. It wasn’t actually Portnoy. At all.

Users online wanted to believe that Portnoy, the creator of the “One Bite Pizza Reviews” series, would go too far with the service staff. They wanted to believe that they were seeing the outspoken, confrontational sports media star get some hands thrown at him.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The poster soon acknowledged that the man in the video was not Portnoy, and in comment sections and context notes across social media, the truth came out.

But by that time, the genie was already out of the bottle. The video was viewed nearly 16 million times on X, and another 7 million on TikTok.

Rather than lash out or threaten legal action, Portnoy celebrated his virality. He reveled in the attention.

“Momma there goes that man again! The haters are so obsessed with me they make me go viral even when it’s not even me,” Portnoy wrote on X, reposting the video and a photo showing that his name was trending.

“That’s true power! I’ve become a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. ‘Rat on your pop, and Portnoy will get you!'”

Given that the man in the original video was clearly the victim of an overly excited cashier, it doesn’t hurt Portnoy for anyone to believe it was him. If Portnoy has shown the media world anything since launching Barstool two decades ago, it is that conflict drives engagement.

Some days, that might mean recording a diss track against country singer Zach BryanOn other days, it means screaming at your employees. Over this past weekend, it meant allegedly being hit in the face by a pizza restaurant worker.

About Brendon Kleen

Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.