Did a cease and desist letter help raise the profile of the Barstool Sports podcast, Pardon My Take? According to Dave Portnoy, absolutely.
In a Club Shay Shay podcast, which was released on Wednesday, host Shannon Sharpe asked Portnoy if Pardon My Take is named after ESPN’s popular shows, Pardon the Interruption and First Take. Portnoy affirmed that was the case, then detailed how ESPN’s reaction to the name helped its cause.
“ESPN’s so stupid, he said. “They went through cease and desist. Best thing they could have done for us. It was 100% a mash of that. Like, that’s what we were doing. And then we posted, you know —.”
“Oh you posted it?” Sharpe asked.
“Of course,” Portnoy responded.
“That’s the worst thing you can do,” Sharpe said.
“Was to send the letter,” Portnoy added. “Idiots.”
“Because you’re gonna post it and then all of a sudden everybody’s gonna be like, ‘Well, let’s see what’s going on,'” said Sharpe.
Portnoy added that Barstool has had other similar situations, including with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Again, we’ve had that multiple. Goodell’s been one. But that was perfect. In a weird way, it was like tipping our hat to them. You know, it’s like an homage to that. But yeah, they sent that letter right away.”
The old adage is that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. This feels especially true when a new product — in this case, a podcast — is being launched.