Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was kicked out of the Super Bowl’s Opening Night Monday (along with colleague PFT Commenter) for fake media credentials, and that also came with three hours of questioning and with criminal trespass warnings if they accessed Mercedes-Benz Stadium again. But after that, long-time Patriots’ fan Portnoy vowed in the Boston Herald that he was still going to go to the game, and he said he already had tickets:
That piece includes Portnoy saying “There’s no chance I’m missing the game.” And on Sunday, Portnoy was indeed at the game, tweeting videos from his seat and giving video updates of his thoughts after each quarter. Until he was forcibly ejected:
Pres kicked out pic.twitter.com/2uuaw7OBRH
— Goldy (@mgoldy100) February 4, 2019
Here’s a screengrab of them dragging Portnoy up the stairs:
That video includes yelling (it’s unclear if it’s Portnoy or the people around him) of “This is America!” and “Fuck you!”, plus plenty of booing. And it’s the latest example of a heavy NFL response to something from Barstool. But unlike sneaking into Opening Night, this case was just Portnoy attending the game with a (presumably) legally-obtained ticket, and dragging him out that way could perhaps lead to more problems and more negative PR for the league. We’ll see what comes of this.
Update: Portnoy was released after the game, and released a video complaining about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
[@mgoldy100 on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.
Recent Posts
12.5-minute buzzer derailed Donovan Mitchell interview, ESPN’s Pistons-Cavs broadcast
"Good luck navigating this horn the rest of the way..."
Brian Windhorst says Bam Adebayo confronted him over Jayson Tatum comments
"Bam was like, 'Really? I’m not gonna play? I defend 1 through 5, bro.'"
Van Lathan: Josh Pate showed sports media the ‘cost’ of interviewing Donald Trump
"Alex Pretti and Renee Good are dead, you want to really have a conversation about NIL?"
Charles Barkley: ‘We’ve done a disservice to the fans’ with new NBA broadcast schedule
"People don't even know when the NBC games are on NBC, when they're Peacock. They don't know when the game's on Amazon."
Brendan Carr sees relationship between sports and local news as FCC’s purview
"I think people are right to start asking whether we have the right regulatory framework in place right now."
Michele Tafoya claims 30% of California is homeless during Fox News appearance
"Almost 30% of Californians are homeless on any given night!"