[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A jaw-dropping new report published on Thursday accuses Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy of engaging in “frightening and humiliating” violent sex with several woman.
Three women came forward under pseudonyms to speak to Insider for the investigative piece, claiming they had sex with Portnoy at various times in the past that was so rough and violent, the experiences had “taken a toll on their mental health.”
Two of the women specifically accused Portnoy of choking and filming them during sex without consent or permission.
Related: Ron Jeremy Indicted On Over 30 Sexual Assault Counts Involving 21 Victims, Including Minors
Opening the shocking Insider piece, journalist Julia Black wrote of the sexual misconduct allegations (below):
“Insider spoke with more than two dozen people with direct experience with Portnoy and Barstool, including eight current or former employees. Some women, as young as 19 who had no professional connection to Portnoy, recounted having sexually explicit online exchanges with him. Three of these women said they had sex with Portnoy, now 44, and that the encounters turned into frightening and humiliating experiences that have taken a toll on their mental health.”
According to the piece, one woman, who went by the name Madison in the report, began direct messaging Portnoy online last year when she was 20 years old, and he was 43.
She claimed Portnoy offered to fly her out to his Nantucket home, which she accepted. Once there, they allegedly engaged in consensual sex, but Madison began to feel uncomfortable when the sports blog founder allegedly started to film her — without asking for consent — during oral sex.
The encounter apparently escalated from there, with the woman telling Portnoy it was “too much,” even though after that moment he allegedly only “went harder,” according to her statements.
Two days after reportedly having sex with Portnoy, the woman reportedly texted a friend, sharing (below):
“It was so rough I felt like I was being raped he video taped me and spit in my mouth and choked me so hard I couldn’t breathe. And it hurt and I was literally screaming in pain… It was so painful. I kept trying to get away and he was like, ‘Stop running away from me. Stop running away from me.’”
Wow…
Black further explained the pressures these women felt in coming forward — even under anonymous pseudonyms — against an increasingly powerful media figure:
“Two [of the women], including Madison, said Portnoy both choked and filmed them without advance permission; another, who has had depression, said she was suicidal after the two had sex. And all three were afraid to speak out, fearing retaliation from the media mogul and his rabid fan base.”
Hours after the article was published, Portnoy himself responded to the allegations in a pair of videos posted to his Twitter account.
Denying that the woman referred to as “Madison” ever told him to stop during sex, he explained he was only able to recall who it was because of a specific detail of her sleeping on his couch during the trip to Nantucket. Portnoy claimed that the two had been messaging for more than a month before meeting, only to realize in person that they did not get along.
He also said:
“We did have pizza, hung out, hooked up. At no point during — at no point — was it not 100 percent consensual. At no point did she ask me to stop, at no point did either us think something unseemly happened. There was no weirdness after. It was totally fine, normal interaction … 100 percent consensual. I’ve never done anything weird with a girl, ever, never anything remotely nonconsensual. … Cancel culture has been coming for me for a decade. This is just the next iteration.”
Here is his full response (below):
My Response To The Business Insider Hit Piece That Has Been 8 Months In The Making (Part 2/2) pic.twitter.com/lkKJi9i4sb
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) November 4, 2021
Barstool Sports also officially released a company statement regarding the report.
On Thursday afternoon, a rep for the sports website said:
“We are not in the business of managing our employees’ personal lives, but we have made sure to have specific processes in place that encourage our colleagues to confidentially share any concerns they might have about their work environment. This recent news does not involve any workplace behavior. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on the private lives of our employees, but we take this matter seriously and are monitoring it closely.”
And while Portnoy denied the allegations against him, the reporter maintained that she defended her work.
Explaining how the Insider piece was initially supposed to be a profile on Portnoy’s work to grow Barstool, which he founded back in 2003, Black explained that it evolved after uncovering the initial allegations months ago:
“Around mid-April, our reporter spoke with a woman about what she described as a frightening sexual encounter with Portnoy. A draft was in the works by that point, but we decided we would be remiss to not explore further. We eventually heard from more women and the additional reporting led the article in a new and unexpected direction.”
According to Variety, stock shares of Penn National Gaming — the company which owns a “significant” equity stake in Barstool Sports — dropped more than 20% on Thursday after the publication of the Insider article.
Obviously, stock prices mean nothing compared to sexual misconduct allegations, but it’s noteworthy to see some of the fallout coming after these allegations first surfaced on Thursday.
You can read the full Insider piece HERE, but be warned, as it contains descriptions of graphic and violent sexual allegations.
[Image via Barstool Sports/Dave Portnoy/YouTube]
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