Earlier today, Salon’s Zachary Petrizzo reported that an anonymous Barstool employee said the company’s founder, Dave Portnoy, “is sick, has been coughing non-stop in their NYC office, and complained about shortness of breath this past week”:
Controversial Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is sick, has been coughing non-stop in their NYC office, and complained about shortness of breath this past week, a Barstool employee tells Salon.
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) October 29, 2021
And “COUGHGATE” was born:
COUGHGATE! https://t.co/Oa0ymqsX3b
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) October 29, 2021
Portnoy responded to the tweet in typical Portnoy fashion, which was fantastic:
MONEY DOESNT GET SICK ZACHARY!
Another Barstool Employees described Dave Portnoy’s work ethic to Salon in three words.
Hard-working, Alpha male. Jackhammer. Merciless. Insatiable. https://t.co/b9xLGyWwrH
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2021
He added that he was “busted for working too hard”:
The blue checkmark brigade finally nailed me.
“Busted for working too hard”
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2021
But he also released a lengthy statement claiming to have already beaten Covid “multiple times”:
Official Statement from Team Portnoy regarding “coughgate” pic.twitter.com/SnNxzofcC3
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2021
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Hey, before Covid this wasn’t even controversial. We trust we’ll be back to this place sometime soon:
Listen I appreciate the support. As a covid survivor, small business savior, I would never jeopardize my employees health. But my employees are my children. My job is to feed them. If that means I need to work when I’m sick so be it. Thank you Bss1234561 for the support. https://t.co/ANFX5GkhDw
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2021
He did apologize, however, for calling Paul Bunyan “John” Bunyan due to being under the weather this week:
Apologies to Paul Bunyon for calling him John. If you see him tell him I’m sorry. pic.twitter.com/Zm8dth9MU6
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2021
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