Dave Portnoy Keeps Up Social Media Campaign After Customer Denies Role in Antisemitic Incident, Revokes Auschwitz Trip Offer

‘Whatever ramifications come his way he 100% earned,’ the Barstool Sports founder says on X.

AP/Daniel Kucin Jr.
Barstool Sports founder and owner David Portnoy. . AP/Daniel Kucin Jr.

The young Temple University student who was lambasted on social media by Dave Portnoy for posting a video of an antisemitic incident at a Barstool Sports-owned bar in Philadelphia over the weekend has denied any wrongdoing and is gearing up to “combat ongoing defamation” and to challenge his suspension from school.

In an initial post on social media, Mr. Portnoy, the founder of Barstool, said that Mohammed Khan had taken responsibility along with a friend for posting a video from Barstool Samson Street on Saturday night as someone who apparently was a server at the bar held a sign reading “F— The Jews.” Another is heard shouting out the message multiple times.  

But on Monday, Mr. Portnoy claimed in a subsequent post that the bar customer, who he identifies as Mr. Khan, “did a 180” and claimed that he was acting as a citizen journalist documenting the incident.

“His trip to Poland has been revoked,” Mr. Portnoy said in the post, referring to an initial offer he had made to the two men to send them to Auschwitz to understand the severity of their alleged actions better.

“Whatever ramifications come his way he 100% earned.”

Mr. Portnoy has taken a relentless approach to calling out Mr. Khan on Social Media, hurling insults and accusations at the young student throughout Monday, including when he discovered that a fundraiser had been created on GiveSendGo.

This [fundraiser] is straight from @TheOnion or @TheBabylonBee,” Mr. Portnoy wrote on X, along with a screenshot from the GiveSendGo page created for Mr. Khan. “Dude uploads an antisemitic video to his own instagram like a brain dead moron and now is playing victim. What a world.”

The fundraiser, which appears to have been created by a friend of Mr. Kahn’s, purportedly seeks “justice” for the young student following a wave of press coverage of the incident.

“While antisemitism must always be condemned, what followed was a dangerous precedent: Mohammed was publicly branded a villain and suspended from Temple University within days—without evidence, without a hearing, and without a trial,” a description on the fundraiser’s landing page reads.

Since launching early Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser has garnered only $20 in donations.

Mr. Portnoy’s comments on the fundraiser led to attacks on social media for what they say was an unfair accusation against Mr. Khan.

“What you’re doing is shameful. The student denied ordering the sign or supporting it, yet Temple University suspended him within days: no evidence, no hearing, no trial. You’re making it clear you don’t care about the First Amendment or the Constitution,” a libertarian commentator, Simon Goddek, said in a response to Mr. Portnoy’s post.

Mr. Portnoy initially took to social media after the incident went viral, posting a video in which he appeared furious about what transpired in his company’s bar.

“I’ve been shaking. I’ve been so f—ing mad for the last two hours,” Mr. Portnoy said in an “emergency press conference” video posted on X. “… I’m going to make it my life’s f—ing mission to ruin these people. I’m coming to your throat, I’m never ending.”

“You think I’m going to put up with this s— at my bar? I want consequences for f—ing actions.”

An hour later, after cooler heads prevailed, he posted another video in which he said he was planning to send Mr. Khan and another individual involved in the incident to the site of the former Nazi concentration camp in an effort to educate them.

“The more I thought about it, it’s like, these are young f–in morons who did this,” Mr. Portnoy said. “They’re drunk. Do you really want to ruin somebody’s life?”

Barstool Samson Street has taken action against the two servers involved in the incident and claimed that they had complied with a customer’s request to have the sign as part of bottle service for their table, going against their training on discrimination policies.

“The employees have been terminated immediately following a full investigation into the incident,” the statement on Instagram reads. “We deeply apologize for the role we played in allowing hate speech to transpire, as we constantly strive to create a welcoming and [an] accepting atmosphere for all groups.”

No charges have been immediately filed, but Philadelphia police are investigating the incident, according to the Associated Press.


The New York Sun

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