The Barstool Sports Bar incident

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What Happened?
An antisemitic incident occurred at a Barstool Sports-owned bar in Philadelphia on May 3, where patrons displayed a sign reading “F**k the Jews” while ordering bottle service. Video footage showed the group laughing, dancing, and singing along to music, quickly going viral on social media. The incident sparked widespread outrage and led to a strong response from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy the following day on May 4.

Dave Portnoy’s Reaction to the Antisemitic Incident at His Bar

Portnoy, who is Jewish, responded publicly with a fiery condemnation of the incident, expressing his anger and frustration. "These are young f—ing morons who did this. They’re drunk," he said, adding that he had faced more antisemitism in the past year than ever before during his 20 years with Barstool Sports.

Rather than immediately pursuing harsh punishment, Portnoy emphasized using the situation as a “teaching moment” and said that the offenders would visit Auschwitz to understand the gravity of their actions.

He also fired the two waitresses involved.

However, in a turn of events on May 5, Portnoy said he revoked an offer to send one of the men involved in the antisemitic incident to Auschwitz for education after the man, Mo Khan, a student at Temple University, denied involvement despite posting the video. Portnoy expressed frustration, saying he had tried to create a teachable moment, but Khan backtracked and claimed he was merely a "citizen journalist" documenting the event. "Whatever ramifications comes his way, he 100% earned and deserved." Portnoy wrote on Instagram.

AJC Philadelphia/Southern N.J. Director Marcia Bronstein said the behavior should not be treated as an isolated incident, especially at a time when antisemitism is at record levels in this country. “We cannot let this kind of hatred become normalized,” Bronstein said. “Let’s view this as a teachable moment. Words matter.”

Who is Mo Khan?
Mo Khan, the Temple University student who filmed a “F*** the Jews” sign at a Barstool bar, has continued to escalate his rhetoric, giving an interview to antisemitic conspiracy theorist Stew Peters in which he agreed with Peters’ call to “join forces against Jewish supremacy.” In the interview, Peters invoked Nazi terminology and antisemitic tropes, while Khan echoed claims of Jewish media control and failed to challenge Peters’ calls for a “final solution.” Separately, Khan released a video on X denying responsibility for creating the sign, claiming it was an “edgy joke” reflecting criticism of Israel and asserting he is the true victim. He accused Dave Portnoy and the Jewish community of destroying his life and is now soliciting donations via GiveSendGo for legal and relocation expenses.

Dave Portnoy responded forcefully to Mo Khan’s claims, calling him “a flat liar” and accusing him of spreading hate and playing the victim. Portnoy said Khan and his friend admitted to the incident during a phone call but later lawyered up after talking to his family. He emphasized that Khan had already posted the antisemitic sign to his own Instagram before Portnoy publicized it, making the viral moment self-inflicted. Portnoy condemned Khan for using the Israel–Hamas War to justify hate, attempting to profit off the incident, and showing “zero accountability,” calling his actions cowardly and disgusting regardless of political or religious views.

What Was the Response to Portnoy’s Social Posts?
Many public figures praised Portnoy for his swift and decisive response. Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick commended him for addressing the “horrific display of hate” and using it as an opportunity to educate about anti-Jewish violence, saying, “Antisemitism needs to be identified, called out, and crushed.”

Actor Ben Stiller expressed his support, agreeing with Portnoy’s initial “scorched-earth” approach, although Portnoy later shifted focus to education. X CEO Linda Yaccarino also thanked Portnoy for “doing the real work to ensure change.”

AJC’s U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism Holly Huffnagle said the incident is deeply concerning. Physical, verbal, and online attacks against Jews have surged, she added, fueled by an increasingly hostile environment on social media and college campuses

Temple University’s Involvement in the Antisemitic Incident

Temple University confirmed that students from the school were involved in the incident. President John Fry condemned the behavior, calling it “deeply disturbing,” and announced that one student had been placed on interim suspension. The university is continuing its investigation through the Division of Student Affairs.

Shortly after writing, “I abhor hate in all its forms,” the student who posted a video of a sign reading “F– the Jews” sat for an interview with an antisemitic influencer and endorsed the idea of “Jewish supremacy.”

Mo Khan, who took the video on Saturday night in a bar owned by Barstool Sports, has shifted over the past few days from expressing contrition to seemingly embracing antisemitic rhetoric.

Now, Khan is raising money off of the scandal, writing that the “F— the Jews” sign “reminds people of the acts of injustice Israel is perpetrating around the world.” He added, “Dave Portnoy, and the greater Jewish community are making themselves out to be some kind of victims… but I am the real victim.”

That fundraiser racked up small-dollar donations (raising more than $13,000 as of Wednesday afternoon) before and after Khan joined Stew Peters, an antisemitic podcaster, for an interview. Peters, who frequently laces his monologues with blatant attacks on the Jewish community, has called for American Jews to be expelled in a “final solution.”

Now, Khan is raising money off of the scandal, writing that the “F— the Jews” sign “reminds people of the acts of injustice Israel is perpetrating around the world.” He added, “Dave Portnoy, and the greater Jewish community are making themselves out to be some kind of victims… but I am the real victim.”

That fundraiser racked up small-dollar donations (raising more than $13,000 as of Wednesday afternoon) before and after Khan joined Stew Peters, an antisemitic podcaster, for an interview. Peters, who frequently laces his monologues with blatant attacks on the Jewish community, has called for American Jews to be expelled in a “final solution.”

Peters also asked Khan whether it was “time for humanity to join forces and become tribal against Jewish supremacy,” to which Khan responded, “Absolutely, and especially in this case.”
Near the end of the interview, Peters said he would give Khan $100,000 in his cryptocurrency, JPROOF. Khan posted to X on Wednesday, saying he had received $10,000 in the currency.
After announcing the donation on the interview, Peters read out loud a comment from a viewer saying, “I can’t believe you’re giving $100,000 to a brown Muslim, shame on you, you could have given that to a white community in some way, pathetic.”

Peters then replied, “I mean, it’s fair, I understand what you’re saying. However as I just stated, these Jews are f—ing everyone, it is humanity against the Synagogue of Satan. It is humanity against these Jews. We have to find a final solution.”

Barstool Sports founder and frequent Fox News guest Dave Portnoy said he was in talks with a “major sport” to air games, later confirmed to be Major League Baseball.

The platform, described as a “satirical sports and men’s lifestyle blog” is, in reality, a cesspool of bigotry basking in the backlash against political correctness. Under the pretense of sharing funny videos and embracing a boys-will-be-boys mentality, Barstool has successfully normalized a culture of harassment, misogyny, and rampant misinformation, all while taking cavalier attitudes toward the chaos that ensues

Barstool Sports founder and frequent Fox News guest Dave Portnoy said he was in talks with a “major sport” to air games, later confirmed to be Major League Baseball.

The platform, described as a “satirical sports and men’s lifestyle blog” is, in reality, a cesspool of bigotry basking in the backlash against political correctness. Under the pretense of sharing funny videos and embracing a boys-will-be-boys mentality, Barstool has successfully normalized a culture of harassment, misogyny, and rampant misinformation, all while taking cavalier attitudes toward the chaos that ensues.

In a 2010 blog post, Portnoy said that some women “deserve” to be raped: “I never condone rape, but if you’re a size 6 and you’re wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped.”
According to The Huffington Post, Portnoy wrote, “College is too short to waste your time being a killjoy. ... Loosen up and f**k a broad. You may enjoy it. That’s me being a role model.”

After Portnoy’s then-girlfriend allegedly cheated on him with a SoulCycle employee, Portnoy told his followers that he was bringing back “Grudge Dave,” which Mel Magazine described as “the alter ego he assumes when launching a coordinated cyber-bullying attack.” Mel Magazine then chronicled how Portnoy wore a SoulCycle shirt the next day and coined the phrase “CuckCycle” and encouraged his followers to “slut shame” his former partner. Followers even found the accused man in question and harassed him, forcing SoulCycle to disable comments on its social media pages. Portnoy then mocked SoulCycle for warning its employees about safety concerns from the harassment: “Don't have your instructors f**k the girlfriend of head of major media company.”

Comedian Miel Bredouw described the “full on harassment” she experienced after asking Barstool Sports to credit her for publishing her content.

Portnoy called ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown host Sam Ponder a “Bible-thumping freak” and said that her only job was “to make men hard.” In a podcast, Dan “Big Cat” Katz complained that “every second that [Ponder] can tell you that she has a kid and that she’s a working mother, she will tell you that she has a kid and that she’s a working mother.” Portnoy responded by calling Ponder a “f*****g slut” who should “sex it up and be slu*ty” instead of talking about her role as a mother.

Ponder also alleged that Portnoy had said in a video that her child should have been aborted. Portnoy denied making that specific comment, but then called her a “vindictive a**hole” and “dishonest scumbag” who can’t get over a grudge. In a video the next day, Portnoy congratulated himself for calling Ponder only an “a**hole” and not a “vindictive b***h.”

Portnoy compulsively continued his online harassment campaign against Ponder. As reported by Laura Wagner of Deadspin, Portnoy sent off a series of tweets shaming Ponder for lying and began selling shirts of Ponder’s likeness wearing a clown’s red nose. In a since-deleted tweet, Portnoy tweeted a video of Ponder and himself as characters in Game of Thrones, depicting, as Wagner described, “a female character [being] paraded naked through the streets so that she can be shamed and humiliated.” On his radio show, Portnoy said he was excited to “slowly suffocate” Ponder in an “internet online war.”

After Wagner broke the story of Barstool employees sexualizing then-17-year-old Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, Portnoy complained in an impassioned blog that Wagner was “so vile and so vindictive” and had a type of “dedication, hatred and pure jealousy” that caused her to be “so obsessed with hating Barstool.” He then mockingly called Wagner a “cutie pie” and asked her to be his “valentine.”

Portnoy also repeatedly harassed Wagner on Twitter and encouraged his followers to do the same. He complained after Twitter temporarily suspended him for violating its rules on abusive behavior, and he joked in a blog that he wanted to force Wagner “at gunpoint” to watch a video of a scantily clad woman in a boxing ring. He mockingly reassured her that “when she gets fired [from Deadspin] I’ll hire her nasty little potty mouth in a heartbeat.”
In a video with a departing intern, Katz admitted that full-time employees were engaged in a race to see who could “f**k one of them first."

According to Deadspin, Barstool ran a since-deleted blog asking if freshman Ohio State women’s hockey goalie Maggie Cory was “the hottest college athlete in America.”

Portnoy bragged that he was “bringing back the word c**t” and shared a since-deleted blog about his efforts to bring back the popularity of the word.

Portnoy taunted Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), saying that he imagines she would want to “coddle” one of his employees whom he had labeled a “p****.”

Deadspin also reported that Portnoy defended convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein: “This is my company, I gotta get f*****g laid, and if she’s willing to make that trade ... it’s not publicly ... who do I owe?”

The Huffington Post reported that Barstool defended its aptly named “blackout parties,” hosted near college campuses, in a since-deleted blog, writing, “Just to make friends with the feminists I'd like to reiterate that we don't condone rape of any kind at our Blackout Parties in mid January. However if a chick passes out that's a grey area though.” Other since-deleted posts referred to female critics of the parties as “crazy b*****s” and “ugly dykes,” according to Eater Boston.
Barstool Sports runs recurring features called “Guess that Ass,” “Guess that Rack,” and “Twerk Wednesday.” The site also posts a “Local Smokeshow of the Day.”

Deadspin also noted when on Barstool Radio, Portnoy told a then-20-year-old employee that “she’s not going to be able to put her face in front of a camera in five years, because people will throw up.” Later when confronted about the comment, Portnoy refused to apologize.

Portnoy mocked the appearance of the then-editorial director of Gizmodo (Deadspin’s parent company): “If I wanted to be mean I would have posted this picture and made crude comments about Susie’s physical appearance. I maybe would have said that the reason her avatar on Twitter is a cartoon drawing is because she is too embarrassed by her own face to use that.”
Portnoy also made fun of the appearance of the then-editor-in-chief of Deadspin: “She’s a jerk because that’s who she is as a person not because of her looks. Old Dave would have tee’d off on this low hanging fruit.”

Deadspin also noted when Barstool’s then-senior director of editorial strategy and growth, Chris “Spags” Spagnulo, wrote a blog criticizing Rihanna’s weight titled “Is Rihanna Going To Make Being Fat The Hot New Trend?” On the topic of women gaining weight, he wrote: “It’s a dangerous precedent and you may want to start adjusting your porn browsing to primarily BBW porn to condition yourself to this dystopian future we now face.”

Barstool published a since-deleted blog titled “Slut Reporter Drinks Cam Newton’s Jizz,” according to ThinkProgress.

Portnoy hired an intern who described himself as “Cervix Killer.” After a woman employee posted photos of harassing messages from the intern and was forced to speak to him live on the radio, Portnoy only mockingly admitted fault because “when you hire somebody who calls themselves the Cervix Killer, who wears a Cervix Killer tshirt to the interview, you get Cervix killer stuff.” He clarified that “subtle sexual harassment is fine and dandy. Cervix killing in the DM’s though? Well that’s crossing the line.”

In a since-deleted blog post titled “Kobe Better Not Have Raped Alex Morgan,” Portnoy wrote, “Like it’s one thing to stick your dick in random chick’s a**holes and [then] buy them off, but it’s a different game altogether when they are famous.”

According to The Daily Beast, blogger Francis Ellis published and then quickly deleted a post that slut-shamed a then-missing 23-year-old college woman. Ellis was later fired for the blog post.
Blogger Patrick “Pat” McAuliffe mocked a woman who claimed that posting nude pictures on the subscription-based content site Only Fans helps her relationship with God: “Cheers to you, Nita. Thanks for doing God's work!”

Commenting on an Instagram picture of a woman in a bikini, Dave “WhiteSoxDave” Williams wrote in a blog, “Smash those puppies right in my face.”

After a video of a Dodgers ball girl tackling a trespassing fan on the field went viral, blogger Conner “Big Tennessee” Knapp described the woman as a “24-year-old ROCKET” and someone who “does not disappoint.”

A blog advertising “Rough N’ Rowdy,” a series of amateur boxing fights put on by Barstool, featured a video that highlighted how entertaining it is to see the bikini-wearing “ring girls” struggle to walk on the mat in high heels. Portnoy is quoted as saying, “The ring girls are just as entertaining as the fight. It’s like, you look at this girl who just — her her ankle snapped trying to walk on the ring.”

Ryan “Chief” Brandell posted a blog lamenting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not been advertising that women experience swollen breasts as a possible side effect of the coronavirus vaccine: “Start telling people to read the results of the trials. Highlight the part of bigger titties in the glossary.” He then dedicated the rest of the post to women in lingerie or bikinis, promising, “Here is what the world will be looking at.”

Barstool hockey podcast Spittin’ Chiclets hosts Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney reportedly referred to women they had slept with as “kills.”