On Tuesday, Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy mocked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whom he ultimately dubbed as “O’Crazio,” for inserting herself into a jocular conversation he was having regarding the prospect of his employees unionizing.
The spat started when Portnoy told his employees online that he would fire them “on the spot” if they contacted Future Union member and writer Rafi Letzter, who was encouraging Portnoy’s employees to contact him to form a union.
“If you work for Barstool and want to have a private chat about the unionization process, how little power your boss has to stop you, and how you can leverage that power to make your life better: my DMs are open,” posted Letzter on Monday.
Portnoy responded to the tweet on Tuesday: “If you work for [Barstool Sports] and DM this man I will fire you on the spot.”
“If you’re a boss tweeting firing threats to employees trying to unionize, you are likely breaking the law & can be sued, in your words, ‘on the spot,'” AOC responded to Portnoy’s tweet. “ALL workers in the US have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions. See @NLRB &union orgs like @AFLCIO for tips.”
The media mogul told Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to debate him over the issue.
“Hey [AOC] welcome to thunder dome,” he wrote. “Debate me.”
AOC, of course, has not responded to Portnoy’s request. The open socialist, as previously reported by The Daily Wire, is not fond of debating; she once accused Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro of “catcalling” her for suggesting they debate to merely talk about their ideological differences.
Portnoy wasn’t done with AOC, yet. Not even close, actually. Here are some of Portnoy’s tweets following his dustup with Ocasio-Cortez:
Barstool Sports even created a skit mocking the union incident wherein his employees complain about having “too many vacation days” and Portnoy makes them “feel famous” and brings them on his private plane.
Aside from the mockery, Portnoy also highlighted that he worked his behind off for the business he has created, which employs hundreds of people, and he will not apologize for his success.
“I started a media empire by myself,” he wrote in a tweet posted Wednesday. “Worked 32 hour days, 8 days a week. Delivered newspapers till my fingers fell off. Almost died of exhaustion 7 times. Now I employee 250 people who love their jobs. But yeah I’ll listen to snowflakes tell me how to run my company #brickbybrick.”
In another tweet, replying to a union member who supports Mr. Portnoy, the businessman wrote, “I will never apologize for being rich. I built my empire brick by brick by outworking, [out-hustling my competitors]. I don’t believe in hand outs. I believe in earning your paycheck. I believe I’m America.”
On Wednesday night, Portnoy appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to speak to guest host Mark Steyn about his spat with Ocasio-Cortez.
“The people who think I’m going to jail, they’re idiots,” he told Steyn.”Let me clarify real quick: we’re a comedy site; we’re pretty clear about that. We have no union at Barstool Sports and nobody is trying to make a union at Barstool Sports.”
Portnoy reiterated that he was speaking about his company only, “and then these morons,” he said, “who have no idea what we do, jump into the fray, like AOC, O’Crazio.”
Portnoy emphasized that he wants credit for the branding of AOC as O’Crazio if President Donald Trump were to use it in the future.
“They don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said, noting his company’s huge day in numbers. “It’s a big game.”
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