For the second time in one week, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy trended on Twitter after Fox Business’ Charles Payne called Portnoy “a little b****” on live television.
“You’re being a little b****,” said Payne, after which Portnoy broke out laughing.
“THE LITTE B**** SHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD,” Portnoy tweeted.
THE LITTE BITCH SHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD @cvpayne pic.twitter.com/BpsdbPmjqJ
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 24, 2021
Meanwhile, Barstool Sports tweeted, “Charles Payne just called David paper hands Portnoy ‘a little b****’ on live TV.”
Charles Payne just called David paper hands Portnoy “a little bitch” on live TV pic.twitter.com/LODm2U5vhD
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 24, 2021
Portnoy trended on Twitter last Friday evening after it appeared that Portnoy’s account was suspended by the Big Tech giant. As The Daily Wire reported at the time, “Users who tried to access Portnoy’s Twitter profile, which is followed by over 2.5 million people, were presented with the recognizable ‘Account suspended’ banner, followed only by the words, ‘Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules.’”
The verified account titled, “BFFs with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards” — the Twitter account for the weekly podcast presented by Barstool Sports — tweeted a screenshot of Portnoy’s apparently suspended account, alongside the hashtag, “#FREEPORTNOY.”
#FREEPORTNOY pic.twitter.com/MYY4l9vh9C
— BFFs with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards (@BFFsPod) June 18, 2021
“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. Violence, harassment, and other similar types of behavior discourage people from expressing themselves and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation. Our rules are to ensure all people can participate in the public conversation freely and safely,” the social media platform states in their “Twitter Rules.”
Twitter then restored Portnoy’s account on Friday evening following a widespread backlash.
“Portnoy’s handle @stoolpresidente, which had 2.5 million Twitter followers, was shut down with an ‘Account suspended’ message,” Fox News reported. “#FreeDavePortnoy began dominating social media as it was unclear what led to his suspension.”
Speaking with Fox, Portnoy said, “The will of the people will be heard. #freeportnoy.” He also celebrated his return to Twitter with “I’m back. #freeportnoy.”
I’m back. #freeportnoy pic.twitter.com/EeY0hnelrO
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 19, 2021
The Barstool Sports founder spoke with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on “The Ben Shapiro Show: Sunday Special” in April and explained why he doesn’t refrain from engaging in social media altercations.
Portnoy told Shapiro during an interview that aired on Sunday, April 25, that he’s willing to debate with anyone — even in front of a crowd — but that he’s not willing to just stand around and take it when critics come at him first.
“There is an audience that appreciates, and it’s not even Left or Right, it’s kind of both, like, ‘I like how these guys aren’t backing down.’ And our audience allows us to do that, so people have always asked, ‘Why do you fight back’ or ‘Why do you push back’ or ‘Why don’t you just shut up when someone takes a shot at you that you feel is unfair.’ It’s like, I’m not going to do that. I will never throw the first punch, but if you throw a shot at me on Twitter — out of the clouds — it’s not my responsibility to protect you,” said Portnoy.