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Barstool dude pulls fast one on Globe columnist

By adamg on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 1:06pm

So David Portnoy tells the Globe's Joanna Weiss how he was moved by tales of sexual assault at a rally against his Blackout party:

Portnoy showed up, intending to take the microphone himself and offer a half-satirical, half-serious response: Naming a few comedians, for instance, who have joked about rape, with little consequence. But then he saw that women were sharing real, painful stories about sexual assault. So instead, he stayed silent, and watched.

“It was kind of emotional," Portnoy told me last week. "We're just as anti-rape as they are ... It's not our intent, with jokes, to poke fun at rape victims."

Aw, brings a tear to the eye, it does. Unfortunately, Portnoy's own video shows a different story: He went up front, did some bla-bla-bla hand motions as protesters cursed him out, then finally got shouted out of the rally. Just like organizers of the event described:

We refused to let Portnoy speak out of protection for the survivors and out of protection for everyone who has been insulted, harassed or otherwise harmed either directly by him or indirectly through the comments on his website. This was not his space to talk. We at Knockout Barstool don't have many safe spaces to discuss our thoughts and opinions. He has an entire website to espouse his opinion. His presence at the speak out was unexpected, offensive and uncalled for.

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Barstool Sports


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Comments

By anon on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:05pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...!

no need to wonder what really happened.

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By BH on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:09pm.

Is very misleading.

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By adamg on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:42pm.

Although not because I felt it was misleading based on the Globe column - which portrays Portnoy as being deeply moved by the stories he heard from victims of sexual assault. In fact, the video (thanks, anon!) shows the original Huntington News account was more accurate: Portnoy went up front to mock the protesters, who basically shouted him out of there. Somebody deeply touched by sexual-assault stories is not going to stand up there making mocking hand motions.

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By anon on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:07pm.

Did you watch the entire video?

At the 6:35 mark Portnoy says:

Originally I was going to do the whole Occupy Boston, like kind of ask people questions, poke fun.

But you know, there's girls going up there, talking about, you know getting assulted, so I walked up to Paul and I was like, "we can't do it". You know, we don't want to make fun of rape, because we're not trying to do that, we're anti rape.

So we're just going to bag it and call it a day and then the girl on the microphone actually pointed at me and was like, "Dave!" So I was like, alright, you want it, here it comes. Boom, boom, boom. I'm going to come down and say my thing. And what I was going to say is, listen, we're anti rape, just as much as you. We don't believe in it. You guys are taking two jokes that were clearly satircal and blowing them out of proportion. We're on your side in that we don't like rape, you guys are just fighting the wrong battle.

Everybody saw it, people in my face, [expletive] you, [expletive] you, don't let him talk, don't let him talk. That's the problem with these [expletive] wack jobs. It's like I'll talk all day long, I'll have a debate, a conversation, I stand by everything we've done. All these people do is put masks on their face and [expletive] say, [expletive] you.

And by the way, I recognized 95% of the people from Occupy Boston. Occupy Boston, which I'll blog about, just had a thing last week, 2 weeks ago, that they voted to let level 3 sex offenders join their camp. They won't kick them out and they have what, 2 or 3 sexual assaults, rapes, last year? So yeah, KO Barstool partner with Occupy Boston, who lets rapists into their camp, lets partner with them, lets basically protest...lets not protest the people who rape people, lets protest the people who make 2 jokes about it.

It's bizarro and if they don't want to hear my voice I mean, whatever. I went down there, I thought 1 girl was going to maybe rip my eyeballs out, but it is what it is, viva la stool.

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By adamg on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:51pm.

Interesting he knows about the debate over the sex offenders but not about the part where women Occupiers walked out over the issue.

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By anon on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 7:32pm.

He does know about the part where women Occupiers walked out over the issue, he linked your site:

Some Fun Reading Facts

Universal Hub - Some 20 Occupy Boston activists walked out of a general assembly tonight after a group of participants managed to table a proposal aimed at protecting people from level-3 sex offenders at Occupy Boston events.

Source

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By adamg on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 9:59pm.

So he knows women walked out of a general assembly over the presence of a sex offender at Occupy Boston, then he justifies his behavior at Northeastern by blaming the women there for the presence of a sex offender at Occupy Boston.

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By anon on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 10:21pm.

I don't think Portnoy uses the KO Barstool/Occupy Boston partnership as a way to justify his behavior.

I think he uses the partnership as a response to KO Barstool's continued attacks.

It doesn't make sense for KO Barstool to partner with Occupy Boston because Occupy Boston voted to allow level 3 sex offenders in the group.

If KO Barstool partnered with only the female members of Occupy Boston which walked out of the general assembly, then that would make sense.

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By anon on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 3:57pm.

for the record, KOB is an autonomous organization. Occupy endorsed us of their own accord, without asking if we wanted that endorsement.

several people who happen to also be associated with Occupy joined us for the speak-out and rally, but they were people who care deeply about the cause.

also, their numbers were SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than Portnoy described. we had about 200 people from the NU community, and maybe 20 from various other parts of the Boston community, and only some of those were from Occupy. I recognized almost every person I saw there from classes or clubs. that's how most people figured out Portnoy had shown up--he was the only stranger.

he was also there uninvited, without warning, and with the intention to mock. he followed through on that intention

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By anon on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 12:55am.

Portnoy was making mocking hand motions because the protester wanted to talk to him, but wouldn't let him talk. It's at the 2:30 mark.

Protester: Mic check. I love all of you. This is my first mic check. But I'd rather talk to Dave. Dave, is that you?
Portnoy: I'll talk.
Protester: So, I'm so glad that you came to hear all of us. And I appreciate you for uniting us all together. That's about all I have to say to you. I just wanted to let you all know. That when you can identify people in your community. And outside of your community. That are perpetuating rape culture, [inaudible], sexism, misogyny, homophobia, racism...
Portnoy: We don't condone rape.
Protester: ...[inaudible]phobia...
Portnoy: Are you going to let the other guy talk?
Protester: ...That you need to identify them and make them known.
Portnoy: If you don't want me to talk, you'll never listen. I don't condone rape.
Protester: [inaudible]. I hope you have a horrible, horrible night.
Portnoy: You're all invited to the party, you'll be safe.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:37pm.

Mansplaining.

They wouldn't let him mansplain.

Maybe he should go crash a funeral and go tell everyone to lighten up?

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By Miss M on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:13pm.

Don't give him any ideas.

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By Brett on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:57pm.

"We refused to let Portnoy speak out of protection for the survivors and out of protection for everyone who has been insulted, harassed or otherwise harmed either directly by him or indirectly through the comments on his website."

That's a very populist and grandstanding way to say "we censored him", with heavy appeals to emotion. They prevented someone from speaking because of his views, and it's because they are unwilling or unable to address that person's views fairly and logically. "Protecting people" from words is a pretty good indicator that you've jumped the shark.

One of the hazards of living in this country is that we all have a right to free speech, and there's the danger that someone will use that right to say something that makes you angry. Don't like it? Congratulations, you have the right to say you don't like it. If that's not enough, move to a country where free speech is curtailed, and enjoy realizing how good you had it in a free democracy. I'm proud that we live in a country where both the Nazi party can stand around yelling hateful things, and the rest of us can yell back- in part because when you suppress speech, all you do is put a lid on the pot. Doesn't stop it from boiling over, and it only gets worse from "words."

Second: "Mansplaining" was invented by people who failed to realize that said behavior might be so common that there would already be a general-purpose word for it: patronize. Good evidence of this is the sheer number of prefixes that have come into usage.

OHSHIT, did I just mansplain? Oh noooooooes!

Also, definition #6: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Man...

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By anon on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 7:39pm.

"Freedom of the press" doesn't mean that I need to lend you my press or buy you paper. And "freedom of speech" doesn't mean you get to have the podium at my event.

With that said, I found the event organizers' explanation of why they wouldn't let him speak to be very creepy, and very much the mindset that would favor state censorship.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 8:27pm.

He wasn't invited.

Is it censorship if the women demanded space on barstool to make their statements and are denied? No.

Is it censorship if they demanded that he hand over his blog for their statements? No.

Is it censorship if you go to a concert and demand the microphone and don't get it?

Then again, you don't get it anyway ...

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By anon on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:08am.

Okay, so call the event what it was--an echo chamber. I guess their "speak-out" only permits like-minded speech. Nobody would ever claim that Barstool Sports was obligated to equal time; after all, it's Knockout's "bully pulpit."

The entire tone of of Knockout's 2/9/12 letter to the editor of the Huntington News is remarkably arrogant and hostile. A couple choice bits:

Barstool Sports Publisher David Portnoy (El Presidente) was revealed in the crowd. [Emphasis added.]

Are we to presume that Portnoy was in hiding? It must have been like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

But overall, Northeastern’s official statement was underwhelming and failed to address all of our concerns. We wanted the administration to send out a school-wide email, similar to those sent out before large sporting events. This did not happen, and instead an editorial was posted in the non-Northeastern affiliated Huntington News. As a university, Northeastern could have done much more to take a stand against the very real issue of sexual assault and rape on college campuses.

Did you hear that, Northeastern? Heads will roll. There's something off-puttingly narcissistic and ambitious about that kind of posturing, something that reeks of undergrad and preaching-to-the-choir in a bubble of like-minded people.

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By JPFree on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 12:24pm.

Yep, a bunch of like-minded people who don't want women getting raped at events that mock rape. Just so offputtingly ambitious.

If only the monosyllabic, grunting Stool Samples could rid themselves of such tyranny...

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By anon on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 2:57pm.

Instead of a school-wide email, there should be a constant "terror rape alert level". The 5 levels are low (green), guarded (blue), elevated (yellow), high (orange) and severe (red).

During terrorist threats Barstool's event, the level should be raised to severe (red). After the terrorist threats event, the level should remain at elevated (yellow) to keep citizens women alert.

Until all terrorists Barstool events are eliminated cancelled, then the alert level can go down to low (green).

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By anon on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:09am.

Then again, you don't get it anyway ...

Thanks for femsplaining.

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By anon on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 3:44pm.

I've stayed silent on this issue for a long time but enough is enough. You ABSOLUTELY censored Dave when he was trying to have a civil debate. And you've never been censored on barstool, your free to comment on any story you want as much as you want. Please do! We would love to have a genuine discusiin about why we think your actions make no sense and are completely hypocritical. And by the way 'you don't get it anyway'? Really? Are we 8? Use your words...

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By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 4:10pm.

Please, go on. Someday you might get to be Newt lecturing on morality.

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By jay on Sat, 02/18/2012 - 6:18pm.

yea there is a comment section on his page...

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By eeka on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 9:04pm.

It's certainly not first-amendment-type censorship, since the government didn't do it, and it also doesn't really seem to fit the broader definition, since it isn't something like a newspaper or a community organization that claims to represent diverse interests yet decides to exclude a major and newsworthy point of view.

Organizations with a particular purpose can and do choose what type of viewpoints are consistent with it.

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By Nigel Bruce on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 7:12pm.

you mean like the St Patrick's Day Parade?

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By eeka on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 8:56pm.

1) The St. Patrick's event uses public resources and closes public ways

2) The event discriminates against a protected class solely on the basis of being part of said class

3) The event gives the impression of being an inclusive community event in that it takes place on city streets and occurs on a local holiday. Public school teachers ask their classes to raise their hands if they went to it, neighborhood associations organize trips over to watch it, etc. Teachers and neighborhood associations don't do this for events unless they're things that are open and welcoming to everyone; they don't ask "who's going to Catholic Mass this weekend?" outside of maybe a lesson on world religions.

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