Portnoy Interviews Trump: Big Cat Weighs In

It seems that Barstool founder Dave Portnoy has finally caught his white whale.

The media mogul responsible for the wildly popular, unconventional, and controversial site just yesterday sat down for an interview with President Trump. El Pres meets The Pres, the leftists’ least favorite blogger meets their most significant villain.

What transpired in the interview is nothing short of predictable.

Portnoy asked a plethora of softball questions, Trump completely ignored them and went in his own directions and tangents. The deals have been great, the stock market is great, China, yada, yada. It was interesting, undoubtedly, but not for the reasons in which I hoped. I knew that in many ways, Pres intended to ball-wash Trump, but for some reason I thought he would bring at least a crumb of his humorous arrogant shtick with him. Eat a slice of pizza and when Trump says “It’s a ten, it’s tremendous pizza,” make fun of his rookie score. Call yourself the real Pres, or whatever. Do something other than become just another FOX news reporter.

While I understand that MOST media members might want address any POTUS with a bit of reverence and seriousness… isn’t this Barstool? Portnoy has said a billion times he doesn’t want to get into politics. He doesn’t want to make Barstool a feeder for even more political divisiveness. The goal has always been to provide escapism for all this bullshit. To see Big Cat pee his pants and Caleb and Rone craft some ridiculous interviews.

Now I don’t have a preference politically per say, so I won’t touch on the obvious nature and reputation of Trump. It just seemed like a weird move, a move that Pres obviously felt it was too much spotlight to pass up on. It has been obvious for years that Trump’s son, Donald Jr., has been a fan and advocate of Portnoy and Barstool, he’s appeared on Tucker Carlson multiple times, and he’s worth about 500 million or so. It should come to no surprise to anyone where his political views lie.

I don’t think Barstool as a whole is inherently misogynist or racist or evil as many people are quickly to label them. I think if you’ve been a viewer and fan of them for a long time, you’ll know that their intentions 99% of the time are typically benign and proposed for the sole purpose of laughter. There have been a number of incidents that can be associated with these negative labels that they often receive, which I can totally understand and appreciate. Have they said dumb and insensitive things? Definitely. For the longest time, it was a bunch of middle-aged white guys who performed for a bubbled audience of even more white guys. Dave has certainly made some comments and done certain things that I disagree with, and I’m sure looking back he might too. Regardless, Barstool is in a strange place– with videos resurfacing from an old run-down video where Dave had some not so sensitive takes on Kaepernick, and one of Barstool’s few bloggers of color, Tyler, leaving just a week or two ago.

Many people, including some within the Barstool office, are wondering if Trump’s team just took advantage of Portnoy’s status, celebrity, and morbidly loyal fan-base in attempts to garner some votes while Trump’s numbers seem to be down. One of those people has some more personal vendettas as well.

.@BarstoolBigCat weighs in on Dave's sit down with President Trump pic.twitter.com/SBkCjOYDKh

— Barstool Radio (@BarstoolRadio) July 24, 2020

To sum that video up, although it’s pretty interesting to watch, Big Cat, or Dan Katz, announced his displeasure not only with the interview itself, but with Barstool’s leadership members decision to not include him in these conversations. Katz said that at no point was he asked for his opinion or take, despite being named a primary member of Barstool leadership.

It kinda sucks to see BC so bummed. He’s a huge reason people stick around to watch Barstool. His personality seems so down to earth and I truly believe his only intention is to provide laughter, especially in difficult times like these. Not to mention, his podcast, along with PFT, played an immeasurable role in Barstool’s relatively newfound success.

The tone is voice sounds serious. It honestly made me legitimately consider a departure from the Cat could be a real option. All those jokes about him inevitably joining ESPN may finally have some merit to them? Maybe it’s too soon to make that take, but if I was a major media company, I would start making some stupid silly offers.