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Dave Portnoy has built a business empire on his viral pizza reviews and brash social media personality. Now, the “Barstool Sports” creator is looking back on his journey to the top in his new memoir, “Cancel Me If You Can.”
Long before he started ranking pizzas across the country, Portnoy decided to quit a sales job he hated and start his own media enterprise. That project was the early iteration of “Barstool Sports.” At the time, the publication was a four-page sports newspaper, which Portnoy passed out for free.
“I didn’t care if I was working, you know, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; it was better than doing what I was doing,” Portnoy told CBS Saturday Morning. “Every day, I felt like we were making tiny steps. They may be (a) reader one day, and we went to two the next.”
The goal of “Barstool Sports,” then and now, is to “be honest and authentic to readers,” Portnoy said. To build the company that did that, Portnoy hired talented people and let them run wild. One of those hires was Alex Cooper, who would go on to create the hit podcast “Call Her Daddy.”
Portnoy said he wanted “Barstool Sports” to be like “Saturday Night Live” — a place where great talent could be established and developed.
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“I wanted young comedians, talent, to apply to Barstool, and then hopefully they become superstars and some of them may leave,” Portnoy said. So we sign you for a contract and the hope is that you explode and get big, and we monetize you during that time and then at the end of that contract, we can either re-sign you if we can afford you … or you can go to great success.”
“Barstool Sports” is now more than just a publication. The Barstool Fund, started in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, helped over 400 businesses pay their bills and keep their doors open.
Portnoy has also begun to dip his toes into the political waters. He openly considered running for mayor in New York City, and has endorsed politicians, including current President Trump. He told “CBS Saturday Morning” that he sees engaging in politics as a “civic duty.”
“I actually am like, up at night on some of the things that’s going on in politics,” Portnoy said. “That’s what would drive me to do it.”
He wants readers to know that “Cancel Me If You Can” isn’t him asking to be understood.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to be understood by people who don’t like me. I’ve kind of come to that conclusion,” Portnoy said. “People like me will always like me. People who don’t, won’t. I could give somebody who hates my guts like $100 for free and they’d want $200.”
Though he appreciated the chance to create “a record” of the founding of “Barstool Sports,” Portnoy said he doesn’t plan on writing another book.
“When this was pitched to me, the idea of seeing my book, like in an airport walking by, I was like, ‘That’s really cool,'” Portnoy said. “I’m super happy it’s over, and I’m glad I did it, but I would never do it again.”
