David Portnoy says Barstool Sports won't hire Harvard, MIT and Penn alumni
Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy says graduates from Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are not welcome at his company unless the deans of those universities resign. He added that Jewish students would be an exception and that two of Barstool's current Harvard graduates are "grandfathers."
Portnoy's comments on Fox Business on Tuesday followed controversial testimony before Congress last week from Harvard University President Claudine Gay, MIT President Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Both Magill refused to explicitly condemn the series of anti-Semitic acts at their respective universities in the aftermath of the Hamas incident. On October 7, a terrorist attack occurred in Israel.
There is a difference between free speech and hate speech, if you endanger others and cause harm, I think you need to stop it. "It's just common sense,"Portnoy told Fox Business.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., urged that recent pro-Hamas protests on her campus — in which some students called for the elimination of the state of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people — —— is hate speech and harms Jews. The presidents of three of America's most prestigious universities have sparred over the issue, sparking a heated debate.
After the hearing, only Magill resigned from her position, but she reportedly remains a permanent member of Penn's board of trustees. Instead, Harvard faculty rallied behind Gay, demanding that she remain at the helm of the college, despite the fact that she had spent $1 billion of the school's endowment and rumors that she had been involved in plagiarism on some of her academic papers.
Portnoy has support in the gaming community
To date, no casino or online sports betting operator has followed through on Portnoy’s promise not to hire graduates of the three schools mentioned above. But the often outspoken Barstool boss may have support from the industry.
PhD. Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sheldon Adelson and the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), died last month at the property she owned. A scathing op-ed published in the media publication Israel Hayom announced the news to Hamas supporters who were "dead to us".
“If you condemn Hamas, then add a ‘but,’ and then condemn Israel, you are dead to us,” she wrote. “If you insist that Israel has an obligation to deal with Hamas — an idea that would never occur to a Western power fighting the Nazis, Al Qaeda or ISIS — then you are dead with us. "
In posts on Instagram, Portnoy more explicitly encouraged other companies to follow his example and deny job offers to graduates of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania.
“At this rate, we are just one step away from Ivy League schools offering lessons on how 9/11 was actually the fault of the Jews,” he wrote. "While it won't have much of an impact, in the future I will not hire graduates from either school until these deans resign. Other companies should follow this example. This is unacceptable on every level." I don’t care if you’re Jewish. If you know a Jew, or have an ounce of human dignity, calling for the murder of an entire group of people should piss you off.”
Portnoy was never shy
Portnoy, who is Jewish, has never been shy about expressing his views on today's issues. Earlier this year, he criticized the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), saying the bank's "woke" business model hastened its demise.
In June 2022, he lashed out at the Supreme Court following its controversial decision in Roe v. U.S. Supreme Court . Repealing Wade makes abortion an issue subject to state-level decisions. Portnoy also had no reservations about the situation with the university leaders mentioned above.
“The deans of three supposedly prestigious universities in the United States somehow refuse to condemn students who are calling for the genocide of Jews on their campuses,” he said on Instagram. “AKA — the murder of all Jews. News Flash Calling for Murder Myself, my parents and my entire family. These 'leaders' refuse to condemn this as hate speech on their campus?"
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Source: www.casino.org
