Dave Portnoy, the boorish founder of Barstool Sports, was on Tucker Carlson’s X show ‘Tucker on X’ on Aug. 31 where they discussed Portnoy’s business dealings, former President Donald Trump’s lack of fitness for office due to his age, and a fight Portnoy got into recently over pizza.
After Portnoy, Carlson’s next guest was Larry Sinclair, who shared unverified stories about smoking crack cocaine and having sex with former president Barack Obama in 1999. Portnoy says he met Sinclair while filming his episode of the show, and posted a tweet today calling Sinclair “maybe the least trustworthy human I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“I would trust Anna Delvey before I trusted anything Larry Sinclair said,” Portnoy said. “I’d say his story has 0.0% of being true and that’s generous.”
Sinclair’s story picked up media attention when it was first shared in 2008, but quickly fizzled out when pretty much none of the details were able to be verified by furthering reporting. Sinclair’s credibility was also called into question at the time by reporting that he had a long criminal record for forgery and fraud.
Some conservatives on X slammed Portnoy for a lack of loyalty to Carlson.
“Portnoy trashing Tucker right after he was on the show. What a standup guy,” wrote one.
“Dave sounds like Obama’s lap dog,” wrote another.
Some big name conservatives, like Ben Shapiro, did try to latch onto Sinclair’s claims, comparing them to that of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
But most agreed with Portnoy, even those who said they usually believed Carlson.
“agree. that was hor5esh1t,” wrote @sclemens1980. “turned it off after 1 minute. tucker harmed his own credibility. i love tucker. Boo[.]”
“Tucker’s directionally right and obviously charismatic but tbh its starting to look like he had some very smart producers who helped keep him grounded in reality back at FOX,” wrote @SummerSnowUSA.
Others took the moment as an example of just how far out there conservative media has gone when even Portnoy doesn’t buy it.
“Look Dave sucks sh*t, but he is the type of Republican that just wants to pay lower taxes and not be hassled over being a moderate to severe asshole to people,” wrote @BannedHat. “How far gone is a conservative media echo system that creeps even him out?”
“The return of the Barstool Boys to the Democratic coalition could be an interesting development in 2024 that would not shock me,” wrote @Blake_Allen13, referencing the concept of “Barstool conservatives,” a sort of right wing populist, bro-y trend which rejects political correctness and used to be called a “South Park Republican.
Another poster summed up Portnoy’s stance with a simple, popular meme: “Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point.
