- An antisemitic incident at a Philadelphia nightclub led to swift action from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
- Portnoy fired two waitresses involved and arranged for the offenders to visit Auschwitz concentration camp as an "educational experience." Temple University also suspended one student connected to the incident.
- Portnoy cut short a contentious ABC interview after the reporter asked him for a statement blaming "white men" for the incident.
An antisemitic incident at a Philadelphia nightclub Saturday night has drawn massive scrutiny from the internet, and the offenders may be paying a visit to Auschwitz.
The X account, StopAntisemitism, reposted a video originally from Temple University student Mohammad Adnan Khan’s Instagram story, showing a waitress carrying an antisemitic sign with the words “(expletive) the Jews” at the Barstool Sansom Street bar.
When customers order bottle service at this particular bar, they can put words on a light-up sign to be displayed, USA Today reported.
Khan had paid for the sign and posted a photo of the bar on his Snapchat story with an antisemitic caption, per Philly Magazine.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was tagged in StopAntisemitism’s post, Sunday morning, and the situation then escalated.
Portnoy responds on X
Two hours after the StopAntisemitism’s post was published, Portnoy posted a video with the caption, “Emergency Press Conference” to X.
“I’ve been shaking, I’ve been so ... mad for the last two hours,” Portnoy said. “For the last two hours, I’ve been on the trail. You think I’m going to put up with this (expletive) at my bar? So I’ve been hunting down waitresses, the table who did it, everything you can ... name, because I want consequences for actions.”
Portnoy said the two waitresses that were responsible for the table had been fired by Sunday afternoon.
His initial response on X has been viewed 18.6 million times.
Two hours later, Portnoy posted an update, saying he was going to use this as a learning opportunity for the offenders and pay for them to visit the WWII concentration camp, Auschwitz, in Poland.
“The more I thought about it, it’s like, these are young .... morons who did this. They were drunk. It’s like, do you really want to ruin somebody’s life?” Portnoy asked.
He added that in his two decades running Barstool, he had seen “more hate, more antisemitism in the last year, year and a half, than I’ve ever had doing it.”
“Let’s try to turn a hideous incident into a learning experience — it’s cliche and very unlike me — but I talked to both the culprits who I know are super involved in it, talked to the families, I’m sending these kids to Auschwitz. They’ve agreed to go," he said.
Portnoy said he’s also been in contact with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism to arrange the concentration camp tours for the two offenders.
“Hopefully (they’ll) learn something, and maybe their lives aren’t ruined, and maybe other people can see it’s not just like words you’re throwing around. To me, that’s a fair outcome of this event,” Portnoy said, adding that the two waitresses involved in the incident had both been fired.
The second video was viewed 16.2 million times.
Temple University president says one student has been suspended
In a news release Sunday afternoon, Temple University President John Fry stated that his administration had become aware of the “antisemitic incident” at the Barstool Sansom Street bar. “Antisemitism is abhorrent. It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university,” he wrote.
“Our Division of Student Affairs is conducting an investigation related to last night’s incident, and they have identified one Temple student who is believed to have been involved,” he continued. “This individual has already been placed on interim suspension.”
The internet reacts
Ben Stiller wrote in an X post on Sunday afternoon, “I don’t agree with Dave on a lot but I do on this.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick similarly praised Portnoy for his quick response to the situation in an X post.
“Good on @stoolpresidente for not only immediately working to address the horrific display of hate displayed in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, last night but also using it as an opportunity to educate on the tragic history of anti-Jewish hatred and violence,” he wrote.