HBO will focus on Barstool Sports for a story in an upcoming episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumble. Producers sent cameras to follow founder Dave Portnoy both in the Barstool offices and on the street for one of his pizza reviews.
Portnoy said he enjoyed the experience and was initially expecting positive coverage of the site, but on a recent edition of Barstool Radio on SiriusXM says that optimism has subsided and he is now “increasingly more distraught”. El Presidente said that he is expecting the segment to be “a full-blown hit piece.”
His opinion turned when he sat down for an interview. Portnoy says the reporter “hammered me for three hours.” He said that HBO producers did not offer him makeup before the interview and that showed as he started to sweat. “They wanted me to look like Nixon,” he said and then added that Barstool CEO Erika Nardini received the same treatment.
Stories casting Barstool in a less than flattering light have been published at multiple outlets including Deadspin and The Daily Beast. It is hard to imagine what new ground a segment on Real Sports will cover.
No information on when the story will air is available, but it sounds from the Barstool Radio segment as if HBO is done with their information gathering. That likely means we will see the segment on Real Sports in the near future.
