Dave Portnoy is putting his money where his mouth is. He has loudly and publicly called firing Ben Mintz a mistake for Barstool Sports. Now, Portnoy is hiring Mintz back.
Mintz cannot return to Barstool though. He took to social media on Wednesday to announce that Dave Portnoy has made him the first official hire of Brick Watch Company.
“Dave called me to ask me about this job,” Mintz said in a Twitter video, “and here’s what Dave Portnoy said to me; he said, ‘Mintzy, I got an idea. I want to hire you to be the first employee for Brick Watch. You’re not the smartest guy I’ve ever had — that’s for sure — but you have a great heart and you’re the man of the people.’”
Ben Mintz was fired from Barstool Sports after saying the n-word while reading the lyrics to a rap song. While many Barstool personalities protested his firing, parent company Penn Entertainment cited its zero tolerance policy for racism and the fact that condoning an incident like that could make the Barstool Sportsbook subject to stricter scrutiny from state regulators.
Over the past month, Portnoy has been vocal about his disagreement with Penn Entertainment. He has attributed the fall in the company’s stock price to Ben Mintz’s firing. He has also suggested that the company may not renew his contract when it expires in 2025.
Mintz, for his part, told BSM’s Tyler McComas earlier this month that he had multiple options for his next step. He will be playing in the World Series of Poker and covering the event for PokerGO this summer, but he said more opportunities were on the way.
Brick Watch Company was founded by Portnoy. It began selling watches at the end of 2022. How Mintz fits into the company’s plans is unclear.
“Dave Portnoy — you found me 2.5 years ago. You made me who I am with your job at Barstool, and I’m a man that values loyalty,” Mintz said in gratitude. “For you to stick your neck out after what happened and how upset you were after having to fire me — we all saw that on that video how upset you were — and for you to basically just create a new position for me — it honestly means the world to me.”
