Dave Portnoy has put a lot of stock in the reality series Surviving Barstool. He went to great lengths to ensure the finished product was seen, even yanking the show from YouTube over censorship concerns. However, the finale of the series was spoiled by Barstool host Ben Mintz, and Portnoy did not take that news lightly.
During his thrice weekly program, Mintz accidentally revealed the final contestants on the conclusion of the reality series, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales of the series for Barstool.
On Thursday, Portnoy suspended Mintz’s show Wake Up Mintzy until the program can adequately install a delay to ensure similar situations don’t happen.
In a video posted to X, Mintz said “Yesterday morning, I made an egregious, idiotic mistake — another one I didn’t mean to — but nonetheless, a very stupid one when I left a spoiler for Surviving Barstool up on Wake Up Mintzy. If you’re a hater of mine, you’re probably going to enjoy today because I’m about to get freaking rained on by the internet. I deserve it…I really don’t have a real explanation for it…We’re not doing Wake Up Mintzy until we get the dump button figured out. The show’s not canceled, just suspended. Powers that be said it could go on but we gotta have a dump button because I’m too much of a wild card with what I say sometimes. I feel really bad about it.”
The mistake by Mintz isn’t his first misstep with the company. Earlier this year, Barstool — while still owned by PENN Entertainment — was forced to fire the host after he uttered a racial slur while reading rap lyrics on a live stream. Portnoy fought the firing but ultimately caved when the company claimed its gambling licenses could be affected by the viral video.
In a series of videos, Portnoy has shared that he has previously instructed Barstool staffers to not allow Mintz appear on any programs that do not have a delay, to ensure situations like this do not happen.
“How f—ing dumb are you?,” Portnoy is seen yelling at Mintz in one video. “You f—ing dummy! Why don’t you have a f—ing dump button, you f—ing dummy? We already know you can’t talk for more than a second without f—ing something up. Sorry doesn’t do it, Mintzy.”
