Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy is in hot water over his reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination as he believes the so-called divisiveness of President Donald Trump played a major role in the conservative activist’s death.
Portnoy said, “When I say Trump has a huge part in it, I don’t necessarily mean he’s to blame for it, but he’s so divisive… [even just] his face is divisive.”
“People hate him so much,” the stoolie boss added.
“And the left and the right, the rhetoric–especially to me the left, is insane–and it just boils, boils, boils, boils.”
He continued, “This happened with Trump, when his assassination attempt [happened] there was like a three-hour period of ‘let’s tone down the rhetoric,’ and then they’re right back to it.”
Portnoy then added: “If you sit there and you call people Nazis over and over and over, and say that they’re threatening Democracy and they’re fascist over and over… you can’t then be like, ‘What happened?’”
“That goes together, because if you truly think you’re killing a Nazi, or you truly think you’re killing a fascist, in your head you’re thinking ‘I did good for society.’”
His remarks sparked MAGA outrage, however, Portnoy was quick to defend himself.
An account named TaraBull shared Portnoy’s remarks on X, asking, “Did Dave Portnoy just blame President Trump for Charlie Kirk’s dəath?”
In a subsequent post the account dubbed Pornoy’s response as “a dumb take.”
The Barstool Sports boss reacted to TaraBull on X by writing, “This is why I despise politics and both extremes.”
“This Tarabull bot should be ashamed,” he added, showcasing the “full clip” of his comments on the Kirk tragedy.
“Go f**k yourself using my name for clicks you loser,” he continued. “If anybody disagrees with what I said you have cement in your brain.”
After Kirk was shot and killed on Sept. 10, Portnoy notably expressed his sadness on X by stating, “It doesn’t matter what your opinion is of Charlie or his politics if you don’t view this as one of the darkest days in American history than you are part of the problem.”
He also celebrated the termination of MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd who suggested Kirk could have been accidentally gunned by a supporter as part of a celebratory gun shot.
Kirk’s assassination has sparked nationwide grief and condemnation across the political spectrum.
Authorities continue to coordinate efforts across multiple federal and state agencies to ensure the responsible party is brought to justice.
They emphasized that the attack appears to have been specifically targeted, with no evidence suggesting an ongoing threat to the wider community.
Investigators are continuing to examine all recovered evidence, including the inscriptions on the ammunition, which may shed light on the ideological motivations behind the shooting.
The rifle’s location in a wooded area, near the path the suspect reportedly took after the attack, has been a key focus for authorities attempting to reconstruct the events.
