"[T]his audience exists, and it's not going anywhere."
October 25, 2017 11:38 AM Subscribe
Barstool. Hates. Women. Lindsay Gibbs examines how ESPN's partnership with Barstool Sports to court the "PC-phobic 18- to 34-year-old man" blew up. Content warning for misogynistic language and humor.
“She told People magazine she fell into making YouTubes. Actually, no, you were working at a tanning salon and I hired you. That’s how you started ..."
🎶 I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar / That much is true 🎶
Seriously, if there's one thing I hope that we can at least salvage from all this linguistically, it's an understanding that saying you're "not PC" doesn't mean that you're a fair-minded common-sense guy who's not up on the latest theory from Tumblr, it means you're an absolute asshole. All of the language in this article makes it clear that the "Barstool audience" is white straight American men and a few replaceable token friends who are willing to please and placate them in the belief that they too can someday join the club. Portnoy understands this, and he is hiding that understanding as well and as purposefully as Jayne Mansfield hid her breasts.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:56 AM on October 25, 2017 [40 favorites]
🎶 I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar / That much is true 🎶
Seriously, if there's one thing I hope that we can at least salvage from all this linguistically, it's an understanding that saying you're "not PC" doesn't mean that you're a fair-minded common-sense guy who's not up on the latest theory from Tumblr, it means you're an absolute asshole. All of the language in this article makes it clear that the "Barstool audience" is white straight American men and a few replaceable token friends who are willing to please and placate them in the belief that they too can someday join the club. Portnoy understands this, and he is hiding that understanding as well and as purposefully as Jayne Mansfield hid her breasts.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:56 AM on October 25, 2017 [40 favorites]
Oh god, wtf?
Earlier this year, when Ria was an intern, she posted a series of harassing DMs she received from a new Barstool intern in their Indianapolis office. This intern went by the name “Cervix Killer” because that was emblazoned on the shirt he wore the day he interviewed for, and was hired for, his Barstool internship. The intern was eventually fired, but the whole incident was used as Barstool content — to the point where Ria had to speak with her harasser live on the radio.
I hope PFT Commenter isn't like this as well, 'cause that guy is hilarious on the Bomani Jones radio show. He's a sports version of Ronald Thomas Clontle of Rock, Rot, and Rule fame.
posted by NoMich at 11:58 AM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Earlier this year, when Ria was an intern, she posted a series of harassing DMs she received from a new Barstool intern in their Indianapolis office. This intern went by the name “Cervix Killer” because that was emblazoned on the shirt he wore the day he interviewed for, and was hired for, his Barstool internship. The intern was eventually fired, but the whole incident was used as Barstool content — to the point where Ria had to speak with her harasser live on the radio.
I hope PFT Commenter isn't like this as well, 'cause that guy is hilarious on the Bomani Jones radio show. He's a sports version of Ronald Thomas Clontle of Rock, Rot, and Rule fame.
posted by NoMich at 11:58 AM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
For a lot of people, sports is an escape from the stress of everyday life. Some men have such terrible relationships with women that the mere presence of women in their sports, their escape, angers them. So they lash out.
That is the audience of Barstool Sports.
posted by Groundhog Week at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2017 [32 favorites]
That is the audience of Barstool Sports.
posted by Groundhog Week at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2017 [32 favorites]
The only positive thing I can say about Barstool Sports is that their coverage of Colin Kaepernick and the anthem "controversy" from some of their bloggers is surprisingly good.
posted by muddgirl at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by muddgirl at 12:06 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
"we’re one of the few places, maybe the only place on the internet, where we don’t let agendas dictate what we do"
Upholding the patriarchy and offending anyone the tiniest bit "PC" IS an agenda, Portnoy.
posted by Dysk at 12:07 PM on October 25, 2017 [71 favorites]
Upholding the patriarchy and offending anyone the tiniest bit "PC" IS an agenda, Portnoy.
posted by Dysk at 12:07 PM on October 25, 2017 [71 favorites]
Pretty soon the Venn diagram of shitty people who are into sports and shitty people who are into politics is going to become one big circle, with complete, 100% overlap.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:10 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:10 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Pretty soon the Venn diagram of shitty people who are into sports and shitty people who are into politics is going to become one big circle, with complete, 100% overlap.
It's called synergy!
posted by saturday_morning at 12:23 PM on October 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
It's called synergy!
posted by saturday_morning at 12:23 PM on October 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
The Ringer sports media podcast talked about this and mentioned that Barstool Van Talk had already been added to the Wikipedia list of television series canceled after one episode.
Truly illustrious company.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:30 PM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Truly illustrious company.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:30 PM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
“And yes this guy is fired. Who says we don’t have standards here at Barstool? Subtle sexual harassment is fine and dandy. Cervix killing in the DM’s though? Well that’s crossing the line.”
I can see this quote---from the company's president, no less--coming back to haunt them big-time in a suit by a disgruntled employee. But maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist.
posted by layceepee at 12:37 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
I can see this quote---from the company's president, no less--coming back to haunt them big-time in a suit by a disgruntled employee. But maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist.
posted by layceepee at 12:37 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
Elika Sadeghi refused a job offer at Barstool and recently shared the agreement they wanted her to sign on Twitter. Whether or not that could actually protect them is another matter.
posted by gladly at 12:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gladly at 12:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I can see this quote---from the company's president, no less--coming back to haunt them big-time in a suit by a disgruntled employee. But maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist.
There's a bit in the article later about a clause in an employment contract stipulating, basically, that all kinds of harassment is to be expected at Barstool Sports, so ... it seems like they're pretty up-front and proud about being awful.
I mean, it's nice to see that there are consequences for being awful, but that a network would even consider giving a TV platform to these obviously-toxic assholes is pretty damning. ESPN knew exactly who they were getting into bed with and did it anyway, because the rape-bro demographic knows how to spend money.
Fuck everything about this.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
There's a bit in the article later about a clause in an employment contract stipulating, basically, that all kinds of harassment is to be expected at Barstool Sports, so ... it seems like they're pretty up-front and proud about being awful.
I mean, it's nice to see that there are consequences for being awful, but that a network would even consider giving a TV platform to these obviously-toxic assholes is pretty damning. ESPN knew exactly who they were getting into bed with and did it anyway, because the rape-bro demographic knows how to spend money.
Fuck everything about this.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
So, what's the legal status of a contract saying you're ok with illegal behaviour? Is that enforceable?
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:59 PM on October 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:59 PM on October 25, 2017 [4 favorites]
I recall these guys from Boston area beer events some 10+ years ago. They'd want everything that was not nailed down (shirts, swag, tap handles, etc) but became suddenly stingy if you wanted any of their stuff in trade.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:01 PM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:01 PM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
The wording in that agreement linked above is interesting...
"exposure to offensive speech", "exposed to conduct and speech", "privy to conversations where offensive speech... is utilized"
It's like they can't come out and say you will potentially be harassed by fellow employees and that harassment is encouraged, so they have to hide it behind overly-complicated wording. You know, trying to be politically correct.
posted by Groundhog Week at 1:05 PM on October 25, 2017 [16 favorites]
"exposure to offensive speech", "exposed to conduct and speech", "privy to conversations where offensive speech... is utilized"
It's like they can't come out and say you will potentially be harassed by fellow employees and that harassment is encouraged, so they have to hide it behind overly-complicated wording. You know, trying to be politically correct.
posted by Groundhog Week at 1:05 PM on October 25, 2017 [16 favorites]
So, what's the legal status of a contract saying you're ok with illegal behaviour?
It doesn't say you're okay with illegal behavior. It says you understand they're a media company that works with controversial, often offensive content. Someone who works for the ACLU could, hypotethetically, be asked to sign a similar waiver: I understand that I'm going to come into contact with people who use the n word, people who call women derogatory names, going to see videos of people making racist comments, etc.
Nothing in that says "I'm okay with being in a hostile work environment" or "I'm okay with being harassed" - but most of the people who sign it won't realize that.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:07 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
It doesn't say you're okay with illegal behavior. It says you understand they're a media company that works with controversial, often offensive content. Someone who works for the ACLU could, hypotethetically, be asked to sign a similar waiver: I understand that I'm going to come into contact with people who use the n word, people who call women derogatory names, going to see videos of people making racist comments, etc.
Nothing in that says "I'm okay with being in a hostile work environment" or "I'm okay with being harassed" - but most of the people who sign it won't realize that.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:07 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
Eh, I understand why ESPN wanted to give them a try. They've been hurting for misogynist assholes from Boston ever since they fired Bill Simmons. They obviously needed someone to fill that void lest they lose market share in the valuable "white guys talking out their ass" loving demographic.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:26 PM on October 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by gusottertrout at 1:26 PM on October 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
This approach has garnered Barstool a cult-like following (fans call themselves “Stoolies”)
More like stool samples, amirite?
Note: You may have been exposed to inappropriate juvenile vulgarity in this post.
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
More like stool samples, amirite?
Note: You may have been exposed to inappropriate juvenile vulgarity in this post.
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:50 PM on October 25, 2017 [6 favorites]
Is there anywhere in writing/media/the internet that is not a trash fire of misogyny/racism?
I'm serious, I'm job-hunting, and it's like, "okay I'll just drop my resume here on this website WHICH JUST EXPLODED INTO A BALL OF TOXIC FLAME never mind"
The advantage to stuff like Barstool I suppose being that its noxious hate-flame is visible from space and so easier to avoid, unless like ESPN you are willfully blind and/or bringing marshmallows, in contrast to the superficially calm media outlets that are actually smouldering underground with sexual predators and stealth Nazis like the Centralia mine fire.
Maybe Crone Island is hiring, I should check.
posted by nicebookrack at 1:58 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
I'm serious, I'm job-hunting, and it's like, "okay I'll just drop my resume here on this website WHICH JUST EXPLODED INTO A BALL OF TOXIC FLAME never mind"
The advantage to stuff like Barstool I suppose being that its noxious hate-flame is visible from space and so easier to avoid, unless like ESPN you are willfully blind and/or bringing marshmallows, in contrast to the superficially calm media outlets that are actually smouldering underground with sexual predators and stealth Nazis like the Centralia mine fire.
Maybe Crone Island is hiring, I should check.
posted by nicebookrack at 1:58 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
> “This is exactly, and I mean exactly, why Barstool Sports has to exist. It has to. Because we’re one of the few places, maybe the only place on the internet, where we don’t let agendas dictate what we do,” Portnoy said.
If straight white men couldn't talk about sports without also harassing women and being racist and homophobic, well...I ask you, would that be a world we would want to live in?
/a hamburger the size of the sun
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:03 PM on October 25, 2017 [11 favorites]
If straight white men couldn't talk about sports without also harassing women and being racist and homophobic, well...I ask you, would that be a world we would want to live in?
/a hamburger the size of the sun
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:03 PM on October 25, 2017 [11 favorites]
I first encountered barstool thanks to Google Now's newsfeed, which pushed some totally horrifying headline at me - so much so that I instantly marked "not interested in posts from Barstool Sports". I'd assumed they were some totally small time weird Breitbart wannabe blog until all of this blew up. Just lucky they were outside my normal online mileu, I guess.
posted by ominous_paws at 2:59 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ominous_paws at 2:59 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
Barstool — the Boston-bred sports and culture site that unabashedly caters to the PC-phobic 18- to 34-year-old man
What could possibly have gone wrong?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:22 PM on October 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
What could possibly have gone wrong?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:22 PM on October 25, 2017 [7 favorites]
I feel like there are two ways to go with articles like this.
1. highlight every disgusting thing the gross people have done to really make it clear what a totally predictable shitshow this was (and how, in this case, ESPN should seriously have known better or was obviously complicit in this nastiness)
2. talk about the general issue of misogyny on this site and with other related sites with some links to egregious stuff that you talk about in generalized terms.
This was a good article. At the same time, it was waaaaay over into #1 territory and I've been getting outrage fatigue and have been leaning more towards reading #2 style articles. I had a hard time following who the players were because I was weaving back and forth between all the completely gross stuff Portnoy said. I think Gibbs wrote a really hard-hitting and well put together article, but I couldn't finish reading it.
posted by jessamyn at 3:33 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
1. highlight every disgusting thing the gross people have done to really make it clear what a totally predictable shitshow this was (and how, in this case, ESPN should seriously have known better or was obviously complicit in this nastiness)
2. talk about the general issue of misogyny on this site and with other related sites with some links to egregious stuff that you talk about in generalized terms.
This was a good article. At the same time, it was waaaaay over into #1 territory and I've been getting outrage fatigue and have been leaning more towards reading #2 style articles. I had a hard time following who the players were because I was weaving back and forth between all the completely gross stuff Portnoy said. I think Gibbs wrote a really hard-hitting and well put together article, but I couldn't finish reading it.
posted by jessamyn at 3:33 PM on October 25, 2017 [8 favorites]
I went in the opposite direction. I followed links to more stories of their awfulness. These guys aren’t just awful to be around or work with they’re also big time into online gamer gate style harassment. Now I need to wash my brain out with cat videos.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:12 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:12 PM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
God PFT Commenter is so perfect, and Barstool is so fucking terrible. His association with them pains me.
Its almost Meta, as today's median Barstool reader is a ten years younger version of the PFT readers he was invented to mock.
posted by JPD at 6:26 AM on October 26, 2017
Its almost Meta, as today's median Barstool reader is a ten years younger version of the PFT readers he was invented to mock.
posted by JPD at 6:26 AM on October 26, 2017
I seriously suspect a big chunk of PFT fans don't actually get the joke.
posted by JPD at 6:27 AM on October 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by JPD at 6:27 AM on October 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
These guys aren’t just awful to be around or work with they’re also big time into online gamer gate style harassment.
They absolutely are like this. It sucks being a sports fan and seeing beat reporters who I respected love their humor. Tommy Vietor of Crooked Media is a fan. If Sam Ponder hadn't tweeted about Barstool and the #MeToo/Weinstein story wasn't in the news cycle at the same time, I don't think ESPN would have canceled the show. They knew what Barstool was and wanted their audience. It's not just the MRA/gamer gate contingent either. Barstool has a lot in common with the "ironic" misogyny/racism/anti-semitism/homophobia of the dirtbag left too.
posted by gladly at 7:27 AM on October 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
They absolutely are like this. It sucks being a sports fan and seeing beat reporters who I respected love their humor. Tommy Vietor of Crooked Media is a fan. If Sam Ponder hadn't tweeted about Barstool and the #MeToo/Weinstein story wasn't in the news cycle at the same time, I don't think ESPN would have canceled the show. They knew what Barstool was and wanted their audience. It's not just the MRA/gamer gate contingent either. Barstool has a lot in common with the "ironic" misogyny/racism/anti-semitism/homophobia of the dirtbag left too.
posted by gladly at 7:27 AM on October 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
The death spiral of journalism (sports and otherwise) is a serious problem, but one silver lining is that the near-zero cost of entry creates a dynamic where no reader / subscriber should feel the need to accept any hint of this sort of bad behavior before moving on to one of the many other platforms doing roughly the same thing. Not that we as readers can tell the future -- and certainly we don't know as much about the business side of these platforms or the editors as we do the writers -- but Barstool's content was for the most part about as subtle as an air raid siren about their misogyny and general bro-ness. The minute I get a whiff of that sort of thing in my daily reading -- I don't care what the platform is -- I'm looking for a substitute good that gets me 80% of the coverage / entertainment value I want out of the platform without the need to take a long shower after reading. Usually, it's out there somewhere.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:02 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:02 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think it's impossible at this point to divorce big-time sports from this kind of anger, hostility, misogyny, racism, etc. The whole enterprise is tied up in really repellant 2-minutes-hate style fandom that feeds the worst impulses of the id.
It's all poison.
posted by uberchet at 8:41 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's all poison.
posted by uberchet at 8:41 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
From the article:
posted by mhum at 10:47 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Barstool has always adamantly insisted that its “off-color” comments, whether sexist or racist or homophobic, aren’t an actual reflection of their values or character.Lol. Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
posted by mhum at 10:47 AM on October 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
What ARE the reflections of their values and character, then??
posted by nicebookrack at 10:14 PM on October 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by nicebookrack at 10:14 PM on October 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
They don't have any. Reflections, values, or character.
posted by Dysk at 3:37 AM on October 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 3:37 AM on October 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Is it fair to say that the average Metafilter reader is not the intended demographic for Barstool?
posted by theorique at 4:28 AM on October 27, 2017
posted by theorique at 4:28 AM on October 27, 2017
There are lots of things that I'm not the intended audience for that don't build their entire shtick on misogyny, homophobia, and racism.
posted by Dysk at 4:43 AM on October 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 4:43 AM on October 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
"It's not for you, it's for terrible people."
posted by tobascodagama at 5:14 AM on October 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 5:14 AM on October 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
I recall that when they were a print publication distributed in Boston, their tagline was "By the common man, for the common man". They apparently have a vision of their reader and their demographic as some "regular dude" who likes sports and dislikes what he perceives as political correctness.
posted by theorique at 5:22 AM on October 27, 2017
posted by theorique at 5:22 AM on October 27, 2017
Yeah, the bigots always claim that it's them that re normal, and they're just saying what everyone's thinking, and hey, this is what regular dudes are like. It's bullshit. Bigotry is not a natural state. Lots of men are not absolute fucknuggets like these guys. Don't buy into their naked attempt to normalise their hatred.
posted by Dysk at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
They do more than normalize their hatred - they proselytize it. They insist not only "this is normal" but "if you're not like this, you're not normal."
And the people who try to be reasonable, who acknowledge that some other people are just mean or vicious or always biased, get swept up as "supporters," because when they say, "some people are like this," it leaves the bigots with an easy opening for, "you should be, too! Why not? It's fun being this way!"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:34 AM on October 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
And the people who try to be reasonable, who acknowledge that some other people are just mean or vicious or always biased, get swept up as "supporters," because when they say, "some people are like this," it leaves the bigots with an easy opening for, "you should be, too! Why not? It's fun being this way!"
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:34 AM on October 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
Apparently the Barstool people hate people riding bicycles, too.
In 2015, Barstool’s John Feitelberg wrote, “If you’re in my way while I’m trying to get to or from work, then I’m running you over. I don’t care if you’re keeping in shape or saving the environment, you’re dead.”
Delightful.
posted by asperity at 3:39 PM on November 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
In 2015, Barstool’s John Feitelberg wrote, “If you’re in my way while I’m trying to get to or from work, then I’m running you over. I don’t care if you’re keeping in shape or saving the environment, you’re dead.”
Delightful.
posted by asperity at 3:39 PM on November 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
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