Sam Ponder has unlikely ally in Dave Portnoy

With Stoolies urging Dave Portnoy to celebrate Sam Ponder’s firing from ESPN, the Barstool founder opted to wish her well.

Three weeks before the NFL season kicks off, ESPN made the curious decision to fire Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder Thursday morning. The news was first reported by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic . Shortly after the announcement, Portnoy posted a video on social media to address Ponder’s firing, as well as the calls for him to celebrate her ousting with a bottle of champagne.

“Big news coming out of ESPN,” Portnoy said. “Sam Ponder fired. That is right, Sam Ponder, she is the reason Barstool Van Talk, amongst other things, was canceled after one show.”

Portnoy then took a pass through the wine cellar in his Montauk mansion to show off champagne bottles featuring the names of his enemies. It’s become customary for Portnoy to pop a revenge bottle of champagne when someone he previously feuded with gets fired or has a public misstep, as a way of toasting their demise.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Prez, where’s the Sam Ponder bottle?'” Portnoy said before doing the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag. “No Sam Ponder bottle, can you believe that? Listen, I took the first shot at Sam Ponder. Was it joking? Yeah. Do I think she and ESPN overreacted? I know so. But I’m fair. And I’ve said this about Ponder, buried the axe, buried the hatchet; I have no champagne bottle for her.”

Portnoy added that he had a revenge bottle of champagne for John Skipper and popped it when the former ESPN president resigned in 2017.

“Sam Ponder, no grudge,” Portnoy insisted. “I said some things, she held onto them, she played her card, I have no grudge with that. It’s when people come out of left field and start fights with me, and they come at me first. Ponder is not one of them. So, good luck to her in her next step.”

Ponder was the target of several attacks and jokes from Barstool earlier in her career. And when ESPN signed Barstool Van Talk in 2017, Ponder shared screenshots of those attacks and jokes. One week later, Barstool Van Talk was canceled after its first episode, with Skipper citing an inability to distance the show from Barstool.

Skipper resigned from ESPN less than two months later, prompting Portnoy to pop a revenge bottle of champagne. But for Ponder, there is no champagne bottle to celebrate her firing after she defended herself from Barstool’s attacks. Just well wishes from Portnoy, making him an unlikely ally.

[ Dave Portnoy ]

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