The Washington Post swung for the fences with a biased hit piece on Barstool Sports chief Dave Portnoy, but even the community notes on the paper’s own X post on the story were a brutal reminder that the paper’s unprofessionalism has been noticed.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, Dave Portnoy took the precaution of recording a conversation he had with Washington Post screedist Emily Heil, who was sending out emails to advertisers and supporters of Portnoy’s Pizzafest event demanding that they tell her why they would have the gall to support a “misogynistic racist” like Portnoy.
Portnoy was set to hold his Pizzafest event, called the “One Bite Pizza Festival,” in Brooklyn on Sept. 23. The event was held to help the 35 pizza shops participating get their names out to the pizza eating public and to add to the more than $41 million Portnoy has raised for small businesses.
After he received warnings from his advertisers, he called the Washington Post reporter and asked why she was threatening his associates but had not bothered to call him for any of his comments about her accusations.
At the top of the call, Heil flat-out lied and said she never sent any emails to his advertisers attacking Portnoy’s character. But when he read her own words in one such missive right back to her, she suddenly “remembered” that, yeah, maybe she did call Portnoy a few names in her messages to his advertisers.
But it was all just “standard” journalism,” a “common tactic,” and she insisted she meant only to “get a response” from the advertisers.
I am shocked that #emilyheil at the @washingtonpost would use such a ‘journalistic tactic’ where she included libelous language in an email just so the recipient would engage in a conversation. And people wonder why there is a distrust in journalists and journalistic integrity.
— Shane Demarco (@ShaneDema) September 21, 2023
Portnoy went on to ask her why her line to his supporters was all about his “problematic” behavior instead of how he has helped the pizza industry and small businesses.
The conversation just went downhill from there, of course. But it ended with Heil asking to set up a 10 a.m. slot on the following morning for a more in-depth interview when she was “ready” with her questions. While he was leery, Portnoy agreed to the 10 a.m. interview and the pair ended the call to reconvene the next morning.
But low and behold, Heil lied again because before that 10 a.m. slot that she, herself, asked for, the “journalist” canceled the interview. Instead, she wanted to talk to Portnoy at 5 p.m. just before the article was supposed to be published, a time so short until publication time that Portnoy knew it meant that nothing he said would make it into the story. So, he told her to pound sand, like he should have.
It’s surreal we live in a country where activist reporters can openly get caught lying and admitting they are creating a false narrative to generate engagement and controversy AND still publish the article https://t.co/kUtVMsFI9M pic.twitter.com/R9wk8B9d3V
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 22, 2023
The Post published it slanted story on Friday.
Portnoy put out an amusingly worded press release on X blasting the Post for sending a writer who repeatedly lies to write an all-out attack on him without giving him a chance to reply, calling their actions “the official death of honest and fair journalism in America.”
For Immediate Release: pic.twitter.com/G7QSlGGnKD
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 23, 2023
But Portnoy was not alone in his efforts to slap down the biased and unfair screed published by the woke Post because the community notes on X were also there to let readers know that the paper has once again made a mockery of journalism.
For instance, in its lead post on X about its story, the community notes let social media users know that the “reporter” lied to Portnoy’s advertisers.
“A phone call between Emily Heil and Dave Portney was shared prior to publication, in which the WaPo journalist admits to intentionally misleading advertisers into speaking negatively of the One Bite Pizza Festival… They agreed to an interview the next day but Wapo cancelled.”
This weekend, New York will host Dave Portnoy’s One Bite Pizza Festival.
Participating pizzerias have had to navigate buzz around the festival and backlash against the Barstool Sports founder’s controversial remarks and allegations of sexual misconduct. https://t.co/v2XqLxkJwg
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 22, 2023
The paper then lied about the interview it set up. Its X post misleadingly stated, “Portnoy agreed to a full-fledged interview, but when The Post asked to reschedule, he declined an alternate time and declined the offer to answer questions in writing.”
This is mostly BS because it was the Post that offered the interview time and the Post that canceled it, not Portnoy. and Portnoy warned at the outset that he would not talk to the paper if they scheduled an interview just prior to publication of the article. But they tried that bait and switch, anyway.
Portnoy agreed to a full-fledged interview, but when The Post asked to reschedule, he declined an alternate time and declined the offer to answer questions in writing. https://t.co/v2XqLxkJwg
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 22, 2023
This incident is all just another example of why no one should trust the sold-out, left-wing media to ever just report a story. Instead, we know that all they do is spin to the left, lie, mislead their readers, and offer fake news. The Washington Post was caught red handed in the process, and yet published its story anyway. This is how arrogant they are.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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