Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, said he fired an intern who posted a message of condolence to Charlie Kirk’s family from a Barstool-branded account, after the intern publicly accused the company of sacking them for expressing sympathy.
A social media user identifying themselves as "TortillaSniper" said they were running the Barstool Texas Tech account when they posted a short tribute offering "prayers for his family" following Kirk’s fatal shooting at Utah Valley University. The user posted a statement saying they were dismissed days later and calling Barstool a "fraud of a company" for allegedly silencing employees who show humanity.
Portnoy responded on X, saying the intern had broken established rules for Barstool’s large internship program by using a brand account to post personal opinions. "We have pretty hard and fast rules not to do politics or personal opinions on those accounts," he wrote. Portnoy said the program includes roughly 200 interns and that all other accounts followed the policy. He added that the intern also engaged in confrontational exchanges in comments and that he had no sympathy for what he described as a "scumbag move" to publicize the dismissal.
Screenshots circulated on social media that purported to be from a Barstool Texas Tech group chat and showed the intern apologizing for posting the message on an official account. Responses on X were divided: some users supported Portnoy’s explanation that brand accounts should not be used for personal posts, while others said the intern’s dismissal showed a lack of empathy.
The incident unfolded amid heightened tensions following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and prominent Trump ally. Kirk was shot while speaking at a Q&A event at Utah Valley University and died from his injuries. The killing prompted sharp reactions online, including posts that celebrated the death, and led to disciplinary action by some organizations; the NFL franchise the Carolina Panthers said it fired a junior employee who mocked the assassination on Instagram.
Portnoy has himself been part of the broader debate over political rhetoric since Kirk’s death. In comments earlier in the week, he criticized the divisiveness of political leaders — including former President Donald Trump — and suggested that sustained incendiary rhetoric contributes to violence. "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... People hate him so much," Portnoy said, adding that repeated characterizations of opponents as "Nazis" or "fascists" can create an environment in which some individuals justify violent acts.
The Barstool intern program has been a pipeline for student content across college-branded accounts, and Portnoy’s response stressed a desire to keep those official channels free of personal political commentary. The user who said they were fired maintained their post called only for prayers and contained no political message.
Neither Barstool Sports as a company nor the intern provided additional comment beyond the posts shared publicly. The exchange highlighted tensions between corporate social-media policies and individual expression after a nationally prominent assassination prompted intense online debate.