Dave Portnoy (Photo Credit: Eric Rueb/Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
At times the real issue isn’t what everyone is talking about, it’s something unexpected. This time, it’s about who runs the company’s Twitter account. An intern at Barstool Sports said he was fired after posting a tribute to Charlie Kirk’s family.

The intern, who goes by “TortillaSniper” online, said he ran Barstool Texas Tech’s account. After Kirk’s shocking death last week, he posted a message offering prayers to the conservative activist’s family. He then accused Barstool of removing him for showing “basic human decency.”

But Barstool founder Dave Portnoy didn’t take that blame easily. He replied with his own version of the incident, clearly saying everything.

Dave Portnoy Replied To The Intern

Charlie Kirk (Photo via Twitter)

Portnoy jumped on X to rip into the former intern. He said the rules at Barstool are simple: no politics, no personal opinions on brand accounts. “It’s day 1 stuff,” Portnoy wrote. “If you run a brand account for any company you don’t do personal stuff. We don’t want 200 teenage interns giving their takes on the world.”

He said every other account followed those rules, except this one. Portnoy added, “He was the only 1 that didn’t, and then he also started fighting with people in comments, calling them a**holes . It had nothing to do with what he said and just how we run a massive intern program” That, he insisted, was the real reason for the dismissal.

“I hate this kid,” Portnoy wrote, beginning the tweet. “Maybe if he reached out to me first instead of going wacko I coulda helped. So I have no sympathy for him. He’s trying to use this to build his career. Scumbag move to be honest.”

The intern, meanwhile, blasted Barstool as a fraud of a company that silences people for showing humanity. He said, “Dave Portnoy and Barstool love to pretend they’re rebels, that they’re uncensored, that they’re different. The truth? They’re hypocrites. Weak. A fraud of a company that silences its own people for showing humanity. They’ll exploit tragedy when it gets clicks, but fire someone for showing empathy”

Screenshots later surfaced from the Barstool Texas Tech intern group chat that appeared to show the user apologizing for posting from the main account. So there is a conflict with his claim that he had been blindsided.

The incident has divided people online. Although many prayers and tributes have flowed in for Kirk, none have created such a controversy.

For Portnoy, the matter is over. But for the intern, it seems like the start of making his voice louder. What began as a condolence post has now turned into a big Barstool drama.