I Spoke At BU About Barstool Yesterday And It Did NOT Go As Expected

I know Keith and Large have both put out great blogs over the last 24 hours about the millionth time we got Deadspinned. So I’m not here to rehash that, but while that was happening at HQ yesterday, I was back in Boston speaking at Boston University.

When I was working for NBC Sports Boston, I spoke at a few colleges multiple times. This was the first time I’d had the opportunity since joining the pirate ship. I was honored to be asked back to the city I love to talk about my own path and how I ended up where I am today.

And honestly, I thought a room of 21/22 year olds in Boston would mean I was walking into –  for lack of a better term – a Barstool fan club. I prepared myself to get questions about pizza reviews, what day-to-day at HQ is really like, and how much money Big Cat makes. But I was wrong. Very wrong.

Instead I got questions about the reputation of Barstool, where my own reputation fits in with that, why things happen the way they do and where I see it all going in the future.

I wish I could give the entire Q&A, but it was an hour and half long. Nobody has time for that. But here are some very paraphrased examples:

- Can anyone consider Barstool  journalism?  We don’t pretend to be. Never have. We’re an entertainment site. We tell stories, we give our opinions on the news and give the fan voice a platform.

- Do you think that Barstool creates an audience that attacks people? Do you think Barstool aligns itself with the MAGA crowd on purpose? You can’t control any audience and there are always assholes. They go after us as hard- if not harder- constantly. We hate the fake names, fake avatars hiding behind keyboards too. Trust me. That is a very small percentage of readers. A minuscule amount. They don’t represent our fan base as a whole.

As for politics – nobody inside the walls discusses politics. I have no idea who voted for who and I don’t care.  We specifically stay AWAY from political stories unless they’re funny or entertaining.  Our one politics writer quit that to become the golf guy.  But somehow on the outside, we’re both Trump-wannabes and Libstool. It’s bizarre.

- How is it really to work with Dave Portnoy? Is he really the person you see online? Dave doesn’t pretend to be somebody that he’s not. He rarely goes after people who don’t go after him first. The people who think he’s a shitty person don’t actually know him as a person. I stand by that 100%.

- As a woman, do you think people think differently/negatively of you since you went to Barstool? Do you feel safe there?  I 1,000,000% feel safe at Barstool.  I 1,000,000% feel welcome, supported, and respected.  We’re a family. Yes, there will be people who think of me differently and negatively now. But there are also people – smart people – who see it as major growth. I can’t change people’s opinions or let it control how I do my job. I’m surrounded by insanely talented people every single day. It’s hard not to believe in something like this.

- How much freedom do you have in making content at Barstool? The best part about working here is having the freedom to be whoever you want to be and create whatever you want to create. Literally anything.  If you have an idea, you create it.  Often within the hour.  There’s nowhere like this place. And that means sometimes people put out things that I don’t agree with – and that’s ok.  There are like 60 people here making content all day, every day.  It would be boring if we all liked everything each other did.

- If you could go back, would you still make the jump? Even if journalists may not take you as seriously? I would do this again and again and again, a million times over.

I could go on and on.

It was the most challenging public speaking event I’ve ever been a part of. But it was actually very refreshing. Not just because I got a chance to gas us up (ya ya, “Barstool loves Barstool”), but because I got to really be honest with them – and myself – about this whole thing.

It’s easy to fire off a tweet or send an email to talk about it. I’ve done it before to defend us. But it was completely different doing it face-to-face in a room full of pretty smart kids looking for answers (very fair ones, at that). They weren’t assholes at all. They were just asking things I didn’t expect to be asked. A day later, I’m still thinking about it.

No matter what was thrown at me, the term I found myself saying over and over was “un-apologetically authentic.”

That’s exactly what Barstool is. It’s not racist. It’s not misogynistic. It’s not “frat boy” culture. It’s authentic. It’s real. That’s what Dave created. That’s what Erika bought into and took to the next level. That’s what guys like Dan, Kevin and Keith have done so well for so many years. And it’s damn sure not perfect.

But that’s what separates us from the rest of this world: We are who we are – as a whole and individually – for better or worse.

And nobody is going to apologize for that.

I know I’ve only been here for a year. No, I wasn’t in Milton. No, I wasn’t around for the Blackout Tour. No, I can’t quote every single OG Stoolie reference. I’m not pretending to either. And no, I will never be able to win over the people who don’t like that I used to hold an ESPN microphone or who think I’m pretending to be something I’m not. That’s fine.

What I do know is that in 2019, Barstool is bigger than ever, and I’m lucky enough to be a part of it. I can say with full faith and trust:  you’ll never get fake here. You’re getting real life 24/7.

Un-apologetically.

And that’s really fucking cool.