Barstool's Dave Portnoy spoke out about his week-long war of words with Somerville's Dragon Pizza on Thursday, saying, "It's like living in bizarre world."
During an interview on Barstool's "The Kirk Minihane Show," Portnoy was asked about the reaction to last week's incident where he got into a fiery fight on camera with Dragon Pizza owner Charlie Redd, with the two trading insults outside the shop. The feud has since generated countless national headlines, including a Portnoy interview with Tucker Carlson and a Q&A with Redd in Bon Appétit.
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"There's been 10 articles in major publications, and none of them have come close to even telling the truth of what actually happened," Portnoy said Thursday. "He's making no sense," he said of Redd. "He doesn't want to talk about it, (but) he's talking to everybody. He doesn't like the way I review pizza, like I only have one bite, I always have bites. Like pizza places hate me -- they all love me."
He also took issue with Redd's claim that the pizza shop owner has been getting death threats since his interaction with Portnoy.
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"You inserted yourself into this pizza review that was not a hostile review," Portnoy said. "I hated the pizza... I genuinely didn't like the pizza, but I was going to talk my way around it to make it a good review."
"Everything he says is a lie. He's made no sense on any level, but hey, it went crazy viral, so I was happy." Portnoy went on to say that the pizza debate was the most viral thing he's done "in a long time."
For years, the outspoken founder of Barstool Sports, who once lived in Somerville, has rated pizzerias across the U.S. and then upladed his video reviews to his YouTube channel "One Bite Pizza Reviews."
In his review of Dragon Pizza, which was uploaded to YouTube last week as "The Worst Pizza Place in America," Portnoy gave the Somerville shop a low score of 6.4, seemingly offended by what he called the pizza's floppiness and strong parmesan flavor.
"It's a floppy mess," Portnoy said. "Strong parmesan ... this is an acquired taste. If you get this, know you’re going to get hit with a left, right in the face with parmesan... It looked better in the case."
While Portnoy was in the middle of recording his review, Redd came outside, telling him, "Dave, enjoy your pizza as any customer, but I don't appreciate what you do coming in and judging a business with one bite."
"I hope you enjoy your pizza, but I don't appreciate what you do to small businesses," Redd reiterated, something Portnoy took issue with.
Portnoy shot back, saying, "I've actually helped so many small businesses. With this bit, now I can say peacefully, this pizza's trash." He later added that he has raised $50 million for small businesses.
Despite the death threats, business at Dragon Pizza has been booming this week. The company said on its social media accounts that they sold out on Saturday and Monday.
"Thanks. To this team. To our community. To LOVE over HATE in this unbelievable ugly situation of trolls attacking every aspect of us," read a caption on the shop's post on Saturday.
It closed Tuesday, the shop said: "We are completely sold out and need a day to prepare for the rest of the week. Thank you to our amazing staff and supporters. Couldn’t do it without y’all."
In his interview with Bon Appétit, Redd said he had been wanting to confront Portnoy since the day he first opened Dragon Pizza.
"I had no idea who he was until I opened a pizza shop and people told me 'Oh, you should call this guy.' And because of all the reasons I just laid out to you, I said, 'I’ll never call this guy.' The first week of business I was ready to throw him out."
He added that since the Tucker Carlson interview, he's been caught in a "media typhoon." He said he's had to take security measures because of the threats he's received and calls he's been getting on his personal cell phone.
"I can’t even pick up my phone because of the Portnoy and Carlson supporters who are motivated to try to shut down my shop," he said. "We’re getting fake orders for massive amounts of pizza every hour. Everything has to be prepaid now, whereas before, we had a good honest business where you called, you gave me your name, and I made your pizza."
"I run a pizza shop, and I've got a bunch of people that are trying to put my pizza shop out of business. And then there are people trying to carry my pizza shop through this with their support, their kind words, and love."
"People love our food. They like what we do here," Redd said. "It’s a great community, and that’s all there is to it. I love this business because we’ve got kids coming in and I had a bunch of retirees coming in saying, 'Go get him, Charlie.' It ain’t about politics. It’s because they like the pizza."
