If you expected Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy to be popping a bottle of champagne over the news that Sam Ponder was fired from ESPN, guess again.
The sports media personality took to social media to react to the news that Ponder and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III were let go by the Worldwide Leader, but surprised many by not basking in the decision by ESPN.
Portnoy, 47, has made a show of opening a bottle of champagne when a person he feels has slighted him gets let go by their job but did not do so this time, despite the previous bad blood between Portnoy and Ponder.
The Barstool Sports founder previously partially blamed Ponder for ESPN’s “Barstool Van Talk” being canceled after just one episode.
Breaking: Sam Ponder Fired at Espn. pic.twitter.com/iCCbFyEeBd
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 15, 2024
“Everyone’s like, ‘Prez, where’s the Sam Ponder bottle?’” Portnoy said in the roughly 1:35 long video posted on X from his Montauk home. “No Sam Ponder bottle, can you believe that? Listen, I took the first shot at Sam Ponder. Was it joking? Yeah. Do I think she and ESPN overreacted? I know so. But I’m fair. And I’ve said this about Ponder, buried the axe, buried the hatchet. I have no champagne bottle for her.”
He later continued: “Sam Ponder, no grudge. I said some things, she held onto them, she played her card, I have no grudge with that. It’s when people come out of left field and start fights with me, and they come at me first. Ponder is not one of them. So, good luck to her in her next step.”
He did say he popped a bottle after former ESPN head John Skipper stepped down seven years ago.
Ponder, 38, had been the subject of crude remarks by Barstool earlier in her career, and she did not appear to react too kindly after ESPN agreed to “Barstool Van Talk” in 2017, posting about some of what was written about her.
Ponder has denied having anything to do with having to do with the show’s quick cancelation.
Portnoy added in a follow-up post that he had gained respect for Ponder after they got into a face-to-face argument at a restaurant.
“Also Sam Ponder once ambushed me at a restaurant and got right in my face. We argued for an hour. Gained a ton of respect from me as opposed to people who hide in the shadows,” he wrote.
Ponder has not publicly addressed the news of her firing.
