Barstool Boss Reveals the ‘Classless Piece of Sh*t’ Moment That Sparked His WAR Against Angel Reese—And Why He Will NEVER Apologize

In the chaotic, hyper-charged world of sports commentary, few figures can ignite a controversy quite like Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. And in the equally volatile, rapidly expanding universe of women’s professional basketball, few stars are as polarizing as Angel Reese. The collision of these two cultural juggernauts has created one of the most intense and racially charged public feuds in modern American sports, a high-octane narrative that has, ironically, helped fuel the massive mainstream growth of the WNBA. Now, in a highly anticipated, unvarnished moment, Portnoy has laid bare his soul to the sports-watching public, identifying the precise, singular flashpoint that ignited his long-running “hate” for the Chicago Sky forward, and why he refuses to walk back his incendiary early comments.

The stage for this drama was set in April 2023, during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Game, a colossal matchup that pitted Reese’s LSU Tigers against Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes. This game wasn’t just a contest for a national title; it was the birth of a rivalry that would come to define an era of women’s basketball, characterized by unprecedented viewership and constant, often hostile, media debate. For Portnoy, this was merely a game he tuned into as a fan of Clark and Iowa. But the conclusion, and the actions of the victor, would fundamentally change his view of one of the sport’s biggest names.

Appearing on the Courtside Club podcast with WNBA reporter Rachel DeMita, Portnoy offered a level of granular detail and candid emotion rarely seen from the media mogul, directly confronting the accusations that have followed him since that championship night. “People know I don’t like Angel,” Portnoy admitted, before dramatically zeroing in on the pivotal event. “I started hating Angel in the ring game.”

The phrase “ring game” is Barstool slang, a reference to the post-championship celebration and the ultimate prize, but it clearly points to the moments in the game’s final minutes when Angel Reese famously followed Caitlin Clark, pointing to her ring finger and using the “You can’t see me” gesture popularized by wrestler John Cena.

Portnoy’s reaction was immediate and utterly uncompromising. He stated that what he witnessed was a profound breach of sports etiquette, a move he classified as “unprofessional” and flat-out “classless.” In a statement that immediately went viral and has been replayed countless times, he did not mince words about his response on his own platform.

“When she was going around doing that and I called her a classless piece of sh*t that got me transformed to Dave’s racist,” Portnoy recounted to DeMita. The leap from sports critic to being labeled a racist is a major theme in the entire Reese-Clark conversation, and Portnoy strongly pushed back on the accusation that his critique was racially motivated.

He insisted that his anger was universal and independent of the player’s identity: “I didn’t even know who she was. I don’t care who did that.” He was simply, in that moment, a fan of the losing team, a fan of Caitlin Clark, whom he was “rooting for.”

Portnoy elevated his condemnation by claiming the act of championship taunting was historically out of bounds in major sports. “I’ll go to my grave, I’ve said this a million times. You will never find footage of any athlete in a championship taunting another player the way she did,” he declared. This assertion positions the infamous moment not just as an act of poor sportsmanship but as a unique, unprecedented violation of the unwritten code of athletic rivalry.

The backlash was instant and fierce. Fans, pundits, and media personalities rallied to defend Reese, arguing that taunting is common in men’s sports and that the same level of vitriol would never be aimed at a male athlete for the same conduct. Portnoy, however, dismissed the argument that Reese was merely responding in kind to previous taunting by Clark.

“And people like, well, Caitlyn did it first. Caitlyn never did. People alter her foot. Caitlyn did this like once to herself. It wasn’t like she followed around and play. It just doesn’t exist.” Portnoy’s stance here is unwavering: in his view, the two players’ on-court demeanor, even with the trash-talking that is a hallmark of the college game, was not equivalent. He conceded that Clark “talked,” but emphasized that “she never did it like that,” meaning she never engaged in the prolonged, personal, ring-finger-pointing taunt.

This initial spark, according to Portnoy, not only set the stage for his intense scrutiny but also established the narrative for the players themselves. “But then that started the rivalry. And to be honest, Angel provoked it from there on in. Angel for a long time would just keep taking shots at Caitlyn and her fans,” he claimed. In this framing, the responsibility for escalating the rivalry from a high-stakes college contest to a constant media sparring match falls squarely on Reese.

Portnoy’s sustained criticism continued into Reese’s WNBA rookie season with the Chicago Sky. In the eyes of the media boss, Reese’s off-court moves and overall persona continued to clash with his vision of a professional athlete. In another highly-debated rant, he claimed that if a “male was doing what Angel Reese is doing she would get crucified, regardless of skin color, regardless of anything.” He went on to criticize her for seemingly prioritizing her off-court celebrity and podcast activities over a singular focus on the game, while simultaneously praising Clark for keeping her “head down, just f***ing in the gym, you don’t hear a peep from her.”

The Barstool founder’s comments, whether viewed as legitimate sports commentary or calculated controversy, tap into a broader, complex debate about on-court behavior, the emergence of the athlete as a brand ambassador, and the often-uneven standards applied to male and female competitors. Reese’s supporters argue that her unapologetic, “villain” persona is a shrewd business move that has helped drive unprecedented ratings and interest to the WNBA—a brilliant form of self-promotion. Portnoy, a self-made media titan who built his empire on controversy, even grudgingly acknowledged a recent piece of this genius, praising her move to trademark the term “Mebounds“—a term originally used by critics to mock her—as “brilliant” marketing, despite his “hate” for her as an athlete.

Ultimately, Portnoy’s revelation on the podcast serves as a definitive, if controversial, marker in the ongoing saga. His “hate,” he claims, is not some ill-defined, general resentment but a reaction to a single act he found genuinely offensive to the spirit of competition. He maintains his position, asserting that a player’s behavior is a “very significant role” that can “hamper the spirit of the league.” As the Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark saga continues to unfold, Portnoy’s unyielding stance ensures he will remain one of the loudest, most polarizing voices in the increasingly dramatic narrative of women’s basketball.