Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports publicly accused 6abc of employing a 'bait and switch' tactic during an interview following an antisemitic incident at a Barstool Philadelphia location. Portnoy claimed that the reporter he initially agreed to speak with was replaced, leading to a contentious exchange and the abrupt termination of the interview.
In response, 6abc released a statement confirming that reporter Katie Katro had filed a story on Portnoy's reaction to the antisemitic sign but had not interviewed him personally. The statement did not clarify which reporter conducted the interview that angered Portnoy.
The controversy stems from an antisemitic sign displayed at Barstool Sansom Street, resulting in the suspension of a Temple University student and the firing of two Barstool servers. Portnoy initially planned to send those involved to Auschwitz as a teachable moment, but reversed this decision after a follow-up conversation with the suspended student.
After Barstool’s Dave Portnoy posted a video on Monday attacking a 6abc reporter for conducting what he said was a “bait and switch” interview, the home of Action News has issued a statement clarifying one reporter’s involvement in the story.
“On Sunday afternoon one of our reporters, Katie Katro, filed a story about Barstool Sports creator Dave Portnoy’s response to an antisemitic sign displayed at Barstool Sports’ Philly location,” the station said in a statement published Tuesday afternoon.
“This is the only story Katie has done on this topic. She has not interviewed Mr. Portnoy, nor has she done any follow up reporting.”
Portnoy said he agreed to an interview with 6abc after an antisemitic sign was displayed at Barstool Sansom Street on Saturday night. A viral video showed Barstool servers parading a bottle service sign with an aggressive antisemitic message. The incident was widely condemned; Temple University has suspended a student who allegedly was involved and two Barstool servers were immediately fired.
In his video Monday, Portnoy alleged that the reporter he originally agreed to speak with was not the one who ended up conducting the remote interview, which became contentious after the reporter asked Portnoy about his responsibility in shaping Barstool’s culture.
» READ MORE: ‘A hideous incident’: Temple student suspended over antisemitic sign at Barstool Philadelphia
“You ambushed me,” Portnoy said in his post, which included video of Portnoy’s side of the interview from Arizona once it escalated. Portnoy ended the interview abruptly by shutting his laptop.
It is unclear who conducted the interview. The reporter is not mentioned by name in Portnoy’s video. The 6abc statement did not indicate if a reporter other than Katro had spoken to Portnoy. The news station did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Portnoy, who is Jewish, first said he had spoken with the customers involved in the incident and wanted to make it a teachable moment by paying for them to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, instead of wishing for “these kids’ lives to be ruined.”
But that changed after Portnoy had a follow-up conversation with the suspended Temple student in which they took less responsibility for the sign, and Portnoy said the free trip was off for that individual.
In a statement posted to a since-deactivated Instagram account believed to belong to the Temple student, they apologized for what happened but said that they did not request or pay for the bottle service sign, and had only filmed its unveiling and posted the video to social media.
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