Much like professional wrestling, it can often be difficult to determine what’s real, what’s not and what’s somewhere in between when it comes to Barstool Sports.
But while the company’s innerworkings — including interpersonal feuds — are often mined for content, one such situation had very real consequences last week, with blogger Chris Castellani announcing that he and the company have parted ways.
“I just got off the phone with Dave [Portnoy] and we have mutually agreed to part ways regarding my time at Barstool. I am no longer an employee at Barstool Sports,” Castellani said in a video posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday. “Oh man, I feel relieved today. This is best for both sides. I totally understood it from Dave’s point of view and I’m very excited for what’s next. I just want to say thank you to Dave. I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”
I no longer work at Barstool Sports pic.twitter.com/lKuTHT61zn
— Chris Castellani (@Castellani2014) March 22, 2024
The circumstances that ultimately led to Castellani’s departure seemingly began when he published a blog last Tuesday upset that he wasn’t included in the company’s “Bracket Busters” stream. In the post, Castellani took shots at multiple Barstool employees who were included in the event, including Francis Ellis, who he referred to as “a man whose biggest connection to sports is that he looks like every member of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team put together.”
Seemingly caught off guard by the stray shot, Ellis returned fire in kind, publishing a blog of his own aimed at Castellani.
“Chris: you are expressly, intentionally withheld from company events. You are not overlooked; you are flagged,” Ellis wrote. “You are not forgotten; your name is underlined, highlighted, and annotated with a “DO NOT ALLOW WITHIN 300 YARDS OF THE BUILDING” note carved in red ink so ferociously that it punctures the page.”
From there, Castellani followed up with a response to Ellis’ response in a blog titled “Francis is right.” While Castellani took issue with Ellis’ assertion that he was essentially a Barstool charity case and claimed that his “character has been WILDLY misrepresented,” he also admitted that he has lamented his job at Barstool for the last year, referring to it as a “nightmare.”
“It’s essentially high school all over again,” he wrote.
If all of this seems strange from a content standpoint, that’s certainly understandable. But again, Barstool’s behind-the-scenes drama is often turned content. It was just last month that the blogger known as Ohio’s Tate was promoted from part-time to full-time after calling out Barstool personality Kelly Keegs in a series of blogs.
While there clearly appeared to be a personal aspect to Castellani and Ellis’ back and forth, that’s not necessarily something that’s uncommon when it comes to Barstool content. But clearly, there was something more to the situation, as Castellani announced his departure three days later despite still having two months still remaining on his contract.
Considering the nature of the original blog and the content of Ellis’ response, it would be fair to deduce that tensions between Castellani and Barstool were simmering even prior to last week. It’s unclear whether Castellani thought that it would make for good content or if he had finally reached his breaking point with the company. But by the end of the week, it was apparent that this wasn’t all just a part of the show.
