Dave Portnoy implies firing of Barstool Sports host Ben Mintz led to Penn Entertainment stock drop

Drawing a correlation between the machinations of any business and its daily stock price can often be something of a causation leap, but it appears that Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is convinced that a drop in Penn Entertainment stock on Thursday is directly tied to the company’s firing of host Ben Mintz on Wednesday.

“There he is. That’s Mintzy,” Portnoy wrote Thursday on Twitter, referencing a recent episode of HBO’s Succession in which a character’s death impacted the stock price of a corporation. The tweet included a screenshot of Penn Entertainment’s stock price, which had dropped 10.26 percent as of that moment.

There he is. That's Mintzy. pic.twitter.com/hw1esWYJnz

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 4, 2023

The NASDAQ showed Penn Entertainment stock as “dropping fast” around noon ET on Thursday, listing it as down 12.82 percent on the day at $26.25 per share. According to Action Network, that’s the lowest Penn’s stock has been since May 2020.

“By the way I’m crying on the inside,” Portnoy added in a follow-up tweet. “I own a ton of $penn stock. Great time to buy. It’ll bounce back in my humble non financial advise opinion.”

On Wednesday, Portnoy announced that Ben Mintz, known on their platform as Mintzy, had been fired after saying a racial slur while reading song lyrics on a livestream earlier in the week. Portnoy went on to say that the decision, which he disagreed with and fought back against, came directly from Penn, which owns Barstool outright as of February. Portnoy said that Penn’s concern over how the controversy could scare gambling regulators was behind the decision.

“I hate the decision. I disagree with the decision. I would not have made the decision. But I don’t deal with the things Penn deals with in terms of state regulators etc,” Portnoy told The New York Post on Wednesday. “Penn paid a lot of money for Barstool and they have to make the best decisions to protect their business. I trust and respect [Penn CEO] Jay [Snowden] that he makes what he thinks is the right move and that’s all you can ask for. Doesn’t mean I’ll always agree but again he deals with things I don’t have to think or deal with.”

Mintz, who hosted Wake Up Mintzy and made other appearances across Barstool’s properties, apologized for the comment on Monday, saying he made “an unforgivable mistake slipping on air while reading a song lyric” and that he “meant no harm & have never felt worse about anything.”

On Wednesday, he let his fans know that he was “in good spirits” and “way too grateful to be too down.”

More than how the decision may or may not have impacted Penn’s stock price, the more interesting thing to watch is how Barstool’s loyal fanbase will react long-term. In the annals of Barstool history, Mintz’s misstep isn’t even one of the ten worst things that one of their personalities has ever said. Given the new corporate normal, will Barstool be able to maintain the edgy appeal that built their audience or will they start to look elsewhere for the “old Barstool,” in whatever form that takes?

[Dave Portnoy, Action Network, Penn National]