Dave Portnoy made headlines earlier this week when he and Barstool Sports personality Josh Richards released a diss track aimed at country music star Zach Bryan.
But despite the video for “Smallest Man” having been taken down due to copyright claims — more on that later — the Barstool Sports founder only appears to just be getting started.
“You think that’s just it? You think we’re going to just put ‘Smallest Man’ away?” Portnoy said in a video posted to social media on Thursday. “I will write 10,000 diss tracks. I will go die in the booth. I will put the headsets on and come back spitting bars twice as hot.”
@stoolpresidente Another twist in the smallest man diss track saga #davesversion ♬ original sound – Dave Portnoy
For the uninitiated, the entire feud between Portnoy and Bryan stems from the country music star’s recent breakup with Barstool Sports personality Brianna LaPaglia. After Bryan publicly announced the breakup — which caught LaPaglia off guard — Portnoy and Richards released a diss track and music video in support of their BFFs podcast co-host.
But after initially going viral, the diss track — which included lyrics such as “how lucky is Bri to be free of ZB and his STDs?” — was taken down due to copyright claims. Although Portnoy initially believed it was due to the song’s intro or outro, he says he later learned it was because Richards had previously signed a music deal with Warner Music Group — which also reps Bryan — giving the label the exclusive rights to his songs.
But while WMG may be able to keep Richards from singing about Bryan, the same can’t be said for Portnoy, who has vowed to make more songs and even hinted at LaPaglia joining him in the recording booth. It’s unclear when the Portnoy’s next track will be released, but the timing appears ripe following the latest episode of BFFs, in which LaPaglia detailed her side of the high profile breakup, accusing Bryan of emotional abuse.
