Kirk Minihane in a WGBH interview.

It’s been a short, strange trip for Kirk Minihane at Barstool Sports and that trip appears to be coming to an end, at least according to him.

Minihane, once described by the Boston Globe as a “contentious host who brought big ratings and frequent controversy,” parted ways with WEEI back in November after a five-year stint with the Boston radio station. He briefly moved over to Entercom’s Radio.com, launching a column and a podcast in January 2019.

In the interim, Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy tweeted that he’d welcome Minihane into their fold and also gave an interview to The Big Lead in which he praised Minihane and said Barstool was interested in hiring him away. The feeling appeared to be mutual.

In between his two jobs, Minihane was a co-host with Portnoy on Barstool Radio during Super Bowl week and he also spent plenty of time defending Barstool on Twitter against WEEI’s reporting about Barstool’s sponsorship of a Bruins rally towel given out before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. So it was no surprise in May when Portnoy revealed that Minihane would be joining Barstool Sports after all with “The Kirk Minihane Show” podcast where he promised, “raw, uncensored commentary on sports, politics, culture, and things that matter.”

It only took a month for trouble to find Minihane when he and Barstool were sued over an interview Minihane conducted with Somerville Mayor Curtatone. In the interview, Minihane posed as “Kevin Cullen of The Boston Globe“, (which is of note since Minihane was responsible for Cullen’s 2018 suspension for fabrication). He also posted the interview on Barstool’s website.

Things apparently went south from there. In early August, The Big Lead reported on a public spat between Portnoy and Minihane that seemed to toe the line between a reality TV drama and actual employer-employee problems. The issue stemmed from Mihihane’s discussions surrounding Bob Murchison, an activist who has tried for years to get hosts such as Minihane off of radio for years. Portnoy wanted Minihane to stop discussing him given that Murchison had now turned his attention to Barstool and the host’s response boiled down to calling Portnoy a “pussy” and saying he’s “Disney-fied” over advertising and money concerns.

Since then it appears that cooler heads have not prevailed and the situation may have reached a boiling point, which is saying something for Barstool. Per The Big Lead, Minihane’s producer Steve Robinson has repeatedly emailed radio host Benjamin Allbright attempting to discredit the notion that Allbright served in the U.S. Army in Iraq. Allbright took to Twitter on Sunday to make the accusations public. He also says that Barstool fans and listeners have been harassing him over the claims as well.

Barstool personality and Marine Corps Veteran Uncle Chaps (a.k.a. Matthew Cothran) then responded to Allbright, saying that if this was, in fact, true then he apologizes and that Allbright doesn’t have to prove anything.

While it remains to be seen what action, if any, Barstool has officially taken with Minihane, it appears that the host has already decided his days with the company are over. That’s the takeaway from his tweets on Sunday afternoon following the reveal of the emails.

First, Minihane tweetedReady to get to work, @GerryCallahan?” at his former co-host, hinting at a potential reunion. He then responded to Chaps’ tweet by refuting the central premise. 

However, the Kirk Minihane Show account then tweeted that it was very clearly intending to “sort it out” over Allbright’s service and their perception that he was not telling the truth. According to the account, the podcast episode is expected to arrive on Monday morning.

Finally, when another person said the two should fight it out at Barstool’s next Rough & Rowdy event, Minihane responded by saying “Unless that event is tonight I doubt it’ll happen. My days at Barstool are over, it seems. I’d be stunned if it isn’t.

The Big Lead’s Bobby Burack says that he spoke with Portnoy and that as of Sunday evening Minihane has not been fired and has not quit.

Unless it’s all just a big publicity stunt, which is certainly possible, it does sound like the good times are coming to an end between the two sides. And though critics of Barstool and Minihane might scoff at even caring about the feud, his podcast remains high on the iTunes charts and a move elsewhere will likely be of interest to various media companies.

It’s never a dull moment with Barstool and this particular saga doesn’t appear to be over just yet.

[The Big Lead]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.