When it was originally announced that a rotating cast of Barstool Sports personalities would host FS1’s new morning studio show, Wake Up Barstool, as part of the new collaboration between the two sides, it was widely assumed by most that there would be plenty NSFW moments that we see in Barstool content all the time. But thus far, the show has been rather tame. That is except for the first-ever slip-up from Dave Portnoy on Monday’s edition of the show.
Joined by Brandon Walker and former NBA player Jason Williams, Portnoy took a moment on Monday’s show to discuss a New York Post article on a test on sewage in Nantucket that found that there are cocaine levels 50% higher than the US average. The reason Portnoy in particular chose to discuss this article is that Portnoy’s picture was used in the article, highlighting how the town of Nantucket is “known for its wealthy and famous residents”, including Portnoy.
While some may see this as a simple coincidence that Portnoy was used as the poster child for the town of Nantucket, Portnoy took issue with his picture being used, expressing how he believed the New York Post was trying to insinuate that Portnoy uses cocaine, which he vehemently denied.
“There was one story, and we don’t have to go into it,” said Portnoy before indeed going into the story. “But thank you, New York Post. So, I live in Nantucket. After the show, I’m flying back, and there was an article. I didn’t even really understand it. ‘Cocaine levels are 50 percent above the US average in rich and famous hotspot Nantucket, sewage test shows.’ And this is the picture they use with the article. Some people may not like it. People are telling me, ‘Sue Dave, sue.’ Listen, there is no such thing as bad publicity. I’m not a coke guy, I don’t care. But if you want to say, ‘Dave is partying in Nantucket, flushing his coke down the toilet, whatever.’ Let’s get back into college football.”
Before they did resume talk about college football, Brandon Walker had a follow-up question about the specifics of how they tested the cocaine levels that was the base of the article.
“I didn’t know we were testing sewage around the country for cocaine,” said Walker.
“I don’t understand that at all,” added Portnoy. “Why would people be dumping it. Don’t you snort it?”
“I believe you do,” replied Walker. “I was assuming it came out in other ways…”
We all know what Walker meant by this last comment… But Portnoy made the mistake of actually using the NSFW version of human excrement, which resulted in the show being hit with a dump button, otherwise known as being muted.
“S***?” replied Portnoy, which was muted.
Right away, Portnoy knew he had made a mistake and had a good laugh about being the first person in the history of Wake Up Barstool to be hit with the dump button.
“That was the first one, right?” said Portnoy.
“I’ll be the money was on me getting the first one,” joked Williams.
“They called me, Fox called me, and said, ‘You guys have been great with the beep button,’ added Portnoy. “I go, ‘We aren’t gonna swear, we’re all pros here.’ Rats, rats is a good word for it.”
Wake Up Barstool gets hit with its first dump button during a conversation about cocaine (FWIW, the dump was for an S-bomb, not the cocaine). pic.twitter.com/zcnv6nGZ0v
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 8, 2025
On the scale of explicit on-air moments, this is certainly incredibly tame. But all the same, it likely won’t be the last time someone slips up on Wake Up Barstool given the nature of some of the tense conversations that have been had on the show so far.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.