Tadich Grill has declared Thursday “Dave Portnoy Day” to honor a Barstool Sports grant it received last year, but this is awkward, given that Dave Portnoy is still lawyering through multiple sexual assault allegations.
During the long slog of COVID closure last January, the 171-year-old Financial District seafood destination Tadich Grill felt lucky to be on the receiving end of a $31,000 a month grant. That restaurant grant looked a little less tasteful when it came out the grant came through a fund from Barstool Sports, a sports “humor” website known for rape jokes and a general sense of misogyny. Have a gander at Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy’s (now deleted) blog post below.
We are now at the one-year anniversary of Tadich Grill getting that Barstool Sports grant, and the restaurant's ownership is apparently unwilling to talk to the press about it anymore. But they are willing to declare January 6 “Dave Portnoy Day” at the restaurant to honor their controversial loudmouth benefactor.
You’re probably not very familiar with Dave Portnoy or Barstool Sports if you are, say, gainfully employed, or graduated past the tenth grade. Portnoy is the founder of the site known for rating the attractiveness of female teachers alleged to have sexually abused students, a fan base that loves to harass female journalists, and launching a traveling rape joke tour in 2013. Portnoy is currently embroiled in fending off a set of violent sexual assault allegations that surfaced this past November.
The author of this article is so MAD normal people love me. Makes the woke left/no fun club have poo poo pants
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 5, 2022
San Francisco’s oldest restaurant, Tadich Grill, proudly anoints Jan. 6 as Dave Portnoy Day https://t.co/3RwJ9gg96I via @SFGate
Portnoy himself seems to be relishing the negative coverage Tadich Grill is getting, posting a critical SFGate writeup to Twitter and bemoaning that “the woke left/no fun club have poo poo pants.”
Tadich Grill ownership is now in “No Comment” mode over the “Dave Portnoy Day” declaration. When asked last year by the Chronicle, co-owner Mike Bulich’s daughter told the paper “There’s no room for racism and racist comments,” and that “Wherever in his heart he had the ability to make a meaningful difference for small businesses, he’s doing that, and for that we’re grateful.”
It is unclear whether Portnoy himself will be attending Dave Portnoy Day. After all, Tadich Grill has a vaccination requirement, and Portnoy defends anti-vaxxers and may or may not be vaccinated himself.
Image: William D. via Yelp
