{"id":282945,"date":"2026-06-30T23:12:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282945\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:12:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:12:40","slug":"dave-portnoy-mocked-over-zohran-mamdani-mayoral-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282945\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Portnoy Mocked Over Zohran Mamdani Mayoral Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barstool Sports<\/a> founder Dave Portnoy<\/a> on Monday said he would \u201clove to run\u201d against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, touting his purported accomplishment of having had \u201ca real job\u201d to unbridled mockery from critics on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to run against [Mamdani],\u201d Portnoy told Fox News host Jesse Watters<\/a>. \u201cIf I was going to run, it would be here. Can I win here? I have no idea. I don\u2019t know the demographics, whether I\u2019d get enough votes. There\u2019s a lot of people who like me in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cI know that. I\u2019ve done a lot of good in New York City when I wasn\u2019t thinking about politics \u2026 so it wasn\u2019t for show. I\u2019ve had a real job. I\u2019ve done real things. Unlike these clown politicians who have never had a job and never been in the real world for a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani has had \u201creal\u201d jobs himself, of course, working as a foreclosure prevention counselor<\/a> in Queens to help low-income homeowners avoid eviction before serving in the New York State Assembly<\/a> \u2014 and becoming the first Muslim mayor of New York City.<\/p>\n

Portnoy pointed to the Barstool Fund he launched in 2020 with $500,000 of his own money, which raised $41.6 million<\/a> to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and his popular YouTube series of pizza reviews<\/a>, to argue he is a viable candidate for mayor.<\/p>\n

Portnoy, who said last year that he might vote for Democrats<\/a> in the midterms if he isn\u2019t happy with the stock market, was roundly trounced by critics on X for measuring his successes against Mamdani\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently managing New York City isn\u2019t a real job, but writing blog posts about pizza is. Good to know where we\u2019ve set the bar,\u201d wrote one user<\/a>, with another begging<\/a>: \u201cI need him to run. I need to see the most annoying man alive get humiliated in front of millions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani has been ranked as one of the most popular politicians in the U.S.<\/a>, despite critics such as Portnoy calling the mayor a \u201ccommunist\u201d<\/a> who \u201chates America\u201d \u2014 and threatening to move his digital media company headquarters out of New York City because, \u201cI hate the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDave is so mad about paying more taxes \u2026 what a fucking baby,\u201d wrote one X user<\/a>, with another person cheekily pondering<\/a>: \u201cI wonder what would happen if the least charismatic man in america ran against the most charistmatic man in america.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portnoy voted for President Donald Trump<\/a> in the 2024 election and once suggested<\/a> convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein<\/a> had made a \u201ctrade\u201d when asking women for sex, before acknowledging the lack of consent. He was previously accused of sexual misconduct<\/a> himself; he has said the sex was consensual.<\/p>\n

Portnoy tried to quote Plato on Monday by stating, \u201cYou know, \u2018If you don\u2019t do your public service and run for office, you\u2019re doomed to be run by, basically, dummies.\u2019\u201d The actual quote is often recorded as<\/a>, \u201cThe price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cDepending on what day you catch on me in Nantucket, when I roll out of bed, I have a nice ocean view and it\u2019s like, why do I want to ruin my life and get involved in this mess? Because I know what comes with it. But sometimes I do feel like it\u2019s my duty. I can\u2019t turn away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics are pleading for him to do so anyway \u2014 or gleefully begging Portnoy to go for it.<\/p>\n

do it lmao oh my god you’ll be fucking clowned on for life<\/p>\n

\u2014 Goob (@jrgoob) June 30, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

NYC definitely needs a hypersensitive bitchy entitled crybaby. Definitely.<\/p>\n

\u2014 verum obdurat \ud83c\udf3a\u23f3\ud83c\udf35\u2694\ufe0f (@leucinedreams) June 30, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

Actually, yeah. Do this Dave. <\/p>\n

Then you can finally see how absolutely unfucking popular you are.<\/p>\n

\u2014 ViperPoison23 (@ViperPoison23) June 30, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

Curtis Sliwa has been a NYC fixture since I was a little kid in the 70s, and he was patrolling the streets as a “Guardian Angel.”<\/p>\n

He has a BILLION times more street cred than Portnoy, and Sliwa got dusted. Isn’t Portnoy from Boston?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I’m sure Yankee fans will love that.\ud83d\ude44 pic.twitter.com\/zKfWs3GgTG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BrooklynDad_Defiant!\u262e\ufe0f (@mmpadellan) June 30, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

He can\u2019t pull the \u201cI\u2019ve done a real job, they don\u2019t know the real world\u201d bs when Mamdani has helped millions of New Yorkers afford to live there. All I hear now is \u201cI\u2019m going to rig it for business people like me and everyone else gfy\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 indietronica (@indietronicaone) June 30, 2026<\/a>