Dave Portnoy is widely known for entering online space. But on a recent Saturday in Manhattan, the crazy celebrity on the internet and the founder of Barstool Sports could not stop the flow of people who came to thank him and sing his praises.
This is because the web challenger spent the last month harnessing his star power to raise tens of millions for the mother and pop stores that are struggling to survive the pandemic. And despite the launch of the charity effort in response to a mockery on Twitter, it goes viral.
Since opening the Barstool Fund on December 17 with $ 500,000 out of his own pocket, Portnoy, 43, has raised $ 27 million, including donations from Tom Brady, Ernie Boch Jr., Aaron Rodgers, Dana White , Kid Rock, “The Bachelor” star Matt James, Kodak Black, the Winklevoss twins, Elon Musk and the New England Patriots.
Portnoy directed the money to 150 different businesses, including the Peter McManus Café in Chelsea, where he was on the weekend, when crowds of locals approached him – despite his vocal support for the Patriots – to applaud his charitable offering.
“It hasn’t changed me,” Portnoy said in an exclusive interview.
“I’m the same. I’m glad we can do well. The only thing that has changed is that a lot more people are nice to me. This is unusual and if someone is bad online, they drown quickly. – Look what he does, asshole. it feels good, obviously. ”
As expected, the project started with a bold online.
On December 11, Portnoy threw himself into a video about governments closing down businesses again to control the pandemic. “The right to earn a living is stolen by some politicians,” he lamented in the video entitled “Politicians steal a basic right to earn a living.”
Then Marcus Lemonis, the host of CNBC’s “Profit” show, intervened to dare Portnoy to “put the money where your mouth is.” “I will put $ 500,000 if you match it to create a fund for New York restaurants,” he wrote.
One week later, the fund was launched. The money is available to any small business struggling to survive as long as it agrees to keep its current payroll staff until the end of the pandemic.
Portnoy would not disclose how much he promised the beneficiaries of his charity program, but said business owners usually ask for between $ 3,000 and $ 50,000. And unlike the federal government’s one-time coronavirus aid program, Portnoy has promised to provide funding to its beneficiaries each month until the end of the pandemic.
“If the fund is reduced, I’ll go to big donors or talk about it on social media and it will explode,” he said.
The application process is designed to work well on social media. Business owners apply via video, and the winners receive a personalized video call from Portnoy. Both are posted online on the Barstool Fund’s Instagram and Twitter accounts.
“I made 10-15 calls yesterday,” Portnoy said. “They haven’t been published yet, but they’re done.”
The winners are from all over the country. In New York, he visited the Portobello restaurant on Staten Island, where owner Adam Lener was “on his toes,” Portnoy said.
Portnoy was also moved by Roomers to Lake Placid, owned by 30-year-old Theresa Pomerville, who was 17 weeks pregnant when she pitched.
“Working there as a manager,” Pomerville wrote in her cover letter, “I already knew how to buy rooms. [sic] it was a great opportunity, but it was one of the two nightclubs in town. Roomers hosts debauchery (legal debauchery, of course), all things ratchet, but also all the classic things. ”
She went on to say that during the pandemic, she was imprisoned for three months “without help from my landlords, insurance companies and without any income” and, as a mother who will soon be a first-time mother, “terrorized.” ”For the future for her and her daughter.
“I really liked the way he described Roomers as the most classic ratchet and bar in the United States, and everyone in the area agreed. It’s like Lake Placid wouldn’t be the same without Roomers, “said Portnoy.
Business owners tell Portnoy what they need to survive – to meet their salary, rent, taxes and anything else they need – and the money arrives in 48-72 hours. Justin McManus, the owner of Peter McManus Cafe, sent his video at 2 a.m. and received his FaceTime call from Portnoy at 5 p.m. the same day.
“It was so unreal, like one of those lottery-like fairy-tale feelings,” said McManus, whose great-grandfather started the bar, then on the Upper West Side in 1911. He’s been in the same Chelsea location since 1936. The cafe survived two world wars, Hurricane Sandy and New York City in the 1970s, but McManus wasn’t sure he would live to see the end of the pandemic.
“We are in a strange moment and I need help to continue,” he said in his January 11 emotional pitch.
“I can’t let him die on the watch.”