Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy believes President Donald Trump’s polarizing rhetoric played a role in the shooting death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck Wednesday while speaking at a college campus event in Utah. His alleged killer has since been arrested.
Speaking on Barstool Sports’ The Unnamed Show podcast, Portnoy elaborated on his thoughts connecting the president to the killing.
“When I say Trump has a huge part in it, I don’t necessarily mean he’s to blame for it,” Portnoy explained, “but he’s so divisive... [even just] his face is divisive. People hate him so much.”
Portnoy also singled out the rhetoric of the left as “insane.”
“This happened with Trump, when his assassination attempt [happened] there was like a three-hour period of ‘let’s tone down the rhetoric,’ and then they’re right back to it,” he continued.
“If you sit there and you call people Nazis over and over and over, and say that they’re threatening Democracy and they’re fascist over and over... You can't then be like, ‘What happened?’”
He further lamented the role social media played, saying: “It amplifies everything, and every yahoo has a voice, and when things like yesterday happen, you see it all.”
Portnoy’s Barstool Sports and podcast network has become popular, particularly among young men. But he has also drawn his fair share of controversies, having been accused of misogynistic comments and criticized over his support of Trump in the 2024 election.
Kirk, a conservative activist and Trump ally, was fatally shot during a trademark “Prove Me Wrong” debate at Utah Valley University. The event was the first stop of a recently launched American Comeback Tour with visits to college campuses across the country.
Trump announced Kirk’s death on his social media site, Truth Social. “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote.
“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
Politicians from both sides of the aisle, as well as some celebrities, have shared their condolences and tributes in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.
Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan was in the middle of taping an episode of his eponymous show with celebrity guest Charlie Sheen when his producer interrupted to inform them of the shooting.
The two said they had “no idea” what was going on at the time, as the producer directed them to MSNBC’s now-fired political analyst Matthew Dowd’s comments, suggesting that Kirk’s death was caused by his own “hateful thoughts” and “awful words.”
“What a crazy take. F***,” Rogan said, predicting, “There’s going to be a lot of people celebrating this.”
He continued: “We’re so divided and there’s so many people that love it. They profit off that division. And they stoke the fires and they do it for their own profit and it’s so f***ing gross. And to encourage this kind of thing is really one of the most horrific things that you can do after someone dies horribly like this, is celebrate.”
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