Dave Portnoy said he is no longer beefing with Bill Simmons after writing in his new book, “Cancel Me If You Can” that The Ringer founder repeatedly blew off his interview requests in the early days of Barstool Sports.
Portnoy — who, in 2003, founded Barstool Sports in his native Boston — also denied that hiring sports host Ryen Russillo away from The Ringer in 2025 was “somehow” linked to his gripe with Simmons.
“Am I still beefing with Simmons? No,” Portnoy said in a clip posted to the “Barstool Yak” TikTok account on Wednesday. “Um, like I think people somehow think the Russillo thing had something to do with Simmons. It absolutely did not.
“.. We were told he was available on the market and we were interested.”
Russillo spent six years at the The Ringer and was a frequent guest on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on Sunday nights during the NBA season.
Russillo launched his podcast, “The Ryan Russillo Show” with Barstool Sports in November 2025 — and he brought longtime Ringer producers Steve Ceruti and Kyle Crichton — Simmons’ nephew — with him.
In his book, Portnoy explained that Simmons, a Massachusetts native, turned down multiple requests for an interview when Barstool was a newspaper that was hand delivered around Boston.
“I always say that during those days, if you wanted to pretend like you knew about Boston, you talked about Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, or maybe Bill Simmons. But if you were really from Boston, you talked about Barstool,” Portnoy writes in his book, which was released on June 30, 2026, per Awful Announcing.
“Weirdly enough, I’ve never met with or spoken to Matt Damon or Ben Affleck. However, I did have a well-documented feud with Bill Simmons. And when I say well-documented, it’s because I documented it.
“When I launched Barstool Sports, Bill Simmons was the man; the best writer I had ever read. His writing style certainly influenced the early days of Barstool. I eventually reached out to interview him for the paper and he blew me off a few times. And by a few times I mean like probably ten times. Finally he got back to me and said to send over the questions, which I did. He then replied that he didn’t want to do any additional media, so the interview was canceled.
“I wouldn’t say it hurt my feelings, but it definitely pissed me off. He had just moved from Jimmy Kimmel to ESPN. What do you mean you don’t want media attention? F–k this guy then, I thought. In hindsight, maybe I was a bit harsh. He didn’t live in Boston anymore and maybe he had no clue who we were. Either way, it knocked him down a few pegs in my book. The one thing that I always said about Simmons back then and still maintain now is that he is definitely a far better writer than I am. But there is nobody on earth who would rather have a beer with him than have a beer with me. Of course, I’ve never met the guy, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
Portnoy writes in his book that he and Russillo met two decades ago through a mutual friend and former ESPN draft analyst, Todd McShay, now with The Ringer — explaining that McShay and Russillo were both working at the same small radio station Portnoy ran at the time.
Source link
#Dave #Portnoy #update #beef #Bill #Simmons #hiring #Ryen #Russillo #Ringer