Yesterday Ben Mintz was fired.
We weren’t told not to talk about it, not told how to reply, not told anything.
Most company-wide emails are invitations to 3rd floor Par-tees or someone left their Airpods in the bathroom.
Seriously, how do so many people leave Airpods in the bathroom?
But anyway, sadly our King, Ben Mintz, was fired yesterday.
He wasn’t fired by Dave or Erika, but by our overlords at PENN Entertainment.
And he said it.
And if this seems like I’m angry, I am.
He was reading lyrics and he slipped up.
He is incredibly apologetic and feels awful.
Barstool is, and always has been, a very unique company.
“The Pirate Ship”, right?
Say what you want, do what you want.
No rules, no bowing to corporations or advertisers.
Well, as it turns out, that model was not sustainable.
And to make money you need advertisers.
So little by little Barstool has changed, but the Barstool Voice has mostly stayed the same.
Dave has still trusted everyone to do the best content they possibly can.
I think the idea that “Barstool has changed!”
is a bit overblown.
It’s still the most unique internet content you’re able to find.
He’s given a ton of absolute nobodies a huge platform that no other company would ever do.
We have always been the company that understands intention and all of that.
So for Dave to say he couldn’t save Mintz’s job was stunning.
It’s just unfortunate the word he said is unforgivable.
Which is why Mintz had to go in PENN’s eyes.
And according to PENN, licenses would have been on the line if action wasn’t taken against Mintz.
It was not worth it, in their eyes, to risk gambling licenses to save Ben Mintz.
This is a multi-billion dollar enterprise we are talking about, not Dave in his condo kitchen.
As it stands now, everyone is still allowed to be unique and funny and original.
So I guess the million dollar question is where does this leave Barstool now?
More or less we will keep rowing forward.
I don’t hate it.
I wish I had a piece of it.
Every day I wish I had a piece of it.
But alas, it was not meant to be.
In my opinion, Barstool has never been fully about “the content”.
It’s more a reality show about making content.
The reality show aspect of all these nutty personalities under one roof, trying to coexist.
I still think there’s no better place to get content than the Barstool umbrella.
PMT, KFC, Chiclets, MDWOG, Chicks, etc.
It’s all some of the best stuff it’s possible for you to get online.
The biggest guests, the most unique videos.
I mean ForePlay is so big they are in video games!
So no, I don’t think Barstool is “dead”.
Different than it was a decade ago?
Believe me, it SUCKS.
I wish everyone could make every joke about every topic they want.
But we were bought by PENN so rules change, and are constantly changing.
We all know how sensitive the climate is, both with advertisers and with PENN being a gambling company.
Sometimes, of course.
We all long for the old days where the internet was the Wild West.
So there are gives and takes to everything.
You have to sacrifice certain jokes so Donnie Does can travel to Mt.
Everest to make the most unique videos we will ever see.
I think it’s a fair trade-off.
Hopefully everything smoothes over and everyone settles down.
And as for Ben Mintz, I know he will rebound just fine.
Thanks for reading, now go buy a tshirt.
