Barstool Sports founder says he doesn’t really want Pete Carroll murdered
The Raiders dealt Broncos bettors one of the worst beats imaginable Sunday when Daniel Carlson kicked a 46-yard field goal with no time remaining to cover the spread as 8-point underdogs in a 24-17 loss at Allegiant Stadium.
Barstool Sports founder and high-stakes sports bettor Dave Portnoy was outraged by the ending, in which a delay of game penalty was called on Denver safety Brandon Jones with five seconds left to give the Raiders time to kick the otherwise meaningless field goal.
Portnoy made several posts on X (@stoolpresidente) after the game, going so far as to call for the murder of Raiders coach Pete Carroll during a video of him ranting about the ending.
“That’s the worst beat of all time,” Portnoy repeated several times. “You have to investigate the Raiders. What are they doing. What the (expletive)? … That is cheating. … Pete Carroll should be in (expletive) prison. … The refs. Everybody. This is prison.
“Murder Pete Carroll. I want Pete Carroll murdered.”
Portnoy responded Monday to backlash over his call for Carroll to be murdered on the “Wake Up Barstool” morning show on FS1.
“I would like to say this loudly, clearly, emphatically. We never want physical harm to anybody based on a decision, a play, anything,” he said. “However, in the moment you may be upset by one of the wildest sequences that cost you a quarter milly ($250,000). So it is a metaphorical murder. It’s like I’d like to just scream. But we don’t want harm. We don’t want physical violence. We don’t want threats.
“I disavow real violence. Anybody who thought I was actually calling for him to be murdered and killed so he couldn’t breathe, you misread this situation, and I apologize. No murder, no violence, just yelling. We’ve always been anti-murder here at Barstool. We will continue to be anti-murder.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
