Ben Shapiro Calls the Firing Of Barstool Employee For Saying N-Word ‘Corporate Cowardice’
Podcast host Ben Shapiro blasted the firing of Barstool Sports employee Ben Mintz for singing the n-word during a live podcast.
The incident took place on Monday edition of Mintz’s podcast, Wake Up With Mintzy, where he was rapping lyrics off his phone and said the n-word. Mintz, a professional poker player, also co-hosted the podcast Cracking Aces, another show produced by Barstool.
On Wednesday, Barstool President Dave Portnoy announced that new parent company of Barstool, PENN Entertainment, had decided to fire Mintz as part of zero tolerance policy. Portnoy expressed his disagreement with the decision.
“I still disagree with it, and maybe I’m naive. I’m like, there is just no way anybody can look at that clip and think the punishment fits the crime. It makes my skin crawl, thinking a guy would lose their job on an innocent mistake,” Portnoy said in a video released on his Twitter.
On the Thursday edition of The Ben Shapiro Show, Shapiro agreed with Portnoy, calling PENN’s decision “corporate cowardice.”
“This is the problem with, you know, being corporately funded,” Shapiro said before explaining the situation.
“Barstool’s Parent Company, PENN Entertainment forced Portnoy to fire him. The entire Barstool team was against this. Barstool CEO Erika Nardini and longtime talent, Dan Katz said that he made an honest mistake,” Shapiro said.
Mintz tweeted about the incident shortly after, calling it an “unforgivable mistake.”
“This morning, I made an unforgivable mistake slipping on air while reading a song lyric. I meant no harm & have never felt worse about anything. I apologize for my actions. I am truly sorry & ashamed of myself,” Mintz wrote.
“It’s not an unforgivable mistake, it’s just a normal mistake,” said Shapiro. “I’m sorry. The only thing that makes a mistake unforgivable is when people are unforgiving and jackasses. He clearly did not mean — he wasn’t calling somebody the n-word. He was reading a lyric,” Shapiro said.
“Honestly, we get more abject apologies in American culture for somebody accidentally saying the n-word while reading rap lyrics than we do from actual murderers and rapists in our society. It’s an amazing thing,” Shapiro said.
According to Portnoy, PENN Entertainment was concerned over the potential fallout from the incident, and worried that it would jeopardize their gambling licenses.
“That’s nonsense. That’s just — that’s corporate cowardice by PENN, right there. I feel bad for Portnoy in the sense that, you know, he made a business deal. Once those strings are attached, though, the strings are attached and that is a stupid and ugly situation obviously,” Shapiro said.
Watch above via The Ben Shapiro Show.
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