Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy has filed a lawsuit against Insider and several of its employees inward Beantown federal court. He is claiming he was defamed and his seclusion rights were violated inwards a serial of exposes virtually his sexcapades with several unnamed offspring women.
The articles were classified as “hit pieces,” and the Insider stave had “malicious intent” inwards the “smear campaign,” according to the lawsuit. The stories were also labelled as “clickbait journalism,” which the lawsuit explained as suggesting “actual outlaw misconduct on Mr. Portnoy’s portion without further explanation.”
In the suit, Portnoy, 44, challenges several specific published allegations against him, including the alleged wild dishonor and sexual assault of terzetto women. The fit calls these claims “an outright fabrication.” Portnoy antecedently said sexuality was consensual.
Among the defendants named inwards the case are Insider Chief Executive Officer Joseph Henry Blodget, reporters Julia Shirley Temple Black and Melkorka Licea, and editor in chief Nicholas Carlson. Last week, Portnoy threatened to sue Insider, so the lawsuit was expected.
Portnoy Fires Back
The case states that the defendants “improperly and knowingly relied upon slanted sources who demanded anonymity, all spell existence inward possession of documentary film evidence that to each one source’s story was unbelievable and unreliable.”
Mr. Portnoy will not stand idly by while Insider and its Twitter ground forces of executives, editors, and reporters endeavor to take clicks, viewership, and subscription revenue for themselves past recklessly spreading malicious and defamatory lies that Mr. Portnoy intermeshed in egregious outlaw carry on by sexually assaulting iii women and/or recording them without their knowledge or consent,” the textual matter of the suit state.
Insider and its staff to boot had a “plan to sensationalize a story in dictate to get reader traffic to an cyberspace location where they could and so live solicited to subscribe to [the] … tabloid-like Publication,” the suit of clothes adds.
Publication Dates Coincide with William Penn Announcements
It was further claimed the articles were published on a escort that coincided with Penn National Gaming’s quarterly earnings announcements, the suit said. Penn National Gaming owns a 36 percent bet inward Barstool Sports.
In publishing the false and defamatory stories aimed at destroying Mr. Portnoy’s reputation, Insider sought to grounds the downfall of ane of Massachusetts’s most fountainhead [-] known entrepreneurs and media personalities,” the suit of clothes said.
In 2003, Portnoy started publishing a small sports newspaper publisher named Barstool Sports inwards Milton, Mass. Since then, the publication has turned into “one of the to the highest degree widely known sports media and soda pop civilization enterprises inwards the world,” the fit said.
Insider Pledges Vigorous Defense
When reached for commentary inward response to the lawsuit, Insider spokesman Mario Ruiz told Casino.org, “We stand up behind our reporting and will defend the showcase vigorously.”
Insider has some 700 stave members. Its publications and programs get to more than 300 meg viewers and readers monthly.
One of the Florida key attorneys representing Portnoy, Leslie Howard Stainer Gary Cooper of Boston-based Sweeney Todd & Weld, declined further notice on the case. Gary Cooper specializes in high-profile judicial proceeding and has handled other obloquy cases.