KFC Radio - CCK Podcast: President's Day (featuring PFT Commenter)

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

KFC, Jared Carrabis, PFT Commenter, and callers react to Dave's interview with Donald TrumpYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/kfcr

Hey, KFC Radio listeners, you can find every episode of KFC Radio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. Oh. Kevin. You're just ridiculously stupid. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Is this Kevin? Welcome back. Oh, yeah, man, how you doing? You good? I know you like that. I know you like that. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. I see the girls in the club, they're getting wild.

It's a Friday, Friday edition of CCK. It's me and my boy, The Rocket. A little dog day, Friday afternoon. No Casey? No Casey, so it's a dog day. Oh, shit. Her, me, Zah, and The Rocket. It has truly been a dog day because Kevin and I,

we've already been recording together for like all morning. I had to actually know what I had to do, Kevin. I had to tell like this is going to be something that I will miss when I when I fully convert to being an adult. So I think it was yesterday. I set my alarm for eight like I usually do. And I woke up at eleven thirty a.m. So Kevin and I had an interview this morning which is fucking phenomenal by the way if you haven't already seen uh outcry on showtime check that out because we have greg kelly coming up on mail time on wednesday uh but i had ellen be like

if i if i set my alarm for eight make sure that I'm awake because I can't promise you that I'll be awake for 9.30. You need your mommy to wake you up? Yeah, I need my mom to make sure that I'm awake. And, like, obviously that's something that I'm not going to be afforded at all times. I don't understand that, though. You guys just turn your alarm off and then don't, like, you don't hit snooze. You don't set it for a different time. You just hit it off and go back to bed.

Kevin, I wish I knew what happened yesterday morning. Or you sleep through it. I woke up at 1130 because my dog opened the door, and I heard the door, and that's what woke me up. And my phone was in my bed, and I don't sleep with my phone in my bed. So that means that in my sleep, I took my phone and shut off the alarm. I have no memory of that. I get it. I understand.

It happens. We already had a little morning sesh. Now we're doing a little afternoon delight rocket. We're just having ourselves a day. Well, the calls are already popping in. Let's talk business before we get into some baseball. Yeah, Dave does the sit down with Trump and obviously it's making waves. And I am at the point where I, you know, we we we used to say Barstool doesn't do politics.

And now, obviously, we are towing like a hypocritical line with that. And I am at the point where like I'm only speaking for myself. murder happened, it was almost impossible not to talk about it. When it when things hit a fever pitch like that, I think, you know, you have to. And I think if you are I said this many times during that whole wave where it was like we talk about what's prominent in the world and on the Internet. And that's what that's the only thing that was going on. So you couldn't not talk about it. But short of that, short of those situations where it would almost be disingenuous and purposely ignorant to avoid topics like that. Other than that stuff, I'm just done with it, man. I can't do it anymore. And I don't want to speak for other people.

I don't want to have to weigh in on other people's content. I don't want to have like feel compelled to speak about topics that a, I'm really not equipped to talk about. And B, I don't want to talk about anymore. I feel like we got to a point where Barstool got big enough and our own individual platforms grew large enough that we felt, or again, I'll speak for just myself. I felt that whole, you know, you do, do some good with your platform or, you know, uh,

you, you know, you're, you have too much, uh, potential with the amount of fans you have. You have to talk about these things. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to do anything anymore. And that's what I'm, that's what I'm going back to. I'm going to do my content. I'm going to talk about the things I want to talk about. And again, short of any situation where it's almost absolutely necessary to talk about it, I'm just not doing it anymore.

I mean, you know, I was happy and proud of what I wrote about, uh, with George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, but it's not doing any good. It's not changing the world. It didn't do a fucking thing. All it did was, uh, was throw like me and my career into a world that I don't want to be in threw me into the deep end where I'm in over my head. And, um, and so when it comes to something like this, I mean, I, I don't have any control or say over Dave's content and he doesn't really have a, I mean, I guess he does technically have control if he wanted to wield it over me, but he doesn't. Everybody kind of stays separate.

I think the idea that I know that we're all under one umbrella and we're all under one company. And so can I, I can understand the idea that, uh, you ha you want to hear from each of us about the other's content or about what this person said or did. But I mean, why at this point, why, when it was five of us about the other's content or about what this person said or did. But I mean, why at this point, why, when it was five of us, I got it. I understood it. It's now a company of like 200 people, 200 plus people pushing like 300 people, almost like over a hundred content members.

I can't, uh't control that. I don't think anybody should have to run their content by me, and I don't think I should have to speak on all their content. I don't know. Dave got an opportunity to talk to the president. He took it. I think that it was very bad timing. I think that the implications of it, after everything that's gone on, it's not good. Um, but I also, you know, I've never been an offer to talk to the president, so he's going to do his thing. I'm going to do mine. And I don't really feel like I have to, or, and I definitely don't want to speak on it and get involved in it because it's just a fucking mess, man. I want to go back to, uh, like when I used to enjoy doing this, it got to a point where, you know, talking about things that are so heavy that I don't really know how to speak on. And I, and I'm pissing these people off and I'm not doing

these people justice. And it's just like, I, you know, it's kind of Charles Barkley-esque, like I'm not a role model, man. Never, never wanted to be one, never acted like I was going to be one. Don't want to be one. Don't want never wanted to be one. Never acted like I was going to be one. Don't want to be one. Don't want to talk about it. Don't feel like I should have to talk about it. If there are, you know, by the, by the, on the flip side, it's like, if there are, if rocket goes and does a video that I think is funny or good, or I disagree with, and

I, and I do want to talk about that or have an argument or a dialogue, I probably will do that. It's like, in my mind, it's almost like a standup act. Every time you do a show, I want to talk about this. I want to joke about this. I don't want to talk about that. And I don't really feel like I have to anymore. I feel like I got to a point where I felt like I owed it to certain people or certain fans. And I just, I just don't, I don't, I don't think I do. And I, it's not fun this way. I don't think it's entertaining for the fans. And, uh, you know, I'm sure some people think that there's like a responsibility.

And I just don't care. I don't want to do that. I don't feel responsible. And I think that there are other people who are more intelligent or better prepared or in different fields and different companies that they can they can talk about this shit. I mean, I felt like Dave doing it is like, it's tough, almost in a similar way to what Tyler said to me when Tyler used to defend like Barstool about some of the racist jokes or the off color commentary. And then, and then, you know, he would defend us and say like, no, no, no, it's not like that. You know, I know them personally and all that shit. And then a video

resurfaces and he's like, well, now I feel like an idiot, dude. Now, like, this is kind of like disproving everything I just said. I feel like I'm getting a taste of that. Like I spent I spent, you know, the past few weeks or whatever defending Dave, defending Barstool, talking about, you know, the good things that we do do and how we aren't. We're not actually, you know, political or we're not actually racist. We're not actually on this side or that side. And eventually it gets tough when it's like, you know, do I do I believe that Dave is like some right wing political aficionado? No. But when, you know, you've had the run of of of decisions he's had the past month, it's hard to defend. So I'm like, well, I'm not going to do that either.

I'm not I don't want to talk about all this, but I'm also not no longer going to go out, uh, on a limb and stick my neck out to, to defend like the company or defend Dave. I think we're at a point. I think it's big enough. And it's been long enough where we can all just say it's, it's not like a tiny little shop anymore of like a tight knit, like family. It's not that it's not a big, like friends and family, happy bunch. It's just, everybody's doing their own thing. And, uh, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I don't think, I certainly don't expect anybody to ask me permission, whether it's Dave or anyone else at Barstool. Uh, I don't think it's possible to be on board with every single thing something every single piece of content that someone at barstool does like i said it's fucking 200 people

here uh there's gonna be things i like things i don't like things i agree with things i don't agree with and i don't want to have to i don't think someone should have to ask me or run it by me i would maybe like a heads up in this situation. Like, yo, I'm about to do this interview with Donald Trump. Shit's about to go down. But I also don't think, you know, Dave owes anybody that either. So I don't think I will be, you know, commenting on everybody's shit that they do. If I think someone, I think it was a misstep and they shouldn't have done it. I'm like,

who fucking cares? It's not my content. Nobody needs to hear that from me. And if it directly, directly affects me, then you'll hear from me. Otherwise I just don't want to talk about it really. And I get where,

you know, some fans are going to feel, I think this is cool. So some fans are going to love this politically. Some fans are absolutely going to hate this politically. Some fans are absolutely going to hate this politically. Some fans are probably going to think, like, wow, like Barstool Sports and Dave Portnoy specifically made it into the White House.

I've been reading this since newspapers. So, wow, that's cool. Other people are going to be like, you know, this isn't exactly the presidential administration I would be, you know, associating with. And I don't think it's impressive. And I don't think it's an honor. And I don't think it's impressive. And I don't think it's an honor. And I don't think he should have done it.

And that's kind of how it's going to go when you get involved with the political world. I just, I don't take offense to it. I also, but I'm also not going to defend it anymore either. Dave can do that. And the people involved. You know, Dave can do that. And the people involved in that sort of content can do that. But I think that there's too many people here to kind of worry about and have to speak on every single piece of content that comes out. Yeah, I agree. And, and I I'm with you in the sense that I, I've never really strayed from that. And you made the point about like the George Floyd stuff. And I didn't look at that as political, like that's just basic human rights. Um, and it

was a huge issue in the country. It still is. So I had no issue because my golden rule is I, I fucking mind my own business. I keep to myself. I worry about my content and I worry about, um, the partnerships that I have with other people at the company. I mean, like there's, there's people that you tie yourself to, like, obviously, we do radio together. So I'm tied to you. I do a podcast with Coley. I'm tied to Coley in Dallas and these guys. So like, yeah, I keep to myself and I worry about myself, but I worry about the people that I directly associate with. But when it comes to, you know, Dave doing the Trump thing, I got asked about it a million times and I was like, listen, the issue here is that

he's the founder. So he he's, he's the owner, he's the founder. So that's why it falls down on everyone else. Like, how are you going to stand by this and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, dude, I put out baseball content. If you like it great. If you don't, there's plenty of other options out there. Like judge me for me. Like, this is what I do. Um, and if you don't like what Dave's doing, don't watch it, don't consume it. And yeah, I, I, you know, I've never, ever, ever, ever been political and I don't plan to ever be, it's just not, it's just not my field. I had a moment after everything popped off here. Um, I was speaking to Tyler before he left and I called, uh, I spoke to a couple other people, not specifically like I, I felt the need to seek them out. But if I, you know, was reaching out, if I was texting with

them about something else or calling them about another issue, I brought this up and I kinda, I w it was, I was disappointed when, you know, things got so polarized and, uh, you know, Willie and Tyler and Brandon and everybody felt uncomfortable to work here and some people were talking about you know is it is it a great place to work anymore and people were throwing around the word racist and i i felt like kind of responsible as being here from you know the early days and i said to these people that i had spoken to, like, I'm going to, I'm going to take it upon myself to, to try to be more kind of active and hands-on and make it a place that people, everybody is comfortable. And, and, you know, I had apologized to Tyler and those guys. And I was like, you know

what, I'm going to start to use my platform to like help that out. And internally, I'm going to make sure I have conversations with people because I really believe, excuse me, I believe that not that everybody needs to be friends at work, but I think a lot of the beef and the drama or the friction comes from people talking about each other on, on content, in content, on podcasts and whatnot, without ever having any sort of relationship off the air, outside of content. If, you content, on podcasts and whatnot, without ever having any sort of relationship off the air, outside of content. If, you know, I say some shit about you on a show, it's all good because we're friends outside of the show, right? And not that you're going to be friends with

everyone, but it's like, I say some shit about Kirk Minahan and his content. He says some shit about me. And, but then we have conversations a couple of times a week where we kind of make sure we're all on the same page, you know, like it's not serious. Right. Or, you know, sometimes I believe that every joke has like, you know, half truth in it. So we're not like lying about it, but we know we're good. And that's because there's conversations that happen, uh, off air. And a lot of people here, because it has grown so big, don't have those conversations. So a lot of people are taking shots and a lot of people are talking shit, or a lot of people here, because it has grown so big, don't have those conversations. So a lot of people are taking shots and a lot of people are talking shit or a lot of people are disagreeing and don't see eye to eye on these things. And you talk on a radio show where you feel the need to defend yourself or to not look like a pussy or to get your points off or to win the argument or whatever.

And you're not really and then you don't have a conversation off air where you're being sincere and genuine. And so that just leads to, you know, it's toxic and everyone's fighting and everyone, no one's getting along and shit like that. And I thought to myself, I should have, I should have done a better job over these years of, of keeping, of trying to make that atmosphere kind of always be the case, you know? And, and it wasn't like that and i and i thought i'm gonna go i'm gonna try to re-establish that or you know unfortunately pretty much establish it for the first time and it was short-lived jared because that was a few weeks ago and i have realized that i think things have grown too big here too popular uh there's too much on the line for each person and personality there's too many followers there's too much money and there's too much on the line for each person and personality. There's too many followers.

There's too much money and there's too much popularity. And, you know, it's not going to be like a big kumbaya situation. And I don't think I I just don't want to spend my career trying to force that square peg into a round hole. Like, I wish it was the case. I wish if it was easy, I probably would do it to the people that I really care about, I'll probably make sure that I have good relationships with them. But in a matter of weeks, I went from like, I can – come on. Let's do – let's change the atmosphere. Let's change the world.

And now I'm like, no, wait a minute. What am I talking about? This is way too big of an operation now. It's just – it's a, it's a big media company and, uh, not everyone's going to get along and also not everyone's going to agree with content and not everyone's going to agree politically and, uh, trying to like be best friends or to always have each other's back. You know, it's like, it's just not, it's just not the case. I know, uh,

we've been around each other for a long time. I know that a lot of fans probably think that, you know, we're all boys or it's all, you know, we're always hanging out or we always are our friends or whatever. It's just really not the case. So I'm not going to try to force that. And, you know, for the people who I do care about and get along with and feel the need to, like some people I do feel a responsibility towards, whether it's like you're in my crew, like you said, Jared, you're connected, or if, you know, you're, you're new, and I, and I, you were, I was part of the reason why you came here, or whatever, but to have, like,

to act like you can have some sort of connection, or, you know, responsibility, responsibility towards or say over like everyone's content. It's just, it's just not the case anymore. So I, you know, the, like I said, I'm not going to, I'm just not going to try anymore. I'm just going to stick to my business. Like, I think I, at one point felt like, you know, as one of the OGs, it's my job to, uh, try to make like the atmosphere here, perfect and make everyone happy. And and I don't want that to be my job. And B, I don't even know if that's a like a job that's possible of a task that's possible of accomplishing right now, because it's just, you know, in my mind, we're we're all under the same. We're all the same umbrella. We're all the same company.

But we're all like kind of individual acts, you know? And, uh, we are all individual acts, but I also, to your point about like the people that you've helped bring in, like, I don't think I've helped bring anyone in, but there's definitely people that have come in, in the six years that I've been here where it's like, all right, you're my guy. Or like in the case of like Ellie or Trista, I remember like their first days, like I would go up and be like, Hey, I'm an open book. If you have any questions, happy to answer them. Here's some information that I'm going to give you without you even asking. Like there's people that, I don't know, I view it as, as a clubhouse where it is like, you know, we're veterans and that there are people here that are just trying to get their feet wet. And

you know, it, it might seem like people always ask about like the behind the scenes stuff at barstool where, you know, you get hired here and it's like, well, what happens next? Like, but do you have production yet? No, we don't. You kind of just get hired and then it's like, all right, figure it out. And I understand how overwhelming or daunting of a task that can be to start at barstool and just be like, all right, well go like be entertaining, be funny, make content. And it's like, well, people, people need, you know, we don't, we don't, because we are a big company. We're still not established to the point where day one, you get hired and have like the barstool manual of, of how to succeed here. There has to be people like you and, and like Dan and like me, that will go up to people and be like, Hey, uh, I know this is probably very overwhelming for you.

And you feel like the new kids sitting at the lunch table. Um, but here's, here's what, what I think you can do to sort of get your feet wet. And yeah, I think, I think that might be the differentiator. Like I have no problem helping a new person. If they come, anybody who comes to me, I will gladly help. I will never be like, no, go away. I don't have interest in this. Uh, but I think anybody else who's out though like i i don't wait for that to happen because like i know i can i can like sense it like i can sense when someone's like i don't know what the fuck to do and yeah like i that feeling sucks so you know if there ever is like a new person that comes in like i see what you're saying like i i'm

with you in the sense that i stick to me and i stick to the stuff that I'm doing. And I look out for my guys, the people that I do shows with, but I still value, uh, that role of being like, yeah, but that's, that's different. That's internal. And that's helping that person. I think I'm talking about like what, what fans, listeners, followers, haters, and external viewers of barstool expect, you know, like I'll help new people, but people who are established guys, who are doing their own thing. And certainly guys like Dave or like at the head of this thing, man, I have no say, no control, no expectations.

I don't think he owes me anything. And so like, again, a heads up would have been nice because it was in my mind, it's like, you know, you kind of made me look like an idiot by like all the things I've been saying over the past few weeks. Now you, you kind of went and talked with the one person who basically, whether or not, you know, he, he means it to, or believes it, it kind of confirms like all the shit that people are saying but anybody who's on equal footing or um has been around for a while you know that's that's not my place man that's your shit that's your act that's that's your material that's your content you want to say some crazy shit fine uh you know i i it's like like john ham doesn't have to answer for right brian cranston's actions. Right, exactly.

And ESPN, a big place, it's like when one person fucks up and gets fired or something or says something crazy, you don't turn like, I can't wait to tune into SVP and see what he says on the matter. Because it's just like, that ain't me. That's someone else at a very big company, and I think that's where we're at now. But that's also why we're different, though. Because I think people eat that shit up. Like obviously like they do with Trump and it's like, well, what does Dan think about it? What does Kevin think about it?

I hear that. I hear that. But I also, and there will be times, like I'm not saying you'll never hear me talk about barstool issues anymore because some of it does interest me. Some of it does like fall in my lane in one way or something like that. And so I will talk about it then. But in this situation where it's like I am somewhere in my lane in one way or something like that. And so I will talk about it then. But in this situation where it's like, I, I am somewhere in the middle.

I'm also, we're talking about a topic that I'm really not like well-versed or able to articulate very well and don't really want to do it anymore. And like have proven, you know, myself over the past, like 10 plus years. So I don't feel the need to i don't feel compelled to and if i don't really want to i just don't think i'm gonna do it i mean we got to a point in this world it's like with within barstool but just within the world and society too where it's like god damn do we care about every fucking thing. Like what happened to some good old indifference? What happened to

some good old apathetic viewpoints? Whatever happened to just like, I don't know. That doesn't interest me. I don't have to speak on that. I don't have to tweet this out. I don't have to put my manifesto on fucking Facebook. I don't have to do the protest on Instagram. I don't have to buy these particular beans or these particular fucking pillows. Whatever happened to that? Why can't you just listen to your favorite podcast or read your favorite blogger and not worry about what the other podcaster or bloggers doing? Whatever happened to being like, I just like what he or she says, and it doesn't matter what their coworkers or their company's doing. It's like, yeah, you want to get into the nitty gritty where it's like, if you don't like this guy, especially Dave,

who's at the top, and you're talking about money and who's paying whose salary and what revenue you're benefiting off of, we can get into the absolute minutia of it where it's like, if you really believe that you either have to be totally for or against something, fine, we can have a debate, but I don't know. Why does it have to be that way? Why can't it just be everybody? There's, there's a boss at the top of every company who ordinarily is not, you know, totally in line with every single person at the company or totally well-liked. I mean, Dave is a he's a man worth a hundred million dollars. It's going to be very different for him than it is for people like me and you.

And certainly for the new people walking through the door that he's on a whole other level, life wise, career wise, politics wise, thoughts wise, all that shit. Why? Why do we have to associate absolutely everything together? Why do you have to care about everything said for every single person? Where does the, where does the line stop? Is it, you know, is every single person in this company tied to what all the other bloggers say and all the other podcasters do? I, I just, I don't think it needs to be that way. And I don't think it always was that way. And I think with the advent of social media and everyone being interconnected and and the highly politicized version of the world we live in, it's either black or white for or against. And I don't think it needs to be that way.

It's like you can you can not like that. Dave went to the fucking White House and still listen to my show or your show. I can I can think that that was a bad timing to do it. like that Dave went to the fucking white house and still listen to my show or your show. I, I can, I can think that that was a bad timing to do it and not think that, you know, Dave's a, a horrible white supremacist.

I just, people lack the ability to think that way. Like if, if any other time, if, if I got offered a chance to talk to the president, I feel like I would, I don't, I don't think I would turn it down.

I think I would have to ask, like, am I can I talk? Can I ask every question I want? Can I talk about what I want to talk about? Can I ask, like, some hard hitting questions and some follow ups? I don't want to just be used as like a political pawn and be involved in a political puff piece. But if I could do that, I would probably talk about it. I would probably talk to him. Would I do it if the past like three or four weeks I had been embroiled in some major, you know, racial issues and social issues and employment issues and stuff

like that, that are all kind of connected and tied to a person like Donald Trump? It probably was not the right time to do it. But also, you don't get to pick and choose when you speak to the president. So I understand the idea of of taking that opportunity. So, you know, I kind of get it. I don't think it was perfect timing. I don't think it's it's the best look. But I also think that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to to make some content that, you know, you probably never thought you were going to get to do. You're delivering papers and shit like that. You probably never thought you could talk to the fucking president in the White House. Does it suck that it happened to coincide with pretty much the worst administration? Yeah, it does.

And does it suck that it, on an even smaller level, had to coincide with you having some issues at work? Yes, that also sucks but i i see it all man i get it all i understand why people are mad i understand why uh people don't like politics but i also get where you know he's coming from but i'm not and i'm also not going to defend it anymore so it's just it is what it fucking is and i don't think you have to like bail on barstool if you disagree with it i think you can like other parts of it if you don't like dave fine you don't like trump fine but you can't expect everybody who's associated with that at all to either like believe in that and totally agree with it or you have to

like turn around and quit to me that that is an extreme that uh is not really necessary let's take a couple calls on the matter before we get to our break. I think PFT is actually going to pop on and give his thoughts and then we could talk a little baseball and whatnot. So let's go to Dan in Massachusetts. What's up, Dan? Hey guys.

Yeah. I just wanted to call in and kind of give you my point of view. First of all, Kevin, like huge fan, like listen to mail time, KFC radio, the whole nine.

And I'm an older guy for bar school. Right. And I've been following it for 10 years, you know, how it's our gay size, six, the whole nine. Um, and I'm an older guy for barstool, right. And I've been following it for 10 years, you know, how it's our gay size six, the whole thing, you know, and I get friends and other people that come at me about barstool and the perception, right. And I can always push them to things, whether it's the things you did for firefighters, but especially like, even like the George Floyd stuff you talked about recently, don't think it went on deaf ears. That does like, it does, it helps Barstool as like a, you know, uh, conscious about those issues.

But with that said, man, I just going to give you where I was last night. I'm lying in bed, see the tweet, you know, the picture of Dave and Trump. And dude, I just got sick to my stomach. Like, like shit, man. Like I know all my buddies are going to come at me with this, you know? And then in bed, I'm thinking like, what's, what's the best case scenario. Right. Like I get like, they've built this giant company for next to nothing. And I've always been like, you know, a fan of that.

Like, like to tell people like, no, you don't know where this guy came from. He did this. This is awesome. You know? And then I, then I said to myself, well, yeah, like getting a chance to have an interview with the president, that's a really big deal. And I was like, I can see how it's tough to say no. And then I hoped with every hope that it was going to be like a barstool kind of interview, right? Like if Dave has to be a little gooberish about it,

you know, and like say the things he agrees, but then maybe like bust Trump's balls. Like, but like, then when I heard big cat earlier today say that it's basically just like a softball piece, man, I'm just so let down. I just so let down. You wait, you got to wait until you see it for yourself too, because Dan is, Dan is obviously feeling a certain way about it. And I, and I think that he's seeing it through like what I saw was, I mean, there's some jokes about what, here's what I think, my opinion of it.

The interview itself is not really a problem. It's who he's talking to. And I think had, he had this exact same interview, maybe four years ago when he first joined office, where he was certainly still, you know, considered problematic, but he had not gone down the road of like, he tweeted out videos that say white power and he's, you know, uh, there's, there's issues with like kids being locked in cages at the border and a lot of shit that's, you know, really in a lot of people's eyes, solidifying him as like a white supremacist type of character. That's the issue. What he's talking about is like they're busting balls about like Twitter and talking about Goodell. And like, I'm not I don't want to give it all away. I want people to watch it and hear for themselves.

But, you know, it's not like it wasn't. Listen, it wasn't Frost Nixon. OK, we're not you're not you're not about to sit down and watch the political sparring that's going to go down in history. But, you know, there's not many like hard, heavy follow up questions where, you know, a couple of questions Dave asked were good. And Trump is like the master of spin zone at this point. He doesn't really answer it. And that's where, you know, someone who has an agenda would be like, no, why don't you know?

But what about this? That's not happening. And and that's where I think, you know, we all have to be. We have to be on the same page here. It's like this was the reason why this materializes. They're looking for, you know, propaganda. They're looking for, you know, in an election year, they're trying to drum up interest. And, you know, did they use Barstool Sports for that? Yeah, probably. That's what it looks like. And that's kind of how all interviews go. You know, you get a guest on the show.

They're going to help you with your podcast. You are going to help promote their movie. Now, in this case, the stakes are way higher. And you're talking about a person who's not promoting a movie, but rather ideologies that people really don't get down with. And so, yeah, we have to call it, we have to tell it like it is, but you know, if you're, it's not like Dave is going to, you know, you're going to watch this, this interview and Dave's going to give his political opinions and they're all aligning with something you don't believe in. It's kind of just like a, it's like anything else that we do with Barstool where we do it in a Barstool way where it's like we're just kind of shooting the shit and talking.

The problem is it's the person he's talking to, not what's being said during that interview, if that makes sense. No, no, I get you and I hear you and it makes sense. But I'm telling you, it's just like this from my perspective, this is a tough one. And there's going to be a lot of people like you, Dan. There's going to be a lot of people like you where it doesn't matter what they said. Like, I like to support Barstool, man. I just got my free Britney shirt in yesterday. You know, like.

My man. That's not even supporting Barstool. That's supporting Britney, okay? Right. But it is a little different, right, though, when you say, like, if you don't like the content from this guy, go to another guy. But Dave's, like, the head of it. So it does make it a little different. Dave is that dude. And if anybody.

Thank you for taking my call and talking about it i know it's a tough issue and but i really am like for the first time i'm like pouring like i'm telling you like i woke up to text from my friends like uh so this is your bar i mean they're just busting my balls but for the first time i always have an answer you know what i mean this is the first time i was like man you know yep that's where i understand and if that's how you feel about dave now I, that's too, you know? Yep. That's where I understand. And if that's how you feel about Dave now, and if that's how you feel about Barstool now, I get it. My,

my point is like, I'm not going to try to fight you anymore. Two, three weeks ago, I would have told you, no, you don't know Dave. Like I know Dave and he's like this and he's like that.

And now I, I can't, I can't trust that he's going to go make decisions and do content. That's going to really reinforce all those things that I'm saying about him. So I'm not going to do that anymore. And if people feel like the Barstool flag has changed, if people feel like the Barstool name has changed, if you feel like Dave has changed, my point here is that I'm just not going to fight you on that anymore. It does sadden me a little bit that we used to be something that everybody can love. But my point is that when you grow this big and this successful, that it's just impossible to kind of make sure everybody likes it. This was an extreme case of like doing something that's

very polarizing. And if people like yourself and others are no longer going to feel the same way, I'm just at the point where I'm like, so be it, man. You know, if you really feel that passionately, you're totally entitled to feel that way. I think that you can still listen to my shit. I think you can still listen to Dave's shit. You just don't have to be like a disciple of him anymore if you feel like your ideologies don't align. But like I said, a little bit of indifference. You don't have to be carrying the flag for us and arguing to your friends anymore. But you also don't have to write it off because of a video with one person who you know granted it's the person but it's a

person you don't like it doesn't have to mean you you know you write off every single thing i mean again like like i really want to reserve my full opinion until i see it you know what i mean obviously yeah uh and i won't turn my back on like like i said like i love what i love from barstool like maybe it'll cause me not to give the benefit of the doubt if something new comes out because anything new comes out i I just try it. You know what I mean? If I like it, it stays in my repertoire. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

You know? But maybe I'd be less likely to do that just because I'll stick with my ride or dies and forget it, you know? But we'll see. But like I said, once I get back to, like, the serious stuff, like free and Britney, okay? Yeah, man. That's it.

Free Britney's the mantra right now. Let's hit our break. And then we got a couple more calls on the matter. I'm going to text BFT. I'll see if he still wants to come on. And if not, Rocket, me and you are going to chop it up and talk a little baseball. Come on back. CCK Friday. Let's go. Oh! Hi, Noon. It's the only hard seltzer I drink right now i'll be honest when the hard seltzer

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Check out the Viva section. All right, we're back. We are joined now by PFT, who wanted to pop on and give his thoughts on the matter. How we doing here? I'm doing all right. We got a little fuzz over here. Is that just my headphones? No, I hear it too.

Should I switch mics here, Zaha? Yes. I'll switch mics. Hang on. We're still working out kinks getting back into the studio. Yeah. I've only been on the air for, you know, 10 years. Yeah, whatever.

Yeah, there we go. Much better. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So I want to hop on real quick. I know that Big Cat said his piece earlier. I actually, and this is the beauty about having radio is like it's more free form.

I don't think it would have made sense for us to talk about this on the podcast because I'm part of my take. We try to just sit down, make people laugh, move in, move on, get over it. But I have kind of a different take on what's going on here. And it might surprise some people because I know a lot of people saw the blog that I wrote a couple weeks ago kind of telling Dave, hey, you need to consider some of the opinions of your employees here. And I actually think to Dave's credit, his follow-up statement, he was like, you know, PFT made me see another side to it. But people took from that like that I'm just going to be going after Dave right now and that like anything to do with Trump is something that is going to trigger PFT. I went down to Florida last year.

I interviewed a bunch of people from the DNC. I interviewed Andrew Yang. I interviewed Pete Buttigieg, Tim Ryan, and Hickenlooper, as well as the head of the DNC. Now, when I did those interviews, my goal in doing those was just to kind of make fun of them. Yeah. You're always doing the satire. Yeah. And believe it or not, I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself a liberal.

I have like a core set of values that I try to live by, but I'm not, I don't consider myself a lib. In fact, I think that most liberals, at least I work in Congress, are full of shit. Like one of my least favorite people in the entire world is Barbara Boxer from California. So my goal in doing that was to make people laugh and, yeah, maybe occasionally ask them serious questions. And so that's why I did that. And I think Dave's approach to this interview with Donald Trump was he wanted to make people laugh, too. He wanted to air his personal grievances about Roger Goodell. That's what I was just saying before to a guy on the phone. The actual subject matter

of the interview. Talking about Twitter and Goodell. The actual interview itself I don't think is really going to be the problem. I'll be honest. If I had been asked to interview the president, I probably would have done it. I would have taken a different approach to the interview and I would not have tried to joke around as much. I probably would have been prepared you know, like prepared with some things that I could use to dig in, make people laugh and poke fun at them. Make some points.

Yeah. Make some points if I could. But so, so I would have handled a little bit differently, but I can't sit here and say that Dave should, you know, across the board, turn down an interview with the president of the United States because, you know, that's an opportunity that really comes along when it's Donald Trump and he's

sitting in the position that he's in right now. I think it's definitely being used as like an ad campaign thing, which is something that you have to take into the equation when you're figuring out whether or not you want to do it. I might not have done it right now knowing that. But I can't say that if you asked me like last summer when I was traveling around doing these political interviews, I can't say that I would turn it down because I probably would have done it. So I also think this is where

a little bit of concern comes in for me, though. I think that if the kind of give and take balance that went into Wang doing this interview was maybe we could pick up a brand new set of eyes, maybe we could get, you know, 100,000 people that have never heard of Barstool to now know what Barstool is because they're fans of the president and he's going to retweet it and he's going to like Dave or whatever. My concern with that is I don't think that those fans are going to come to Barstool and stick around the second we say something that they don't agree with.

Because those people, for the most part, who are like such diehard fans of the president, they'll do whatever he tells them to do. Their whole personality is built around liking the president, is built around liking Trump, which is different from a lot of Republicans in general. There's like a, you know, a diehard set of people that are like, my personality is I'm a Trump guy. Yeah. And I don't think that those Trump guys are going to like Barstool content by and large.

I think that bringing them under the tent is going to be probably a net negative overall. And I think you could make the same case if we went to somebody that was like super far on the left side. We brought them in. They're probably going to hate the second that somebody say any of the jokes that we make. I mean, this is why we are always accused of, you know, L and one in one breath. I'm Lib FC. And on the other side, I'm KFC, the racist, because that's you know, we are both sides of it. So you're not going to ever any extreme fan that comes in is going to hate the other side of it. And I might not stick around. And can I just point out also,, for people that say that any time that we talk about Black Lives Matter

as, like, wading into politics, I don't think that that's politics. No, it's not. I think that's just, it's racism, which is I think a lot of people conflate a serious topic with politics all the time. Not every social issue is political. Yeah, and I also think when it comes to the forefront, like,

if I went out tomorrow, it's still pretty popular, but let's say a few few months ago if i just sought this out and started writing blogs blogs about this it's very different than when it comes to our doorstep and it's like you have to speak on it because the world is captivated by a tragedy right now that's very different than if we are choosing to and that's why in this case dave is like he is seeking this out in a way and presenting it and so then you're going to be open to the backlash. But, yeah, speaking about a issue that I think is not political, it's just a life issue. Yeah. When it comes to the forefront, it's very different.

Yeah. So that was my concern with the whole thing. I mean, yeah, obviously cut us all by surprise. And that was it was quite a surprise to get, you know, like you don't expect that to happen. My my analysis of it from like just that business perspective is like, you know what? We're probably going to lose some people that really don't like Trump as fans. In fact, like if you look at my DMs today and I know big cats, DMs like it's they're filled with people that are like, Hey, we don't want to support this company. So like that, that's just reality.

You're going to lose some people on that side. You're going to pick up some people for sure. But are those, are they going to stick around? Are they going to stick around? Are they going to be able to get into what we do as a company the second that we say something that makes them uncomfortable? Probably not. The pros and cons, I feel like if you really look at it honestly, in the long run, the juice is not worth the squeeze on this one.

But like you said, the opportunity to do so and maybe for him personally to be on a scale that he never thought was going to be, it's tough to say you should just flat out turn it down. Yeah. In a vacuum, the president, regardless of who it is, invites you to the Rose Garden to do a one-on-one interview. It's tough. Very tough to turn that down. And now what you said about doing it differently, let's say you nail it. Let's say unbelievable satire, great follow-up questions. You stump them a couple times.

You laugh a couple times. Perfect, right? I still don't even know if that matters because I think people just see the picture. They see the laugh and the smiles. Do they sit down and watch the full 20-minute video? Probably not anyway. Whether it's a good one or a bad one i think it's more just that it happened yeah and so and that's the you know then it's like well if i'm gonna get shit for for just doing it at all then you know it's a tough spot where you're gonna get judged or people

are gonna leave the site kind of automatically before they even give it a shot yeah yeah i i agree with that and like there was maybe one great thing that came out of it, though, which is that one picture that's very memeable where Dave is like taking the selfie. And then you can put whatever, even if you even if you hate Barstool. Right. You can. That's useful. You can put a picture of Dave taking candy from a baby in that in that second box. And it's funny.

So correct. He wasn't taking a selfie. He was on FaceTime with cousin. That's true. Yes, he was on FaceTime with Cousin Mike. And you know who comes out of this looking the worst, by the way, is Cousin Mike. Because Cousin Mike, I love Mr. Portnoy, but this was like his moment. And he did nothing. He just turtled.

Did you hear what he said on The Cousins with Trent? He said, and he was talking about his reaction because he's always said, he said on The Cousins show, the only way I'll ever go to the White House is if I am told Donald Trump is not there that day. You know, he had his hard, fast line and this was his chance. And he obviously turtled. And he says to Trent, I just can't put my finger on it. But I don't know what what was different about it this time. But I didn't hate him as much like I can put my finger on it.

It's because he was talking to your son. I think that might be the X factor here. he was talking to your son like i think that might be the x factor here he's talking to your child yes that's probably it and and also he was saying like your son should call you more often so that's really all politics flies out the window you know how they say like there are no atheists and foxholes yeah there's no politicians when it comes to having your son tell me that you love him mike Mike might vote for him. Who knows? Come November. He told me to, he told Dave to call me more. Bow. Vote for Trump. That's really how, if a politician ran

on a ticket of like, children, call your aging parents more often. He'd get the 65 and up vote. Dude, that demographic would explode. It'd be 99% at the polls. There'd be buses going in and out of nursing homes left and right. I mean, it's a tough, it's a weird spot. I mean, I said before he came on,

I was in a place where I was going to try to change Barstool. And now in a matter of weeks, I think I've gone to the other extreme where I don't think I'm, I have any say over your content, his content, her content. And I think I'm just going to do mine and there is going to be blowback. There's going to be some people who leave. I think we've been, been lucky that we've been on a run for a really long time with people who have stuck around through thick and thin for like 20 years now. And if eventually you start to lose some people and age out of some groups and hopefully grab some new ones, you'd love it to keep everybody.

But I don't think it's realistic to think it's going to be that way forever. Yeah. It's realistic to think it's going to be that way forever. Yeah, and I mean I know it got reported like a month ago or so, but I signed a two-year contract in I think it was like April, late April, something like that. So I plan on sticking around because I love doing part of my take. I love working with Jeff Lowe on The Dozen. I absolutely love the creative spaces that this place affords me to speak my mind. I think anybody that listens to any of that content that we put out would know kind of where we stand on most issues. And it's tough sometimes when, you know, if Dave is interviewing Trump,

there are some people that just see that headline, and then at that point perception to them becomes reality. And they're like, oh, part of my take is now OAN for sports. You know, it's like I think we need to have you need to be able to listen to what people say on their own and make those judgments as opposed to just like reading a headline and then jumping to conclusions. Now, no, there's not one person who here who can speak for every single piece of content. If there would be one person, I understand people think it's Dave. If Dave says something, that's what all of Barstool is.

But there are very successful franchises in here with 200 plus people who aren't, who Dave really doesn't fuck with any of their content. He doesn't tell them what to do, doesn't get involved in it. And yeah, it's under the same umbrella. Yeah, those paychecks are coming from one place. But content wise,

there's really no reason you should conflate those two. Yes, yeah, I agree. But it is tough because, like I said, perception becomes reality sometimes. And then the last place I ever want to be is, like, standing on a soapbox and telling people how to think all the time. You know, like, a lot of times you hear people say you need to take a stand against, like, one particular person. And it's like, do you think that my voice is going to, do people want to hear me tell them who to vote for in a certain circumstance? Like we had the opportunity to have Joe Biden on the show.

I think big cat mentioned that earlier today. Someone, someone texted us a couple of months ago, in fact, to try to do. And we were like, you know what? I, because of like the personal values that I have, which are pretty clear, like Joe Biden, even though a lot of people would say that he is, you know, he's running against Trump. A lot of people are saying vote for anybody but Trump. Still, the guy like he did vote for the Iraq war. Let's not forget about that. Right. So that's like a million dead people that he's responsible for in a way like I

would never feel comfortable endorsing that person. I would never feel comfortable telling other people to vote for that person. I don't know if I've ever said this on the air, but I grew up a Quaker. So growing up Quaker, you're like from, from the day that you're born, you're told like, you are a pacifist. You do not, you do not fight. You don't believe in wars. That said we do like a lot of fundraising and stuff for military that come back from overseas because it's not like a qualm with them or whatever.

But still, that's like one of the things. It's like even if Joe Biden wants to do an interview with us, it's like I don't know that I can get behind a guy that might – The total opposite of that. Who knows who I'm going to vote for at the end of the day. I don't want to say because we're four months away from this thing, but I don't want to be in a position where I'm responsible for endorsing somebody. And then from that point, if I were to do that, everybody that listens to it then casts an aspersion on all of Barstool, saying like, okay, this guy speaks for all of you.

Right. And, yeah, it's a tough situation to be in right now. But, again, as I said earlier, I don't think that if I were in Dave's position, if this were a year ago, I don't think that I would have turned it down. I think I would have done the interview, too. Right. And so I can't condemn Dave. Like, I don't want to condemn Dave for doing that because it's tough to turn down an interview with the president, regardless of who it is um but i probably would have thought ahead of time been like okay we're we're being used as for sure the timing as a pawn in his re-election campaign and i don't think that that's a good look for the entire the timing for and on their side of like it's an election year we're getting down to the wire here the timing for barstool

given the past month that we've had timing was not great timing was actually catastrophically bad but it is like that that opportunity's opportunity is only going to arise during this election period yes when your ship is sinking and you do need to throw a hail mary and all that kind of shit so if there ever is going to be a chance to do it it's going to be now so you almost you know you can't beggars can't be choosers when it comes when barstool sports they don't we don't get to pick when we go to the fucking Rose Garden. Right. So, you know, that's that's kind of the rub there is like you get to do it, but it's going to be at a very bad time for you. And for them, you know, it's going to by the way, we can have this conversation like the next opportunity that arises that Dave wants to take. He's going to take it. He's always made his he's made his money in his career by doing what he wants and listening to his gut so that's where i'm saying like i'm not gonna try to stop that change that stand in

the way of that i'm not gonna tell but i'm also not gonna tell you how to react to it i have just got to fall back into like my my you know sweet spot where i you know the past couple months i've been in over my head i've known i've been trying my best but i don't know what the fuck to say yeah and i think i and i made ideas in my head of like i'm gonna become this other thing and i'm like i think i'm gonna go the opposite direction which sounds kind of you know uh like not very progressive or growing or learning but i think i'd rather just fall back to where i am comfortable and and get back to the basics you know yeah yeah i hear you there were a couple absurd parts in that interview though that were just like laugh out loud funny when you when you take them out of context, which is just for about like five or 10 minutes of it.

It was Dave bragging about what he's done and like what he's doing in the stock market. And then Trump was like, yeah, that's wonderful. And then Trump would respond by bragging about like what his stock markets are. It was amazing. Yeah, that's what it was. It was just like a dog in a mirror, like telling like complimenting each other, saying the exact same things to each. It was a 20 minute real life Spider-Man meme. That was it. And I've been saying for I've been saying for a couple of years now, Dave is Trump. Trump is Dave. And it finally came to fruition. And it was almost scary how true that proven that was proven to be, because, I mean, both kind of talking shit about Goodell and other people, both talking shit about Twitter, both talking about themselves.

I mean, it was talking about the handshakes and who's tough and who's not right. It was Spider-Man meme come to life. And, and that's why I don't think the interview is going to be, you know, if you're looking for that, the actual words spoken to be like clutch your pearls,

it's just that it happened. Yes. So the content of the interview is actually not that much different from any other interview that he's done with the exception of i don't think that like charlie rose spent 10 minutes with him talking about roger goodell's undershirt yes that was great talking about goodell doing the the video in a t-shirt i would have wore a suit i totally would wear a suit i mean it was definitely a t-shirt or at least not a tight t-shirt i don't even know if roger goodell – Definitely a T-shirt. Or at least not a tight T-shirt.

I don't even know if Roger Goodell was wearing a T-shirt. I don't even remember. Yeah, I feel like he wasn't. He probably had a jacket on or whatever. It's a shame that it's become what it is because we probably could have watched that and laughed at it at one point for the absurdity. And I understand the implication now that's never going to be the case. But I also don't think that means that it needs to be the end of the world for you as a fan or the end of the world as you as a blogger. Let's just try to keep it moving, man. So I appreciate the appearance.

Thank you, dude. Rocket, we'll get to baseball next week. And everybody stay hot. Bye.