Mintzy Is Back at Barstool — but Why Was He Fired in the First Place? Here's What Happened
Updated Aug. 9 2023, 11:51 a.m. ET
If you’re a Barstool Sports fan, the name Ben “Mintzy” Mintz likely rings a bell. Over the years, fans have appreciated his goofy frat-boy persona on his show Wake Up Mintzy.
Unfortunately, Mintzy found himself on the unemployment line after being fired from Barstool Sports in May 2023. But a few months later, in August 2023, it was announced that he was back.
So, what exactly happened here? Here's the scoop.
Why did Mintzy get fired from Barstool Sports to begin with?
A wise person once said don’t write a check with your mouth that your bank account can’t cash.
In case you’ve been out of the loop, Mintzy was given the pink slip from Barstool Sports after he decided to rap a racial slur during a live stream on May 1, 2023.
In the live stream, Mintzy rapped along to Bone Thugs N’ Harmony’s “1st of Tha Month” and said the n-word. Interestingly, Mintzy seemingly realized his mistake immediately and made a weird face.
Immediately after the live stream, Mintzy took to Twitter to apologize for his actions.
“This morning, I made an unforgivable mistake slipping on air while reading a song lyric. I meant no harm and have never felt worse about anything,” he wrote. “I apologize for my actions. I am truly sorry and ashamed of myself.”
Although some folks appreciated the apology, others made it a point to bash him online. However, the final blow was when Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy announced on May 3, 2023, via Twitter, that while he and CEO Erika Nardini tried to reason with the parent company Penn Entertainment, their efforts fell short.
Mintzy was ultimately fired from Barstool Sports.
After Mintzy was fired, Dave hired him to work for his watch company Brick Watches.
On May 31, 2023, Mintzy announced on Twitter in a video that Dave Portnoy has been given him another job, this time as the pitchman for David’s watch company, Brick Watch.
“I am being rehired by Dave Portnoy as the first employee for Brick Watch, and I cannot be more happy about it,” Mintz said.
Mintzy said that he was extremely grateful to Dave for giving him an opportunity. Mintzy also reflected on the past month and the actions that led to his firing, and he took accountability.
Dave retweeted the video and said, “Now that is my watch salesman! And it fits like a glove! I will not mention I sent the watches almost 2 weeks ago and he still didn’t get them sized! I don’t care! Bring the watches to the people Mintzy!”
Fans were happy that Mintzy was employed again and sent him well wishes on social media.
Is Mintzy coming back to Barstool?
On Aug. 8, 2023, Dave posted a video to his TikTok account with the caption "MINTZY IS BACK!"
In the video, Dave can be seen calling Mintzy and telling him he's back at Barstool, and that they'd be switching the paperwork back to Barstool from Brick.
An ecstatic Mintzy thanked Dave and said he felt like he was "floating in space."
Fans in the comments were thrilled to hear the news. "The legend returns!" one person commented.
"Hell yes. Dave's back in the captain's seat!" another person wrote, seemingly referring to the news that broke around the same about Penn selling Barstool back to Dave.
