Some stories don’t just cause outrage, they turn into something bigger that no one can generally think of. This one did exactly that.

A Mississippi college student yelled antisemitic slurs at Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, and instead of backing down, he watched his legal defense fund grow fast. The reaction shocked people online and sparked another debate about hate, free speech, and consequences.

The student, 20-year-old Patrick McClintock, confronted Portnoy during a pizza review outside Boardtown Pizza and Pints in Starkville. A video showed him shouting antisemitic slurs and throwing coins at Portnoy. Police arrested him for disturbing the peace. His supporters reacted immediately.

A GiveSendGo fundraiser claimed McClintock was a victim of a so-called free-speech double standard. The page argued he was jailed just for saying offensive things and used charged language to make its point. Still, donors kept giving. By Thursday evening, the fund had already passed $37,000.

Backlash Builds Around Dave Portnoy Incident

Dave Portnoy speaking to heckler (Photo via X)
Portnoy didn’t stay quiet. A video of him talking to CBS’s Tony Dokoupil surfaced online, where he said antisemitism is getting worse.

“In my own experience at Barstool, the hate has changed,” Portnoy said. “I used to get comments like ‘k**e’ or ‘Jew’ once in a while. Now it happens every day. There’s a clear shift in what’s going on.” He also posted on Instagram, saying the rise in antisemitism shocked him and that people now face hate simply because of their religion.

Mississippi State University responded as well. School spokesperson Sid Salter said “What happened on video didn’t reflect the culture and values of [Mississippi State] university.”

Local police said everyone deserves to feel safe and that while some offensive speech may be legal, actions that disturb public peace are not. Advocacy groups also spoke out. End Jew Hatred said similar incidents involving other minorities often lead to hate-crime charges and argued that targeting Jewish people should be treated the same way.

Portnoy has dealt with moments like this before. Earlier this year in Toronto, someone shouted an antisemitic insult from a passing car during one of his pizza reviews. Portnoy called out the crowd for laughing. In another case, at a Barstool bar in Philadelphia, a staff member put up a hateful sign, Portnoy fired the employees involved.

Now, McClintock’s case sits at the center of a national debate about free speech, responsibility, and growing hate. His legal fund keeps climbing, and so does the controversy around it.