When the Jewish Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy discovered one of his bar patrons had made a sign reading “F— the Jews” in a viral video last month, he took to social media in a vocal standoff.

He was celebrated in some corners for shining a spotlight on antisemitism. But upon reflection, Portnoy isn’t so sure the activity was worth it.

“I don’t know if it did any good,” the sports media mogul and “manosphere” influencer told NPR’s Steve Inskeep in an interview Monday, discussing his reaction to the sign.

The question of what represents effectiveness when it comes to fighting antisemitism is contested, with little in the way of consensus emerging in an increasingly crowded field. But Portnoy said if there had been any payoff to his bruising battle with a Philadelphia college student, it was found in showing solidarity with other Jews at a time of widespread anxiety about antisemitism.

“I think it raises attention to it a little bit,” he said. “I’ve had plenty of Jewish people come up to me and just thank me. They’re like, ‘Thank you for saying something. Not enough people are saying something’ — whether it’s true or not.”

Over the course of several Instagram videos, Portnoy — who has himself been accused of hate speech and silencing unfavorable reporting about him — delivered multiple profane rants directed at the college student who had made the sign at his bar chain’s Philadelphia location. At first he signalled he would adopt a more forgiving mentality, offering to self-fund a trip to Auschwitz for the offender. But he soon backtracked, blasting the culprit’s name to his millions of followers.

The student, Mo Khan, was suspended from Temple University and fired from a job. He subsequently appeared on a podcast with antisemitic influencer Stew Peters, who donated thousands of dollars from an antisemitic cryptocurrency to Khan’s fundraiser, and has since appeared on other antisemitic podcasts and retweeted white supremacist Nick Fuentes. For some in the Jewish community, the entire episode spoke to the difficulties of effectively confronting antisemitism without amplifying it.

Portnoy wasn’t asked about the fallout in Monday’s interview. But he insisted his standoff with Khan was not in conflict with his identity as what Inskeep called “a free-speech guy.”

“You can yell ‘F— the Jews,’” Portnoy said. He added, “I think a lot of … I would describe them as ‘morons,’ confuse free speech with consequences for free speech. You can say what you want, but there’s consequences to what you say. And that could be me airing you out, hoping you don’t get a job in the future, and things like that.”

He added, “Saying, ‘I don’t like Jews,’ I don’t like you either. But you can say it.”

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