Dave Portnoy receives huge backlash for putting Barstool Sports' reality TV show behind a paywall... and responds to his critics with 'emergency press conference' to slam 'poor people' who are refusing to pay $9.99 PPV fee

Describing himself as a 'great leader' and 'leader of men,' Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is hitting back at 'poor people' criticizing him for charging $9.99 for a pay-per-view event.

'I would never complain about nine bucks, you f***ing poor people,' Portnoy said in a self-shot video.

As Portnoy explained, he originally wanted to air his reality show 'Surviving Barstool' for free on the website's YouTube channel. But when YouTube decided the content might incite violence, his crew was given three hours to edit out the offending material from previous episodes or risking being banned from the platform.

'No f***ing way was I gonna edit Surviving Barstool,' the 46-year-old Swampscott, Massachusetts native said in what he described as an 'emergency press conference.'

The decision was made to move the content off YouTube, so to recoup some lost ad revenue, Portnoy initially decided to put the footage on PPV and charge $9.99.

'I thought our crowd was going to be f***ing running down the street with knives and swords, being being like: 'F*** YouTube! Way to go, Dave!'

'I may have misjudged it,' Portnoy acknowledged.

'We have people being like I'm a 'scam artist,' 'bait and switch,' 'I'm not paying nine bucks.' Blah blah blah.'

'Now listen, I think everyone who is complaining about $9.99 – a f***ing cup of coffee – are poor people,' he continued. 'And I would have said this when I was living in Abington [Massachusetts] without a cent to my name… couldn't afford a f***ing hamburger. I would never complain about nine bucks, you f***ing poor people.

'But, as a great leader, and a leader of men, I feel like I know when there's more than just a couple of a**holes saying it. … I'm not just gonna ignore it.'

Portnoy doesn't know what his next step is.

'Do we just do it for free now and, f***, we just lose the money?

He also acknowledged that his days as the 'plucky underdog' are over now that he's wealthy.

'Now, yeah, I'm f***ing rich,' he said.

'I just donated 375 grand of my own money to our producers and social [media] people to give them a bonus. I'm paying more. It's coming out of my own f***ing pocket. I've said that since Day 1.'

His wealth, though, is besides the point, according to Portnoy, who recently dropped a reported $42 million on Nantucket property. 

The controversial Barstool founder emphasized the costs that come with doing a major production – even when it's a reality show.

'How much do you think Surviving Barstool costs?' Portnoy asked rhetorically. 'Think about it: all the people flying to New York, hotels, production, outside crew. It's a seven-figure… production. So yeah, we try and make some of the money back.'

The bottom line is that Portnoy is still weighing his options, which include airing the episodes for free on X.

'I don't know what I'm gonna do,' he said. 'Great leaders, sometimes, have to read the wind and the tea leaves. And even though I think it's f***ing crazy that people complain about nine bucks…

'I'm not guaranteeing it's going to go free… I want it to be free. I'm thinking about what to do. I'm thinking about what to do.'