Philadelphia police are investigating, and a Temple University student has been suspended, following an antisemitic incident at the Barstool Sports bar in the city Saturday night.
Video posted to social media shows a woman who appears to be a server at Barstool Sansom Street carrying a sign that is included in bottle service tables. The sign bares an anti-Jewish message containing profanity, which a man seen in the video repeats multiple times.
Barstool Sansom Street did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.
Police are gathering information and will provide an update “as soon as possible,” Officer Tanya Little, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson, said in a statement Sunday.
Temple University said in a statement Sunday that students at the school “were involved in an antisemitic incident at an off-campus location” the night prior.
The school said it identified one student believed to have been involved and placed that student on interim suspension. It did not name the student.
The Division of Student Affairs is investigating, and the school said anyone else found to have been involved “will face strict disciplinary action,” including possible expulsion.
“In the strongest terms possible, let me be clear: antisemitism is abhorrent,” Temple University President John Fry said in the statement. “It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university.”
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy commented on the incident Sunday in an expletive-filled video posted to social media that he called an “emergency press conference.”
Portnoy, who is Jewish, said he was so mad that he shook for two hours over the incident. He said he was making it his life’s mission to “ruin these people,” adding that he’s “coming for your throat.” He softened his tone in a later post, saying the incident can serve as a “teaching moment.”
Portnoy said in a later that the two bottle service workers serving the table have been fired.
In the first video, Portnoy said he had spoken with one of the two servers, a man who was tagged in the video shared on social media, and one of the people who Portnoy said “did it.” He said in a later post that he gave the culprits “1 hour to make it right.”
Security footage from the bar indicated the person tagged in the video posted to social media was not in the establishment at the time of the incident, Portnoy said.
“What I’m saying is I’m getting the names. I’m trying to be a little responsible. I’m trying to keep it together. But I’m on it,” Portnoy said.
Portnoy closed out his Sunday social media posts on the matter with a second “emergency press conference” video.
Upon reflection, Portnoy said, his initial reaction to “burn these people to the ground” was not the best course of action.
“Let’s try to, like, turn a hideous incident into maybe a learning experience,” he said.
Portnoy said he spoke to the two people who allegedly ordered the anti-Jewish sign, as well as to their families. He said they have agreed to his offer to send them to visit Auschwitz, a World War II concentration camp that now offers tours and educational materials.
He said he hopes they learn something and that in the future they think twice before throwing words around.
“To me, that’s a fair outcome of this event,” Portnoy said. “We’re going to send them … to Auschwitz and learn a little bit about history and hopefully, you know, get educated and use this as a teaching moment, not just for them, but maybe for everybody.”
Yasmeen Persaud and Bella LoBue contributed.
