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Some Northeastern students marked down for unsuccessful pregaming before Barstool party; Barstool honcho told to sit down and shut up
By adamg on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 8:02am
The Huntington News reports at least three students got in a touch of trouble before they ever got to Barstool Sports' Northeastern Blackout shindig at the House of Blues, including two found on Columbus Avenue:
An NUPD officer on Columbus Avenue discovered a heavily intoxicated, partially clothed 20-year-old student laying in the street near the curb in front of Davenport A. Another 19-year-old student was stumbling down the middle of the street. The students said they were drinking to prepare for the Barstool Blackout Party and were trying to hail a cab.
A fourth pregamer managed to stumble down to the House of Blues, only to be beaten and robbed of his three tickets, the News reports.
Before the party, Barstool head David Portnoy showed up at the staging area at Northeastern for an anti-Blackout protest outside the dance hall. One of the organizers expounded:
Immediately after a rape survivor spoke, Barstool Sports Publisher David Portnoy (El Presidente) was revealed in the crowd.
We refused to let Portnoy speak out of protection for the survivors and out of protection for everyone who has been insulted, harassed or otherwise harmed either directly by him or indirectly through the comments on his website. This was not his space to talk. We at Knockout Barstool don’t have many safe spaces to discuss our thoughts and opinions. He has an entire website to espouse his opinion. His presence at the speak out was unexpected, offensive and uncalled for.
Meanwhile, the Herald reports Mayor Menino is not happy with the basic thrust of the Blackout parties.
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Comments
hypocrites
I'll try to say this as respectfully as possible: you KObarstool people are complete hypocrites. You claim you want to have a dialog, but when the person you are blaming for promoting "rape culture" actually has the spine to show up to your event, not only do you refuse to let him speak, but several of you scream obscenities in his face. The video I saw of the event sure looked like a verbal assault to me, and aren't you supposed to be against all assaults? Isn't that part of the "rape culture"?
You also seem to not understand how the world works. I have been following this since the beginning, and your tactics are making you look foolish and childish, while giving tons of publicity to the person you want to "KO" (which is a a bit of a reference to violence isn't it?). The world is full of jerks. If you want to educate them or try to change them in some way, you're doing it wrong. All you've done is inflame the situation and make them that much less likely to listen or take you seriously.
I'm guessing you're the
I'm guessing you're the ignoramus in question then?
please explain
Did i say something you disagree with? Please try not to be too much of a useless troll and let me know.
He's the registered user here
You're the local rapemonger spamming this site with your comments-field PR releases. I've heard you called useless any number of times, but I'll more than happily ad "troll" to the combination to make the shoe fit.
P.S. I know Boston tends to be a bit behind the times, but shouldn't this town have cycled through its own version of Joe Francis about five years ago?
Rapemonger?
I read the original comment in this thread twice, and I don't see where he wrote "let's nab a woman walking down the street and drag her into the woods by her hair and attack her." So on that basis, I'd have to say, nope, he is not a rapemonger.
That having been said, why are you so eager to paint people as rapemongers? Are you a hateful person? Does the opportunity to label somebody who isn't a rapemonger as a rapemonger make you feel good about yourself? Is this a thrill for you?
As for DirtyJers, LOL @ you calling his post a "press release." I have a good friend who does PR. If he released that to the public with his name on it, he'd be cleaning out his desk within the hour.
Will, we get it
You're in the tank for Portnoy and regard him as some kind of personal hero. Message received.
As for the rapemonger comment, a virulent defense of an event that simultaneously mocks and tacitly approves of rape would wouldn't be out of character for a rapemonger.
So...
4 idiots don't know how to "pregame" properly and now that is the fault of the organizer of the event? I'm guessing if it was at the House of Blues there were hundreds of people there...and none of them were found passed out on the street. Of course, this is a great opportunity for Menino to "clamp down" on something he doesn't like, which I'm sure he'll take advantage of. The House of Blues is a corporately owned venue and any time I've been there they've done a great job with crowd control, underage drinking,etc, but I'm sure they'll get pressure from the city not to hold these events in the future, which is total BS.
real talk
What he does is no different than what plenty of comedians do in every act. (Louis ck comes to mind) If kobarstool wants to shut down barstool, that's fine, but realize they are advocating censorship just as much as they are attacking rape culture.
and yes the site is juvenileas all hell, but it's a better funny-web-story aggregator than tosh or the chive and the boston slant on everything makes it particularly relevant.
also the boston subreddit kind of sucks
The media does not cause
The media does not cause rape, murder, violence, etc.
Also, Occupy Boston (KO Barstool partner) refuses to ban level 3 sex offenders:
http://m.thephoenix.com/Boston/article.aspx?id=132752
Without weighing in on the controversy
...I will say that David Portnoy's photo in the Herald is enough to suggest that he is a titanic douchebag.
Oh yeah.
Wow. No question about that.
What controversy?
He's organizing legal parties for 21+ individuals to drink, dance and have fun....all legal activities. Some people are breaking the law (like the 2, yes 2 people that were taken into custody at the HOB), and they are dealt with. How many people are busted for underage drinking at a red sox game? A patriots game? I'm not a huge fan of barstool or portnoy, but just because he looks like a d-bag doesn't give the city the right to regulate who is allowed to have parties and who isn't. He hasn't broken any laws, and neither have the venues.
Duh, whatcha talkin' 'bout
Controversy?! There's no controversy here! Not with some misogynist publication running an event called Blackout Night, half the city and the mayor coming out against it, an entire group formed just to oppose it and... oh yeah... dozens of Barstool-backing Brony anons taking to the comments field to defend the indefensible.
How many people are busted for underage drinking at a Sox game? Dunno, but the Sox game isn't held in a bar that holds events called "Pass Out In The Bleachers Night" specifically for underage attendees.
That's the dumbest arguement I've read on this
1. So you're allowed to decide (or the mayor) who's allowed to hold events at private facilities? If you disagree with his beliefs, then you can ban him from having events?
2. It's called the Barstool Blackout party because they turn off all the lights and have blacklight. IE; it's like every other techno concert the city hosts.
3. "Half the city" came out against it? More like 20 people.
4. The Mayor came out against it? More like a Herald reporter called the Mayor's office and asked Dot Joyce "does the mayor support the barstool blackout night?" and she responded "the mayor doesn't support anything that condones excessive drinking".
5. People pass out in the bleachers all the time at Fenway, why is that any different. They sell alcohol, just like the House of Blues.
6. It isn't "specifically for underage attendees". The HOB cards, and has a strict door policy for drinking. Do some people slip through the cracks? Sure...but they do for all concerts there and anywhere.
Wow
Bros have a lot of time on their hands and are easily prone to anger. No wonder they're so easily convinced that making women black out is the only way to have sex with them. Conscious women couldn't possibly endure this blather to the "can I buy you a drink" stage.
P.S. Point out "Pass Out In The Bleachers Night" on the Sox promotional schedule. As specifically promoted by the Sox. Go on, I'll wait. Oh, and tell me again how Fenway is a bar where baseball just happens to be played?
So...
If they'd named it Barstool Blacklight Party, you wouldn't have cared at all about any of this?
You're going to tell me the power of Out versus Light is that strong?
You're going to tell me..
that the difference between "blacklight" and "blackout" is completely lost on you, or that double entendre lends no other, more significant meaning to the latter?
If students are blacking out
If students are blacking out because blackout is in an event's name then we have bigger problems on our hands.
Why don't we ban Phish concerts while we're at it.
Hey, actual Phishing!
If Phish shows were called "Saw Off A Lump Of Hash And Take A Hit Off That Nitrous Tank" shows, you might have a point. But the head rapemonger in charge and Girls Gone Unconscious organizer didn't just give his little party a cute name, did he?
Nope. The ugliest man in Boston decided to call it a blackout party because, judging by his comments earlier today, the only way he can stomach women who may not be so keen on his ideas or advances is to slip them a mickey.
Good job, Dave. Your army of Broanon morons seems greatly appreciative.
The name of the event does
The name of the event does not matter, people are going to continue to drink and do drugs at bars, clubs, and concerts.
If you really want to stop excessive drinking and drug use, then you need to stop it at the source.
Actually, it does
People drink and do drugs at bars, clubs and concerts regularly. HOWEVER, when an even catering to a predominantly underage crowd calls uses "blackout" in the name and its promoters make light of the rapey implications of that name while promoting it, well then you're just inviting trouble on two fronts.
Underage drinking happens. But when a promoter tacitly approves it and builds it into his event's agenda, that's borderline criminal. When that same promoter further promotes the even by implying a quick and easy method of making female attendees more pliant to the desires of the insecure, frustrated, lonely male attendees, that's just predatory.
I love how the Broanons have tried to redirect this argument in six different directions. "You can't stop drinking, it's just a joke, names don't mean anything, you're a lesbian." The core is still this: A "blackout" party still encourages excessive drinking by underage attendees and encourages male attendees to flip the bird to "taboo" (actually, crime) and get a girl nice and passed out so she won't notice what a tremendous douchebag you are and won't say inconvenient little things like "no" when you want to break your semesters-long dry spell.
If they changed the name to
If they changed the name to blacklight would you be happy?
I'm not sure what your goal is here.
So, the event happened now though, right?
How many women were drugged and raped at the tacitly approved blackout rapey party that has now already happened? I mean, your argument is that the host made it SO obviously and damn near illegally known that he wanted guys to come and rape mad numbers of chicks at this party that he should be strung up by his testicles. So, did his evil plot work? How many women didn't make it out without being roofie'd and banged in a back alley of Fenway that night? Fifty? Three? Fifty three? ...One??
You've written a brilliant SVU episode...but it's only ripped from the headlines of your mind.
Your answer is the problem
That's the world you live in, or at least perceive: One in which rape is a crime that takes place as openly or as violently as a knifing, a shooting or any other type of assault and victims are simply "banged in the back alley of Fenway."
That's almost never how rape occurs. Rape, especially the "date rape" people have been describing in this thread, happens back in the apartment or dorm room. It happens when women are too incapacitated to say either yes or no, so the person escorting them back to the room goes with the former. It happens when you wake up with someone on top of you, inside you.
And that's just the first step. Given the nature of the crime, it's often not reported until a few days later, if it's reported at all. It's a humiliating, dehumanizing experience -- which is its basic intent. The perpetrator doesn't want human interaction or someone else's opinion: The perpetrator wants sex on the perpetrator's own terms. Intoxication is just a means to an end.
Does it have to be 50 or 3 to prove a point? Wouldn't one example be adequate in this case? I'm, frankly, hoping the answer is none. It shouldn't take the eventuality of someone getting raped to shut down a party that condones or, worse, mocks rape.
I'm glad you have the luxury of distance from this issue, but for others it's not as filtered as a scripted procedural drama. It happens on an almost weekly basis here, and lots of folks -- men and women both -- have to live with the consequences of someone else's "joke."
Putting words in my mouth
You're completely wrong on what I "perceive" about rape. I'm well aware of the reality of it. You prove my exact point. Rape ISN'T this crazy "roofie a girl at the House of Blues and rape her before she wakes up" fantasy world. Yet, the argument goes that this party was all about the idea that "blackout" means condoning rape. Except how many of the ~250 rapes in Boston last year were drug-induced? After a night of clubbing? Because the guy reads Barstool? The attacker ever joke about how rape is funny before he attacked a woman?
If it shouldn't take the eventuality of a rape to stop a party, then why should the party be stopped? Because you don't like the poor attitude of the guy running it? Then don't go and tell all your friends to not go because the host is an ass. But it's not like this party or his website justifies rape for rapists. As you say, it's a power move by the rapist...he doesn't need Barstool's opinion on whether he should rape or not any more than he needs the victim's.
Do you seriously think that if you took Barstool, the word "blackout", and Portnoy and wiped them from existence that misogyny and rape would somehow disappear...or even lessen? Maybe sometimes a little distance from an issue is a good thing so that you can see the bigger picture more objectively.
Wow.
I'm actually in awe.
Yup
And pretty much everything he's ever done confirms that hypothesis.
I'm pretty sure they took
I'm pretty sure they took that off his website/facebook page, where the picture was used to market the hat he is wearing (I took it as a joke, perhaps I am being not literal enough?)
I wish people would just relax, if something bothers you, don't read it. It's really not that hard.
I won't be surprised if Menino clamps down on this, meanwhile his underground hip-hop concerts on Gov't Center send crowds of hoodlums through the streets of downtown causing fights and general mayhem
(see: mac miller concert, and previous year's concert)
I suppose the "just joking" defense might work
But judging from the results of a quick Google Image search, the likelier explanation is, "He's proud to be a titanic douchebag: in fact, it's his whole shtick."
Shtick
Exactly, its an act
I'm surprised someone with your popularity in this city hasn't had the opportunity to meet Dave in person. If so, you'd realize he's one of the nicest guys around, and that his website is essentially a comedic outlet.
Further, you can't really disagree with anything he responded to Menino with. Menino, the mayor who wouldn't let Bostonians watch the Stanley Cup Finals at the Garden (like ever other normal city does), is the same person who threw this "roving melee" 2 years in a row:
http://www.universalhub.com/2011/concert-city-hall...
edit: this response was in reference to Portnoy's responses as printed in the Herald article, not the "KKK" and "Hitler" references.
While those are obviously not PC, I understand where he is coming from. Menino rules with an iron fist, cross him and you're on the shit list forever: The previous mayor still doesn't have a statue because of this.
Maybe, but Godwin is not the answer
That undermines any argument in my book as trolling, deliberately provocative in a spiteful or childish way. It's an instant credibility sapper. I imagine he's cackling with glee over the outrage this statement will cause. He's in the business of leaving flaming bags of dogshit on people's doorsteps, I guess, and it looks like a profitable one.
I've probably had the opportunity to meet Portnoy, but in public, I'm a person with an unremarkable day job. I never introduce myself to anyone by my pen name, as I strive to remain anonymous for the value it has to a professional restaurant critic.
Anonymity as a restaurant critic
"Only your father could take a job as a restaurant critic for a small town newspaper and wind up the target of international assassins."
Homer > Anton Ego > Dan Andelman
"So, come to The Legless Frog if you want to get sick and die and leave a big garlicky corpse. P.S., parking was ample."
And just to add to his general douchebaggery
...Portnoy just Godwin'd the argument: http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/02/09/barsto...
Portnoy's Complaint, indeed
Amazing that Philip Roth's chronic masturbator is somehow less of a wank than Knockout Drop Dave.