Michael Rapaport’s legal battle with Barstool Sports had it all: evidence of a negative herpes test, the actor’s declaration that he is not racist because he is married to a black woman, and a doctored image of anal sex.
The feud ended on Monday, with both sides withdrawing their breach-of-contract claims under a settlement that allows Rappaport to appeal a preliminary ruling that Barstool and its founder, David Portnoy, did not defame.
The saga, detailed in the lawsuit, is fitting for a smear duel between the sister sports network and the self-proclaimed “king of small talk”. In 2014, Rappaport launched a podcast called i am rapport on CBS Radio. He went to Barstool three years after being recruited by Portnoy. His contract gave him $600,000 in profit sharing and a promise that the company would make a good faith effort to get his own daily radio show on SiriusXM, which would pay an additional $375,000.
The relationship ended after eight months. The split with the duo was sparked in part by Rappaport’s tweet accusing the Barstool employee of using steroids to help him win an amateur boxing match. After a fan of the site, widely known as “stoolies”, responded by asking Barstool to do a poll on his popularity with fans, the actor responded: “[I]If you consider yourself a real pig, you’ve already lost in life. “
A “war” ensued, as Portnoy called it in a statement. Barstool terminated Rappaport’s contract for insulting his fans, and Rappaport responded by posting a doctored image of himself sodomizing Portnoy on Twitter. In the following months, Barstool posted dozens of tweets, videos and blogs accusing the actor of racism, herpes and harassing his ex-girlfriend. Libel and breach of contract lawsuits followed, in addition to counterclaims.
In March 2021, a federal judge considered whether either party had breached the contract. However, Barstool rejected Rappaport’s defamation allegations, with damages estimated at around $16 million.
US District Judge Naomi Rice Buchwald ruled that the contested statements are not “actually actionable evidence” to constitute defamation. The standard requires a reasonable audience to understand that the speaker is stating an objective fact rather than an opinion.
“As used here, these labels are nothing more than subjective assessments of Rapaport by Barstool defendants that cannot be objectively proven true or false,” Buchwald wrote.
Observing that someone is racist, for example, “will almost always depend on the look of the beholder”, considered the judge.
“To illustrate the subjective nature of the epithet when used in this context, we need go no further than the evidence Rappaport presents in his attempt to falsify the claim: that he does not consider himself a racist; that he is married to a black woman; that he does not exploit race for personal gain; and that he had many black guests on his podcast show,” the order read. “While the Court does not intend to suggest that Rappaport is in fact racist, this evidence simply does not establish by objective evidence that the representations in question are false.”
Rappaport’s claim that he was defamed when Barstul said he had herpes and was a stalker met the same fate. While these claims can be proven to be false, Buchwald said context matters because they were “posted on social media, blogs and sports radio, which are all platforms the public would reasonably expect to hear rumors on.”
The court will rule in Barstool’s favor on Rapaport’s fraud and defamation allegations, but the actor can appeal the judge’s defamation order.
Rappaport, his attorney Richard Bush and Barstol did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Barstool’s attorney, Aaron Moss, declined to comment.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
