Barstool Founder Dave Portnoy and CEO Erika Nardini Respond to Elika Sadeghi Contract Tweets

previous version of this story mischaracterized whether Elika Sadeghi had specified that the contract offer referred to in the post came from a specific media company. 

Earlier today, sports media personality Elika Sadeghi posted the following contract from a redacted media company, which she says offered her a two-year deal, but she refused to sign:

Officials from Barstool have confirmed to The Big Lead that this contract originated from them. Reached for comment about this screengrab and ensuing thread (which we will publish in full below), Barstool founder Dave Portnoy said, “I thought it was unfair. I guess I wasn’t overly surprised based on our interactions. I think she’s somebody who wants to be part of a bigger narrative that’s going on right now and she used us as a scapegoat for it.”

“I think that’s very standard, boilerplate language [in the contract],” he continued. “I ran Barstool for 10 years without contracts. When Chernin acquired us, we obviously became more professional. They are an entertainment company familiar with writing rooms and comedy shows and that’s boilerplate, standard language so people cannot sue for offensive jokes, whether they be about gender, sex, religion, whatever — we do it all at Barstool, and we needed to protect ourselves.”

Barstool CEO Erika Nardini added, “I think Dave captured it. This clause in our contract has to do with the nature of our content. We have a broad employment agreement which covers harassment, office environment, and treatment in the workplace. And, what Elika is referring to is a clause in our contract which pertains to the nature of our content. We are a comedy brand and we make content for 18-34 year old men. Some of that content is risque in nature, and this clause covers that.”

Added Portnoy: “Again, written by lawyers in LA, and when Elika met with us she said she didn’t have any sort of vibe this was an issue but it was more of a moral thing and she actually said she was afraid to sign with us because she was afraid someone else would leak it. It turns out she was leaking it. To be honest, I think she was waiting for the right moment to do so.”