Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy targeted with antisemitic slur while filming video in Toronto

Dave Portnoy is seen outside a pizza spot on Harbord Street in this screen-grab from his video.

A well-known media personality with millions of followers was targeted with an antisemitic slur from a passerby while filming a video in Toronto recently.

Dave Portnoy is famous for his “One Bite Pizza Reviews.” His YouTube channel, which features videos of him trying and rating pizza spots in cities all over the world, has nearly 1.5 million subscribers. He is also the founder of Barstool Sports.

In one of his latest videos, posted online June 2, he visits Toronto to take a pizza tour. About halfway through the video, while sampling a slice from Terrazza on Harbord Street, someone off-camera yells F*** the Jews at Portnoy, who is Jewish.

Several of the people watching the filming of the video start laughing, with Portnoy admonishing them for it before continuing on with the taste test.

“We won’t let that get in the… what is that Toronto hospitality there?” he asks as the video continues.

The incident comes amid a rising tide of antisemitic incidents, some of them violent, in Canada and around the world.

Last month two young people were fatally gunned down while leaving a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. by a man who yelled “Free Palestine,” according to court documents. The shooting left dead a young couple who were set to be engaged.

Then on Sunday in Colorado, a man used an improvised flame thrower and threw Molotov cocktails at a group of people demonstrating for the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Authorities said he told police he planned the attack for a year and wanted “to kill all Zionist people.” The attack injured 15 people and a dog.

Doug Ford says he has ‘zero tolerance’ for antisemitism

According to the latest hate crimes report by Toronto police, Jews remain the most targeted group in Toronto when it comes to hate crimes. In 2024, Jews were targeted in 40 per cent of the city’s 443 reported hate crimes, according to the report.

Antisemitic incidents in the city have surged in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

In an interview with CNN Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked about the rise in antisemitism and said he has “zero tolerance for hate and discrimination of any kind.”

“Everyone should be living peacefully and I am just tired of all these protests that are happening. I always say the antisemitic slurs and attacks are unacceptable. If you want to attack anyone within the community go back and start attacking within your own country, don’t bring your problems over to Canada,” Ford said.

“I am just sick and tired of it. We have 110 nationalities and everyone needs to get along. I say that for, by the way, for any religion. Let’s live peacefully together and I think we will all have a great life. But when it comes to racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anything, I don’t stand for it.”

CP24 reached out to Portnoy for comment but has not received a response.