BlogTO misrepresents restaurants that invited Dave Portnoy, say restaurant owners

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After Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy announced he would be arriving in Toronto to watch the Blue Jays take on the Boston Red Sox, and score some pizza, some outlets quickly went to work in attempt to discourage restaurants from having Portnoy.

BlogTO's Amy Carlberg reached out to an unknown number of businesses whom expressed interest on Portnoy's social media posts about having the American personality at their stores, to let them know about “revolting allegations against him” as she put it.

“Italian bakery San Remo had offered Portnoy food in a comment, but changed their mind about it after blogTO reached out, and the Taverniti restaurants were also unaware of the allegations,” Carlberg wrote.

BlogTO sent out the same copy/paste msgs to Toronto restaurants that invited Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) to inform them of "allegations", asking if it "affects [their] desire" to have him make a visit.

I don't think I need to spell out what she's attempting to convey here. pic.twitter.com/yGCnizcKX6

— Andrew Chapados (@AndrewSaysTV) April 28, 2022

One of the companies named in the article, took to social media to disavow the article.

“We would like to be very clear. We have been misrepresented on a popular Toronto blog today. We in fact never gave a statement regarding [Portnoy's] visit. We haven't retracted any invitation to Dave. The invitation stands,” the message reads.

Portnoy, responding on social media, compared the outlet to online outlet Deadspin, and noted that the author's name had since been removed from the article.

After this, another Canadian outlet called Portnoy's defence of himself on Twitter “an invitation for many of his 2.7 million followers to relentlessly taunt [the author].”

Rebel News visited another restaurant (Ristorante Rosina) who rejected the inference by the article, which claimed they “would not have invited him to come by as [they] are a family operated and oriented restaurant.”

Anthony Taverniti, the owner of Ristorante Rosina, told Rebel News “BlogTO came out with an article which made us seem like we were denying him entry, which was never the case. we don't deny anyone entry here at the restaurant.”

The restaurant's manager, Giovanni De Marco, also spoke to Rebel News saying “We really work hard here everyday to make good food to do good service, and to represent Italian food in Toronto.”

When they asked for a retraction and apology, BlogTO's writer apologized for not following up, and asked for additional comment, without addressing any falsities or retractions.

After Rosina made it clear they felt they were misrepresented in the story, the author ensured the information would be relayed “to the publisher.”

At the time of this publication, BlogTO had not amended their representation of Rosina. Rebel News reached out to both the story's author and BlogTO for comment but did not receive a reply.