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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy revealed that he was secretly diagnosed with skin cancer, but "beat it," Thursday (June 19) night.
Portnoy, 47, wearing a bandage on the left side of his neck, appeared on the live broadcast of the Barstool Sports YouTube trivia show The Dozen when he announced his diagnosis publicly.
“A lot of pressure. This is all that matters. We’ve been waiting for all season,” said Portnoy, who captaining Team Ziti in the tournament. “I have cancer, by the way. No big deal.”
Portnoy later specified that he had cancer, but said "it wasn't the serious kind thank God," in a video showing his interaction with Barstool Sports personality Rico Bosco, who was unaware of his boss' diagnosis prior to the announcement.
“Because I don’t make a big show of it,” Portnoy said in the video to Bosco, who was wearing a sling during his Dozen appearance for Team Minihane earlier in the live broadcast and during their interaction.
A clip shared earlier in the day from Portnoy's BFFs Pod showed him showing what appeared to be a cut on the same side of his neck where the bandage was during his Dozen appearance, which led to co-host Briana LaPaglia asking, "is that stitches?"
"Yeah, cancer," Portnoy responded quickly.
"What?" LaPaglia responded in shock before the clip ended without explanation.
A longer clip shared online Thursday morning showed Portnoy specifying that he had skin cancer, which caused him to miss the Boston Celtics' NBA Finals game Tuesday (June 18) night.
"I add it to my list. I've had a heart attack, cancer and stung by bees, beat it all," Portnoy said.
Last year, Portnoy repurchased Barstool Sports from Penn Entertainment for $1 amid its gambling partnership with ESPN, with the company later announcing its partnership with DraftKings. The Massachusetts native claims to have won several massive DraftKings bets this year, including $1.6 million Tuesday (June 18) night on a two-pick parlay of the Boston Celtics as the NBA Finals winner and Scottie Scheffler as the outright winner of the 2024 RBC Heritage tournament in April.
Portnoy's previous winnings include $1 million on his alma mater, the University of Michigan, in the College Football Playoff, $500,000 on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII, $2.1 million on UConn in the NCAA men's basketball national championship and $1.3 million on Scheffler winning the Masters which, along with his latest parlay win and other bets, totals more than $7 million.