no
yes oh my god is this really seriously
happening right now
after this payroll i don't have any more
money to get my voice
well about that's exactly like
what we're looking for
that's unbelievable i'm really uh
speechless right now right
this is gonna help so much even though
thank you for buying my heart this is
something that's really going to save
lives i mean this is the life's work
that is being saved by bar stool sports
founder and president
dave portnoy he's surprising small
business owners now with a lot of much
needed help
and dave joins us now can't thank you
enough i i know a lot of people
personally in new york i lived here 40
years who
who've put their whole life into their
business and they've just lost it within
a couple of months
you have raised more than three million
dollars in counting you've only been
doing this for about a week and a half
are you surprised at how much response
there's been
uh no nothing surprises me i think
people it's it's
an issue people care deeply about
especially the crowd and the parcel
crowd stoolies as we call them generally
show up um you know we're a fun-loving
punch sometimes get a bad rap or
whatever but
you know when people need help we always
step up now this is a lot
and i've been shaking down all my rich
friends on twitter trying to shame them
into donating and things like that
but it's catching momentum and you know
the stories the videos you just showed
how can you how can you ignore that i
it's putting a face to everything that's
going on
um in this country with small business
so it
i think it's just there had to be a
voice and there's other people clearly
doing it but these videos and
on our platform have just shed a light
on it so no i'm not surprised i'm
encouraged
and i'm happy about it um but hopefully
it's just the beginning i mean we really
want to
raise tens of millions of dollars
because there's not enough to go around
now it's not just about money is it dave
because
once the businesses who do survive and
and
tragically some just won't but the ones
who do are going to need
incentives they're going to need the
government to get in not not just with
money to but to get rid of some of the
tax
policies that that restrict them to get
rid of some of the restrict the the
regulations
that that hold them back are you gonna
to work on that as well i know it's
tough working with these politicians
particularly
when they're giving money to pakistan
instead of our own businesses
yeah listen i i i don't think i'd be
very good at that i
we're very good or i'm very good at
knowing what we can do
and it's you know getting money to
businesses right now that need it as far
as getting into policy i wouldn't know
the first thing about that if i could
make sure anything that could help these
guys survive and
flourish and all that i'm all for uh i
don't think i'm that guy in the
political realm
i'm just grassroots i'm doing the
fastest thing we can do which is get
money
get it quickly into the hands of
businesses and help them get through
this pandemic
but one of the things you do know about
is is
the ineffectiveness and and the the
job-killing nature of lockdowns you've
been
very eloquent about it i mean i've i've
guilty of sending your
your righteous rants as i call them
around to my friends because
uh you you seem to to peg these guys
he's locked down not only are they
against science but they're killing
american business and they're killing
the spirit of america i mean this is the
land of the free and the home of the
brave
these lockdowns are just the opposite of
that well i
i know this you know i i i won't say
i i don't get into the science i don't
get into any of that
but i know this if you're not allowed to
have customers
and the government is also not giving
you money to bail you're out
a small business you're dead in the
water that you won't call that science
you want to call that math i don't know
what you want to call it
but if you're not allowed to open your
doors and you still have to pay your
taxes
you still have to pay your employees but
you can't make money you're debt
that's what we're trying to help with
and that's that's one plus one equals
two
yeah yeah and and talk about the people
who are helping who are they i mean
you talk about some of your rich friends
i mean are they
are these hedge fund guys or are they uh
no no we haven't had much heads
we'll take a guy like dana white who
owned ufc he was more than happy now
you know we have we're like hey dana you
want to get involved he couldn't get
involved
fast enough cut 100k check without
blinking oh wiggle bosses
from the social network bitcoin
billionaires unsolicited 200 grand
um wow you know uh ryan whitney works me
kevin hayes hockey players
companies we work with sliced pizza huge
for pizzerias they donate
50k without asking anthony orzo it's a
tracksuit
company they donated 100k without asking
so if i if i know you and you have money
you're gonna get a tweet from me shaming
you into donating
a lot of people are donating how many is
it
i should have marcus lemonis who
challenged me donated 500 grand
i put in 500 myself so if people
everywhere
all right well it's it's great work it
comes at a perfect time at christmas and
and frankly it's it is better to give
than to receive i know you you're
we're in the receiving business you
can't you can't survive if you don't
receive but
uh you must feel good with the work
you're doing and particularly with the
responses you're getting from people who
really need it and we thank you dave
porteno you're doing good work god bless
you
thanks for being here well it's