Cancel Me If You Can

In his unfiltered style, Dave Portnoy details the journey of how he built his polarizing media empire, Barstool Sports, while refusing to bend the knee to those who tried to tear him down, staying true to himself and blocking out the haters.

Dave Portnoy is a gambler. From his days playing Little League baseball, he has always bet on himself and his future, which is exactly how he built his digital media empire, Barstool Sports. It all started in 2004, when Dave wrote what he knew and passed out a four-page broadsheet newspaper all over Boston. The idea was simple but revolutionary: not everyone wanted their sports takes from SportsCenter anchors in suits. Fans wanted something local, raw, and unapologetic—written in the same language and tone you might hear at your local sports bar. So, Dave gave it to them.

More than twenty years later, Barstool has grown into a nine-figure company with over 300 employees and 150 active brands. But the story doesn’t end there. Dave continues to expand Barstool and his personal brand, launching into the world of sports betting, giving honest pizza reviews, building generational media stars, and giving back to dog shelters and small businesses with the help of his own famous rescue dog, Miss Peaches.

Though he didn’t set out to be a political lightning rod, it happened—and he’s fully aware that half the internet hates him while the other half loves him. The truth? He doesn’t care, as long as people take interest. He’s always been brutally honest, and he always will be. Dave’s journey hasn’t been perfect. He’s failed—publicly and personally—and he’s constantly willing to risk it all. Why? Because he already knows what it’s like to lose everything and start over, time and time again. So why not?

In Cancel Me If You Can, Dave lays it all out: the hard work, the timing, the luck, the poisonous relationships behind the curtain, and the balls it took to get to where he is today. This isn’t a memoir or a business book—it’s another bet on himself. But honestly, would you really want to bet against him? The odds are against it.

Dave Portnoy, known as “El Presidente,” is founder of Barstool Sports, a digital media company known for its sports, humor, and pop culture content. Initially a four-page newspaper distributed in Boston, Barstool has grown into a multi-million-dollar company with millions of followers across the world. Along with his success as owner of Barstool, Dave is widely known for his candid pizza review videos and passionate dog shelter advocacy following his adoption of his pitbull Miss Peaches. Dave raised over $41 million through the Barstool Fund to support small businesses hurt by the COVID pandemic. He recently launched Lucky One Lemonade, an alcoholic beverage that supports animal rescue efforts. A strong, influential businessman and social media personality, he is known for his sharp wit, honesty, and bold, authentic voice. Dave splits his time between Nantucket and Miami with Miss Peaches and his beagle, Pete.

In Cancel Me If You Can, published in June 2026, Dave Portnoy delivers an unfiltered, highly personal account of how he built his polarizing digital media empire, Barstool Sports. Rather than framing the book as a traditional business manual or a standard celebrity memoir, Portnoy characterizes it as yet another massive bet on himself—a reflection of the gambling mentality that has defined both his personal life and his career trajectory. With his signature bluntness and unapologetic tone, he lays out the sheer grit, lucky breaks, impeccable timing, and behind-the-scenes drama that propelled him from a local Boston sports fan to a titan of modern internet culture, all while actively refusing to bow to the numerous critics who have attempted to tear him down over the years.

The narrative begins with Portnoy’s early days and foundational mindset. Describing himself first and foremost as a gambler, he traces his willingness to take massive risks back to his childhood playing Little League baseball. This inherent comfort with risking it all became the cornerstone of his professional life. In 2004, recognizing a glaring void in the sports media landscape, he started Barstool Sports as a crude, four-page broadsheet newspaper that he personally handed out on the streets and in the subway stations of Boston. Portnoy understood early on that a significant portion of sports fans felt alienated by the polished, corporate, suit-and-tie presentation of networks like ESPN. He sought to create a publication that spoke to the common fan in the exact same raw, localized, and often profane language they used in their neighborhood sports bars. By doing so, he cultivated a fiercely loyal audience that valued authenticity over professionalism.

As the book details the company’s evolution, Portnoy charts Barstool's astronomical rise from those humble, localized beginnings into a nine-figure digital behemoth. Today, the company boasts over three hundred employees and manages more than one hundred and fifty active brands, operating at the forefront of sports, comedy, and pop culture. However, Portnoy is careful to emphasize that this growth was far from a smooth or easy ride. He dedicates significant portions of the book to discussing the hidden struggles of scaling a media business, pulling back the curtain on poisonous behind-the-scenes relationships, public missteps, and personal failures. Because he has experienced the feeling of losing everything and having to rebuild from scratch time and again, he operates with a fearless mentality, constantly willing to risk his entire enterprise on new ventures simply by asking himself, "Why not?"

A major theme of the book is Portnoy’s navigation of his own fame and his status as a political and cultural lightning rod. While he insists he never set out to become a highly controversial figure, he fully acknowledges and embraces the reality that the internet is deeply divided over him—half of his audience passionately loves him, while the other half vehemently despises him. True to the book's title, Portnoy explains his survival in the era of cancel culture by detailing his absolute refusal to apologize to outrage mobs or bend the knee to his detractors. His philosophy is simple: he doesn't care if people hate him, as long as they remain interested and engaged. This relentless commitment to being brutally honest and staying true to his authentic self, no matter how controversial, is presented as his ultimate shield against cancellation.

Beyond the boardroom and the controversies, Portnoy also delves into the successful expansion of his personal brand under the moniker "El Presidente". The book chronicles his massively popular daily pizza reviews, which have the power to make or break local pizzerias, as well as his deep dive into the lucrative world of sports betting. Portnoy also highlights his philanthropic efforts, which stand in stark contrast to his brash public persona. He reflects on the monumental success of the Barstool Fund, a charitable initiative that raised over $41 million to support struggling small businesses during the devastating economic lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, he shares heartwarming details about his passionate advocacy for animal rescue, heavily featuring his famous adopted pitbull, Miss Peaches, and his launch of ventures like Lucky One Lemonade, designed to support dog shelters.

Ultimately, Cancel Me If You Can serves as a testament to Dave Portnoy’s resilience, sharp wit, and unyielding self-belief. By offering an inside look at the relentless hustle, the strategic gambles, and the sheer audacity required to build a multi-million-dollar company outside the traditional media establishment, he challenges his readers and his critics alike. The book concludes not with a neatly packaged corporate lesson, but with a defiant question that summarizes his entire career ethos: given his track record of surviving every scandal, overcoming every obstacle, and continually expanding his empire against all odds, would anyone really be foolish enough to bet against him now?