Dave Portnoy Calls Dianna Russini Hiring ‘No-Brainer’ After Vrabel Drama
Founder of Barstool Sports Dave Portnoy I would have no problem hiring Dianna Russini after the controversy surrounding his alleged relationship with the coach of the New England Patriots Mike Vrabel.
“No-brainer, if he wanted to work here, we would,” Portnoy, 49, said to himself. Us Weekly while improving his memory, Cancel If You Canwhich was released on Tuesday, June 30.
Russini, 43, resigned as AthleticThe NFL’s top pundit in April after photos surfaced of him and Vrabel, 50, together at a resort in Arizona. Russini and Vrabel have been seen in photos and videos published since March 2020, when they were photographed kissing in a bar in New York City.
Vrabel is married to his wife, Jensince 1999. Russini married her husband, Kevin Goldschmidtin September 2020.
While Portnoy admitted that Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was “bad,” he also said that “love is not the same as murder.”
Russini has never publicly acknowledged having anything other than a professional relationship with Vrabel. Similarly, Vrabel also never confirmed that they were dating.
“You’re going to get somewhere, and you know, if people with issues are no longer allowed to work in this country, you’re going to lose a lot of workers,” Portnoy added. “It’s really sad, but at the same time, that’s not the same as a death sentence that should end someone’s professional career.”
The New York Times it was reported on June 24 that Russini referred to himself as a “former journalist” when he was sent a text message about a possible interview. “This has had a big impact on my life, professionally and personally,” he said Times.
The investigation into Russini’s behavior towards his former employer is ongoing.
“It’s going to take a few weeks,” editor-in-chief Steven Ginsberg told staff on June 7, according to the report. Page Six. “There’s still a lot to go through, and obviously we want to take our time and be careful doing that. We’ll update everybody when we get to the end of that. And we said if we find anything that needs to be fixed, we’ll fix it along the way.”
Athletic launched their investigation on April 11, four days after the first photos of Russini and Vrabel were published.
In his resignation letter, Russini said he “brought the NFL together with professionalism and dedication throughout my career.”
“Furthermore, this media frenzy is moving forward without regard to the review process Athletic is trying to end,” he wrote: “It continues to grow, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in asking a public that has caused more damage than I am willing to accept.”
Russini added, “Rather than allow this to continue, I have decided to resign now – before my current contract expires on June 30. I am not doing so because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it more oxygen or allow it to define me or my work.”
When it comes to Portnoy’s latest move, he tells us that the idea for his book was born out of something specific.
“I’ve never really thought about books, but for some reason the thought – and maybe it’s because of my age – but the thought of walking through an airport and seeing my book in the window or my book in a small bookstore intrigued me,” he explained. “I don’t think I knew how much work it would end up being, and I probably wouldn’t have agreed to do it again if I had to start over.”
He continued, “I’m glad I did it. It’s a great reminder of a crazy story, but yeah, I think the final product appealed to me. It’s something we’ve never done. We’ve done a lot of other things, but books? Not really. For whatever reason it caught my attention when it was brought to me.”
Cancel If You Can available now wherever books are sold.
