Now Chuck Peruto Is Going After Dave Portnoy in Antisemitism Scandal

Left: Dave Portnoy, whose Philly bro bar Barstool is the epicenter of an antisemitic incident. (Photo via Zach Catanzareti/Flickr/Creative Commons) | Right: Philadelphia attorney Chuck Peruto. (Photo courtesy The Law Offices of Chuck Peruto).

With the publication of this story, I have now written as many stories about the Dave Portnoy Antisemitism Scandal as I did last week about this scandal with a different kind of stink.

If you have no idea what the Dave Portnoy Antisemitism Scandal is, I could explain it, but I have explained it way too many times this week. So you’re just going to have to go here to get the skinny on last Saturday’s incident at Portnoy’s Philly bro bar, Barstool, where someone ordered a “Fuck the Jews” bottle service sign and some employee or employees thought it would be a good idea to fulfill said order. Apparently intelligence, tolerance and decency aren’t a prerequisite for being a Dave Portnoy employee.

The new twist in the Dave Portnoy Antisemitism Scandal is this: Famed and storied Philadelphia attorney Chuck Peruto has entered the ring, his fists flying.

Peruto represents North Jersey resident Michael Wade, who was, for whatever reason, tagged in the original social media post of the infamous “Fuck the Jews” sign. And because he was tagged, says Peruto, Wade has been the recipient of no end of backlash, even though he wasn’t at the bar.

Portnoy briefly acknowledged that Wade had nothing to do with it in a long, winding and raging social media post earlier this week, but Peruto says that detail was lost in all the other details. Peruto tells Philly Mag that Wade was at one time acquainted with some of the people involved, but that they parted ways after it became clear that Wade’s thoughts on Israel differed from that of those other people.

On Monday, Peruto fired off an email to Portnoy, explaining all of this. He wrote that Wade “is receiving death threats for something he is not a part of” and that Portnoy knew “that he was not in the bar and was not part of this.”

Peruto added that Wade “does not wish to sue anybody,” and asked that Portnoy make a specific, separate post on social media about Wade and only about Wade, making it crystal clear that Wade had no involvement.

“He was tagged by former friends who know that he has family members who are Jewish, which was meant to harass him, not to include him in this party of people at your establishment with this sign that said ‘Fuck the Jews,'” explained Peruto. “This is highly important to Michael and his family, as they are really going through tremendous turmoil at this time. My client does not attend Temple University, was obviously not at this party, and has not been friends with these people for quite some time. You did try to fix this, but it was in such a garbled way that it did not make the message clear. Your anticipated cooperation is appreciated.”

But cooperation is not what Peruto received. He says he waited for a reply from Portnoy but did not get one. Instead, Peruto says he heard from Ron Greenblatt, an attorney representing Portnoy, who, Peruto said, told him, “We’ll look forward to your lawsuit.”

“We don’t want to sue anybody!” Peruto tells us, going on to describe Greenblatt as “an arrogant fucking prick.” He said he just wants this “nightmare” to be over for Wade and that Portnoy, via his massive social media following, has the power to do that.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” Peruto recalls Greenblatt telling him on the phone. “So if you want to sue, you sue.”

Greenblatt did not return a call seeking comment.

Something tells me this isn’t the last time you’ll be hearing about the Dave Portnoy Antisemitism Scandal.