By Taylor Dobbs, News Staff
More than 100 students and supporters marched to the House of Blues last night to protest the Barstool Sports Blackout party, run by David “El Presidente” Portnoy.
The protest comes after a week of intense debate between members of the Northeastern group Knockout Barstool, and supporters of Portnoy’s blog, which is targeted to college-aged men and often features photos of scantily clad women. The protesters have taken an issue with jokes published on the website about rape.
Protesters congregated at Northeastern’s Freshman Quad before the march, chanting and allowing members of the group to take to the megaphone and give their messages out. Many shared personal stories of sexual assaults against them, while others voiced outrage at Barstool.
“I don’t want rape culture with my sports news,” she said. “I want sports news with my sports news.”
Anna Siembor, one of the organizers of Knockout Barstool, said she was impressed with the turnout.
“We’re super overwhelmed, this is awesome,” she said. “There’s so many people here, people from BU, BC, Emerson.”
Portnoy also came to the Freshman Quad to see. As protesters voiced their disgust with him directly, Portnoy shrugged off the criticism.
Portnoy said he was concerned the protesters might provoke his supporters in line and cause a disturbance.
“I just hope the police keep [the protesters] away,” he said.
Despite the cold, the protesters marched from Northeastern to the Fenway neighborhood with the Boston Police Department blocking traffic along the way. When they arrived at the House of Blues around 7:45 p.m., protesters filled Lansdowne Street, waving signs and chanting as the line of party guests trickled inside.
Despite some shouting between the groups, neither side lashed out. Some students on their way into the party reacted angrily, yelling and making obscene gestures at the protesters, while others laughed as they went by.
No one was arrested in the incident, and protesters left around 9 p.m.
