Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Headquarters Rocked By Wild Uber Eats Brawl

Chaos erupted inside Barstool Sports’ Manhattan headquarters after a dispute involving an Uber Eats order escalated into a violent fight. Dave Portnoy shared security footage from the office showing a delivery courier and a Barstool security guard exchanging blows before several employees rushed in to separate them. Police were called to the Midtown building, a person of interest was taken into custody, and Uber has since removed the courier from its platform.

Portnoy posted footage of the altercation on X shortly after the incident unfolded Monday afternoon. “We had a crazy scene today at Barstool World Hq,” Portnoy wrote.

“An uber eats driver got in a fight with Gia in the hallway over her order,” he continued. “Our security guard Dan went into the hall to tell the guy to leave and he attacked him.” Portnoy did not explain what allegedly went wrong with the employee’s food order or what was said before the confrontation became physical.

According to the NYPD, officers were called to Barstool’s Seventh Avenue office at approximately 2 p.m. after a verbal dispute escalated. Police said a 31-year-old man punched a 45-year-old man several times in the face.

A person of interest was taken into custody, but authorities have not announced formal charges. The investigation remains ongoing.

The footage shows the courier knocking the security guard to the floor before dragging him across the ground. The courier then appears to get on his knees and repeatedly strike the guard in the face.

Three Barstool employees quickly enter the hallway and attempt to pull the two men apart. The courier continues swinging as the staffers struggle to restrain him.

The employees eventually separate the courier from the guard and hold him back while someone calls 911. Police said the security guard was treated at the scene. “Danny may need a few stiches and a couple beers,” Portnoy wrote. “All in all another day at the Stool.”

Portnoy also used the incident to take a sarcastic shot at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “Shoutout Mandami’s NYC,” he added.

The Barstool founder has previously said he would “love to” run against Mamdani in a future mayoral election.

Uber Removes Courier From Its Platform

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Uber responded to the footage by condemning the violence and revoking the courier’s access to its platform. “We are horrified by the conduct displayed. Violence is never tolerated, and we’ve removed the courier’s access to the Uber platform,” a company spokesperson said. “We stand ready to assist police however we can.”

Removing the courier from the platform is an administrative action by Uber and is separate from any decision police or prosecutors may make concerning potential criminal charges.

The company did not offer additional details about the original delivery dispute.

Uber Eats Faces Separate ‘Priority Fee’ Lawsuit

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The Barstool incident comes as Uber is also facing a proposed class action lawsuit over how its Uber Eats “priority” delivery service is advertised. The lawsuit is unrelated to the confrontation at Barstool’s headquarters.

Plaintiff Hassan Wright alleges that Uber misleads customers into believing an additional priority fee guarantees their food will be delivered directly to them. According to the complaint, Uber Eats couriers may make other stops before completing a priority delivery. The lawsuit also alleges that drivers are not informed when a customer has paid the added fee.

“Uber Eats has reaped staggering profits from these misleading and unlawful priority fees, likely totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide,” the lawsuit states.

The proposed class action, Wright v. Uber Technologies, Inc., was filed in July in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. No class has been certified, and the allegations have not been proven in court.

Plaintiff Claims ‘Direct To You’ Promise Is Misleading

Wright seeks to represent a nationwide class and a California subclass comprising customers who paid a priority fee for orders advertised as “direct to you” or “delivered directly to you.” He claims Uber does not disclose that couriers can simultaneously deliver orders for competing platforms while completing an Uber Eats priority order.

“Uber Eats also does not disclose that this practice allows other orders to be picked up or delivered before a priority customer’s food is delivered despite Uber Eats’ ‘direct to you’ representation,” the complaint states.

According to ClassAction.org, the lawsuit alleges that priority fees typically range from $1 to $5. The complaint argues that Uber has “no means” of guaranteeing that a driver will travel directly from a restaurant to the priority customer without making another stop.

Uber’s published explanation reportedly states that a priority order will be dropped off first when a courier is handling a group of Uber Eats deliveries. However, Wright’s complaint argues that the “direct to you” language is still misleading because drivers can work for multiple apps and may not know an order has been marked as priority.

Uber has not been found liable, and the case remains at the complaint stage.