Dave Portnoy could not believe the initial response to the large bandage on his neck, where he recently had a cancerous mole removed.
During the latest installment of his “BFFs” podcast, the Barstool Sports founder, 47, was candid about the aftermath of his skin cancer diagnosis, in which he underwent a procedure that required a dozen stitches on the left side of his neck, and noted it “looks like I got stabbed.”
“I was getting close to the point where I was going to cut this thing open and just start bleeding until somebody would be like ‘What is going on?’ I mean, this is a huge f–king scar and nobody’s saying anything… It looks like I got stabbed. How do I do any entire rundown and nobody — how do I do that video and nobody cares?” Portnoy said.
“… I’ve been trying to shove it in people’s faces,” Portnoy said. “I don’t want to be like, ‘Oh I have cancer feel bad for me.’ … If you’re going to get cancer that’s the best [one]. But I really wanted sympathy.”
Elsewhere on the show, the Massachusetts native explained that he “didn’t even tell anyone I was doing it,” and how it “was all part of my master plan.”
“Like God forbid the Celtics lost [Game 5 of the NBA Finals to the Mavericks] last night. I was just going to be like, ‘I have cancer I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
“But they won [106-88] and nobody talked about it. I did ‘The Rundown’ with Dan [Katz] and Kevin [Clancy] and they didn’t mention it. It’s almost like they know I’m going to call myself a cancer survivor.
“It’s a real loose way because there is really obviously more serious cancer but I have the right to say I’m a cancer survivor.”
Portnoy added that co-host Brianna Chickenfry was the first to ask about his scar.
“Skin cancer from laying in the sun all day with no sunscreen?” Chickenfry asked.
“Yup, that’s why I didn’t go to the Celtics game [the championship-clinching matchup in Boston on June 17],” Portnoy said. “No, it’s not scary. I mean it is, but it’s not. I add it to my list. I had a heart attack, cancer, stung by bees and beat it all.
“And it’s tough to complain. I lay in the sun. So it was a mole… I’m trying to stay on top of myself. So I went to a doctor, got a skin thing and they scrape it and one of them back as cancerous, so they have to take it out. It’s like 10 or 12 stitches in there… they cut it the f–k out.”
Portnoy broke the cancer news on “The Dozen Trivia” on Wednesday night.
Taking to social media, Portnoy also wrote in a post on X: “I did have cancer. I beat it. It wasn’t the serious kind thank god. I can’t tell if Bosco thinks cancer is funny or not.”
