Dave Portnoy’s latest confrontation with antisemitic hatred landed squarely in the national conversation after a viral video showed him targeted while filming one of his famous One Bite pizza reviews in Starkville, Mississippi. The footage captured stunned onlookers rallying to his defense as the moment spread across social media and mainstream outlets, forcing Americans to reckon with how brazen this kind of hate has become.
While Portnoy kept filming, a passerby interrupted the review by shouting an antisemitic insult and reportedly throwing coins, provoking immediate condemnation from the crowd and viewers online who were rightly disgusted by the behavior. Portnoy challenged the heckler on camera, refusing to let cowardly hate go unanswered in public, and shared further footage afterward to make sure the episode couldn’t be swept under the rug.
Authorities moved quickly once the video went viral: a 20‑year‑old student, identified as Patrick McClintock, was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace and later withdrew from Mississippi State University amid the fallout. The arrest and the school’s response should be the baseline — not the exception — for how institutions react when students weaponize hatred on and off campus.
Portnoy, who is Jewish, has been blunt about how often he faces this kind of abuse and has said the incidents are happening with alarming frequency, prompting him to beef up his personal security and demand real outrage instead of empty apologies. He’s not asking for pity; he’s demanding accountability and action from universities, law enforcement, and the media that too often minimize attacks on religious minorities.
Predictably, the episode sparked another round of performative responses online, including a fundraising page for the accused that raked in thousands, highlighting how the internet can quickly turn justice into spectacle. If America is to remain a place where people of faith can walk the streets without fear, we must stop the viral pity parties for people who incite hatred and start enforcing consequences that deter this behavior.
This is a moment for conservatives to stand firm — not by how loudly we shout back at every provocateur, but by insisting on real law and order, clear campus discipline, and an end to the double standard that excuses cruelty when it comes from the wrong political corners. Dave Portnoy didn’t back down, and neither should we: defend our Jewish neighbors, demand institutions do their duty, and refuse to let cowardly hate win the narrative.
