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By the early morning of February 7, social media was on fire talking about Kanye West’s all-night rant on X (formerly Twitter). But Dave Portnoy had his own take. Ignoring the content of the sordid posts — some of which topped 10 million views each — Portnoy instead took to X and Facebook with a message to Taylor Swift.
“Great morning for the Swifties,” the Bar Stools Sports owner posted to his social media followers. “Never gets old being on the right side of history.”
Adam Glanzman/Getty Images
Since Portnoy was coy about what he was referring to, his comments quickly piled up with fans guessing he was referencing backlash to West’s posts. Although West’s 13-hour X rant never mentions Swift, 35, the rapper, 47, had engaged in a 10-year, one-sided feud with the pop star.
Portnoy, meanwhile, has called himself “King of the Swifties.” On October 21, 2024, he posted a video of himself reading a personal thank you note Swift had her brother, Austin, hand-deliver him in the VIP tent of a Miami concert. This caused a stir since Portnoy endorsed Donald Trump, and Swift was an outspoken supporter of opposing candidate Kamala Harris. He first went viral as a Swiftie in October 2023, when he said on his BFFs podcast, “I’ve never seen anybody try to suck up like she is to Taylor Swift.” He was referring to Kim Kardashian, who was married to West when he started his feud with the Tortured Poets Department singer.
As the king of the Swifties people are asking me what I think of her Kamala endorsement. I don’t care at all. People can vote for whoever they want in this country. How somebody votes will never change my opinion of a person. I’m voting the other way but to each their own
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 11, 2024
West and Taylor’s rivalry started in 2009, when West took to the MTV VMAs stage to interrupt Swift, who was accepting her award for Best Female Video. West took the microphone away from her to express that he thought Beyoncé should have won. Over the next few years, West continued to poke the star, often with the support of his then-wife Kardashian. For her part, Swift’s only possible engagement was a song she released the year after the MTV Awards called “Innocent.”
