Dave Portnoy said Deanna Russini’s resignation from The Athletic “makes absolutely no sense” after the sports journalist’s letter announcing her resignation was made public.
“To be honest, this explanation makes absolutely no sense. I don’t think someone should lose their job over an alleged affair, but this statement definitely makes it feel like there was an affair going on,” the Barstool Sports founder wrote on X Tuesday.
“An innocent Cannoodler would welcome a thorough investigation to prove his innocence and exonerate himself, wouldn’t he? This screams a guilty Cannoodler to me.”
Russini’s resignation letter, sent to Athletic Editor-in-Chief Stephen Ginsburg on Tuesday afternoon, was published days after Page Six published a photo of him with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at a luxury hotel.
Portnoy spoke out for the first time on Monday about the shocking snapshot, speculating that there was “something more than friendship going on” between Russini and Vrabel, who are both married to strangers.
“They’re both married and they have kids, so it’s a very sad story in that respect,” Portnoy, 49, said on the sports talk show “Wake Up Barstool.” He insisted it was just a “personal matter” for the NFL coach.
As for Russini, Portnoy admitted it was “dangerous” because “you can’t cross the line with the source.”
He still insisted that neither party should lose office over the scandal.
“She’s probably going to get fired because she crossed the line at work. Now she’s not dealing with nuclear codes. She’s not dealing with politicians. It’s football,” he explained.
Russini has been with The Athletic since 2023 and held the title of Senior NFL Insider.
In his resignation letter, the journalist stated that his decision to resign was due to “commentators in various media simply spinning their own speculations away from the facts,” and that he wanted to prevent further damage from this situation.
After the bombshell, Ginsburg acknowledged Russini’s resignation in a memo to athletic staff, saying “additional information has emerged” and “new questions have arisen that are now part of the investigation.”
Last week, Page Six exclusively obtained photos of Russini and Vrabel holding hands and hugging each other at Ambiente in Sedona on March 28th.
Witnesses said the couple had breakfast on the patio of the hotel restaurant around 10:30 a.m. on March 28, then spent an hour relaxing together by the pool and relaxing side by side in the hot tub.
After the photo surfaced, The Athletic, obtained by The New York Times in 2022, did not support Russini and began investigating the matter.
Mr. Vrabel, 50, and Mr. Russini, 43, addressed the photo in statements to Page Six.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable and deserves no further response,” Vrabel said.
Russini also said, “The photo does not represent a group of six people hanging out together during the day. Like most NFL journalists, the reporter interacts with sources away from the stadium and other venues.”
