Those familiar with sports media empire Barstool Sports may know that the company and misogyny intersect frequently.

Some of Barstool’s top figures, including founder Dave Portnoy, often find themselves in the spotlight for the wrong reason.

The most recent Barstool figure to make sexist comments was Kevin Clancy, better known as KFC Barstool. A tweet from Clancy made Monday in the aftermath of the allegations of lewd and inappropriate behavior made against Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway caught criticism online.

The tweet read:

“No doubt in my mind this was a master plan to get Callaway out of Anaheim so they can try to make a monster offer to Bauer. Makes perfect sense now. Drop it on the heels of Porter and use it to get rid of the guy Bauer hates more than anyone.”

Clancy is suggesting that the Angels orchestrated the allegations against Callaway so they could get rid of him and sign free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer, who does not get along with Callaway. The Porter mentioned is Jared Porter, who was hired as the New York Mets’ general manager in December and was then fired a month later after it was revealed that he sent over 60 unsolicited texts to a female journalist, including photos of his penis.

Clancy eventually replied to his tweet, admitting that it was bad, but stopped short of an apology and did not remove the tweet.

Even if he had deleted the tweet the fact that he felt comfortable posting it in the first place is the problem. Whether he intended to or not, Clancy’s tweet discredited the women who made allegations against Callaway by chalking the allegations up as some bizarre conspiracy theory.

No good could have possibly come from that tweet. If these allegations turn out to be some wild conspiracy to get Callaway fired, that would likely be unearthed during any investigation that takes place.

Immediately discrediting the women with seemingly little thought is a dangerous thing to do, especially for someone with a platform as sizeable as Clancy’s.

It may discourage women from coming forward in the future, and that is something that needs to be avoided at all costs. As was the case with Porter, people in power need to be held accountable when they do wrong.

Luckily, Porter was fired and Callaway has been suspended pending an investigation into the allegations. But if any progress is to be made in the world of sports, people who come forward must not be discredited.

Adam Tumino is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].