Billionaire Harvard alum excoriates university presidents over antisemitism hearing: 'Must resign in disgrace'
Billionaire and Harvard graduate Bill Ackman demands that the presidents of three prestigious universities should resign after they refused to say that calling for the genocide of Jews on their campuses breached their rules and led to harassment.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted mock pictures of shirts with a Harvard-like logo calling it "Hamas University," as he continued to criticize President Dr. Claudine Gay for her controversial comments about antisemitism.
"These shirts kinda bang," Portnoy wrote in a post on X Wednesday. Portnoy made clear that he was not "really selling" the joke shirts, emblazoned with the logo "Hamas University" as "The ISIS of the East." ISIS, or ISIL, is the acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a terrorist group.
Portnoy's post has gone viral online, racking up over 30,000 likes and more than 2.9 million views on X alone.
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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted mock pictures of shirts with Harvard-like logo, appearing to criticize the university as Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay continues to face backlash for her controversial comments about antisemitism. (Zuffa LLC // Getty Images)
Portnoy posted on Instagram Wednesday that he would not hire graduates from Harvard, the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or the University of Pennsylvania after all three school presidents gave congressional testimony.
"At this rate we’re 1 step away from the Ivy Leagues offering courses on how 9/11 was actually the Jews fault," Portnoy wrote. "Not that this will make a huge difference but moving forward I will not hire any student who graduates from any of these schools until these Deans step down."
Gay issued a statement Wednesday clarifying that the university staunchly condemns calls for violence against the Jewish community. Gay and the leadership of Harvard have been forced to defend themselves in public after Gay appeared to equivocate on antisemitism while testifying before Congress on Tuesday.
"There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students," Gay said in a statement posted to Harvard's X account.
"Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account," the statement continued.
During her congressional testimony, Gay was repeatedly asked if calling for the genocide of Jews was against Harvard policy. She didn't give a clear answer.
During her congressional testimony, Gay was repeatedly asked if calling for the genocide of Jews was against Harvard policy. She didn't give a clear answer. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We embrace a commitment to free expression, even [if they] are objectionable, offensive, hateful," Gay said at the hearing. "It's when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying."
Several social media users attacked the followup statement and renewed calls for Gay to resign.
Harvard University and Portnoy did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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