Dave Portnoy is firmly on Team Chickenfry. On Oct. 22, Zach Bryan announced on Instagram that he and Brianna LaPaglia broke up — which apparently “blindsided” LaPaglia. Following his IG statement, she spoke out on Instagram and YouTube, explaining that they only broke up the day before and that she had hoped to heal privately before making it public. Now, Barstool founder Dave Portnoy has weighed in on the situation, supporting LaPaglia as his employee and BFFs co-host.
After the breakup confirmation, Portnoy made his feelings on the situation known. He wrote on X, formerly called Twitter, “Dedicating this to @BChickenfry” with a link to the lyric video for Taylor Swift’s song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
The song has some choice lyrics, including, “You didn't measure up / In any measure of a man” and “I would've died for your sins / Instead, I just died inside / And you deserve prison, but you won't get time.”
On Oct. 24, Portnoy went on The Unnamed Show and discussed the situation more. When asked if he was a “hater” of the country singer now, Portnoy confirmed he was. “Yes. I was never a liker,” he said. “I think he’s a fraud. Every time I met him, I was not comfortable with him… There’s certain guys where you’re like, ‘OK, I kind of like this guy. He’s a good vibe guy.’ This guy never gave that vibe to me.”
Portnoy told a story about how Bryan actually “banned” him from going to his concert after revisiting a comment made about LaPaglia’s dating life. “Apparently, Zach went back … maybe six months. We, at one time on BFFs, had a discussion, and Bri just got a new boyfriend,” Portnoy said. “I’m like. ‘Whoa, that’s like your third boyfriend in a couple months.’ I’m like, ‘your revolving door of boyfriends.’ He saw that clip six months prior and banned us from going to the concert.”
According to Portnoy, LaPaglia told him at the time it was the “biggest fight” that she and Bryan had gotten into. When Portnoy eventually attended one of Bryan’s shows, the singer’s “vibes were just so over-the-top nice,” which he considered “fake.”
Portnoy also shared that LaPaglia and Bryan got into an argument after she said a celebrity was “good-looking” while at the Golden Globes in January. Apparently, afterwards, he “unfollowed Bri and blocked BFFs.” Portnoy then called Bryan an “insecure baby.”
Portnoy also revealed that LaPaglia and Bryan previously had their “first breakup moment” two days before Surviving Barstool, which is why LaPaglia wasn’t involved in the reality show. (The show was filmed in September.)
Josh Richards, BFFs’ other co-host, hasn’t commented on the split as of publication.
LaPaglia herself hasn’t spoken too much about the breakup yet and is currently taking a break from social media. Whoever is running her social media right now did repost Portnoy’s “Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” tweet, apparently with LaPaglia’s permission.
Before going offline, La Paglia did post a few statements of her own. “Hey guys I’m feeling really blindsided right now. Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I’m ready I’ll be back and ready to talk,” she wrote on IG on Oct. 22. “I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be OK.”
Later that day, LaPaglia posted a YouTube video about the split. “I’m at the point where it’s like how can you give someone everything and love them so unconditionally, like through stuff that you shouldn’t, because you just love them and you see the good in them … How can you give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded in a few days?” she questioned in the video.
“It’s really, really heartbreaking, and I don’t want to take about details right now,” LaPaglia continued. “Right now, I wanted to heal privately, and I didn’t even know that he was going to post that. We broke up yesterday. So I wasn’t ready to do anything publicly.”
Bryan’s statement hinted at him being the one to initiate the breakup. “I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways. I am not perfect and never will be,” he wrote in his statement. “With everything I am and to anyone I let down, I am sorry. I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and mostly myself.”