Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors
Just hours after BFFs hosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards released their fiery diss track titled "Smallest Man," aimed at country star Zach Bryan, the song was taken down from YouTube due to a copyright claim. The removal didn't sit well with the 47-year-old Barstool Sports founder, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to address what he called "Another twist in the smallest man diss track saga."
On Wednesday, November 6, Portnoy — who dropped the song in response to Bryan's split from his podcast cohost Brianna "Chickenfry" — explained that he initially thought the "outro" was causing the copyright issue. However, he later learned that Warner Music Group owns the rights to Richards' music, given that the 22-year-old TikToker signed a deal with them in 2020. This meant the entertainment company had the power to pull the track.
Despite the takedown, Portnoy isn't backing down. "I will write 10,000 diss tracks. I'll put the headsets on. I'll come back spitting bars twice as hot," he vowed.
"We'll figure this s*** out. It may take 24 hours," Portnoy continued, calling both Warner Music Group and Bryan "f***ing p******" before teasing, "Wait till you hear the podcast tomorrow."
Wrapping up his video, Portnoy criticized Warner Music Group, claiming that if the company "worries about" his song, the "worse it's going to get," adding, "You're in the mud, you got me mad. I'm going to have to get in the booth. I thought it was going to be one-and-done. I don't care. I'll keep spitting."
For anyone not caught up, Bryan, 28, and Brianna "Chickenfry" (real name Brianna LaPaglia) began dating in July 2023, but rumors of his alleged infidelity soon started making rounds on Reddit and TikTok. According to a source who spoke with Us Weekly, LaPaglia, 25 — who co-hosts the BFFs podcast with Portnoy and Richards — was caught off guard by the breakup. "They had just moved in together in the spring, and she changed her whole life to accommodate his."
Originally dropping the track on Tuesday, November 5, Portnoy and Richards took aim at Bryan, 28, with lyrics that pull no punches. "I said trust me, caught your pants on fire / Tinder, Bumble, Raya, knew you was a liar," Richards raps, throwing in some heat about Bryan's dating life. He continues, "You're a d*****bag, you just made a new rival / Pretty soon you going to need a revival."
The track digs even deeper, referencing the "Pink Skies" singer's Instagram breakup announcement. "Go post it on your Instagram Story," Richards taunts, hinting at Bryan's decision to go public with the split before giving the self-proclaimed "CEO of hangovers" a heads-up.
The BFFs duo doesn't stop there. They turn up the shade on Bryan's relationship history, with Richards adding, "You say you remember everything, I guess not because you forgot about your wedding ring," a nod to the Grammy winner's short-lived marriage to Rose Madden in 2021, followed by his two-year relationship with Deb Peifer.
They also bring up Bryan's arrest in September 2023, weaving it into their lyrics with lines like, "There's something in the orange and it's you behind these bars, b***h," mixing a reference to Bryan's hit song "Something in the Orange" with audio from his arrest for obstruction of investigation.
Portnoy didn't hold back on the personal shots, either, with lines like, "Itty bitty Zach, s**tty s**tty tats / Ugly in the face, there's no cure for that," and, "Your head looks like a Lego, and you got hair like Homer Simpson." Not done yet, they even throw in a jab about Bryan's apology for a Kanye West comment: "Think you're on some s**t tryna diss Taylor Swift, did a hundo 'gram stories apologizing like a b****h."
The diss track ends on a bold note, with Portnoy and Richards flipping the lyrics to Bryan's song "28" — which is about his past relationship with LaPaglia — singing, "How lucky is Bri to be free of ZB."
LaPaglia, meanwhile, hasn't publicly responded but has opened up about feeling blindsided by Bryan's breakup post. "How can you give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded in a few days? I wanted to heal privately and I didn't even know that he was gonna post that," she shared in a YouTube video posted Tuesday, October 22.
English (US) ·