The bold owner of a pizzeria in Somerville has once again ignited a debate online, almost two years following his well-known confrontation with Dave Portnoy.
In August 2023, Charlie Redd, the proprietor of ‘Dragon Pizza’ in Davis Square, made headlines after he publicly criticized Portnoy while he was reviewing his pizza right in front of the restaurant.
‘Enjoy the pizza, but I don’t support your actions towards small businesses,’ Redd expressed to the creator of Barstool Sports, leading to a heated exchange that was witnessed by over 18 million viewers on X.
Just over 18 months on from that encounter, Redd is in the headlines again after revealing on social media this week that he had to ‘demand a group of negligent parents’ leave the store with their children on March 14 because of the kids’ behavior.
He accused the unnamed family of ‘disrespecting our dining room, other guests, and our team,’ before adding that his restaurant is ‘not a place for un-supervised children to play.’
After seeing his arch-nemesis divide opinion once more, Portnoy took to X on Wednesday to give his take on Redd’s latest controversy – which left him slightly conflicted.
WARNING – Strong language in the clip below.
‘I can’t believe I’ve gotta talk about this Dragon Pizza guy again,’ the media mogul said in a video message. ‘Of course, Dragon Pizza, that’s the guy that confronted me outside his pizza place in Davis Square in Somerville.
‘He’s in the news again because I guess he kicked out a family out of his restaurant, little kids, because he said they were being unruly and they weren’t respecting his restaurant. Then he went onto social media. The only way people know about it is because he basically did a post basically being like, “I hate little kids. If you disrespect my restaurant you’re out.”‘
‘This has created quite the (conundrum) for yours truly, because I absolutely despise this dude (Charlie) Redd. He is an arrogant, piece of s***, arrogant c***sucker. There’s absolutely no other way to put it,’ he continued.
‘Just an absolute dirtbag, loves the attention of controversy. No one would even know he kicked this family out if he didn’t put it on his Facebook page and try to act like a badass then lock all of the comments.
‘Totally one of the worst humans of all time.’
However, Portnoy briefly sided with Redd after confessing that he too gets easily irritated by children.
‘Saying all of that, I’m not a little kid person,’ he added. ‘I don’t like little kids. So if I’m at a restaurant and kids are being disrespectful, I want them gone.
‘So it stinks that I kind of agree with this guy. Again, there’s no need to post about it, and maybe these kids weren’t even doing anything – because let’s be honest, this guy is acting like his pizza place is a five-star Michelin restaurant.’
WARNING – Strong language in the clip below.
But he then quickly U-turned on that stance by concluding ‘He probably blew this out of proportion because this guy just likes being an a**hole. This guy is a professional a**hole. There’s no other pizza place that keeps ending up in the news.
‘Buddy, you own a little pizza place with s****y pizza in Davis Square. You know what, I’m against this guy. It’s a f***ing pizza place. So the kids were a little loud? Get a grip, fatso!’
During their famous run-in outside Dragon Pizza, Redd called Portnoy out for ‘judging a business with one bite’ before the pair eventually began trading furious insults.
‘Let me be clear, get the f*** out of the front of my business,’ a furious Redd told him.
‘F*** you. F*** you,’ Portnoy hit back. ‘This is a public street you motherf***er.
‘Your shirt’s two sizes too small fatso.’
Redd could later be heard responding: ‘Go f*** yourself and the whole f***ing platform you’re on.’
Portnoy shared the footage on social media as one of his typical pizza reviews and titled it: ‘The Worst Pizza Place in America’.
