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Barstool Sports personality Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz has found himself in hot water with Taylor Swift’s legions of Swifties, including actress Rachel Zegler.
On the Monday episode of his podcast Pardon My Take — a satirical sports podcast that mocks the hot take culture of sports media — Katz and his co-host ‘PFT Commenter’ said that they refuse to believe Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are in a legitimate relationship unless they see physical evidence of the pair engaging in some sort of sexual activity.
While Katz’s comments were said in jest and reflected the doubts around the legitimacy of the relationship between Swift and Kelce, he’s caught the attention of Swifties nonetheless for the way he — as the Snow White and West Side Story star put it — feels “entitled to speak about women, their bodies, and their sex lives.”
West Side Story and Snow White star Rachel Zegler calls out Barstool Sports’ Dan Katz over Taylor Swift comments
“It’s not news that the media is particularly (and unwarrantedly) cruel to Taylor Swift but the way men feel entitled to speak about women, their bodies, and their sex lives needs to be seriously evaluated,” the 22-year-old Zegler tweeted about the 38-year-old Katz.
“You will never see people speaking this way about a man. That goes for a lot of different scenarios. We do not pick apart men’s attitudes and relationships the way we do women’s. And it’s not always just men who speak this way about us. Women can and do, too. It sucks. Leave Taylor Swift alone!” she added.
it’s not news that the media is particularly (and unwarrantedly) cruel to taylor swift but the way men feel entitled to speak about women, their bodies, and their sex lives needs to be seriously evaluated https://t.co/0KxXEfHIC0
— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) October 3, 2023
Katz is one of the key personalities at Barstool Sports, having been with the company virtually since its inception. Since launching Pardon My Take in 2016, it’s remained one of the biggest sports shows in the podcast space, which means his job with the company is obviously safe. He’s also gained followers on Twitter in the days since the clip went viral.
On Twitter, Katz’s boss and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said he “lost sleep over Dan’s grotesque comments.”
“I literally lost sleep over Dan’s grotesque comments. But we do live in a free country and I believe in freedom of speech. Hopefully Dan can learn from this and we all can move on. Taylor is about love not hate,” Portnoy, 46, tweeted.
Pardon My Take releases episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which means there’s a chance Katz will address his viral comments about Swift on tomorrow’s show.
As for Zegler, who starred in Shazam: Fury of the Gods earlier this year, she will next be seen starring in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which will be hitting theaters on November 17.
Her live-action Snow White film — which, despite rumors, she has not been fired from — will be hitting theaters next March. Gal Gadot stars opposite Zegler as the Evil Queen.