Name: Francis Ellis Explains Why He Was Fired from Barstool
Uploaded: 2019-07-02T01:53:49.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Francis Ellis Explains Why He Was Fired from Barstool' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-07-02. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Francis Ellis Explains Why He Was Fired from Barstool' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-07-02. Transcript available.

Right now I want to call in, actually I'm going to call, a lot of you guys
follow Barstool or know about them, one of their writers, who I performed with
in Boston, Francis Ellis, just got let go by them, and I want to give them a
call right now to find out a little bit more about what happened, because it's
really interesting to me.
Big Francis.
My man, how are you?
I'm doing good, man, you sound unemployed.
I do?
No, you don't, man, you sound good, I'm just joking.
I feel good, I feel good, I don't know, I don't feel unemployed, but I am.
Well, you just kind of, I guess, kind of, do you feel set free? Like, what kind
of happened with the situation? It seemed, well, what happened with the
situation?
Sure. On Friday, I wrote a blog about a girl who had been missing for a week.
The headline that I saw was that her sorority sisters had seen her Instagram
was active, so there was reason to hope.
And then I read a headline that said that authorities did not suspect foul play.
I thought that meant she was kind of okay. In my mind, that meant good news.
Yeah, yeah.
And I didn't even really think about what was actually happening. And if you
read the blog I wrote, I wasn't making fun of her. I was kind of just lazily
saying, you know, here's the story. She's also a fan of a podcast we have at
Barstool. Hopefully, though, you know, when she turns up okay, those girls can
send her some merchandise.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I checked it out.
Yeah. And, you know, I think the tone and the timing were what really made it
so bad and so careless and just a major oversight on my part and very thoughtless.
And it came off kind of heartless. And they had to let me go. And I totally
understand their decision.
So, yeah, I mean, I've been following that case pretty close. I mean, as much
as I could just in the news, you know, checking up a couple times a day and
seeing what was going on.
Yeah, I guess I guess like you said, the timing and the tone. But don't you
think like, do you feel that like an apology? I mean, it's like, obviously, if
I listen to you right now talking about it, it's very obvious, like what
happened like you, you know, you misjudge what was going on.
And you, you know, you were taking things from the news stories. And yeah, you
weren't mean, you weren't malicious. And you just kind of made, I guess, kind
of an accident.
I did. I think, you know, it's very important to note that what what my
intention was, which was not to somehow disgrace the memory of a girl who had
lost her life.
Yeah, of course not was it was to sort of, I guess, highlight a major news
story that I thought was developing in a different way.
And my my big fault was that I should have been I should have read more about
it and realized that regardless of what the outcome was, this was still a
situation I should not have touched upon.
Hmm. Um, and of course, a couple hours after I wrote it, they've been they
announced that they had found a suspect, and then it started really looking
hard, you know, horrible from there.
Yeah.
Um, and that's when I took the blog down. And I was I realized my how just
awful my mistake had been.
Um, so yeah, do you think like, but do you think that most people are like
understanding in and can, can forgive you?
Like, I mean, most people, yeah, like, I, even when I read it, I was like, Oh,
man, Francis just didn't kind of realize what was going on.
I mean, this was a mistake, but, you know, it's, things happen. And, and that's,
and that's that.
Yeah, I think, uh, I was actually kind of made, I was, I was encouraged by the
response to my mistake, because I thought, I have, we live in this world where
there's a lot of outrage.
And, um, you know, people equate a lot of mistakes, and behavior under one,
like, lump problem, right?
But at people, the overwhelming response showed that people are able to
differentiate between people's mistakes.
And they didn't put me under the same category, as, you know, a Harvey Weinstein,
or a name, name your, your problem.
And, um, Alyssa Milano.
Sure. I don't know. I don't know what she did. I didn't even know what she did.
I don't know. She just, yeah, she just won't shut up all the time. Um, but no,
I feel you though, like, uh, well, but yeah, it seems to me like most people
can differentiate.
And it's like, so why does it seem, why do you, were you shocked that, like,
your employers have to go with, you know, a couple of blogs that, you know,
that nobody maybe even reads writing something?
Uh, I think Barstool understands that by being a writer there, I have, I have
privilege and an obligation to be more careful.
Um, there are so many eyeballs. It's such a big platform and such a, a gift to
be able to write there that you have to be careful and you have to be better
than I was.
Um, you know, I hate to say it, but like that, that blog I wrote was not even,
I wasn't even, it was a lazy blog in every sense of the word.
Ah, I see what you're saying.
It wasn't like, uh, something that I would have hung my hat on or been like,
this is good work. It was just something I wrote to like show that I had come
to work that day.
I see.
And, um, and that's just unacceptable, especially with that subject matter.
Um, so I totally understand Dave Portnoy's decision to say, you know, I, that I
had abused, uh, the platform they gave me.
I made the company look bad and, um, paying for it, you know, by, by losing my
job.
So I get it.
And, uh, it, it, it's, it's fair to me.
Hmm.
Wow, man.
It's a lot of ownership by you, man.
I think it's really, um, it's really remarkable.
Even here, just hearing you say that, like, you know, to recognize your own
part in things, uh, no matter what the outcome, even if you, even if inside of
yourself somewhere you felt the outcome was just, or wasn't just like just to
recognize your own part in it.
And, I mean, it probably gives you a little bit more of a place of, of power
than, or, or comfort than a place of just sitting there, like with your head
between your, your hands.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, cause you're like one of the most talented guys, man.
I mean, I think you're so talented, so charismatic.
Um, and I think Dave even said that, uh, you know, I watched his Instagram
video.
Do you think that if, if Barstool wasn't owned by like a larger company that
they, that, that, that this still would have been the case?
Or do you think that, um, you know, do you think that that plays like a bigger
role?
Just not just into like overall, like decisions that have to be made, like, oh,
we're part of a bigger group now.
So this is some, you know, there are other voices that influence.
Right.
It's a good question.
And one that a lot of people have asked me.
And honestly, personally, it's a lot healthier for me to just not question it
very much and to just know that I screwed up and, uh, that it's on me and that
I could play the what if game in so many different ways.
Like what if, what if she had turned up alive and was fine?
Like, would I be in trouble into the same degree?
Right.
Um, and what if, you know, they hadn't, if Barstool hadn't been the
controversial company that it is, uh, would I have been dealt with the same way?
I can ask so many questions, but the bottom line is I did something really
stupid and in a professional setting, when you work somewhere, there has to be
consequences.
And if this is the punishment that they decided fit the crime, um, I, I stand
by that.
I stand with them and, uh, I, I'm only grateful for what they provided me for
all those years and, um, I can live with it, you know?
Yeah.
Wow, man, you're a champ, man.
No, it's just, it's such a, you know, it's such a onward, like moving forward,
positive way to, uh, to interpret, to interpret it all.
No matter, no matter what, it's like just accepting, finding your role in it.
Look, I, I, I kind of was, I could have been, you know, I have a platform.
I was just trying to do something at work that day.
I didn't do as much of the background stuff as I could have just knowing that
you didn't really rise to the occasion as much as you probably should have.
And so, therefore, even though it got out of control after that, that there
were some consequences.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think, um, look, you know, we're comedians.
Uh, if anyone out there actually thinks that I was writing a piece in, in an
effort to disgrace or mock.
No one does.
Who had lost her life, like that person's, that's crazy.
Yeah.
Of course not.
I'm, no one is, I don't know anyone that evil.
No.
Um, and, you know, I think when you have that many eyeballs, as I said, uh, you
have to be a little bit more careful and a little bit more professional.
Yeah.
I just dropped the ball and that's what it was.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's tough too.
Cause also you're in an environment where like, you know, barstool, there's
this whole vibe there where it's not kind of professional and it's not
organized, but at the same time it is very much.
So it's like, yeah.
So it's, I mean, that's just such a tough space almost to really live in a
little bit, um, to embody the brand, but at the same time, uh, to recognize, uh,
you know, a responsibility.
In a place that almost thrives on pushing kind of irresponsibility in some ways.
Yeah, I think exactly.
And I think, um, you know, I had a lot of, the one thing that was so amazing
about working at Barstool is that they give you so much liberty to create your
own work, to come up with your own ideas, to act on your own comedic impulses.
And, um, you know, you don't always get it right.
Like sometimes you're not funny.
Sometimes you're just stupid and sometimes you're really offensive.
And unfortunately, I think all three were the case working against me with this
one.
Um, that dirty trifecta, bro.
Yeah, exactly.
The old bowling Turkey.
Oh yeah.
Trying to speak Theo Vaughn language.
And I, I can't, um,
Oh yeah.
But, uh, you know, it was one of those things where I had, I had earned their
respect and trust in that I would put out my own work and it would not be
problematic because I had been writing for there long enough that they said,
okay, you're, you're independent.
You're on your own.
We, we, we don't need to hold your hand anymore.
Yeah.
Cruise control kind of.
Yeah, exactly.
And then, uh, you know, you just, you just one morning, you kind of come in and
you, yeah, you don't have, you don't have it on.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know how else to put it.
Like I, looking back, I don't even understand what I was thinking.
It was ridiculous.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess in hindsight, it seems just almost like a bizarre thing to even kind of
get into, but, but I think that, you know, like that, those, the websites and
stuff like, I mean, you know, here in Los Angeles, you hear all, you know, so
many women like, you know, screaming about feminism and, you know, and just a
lot of violent feminists out here as well.
But then you see these literally on, on every other billboard, you'll see a
sugar baby or a sugar daddy website, which is, you know, I don't think those
websites, a lot of men that I know they're on those are, you know, are sick men
or troubled men who are just using women for sex and not even giving them any,
any money or any, it just seems like a scary place.
Um, yeah.
And, and, and, and I guess, you know, that element of the story, unfortunately
was something that I did include, but, um, I, I was reading off of all the
websites and every story was talking about her involvement on those sugar daddy
things.
And it was like, you know, ABC news, like I didn't, I didn't bring that to
light and I didn't, there was one, uh, news source that said that I, or like
one article that said,
that I was slut shaming this girl.
Oh God.
And that, I mean, that is so, that is such a ridiculous situation.
That's ridiculous, dude.
I mean, if you look at the blog, in no way did I ever say like, oh, she, she's
a, a lesser person for having been on these websites.
I think I just included it because maybe they thought that that was one of the
things that might've been why she was missing.
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
I look at it and it's a scary place.
It's a scary place for interaction, especially when you're, you know, when the
product a lot of the times is such an intimate product.
It's like, you know, if you're going to meet somebody to buy shoes, you could
do that out in the front yard.
But if you're meeting somebody to engage in, you know, romantic, uh,
engagements, whether it's a massage or just sitting there watching television
together or even sexual endeavors, it's going to be behind closed doors.
So it was a lot, it's, it's very, very spooky.
And sometimes I worry that a lot of the, you know, some of the, like a lot of
young women, they, you know, they say, you know, they hear all this body
empowerment.
You, you know, you control your own sex and this and that, and which is true,
no doubt.
But the fact that some of these young ladies could be misinterpreting that and
thinking, you know, okay, well, you know, I don't need to be giving my body
away for free, for, you know, for free or anything.
And then they may be misconstruing it and, and ending up on a lot of these
sites.
You know, I think we just don't know some of the byproduct of, you know, some
of these, uh, big movements sometimes.
Yeah.
I, I, you know, it's tough.
I, I don't know much about the world of, of the, the seeking arrangement.
I think was the website.
Yeah.
Um, that whole thing always seemed, I don't know.
I don't know.
It's like, hopefully you hope it's a mutually, I guess, uh, safe agreement.
He is risky.
How can you, how can you control for that?
Yeah, that's risky, man.
It's just, and look, yeah, it's very sad.
I mean, obviously no one thinks that it's entertaining or funny.
Uh, you know what happened to this young lady and, um, and it's very sad, but,
uh,
you know, yeah, it's like, I mean, you know, you just wonder like if, if like,
you know,
some higher presence is using her to help, you know, a lot of, you know, maybe
tens of
thousands of other girls, you know, uh, stay safe, you know?
Very true.
Very well said.
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, well, you're one of the funniest and most talented guys that I know, man.
Everybody I met at Barstool, I mean, Portnoy knows how to hire.
That is for damn sure.
Thanks brother.
Yeah.
It's, uh, it's good to talk to you, man.
Um, love, love what you're doing.
You're one of the most unique people I've ever met and, uh, looking forward to,
uh, to
seeing you again soon, my man.
Yeah.
Same here, man.
I'll be in touch soon, man.
Uh, you got to come and do, uh, some weekend with me or something.
Hell yeah.
Absolutely.
Thanks, Theo.
Appreciate it.
All right.
Thanks, Francis.
Have a good one, man.
You talk.
All right.
Peace, bro.
And that's him right there.
Francis from Barstool, you know, really, I mean, an eloquent, smart guy.
Um, and man, he probably about six foot five, but I think about 40% of it is
heart.
The guy's got a big heart and, you know, just to be right there, learn from his
mistake
or, you know, learn from even what other people say is your mistake.
Fine.
I'm going to learn from it no matter what.
Uh, instead of fighting the tide, you know, instead of being just a salmon that
don't really
have a plan, but he keeps swimming against the current.
He's just said, I'm going to ride it.
You know, I'm going to sit here and stay in the current and just think, um,

Francis Ellis Explains Why He Was Fired from Barstool

Right now I want to call in, actually I'm going to call, a lot of you guys
follow Barstool or know about them, one of their writers, who I performed with
in Boston, Francis Ellis, just got let go by them, and I want to give them a
call right now to find out a little bit more about what happened, because it's
really interesting to me.
Big Francis.
My man, how are you?
I'm doing good, man, you sound unemployed.
I do?
No, you don't, man, you sound good, I'm just joking.
I feel good, I feel good, I don't know, I don't feel unemployed, but I am.
Well, you just kind of, I guess, kind of, do you feel set free? Like, what kind
of happened with the situation? It seemed, well, what happened with the
situation?
Sure. On Friday, I wrote a blog about a girl who had been missing for a week.
The headline that I saw was that her sorority sisters had seen her Instagram
was active, so there was reason to hope.
And then I read a headline that said that authorities did not suspect foul play.
I thought that meant she was kind of okay. In my mind, that meant good news.
Yeah, yeah.
And I didn't even really think about what was actually happening. And if you
read the blog I wrote, I wasn't making fun of her. I was kind of just lazily
saying, you know, here's the story. She's also a fan of a podcast we have at
Barstool. Hopefully, though, you know, when she turns up okay, those girls can
send her some merchandise.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I checked it out.
Yeah. And, you know, I think the tone and the timing were what really made it
so bad and so careless and just a major oversight on my part and very thoughtless.
And it came off kind of heartless. And they had to let me go. And I totally
understand their decision.
So, yeah, I mean, I've been following that case pretty close. I mean, as much
as I could just in the news, you know, checking up a couple times a day and
seeing what was going on.
Yeah, I guess I guess like you said, the timing and the tone. But don't you
think like, do you feel that like an apology? I mean, it's like, obviously, if
I listen to you right now talking about it, it's very obvious, like what
happened like you, you know, you misjudge what was going on.
And you, you know, you were taking things from the news stories. And yeah, you
weren't mean, you weren't malicious. And you just kind of made, I guess, kind
of an accident.
I did. I think, you know, it's very important to note that what what my
intention was, which was not to somehow disgrace the memory of a girl who had
lost her life.
Yeah, of course not was it was to sort of, I guess, highlight a major news
story that I thought was developing in a different way.
And my my big fault was that I should have been I should have read more about
it and realized that regardless of what the outcome was, this was still a
situation I should not have touched upon.
Hmm. Um, and of course, a couple hours after I wrote it, they've been they
announced that they had found a suspect, and then it started really looking
hard, you know, horrible from there.
Yeah.
Um, and that's when I took the blog down. And I was I realized my how just
awful my mistake had been.
Um, so yeah, do you think like, but do you think that most people are like
understanding in and can, can forgive you?
Like, I mean, most people, yeah, like, I, even when I read it, I was like, Oh,
man, Francis just didn't kind of realize what was going on.
I mean, this was a mistake, but, you know, it's, things happen. And, and that's,
and that's that.
Yeah, I think, uh, I was actually kind of made, I was, I was encouraged by the
response to my mistake, because I thought, I have, we live in this world where
there's a lot of outrage.
And, um, you know, people equate a lot of mistakes, and behavior under one,
like, lump problem, right?
But at people, the overwhelming response showed that people are able to
differentiate between people's mistakes.
And they didn't put me under the same category, as, you know, a Harvey Weinstein,
or a name, name your, your problem.
And, um, Alyssa Milano.
Sure. I don't know. I don't know what she did. I didn't even know what she did.
I don't know. She just, yeah, she just won't shut up all the time. Um, but no,
I feel you though, like, uh, well, but yeah, it seems to me like most people
can differentiate.
And it's like, so why does it seem, why do you, were you shocked that, like,
your employers have to go with, you know, a couple of blogs that, you know,
that nobody maybe even reads writing something?
Uh, I think Barstool understands that by being a writer there, I have, I have
privilege and an obligation to be more careful.
Um, there are so many eyeballs. It's such a big platform and such a, a gift to
be able to write there that you have to be careful and you have to be better
than I was.
Um, you know, I hate to say it, but like that, that blog I wrote was not even,
I wasn't even, it was a lazy blog in every sense of the word.
Ah, I see what you're saying.
It wasn't like, uh, something that I would have hung my hat on or been like,
this is good work. It was just something I wrote to like show that I had come
to work that day.
I see.
And, um, and that's just unacceptable, especially with that subject matter.
Um, so I totally understand Dave Portnoy's decision to say, you know, I, that I
had abused, uh, the platform they gave me.
I made the company look bad and, um, paying for it, you know, by, by losing my
job.
So I get it.
And, uh, it, it, it's, it's fair to me.
Hmm.
Wow, man.
It's a lot of ownership by you, man.
I think it's really, um, it's really remarkable.
Even here, just hearing you say that, like, you know, to recognize your own
part in things, uh, no matter what the outcome, even if you, even if inside of
yourself somewhere you felt the outcome was just, or wasn't just like just to
recognize your own part in it.
And, I mean, it probably gives you a little bit more of a place of, of power
than, or, or comfort than a place of just sitting there, like with your head
between your, your hands.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, cause you're like one of the most talented guys, man.
I mean, I think you're so talented, so charismatic.
Um, and I think Dave even said that, uh, you know, I watched his Instagram
video.
Do you think that if, if Barstool wasn't owned by like a larger company that
they, that, that, that this still would have been the case?
Or do you think that, um, you know, do you think that that plays like a bigger
role?
Just not just into like overall, like decisions that have to be made, like, oh,
we're part of a bigger group now.
So this is some, you know, there are other voices that influence.
Right.
It's a good question.
And one that a lot of people have asked me.
And honestly, personally, it's a lot healthier for me to just not question it
very much and to just know that I screwed up and, uh, that it's on me and that
I could play the what if game in so many different ways.
Like what if, what if she had turned up alive and was fine?
Like, would I be in trouble into the same degree?
Right.
Um, and what if, you know, they hadn't, if Barstool hadn't been the
controversial company that it is, uh, would I have been dealt with the same way?
I can ask so many questions, but the bottom line is I did something really
stupid and in a professional setting, when you work somewhere, there has to be
consequences.
And if this is the punishment that they decided fit the crime, um, I, I stand
by that.
I stand with them and, uh, I, I'm only grateful for what they provided me for
all those years and, um, I can live with it, you know?
Yeah.
Wow, man, you're a champ, man.
No, it's just, it's such a, you know, it's such a onward, like moving forward,
positive way to, uh, to interpret, to interpret it all.
No matter, no matter what, it's like just accepting, finding your role in it.
Look, I, I, I kind of was, I could have been, you know, I have a platform.
I was just trying to do something at work that day.
I didn't do as much of the background stuff as I could have just knowing that
you didn't really rise to the occasion as much as you probably should have.
And so, therefore, even though it got out of control after that, that there
were some consequences.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think, um, look, you know, we're comedians.
Uh, if anyone out there actually thinks that I was writing a piece in, in an
effort to disgrace or mock.
No one does.
Who had lost her life, like that person's, that's crazy.
Yeah.
Of course not.
I'm, no one is, I don't know anyone that evil.
No.
Um, and, you know, I think when you have that many eyeballs, as I said, uh, you
have to be a little bit more careful and a little bit more professional.
Yeah.
I just dropped the ball and that's what it was.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's tough too.
Cause also you're in an environment where like, you know, barstool, there's
this whole vibe there where it's not kind of professional and it's not
organized, but at the same time it is very much.
So it's like, yeah.
So it's, I mean, that's just such a tough space almost to really live in a
little bit, um, to embody the brand, but at the same time, uh, to recognize, uh,
you know, a responsibility.
In a place that almost thrives on pushing kind of irresponsibility in some ways.
Yeah, I think exactly.
And I think, um, you know, I had a lot of, the one thing that was so amazing
about working at Barstool is that they give you so much liberty to create your
own work, to come up with your own ideas, to act on your own comedic impulses.
And, um, you know, you don't always get it right.
Like sometimes you're not funny.
Sometimes you're just stupid and sometimes you're really offensive.
And unfortunately, I think all three were the case working against me with this
one.
Um, that dirty trifecta, bro.
Yeah, exactly.
The old bowling Turkey.
Oh yeah.
Trying to speak Theo Vaughn language.
And I, I can't, um,
Oh yeah.
But, uh, you know, it was one of those things where I had, I had earned their
respect and trust in that I would put out my own work and it would not be
problematic because I had been writing for there long enough that they said,
okay, you're, you're independent.
You're on your own.
We, we, we don't need to hold your hand anymore.
Yeah.
Cruise control kind of.
Yeah, exactly.
And then, uh, you know, you just, you just one morning, you kind of come in and
you, yeah, you don't have, you don't have it on.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know how else to put it.
Like I, looking back, I don't even understand what I was thinking.
It was ridiculous.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess in hindsight, it seems just almost like a bizarre thing to even kind of
get into, but, but I think that, you know, like that, those, the websites and
stuff like, I mean, you know, here in Los Angeles, you hear all, you know, so
many women like, you know, screaming about feminism and, you know, and just a
lot of violent feminists out here as well.
But then you see these literally on, on every other billboard, you'll see a
sugar baby or a sugar daddy website, which is, you know, I don't think those
websites, a lot of men that I know they're on those are, you know, are sick men
or troubled men who are just using women for sex and not even giving them any,
any money or any, it just seems like a scary place.
Um, yeah.
And, and, and, and I guess, you know, that element of the story, unfortunately
was something that I did include, but, um, I, I was reading off of all the
websites and every story was talking about her involvement on those sugar daddy
things.
And it was like, you know, ABC news, like I didn't, I didn't bring that to
light and I didn't, there was one, uh, news source that said that I, or like
one article that said,
that I was slut shaming this girl.
Oh God.
And that, I mean, that is so, that is such a ridiculous situation.
That's ridiculous, dude.
I mean, if you look at the blog, in no way did I ever say like, oh, she, she's
a, a lesser person for having been on these websites.
I think I just included it because maybe they thought that