The plot thickens.
Of course, I think many have the seen the Zach Bryan diss track “Smallest Man” that Barstool Sports founder and CEO Dave Portnoy put out on Tuesday along with one of his BFFs podcast co-hosts, Josh Richards.
They made the song in response to the very public breakup between Zach and their other BFFs co-host, Barstool Sports personality Brianna Chickenfry (whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia). Bri and Zach broke up about two weeks ago, and it has been quite the melodrama watching it all play out.
The song is a take off of Taylor Swift’s “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and it’s a pretty scathing take on Zach and they definitely didn’t hold back. Well, the day after the song went up, it gotten take down on YouTube due to copyright claims filed by Zach’s label, Warner Music Group… or at least they thought that was why. It was later removed from streaming platforms, too.
They sampled part of Zach’s song “28,” so they assumed that is what the copyright claim was over, but in a video Portnoy shared last night, he revealed that there was a completely separate issue… apparently Josh Richards is also signed to Warner Music Group, Zach’s label.
He said last night in a video on TikTok that they were going to update the song, without the outro, and get it back up on YouTube and streaming platforms, but it sounds like that’s actually not happening, because they aren’t allowed to post any of the song, even without the “28”-inspired outro.
Apparently, BFF’s co-host Josh Richards put out a song in 2020 called “Still Softish,” and he signed a deal with Zach Bryan’s label, Warner Music Group in the process. It hasn’t expired yet, so the label technically still owns all of Josh’s music, and he essentially can’t release any music without their consent. With Zach being one of their artists too, and one that makes them A LOT of money, they naturally put the kibosh on the whole thing. It’s kind of hilarious actually…
Portnoy was fired up last night:
“‘Smallest Man’ once again taken down from YouTube, so just a little bit ago, I’m like hey everybody get ready, get ready. ‘Cuz ‘Smallest Man’ is gonna hit the streets again at midnight on Spotify Apple tunes, we had it back up on BFF’s. I’m like, it’s the outro, it’s that part, ‘How lucky is Bri to be free of ZB and his STDs…’ blah blah blah.
We thought it was the outro that was causing the copyright issue. No, turns out that’s not it, you noticed it’s down again. My young friend, my young BFF, Josh Richards love you Josh, didn’t tell us in 2020 or some sh*t like that after released ‘Still Softish,’ he signed the music deal with Warner Music Group and they own his a**.
They own his a** it looks like, we got the contract. Guess what? You know who else Warner Music Group reps? Zach f****n’ little man, thin skinned, psycho Bryan. So that’s what they’re doing, they’re like, ‘Nope, we own all of Josh’s music.'”
Well, as you can imagine, that’s not deterring Dave at all, who says he wants to go harder now and get in the booth to do his own version of the diss track.
He also mentioned that Brianna might do a verse too, so WMG pulling the song is probably just step one to them creating another version that could possibly be even more insane than the original, it just won’t feature Richards:
“You don’t own me. Alright, fine, you think this is just it? You think alright, we’re just gonna put ‘Smallest Man’ away? I will write 10,000 diss tracks. I will go guy in the booth, with the headsets on, I will come back spitting bars twice as hot.
Maybe we do ‘Dave’s Version,’ oh, I heard maybe Bri might get in the booth with me, do her version. We’ll figure this sj*t out. May take 24 hours, but the more Warner Music Group acts like little f****** p*****s, and Zach Bryan little f****** p****… and wait till you hear the podcast tomorrow.
You’re gonna be like, Zach is worried about this sh*t? Get your own house in order you f****** psycho. The more they worry about this shit, the worst is gonna get. You’re in the mud, you got me mad, I’m gonna have to get in the booth. I thought it was gonna be one and done, I don’t care. I’ll keep spitting.”
Stay tuned… it feels like this is just getting started:
Another twist in the smallest man diss track saga #davesversion pic.twitter.com/jdpTjPfUiu
— BFFs (@BFFsPod) November 7, 2024
The new episode of BFF’s, where Bri is seemingly putting it all out there about what went down between her and Zach, is dropping tonight at 8PM EST.
Last night (coincidentally… or maybe not), Zach dropped a new song of his own called “This World’s A Giant,” and while it has nothing to do with any of this drama (it was teased back in January), it still hits home for anyone going through some hard times.
