Dave Portnoy takes aim at 'race baiting' ESPN star Ryan Clark after his heated face-to-face argument with co-host

Accusing ESPN's Ryan Clark of being a 'race baiter,' Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has quickly injected himself into the debate over non-players in sports media.

'The only time he's in the news is when he's picking fights and then apologizing,' Portnoy told retired NBA star Jason Williams of Clark on Barstool's morning show, Wake Up Barstool.

Portnoy was responding to a comment from Williams, who explained he doesn't look down on opinions form non-players just because he happened to play professional sports: 'I'm not one of those guys that thinks that you guys are lower than me because I played and you didn't.'

The comment was a perfect segue to Friday's confrontation on ESPN's Up First, where Clark rejected an opinion from co-host and long-time NFL reporter Peter Schrager, saying, 'that's the non-player in you.'

Clark has since issued an apology for both the on-air confrontation and an unspecified interaction off air, but Portnoy wasn't going to let topic go so easily.

'They got into debate about a game and Ryan Clark, who's one of the all-time jerks in the history of mankind — he is a race-baiter,' Portnoy said of Clark. 'You can say that. "I don't know if we can say this." He is.

'But he yelled at Peter Schrager basically saying, 'hey, shut up. You didn't play football, you can't talk.'

Portnoy's discussion of race baiting is likely a reference to a previous controversy involving Clark: In May, the 45-year-old LSU product said ex-NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III lacked credibility on racial issues because he's in a racially mixed marriage.

As he did recently with Schrager, Clark offered a public apology on social media.

Moving on from the discussion of race bating, Portnoy also took issue with Clark's attack on media.

'I've never understood that,' Portnoy said. 'Like I get playing the game, but there's a lot of morons who played the game. There's a lot of bad GMs who played football. There's a lot of bad coaches who played football, watching football, being around football, being around sports. So I appreciate you, J-Will, saying you didn't have to play the game.'

Clark and Schrager are both expected to appear on Monday Night Countdown, sources told Front Office Sports, which works closely with ESPN and recently signed a content partnership with the network.

Daily Mail has reached out to ESPN for confirmation.

Already facing criticism for claiming that retired quarterbacks Tom Brady , Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were not 'generational talents' at the position, Clark dug his hole a bit deeper on Friday by attacking Schrager's background.

During a heated debate on ESPN's 'Get Up' about Dallas' CeeDee Lamb and Philadelphia's AJ Brown, Clark silenced his co-hosts and addressed Schrager.

'We shouldn't do this on TV,' Clark said. 'I apologize if people think this is rude — that's the non-player in you.'

Schrager immediately rejected that argument.

'Stop,' Schrager said. 'I'm not looking at fantasy football. Ryan, don't belittle me like that. I can come and say as three ex-players are saying one thing, and give an alternative perspective.'

Clark, though, wasn't finished.

'What I need you to do is to not get mad and let me finish for one,' he told Schrager, who obliged. 'It wasn't about you, it was going to be about me.'

Clark went on to explain his perspective on Lamb's 110-yard, four-drop performance in a loss to Philadelphia, and the tension ultimately dissipated from the ESPN studio in Manhattan.

Since then, Clark has issued an apology over the incident, while alluding to something else that happened off air between himself and Schrager.

'Today, I had an interaction with my colleague [Peter Schrager] both on and off the air that I regret,' Clark wrote on X. 'I have apologized to Peter and taken accountability with ESPN leadership. I value working with Peter and look forward to this season. My focus will remain on professionalism, teamwork, and being a better teammate moving forward.'

Daily Mail has also reached out to ESPN spokespeople for comment about that off-air interaction.