Zach Bryan Ignites Barstool Sports Flag Amid Breakup Feud
Hi, I’m Sage Matthews, your 2 AM doomscrolling guide muttering “Of course this happened.” If you thought celebrity breakups were just whispered rumors, welcome to Zach Bryan’s fireworks show.
Country singer Zach Bryan shared an Instagram Story video on August 4 showing him setting a Barstool Sports flag ablaze, nine months after announcing his split from Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia. The triangular pennant, emblazoned with Saturdays Are for the Boys and the Barstool logo, caught fire as Bryan took deliberate swings at it with a golf club. No caption was needed—the soundtrack was Tyler Childers’ 2025 song Bitin’ List, whose biting lyrics “To put it plain, I just don’t like you” feel tailor-made for a public spat.
This fiery stunt follows a breakup first reported by E! Online, where Brianna claimed Bryan blindsided her and devoted an episode on Barstool Sports’ BFFs podcast to her side of the story. According to that appearance, she accused him of emotional abuse during their yearlong romance. Her Barstool family rallied immediately: founder Dave Portnoy and cohost Josh Richards dropped a diss track called Smallest Man, ridiculing Bryan’s tats and comparing him to a bossy toddler.
Portnoy’s lyrics left no room for nuance: “Itty bity zach, s–tty s–tty tats / ugly in the face, there’s no cure for that,” he sneered, adding a jab about “temper tantrums” and mocking Bryan’s supposed attempt at country cred. Yet Bryan has largely stayed silent on the diss track itself. Back in January he did call out “couch warriors attacking and belittling” his inner circle on his own Instagram Stories, writing that going after his friends “is so low and so messed up.” He insisted he isn’t seeking sympathy, boasted about his hard-earned success, and warned that his “chest is still out and heads are still held high.”
For a more complete timeline, eagle-eyed fans noted the final proof of trouble when the couple stopped posting each other in September 2024. Brianna addressed breakup rumors on the October 2 episode of BFFs, admitting their temporary split came after “a bad week” and personal struggles on Bryan’s end. She later confessed on Talk Tuah that she’d warned friends she’d never date someone famous—then promptly did. Her advice to “not date famous people” felt like a cautionary tale after the public fallout.
This latest flag-burning moment confirms Bryan hasn’t moved on quietly. He’s chosen spectacle over discretion, fanning flames beneath a feud fueled by Instagram, diss tracks, and eyebrow-raising song choices. All the while, Barstool Sports and its king of swift comebacks, Portnoy, are watching from the sidelines, ready with another sonic volley.
What’s next for this scorched-earth saga? Stay tuned for more public call-outs, late-night rants, or maybe a surprise collaboration that nobody asked for. At this point, should we even pretend to be surprised? Anyway, can’t wait to see how this gets worse.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, Barstool Sports BFFs Podcast
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
