Trump Turns To Mike Tyson, Barstool Sports In Alternative Media Strategy For 2024

Former President Donald Trump has sought appearances on podcasts with boxer Mike Tyson and “Barstool Sports” as part of an alternative media strategy to reach voters during his 2024 presidential campaign, Politico reported.

Trump’s campaign has been negotiating for several months with Tyson, who hosts the “Hotboxin” podcast that has featured several media personalities, to have Trump interviewed by Tyson on the show, according to a report by Politico. The effort is part of the campaign’s strategy of reaching conservative voters through non-political media channels they frequent, as opposed to relying on traditional forums such as network television and radio shows.

Trump’s team is also in talks for him to be interviewed by Barstool Sports, a media network focused on sports and popular cultural issues that draws male audiences, per the report. In 2015, the network’s founder, David Portnoy, generated attention by becoming an early endorser of Trump, writing that “I don’t care if he’s racist. I don’t care if he’s sexist. I don’t care about any of it. I hope he stays in the race and I hope he wins. Why? Because I love the fact that he is making other politicians squirm.”

Trump has made appearances in non-mainstream media during his current presidential campaign, previously. This year, Trump recorded an interview with the “Nelk Boys,” a comedic YouTube channel with nearly 8 million subscribers, that focuses on sexual humor, on their podcast “Full Send,” though the video was later removed by YouTube for violating its policy on misinformation after Trump made comments about the 2020 presidential election.

Additionally, Trump appeared at the UFC 290 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 9, with the company’s president, Dana White, to watch a mixed martial arts fight between Dricus du Plessis and Robert Whitaker. He also recorded an appearance on UFC Unfiltered, a podcast, that will be released on Saturday.

“Doing non-traditional media and showing up to major cultural events like UFC fights allows former President Trump to hit a completely different audience than doing an interview on Fox News or other political media,” said Andy Surabian, a political advisor to Trump’s son Donald Trump, Jr., in comments to Politico.

Apart from his alternative media strategy, Trump has also pursued high-profile traditional media opportunities, such as an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his former show in April, and a CNN townhall in New Hampshire on May 11 hosted by anchor Kaitlin Collins.

Trump has not, however, returned to using Twitter to communicate with voters even after his reinstatement on the platform by executive chairman and then-CEO Elon Musk, after he was suspended by Twitter’s former leadership in 2021. He has continued to use TruthSocial, a platform created in 2021 that he owns, though content posted on the platform has not received the same level of media coverage as his tweets did during the 2016 presidential election.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.