Watch Live: Congressional Hearing on IRS Scandal

Live Now on TheBlaze Radio: ‘The Buck Sexton Show’

Campus

‘Blackout Parties’ Accused of Perpetuating Binge Drinking and ‘Rape Culture’ at Universities

Apr. 5, 2012 1:27am Liz Klimas

Over the weekend more than 20 young adults were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning after attending a so called “blackout party” in Montclair, New Jersey. This is just the latest in a controversial tour of blackout parties around the country sponsored by Barstool U.

The Barstool U Blackout Tour touts itself as the world’s biggest blacklight parties. Promotional videos and pictures of the events feature scantily clad women mosh pit dancing to techno music with strobe and laser lights and fire extinguisher sprays as accents.

Controversial Barstool U Blackout Parties Lead to Arrests, Hospitalizations

(Photo via Facebook)

Although not held on campus grounds, the parties that are directed toward students in college towns by a site whose slogan is “By the C- student, for the C- student.” The parties are well-attended — nearly all the stops on its 40-city tour have sold out — but they have also draw scrutiny from groups saying it is just an avenue for encouraging binge drinking and perpetuating “rape culture.”

Controversial Barstool U Blackout Parties Lead to Arrests, Hospitalizations ABC News reports that the latest party near Montclair State University that drew more than 2,500 students was so bad, the police decided to shut it down:

Police quickly decided to cancel the event as they watched thousands of inebriated people pushing and shouting to get into the theater, according to Police Chief David Sabagh. As police tried to disperse the crowds, they transported two dozen individuals to hospitals for alcohol-related illnesses, he said.

“We made the determination to shut it down, and then deployed ambulances. People started fighting with the police, so there were a half-dozen arrests, and 24 people hospitalized. Most cases were, apparently, young females passed out or who had fallen because of their level of intoxication,” Sabagh said.

Watch the report:

This is by no means an isolated incident associated with the blackout parties. According to ABC, last month seven arrests were made and nine individuals treated for illness in Huntington, New York. Similar accounts were reported at the Boston party in March, and more than 300 fake IDs were confiscated at a February party.

ABC reports fans of the event comparing it to a concert, not a binge drink fest:

“Almost no drinking is happening at it. It’s a terrible bar night,” [founder Dave] Portnoy told ABCNews.com. “It’s not like you’re out at a bar for a typical night or a concert. It’s high energy fast music. From when the show starts to when the show ends, nobody moves, it’s just dancing the entire time. It’s not conducive to holding a beer or drinking during the concert.”

[...]

The official Barstool Blackout Tour page for Northeastern University on Facebook warns guests to “be quiet, don’t have bottles, and look as sober as possible,” while waiting in line to enter.

Portnoy, however, said his company and the Blackout Tour have little to do with drinking.

“No, I haven’t noticed (attendees drinking heavily). I’m sure there’s a few kids that drink before hand, but it’s no different than any other concert or sporting event that goes on in the country. If people are going to pre-game, they’re not doing it any differently,” he said.

(Photo via Facebook)

The Daily Mail reports Portnoy saying the blackout name refers to black lights, not getting drunk to the point of blacking out. Tickets for these events can cost up to $100. Here’s just one of many promotional videos from the tour showcasing what a blackout party entails (Warning: Graphic dancing, dress and actions):

Some have taken to launching anti-blackout party protests, such as Knockout Blackout founded by students at Northwestern University. The Daily Mail has more from this group:

“Barstool Sports perpetuates rape culture,” Anna Siembor, a founder of Knockout Barstool, a students group at Northeastern University, told the student newspaper in February.

(Photo via Facebook)

Still, Portnoy flagrantly dismisses accusations such as this. ABC reports him responding to a comment writing:

“Just to make friends with the feminists I’d like to reiterate that we don’t condone rape of any kind at our Blackout Parties in mid January. However if a chick passes out, that’s a grey area.”

According to the tour schedule, there will be one more blackout party in Boston this week before it moves south for sold-out shows in the Carolinas.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (159)

May Clark
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:35am
I encourage all people, who haven’t read this before, to take the time and read the way binge drinking easily leads to the horror of alcoholism. Do parents out there realize how many of their kids are already alcoholics who will be going insane by the time they are 40? Ask anyone who has an alcoholic in their family about how horrifying it is.

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- r3ally
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 4:43am
  You know the Current generation of parents and leaders in this country crack me up you talk about our generation and what we do and say look at this countries future. Is it not your generation that has put this country in the mess it is in now? Your generation gave us the stock market crash the worst recession since the great depression. The afghan and Iraq wars wide spread political corruption and corporate greed and massive debt. You have also provided our country a narrow sighted view of belief the god is what will help us. You ignore the fact that all countries who have removed god from their politics do not have the same economic and social issues we do. Yet you have the nerve to look on our generation and say this is our future in some mocking way, pictures from a sensationalist media that your generation has created. I look on my generation and I see hope, I see a generation that will break free of the shackles that your generation has created. I call on all. Generations to look themselves in the mirror bad demand accountability I want generations to point the thumb and not the finger. I look at some of these comments, hoping it brings older generations shame for what they have done to this country and how they continue to point the finger.
  
  Report this comment
THXll38
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:35am
Thank the social con parents of the 40-50-60s making their kids rebel against their radical agendas, not the public school system.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
rangerp
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:32am
Thanks MTV, you have now indoctrinated three decades of Godless heathen. You, the public schools, and the MSM paved the way for a president Obama, and you will pave the way to destruction of one of the greatest nations in the history of the world.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Roor rips 860
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 5:53pm
  MTV sucks b@lls but you need to get over yourself sir. Plenty of people shoot up heroin and kill people who possibly watch MTV there is no correlation between them though.
  
  Report this comment
king-daddy
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:05am
This common behavior is a natural result of radical agenda that infected the education system. They have accomplished the goal of removing integrity, pride and hope, and replace it with hate and unrealistic expectations of prosperity managed by “the federal government”.

Most products of the college system possess defective “common sense” and an ego for their god. Their mental “logic tree” is corrupted with a priority system that always chooses “self first” without consideration of physical reality or responsibility.

To summarize, those missing attributes of integrity, pride and hope result in loss of motivation of self determination and boredom. Boredom! Party sex and drugs are the most important entertainment i their life, and the responsibility of continued freedom and liberty are too much effort and not worth the promised prosperity (Joshua 1:8)

Indeed they are now the proverbial “bricks” like the builders of the “Tower of Babel”.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- May Clark
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:46am
  Rebellion against parents is taught by public schools, most colleges and popular culture. If you want your child spared from this death culture lifestyle, home school while it is still legal. Yes, you will have to make a financial sacrifice. But, look at the pictures above and figure out, that no matter how money the parents of those kids spend to try to rehabilitate them, it will never work. Many of those kids are doomed.
  
  Report this comment
- THXll38
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:56am
  My kids go to private schools of my choice, and I am sure, when they get older, they will rebel against my wife and I — just saying. Kids and teens will be kids and teens. No matter how well (in your humble mind) you raise them. Some worse than others will rebel against something — it is part of growing up.
  
  Report this comment
HUNTINGFARMER
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:03am
These kids arent drunk they have way too much energy. Surely most of them are in a state of euphoria otherwise known as a disco biscuit Aka ecstasy would surely cause them to act this way.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- THXll38
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:33am
  Ahhh I would agree that there is ecstasy being used, but I used to go to these parties back in the early 90s (in my early 20s) and never did illicit drugs and I had plenty of energy to act this stupid.
  
  Report this comment
- May Clark
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:49am
  These girls look elated today because they don’t know where their future lies. With their college degree, many of them will end up as an $8.00 cashier in a department store. After work, they stop at daycare and pick up their 3 kids they had with 3 different fathers. Party on America!
  
  Report this comment
- THXll38
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:58am
  May . . . next time put more ad hominem attacks in your post will ya!
  
  Report this comment
May Clark
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:47am
America needs to examine what major changes occurred in parenting in the last 30 – 40 years which would have this result. This isn’t just kids getting drunk. If you know any kids who live at these colleges and hear the sickening details of what is going on, you would realize this is nothing at all to joke about.
Look at these pictures and see the future of America.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Johann
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:46am
Do not forget that we taxpayers must pony up more money so that the young females who inhabit the world of Obama can get all the condoms and abortions that they want. The sixties preached that fornication was next to godliness and that drunken and drug induced euphoria is the real art and creativity of the American mind. America is getting what it deserves and the dim witted parents who take out mortgages on their homes in order to send their children to sodom and gomorrah U in hope that these children will one day take charge of their own lives are the biggest fools of all.
O tempora O mores

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
tiredofprogressives
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:40am
Paganism. Stupid immature children that daddy sent to college. The future whiners.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
justangry
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:37am
So college kids now party and drink irresponsibly? Wow, thanks for the scoop!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- coffeeking425
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 3:28pm
  Looks like my Friday nights… go to any club in Chicago… it’s pretty much the same thing. Just another reason I never want a daughter lol!
  
  Report this comment
ai4px
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:30am
Gosh, I thought changing the drinking age to 21 was going to solve these problems?!? I was the generation that was 1 year behind the incremental drinking age change from 18 to 21. Funny, in our “wisdom”, we make kids wait longer to drink – making them want it more. I think in this case the Germans have it right… let the kids drink at 16 (although not really enforced) and once they learn to handle alcohol, let them drive at 18. They make it such a non-issue, we artificially make it a big deal. Seriously how many parents allow their kids to have a little “nip” at home? If you make it out of reach, they’ll just want it more…. and go overboard when they do get to it.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
bum
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:25am
DAMN IT getting old sucks.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- SpankDaMonkey
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:45am
  .
  Hey Bum,
  
  Just like a ugly girl, even old guys get prettier at closing time. LOL………….
  
  Report this comment
- bum
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 9:06am
  lol true.
  
  Report this comment
- 4xeverything
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 9:27am
  Hey Spanky,
  
  Wanna bet…It’s just that the ugly women get more desperate and end up settling with a crash.
  
  Report this comment
ADNIL
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:22am
The human race is hard-wired for this type of social activity. Thousands of years ago it would have been drums, drinking whatever they could ferment, dancing, sex, and bonfires. Nothing new under the sun. Let them have their fun.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- rangerp
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:34am
  ADNIL
  
  Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour
  
  Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 6:58am
.
So in other words “Why don’t we get drunk and screw”……………….

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- MittensKittens
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:16am
  I remember the good old days, we used to screw, then get drunk…for the guy it was better for “pulling” out! LOL
  
  Report this comment
grannyrecipe
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 6:43am
Haven’t they been doing raves for about 15 years now…this aint new.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Millhouse2therescue
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:42am
  Being in my mid 20s I can tell you that kids in college have run out of material from what I’ve seen/heard. 80s parties even though not one was listening to Boston or Journey growing up, now this is a new thing – they aren’t raves they are BLACK OUT PARTIES. A copy cat generation that has nothing cool going on.
  
  Report this comment
- AmazingGrace8
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 11:58am
  Raves have changed over the years…didn’t people fall-into the hands of many people and then move-along with the hands around the room? Now I know why Mrs. Obama wants slimmer younger people so the young people can get back to” the raves of old”…..it is difficult for the crowd to manuver a “plump” peer. Makes sense to me!
  
  Report this comment
4xeverything
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 6:33am
So, these students were publicly intoxicated, over 300 fake IDs were confiscated, and only 6 or so people were arrested? Perhaps the underlying problem here is that there are no consiquences (not even from the police) for these actions. These kids grow up thinking they are the most wonderful people in the world and can never do any wrong because that is what Mommy and Daddy said, and then they hit the “real” world and still no consiquences. Sick! They actually have to get hurt or get dead before the severity of their actions sets in.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Police
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 5:30am
I’m in college. I’m up at 5:15 am every morning to do homework and run. I hate these losers. Hey sean!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- May Clark
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:49am
  Police,
  
  I congratulate you! Keep up the good work. It will all pay off for the rest of your life.
  
  Report this comment
LetsBeSmartAboutThis
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 5:10am
Sad. These sheep are SO lost and in need of a shepherd.

What is it with our culture that we’re always looking for ways to ESCAPE daily life??? Be it alcohol, sex, TV, porn, gambling, gaming, anything! So many are doing their best to max out on anything in order to escape reality.

: (

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
TheBurningTruth
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 5:07am
I can’t imagine what the FemiNazis are all worked up about. This is straight out of the Progressive Liberal playbook regarding college. It’s one big party at the expense of Mom and Dad and/or the taxpayer if a public school. This “instant gratification” and “party-now” instead of EARNING anything is Progressive Liberal all the way. I guess the FemiNazis never figured out the basic contradiction in their philosophy (if one can call it that) is “anybody can do anything” collides with “No means No!” Especially after they gave Blue-Dress Bill Clinton a total pass on his sexual exploits in the Oral Office with Monica.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Avigdor
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 6:16am
  The feminists dislike the party culture as it is too male. Date rape is a big issue. And the feminist work very hard to get men in prison. They only want emasculated metrosexuals graduating.
  
  Report this comment
- Obama_Sham
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 7:04am
  “emasculated metrosexuals ”
  
  Great… More Europe here…
  
  Report this comment
Karama
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 4:07am
Just more reasons for me to think that mom and dad are wasting their money sending their kids to college. If they had to work for it they probably wouldn’t do this kind of crap. More reasons for me to think less of college students, not that I needed more.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Trevorkian420
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 3:15am
I’m going to catch some heat for this and maybe I’m heartless but any female at one of these parties has something happen to her she deserved it, if you’re not smart enough to figure out why some guys might want to get you blackout drunk then maybe you shouldn’t be in college

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- mbean
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 3:34am
  You know that’s right. I was thinking that no one makes anyone go to one of these events, at least Obama has not “mandated” attendance yet.
  
  Report this comment
- May Clark
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:31am
  TREVORKIAN420,
  
  Agreed! Isn’t this BASIC PARENTING for GIRLS? Parents should be drumming this into daughter’s heads from a very young age. And, don’t forget – these are America’s liberated girls. They are so darn tough that they obviously can deal with the idea of being raped. Apparently, nothing scares them – except housework and being a devoted wife and mother.
  
  Report this comment
marine249
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 2:21am
If I was that young again there is no way I would be hanging with these nuts
I would be out looking for a job
When I was this age I was in the USMC
and on the weekends I had a job cleaning out chicken coops
I had a lot more money than these college kids did
and I bet I still do

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
SekndAmendment
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 2:16am
I’m in college and this would NEVER happen at my school. Of course…my university is the perennial winner of the Stone Cold Sober award from the Princeton review. BYU for the win.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
nzkiwi
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 2:06am
I have to admit that I laughed.

“…However if a chick passes out, that’s a grey area.”

I well remember my younger days, and, if I was that age again, I would be there.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- edmundburk
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 2:21am
  I remember my old army daze….i would’t recomend it….
  
  Report this comment
- nzkiwi
  Posted on April 6, 2012 at 8:30am
  Yeah, I think I’m going to hell.
  
  Report this comment
scguitar
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 1:39am
As a college student, all I can say is…. I HAVE to go to one of these parties!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Millhouse2therescue
  Posted on April 5, 2012 at 8:47am
  These really aren’t a new thing….
  
  Report this comment
lukerw
Posted on April 5, 2012 at 1:30am
Preparation for Socialist Indoctrination… by the Professors!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.