ESPN’s decision to cancel “Barstool Van Talk” did little to damage Barstool Sports president David Portnoy’s confidence.

It had the opposite effect.

Portnoy responded to ESPN president John Skipper’s Monday announcement, which revealed the network was removing the show’s weekly TV spot less than a week after its debut, with an eight-minute faux-press conference on Twitter.

In it, the 40-year-old Barstool founder argued ESPN’s change of heart served as an example of the sports companies’ distinct trajectories: an unstable ESPN appears to be floundering, according to Portnoy, while a consistently offending Barstool is thriving.

“For 15 years, people have followed this company. We just talk, shoot the s—t, try to be funny, don’t let PC America get the best of us, and we’ll continue to do that,” Portnoy said at the podium in front of a backdrop littered with the Barstool logo. “That’s why ESPN had to turn to us. ESPN needed us more than we need them.

“Everybody’s saying, ‘ESPN’s not cool. No one’s paying attention to ESPN.’ They’re all paying attention to the Barstools of the world. Why? Because we’re authentic and issues like this don’t happen.”

Portnoy became the face of Barstool’s controversy with ESPN NFL host Samantha Ponder after Ponder surfaced sexist comments that Portnoy had made years prior about her (though Ponder initially blamed “Pardon My Take” and “Barstool Van Talk” co-host Dan “Big Cat” Katz, who laughed along, as Portnoy called her a “slut”).

“This is exactly, and I mean exactly, why Barstool Sports has to exist. Because we’re one of the few places, maybe the only place on the internet, where we don’t let agendas dictate what we do,” Portnoy said about the site, which has earned its reputation as a comedy sports website that draws eyeballs by peddling unapologetic jokes, often laced with sexism. “Like three years ago, I guess I called Sam Ponder a word that I guess in hindsight, I wish I took back so this didn’t happen.

“But I don’t take back the rift, I don’t take back any of it … because that’s how we act. … [Three] years ago, it was a very different social climate and we’re ranting on something that we thought was fair.”

ESPN supported Ponder’s calling out Barstool on Twitter the day before the show was to air for the first time on ESPN2, but initially defended the partnership because it was built around the show and not “the content of Barstool Sports.”

Portnoy blamed the cancellation on ESPN’s need to cater to its owner, Disney, because, in Portnoy’s estimation, “95 percent of ESPN employees actually like Barstool,” and ESPN knew “who they were getting in business with.”

“You want to see why everyone says Barstool is gonna be the next ESPN?” Portnoy said. “It’s this: Because we do things our way, for better or for worse, we’ll continue to do it and people who have been with us forever know we’re not sexist, we’re not chauvinistic, we’re not any of it. We make fun of everybody. …

“It sucks the show is off, but for the future and the confidence of this company, there is nothing ESPN actually could have done to illustrate why we are rising and why they are falling. … For Barstool, we will move on and get stronger like we always do.”