'Shark Tank': Mark Cuban Labeled 'Petty' After Getting Upset During Pitch

By Andrew Roberts

Shark Tank fans were left fuming at "petty" Mark Cuban after he got upset and turned down an offer to an air freshener company pitching on the show. FRSH founders Brother Donovan and Trey Brown appeared on the popular reality series during Friday's 7th episode, giving an interesting presentation that seemed to please everybody.

Everybody but Cuban, of course, since they decided to take a shot at the Dallas Mavericks. FRSH offers a selection of custom sports team air fresheners, using NBA teams as their example and the Mavericks as their comic relief.

Watching the clip, there's a whole lot of whining going on and it is likely being played up for the show. With that out of the way, for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to seriously get mad at a passing mention of your team losing to the Warriors is a bit silly. The man could buy the company just to hang air fresheners around.

"Dumbest marketing move ever. I'm out," Cuban told the two founders as the other "sharks" questioned why the billionaire was turning down the idea. "Seriously! You gotta read the room. Wrong move, wrong time."

Fans of the show quickly went online to label Cuban "petty" and hoped he spoke to the pair of founders after the cameras were off. "My goodness Mark! I hope you apologized to these guys after the taping of the show. That was such an awkward moment and they didn't deserve this. Love you but wow that was unnecessary," one fan wrote.

"Wow Mark Cuban, being a billionaire doesn't give you the right to humiliate those two wonderful young entrepreneurs. You chose to dress down instead of it being a coachable moment," another added. "Mark was not having it with the warriors air freshener..I really thought he was giving them a hard time but he was dead serious," a third wrote.

The FRSH founders apologized for the joke, hoping to at least express they meant no disrespect to Cuban. He responded that it was not a big deal in the end, though part of any sane person's brain is going to assume a bit of truth is in there.

The pair showed up with an offer of $2,000,000 for a 5 percent stake in FRSH, noting that 2021 saw them selling over $5 million in products, with hopes of doing over $7 million in 2022. The company has a $40,000 profit in just 2021. All the sharks turned down this deal, though Barbara Corcoran swung back with an offer of 25 percent for $2 million, which FRSH talked her down to 20 percent.

In the end, they got to make their joke and make their deal. Not too bad for a company selling air fresheners. Viewers can catch the episode on Hulu now, while new episodes air on ABC on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET. Hopefully, they stay away from the live episodes.

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