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MAGA Republicans often look for ways to troll liberals and progressives. The goal is to offend the left as much as possible, then mock them for getting upset.
Recently, some MAGA Republicans promoted college sorority dance videos that showed sorority members in miniskirts or short shorts, and hoped that liberals and progressives would be "triggered." But according to journalist Kaitlyn Tiffany, their own-the-left campaign bombed.
In an article published by The Atlantic on August 15, Tiffany explains, "The videos come from TikTok, where sorority dance videos have long been popular. But they've been presented on X with a new gloss: Democrats, liberals, and leftists are enraged by pretty, mostly white young women who are dancing happily. It drives them up the wall when a woman is blond! Do not let a liberal see a woman smiling while wearing a short denim skirt. The only thing that is missing is evidence of seething libs."
READ MORE:'Truly shocking': Security fears mount as Trump takes off with ‘Russian KGB spy’
One of the people who hoped to offend liberals and progressives by promoting the videos was Joe Kinsey, an editor at the sports website OutKick.
Kinsey posted a video on X that showed a group of sorority members dancing to Prince's "Baby, I'm a Star" and wrote, "You know the LIBS are seething over this." And in a separate tweet, he posted, "The purple hair lesbians have to be furious."
The sorority dance videos, according to Tiffany, enjoyed a lot of traffic online. But the flood of angry reactions from outraged liberals and progressives that Kinsey and others were expecting, she observes, didn't materialize.
"Search around social media, and you might be surprised how difficult such reactions are to find," Tiffany notes. "In fact, I couldn't find a single one. When I asked Kinsey where he got the idea that people were angry about the sorority-recruitment videos, he didn't point me to any specific examples. He noted that many people replied to his posts saying that they weren’t mad about the TikTok dances. But, he said, 'I don’t believe that.'"
READ MORE: 'Malicious compliance': How one judge is not-so-subtly defying SCOTUS’ far-right 'shadow docket'
An X user who goes by The Southern Lib told Kinsey, "Literally NO liberals are upset about this. You people keep trying so hard to turn this into an issue. It’s pathetic!!"
READ MORE: 'Psychologically infuriating': Insiders warn even Trump’s 'brave face' can’t shield him from voters
*Read Kaitlyn Tiffany's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).
07/09/25
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Right-wing media falsely suggest Donald Trump chartered a plane for Nelson Mandela out of the goodness of his heart
Trump’s airline was already up for sale due to financial troubles, and he charged Mandela $130,000 to use one of his jets
Written by Courtney Hagle
Published 10/18/24 mma
In an October 18 interview with Donald Trump, Fox host George “Tyrus” Murdoch praised the former president for chartering a plane for the late South Africa President Nelson Mandela in the 1990s, adding that it’s “hard” for Trump to “talk about the good things you’ve done.” Some others in conservative media joined in, suggesting that Trump assisted Mandela for the sake of generosity and goodwill.
In reality, as Washington Post columnist Glenn Kessler explained, the plane chartered for Mandela was not Trump’s personal private jet but a Boeing 727 from Trump Shuttle, “an airline that Trump briefly owned before it was essentially seized by the banks because he failed to make payments on his loans.” Kessler noted that Mandela was charged $130,000 to use the plane by Trump Shuttle, which was already in financial trouble and was preparing to be sold.
Speaking to Trump in an OutKick vid]
titled “Manhood is under ATTACK!” Tyrus said Mandela “was trying to come to the United States. The United States government wasn’t helping him, no one was helping him. You chartered a 727 plane for the entire trip. … Why is it hard for you to talk about the things you've done?”
Trump responded humbly: “I love doing it. I don't need praise for it.”
“I just like helping people,” he added. “I help a lot of people, and I enjoy doing it, and I never talk about it. … It's not a narrative the press likes to talk about.”
Some right-wing media joined in, lauding Trump’s generosity after the Trump campaign pushed the clip.
Turning Point USA co-founder and podcaster Charlie Kirk claimed that Trump helped Mandela “when the US Government wouldn’t,” adding, “He doesn’t go around bragging about his good deeds, but there are endless such stories.”
Students for Trump Chair Ryan Fournier wrote: “I had no idea Trump chartered a plane for Nelson Mandela to come to the United States when our own government wouldn't even help him. Trump is a good man.”
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OutKick's Tyrus sat down for an exclusive interview with former President Donald Trump.
Trump, the Republican nominee for POTUS, is battling Vice President Kamala Harris to win the Oval Office, and he spoke exclusively with OutKick from Trump Tower on a variety of subjects.
The 45th President and possibly 47th President spoke about why you have to fight, the enemy within, America being misled, surviving an assassination attempt and more!
You can watch the entire exclusive interview by clicking play on the video. This is one interview I can guarantee you're not going to want to miss.
Make sure to keep checking back to OutKick for the latest updates on the election we have, funny stories and political coverage you won't find anywhere else!
Written by David Hookstead
David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick covering a variety of topics with a focus on football and culture. He also hosts of the podcast American Joyride that is accessible on Outkick where he interviews American heroes and outlines their unique stories. Before joining OutKick, Hookstead worked for the Daily Caller for seven years covering similar topics. Hookstead is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
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10 24
George Murdoch (born February 21, 1973) is an American cable news personality, actor, and former professional wrestler known by his ring/stage name Tyrus. As a wrestler, he was formerly signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he is a former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. As a cable news personality, he appears on Fox News, and its sister streaming service Fox Nation, primarily as a co-host/panelist on the late-night talk show Gutfeld!, as well as a contributor/fill-in host on other programs. In 2024, Tyrus was named host of Maintaining with Tyrus on the streaming platform OutKick, which is owned by Fox.[9]
After training in WWE's developmental territories, such as Deep South Wrestling (DSW) and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), Murdoch under the ring name Brodus Clay debuted during the fourth season of NXT, a WWE television show where rookies were paired with established WWE wrestlers as mentors. He debuted on the main roster as Alberto Del Rio's bodyguard. During 2012, WWE changed his gimmick to The Funkusaurus, a funk dancer accompanied by his backup dancers the Funkadactyls. He wrestled in WWE until his departure in 2014. From 2014 to 2017, Murdoch wrestled in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name of Tyrus. In 2021, he joined the NWA, where he won the NWA World Television Championship, and later the promotion's primary title — the Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
His 2022 autobiography Just Tyrus: A Memoir was a *New York Times* bestseller.[10] His second book Nuff Said was released in 2023.
Early life
Murdoch is biracial; his father is black and his mother is white. He has stated that when he was born, his father was 19 years old and his mother was 15. In 2018, Murdoch disclosed a childhood incident in which his abusive father damaged his eye by hitting him; this incident led his mother to leave his father. While Murdoch's mother moved back to her parents' home, Murdoch has stated that he and his brother were not welcome there because they were part black. According to Murdoch, he and his brother lived with a foster family for many years; during this time, Murdoch was "obsessed" with changing his skin color, thinking that this would allow him to be reunited with his family. Murdoch and his brother eventually lived with their mother again, but Murdoch left home at age 15.[11]
In 1990, Murdoch attended Quartz Hill High School in Los Angeles County, California, and then in 1992, Antelope Valley College in Lancaster.[12][13] By 1995, he was attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he studied to become a teacher,[14] and played college football for the Lopers.[12] However, Murdoch has stated that his football career ended when surgery to remove a ruptured appendix severed nerve endings in his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp.[11]
Murdoch has worked as a bodyguard for Snoop Dogg.[15]
Murdoch married his longtime girlfriend Ingrid Rinck Herbert on January 7, 2024.[1]
His wife Ingrid is an entrepreneur and an experienced fitness trainer. Together they have a daughter named Georgia born on May 7, 2014.[16]
Professional wrestling career....
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Television commentary career
In November 2016, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld invited Murdoch to appear as a guest commentator on The Greg Gutfeld Show; after Murdoch's first appearance, Gutfeld offered to have him back on the show – using his stage name "Tyrus" – twice a month.[101] He then began making guest appearances on various programs on Fox News Channel, including The Five.[102] Gutfeld has jokingly referred to Tyrus as his "massive sidekick."[103] Subsequently, he became a regular contributor on Fox News host Dana Perino’s former daytime news show, The Daily Briefing.[104] Since April 2021, Tyrus has been a regular panelist on Gutfeld's relaunched 10 p.m. show, Gutfeld!.[105]
Though a supporter of former President Donald Trump, he did not vote in 2016 and it is unclear whether he did in the subsequent elections.[106]
From 2018 to 2019, he was a co-host of the show Un-PC[107] on Fox News's streaming channel, Fox Nation.[102] In June 2019, he premiered a new Fox Nation show, Nuff Said.[108]
In June 2023, Tyrus hosted the premiere episode of Fox News Saturday Night, where he served as an interim host throughout the year.[109]
In 2024, Tyrus helmed a new series for the streaming platform OutKick entitled Maintaining with Tyrus, debuting on February 1.[110]
Sexual harassment allegation
In 2019, Un-PC co-host Britt McHenry accused Murdoch of sexual harassment after he allegedly sent her a series of lewd text messages.[111] According to Fox News, the matter was investigated and resolved. However, on December 10, 2019, McHenry filed a sexual harassment suit[112] against Fox News and Murdoch. Subsequently, McHenry claimed that she lost the phone containing text messages she says are central to her claims.[113] In July 2021, she voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit and left the Fox network, apparently as part of a legal settlement.[114]
Filmography...
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mma
right-wing media’s playbook for attacking Kamala Harris: A flood of misogyny and racism
Right-wing media spared no time in hurling racist and sexist attacks against the likely Democratic presidential candidate
WRITTEN BY PAYTON ARMSTRONG, CHARIS HOARD & EMMA MAE WEBER
PUBLISHED 07/23/24
Since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, right-wing media have launched sexist and racist attacks at Harris to try to diminish her qualifications. They’ve claimed that she can’t be president because she doesn’t have biological children, labeled her “the ultimate diversity, equity, and inclusion candidate,” fixated on her laugh, claimed that she promotes "the occult,” and likened her to “Jezebel.”
- ## Biden suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Harris on July 21
- In a statement released on July 21, Biden suspended his presidential campaign after weeks of calls to step down from top Democrats.Weeks after a poor debate performance and amid mounting pressure to step aside, Biden announced he would serve the remainder of his term, and he subsequently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president, thanking her for being an “extraordinary partner.” Bloomberg, [7/21/24; The Hill, 7/19/24]
- Harris announced her official bid for the presidency hours after Biden's suspension, with multiple Democratic lawmakers expressing their support.Harris asserted in a statement that “my intention is to earn and win this nomination.” The Associated Press, [7/21/24]
- ## Right-wing media have attacked Harris over her race and gender for years
- Right-wing media have lobbed racist and sexist attacks at Harris for years, calling her a “DEI hire” who “gets more favorable treatment because of her race and gender.” Right-wing figures have also referred to Harris as an example of ”why DEI doesn’t work" and claimed she “launched her political career in [the] bedroom.” Media Matters, [7/3/24, 7/11/24]
- ## Right-wing media sexualized Harris and diminished her accomplishments with sexist attacks
- Infowars host Alex Jones called Harris a “fleshlight.” When speculating about a Hillary Clinton ticket, Jones said, “So don't think they won't try to push Kamala out and put her in, or have Kamala, who's dumber than a box of rocks, she's basically a fleshlight, put Hillary on as her VP. And boy if she does that, she’s gonna get JFK’d.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [7/22/24]
- Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro said that Harris has “never earned anything,” claiming that she got “handed her original post in California state government because she was sleeping with Willie Brown.”Shapiro went on to claim that “she lucked into her job as attorney general of the state and then from there, she really lucked into her job as senator. … Then she proceeded to luck into her job as vice president. Earn and win the nomination. She’s not earning and winning anything. She’s inheriting it.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [7/21/24]
- Right-wing influencer Dom Lucre shared a photo of Harris and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown with the caption, “How did Kamala Harris become our Vice President? I heard she has always been a suck up to wealthy Democrats.”In a similar post, Lucre also jeered, “Kamala Harris started her career on her knees how can we trust her to stand up for this country?” Twitter/X, [7/22/24, 7/22/24; The New York Times, 1/14/21]
- Trump ally Roger Stone posted: “Kamala Harris campaign now selling official campaign kneepads.” Twitter/X, [7/21/24]
- Rumble host and Trump ally Laura Loomer said that Harris “was once an escort and … she got her career started giving blow jobs to successful, rich, black men,” including Willie Brown and Montel Williams.In a now-unavailable post on X (formerly Twitter), Loomer said that Harris performed a sex act on Brown “while he was a married man in exchange for political power. Here she is ‘dating’’ @Montel_Williams in 2001, who appears to be holding hands with more than one woman at the same time on the red carpet.” The woman who Williams was holding hands with in 2001 was his daughter, and he was separated from his wife when he and Harris dated. The Wrap, [7/22/24; The Associated Press, 7/22/24]
- OutKick host Clay Travis said Kamala Harris “got her start in politics by sex as a mistress of a married man.”He also attacked Kamala for not having kids, saying, “If you're a married woman with kids, if you're a grandma with kids, do you have any respect for the woman who is the mistress of the married man and never even became his second wife and had kids with him on her own?” OutKick, *OutKick The Show with Clay Travis*, [7/22/24]
- ## Right-wing media both called Harris the “DEI candidate” and questioned her Blackness
- Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee would be “a poetic way for us to end this year of reckoning with the madness of DEI.” Walsh then went on to call Harris “sort of Black,” saying she “lacks the IQ and the competence to lead this country” and claiming she has “never earned anything through her own merit.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [7/22/24]
- OutKick host Clay Travis claimed that Harris “failed her way up” and is “the ultimate diversity, equity, and inclusion candidate.” Travis also asserted that ”we just saw what DEI does, at the Secret Service; it nearly gets the president killed," in reference to the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump last week. Outkick, *Outkick The Show with Clay Travis*, [7/21/24; Media Matters, 7/15/24]
- Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said Harris was chosen because of “the same criteria of DEI that got Trump shot.”Kirk also said, “You could not have a better example of the worst aspects of the country or the Democrat party. But now — that's where she is. She is a DEI candidate.” Real America’s Voice, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [7/22/24]
- Fixating on Harris’ race and gender, Fox contributor Tammy Bruce warned that the fear of being called racist or sexist will be weaponized by the Democratic Party, claiming their approach is like domestic violence.Bruce said Democrats will turn to “more identity politics. There will be more accusations. There will be accusations that if you don't like Kamala — we’ve already heard it — you are a sexist and you are a racist and you’re everything else. … It’s a way to control you. Where it’s dangerous to speak up, dangerous to contradict the masters of the universe out there, where you will do as you are told or you will be punished. It is very similar to the nature of domestic violence. It is domestic violence writ large.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [7/22/24]
- Right-wing personality Rob Smith, who has been a Turning Point USA contributor, called Harris the “DEI soon-to-be nominee for President.”Twitter/X, [7/22/24; Fox News, accessed 7/22/24]
- Newsmax host Sebastian Gorka said that Harris “very well might be the first DEI president.”Gorka added that Harris “is literally a DEI hire, a woman who laughs about little yellow school buses and Venn diagrams, who cackles like an insane woman.” Newsmax, *Newsmax broadcast*, [7/21/24]
- On Newsmax, guest Chris Kohls mispronounced Harris’ first name and questioned, “Is she Black? Is she Indian? Nobody knows.”Host Sebastian Gorka replied that it’s not racist to mispronounce Harris’ name if we “work out how her slave-owning Jamaican ancestors pronounced that name.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight,* [7/22/24]
- Newsmax guest Joel Gilbert said Harris “has no common experiences with Black Americans.”Gilbert, author of a book that speculates Michelle Obama will run for president, continued, ”She doesn't even bring the African American vote that they've hemorrhaged to Donald Trump because she's not African American. Her mother is from India. Her father's from Jamaica. She grew up in Canada, and she married a white Jewish guy." Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [7/21/24]
- YourVoice America's Bill Mitchell: “Kamala Harris never ran as a black woman until 2020.” Twitter/X, [7/22/24]
- ## Right-wing media also claimed that Harris can’t be president because she has no biological children
- Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain asserted that the “really simple, underdiscussed reason why Kamala Harris shouldn’t be President” is because she has “no children.”(While Harris has no biological children, she became the stepmother of Cole and Ella Emhoff when she married second gentleman Doug Emhoff in 2014.) Twitter/X, [7/21/24; Today, 7/19/24]
- Laura Loomer said: “A woman who has no biological children of her own should not be allowed to make decisions in the White House for your children.”Loomer also attacked Harris' passion for reproductive justice, jeering “Republicans need to … ask why a woman with no kids of her own and just a scarred up uterus is so obsessed with wanting to kill your babies." Twitter/X, [7/22/24]
- While listing reasons why Harris shouldn’t be president, OutKick’s Clay Travis noted that Harris “doesn't have any kids of her own.”He also called Harris a “side chick” who “got her start in politics by banging Willie Brown” and said he doesn’t think Harris will “really motivate Black voters very well, particularly Black men.” OutKick, OutKick The Show with Clay Travis, [7/21/24]
- ## Right-wing media fixated on Harris’ laugh, saying she sounds like a “giggling idiot” and a “hyena”
- Fox host Sean Hannity said Harris is facing a “likability crisis” and voters “detest” Harris because of her laugh. He then characterized Harris as “your giggling vice president.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [7/21/24]
- Fox analyst Brit Hume said that “you can argue a great many Americans think Harris is a giggling idiot, there’s no doubt about that.” Fox News, *Fox News Live*, [7/21/24]
- Roger Stone posted an attack ad from Make America Great Again Inc.and wrote, “Lying, hyena-laughing Kamala.”Twitter, [7/21/24]
- ## Right-wing media launched other bizarre attacks, including likening Harris to “Jezebel” and accusing her of promoting “the occult”
- Right-wing commentator and self-described prophet Lance Wallnau said that Harris “represents something which I believe is probably the amalgam of the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary because she'll bring a racial component and she's younger.”Twitter/X, [7/22/24; Rolling Stone, 9/29/22]
- Right-wing pundit James Lindsay claimed that Harris’ repetition of the statement “to see what can be, unburdened by what has been” is “occult” and “it's a Marxist and Luciferian incantation.”Twitter/X, [7/21/24]
- On her radio show, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis endorsed Lindsay’s analysis, declaring that Harris “is advancing not just cultural Marxism, but paganism and the occult.”Ellis complained that “this is who is going to be likely the Democrat nominee. … If we are going to genuinely claim being a Christian nation and advancing policy that is based in and rooted in a biblical worldview or if we are going to elect someone in November that is specifically, intentionally, and obviously pushing for a Luciferian incantation and the occult.” American Family Radio, *Jenna Ellis in the Morning*, [7/22/24]
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https://www.mediamatters.org/clay-travis/outkick-founder-clay-travis-we-have-more-issues-fake-racism-america-today-we-do
Outkick’s Clay Travis endorses Trump’s vermin comments | Media Matters for America
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Fox Corp.'s OutKick hosts "the sperminator" to push his anti-vax agenda | Media Matters for America
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https://www.mediamatters.org/clay-travis/hundreds-thousands-new-subscribers-outkicks-youtube-channel-will-be-fed-racist-and
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https://www.mediamatters.org/clay-travis/youtube-has-done-nothing-stem-tide-covid-19-misinformation-outkicks-clay-travis
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mma 3 23
clay Travis, a regular Fox News guest and the founder of Fox’s recently acquired sports website Outkick, has been using his supposed sports programs to rehash right-wing narratives on COVID-19, race and crime, and conservative censorship.
Since Outkick was purchased by Fox in 2021, it has more than doubled its viewership. As the network has grown, it has become more like an offspring of Fox News than a sports platform, emphasizing and rehashing Fox's right-wing narratives even when they're unrelated to athletics.
Travis hosts three shows, Outkick The Show with Clay Travis, Wins & Losses, and The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. While the latter is correctly labeled political, his other two shows are categorized under sports on both Apple Podcasts and iHeartPodcasts.
Travis has a history of drawing attention to himself via vulgar stunts and spreading conspiracy theories, especially about COVID-19. He often brags about making inflammatory and sexist remarks, claiming they grow his platform.
Outkick The Show is a daily news recap where Travis talks about current events in news and sports. He has repeatedly used this show to spread anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, downplay racism involved in police murders such as the killing of Tyre Nichols, and promote other right-wing non-sports stories.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Showfrequently features similar content, with Travis and fellow Fox News regular Buck Sexton spouting conservative talking points about President Joe Biden and the pandemic. Their rhetoric often mimics commentary on Fox.
Travis also runs an interview podcast, Wins & Losses, where he provides a safe space for conservative guests who share his conspiratorial views on the pandemic and supposed social media bias against conservatives. As of this writing, Apple Podcasts currently labels the show as a “sports” podcast even though only five of the most recent 20 episodes featured guests related to sports. 15 of the 20 most recent episodes included conservative media figures, like anti-vax conspiracy theorist Alex Berenson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Although they are published under the seemingly nonpartisan banner of sports commentary, Travis’ programs are just poorly disguised right-wing political programming.
Travis heavily promoted coronavirus conspiracy theories
Travis is a prolific purveyor of coronavirus misinformation. He has downplayed the severity of COVID-19, insisted effective precautions such as masks do nothing, and fearmongered about and denied the efficacy of vaccines.
Notably, Travis supported the baseless anti-vaccine conspiracy theory that there is an increase in cardiovascular complications in athletes tied to the COVID-19 vaccine. He doubled down on this after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during a game. Travis has pushed multiple COVID-19 conspiracy theories on his sports shows, even when they don’t involve athletes:
- Travis accused MSNBC of covering up evidence that COVID-19 vaccines increased the number of myocarditis cases after MSNBC host Yasmin Vossoughian revealed she had myocarditis. He said, “Isn't it amazing how many people out there are refusing to acknowledge that the COVID shot might in any way have massively increased the number of people that are having heart-related issues who are otherwise extremely healthy?” While the mRNA vaccines do slightly increase the risk for myocarditis, actually getting COVID-19 puts patients at a much higher risk for the condition than any vaccine. Outkick, Outkick The Show, [1/31/2023]
- Travis deemed it “very valid” to question whether the COVID-19 vaccine was responsible for Damar Hamlin’s collapse. He said, “This is a fair question now – was the COVID shot in any way involved? We know that the COVID shot has created myocarditis in some individuals. Did Damar Hamlin get the COVID shot? Was it involved in any way in his issue on the football field? All of those, very valid questions.” Outkick, Outkick the Show, [1/6/2023]
- Travis said he was “troubled by people coming out and saying you can’t ask about whether the COVID shot might’ve been involved in any way in his [Hamlin’s] heart-related condition.” Outkick, Outkick The Show, [1/24/2023]
- Travis claimed all COVID-19 vaccines do not work. According to him, “Not only do the shots not work, I think they actually make you more likely to get COVID.” Outkick, Outkick The Show, [2/2/2023]
- Travis claimed that a new study proved masking did not work against coronavirus and those who wore protective face coverings during the height of the pandemic were “idiots”. Travis was cherry picking information as numerous studies disprove this claim. While mocking masking against COVID-19, Travis remarked, “All of it was cosmetic theater for idiots." Outkick, Outkick The Show,[2/2/2023]
- Travis hosted COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Alex Berenson who downplayed the number of virus deaths in America and claimed lockdowns were purely political.Berenson claimed the United States higher than average COVID-19 deaths were a result of America being a “big country” and said, “We get big numbers when we have big countries.” He claimed, “This is about people who want us to be in lockdown. They want to push us there.” iHeartPodcasts, Wins & Losses, [8/17/2022]
Travis downplayed police brutality against the Black community and accused media of only covering crime when perpetrators are white
After the Memphis police department releasedbody cam footage of the department’s SCORPION unit fatally beating Tyre Nichols on January 7, Travis repeatedly pushed the debunked narrative that “Black-on-black crime” is ignored in favor of hate crime coverage, aFox News-esque narrative that is eerily similar to those espoused by hate groups to justify their bigotry by mischaracterizing Black communities as more prone to violence.
- Travis claimed the Black Lives Matter movement focuses purely on violent acts done by white people against Black people. Travis stated, “Black Lives Matter isn’t about Black lives at all. Black Lives Matter is only about the person who takes the Black life. It’s really Black Lives Matter in parenthetical, so long as a white person is involved in taking the Black life.” Outkick, Outkick The Show, [1/30/2023]
- Travis claimed coverage of Tyre Nichols’ killing was fading because the officers involved were also Black. Travis said that news was, “almost vanishing instantly” because it involved Black police officers. Outkick, Outkick the Show, [1/30/2023]
- Travis accused MSNBC and CNN of only covering violence when there's racism involved, and falsely claimed the networks did not cover the Monterey Park shooting.He stated, “Soon as it becomes clear that the shooter was an Asian man killing Asian people, nobody cares.” Travis attacked MSNBC and CNN, stating the networks only care about crime “when a white guy does it. Non-white guy commits a crime, [coverage] vanishes almost overnight.” Outkick, Outkick The Show, [1/23/2023]
- Travis attacked Reverend Al Sharpton for his eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral, which placed attention on the role of racism in Nichols murder. Travis called Sharpton a “Race Hustler.” He then falsely claimed a disproportionate number of killings of Black people by the police is the result of Black people committing more crimes. “Over 50% of all murders are committed by Black people. That's a stat that makes everybody, like, get really uncomfortable because nobody wants to talk about it.” Outkick, Outkick The Show, [2/2/2023]
Travis used his sports shows to complain about conservative media censorship and Hunter Biden conspiracies
Travis regularly pushes the idea that conservative voices are censored or deprioritized on the internet. The claim is not supported by evidence as social media companies disclose very little about their content moderation decisions.
In particular, Travis has promoted conspiracies about The New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story being taken down from Twitter in 2020, and used his sports network to connect Biden’s mishandling of classified documents to his son. In reality, the documents show a social media company scrambling to separate real stories from suspected foreign influence. This faulty narrative has also been pushed heavily by Fox News.
- Travis claimed Twitter’s decisions to take down The New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop “probably rigged the 2020 election.“ He claimed that the so-called “Twitter files” showed “a systemic attempt to rig elections and political conversations exclusively for a left-wing political benefit.” In reality the documents show a social media company scrambling to separate real stories from suspected foreign influence. Outkick, Outkick The Show, [12/9/2022]
- Travis argued the situation surrounding the Hunter Biden laptop story “makes Watergate seem like jaywalking.” Travis additionally claimed the blocking of the story on Twitter was a “conspiracy of silence to protect Joe Biden and potentially rig the 2020 election.” iHeartPodcasts, Wins and Losses,[1/25/2023]
- Travis interviewed New York Post’s Miranda Devine, who wrote the original story on Hunter Biden’s laptop, on his sports podcast. She insisted her story on the laptop showed Joe Biden “was intimately involved” with the supposed scandal. “He met with Hunter Biden's overseas business partners.” In reality, evidence that Joe Biden was involved with his son’s business dealings hasn’t materialized and evidence he even knew the specifics of Hunter’s dealings is questionable at best. iHeartPodcasts, Wins and Losses, [1/25/2023]
- Travis used his sports podcast to platform Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, who lamented that the Babylon Bee had been banned from Twitter for violating the site's terms of service about misgendering transgender people. Dillon complained that Twitter engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” by refusing to allow his website to post content that misgendered Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine. Travis allowed Dillon to argue he has a right to harass people for being transgender. iHeartPodcasts, Wins & Losses, [5/7/2022]
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proxy for pinko prof? strict fr?
mma 3 23
As the Biden administration defends the president’s policy of canceling up to $20,000 of student debt for millions of Americans against a Republican-backed challenge before the Supreme Court, some right-wing commentators are going beyond their old arguments against the policy to make truly outrageous claims about it.
When President Joe Biden first announced his administration’s plan in August to address the very real problem of student debt doubling in the past decade, which affects tens of millions of Americans, conservatives tried arguing that the policy was unfair, would raise inflation, would favor the rich, and had no legal basis.
But when arguments about the policy reached the Supreme Court yesterday, some right-wing media figures went far beyond their previous opposition to the policy and levied some egregious new attacks:
- Fox News host Mark Levin called Biden’s student loan cancellation policy “a fascistic act by an out-of-control man”who is “cheered by theMarxists in the country.”
- OutKick founder Clay Travis: “This was a transparent political attempt by Joe Biden to rig in his favor the 2022 election.”
- Travis again portrayed the student debt cancellation policy as a voter turnout scheme: Biden “wanted to drive up young voters’ turnout as much as he could.”
- Fox contributor Liz Peek: “You can't just dole out $400 billion to get votes, which is basically what this is all about.”
- Media Research Center’s Stephanie Hamill said “it’s almost like a bribery” of voters.
- Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said it’s a “vote-buying scheme” to get people “on the narcotic of social welfare.”
- Schmitt later portrayed student debt cancellation as Biden wanting “to dump hundreds of billions of dollars that we don't have on 8-balls, Jack Daniels, and flights to Mexico.”
- Fox contributor Marc Thiessen claimed student debt cancellation is “an act of stolen valor,” and that Biden is “turning millions of Americans into people who are engaged in stolen valor.”
- Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk used student debt cancellation to attack college education in general, claiming he might not be so opposed if colleges were “producing fruit that loved America.” Instead, he said, they’re the “Wuhan Institute of Virology equivalent of idea pathogens in our country” and asked, “Is this a alleged money laundering scheme to pay off colleges for their Marxist indoctrination?”
- Kirk also wrote on Twitter that “college is a scam!”
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