Clay Travis slams sports media for asking athletes political questions only when GOP's in office

MILAN, ITALY: OutKick founder Clay Travis accused American sports journalists of injecting politics into Olympics coverage, that too, only when Republicans hold the White House.

The conservative sports commentator took to X amid the ongoing 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, addressing what he sees as a double standard in US sports media's behavior. 

His comments came as clips of several Team USA athletes fielding questions about US immigration enforcement and the Trump administration's policies emerged online.

Travis lashes out at sports media

In a series of posts on X, Travis questioned why American athletes are uniquely targeted with political inquiries during international competitions.

"Do any other country’s sports media ask their Olympic athletes political questions? Iran has athletes at the Winter Olympics. Tens of thousands of Iranians have been murdered standing up for basic human rights. Have any athletes been asked about Iran? Have the Iranian athletes?" he asked.

He continued, "It seems like only American sports media members do this to our athletes. And they only do it when Republicans are in office. It’s eminently predictable, but also odd behavior by American sports media. They use athletes to write Olympics ‘sports’ articles on politics."

Travis wrapped up his thread with a pointed example.

"Imagine traveling all the way to Italy, where there are legit thousands of Olympic competitions scheduled, and the story you file is what a downhill skier thinks about America’s immigration policies. It’s bonkers," he remarked.

Travis has long criticized what he views as left-leaning bias in sports journalism. “To me, sports gets America right. When we decide to politicize sports, what we are doing is bringing the noxiousness and divisiveness of politics into an arena that doesn’t need it," he said in a 2018 interview. 

Athletes field political questions at Winter Olympics

As the Winter Games kicked off, several US athletes found themselves addressing questions about domestic issues, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations following fatal shootings in Minneapolis in January.

Earlier, Travis had reposted a post criticizing a three-time US figure skating champion Amber Glenn speaking out LGBTQ rights. 

Glenn, the most prominent queer female athlete in her sport, said, "It's been a hard time for the (LGBTQ) community overall in this administration,” she said. “It isn’t the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it's not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities, and I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn't have to before, and because of that, it's made us a lot stronger.”

"I know that a lot of people say you're just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all. It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives," she is heard saying.

Freestyle skier Chris Lillis told reporters, "A lot of times, athletes are hesitant to talk about political views and how we feel about things. I feel heartbroken about what’s happened in the United States." Lillis added that the US should "focus on respecting everybody’s rights and making sure that we’re treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect."

Teammate Hunter Hess shared a similar ambivalence. "It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now, I think. It's a little hard," he said. "There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't." Hess added, "Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S."

Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin also chimed in. "I think there’s a lot of hardship in the world globally, and there’s a lot of heartbreak, there’s a lot of violence," she said, hoping to promote "inclusivity… diversity and kindness" through her participation.

Of course, these responses have not gone unchallenged. Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" US hockey team, rebuked Hess's remarks in a since-deleted X post.

He suggested that if athletes feel conflicted, they should "go home or don't wear the uniform."