"If you want to get political, you should have to defend your political positions so I can decide whether or not I want to give your political positions any validity whatsoever.”
A week after LeBron James and Fox News’ Laura Ingraham traded uncomfortable barbs over ‘shut up and dribble’ remarks that invoked a major discussion over the connection between athletics and politics, Clay Travis thinks the media has become too infatuated with dull and surface level opinions from our favorite athletes, and never bothers to actually ask the athlete to expand on their position.
Travis thinks that even if you disagree with the way Ingraham devised her opposition to LeBron’s long-standing public disdain for Donald Trump, it seems like people in the media are villainized when they legitimately challenge athletes on takes that have extremely inflammatory consequences in society.
Travis thinks it becomes a hit-and-run type situation for the athlete, where they’re free to make ambiguous remarks that will top the headlines, yet never have to face opposition from anyone in the media who feels like the soundbites are erroneous and unwarranted.
“If you're going to get political then you should have to be comfortable with the fact that you are going to be challenged," Travis said. "You should also expect that the media is not going to just universally applaud you because you've said something banal, political, and cliched."
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