ESPN’s Mina Kimes Accuses Clay Travis of ‘Sweatily Peddling Inflammatory Bullsh*t’ in Explosive Social Media Exchange

ESPN’s Mina Kimes and OutKick’s Clay Travis went at it on social media over the way OutKick reported on Kimes’ previous comments on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

On Aug. 9, Kimes appeared on the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out and expressed admiration for Walz “modeling a different kind of masculinity” in the sense that he’s a “big, tough football guy” who’s also capable of “showing emotion and empathy.”

Not long after the clip was posted, OutKick published an article criticizing Kimes for the comments. When OutKick reporter John Simmons Jr. reached out and asked her to comment, she declined and blamed the publication for a wave of online harassment she’s faced.

A day later, Travis came to Simmons’ defense and claimed Kimes was lying. He then called her a “left wing cry bully.”

“Far left wing @espn employee @minakimes accused @outkick of ‘horrible lies’ about her and causing racist attacks against she and her family,” Travis said. “I read all our articles. She is lying. Here are the receipts. She’s just a left wing cry bully.”

The next day, Kimes responded with multiple screenshots revealing racist comments she’s received over the last few days. She then took aim at Travis himself.

“Here’s a tiny sample of reactions your “work” produces, and the disgusting hate you engender,” Kimes said.

“You think you’ve been blackballed bc of your politics, but that’s not true. There are plenty of people with different views in our industry. The reason no one normal talks to you anymore is because you’re a cruel, cynical bully who mines bigotry for clicks.”

Travis responded by apologizing for the fact that “anonymous people on the internet are mean to you,” but doubled down on his initial claim that no lies were told in the article.

Though Kimes didn’t respond to Travis’ tweet, she added to the thread hours later to clarify that she didn’t view herself as a victim. Still, she accused Travis of “sweatily peddling bullshit” because “no one actually cares what he thinks about sports.”

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