Founder of Fox Corp.’s Outkick Media Clay Travis is a right-wing conspiracy theorist and Fox News contributor known for using outrage over his stunts and conspiracy theories to generate an audience for his platform. Travis has a history of making sexist — and now anti-trans — comments.

Following the March 27 shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, where a transgender person killed six people, Travis joined others in right-wing media in smearing the trans community. Travis repeatedly floated the unproven notion that gender-affirming medications may have played a role in the shooting and slammed media coverage that focused on the attack itself and not the shooter's identity.

Prior to the shooting, Travis focused much of his anti-trans rhetoric on athletes like former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and predicted that trans athletes would mean an end to women’s sports. Travis also criticized cisgender women, blaming them for the existence of famous transgender women and complaining that not enough cis women are sufficiently transphobic.

Travis heavily insinuated gender-affirming care was in part responsible for the mass shooting — and attacked others who did not do the same

Travis pushed the idea that the Covenant School shooter was influenced by antidepressants and gender-affirming care medications — even though there was no information indicating whether the shooter was even undertaking gender-affirming care, and there have not been reports that they were on antidepressants. Travis claimed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in conjunction with gender-affirming medications such as testosterone could have played a role in the shooting. Evidence does not support connecting SSRIs to mass shootings. Studies also show testosterone received in gender-affirming care is “not associated with an increase in levels of aggression in transgender men.” Travis attacked members of the media for not asking these questions with known answers.

• Travis attacked U.S. media for not putting more needless scrutiny on the effect gender-affirming care had on the shooter. Travis stated, “If we had an honest media and an impartial media, people would be asking the question, was this girl on transgender medications?” Travis further stated, “Is there any study about what that can do to your behavior and the choices that you make?” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/28/23]

• Travis insisted the focus should be on potential medications the shooter may have taken, pressing the perceived importance of his claim by further connecting trans people to mass shootings. Travis stated, “What kind of medication was this trans person on and how much did that create a sort of fertile opportunity for her to go crazy? Did it at all? I'd be nervous about that, given how many millions of people are on different transgender drugs all over this country.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/30/23]

• In a Twitter thread, Travis focused heavily on whether gender-affirming medications like testosterone affected the shooter’s decision and accused people not discussing it of being afraid of getting labeled “anti-trans.” [Twitter, 3/28/23]

Travis claimed conversation about the shooter’s identity was being shut down because it would go against “the left’s preferred narrative”

Travis attacked coverage that focused on gun violence rather than the shooter's identity and pushed the conspiracy theory that coverage not including their identity was an attempt to serve a left-wing narrative. Media experts recommend against focusing on the shooter’s identity to avoid copycat attacks. Travis pushed unproven notions about the shooter's beliefs and claimed the police are withholding reporting their motive because it was “inconvenient” for the left. There is no currently available evidence to confirm the shooter’s motivations.

• Travis insisted that the shooting was a hate crime even though there was no evidence regarding the shooter’s motivation. He said, “How would people be responding if in my home city of Nashville, someone had shown up at a trans event and shot six trans people, compared to a trans person showing up at a religious elementary school and killing six people? It's a hate crime.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/29/23]

• Travis suggested President Joe Biden didn’t visit Nashville because the shooting was at a religious school and police identified the shooter as trans. Travis tweeted, “Will @JoeBiden be traveling to Nashville or does the killer being trans and the victims all being religious not fit his preferred mass shooting victim narrative?” [Twitter, 3/28/23]

• Travis posted a video of White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre speaking in support of the transgender community and erroneously connected it to the Covenant School shooting: “A trans person killed six people at a religious school in Nashville. Now KJP says it’s shameful that trans people are under attack. If the narrative doesn’t fit them, they just lie.” [Twitter, 3/30/23]

• Travis claimed the shooter’s manifesto won’t be released because it would create an “inconvenient narrative,” before suggesting that the attack was motivated by a “trans ideology” even though no motive was confirmed. Travis stated: “And that because this is an inconvenient narrative for the left in this country, that they will not allow that story to be told.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/30/23]

Before the shooting, Travis focused his anti-trans attacks on transgender athletes and blamed cisgender women 

Travis regularly misgendered trans athletes like Thomas and claimed their inclusion would be the end of the women’s athletics because trans women would dominate competition with alleged unfair advantages. According to researchers, there is no basis in science to believe transgender women are inherently better athletes than cisgender women, and available data shows transgender athletes are not systematically dominating women’s sports.

• Travis attacked feminists for not being sufficiently transphobic. Travis said, “Eventually feminists are going to have to answer the question, whose side are you on? Are you in favor of women's athletics? Or are you in favor of men identifying as women dominating women's athletics? That's the choice that everyone is going to have to make.” [Outkick, Outkick The Show, 3/22/23]

• Travis mocked the intelligence of women athletes in a rant against professional soccer player Alex Morgan and her support for trans athletes. Travis said, “How in the world has it become so commonplace for women's athletes to be so dumb? They're basically rooting for the erasure of women's athletics.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 2/16/23]

• In a rant about transgender athletes, Travis claimed, “At some point, tolerance becomes destruction.” Travis then insisted allowing athletes like Thomas to compete will lead to “the erasure of female athletics.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/6/23]

• Travis claimed allowing trans athletes to compete would lead to the WNBA being “taken over by guys.” Travis claimed, “This is real, and it's going to happen and it's absurd and we need to call it out.” [Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/24/23]