Media Angrier At Manning’s AI Joke Than Players Beating Women
The article criticizes the overblown media reaction to Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning laughing at a fake AI-generated video during a press conference, which many media outlets have wrongly interpreted as a serious incident. Rather of viewing it as harmless humor, some sports journalists and pundits have launched harsh attacks, including profanity-laden rants and moral outrage, accusing Manning of being inappropriate or promoting violence. The piece emphasizes that this intense outrage is disproportionate, especially considering how much coverage real issues like domestic violence and abuse in sports receive minimal reaction. The author argues that the media’s focus on Manning’s harmless joke exemplifies a broader trend of fake outrage, and suggests Manning’s mistake was apologizing, advising that resisting such mob mentality is better. the article condemns the media’s tendency to blow trivial moments out of proportion while ignoring serious matters.
If you thought the state of American sports media could not become anymore of a joke than it already is, think again.
The latest act of stupidity among these cosplay journalists comes in the form of a bullying campaign against Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning. His crime? Having the audacity to laugh at an AI-generated video of something that never even happened.
The media-wide meltdown started earlier this week when Manning participated in a routine press conference to discuss the Longhorns’ ongoing season. That included answering questions about his team’s fourth-quarter comeback against then-No.1 Ohio State (24-23) on Saturday.
After the game, ESPN sideline reporter and self-professed “anti-racist” Holly Rowe attempted to grab an interview with Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian. Clearly excited by the Longhorns’ near improbable comeback, Sarkisian shouted “Texas fight” and flashed the “Hook ’em Horns” gesture to the camera before running off to celebrate with his team. Video footage of the exchange shows a visibly frustrated Rowe storming off camera.
Since then, social media users have created a plethora of funny memes and AI edits of the incident. When asked by a reporter at Monday’s press conference on if he’s seen any fun posts about the game, Manning replied that he’d “seen a few AI edits” — including one showing Sarkisian slapping Rowe and running off like crazy person. The humorous response prompted laughter from the room.
And why, you may ask, did his reply cause everyone to laugh? Because it was clearly a fake video meant to turn a benign moment into something so outlandish and ridiculous that you can’t help but chuckle.
But rather than laugh it off as the joke it was, the self-proclaimed holier-than-thou sports media losers leapt into action to attack the 22-year-old quarterback.
The Athletic’s Katy Duffy went on a profanity-laden rant against Manning and the reporter who asked him the question.
“Obviously f-ck Arch Manning – get her name out of your mouth. But hey Evan, f-ck you too. Weird ass question. Weird to be proud of asking a question resulting in this answer. And disgusting to be hyping up the answer,” wrote Duffy, who previously called for Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to be “slap[ped] … again” for doing the Trump dance after scoring a touchdown.
USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan called Manning’s comments and the responding laughter “revealing and disgusting.” NBC sports reporter Nicole Auerbach also took time to give her irrelevant opinion on the “so, so gross” “laughter from all the men in the room.”
With responses like these and many others, you’d think that Manning had actually hit Rowe, was advocating for violence against her, or made the AI video himself. It’s all completely absurd.
The amount of coverage devoted to this non-story is embarrassing. Not only because of how ridiculous the whole thing is, but because real sports-related stories about actual violence against women don’t prompt the same level of pushback.
There’s no shortage of professional athletes being arrested for allegedly hitting their female partners or others. Young female athletes are regularly harmed by trans-identifying men competing in their sports. There’s also the repeated violence waged against WNBA players Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark by their fellow competitors.
Yet, none of those topics have received nearly the amount of performative outrage that the Arch Manning saga has garnered. (One can only imagine how angry they’d be if they found out Arch’s uncle and NFL legend Peyton Manning did an SNL skit where he pelted kids with footballs.)
Arch Manning was criticized more for LAUGHING at an Internet meme than Josh Jacobs was for allegedly hitting a woman. Here we go again, fake violence intended to be funny is worse than actual domestic violence. pic.twitter.com/uF1hFzlom5
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 15, 2026
The only mistake Arch Manning made in this entire situation was apologizing. The No. 1 rule when dealing with the fake outrage mob is you never, ever, ever, ever, ever apologize to these clowns for anything.
They don’t deserve it, and chances are, they’ll keep on hating you even after you do.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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