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Clay Travis of Fox Sports continues to accuse Ray Lewis of murder

By Wola Odeniran
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Clay Travis, an analyst for Fox Sports 1's college football pregame show, continues to call former Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis a murderer. Clay Travis has accused Ray Lewis of murder on multiple occasions to the point where it is fair to ask if Travis has any information to make such a claim. It's really time for Clay Travis to show some facts since all he does is bark on Twitter about how Ray Lewis killed two men.

You know, it is one thing for a random person on Twitter to make such a claim without any factual evidence to back it up regardless of how ignorant that person may be on the subject. But for someone in the position that Travis is in, for him to be a high profile individual in the media working at Fox Sports making those claims frequently, it is irresponsible of him to do so.

Just because you are on Twitter, it doesn't give you the license to run your mouth in any way, shape, or form. Words can be costly. Especially in the case of high profile people. Let's look at Clay Travis and his tweets about Ray Lewis:

In October of 2015, Clay Travis decided to write an article about Ray Lewis, once again accusing him of being a murderer via FoxSports.com.

Yet, the Ray Lewis criticism from the worldwide leader in sports is nonexistent. ESPN is doing the exact same thing the Dallas Cowboys did, only worse. See, at least Greg Hardy is really good at football; Ray Lewis isn't even very good on television. There are hundreds of non-double murderers who could do his job just as well. Unlike Greg Hardy, Lewis's problems far exceed his talents. And he's been involved in a far worse incident than Hardy. (I know domestic violence is the new "worst thing in the world" in social media and Greg Hardy is the new "worst person in the NFL", but the reality is there are many crimes worse than domestic violence. Double murder, for instance.) Yet, all of these voices of moral outrage are silent about Ray Lewis and dripping with sanctimony about Greg Hardy.

One of the questions that I have about this situation is, isn't part of journalism supposed to be about writing and reporting stories with facts backing them up? Am I missing something? And the fact that FoxSports allows Clay Travis to make these accusations without any proof speaks volumes.

Even if you despise Ray Lewis like Clay Travis clearly does, a responsible person would at least put,"Allegedly" before making such damning statements. But no, Clay Travis goes straight to calling Ray Lewis a murderer.

What is a little interesting to me with the tweets by Clay Travis in particular, is that he doesn't even send those tweets directly to Ray Lewis. Ray does have a Twitter handle it's @RayLewis. Try it sometime Clay since you are so convinced in your opinion about him.

This past Sunday, I tweeted at Clay Travis wondering why he doesn't voice his opinions directly to Ray Lewis. I didn't get an answer.

Who am I kidding? He isn't going to say anything to Ray Lewis directly. At the very least, I doubt it. If Clay Travis doesn't even have the courage to directly tweet at Ray Lewis with these accusations, what makes you think he is going to say it directly in person?

It's an interesting world we live in. A world where people these days are guilty until proven innocent in the court of public opinion. Here is Ray explaining the situation in Atlanta back in 2000 via ESPN:

The two associates (Men) who were with Ray Lewis during that night as they went to the club with a couple of women, were involved in the fatal stabbing that unfortunately took the lives Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. And we need to remember that two men died that night and it should be taken seriously, not selecting who is perfect to accuse because it fits a perfect narrative for certain people.

There's no evidence that ties Ray Lewis directly murdering of those two men. Just because Ray Lewis is a high profile person does not mean he committed a deadly crime. So no matter how many times people like Clay Travis claim that to be the case, they have no proof which is what it ultimately comes down to.

So again I ask, where are we in journalism? Because if Clay Travis can accuse of Ray Lewis of a very serious crime and he's allowed to get away with it while not having any proof, where does it end? Can everyone else in the media write up make believe trades in sports that will never happen and report them as a fact? Can people start misquoting others with no repercussions?

I'm serious. Why is FoxSports and everyone else in the media allowing Clay Travis to get away with what he is saying? Because believe or not, this is bigger than whatever issue Clay has with Ray. This is about integrity in journalism. If you let Clay get away with this and he continues to make those accusations, what is stopping anyone else in the media from making claims about anything while not having the sources to back it up?

Mind you, this is the same Clay Travis who wrote a 1,500 article defending Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and a situation that involves Manning allegedly (See how I used allegedly Clay? Try it) sexually assaulting a female trainer in his college days with the Tennessee Volunteers in 1996. Read Clay's article here:

I have to say Michael Hurley of CBS Boston had a nice write up in response to Clay's defense of Peyton Manning.

But back to the Ray Lewis situation. Clay Travis, from the looks of his tweets and articles, calls Ray Lewis a murderer with such conviction to the point where it is reasonable to ask if Clay has any information on the incident that he has been withholding from the police in Atlanta for so many years. And if Clay does have information, he knows that it is against the law to hide something of that magnitude.

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