Kirk Herbstreit Ripped For 'Inexcusable' Politics Claim By Jeff Pearlman

Sports admin September 20, 2026 0 Comments

Kirk Herbstreit Ripped For ‘Inexcusable’ Politics Claim By Jeff Pearlman

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit tries not to make too many statements about politics but really didn’t have much choice this past week when addressing the backlash to last week’s interview with polarizing U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.

Speaking to local media on Friday, Herbstreit was asked why Rece Davis did a lengthy interview where Cruz was allowed to speak freely and unchallenged on the controversial Protect College Sports Act making its way through Congress. Herbstreit tried to brush off the question, declaring that he’s in favor of “whoever helps us as a country” then stated that he doesn’t know “anything about (Cruz’s) political views.”

“I don’t really get into politics. I’m kind of an independent guy, right down the middle of the fairway. I’m for America,” Herbstreit told local media on Friday, with College GameDay in Oxford, MS, for LSU-Ole Miss.

“So whoever helps us as a country, I’m for. Whether that’s somebody on the left, somebody on the right. So I don’t really follow it. I don’t know anything about his political views; I don’t know what he’s for or against. I care about football and my family and my faith and my country. Those are things that I love. So I don’t really pick sides. And I was surprised. I didn’t know what his deal was. So him being booed, I had to ask people, ‘What’s going on here?’”

“Inexcusable”

Many college sports fans were furious with Herbstreit over those remarks. Longtime sportswriter and political commentator Jeff Pearlman was equally outraged by Herbstreit’s claim that he doesn’t know what Cruz supports given his literal decades in Congress and in the public eye.

In a video on TikTok, Pearlman suggested that Herbstreit would have to be exceptionally ignorant about the news in general to not know who Cruz is and called it “inexcusable” for him to do so.

“You’re Kirk Herbstreit, you’re college-educated, you have four kids: Jake, Ty, Zach, Chase. So you, you’ve raised kids in this country, and you’re like, let’s take him at face value, ‘I don’t follow politics.’ Like, you don’t follow anything going on in America?” Pearlman asked.

@jeffpearlmanauthor

Is Kirk Herbstreit naive, dumb or naive and dumb? #kirkherbstreit#tedcruz#espn#gameday

♬ original sound – Jeff Pearlman

“You know nothing about Ted Cruz? You don’t know anything about Ted Cruz, one of the most famous political figures in America? You don’t know anything about him? You don’t know anything about what’s going on? You don’t know about climate change? You don’t know about corruption in the government? You don’t know about the Kennedy Center? You don’t know about— like, do you not follow anything? You don’t follow anything? Media being banned from the White House, good or bad. Like, it is so inexcusable just as an American. I’m being serious.”

Pearlman concluded that whether one is Republican or Democrat, at least they’re brave enough to express an opinion. He believes that Herbstreit’s comments just “reinforces stereotype about the talking head ex-football player.”

“I really mean this. I swear to God, if you like Trump and you like what the Republicans are doing, at least you’re following, and you have an opinion. If you like the Democrats and you like what the Democrats are doing, at least you have an opinion. If you’re mad at government as a whole and you don’t like either, at least you have an opinion. The idea that you can live in a modern society with so much information and just be like,’ I just root for America, I just love my country, and I don’t care; I just want it to go well,’ is so (expletive) pathetic. I’m like, dumb. Just like dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. And reinforces a stereotype about the talking head ex-football player.”

Do you agree with Pearlman?

This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 3:14 PM.