Riley Gaines blasts Sports Emmys for nominating podcast ‘hit piece’ for award
by Valerie Richardson · The Washington TimesRiley Gaines slammed the Sports Emmy Awards for nominating a podcast probe seeking to discredit her advocacy for women’s sports, calling it an “attempted hit piece.”
“What is Riley Gaines Hiding?/Secrets of MAGA’s #1 Sports Troll” by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” show was nominated for a Sports Emmy in Outstanding Sports Journalism, spurring a fresh round of outrage over left-wing bias in the entertainment industry.
The collaboration between Mr. Torre and Mother Jones magazine, both defenders of transgender athletes, sought to expose the “dark past” and “grift” of the world’s most prominent foe of biological males in female sports.
Ms. Gaines, host of “The Riley Gaines Show” podcast on OutKick and Fox News Media, blasted the decision to reward the Torre episode with a nomination.
“Pablo Torre’s attempted hit piece that unveiled absolutely nothing, and now nominated for ’Outstanding Journalism,’ not only discredits The Sports Emmy Awards, but further proves the far-left values that continue to be instilled in sports journalism,” Ms. Gaines told The Washington Times.
Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, or ICONS, said the Emmys could have recognized female athletes fighting for fairness in their sports, but instead “chose to honor a man for attempting to smear Riley Gaines.”
“She was the first and most impactful young woman to stand up and unapologetically say ’No more’ when girls’ accomplishments were trampled,” Ms. Smith said in a statement. “It is disgusting, despicable, and another example of ideological capture and misogyny aimed at destroying women’s spirits and women’s sports.”
The winner will be announced Tuesday at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony in New York City.
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The episode released Nov. 20 focuses on Ms. Gaines’ rapid rise from little-known collegiate swimmer to leading women’s sports advocate after tying with transgender athlete Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I women’s swimming championships.
Ms. Gaines comes under scrutiny for offenses such as receiving funding from conservative groups to promote her conservative message; for spending insufficient time denouncing her former coach, who has been accused of sexual assault by other swimmers; and for her “radicalization” on the issue of biological males in female spaces.
Trinity Ward, a former University of Kentucky teammate who identifies as queer, said in the show that Ms. Gaines told her during their college days that she wasn’t a “diehard Trumper.” She’s now a strong Trump supporter.
Mr. Torre ripped Ms. Gaines as “somebody who over time got paid to develop an opinion into a weapon.”
“And she got paid to develop her experience of tying for fifth place in the NCAA championships into a professional victimhood that not only got exaggerated in terms of the rhetoric around it, but truly in terms of the implications for what it is to be a trans person,” said Mr. Torre in a Nov. 20 interview with sports host Dan Le Batard.
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The Torre show’s hosts don’t skimp on the snark. Ms. Gaines is mocked for her “real MAGA look” and “full face of make-up.” She’s described as “the Regina George of this movement,” a reference to the manipulative lead character in the movie “Mean Girls.”
The report cited 2023 tax forms showing that Ms. Gaines was paid $126,523 as director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute, which is funded by the conservative DeVos family.
What the six-month investigation failed to unearth is that a year later, she earned $474,313 from the institute, as flagged by former NPR radio journalist Mike Pesca.
He said he found the publicly available tax document after “a couple of hours of poking around.”
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“I don’t understand how Torre missed this, especially while boasting about the months of work his show invested in nailing Gaines to her chlorinated cross,” said Mr. Pesca, host of “The Gist” podcast, in his Nov. 25 Substack post.
Mr. Pesca concluded that “Torre’s real discovery is this: Riley Gaines is a conservative who believes conservative things and enjoys the support of other conservatives. Scandalous stuff. He documents no actual lies, just messaging decisions he doesn’t like.”
Ms. Gaines shrugged off the financial disclosure, telling Fox News that Mr. Torre “found that I have a job that I am paid for.”
PODCASTER PABLO TORRE GOES AFTER RILEY GAINES’ RECORD@Riley_Gaines_ : “I don’t think this has to be an either or… That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about these other issues… I haven’t heard Pablo using his voice or his platform to defend the stance that he’s taking.” pic.twitter.com/nYlgY8ibkn — The Will Cain Show (@WillCainShow) November 25, 2025
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As groundbreaking journalism goes, the episode pales in comparison to Mr. Torre’s explosive investigation last year into the Los Angeles Clippers for allegedly circumventing the NBA salary cap to pay star player Kawhi Leonard, a genuine scoop that won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting.
That investigation, titled “Aspiration,” was nominated for a Sports Emmy in the same category as the Riley Gaines episode.
Ms. Gaines’ advocacy helped turn public opinion against biological males in female sports, but the Emmy nod for “What Is Riley Gaines Hiding?” indicates that transgender athletes continue to enjoy strong support within the media and entertainment industries.
During the 2021-22 season, female swimmers were under intense pressure to avoid criticizing or raising concerns about competing against a biological male. Ms. Gaines broke the silence, speaking out immediately after the championships in media interviews without the cover of anonymity.
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To critics like Mr. Torre, that makes her an opportunist. To many girls and women participating in elite and scholastic sports, however, that makes her a heroine.
“Would a story be nominated about the athletic dreams of young girls being crushed because they’re forced to compete against males?” Ms. Gaines asked. “No, because it goes against the party line, and they’re terrified of the backlash. It’s a shame the industry lacks complete common sense and continues to advocate for men playing in women’s sports.”
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Valerie Richardson
vrichardson@washingtontimes.com
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