Arch Manning is less than 48 hours removed from the biggest win of his career, but he’s facing some social media backlash on Monday evening.
The University of Texas Longhorns quarterback led his team to an epic, comeback 24-23 win against No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday night. Following the game, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian blew off a postgame interview with ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe. Sarkisian faced backlash for his postgame behavior, while Texas attributed his early departure to technical difficulties.
Video of Sarkisian’s brief interview with Rowe went super viral on social media. Apparently, there were some AI videos made, too. One showed Sarkisian ending the interview by slapping Rowe in the face.
Manning, speaking to the Texas media on Monday, referenced the video and said that he found it “hilarious.”
“I’ve seen a few AI edits and stuff, but that’s about it. I saw AI edits of Sark’s interview,” Manning told reporters on Monday.
Manning then asked, “Have ya’ll seen that one? That’s a good one,” and he then laughed, adding, “Of him slapping Holly Rowe?”
“It’s hilarious.”
Manning, though, is now facing backlash from many on social media. Some are calling for him to “apologize” for joking about an AI video of a man slapping a woman. Others are suggesting that he’ll have a long meeting with Texas’ PR staff on Monday evening.
Fans, media call out Arch Manning’s comment
“His PR training meeting tonight gonna be a long one,” one fan wrote.
“Some of the supposed adults in the room found AI-generated abuse of a fellow media member to be something worth laughing about?” one fan added.
“Her mom died a month ago and she has to endure this completely unprovoked bs for no reason,” another fan wrote.
ESPN’s Clinton Yates tweeted: “This is a horrendous exchange on a couple levels, including this tweet labeling the reply as ‘gold.'”
Arch Manning is clearly still flying high after Texas’ takedown of Ohio State on Saturday night, but he is probably going to get a talking-to about his Holly Rowe comment at Monday’s press conference.
