Outkick founder Clay Travis and businessman Kyle Matthews posted separately on social media that all the boys at their children’s schools were wearing suits Thursday in honor of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University while he was engaging in a question-and-answer session with students at a TPUSA event.
Travis, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, posted on X, “My two oldest sons wore coats & ties to school today — something they normally hate to do — today in honor of Charlie Kirk. The entire school is doing it. I’m not sure most people realize, even yet, how much he connected with young boys & young men & how crushed these kids are.”
My two oldest sons wore coats & ties to school today — something they normally hate to do — today in honor of Charlie Kirk. The entire school is doing it. I’m not sure most people realize, even yet, how much he connected with young boys & young men & how crushed these kids are.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 11, 2025
Matthews, who is a real estate developer in Nashville, posted, “Last night my oldest son said to me ‘Dad, me and all my friends are going to wear a coat & tie to school tomorrow.’”
“At drop off today I realized the entire school was doing it, when effectively every student was wearing a coat and tie. What I found remarkable was they wore a coat and tie not because the school forced them to, or recommended it, but the student body decided to on their own, out of respect for [Charlie Kirk].”
“Admittedly, I did not know much about Charlie Kirk, but he clearly has had a profound impact on young American men. It appears he really connected with them, and they are very, very sad about what happened.”
He concluded, “And while we don’t know who the killer is or the motive, I would bet my dollar that what drove the killer to commit the murder of Charlie Kirk was to ‘shut him up,’ but in the process only created 1,000X more Charlie Kirks. Godspeed Charlie, and my heart aches for his wife and two young children.”
Last night my oldest son said to me “Dad, me and all my friends are going to wear a coat & tie to school tomorrow.”
At drop off today I realized the entire school was doing it, when effectively every student was wearing a coat and tie.
What I found remarkable was they wore a…
— KyleMatthewsCEO (@kylematthewsceo) September 11, 2025
Travis’ and Matthews’ sons may go to the same school, or wearing suits to school to honor Kirk might be a wider social media trend happening at other locations around the country.
Regardless, as both noted, the gesture shows the impact Kirk had on so many young people, and especially younger men.
A Tufts survey published last November found 56 percent of men ages 18 to 29 voted for President Donald Trump, a flip from 56 percent who cast their ballot for Joe Biden in 2020.
Overall, Trump gained 10 percent among younger voters, moving from 36 percent support in 2020 to 46 percent last year, and that helped decide the race.
Travis addressed the subject of Kirk’s assassination on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,” recounting that he received a message from the parent of a 20-year-old young man who had helped start a Turning Point USA chapter in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a few years back. He has followed Kirk since he was a boy and now works for the Leadership Institute as a conservative political activist.
The parent wrote that the young man was so devastated by Kirk’s assassination that he would not leave his room.
Travis’s voice began to crack as he started to offer some advice to the parent, who was trying to bring comfort to the son.
One of our @clayandbuck listeners wrote in about his young son who is devastated by Charlie Kirk’s murder & doesn’t want to leave his room. I did my best to speak to his young men. Lots of young men and women are hurting today. You may not even realize it: pic.twitter.com/95PlMsGIXf
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 11, 2025
“I think there are so many young kids out there, so many young boys that are lost, and Charlie was, for them, a voice to help provide salvation to them. That’s why he connected so well with young men, young boys,” Travis said.
“I know in my own household …the impact,” he continued. “My ninth-grade son said, ‘Dad, we went in the locker room and the whole football team was just crushed.’”
Travis shared that his advice to the young man in Massachusetts and his son and their friends is, “You have to be tougher than you think you are. You have to be braver than you think you are. And you are both, and so are all of us.”
He pointed out that it is especially hard because some youths may have never before experienced such a sudden and violent loss of a young leader they connected with and admired.
Thank you for bringing our hero home @VP @JDVance.
We are so grateful for you. pic.twitter.com/h5kZgJ2zTd
— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) September 11, 2025
“I think when you’re a young kid, a young boy, a young girl, you feel like you’re fragile, and you aren’t,” Travis said.
He concluded, “You cannot let people who want to silence you win, ever. That’s what they want. You have to stand up stronger than you’ve ever been before — all of us do.”
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