Clay Cane

Clay Cane is a journalist, author, political commentator, and radio host. He is the author of The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans From the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump and Burn Down Master's House: A Novel. Cane is also the host of The Clay Cane Show on SiriusXM Urban View channel 126.

Early life and education Cane earned a bachelor's degree in English and African-American Studies from Rutgers University. He was a member of academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa.

Career Cane is the co-editor and contributing writer of the 2012 anthology For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home. He also contributed to Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community.

In 2015, Cane created, directed and produced the BET.com original documentary Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church. The film explored homophobia in the black church by tackling the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and religion, earning a 2016 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Digital Journalism.

Cane's commentary has been heard on MTV, ABC, FOX, VH1, CNN, and MSNBC. On February 24, 2016, The White House featured Cane as a Black History Month speaker along with a screening of the documentary. In 2017, he released Live Through This: Surviving the Intersections of Sexuality, God, and Race. In 2024, he released the New York Times bestseller The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans From the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump. In 2026, he released the New York Times bestselling novel Burn Down Master's House.

Published works