Lia Thomas

Did former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines "beat" competitive swimmer Lia Thomas for the "last spot on the pro tour"? No, that's not true: This claim appeared in an article on a satirical website known for publishing fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on August 29, 2023, titled "Riley Gaines Beats Lia Thomas For…

Did Riley Gaines settle a civil suit against Lia Thomas for $1.2 million? No, that's not true: This claim originated from a self-described satirical website aimed at trolling conservatives. That website, The Dunning-Kruger Times, has a disclaimer that describes itself as part of a network of "parody, satire, and tomfoolery" and says, "Everything on this website is fiction." The claim…

Is it illegal for apartment tenants in Switzerland to flush their toilets after 10 p.m.? No, that's not true: Over the years, the urban myth has been debunked by several Swiss legal experts. The claim, which has appeared online since at least 2002, reappeared in a post on Facebook on July 6, 2023, by the account Scientify. The post, captioned…

Did the NCAA settle with American collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines for $1.2 million and guarantee her a spot for next year? No, that's not true: This story originated from a self-described satirical website aimed at trolling conservatives. No corporate statement or credible independent reporting supports the claim. The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on May…

Did the International Olympic Committee issue a lifetime ban against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas? No, that's not true: This claim is from a satirical website, The Dunning-Kruger Times. There is no evidence the Committee has ruled that she is banned for life from swimming competitions at the Olympic level. The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times…

Does a declassified "CIA document" prove that the intelligence agency knows "how the world is going to end"? No, that's not true: The "document" is an excerpt from a book, "The Adam and Eve Story: The History of Cataclysms." It was not written by the CIA, but by the writer Chan Thomas. An online book database shows that it has…

Did the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) strip former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas of her NCAA National Championship record and refer her case to the Indiana state attorney for "possible fraud charges"? No, neither of those claims are true: This claim is from a satirical website, The Dunning-Kruger Times. There is no evidence Thomas is being stripped of…

Does a photo that has been circulating online since November 2022 show British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak flashing his bare chest and wearing nothing but a white lab coat and a jockstrap? No, that's not true: This photo cannot be traced back to Sunak and its origin is unknown. It could be a digitally edited or an AI-generated image. The…

Are transgender people and gender fluidity "products" of modern Western civilization? No, that's not true: Non-binary gender expression in many communities across the globe throughout history has been documented and researched. Professor Lisa Duggan told Lead Stories that even though people of earlier epochs did not necessarily conceptualize themselves through the optics of present-day terms, the phenomena are not modern…

Are Black Americans descended from the original indigenous inhabitants of North America and not from enslaved persons taken from Africa? No, that's not true: This notion descends from the Moorish Science Temple, a pseudoscience organization that argues without evidence that Black people are of "Moorish" descent and the original indigenous group of North America. Black Americans are descendants of enslaved…