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 her records for swimming.
The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on May 11, 2023, titled "NCAA Strips Lia Thomas Of National Championship After 'Unfavorable' Test Results" (archived here) which opened:
Swimmer Lia Thomas made waves last year when she, who some say is a "he," smashed every NCAA swimming record imaginable, stealing the Women's National Championship from more than 1600 hard-working athletes.
After a lengthy investigation, the league has decided to revoke Thomas' title, strip her of those records, and forward her to the Indiana State Attorney for possible fraud charges.
Here is what the article looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: The Dunning-Kruger Times screenshot taken Mon May 22 16:27:00 UTC 2023)
Searching Google News using the phrases, "NCAA strips Lia Thomas championship" and "Indiana State attorney Lia Thomas" produced no credible reports supporting the claims The Dunning-Kruger Times is writing about. Legal actions such as those described would be major news, both in sports pages and on news pages.
We have contacted the Indiana attorney general's office and will update this article when a response is received.
The Dunning-Kruger Times
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has following disclaimer:
About Us
Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':
sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r noun: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
The website is named after the Dunning-Kruger effect, a term from psychology that describes the phenomenon of being ignorant of one's own ignorance. (That experiment has been disputed by a math professor.)
It is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair. Blair also runs wearethellod.com, bustatroll.org or bebest.website. The Washington Post profiled Blair and his network of satirical sites here in 2018.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on Blair stories shared as news on social media are Kevin Costner is NOT suing 'The View' for hate speech, Tim Allen did NOT confirm to filming seven episodes with Roseanne Barr and Denzel Washington did NOT refuse to work for Disney's 'Woke Cinematic Universe'.
