Did American soccer player Megan Rapinoe say she's leaving America because she gets "no respect"? No, that's not true: This claim is coming from a satirical website. It has been reported by multiple major news outlets that Rapinoe is going to retire from her international career at the end of the 2023 National Women's Soccer League season.
The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on September 6, 2023, titled "Megan Rapinoe Says She's Leaving America: 'I Get No Respect'" (archived here). It opened:
Megan Rapinoe's career came to an end last month, in what was anything but a blaze of glory.
This is what the article looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Dunning-Kruger-Times.com screenshot taken on Thu Sep 7 15:01:39 2023 UTC)
According to the article, Rapinoe got released from her professional teams, is being sued and is "facing wrath" from Riley Gaines and Kyle Rittenhouse, all of which is allegedly making her leave America.
We looked for evidence that Rapinoe told an outlet that she planned on emigrating because she gets "no respect" on Google News and could not find a relevant article. The Dunning-Kruger Times article also claims that Rapinoe is thinking of moving to Portugal. We could not find any evidence on Google News that she said this either.
The Olympics' official website shared an August 10, 2023, article (archived here) confirming Rapinoe's "international retirement" at the end of the National Women's Soccer League 2023 season. It didn't state Rapinoe is planning on leaving the United States. In this case, international retirement means retiring from her international career. This U.S. Soccer article from July 8, 2023 (archived here), reports the same.
Rapinoe was born in the United States, but has played for soccer teams of other countries, making her career international. Other articles on her retirement announcement can be found here.
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 a psychology experiment 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.
Other Lead Stories articles on Megan Rapinoe can be found here.
