Was swimmer Lia Thomas "Booed Off Stage at the 'NCAA Legends' Meet and Greet"? No, that's not true: This claim appeared in an article on a satirical website known for publishing fabricated content. The website where this claim originated has a disclaimer that reads "Everything on this website is fiction."
The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on October 17, 2023, titled "Lia Thomas Booed Off Stage at the 'NCAA Legends' Meet and Greet" (archived here). It opened:
Once a year, the NCAA holds a convention to honor its past athletes who made history in the league. On opening night, there's a parade across the main stage that shows highlights of the athletes' careers as they collect applause from the audience.
This year's opening night, unfortunately, came with boos instead when transgender swimmer Lia Thomas hit the stage.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Lia Thomas Booed Off Stage at the "NCAA Legends" Meet and Greet
They should have never invited her.
The article continued:
'The crowd wasn't happy,' said event coordinator Joe Barron, 'They didn't particularly care for Lia's inclusion in the evening's festivities.'
This October 19, 2023, Google search (archived here) shows that there is no "Joe Barron" who serves as a "NCAA Legends event coordinator."
Joe Barron was a friend of Christopher Blair, the founder of The Dunning-Kruger Times. Barron's name is frequently used in Blair's satirical stories as an homage to his deceased friend.
A search (archived here) of the Google News index of thousands of web pages, using the keywords "Lia Thomas Booed Off Stage at the "NCAA Legends" Meet and Greet," produced no credible independent reports supporting the claim. It would have been deemed a significant news event with widespread coverage if this were true.
Lead Stories reached out to Thomas' representatives and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This fact check will be updated if any responses are received.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving Lia Thomas can be read here.
The Dunning-Kruger Times
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has the 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.
