Did now-retired soccer player Megan Rapinoe lose her job at ESPN after one day in April 2025? No, that's not true: The story originated from a network known for publishing made-up stories with satire labels. As of April 23, 2025, no credible sources had reported Rapinoe was fired.
The claim originated from an article (archived here) on the Dunning-Kruger Times that was reposted (archived here) on Facebook on April 22, 2025. The story's title read:
Megan Rapinoe Lasts One Whole Day at ESPN Before Being Fired for Being... Megan Rapinoe.
The article continued:
According to ESPN Executive Producer Joe Barron, Rapinoe was 'released from her duties' after a single day on the job.
'She couldn't get along with anyone,' Barron said. 'Producers, other commentators, interns, the vending machine guy... even the teleprompter filed a grievance. And frankly, she's just not very good at calling games. She's more interested in making political statements and throwing shade at people who dare to like sports'.
This is what the article looked like on the Dunning-Kruger Times at the time of writing:
(Source: Dunning-Kruger Times screenshot by Lead Stories)
The Dunning-Kruger Times is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair and bills itself as satire. Its about page (archived here) displays 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 (archived here) by a math professor.
Megan Rapinoe is a now-retired professional soccer player (archived here) also known for her activism (archived here).
A search for the keywords seen here (archived here) across Google News did not produce links to credible reports confirming the purported firing. What the search results showed was a fact check of a similar claim that circulated online in 2023.
Furthermore, no credible news outlet (archived here) reported that Rapinoe was hired by ESPN in April 2025 in any permanent or semi-permanent capacity.
As of this writing, the ESPN website did not show a person named "Joe Barron" (archived here) on the list of the company's executives. Rapinoe's name did not appear (archived here) on the list of the ESPN commentators or other personnel, either.
About "America's Last Line of Defense"
The Dunning-Kruger Times is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of self-described satire websites and social media accounts. Articles from those resources frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
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Other Lead Stories articles about claims originating from websites with satire labels are here.
