Riley Gaines won $10 million from Whoopi Goldberg in lawsuit? No, that's satire | Fact check
The claim: Riley Gaines won a $10 million defamation lawsuit against Whoopi Goldberg
An April 29 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows side-by-side photos of former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines and comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg.
“Riley Gaines won $10 million against Whoopi Goldberg for defaming her reputation, extremely satisfied fans spoke up,” the post’s caption reads.
It was shared 2,500 times in nine days.
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Our rating: False
The claim originated on a satirical website and originally was labeled that way, but the Facebook post makes no mention of that. There is no credible evidence a lawsuit was ever filed.
Claim originated on a satirical website
The Facebook page that posted the claim included in the comments a link to a story published April 9 about a supposed dispute between Goldberg and Gaines, a vocal opponent of transgender women participating in women’s sports.
But it’s not real. A lawsuit involving Goldberg and Gaines would have been widely covered. Yet there are no court records or reports from legitimate media outlets to substantiate it.
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The article linked in the Facebook post is a nearly word-for-word duplication of one published Oct. 11, 2023, by Esspots, a subsidiary of the satirical website SpaceXMania.com. Its “About Us” page states that it specializes in satire and parody news. The article contains a satire label, and the writer’s bio includes a reference to his experience “crafting clever and satirical pieces.”
Tim Lawson, the publisher of the SpaceXMania site, confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that the story is fabricated.
SpaceXMania has shared the satirical claim multiple times since then. A similar story was published by a different satirical website, the Patriot Party Press, along with a disclaimer that states, “Nothing on this page is real.”
The Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where claims written as satire and originally presented that way are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened in this case.
USA TODAY has debunked several false claims involving Gaines, including assertions that she defeated transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in an Olympic qualifying race, was awarded $1.2 million and a berth in the 2024 NCAA championship and was being given Thomas’ medals.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not receive a response.
Reuters also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Tim Lawson, May 7, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Esspots (archive), Oct. 11, 2023, TRUE: Riley Gaines Wins $10 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Whoopi Goldberg
Esspots, accessed May 7, About Us
Patriot Party Press (archive), accessed May 7, Riley Gaines Wins $8 Million Defamation Suit Against Whoopi Goldberg
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No lawsuit involving Riley Gaines, Whoopi Goldberg | Fact check
