“Venus Williams forfeits match against trans woman,” saying, “I’m not playing a man.”
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Venus Williams hits a return to Nao Hibino, of Japan, at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament March 6, 2024, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP)
No, Venus Williams didn’t forfeit a tennis match against a trans woman. That story is fake
If Your Time is short
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PolitiFact reviewed news on Google and in Nexis news archives and found no evidence that tennis player Venus Williams ever forfeited a match against a transgender athlete.
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The photo in the post does not show Venus Williams. It’s her sister, Serena Williams.
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The story appears to have originated on a satire site.
Social media users got slammed by a volley of misinformation.
"Venus Williams forfeits match against trans woman: "I’m not playing a man," said the caption on an April 14 Facebook post that included a photo. The post’s caption pointed readers to a "full story" linked in the comments, but the body of the article included only a few lines of text from another, unrelated article.
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Similar posts also were shared on Instagram and TikTok.
But this never happened.
PolitiFact reviewed news on Google and in Nexis news archives and found no reports that Venus Williams has ever forfeited a match to a transgender athlete. And this was not the viral image’s only inaccuracy.
Featured Fact-check
(Screenshot of Facebook post)
In every post, many of which garnered thousands of likes, the tennis player pictured is not Venus Williams, but her sister Serena Williams. The photo comes from Serena’s winning match in the 2022 US Open against Danka Kovinic where Serena wore a black outfit with gold stars.
The other woman depicted in some of the posts is also not a transgender athlete, but Amélie Mauresmo, a retired French tennis player who now directs the French Open.
When the claim first circulated last year, fact-checking outlets found the story had originated on a self-described satire website called "America’s Last Line of Defense," which has the disclaimer "Nothing on this page is real." We have fact-checked many claims from this site, and a larger network of sites, run by the same person, Christopher Blair.
The story is now being shared with no sign that it is satire.
The claim taps into the current debate over transgender athletes, specifically trans women, competing in women’s sports. Commenters on the Facebook post, who appeared not to know the information was false, left remarks such as "Good (for) her! All female athletes need to take a stand against this nonsense."
The number of trans athletes is very small, especially at the professional level.
We rate the claim that Venus Williams "forfeited" a match against a transgender woman, saying, "I’m not playing a man" Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Facebook post (archived), April 14, 2024
Instagram post (archived), April 6, 2024
Check Your Fact, "FACT CHECK: Did Venus Williams Refuse To Compete Against Transgender Athlete?," October 9, 2023
Facebook post (archived), Dec. 4, 2023
TikTok video, April 2, 2024
Lead Stories, "Fact Check: Venus Williams Did NOT 'Refuse To Play Against A Trans Woman' -- Claim Is From A Satire Network," Oct. 5, 2023
USA Today, "Serena Williams defeats Danka Kovinic in opening round of 2022 US Open," Aug 29, 2022
Page Six, "Serena Williams' US Open 2022 outfit is highly symbolic," Aug. 30, 2022
Wikipedia, "Amélie Mauresmo," accessed April 17, 2024
Reuters, "Mauresmo named French Open tournament director," Dec. 9, 2021
Lead Stories, "Fact Check: Venus Williams Did NOT 'Refuse To Play Against A Trans Woman' -- Claim Is From A Satire Network," Oct. 5, 2023
Check Your Fact, "FACT CHECK: Did Venus Williams Refuse To Compete Against Transgender Athlete?"
America’s Last Line of Defense, "Venus Williams Gets a Standing Ovation For Refusing To Play a Trans Woman (archived)," archived April 17, 2024
Facebook page, "America's Last Line Of Defense," accessed April 17, 2024
The Washington Post, "‘Nothing on this page is real’: How lies become truth in online America," Nov. 17, 2018
America’s Last Line of Defense, "Home page," accessed April 17, 2024
PolitiFact, "How a disinformation network exploited satire to become a popular source of false news on Facebook," Jan. 23, 2020
PolitiFact, "New York Times anonymous op-ed author isn’t a liberal troll," Sept. 12, 2018
PolitiFact, "No, Colin Kaepernick hasn’t lost his Nike deal," Sept. 5, 2018
PolitiFact, "Satirical post featuring Denzel Washington spreads on social media," June 24, 2021
PolitiFact, "Fake news website republishes satirical story about NBA season, Trump," April 6, 2020
PolitiFact, "Fake news says Trump sending stimulus money to retirees for Christmas," Nov. 27, 2017
PolitiFact, "Was Garth Brooks ghosted by Illinois fans over his pro-LGBTQ+ stance? No. That story is satirical," June 30, 2023
PolitiFact, "Celebrate International Fact-checking Day: Avoid falling for fake news," April 2, 2018
PolitiFact, "Tuberville’s claim that Olympics decided ‘men can box women’ misses the mark," March 1, 2024
PolitiFact, "Lawmaker estimated there were six transgender athletes competing in Wis. sports, but lacks evidence," Oct. 18, 2023
PolitiFact, "Kansas trans athlete law doesn’t 'authorize' genital inspections for kids, doesn’t ban them either," April 13, 2023
PolitiFact, "Nikki Haley falsely links transgender athletes with teen girls’ suicidal ideation," June 6, 2023
Newsweek, "How Many Transgender Athletes Play Women's Sports?," April 21, 2023
CBS News, "25 transgender athletes you should know," May 19, 2022
People Magazine, "Golden Bachelor Couple Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist Are Divorcing: What Went Wrong in Their 3-Month Marriage?," April 12, 2024
Story, "Venus Williams Forfeits Match Against Trans Woman: "I’m Not Playing a Man" archived," archived April 17, 2024
Google Search, "venus williams forfeits match to trans athlete" April 17, 2024
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No, Venus Williams didn’t forfeit a tennis match against a trans woman. That story is fake
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