Fox News host Jesse Watters said unnamed "people" have told him that soccer star Megan Rapinoe is a "traitor in the war on women" and that he has "done more for women's sports" than the two-time World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist.
Watters said during the Tuesday edition of Fox News' The Five that some have said that he had trumped Rapinoe's accomplishments by fighting "valiantly" on behalf of women in "the war against women," stressing that he was not personally making the claim but it was "something that's being said."
Rapinoe, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden last year, apparently provoked the ire of Watters and his anonymous associates for speaking out against anti-transgender legislation and in favor of trans participation in sports during a recent Time magazine interview.
"We as a country are trying to legislate away people's full humanity," Rapinoe said. "It's particularly frustrating when women's sports is weaponized."
"Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women's sports?" she continued. "That's total bulls***. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It's just not happening."
Watters said that unnamed women suggested to him that Rapinoe was ill-equipped to speak about the issue due to her status as a lesbian, arguing that "she may have a different feeling about the trans issue than straight women."
He then proclaimed that he had been compared favorably to Rapinoe for his own championing of women's sports, although it was not clear how the Fox News host was involved in women's sports, other than being opposed to transgender inclusion.
"Some people have told me that I have actually done more for women's sports than Megan Rapinoe has done," Watters said. "[They said] that maybe she's a traitor in the war on women. And I have fought valiantly in that war, obviously on the women's side."
Watters stressed that he disagreed with the notion of his contributions to women's sports being greater than Rapinoe's, insisting that the claim was only "something that's being said."
"That's not me saying that, and I actually disagree with that," said Watters. "I'm just saying it's something that's being said."
At least one of Watters' female co-hosts laughed in response to his statement, although it was not clear if he was joking.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Rapinoe's agent and the U.S. Soccer Federation via email on Tuesday.
Watters also said, without evidence, that Rapinoe was secretly opposed to trans women participating in women's sports, arguing that she would "never be OK with" being replaced with "a guy."
Rapinoe rejected the same scenario in her Time interview, calling the framing of the argument "extremely transphobic."
The Fox News host went on to insist that he has "respect" for what Rapinoe "has done on the field" but argued that her support of trans people and position on trans inclusion in sports was "destructive" and "destroying women's sports."
Watters also claimed that only trans women were attempting to compete in women's sports, falsely asserting that there were no trans men competing in men's sports.
Rapinoe, 38, has been a frequent target of conservatives since saying that she was "not going to the f***ing White House" to visit former President Donald Trump following the U.S. Women's National Team's World Cup win in 2019.
Trump, whom Rapinoe has called a "white nationalist," has repeatedly lashed out at her and the national team since, claiming that the team was "headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs" in 2021.
Rapinoe announced last week that she would retire from professional soccer at the conclusion of this year's National Women's Soccer League season.
She will compete as part of the U.S. Women's National Team this month for the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, where the team will be attempting to win the championship for an unprecedented third time in a row.
Update 07/12/23, 4:24 p.m.: This article has been updated to provide additional context to Watters' remarks.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
