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Piers Morgan criticized former US women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe for what he described as her “silence” about the ongoing situation involving the Iranian women’s soccer team, calling it “hypocritical” given her outspoken support for transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Morgan’s remarks came in response to a New York Post op-ed highlighting Rapinoe’s silence, which was published on X.
Megan Rapinoe attends the game between Indiana Fever and New York Liberty on May 18, 2024 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images)
“The silence on this from Rapinoe, and so many supposed ‘feminists’ like her, is so telling, damning and hypocritical,” he wrote in his post. “They would rather campaign for biological males to destroy women’s sport than campaign for these heroic young sportswomen to help save their lives.”
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Iran’s women’s soccer team came under the spotlight after players appeared to silently protest their national anthem during the team’s opening match at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia earlier this month. However, in their subsequent two matches before being eliminated, the team sang and saluted during Iran’s national anthem.
A media frenzy ensued, concerned for the well-being of the players and coaches after they inevitably had to return to Iran amid a joint US-Israeli military campaign against the country.
President Donald Trump called on the Australian government to grant the team asylum. Seven members of the squad had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to stay permanently in Australia, but one has since changed his mind.
Iran players during their national anthem ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP)
Rapinoe has not appeared to publicly comment on the situation.
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Last month, during an episode of her podcast, “A Touch More,” Rapinoe championed the U.S. women’s ice hockey team while criticizing the men’s squad and Trump for the phone call they had after the team’s gold medal win in Milano Cortina.
“The United States men’s hockey team in their full moment of glory, childhood dreams come true, a lifetime achievement, sensational — ruined it for themselves because they let themselves be totally co-opted by a clown. And now you’re a clown. You look like a clown,” she began, referring to Trump’s invitation to the women’s State of the Union address.
“Why don’t you respect yourself more than to have that moment taken by someone who for no reason just takes a huge swing and jab at women who did the exact same thing you did.”
Rapinoe, an outspoken critic of Trump and his policies, has also previously voiced her support for transgender athletes. In a 2023 interview with Time magazine, Rapinoe said that she would support a trans athlete being drafted into the USWNT, adding that she didn’t see it as “taking a ‘real’ woman’s place.”
Former Olympic Reign forward Megan Rapinoe (15) and midfielder Jessica Fishlock (10) march on the court before a game against the North Carolina Courage at Lumen Field on Oct. 1, 2023. (Stephen Brashear/USA TODAY Sports)
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“Absolutely,” she told Time. “You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women. What you’re automatically saying in the argument—you’re kind of telling yourself already—is that you don’t believe these people are women. That’s why they’re taking the other place. I don’t feel that way.”
She has that too previously criticized the Save Women’s Sports movement.
Due to her previously stated remarks, Rapinoe has faced overwhelming backlash on social media.
In her latest podcast episode, which aired Thursday, Rapinoe did not appear to publicly comment on the Iranian women’s soccer team. She spoke about the ongoing CBA denials in the WNBA, which she compared to the “equal pay fight” championed by the U.S. women’s soccer team, which resulted in a landmark agreement in 2022.
