U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Did Not Turn Away From WWII Veteran’s Performance
The Claim
Members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team decided to turn their backs to a World War II veteran as he performed the National Anthem before the start of a soccer match.
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Emerging story
The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team recently played against Mexico in an Olympic send-off match. At the start of the game, World War II veteran Pete DuPré, also known as “Harmonica Pete” stood in front of the soccer players and began performing The Star-Spangled Banner on his harmonica.
Many of the players turned to their right. Some watching interpreted this as an act of protest against the national anthem and as a disrespectful gesture toward the veteran. Soon, an article appeared in The Post Millennial claiming that the team members were acting disgracefully. It was shared on social media accounts, with posts gaining thousands of interactions. Some viral posts even compared the women in the team to Nazis.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation concluded that the members of the U.S. women’s soccer team were not attempting to protest the national anthem or the veteran who performed the anthem.
Instead of turning away from the veteran, the players were actually turning to face the American flag, which was atop a flagpole at the end of the soccer pitch. ESPN has uploaded a video of the sequence from multiple angles. One angle shows the stadium from a great height. This shot reveals that there are flagpoles on either side of the pitch. The Mexico side appears to have no flags. The American side of the pitch is harder to make out, but it does appear as if there are objects at the top of the flagpoles, which would presumably be American flags.
Additionally, members of the team have stated that they turned to face the flags atop these flagpoles. For instance, one of the team members, Carli Lloyd, tweeted that she and her colleagues turned to face the flags. Also, the official U.S. Soccer Comms account has similarly tweeted that no one was turning their back on the veteran while he was playing the anthem. The account also affirmed that the players were looking at the flags on the flagpoles.
Lastly, the Twitter account for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team tweeted a video after the match had taken place of many of the team members signing the veteran’s soccer ball and thanking him.
As there is video evidence that backs up the statement that the soccer players were looking at American flags, and as a later video demonstrates that the soccer players were appreciative of the veteran in the video, we rate this story as false.
