The old adage “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on” has only been heightened thanks to the misinformation spread on social media.
Those lies often spill over into the sports world as well, like recently, when news spread that Elon Musk offered South Carolina coach Dawn Staley $10 million to “go towards the development of the women’s basketball program at South Carolina, potentially funding scholarships, facility upgrades, or other key aspects that could further the growth of women’s athletics.”
The post received over 20,000 likes on the Women’s Hoops’ Facebook page with a headline that read, “BREAKING: Dawn Staley Shocks the World by Rejecting Elon Musk’s $10 Million Offer. She says ‘Keep It and Spend It on Something That Actually Helps People!’” with comments supporting the coach sticking to her principles and not aligning with the DOGE leader.
However, the post linked back to a site, Btuatu.com, that provided no evidence of the story’s source and was riddled with manufactured quotes about Musk’s supposed support for Staley’s use of sports to fight for equality and women’s empowerment.
The story goes on to falsely say that Staley turned down the non-existent donation because she wanted him to “Keep it and spend it on something that actually helps people.”
But thankfully, Snopes, known for sussing out fake news, has debunked the entire story, citing a lack of proof. Further investigation proved that Btuatu.com has published made-up stories before for the sake of site traffic.
While there’s no concrete reason behind the concocted Musk-Staley storyline, Staley’s been in the news lately as her South Carolina Gamecocks have received the NCAA Women’s March Madness No.1 seed for the ninth time in her career.
The ranking was expected since the team has only lost four games in the last three seasons and is working its way through the bracket as well. The most recent win came against Indiana, a 64-53 victory, earning Carolina its 11th straight Sweet 16 appearance. While an impressive feat, Staley knows that it’s become commonplace thanks to the talent she recruits, so the real battle begins now.
“The expectation is for us to advance out of the first and second round. The expectation is for us to advance out of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. It isn’t that easy. I don’t wish it was that easy. Anything that is extremely hard, you have to work through,” she told South Carolina’s The State. “You go to work through the ball not going through like you envisioned it or you aren’t executing through a defensive standpoint. National championship teams are usually challenged on their journey to winning it. So, I think we are well in character about what happened today and being challenged.”
Now that we’ve cleared up the fake news, see Staley coach the Gamecocks against the Maryland Terrapins on Friday, March 28.
