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Piers Morgan has criticized former US women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe for what he described as her “silence” over the current situation involving the Iranian women’s soccer team, calling it “hypocritical” given her open support for transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Morgan’s remarks follow a New York Post opinion piece highlighting Rapinoe’s silence, published on X.
Megan Rapinoe attends the game between the Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty on May 18, 2024 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images)
“The silence of Rapinoe and so many so-called ‘feminists’ like her is revealing, 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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The Iranian women’s football team was thrust into the spotlight after its 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 the next two matches before being eliminated, the team sang and saluted the Iranian anthem.
A media frenzy ensued, concerned for the well-being of players and coaches as they inevitably had to return to Iran amid the joint US and Israeli military campaign against the country.
President Donald Trump encouraged the Australian government to grant asylum to the team. Seven members of the team had accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to stay in Australia permanently, but one has since changed her mind.
Iranian players during their national anthem before 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 did not appear to comment publicly on the situation.
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Last month, during an episode of her podcast “A Touch More,” Rapinoe defended the U.S. women’s ice hockey team while criticizing the men’s team and Trump for the phone call they had after the team’s gold medal in Milan Cortina.
“The United States men’s hockey team, in their moment of glory, their childhood dreams come true, the accomplishment of a lifetime, sensational – blew it because they allowed themselves to be totally co-opted by a clown. And now you’re a clown. You look like a clown,” she began, referring to Trump’s remark about the need to invite the women’s team to the State of the Union address.
“Why don’t you respect yourself more than letting this moment be taken by someone who, for no reason, just takes a huge swing and goes after women who have done the exact same thing as you.”
Rapinoe, an outspoken critic of Trump and his policies, has also expressed support for transgender athletes. In a 2023 interview with Time magazine, Rapinoe said she would support a trans athlete being enrolled in the USWNT, adding that she did not consider it “taking the place of a ‘real’ woman”.
Former OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe (15) and midfielder Jessica Fishlock (10) parade on the field before a game against the North Carolina Courage at Lumen Field on October 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 is still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women. What you’re automatically saying in the argument – you’re kind of already telling yourself – is that you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other place. I don’t feel that way.”
She also has already criticized the Save Women’s Sports movement.
Due to her previous outspoken remarks, Rapinoe faced massive backlash on social media.
In her latest podcast episode, which aired on Thursday, Rapinoe did not appear to publicly comment on the Iranian women’s soccer team. She discussed the CBA’s ongoing negotiations within the WNBA, which she compared to the “fight for equal pay” championed by the U.S. women’s soccer team, which resulted in a historic agreement in 2022.
