Did US Womens Soccer Team Turn Backs on Vet Playing National Anthem?
The U.S. women's soccer team turned their backs to protest against a 98-year-old veteran who performed the National Anthem before the team's match against Mexico. On July 5, 2021, the U.S. womens soccer team defeated Mexico 4-0 in their final match before the Olympic Games. While many cheered Americas accomplishment, conservative commentators started to share a video along with the claim that the team had disrespected the 98-year-old World War II veteran, Pete DuPr, who performed the national anthem on his harmonica. The controversy was a bit unclear from the start. Dinesh DSouza, for instance, claimed that the players had turned their backs on the veteran during the performance. Richard Grenell, former acting director of U.S. national intelligence, claimed that they turned their back on the flag. Both of these messages (as well as the articles, videos, and additional tweets pushing this claim) mischaracterized the actions of the U.S. womens soccer team. While the video (below) does appear to show some awkward positioning (some players were facing forward while some were facing to the side), this was not a protest or a gesture of disrespect against the flag or the veteran. When DuPr began his performance, some players opted to face him, while others turned to face an American flag at the end of the stadium. When you watch the video below, pay attention to the direction the audience members were facing behind DuPr . Many of them were angled away from the harmonica-playing veteran and toward a flag at the end of the stadium. This is the same direction that the players were facing. As the flag is a bit difficult to see in the video (since it is only shown at the far-end of the field), heres a photograph from sports reporter Jeff Kassouf that shows the location of the flag for reference:  Hello, here's a picture from yesterday of the northwest end of Rentschler Field, where the flag poles are and always have been. Have a great Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/puo3XoD4Zm  Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) July 6, 2021  Heres a video of DuPrs performance of the National Anthem from ESPN:  98-year-old World War II veteran Pete DuPr played the national anthem on a harmonica before the @USWNTs Olympic send-off match  pic.twitter.com/wnrOnZJhkC  ESPN (@espn) July 5, 2021  Many of the people claiming that the U.S. team disrespected this veteran or the flag noted that the Mexican team was facing forward. Its worth noting that the members of Mexicos soccer team were facing their flag (in the same direction as the U.S. players) when the national anthem of Mexico was played. The claim that the U.S. Soccer team disrespected this veteran is also contradicted by the fact that the players signed a ball for DuPr after his performance. Meghan Rapinoe, for example, who can be seen in the video facing toward the flag, not DuPr, can be glimpsed in this video signing a ball for the veteran:  Some U.S. soccer players, such as midfielder Cari Lloyd, have also disputed this claim on social media:  We turned because we faced the flag  https://t.co/1JJHUWGCLv  Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 6, 2021  The U.S. soccer team also posted a statement on Twitter:  Not true. No one turned their back on WWII Veteran Pete DuPr during tonight's anthem. Some USWNT players were simply looking at the flag on a pole in one end of the stadium. The players all love Pete, thanked him individually after the game and signed a ball for him.  U.S. Soccer Comms (@ussoccer_comms) July 6, 2021  The claim that the U.S. womens soccer team was protesting during veteran DuPrs National Anthem performance is not true. The players did not turn away from this veteran. They turned toward the U.S. flag.