The University of Texas did not withdraw the scholarships of five students for kneeling during the U.S. national anthem, as suggested in posts sharing a headline that originated on a satirical website.
The posts refer to a symbolic gesture initiated by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016 to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
Social media accounts, opens new tab shared a screenshot featuring a line of women kneeling on a basketball court: “5 Students: “Kneeling is respect. We do it before God.”
Reuters Image
The comments under the posts link to articles on unnamed websites, opens new tab that share similar body text with different headlines but do not attribute any sources. They say the kneeling players are from the University of Texas.
John Bianco, Associate Athletics Director of Communications at the University of Texas said via email, “There’s no truth to this rumor.”
The photo shared with some of the posts is not of students from the University of Texas, either. It shows players, opens new tab from the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team, known as Lady Vols, representing the University of Tennessee. The players kneeled during the national anthem before a game in January 2021.
VERDICT
False. A narrative saying five students at the University of Texas lost their scholarship for kneeling during the national anthem is not true.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.