No, Gordon Ramsay didn’t kick transgender swimmer Lia Thomas out of a restaurant. Claim is satire

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is known for his fiery temper, but did he boot transgender swimmer Lia Thomas from his restaurant? 

A June 26 Facebook post said: "Gordon Ramsay kicks Lia Thomas out of his restaurant ‘Dine in some woke place’." The post then refers to Thomas by her former name. At least 17,000 people have reacted to the post, which includes a picture of both Thomas and Ramsay and directs viewers to a "full story" linked in the comments.

(Screenshot of Facebook post)

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Since winning the NCAA swimming championship in 2022, Thomas has been a prominent figure in the debate over transgender women’s participation in women's sports.

The linked article claims Ramsay asked Thomas "to leave one of his restaurants" citing a policy of "no woke people allowed." The story does not specify in which of Ramsay’s restaurants this took place. 

That’s probably because it never happened. After searching Google and Nexis, PolitiFact could find no credible reporting of this restaurant conflict happening. The viral story originated as satire.

Esspots.com, a self-proclaimed satire site, first shared headlines about Thomas being kicked out of the celebrity chef’s establishment in January. Other satire sites, such as SpaceXArena and SpaceXMania, also shared the claim.

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stated on November 2, 2024 in a post

“Riley Gaines criticizes Whoopi Goldberg on The View: ‘You’re a disgrace to real women!’”

But, recently this headline has been spreading on social media without a satire disclaimer.

Ramsay is a common character featured in these satire headlines along with other famous athletes and nonathletes such as entrepreneur Elon Musk, actor Mel Gibson and singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.

We rate the claim that Ramsay kicked Thomas out of his restaurant, False.