If there is nothing there, there is nothing to refute. Totally disagree here, and I usually agree with you on a lot of stuff. Several months back, a prominent faculty member at Stanford who has a very popular podcast, Andrew Huberman, was the subject of a major hit piece by the New Yorker on his romantic life. He is not married. The hit piece was very strangely put together, and had anecdote from what seemed like a couple/few jilted ex-girlfriends. Twitter was abuzz for a short while. Unless I missed it, Huberman never responded or addressed the story. It went away where it should have been in the first place, to a non-story.
The Star Liar/NJ.com need to be very careful with any story involving the gymnastics coach, if one exists. I don't recall they picked up on the Reditt thread of the several ex-gymnasts who complained about her being a bad coach.
A few years ago, they did a glowing piece on the gymnastics coach and how her grandfather was a civil rights pioneer.
Rutgers' Umme Salim-Beasley doesn't shy from discussing controversial issues with her gymnasts.
www.nj.com