Brittney Griner And Team Harrassed At Airport, Players “Demand Better”
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury basketball team were targeted with harassment on Saturday (June 10), and the players have called for better conditions. According to ESPN, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBA) athletes were traveling through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport when a Blaze Media YouTube personality confronted the team, yelling questions at Griner and filming.
“Right now, we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players,” explained Coach Vanessa Nygaard following the incident. “I do know Phoenix as an organization, we follow the rules. And we were given guidelines of travel, and we follow the guidelines established by the league.”
The WNBA issued a statement condemning the alleged actions of the vlogger and confirmed that the Mercury had permission to charter flights as opposed to commercial travel.
“As we gather additional information about today’s incident at the Dallas airport, it has come to our attention that this was orchestrated by a social media figure and provocateur,” the WNBA explained. “His actions were inappropriate and unfortunate. The safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority”
The statement continued to detail, “Prior to the season, the WNBA worked together with the Phoenix Mercury and BG’s team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included charter flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel with her at all times.”
The WNBA told ESPN that there may have been confusion on the travel protocol.
“Given her special situation, the WNBA approved charter flights for BG for the 2023 season,” a league spokesperson said to the outlet. “We informed the Phoenix Mercury earlier this year to move ahead with any arrangements they felt were appropriate and needed, including charter flights.”
The Phoenix Mercury also issued a statement. They clarified, “We are reviewing the incident that took place today… We will be coordinating with the WNBA on next steps.”
Although Griner has not issued a statement regarding the incident, her teammates have shared their thoughts on player safety.
“That can’t happen,” said Diana Taurasi to the press on Sunday following the Mercury’s victory over the Indiana Fever. “The safety of everyone comes first. You know basketball is secondary to all that. People have families, kids. To be put in that situation really is disrespectful, to not only BG, but to our team, to the league.”
Brianna Turner added, “It was startling to show up to the airport to have people waiting at your gate to just totally [disrupt] your day and follow you around on the airport, shouting and causing a scene. That’s obviously nothing anyone wants to deal with, especially on a business trip for work, representing the league, the city of Phoenix, our organization.”
Turner also tweeted about the scene, writing, “Player safety while traveling should be at the forefront. People following with cameras saying wild remarks is never acceptable. Excessive harassment. Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.”
The current WNBA season is Griner’s return to the court following her controversial arrest, trial, and imprisonment in Russia in February 2022. After being sentenced to nine years in a penal colony, the all-star athlete was freed in exchange for the release of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout by the United States government.
“Brittney Griner and the WNBA players are leaders who inspire hope for a better, more inclusive, and less divided America,” said Griner’s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas according to ABC News. “They are celebrated for the ways their activism inspires positive change. In doing that, they also become targets for hate, threats, and violence. And today’s incident is a clear reminder of that. We cannot celebrate these women and their leadership without also protecting them. It’s past time for charters and enhanced security measures for all players.”
More from VIBE.com
