Breanna Stewart Calls For Chartered Flights For Brittney Griner After She Was Asked Questions In An Airport
Brittney Griner and her Phoenix Mercury teammates were asked questions while walking through Dallas airport on Saturday and now her fellow WNBA players and the league itself are issuing calls of action for her safety.
Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty spoke about Griner's airport interaction on Sunday calling for "extra precautionary reasons" and suggesting Griner fly charter while the rest of the league flies commercial.
“I think that there needs to be extra precautionary measures taken,” Stewart said, according to the NY Post. “I don’t think anyone is against BG having charter flights whenever she wants so that she can be herself and travel and be comfortable and be safe."
Stewart's comments came after she had jumped on Twitter to quote tweet Brianna Turner of the Mercury who claimed the team huddled in a corner while one man asked Griner questions.
Alex Stein, a personality for BlazeTV who typically takes aim at politicians, walked alongside Griner and her teammates asking the former Russian prisoner a number of questions.
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In the video, Stein asks Griner from a good distance away "do you still wanna boycott America?" Stein was immediately confronted by security and appears to be kept at a distance away from the players during the exchange. Stein also asked Griner "was it a fair trade for the 'Merchant of Death.'"
Griner was released from a Russian prison in December 2022 after the Biden administration agreed to a prisoner swap involving notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout aka, the 'Merchant of Death.'
Shortly after Stein's video began to go viral, the WNBA released a statement calling Stein a "social media figure and povaceteur." The Mercury released a statement of their own explaining "the health and well-being of our players and staff are our top priority and we will always take every step withing our power to protect player safety."
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While the idea of allowing Griner to fly charter may seem like a bit much, it's actually already been approved by the league. As to why Griner wasn't already taking advantage of flying charter, the Mercury have not said why she wasn't taking advantage of the perk.
The WNBA Player's Association claimed that there may have been uncertainty about who was supposed to pay for the chartered flights if Griner was to take the league up on its approved offer.