WNBA Star Britney Griner Wants To Be Called 'Pops' Not 'Mom' By New Baby Boy

WNBA star Brittney Griner, part of the USA Basketball Olympic team set to compete in Paris next month, announced during All-Star Weekend that her wife Cherelle gave birth to a baby boy. 

Griner had twins from a previous relationship, and they are now nine years old. 

During an interview on All-Star Weekend, reporter Tarika Foster-Brasby said to Griner "You're about to be a mom…" 

Griner cut off Foster-Brasby and said "Pops." Griner then repeated the word "pops" several times before Foster-Brasby corrected herself. 

"Oh, let me get it together," the reporter responded. "You're about to be a pops." 

That's when Griner announced "he's here" before adding "he's amazing." 

Brittney Griner maintains that she's a woman who looks and sounds masculine

It's definitely strange to hear Griner say that she wants her baby to call her "pops." 

Many people have questioned whether Griner was actually born as a male who later transitioned to female. She's one of the few WNBA players who have ever dunked a basketball. 

However, Griner maintains that she is a woman. In an interview with ESPN back in 2015, when Griner was featured in ESPN The Magazine's ‘Body Issue,’ Griner said: 

"I got called a boy all the time. Going into the bathroom, I still get the shocked look, like, ‘Are you supposed to be in here?’ But I'm so used to it now, I'm just like, 'I'm a girl, I'm in the right bathroom.'

Additionally, she added: 

"I'm sure people are going to have a lot of critical things to say [about the ‘Body Issue’ photos]. 'Yo, she's a man!' But hey, that's my body and I look the way I look. People are either going to accept me for who I am or they're not. 

"I don't know what people think I'm hiding. I've heard, 'Oh, she's not a female, she's a male.' I've been told, 'Oh, she's tucking stuff.' They thought I was tucking. 

WNBA player Britney Griner had a baby with wife Cherelle Griner and is adamant about what the baby will call the basketball player.

(Joe Rondone/The Republic /USA Today Network)

"I mean, [in the Body Issue] it's out there. Let me show that I embrace the flatness! I just want people to see somebody who embraces being naked, embraces everything about them being different." 

Griner has had several run-ins with the law in her life. She was arrested for a domestic violence incident in 2015 and pleaded guilty to disorderly contact. 

Famously, the Russians detained her after finding drug paraphernalia in her luggage during a trip overseas to play basketball. 

The American government eventually allowed a Russian prisoner, known as "The Merchant of Death," to go free in a swap to get Griner out of prison.

She has since returned to the WNBA and will represent the USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics. 

And she'll do so as a "pops" to a newborn baby boy.