Brittney Griner has finally broken her silence on the incident in which a YouTuber harassed the WNBA star earlier this month at a Dallas airport.
The 32-year-old was traveling through the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with her Phoenix Mercury team when the YouTuber came near her recording and asked her questions about her Russian imprisonment and if she slept with Putin.
Speaking with the media on Monday, Griner said the incident was a “rock bottom” moment for the league, according to ESPN.
“I think we should have already had the option to use a different airline, a more private airline, charter flights,” Griner said. “It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom, because I feel like waiting for something to happen and then making a change … you don’t know what that ‘something’s’ going to be. We’ve all seen what can happen in this world, and when you play the ‘let’s-wait-and-see game,’ you’re really playing with fire. You’re playing with people’s lives.
“So I’m glad that they finally got it together — and, you know, are going to allow us to do this. It’s just a shame that it took so damn long, honestly.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told ESPN that the cost to charter flights for all teams during the season would be approximately $20 million.
The WNBA and Mercury have kept the updates of Griner’s travel arrangements confidential since the incident, which ESPN reported is due to “safety reasons.”
As for the team, they are having a terrible season as they sit with a 2-10 record and in dead last in the Western Conference. In fact, the team has the worst record in the entire WNBA.
