WNBA star Brittney Griner was harassed by a right-wing YouTuber at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Saturday (June 10), according to reports.
Griner, who spent nearly 10 months in Russian detainment, was on the way to a game with her Phoenix Mercury teammates when she encountered a "social media provocateur" at the airport, the WNBA said in a statement.
The provocateur was identified on social media as Alex Stein, a conservative YouTuber known for calling out politicians, per the Independent.
“I met my favourite WNBA Player Brittney Griner,” Stein wrote on Twitter. “Video coming soon.”
In a teaser of the video, the YouTuber can be seen yelling out to Griner “Do you still want to boycott America, Brittney?”
“She hates America!” Stein shouted. "What about the Merchant of Death Britt?
The encounter escalated and resulted in a man being tackled and the police getting involved, CNN reports.
Griner was released from Russian detainment in December via a prisoner swap involving arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is widely known as the "Merchant of Death."
On Sunday (June 11), Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard said the team plans to make adjustments to prioritize players’ travel safety.
“League rules mandate that I can’t speak about travel, but I can speak about safety, so we will ensure that our players and our organization and our staff are safe,” Nygaard said. “We will be making adjustments that maybe should’ve happened before, but right now, we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players, and we’ve seen that our organization has supported us.
In Saturday's statement, the WNBA said it worked with the Mercury and Griner's team to ensure her safety before the season started. The league noted that the two-time Olympic gold medalist had been given permission to charter flights.
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