Future NBA Hall of Famer, LeBron James, created controversy while discussing the state of imprisoned WNBA player, Brittney Griner.
The Los Angeles Lakers player questioned why the WNBA star would want to come back to America after the way she has been treated since she was arrested for having cannabis oil in her luggage in Russia.
On Tuesday, July 12, a trailer for the latest YouTube presentation of James’ UNINTERRUPTED The Shop debuted. The panel on the show discussed Griner’s situation. As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, she has been detained in Russia since February when Russian authorities discovered vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Griner recently pleaded guilty to the charges.
The soundbite for the Griner segment on The Shop showcases James questioning why the Phoenix Mercury basketball player would want to come back home if she feels the United States government doesn’t have her back.
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James stated in the preview clip.
“I would be feeling like, ‘Why do I even want to go back to America?’”
After the trailer was released, people immediately started to lambast James for the question he posed. Earlier today, the entrepreneur reiterated
the basis for his comment and proclaims that he wasn’t knocking “our beautiful country” when he posed the question.James isn’t the only one to feel that Griner isn’t being treated properly.
Last week, the head coach of Griner’s WNBA team, Vanessa Nygaard, questioned if it were James in that situation, would it be this way?
“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard asked.
“It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. We know it, and so that’s what hurts a little more.”