LeBron James previews a new episode of The Shop where he criticized the US efforts to Free Brittney Griner, but later clarifies his comments and says he wasn’t “knocking our beautiful country.”
Brittney Griner has spent over 100 plus days detained in Russia for allegedly carrying THC cartridges illegally in the country. While that is the charge listed, we all know she is a political prisoner being used as a bargaining tool.
Since her arrest, her wife and other athletes have demanded her release and for our United States government to do more. On July 4, Brittney Griner penned a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to take action. Reportedly, Biden responded to Griner and spoke to her family about the matter. Recently, Griner pleaded guilty in a Russian court, which many have said would help her case in hopes of being free, believe it or not. During the WNBA All-Star game, the WNBA honored Brittney Griner with a seat covered with her jersey and every player changed into Griner jerseys during the game.
Every WNBA player changed into jersey’s with Brittney Griner’s number and name at the All-Star Game on Sunday. #BringBGHome pic.twitter.com/2fdq2XUyIY
— WSLAM (@wslam) July 12, 2022
LeBron James questions US efforts to free Brittney Griner, later clarifying his comments weren’t about the country
Since BG has been locked up, several people in the sports world have claimed if it was LeBron James, she would be home already–even though we know from Russia’s behavior that isn’t true. LeBron hasn’t spoken at length about BG’s situation, but yesterday, he previewed an episode of The Shop where he will discuss it.
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’”
LeBron’s comments were taken out of context and people immediately tried to call the comments anti-American. Instead of waiting for the episode to air on YouTube, this Friday, Bron took to Twitter to explain what he meant. Regardless of his explanation, people that want to misunderstand or be offended will find a way to do so.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 13, 2022
