AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
The Phoenix Mercury plan to change how the team travels to road games after Brittney Griner was harassed at Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport Saturday.
“We will ensure that our players and our organization and our staff are safe,” coach Vanessa Nygaard said before the Mercury’s Sunday road game against the Indiana Fever, per Michael Marot of the Associated Press. “We will be making adjustments that maybe should have happened before but right now we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players and we’ve seen that the organization has supported us.”
Around 9:30 am CT, Griner was confronted by a man later revealed to be YouTube personality Alex Stein, who yelled at her about “the Merchant of Death.” Law enforcement became involved, and the man was tackled, CNN reported.
Phoenix Mercury @PhoenixMercury
The Phoenix Mercury released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/w0Wu0ZHfla
Stein, described as a “provocateur” by the WNBA, is known for his inflammatory heckling of politicians on camera. He later posted clips of himself yelling at Griner, including about how she “hates America,” as she walked through the airport.
Griner, who was imprisoned in a Russian penal colony for almost 300 days after customs officials said they found cannabis oil in her luggage, returned to the United States in December as part of a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.”
In a statement about the incident, the WNBA said Griner had already been assigned security personnel to travel with her. In the videos shared by Stein, a man is repeatedly telling him to stop and attempting to distance him from the WNBA players, NPR’s Emma Bowman reported.
“Prior to the season, the WNBA worked together with the Phoenix Mercury and BG’s team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included charter flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel with her at all times,” the WNBA said. “We remain steadfastly committed to the highest standards of security for players.”
Griner’s Mercury teammate Brianna Turner described herself and her teammates as “huddled in a corner unsure how to move about” during the incident.
“We demand better,” Turner wrote on Twitter.
Brianna Turner @_Breezy_Briii
Player safety while traveling should be at the forefront. People following with cameras saying wild remarks is never acceptable. Excessive harassment. Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.
Since the WNBA was launched in 1997, teams have flown commercially, according to the AP. The league added limited charter flights following Griner’s return to the United States this spring. It remains to be seen if the incident at Dallas-Forth Worth will change this policy further, but the Mercury said the team would “be coordinating with the WNBA on the next steps.”
