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LeBron James critical on his TV show of U.S. efforts to get Brittney Griner home
LeBron James is publicly criticizing U.S. efforts to get WNBA star Brittney Griner home in a trailer for an upcoming episode of his television show.
Sports
LeBron James is publicly criticizing the United States’ handling of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner’s case in a trailer for an upcoming episode of his television show, “The Shop: Uninterrupted.”
Griner is on trial in Russia for drug possession. She pleaded guilty last week and will appear again in court on Thursday.
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said in the trailer. “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even wanna go back to America?’”
James tweeted Tuesday night that his comments in the trailer weren’t intended to be critical of the U.S. efforts to get Griner back.
“My comments on “The Shop” regarding Brittney Griner wasn’t knocking our beautiful country,” he said. “I was simply saying how she’s probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage she’s been in for over 100+ days! Long story short #BringHerHome”
It’s unclear when the show was filmed, although in the trailer it is mentioned that Griner had been in Russia for more than 110 days, which would have been nearly five weeks ago as she was detained on Feb. 17.
During the weeks since day 110, in addition to the trial beginning and the guilty plea, Griner’s wife Cherelle has had a phone conversation with President Joe Biden. Biden also received a letter from Brittney Griner on July 4 and sent a letter back to her, which she was given in court last week.