Brittney Griner hits back at critics calling her 'unpatriotic'
WNBA star Brittney Griner hit back at critics calling her "unpatriotic" on Thursday during an interview on "The View," months after she was released from Russian prison.
WNBA player Brittney Griner said she's "blown away" that critics have called her un-America for kneeling during the national anthem.
"The View" co-host Joy Behar on Thursday asked Griner to respond to those who believed she acted carelessly in Russia and didn't deserve America's help because she had knelt during the national anthem.
"Everyone has made a mistake before," Griner said, responding to people who deemed her "careless." "The unpatriotic thing, that blows my mind, because, one, my dad fought for this country, ’68, ’69, Vietnam Marines and law enforcement for 30 plus years. Dad was my hero. I wanted to be a cop. I didn’t want to play basketball growing up, I wanted to be a cop and go into the military, actually. And doesn’t it make me more American that I’m demonstrating a protest? That's my right as an American, so for me to be called un-American, I was blown away at that."
Griner said there were many places around the world where citizens can't protest. After her February 2022 arrest in a Russian airport for carrying two vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, Griner was released in December 2022 in exchange for then-imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
WNBA player Brittney Griner joined the co-hosts of "The View" on Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Screenshot/ABC)
The co-hosts agreed and noted that people in Russia weren't allowed to protest.
Griner was moved to a penal colony nearly 300 miles outside of Moscow after receiving a nine-year prison sentence.
The basketball star detailed her living conditions in the penal colony during her first sit-down interview after her release on ABC's "Good Morning America" in early May.
"The mattress had a huge bloodstain, and they give you these thin two sheets, so you’re basically laying on bars," Griner said of her initial detainment at Correctional Colony No. 1.
Brittney Griner, #42 on the Phoenix Mercury, looks on against the Seattle Storm during the first quarter at Climate Pledge Arena on June 24, 2023, in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
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"From the middle of my shin to my feet stuck through the bars, which in prison, you really don’t want to stick your leg and arm through bars because someone could go up and grab it, break it, twist it and that’s what was going through my mind," Griner said.
After being released, Griner stood for the national anthem in her first game back in 2023.
"You have the right to protest, the right to able to speak out, question, challenge and do all these things," Griner said at the time. "What I went through and everything, it just means a little bit more to me now. So I want to be able to stand. I was literally in a cage [in Russia] and could not stand the way I wanted to."
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"Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100%. That's our right as an American in this great country," she continued.
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.