LeBron James walked back statements he made about WNBA star Brittney Griner who is locked up in Russia.
James made the comments in a trailer for an episode of “The Shop: Uninterrupted.” He said he would question returning to the United States if he was stuck in a Russian jail.
Griner was arrested in mid-February at a Moscow-area airport after officials found vape pens containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
She pled guilty to smuggling drugs, and she threw herself on the mercy of the court.
James suggested Russia may be a better alternative to the United States where Black lawbreakers are gunned down by police before they can get their day in court.
“She’s been there over 110 days,” he said in the video trailer. “Now, how can she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?'”
James now say he was not bashing the United States by questioning how long it is taking to bring Griner back to American soil.
Even though both James and Griner have criticized America as racist, James now calls America a “beautiful country.”
“[I] wasn’t knocking our beautiful country,” the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted Tuesday.
“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.”
My comments on “The Shop” regarding Brittney Griner wasn’t knocking our beautiful country. 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
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 13, 2022
