WNBA player Brittney Griner says she is “shocked” anyone would think she is unpatriotic despite the fact she spent years protesting against the country and refusing to stand for the national anthem.
Griner appeared Thursday on the far-left ABC talk show, The View, and told the hosts she was “blown away” that people think she is un-American.
“Everyone has made a mistake before,” Griner said referring to her arrest, conviction, and incarceration in Russia on drug charges.
“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,” she continued. “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.”
WNBA superstar and 'Coming Home' author @brittneygriner recounts surviving a hellish 10 months in a Russian prison, opens up about having suicidal thoughts while there and responds to critics who called her "unpatriotic" and "careless." https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/0LIXeNf8yl
— The View (@TheView) May 30, 2024
Despite all that, starting in 2020, Griner joined those who protested against the United States, the flag, the police, and our history and military during the worst of the Black Lives Matter years.
She refused to stand to honor our country during the national anthem and at one point said she would “protest regardless.”
“I’m going to protest regardless. I’m not going to be out there for the National Anthem,” she said. “If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”
She also urged the league to stop playing the anthem altogether.
Brittney Griner #42 of the Phoenix Mercury poses for a portrait during media day at Footprint Center on May 09, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
However, after spending nearly a year in a Russian prison, upon returning to the U.S.A. she changed her tune on the national anthem and in 2023 announced that going forward she would stand for the anthem because it “hit different” once she got her freedom back.
In a statement at the time after coming back, Griner defended her previous protests but admitted that she will stand from now on.
“You have the right to protest, the right to able to speak out, question, challenge and do all these things,” Griner said. “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.”
“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 added.
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