Brittney Griner fled from a planned speaking event in Maryland on Monday morning after discovering what she thought was a threatening message in her hotel room.
The WNBA star found a piece of duct tape with the words ‘Gay Baby Jail’ written on it.
Griner, 34, is gay and was imprisoned in Russia once for marijuana possession, before the Biden administration brought her home in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as ‘The Merchant of Death’. She and her wife Cherelle also welcomed a baby boy together in late 2024.
She was scheduled to talk to cannabis enthusiasts at an event on Monday held by Women Grow, an organization focused on female leaders in the marijuana industry.
However, it appears that the note was an unfortunate coincidence rather than anything malicious aimed specifically at Griner, who was staying at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor.
Prince George’s County Police Department were quoted by TMZ as saying: ‘Detectives have learned the phrase ‘gay baby jail’ is commonly used as a video game reference.
WNBA star Brittney Griner found a note in her hotel room that she interpreted to be a threat
The 34-year-old Griner and her wife Cherelle pictured at The Met Gala in New York in 2023
Griner spent almost a year in jail in 2022 after being arrested at a Moscow airport
‘At the time the tape was located, a large convention was taking place at the Gaylord which attracts thousands of people, many with an interest in anime as well as video game enthusiasts.
‘At this time, detectives have uncovered no link to or threat against the guest who located the tape.’
The phrase in the gaming community apparently refers to a glitch in the design of a video game where players get locked into a part of a level and can’t move in order to progress.
Women Grow CEO Chanda Macias told Marijuana Moment: ‘Regardless of whether this was a targeted attack or an unfortunate coincidence, the entire Women Grow community and I wholeheartedly support Brittney’s decision and stand with her at this time.
‘The Gaylord [hotel] has assured us that the conference and its guests are safe; they have represented that the threat at issue was a meme joke left by a prior guest and unfortunately missed by cleaning staff.’
Griner spent nearly 10 months in jail in Russia in 2022 after she was found with cannabis-infused vape cartridges at an airport in Moscow.
She had been moved to a Russian penal colony shortly before her release and return to the United States, 300 miles away from Moscow, where she was set to face grueling labor in horrific conditions.
Corrective Colony No. 2, also known as IK-2 Mordovia, was described as ‘notoriously terrible, even by Russian standards’ by Olga Zeveleva, a sociologist who specializes in Russian prisons in an interview with The Guardian.
Griner found a note with the words ‘Gay Baby Jail’ on them, which she took as a threat
The hotel in Maryland said the note appears to be a meme joke that was missed by cleaners
According to a 2019 Radio Free Europe report, the penal colony became so rat-infested that guards enlisted stray cats to deal with the issue.
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Veronika Krass, one former IK-14 prisoner, told the publication that a sign reading ‘welcome to hell’ greets new inmates at the gates.
But Griner’s return to the United States was still deemed to be controversial by some, given that President Biden agreed to send Bout, the so-called ‘Merchant of Death’, back to Russia while they fought a war against Ukraine.
Bout had served 10 years of a 25-year jail sentence in the United States on charges of conspiracy to kill American citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Biden had been under intensifying pressure to get Griner home, with a senior administration official telling Politico at the time that it was a ‘very painful decision’ to allow Bout back to Russia in exchange for Griner.
Despite the fact Griner had broken a law in Russia with the possession of her vape cartridges, the response from the Russian legal system gave her case the hallmarks of hostage diplomacy.
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was freed and exchanged to get Griner back to the US
Griner was moved to a notorious penal colony in Russia days before her release was secured
The typical sentence in Russia for Griner’s case was no more than 15 days in jail.
Instead, she was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined $15,000 – 1million rubles.
Griner, now a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States in basketball, had been playing in Russia and was returning back home to the US when she was arrested.
Earlier this year, she left the Phoenix Mercury, who she had played for her entire WNBA career, and signed for Atlanta Dream.