Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner allegedly harassed at Dallas Airport by conservative vlogger Alex Stein

Brittney Griner was allegedly harassed at the Dallas Airport by a controversial right-wing YouTuber, prompting the WNBA to release a statement of support Saturday.

The statement by the league came shortly after vlogger Alex Stein, who is notorious for interrupting local government meetings and calling out politicians, took to Twitter to tease a video of in which he confronts the basketball player at an airport.

“I met my favorite WNBA Player Brittney Griner,” Stein wrote, “Video coming soon.”

Along with the tweet, Stein posted a picture of himself with Griner nearby at what appears to be an airport, overlayed with the text “Calling out Brittney Griner.”

Stein has since posted a teaser video showing himself shouting at Griner, yelling “do you still want to boycott America Brittney?”

“She hates America!” Stein shouts before the camera cuts. He said the full video will be posted Sunday.

Griner notably stopped standing for the national anthem at WNBA games in 2020, but began standing for the anthem again after her return from captivity in Russia, where she spent nearly ten months in prison after airport officials found cannabis-oil cartridges in her luggage in February 2022. She was released in a prisoner swap in December.

The WNBA posted a statement regarding the incident involving Griner, although it does not mention Stein.

“It has come to our attention that this was orchestrated by a social media figure and provocateur,” the league wrote. “His actions were inappropriate and unfortunate.”

“The safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority,” the statement continued. “Prior to the season, the WNBA worked together with the Phoenix Mercury and BG’s team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included chartered flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel at all times.”

Moments after the statement was posted to social media, Stein wrote “The WNBA has already made a statement condemning me before I even posted the video.”

The WNBA has released a statement regarding an incident that happened today in which Brittney Griner was apparently harassed at an airport pic.twitter.com/aJ0ZCHPtkl

— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) June 10, 2023

It remains unclear what happened during the apparent altercation.

The incident also prompted responses from some of Griner’s teammates.

“Player safety while traveling should be at the forefront,” Phoenix Mercury teammate Briana Turner tweeted. “People following with cameras saying wild remarks is never acceptable. Excessive harassment. Our team nervously huddled in a corner, unsure how to move about. We demand better.”