Athletes attending the 2022 ESPYS couldn’t help but notice one sports star missing in the audience.
During the live telecast, host Stephen Curry joined WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith to speak out in support of Brittney Griner, who remains detained in Russia.
While Stephen said he was “proud” to announce the WNBA as the sports humanitarian league of the year, he wanted to acknowledge Brittney’s absence from the sport.
“We cannot stop fighting for her,” he said inside the Dolby Theatre on July 20. “We cannot stop believing for her. We will not stop hoping for the day we can welcome her home safely.”
Brittney is an eight-time WNBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist. For 153 nights, she has been detained in Russia after she was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for allegedly possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. On July 7, the basketball player pleaded guilty to drug charges and said she had not acted deliberately.
