Singer Macy Gray is accusing NBC’s Today show of refusing to allow her band to wear T-Shirts with the slogan “Free Brittney Griner” on them during Thursday’s broadcast.
Gray’s keyboardist, Billy Wes, was seen entering the studios on Thursday morning wearing one of the T-Shirts. Still, when the segment aired, neither he nor his bandmates wore the shirts calling for Russia to release the WNBA player from jail, the New York Post reported.
“They made me turn it inside out. They said I couldn’t wear it, so I had to turn it outside out. But y’all know what time it is: free Brittney,” the musician said.
Gray added that the network’s decision to ban the shirt “really bummed me out.”
“We wanted to wear them on the show, and they said no because I guess something happened,” Gray said.
Gray added that she does not think the Griner situation is a political issue.
“I don’t think it’s too political. It’s a human being that’s in a really horrible situation and there’s people that have power to do something about it. That’s what they should do,” she said.
WNBA star Brittney Griner heads to a Russian court for a hearing on drug charges. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Griner, of course, was in Russia playing for a Russian basketball team during the WNBA off-season. Though, when she tried to leave the country, she was arrested for having a vape cartridge infused with CBD in her luggage. She was arrested and charged with possession of an illegal drug in February and has spent every day since in a Russian jail.
The WNBA player recently wrote a letter to the Biden administration pleading for help to get her out from under the Russian legal system, but this week pleaded guilty to possessing the vape cartridge.
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