WNBA star Brittney Griner received a standing ovation as she took the stage during Saturday night’s NAACP Image Awards banquet, according to reports.
The 32-year-old took the stage with her wife, Cherelle, during the awards show hosted by actress and rapper Queen Latifah.
“It feels so good to be here, especially with my beautiful, amazing wife and with all of y’all here today,” Griner said onstage, according to the Daily Mail.
“I want to thank everyone and let’s keep fighting to bring home every American still detained overseas,” she added.
Cherelle thanked the “black women and black-led organizations” who rose up to advocate for Griner’s release from a Russian jail. “We are just truly so thankful to all the people, many of whom are black women and black-led organizations, who fought so hard to bring BG home, tonight,” she said.
Cherelle Griner and Brittney Griner speak onstage during the 54th NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 25, 2023, in Pasadena, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for BET)
The 6-foot-9 Griner just recently returned to the WNBA after signing a new one-year deal with the Phoenix Mercury.
Brittney Griner, Cherelle Griner, and United States Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) attend the 54th NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 25, 2023, in Pasadena, California. (Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET)
Griner was convicted of importing illegal drugs into Russia in August of 2022, several months after she was arrested in a Moscow airport for having cannabis oil in a vaping cartridge in her luggage. She was handed a 9-1/2-year sentence for her crime.
Griner tried to appeal her more than nine-year prison sentence, but the Russian court rejected her attempt to get out from under the penalty.
She was ultimately traded for a dangerous Russian arms dealer in U.S. custody. Viktor Bout, infamously known as the “Merchant of Death,” was exchanged for basketball player Brittney Griner in a controversial prisoner swap by the Biden administration early in Dec.
Russian Viktor Bout arrives at Bangkok Supreme Court on July 28, 2008, in Bangkok, Thailand. A Thai court postponed the extradition hearing, for a second time, of Viktor Bout, after his attorney failed to turn up on Monday for the hearing to extradite Bout to the U.S. to face terrorism charges in connection to alleged arms smuggling. (Chumsak Kanoknan/ Getty Images)
In some of her first public comments, Briner exclaimed that her ten months in Russian custody was a “battle at every turn.”
Noting that keeping her faith during the ordeal was difficult, she thanked fans for their support, saying, “It was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
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