Joy Reid: Putin Used ‘Black Queer Celebrity’ Brittney Griner as a Pawn Knowing the Trauma It’d Cause at Home

GEIST: “Joy, I’m struck by how often she mentions those who have not left yet. Paul Whelan, she continuously brought up his name over the course of your interview, reminding people, yes, she was free, but there are still some left behind.”
Reid: “Yeah. And in the back of the book she lists all of the Americans who have been detained around the world, including those who have been detained by Russia, and writes a lot about the connection that the Whelan family and the Reed family and her family and her family all made back home, all rooting for each other’s freedom. This was not just about getting one person out. For all of them, it was about getting everyone out. She’s really thrown herself into this cause of freeing all of the Americans who have been left behind, and as she said, hoping that when she got on that plane, Paul Whelan would be on that plane, as well. It really does show you the torment that these people are going through. Think how long Paul Whelan has been there. She went through years. To me, it is sort of shocking to think about spending nearly a year far from home, wondering if you’ll ever get out. Because she was sentenced to nine years, nine and a half years’ incarceration for what, in this country, would amount to nothing, and for something that wasn’t even deliberate. But I think the Putin regime understood that they had not just a black celebrity, a black queer celebrity, somebody who could be used internally as a pawn, somebody who they could sort of internally mock and hold hostage from the United States, knowing the trauma that it would cause back home.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Joy Reid, thank you so much. We’ll be watching The ReidOut tonight at 7:00 P.M. Eastern for part two of Joy’s exclusive interview with Brittney Griner.”