Brittney Griner (Michael Chow/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
WNBA star Brittney Griner was forced to cancel a speaking engagement after finding a concerning message near her hotel room in National Harbor, Maryland.

Griner, a 10-time WNBA All-Star, pulled out of a speaking engagement she was booked for due to a concerning note found near her hotel room.

The newly minted Atlanta Dream player was at Maryland’s Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor to speak at the Women Grow Leadership Conference, but she found a piece of duct tape left in her hotel room that read “Gay Baby Jail,” so she immediately left.

“Brittney Griner arrived to be with us but felt unsafe because of threatening objects and words left inside her hotel room. For her safety, she chose to return home,” Machias told Marijuana Moment regarding the event. “Regardless of whether this was a targeted attack or an unfortunate coincidence, the entire Women Grow community and I wholeheartedly support Brittney’s decision and stand with her at this time.”

Griner is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, so she likely thought it was a slur towards her and people in the community.

It turns out that the term is actually a common video game phrase that means forward progress in the game is impossible unless it’s restarted.

It is also considered an “affectionate pejorative used to punish fictional characters.”

While “Gay Baby Jail” isn’t meant to be homophobic, it would be hard for anybody who is gay to see it and not think that it is meant to be a slur. It is a weird collection of words.

Ater Griner left, Prince George County Police confirmed the note was possibly left over from a guest at the hotel she was staying in. The hotel had just held an anime convention.

Throughout her career, Brittney Griner has endured homophobic remarks from social media, especially since her voice is so strong and she is married to a woman.

She has also faced comments about her possibly being a man at times as well.

Griner made worldwide news when she was arrested in Russia on marijuana “smuggling” charges and spent nearly a year in a Russian prison.

Griner was informed she would spend the next 9 years in a Russian prison before the United States completed a trade to get her back.

Brittney Griner Changes Teams For The First Time In Her Career

Brittney Griner (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Griner, a six-time All-WNBA selection, changed teams this offseason.

The 6-foot-9 center, who missed the 2022 campaign when she was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly 10 months, agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Dream.

Griner had spent her entire career in Phoenix after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2013.