A man who is known as a “social media provocateur” got close enough to WNBA player Brittney Griner on Saturday to ask her about the prisoner swap that returned her to the United States after being imprisoned in Russia. He held a camera and filmed himself in the DFW airport as Griner and her teammates on the Phoenix Mercury team walked through the airport.

A security guard kept the provocateur, Alex Stein, away from walking right next to Griner and tried to get him to stop yelling at her. I debated with myself whether or not to post the video, because his is an obnoxious presence on social media, in my opinion, and he says some things I had not heard about her deal. I decided to go ahead and you can see for yourself, draw your own conclusions about his behavior. Obnoxious is his brand, right?

The security guard obviously wasn’t too concerned for the safety of Griner and her teammates, as little was done to stop Stein from continuing to walk the in the same direction of the team. He continued to yell his questions at her even as she was out of the viewer’s sight.

However, in order to keep the team, specifically Brittany, safe, travel plans are changing. It’s against League rules for anyone to be specific about team travel but it was confirmed that things will change because of the incident in DFW airport. The WNBA says that Brittney was targeted by “inappropriate and unfortunate” actions of a “social media figure and provocateur.” There was no physical violence or verbal threats. Just an obnoxious man yelling questions at her as she walked by.

If the tape showed more than it does and that included something that looked like her personal safety might be in jeopardy, I would think differently but ever since I saw the video, I have thought that it was much ado about nothing. This is what Stein does. He yells questions at people to get a rise out of them and he films it for his social media accounts. Last June he did it to Ted Cruz and Dan Crenshaw at a Texas GOP convention. Last July he confronted AOC on the Capitol steps. He got under AOC’s skin so much that she said she was going to “deck” him.

But now with the publicity he gets for himself for shouting at Brittney, the WNBA is getting their own 15-minutes by acting like she is being harassed and it might get dangerous for her. In a CNN account of the incident, a “source” claims Stein was tackled by police and police got involved, but that isn’t on Stein’s video. Anyway, she may be using charter jets now, though the team isn’t at liberty to confirm that, according to head coach Vanessa Nygaard.

“League rules mandate that I can’t speak about travel, but I can speak about safety, so we will ensure that our players and our organization and our staff are safe,” Nygaard said ahead of the Mercury’s Sunday game against the Indiana Fever.

“We will be making adjustments that maybe should’ve happened before, but right now, we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players, and we’ve seen that our organization has supported us,” the head coach said.

When asked if Griner was approved to charter flights and why she wasn’t chartering on Saturday, Nygaard said the team was following league-established rules and guidelines.

In a statement Saturday, the WNBA said it worked with the Mercury and Griner’s team to ensure her safety prior to the season, adding that she had been given permission to charter flights

I have two questions – Why wasn’t player safety a top priority as a general rule? What does charter jet travel do to climate change? Inquiring minds want to know.

Mercury star Diana Taurasi called the incident “unnerving.”

Here’s the thing. Griner was held in a Russian prison after being convicted on drug charges. She played basketball for a Russian team in the off-season and had for several seasons, so she should have known all the laws of the land. If she needed to vape the hashish oil for pain management, she should have worked that out in advance. We’re talking about Russians here, authorities not known for compassion or flexibility.

Stein is obnoxious, as I said, but he did ask a couple of relevant questions. He asked how she felt about the release of the Merchant of Death in exchange for her release from prison. And he asked if she still hated America. She was a known social justice activist before she spent time in a Russian prison. She was all about BLM and the anti-cop movement. She refused to stand for the national anthem. That was then, this is now. Now her perspective seems to have changed. Since her return to the United States, she does stand for the national anthem and has a whole new attitude.

“Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100 percent. That’s our right, as an American in this great country.”

When she lived her social justice activism publicly in the past, she opened herself up to the questions. She is a public figure. It goes with the territory that people in airports feel comfortable walking up and asking questions. Ask any elected official these days about encounters they have had in airports.

Things escalate too quickly now. In this case, charter jets will be used. People have bent over backwards to accommodate Griner. She was feted at the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner by Joe Biden. He has sung her praises on social media posts. She is treated like a rock star. I guess charter jets are just the next step for her.

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