Brittney Griner One Of 6 Athletes Named To TIME 100 Most Influential People List

The annual TIME 100 was published on Thursday and it included a lot of the names one might expect including Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Elon Musk, Prince Charles, and Beyonce.

As is always the case, there were also a handful of professional athletes who made the list. This year TIME included Mikaela Shiffrin, Iga Swiątek, Leo Messi, Patrick Mahomes, Kylian Mbappe, and Brittney Griner.

Swiątek and Mbappe were classified as “innovators.” Mahomes and Messi were listed as “titans.” Mikaela Shiffrin was put in the category of “pioneer.” While Brittney Griner was called an “icon.”

Almost every entry on the list had their profile written by someone else who’s famous.

Peyton Manning wrote Mahomes’ entry. Shiffrin wrote Swiątek’s. Roger Federer penned Messi’s profile. Lindsey Vonn wrote Shiffrin’s.

Here’s a portion of what former WNBA star and five-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird had to say about Brittney Griner…

“BG’s wrongful detainment brought attention to issues like the inequities in pay for women athletes, which sometimes compel us to put ourselves in dangerous situations to maximize our financial worth. It brought to light the dozens of Americans wrongfully detained around the world, and BG continues to use her platform as a sports superstar to advocate for their release. It speaks to the power of the women who rallied around her — Black women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, our WNBA community — and who made certain her name was never forgotten, that she’d return home. These are the women who get sh*t done.”

Naturally, as is the case with any arbitrary list that gets published on the internet, people had thoughts.

This appears to be the most common comment/question…

https://twitter.com/Athwitter/status/1646550203602812928

They’re referring to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was listed under the “leaders” category.

Of course, not everyone was happy with Griner’s presence on the list.

“So getting arrested for breaking another country’s laws makes you influential. Got it,” another tweet addressing Brittney Griner’s inclusion read.

“WHY!!!! She got arrested for having marijuana. She’s not a role model to kids and the government traded a known assassin for her and left a reporter being held captive. Doesn’t sound influential to me!!” read another.

“So if thirty or 300 or 3000 Americans get arrested in Russia for a similar offense, what word will precede ‘influential’ for Ms Griner? Criminally? This is an irresponsible narrative,” someone else commented. “You don’t break the laws of a foreign country and get applauded for it. Never.”

Then there were these type of tweets…

TRUTH.