No, Nike hasn’t ended partnership with WNBA player Brittney Griner | Fact check

The claim: Nike announced end to partnership with WNBA player Brittney Griner

An Aug. 14 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows side-by-side photos of former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines and WNBA player Brittney Griner.

The post’s caption reads, “Nike Announces Termination Of Contract With Brittney Griner After ‘Strong Backlash’ From Online Community: ‘We Need More Athletes Like Riley Gaines And Less Woke Brittney Griner!’”

It was shared more than 600 times in two weeks.

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Our rating: False

A spokesperson for Griner told USA TODAY that Nike has not ended its partnership with the WNBA player.

Griner still under contract with Nike

There is no evidence Nike ended its partnership with Griner. No such announcement appears on Nike’s website or social media accounts, nor is anything similar mentioned on Griner’s social media accounts. In the first comment, the social media user who created the Facebook post links to an article that repeats the claim but provides no evidence to support it.

Lindsay Colas, a spokesperson for Griner, told USA TODAY the claim is “entirely false” and Griner remains under contract with Nike. Griner first signed with Nike in 2013.

Griner appears in a video ad Nike posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Aug. 11, and she was mentioned in a Nike news release that same day. In the video, Griner appears alongside her teammates on the U.S. women’s basketball team, which won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics – Griner’s third Olympic gold medal.

Nike did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

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Just two years ago, Griner’s future in basketball was uncertain. She spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison after being arrested in February 2022, accused of bringing vape cartridges filled with hashish oil in her luggage when she returned to play for her professional team there.

After a trial legal experts called a sham, Griner was sentenced to nine years at a labor camp. But Griner was released in December 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange that also involved Viktor Bout, a Russian gun dealer who had been imprisoned in the U.S. since 2008. In a speech at the White House, President Joe Biden said he had given the final go-ahead on the exchange.

USA TODAY has previously debunked other false claims about Griner, including that she was “booted” off Team USA and that CNN reported that Russia ordered a DNA test to determine whether Griner should go to a male or female prison.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact and Reuters also debunked the claim.

 

Our fact-check sources:

Lindsay Colas, Aug. 27, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Nike, accessed Aug. 29, Nike, Inc. Newsroom
Nike, Aug. 11, X post

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