During Thursday’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah joined a growing list of media figures, athletes and other stars who denounced WNBA player Brittney Griner’s nine-year sentence in a Russian penal colony for “smuggling” and storing cannabis oil.
“This is bulls—,” he said, not mincing his words. Noah added: “We all know that Russia doesn’t care what Brittney Griner did. This is the same country that’s breaking every human rights law on the planet. But they’re like, ‘Oh that woman has vape cartridge. She’s real criminal.’ Get the f— outta here, man.”
The late night host pointed out that news outlets have speculated that Griner could be exchanged for a Russian prisoner — potentially Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Negotiations for such a swap could not begin in earnest, however, until Griner’s sentence was finalized.
“And the one piece of good news, it looks like, is that this seems like it’s just a negotiation tactic,” he said. “And you know what? I think they should just do it. Whoever America has in prison, send them to Russia. It seems like they win. But don’t forget, that person now has to live in Russia. They’ll get there and be like, ‘This whole country is prison. I miss food in Alcatraz.’”
However, no matter what the outcome is at this point, Noah agreed with many others who have pointed out the injustices that have already been done.
“If we had more time, we could talk about how this whole thing could have been avoided if the WNBA paid their stars enough that they didn’t have to go and play in Russia in the off-season to make money,” he said to a round of applause from the audience.
You can watch the full segment in the video above.
