Brittney Griner‘s wife, Cherelle, is absolutely livid she didn’t get to talk to the WNBA superstar on their 4-year anniversary this past weekend … claiming the U.S. government botched a long-awaited, scheduled call between the two.
Cherelle says Griner — who recently had her detention in Russia extended yet again by a court in the foreign country — tried calling nearly 12 times on Saturday, but did not get through to her, according to the Associated Press.
Cherelle says she’s “very pissed” over it … because the call had been scheduled for close to two weeks, and she had been told it would go through. And, it obviously meant the world to her — as she’s still yet to hear Griner’s voice since the basketball player was taken into custody back in February.
But Cherelle says the U.S. government dropped the ball … and didn’t staff someone to work the phone on Saturday — leaving all 11 of Griner’s calls to go unanswered.
“I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up,” said Cherelle, who told the AP that she later learned that the phone line is generally only staffed on weekdays, not weekends.
Cherelle said a contact from the State Department apologized to her for the mishap. The AP, meanwhile, reported the State Dept. said in a statement it’s “aware of the issue and was looking into it.”
However, despite the apology, Griner’s wife said she’s now very skeptical of the government moving forward … saying she has “zero trust” in U.S. officials at this moment.
“If I can’t trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife’s behalf to come home?” Cherelle asked. “Because that’s a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call.”
ABC
Cherelle — who previously said she was hoping to personally meet with Joe Biden over Griner’s status — said she’s losing faith that that meeting will actually go down now.
“At this point,” she said, “it’s starting to feel like a no.”
No word yet if Cherelle and Griner have set up a makeup date for the call.