Social media users are sharing a fabricated CNN screenshot that claims Russian officials have ordered a DNA test for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner.
Examples can be seen (here) and (here).
The screenshot shows a CNN chyron that reads: “DNA test ordered by officials to determine male or female prison.”
Emily Kuhn, senior director of communications at CNN Digital Worldwide, told Reuters via email: “This is a fabricated image and did not ever air on CNN.”
Reuters found no evidence of CNN broadcasting the text seen in the screenshot being shared online. The text in the screenshot does not match the usual font used by CNN, visible (www.cnn.com/videos).
No such article or video with the text exists on the CNN website or social media accounts (here), (twitter.com/CNN), (twitter.com/cnnbrk), (twitter.com/cnni).
The two-time Olympic champion and star player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WBNA) has previously shared her experience about being bullied about her body in ESPN’s 2015 “Body Issue”, where Griner and other athletes were photographed nude and shared their life experiences (here), (here).
Griner says, in the piece, “I’m sure people are going to have a lot of critical things to say [about these photos]. ‘Yo, she’s a man!’ But hey, that’s my body and I look the way I look. People are either going to accept me for who I am or they’re not. I don’t know what people think I’m hiding. I’ve heard, ‘Oh, she’s not a female, she’s a male.’ I’ve been told, ‘Oh, she’s tucking stuff.’ They thought I was tucking. I mean, [in the Body Issue] it’s out there. Let me show that I embrace the flatness! I just want people to see somebody who embraces being naked, embraces everything about them being different.”
More on Griner and her arrest in Russia can be found (here).
VERDICT
Altered. A screenshot showing a CNN story about Brittney Griner has been fabricated.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work  here  .

Source: Reuters

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