Brittney Griner found ‘Gay Baby Jail’ note in hotel and fled, investigation reveals shocking reason

Newly released police body camera footage provides details about what happened when WNBA star Brittney Griner suddenly left the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland on February 17. The footage shows the police investigation that began after Griner reported finding a threatening handwritten note in her hotel room. The note contained the words “Gay Baby Jail.”

Griner was in town to speak at the Women Grow Leadership Summit but left the hotel immediately after finding the note, canceling her appearance. The police investigation, recorded on the officers’ body cameras, appears thorough and methodical. Two officers arrived at the hotel soon after Griner left and were shown a photo of the note by a hotel employee. The employee explained that Griner had found the note taped to a door inside her room.

The body camera footage, found by TMZ, shows the officers riding the elevator to Griner’s room with the hotel employee. Once inside, they not only found the original “Gay Baby Jail” note but also a second piece of duct tape stuck to another door, this one with the word “Private” written on it. This discovery made the investigation broader, suggesting the notes might have been part of a larger pattern.

Notes inside Brittney Griner’s room turn out to be memes

The officers carefully recorded both notes, taking photos and noting their exact locations in the room. Their investigation went beyond just finding the notes; they also examined the situation closely. After their investigation and a written report, police concluded that the notes were probably left by people who had stayed in the room before Griner. These previous guests had attended Katsucon, a major yearly convention focused on Japanese pop culture.

The report explains the meaning of the strange phrase “Gay Baby Jail,” which is apparently a term often used in online gaming communities. The phrase describes a situation in a video game where a character gets stuck and can’t progress, using the words “gay” (meaning happy), “baby” (referring to a video game character), and “jail” (meaning the character can’t move forward). Brittney Griner has reason to think it is something else, considering her situation in Russia.

Based on this explanation and their detailed investigation of the hotel room and the convention, the officers decided the notes were not a direct threat against Griner but rather something left behind by the earlier guests. This conclusion seemed to remove any concerns that the notes were meant to target Griner with harmful intent.

Even though the police investigation solved the mystery of the notes and confirmed there was no real threat, Griner still chose not to go back to the hotel. She ended up canceling her appearance at the Women Grow Leadership Summit. The event organizers stated that they understood and accepted her decision.

I wouldn’t go back either, but not for reasons that are immediately clear. I wouldn’t go back because the notes were not cleaned up by employees who were supposed to clean the entire room before another guest came. So either they didn’t clean the room, or they left that for Griner to see – neither is a better alternative.