Vanessa Bryant defends late husband Kobe Bryant after tweets from Evan Rachel Wood claimed that the Lakers legend was a rapist.
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The untimely death of Kobe in January of 2020 came as a shock to the entire world. The icon was mourned across the globe as he had served as an inspiration to millions. A multitude of athletes and celebrities took to social media to pay respects to the ‘Black Mamba’ express their sorrows.
However, amongst the heartfelt messages were some truly derogatory ones that brought up Kobe Bryant’s questionable actions from nearly 17 years ago. Back in 2003, Bryant had been a part of a sexual assault case that claimed he made advances towards a hotel employee in Colorado that weren’t reciprocated from the latter’s end.
It was this case that warranted the birth of the ‘Black Mamba’ nickname that is now synonymous with the 5x champion. He claimed he wanted to make a separate, incorruptible identity for himself when he was on NBA hardwood, dissociating himself from Kobe Bryant.
Vanessa Bryant responds to horrendous tweets about the Kobe Bryant case
Actress Evan Rachel Wood took to Twitter merely hours after the Lakers legend’s death to bring up Kobe’s sexual assault while also trying to send a ‘heartfelt’ message to the Bryant family.
“What happened is tragic. I am heartbroken for Kobe’s family. He was a sports hero. He was also a rapist. All these truths can exist simultaneously.”
Vanessa Bryant was made aware about these tweets only recently and posted an Instagram story to defend her late husband. “Your false, insensitive, defamatory, and slanderous tweet on 1/26/20 is vile and disturbing to say the least. Behavior like this is part of the reason why innocent black men go to jail for crimes they didn’t commit. An accusation doesn’t make someone guilty.”
vanessa bryant is going OFF rn and i love it pic.twitter.com/OxQSZ0cShL
— dani | she/her (@3Mjsdani) February 27, 2021
Though the case was dropped, this tarnished his image for quite some time, causing him to lose various sponsorships and brand deals in the process. Vanessa Bryant continues to defend Kobe as she responded to a tweet similar to Wood’s from a film producer that read, “The man was a rapist, deal with it.”
Vanessa immediately fired back with, “You don’t know the facts of the case!”