Free Republic

A TikToker who filmed herself using makeup to look like the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant has faced criticism over the clip - with some accusing her of 'blackface‘

LeBron James is the GOAT when it comes to telling small, meaningless lies.The NBA community has been mourning the death of rapper Takeoff, whose real name is Kirshnik Ball, since he was killed in Houston last week. Takeoff was 1/3rd of Migos, the popular rap trio from Atlanta that went to the top of the charts with their sophomore album “Culture” and were often seen in NBA circles. LeBron James was asked about Takeoff’s death on Sunday afternoon after the Los Angeles Lakers lost the Cleveland Cavaliers, 114-100, in LA. His answer went viral for all the wrong reasons. James...

Kobe Bryant potentially built his $600 million fortune with ADHD, as autopsy report revealed narcolepsy drug Kobe Bryant played a long and successful career in the NBA, but as per his autopsy report, he may have been battling ADHD. Kobe’s legacy was built up by everything he achieved in his career, his five rings, Finals MVPs, scoring titles, and more, but a major part of his also the fact that he spent his entire career with the Lakers. In an era defined by player autonomy and the right to take your brand anywhere, Kobe chose to stay put. He stayed...

The Washington Post is in turmoil this weekend over twin newsroom spats involving several star reporters: Taylor Lorenz over false reporting in an article and Dave Weigel and Felicia Sonmez over a joke; a fourth Post reporter, Jose Del Real, self-immolated himself online after tangling with Sonmez over her response to the joke. Lorenz reported this week on social media influencers covering the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial just concluded in Fairfax, Virginia. Lorenz was called out by two subjects for falsely reporting she reached out them for comment before publication. The Post then engaged in several efforts to clean...

Los Angeles County is seeking to compel psychiatric evaluations for Kobe Bryant’s widow and others to determine if they truly suffered emotional distress after first responders took and shared graphic photos from the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed the basketball star... Attorneys for Los Angeles County want the court to order Bryant and other family members of the people who were killed in the crash, including children, to undergo psychiatric evaluations as independent medical examinations. The lawyers propose that the evaluations be audio- and video-recorded and last eight hours for adults and four to six hours for...

WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board revealed the likely cause of the deadly helicopter crash that took the lives of nine Southern California residents, including NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter on Tuesday. During Tuesday’s board meeting, the NTSB was critical of veteran pilot Ara Zobayan's actions in the final moments of the flight from when the aircraft entered the Van Nuys airspace to when it collided with the hilly terrain in Calabasas. "There were opportunities along the way to have reversed the course and prevented this crash by simply landing," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said. In...

Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is seeking to recover significant financial damages in her wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter company and the estate of the late pilot that operated the helicopter involved in the late NBA superstar’s deadly crash in January, according to a report. Vanessa Bryant filed suit against Island Express Helicopters Inc. and the estate of pilot Ara Zobayan in February. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligence that contributed to the deaths of Bryant, his teenage daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers, including a failure to check weather conditions prior to the flight and flying into foggy...

Prophet Nigel Gaisie, made some shocking claims concerning the death of the basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant who died in an helicopter crash on their way to California in saturday. While the man of God was preaching and prophesying to his congregations, he said he is capable of raising Kobe Bryant and his daughter from death. He however attached some conditions to this…. According to man of God, he can only do so if 10% of Kobe’s net worth is given to him. Prophet Nigel Maisie says as quoted below. “The Lord just took me into...

Snoop Dogg said Saturday he wasn't threatening CBS News anchor Gayle King over a recent interview in which she broached the Kobe Bryant rape case following his death last week. The clarification comes after CBS News president Susan Zirinsky said the network "fully supports" King while vigorously condemning “reprehensible” threats made against King. "When I said what I said, I spoke for the people who felt like Gayle was very disrespectful towards Kobe Bryant and his family," Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., said in a video on Instagram on Saturday. "Now with that being said,...

--The fact that Bryant took his faith so seriously seemed to take many, including those in the media, by surprise. The day after his last NBA game, one in which he scored 60 points, he told an ESPN reporter that he celebrated by rising early, drinking a cup of coffee, and going to church. “It was me, alone,” he said. “After 20 years, I think it’s important to give thanks.” When, by his own admission, he had allowed his life to spin completely out of control, being accused of rape in a Colorado hotel room, one of the first people...

Following confirmation that the memorial service for Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others who lost their lives in a helicopter crash almost two weeks ago will be held at the Staples Center, there has been increased speculation about a private ceremony as well. The New York Times theorized that such a ceremony might take place at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach, California, as Kobe, a practicing Catholic, belonged to the church. He had reportedly even gone there with Gianna to "reflect and pray" in the early hours of January 26, following which they...

It’s not quite the same as finding out that the most recognizable face of your company has been arrested for pedophilia, but Dunkin’ Donuts has to be rethinking its marketing strategy after spokesman Snoop Dogg spent the last 48 hours threatening CBS news anchor Gayle King and calling for the release of convicted sex offender Bill Cosby. In January – one month after Dunkin’ Donuts’ CMO resigned to pursue “the next opportunity” – the coffee chain launched a national ad campaign featuring Snoop Dogg. Now, less than a month later, it has to make a decision about whether to suspend...

Over the course of Kobe’s 20-year-long career, he remained consistently silent on political issues, in a way that by the time of his retirement seemed wildly anachronistic. Bryant’s apolitical attitude reflected the individual-focused, Jordan-era status quo in which he entered the league, but it eventually made him out of step with his younger counterparts, who have largely taken up the activist mantle of older icons like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson. Today’s NBA stars are eager not only to use their platform to amplify political and social causes, but to establish activism as a responsibility in its own right, as...

Abigail Disney has weighed in on Kobe Bryant's controversial past, after actress Evan Rachel Wood and a Washington Post journalist were berated for tweeting about a rape allegation against him from 2003, just hours after his death in a helicopter crash Sunday. Disney - whose grandfather Roy O. Disney co-founded The Walt Disney Company - tweeted: 'I haven't said anything about Kobe so far because I felt some time needed to pass before weighing in. But yes, it's time for the sledgehammer to come out. The man was a rapist. Deal with it.'

Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez spoke out Tuesday evening for the first time since her reinstatement, blasting the decision to suspend her for a series of tweets relating to rape allegations against Kobe Bryant. Sonmez said in a statement shared on Twitter hours after her reinstatement that Post executive editor Marty Baron’s handling of the incident left her unconvinced of management’s commitment to the truth. “I believe that Washington Post readers and employees, including myself, deserve to hear directly from Marty Baron on the newspaper’s handling of this matter,” Sonmez said in. “Washington Post journalists endeavor to live up to...

The Catholic faith of Kobe Bryant Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash in Southern California, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.Bryant, the father of four, was Catholic.In all nine people were killed in the Jan. 26 crash.Bryant, 41, is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He retired in 2016 after a 20 year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, in which the shooting guard won five NBA championships, a league MVP award, two scoring championships, and myriad other distinctions.Beyond basketball, Bryant was a husband and a father who in 2015 credited...

At the time of his passing, Kobe Bryant was, by all accounts, a wonderful husband and father. His death is tragic, for his family and fans. A period of national mourning is wholly appropriate. Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez was suspended by her paper for tweeting about the rape case Bryant battled in 2003, hours after his death. The Post said Sonmez’s suspension came because her tweets did not “pertain” to her “coverage area,” and because her “behavior on social media is making it harder for others to do their work as Washington Post journalists.”This is a story with many...

Kobe Bryant had a complicated relationship with his hometown, but where it counted most he was pure Philly.Kobe Bryant had a complicated relationship with Philadelphia, a complicated city. He was born and partially raised in the City of Brotherly Love, having also lived in Italy where his father played hoops. In many ways he was a classic Philly guy, a Catholic, with wit, but also a burning drive to win. By the time he was a senior in high school the city knew it had a burgeoning superstar on its hands, but ultimately that stardom would not belong to his...

One of the last things Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna did before they died in a fatal helicopter crash on Sunday was attend church. Father Steve Sallot with Our Lady Queen of Angels church in Newport Beach, Orange County, spoke to a local media outlet about the father and daughter attending mass. "He was here before the 7 a.m. mass and that's our first mass of the day," Father Sallot told KABC in an on-camera interview. "So he would obviously have been in the prayer chapel before that and he was leaving about 10 to 7." CBS News...

The ink was barely dry on headlines announcing Kobe Bryant’s sudden death in a helicopter crash Sunday before Twitter started buzzing with reminders about the 2003 rape allegations against him.Just hours after news broke about the crash, which also killed Bryant’s 13-year old daughter and seven others, Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez tweeted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast story recounting the 17-year-old rape case.In a series of follow-up tweets (now deleted) Sonmez unintentionally captured the depressing zero-sum spirit of woke cancel culture, writing, “Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure...