Kobe Bryant death: Memories of a sporting legend, father-figure, mentor and alleged rapist have to co-exist
If you do a quick Google search on NBA star Kobe Bryant, who along with his daughter and seven others died in a helicopter crash on January 26, among the many thousands of articles about fans and athletes and movie stars and friends and family paying their respects, you will also find glowing eulogies about his commitment to women’s basketball.
And it is not without merit. From coaching his daughter’s school basketball team to extending his support to women who played college-level basketball, to close involvement with the WNBA, Bryant was a mentor to many young women.
It is a part of his legacy as much as his 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers and his two Olympic gold medals. But that’s not all that is part of his legacy. When we remember Kobe Bryant the player, the coach, the mentor, we also have to remember the Kobe Bryant who was accused of rape.
Content warning: The following part contains details of graphic sexual violence
Speaking of the night of June 30, 2003, Bryant’s alleged 19-year-old victim, who worked at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, a resort in Edwards, Colorado, told the police that she stayed back at work because “I was excited to meet Kobe Bryant,” and that she “was trying to make up the extra hours” that she missed by not getting to work on time.
After Bryant and his entourage’s arrival, she escorted them to their room. After that, according to her, “Mr. Bryant asked me, kinda in private, if I would come back in 15 minutes and give him a tour of the hotel. And I said that I would.”
She returned to his room around 10:30 p.m. After a tour of the resort’s facilities, they allegedly returned to his room. “We were talking and [Bryant] asked me to open the jacuzzi for him,” she told police.
Even after telling him that her shift was over, he coaxed her to stay and soon, began kissing her. While the kissing was consensual, what happened after wasn’t. In her testimony to the police, she further added, “He started, um, groping me, I guess I’d say. Putting his hands on me, grabbing my butt, my chest. Trying to lift up my skirt. Proceeded to take off his own pants. Trying to grab my hand and make me touch him.”