It’s been 10 days since the world lost Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others which included her Mamba Sports Academy teammates in a helicopter crash. CBS’ Gayle King recently asked Los Angeles Sparks legend Lisa Leslie about Kobe and his 2003 sexual assault case was brought up.
Kobe was accused of this sexual assault by a 19-year-old hotel employee in Colorado. He ended up being acquitted due to the young lady not wanting to testify. He’s been an amazing person off the court for years but sadly, this case continues to be brought up over and over again.
Leslie defended Kobe and his legacy by saying his isn’t complicated at all. She added he was never the type to approach women in that kind of manner. Bryant did admit that he had sexual relations with the woman but it was consensual.
“It’s not complicated for me at all,” said Leslie. “Even if there’s a few times that we’ve been at a club at the same time, Kobe’s not the kind of guy, never been, like, ‘Lis, go get that girl,’ or ‘tell her,’ or ‘send her this.’ I have other NBA friends that are like that. Kobe, he was never like that…I never saw him being the kind of person that would do something to violate a woman or be aggressive in that way. That’s just not the person that I know…I just don’t believe that, and I’m not saying things didn’t happen. I just don’t believe that things didn’t happen with force.”
Leslie went on to explain how the media needs to be more respectful at this time. She made a great point that if people had questions about it, they had years to ask them and that shouldn’t be hanging over his legacy.
Leslie did a great job here of coming to Kobe’s defense. It was insensitive of King to ask about the case as he’s built an amazing image for himself since that incident. This interview should’ve been about celebrating his life and not tarnishing it. Flip the page for the CBS interview along with Twitter reactions.