Kobe Bryant died in a horrible helicopter accident yesterday. At first I didn’t think it was real, because it was reported by TMZ and because these things are entirely unexpected and frankly unbelievable. The man was younger than I was and far more famous and wealthy. People of this nature often seem beyond death. Then one day they are not. I would like to speak on his legacy, and Waiver Wednesday will address that. However, today is more about the way his death brought up the allegation of rape he faced years ago. Some of the earliest reports of his death made quick mention of this allegation, and I find that incredibly troubling.
When our President is mentioned he is not generally mentioned in the same breath as, the man accused of rape. It does happen, because it did happen multiple times. Several prominent figures have been accused of rape, but this particular figure quite literally has had the accusation follow him to the grave. Bryant was accused of rape by a then 19 year old hotel employee. They both agreed that sex occurred but the consensual nature of the act was in question. He was briefly charged with the crime but those charges were dropped. She later sued him on different grounds and they settled out of court. What happened next was a matter of people placing their own opinions and beliefs on the matter. In this sense Kobe Bryant remained what he has long been, a larger than life representation of what we want to believe about the people we look up to. For some he was the hero that could never have done this. For others he was another example of the false idol that athletes represent.
What bugs me about the entire thing is that this event, while a relevant portion of his life, was allowed to be placed front and center in a moment where we should be remembering the best parts of him and not working hard to marr the good that he did. Yet here we are. It goes to show that people have a story they want to tell about you and that story is always more relevant than who you actually are.