Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa Bryant, slammed a tweet Evan Rachel Wood posted last year just after his death, in which the Westworld actress called him a "r*pist."
The NBA legend, one of the most famous athletes of all time, died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, one of his four daughters. After news of their deaths broke, Evan tweeted, "What has happened is tragic. I am heartbroken for Kobe's family. He was a sports hero. He was also a r*pist. And all of these truths can exist simultaneously."
Dozens of people had initially criticized the actress for the tweet that appeared to allude to a 2003 assault case involving Kobe and an unnamed accuser, which was later dismissed. On Saturday, February 27, more than a year after the deadly plane crash, Vanessa said that she found out about Evan's post and shared it on her Instagram Story.
"This just got my attention," Kobe's wife wrote in her post, in which she tagged the actress. "Your false, insensitive, defamatory, and slanderous tweet on 01/26/20 is vile and disturbing, to say the least."
Last year, shortly after the initial backlash to her tweet about Kobe, the actress wrote on Twitter that her post was "not condemnation or celebration" but "a reminder that everyone will have different feelings and there is room for all of us to cry together instead of fighting. Everyone has lost. Everyone will turn on so show everyone kindness and respect." After further criticism online, she deleted both tweets.
Evan, an activist and rape survivor, has no known personal connection to Kobe. Earlier this month, she made headlines when she alleged that her ex, Marilyn Manson, "groomed" her when she was a teenager and abused her for years. He has denied her accusations, as well as other claims of abuse made by various other women.
In 2003, Kobe was accused of assaulting a woman at a Colorado hotel. He denied the accusations and said they had a "consensual" meeting. The accuser ultimately refused to testify and the rape charge was dropped.
"Behavior like this is part of the reason innocent black men go to jail for crimes they didn't commit," Vanessa wrote in her post on Saturday. "An accusation does not make anyone guilty. YOU DO NOT KNOW THE FACTS OF THE CASE."
In 2004, after the case was dismissed, Kobe issued an apology statement. He would say, "I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year."
"While I truly believe this meeting between us was consensual, I now recognize that she did not view this incident the same way I did," the statement continued. "After months of reviewing the discovery, hearing from her attorney, and even her personal testimony, I now understand why she feels she did not consent to this meeting."
The accuser then sued the Los Angeles Lakers star and the two settled that civil case in 2005.
Evan was one of many people who, after Kobe's death, posted about the assault allegations against the athlete. On her Instagram Story, Vanessa shared messages of support from people who stood up for her late husband on social media.
In February 2020, a month after the accident, TV personality Gayle King interviewed retired WNBA star Lisa Leslie about the late Lakers star and brought up the rape case. CBS released a preview video of the meeting, and his words angered many of Kobe's friends and fans, including Snoop Dogg.
Following the backlash, Gayle said in a statement that the clip was "taken out of context". She said, "I know that if I had only seen the clip that you guys saw, I would also be very angry with myself. I am mortified, embarrassed, and very angry."
And following criticism for his video, Snoop later clarified that he did not threaten Gayle.
Vanessa posted her Stories on Saturday, days after filing an amended complaint to publicly name the police officers accused of sharing unauthorized photos taken at the helicopter crash site shortly after Kobe, Gianna, and the seven other people were killed. Her filing is now part of a lawsuit she filed against Los Angeles County and its Sheriff's Department. County attorneys want to keep the names of the officers sealed for privacy reasons.
"The Sheriff's Department would like to redact the names of the deputies who took and/or shared photos of my husband, daughter, and other victims," she wrote on Instagram later Saturday. "They want their names unknown to the public. Anyone else facing allegations would be unprotected, named, and revealed to the public. Not all law enforcement is bad. These specific officers need to be held accountable just like everyone else. #doublestandards"
After Vanessa filed her lawsuit in September, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a statement, "Shortly after this tragic accident, Sheriff [Alex] Villanueva sponsored legislation that now makes it a crime for public safety personnel to take or share unofficial photographs of this nature. As a result of the swift actions we took in extraordinary circumstances, no images made it into the public arena. We continue to offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families."
