Kobe Bryant won an Oscar for his short animated film 'Dear Basketball.'

@THR/Twitter

People are questioning Kobe Bryant’s Oscar win in the wake of #MeToo

Twitter pointed out that Bryant has been accused of rape.

 

Kris Seavers

Streaming

Posted on Mar 4, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 10:52 pm CDT

Former NBA star Kobe Bryant won an Oscar on Sunday for his animated short film “Dear Basketball.” The internet both praised his win—and pointed out that he’s yet another Academy Award winner who has a history of sexual assault allegations.

Amid an Oscars ceremony that follows a year of the conversations around sexual assault allegations—and the following #MeToo and Time’s Up movements—people on Twitter questioned the double standard of the Academy to award Bryant despite the accusations against him.

https://twitter.com/ZackBornstein/status/970488749615300608

https://twitter.com/annetdonahue/status/970490007998705664

In 2003, Bryant was charged with rape when a 19-year-old hotel staffer said the basketball star assaulted her in Eagle, Colorado. Kobe was never prosecuted and maintains that he had consensual sex with the accuser.

“Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” Kobe said in a letter of apology at the time. “After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.”

Share this article
*First Published: Mar 4, 2018, 9:48 pm CST