January 27, 2020

WaPo suspends a journalist who reacted to Kobe Bryant's death by tweeting a link to the 2016 Daily Beast article "Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession."

The Daily Mail reports.
[Felicia] Sonmez says she has received death threats after posting the tweets. In follow-up tweets, Sonmez wrote: ‘Well, THAT was eye-opening. To the 10,000 people (literally) who have commented and emailed me with abuse and death threats, please take a moment and read the story - which was written 3+ years ago, and not by me. Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved and that totality unsettling.... That folks are responding with rage and threats toward me (someone who didn’t even write the piece but found it well-reported) speaks volumes about the pressure people come under to stay silent in these cases.’

In another follow-up tweet, Sonmez wrote: ‘As an addendum: Hard to see what’s accomplished by messages such as these. If your response to a news article is to resort to harassment and intimidation of journalists, you might want to consider that your behavior says more about you than the person you’re targeting.’
Sonmez deleted these tweets, but of course, they were preserved by her antagonists and there were demands that WaPo fire her (or send her to Wuhan, China to cover the spread of the coronavirus).

The reaction to the Sonmez tweets has brought more attention to the rape charges against Bryant. The Daily Mail takes advantage of the occasion to spell out all the details. If Sonmez violated journalistic standards by bringing up negative material about a recently deceased person, does a story about Sonmez's alleged violation not commit the same violation (if it is a violation)? Or does Sonmez's going first immunize everyone who goes after, as long as they present Sonmez as the story?

I suspect Sonmez thought we were living in the #MeToo era, and we don't participate in the hiding of the rape stories of eminent men anymore.

95 comments:

rhhardin said...

It's still a rape is not bad when black men do it era.

jeremyabrams said...

No one is hiding a rape story. It's simply appropriate to wait a couple weeks.

Scalito said...

Thank you, Professor Althouse, for even this implicit pushback against Twitter World's condemnation of Somnez. It disgusted me over there. The liberals, conservatives and virtue-signalling "libertarians" finally agreed on something: thou shall not mention a rapist's history of rape when he dies if he used to put a ball through a hoop mounted ten feet in the air really, really well."

I expected at least a few of my people, the conservative populist niche, to bring it up. But nope. I was stuck with rando MAGA haters. And now . . . you.

Don't go on Twitter today! They're desperate to find apostates to execute for Virtue Signal.

rhhardin said...

It's a collision of favored narratives. Journalism is about narratives, and who's fired tells you which narrative is correct today. It's a ratings thing.

rhhardin said...

That rape had something of a #metoo problem anyway, leaving it undecidable. Did the lady see an opportunity or not, you couldn't tell. Like a movie star might with Harvey.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's still a rape is not bad when black men do it era."

Yeah, ask Bill Cosby about that one.

rhhardin said...

Bill Cosby counts as white.

Scalito said...

"rhhardin said...

That rape had something of a #metoo problem anyway, leaving it undecidable. Did the lady see an opportunity or not, you couldn't tell."

She was 19 years old and he was a something male athlete who flipped her over and choked her when she refused anal sex. His official public apology said something like "I thought it was consensual but yeah uh I know she didn't." That's kind of the definition of rape mk matter the era.



rhhardin said...

You count as white if you act white. That's how blacks are kept in line, on the left.

Wilbur said...

Cosby strayed from the accepted narrative in his criticism of some aspects of accepted AA culture, so he was/is treated as an apostate.

Wilbur said...

As I've stated before on these site, I find it impossible to mourn the death of anyone who I did not know personally. The outpouring of grief for Di, Kobe or any other public figure is something I can't wrap my head around.

Scalito said...

 
"Wilbur said...

Cosby strayed from the accepted narrative in his criticism of some aspects of accepted AA culture, so he was/is treated as an apostate"

Cosby is no different than Weinstein or Epstein: the sheer magnitude of his victim list embarrassed the powerful when finally slipped past the media-praetorian guard. All three were useful and therefore protected (Cosby almost certainly in part due to his skin color), until they weren't.

Scalito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eleanor said...

Her grandmother must have died before she had a chance to teach her funeral etiquette. One does not speak ill of the dead at least until there are a few shovels of dirt in the grave. It is, of course, always just fine to say nothing at all. Saying nothing appears to be a lost art.

Leland said...

As I think #MeToo is selective, but not as selective as #CancelCulture, I'm not a fan. But it is WaPo, that has pushed #MeToo when it convenience them and cancelled others they disagreed. So she's a fool that probably shouldn't be trusted.

Marcus Bressler said...

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that the obit about the Bengals coach Wyche mentioned in the secondary headline (NYTimes) or FIRST paragraph about the incident (Twitter and others) where he kept a female reporter from the locker room? But an accusation about rape doesn't belong? Play by their rules so they shouldn't complain

THEOLDMAN

In actuality, neither was appropriate to mention so prominently.

Scalito said...


jeremyabrams said...

No one is hiding a rape story. It's simply appropriate to wait a couple weeks.

Does this rule apply to all rapists or just millionaires who entertained you by playing schoolyard games well on television? How long do we have to wait to mention murder victims in a murderer's obits, to be appropriate and all?

Darrell said...

Keep it to yourself on the day he and his young daughter die.

Conservachusetts said...

I’d say waiting 24 hours (or at least until the remains were identified) would be proper.

AllenS said...

I went to a funeral for an 84 year old good friend last week. He owned a salvage yard for a while, and basically worked for himself after that. I see no need to express sadness for Kobe Bryant passing. He was not a good man. In fact he raped a woman in her ass.

Trashcan O Man said...

"The police helicopters were all grounded due to fog."
— Stefan Molyneux on Twitter

Scalito said...

"Conservachusetts said...

I’d say waiting 24 hours (or at least until the remains were identified) would be proper."

Ring Not Identified: "General Qessam Soliemani, austere religious scholar, freedom fighter, Iran's Abraham Lincoln and a beloved father of 25 bastard children and paramour of 3 recently deflowered minors, suspected dead in unsanctioned airstrike."

Ring Identified: "We can now report without concern of impropriety that General Soliemani also ordered the deaths of thousands in the Middle East."

D 2 said...

Leland has the gist of it. It is not what she did was wrong. It's that she went rogue on timing. There's still lines of authority, don't matter if it is #cancel culture or #resist or whatever the mot de jour is. Fascism/communism don't like when the folks in the middling ranks say or do something at the wrong time, way more than a (somewhat) free society does. There is a facade to authoritarianism. Free societies are messy and seemingly disjointed.

She thought she was fighting the Power. Ha! Working at the Post, she is now (rightly) seen as little more than a carrier of diseased water.

Maybe once she's passed feeling sorry for herself she might see things in a different light.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I wanted to post screenshots of the Wikipedia description of the assault/encounter on Facebook in response
to all the moronic whining and crying among the idiot stay at home mothers I know. “He was one of the best!!!!” Best what? Best men? For God’s sake. The hotel girl was probably a starfucker but “best” men don’t have disgusting, bruising, “can I cum on your face” incidents with teenagers while married.

Tom T. said...

It was attention-seeking behavior on Sonmez's part. She wasn't linking to a story she'd written, not was she running an official news-related feed on behalf of the Post. She wanted to be first out of the gate with this reaction, because she thought people would admire her.

That said, suspending her seems excessive, but Sonmez's tweet will inevitably be linked to the paper, so it wanted to be seen taking action. The local African-American community has a long history of some antipathy toward the Post over instances of supposed racial insensitivity, and this won't help. It also didn't help that Bryant got treated more harshly in this way than Baghdadi and Soleimani, who got respectful tweets from the Post's account after their deaths.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

And how hypocritical and pathetic that her paper didn’t back her up.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AllenS said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...
And how hypocritical and pathetic that her paper didn’t back her up.

Huge dilemma for the paper: white girl vs black man. They can always hire another white girl is what they probably thought.

Scalito said...

"Darrell said...

Keep it to yourself on the day he and his young daughter die."

No. My Queen of Marquesberry Rules has an exception to the no-speaking-ill-of-the-dead injunction that allows me to point out when the Nation mourns because a rapist died. Disgusting behavior.

Next thing you know people will start yucking up Mike Tyson jokes right before decrying Toxic Masculinity on Twitter.

Tom T. said...

Also, it seems to me to be an issue of sensitivity toward Bryant's wife, who lost one daughter yesterday and was having to deal with early reports that in fact all four of them had been killed.

By the way, I wonder if ABC will discipline the reporter who passed along that false information?

Temujin said...

Timing is everything. Consideration for others and their hurt. Something that is never taught in Journalism! school. She tweeted back, "‘As an addendum: Hard to see what’s accomplished by messages such as these."

It's hard to see what's accomplished by going after him within hours of his death and that of the others, including his young daughter whom he loved and probably taught him more about how to treat women than anyone previously in his life. Hard to see when you walk around looking for the shit in people and thinking it's the way to do things.

It was just stupid, self-focused, millennialism thinking. #meeeeetoo. Anyone older than 17 knows about Kobe's issue. He has tried to live beyond it and I suspect he has helped a helluva lot more people than she (or we) know about. Life is complex and full. She was playing the role of a vulture, scavenging the corpse of someone who was well loved.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Once the next civil war has both sides fighting this mourning of a sports star will look quaint, and still odd. It reflects the great delusion that if someone is on our TV we know them and should afford them the respect we would anyone sitting in our living room with us, or at our kitchen table.

Lies. Profitable lies to some, costly lies to the great majority. Two birds forever in the bush.

Wilbur said...

What Tom T. said above ...

Scalito said...

"Temujin said...


It's hard to see what's accomplished by going after him within hours of his death and that of the others, including his young daughter whom he loved and probably taught him more about how to treat women than anyone previously in his life."

What kind of absolute horse-excrement is this? Men don't need daughters to teach us not to forcibly rape 19-year old kids. For fuck's sake. The day I need my daughter to teach me how to treat women . . . instead of me teaching her how she deserves to be treated by men. I can't even begin to fathom the way celebrity makes people invent bullshit excuses for wretched, evil behavior.

Tom T. said...

"It's still a rape is not bad when black men do it era."

This cuts both ways, though. There are any number of people out there on the internet with little history of MeToo activism who nonetheless are outraged that somewhere, even in death, a black man might be getting away with something.

Scalito said...

"This cuts both ways, though. There are any number of people out there on the internet with little history of MeToo activism who nonetheless are outraged that somewhere, even in death, a black man might be getting away with something."

This doesn't have the same oomph if you replace the "something" euphemism with rape, Mr. Omar.

"Someone did something."

Automatic_Wing said...

For fuck's sake. The day I need my daughter to teach me how to treat women . . . instead of me teaching her how she deserves to be treated by men.

I think the takeaway for all the daughters out there is don't agree to have sex with dudes you just met 5 minutes ago. There's no guarantee you'll be treated as you want to be treated, much less how you deserve to be treated.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Oops. The reporter made the mistake of treating a black liberal like a Republican. That'll get you in trouble everyday in the media.

Scalito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DKWalser said...

I suspect Sonmez thought we were living in the #MeToo era, and we don't participate in the hiding of the rape stories of eminent men anymore.

There's a difference between 'hiding' a rape story and making the telling of a rape story the ONLY reaction to someone's death. Should the NYT's obituary mention the rape allegation? Of course it should! Should you tweet a link to the rape story as your 1st response to Kobe's death? Of course not!

Scalito said...

"I think the takeaway for all the daughters out there is don't agree to have sex with dudes you just met 5 minutes ago. There's no guarantee you'll be treated as you want to be treated, much less how you deserve to be treated."

Ok, I am being trolled now, right? This is like my third time commenting in a thread in twenty years of internetting, so I must reek troll-able newbie. Surely that's more likely than someone earnestly saying the takeaway from rape is don't have sex with a stranger.

Pssst! Rape denies someone thr right to decline sex. Good lord.

If I spend much more time here, I am going to turn into Lena Dunham. 

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

Fernandinande said...

It's simply appropriate to wait a couple weeks.

That's what serial rapists do.

Lurker21 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lurker21 said...

Memo to Self: Take care not to die before everybody who remembers all the stuff you pulled has died.

MadisonMan said...

I am struck by the outsized reaction to Bryant's death, and I find myself wondering "Why"? I suppose I blame the internet and the search for clicks.

Consider the reaction to the (much more tragic) death of the great (much greater than Bryant) Roberto Clemente. Top of fold, Front page everywhere? No. Of course, that was 1972.

MBunge said...

If Bill Clinton had died instead of Kobe, do you think this reporter or any mainstream media “journalist” would have responded immediately with a tweet about his rape history? Of course not. I hate to sound sexist but this was a female who thought Kobe was “just some stupid basketball player” who would be fair game to trash.

Mike

Anonymous said...

The worst of the double standards, for some reason, is reserved for Roman Polanski. Here’s a guy who admitted in court that he gave champagne and Quaaludes to a 13 year old girl so he could sodomize her without resistance, then spent the rest of his life on the run to avoid the consequences from the American justice system, yet he still draws a standing ovation from most of Hollywood whenever his name is mentioned. Kobe, Bill Clinton, and Harvey Weinstein are pikers by comparison.

If you’re a teenage nobody who gets raped in the ass by a famous liberal, #MeToo isn’t really you, too. It’s only you if you become a famous liberal yourself, in which case you get a soapbox and sympathy even if you knowingly and willingly offered up your ass in exchange for fame.

Francisco D said...

The problem with the race tweet is that it stands in stark contrast to the over the-top reaction to Kobe's death.

He was an outstanding sports figure, but seemed to get a lot more attention than other famous deaths (except Princess Diana). Maybe it is because he was so young and so much better known to the (generally ignorant) masses.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Speak no ill of the black.

Unknown said...

Learn to code, buttercup.

Gahrie said...

I suspect Sonmez thought we were living in the #MeToo era, and we don't participate in the hiding of the rape stories of eminent men anymore.

Not even when the men have been found not guilty of the charges by a jury? Are we still pretending that women don't lie about sexual assault?

Charlie said...

I think there should be a new 24 hour rule. Everyone must wait 24 hours before commenting on a celebrity death.

CStanley said...

Scalito and IHMMP- thank you for sensible comments.

Francisco D. said...: The problem with the race [sic] tweet is that it stands in stark contrast to the over the-top reaction to Kobe's death.
Well, yes. But the problem lies with the hagiographic coverage of Bryant, not with someone pointing out that he used his celebrity to commit violent crime.

The general etiquette rule of refraining from speaking ill of the dead should have exceptions. Wait 24 hours...why? Will his widow be inoculated by 24 hours of praise and then it will no longer be hurtful to be reminded of horrific side of her husband?

William said...

The elephant didn't die in the crash, but neither should the elephant be invited to the funeral. The big story was that he died in a crash, not that he behaved badly, perhaps criminally so, years ago....It was kind of tacky for the reporter to bring this up on the day of Bryant's sudden death. Still, her offense was nothing to inspire death threats and suspension.....The downside of reverence: Cosby got away with it for all those years because he was such a revered figure that the women involved hesitated to come forward. This rape charge is part of Bryant's legacy. Maybe it's all to the good that it was mentioned on the day he died. Alleged rapists, even those with a past history of good works and championship rings, should not be above criticism. Still, it was kind of tacky for the reporter to bring it forward.

Wince said...

Felicia Sonmez Tweeted "Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved..."

But Sonmez wasn't remembering him in "totality".

As Tom T. said...
It was attention-seeking behavior on Sonmez's part. She wasn't linking to a story she'd written, not was she running an official news-related feed on behalf of the Post. She wanted to be first out of the gate with this reaction, because she thought people would admire her.

Martha said...

Like me Felicia Sonmez apparently is not a Lakers fan and she does not follow basketball BECAUSE the first thing that came to mind when I heard Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash was OH THAT RAPIST.



Roger Sweeny said...

If journalist standards mean that you can't say something bad about a person who has died, then journalistic standards are a big, stinking pile of pig shit.

mockturtle said...

Timing is everything.

rcocean said...

Wasn't kobe found not guilty? So why bring it up now?

Of course, the writer is probably a leftist so that explains her lack of class.

Fernandinande said...

the Nation mourns because a rapist died

Well yeah, but he played basketball. Think about how different your life would be if basketball had never existed....not a pleasant thought, eh?

n.n said...

The death of revered basketball player Bryant. Followed by a post discussing the sociopolitical dynamics of bigotry.

Roger Sweeny said...

It always bothers me when people who die become saints. About the only time most people will hear of them is at that point. I may be weird but I want the truth. Kobe did some bad things when he was younger. He changed and was living a better life (isn't that what we want?). I don't think it's disrespectful to tell that whole story.

Fernandinande said...

Wasn't kobe found not guilty?

No, he had enough money to admit guilt in civil court, which kept it out of criminal court.

Ray - SoCal said...

Sonmez has a bit of a history with #MeToo...


'I'm Radioactive'
Journalist Jonathan Kaiman is one of the least famous, least powerful men to be brought down by the #MeToo movement. A year later, the fallout continues.
by Emily Yoffe in Reason Magazine.

Basically she ruined the career of a journalist due to drunk sex.

Darrell said...

Scalito said...
"Darrell said...

Keep it to yourself on the day he and his young daughter die."

No. My Queen of Marquesberry Rules has an exception to the no-speaking-ill-of-the-dead injunction that allows me to point out when the Nation mourns because a rapist died.


That's why MSNBC clearly used the N-word when reporting this story. They later said it was a misspoken "Nicks and Lakers" contraction, but the nation already heard it clearly.

chickelit said...

Charlie said...I think there should be a new 24 hour rule. Everyone must wait 24 hours before commenting on a celebrity death.

Why?

Narr said...

Talk about First World problems!

The whole thing is hysterically funny to me--a dipshit roundballer flys into a mountain and a dumbass scribbler reminds everyone the guy was a dipshit, and it's virtual daggers drawn.

Narr
Jock-reverence is one of the most reliable signs of cultural decline

Rick said...

I suspect Sonmez thought we were living in the #MeToo era, and we don't participate in the hiding of the rape stories of eminent men anymore.

She was following the Imus style guide, "nappy headed hoes" was in the first sentence of his obit. But since Bryant is a popular figure among an in-group constituency she should have realized different rules apply.

The Cosby example fits this playbook as well.

Ann Althouse said...

"Wasn't kobe found not guilty?"

From the Daily Beast article:

"On Sept. 1, 2004, one week before opening statements were to be made, the case was dismissed after the accuser, who had been dragged through the mud for months by the media and Bryant’s defense team, informed the court that she would not testify. The woman had filed a separate civil suit against Bryant, and had agreed to dismissal of the sexual-assault charge against him provided the athlete issued the following apology to his accuser, which was read in court by Bryant’s attorney:

"'First, 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. Although this year has been incredibly difficult for me personally, I can only imagine the pain she has had to endure. I also want to apologize to her parents and family members, and to my family and friends and supporters, and to the citizens of Eagle, Colo. I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. 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. 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. I issue this statement today fully aware that while one part of this case ends today, another remains. I understand that the civil case against me will go forward. That part of this case will be decided by and between the parties directly involved in the incident and will no longer be a financial or emotional drain on the citizens of the state of Colorado.'

"The accuser’s civil suit against Bryant was ultimately settled in March 2005, and terms of the settlement were undisclosed (the total amount civil juries in Colorado could award at the time was $2.5 million). And the accuser, it should be noted, came from a wealthy family."

Skeptical Voter said...

She suffers the price for being a tasteless twit in an era of Twitter virtue signaling.

One does not speak ill of the dead immediately. Give it a rest for a couple of heartbeats before sticking the shiv in.

Ralph L said...

I thought Bryant wasn't generally liked by other players/coaches/sports press--or was that someone else?

CJinPA said...

UPDATE: It now seems the suspension was not for tweeting the rape article, but for posting an image of her work email inbox, which contained the names/email addresses of readers. That was apparently against company policy.

Spiros Pappas said...

Kobe's estate is going to shell out big bucks to the people he killed.

Jupiter said...

Martha said...
"Like me Felicia Sonmez apparently is not a Lakers fan and she does not follow basketball BECAUSE the first thing that came to mind when I heard Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash was OH THAT RAPIST."

For me it was "Who? Some "musician"? Oh, no, it was that basketball player who raped that girl. It's a shame, we lost a perfectly serviceable helicopter today."

Jupiter said...

Hey, bonus points, at least that helicopter won't be spewing CO2 any more. We're saved!

Yancey Ward said...

I thought the charges were plausible and Bryant more or less confirmed this himself, but the case didn't move forward criminally. I think it entirely appropriate to review Bryant's entire history as a public figure. The pushback, of course, comes for a specific reason that dare not mention its name. Bryant, as far as I know, had not political footprint (I could be wrong- I just don't remember ever seeing it), so it isn't a perfect test, but I promise you that if he were black conversative, there would have been no pushback at all, and most of the media wouldn't be in mourning mode this morning.

ExplainMeMore said...

Can anyone now trust Sonmez to be evenhanded in her reporting now that we know how strongly she feels about her favorite cause.

CStanley said...

The excerpt that Althouse posted in a comment above gives more context, as does a link that a commenter (Mark, I think?) posted in the other Kb thread about how he’d repented and became a practicing Catholic, which he credited with helping turn his life around.

All of that should be part of the story, but if the rape incident is left our then the rest is too.

And a thought on the comments above that criticize this reporter for taking a “MeToo” approach, and those who blame the victim of that attack...the latter really supports the idea that the former is a needed remedy. If young women should know better than to be groupies, then the famous men so targeted should know better in order to avoid the claims that result.

Don’t want to get raped by a celebrity? Don’t be a Star-f@cker.
Don’t want to be charged with rape? Don’t be a Fan-f@cker.

Scalito said...

Sonmez has a bit of a history with #MeToo...


'I'm Radioactive'
Journalist Jonathan Kaiman is one of the least famous, least powerful men to be brought down by the #MeToo movement. A year later, the fallout continues. by Emily Yoffe in Reason Magazine.

Basically she ruined the career of a journalist due to drunk sex.


Say rather she is an awful wretch too. I guess that's karma for you. If WaPo was going to punish a reporter for disseminating truthful information . . . it couldn't have happened to a nicer gal.

PM said...

My first reaction to the news was not Kobe's rape incident but how brutal it must be for his wife losing a daughter and husband just like that.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

Charlie said...

Chickelit said...."Why?"

So everyone can take a day to reflect......and then spew out their inane comments.

Unknown said...

Kobe was taken out by an asshole.

Sydney said...

This article was mentioned upthread, but bears repeating on this post since it is tangentially about the rape accusation:
He seems to have repented.. Genuinely.
But there is no redemption in this world.

Poopstain said...

Of course the fact that the "victim" was not raped, but rather was a gold-digging slut who set him up and got exactly what she came for--money--is entirely irrelevant, right? $Metoo.

D.D. Driver said...

"No one is hiding a rape story. It's simply appropriate to wait a couple weeks."

I would sort of agree with you if there wasn't an absolute avalanche of Kobe-What-an-Awesome-Family-Man-and-Citizen stories. If you want to write stories about how great a basketball player Kobe was. That's cool. But once you open the door to how "great" Kobe was off the court, now I think it is not only appropriate to discuss the rape "allegations," as a matter of proper journalism I think it is required. Say nothing about his life off the court, or tell the complete truth about his life off the court. Don't tell half the story.

n.n said...

But there is no redemption in this world.

It's selective. For example, Gaddafi repented, reformed, contributed intelligence about terrorists, then was rewarded with a summary judgment, sodomy, and abortion like a dog in the streets. Then there are other examples where allegations are spun from whole cloth, then propagated through a trial by press and shifty politicians to cover-up for their own peculiar interests and misdeeds.

Rabel said...

"This is like my third time commenting in a thread in twenty years of internetting..."

Good policy on your part. Please continue to deny us your wisdom.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I'm getting whiffs of civility bullshit.

Scalito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mccullough said...

The evidence that Kobe raped the woman was strong. She came forward right away. Was medically examined. Bryant initially lies to police that he didn’t touch her then said it was consensual sex. And the blood on his t-shirt was DNA tested as the woman’s.

It was over 16 years ago. She changed her mind about testifying, pursued a civil case and Bryant settled it.

Bryant then played 12 more years in the NBA. Had three more daughters, including the one who was killed. Stayed married to his wife and seemed like a good father and decent guy those 16 years.

His life raises questions about punishments and rehabilitation.

Kobe wasn’t just the guy his fans mourned, perhaps excessively. But he’s not just the guy who raped a woman in 2003 either.

Twitter is a terrible forum for expressing more nuanced thought.

And most journalists aren’t capable of it even in long form anymore. They think in tweets.

Bilwick said...

Kobe's raping the angels now.

D 2 said...

I came back to this post after reading additional information over the course of the day. I stand by previous assessment that she was put in the penalty box because she went out without checking in on timing with the bosses.

- the story is that she wasn't suspended for the tweet - the story is that she was suspended for the followup aspects which she shouldn't have had screenshotted or some such - but the real story remains (I think) that she is suspended for not staying in the company lane.

But what's most important (& sad) about this side story is that it is now about her. It isn't really about Kobe. Or the eight other dead people. It's now about her, the heroic journalist, and the need for her to say whatever she wants to the rest of us, and get paid. She got light to shine on her, to make the story about her.

If you can find a way to stand on nine dead people and via tweet make a move up the journo-recognition ladder in less than 24 hrs, well, uh, I guess that's why some of the rest of us are more cut out to be truck drivers or diner cooks.

Scalito said...

 Sydney said...

This article was mentioned upthread, but bears repeating on this post since it is tangentially about the rape accusation:
He seems to have repented.. Genuinely.
But there is no redemption in this world.


Ummm, no. From the article you posted:

“It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ’Did you do it?’ And I say, ’Of course not.’ Then he asks, ’Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ’Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ’Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point,” Bryant said.


You cannot repent, genuinely or otherwise, without admitting your sin. That is Christian 101.