Accountability in Entertainment • Page 114

I mean, she's not wrong but it was a very, very poor time to bring that up

 

there were probably millions of posts discussing his legacy immediately after the news broke

him raping someone is part of that legacy, sorry. all of it deserves to be talked through

 

Yeah, I don't get what's weird about that.

 

I’m sure when OJ Simpson dies, all of these people will only be tweeting about his athletic accomplishments as opposed to any of his alleged crimes.

 

Again, that's fine but it's pretty damn poor to post that when the body is still warm and his family is trying to process not only his death but the death of his 13 year old daughter too. Like how you like it if your dad died and someone pointed out to you all the terrible things he did while you're trying to process in a moment? That's all I'm saying, like give it a couple days and then go nuts.

 

Idk man. Every time an abuser or rapist dies and people say to be respectful of the family and it's not the time to bring it up like, I get that, but as a survivor myself I can't even imagine how it would feel if my abuser died and then was deified in the media for weeks after and I couldn't get away from it. I think there's a tactful way to feel sorry for his family while also saying screw him he wasn't a good person.

 

If you're referring to my "weird" comment, I meant that she'd face any repercussions at all by her job. That sets a wild precedent

 

The day Ted Kennedy died and an article was posted on ap.net, people came out of the woodwork screaming "CHAPPAQUIDDICK!!!!"

 

Like honestly when I saw it was a reporter facing repercussions I assumed it was that one who supposedly said the n-word

 

To be fair, the infamy of that case has long overshadowed any of his athletic and cultural impact. I honestly didn't really understand how big of a celebrity he was until I watched that 30 for 30 documentary because all I knew him from was that case. I'm sure there will be plenty of people doing that but I highly doubt they're not going to bring that case up alongside it, it's too infamous to separate.

 

I don't think there should necessarily be a moratorium. I don't know what the "right" way to go about it is, but it's not like people are harassing his friends or family. They have much more to worry about than a journalist posting a readily available account of a situation that was public. I don't see anything wrong with it

 

At the same time, though, I also don't find it wrong to not speak about the issue when immediately mourning the death of the man and his daughter. I don't think that it should be completely overlooked or ignored, but I also find it relatively tasteless to call out any person posting a tribute/message about Kobe and his daughter for also not immediately speaking on the rape.

 

I feel sorry for his children that they lost someone who was supposed to take care of them, and that they lost a sister of course, but people shouldn’t have to mourn the man or refrain from pushing back against the whole movement of deifying him. Dying young and leaving behind a family doesn’t change what he did.

And I totally understand the frustration and desire to push back against the whitewashing of his history as it happens in real time, because I’m frustrated as hell every time this happens. Idc how good at throwing a ball into a hoop he was.

 

I just keep thinking about if my abuser/rapist died and everyone was praising their legacy and said it wasn't the time to talk about what they did to me I'd feel like lower than garbage. I'd probably contemplate suicide or at the least spiral into a severe depression. How invalidating. Of course people should be respectful of his daughter and family, but pointing out the horrendous things he's done is fair game.

 

I will say that I understand that point of view and I'm not gonna act like it's not valid to feel that way because duh. It's more than fair to point out these things and to choose to not mourn his death due to his actions. It's just the timing of it that bothered me about that, that's really the meat of it honestly.

 

I would argue that now is the perfect time to bring it up, though, because now is when people are falling all over themselves to ignore it so they can post lionizing obituaries of him and get in on the click bonanza.

 

That is more than fair

 

I will say I find it very, very weird that many advocates and people that typically speak out against abuse are posting glowing things about him. I grew up watching him, it hurts and it's absolutely horrible that his daughter and the other people passed away, but I'm also not going to post a tribute to him. I don't know if it's ignorance or people grappling with their feelings but so many posts calling him a hero "on and off the court" is a weird look.

 

Part of it probably stems from the "it was settled" angle, I suppose. Everybody has their blind spots.

 

Ah, gotcha. My bad, I misunderstood your comment.

 

In reality, I do need to look more into the details of the case. I remember it happening and was too young to understand the intricacies and pretty much everyone around me swept it under the rug or dismissed it, so I really didn't think much about it when people talked about him. I am grateful at people making a push to not let others forget or dismiss it.

 

honestly, the Daily Beast article that that reporter linked to is a pretty good explanation of what happened iirc

Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession

 

Being a dad and also being a basketball fan has made me struggle with this a lot. Idk

I posted way too long of a thing about it already but it should be talked about. I agree with that.

my heart hurts for his family and loved ones. And my heart hurts for the woman who has to watch the entire world mourn her abuser.

what he meant to his peers and what he meant to basketball shouldn’t overshadow and erase the pain he put someone through.

 

Lol yeah I actually have that exact link from the tweet bookmarked to read later. I don't think it was a bad time for it at all

 

According to Michael Jackson stans a decade later is still to early to call him a creep

Policing how people react is bad