Kobe Bryant‘s widow Vanessa Bryant took aim at actress Evan Rachel Wood and other critics who branded the late sports icon a “rapist” following his tragic death last year.
Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died in a fiery helicopter crash along with 7 others in Calabasas, California in foggy conditions in January 2020.
Vanessa had time over the weekend, so she searched through old social media posts for critics who accused Kobe of being a rapist.
Wood and film producer Abigail Disney were among the activists to remind fans about his July 2003 sexual assault case.
The married basketball star was accused of forcing himself on a 19-year-old female hotel employee in Colorado. The case was later settled out of court and Kobe publicly apologized to his accuser.
At the time of his death in a helicopter crash, Evan Rachel Wood posted on social media, “What has happened is tragic. I am heartbroken for Kobe’s family. He was a sports hero. He was also a rapist. And all of these truths can exist simultaneously.”
The tweet caused an uproar at the time, but more than a year later, Vanessa dug up the tweet, and fired back at Wood.
“This just came to my attention,” she wrote across a screenshot of Wood’s post, which she shared on her Instagram Story timeline on Saturday.
“Your false, insensitive, defamatory and slanderous tweet on 1/26/20 is vile and disturbing to say the least. Behavior like this is part of the reason why innocent black men go to jail for crimes they didn’t commit. An accusation doesn’t make someone guilty. YOU DON’T KNOW THE FACTS OF THE CASE.”
Vanessa also posted a similarly-worded message to Abigail Disney, who, shortly after Kobe’s death, told her Twitter followers: “The man was a rapist. Deal with it.”
Vanessa’s followers were confused and baffled by her response to old tweets.
Vanessa has been very active on social media since Kobe’s death. Kobe was very adamant that she devote her time to homemaking and raising their children.
