The demand to change the logo, the "predictions" of the disaster and the sorrows of Los Angeles: how was the day after the death of Bryant

Causes of the crash and heroism of the pilot

A day has passed since the world shuddered at the news of the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. During this time, the details of the tragedy that unfolded in Kalabasas became clear. A private helicopter crashed, killing nine people.

In addition to Bryant and his daughter Gianna, her teammate Alissa Altobelli died along with her parents, baseball coach John Altobelli and his wife Carey Altobelli. Also on board were Sarah Chester with her daughter Payton Chester, basketball coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan.

At the same time, as reported by the WFAA channel, there could have been more victims, if not for the heroism of the latter. Literally at the last moment, he managed to maneuver and take the aircraft away from the village over which the flight flowed.

Later it also became known that the cause of the fall could not be a car breakdown - the helicopter was in good condition. According to The Los Angeles Times, according to local police, the cause of the crash could be fog - the weather on that day did not meet flight standards.

Subsequently, an audio recording of the negotiations between the controller and the pilot appeared on the official YouTube channel VASAviation.

Judging by the record, the dispatchers transmitted information about the fog and asked to occupy the waiting area to ensure a safe distance from the aircraft. As a result, the dispatchers were allowed to continue the flight, but a few seconds before the crash, the pilot was informed that the helicopter was too low for tracking.

According to ESPN, he replied that he wanted to gain altitude and fly above the clouds. However, then the helicopter began to fall and hit the mountainside. Its speed at that time was about 300 kilometers per hour, and the vertical fall rate reached 20 meters per second.

Condolences from the Stars and Mourning Los Angeles

The news of the disaster instantly blew up social networks. Users constantly posted posts with condolences and memories of the basketball player, and Bryant’s latest tweet received 2.5 million likes and nearly 500 thousand reposts. In it, Bryant congratulated the Los Angeles Lakers striker LeBron James on having beat him on the list of the most successful players in NBA history.

LeBron himself learned about the death of a legend at the airport on the way from Philadelphia, where the team held the next regular season match. He could not hold back his tears, like many other former colleagues of Bryant. After so much Sunday's matches of the regular season, many sobbed, recalling the legend of the generation, in live broadcasts, mixed zones and at press conferences.

Later, many famous athletes paid tribute to Kobe Bryant. One of the first was the Brazilian footballer Neymar, who devoted a goal to a basketball player, who was scored in the match of the Lille championship of France - PSG. Forward Parisians scored a penalty, and then showed the numbers "2" and "4" with his fingers, recalling number 24, under which Bryant spoke.

Already on Monday, Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos went out to train his team in the shirt of the US national basketball team with the number 10 - another game number for the legendary basketball player.

Throughout the day, other athletes expressed condolences on the tragic death of Kobe Bryant: football players David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane, fighter Conor McGregor, as well as famous politicians and stars of show business: former and current presidents USA Barack Obama and Donald Trump, music artists Kanye West and Justin Bieber, actor Jack Nicholson and many many others.

The official statements were made by many clubs and leagues, and the Dallas basketball club has already retired the 24th number.

In addition, all of Los Angeles, where the Lakers, a former Bryant team, plays on club colors on Monday: many of the city’s buildings are highlighted in purple and gold.

The departure from the life of a basketball legend did not leave indifferent his fans in Russia. So, the popular blogger Vasily Utkin also expressed regret over the death of the athlete.

“These hands, which are larger in scope than his height, are hands that simultaneously look like wings and paws, while remaining hands and a little more snakes. And - the smoke rising from the green hollow, so green and peaceful, that it seems like smoke from a picnic. But this is the fire in which Kobe’s body burns. The embodiment of life. He does not hurt, but I think about it - yes. And I freeze before this death. But that is because it is he. Kobe. In between, he brought his daughter to the gym, ”Utkin wrote in his Telegram channel.

Fans' petition and rape scandal reminders

After the news of the death of Kobe Bryant, many fans were unsatisfied with the NBA’s decision not to cancel the matches scheduled for January 26th. The games were scheduled, and fans posted angry tweets to the league.

At the same time, fans of the basketball player suggested changing the NBA logo by placing on it the silhouette of the deceased instead of Jerry West. The corresponding petition has already appeared on Change.org, and the hashtag #makekobethelogo is gaining momentum on Twitter.

True, despite the tragedy, there was also a scandal. So, the famous American actress Evan Rachel Wood in her Twitter recalled that in 2003, Kobe Bryant was accused of rape. At one time, she herself was subjected to violence, and therefore called not to forget about this fact from the biography of the famous basketball player. In response, many users condemned the actress, but there were also those who wished Bryant to “burn in hell,” but this tweet was deleted by the social network administration.

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.

And the publication The Washington Post suspended journalist Felicia Sonmez from the work during an internal investigation, posting on her Twitter a few hours after Bryant’s death a link to a 2016 article that described the sensational scandal in detail.

Mystical "predictions"

In the story of the death of the legendary athlete, there was a place for mysticism. So, a few hours after the tragic news on the network, they found a tweet with the prediction that the basketball player would die when the helicopter crashed. The publication appeared in November 2012 and belonged to a user with the nickname @dotNoso.

Kobe is going to end up dying in a helicopter crash

Of course, many did not believe in such a prophecy, assuming that the tweet was new, just when it was published, it was possible to replace the date. However, later other users explained that it was technically simply impossible, and therefore, the tweet did appear many years ago. True, the day before that publication, Bryant delivered his teammate Steve Blake to the doctor by helicopter, so it is possible that the appearance of a tweet was not a prediction at all, but only a reaction to that news.

However, it soon became clear that this “prophecy” was not the only one. Another appeared in 2017 in one of the episodes of the animated series Legends of Chamberlain Heights. In it, according to the plot, Kobe Bryant tried to get out of the helicopter after the fall, but he was prevented by the trophies that the basketball player was holding in his hands.