Getty Kobe Bryant
The heartbreaking news of the passing of Lakers great Kobe Bryant and eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant in a helicopter crash, sent shockwaves around the world.
After the news broke two weeks ago, there have been numerous tributes to the fallen NBA legend. We have heard some fantastic stories, including Nickelodeon Game Shakers star Sheldon Bailey’s conversation with Kobe Bryant on the set of their Guitar Hero commercial.
Last week, Jason Whitlock also spoke about Bryant on FS1’s ‘Speak For Yourself.’ If you are familiar with Whitlock, it is no secret that the Fox personality is not the biggest fan of the Laker great, and he acknowledged that. However, during the segment, Whitlock said his views changed a little bit after having a conversation with Bryant in 2014.
The conversation consisted of Kobe’s long-term vision to help shape younger generations. Whitlock seemed genuinely saddened, but according to Total Pro Sports, that didn’t stop people from calling him out for his open letter to Kobe during his time at ESPN.
Never liked Jason Whitlock…this, this just confirms how much of a clown he is
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Matt Barnes Rips Jason Whitlock for Disrespecting Kobe Bryant
On Thursday, Barnes posted an Instagram Live video on his IG stories and slammed Whitlock for the narrative he painted and has been painting of Bryant’s career during his time at ESPN and FS1.
“Oh yeah, Jason Whitlock, I always had a suspicion about you until I met you, and I worked with you. And never really seen any funny s***, you kinda seem cool. Then come to find out, all the s*** you talked about Kobe [Bryant] throughout his whole career. They had you as the token black man on Fox News calling him the smartest basketball player this, smartest basketball player that,” said Barnes.
“When you know as long as you had a platform, you have been talking s*** about Kobe. You a f****** clown too, straight up … clown! We are not taking disrespect from the media. I don’t give a f*** who you are, we’re in the media too, and we have some voices and some power now, too. We are not taking disrespect by anyone in the media.”
This is not the first time Barnes has used social media to voice his opinion on a trending topic. Last November, Barnes weighed in on former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s tryout with the NFL.
“Now, the NFL is trying to play the victim like ‘aw, man we had this whole workout for you, and you want to change the venue,’” said Barnes.
“Don’t fall for that s***. First of all, you know how I feel, the workout being on Saturday – it’s supposed to be on Tuesday. Now, from what I understand, they didn’t want his filming team filming, why not? I wouldn’t trust the NFL as far as I could throw them. He needed his own people so they could cut that s*** up to send to the teams that didn’t make it.”
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