Ellen DeGeneres struggled to hold back tears while paying tribute to Kobe Bryant just a day after the NBA legend was killed in a helicopter crash. During a speech given on Monday’s taping of her daytime talk show, the comedian grew emotional as she spoke about Bryant’s sudden death at the age of 41 alongside eight others, encouraging her audience to “celebrate life” in the wake of the tragedy.
“Today is Monday. Yesterday was Sunday and it happened to be my birthday and the Grammy Awards. I was nominated. I didn’t win. Not the point,” DeGeneres, who last sat down with Bryant in April of 2019, began with a joke.
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“Yesterday was a celebratory day and we got tragic news about Kobe Bryant and everything changed in a second,” she continued, beginning to grow teary-eyed. “That’s what I want to talk about: Life is short and it’s fragile. And we don’t know how many birthdays we have. We don’t have to have a birthday to celebrate. Just celebrate life.”
“If you haven’t told someone you love them, do it now,” she urged her viewers. “Tell people you love them. Call your friends. Text your friends. Hug them. Kiss them. Be nice to people at the DMV. They’re people!”
DeGeneres went on to thank her wife Portia de Rossi and her staff, including Stephen “tWitch” Boss.
“I know that I’m lucky to have a wife who loves me so much, even though I don’t have a Grammy,” she said. “I get to come to work every single day with people who make me laugh. I love everybody I work with.”
“I was backstage before the show started and I was saying to tWitch, because we’ve both said today, ‘We’re gonna go out there and fill the room with love because that’s what everyone needs. Then I come out here and fall apart,” she added with a smile.
DeGeneres had earlier paid tribute to Bryant’s passing on Twitter, writing that “like everyone, I’m stunned and saddened by the news about Kobe Bryant. My heart is broken for his wife and family.”
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, girls basketball coach Christina Mauser, and Sarah and Payton Chester had all been flying aboard Bryant’s Sikorsky S-76B helicopter piloted by Ara Zobayan on their way to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy for a basketball game when the aircraft went down in the hills of Calabasas, California, just before 10 a.m. PT. There were no survivors.
The crash is currently under investigation, with investigators reportedly looking into foggy weather conditions and possible mechanical issues as a cause of the crash.
