Kobe Bryant Tribute Planned for Oscars Ceremony

Public events around the world have marked the passing of Kobe Bryant this week, and the 2020 Oscars will reportedly do the same. The award show will feature a tribute to Bryant, who became an Oscar-winner himself in 2018. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided on the honor.

Bryant was one of the NBA stars who did the most off of the basketball court in his career. He was known for his philanthropy, his work with children and his forays into entertainment. That included the 2017 animated short Dear Basketball.

Bryant wrote, produced and lent his voice to Dear Basketball, which was based on the open letter published in the Player’s Tribune in 2015, announcing Bryant’s retirement. The letter has often been described as a poem.

There is no word yet on how the Academy Awards will honor Bryant next weekend, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that there would be something. It may be that he will get a spot in the award show’s usual “In Memoriam” segment, or else he will get a shoutout elsewhere.

The outpouring of grief in the wake of Bryant’s death drives home the impact he had on American culture as a whole. Other athletes, celebrities and politicians are posted about how much Bryant had meant to them and how devastating his passing was.

Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, six other passengers and the pilot. The aircraft was traveling from Bryant’s home in Orange County to Los Angeles, California, according to CBS News. It went down in Calabasas, about 17 miles from its destination.

The helicopter was taking Bryant and his daughter to the Mamba Academy, where Gianna was to play in a tournament that day. Bryant was supposed to coach a youth team as well. The other passengers included one of Gianna’s teammates, Alyssa Altobelli, her father, college baseball coach John Altobelli and her mother, Keri Altobelli.

Gianna and Alyssa’s basketball coach, Christina Mauser was onboard as well, as were mother and daughter duo Sarah and Payton Chester. The pilot was Ara Zobayan.

The flight was rocky from the start, with reportedly poor conditions for flying, requiring Zobayan to obtain “special visual flight rules” clearance from air traffic controllers. The low, heavy fog obscured visibility, which is already challenging in mountainous terrain, experts say.

There are many more memorials for Bryant planned in the coming weeks.