A growing number of celebrities are joining fans in a petition urging the National Basketball Association to honor the late Kobe Bryant by changing the official NBA logo from a silhouette of Jerry West to one of Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday. Among the more than 1.7 million people who have signed the Change.org petition, Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, Usher and Meek Mill are voicing their support for the move.
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“New logo. [NBA] Let’s do what’s right,” Snoop Dogg wrote on Instagram, sharing concept art for a possible new logo, created by designer Tyson Beck, that was initially posted on the petition’s page.
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Bieber also voiced his support for the petition, sharing a separate image of Bryant’s silhouette and writing, “[Change the logo].”
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Sharing similar images, Mill encouraged his 19 million followers to “sign the petition,” while Usher wrote that there “couldn’t be a better time or all around athlete and person for it. [Change the logo.]”
The current NBA logo was designed by Alan Siegel and features the silhouette of fellow Lakers legend West, 81, who has previously stated that he wouldn’t be opposed to a logo change.
“First of all, I wish that had never gotten out, that logo. No I do, really,” he said in 2017, according to CBS Sports. “I’ve said it more than once…If they would want to change it, I wish they would. In many ways, I wish they would.”
West has appeared on the logo since 1971, when it was first created, though many feel that given Bryant’s sudden death and the impact he had on the world of sports, it’s time for a change.
“With the untimely and unexpected passing of the great Kobe Bryant please sign this petition in an attempt to immortalize him forever as the new NBA Logo,” the petition’s creator, Nick M., wrote.
After the petition saw hundreds of thousands of signatures within just hours of its creation, Nick wrote that they “truly cannot express this, the support from you guys has been overwhelmingly amazing,” adding that “all of this is for Kobe!”
The NBA has not yet responded to the petition, which has a goal of 3 million signatures.
