Vanessa Bryant has blasted Evan Rachel Wood for calling Kobe Bryant a rapist after his death. The "Westworld" star made the comment in a tweet shortly after Kobe died along with his daughter Gianna and several others in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020.
"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," Wood wrote in a tweet, according to Page Six.
On Saturday Vanessa slammed Wood for the post, which she said "just came to my attention."
"Your false, insensitive, defamatory and slanderous tweet on 1/26/20 is vile and disturbing to say the least," Vanessa said in a post on her Instagram story, per Yahoo! Entertainment. "Behavior like this is part of the reason why innocent black men go to jail for crimes they didn’t commit. An accusation doesn’t make someone guilty."
In her post, Vanessa included a screenshot of another tweet Wood had posted three days after Kobe's death.
"I haven’t said anything about Kobe so far because I felt some time needed to pass before weighing in," Wood wrote. "But yes, it’s time for the sledgehammer to come out. The man was a rapist. Deal with it."
The actress was referring to rape accusations made against Kobe in July 2003 by a Colorado hotel employee. The sexual assault charges were dropped when the accuser chose not to testify in court and the matter was settled in 2005 in a civil case outside court.
Bryant issued an apology to his accuser. In a statement after the criminal case was dropped Bryant said, in part, "I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.