Kwame Brown slams Dwyane Wade over Zaya’s Kobe Bryant dress: ‘Disrespectful’
Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of the death of Los Angeles Lakers star
Ex-NBA player Kwame Brown is giving the side-eye to a Kobe Bryant tribute-post of Dwyane Wade’s transgender daughter wearing a dress.
Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of the death of Los Angeles Lakers star. Fans, friends, and former teammates turned to social media to pay tribute to the NBA legend.
Fourteen-year-old Zaya Wade shared a photo on Instagram Wednesday wearing a #8 jersey dress with the caption, “always remembering and honoring Kobe and Gianna.”
Brown, who played for the Lakers from 2005 – 2008 was appalled by what he deemed to be “disrespectful” to Bryant and his legacy. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, he took aim at Dwyane for “letting your woman control your house,” Brown said, seemingly referring to Wade’s wife, actress Gabrielle Union, who is Zaya’s stepmother.
In his post, Brown noted that Bryant represented masculinity and heterosexuality, what he says is the opposite of Zaya’s post.
Wade and Union previously opened up about supporting Zaya’s trans journey, theGrio reported. On a 2020 episode of Taraji P. Henson‘s Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind With Taraji, Union addressed the pushback on social media to Zaya identifying as a female, noting that “Zaya’s peace is non-negotiable,” she said.
“As Zaya gathered more language, she was able to tell us about her identity. She was able to tell us about her sexuality. She was able to tell us, ‘I’m trans.’ And she says, ‘I’ve come out a few times.’”
In his YouTube video, Brown said, “I’m not saying there’s anything against homosexuals, but Kobe is a heterosexual man. Why is he being honored by making his jersey into a dress? Wear his jersey for the day to honor him without the dress part.”
He added, “Let’s please not show our Black brother in this light. This is no offense to nobody else. This man was a heterosexual man with a wife and a family. There’s no reason for this to be tied to Kobe Bryant.”
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed on Jan. 26, 2020, when their helicopter crashed amid foggy weather while on the way to a girls basketball tournament. Federal safety officials blame pilot error for the accident.
Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, learned about their deaths on social media — hours before she received official confirmation from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, theGrio reported.
In November, a judge ruled that Vanessa will not be required to undergo a psychiatric test to prove she suffered emotional distress over leaked photos of her husband and daughter’s fatal helicopter crash.
The judge rejected Los Angeles County’s request that the mother of four must undergo a psychiatric exam as part of her lawsuit against the county over the photos, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The county’s motion to have the lawsuit thrown out has also been denied, CNN reported. The trial is set for Feb. 22.
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