Photo by the Los Angeles Times.
Jim Brown, Hall of Fame football player, said on the Arsenio Hall Show this week that Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant was “somewhat confused about culture” because he spent part of his childhood in Italy, among other slights. Bryant had no idea what Brown meant.
“I mean, I’ve never even met him,” Bryant said, “so it came out of left field, but I do think it’s a great opportunity to have these conversations, to have this discussion. I think no matter where you come from, whether you come from Italy, whether you come from Inglewood (Calif.), whether you come from London, it doesn’t matter.
“Ultimately, the conversation is that it doesn’t matter what color skin you are to begin with. But, I think it’s a good place to start to have a good conversation and try to educate one another and try to improve as a society from it.”
Brown also said Bryant “threw Shaq (O’Neal) under the bus” and that he “doesn’t quite fit what’s happening in America.” He added that if he put together a summit featuring professional athletes to discuss the demands of Blacks in America, he would not call Bryant.
Again, Bryant was miffed.
“If it’s a major issue that involves a quality or a perception of racial quality, I feel like that’s something that’s a big enough message that needs to be addressed,” Bryant said when asked about the tweet. “Obviously it’s a sensitive topic for everybody, but I think the best thing to do is not dance around it, but to go at it with a full head of steam and generate conversation about it. So, that’s how I try to measure it.”
Bryant, 35, had no interest in a one-on-one conversation with Brown. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. “We have different perceptions and different views on it, clearly. So, the thing that I’m trying to do always, what I’ve been trying to do, is try to educate our youth going forward, no matter what color skin you are — be it African-American or white or whatever the case may be — just try to talk about having a bright future and how to help kids going forward and progress as a society as a whole.
“But he and I, there’s no reason for us to have a conversation. We’re completely on opposite sides of the spectrum. I’m an old dog, but he’s a much older dog, so he’s probably a lot more set in his ways than I am.”
