Beyonce pays tribute to ‘beloved’ friend, Kobe Bryant
Pop superstar Beyonce has broken her silence over the death of her friend Kobe Bryant, as the owner of the LA Lakers also spoke publicly for the first time since the shock passing of the NBA superstar.
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Beyonce has broken her silence on the death of her close friend, NBA superstar, Kobe Bryant.
The pop superstar posted a photo of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who also died in the tragic helicopter crash last Sunday in Los Angeles.
“I will continue to diligently pray for your Queens. You are deeply missed beloved Kobe,” Beyonce posted to her Instagram account.
The star also posted separate photos of Gianna and a young Bryant.
Beyonce and her husband Jay Z are regular fixtures at NBA games, often seen courtside at Los Angeles Lakers games.
LA LAKERS OWNER BREAKS SILENCE
It comes as Los Angeles Lakers majority owner Jeanie Buss also broke her silence on the tragic death of franchise icon Bryant, mourning the star as “family” in a heartfelt Instagram post.
“Kobe, I don’t know how to express what you mean to me, my family and the Los Angeles Lakers,” wrote Buss in a post, captioning a photo of a grinning Bryant, Buss and members of his family en route to the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto.
“My father [late Lakers owner Jerry Buss] loved you like a son, which makes us family,” continued Buss.
She went on to recall how Bryant, 41, and the second of his four daughters — 13-year-old Gianna, who also died in the Sunday crash in the hills of Southern California — supported her following her father’s passing in 2013.
“When you invited me to lunch shortly after my father passed away, I was struggling to find motivation and purpose,” she wrote. “Kobe, you brought Gianna with you to spend some time with me.
“You explained that you wanted to show her that women can be leaders in the NBA, just like the men,” wrote Buss. “At first, it seemed like an action of a devoted father setting an example for his daughter.
“But in actuality — and I am positively sure you knew EXACTLY what you were doing — what you did was give me the inspiration and strength I was searching for,” the executive continued.
“I reflect on that day often and it makes me smile and it makes me strong.”
She vowed to repay that kindness by helping to guide Bryant’s widow, Vanessa — who broke her own silence in a Wednesday post on the social-media site — and the couple’s three surviving daughters through their grief.
“Vanessa, Natalia, Bianka, and Capri — I am so sorry for your loss,” wrote Buss. “We are grateful to have you in our lives and we will always be here for you.
“To the families that also lost loved ones on Sunday, the entire Laker family mourns with you,” she added, referring to the seven others killed in the crash in the hills of Calabasas.
“We will mourn together, cry together, but we will also heal together, love together and win TOGETHER. We love you,” Buss closed, including a link to the MambaOnThree Fund, established by Bryant’s Mamba Sports Foundation to support the families of the other seven deceased.
KOBE’S WIFE OPENS UP ON ‘HORRIFIC TIME’
On Wednesday, Vanessa Bryant spoke publicly for the first time since the tragic death of her husband and their daughter.
Vanessa, who had four daughters with Bryant, who she met at the age of 17, thanked “the millions of people” for their support and love.
“My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who’ve shown support and love during this horrific time. Thank you for all the prayers,” Vanessa wrote.
“We definitely need them. We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.”
“We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately. There aren’t enough words to describe our pain right now,” she added. “I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon.”
“I’m not sure what our lives hold beyond today, and it’s impossible to imagine life without them. But we wake up each day, trying to keep pushing because Kobe, and our baby girl, Gigi, are shining on us to light the way,” she continued.
Bryant met Vanessa met when she was in high school and he was a young NBA star. The couple weathered infidelity and almost got divorced in 2011 but ultimately stayed together until the end.
They had four daughters – Natalia Diamante, 17, Gianna Maria-Onore, 13, who tragically died alongside her father in the helicopter crash, Bianka Bella, three, and Capri Kobe, who is just 7 months old.
Before sharing her emotional Instagram post, Vanessa made her first public acknowledgment of the tragedy, replacing her Instagram display photo with a heartbreaking image of Bryant and Gigi.
The father-and-daughter photo was taken at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, and has been shared thousands of times on social media in the wake of their sudden deaths.
Vanessa has so far not commented about the accident, which claimed her husband and daughter’s lives, as well as seven others, when the helicopter they were in crashed into a hillside in Calabasas.
KOBE’S CHOPPER ‘METRES FROM SAFETY’
The helicopter that slammed into a suburban Los Angeles hillside, killing NBA legend Bryant, his daughter and seven others, lacked a terrain awareness system — which was not mandatory — that could have warned the pilot he was too close to land, officials said.
It comes as investigators also revealed that the aircraft missed clearing the Californian hillside by just six to nine metres before plummeting towards the ground at high speed.
Jennifer Homendy from the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) revealed the helicopter was missing a vital warning system and was flying at just 700 metres when it lost communication and fell at a rate of 60 metres a minute towards the ground.
“So we know that this was a high energy impact crash,” she said. “This is a pretty steep descent at high speed.”
The Terrain Awareness and Warning System, or TAWS, would have sounded an alarm once the Sikorsky S-76B approached the ground, possibly giving pilot Ara Zobayan time to pull up, reports the New York Post.
“Certainly, TAWS could have helped to provide information to the pilot on what terrain the pilot was flying in,” Ms Homendy said.
Ms Homendy also said it was too soon to say whether Zobayan had control of the helicopter during the steep, high-speed descent, although she noted that “it wouldn’t be a normal landing speed”.
Bill English, investigator-in-charge of the NTSB’s Major Investigations Division, said it was unclear yet whether “TAWS and this scenario are related to each other.”
Chopper pilot and aviation lawyer Brian Alexander said any collision warning system is welcome but the FAA recognises they can sometimes do more harm if they are going off constantly and distracting the pilot.
In any case, he said, it’s not clear that one would have helped Bryant’s pilot.
It “wouldn’t necessarily have prevented the crash if this was a combination of a deteriorating weather situation and the pilot experiencing spatial disorientation,” said Alexander of Kreindler & Kreindler.
“Your body is sensing something that isn’t happening. Another warning system screaming at you isn’t going to help,” he added.
While TAWS was not installed on the doomed helicopter, it did have a warning system using GPS, said pilot Kurt Deetz, who flew Bryant in the Sikorsky during a two-year period ending in 2017.
Zobayan’s decision to proceed in deteriorating visibility also has experts wondering if he flew beyond the boundaries of good judgment and whether pressure to get his megastar client where he wanted to go – known in aviation circles as “get-there-itis” — played a role in the crash.
Jerry Kidrick, who flew helicopters in Iraq and now teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said there can be pressure to fly VIPs despite poor conditions, a situation he experienced when flying military officials.
“The perceived pressure is, ‘Man, if I don’t go, they’re going to find somebody who will fly this thing,’” Mr Kidrick said.
NTSB investigators have said Zobayan asked for and received special visual flight rules clearance to proceed in the fog, which Ms Homendy said was “very common.”
In his last radio transmission before the chopper went down, he reported that he was climbing to avoid a cloud layer.
CHOPPER WRECKAGE REMOVED
Meanwhile, the remains of the Sikorsky S-76B have been removed from the scene of the disaster.
Investigators airlifted the helicopter’s wreckage onto trucks, which then transported it to a secure location for further examination.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva earlier this week warned that it would be a “misdemeanour for anyone to unlawfully access the crash site,” as deputies patrolled the debris-strewn ground to ward off anyone wishing to pick up remnants from the tragic flight.
The last of the victims’ bodies also were recovered on Tuesday in suburban Calabasas, near Los Angeles, where the chopper went down on Sunday.
Medical examiners have formally identified the bodies of Bryant, 41, pilot Ara Zobayan, 50, John Altobelli, 56, and Sarah Chester, 45, using fingerprints, officials said.
Also killed, but not formally identified, were Bryant’s daughter Gianna, 13; Chester’s daughter, Payton, 13; Altobelli’s wife, Keri, and daughter Alyssa; and Christina Mauser, 38, a girls’ basketball coach at a Southern California primary school.
“We are done on the site,” Ms Homendy said, announcing they had handed the scene over to local authorities.
KOBE TOOK WIFE ON ROMANTIC CHOPPER RIDE
Photos have re-emerged of Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, travelling on the doomed chopper.
The couple went for a whirl on the helicopter for a romantic date — despite reports of them making a pact prior to his death to never fly together.
The NBA legend soared the skies with his wife for a Valentine’s Day getaway in 2015 to celebrate what was then 14 years of marriage, TMZ reported at the time.
Bryant and his beaming wife were snapped in a photo shared on her private Instagram account in front of the aircraft, with the hills of Southern California and sunset in the background.
The former Los Angeles Lakers player also shared a selfie at the time of the pair from the lavish date.
“Happy Valentine’s Day #Vino #QueenV,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
The 41-year-old Bryant was killed alongside the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others when their helicopter went down in Calabasas, near Los Angeles, on Sunday.
In the wake of his death, it was reported that Bryant and Vanessa had vowed to never travel together on a chopper.
“He and Vanessa had a deal that they would never fly on a helicopter together,” a source told People magazine, without elaborating on when the pair made the agreement.
STAR TRYING TO RECONCILE WITH FAMILY
It has also been revealed that Bryant was trying to reconcile with his parents before his death, according to sources.
The basketball legend had a publicly strained relationship with his mother Pamela and father Joe, also a former NBA star, during his adult life.
They initially fell out because Pamela and Joe didn’t approve of his relationship with future wife Vanessa.
Things then came to a head in 2013 when Pamela and Joe attempted to sell Bryant’s sports memorabilia to an auction house – prompting the NBA star to file a lawsuit.
Now sources say the families had been in contact again before his death – but Bryant, who leaves behind Vanessa and daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka Bella, three, and baby Capri, tragically died before having the chance to completely mend their relationship.
“Kobe and his parents endured tumultuous times and it impacted his family life,” a family business associate told The Sun.
“He always chose Vanessa and his children first.
“It was no secret that there was a distance between Vanessa and his folks after a series of bust-ups when they were dating, including them missing his wedding.
“That tense dynamic really never altered and Kobe attempted some reconciliations, but then he had his own run-ins and disagreements with them.
“But after he quit basketball he did see his parents again. His kids were also spending periods of time with his father. That relationship was tricky, but they worked through it.
“Knowing Kobe and his heart, he was considering how to bring about a full scale reunion one day.”
The source added that some of Bryant’s basketball friends were now trying to bring the two families together in their grief.
“There are strides being made to bring the families together,” the source added.
“When he was alive the depth of the issues between his parents was something that was kept very quiet by Kobe.
“But he was the linchpin for any resolutions. And his ability to forgive and seek a reconciliation was fuelled by his religious faith.
“But now he is now gone, some basketball long term associates of Kobe are gently trying to encourage peace between the families.
“They are both dealing with a deep seated sense of trauma and emotional fall out over his death.
“And genuinely trying to broach any full scale reunion is not a possibility, but there is a hope that they may heal together.
“Currently his parents are grieving deeply, but want to be there to support their grandchildren.
“In the short term there is hope that the problems can be set aside for this moment – longer term nothing can be considered. But this is all up to Vanessa – and Lord knows what she is going through.”
Another source said: “Kobe’s relationship with his parents has always been up and down.
“They fell out for a long time because they didn’t approve of Vanessa, then reconciled around the time Gianna was born.
“Then the court case in 2013 really damaged their relationship.
“Kobe always wanted to mend things – he was a family guy and wanted nothing more than to have a big close family.
“Things had started to improve again around the time of Capri’s birth and they were on speaking terms again.
“But unfortunately they never ended up getting as close as he would have liked before he died.”
Pamela and Joe are not believed to have joined Bryant’s wife Vanessa or her three daughters, since the crash happened.
Joe was spotted outside their home in Las Vegas on Wednesday – and Pamela has not been seen since Sunday when she told The Sun she was too upset to comment.
Their strained relationship spanned many years – with neither of Bryant’s parents attending his wedding in 2001.
Bryant and his dad appeared to reconcile in 2005 but then things turned sour again in 2013, when they attempted to auction off memorabilia from their son’s basketball career.
The LA Lakers star said he did not give them permission to sell the items and sued the auction house involved.
Bryant reached a settlement with the auction house and Joe and Pamela issued an apology thanking the star for his financial support.
In a 2016 interview, Bryant told ESPN: “Our relationship is s**t. I say ‘I’m going to buy you a very nice home’, and the response is ‘That’s not good enough’?
“Then you’re selling my s**t?”
In 2016, Bryant also spoke about cutting his sisters off financially saying he was “really proud” of the way they handled it.
“They’re very smart, college-educated [women]. I’m really proud of them. They were able to get their own jobs, get their own lives, take care of themselves. Now they have a better sense of self, of who they are as people, instead of being resentful because they were relying on me,” he told ESPN.
AUDIO FROM CHOPPER’S FINAL MOMENTS CAPTURE
It comes as a California woman who lives near the site where Bryant’s helicopter crashed says her Google Nest camera captured audio of the doomed aircraft’s final moments, a report said.
Ronna Leavitt’s recording, which was obtained by local news station, ABC 7 Los Angeles, has a timestamp of 9.45am — the same time Bryant’s Sikorsky S-76B plummeted into the hills of Calabasas.
What is believed to be Bryant’s helicopter can be heard at varying levels of intensity throughout the 43-second clip, reports the New York Post.
Three seconds before the clip ends, a thump can be heard, followed by silence.
Leavitt told the network that she heard the chopper on Sunday morning before it made a U-turn and crashed into the nearby hilly terrain.
She provided the video to investigators.
Leavitt’s Nest video is not the only footage believed to have captured Bryant’s chopper.
Glendale resident David Lyudmirsky shot mobile phone video of what is believed to be Bryant’s helicopter “performing a very aggressive circling manoeuvre’’ a half-hour before it crashed.
He turned over his footage to the National Transportation Safety Board.
SHAQ BREAKS DOWN
Meanwhile, retired NBA great Shaquille O’Neal has broken down as he delivered a heartfelt tribute to the late superstar.
O’Neal’s comments came at the start of a pre-game basketball show, as he sat on the court at Staples Centre, in Los Angeles.
O’Neal was supposed to be part of the team which was supposed to televise a double-header, but the NBA cancelled the Lakers-Clippers game that was scheduled to be the nightcap because the Lakers organisation is still too devastated after the death of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.
O’Neil said after much debate, he will go forward with his “Fun House” Super Bowl party on Friday in Miami … saying all of the proceeds will go toward Kobe’s charity.
“Part of me wanted to stay to myself as I reflect what my brother and his family mean to me and my family,” he said. “But, in thinking what would Kobe want, what would he do?”
“Kobe would want us to push through and celebrate life. So, let’s do just that.”
O’Neal said through tears that he never could have imagined anything like Bryant’s death, remembering his former teammate as a great player whose kids called him “Uncle Shaq”. “The fact that we lost probably the world’s greatest Laker, the world’s greatest basketball player is just – listen, people are going to say take your time and get better, but this is going to be hard for me,” O’Neal said.
“I already don’t sleep anyway, but I’ll figure it out.”
O’Neal was working out with family members when he got the news and hoped it wasn’t true.
“I never could have imagined nothing like this,” he said. “I was thinking the other day I’ve never seen anything like this. All the basketball idols that I grew up (watching), I see them. They’re old.”
O’Neal and Bryant teamed to help the Lakers win three straight championships from 2000-02, but they occasionally feuded and O’Neal was traded to Miami in 2004. He would win another title there, while Bryant would win two more with the Lakers.
They eventually patched up their relationship and O’Neal said they texted frequently, though he said he hadn’t actually seen Bryant since the final day of his career in 2016.
O’Neal said he told Bryant to score 50 points and Bryant instead scored 60.
“The fact that we’re not going to be able to joke at his Hall of Fame ceremony, we’re not going to be able to say, ‘Hi, I’ve got five (rings), you’ve got four,’ the fact that we’re not going to say if we’d stayed together we could have got 10, those are the things you can’t get back,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal’s comments were his first that were televised since Bryant’s death. He had previously only posted on social media and spoken on a podcast.
He has been recovering from the death of his sister in October, and said he hadn’t felt pain like Bryant’s death in some time. He said he always said the same things to Bryant’s children.
“Hi, my name is Uncle Shaq,” he said. “I don’t know if they know me as a basketball player. Doesn’t matter. Just ‘Hi, I’m Uncle Shaq.’ Try to make them laugh and he would do the same thing.”
KOBE’S LAST MOMENTS RECORDED
A video has emerged of what is believed to be Kobe Bryant’s helicopter just before it crashed in Calabasas, California.
The basketball legend and eight others — including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna – were tragically killed in heavy fog on Sunday on their way to his youth basketball camp in Thousand Oaks.
A witness claimed he filmed the chopper flying over his house in Glendale because it was “so loud” and appeared to be “performing a very aggressive circling manoeuvre”.
“I try and video/photograph all the weird stuff happening above my house in Glendale, CA,” Twitter user @theironlydreams wrote online.
“Unfortunately this morning I didn’t realise I was filming the helicopter Kobe Bryant, his daughter and others were in 31 minutes before they crashed.”
The house has been verified as being under the flight path taken by Sunday’s doomed Sikorsky S-76B chopper.
STAR USED CHOPPER TO AVOID LA TRAFFIC
Photos have emerged of the chopper which the NBA star used as a limousine to avoid getting stuck in LA’s congested traffic.
The 14-seat helicopter was owned by charter company Island Express Holding Corp, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
Built in May, 1991, it was owned by the State of Illinois, before it was sold at auction for $US515,000 (A$762,000) in 2015.
Back then, photos of the chopper showed it had plush light blue leather seats and carpet with wooden trimmings.
The helicopter was once covered in a black coating with a Nike logo and a “Black Mamba” logo, Bryant’s personal brand, when he used it to go to Los Angeles Lakers games.
Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Helicopters, told The LA Times he flew Bryant from 2014 to 2016.
Nine times out of 10, he said, Bryant flew in “Two Echo X-ray” — the Sikorsky S-76B, with tail No. N72EX that crashed.
Mr Deetz said Bryant liked the S-76B, which he compared to “a Cadillac, a limousine — it’s limo-esque.”
According to The Washington Post, Bryant called the helicopter the “Mamba Chopper.”
According to TMZ, Bryant also used the helicopter for a Valentine’s Day getaway with his wife, Vanessa, and he took teammates to victory parades and nights out in Las Vegas from his home in Orange County.
In 2010, GQ wrote: “He takes a private helicopter from Orange County, where he lives with his wife and two children, to every home game.
“It’s a nice dash of glitz, a touch of showbiz that goes well with the Hollywood sign in the hazy distance.
“But sexy as it might seem, Bryant says the helicopter is just another tool for maintaining his body.
“It’s no different than his weights or his whirlpool tubs or his custom-made Nikes.
“Given his broken finger, his fragile knees, his sore back and achy feet, not to mention his chronic agita, Bryant can’t sit in a car for two hours.
“The helicopter, therefore, ensures that he gets to Staples Centre feeling fresh, that his body is warm and loose and fluid as mercury when he steps onto the court.”
LEBRON’S HEARTFELT MESSAGE
NBA legend LeBron James has paid an emotional tribute to Bryant after he was spotted tearing up when he learnt of the crash.
James accompanied an Instagram post of the pair shaking hands at a Lakers game with a caption saying he struggled to hold back tears as he wrote the post.
“Every time I try I begin crying again just thinking about you, niece Gigi and the friendship/bond/brotherhood we had!,” James wrote.
“I literally just heard your voice Sunday morning before I left Philly to head back to LA. Didn’t think for one bit in a million years that would be the last conversation we’d have.”
He said he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” and that his heart went out to Bryant’s wife Vanessa and their surviving children.
“I promise you I’ll continue your legacy man! You mean so much to us all here especially #LakerNation and it’s my responsibility to put this s**t on my back and keep it going!!” he wrote.
“Please give me the strength from the heavens above and watch over me! I got US here!! There’s so much more I want to say but just can’t right now because I can’t get through it! Until we meet again my brother!!”
James and Bryant never played with each other in the NBA, but the two teamed up to win two gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
They are also commonly referred to as being among the two best players in NBA history.
TRIBUTES TO KOBE’S DAUGHTER
At Gianna Bryant’s school she was remembered, like her father, as a fine player and role model.
“She was always smiling,” Harbour Day School said.
“She looked out for the underdog and never left anyone out. Gianna was a strong leader, had a work ethic that was unmatched, and had a level of maturity beyond her 13 years.”
The UConn Huskies Women’s basketball team also paid tribute to Gianna before Monday night’s game against Team USA by a draping a number 2 jersey on a chair with a bouquet of flowers.
Bryant said his daughter was “hellbent on UConn.”
Bryant and his daughter attended 7am Sunday Catholic mass and received Communion at the Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of the Angels in Newport Beach, The New York Post reports.
After leaving, the two boarded a Sikorsky S-76B with the other occupants at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana at 9.06am.
Less than an hour later, in foggy conditions, the chopper crashed in the hilly terrain of Calabasas.
Bishop Timothy Freyer, of Bryant’s Diocese, mourned the nine fatalities in a heartfelt Facebook post.
Bishop Freyer also called Bryant “a committed Catholic who loved his family and loved his faith.”
At mass, the NBA icon would keep a low profile by sitting “in the back of the church so that his presence would not distract people from focusing on Christ’s Presence,” Bishop Freyer wrote.
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BRYANT TO JOIN HALL OF FAME
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is set to bypass the normal election process and make the late Kobe Bryant the first inductee of the 2020 class.
“Expected to be arguably the most epic class ever with Kobe, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett,” Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo said, as per a report in the Athletic.
“Kobe will be honoured the way he should be.”
The other 2020 finalists will be announced on February 14 during All-Star Weekend.
Born in Philadelphia in 1978, the son of former NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, Kobe entered the NBA from high school and played his entire 20-year career with the Lakers.
He won five NBA championships and was an All-Star 18 times.
He was also a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team and was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008.
On his retirement in 2016, Bryant was the third-leading scorer in NBA history, a place he held in the league scoring ranks until Saturday night, local time, when the Lakers’ LeBron James passed him for third place during a game in Philadelphia, Bryant’s hometown.
Bryant’s last social media post was to congratulate James.
“Continuing to move the game forward (at) KingJames. Much respect my brother.”
Bryant was one of the game’s most popular players as the face of the 16-time NBA champion Lakers franchise.