Kobe Bryant won an Oscar — and it created laughter and anger

THE NBA star now has more gold statues than Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and Ed Norton combined in a controversial moment.

Filmmaker Kobe Bryant accepts Best Animated Short Film for 'Dear Basketball' from actor Oscar Isaac onstage during the 90th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

DID Kobe Bryant need another trophy? He just got one — at the Oscars.

Bryant, the retired Los Angeles Lakers star, was nominated in the animated short category for “Dear Basketball,” based on a poem he wrote in 2015 announcing his impending retirement from basketball. He was nominated along with veteran Disney animator Glen Keane.

Bryant’s poem begins: “Dear Basketball, from the moment I started rolling my dad’s tube socks, and shooting imaginary game-winning shots in the Great Western Forum, I knew one thing was real: I fell in love with you.”

It reflects on how time is running out. “I can’t love you obsessively for much longer,” it says. “This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind. But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.”

It ends by counting down the final five seconds on a game clock.

Bryant, 39, a five-time NBA champion, played 20 seasons with the Lakers before retiring last year.

Salute @kobebryant on that Oscar!! #WeAreMoreThanShutUpDribble #UJustContinueToSitBackAndWatch

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 5, 2018

He told The Undefeated website his nomination was a message athletes could have an impact off the court.

“I’ve always been told that as basketball players the expectation is that you play,” Bryant said. “This is all you know. This is all you do. Don’t think about handling finances. Don’t think about going into business. Don’t think that you want to be a writer — that’s cute. I got that a lot. What do you want to do when you retire? ‘Well, I want to be a storyteller.’ That’s cute. This is … a form of validation for people to look and say, ‘OK, he really can do something other than dribble and shoot.’”

Viewers also saw the humorous side of the basketball great grabbing a gold statue before many well-known actors.

Kobe Bryant, Tom Cruise, Sigourney Weaver, Edward Norton, Harrison Ford, Joaquin Phoenix, and John Malkovich have a combined one Oscar win between them. #oscars

— david nuzzy nussbaum (@theNuzzy) March 5, 2018

.@kobebryant winning an Academy Award is the most I’ve ever seen dudes care about the #Oscars 😂

— kim coon (@kimmiecoon) March 5, 2018

Kobe Bryant’s 5 NBA championships + Oscar win might be better than Michael Jordan’s 6 NBA championships. Shows his diversity. #KobeBryant #OscarSunday

— G.E. Anderson (@g_e_anderson) March 5, 2018

Kobe Bryant: 1. Alfred Hitchcock: 0. Oh the irony. #Oscars

— Jason Fraley (@JFrayWTOP) March 5, 2018

The reaction to Bryant’s nomination was not all positive, however. Some on social media recalled the athlete’s sex assault case from more than a decade ago. “Congrats Academy you just nominated an accused rapist — Kobe Bryant for best animated short,” wrote Melissa Silverstein, of Women and Hollywood, on Twitter.

Hilarious. In the year of #MeToo Kobe Bryant, charged in a rape case he settled for big bucks, gets voted an #Oscars by a bunch of #AcademyAwards members who used to go to his basketball games.

And I doubt it will even become a major issue.

— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) March 5, 2018

Few things fill me with more rage then America's decision to pretend Kobe Bryant isn't a violent rapist.

— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) March 5, 2018

Bryant was accused in June 2003 of sexual assault by a worker at hotel in the Vail, Colorado area. Sexual assault charges were filed but dropped the following year after the woman told prosecutors she was unwilling to testify. Bryant in 2005 entered an out-of-court settlement with the woman for undisclosed terms.