An amateur video of Kobe Bryant badmouthing the Los Angeles Lakers' general manager Mitch Kupchak and teammate Andrew Bynum is being made available to Internet users on a pay-per-view basis.
The 24-second profanity-laced clip is attracting widespread interest, said its creators, who are remaining anonymous and won't release it for viewing until they say they have pre-sold 50,000 copies online, the Los Angeles Daily News reported on Tuesday.
John Black, Lakers spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday that the makers of the video tried unsuccessfully to sell it to the National Basketball Association team.
"We are aware of the video and they contacted us a month ago and we told them we had no interest in buying it," Black said.
The amateur videographers say they were also offered US$100,000 for the rights by a Lakers fan who wanted to prevent it from being shown to the public. They decided instead to make it available for purchase on a Web site at US$1.99.
The video, in which Bryant is wearing sunglasses and a red shirt, was apparently shot by a "group of friends" in the parking lot of a shopping center in Newport Beach, California, where Bryant lives.
They said they do not believe Bryant was aware he was being filmed at the time.
The two-time National Basketball Association scoring champion has become increasingly upset over the direction of the Lakers.
Bryant told US newspapers earlier this month that he was fed up with empty promises from the Lakers management and that it was time to move on via the trade route.
Bryant, who joined the Lakers in 1996, has four years left on his contract, which also includes a no-trade clause which he would have to waive.
A snippet is now available on YouTube and the video is supposed to be available for viewing sometime in the next week.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS