Kobe Bryant Sexual Assault Case - Aftermath

Aftermath

Eight months after the initial incident the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera remodeled and as part of that sold some furniture. There was speculation that some pieces included in this sale were from "Room 35" where Kobe Bryant had allegedly stayed at the time. The lodge denied this and stated they had disposed of the furniture from that room separately.

Bryant signed a seven-year, $136 million contract a year after the allegations, and regained several of his endorsements from Nike, Spalding, and Coca-Cola. He was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008 and the Finals' Most Valuable Player in 2009 and 2010. On December 16, 2011, Bryant's wife filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.

Several years after the case, during the live WWE Raw broadcast on July 30, 2012, heel manager A.W. made a joke referencing the case. As client Titus O'Neil tangled with Kofi Kingston in a singles match, A.W. yelled from ringside, "Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado. He's unstoppable!!", which was unscripted. The WWE personality subsequently issued a apology via Twitter and noted that "there was no malicious intent behind the joke." After Raw, WWE issued an official apology via TMZ.com reading, "A.W. made an inappropriate comment and WWE immediately apologized. WWE has taken appropriate action in the matter." The representative, however, did not specify what "action" was taken against A.W. In addition, Raw was taking place that night from Cincinnati, which had no connection to the at-that-point dated reference, as oppose to Denver or Los Angeles, where the reference could at least been used for cheap heat from the crowd. The incident would later be a subject for discussion on the August 1, 2012 broadcast of ESPN's Around the Horn with ESPN analyst and Miami Herald columnist Israel Gutierrez using his "facetime" (for winning the day's show) to criticize the WWE for the incident, despite A.W.'s joke being an off-the-cuff moment and not scripted by WWE. A.W. was released by WWE on August 10. After his release from WWE, he would go on to rant on his WWE verified Twitter account, @AWPromotions, about his former employer. Eventually, WWE suspended his account.