Female Journalist Suspended After Tweeting Kobe Bryant Rape Article

[BorneoBabe]

She didn't even write it, she tweeted it.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kobe-bryant-rape-case-felicia-somnez-washington-post-journalist-suspended-twitter-a9303736.html

Just read the posts above this. I don’t think any more of him as a man than I did this morning. My own immediate reaction when he died was ‘good’. There are black women in the group calling that point of view bollocks. I just want to think about my own reaction and whether I am wielding privilege in a way that ultimately doesn’t help because I don’t have the right to dismiss that point of view. (Not that random shit posted on the Internet by me makes any difference to be honest.)

I wonder how nuanced the feelings of these women defending Kobe's legacy about their own rapists or the rapists of their loved ones?

That I totally agree with. I think nothing trumps the right of survivors of sexual violence to own their reaction to this. I am not one.

I don't think things are black and white. Martin Luther King allegedly used Prostitutes. New FBI documents show he was present at a rape encouraging the participant. How do we as a society judge and process that?

Kobe did a lot for poor, marginalised women and children. Using his star power to lift up women's sport. His dream of coaching a women's basketball won't happen now. However, if he had lived, the continuing positive impact he would have had on the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of women and girls can't surely be ignored.

The rape allegations against MLK have been made, not by any supposed victim, but by members of an organisation determined to defame and destabilise the civil rights movement by attacking MLK's character.

In any sphere, a plurality of opinions is healthy. I am only speaking for myself and defending my right to remember that Kobe was a rapist and no hero to me personally. I respect the right of those who entertain a nuanced analysis of Kobe's legacy.

To me, racialising the viewpoint that focuses on Kobe's wielding of his wealth and privilege in his rape case is really disturbing and lazy and patently untrue.

His dream of coaching a women's basketball won't happen now. However, if he had lived, the continuing positive impact he would have had on the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of women and girls can't surely be ignored.

I'm not American nor a sports follower so I'll admit to knowing virtually zero about him prior to his death other than a vague name recognition.

I understand that his daughter, who sadly died also, was a very talented basketball player so I have to question whether his interest in women's sport was motivated by this rather than a wider 'calling'. Would he have championed female sport if he had only sons?

I ask because it seems to often be a thing with fathers of daughters to become very much into something that directly benefits their child after becoming a parent. Completely understandable but this doesn't translate to a saintly respect of all women and girls.

That said it was a terrible accident, sadly probably an avoidable one and it must be dreadful for the families of all nine victims. I feel very sorry for his wife losing a husband and a daughter.

The article is, as I imagine is obvious, written by an American woman. While we have our own big issues with racism here, I guess it’s on a different scale over there. When so many freedoms are under threat, I imagine it’s very easy to feel that some are neglected in pursuit of others (I do this myself in other contexts), and to disagree with the priorities of others. Right now, if I were still living there, I would be feeling pretty damn terrified as a white woman, but even more scared as a WOC.

I think its a woman excusing the behaviour of a man she liked, it's as old as the hills.

I wonder how many rape and death threats the NYT obit writer received: www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/sports/kobe-bryant-obituary.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article#commentsContainer

I wonder how many rape and death threats the NYT obit writer received

I can’t stress how different it is to actually write an article about Kobe and putting the rape case in context with everything else.

.... and tweeting an old article written by someone else just hours after his death. The former is journalism, the latter just tacky and honestly, twitter trolling.

Honestly, when I heard of his passing, the first person I thought of was his victim. I cannot imagine what her life has been like over the years. She has my sympathy and I will always remember her. Rape is a big fucking deal and to me it is unforgivable.

This. He lost his life the other day in an accident, she lost her life the day he intentionally raped her.

Any other crime and it wouldn't be considered 'bad form' to mention it. If he'd been jailed for burglary or gun crime, it would have been mentioned as part of his life.

For a journalist to be suspended? Well misogyny is constantly reaching new depths.

Yes - we've gone so far backwards from #metoo

In context? Dear god.

In context? Dear god

What do you mean by this? It paints the whole picture of this guy, who is a legendary basketball player ... and a rapist. As well as a good father (from all accounts) and a famously terrible husband.

That’s good journalism. Trolling on twitter is not

Any other crime and it wouldn't be considered 'bad form' to mention it. If he'd been jailed for burglary or gun crime, it would have been mentioned as part of his life

No serious American publication is shying away from this. Check out ESPN’s obit FFS. There are plenty of articles published on this.

If his fans don’t accept it, this is not the media’s fault. Most outlets have done their due diligence here.

Have you read the case. How can what happened be put in context. I dont think there is any context for rape. I think we are allowed to talk about it in any way we wish. For many people the only reason we know this man is through this case. It is fine for women to prioritise that over basketball etc.

Yes, I have. But my point is that the US outlets have been quite even-handed in discussing his legacy.

This is distinct from his fans who see things differently. It’s not fair to conflate the two.

Also not fair to claim she was doing journalism when she tweeted an article from another publication from a few years ago just hours after he died. She didn’t write anything.

She’s no better than a Twitter troll.

Whenever a rapist is celebrated and feted as some kind of hero the moral imperative is to push back on that narrative. If people find the push back distasteful because the person is now deceased well then don't lionize rapists in the first place!

I think the journalist should have her suspension lifted immediately.

Also, you can discuss him in any way you wish.

But do keep the facts clear: this was being written about (you claimed otherwise) and she wasn’t doing journalism for the WaPo at that moment. It wasn’t like she was assigned to the story or published anything on her own. Unless you consider bad takes on Twitter a form of journalism...

Whenever a rapist is celebrated and feted as some kind of hero the moral imperative is to push back on that narrative. If people find the push back distasteful because the person is now deceased well then don't lionize rapists in the first place! When a woman says something unvarnished which fails to acknowledge her place relative to the recently dead hero and his admirers, this is disrespectful and shocking. Men can do it; they're providing context and being a 'me too' ally.

Men can do it; they're providing context and being a 'me too' ally

You are assuming that only men are writing these articles. This is not true.

AntiSocialInjusticePacifist

"Whenever a rapist is celebrated and feted as some kind of hero the moral imperative is to push back on that narrative. If people find the push back distasteful because the person is now deceased well then don't lionize rapists in the first place!"

Exactly, my feelings entirely. My wife said to me "why is this all over our news, he is just an American basketball player".
When I told her what he had done, she was shocked.
Just because they are "celebrities" they get a free pass - Chuck Berry, Elvis, Bowie, Bill Wyman, Epstein, Prince Andrew.

You are assuming that only men are writing these articles. This is not true. Am I? I think you misunderstand.

When a woman says something unvarnished which fails to acknowledge her place relative to the recently dead hero and his admirers, this is disrespectful and shocking. Men can do it; they're providing context and being a 'me too' ally

You are implying that women are only challenged and men are free to explore his background. No.

This reporter was challenged because she was callously trolling on Twitter hours after his death was announced. She was not assigned to this story nor wrote any piece on it. She could have pitched and wrote this story for her editors (or self-published if they wouldn’t do it), but nah, she wanted the hot take.

You're moving the goalposts. I'm not talking about being 'challenged', I'm talking about threats of rape and murder which forced her to leave her home in fear for her safety, simply for posting - without comment - a link to an article.
She was suspended and 300 of her colleagues were troubled enough by the action to speak up, but she has now been reinstated because oops it turns out she didn't violate the WP sm policy. So what you call 'callously trolling' seems to be ok now.
I wonder how many people who publicly threatened her on Twitter have been suspended from their jobs... or even from Twitter.

AntiSocial WaPo are walking it back now with a lot of waffle but no apology or contrition.

So what you call 'callously trolling' seems to be ok now

Okay in the eyes of whom? I certainly don’t think she should have lost her job over it but she displayed a stunning lack of judgement. WaPo shouldn’t apologise for the actions they took and reinstated her. That’s their right. And just to be clear, death and rape threats are not okay but she should have taken those to the police not posted on Twitter to keep up the dogfight.