2018: Kobe Bryant Awarded Best Animated Short
The 2018 Academy Awards consisted of numerous speeches focused on sexual harassment and women’s empowerment. Since that was the sort of unwritten agenda in that year’s Oscars ceremony, the fact that the retired NBA star, Kobe Bryant, was given an Oscar bothered several people. He won the award for Best Animated Short for the film, Dear Basketball.
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For those unaware, Bryant was arrested and charged in 2003 with sexual assault after being accused by a teenage girl. She later dropped the charges, and a civil case ended up getting settled out of court. Kobe’s win at the Oscars sparked a lot of resentment. And by June of 2018, Bryant was then barred from entering the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Ouch.