The news of Kobe Bryant's death radically changed the tone outside of the Staples Center. Eve_Barlow reports from the GRAMMYs red carpet
A makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant setup by fans, who gathered to honor the basketball star after news broke of his death. Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images The sky was thick with fog Sunday morning as media outlets began to take their place on the Grammys red carpet for music’s biggest night.
The carpet was sparse for most of the afternoon, but some of the nominated stars wanted to pay tribute. “We’re still gon’ make it a great day,” Rick Ross told Vulture. “As a champion that’s what we gotta do.” Esperanza Spalding called Bryant as “a bigger-than-life person. You just wonder: How could that happen? It reminds you of how life works. It begins, and it ends. I feel sadness, especially being here.
Prior to the show, the Grammys said in a statement, via spokesperson Lourdes Lopez, “All of us at the Recording Academy are deeply saddened by Kobe’s sudden passing, and our hearts go out to his family during this time. This is particularly difficult given that every year we salute well-deserving artists on Music’s Biggest Night in Staples Center — the house that Kobe built.
The streets of downtown L.A. surrounding the Staples Center were teeming with Lakers fans wearing Kobe shirts, participating in their own funeral march. “We saw him grow,” said one man on Figueroa Street with tears in his eyes. “There was a lot of unique things about Kobe, especially seeing the atmosphere in the NBA today when everyone’s after the next contract. That’s part of the business now, but Kobe showed a level of loyalty to Los Angeles that was unmatched.
Figueroa was split in two, with Bryant fans congregated on one side and Grammy guests on other. They huddled around the square opposite the Staples with flowers, looking up at the televised screens, displaying a black-and-white image of Bryant, and saluted their champion.
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