People have been praising Vanessa Bryant for gathering the strength to speak at husband Kobe and daughter Gianna Bryant's memorial service earlier this week, but insiders said the speech almost didn't happen. An insider told E!, “Vanessa Bryant’s speech was always tentative until the very last minute.” It was so last minute that she was set to give host Jimmy Kimmel a signal before he introduced her on stage, indicating whether she was going to speak or not.
The source continued, “She, of course, was prepared with her speech either way, but keeping her tentative was a matter of how emotional she was and how comfortable she felt in that moment to make the speech. Nobody knew if she was going to do it until Jimmy actually announced her.”
In other news, eBay has pulled items from Kobe Bryant's memorial off of their site. According to TMZ, several fans who attended the memorial decided to sell items like shirt, pins, programs and more. One XL shirt sold for $2,025. eBay said that the items were removed because of a policy they have that prohibits sellers from profiting off of “human tragedy or suffering.”
eBay explained to one seller via email, “Please note, due to sudden and tragic passing of Kobe Bryant – eBay has made the decision to prohibit the sale of merchandise, images and mugs relating to their passing. We do not allow listings that attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering.”
DID LEBRON ATTEND KOBE'S MEMORIAL?
Meanwhile, LeBron James kindly told a reporter to move on after he was asked if he attended Kobe Bryant's memorial earlier this week. When asked if he attended, Bron said, “I respect your question, for sure. It was very emotional, very emotional day, very tough day for myself, for my family, for everyone involved. The one thing I can come out of this saying is how strong and how bold and how powerful Vanessa is to stand up there the way she did, to give the speech the way she gave that speech. I commend her. My heart is with her family still, with his three daughters that’s still here, with his wife, with his mom and dad, his sister.'
He continued, “It was just a very difficult day. Obviously celebration, but it was a difficult day for all of us. I’d appreciate it if we can move on tonight. That would be great. Emotionally a wreck, like everyone else. Another challenging day for all of us. Like you’ve been hearing me talk about the last couple times you guys asked me about the whole situation, it’s just been hard to kind of talk about it. Trying not to go back. It’s just tough.”
On the day of the memorial, Bron posted the date “2/24,” along with the caption “Mamba Forever.”