Skip Bayless Says Being Accused of Sexual Assault Helped Kobe Bryant Sell Shoes
According to Skip Bayless, Kobe Bryant wasn't an in-demand athlete for sports merchandisers before being accused of a serious crime.
ESPN's most dogged Pez dispenser of unconventional wisdom went on a First Take tangent Monday claiming that Bryant developed an “edge” and “sizzle” after being accused of sexual assault by a 19-year-old hotel employee in 2003.
AwfulAnnouncing’s Matt Yoder spotted video of the segment. Bayless’ commentary came on the heels of a discussion involving Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle and the endorsement deal he received following his recent shoplifting arrest.
Bayless told co-hosts Stephen A. Smith and Cari Champion that Randle’s new underwear deal is much like Bryant’s shoe deal in the aftermath of the Lakers superstar's sexual assault allegations. He claimed shoe companies in 2003 believed Bryant, then a three-time NBA champion, didn’t have a bad boy persona and therefore wasn’t a hot commodity until the Colorado allegations.
“Remember Kobe, pre-Eagle, Colorado?” Bayless asked. “He failed in his first sneaker deal because he was just too clean-cut. …He couldn’t sell sneakers because he didn’t have enough edge. Then post-Eagle, Colorado, he became…you know, it brought a little attention to him. …It gave him a little bit of…sizzle.”
These are the faces of two people wishing desperately to dissolve into the fabric of their chair backs.
Let’s put aside for a moment that Bayless tied a line between sexual assault allegations and toiletry theft. We’ll also move past the fact that “clean-cut” Bryant was getting in fistfights in the NBA in 2000.
We’ll move to the crux of Bayless’ obscured point, which is that some athletes can break the law and ostensibly benefit from it. This is true, although typically an exception to the rule.
What Bayless may not realize is that Randle’s situation is a rare product of opportunistic guerrilla marketing. Bryant, on the other hand, ended up having sponsorship deals fade into oblivion after his sexual assault allegations arose. The Black Mamba eventually sold shoes in spite of past accusations, not because of them.
To his credit, Bayless does not endorse stealing in the name of self-promotion.
Bayless’ remarks come in a year where ESPN analysts continue to be hit with suspensions for controversial comments.
Smith found himself on a forced week-long hiatus from First Take in July after relaying some inflammatory advice to women in the aftermath of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case.
The “World Wide Leader in Sports” followed this with a three-week suspension of Bill Simmons in September after the Grantland.com founder went on an expletive-filled tirade during a podcast discussion of Roger Goodell’s bungling of the Rice suspension.
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