Kobe Bryant: A Perfect Example of Why the Media Wants to Make Him a Villain

This Sunday, I turned on my television to watch my fair share of NFL Football. However, during a commercial break, I saw a very interesting spot for the new “Modern Warefare 3” video game. Needless to say, if you haven’t seen the ad yet, you should.

It’s hilarious. 

The commercial stars Jonah Hill, Sam Worthington and a brief cameo from Dwight Howard at the end.

However, as much as I enjoyed the spot, I couldn’t help but be reminded of all the fuss that went down after Kobe Bryant starred in that “Call of Duty: Black Ops” video game commercial.

In case you don’t remember, here is the link to ESPN’s article on the matter: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=keown/101116

And yet, when I searched the Internet for similar backlash pertaining to Mr. Dwight Howard’s cameo, I found nothing.

How is this fair? Why is it that when Kobe is holding a gun, everyone freaks out and says that he’s sending the wrong message, and yet when Dwight Howard is firing a gun in a commercial, no one seems to bat an eye?

There aren’t many better examples in the world today that clearly demonstrate the media’s bias. These two widely-known players both participate in incredibly similar commercials, and yet only one of them gets slammed for it.

In my opinion, saying that either athlete is sending out some sort of bad message is ridiculous. Their activity is based within the context of a video game commercial and that’s all. 

However, I do have a major issue with the media attacking Mr. Bryant while Howard gets a free pass. 

The truth is, people care much less about what a person is doing as opposed to who is the one that is doing it. Trying to paint Dwight Howard as an advocate of violence just doesn’t sell. What does sell is acting like Kobe Bryant is a villain. It’s what millions of people want to believe, whether the facts are there or not.

Hopefully people will begin to recognize that not every story that comes from the media is distributed purely for the sake of delivering the news. All too often, the stories we hear are only the stories they want us to hear.

And for guys like Kobe Bryant, that means criticism he perhaps doesn't really deserve.