NBA legend KOBE BRYANT and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine people killed in a tragic helicopter crash yesterday morning. Kobe was 41. The FAA and the NTSB are still investigating, but so far: Kobe and Gianna were traveling in Kobe’s private helicopter from their home in Orange County to Thousand Oaks, which is just north of L.A. They were headed to Kobe’s Mamba Sports Academy, where Gianna had a basketball game. They were traveling with another couple and their daughter Alyssa. Alyssa was on Gianna’s team. Basketball coach Christina Mauser was also killed in the crash, along with the pilot and two other passengers. There’s no official word on what went wrong, but it was “extremely foggy”. Law enforcement sources say the LAPD’s air support was even grounded because of the fog. The crash happened at 9:45 A.M. TMZ has looked at flight tracker data, and it shows Kobe’s chopper first encountered weather issues over L.A., and it circled one area at least six times at a very low altitude – possibly waiting for the fog to clear. The pilot contacted air traffic control for help, but they were flying too low for them to track the flight on radar. After encountering more heavy fog, the chopper turned toward a mountainous area. The pilot suddenly and rapidly climbed from about 1,200 feet up to 2,000 feet, then flew into a mountain at 1,700 feet. Kobe spent his entire 20-year career with the L.A. Lakers, before retiring in 2016. Won 5 NBA championships, and was a 2-time NBA Finals MVP, and an 18-time All-Star. Kobe entered the NBA right out of high school. At 18 years old, he was the youngest person to ever play in the league. The Lakers have retired BOTH of his jerseys, Numbers 8 and 24. He was a 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and 2 years ago, he won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. It’s called “Dear Basketball”, and Kobe wrote it. When he retired, he was 3rd on the NBA’s all-time scoring list – and it was just Saturday night that LEBRON JAMES passed Kobe, dropping him to fourth all-time. Kobe’s final Tweet: “Continuing to move the game forward, King James. Much respect my brother.” Artists paid tribute and shared their feelings on social media.
JASON ALDEAN posted a photo of an autographed Bryant jersey. He wrote, “I am literally sick to my stomach. One of the greatest of all time. Sincere condolences to his wife and family. I’ll forever treasure this jersey he signed for me.”
KANE BROWN Tweeted, “R.I.P. to the legend Kobe Bryant.”
KEITH URBAN wrote, “Our hearts break today for Kobe Bryant’s family and friends and everyone he inspired. I never knew him but somehow felt like I did. Rare. We wish peace and strength to all of you.
CHRIS YOUNG Tweeted, “I don’t even know what to say. Seeing news like this is so incredibly sad. RIP Kobe.”
And MITCHELL TENPENNY hit up Twitter to say, “I can’t even put to words the loss for the Bryant Family. This is an American tragedy and hard pill to swallow. God has a plan even when it seems to make no sense. Prayers.”
ALICIA KEYS walked onto the “Grammy” stage at the Staples Center and said, “We’re all feeling crazy sadness right now . . .”Because earlier today, Los Angeles, America, and the whole wide world lost a hero. And we’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.” Then she started singing “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” and BOYZ II MEN came out and joined in. It was a big night for BILLIE EILISH. She won 5 Grammys, including Album, Song, and Record of the Year, plus Best New Artist. At 18, she’s the youngest person to be nominated for, and win, all four of those honors. Her brother FINNEAS was the biggest winner of the night with 6. In addition to winning several awards with Billie he also won Producer of the Year and Best Engineered Album. Their performance of “When the Party’s Over” was one of the highlights of the show. LIZZO led all artists with 8 nominations, and came out with 3 wins, including Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance. night off with “Cuz I Love You” and “Truth Hurts”. TYLER, THE CREATOR brought his MOM onstage and thanked her when he won Best Rap Album. And DEMI LOVATO got a standing ovation for her comeback performance of “Anyone”. And yes, NICK JONAS did have something in his teeth.
In the new Taylor Swift documentary, “Miss Americana,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Thursday night, there’s a montage of derogatory commentary about Taylor that has appeared on cable shows over the years. As it turns out, it eventually bothered Taylor. In one segment she talks about having struggled in the past with an eating disorder. She admits there have been times in the past when she’s seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or someone said that I looked pregnant and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.” Swift elaborated, “I didn’t know if I was going to feel comfortable with talking about body image and talking about the stuff I’ve gone through in terms of how unhealthy that’s been for me — my relationship with food and all that over the years. My relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: If I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad. I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine,” she says. “And the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment. And then I’d walk into a photo shoot and be in the dressing room and somebody who worked at a magazine would say, ‘Oh, wow, this is so amazing that you can fit into the sample sizes. Usually we have to make alterations to the dresses, but we can take them right off the runway and put them on you!’ And I looked at that as a pat on the head. Swift says she doesn’t care so much now if someone comments on a weight gain, and she’s reconciled “the fact that I’m a size 6 instead of a size double-zero.”
JUSTIN BIEBER is trying to enjoy the upcoming release of his new album, but he might have something to answer for first. During an interview with NPR, SELENA GOMEZ was asked if saying goodbye to Justin and writing about him in songs was painful. And she said, “No, because I’ve found the strength in it. It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality. And I’m not being disrespectful, I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse.” When the interviewer asked if she meant emotional abuse, Selena said YES.
The 1942 classic “Bambi” is next up as the next Disney remake. There’s no word yet on casting or a director.
It’s where Frank Sinatra did it his way. Three gold-topped toilets from the legendary crooner’s “Chairman’s Suite” at the Golden Nugget hotel in Atlantic City went up for auction Sunday — where they went for several thousand a pop.
A Ferrari replica used in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” sold for almost $400,000.
CARLY PEARCE gets her exercise in the form of running. Outdoors. So when she’s on the road she looks for “greenways” or paths. In Boston she ran along the river. “I just try to find places that I’m not going to get lost, because I am not good with a GPS on my phone.”
DIERKS BENTLEY’s ’90s cover band HOT COUNTRY KNIGHTS released the video to their song, “Pick Her Up”. It stars TIFFANI THIESSEN doing her Kelly Kapowski character from “Saved By The Bell”.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence continue their run at the top of the box office. Bad Boys for Life made $34 million in its second week. 1917 made $15.8 million to take the second position. Dolittle ($12.5 million), The Gentlemen ($11 million) and Jumanji: The Next Level ($7.9 million) round out the top five.
“The Bachelor” at 8:00 p.m. on ABC. Chase Rice does a private concert for Peter and Victoria – and she reveals that she used to date Chase. Victoria told Peter and that plays out on tonight’s show. And then Chase released a surprise album on Friday. It’s called “The Album Part I”, and it includes the song “Lonely If You Are”. He chose that title because the album will tell you everything you need to know about him as an artist. And then there’s this: There are 7 songs on the album and every single one is about a med school student he used to date – obviously not Victoria.
“Jimmy Kimmel” – Kelsea Ballerini. KELSEA went on social media to share the inspiration behind her new song “L.A.” She said it started out as a poem she wrote on a bathroom floor in Los Angeles during a low point where she was feeling alone and terrified. “It’s the most vulnerable thing I’ve publicly shared.”
Jake Pavelka is 42.
Tracy Lawrence is 52.
