Pan-Africanist Dr. Umar Johnson had folks on the X app in arms after he claimed Vanessa Bryant, the widow to the late and great Kobe Bryant and mother of Gianna “Gigi” Bryant.
Appearing on the Joe Budden Podcast, Johnson came for Vanessa, accusing her of not using Kobe’s $600 million estate inheritance to help the Black community progress.
“Kobe Bryant died. Vanessa and inherited his wealth,” Johnson said. “And guess what, is Vanessa Bryant using any of that Black man’s money to do any good in the black community? Absolutely fucking not.”
He then referenced the 41-year-old’s September announcement of the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation partnering with six predominantly white institutions: The University of Connecticut, the University of Southern California, the University of Oregon, Duke University, Louisiana State University and the University of Kentucky.
“Didn’t choose a single HBCU,” he pointed out. “With a Black man’s money.”
Black X (formerly Black Twitter) ate him up on the platform, which should be enough to teach Johnson to keep Vanessa’s name out of his mouth.
“Dr. Umar is a f—g clown..what Vanessa Bryant does with HER money is HER business. She doesn’t own the black community anything.”
“Vanessa Bryant has broken her back to make sure Kobe’s legacy stays alive, showing up to basketball games, honoring him, keeping his name alive, keeping his deals going, etc, all while grieving losing Kobe and her daughter and still having to be a mother to the other 3.. keep her name out your fcking mouths omg.”
“No, absolutely not! See, what we’re NOT going to do is let these musty, dusty hoteps count Kobe’s money in Vanessa Bryant’s pockets as if THEY have some mfkin authority over what she does or how she does it. He can take his triflin ass and stfd somewhere. TF wrong with him?!?”
“What Dr. Umar said about Vanessa Bryant was so out of line. She lost half her family to a tragedy, and somehow she’s at fault because Kobe left her and his BLACK kids his fortune? As far as l’m concerned, she ain’t gotta do nothing but take care of them kids.”
Ironically, Vanessa Bryant runs the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, which provides funding and sports programming for underserved athletes. She’s contributing to the Black identity.
As a 2003 University of Nebraska study showed, Black youth saw their school basketball careers as avenues to the pros. Basketball was seen as an easy way out of their unfortunate socioeconomic situation.
The $16 million she gained in the lawsuit over the photos of her husband’s and daughter’s helicopter crash site in 2022, per a MadameNoire report, reportedly went toward her family’s foundation that gives children, boys and girls, the chance to chase their dreams, the LA Times reported.
