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An animated film festival in L.A. kicked Kobe Bryant off of their festival jury due to backlash they received that stemmed from his 2003 rape case. Bryant was set to be part of the jury at the festival this weekend at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Event organizers announced earlier today that won’t happening any longer. A spokesperson for the event, Eric Beckman said, “After discussions with the various stakeholders of Animation Is Film, the decision has been made to remove Kobe Bryant from the 2018 jury.” Last week, a petition was started on Change.org that demanded the basketball legend be dropped from the event. So allegeldl yhat was the the reason that caused festival officials to remove him. The petition got 159 signatures and reads, “This is an urgent time to say NO to toxic and violent behavior against women. Keeping Kobe Bryant on the jury sets a precedent of lenience for sexual criminals and further undermines the visibility and respect that victims of harassment and assault deserve.” Check out his response as reported by the L.A. Times below:
Kobe Bryant expressed his disappointment in being removed from this weekend’s #AnimationIsFilm Festival https://t.co/JwnxrdJdlm pic.twitter.com/Owzmafeq2t
— LAT Entertainment (@latimesent) October 17, 2018
