Fans, friends and family alike have been weighing in for days on the tragedy surrounding Lamar Odom, who slipped into a coma after being found unconscious at a Nevada brothel in an alleged drug overdose. One of the friends who rushed to be by Odom’s hospital bedside was his former teammate Kobe Bryant. But Bryant’s kindness was brought into question recently when Master P blasted him for being a fake friend to Odom. Now, Bryant has fired back at P for questioning his character and his loyalty to his friend.
As previously reported, P spoke with TMZ about Odom’s medical crisis and he blamed Bryant for Odom’s downward spiral into drugs that reportedly led him to this point.
“All this man wanted to do was play basketball,” Master P said. “Kobe was his friend — Kobe owned the team. He could’ve gotten the man back on the team — that’s what [Lamar] wanted. Even on that situation, I think he was just searching for love. His biggest problem was…where the people at that he showed love to? He has a big heart. It’s phony, man.”
P then added, “I come from the streets, I keep it real. If you were my friend, if you cared about me that much…why didn’t you get him into training camp? They should’ve been there, if you loved him. They should’ve helped him out – he was a hell of a player. I think he should’ve been at least the 8th man on the Lakers this season.”
When Bryant got wind of P’s comments, he hopped on Twitter and chose to take the high road in checking P for bashing his character: “When WE feel the need to question the support of others in moments as critical as a life hanging in the balance, then we must question the kind of culture we have created that has led US to such insensitive suspicion.”
Indeed, this isn’t the time to be pointing fingers (especially when they’re pointed in the wrong direction) looking for someone to blame for Odom’s condition. Now is the time to focus on keeping Odom alive and, if he survives, helping him get his life back on track.
