Comedian Ari Shaffir is facing severe backlash on a variety of fronts for celebrating Kobe Bryant’s death and saying the basketball legend “died 23 years too late.”
In addition to the hate he is still getting on social media, some fans have been calling in bomb threats at comedy clubs where he is scheduled to perform, forcing the venues to cancel on him. Moreover, Shaffir’s talent agency, Aqua Talent Agency, has dropped him as a client, The Hollywood Reporter states.
Just after the NBA legend’s passing was announced on Sunday morning, Shaffir posted an Instagram video taking pleasure in Bryant’s death:
“Kobe Bryant died 23 years too late today. He got away with rape because all the Hollywood liberals who attack comedy enjoy rooting for the Lakers more than they dislike rape. Big ups to the hero who forgot to gas up his chopper. I hate the Lakers. What a great day! #F***thelakers.”
Listen to the chilling video below that was posted while the black smoke was still billowing into the air from the helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Sunday:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zNlrOHpnx/?utm_source=ig_embed
Shaffir then tried to mop up his mess by initially blaming a hacker for invading his account. Later, Shaffir claimed he didn’t know that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, had also perished in the helicopter crash with her father along with seven other people.
After being forced to duck for cover because of the intensity of the blowback from the public and others, Shaffir then posted a note on Instagram trying to explain that he normally talks bad about celebrities when they die.
“Every time a beloved celebrity dies I post some horrible s— about them,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ve been doing it for years now. I like destroying gods. And right when a famous person dies they’re at their most worshipped. So as a response to all the outpouring of sympathy on social media, I post something vile. it’s just a joke. I don’t really hate any of the people.”
Shaffir added on IG the routine is “dark comedy” and “moronic inappropriate posts I make for the fans who signed up to see them.”
The comedian claims that fans clamored for a “Kobe post”‘ afer the NBA legend’s passing. “Kids dying like that, it’s horrible,” he wrote on IG. “All the other people dying, that [sic] horrible too. It’s horrible he died. Really really sad. What a terrible thing that was that happened.”
