Skip Bayless: Says Rape Charges Helped Kobe Bryant Sell Shoes

By Ed Carroll | Oct 21, 2014

Jun 21, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; ESPN reporters and tv personalities Stephen A. Smith (left) and Skip Bayless (right) prior to the start of game five in the 2012 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

ESPN personality Skip Bayless made claims on his show First Take that Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant struggled to sell sneakers, until his 2003 rape charges gave him “sizzle.”

Perhaps it’s time for ESPN to turn the “hot take” oven off, because many of their personalities can’t seem to come up with an intelligent controversial take, and are simply resorting to offensive stupidity. The latest instance occurred Monday, by usual suspect Skip Bayless, on ESPN’s bastion of intelligent discourse, the morning show “First Take.” Bayless had some repugnant thoughts about NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, and an odd reason for why Bryant struggled to sell shoes earlier in his career.

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You can watch the video here via Deadspin, but Bayless claimed that Bryant struggled to sell his Adidas sneakers before his 2003 rape charges because he lacked “sizzle,” an abhorrent way to consider the potential (and likely) rape of a 19-year old woman (the case was dropped when the woman refused to testify, but she later sued in civil court, and Bryant apologized to her but admitted no guilt, whatever that means) in Eagle, Colorado.

“Remember Kobe pre-Eagle, Colorado?” Bayless said on the show. “He failed in his first sneaker deal because he was too clean cut? I think it was Adidas that had him first? He couldn’t sell sneakers because he didn’t have enough edge. But post-Eagle, Colorado, it brought a little attention to him, like it gave him a little bit of … sizzle.”

Deadspin also points out just how ugly Bryant’s shoes with Adidas were (even for back then), but even if the shoes were nice, it’s pretty awful (and wrong) to suggest Bryant couldn’t sell sneakers without some sort of criminal record, particularly a rape charge. Still, it’s unlikely ESPN will do much, if anything, to discipline Bayless, although I certainly wouldn’t blame co-host Cari Champion if she were to lay into him for the uncomfortable take.

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