Student, 14, films his teacher calling Kobe Bryant a ‘horrible person’ and a ‘rapist’

A high school teacher has been caught on camera calling tragic Kobe Bryant a ‘horrible person’ and a ‘rapist’ following his death on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Lakers star died alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna when their helicopter crashed outside of Los Angeles, killing all nine aboard. The basketball star leaves behind his wife and three daughters. 

Now, just days after his death, video has emerged of a teacher – named as band instructor Brian Bailey – making disparaging comments about the sportsman.

Footage taken by a 14-year-old student at James A. Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, shows Bailey engaged in a four-minute rant about the Lakers star. 

In it, he can be heard telling a class of pupils that Bryant ‘raped a girl and got away with it’ thanks to his ‘money and power’. Bailey is referencing Bryant’s 2005 sexual assault trial, in which his accuser later dropped the charges.

The band teacher also criticises the basketball star for taking a helicopter instead of driving between Orange Country and Calabasas.

He says: ‘How much traffic is there on Sunday mornings in LA? Is there any traffic on the freeways? Is there any reason in God’s green earth you need to take a helicopter?

‘It’s a 40 mile drive. From the time it takes you to drive to an airport to drive to another airport and get in a car, that’s 40 minutes also. Anyone knows that flying in a helicopter is the most dangerous thing in the world. 

‘By being selfish and by not being able to wait and all that stuff, he killed his family.’ 

Bryant, 41, was killed alongside his daughter, Gianna, 13, during the horrific accident on Sunday

Investigators comb the debris of the Sikorsky helicopter which crashed in thick fog on Sunday

The teacher admits that his is ‘not a popular opinion’ and that people have ‘every right to be upset’ with him. But he goes on to say that Bryant was a ‘selfish’ basketball player and should have retired two years before he did. 

‘People don’t want to talk about that kind of stuff,’ he adds. ‘And I will.’ He finishes his tirade by saying: ‘He cheated on his wife, he raped a young girl, he was a selfish b******. Someone needs to say it.’ 

In a message sent to parents this morning, Garfield principal Andres Favela said officials were aware of the statements, reports CBS Los Angeles.   

‘We recently learned that negative comments about Kobe Bryant were made in a classroom, he said.

‘We also ask that everyone please be sensitive to others when discussing tragic events both inside and outside of the classroom.’

Counseling staff at the school have been alerted and were being prepared to deal with the issue, a spokesperson said.