What happened on the night of July 1, 2003 at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera hotel in Eagle, Colorado changed the life and spot light that NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was seen under. Bryant had been accused by a 19- year old woman that he had raped her in his hotel room the night before he was due for surgery. The woman, Katelyn Faber was the accuser whom was a employee of the hotel. Bryant immediately notified the media that it was consensual as she continually claimed her opinion that she had been raped. Eventually these charges were dropped after Faber was unwilling to testify on her behalf. In order for her to drop the charges, however, her side arranged Bryant to issue and apology. Throughout Bryant's apology he used two strategies that are popular among those used during an apologia in a time of crisis. These strategies were used to help protect his image and his future. He used the strategies of Denial and Bolstering. With both of these strategies and his long loathing apology, it may very well seem that Bryant had saved his image.
Throughout Bryant's apology, he is seen to deny the fact or give any hint that he may have been guilty of rape. When an athlete uses denial they use it as a chance to change the act or connotation of the act they had committed to be questioned. He continuously apologizes to the people who were affected by this incident and showed that he was only guilty of breaking the fidelity of his marriage. The guiltiness he displays in his apology towards his marriage being ruined creates a sense of denial to the situation that he had not raped Faber. He also states that his encounter with Faber, was completely consensual but states his apology for the misconstrued opinion that she had.
The strategy of bolstering which describes an attempt by Bryant to shine light on the situation by presenting something positive. During his apology, Bryant's wife sat beside him as he made his public apologia. This gave the image that his wife was standing strong beside him even though he had broken the conduct and fidelity of marriage. This was also still seen throughout the rest of the conflict. His wife remained beside him and this only created a positive impact to the situation for outsiders looking in because he was able to keep his marriage in tact and take away negativity from the situation. Bryant used bolstering to his advantage even though it was not a main stage to his apology.Even though Bryant was not charged, he was still consistently watched by the media following the incident with Faber. Unlike sports like football where so many athletes put a black eye on the sport or their team for their offences, it may be seen that Bryant had done a good job keeping distance between his personal situation and the Lakers and most importantly the NBA. If Kobe Bryant is looked at today his past does not haunt him, and few comments are made towards the situation that took place on July 1, 2003. He still is considered to be a legend in the NBA and as it has been seen, his apologia following the incident had worked. Bryant was able to fix his image through denial and bolstering which led to him regaining his endorsement deals and signing a large 7- year $136 million contract with the Lakers a year after the incident. This will always be one of the biggest apologias to remember in the world of sports, not because he is a mainstream athlete, but based on the strategies he used to gain his personal image back with minor harm to his image compared to many other major mainstream athletes.
