Snoop Dogg Among Celebrities Who Want NBA To Change Logo To Kobe Bryant
The sudden death of Kobe Bryant and eight others on Sunday shocked the globe, and the reverberations of the tragedy are being felt throughout the NBA and the sports world. On top of the countless tributes that have come pouring in on social media, a petition has been created to honor the Los Angeles Lakers legend.
This petition — which was started on Change.org by a man going by the name Matt M. — looks to change the face of the NBA, aiming to replace the current NBA logo with a silhouette of the deceased basketball star.
“With the untimely and unexpected passing of the great Kobe Bryant please sign this petition in an attempt to immortalise him forever as the new NBA logo,” Matt M. wrote in the description of the petition. It has so far received serious traction, garnering over 1.6 million signatures as of this writing.
Another L.A. Lakers great’s silhouette, Hall-of-Famer Jerry West, is used in the current logo, which was designed in 1971 by Alan Seigel. Apart from a minor change to the design in 2017, the logo has remained the same for nearly 50 years.
West, who is affectionately referred to as “The Logo,” said he would welcome the change to the NBA’s emblem. Lending even more strength and credibility to this push for a logo change are some of Bryant’s famous friends.
Taking to their Instagram accounts to promote the movement, both rapper Meek Mill and pop star Justin Bieber shared potential concept art online. Popular singer Usher also endorsed a logo change on Instagram.
Rap icon Snoop Dogg also came out in support of seeing the 41-year-old shooting guard immortalized via a new NBA logo. As of late, the rapper’s Instagram feed has been flooded with tributes to Bryant, as well as to the basketball star’s daughter, Gianna, who also perished in the helicopter crash.
On Sunday night, Snoop was in Detroit for a performance. The Compton, California native decided to further honor his fallen friend by wearing a yellow Lakers hoodie during his show, posting a photo of himself praying backstage.
Snoop later shared a Snapchat video of himself on stage that bore the caption, “Moment of silence for @kobebryant,” alongside the praying-hands emoji. During this moment he played Dr. Dre and Tupac’s classic song “California Love,” which had obvious connotations for the Los Angeles icon.
The NBA has yet to issue an official statement regarding the potential logo change, but the league did postpone Tuesday night’s Lakers vs. Clippers game to give players — and Staples Center staff — time to mourn.
