Washington Post Suspends a Reporter After Her Tweets on Kobe Bryant

Ms. Sonmez did not reply to requests for comment.

The debate over when it is appropriate to note the flaws and mistakes of prominent people in the immediate aftermath of their deaths is common on social media. The reaction against Ms. Sonmez’s tweets seemed fueled by how the #MeToo movement has complicated the legacies of artists, actors, athletes and other popular figures who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Mr. Bryant reached a settlement with his accuser in 2005, more than a decade before powerful men including the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the CBS anchor Charlie Rose and the CBS Corporation chief executive Leslie Moonves left their posts or were ousted from their roles after allegations were made against them.

The terms of the settlement between the N.B.A. star and his accuser were undisclosed. “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” Mr. Bryant said in a statement at the time. “After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.”

Mr. Bryant’s 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, which started when he was 18, was uninterrupted. He won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award and led the team to five championships. He also won two Olympic gold medals.

Mr. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people killed in the helicopter crash near Calabasas, Calif. The other victims included John Altobelli, a longtime baseball coach at Orange Coast College, a junior college in Costa Mesa. Calif., as well as Mr. Altobelli’s wife, Keri, and his daughter, Alyssa, university officials said.

Ms. Sonmez was one of two women who accused Jonathan Kaiman, a Beijing bureau chief of The Los Angeles Times, of sexual misconduct. After The Los Angeles Times conducted an investigation in 2018, Mr. Kaiman resigned. Random House also canceled a book it had commissioned from him, citing a morals clause.

The journalist Emily Yoffe wrote an article last year on the accusations against Mr. Kaiman and their repercussions for Reason, a magazine published by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank. The article was sympathetic to his plight and concluded, “When an accusation is lodged, we must respond with fairness, not frenzy.” Ms. Sonmez criticized the article for what she described as its omissions and “basic” factual errors. Reason updated the article and appended a note at the end of it to address what it called “three minor matters of fact.”

After Caitlin Flanagan, a writer for The Atlantic, said she was skeptical of Ms. Sonmez and her allegations against Mr. Kaiman during an interview on NPR, Ms. Sonmez pushed back publicly, likening her comments to those from “internet trolls.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/business/media/kobe-bryant-washington-post-felicia-somnez.html?emc=rss&partner=rss