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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Kobe responds to Instagram post’s backlash with a great video from his own dance recital

Kobe Bryant likes dancing after all.

Kobe has been coaching his daughter’s AAU team for the past couple years, and they recently won a tournament title by a 115-27 score. After that win, Kobe shared what he thought was a motivational Instagram post that showed the team after a fourth-place finish two years ago. He wanted to emphasize the jump his team made in two years.

But in doing so, Bryant noted that one of the returning players was missing from that photo because she missed a game for a dance recital. He added that dance was where her focus was at the time.

While many were upset with Kobe for taking an apparent shot at a then-fifth grader for liking dance more than basketball, Kobe clarified that he didn’t mean the remark as a slight.

On Thursday, he took the post a step further and shared his own video from a dance recital that he claimed to have missed basketball to perform in.

Kobe wrote of the video where he danced to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice, Baby.”

When I was 12, I skipped basketball for two weeks so I could dance in a school show. I’m all about diversifying while young, then locking in on your passion. #neongreen #iceicebaby #mambaout

Impressive moves aside, Kobe clearly felt bad about how his initial Instagram post was perceived by fans. Good on him for defending his player.

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