Grieving Kobe Bryant fans are flocking to the wrong grave, California cemetery says
Hundreds of fans mobbing a Southern California cemetery to mourn NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, are grieving at the wrong grave, officials say.
“A photo circulating on certain websites is not the final resting place of Kobe and Gianna Bryant,” Pacific View Memorial Park said in a statement to McClatchy News. “We ask that the public respect the privacy of the family whose loved one is interred at the pictured location.”
“We can confirm that is not Kobe and Gianna’s resting place,’’ said Ashley Bunton of Service Corporation International, which owns the cemetery in Corona Del Mar, USA Today reported.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant were buried in a private ceremony at the cemetery Feb. 7 following incorrect earlier reports they were to be buried elsewhere, Yahoo Sports reported.
Citing privacy policies, the cemetery declined to identify the actual gravesite of Kobe and Gianna Bryant in its statement to McClatchy News.
Bunton said flowers, balloons and other tributes mistakenly left by fans at another family’s plot are being removed daily, USA Today reported.
The 45-acre cemetery on Spyglass Hill also contains the graves of John Wayne, televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, musician Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers and Wienerschnitzel founder John Galardi, The Mercury News reports.
Other graves belong to musicians from Slayer and Quiet Riot as well as the founder of Bob’s Big Boy, according to the publication.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among nine people who died Jan. 26 when their helicopter crashed into a hillside near Calabasas in heavy fog, McClatchy News previously reported.
Grieving fans left thousands of candles, basketballs, flowers and other tributes at a memorial outside Staples Center, where Kobe Bryant had played with the Los Angeles Lakers until his 2016 retirement, McClatchy News reported.
A memorial to Kobe and Gianna Bryant will be held Monday at Staples Center, McClatchy News reproted.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 10:04 AM.