Is basketball star, Shaquille O'Neal becoming the next Kobe Bryant? With a restraining order slapped against him, for alleged harassment and threatening bodily harm - by Alexis Miller, an Atlanta hip hop artist, who reportedly had an affair with O'Neal - it's as if the Phoenix Suns player is trading places with Kobe Bryant. Bryant had his own sexual harassment/assault issues, starting back in 2003.
Kobe was accused and arrested for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel employee - Katelyn Faber. Faber accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room the night before he was to have knee surgery. Bryant admitted to a sexual encounter with the teenager but denied the rape accusation.
Although the case was dropped in 2004 by prosecutors after Faber refused to testify at trial, the allegations had tarnished his reputation and career. His numerous endorsements were terminated. Sales figures from NBA merchandisers dropped from previous figures.
Kobe was quoted as saying during the investigation, "he should have done what Shaq does.... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything and that O'Neal already had paid up to $1 million 'for situations like this.'" This caused friction and controversy between the two as they were teammates at the time.
Bryant agreed to apologize to Faber after the case was dropped and after a civil lawsuit was filed by Faber, it was settled and the details not made public. But after that, things started to look up - his endorsement deals resumed and now over the last few months, his career has been on the up. He won the 2007-08 regular season MVP and helped his teams advance to the NBA finals. He also received a gold medal with "Redeem Team" USA.
Oh and his public relations peeps made sure ABC/ESPN caught shots of him hugging his little girl - it was seen around the world. That'll melt the hearts of the public and forget all of that other 'stuff.'
Now it's as if the tables have turned - Kobe is well on his way back 'up,' and Shaq is well on his way 'down.'
With the restraining order against him [O'Neal], not to mention his, uh, often misunderstood style of rap and problems in his marriage, will his career suffer? And what about his wife? Just one week before the stalking allegations, Shaq's wife , Shaunie, made a statement that the couple were working things out. She might change her mind now. And this must be hard on the children - the couple have four children together - Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir and Me'arah, from ages 8 to 2 - and each have a child from a previous relationship - Shaunie has a son Myles, 11, and O'Neal has a 12-year-old daughter, Taahirah.
Hopefully the allegations aren't true - but let's not hold our breath.
[Source]
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