Washington Post Suspends Reporter For Tweeting About Kobe Bryant’s Rape Case Following Death

The Washington Post has suspended a reporter who copped backlash from readers by tweeting a story about Kobe Bryant’s rape case just hours after he died alongside his teenage daughter, according to reports.

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Felicia Sonmez, political reporter at the publication, posted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast report headlined “Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case” as the world was coming to terms with the basketball legend’s tragic death.

Her since-deleted tweet sparked huge outrage — with Sonmez saying that “10,000 people” had commented and “emailed me with abuse and death threats,” according to the Daily Mail.

“Well, THAT was eye-opening,” she wrote about the hate mail she received following the tweets. She then pointed out that she was not connected with the article she tweeted.

“Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved and that totality unsettling,” she insisted.

She later posted another tweet, detailing some of the harassment — one of which included a screenshot of her work email highlighting the abuse she was getting, according to the reports.

Washington Post managing editor Tracy Grant confirmed to the Daily Mail that the reporter was “placed on administrative leave” while the paper reviewed whether her tweets “violated The Post newsroom’s social media policy.”

“The tweets displayed poor judgment that undermined the work of her colleagues,” Grant told the publication.

Sonmez deleted the offending messages and has yet to address her suspension.

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