![Popular Kobe Bryant Mural Saved After Threats Of Removal]()
Sloe's mural on display at Dodger Stadium during a Sept. 1 tribute to Kobe Bryant. (Isai Rocha/L.A. Weekly)
A landmark mural depicting Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna Bryant in downtown L.A. will remain after threats of removal.
The mural is on the outer wall of Hardcore Fitness Bootcamp on Pico Boulevard, only a few blocks away from the Crypto.com Arena. Painted by a local artist who goes by Sloe, the mural paid tribute to the former Lakers start and his daughter, who tragically died in a plane crash in January 2020.
On September 14, Hardcore Fitness announced that the landlords planned asked for the mural to be removed from the wall with a September 30 deadline.
"I was notified by my landlord that I have until September 30, 2023 to remove the Kobe and LA mural from our walls," Hardcore Fitness owner Cecilia Moran wrote through an Instagram post. "This mural means a lot, not only to the city of L.A. and Laker fans, but most importantly it honors Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi. This mural has saved us during COVID times."
The painting's artist, Sloe Motions, created a petition to save the mural, receiving more than 90,000 signatures on Change.org, and support from Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant.
"No amount of money or power should ever erase our culture," Sloe
said in an Instagram post.
the Kobe Murals Instagram account, which began documenting and highlighting all Kobe Bryant murals after his death, joined the effort to raise awareness of support to keep Sloe's mural up.
The original deadline for removal passed and the future of the mural continued to be up in the air, until Monday, when Ronnie Singh, the digital marketing director for 2K Games, announced that the videogame company made an undisclosed pledge to keep the mural up.
A "re-dedication" to the mural is set for Thursday at 3 p.m., with Singh scheduled to attend.
While the mural remains and a celebration forthcoming, Sloe expressed his displeasure with the downtown landlords.
"At the end of the day, I'm still pretty upset that this soulless landlord gets money and gets to profit off Kobe's death when he don't give a damn about him or his daughter," Sloe wrote in an Instagram message. "I work my ass off to help small businesses thrive... not to feed the greed of people."
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