Vanessa Bryant Slams Evan Rachel Wood's "Vile" Tweet About Kobe Bryant Following His Death

 A year after Kobe Bryant's death, his wife Vanessa Bryant criticized Evan Rachel Wood for calling her late husband a "rapist" in a tweet the actress posted on the day he died.

Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa Bryant is slamming a tweet that Evan Rachel Wood posted last year just after his death, in which the Westworld actress called him a "rapist."

The NBA legend, one of the most celebrated athletes of all time, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, along with his and Vanessa's 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, one of their four children. After news of their deaths were made public, Evan tweeted, "What has happened is tragic. I am heartbroken for Kobe's family. He was a sports hero. He was also a rapist. And all of these truths can exist simultaneously."

Scores of people had initially criticized the Westworld actress over the tweet that appeared to allude to a 2003 sexual assault case involving Kobe and an unidentified female accuser, which was later dismissed. On Saturday, Feb. 27, more than a year after the deadly helicopter crash, Vanessa said she learned about Evan's post, and shared it on her Instagram Story.

"This just came to my attention," Kobe's wife wrote in her post, in which she tagged the actress. "Your false, insensitive, defamatory and slanderous tweet on 1/26/20 is vile and disturbing to say the least."

Evan has not commented on Vanessa's post and her rep had no immediate comment when reached by E! News.

Last year, shortly following the initial backlash over her initial tweet about Kobe, the actress wrote on Twitter that her post was "not a condemnation or a celebration" but "a reminder that everyone will have different feelings and there is room for us all to grieve together instead of fighting. Everyone has lost. Everyone will be triggered, so please show kindness and respect to all." Following more online criticism, she later deleted both tweets. 

Evan, an activist and rape survivor, has no known personal connection to Kobe. Earlier this month, she made headlines when she alleged that her ex Marilyn Manson, "groomed" her when she was a teenager and abused her for years. He has denied her accusations as well as other abuse claims made by several other women.

In 2003, Kobe was charged with sexual assault of a woman at a Colorado hotel. He denied the allegations, saying they had had a "consensual" encounter. The accuser ultimately refused to testify and the rape charge was dropped.

"Behavior like this is part of the reason why innocent black men go to jail for crimes they didn't commit," Vanessa wrote in her post on Saturday. "An accusation doesn't make someone guilty. YOU DON'T KNOW THE FACTS OF THE CASE."

In 2004, after the case was dismissed, Kobe issued an apology statement. It read, "I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year."

"Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," the statement continued. "After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."

The accuser later sued the Los Angeles Lakers star and the two reached a settlement over that civil case in 2005.