Jennifer Hudson To Perform Kobe Bryant Tribute At NBA All-Star Game
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Jennifer Hudson is set to perform a special tribute to late basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, at Sunday's NBA All-Star Game in Chicago.
According to the league, the Grammy Award-winning singer will open the night with the tribute before players are introduced.
People Magazine reports that the format of the game itself will also be reworked to honor Bryant.
Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were laid to rest in a private funeral service Friday, Feb. 7.
A public memorial is scheduled to be held at Staples Center on Feb. 24 for Kobe, Gianna, and the seven others who were killed in a helicopter crash last month.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe's wife, posted to Instagram confirming that a "Celebration of Life" for "Kobe and Gianna Bryant" will be held on Feb. 24, at 10 a.m. at Staples Center. She wrote, "#2, #24 #20 years as a Laker," to explain the significance of the date of the memorial.
On Jan. 26 around 9:45 a.m., a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter carrying 41-year-old Kobe, Gianna, two other teen girls, four parents, and the pilot crashed in Calabasas amid foggy conditions.
The helicopter had departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County and was bound for Camarillo, with the passengers on board heading to Kobe's Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where he was set to coach Gianna in a tournament game.