Bad taste? Kobe-Gigi memorial souvenir prices soar on eBay

 

MANILA, Philippines – Kobe Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” preaches that people take no shortcuts in whatever they do. 

However, some people lucky enough to attend his memorial last Monday, February 24 (Tuesday, February 25, Philippine time) seem to have missed the memo and want to make a quick buck. 

Just one day after the Kobe and Gigi Bryant Celebration of Life event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, numerous exclusive souvenirs from the event have hit eBay and are fetching prices as high as $5,000 (P255,450). 

Even ticket stubs of the event are being packaged up in auctions, with many people actually monitoring the bids.

 

 

Multiple social media users on Twitter have denounced the sellers, and even eBay itself, for allowing the sale of souvenirs.

 

Smh. @Nike pulled Kobe products off shelves. @eBay y’all some straight bitches for allowing this https://t.co/BsgInXwcSa

— genaro (@lilgee324) February 25, 2020

 

Items from the Kobe and GiGi memorial are already up for sale on eBay.

Y’all are sick. pic.twitter.com/n2oKMN0Zbw

— Matt Klug (@MattKlug33) February 24, 2020

itself, for allowing the sale of souvenirs.

 

I really hope none of you give your money to those disgusting humans who only went to Kobe & Gigi’s memorial to sell the souvenirs on Ebay!
Don’t give those scumbags a penny. The Bryants deserve better!

— Gina Marie (@Gina_Marie215) February 25, 2020

 

Seeing all the Kobe memorial shirts on eBay for $600+ reminds me why humans suck

— Sensitive Papi (@MdogMcNastyPant) February 25, 2020

 

So wrong Kobe would not approve EBay should stop the sale of those items

— Bo (@bomikey24) February 25, 2020

 

Apart from past and present NBA players and staff who were given passes to the highly emotional event, ordinary people were given a chance to purchase tickets through a lottery held days prior. 

Tickets only had two prices: $224 (P11,444) and $24.02 (P1,227.18). All proceeds went straight to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, a charity aimed “to provide underserved communities and individuals with sports programming that enriches their socio-emotional and physical development,” per the Mamba Academy website. 

Originally named the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, the charity changed its name a few days after the horrific helicopter crash last January 26 that claimed the lives of Kobe, Gigi and 7 others in Calabasas, California. – Rappler.com