Kobe sez O'Neal paid women 1M hush money: report
BY MICHAEL McAULIFF, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Hours after Kobe Bryant was accused of rape, he reportedly told cops that his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Shaquille O'Neal had paid women up to $1 million to keep "situations like this" quiet.
Bryant's Shaq attack came July 2, 2003, in a conversation he had with Colorado cops soon after a 19-year-old hotel worker accused the star guard of assaulting her, the Los Angeles Times reported last night.
"Bryant made a comment to us about what another teammate does in situations like these," Eagle, Colo., Detective Doug Winters wrote in a police report obtained by the paper.
"Bryant stated he should have done what Shaq does. Bryant stated that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything. He stated Shaq has paid up to a million dollars already for situations like this."
Bryant, 26, also insisted he hadn't thought of a payoff because he treats women much better than his gargantuan teammate.
(Who was accused of rape? Not Shaq -- ST)
"He stated he, Bryant, treats a woman with respect, therefore they shouldn't say anything," Winters said.
Shaq found out about the dis last September when investigators for Eagle County prosecutors made an unsuccessful attempt to quiz him about the charge two weeks before the Lakers opened their training camp in Hawaii, the Times said.
Perry Rogers, O'Neal's agent, told the paper that Kobe's allegations against the big man were false and "undeserving of a response."
O'Neal, a 32-year-old All-Star center, is married with three children and has a fourth by an ex-girlfriend. He has never been accused of sexual impropriety.
(Actually, Shaq considers Myles, Shaunie's son by another guy, his kid, too.)
A 23-year-old woman who worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando accused him of grabbing her neck in 1997, and he was charged with misdemeanor battery, but the case was dismissed in 2000.
Sports Illustrated had already reported the salacious details of Bryant's statement to police from a transcript of their conversation, including comments that other NBA players paid off women.
But the bombshell accusation against O'Neal came after the detectives turned off their tape recorder, and had been sealed during a pretrial hearing before the accuser backed out of the case and the charges were dropped.
The pair often butted egos in their years together on the Lakers, even as they won three championships.
O'Neal's agent said he didn't know whether O'Neal confronted Bryant over the comments last season, but said the remarks didn't stop Shaq from doing his job.
"It didn't have any impact on the relationship," Rogers told the Times, because "Shaquille had a very professional approach to his career there and because he has had an understanding of Kobe, Kobe's interests and Kobe's priorities. Kobe has historically been shown to be interested in one person and one person alone."
Kobe B**** Bryant
Maybe it was taped earlier and just replayed. Anyway, LaLa should be about 27 or 28.
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