I watched this game in 2011 and remember reading his lips and thinking, "Ohhhh man, Kobe is gonna get burned for that one." Surprisingly he at most was the talk of ESPN/Sportscenter for the next couple of days.
I think him and his public relations adviser have a strategy that seems to work well for them and they're sticking to that. I probably would've included an apology in my quoted statement though. He talks about how it's not okay to use those slurs, but never says "I'm sorry I said the things that I did."
The unfortunate thing is less people care about homophobic slurs than they should. If he had insulted a different demographic then people might have cared more. That's probably why the sponsors and fans stayed with him. If he makes the same comment 20 or 25 years from now, as the country evolves, I say the fans would have his head.
I'm honestly still shocked that he didn't lose his sponsors from the sexual assault accusations. He settled it out of court, but that just looks like he threw money at it to make it go away. I guess when you're one of the best players of all time, you get a little more leeway.
As for the NBA fine, I probably would have told Kobe to just pay it. It makes it seem like he knows what he did was wrong. Appealing it makes a statement that he thought he was in the right. But once again, it didn't really seem to matter in the long run.
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