2020 has certainly been a tough year all around, and with numerous unexpected deaths throughout
the entertainment industry, Hollywood hasn't emerged unscathed.
It was the tragic passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in January 2020 that first shook the
public to its core.
"What can I say?
Mamba out."
Now, months later, the Black community has lost another icon, Black Panther's Chadwick
Boseman.
The actor succumbed to his years-long battle with colon cancer on August 28th, 2020, but
Boseman never spoke of his illness publicly and continued to work despite the pain, making
the loss especially shocking and gut-wrenching for fans across the globe.
In the wake of his passing, fans began to revisit Boseman's old interviews, and one
particularly haunting story that came to light was an exchange between Boseman and Bryant.
Their final conversation paints a picture of two irreplaceable talents gone too soon.
While he's best known for his time with the L.A. Lakers, Bryant was also a gifted artist.
He was so talented, in fact, that his film, Dear Basketball, earned the 2018 Oscar for
best animated short.
And it was at an afterparty that night that Bryant and Boseman got to talking.
On HBO's The Shop: Uninterrupted, a talk show executive-produced by LeBron James, Boseman
opened up about his final conversation with Bryant, saying,
"He's not somebody that I was best friends with or that I knew really well.
But the crazy thing is that, in those four conversations, it felt like somebody that
I knew really well.
It was crazy because we were sitting in the party talking about philosophy and poetry.
He was like, 'This is what I'm into right now as an artist, not as a basketball player.'
We started talking about it, I'm like 'Yo, we should do something together.'"
Boseman added that when he asked Bryant when he'd like to start working on a project together,
Bryant said in two years.
Sadly, they never got the chance, as both men passed away in 2020, the proposed year
of their collaboration.
But if their track records are any indication, it's safe to say it would have been something
great.
Though they didn't know each other well, Boseman was deeply affected by Bryant's untimely death.
He took to Twitter to express his grief, tweeting on January 26th, 2020,
"I'm heartbroken.
Shocked.
Husband, Father, Strategist, Philosopher-Poet, Warrior-Athlete, Filmmaker...Your focus is
magnetic, Kobe.
My love goes out to you and your family."
Fans were touched when the image resurfaced in the days following Boseman's death.
Many replied to the post with heartfelt messages of their own, with one fan writing,
"My prayers are with your families.
You've been our icons.
You make us proud."
"In my head I'll be like, 'Well, what does it do for the world, like actually what is
it, is it actually valuable in this climate?'
And I have to say, 'yes it actually is.'"
According to People magazine, Boseman participated in a tribute to Bryant that aired on TNT.
The memorial, organized by the NBA, asked celebrities to recreate famous photos of the
basketball great's time as a Laker.
Bryant's family never forgot Boseman's kindness.
When the news broke of his passing in late August 2020, Bryant's oldest daughter paid
tribute to the actor via a since-deleted Instagram story.
People reported that the teenager shared the same photo of Bryant and Boseman at the Oscars
accompanied by the caption:
"Rest in peace Wakanda forever."
It should come as no surprise that LeBron James, who was close to both men, was deeply
affected by their deaths.
At the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers, which took place
the day after Boseman passed, James paid tribute to the fallen actor by giving the "Wakanda
forever" sign while kneeling during the national anthem.
In an interview, James expressed not only his grief but the painful loss felt by the
Black community as a whole, telling reporters,
"It actually felt like we finally had our Black superhero, and nobody could touch us.
And to lose that, it's sad in our community."
According to the New York Post, James concluded the interview by summing up just about everyone's
feelings about 2020 thus far:
"To lose the Black Panther and the Black Mamba in the same year, we can all agree that 2020
is the s---iest year, in my 35 years, it's not even a question."