Kobe Bryant Calls Ref a "F***ing F****t"

Last night, after receiving his 15th technical foul, Kobe Bryant got extremely upset and seemed to call an NBA referee a "f***ing f****t"

Click here to see the video of Kobe's rant.

When Kobe appeared to use a homophobic slur to verbally attack the ref, one of the TV announcers said, "You might wanna take the cameras off of him right now, for the children watching."

A representative for the Lakers told TMZ.com that "The Lakers can not confirm that is what Kobe said or not."

Sources told TMZ that the NBA is now reviewing the footage and may hand down a penalty for Kobe's bad choice of words. But don't worry Lakers fans. Technical foul counts reset for the playoffs, so Kobe is not in danger of being suspended for the first game of the playoffs because of his rant.

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, told TMZ, "What a disgrace for Kobe Bryant to use such horribly offensive and distasteful language, especially when millions of people are watching."

The group also said, "Hopefully Mr. Bryant will recognize that as a person with such fame and influence, the use of such language not only offends millions of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] people around the world, but also perpetuates a culture of discrimination and hate that all of us, most notably Mr. Bryant, should be working to eradicate."

Bryant has issued a statement saying, "What I said last night should not be taken literally. My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. "

Bryant adds, "The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.”

(Sources: TMZ.com, ESPN.com)

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