Kobe Bryant admits to his wrong and apologizes

In a game against the San Antonio Spurs, where the pressure was on to win the game, Kobe Bryant made a costly mistake.

In the third quarter Bryant was called for a foul where he disagreed and received a technical foul for excessive complaining. As he sat upset on the bench staring down the referee who called the foul, Bryant was caught on camera yelling at the referee a offensive slur rhyming with maggot.

At the moment no one reacted to the incident but today the incident was the talk of the nation as Human Rights Campaign publicly criticized Bryant's actions and demanded a apology for the gay and lesbian communities.

Bryant made a public apology before being fined $100,000 by the NBA. He said in his apology, basketball is a emotional sport.

"What I said last night should not be taken literally. My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period," he said. "The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay & lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone."

The Laker fans, the Lakers and Bryant was in the moment and with one misfortune against him and the Lakers, he lost his focus for a second and the word slipped out. He did NOT intend to use that specific word in a way to offend the gay and lesbian community. He was frustrated with the call the referee made and he purposely tried to insult the official. The word he might wanted to use was the other f-word.

Give the man a break, he publicly apologized and accepted his wrong actions.

Bryant again publicly apologized as he went on air with John Ireland and Steve Mason on AM 710 ESPN Los Angeles this afternoon.

He said he is going to work with the different gay and lesbian organizations to create awareness that it is not OK to use words such as what he used last night. He wants his actions to be an example to other NBA players and children that it is not OK what he did. A $100,000 fine is too much of an punishment but the NBA did take their action on the situation and Bryant did as well.

It is unfortunate for the word choice he made but this can become a great outcome. Bryant can show he understands and know what he did was wrong by teaming up with the Human Rights Campaign and other gay and lesbian organizations and do a lot of great work with the status he has.

His apology was heartfelt and truthful and in no means did he want what he did last night to become what it has today. Bryant is a man of his word and he will accomplish and follow through what he said he will do to resolve his mistake.

A side note: It is unfortunate that a camera was on Bryant when he said that but there are a lot more professional and non-professional athletes who use that word and many other harsh and harmful words on each other because they are humans and they are competitors who try to take a advantage of each other.