Gone but never forgotten.
On Aug. 30, the 2020 MTV VMAs honored artists across the country for an incredible year in the music industry. During the award show, the program offered an In Memoriam segment to celebrate the lives of the stars who recently passed away. Travis Barker introduced the segment on Sunday and while the tribute primarily focused on honoring the lives of musicians, Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman and Glee actress Naya Rivera were also mentioned.
After seeing the tribute, many fans expressed their outrage over the fact that Kobe Bryant's life was not celebrated among the other stars in the segment. The NBA star died in a tragic helicopter accident alongside his daughter Gianna Bryant in January.
"Who at the #VMAs forgot to include Kobe Bryant in the In Memoriam section?!?" one social media user tweeted. "You added Naya and Chadwick, you weren't sticking to just music."
Another fan commented, "Can't believe Kobe Bryant was missing from the memoriam segment at the VMAs! WHAT?!"
Someone else called for a boycott of the VMAs next year. "How DARE you guys Not pay tribute to KOBE BRYANT!!!!" the Twitter user wrote. "He is an Academy Award winner and Legend!!! And you choose to leave him out of your 2020 tribute! #BoycottVMAs."
As fans may recall, Kobe passed away shortly before the 2020 Grammys, where he was honored for his contributions to the entertainment industry and praised for his family values. Grammys host Alicia Keys opened the award show, held at the famous Staples Center, with the tribute to Kobe.
"Here we are together on music's biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best, but to be honest with you, we're all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today, Los Angeles, America, and the whole wide world lost a hero. And we're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built," Alicia said. "Right now Kobe and his daughter Gianna and all those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirit, they're in our hearts, they're in our prayers. They're in this building, and I would like to ask everybody to take a moment and just hold them inside of you, hold them inside of you, and share our strength and our support with their families. We never imagined in a million years we'd have to start the show like this. Never never never never never never. So we wanted to do something that could describe a tiny bit of how we all feel right now."
Kobe's family has not commented on the alleged VMAs snub. E! News has reached out to MTV for comment.