Priyanka Chopra was one of countless celebrities who paid tribute to the late NBA star Kobe Bryant on Sunday night.
Hours before the Grammy Awards 2020, news broke that Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna had passed away along with seven others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Ahead of the music ceremony, which took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles where Bryant had played for the LA Lakers for 20 years, Chopra took a moment to pay her respects to the athlete.
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While others, including Gigi Hadid, Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts, paid tribute to the Bryants on social media, the Indian actress had the basketball player’s jersey number ‘24’ designed on the nail of her index finger.
‘RIP Mamba,’ the actress captioned a photograph of her artistic nails in honour of Bryant.
During the night, Chopra was seen walking the red carpet with her husband, Nick Jonas, wearing a custom Ralph & Russo white dress with a plunging neckline.
Nick and his brothers Joe and Kevin also honoured Bryant by wearing matching purple ribbons on their jacket lapels.
Following an opening performance from Lizzo at the ceremony, the show’s host Alicia Keys addressed Bryant’s death and the impact he had on the world on the world and the building where they all stood.
‘We're all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today, Los Angeles, America, and the whole wide world lost a hero,’ Keys told the audience. ‘And we're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.
‘Right now, Kobe and his daughter Gianna and all of those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirit, in our hearts, 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 and share our strength and our support with their families.’
Keys then took to the microphone with Boyz II Men to perform a capella rendition of the song ‘It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye’ as the camera panned to a shot of Bryant’s jerseys which hand in the rafters of the Staples Center.
Bryant was a five-time NBA champion before he retired in 2016.
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
