Comedian Ari Shaffir apologises after joking Kobe Bryant ‘died 23 years too late’ and ‘got away with rape’

American comedian, Ari Shaffir has come out to issue an apology after he was dropped by his agency and comedy club following jokes he made about Basketball legend Kobe Bryant after the LA Lakers legend was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday alongside his daughter Gianna and eight others.

In an Instagram story,  Shaffir said: ‘A guy who got away with rape got his today. Kobe Bryant is gone. I’m here in Charlotte, the home of the team that originally drafted him.

‘Maybe he wouldn’t have raped that chick in Denver if he’d stayed with the Hornets.’

He also took to Twitter to write: 

‘Kobe Bryant died 23 years too late today. He got away with rape because all the Hollywood liberals who attack comedy enjoy rooting for the Lakers more than they dislike rape. Big ups to the hero who forgot to gas up his chopper. I hate the Lakers. What a great day.’

Shaffir, got blasted on social media by thousands of fans who poured death threats towards him then the New York comedy club he performs in, canceled his contract with them after receiving attack threats. 

Shaffir has now come out to apologise, saying he didn’t mean what he said, and his comments was just a form of ‘dark comedy’ he usually spills out when a famous person dies.                    

“Every time a beloved celebrity dies I post some horrible shit about them,” he wrote. “I’ve been doing it for years now. I like destroying gods. And right when a famous person dies they’re at their most worshipped. So as a response to all the outpouring of sympathy on social media, I post something vile. it’s just a joke. I don’t really hate any of the people.” 

Shaffir also said the routine is “dark comedy” and “moronic inappropriate posts he makes for the fans who signed up to see them.”

The comedian said that he shared the Instagram live video before he knew children had also died alongside Kobe in the helicopter crash.

The comedian added that fans were asking for a “Kobe post.” “Kids dying like that, it’s horrible,” he wrote. 

“All the other people dying, that [sic] horrible too. It’s horrible he died. Really really sad. What a terrible thing that was that happened