The 2020 ESPYs took place on Sunday night, with Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and Russell Wilson serving as the remote hosts for the show that typically takes center stage during the lone major sports-less night of the calendar — the day after the MLB All-Star Game.
However, this year’s festivities were moved up due to the ongoing pandemic that has kept the U.S. major sports leagues on hiatus for the last three months, as ESPN continues trying to fill the Sunday night airwaves following The Last Dance. As one might expect given the current climate, this year’s event took on a bit of a more serious tone than usual. The three hosts opened the show with a call to action for Black Lives Matter and the ongoing movement against systemic racism and police brutality that’s led to protests in major cities around the country and world for more than a month, along with a powerful video from many in the sports world.
ESPN also had Snoop Dogg pay tribute to a fellow L.A. legend in a video about Kobe Bryant, who died along with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash that rocked the sports world earlier this year.
From one LA legend to another, gone too soon.@SnoopDogg pays tribute to Kobe 💜🐍💛 pic.twitter.com/9X2P1ldoQC
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 22, 2020
It’s a touching tribute, with Snoop pointing to Kobe’s lasting legacy and saying “this is your city,” as a montage of Kobe’s finest moments on the court were interspersed with the numerous murals put up to honor him after his death. Given that this took place on Father’s Day, when a number from the NBA community remembered Bryant for what he did off the court and his proud status as a “girl dad,” it was a fitting tribute from one L.A. icon to another.
