HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Kobe Bryant will not be asked to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences even though he won an Oscar earlier this year along with director Glen Keane for the animated short film “Dear Basketball, it was reported today.
Under the academy's procedures, Oscar winners and nominees are automatically considered for, though not guaranteed, membership, with the ultimate decision of who gets admitted to the group residing with the 54-member board of governors.
While Bryant was recommended for membership by the short films and feature animation branch, he did not make the final cut owing to his lack of a larger body of work in the film industry, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The news that Bryant was denied academy membership was first reported by the website Cartoonbrew.com.
Had Bryant been granted membership, it may have stirred controversy, in part because of a sexual assault case brought against him in 2003, which was ultimately dropped and later the subject of a civil settlement.
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