Blooper: Pete Buttigieg Remembers Basketball Player Kobe Bryant for Playing ‘on the Field’

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg inexplicably described NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant as playing “on the field” on Sunday.

The mayor reacted to Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash on Sunday at the beginning of a Fox News town hall in Iowa.

“There are millions of people, not just in Los Angeles, but around the world right now mourning because they were inspired by what he did on the field, what he meant off the field,” Buttigieg said.

As a basketball player, Bryant would have played on the basketball court, not on an athletic field.

Pete Buttigieg opens his town hall by referring to basketball being played on a "field." pic.twitter.com/1PNFfzYH16

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 27, 2020

Buttigieg commented on Bryant’s death after President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama also expressed their grief at his untimely death at the age of 41. Bryant’s teenage daughter and at least three others were also killed in the crash.

Buttigieg said the tragedy was a “tough human moment” for people to bear.

He said of Bryant’s daughter: “Her loss is unthinkable, as is that of everybody who was on the helicopter. And I think all of America is united in mourning and sending our love and our thoughts and, of course, our prayers to the families,” he said.