24 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2020
NEWS
FOLLOWING the tragic death of Kobe
Bryant, his daughter Gianna and others in a
helicopter crash in the US last week, a Mal-
tese-American copywriter and his work
colleague drew a portrait of Kobe and Gi-
anna, and posted it online.
People loved the artwork and it got lots of
impressions and shares. So Lerthon Theu-
ma and Joan Heo quickly decided to take
it further.
They got the drawing printed and on 31
January 31 hung it on the street sign located
at 24th Street and 8th Avenue in New York.
The significance here is that those are the
two numbers (24&8) that represented Ko-
be Bryant's retired NBA numbers for the
Los Angeles Lakers.
Theuma, who moved to the US with his
family in 2019, told MaltaToday that he
and Joan were amazed to learn that the
print remained untouched.
"Someone even bought a bouquet of flow-
ers and placed it beneath the picture," he
said.
"Many people stopped to take a picture,
reflect, and pray by our portrait. Reactions
online were also super positive and appre-
ciative of our placement."
Maltese-American's
Kobe Bryant tribute
gets warm welcome
in New York
