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KOBE WATCH
The reluctant entrepreneur
BY CHRIS WRIGHT

Speaking with David Feingold, you get the distinct impression that he doesn’t care whether Kobe Bryant goes to jail or not. Bryant, the LA Lakers guard who was charged last week with sexual assault on a 19-year-old woman, has never figured heavily in the life of Feingold, who works with autistic children in Boston. " I don’t know whether he’s guilty or not, " Feingold says. " No idea. "

Oddly, Feingold reveals his ignorance about the Bryant case from the back of a limousine, on his way into New York City, where he is due to appear on Inside Edition — to comment on the Bryant case. " It started as a joke, " he says. " I didn’t mean it to be this big of a thing. "

The " it " to which Feingold refers is FreeKobe.com, the pro-Kobe Web site he started two weeks ago, and which he says is currently getting two million hits a day. " I wasn’t hoping for these kinds of numbers, " he says of the site, which contains news updates, merchandise, and a message board. " I just thought it would be funny and cute. Now here I am, being shuttled around the country. "

In recent days, Feingold, 25, has appeared in publications as diverse as the Denver Post, the New York Post, and on ESPN.com. He has appeared on CNN. There are even, he says, rumblings from Hollywood. " There was a newspaper in Alaska saying maybe someone should make a movie out of this incredible success story, " he says. " People are trying to give me deals, business deals, you know, jobs. "

And yet, as Feingold has quickly discovered, incredible success does not come without a price. " I’ve lost my life, " he says. " You have to understand, this takes up a lot of time. Phone calls. Media requests. I need to get the orders [for merchandise] out. Answering e-mails. " And then there are the death threats. " I don’t know why I’m getting them, " Feingold says. " I’m just surprised that some people can be so full of hate. "

Nowhere is this hate more apparent than on the message board Feingold set up. Many of the postings on the board — authored by people with user names like Fan of the Klan and Known Racist — are dramatically, flamboyantly hateful. " Kobe deserved to bang that broad, " reads one post. " She needed a good banging. " Another: " I’m tired of all the damn donkey dongs stealin all the white women. " And it gets much, much worse than this. There have even been posts purporting to provide the name, address, and phone number of Kobe’s alleged victim.

" Um, I try to take those down, " Feingold says. " Obviously, I’m in New York right now so I can’t do anything about it. " He adds, " I’m not being irresponsible here. " And then, " I’m not doing anything wrong. "

Some would beg to differ. " [Feingold’s] refusal to reel in the racists coupled with the fact that he is SELLING merchandise based on this whole Kobe Bryant debacle, " writes a disgruntled visitor to the site, " leads me to one conclusion: He is an opportunist of the worst order — merely seeking to carpetbag his way into some $$$ off of someone else’s tragedy. "

Feingold, who says he has sold a couple thousand FREE KOBE T-shirts over the last three days — plus a similarly large number of FREE KOBE hats, FREE KOBE stickers, and FREE KOBE G-strings — says he isn’t in this for the money. " Profits? " he says from the back of the limo. " I don’t even know what my profits are. We’re making some money. But this is America, and this is the American Dream. Everyone has a chance to make a living here, and that is all I’m trying to do. "

There is also the fact that, as Feingold goes on to point out, an unspecified percentage of his site’s earnings have been earmarked for a women’s charity, though he declines to say which one. " They asked me not to, " he says. " I’m not allowed to use the charity’s name anymore. " With this, another call comes in. " It’s the producer for Inside Edition, " Feingold says with the exhausted flair of a George Clooney. " I’ve got to go. "


Issue Date: July 25 - 31, 2003
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