He offended white America with his glorification of ghetto culture and his constant coping of the " " at ude.
Funny enough, your hero Kobe played it smart. White washed himself (or more accurately, Jelly Bean white washed him) to garner mass appeal. Like it or not, white people are the ones who butter your bread (white folk are the majority consumers of rap/hip hop albums and urban fashion like Sean John; they compose the largest viewership of professional sports and buy the most merchandise)
and you do whatever it takes to appeal to them. Kobe, Lebron, Jordan, they understand this dynamic.
A.I. "kept it real" and it bankrupted his ass
And I have no sympathy for that. He forgot his place.