Donald Trump has announced that Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson will be immortalized with statues.
The president revealed that the three sports icons will appear in the National Garden of American heroes along with characters such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Aretha Franklin.
The NBA star, Bryant, the Ali boxing legend and MLB Robinson's pioneer will eventually join the Golf Tiger Woods superstar, Trump said this week.
The president spoke during a White House event to celebrate the month of black history.
“It's going to be amazing,” Trump said. “We will honor hundreds of our best Americans to have lived, including innumerable blacks.”
The news of Bryant's statue attracted huge cheers in the room, while Trump reserved special praise for Robinson, “what a great athlete was”, and made a joke about Ali with forests.
Donald Trump has announced that Jackie Robinson will be immortalized with a statue
Trump said Muhammad Ali will also appear in the National Garden of American Heroes.
The late NBA Kobe Bryant icon will also be honored along with other sports and culture heroes
The golf legend was present at the ceremony and Trump asked: “What do you think?” Woods replied: 'It's not bad.'
The NBA Bryant star was consolidated as one of the best basketball players of all time before his tragic death in a helicopter accident five years ago. Last year, the Lakers presented a statue of Bryant and his late daughter Gigi out of Crypto.com Arena.
Ali, known as 'The Greatest', is the most iconic figure in the history of boxing. The former world heavyweight and activist champion died at the age of 74 in 2016.
Meanwhile, Robinson became the first African -American to play in the big baseball leagues in the modern era. Last May, a man declared himself guilty of stealing a bronze statue of the Robinson statue that was cut in his ankles and then found himself in a garbage can in Kansas.
“The garden will predominantly present incredible women such as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Coretta Scott-King,” Trump continued.
It will be very extraordinary. We are going to produce some of the most beautiful works of art in the form of statues for men like Frederick Douglas, Booker T Washington … (Y) Martin Luther King Jr. '