Comedy Central forced to pull cartoon predicting Kobe Bryant's fatal helicopter crash

Comedy Central has been forced to pull an old episode of the cartoon Legends of Chamberlain Heights after it depicted LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant dying in as the result of a fatal helicopter crash.

The episode in question is titled 'End of Days' and originally aired back in 2016. In the episode, the 41-year-old's devastating passing on Sunday was unknowingly predicted, as it showed Bryant trying to crawl out of a downed helicopter before it explodes.

Now, out of respect for Bryant's family, it has been removed.

In the video below, Dwyane Wade gets emotional recounting Kobe Bryant's death:

An official account for the show wrote: "Out of respect for Kobe and his family we have removed the clip of him and ask that you please don't share it.

"RIP Kobe and Gigi Bryant and everyone else who died in the helicopter crash today."

This tweet from the show's official account was accompanied by a personal apology from its creator, Josiah Johnson.

He wrote: "This was a collaborative effort by our writers' room, which included Kobe, LeBron and MJ fans and was in no way meant to be a prediction of the tragic event that transpired.

"Upon learning the news of Kobe's passing, I immediately reached out to Comedy Central and asked that the episode be taken down, in addition to deleting the clip off the show's social media accounts."

He explained that the episode, which was written in 2015, was intended to lampoon the player's reputation for not passing, but he admitted that, on reflection, it went "too far".

The 41-year-old basketball player lost his life on Sunday alongside eight other people in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. He had been traveling to basketball practice with his daughter, Gianna, 13, who also died in the crash.

Today, Bryant's widow Vanessa broke her silence about her husband and daughter's untimely passing on social media, thanking people for their kindness, acknowledging the others who died, and asking for her family's privacy to be respected.

The 37-year-old asked that anyone wanting to honor Kobe and Gianna's legacy to donate to the Mamba Sports Foundation to honor their work in youth sports.