Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant has urged people to refrain from using the term "gay" as an insult.

The shooting guard responded to a Twitter user, who wrote on the social network site "you're gay" to a person who said that he and the NBA star "make out in bed".

Bryant got involved in the spat by telling his 1.3m Twitter followers: "Just letting you know that using 'your gay' as a way to put someone down ain't ok! #notcool delete that out ur vocab."

The 34-year-old's response caused a number of his Twitter followers to commend the star for highlighting the issue.