CBS This Morning host Gayle King is furious at her network for airing video showing her asking pointed questions about rape accusations lodged against Kobe Bryant, video that got her in trouble with blacks and black celebrities on Twitter.
Twitter users rushed to excoriate King over the clip of her interview with WNBA player Lisa Leslie where the CBS host brought up Bryant’s rape allegations that were settled in 2005, RollingOut reported.
“It’s been said that his legacy is complicated, because of a sexual assault charge that was dismissed in 2003, 2004. Is it complicated for you, as a woman, as a WNBA player?” King asked Leslie in the clip.
“It’s not complicated for me at all, Leslie replied in the video. “I just never see — have ever seen him being the kind of person that would be — do something to violate a woman or be aggressive in that way. That’s just not the person that I know.”
King was immediately attacked by a number of blacks entertainers, including Snoop Dogg, Vivica A. Fox, Ari Lennox, Boosie, and others.
Fox, for instance, slammed King for being disrespectful.
Rappers Snoop Dog, and Boosie Badazz also posted videos defending Bryant against King’s probing questions:
For her part, King says she is “mortified” that CBS would air this clip “out of context.”
“I felt really good about the interview… so, for the network to take the most salacious part when taken out of context, and put it up online for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me and that’s something I’m going to have to deal with them. There will be a very intense discussion about that,” King said in a video she posted online.
But many users not only slammed Gayle King, they took out after Oprah, too, because the two are such close friends:
Follow Warner Todd Huston on facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.