Journalist Gayle King faced severe criticism on social media when she questioned Kobe Bryant’s friend, Lisa Leslie, about his 2003 rape allegation during an interview just days after his tragic death in a helicopter crash.
Snoop Dogg was one of many, who hit the net to express his frustrations about the way King handled the interview and he also got his fair share of backlash for the way he publicly disrespected King by referring to her as a “dog-faced b*tch.”
King is now speaking out about the situation and stands by her interview, stating that everyone has the right to disagree, but the disrespect was totally unwarranted.
Details + video below…
It was a very challenging time…hard for me as a friend, who is a part of that trolling, to watch you go through it. What did you learn from all of that?
King admits that the backlash and threats she received after Snoop Dogg’s online rant was difficult but insists that she meant no harm in her questioning.
It rocked me, Oprah…I always try to operate from the ‘do no harm,’ that is always my intention… in doing that story and doing that interview, the intention certainly didn’t align with the impact and the fallout that happened from that. But what got to me was the vitriol and the vulgarity that was just unleashed at me in ways that I couldn’t even understand.
For the record, Snoop also felt the burn with response, with many feeling it showed a blatant disrespect for black women. As previously reported, the popular rapper attempted to do damage control on Red Table Talk which totally fell flat.
[FLASHBACK: Snoop Dogg’s RED TABLE TALK Interview was Ultimately Disappointing… (FULL VIDEO)]
Winfrey also pointed out how the “good people” who remained silent throughout the backlash also contributed to the pain of the experience.
In every circumstance, I think this is something for us to remember. It’s not the people who are being mean, it’s not the badness, it’s not the vitriol that’s being put into the world, but it’s the good people who remain silent that becomes so hurtful.
Winfrey, who was among those who spoke out in support of her friend throughout the backlash, applauded King for never letting the opinions of others lead her to doubt herself. King also states that we all have the right to disagree, however we should all take the high road when it crosses into disrespect.
I think we can disagree politically, we can disagree socially, if you want to, but I just think humanity should prevail always.
I think we still have to figure out a way to navigate that with each other. That we can disagree, and you can be mad at me even, but you can’t speak to me the way I was spoken to and threatened.