Oprah has spoken out against the backlash and hate her friend Gayle King has been receiving since a video emerged of King interviewing a basketball icon over the late Kobe Bryant.
"She is not doing well because she has now death threats," Oprah told "Today with Hoda & Jenna."
.@Oprah emotionally responds to backlash her friend Gayle King received over King’s recent interview about Kobe Bryant with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie: “She is not doing well because she has now death threats.” pic.twitter.com/M8HrCp8vTr
— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna)
February 7, 2020 The controversy began earlier this week when King, host of "CBS This Morning," was slammed by the public, including celebs, after she asked WNBA player Lisa Leslie, a longtime friend of Bryant, about his rape allegation in an interview.
The interview went viral.
Snoop Dogg slammed King in an expletive-laden video on his Instagram page this week too.
In a tweet "CBS This Morning" said "@WNBA legend @LisaLeslie told @GayleKing that Kobe Bryant's legacy is "not complicated" for her despite his 2003 rape accusation. "I don't think it's something that we should keep hanging over his legacy.""
.@WNBA legend @LisaLeslie told @GayleKing that Kobe Bryant's legacy is "not complicated" for her despite his 2003 rape accusation."I don't think it's something that we should keep hanging over his legacy." https://t.co/qj6MVvOaqX pic.twitter.com/9qtVORobLO
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning)
February 4, 2020 In response, King lashed out at CBS for releasing an "out of context" clip of the interview and drawing all the ire.
According to a Deadline story, King came out with a video on social media Thursday "saying she was “mortified” and “very angry” at CBS for posting a “salacious” clip of her interview with Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant."
In the Deadline story, "King blamed CBS (without specifying a division or group responsible) for releasing a clip that she felt was incapable of showing the full scope of the interview, in all of its nuance.
“Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview,” she said. [It was> “totally out of context and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring."
My perspective (1/2) pic.twitter.com/tUYK0yGh9q
— Gayle King (@GayleKing)
February 6, 2020
