Gayle King has responded after she was called out by numerous black people and accused of granting interviews that destroy the image of Black men.
Clips from Gayle King’s interview with Lisa Leslie angered a number of viewers. In the interview, King asked Leslie about Kobe Bryant’s rape charge.
King said to Leslie while speaking about the late Kobe: “It’s been said that his legacy is complicated because of a sexual assault charge, which was dismissed in 2003, 2004. Is it complicated for you as a woman, as a WNBA player?”
Leslie replied: “It’s not complicated for me at all.”
King went on to ask other questions about the case, and Leslie reiterated she didn’t believe that Bryant assaulted anyone because that was not the type of person he was.
“That’s just not the person I know,” Lisa said, defending Kobe.
King then said: “But, Lisa, you wouldn’t see it though. As his friend, you wouldn’t see it.”
When Leslie mentioned that Kobe went to trial for the case and nothing came out of it, King emphasized that the case was “dismissed” because his accuser refused to testify.
A lot of viewers said Gayle King’s comment was out of pocket and they called her out for it.
Actress Masika Kalysha took to Twitter to call out Gayle King for always granting interviews and doing documentaries to make black men accused of sexual offences look bad whereas they do not do same for their White male friends accused of same, like Harvey Weinstein.
Rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg also termed King’s questions disrespectful.
King has now responded following the backlash. She said she was taken out of context because of the way the video was cut up and posted online. She added that she was shocked also when she saw the short video because it was ”taken out of context.”
In a video posted on Instagram, Gayle said: “During the course of the interview I asked follow up questions because I wanted to make sure her position and perspective were very clear.
“The salacious part, when taken out of context and put up online for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me, and that’s something I’m gonna have to deal with, with them”
Gayle King said she wanted viewers to hear where she was coming from and how she was feeling. She also said there was no disrespect intended.