Oprah Winfrey will not stand for the nasty “vitriol” against her best friend.
Days after Gayle King came under fire for asking WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant’s 2003 case, Oprah sat down with Hoda & Jenna to clear the air. “She is not doing well, because she has now death threats and has to now travel with security and she’s feeling very much attacked,” Oprah admitted.
“She was put in a really terrible position, because that interview had already ran and in the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine, including Lisa Leslie,” she continued. ”And it was only because somebody at the network put up that clip, and I could see how people would obviously be very upset if you thought that Gayle was just trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie.”
Following King’s controversial interview, a number of celebrities spoke out against the journalist. Most notably, Snoop Dogg went on a scathing tirade in a video uploaded by 50 Cent, calling King a “funky dog head b—” among other criticisms. Bill Cosby later tweeted from jail, thanking Snoop for calling out ”successful Black Women” who “are being used to tarnish the image and legacy of successful Black Men even in death.”
“Anybody can criticize anything,” Oprah concluded, “But the misogynist vitriol and the attacking to the point where it’s dangerous to be in the streets alone. It’s not just the people who are attacking, it’s the other people who take that message and feel like they can do whatever they want to because of it.”
See Oprah’s defense below.
.@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