Oprah Says That Gayle King Is Getting Death Threats Over Her Kobe Bryant Questions
Gayle King believes she got thrown hard under the bus by CBS when they took a wide-ranging interview she did with WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant and boiled it down to a clip of her asking Lisa about Kobe’s rape charge. Well, Gayle’s best friend Oprah is here to let us know the Gayle King hate is even more ridiculous than we think. Not only are rabid Kobe stans (and Snoop Dogg) roasting her online with hate, they’re sending death threats, and so now Gayle has to travel with security.
While on the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, Oprah got emotional talking about Gayle’s situation. Kobe fans did not take kindly to Gayle bringing up a factual part of Kobe’s legacy and they let her have it. Oprah told Hoda and Jenna how bad things have gotten, via E! News:
“She is not doing well… She is not doing well because she now has death threats and has to now travel with security. She is feeling very much attacked. Bill Cosby is…tweeting from jail… She’s not doing well and feels that she was put in a really terrible position… In the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine, including Lisa Leslie. It was only because somebody at the network put up that clip. I can see how people would obviously be upset if you thought that Gayle was trying to just press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie.”
Oprah has been on the phone with Gayle helping her through it:
“I was on the phone with her this morning. I was on the phone with her last night. I was on the phone with her the night before. I think you stand in the gap. You try and be there for your friends.”
Oprah says she acknowledges that criticizing someone’s actions (which was Gayle’s original point in the interview), but what really pisses her off is the way people are coming for her BFF, saying it’s “hate” and “meanness”:
“I think anyone can criticize anything, but the misogynist vitriol and the attacking to the point where it is dangerous to be in the streets alone because 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.”
Nowadays, if you tweet, “I hate the color blue,” stans of the color blue will threaten to murder you and your entire family. It’s sadly become the norm. But what I did find surprising is that Gayle didn’t have security before this overblown mess. What is the point of being the best friend of a media mogul if your media mogul best friend doesn’t give you security to protect you from disciples wanting to smell your hand since it’s a hand that touched Oprah?!
.@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
Pic: Twitter