The CBS News chief known as threats in opposition to journalist Gayle King “reprehensible” Saturday (Feb. 8) as backlash grew in opposition to rapper Snoop Dogg and others crucial of King for an interview the place she requested a couple of sexual assault cost in opposition to the late Kobe Bryant.
Snoop Dogg had threatened King on-line this week following her interview with WNBA participant Lisa Leslie about Bryant, the previous Los Angeles Lakers star killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
“We absolutely assist Gayle King and her integrity as a journalist,” CBS News President Susan Zirinsky advised the Associated Press. “We discover the threats in opposition to her or any journalist doing their job reprehensible.”
CBS wouldn’t focus on the character of any non-public threats in opposition to King. Her pal, Oprah Winfrey, mentioned in an NBC interview that King had obtained loss of life threats and was touring with safety.
The rapper had joined with others, together with 50 Cent and Bill Cosby, in criticizing King for asking Leslie whether or not Bryant’s legacy had been difficult by the accusation that he raped a lady at a Colorado resort in 2003. Bryant mentioned the 2 had consensual intercourse, however he later apologized for his habits and settled a civil go well with in opposition to him.
In a profane video posted on Instagram and shared on different social media platforms, Snoop Dogg criticized King for attacking “your individuals.” He advised her to “again off … earlier than we come get you.”
King’s questions had attracted little discover as a part of a wide-ranging interview proven on CBS This Morning. But then CBS — mistakenly, it mentioned later — posted a video on-line that targeted strictly on the dialogue concerning the assault case.
“The interview with Lisa Leslie was complete and considerate,” Zirinsky mentioned. “We are a rustic the place variations of opinion are welcome, however hateful and harmful threats are utterly unacceptable.”
King’s critics basically voiced some variation of what Leslie answered — that the media needs to be extra respectful of Bryant so quickly after his loss of life and never focus on this stain upon his document — though often in sharper phrases.
Besides her boss, different individuals have begun coming to King’s protection, together with Sen. Cory Booker, former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice and NBC morning present host Willie Geist.
“For these threatening her and inciting violence, cease it instantly,” the New Jersey senator tweeted. “This is unacceptable. We should do higher.”
Rice, on Twitter, mentioned Snoop Dogg’s video was despicable and he or she advised him to again off.
“You come in opposition to Gayle King, you come in opposition to a military,” Rice wrote. “You will lose, and it received’t be fairly.”′
Geist, from the Today present and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, tweeted that “the threats in opposition to Gayle King for asking a good query in the middle of a protracted interview are completely disgusting. Gayle is without doubt one of the most considerate individuals in our enterprise.”
New Yorker author Jelani Cobb tweeted that there was a solution to disagree with King’s questions “with out lapsing into misogyny, threats and ignorance.”
In an essay posted on the internet website The Undefeated, Morehouse College journalism professor David Dennis Jr. puzzled why it was two black ladies — King and Leslie — who had been those publicly wrestling with this facet of Bryant’s legacy.
“We, myself included, need to take time in our therapeutic to attempt to perceive why we both forgave Bryant or by no means bothered to carry him accountable,” Dennis wrote. “It’s honest to consider that the work Bryant put in for ladies in sports activities within the years for the reason that rape allegation have proven true contrition and rehabilitation, however nothing will erase that night time … To demand silence over the case does an injustice to the victims of sexual violence in addition to the work Bryant did to attempt to make it proper.”
