Choked-up Oprah Winfrey says Gayle King is ‘not doing well’ amid death threats over Kobe Bryant clip
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oprah Winfrey said her best friend, CBS News anchor Gayle King, is “not doing well” after she came under attack when the network posted a clip of the “CBS This Morning” co-host asking about the 2003 rape allegations against late NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
“May I say, she is not doing well. 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,” an emotional Winfrey told NBC’s “Today” on Friday.
GAYLE KING ‘VERY ANGRY’ AT CBS NEWS OVER ‘OUT-OF-CONTEXT’ KOBE BRYANT CLIP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"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."
King recently interviewed WNBA icon Lisa Leslie about her relationship with Bryant and a clip of a particular question about a 2003 rape accusation went viral, with everyone from imprisoned comedian Bill Cosby to rapper Snoop Dogg criticizing the CBS anchor.
“Bill Cosby is… tweeting from jail and she’s not doing well and feels she was put in a really terrible position because that interview had already ran and in the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine,” Winfrey continued. “It was only because somebody, at the network, put up that clip. And I can see how people would obviously be very upset if you thought that Gayle was trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie.”
King was widely accused of smearing Bryant and responded Thursday with an Instagram video in which she blamed CBS News for distributing an "out-of-context" clip of the interview that resulted in the widespread backlash.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GAYLE KING NOTICEABLY ABSENT FROM ‘CBS THIS MORNING’ AFTER TRASHING NETWORK OVER INTERVIEW CLIP
King said she was “mortified,” “very angry” and declared that she would have “a very intense discussion” with CBS executives. King’s decision to blame the incident on CBS has not stopped critics from attacking her on social media, where she continued to be vilified for the viral clip on Friday morning.
Oprah Winfrey stressed that Gayle King is “not doing well” and receiving death threats. (AP)
Winfrey said that “all things pass” and King will eventually be “OK” but is taking the backlash personally.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“She hasn’t slept in two days,” Winfrey said. “The misogynist vitriol and the attacking, to the point where it is dangerous to be in the street 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.”
Winfrey said she spoke King on Friday morning, when the “CBS This Morning” co-host was noticeably absent from her show.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“This is very hard, because, when you have social media, and the force of social media, and particularly people who didn’t see either interview, making attacks… to do it with such vitriol is hate and meanness,” Winfrey said.
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Winfrey’s remarks.
CBS' 'THE TALK' WEIGHS IN ON GAYLE KING'S BEEF WITH NETWORK OVER KOBE BRYANT COVERAGE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CBS said that changes to its internal process have already been made as a result of the backlash King received and claimed her absence from Friday’s show was “because she had a long-standing commitment out of town.”
Meanwhile, TMZ reported on Friday that CBS “staffers feel the network owes it to its talent to keep them out of messes like this” and the network “failed by not protecting its undisputed star of the morning show.”
Citing “sources connected to the show,” TMZ noted that “some of Gayle's coworkers are incensed over the backlash she's getting.”
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CBS News did not respond to a request for comment about the TMZ report.