Gayle King hasn't slept for two nights and is traveling with guards after death threats, says best pal Oprah
An emotional Oprah Winfrey revealed on Friday, February 7 that her best friend Gayle King has received death threats over her controversial interview with WNBA star Lisa Leslie, where she mentioned the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant's rape allegations. The interview was conducted as part of CBS This Morning package where the pair discussed Bryant's basketball legacy and his recent tragic death.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend, 41, died in the helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. The chopper was carrying his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, and seven others. None survived the fatal crash.
King, at one point during the interview, asked Leslie about her opinion on the 2003 rape accusation against Bryant. When Leslie responded saying she did not believe Bryant was the kind of person who would do such a thing, King insisted that she may not have seen a different side of him considering she was his friend.
A 19-year-old woman working in a Colorado hotel had accused the NFL star of rape in 2003, and he was subsequently charged with felony sexual assault. The case was eventually dropped after the accuser declined to testify. A civil lawsuit was later brought against Bryant, which was settled out of court. Bryant acknowledged having sex with the accuser and issued a public apology. He, however, said that he had thought it to be consensual at the time.
A clip of King asking Leslie about the question was posted on the Twitter feed of CBS This Morning to promote the interview. However, it was slammed by multiple social media users, including celebrities like Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and even Bill Cosby.
King later took to Instagram on Thursday and slammed her own network for posting the clip "out of context" and said that they had deliberately chosen the "most salacious part" of the interview. Shortly after, Oprah, while appearing on Today with Hoda and Jenna, revealed that King is now traveling with security guards because she has received multiple death threats. The media mogul added that her friend has not "slept for two days".
"She is not doing well," Oprah continued. "May I say she is not doing well because she has now death threats and has to now travel with security. She's feeling very much attacked. Bill Cosby is tweeting from jail!"
Oprah also added that King feels she was placed in a "terrible position". "That interview had already run. In the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine including Lisa Leslie and it was only because somebody at the network put up that clip," she said. "I can see how people would be obviously very upset if you thought that Gayle was trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie. Obviously, all things pass and she will be OK, but she hasn't slept in two days".
"The vitriol is... anybody can criticize anything but the misogynist vitriol and the attacking to the point where it is dangerous to be in the streets alone," Oprah said on the segment. "It's not just the people that are attacking it's the other people that take that message and feel that they can do whatever they want to because of it." She added that she had spoken to King on the phone at least three times since the clip was posted. "You stand in the gap and try to be there for your friends, but this is very hard."
Last month, a political reporter from The Washington Post was suspended by the paper for tweeting a link to a story about Bryant rape case just hours after her death. The paper's move was condemned by the outlet's Guild, which also accused the paper of controlling how the journalist Felicia Sonmez speaks on matters of sexual violence. She was soon reinstated by the Post.