Former National Security Advisor, Susan Rice was anything but diplomatic earlier this week when she lent her support in defense of CBS This Morning co-anchor, Gayle King from death threats by social media after bringing up Kobe Bryant‘s legacy possibly being marred by past rape allegations. Rice, who served as the U.S. ambassador under former President Barack Obama to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, took to social media Friday night to slam rapper, Snoop Dogg after his vitriolic criticism targeting King.
“This is despicable. Gayle King is one of the most principled, fair and tough journalists alive,” Rice wrote in a tweet that has garnered more than 14,000 likes and more than 2,500 retweets. “Snoop, back the f— off. You come for [Gayle King], you come against an army. You will lose, and it won’t be pretty.”
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While King mentioned that the clip on the morning show shared was “unbeknownst” to her and “totally taken out of context,” Rice’s defense is fresh off the heels of King’s best friend, Oprah Winfrey getting emotional during an interview on the Today Show with Hoda & Jenna on Friday morning, responding to the backlash endured over the interview with former WNBA star, Lisa Leslie.
“She is not doing well,” Winfrey said as she choked up. “She is not doing well because she now has death threats and has to now travel with security, and she is feeling very much attacked.”
Referencing Bill Cosby’s recent Instagram post from prison about King, Winfrey said that her best friend “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 and 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 just trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie,” she continued. “But obviously all things pass, she will be okay but she hasn’t slept in two days.”
“Anybody 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, and the other people who take that message and feel like they can do whatever they want because of it,” Winfrey said.
Acknowledging that “everybody has the right to have their opinion,” Winfrey went on to criticize those who are doing so “with such vitriol, hate and meanness,” explaining that she is offering King support by speaking to her every day since the interview.
“You stand in the gap, you try to be there for your friends but this is very hard because when you have social media and the force of social media and people who didn’t see either interview, making attacks, and I think everybody has the right to have their opinion but to do it with such vitriol, hate and meanness,” Winfrey said.
I hadn’t been following this but this is how Gayle King was attacked for raising the issue of the past Kobe Bryant rape allegation in an interview posted devoid of context. In the past year she’s also been screamed at on camera by R. Kelly for asking about abuse. Unsettling. https://t.co/ofQxugmym4
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 8, 2020
Journalist, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times also tweeted about the attacks against King, adding that when the CBS reporter had asked about R. Kelly’s abuse allegations last year, she was “screamed at on camera” by the rapper inquiring of the accusation. “Unsettling,” Haberman wrote.
Photo credit: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
