Gayle King Reacts to Snoop Dogg’s Apology Amid Kobe Bryant Controversy

Gayle King has responded after Snoop Dogg apologized to her following comments he made in regards to King’s recent interview with former WNBA star Lisa Leslie, during which she asked Leslie about the sexual assault allegations against Kobe Bryant.

“I accept the apology and understand the raw emotions caused by this tragic loss,” King said in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that it was never her intention to add to the pain of Bryant’s death.

“As a journalist, it is sometimes challenging to balance doing my job with the emotions and feelings during difficult times,” she said. “I don’t always get it perfect but I’m constantly striving to do it with compassion and integrity.”

Last week, Snoop Dogg had posted a profane and threatening video criticizing King for her questions to Leslie, and on Thursday, he posted another video in which he apologized to the journalist — a decision he shared came about after he spoke with his mother.

“Had a talk with my momma thank u mamma,” the rapper’s caption read. “2 wrongs don’t make it right time to heal. [Gayle King] Peace n love Praying for u and your family as well as Vanessa and the kids.”

In the apology video, Snoop Dogg said that he “overreacted” and told King, “I publicly tore you down by coming at you in a derogatory manner based off of emotions of me being angry at a question you asked.”

“I should have handled it way different than that, I was raised way better than that, so I would like to apologize publicly for the language that I used and calling you out your name and just being disrespectful,” he added.

During King’s interview with Leslie, she asked the athlete, “It’s been said that his legacy is complicated because of a sexual assault charge which was dismissed in 2003, 2004. Is it complicated for you, as a woman, as a WNBA player?”

Leslie replied, “It’s not complicated for me at all… I have never seen him being the kind of person that would do something to violate a woman or be aggressive in that way. That’s just not the person that I know.”

“But Lisa, you wouldn’t see it though. As his friend, you wouldn’t see it,” King said.

After CBS shared a clip from the interview featuring that line of questioning, King shared her own Instagram video in which she said that she is “mortified,” “embarrassed” and “very angry” at the network for sharing a clip that she writes was “totally taken out of context.”

“Gayle conducted a thoughtful, wide-ranging interview with Lisa Leslie about the legacy of Kobe Bryant,” CBS News said in a statement to E! News. “An excerpt was posted that did not reflect the nature and tone of the full interview. We are addressing the internal process that led to this and changes have already been made.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Slaven Vlasic