Snoop Dogg recently drew attention for his comments about Gayle King and her interview with former WNBA star, Lisa Leslie. The rapper made a comment that was viewed as threatening to the journalist, but he has since clarified the statement. Dogg explained that he was not threatening King when he said: “back off, b—, before we come get you.”
Dogg released a video on Instagram on Saturday, which he described as a message from the people’s champ. He wanted to make it very clear that he was not promoting violence or anything similar. In fact, he wants everyone to “carry on and be nice to others.”
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“This is a message for the people,” Dogg said in the clip. “I’m a non-violent person. When I said what I said, I spoke for the people who felt like Gayle was very disrespectful towards Kobe Bryant and his family.”
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The conversation between King and Leslie drew the ire of Dogg due to multiple questions about rape allegations against Bryant that were filed in 2003. Bryant was charged with rape at the time, but the case was ultimately dropped after the accuser would not testify. A civil suit was later settled for an undisclosed amount of money.
Bryant admitted to having sex with his accuser, but he insisted that the relationship was consensual. Despite the case being dealt with in 2003, King still asked Leslie if she felt that Bryant’s legacy was complicated by the sexual assault charges. The former WNBA star responded by defending her friend.
“I just never, have ever seen him being the kind of person that would do something to violate a woman or be aggressive in that way,” Leslie said in response to King’s question. “That’s just not the person that I know.”
The back-and-forth about Bryant’s legacy was only part of the conversation, but the excerpt posted online focused on this brief interaction. The fans were angered by this line of questioning, as were Dogg, Stephen Jackson, and several others.
“Now with that being said, what do I look like, wanting some harm to come to a 70-year-old woman? I was raised way better than that,” Dogg continued in his Instagram video. “I don’t want no harm to come to her and I didn’t threaten her. All I did was say, ‘Check it out, you outta pocket for what you doing and we watching you. Have a little bit more respect for Vanessa, her babies, and Kobe Bryant’s legacy.’”
Photo Credit: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVEN
