Gayle King blasts CBS for posting her viral interview clip about the Kobe sexual assault case

Page Six

The CBS This Morning anchor faced widespread backlash for asking WNBA legend Lisa Leslie earlier this week about Bryant's 2003 rape case. Specifically, King is upset that CBS This Morning tweeted a clip of her asking the question from the 5-and-a-half minute interview. "I’ve been up reading the comments about the interview I did with Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant, and I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too,” King said in a video this morning posted to Instagram and Twitter. “I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry. Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview — totally taken out of context — and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring. It’s jarring to me. I didn’t even know anything about it.” King's question sparked widespread backlash, including from celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Vivica A. Fox. “Waking up to this interview and was just really pissed off! LIKE YO!" Fox wrote on Instagram. "I realize folks gotta do they job but this is just disrespectful in my opinion #CLOUTCHASER.” King said she never expected CBS to post the clip out of context. “I felt really good about the interview … so, for the network to take the most salacious part when taken out of context, and put it up online for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me and that’s something I’m going to have to deal with with them," she said. "There will be a very intense discussion about that. I also want to say this. I have been with Kobe Bryant on many social occasions. He was very kind and very warm to me and I felt we had a friendly relationship. I too am mourning his loss just like everybody else. I still am shocked by it. It’s tragic and untimely and the last thing I would want to do is disparage him at this particular time … and that’s why I’m taking this time to speak to you directly, I’ve never done one of these before, but this is so important to me that I felt I had to say something. I don’t want to sit up on a set and read a prepared remark. I wanted you to hear exactly where I’m coming from and how I’m feeling, and to let everybody know that no disrespect intended … I thank you for listening.”