The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly was a flawed, rushed CBS News special

Variety

All week, CBS News excerpted from Gayle King's interview with R. Kelly that she says lasted 80 minutes. "They were startling, upsetting, and undeniably riveting," Caroline Framke says of the segments. "So it makes sense that CBS would seize the opportunity to create a primetime special out of the footage that so quickly captured viewers’ attention, which aired March 8 after incredibly high anticipation. But the resulting program, so obviously rushed to capitalize on the attention King’s interview had already gotten, is astonishing for all the wrong reasons. The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly, despite the promise of its title, barely uses any new footage of King speaking with Kelly. Instead, it tries to provide just as much context for the allegations, Kelly’s personal life, and his place in pop culture as Surviving R. Kelly, which had four hours to do so....All this adds up to an incredibly frustrating watch, especially given what it could have been without so much interference. King’s interview with Kelly was a gripping, unprecedented dissection of a man who has loomed larger than life for decades. It revealed the depth of Kelly’s desperation, not to mention the scope of King’s talent for interviewing a notoriously difficult subject in a way that is actually revealing. It was electrifying — and this special sucked all the air right out of it."

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