Last week, Oprah Winfrey's bestie, Gayle King, conducted an interview with basketball star, Lisa Leslie, that turned sour when she brought up questions about rape charges against Kobe Bryant that he was acquitted for back in 2004.
Afterward the interview, celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Boosie Badazz took to social media to explain in no uncertain terms how upset they were about King's line of questioning. They used some deeply demeaning words to reveal how they felt about King's interview. In his post, Snoop called King a "Funky doghead b****," and told her to "Respect the family and back off b****, before we come get you."
Kobe fans weren't too pleased either. In fact, they were outraged and proved how much by posting death threats against King on social media. Their posts prompted King to hire security.
On the flip side of the coin, supporters of Gayle King also took to social media and television to express their support for King, their anger over the posts and the lack of attention from the media to respond to Snoop Dogg's comments. Oprah went on television to express that King is "not doing well," and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, took matters into her own hands and responded directly back at Snoop Dogg.
"Gayle King is one of the most principled, fair and tough journalists alive. Snoop, back the **** off. You come for @GayleKing, you come against an army. You will lose, and it won’t be pretty," she posted.
After this and other posts, the issue has taken a slight turn. Now, the anger is no longer about Kobe and King, but about black women being disrespected. Now, headlines are beaming: #IStandWithGayle to point to the notion that black women have to work twice as hard, but do not receive the support they should, and that the world today is heavily engulfed in a "dragging culture" where, when we don't agree with someone, we viciously drag their name/reputation through the proverbial mud on social media.
It's a complete mess.
Respectable people are showing sides of their character that is unbecoming. It just goes to show that people are still grieving and the magnitude of the impact that Kobe Bryant had on people's lives.
There's an adage: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt." But in this case, it seems the opposite. Words have hurt and are still hurting because people are airing those words on social media and television for all the world to see.
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