Snoop Dogg apologizes to Gayle King for rant over Kobe Bryant
NEW
YORK (AP) — After days of blistering criticism, Snoop Dogg has finally
apologized to Gayle King for attacking her over her interview with
former basketball star Lisa Leslie about the late Kobe Bryant.
“Two wrongs don’t make no right. when you’re wrong, you gotta fix it,” he said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“So
with that being said, Gayle 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. Overreacted,” he said. “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.”
Snoop Dogg was
furious that the “CBS This Morning” anchor brought up rape allegations
from Bryant’s past in her interview with Leslie, a friend of Bryant. The
retired Lakers star was killed in a helicopter crash last month along
with his young daughter and seven others.
Snoop Dogg and went on
Instagram and called King crude names. He also said she better back off
“before we come get you,” and posted a slew of insulting photos and
memes about her.
King herself was angry at CBS News
for promoting a snippet of what was a wide-ranging interview on social
media, which drew sharp reaction and accusations from some that she
crossed the line. King, in her own Instagram message last week, said she
could see why people might be upset if they only saw a brief portion of
what was discussed.
Snoop Dogg, a friend of Bryant and ardent
Lakers fan, was hardly the only one who were angry at King for her
questioning — LeBron James and even Bill Cosby were among her critics —
but his comments were among the most inflammatory and seen as a threat.
King’s best friend, Oprah Winfrey, said that King was “not doing well”
and getting death threats because of the interview.
Soon, an avalanche of support came in for King, from the head of CBS News to former Obama administration official Susan Rice to award winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates, who in an Instagram post chastised black men who attacked her.
“We
did not calmly express our dislike of the question. We were too weak
for that. We threatened. We dragged. And we attacked,” he wrote. “It’s
wrong. We should want more. We should be better.”
Snoop Dogg was also heavily criticized in essays in black media, including one that accused him of hating black women.
Last
week, Snoop Dogg responded to some of the backlash and denied
threatening King, but in Wednesday’s post, he offered a full apology and
said he was raised better than that. He said in the post’s caption that
a talk with his mother set him right.
“I didn’t mean for it to be like that. I was just expressing myself for a friend that wasn’t there to defend himself,” he said.
He noted that he knows some people look up him, so it added to his importance to apologize.
“Anytime
you mess up, it’s OK to fix it, it’s OK to man up to say that you’re
wrong,” he said. “I apologize. hopefully we can sit down and talk,
privately.”