Marc Lamont Hill weighed in on the controversy surrounded embattled TV journalist Gayle King.
The “CBS This Morning” host was dragged on social media after she questioned former WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant‘s 2003 rape allegation.
Bryant, 41, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash 2 weeks ago.
The backlash continued on Monday when King’s supporters sent the hashtag #IStandWithGayle trending on Twitter.com.
King’s bestie, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, broke down while explaining the stress King was under. “She’s not doing well,” Oprah said, while fighting back tears.
Rapper Snoop Dogg, 48, made the situation worse when he called her a “b*tch”. His followers sent death threats to King on social media. King reportedly called out sick on Friday.
In a special segment with theGrio, award-winning journalist, Marc Lamont Hill weighed in on the disrespect toward a 65-year-old, successful Black woman.
“[Snoop Dogg] talked about Black people doing the most harm to ourselves,” said Hill. “He talked about what this might do to Kobe’s family – all valid points. Even if you disagree with them, they’re valid points. The issue for me comes in when Snoop also calls Gayle King a ‘funky, dog-face b*tch.’ That crosses the line. That becomes misogyny; that becomes sexism.”
Hill said King’s question about the link between the rape allegation and Kobe’s legacy was a fair one, but the timing of the question and the follow-up question went too far.
“You could see Leslie’s face that she was uncomfortable,” said Hill. “You could see that that follow up question [was] a little combative and I do think that it crossed the line.”
He continued: “Remember, she’s not interviewing a scholar, she’s not interviewing an expert on sexual assault. She’s interviewing a dear friend, days after a death, and to watch her have to even think about that question or to have to think on the spot about how to publicly reconcile how she thinks… or to make sense of that and articulate that at a moment’s notice is not how you do journalism.”
Hill said the level of disrespect for a Black woman also crossed the line.
“You can critique Snoop Dogg. You can critique Gayle King – we can have these conversations, but we have to do so in ways that humanize and not dehumanize,” he said.
