Oprah Winfrey reportedly told her bestie Gayle King to stop begging Jay Z for an interview.
“He doesn’t want to do it,” the media boss said. But Gayle’s persistence finally paid off. She landed an exclusive interview with the semi-retired rapper that aired on “CBS This Morning”.
“I don’t know why he said yes or why he changed his mind… I’m just grateful that he did,” Gayle said.
Earlier this week, Gayle told Scott Evans of Access Hollywood that Oprah, 69, ordered her to leave Jay Z alone because her relentless begging was giving stalker vibes.
Whenever Gayle spotted Jay Z at an event, she cornered the elusive rapper and begged him for an interview.
“You know he doesn’t like to do interviews and I was shameless,” said Gayle, 68.
“I just groveled [so much] that it became embarrassing,” she added. “Even Oprah said, ‘You are making a damn fool of yourself. Stop asking him. He doesn’t want to do it.’ But I couldn’t let it go, because he never said no, no, no – he just kept delaying, delaying, delaying.”
Jay Z has won 24 Grammy Awards, 24 BET Hip-Hop Awards, and sold over 140 million albums worldwide. He holds the record for the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (14) and he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023.
But, with his 54th birthday fast approaching (Dec. 4), Jay Z struggles to remain relevant in a genre that is dominated by young gang bangers.
Until recently, most journalists had stopped asking Jay Z for an interview.
Watch the interview below.
