Gayle King’s best friend Oprah Winfrey praised CBS News anchorwoman Gayle King for remaining calm and focused during her tense interview with R&B singer R. Kelly.
Kelly sat down with King for his first interview since his arrest on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of three minors last month. The interview aired on CBS This Morning on Wednesday, March 6.
King didn’t flinch when Kelly stood over her and screamed and yelled during several angry outbursts.
King’s bestie, Oprah, was among the first to congratulate King for doing an outstanding job.
“Bravo @GayleKing for calm and and steady focus during #RKelly interview. Outstanding job! Tell @CBSThisMorning we want to see the whole thing,” Oprah tweeted on Wednesday.
CBS News reporter Kathryn Watson shared a photo of Kelly’s publicist trying to calm the singer down during one outburst.
CBS News reporter @kathrynw5 shares a photo of R. Kelly's publicist trying to diffuse the situation as the singer stands over @GayleKing during the interview. pic.twitter.com/I5WADABj65
— Complex (@Complex) March 6, 2019
Journalist Keith Boykin tweeted, “Gayle King deserves an Emmy, a Peabody, a Pulitzer and a Nobel Peace Prize for her calm, professional demeanor during this crazy interview with R. Kelly.”
Gayle King deserves an Emmy, a Peabody, a Pulitzer and a Nobel Peace Prize for her calm, professional demeanor during this crazy interview with R. Kelly.pic.twitter.com/IRJdoP8ELi
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 6, 2019
And crisis management mogul Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations, complimented King for her professionalism during a very erratic interview.
“Gayle King was absolutely fantastic during the interview,” Torossian said in a press release. “She was extremely professional in a trying time. She kept her composure and came equipped to battle. This R Kelly exclusive interview brings the Gayle king brand to another level.”
He added:
“Even during Kelly’s explosive bursts, she kept her composure and continued to steer the interview back on track. That’s not an easy thing to do and it’s very impressive. This was a big interview for her, as she was given the exclusive shot to hear Kelly’s story and ask him the hard questions. She played a huge role in exposing a side of Kelly that viewers might not have seen before up-close. It couldn’t have been easy for King to keep her cool and be as graceful as she was. She also confronted Kelly to his face, telling him that his account lacked credibility. I think she’s very brave and a true professional.”
Others compared King to her peer, Good Morning America anchorwoman Robin Roberts, who botched what could have been a career-defining interview with disgraced actor Jussie Smollett last month.
Roberts, who is openly lesbian, admitted she allowed her sexuality to interfere with her job as an unbiased anchorwoman.
“I’m a black gay woman, he’s a black gay man. He’s saying that there’s a hate crime, so if I’m too hard, then my LGBT community is going to say, ‘You don’t believe a brother,’ if I’m too light on him, it’s like, ‘Oh, because you are in the community, you’re giving him a pass.'”
Roberts added that the interview was a “no-win situation for me.”
