https://madamenoire.com/1138059/gayle-king-talks-to-oprah-about-kobe-bryant-interview-backlash/

Source: Tom Cooper / Getty

Oprah is just finishing up her nationwide 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus Tour. Presented by WW, the series seeks to highlight the life journeys of her guests, which has included Traci Ellis Ross, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jennifer Lopez, and Michelle Obama.

This past weekend, she was in Denver, Colorado for her last tour stop. And this time, she brought out her longtime friend and host of “CBS This Morning,” Gayle King.

They talked about their friendship, parenting, relationships, their careers—and of course the recent controversy with King and her questioning Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant’s rape allegations shortly after his passing.

Since then, several people expressed their discontent about the line of questioning. But none more vocal than rapper Snoop Dogg, who in the midst of his criticism, called King a “funky, dog-headed bitch.”

When asked her thoughts about the backlash and what she feels about it now, King said,

“I have moved on. Is there a scab, yeah? But I have moved on. I put on my game face and my big girl pants because I never lost sight of who I was, what I believe I am and my intention. I’ve never lost sight of that. It was a learning curve and it was very painful but I think sometimes you have to go through that that makes you questions things in life.”

During their conversation, Oprah mentioned that the incident was ignited because “good people” didn’t speak out in defense of King.

“In every circumstance, I think this is something for us to remember,” Winfrey said. “It’s not the people who are being mean, it’s not the badness, it’s not the vitriol that’s being put into the world, but it’s the good people who remain silent that becomes so hurtful.”

Gayle said, “I think we can disagree politically, we can disagree socially, if you want to, but I just think humanity should prevail always. I think we still have to figure out a way to navigate that with each other. That we can disagree, and you can be mad at me even, but you can’t speak to me the way I was spoken to and threatened.”

Oprah’s interview with Gayle King will air on Wednesday, March 11 (8 PM ET/ 7 PM CT)

In the meantime, you can watch highlights from the interview below.