*Gayle King is catching heat for bringing up Kobe Bryant’s 2003 rape case during an interview with WNBA star Lisa Leslie about the legacy of the late NBA icon.
The criminal case against Bryant was dropped on Sept. 1, 2004, after the accuser declined to testify. She later filed a civil lawsuit, which was settled out of court.
“It has been said that his legacy is complicated because of the sexual assault charges which was dismissed in 2003, 2004. Is it complicated for you as a woman, as a WNBA player?” King asked Leslie during their interview.
“It’s not complicated for me at all,” Leslie stated. “I just have never seen him as being the kind of person that would do something violating to a woman or be aggressive in that way, that’s just not the person I know.”
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King then asked Leslie if it was fair to talk about Bryant’s sexual assault case “considering that he’s no longer with us and that it was resolved, or is it really part of his history?”
“I think the media should be more respectful at this time. It’s like, if you had questions about it, you’ve had many years to ask him that,” Leslie replied. “I don’t think it’s something that we should keep hanging over his legacy.”
Following the interview, several Bryant fans and celebrities, including 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Boosie Badazz, and Air Lennox, accused King of trying to destroy his legacy.
In a video shared on social (see above), Lennox slams King and her bestie Oprah Winfrey for always calling out Black males accused of sex crimes, while ignoring similar allegations leveled against some of the white men they pal around with in Hollywoodland, such as Harvey Weinstein.
“Listen, this is about to get real toxic, and I don’t give a f—k if I get cancelled forever,” Lennox says in the clip. “F–k Gayle and F–k Oprah. Y’all are some self-hating pieces of s–t f–k a–es.”
She also refers to Winfrey and King as “Okrah” and “Kale” and says, “You want to spend the rest of your days tearing down Black people? Build us up, help us!”
She then mentions how comedian Mo’Nique has suffered over her beef with Oprah.
“I’m not here for anybody tearing down that legendary man,” Lennox says about Kobe Bryant.
Hear her tell it via the Instagram video embed above.
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