Snoop Dogg’s public attacks against Gayle King are confronted by Jada Pinkett Smith. As you might recall, Gayle asked in a CBS News interview with Lisa Leslie if the late Kobe Bryant’s legacy is complicated by the sexual assault allegation against him.
The “Red Table Talk” Facebook talk show hosted the rapper in the wake of the controversy. Snoop Dogg had apologized for it earlier.
Smith told the rapper that when she first heard his comments about King, her “heart dropped” according to a preview of the talk released.
She said that “I felt like not only were you talking to Gayle, but you were talking to me,” also adding that she felt he had taken power from her mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones and daughter Willow Smith and other women in which both were present at the talk.
Pinkett Smith also added “I was like, ’Not Snoop! That was one of the reasons why I felt like I really wanted to have the conversation with you in the spirit of healing.”
On Feb. 12, Snoop Dogg apologized publicly for what he called “disrespectful” and “derogatory” remarks about her. He also said he’d realized the apology was necessary after speaking with his mother.
A week earlier, following the NBA legend’s sudden death in a helicopter crash, the anchor asked WNBA star Lisa Leslie in an interview if Bryant’s legacy would be complicated if the rape accusation leveled against him which had been an issue 15 years ago. This had the rapper threaten King in an Instagram video.
In Snoop Dogg’s tirade against King, he blasted her for what he called an attempt to tarnish Bryant’s reputation, which drew praise from convicted sex offender Bill Cosby, saying “back off, bitch.”
Smith often uses her talk show to speak with those at the center of issues dealing with gender and race. In November, she hosted the rapper T.I. to discuss how his actions and comments about his daughter’s virginity were inappropriate, and how they contributed to wider cultural problems, including perceptions of male control over female bodies.
