Kobe Bryant's rape case being brought up by Gayle King after his death didn't please Stephanie Mills: "Had nothing to do with him losing his life"
When Kobe Bryant passed away in a tragic helicopter crash just over three years ago, a small group of critics took the opportunity to take shots at Bryant. His 2003 rape case was used by media members and even comedian Ari Shaffir as a way of tearing down the NBA great immediately following his death.
When CBS News' Gayle King interviewed WNBA legend Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant's legacy and death, she caught heat for asking about Bryant's infamous case. King even received death threats over the situation, prompting Stephanie Mills to respond in an interview.
The way she sees things, King's mention of the 2003 case had nothing to do with Kobe Bryant's death, and shouldn't have been brought up at the time. She said:
"Kobe had just passed away and the rape charge had nothing to do with that man losing his life.
"They were not going to allow you to spear his name in his death in his death and badger someone in an interview like she badgered Lisa Leslie into telling her something about a rape case that that had nothing to do with the plane crash it was disrespectful in every way"
You can see her comments in the interview above beginning shortly before the 3:30 mark.
Backlash from Gayle King’s interview with Lisa Leslie
After Gayle King questioned Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant’s rape case, many were quick to criticize her. One of the most outspoken was none other than Snoop Dogg, who went as far as to make threats against King while telling her to back off.
In his profanity riddled commentary, the famed rapper pointed out that King and Oprah Winfrey had been pictured with Harvey Weinstein and had plenty of his own sexual assault accusations. He claimed that King hadn’t brought the same energy in regard to Weinstein’s allegations.
At the time, Stephanie Mills defended Snoop Dogg, although the famous rapper then walked back his comments, claiming that he acted in the heat of the moment. Despite that, King had already received death threats that made her fear for her life. According to her, however, it was CBS who deserved blame given that they edited the footage of her question, making it look worse than it was.
She responded in a video on Instagram, saying:
"I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I would be extremely angry with me too. I am mortified. I'm embarrassed and I am very angry," she said. "Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview, totally taken out of context and when you see it that way, it's very jarring."
My perspective (1/2) https://t.co/tUYK0yGh9q