Michael Eric Dyson has issues with the way Snoop Dogg addressed Gayle King following her controversial interview with Lisa Leslie.
On Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, Snoop Dogg responded by lashing out at King, 65, and claiming that she and Oprah have an agenda to destroy Black men.
“I swear to God, we the worse,” Snoop said in the video he posted on his Instagram page. “We expect more from you, Gayle. Don’t you hang out with Oprah? Why ya’ll attacking us? We’re your people.” Snoop paused for a few seconds before rhetorically asking, “Is it OK if I call her one?” Then he proceeded to call King a “b—-.”
In the video, Snoop also said, “Respect the family and back off before we come get you.”
Some viewed Snoop’s last statement as a threat. On Feb. 8, author and college professor, Michael Eric Dyson took aim at the language Snoop used against King.
“The response to Gayle King’s interview with Lisa Leslie contains many elements that I think are deeply and profoundly problematic,” Dyson said in an Instagram post. “To begin with, I loved Kobe Bryant and mourn him to this day. I knew him well. People who are deeply and profoundly upset at that interview between Gayle King and Lisa Leslie. I understand that and there’s a legitimate platform to be had by questioning whether King should have raised it in that fashion. But think about it this way. Without her having raised it, Lisa Leslie would not have had the opportunity to speak to it in a profoundly compelling and cultured fashion.”
Dyson continued by saying, “Let’s not try to demonize [Oprah and King] and disrespect them and insult them in ways that are contradictory to what Kobe Bryant would want. If Kobe Bryant were alive, he would find this reprehensible. He would say stop this. The Black Mamba was not down with that. He was about loving and elevating and appreciating Black women. Isn’t that ironic, the very people who are talking about Black people, hurting other Black people are hurting other Black people? And if you’re a Black man, and you want to help Black people, then stop making rap records that call women out of their name.”
Snoop clarified his statement on a video posted on Instagram by saying, “I’m a non-violent person, when I said what I said, I spoke for the people who felt like Gayle was very disrespectful towards Kobe Bryant and his family.”
Snoop continued, “Now with that being said, what I look like wanting some harm to come to a 70-year-old woman? I was raised way better than that. I don’t want no harm to come to her and I didn’t threaten her, all I did was said, ‘check it out, you outta pocket for what you doing and we watching you. Have a little more respect for Vanessa, her babies and Kobe Bryant’s legacy.’”
On Feb. 7, Oprah told the “Today” show that King was not doing well and feared for safety following the reactions from her interview with Leslie.
View Dyson’s message after the jump.
