Gayle King gets death threats over Kobe Bryant's rape case - Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has revealed that her friend Gayle King has received death threats after she asked Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant's rape case in 2003.

While explaining the difficult situation Gayle King has now been placed in for asking the question, Oprah Winfrey cried during an appearance on Hoda & Jenna & Friends.

Co-anchor of the show, Hoda Kotb asked, “I think the last 24 hours for your best friend have been pretty difficult after that interview with Lisa Leslie about Kobe. And I just wondered just how she’s doing.”

“She is not doing well,” Winfrey replied, tearing up. “She has now death threats and has to now travel with security and she’s feeling very much attacked. You know, Bill Cosby is tweeting from jail.”

She went on to speak on the context of the interview saying, “In the context of the interview, everyone seemed fine, including Lisa Leslie. And it was only because somebody at the network put up that clip. And I can see how people would obviously be very upset if you thought that Gayle was just trying to press to get an answer from Lisa Leslie.

“Obviously all things pass, she will be okay, but she hasn’t slept in two days.”

Winfrey emphasized that the problem comes when “the misogynist vitriol and the attacking” reaches the point “where it is dangerous to be in the streets alone.”

“It’s not just the people who are attacking. It’s the other people who take that message and feel like they can do whatever they want to because of it, you know?” she added, noting that as her friend weathers the storm, all she can do is support her.

“You know, I was on the phone with her this morning, I was on the phone with her last night, I was on the phone with her the night before,” Winfrey said. “I think you stand in the gap, you try to be there for your friends. But this is very hard, because when you have social media and the force of social media, and particularly people who didn’t see either interview, making attacks.”